Shades Of Grey

Chapter4

Naruto poked at the pasta on his plate. He frowned down at it.

"What now, dobe?" Sasuke sighed.

"It’s not ramen," the boy whined.

Sasuke chuckled. The small café was on the edge of Konoha. Sasuke spent many weekends there escaping his older brother. It was small and dark inside, but had a small patio that held three tables and looked out into the forest. Sasuke would go there for lunch and to study so often the owner had gotten to know the Uchiha boy quite well. The owner had treated Sasuke and Naruto to a new dish the chef had created, on the house. Naruto slurped up some noodles, his expression softening at the taste.

"Ne, Sasuke-kun! This is good!"

"Of course it is," he snapped.

Naruto ignored him and started at his plate vigorously. Sasuke ate slowly, choosing to remember his manners. They were alone on the small patio. Naruto had wondered if Sasuke had only agreed to take him there to avoid being seen with him. When he had tasted the food he realized it was about more than that. Sasuke had finally started letting someone into his life. When Naruto leaned back in his chair minutes later, his plate empty, Sasuke cleared his throat.

"I’m going to trust you, Uzumaki. I’ll trust that you’ve discovered some sort of feelings for me. But I’ll not let you destroy me, understand?" he growled.

Naruto sat up and looked into the onyx eyes across from him.

"I won’t. We’re in it together, if you go down I do, too."

"Exactly why I’ve decided to trust you. Don’t think this means I’m your boyfriend or anything. I’ll give you a chance to show me you like me. But if you want a chance at me you’ll follow my rules."

Naruto nodded.

"You’ll not act like I’m anything to you, got it? If you want to prove anything to me, you’ll do it in private."

"Are you embarrassed by me?" Naruto blurted out.

"Yes."

Naruto’s face grew red. He started to stand up.

"No one knows what I’ve kept secret for so long. At school you act like an idiot. You are the exact opposite of me. Yet, here we are. I will not let those people think I’m in a relationship with another boy. I’m an Uchiha, dammit."

Naruto sat back down. He knew all too well what Sasuke meant. Still, he was not going to complain. He did not exactly want people knowing he liked Sasuke. At least, not until he knew for sure how much he liked the other boy.

"Okay, Sasuke-kun. Nothing unusual at school. So, I guess that means you’ll help me with my schoolwork, then? I’m going to be kicked out if my grades don’t improve."

"I suppose I could help you, Uzumaki," Sasuke smirked.

"Ne, call me Naruto."

"Fine…. Naruto. But only when we’re alone."

Naruto beamed. Sasuke rolled his eyes. Naruto immediately launched into a story about his work day. Dessert was brought to them, and Naruto ate his way through that just as quickly. Sasuke stayed silent, contemplating his decision. He was ignoring Naruto completely. He felt a warm breeze on his neck and looked up. Naruto was leaning down to look at his face. Sasuke blushed.

"Wh-what are you doing?" he spat.

Naruto leaned down some more, and licked the corner of Sasuke’s mouth slowly. When he was done, he stood up straight and grinned widely.

"You had whipped cream on your mouth!" he announced happily.

"Dobe. Don’t make me regret my decision already."

"’Kay Sasuke-kun."

Naruto pulled out his cell phone and looked at the time. He started nibbling on his bottom lip. Sasuke eyed the cell phone. It was a much older model than most people had. He had no doubts it was a way to call into work and his friends, but he doubted the boy paid very much for it out of necessity. Sasuke wiped his mouth and stood up.

"I’ll walk you back. Lucky you, it’s on the way home."

Naruto nodded, and then pocketed the phone. He was back at work with only five minutes to spare. Sasuke was long gone when Naruto took the register. He busied himself with restocking the counters to pass time. The traffic in and out of the shop slowed down two hours before his shift ended.

"Iruka-san, you should get a café in here," Naruto called across the store.

Iruka laughed. The place was a decent size but there definitely was not room for a café. There were other bookshops in the area, but since Naruto had shown up in his life, he had started ordering more books for the school kids and had doubled his sales. He often thought about buying out the store next to him and adding a café. That, and Naruto constantly telling him he should, had Iruka thinking more and more seriously about it.

"Have you taken my advice about eating better yet?"

"Nah, I’m good. Kakashi-sensei works me hard at school. I get plenty of exercise, why should I stop eating what I like best?"

Naruto sighed and leaned on the counter. He looked at the clock on the wall. Deciding he should put forth more effort, he left the counter to clean up the display tables near the door. As he started on the second one, the bell rang, announcing that someone had walked in.

"Welcome," Naruto said, turning to smile.

A tall, pale man with long black hair looked around. His eyes fell on Naruto. The boy suppressed a shudder. The man’s cold eyes swept over the shop. He walked past the boy and started walking amongst the shelves. Naruto made his way back to his post, waiting to see if he would be needed there. Naruto yawned. The clock told him he had only managed to kill an hour so far. The man walked up to the counter.

"You go to Konoha Academy, correct?"

"Y-yeah," Naruto answered.

"You wouldn’t happened to know my brother, Sasuke Uchiha, would you?"

"Yeah, he’s in my classes."

"Good. Do you know where he is?"

"Sorry, we aren’t friends."

The man nodded and left the shop. When the door closed, Naruto let out a shudder. Iruka appeared next to him.

"Wait about ten minutes and I’ll walk you out," he whispered.

"I still have an hour," Naruto frowned.

"It’s slow. Go see your friends tonight; you never get much time with them I imagine."

"Arigatou, Iruka-san."

