Alternative Education

Part Four


The problem with Naruto following him around all day long was that Sasuke was finding it ridiculously hard to keep hands off him. It wasn't about him looking particularly good, or doing something that was irresistibly attractive. When you shared a certain level of intimacy, even purely sexual intimacy, a needless physical contact became normal. Sasuke had to dig his hands deep into his pockets, just in case, and bear with it when Naruto would decide to brush their shoulders together or lean just a little too close.

And then there was Kiba Izunuka, every so often in some great need to share with Naruto his impressions on the local girls, weather or anything at all, as long as it was disconnected with the reasons they were at that particular very important historical place at the moment. Naruto was loud on his own, but the two of them together were attracting attention of everyone in a two miles range.

On top of it, the entire class took it for granted that just because Sasuke was letting Naruto be around him, they were all allowed to do the same. He couldn't even snap at them and send them away; that could trigger more curiosity and questions. Glaring just didn't seem to work on any of them; even Hinata just hid her gaze behind Ino's ponytail.

In the rare moments they got to be alone, Naruto was always the one who initiated all forms of contact, even the verbal kind. Aside from those encounters, from the blurry river of places, faces and bus rides, Sasuke could only isolate several events he was going to take back home as 'field trip' memories. Most of them had one thing or another to do with Naruto, he was annoyed to notice.

On the first day after they had set the arrangement, on Naruto's birthday, they were not having any long bus drives. All the sites predicted for that day were in the city – the change of the guard, the ancient stadium and the little ugly piece of beach just outside of the shopping district. Sasuke, always in danger of burning up in the sun, took the option to walk in the shadows by the stores that mostly contained jewelry, fur and cell phone equipment. For once, Naruto had stayed away, choosing to swim instead of annoying Sasuke.

At six in the afternoon, when they were supposed to go back to the hotel, the bus driver was nowhere to be found. All students, together with Mr. Umino, who was very upset, and Kakashi, who was reading a book, were waiting gathered around the bus for him. Itachi chose that moments to call.

"Are you having a good time?"he asked when Sasuke picked up. "Anything interesting there?"

Sasuke raised his head to find Naruto looking at him curiously. He got an urge to smirk and say 'like you wouldn't believe' into the phone, but that wouldn't be too smart. And Itachi would suspect an alien abduction, anyway. "Yes. It's not bad."

"Don't forget to buy something for mother."

"I know. I will," Sasuke answered. He always found it particularly hard to talk to Itachi on the phone, maybe because his brother was always so efficient, always to the point. There was nothing to say to him but 'yes' or eventually 'oops, I forgot, thank you for reminding me'. And the other option was extremely rare.

"Do you have enough money with you?"

"I do," that about drained everything they had to tell each other on the phone. It would be only a word or two more in a face to face conversation, anyway. "I have to go now, we have to…"

"Wait, wait!"

That was Naruto. He was not a full feet away from Sasuke, waving his hands. Itachi heard him. While Sasuke was still blinking, wondering what now, he asked, "Is that Naruto?"

As an echo of sorts, Naruto asked, "Is that your brother?"

Feeling rather stupid, Sasuke said into the phone, looking at Naruto, "How do you know each other?"

"Tell him…" Naruto started, ignoring he question and changed his mind, leaning close to yell into the phone Sasuke was still holding to his ear. "Itachi! How are my kids?"

Sasuke pushed Naruto away with one hand and turned away, his ears ringing. Couldn't the moron just ask to talk to Itachi, if that was what he wanted? The entire street was looking at them, not just people from school.

"Was that Naruto?" Itachi repeated.

"Yeah," Sasuke confirmed, far enough from the crowd already to talk freely. "How do you know each other? And what kids?"

There was a slight hesitation, before Itachi answered with just a hint of amusement in his voice, "He lives where I work."

At Home? Yes, the building was holding social service and it was also a home for children removed from the unsuitable families. Sasuke did know that Naruto lived there, and of course, he knew Itachi was working as social service agent. He had an office on the second floor of the same building. He just never – connected it. He never thought about it. So Naruto must have been talking about the kids who were living there with him.

"Huh," He only said, but Itachi didn't need prompts when he had something to say.

"Tell him Kurenai is on duty this week, there is no reason to worry. And I will stay Saturday night myself."

Sasuke finished the conversation after that, promising he would give the message, and called home to reassure his mother that Itachi was fine. They weren't talking, their father was still very upset with Itachi and vice versa; Sasuke was the only connection between them. The questions he had to answer were almost identical to those Itachi had asked earlier, only he had to give more detail.

