Inbred

Wow! Chapter 50, what a milestone for me…I should celebrate *does the Hamster Dance*

Short chapter, not much going on. A little attempt at humor, oh and by the way, this is the same day just later in the morning just in case I didn’t make that clear. More Sasuke-fangirl-isms and even I’m starting to get annoyed with it. Hopefully this shall be the last of it.

Okay things are moving along now and it’s getting near the end, I just hope it doesn’t take another fifty chapters.

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Chapter 50

“Come on, Naruto. We’re going to be late,” Sasuke called up the stairs to his tardy friend who had somehow managed to misplace his haversack even though he’d put it away just forty-five minutes ago.

“I can’t find my school-bag,” Naruto yelled back amidst the clamor of clothes and other personal belongings being tossed this way and that.

Sasuke rolled his eyes in exasperation at the disorganized teen and asked Deidara to give him one minute before he took the steps, two at time, and hurried down the hall and into the room that Naruto and Hinata shared.

‘What the hell?’ Sasuke froze and stared, slack-jawed, when he laid eyes upon the once immaculate bedroom that had now become a pig-sty thanks to Naruto’s slovenly searching methods.

Naruto didn’t have very many belongings and the few bags he’d brought over from campus confirmed that much, but Sasuke found it particularly funny how he’d made it possible to cover the entire surface area of the place with so few little items and he immediately wrote it off as one of the mysteries of the universe. Another mystery that was probably going to go unsolved was how on earth were they going to find a fourteen by fourteen knapsack in this mess when he couldn’t even find the bed?

Sasuke cautiously entered the room, careful to avoid any articles of clothing that went soaring by him and joined in the hunt. “Did you check in the cupboard?” he asked, after a quick glance behind the door proved futile.

Naruto heeded his suggestion and took a peek inside the walk-in closet whose doors had already been flung open in his hasty search. He checked each compartment carefully this time, even though most of them were bare by now and after digging through a pile of clothes by his feet he shook his head in the negative.

“What about that table over there?” and he pointed towards the desk after excavating the bed beneath another pile of clean clothes.

Naruto checked atop it, beneath it and behind it but had no luck and a quick glance beneath the four-poster bed proved just as big a disappointment for the Uchiha.

They were already late and this delay had already cost them another eight minutes but that didn’t seem to discourage the brunette although it did send Naruto into a panic and Sasuke had to laugh at the irony. Imagine, Uzumaki Naruto, of all people, upset that he was going to be late for school.

After getting the frenzied teen to calm down they began a more thorough search but it still did not produce Naruto’s book bag. He eventually gave up and resigned himself to survive for one day without it. He could borrow a few sheets of paper and a pen from Temari and he silently prayed that Asuma-sensei didn’t give them one of his surprise, open-booked tests today. Sasuke continued to look while his friend made a quick pit-stop before they left and the bubble-headed blonde soon returned with an awkward grin on his face and his missing book-bag in hand.

Sasuke bristled and shot the boy a flat glare, he would have probably lectured him about his irresponsibility while forcing him to clean up the mess he’d made, but there was no time for that now but he was going to make sure he had plenty of time for it when they got back in the evening but by then Hinata would have probably cleaned it all anyway and Sasuke couldn’t help but feel sorry for the poor girl.

He sincerely hoped that the chore wouldn’t take too much time away from her looking after her cousin and he was infinitely glad that she was here to keep an eye on Neji while he was out. He wished he could stay with him, there was nothing stopping him, he didn’t have to go to classes today but he didn’t want to stay here either.

It wasn’t that the painful memories contained within these walls were too forlorn for him to bear, he was actually surprised that he hadn’t suffered one of his ‘episodes’ yet and he’d been here for over an hour already. The house had been reconstructed exactly to its original blue print but it had gone under such drastic renovations that it was impossible to tell if this was the same Uchiha mansion that had stood proudly for generations before.

