Let The Silence Be Broken
Chapter Five
The cluster of trees lining the town’s promenade shielded Itachi from the harsh sunlight. He was heading to the supermarket on his last errand.
While reflecting on his grocery list that had grown in proportion to a certain boy’s appetite, he failed to notice that said boy was in fact running towards him.
“Itachi, Itachi!” Naruto hollered, grinning widely.
“Hello Naruto,” Itachi responded quietly, wondering why the boy looked happy to see him.
“I'm so glad I ran into you! There's something you gotta see,” the blonde urged him on, grabbing his arm. “Come on!”
The Uchiha’s eyes widened at the unwanted contact but he decided that it was not unpleasant, thus allowing himself to be lead away by the impulsive boy. Besides he was curious about what the blonde could possibly show him.
You cannot be serious. An excuse was moments away from forming on the Uchiha’s lips, after Naruto halted in front of the arcade. The man believed the place was childish and that his time would be better spent on productive activities. Nevertheless, the boy still managed to change his resolve when he spoke again.
“I used to come here every day after school, until you made me realise that I was slacking off too much.”
“So I only come here on Saturdays now, it’s kinda like a reward for all that studying,” Naruto confessed, pushing the door open.
Reminded of his own lack of childhood, Itachi realised that going to the arcade was probably the norm for the children of Naruto’s generation and the boy wanted to share the activity with him since he had no friends. Moreover, he could not fault the logic of the boy’s reformed habit.
After following Naruto into the gaming centre, he looked around and immediately felt out of place. A group of children were making a racket in front of a racing game, while several teenagers were equally noisy in their own world. Turning his attention back to the blonde, Itachi watched him fish a game token out of a frog purse.
The blonde's face reddened in embarrassment upon noticing the man’s pointed stare. However, it did nothing to crush his excitement, since he had been desperately wanting for someone to join him in the two-player mode of his favourite game for the longest time.
Leading the way to the Ninja Gaiden machine, Naruto warned the man that he would not go easy on him. Therefore, he won the first game since Itachi had been familiarising himself with the controls. However the tables turned on Naruto in the next two (2) games where Itachi emerged victorious.
“I can't believe you kicked my ass,” the boy laughed, walking out of the arcade with his hands behind his head.
“I kept walking into your genjutsu too.”
“You wouldn’t stop charging at me,” the man said.
“Hey, there’s nothing wrong with the way I play!” the boy feigned hurt before bursting into laughter again.
Caught in the warmth of the moment, Itachi smiled down at him. He could not deny that it was fun playing the ninja game with the boy.
And naturally, Naruto followed Itachi into the supermarket, chatting about anything that came to mind while the man listened to him and filled up his trolley.
“I’ll leave you to your favourite section,” the blonde teased when the man turned into the fresh produce aisle.
Joining the man later in the checkout line, Naruto dropped a cup ramen into the trolley. The man merely raised a brow at the gesture; the boy’s antics never ceased to amaze him.
“Thanks for today,” the blonde said while putting away the last shopping bag into the trunk of Itachi’s Sedan.
Instead of replying in kind, the man said what was most comfortable to him. “Get in, I will take you home.”
The university was a maze of buildings and corridors. Uzumaki Naruto had thrust into what was quickly becoming, an increasingly futile search for a certain professor.
What’s with this place? Can they all be in detention? He wondered while passing another class that still was in session during lunch time.
Moments later, laughter and lively chatter buzzed from a nearby room, arousing his curiosity. Easing through the half doors, Naruto crept into the lecture theatre, mindful that he was bound to stick out because of his uniform. Fortunately, no one noticed him taking a seat in the back, or heard his subsequent gasp upon seeing Itachi standing at the centre of the floor.
Itachi had posed a morality question to the class and was calling on the raised hands. Despite the good answers, they all missed a crucial point, save the crude joke of a young man that prompted laughter.
“As stupid as that may sound you're actually right, seems like you're finally learning Kimura-san.”
“It’s about time, you've been here long enough,” the professor continued, triggering another round of snickers and laughter.
Meanwhile, Naruto was delighted to see this assertive side of his sensei and his conviction of becoming a teacher was renewed by the end of the lecture; the professor was amazing.
“How did the whole class end up in detention, Itachi?” The blonde asked after the last student left the room.
Detention? The professor froze since there was only one person who could be this familiar with him and say something that crazy.
“Naruto...What are you doing here?” The stunned man asked, wondering when and how the boy slipped in.
Grinning at the man’s quizzical expression, Naruto replied, “I’m here for a lecture with my school.”
“But I need to head back before they start looking for me. And you’re taking me too, I couldn’t find my way back even if I tried,” he added, locking eyes with the taller man.
You never say please do you? While packing up his things, Itachi explained the differences between secondary school and university class schedules to the boy. Then he treated him to a tour of the law department and a drink from the vending machine.
Upon entering the lobby where pictures of prominent alumni hung on the walls, the blonde did a double take of a particular photograph.
“Is this...this you?” The blonde choked, looking back and forth between Itachi and the picture of a boy.
Nodding slightly, the professor awaited the barrage of typical questions that always followed, whenever someone recognised him from the image. However, the blonde’s comment was completely unexpected.
“You were really cute,” Naruto remarked, while secretly thinking that the man had grown up gorgeous.
Cute? Looking down at the blushing blonde, Itachi opened his mouth to respond but found no words. So he opted to ponder the strange feeling that he was suddenly having towards the boy who treated him like a normal person.
“I should’ve known I would find you out here,” drawled an angry looking older woman.
Oh shit! The blonde panicked, gritting his teeth in fear of her unleashing her infamous temper on him.
“‘I-I didn’t mean to cause any trouble, I just wanted to....” Naruto spun around, waving his hands around helplessly while thinking up of an excuse that could possibly appease her.
“To make me spend nearly an hour looking for you perhaps?” She asked, planting her hands on her hips.
“I wasn’t gone that long,” Naruto replied thoughtlessly and instantly regretted it when her face darkened.
“What did you say?”
“The one to blame for this misunderstanding would be me,” the young professor interrupted, earning himself a matching pair of questioning looks.
“The boy was lost and asked me for directions, then I got carried away when he asked about the university.”
“I guess that I’m just too passionate about my alma mater, and for that I apologise, it was rude of me to keep him back,” he admitted.
Gazing at the attractive man, clad in a thin sweater and dark slacks, she then noticed the university ID clipped to his belt, and the picture resembling him on the wall.
“It’s quite all right, thank you for taking care for him,” she responded, blushing slightly.
To think Naruto could carry on an intelligent conversation with a handsome man of his calibre was mystifying. She would be paying closer attention to the blonde from now.
“Let’s head back,” she said, shaking her head. “I don’t know what to do with you...”
Lisping a ‘thank you,’ a grateful Naruto walked away with his teacher.
Somehow, Itachi could not stand by and watch the boy drown in clumsy excuses, so he intervened. Whether he liked it or not, the boy was in his life now, and he would rather deal with his talkativeness, than his sad silence.
TBC
A/N: Naruto had a hard time choosing between the ramen flavours in the supermarket. It’s been 2 months since the boys have met. Thank you for reading this far