When he returned to his group, Naruto gave him a sheepish look. He didn't apologize for yelling into the phone – and it felt like he was yelling into Sasuke's ear, but there must have been something in Itachi's voice, or maybe it was even the very fact he had bothered to ask Sasuke to take the message that made him think there has to be a reason for Naruto to worry.

"Kurenai is on duty this week."

Naruto sighed, and shook his head, "Yeah, Itachi promised she would be." But he seemed relived, like someone who wasn't daring to quite believe the promise he got. "And Saturday?"

"Itachi said he would stay."

Naruto grinned so widely all his teeth were visible. There was no way to know for sure without asking, which Sasuke had no intention of doing, but he seemed to have been concerned about the watching duty back at Home. They could be having some trouble with a member of the staff. Sasuke was feeling kind of proud that the kids – and Naruto – were trusting and were asking Itachi for help with it. He'd never expect anyone to trust Itachi so easily; he was just so expressionless and disturbingly organized.

The bus driver came about fifteen minutes later. That evening, there was a group visit and dinner in an old part of the city, with traditional music and dancers. No one was really surprised Sasuke wanted to stay at the hotel, and those few wondering about Naruto were successfully shaken off when Naruto muttered about how many souvenirs he had to buy. The smarter ones out of the bunch realized that it was the closest Naruto would come to complaining about the lack of the money and whispered so to those, like Kiba, who were more persistent.

It was… fun, when they were alone, with the arrangement comfortably determining boundaries and with Naruto too busy to talk coherently. When the rest of the class came back, Naruto took out that alcohol he had bought and their room was full of people until two in the morning. Sasuke didn't even mind that much – or at least, he hadn't minded before he realized that his entire bed smelled like a mismatched bouquet of flowers, from several different female perfumes.

The next few days were mostly uneventful, but on the last day, when they stopped at a large mega market as the last attempt of the organizers to make them spend some money, Naruto came back to the bus with an even bigger grin over his face then usual. Sasuke hadn't asked, and Naruto didn't say anything, but it wasn't long before everyone knew Sakura had cornered him in the chocolate section of the market and asked him out.

Why the fact that it had happened in the chocolate section was important enough to be repeated was beyond Sasuke.

The rest...

The anger wasn't from jealousy, it was from disappointment. Slowly, but without a doubt, Sasuke was starting to believe that Naruto was maybe not quite as big of an idiot as he had believed. That he accepted and that he was happy like he never was before in his life because of a stupid date with questionable motivation behind it was just proving that he was, after all, just a huge idiot. Sasuke had tried to see a good side of it – after all, if Naruto was dating, the possibility of temptation would be even less once they got home. And it would take Sakura off his back.

Obviously, reasons for him to feel down and depressed and angry – whatever those reasons might be – were stronger.

He could feel curious looks he was getting every time he would snap for something that he would just ignore usually, and more annoyingly, the tiny smirks in the corner of Naruto's lips. No matter how much he tried to control himself, it wasn't working.

The bus was leaving at noon. Tripping over the bags in the hallway while checking if he didn't forget anything, Kiba was trying to talk Naruto into coming out earlier, "Maybe the girls need some help with their luggage. We have to go and offer."

Naruto, unsuccessfully tugging at the zipper of his old gray suitcase, laughed. "You mean, you want an excuse to go and stare like a blushing virgin at Hinata some more. No thanks, it's hardly fun to watch that."

Kiba cocked his head and grinned wickedly, "Maybe Sakura could use some help, too."

As he waited for Naruto to jump and run down the hall, Sasuke discovered that his teeth can produce odd, screeching sound when he gritted them just so.

"No way, Sakura only has one bag, I'd only end up carrying Ino's hair equipment. You go." Kiba was not moving, though. He was giving a disapproving, pout-y look to Naruto, who laughed again in response. "No, no one will think it's suspicious. Everyone knows just how pathetic little puppy you are. Go before she drags it out on her own and you lose the only excuse you have."

"You are a horrible friend," Kiba said and walked out, with his backpack over his shoulder.

When the door shut behind him, all that was left in the room was silence. Naruto was kneeling on the suitcase, trying to fix the obviously broken zipper. Sasuke narrowed his eyes. Was it really necessary for Naruto to stick his ass so high in the air? And couldn't he return that shirt to its place? It was exposing a wide portion of skin on his back as it was.