The builders and interior designers maintained a traditional look at his request. Sasuke preferred a more conventional feel than a modern one, but he had to admit that the white, plastered walls and the occasional floor to ceiling glass windows gave the house a nice, contemporary touch.

Not much had survived the fire and most of their personal belongings perished that night and new furniture and decor had to be bought so there was nothing really that he could reminisce upon or anything that might spark a forgotten memory of his childhood days spent following his mother, trying to garner attention form his father and adoring his older brother, but to Sasuke, that was a good thing because he didn’t want to dwell on the past, there was nothing it could offer him except disconsolation, but staying here with Neji wouldn’t do much to brighten his spirits either.

He didn’t expect he’d get over this traumatic experience so quickly, he knew Neji just needed time to reconstruct, but the stubborn boy wouldn’t stop torturing himself about it and as Sasuke watched him, watching him dress for school he could see the self-reproach behind those vacant eyes and a desperate need for amnesty on that pale, emotionless face, but what was there left for Sasuke to forgive?

He didn’t hold him responsible any more than Neji held him responsible for that night, so then why was Hyuuga doing this to himself? For the life of him he couldn’t figure it out and the more he thought about it the more it threatened to pull him into that black hole he’d created within his countenance. He couldn’t look at Neji when Neji looked at him like that so it was best for them both if they had a little space so he could escape his contrition and Neji could work up the courage to say whatever it was he wanted to say.

He knew Hyuuga had something on his mind, he saw the way those lips would quiver slightly before clamping shut again and no matter how many times he coaxed the other boy to just spit it out, Neji would just continue to stare blankly at him as if waiting for the answer to the question he never asked.

He hoped Hinata would be able to pull him out of the mire he was allowing himself to slowly sink in because no matter how hard he tried he could tell Neji didn’t think he was worthy of his lover’s rescue.

The idiot!

Sasuke sighed loudly and Naruto apologized for keeping him back but the Uchiha assured him it wasn’t his fault at all. Deidara was patiently waiting for them in the car and when he asked what the holdup was and Sasuke gave him the reason the older blond laughed and actually had the audacity to call Naruto a dumb blonde. Well, you could imagine Sasuke’s irritation when the two got themselves involved in a quarrel that lasted the entire two hour commute and if he wasn’t so tired he would have ordered Deidara to turn the car around and half-way through his first class he was sorry he didn’t.

It was hard, damn near impossible to concentrate on Ibiki’s lecture and Sasuke found that, this time, he couldn’t write and pay attention to the other man even though these were concepts he was already familiar with. The perceptive professor didn’t mind at all that he was late but he did notice that his star-pupil was having difficulty so he didn’t call on him but Sasuke noticed this and chastised himself that he was allowing his personal life to interfere with his school work so much that even the teachers noticed, and Ibiki was not the only one.

It was during their lunch period that Shikamaru approached he and Naruto under a tree and informed him that Kakashi-sensei was looking for him before complaining how troublesome it was that he’d been given the errand by the erratic teacher and twice as troublesome that he had to spend most of his break trying to find him.

Sasuke wondered what the white-haired professor could possibly want from him as he excused himself and left Naruto to converse with the lazy individual who was now making himself comfortable in the shade Sasuke was forced to abandon. He’d just finished a class with him and as far as he knew there hadn’t been any problems at the time, but he couldn’t shake this feeling of dread that churned in his stomach because every student knew that whenever Kakashi-sensei wanted you for anything it was never for something good.

“You wanted to see me, Sir?” he said after knocking twice on the lab door.

The other man nodded without looking up from his book and beckoned him closer while instructing him to close the door behind him. Sasuke did as was told and as he approached the table he raised an eyebrow at the questionable literature his sensei was grossly immersed in.

“Ah, Sasuke-kun. It’s good to see you’re well and back with us,” he smiled broadly behind his white face-mask and placed a velvet book-mark over the page he was reading before resting the book gently upon the table as if it were the most treasured item he possessed.