Naruto punched out ten minutes later and pulled off the blue shirt. Iruka walked him out the door, scanning the area before returning to the shop. Naruto went straight to Rock Lee’s house. He was the closest of all his friends. Naruto was ringing his doorbell in no time. A red haired boy with a cold stare opened the door.

"Gaara! Been awhile," Naruto grinned.

"Naruto! Come in,’ Lee called, walking to the door.

Inside, Naruto found Kiba, Sai, Kankuro, and Shikamaru. Naruto waved and dropped himself between Shikamaru and Sai on the couch.

"Nice. Didn’t think you’d make it," Kiba smiled.

"Iruka-san let me off early. Some weird guy came by asking about Uchiha. Said he was his brother."

"Weird. Thought his brother was out of town for the next year," Kiba frowned.

"Whatever. Enough Uchiha talk, you’re killing my mood."

The boys sat around eating junk food and drinking soda for the rest of the night. They watched action movies and made plans against people they hated, but would never go through with. They started passing out slowly, spread out around Lee’s living room. Naruto found himself with someone’s feet in his face when Lee’s parents were waking them up the next morning. His parents told the boys to clean up while they made breakfast. Naruto pushed Kankuro away and sat up stretching.

"Morning Naruto. Been awhile since you’ve been over," Lee’s mom smiled.

"Yeah, Iruka-san keeps me busy. Thanks for letting us all stay."

"You know you boys are always welcome."

Kiba walked into the room with Lee’s shaving cream, trying not to laugh. Naruto rolled his eyes and helped Lee clean up. Kiba filled Kankuro’s hand with the stuff. He started trying to tickle the other boy’s face.

"Thought we were past that prank," Lee laughed.

When Kankuro’s shaving cream filled hand connected with his face, the boys all started laughing.

"G-guess not," Naruto managed.

Kankuro started his morning by chasing Kiba down and emptying the can into his hair. The two had to clean up that mess. After breakfast they all went their separate ways. Homework called them to spend the last of their weekend studying. Naruto was lucky enough to have a bottom floor apartment with a back patio that opened to grass on the edge of the apartment complex. He took several breaks in his homework to practice using his ninjutsu. When the boy finally crashed for the day, it was in his living room, after having managed to finish all the work.


~Monday morning~

Naruto watched Sasuke sit down next to him in math. They had not spoken since Saturday at lunch. He glared at the black-haired boy. When Sakura entered the room, he stood and waved.

"Sakura-chan!"

"Don’t talk to me, Naruto! You humiliated me, Hinata-chan, and Sasuke-kun Friday night. You’ll be lucky to have any friends at this school anymore," she snapped at him.

She took her set and ignored him. Sitting back down, Naruto snuck a smile to Sasuke. Sasuke silently complimented him on the show. Jiraiya started the class. Naruto took his notes and struggled over the assignment, while Sasuke breezed through it. A piece of paper was slid discreetly onto his own work.

‘Do you have texting?’

Naruto hid a smile. He shuffled his papers and kept writing. The paper found its way back to Sasuke shortly after.

‘Yes.’

‘Gimme your phone.’

Naruto stretched, leaning his chair back on two legs. He sent a small spark of chakra down the chair that only Sasuke saw. The chair fell over and Naruto was crashing to the ground. Jiraiya looked over to him. Naruto sat up, chuckling and scratching the back of his head. A few people laughed at him, others shook their heads and ignored him. Naruto picked himself and his chair up. A phone dropped into Sasuke’s lap. Naruto continued his work. The paper with Sasuke’s writing on it was gone. Naruto looked at his notes and started fighting with an equation. His phone was dropped into his own lap seconds later. He slipped a hand down to open it. He searched through it, while still appearing to do his work. An new entry to his contacts made him smile. The paper landed on his work.

‘Text me next period.’

Naruto nodded and packed his stuff away, taking the notes with him. The bell released him to his next class. Dropping into his seat in Orochimaru’s class, he pulled out his phone and texted Sasuke before class started.

‘Hey gorgeous,’ was all it said.

Class started and Orochimaru started the class with a reading assignment. Naruto’s phone vibrated in his pocket. He pulled it out and saw the screen say new message from Sasu-kun.

‘Don’t do that.’

‘Try not to spam me, kay? I only pay for 100 messages a month.’

Naruto slipped away his phone and focused on his lesson. He was called on to read aloud. They spent the class dissecting the short story. Naruto was practically bouncing off the walls when he found his way to the training field outside for Kakashi’s class. The class was small, as only a few people in the school their age were interested in ninjutsu. Kakashi had the class pair off and Naruto found himself facing Hinata. Guilt swept over him. After Kakashi taught them a genjutsu, they were instructed to practice casting the jutsu with their partners.

"Hinata-chan, I’m so sorry about Friday," Naruto said.

"O-oh, that’s ok. Sakura-chan had me g-go with her. After you ran off, K-Kiba-kun came over to talk to me," Hinata explained, a blush staining her cheeks.

"Awesome! So, you wanna go first?"

Hinata nodded. They practiced until they both mastered it, and sat back to watch the others struggle through it. When Kiba stopped to wave to Hinata, Sasuke landed his jutsu on the boy. When Hinata gasped, Naruto shot Sasuke a look and helped Kiba up. Hinata glanced to Naruto and saw the look.

"Thanks Naruto-kun."

"F-for what?"

"For getting Sasuke off Kiba."

"W-what makes you think I did it?"

"You’re blushing. Naruto-kun. Its okay, I won’t say anything."

Sasuke looked across the field and saw the worried look on Naruto’s face. He saw Hinata talking calmly and Naruto stumbling over words. His own face darkened. Not even one day and the dobe had already wrecked everything.