Also, there were these noises. Naruto was humming, grunting, cursing quietly; he could never be completely silent. It was almost as if he was feeling compelled to fill every empty moment with something, even if it had no meaning. It's what got them into all this in the first place, his inability to keep his mouth shut even while sleeping.

"That is getting really obvious, you know," Naruto said, fortunately interrupting that particular line of thought.

"What?"

"That - that glaring of yours, hissing and snapping at people," Naruto answered, not looking up. "You're acting like someone stepped on your tail."

Yeah, it wasn't exactly a surprise it was noticeable, his irritation. Hiding it would demand an effort Sasuke was not in a mood to make.

"There is something about the way I'm acting that you don't like?" Sasuke asked. It was supposed to be sarcasm, but his voice came out silky and low. Naruto snapped his head to look at him, eyes wide. "How very unfortunate."

Naruto left the suitcase open and stepped closer to where Sasuke was leaning against the wall on one shoulder. His eyes were shiny and upset when he accused, "You are acting like a jealous lover."

I'm feeling like a jealous lover, no matter how true, was not something Sasuke would say, especially not to Naruto. He was the one to set the boundaries. He was the one who needed them not to work.

"I just can't believe I lowered myself so much to get involved with someone everyone's laughing at. Again." There, that's better, even if 'involved' was too strong of a term. Naruto hid the hurt under his thick eyelashes, lowering them so they make his blue eyes dark in the shadow. He was quiet for a moment, but not retreating. "You don't really think anything has changed after all these years? You cannot possibly be thinking that she wants you now."

Naruto raised one hand. His eyes were still shadowed and his cheeks were flushed from either anger of something else as he brushed his fingers over Sasuke's chest. It was a very light, very out of place touch, like he was absentmindedly making sure there is enough space between them. Or that they were at the touching distance.

"No," he said finally, unsuccessfully trying to swallow and smooth his uneven voice. "She asked me out because she thinks you will still let me hang around you once we're home."

Exactly. "I won't."

Naruto's fingers closed around the handful of Sasuke's shirt. "I know."

"Then why are you doing this?"

Naruto's hand fell and he stepped back. "You wouldn't understand."

No, he probably wouldn't. There should be no reason for letting anyone use you and Naruto had to know that he deserved better then that. But it wasn't Sasuke's job to play his therapist.

The zipper on Naruto's suitcase was not broken after all, just stuck. With only one violently sudden move, he had managed to close it. For a long moment, Naruto was just looking at his hands still holding he edges, before he said quickly, almost unwillingly, "But you are acting like a jealous lover – and you have no right to do that to me. And you need to stop, because people are starting to look at you oddly."

"So what?" Sasuke asked, but his chest tightened as his father's disappointed and angry face popped up.

He was sure his words were flat, but Naruto glanced back at him, half way between amused and frustrated, "So I might take that sudden difference in your attitude toward people knowing in a way you probably wouldn't want me to." Yeah, well, if Sasuke could choose, he wouldn't have been feeling anything at all. "And your brother at least had a place to go before letting your father find out about him."

Sasuke was starting to wonder about just how close Itachi and Naruto were for him to know such details, when his brain caught up with the change in Naruto's tone. Yeah, he was still frustrated, but he also sounded… worried.

And what he said earlier - people were starting to look at him oddly. Naruto was warning him about it, not rubbing it in his face. Sasuke was walking to the middle of the room, where Naruto was finally standing up over his suitcase, before he realized it. Not that it mattered.

"Territorial," He said. His fingers dig into Naruto's hips as he yanked him back against his chest. It was the first time he initiated any form of physical contact from that time when he grabbed and pulled Naruto into his bed, and Naruto wasn't expecting it at all, judging from the startled, overly loud gasp. "The term is territorial, not jealous."

Naruto recovered quickly, found Sasuke's hands. He led them until they Sasuke's arms were wrapped around his waist and leaned comfortably in, like it was normal for them to do things like that, to stand comfortably enjoying each other's body heat in the middle of the hotel room. If Naruto had tried this only an hour before, Sasuke would have panicked – and smacked him over this head. But now it was too late, the last intimate contact they were having couldn't change anything. He could afford it.

"Yeah, it sounds meaner. Totally you," Naruto said and sighed. Sasuke couldn't see but he thought Naruto was keeping his eyes closed. "Your hands are cold."

Sasuke moved his hands under Naruto's shirt, where the skin was soft and smooth and, he remembered it so well, tasted good. Naruto hit him lightly over his fingers, but he didn't try to remove his hands, even though they had to feel unpleasant.