“It’s good to be back,” he muttered.

“How is Neji-kun?” Kakashi inquired and stepped around the table so he could sit on his desk in front of the shorter man.

“Neji’s not at one hundred percent yet,” and the despondency clearly etched on his face told Kakashi that the boy spoke the truth.

He crossed his arms over his chest and nodded slowly. “I hope he gets well soon.”

“Me too. Listen,” he added quickly and Kakashi’s head snapped up to meet his. “Is this all you called me in here for.”

“Ah, kind of,” he smiled and a lone bead of perspiration slipped down one pale temple. “Actually, me and a few of the other teachers are concerned about you.”

Sasuke didn’t like where this was going. “Concerned?” he echoed.

“Aoh!” he replied, his face suddenly serious again. “I understand that what happened that night can be very traumatizing and I know you’re probably feeling a certain guilt because Hyuuga was involved too, even though you two don’t get along very well, but the important thing is that you’re both alive. However, you don’t seem to be taking this very well at all and I’d feel better if you talked to the school counselor about it.”

“With all due respect, Kakashi-sensei. Thank you for your concern but I don’t need to see the school counselor.”

“You’re cute when you’re stubborn, Sasuke-kun,” and he smiled again. “I can’t force you to talk to him but if you’d feel more comfortable then you can talk to me instead.”

“You?” and the obvious surprise in his voice wounded the usually care-free professor.

“Well you see, it’s embarrassing to admit but…,” he trailed off and scratched the side of his head. “I like you, Sasuke-kun. I know that, as a professor, I’m not supposed to show partiality among my students but you’re my favorite,” he confessed and the mask that covered most of his face didn’t do much to hide the slight blush that touched his cheeks. “I just don’t like to see you like this and I don’t want to see your work suffer because of it either.”

Sasuke didn’t know what to say to that but he knew he was feeling just as embarrassed as the other man at his confession and he had to clear his throat to get the words to come out properly. “I…thank you, Kakashi-sensei,” he stammered and shifted awkwardly from one foot to the next. “Umm…I’ll be sure to keep that in mind.”

“You do that,” and he said it more like an order than a request. “Make sure you keep Hyuuga up to date on his school-work, that will be your responsibility because I won’t go easy on him when he comes back.”

“We wouldn’t expect anything less from you, Kakashi-sensei,” he chuckled.

“Ah, just one more thing, Sasuke-kun,” and he paused, and his voice had dropped a few bars lower, and Sasuke knew he wasn’t going to like what was coming next. “Hyuuga-san called about his nephew. Shikamaru-kun had informed the staff that you had taken Neji with you and we told him that, so if it’s not too much trouble could you call him and confirm to him that Neji is indeed with you?”

Sasuke had to bite his tongue hard to stop himself from rudely scoffing in his teacher’s face. There was no fucking way he was going to call that bastard and tell him anything about Neji or his condition because he knew the son of a bitch didn’t care one shit about the other boy.

“If Hyuuga wants to find out if his nephew is alright he can call me himself, I’m listed,” but as much as he tried to mask his disdain towards the other man, Kakashi heard it dripping from the tone of his voice.

“I didn’t know the Uchihas and the Hyuugas were feuding,” he teased, trying to make light of the conversation. “I certainly hope you’re not holding his nephew hostage.”

But Kakashi had it the other way around. He had no idea that it was Sasuke who had rescued Neji from the prison his family had thrust him in.

“Sasuke-kun, please don’t get into trouble with the Hyuuga family. If your parents were still alive they could fight your battle for you but you’re still very young and all alone now so try not to make Hyuuga-san angry.”

Kakashi was right. As far as everyone knew, he was the last remaining Uchiha on this planet and even though he had managed to keep the business afloat he had lost quite a bit of influence within the business world over the earlier years but while he, still had more money than the Hyuugas, the Hyuugas had amassed more power.