There was one thing he still wanted to know, "Why wouldn't I understand?"

Naruto was shaking his head lightly, a refusal to answer or just verifying Sasuke that wouldn't understand, hard to say, as he turned slightly to catch Sasuke's eye.

"You can change your mind, okay?" Naruto said in a harsh whisper, fast and determined to get it out. "I won't…"

Sasuke kissed him, because that was probably more pleasant way to tell him that there was no way and he doesn't want to hear it. There was no way. Naruto inhaled sharply, still but leaning heavily into Sasuke's chest and let himself be kissed, barely participating. It was so easy to properly catch his full lower lip between teeth, enjoy the taste and just because of that not nearly enough.

Sasuke broke off. "Naruto. Last chance. Then this ends."

"Yeah, okay," Naruto said, shaking his head again, but it might have been to clear his head this time. His hand found its way up in Sasuke's hair, and Naruto used it to tug him closer again. "I'm sorry."

He was the one to kiss this time first, a little bit too forceful and impatient, like Sasuke knew he wasn't by nature, without giving any time for Sasuke to seriously wonder what he was sorry about. There was nothing to be sorry about, not on his side. It was… fun.

The rest of what Sasuke had on his mind blurred into the hotness of Naruto's kiss; the forcefulness melted into something softer and memorable and toes-curling after a couple of seconds. Beat that, Sasuke's mind whispered and he almost, almost, reached to pull Naruto into a proper hug, but that was unacceptable. It would make things somehow more romantic, so Sasuke broke the kiss violently, ignoring his body and mind screaming at him that he is leaving things unfinished and turned from Naruto.

Neither one said anything as Sasuke took his things and walked out first, wondering, hoping that he wasn't in over his head already. That wouldn't end well, it simply wouldn't.

Naruto was sitting at the back of the buss on the ride home. Sakura had also switched her place with someone and was sitting at the back, but Sasuke had no idea if were they sitting together. He said to himself he didn't care and managed to get some sleep in many short, restless periods almost until they were at fifteen minutes from their hometown.

After so many long hours of being lost between memories and dreams that were sometimes extremely arousing and sometimes full of dreadful demands Sasuke knew beyond every doubt he would never be able to answer, he was grabbing his things and was out of the bus first. It was very cold outside, the night wet and dark, and he was shivering in the light jacket that was more than enough last night and in the days before. The difference in the temperature was considerate.

The entire area around the station was gloomy, with the several nearest lampposts broken and the yellow light from the inside of the station barely glittering in the puddles; it was like no one ever took buses in or out of the town any longer. His father was waiting in the car on the parking of the outside of the bus station. Sasuke got in quickly, as the first group of his classmates exited the station building.

The only greeting his father gave him was a sole nod. Sasuke, feeling tired and somehow drained, was grateful his mother was not there. After an entire week away from home, she was probably anxious.

They weren't like that before Itachi had declared he preferred men to women and social service to detective work. They had a huge fight that involved many words that Sasuke, thirteen at the time, never heard in more then a whisper and some he had to look up in the dictionary. Then Itachi left home not to be back to this day. Their mother became overly protective overnight, almost as if she believed that Itachi must be gay because of the lack of mother's love and was determined not to ruin her other son, too. As if for a contrast, their father became distant, engrossed into his work at the police station.

Sometimes, when nights were brighter and when Naruto wasn't walking by talking to Sakura as Sasuke's father waited for the group to move, thinking about how his brother being gay saved many people and almost got their little town of criminal could be amusing. Not tonight, though. Tonight, he only wanted his bed, to get some dreamless sleep and, if at all possible, stop thinking.

Finally, his father asked, "How was your trip?"

"Fine. It was too warm," Sasuke said. It wasn't too warm back there, it was cold here, but saying that could be taken as complaining. "The book Itachi bought me was very helpful."

His father glanced off the road to him, but didn't say anything. Of course, he was used to it; Sasuke was always telling his parents how Itachi was, what was he doing and all about the little nice things he was doing for his little brother. He was doing it also to Itachi – telling him that every worried word their mother had said, and about how their father didn't turn off the television when they were showing a gay parade in the news. One end had to loosen sooner or later, preferably before Sasuke had to go away to university, and his money was on his father, who was much easier to read.

The drive was pitifully short after what felt like weeks in the bus. The house was looking exactly the same as it did when he got out of his bed before dawn to go to the field trip; too high, too wide and too dark. When he walked thought the front door, everything smelled like cream puffs, one of the rare sweet things Sasuke liked to eat – rather ironically, in his personal opinion. He wasn't trying to make a statement, not at all; they were just good, especially home made.