He’d have to be twice as careful from now on because he was sure the other man was going to target him too, now that he had Neji but Hyuuga didn’t know who he was fucking with and if Sasuke didn’t let Neji boss him around then there was no way in hell he was going to be intimidated by the Hyuuga head either.

“I’m sorry, Kakashi-sensei,” he smiled at the teacher but it was really a confident smirk. “I know I shouldn’t look to start a fight and I’ll be sure to let Hyuuga-san know his nephew is safe and doing well,” he lied.

Kakashi didn’t seem too convinced but he wanted to give the Uchiha the benefit of the doubt and dismissed him with an admonition to keep himself out of trouble and not to become too depressed over the recent events.

By then, Sasuke was too anxious to get home and check on Neji and he didn’t feel like going to classes anymore and since he knew the next session was going to be taught by Mizuki-sensei, he didn’t even bother to show up. He tried calling home but the phone rang out and he hung up and called again for the second time, but on the fifth ring he became worried and was just about to catch the bus when Hinata finally answered.

His nerves were shot and he had to take a deep breath so he wouldn’t yell at the innocent girl but when he calmly asked why she didn’t pick up sooner he wiped a large hand over his face and felt like giving her a noogie when she said she didn’t think it was right answering someone else’s telephone. After making sure she clearly understood that she was now a resident there just as much as he was he asked about Neji.

The girl said he was still a little solemn but he did talk to her, he talked to her a lot actually and Sasuke felt jealousy wrap its bony fingers around his neck.

‘Damn you, Hyuuga,’ he swore inwardly when Hinata began telling him about all the different conversations they had throughout the day at his request. ‘Why won’t you talk to me, too?’

He thanked her for her time and hung up just before the final bell rang and the students began to file out of the large doors. Naruto saw him and bade his classmates farewell before trotting over to his dark-haired friend, grinning from ear to ear and probably just as eager to get home to his loved one as he was.

“Enjoyed your day, dobe?” Sasuke drawled and eased into the picnic table beneath another shady tree.

“You can’t call me that anymore,” he gloated, his chest puffing with pride.

“Oh?” Sasuke smirked while raising an inquisitive eyebrow and raking his dark eyes over the other boy’s elated form. “Why not?”

“Because, I’m not ‘dead last’ anymore. I’m ranked sixth in my entire class now,” he beamed.

Sasuke was impressed and just as proud as he was, maybe even more so. Naruto was finally applying himself and he was enjoying the fruits of his hard labor, granted that sixth wasn’t a position that Sasuke ever recognized but for Naruto…well the boy could as well have placed first anyway.

“Congratulations, Naruto,” praised Sasuke but a cheeky grin split his face when he added, “I guess I’ll have to start calling you usuratonkachi from now on.”

“Oo- soo- rat- on- kashi?” repeated the blonde, testing his new, much longer title. “Sounds, cool…what does it mean?”

“Total moron.”

Naruto’s exuberance faded and was carried away on the loud gust of wind that conveniently swept between them.

“Oh yeah, well you’re still a bastard…you…BASTARD!”

“Ouch,” Sasuke winced and rubbed his forearm as if he’d just been injured. “I felt that one,” he teased.

“Bastard,” Naruto mumbled and he ordered Sasuke to move over so he could slip into the seat next to him.

They sat quietly next to each other, neither boy saying much until Naruto became too impatient and started to whine and pretty much get under the Uchiha’s skin.

“When’s Deidara getting here?” he groaned loudly, his voice slightly muffled against his bag that he was using as a pillow upon the table.

“I don’t know,” Sasuke repeated for the fourth time. “But wherever he is he’s probably five minutes closer than when you asked me that five minutes ago,” and another five minutes passed before Naruto asked the same question again.

“Dammit, usuratonkachi,” Sasuke snapped already finding a situation where he could use Naruto’s new nickname. “Can’t you just wait quietly? Deidara will get here when he gets here, just be patient.”

“Hi, Sasuke-kun!”