Even going through all the answers his mother demanded wasn't that hard in a well lit, familiar house. He felt too normal to be put out by her insisting to know exactly what he ate and how much of it, but he ended it as soon as possible anyway, took a purposely quick shower that was a little odd without anyone banging at the door.

Only after an hour of trying to fall asleep, the entire last week caught up with Sasuke. The streetlight was the only light he had, and with his window looking at the side of the house, that wasn't a lot.

Something was bothering him, but it wasn't the light. It wasn't the bed; it was his bed, comfortable and spacey, it was good laying in it again. After some time tying to think around it, Sasuke had to admit it to himself; what was bothering him was the silence.

And not just the silence in general, but the lack of one particular noise: Naruto's breathing. In the short period of one week, he somehow managed to develop the habit of falling asleep listening to Naruto breathe noisily in his bed. It was insane. Why was he doing that? Making sure Naruto was alright? Or was he waiting to hear if he would have another wet dream?

That must be it. Sasuke maybe wasn't ready to tell it to the world – that will never happen, anyway – but there was no doubt that Naruto having a wet dream would stay at the very top of all hot and arousing experiences on Sasuke's shelf for a long time. There was just something in his voice, something that was making the moans so much better then anyone else's, kind of non-violent desperation. And those half chokes, like he was trying to find a short cut through the breathing, take too much air at once to feel the oxygen warming up his blood faster…

And of course, that particular train of thought led to madness in the form of intense arousal at the other end. Sasuke trapped both of his hands under his head, trying to think about something else. He was supposed to stop now; that thing, with Naruto, it was over. It was just something he could do in safety, far, far away from home and his family. If he gave in and thought about it in his own bed…

What then? He would continue thinking about it, fantasizing all the time? And what was the harm in that? He'd get off, which he would be doing anyway, and no one would know what was happening in his head. The real damage was already made, and he had made it himself. Thinking back about it, jerking off in his own bed thinking about Naruto could hardly be more haunting them the actual memory of Naruto's forever hot hands, firm body, wicked tongue and, well, the sounds he was producing.

Sasuke pushed the blanket and his boxers away. It felt good to expose himself like that behind the closed doors, letting his swollen cock hit the air freely. Not better than when he did the same thing and Naruto, grinning like a big yellow fox, dropped down on his knees. Hell, not even better than when it stayed in his underwear as he set down at the side of the bed Naruto was stretching on, on his birthday, to return the favor he had owed. Naruto was making things really easy that day for Sasuke; he took his clothes off on his own and closed his eyes, leaning back.

Sasuke could remember vividly how he didn't want to show just how little experience he had as he leaned over. One part of him was trying to think up strategy, think of the movies he had seen; about what Naruto was doing the previous night. The other part just wanted badly to take Naruto's cock into his mouth, see what the taste was like and make him produce some delicious noises.

It was not bad, the taste, a little salty and later bitter. He had to move Naruto's foreskin down and hold it there, because it was in the way. Slowly, testing, he had tried to wrap as much as he could of the shaft with his tongue, then took the head of Naruto's cock into his mouth, pressing his tongue to the slit firmly. The noises were coming, more desperate and louder than ever. Naruto couldn't take that exploring for long, he called Sasuke something – tease? – grabbed him for the hair and jerked his hips up several times, frantic and eager and still unable to get rid of the shaking that was obvious with how his thighs…

Without even realizing he had wrapped his palm around his cock, Sasuke came. For someone so obsessed with Naruto's loud moans, he was probably too quiet, but this time he had to bite into his lip harshly to keep the noises in. That was…

With sperm smeared all over his hand, Sasuke gave a little bitter laugh to the empty white ceiling. He just jerked off, ending with a rather intense orgasm, on a memory of sucking someone off. Weren't the first blow jobs supposed to be disgusting?

They obviously weren't. But Sasuke was feeling a little disgust and very ashamed of himself. He was supposed to stop thinking about Naruto once they got back, not only stop getting off with him. It wasn't working well so far.

Sasuke got up to clean up. He will have to try harder, that was all. He had school, and university to think about and how to make up his parents with Itachi before he went away. Naruto had no place in his life – and neither did anyone else, not in that way.

He repeated it several times silently when he got back under the blanket. Regardless of the guilt, it was surprisingly easy to fall asleep after that.