The raven-haired boy stiffened when he heard that annoying, high-pitched voice and Naruto grinned widely as the pink-haired girl approached their table.

Haruno Sakura…the perfect revenge.

“Hi,” he groaned in greeting not even bothering to hide his displeasure at her appearance.

“How was your day?”

“Fine!”

“That’s good,” she nodded. “Did you know Kakashi-sensei was looking for you?”

“Yes!”

“Did you talk to him yet?”

“Yes!”

“That’s good,” she nodded again then asked, “how’s Neji?”

‘Deidara get your ass over here NOW!’ Sasuke screamed inside his head as if that would suddenly make the blonde bodyguard appear.

“Fine,” he ground out slowly as if that was information he didn’t think she deserved to know.

“Ah, everyone is jealous of Hyuuga-san,” she cooed and clasped her hands under her chin while looking up at the sky. “He is so lucky he was in that accident with you. I wish I was there so Sasuke-kun could take care of me at his house too.”

Sasuke raised his head slowly and gave her a nasty look that clearly asked if she was out of her fucking mind, but she missed it…too caught up in her fantasy to pay him any attention. Naruto looked up at the day-dreamer as if she’d just lost all of her marbles as well but when his slightly passive, blue eyes rested on Sauske he frowned when he saw the fury barely contained within his tightly drawn eyes and his lips pulled back into a thin scowl.

‘How dare they?’ he seethed his nose flaring as he glared up at the frustrating young woman. Neji almost lost his life in that car accident and they were jealous of him? Seriously, did these girls even think before they opened their traps to shove their feet in it? Sasuke didn’t think so.

“Umm…Sasuke-kun,” she blushed slightly and avoided his eyes while pulling at an index finger with her other hand. “I and a few of the other girls on the committee wanted to know if it would be okay if we came by to visit with Hyu-“

“No!” Sasuke interrupted and his sharp voice made the girl tense.

If they didn’t want to visit Neji when he was bed-ridden on campus then he wasn’t going to allow them to visit him while he was staying at his place either. He knew they were using that as an excuse to enter his house and brag to everyone else and that knowledge made him sick to his stomach.

Did they really think he was that stupid? That he was born yesterday or something?

Sakura recovered quickly from his curt response, the hundreds of times she was shot down by him had made her somewhat immune but Sasuke wished it would make her get the message. She tried to change the topic then and started complaining about how difficult Kakashi-sensei’s tests were and that she knew the mid-terms were going to be just as hard.

“But that won’t be any problem for you and me, right, Sasuke-kun?”

“Hn!” he scoffed. He didn’t think she deserved complete words anymore.

“What kind of topics do you think will be on Kakashi-sensei’s mid-term?” she asked and coyly slipped into the bench on the opposite side of their table, but Sasuke was keen to her ruse and immediately got to his feet and walked away.

“I have to make a phone call,” he murmured to Naruto and fished his cellphone from his pocket so he could give Deidara an earful for making him sit through five minutes of that pink-haired nuisance.

‘Damn it all to hell!’ Naruto raged inwardly and ground his teeth together. ‘That bastard abandoned me with this rabid fan-girl again!’

“Oh, hi, Naruto-kun,” the girl chirped and raised a small hand in greeting, desperately trying to save face by starting a conversation with him.

‘She now decides to notice me?’

“Hi, Sakura-chan,” Naruto mumbled with a sigh.

True to form, Sakura engaged him in a one-sided discussion and all Naruto had to do was nod and occasionally say ‘okay’ but when he stopped completely the girl didn’t even seem to notice as she went on and on…and on. He assumed she was trying to stall in hopes that Sasuke would eventually come back but the Uchiha made no return appearance and a tall, very amused blonde in a black shirt showed up on his behalf.

“Hey, blondie,” Deidara smirked and as much as Naruto hated the man for calling him that he wanted to throw his arms and legs around him and kiss him on his cheek…well…maybe not kiss him, but he definitely felt like hugging him.

“Hi Deidara,” he said a little too ecstatically and he tossed his bag over one shoulder, not even bothering to properly slip it through both arms. “You made it. Let’s go!”

“Uh…oh-kay,” he blinked and allowed the shorter boy to lead him towards the parking lot and he waved awkwardly at the girl that was shouting and waving her good byes. “Hey, I thought you already had a girl-friend, yeah. Are you a player?”

“Don’t start with me, Deidara,” he growled but the other man just seemed to find his annoyance more amusing. But Naruto wasn’t just annoyed, he was pissed, and when he got into the back seat of the car he let Sasuke have it and for the duration of the ride back home Sasuke had to endure Naruto calling him a bastard and Deidara teasingly accusing Naruto of being a player.

“HONEY! I’M HOME!” the hyperactive youth yelled through the house but while Deidara was surprised by his sudden change in attitude, Sasuke wasn’t. He knew Naruto had the attention span of a dead goldfish so he was used to it by now.

When his ‘pretend wife’ didn’t show up Naruto carelessly dropped his bag by the door to go in search of her and Sasuke left it there because he knew the moron would be looking for it again tomorrow morning.

For once, Sasuke was actually glad to be home and he felt a certain tranquility settle over him, a tranquility that he’d never known while within these walls before. He was eager to see his face and, like Naruto, searched out his lover but when he got upstairs he saw Naruto standing quietly outside of his bedroom door and Sasuke curiously approached him and looked over his shoulder to see what he was looking at and he became just as mesmerized as the other boy.

Neji was sitting on his bed, his back facing them and Hinata was kneeling behind him so she could brush his hair but it wasn’t this scene alone that warmed his heart but the intimacy of the conversation they were engaged in. Naruto couldn’t make out most of what they were saying but Sasuke knew and he hung on every word. Hinata made a particularly childish pun on eating squid for dinner and when Neji retorted in a giggle ‘Share wa yamena share’ Sasuke thought his heart would melt in his chest.

Naruto saw the dreamy smile on his friend’s lips and he was suddenly curious as to the nature of the joke but Sasuke merely shook his head and said they were playing a child’s word game.

“Naruto-kun!” the young Hyuuga exclaimed and put the brush one side before climbing off the bed to run into his outstretched arms.

“Hinata-chaaan!,” he yelled just as excitedly before rocking her side to side.

“How was your day, Naruto-kun?” she asked, after he allowed her to lean back so she could look up at him.

“It’s a lot better now that I’m here again with you,” he replied in a slightly husky voice and rubbed their noses together. He was so caught up in her that he’d completely forgotten Neji was in the room with them but even if the other man had any objections to Naruto taking his little cousin into their bedroom they were lost in his throat when Sasuke approached the bed.

Neji didn’t meet his eyes and, instead, observed the boar-bristle brush next to him but when the mattress shifted under the other man’s weight he slowly lifted his face.

Sasuke was softly smiling at him and Neji slowly returned the gesture.

The younger man tilted his head to one side and his lips transformed into a lop-sides smirk as he lifted one hand to caress one of Neji’s pale cheeks. Was that all that was needed? Was that all it took? Just one smile?

He cupped his face and drew him closer so he could press his forehead against his and give him an ‘eskimo kiss’ and he pulled away just in time catch his lips slightly parted with the words he longed to speak.

“What is it, koi?” he asked just above a whisper and encouraged him to open up by tracing his shaky lips with a finger-tip, but Neji closed his mouth again and just shook his head apologetically.

He wasn’t ready yet, and Sasuke wasn’t going to force him this time.

The Uchiha smiled again and procured the brush Hinata had discarded before signaling for him to turn back around by spinning his index finger in mid-air. Neji complied and Sasuke adjusted his position behind him, framing his hips with his long legs and planting a loving kiss against the top of his head before resuming the task of brushing his hair.

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Strange way to end this chapter, I know, but I thought it was kinda sweet.