Life's a Dance

 

I hope you guys enjoy this chapter. It was a challenge.

 

~`~

 

 

The rest of the morning passed with hardly any interruptions. Naruto was certainly impressed with Konohamaru’s behavior. The blond wasn’t sure if Itachi was just that intimidating to the kid, or if the youngest person in the room knew that Itachi demanded respect. It was around noon when Naruto’s stomach decided to demand some food.

Itachi raised an eyebrow. “I’m guessing that pit you call a stomach is demanding some sort of sacrifice?”

Naruto just grinned and rubbed the back of his head. “Yeah, we had to rush breakfast this morning to get here early today.”

Konohamaru didn’t say anything. Naruto frowned slightly. Normally the kid would break a joke about the blond’s appetite. He guessed that the kid was in one of his moods and Naruto hoped that he would wait until they got home to have a tantrum. He would hate to get fired because the kid couldn’t control himself.

“Where do you want to order from today? I think Konan is running a special on ramen.” Itachi suggested.

“Konan’s ramen is the best! What kind do you want kid?” Naruo asked excitedly.

Konohamaru didn’t say anything as there two sets of eyes staring at him. Naruto got a feeling in his gut at the stubborn look that started to overtake his features. The blond got out of his chair and sat down in front of Konohamaru. He hoped that if the kid blew, he would take the brunt of the anger. But the outburst didn’t come. And Naruto held his breath of relief. He was glad that Konohamaru exercised some self control.

“Do you want any ramen Konohamaru?” Naruto asked him softly.

Then a sniffle came and the blond wondered what he did wrong. “You…I thought…ramen was…our thing.” Konohamaru sniffled out between choked sobs.

“It is. Itachi doesn’t eat ramen. He’s more of a dango eater. So you see, it’s still our thing.” Naruto reassured him while taking the kid in his arms.

“But what if he takes you from me?” Konohamaru asked softly.

“I promise that the only way we’ll be separated is if I die.” Naruto answered in a whisper.

“NO! I DON’T WANT YOU DIE! NOT LIKE THEM!” Konohamaru started to cry in earnest.

Naruto pulled Konohamaru closer to him. “I can’t help that Konohamaru. When it’s my time to go, it’s my time. There is nothing I can do about that. I would never leave you willingly though. That you must understand. And please, don’t grieve over me when I’m gone. It would break my heart to know I caused you such pain.”

Konohamaru’s loud crying soon ebbed into smaller cries and then subsided into hiccups. When Naruto was sure the kid was done crying, he pulled back and smiled brightly at the kid. He lifted one hand and removed tears from Konohamaru’s face. “There, now what do you want for lunch?”

Konohamaru was silent before answering that he wanted pork ramen. Naruto looked up at Itachi, “I’ll have the same. And I’ll pay for lunch this time since Konohamaru is here with us.”

“Nonsense. I’ll pay like I always have.” With that said Itachi picked up the phone and called Konan’s restaurant. He had it delivered since he knew that would be wrong of him to asked Naruto to pick with Konohamaru there with them. He had felt the kids eyes on him all morning, like the kid had figured something out about him that he had yet to figure out himself.

An tense silence filled the room while Naruto moved from his spot on the floor and began to stretch. He hated sitting at the desk. It wasn’t something that he was used to. He was full of energy and normally needed to run in the morning and evenings to get rid of it. But ever since he took this job and took Konohamaru in, he didn’t have time for exercise. He thought maybe that he should get one of those treadmills, maybe that would help with his restlessness.

“Hey Boss, can you help me with this math problem?” Naruto was brought out of his thoughts.

The blond looked down and nodded his head yes, his heart filled with joy. The boy was finally asking him for help! He had been waiting for this day for a long time. He took the book from Konohamaru and asked him which question was. When he was given the number, he gazed over the problem and the blond was at a loss. He didn’t know the answer. He was never good at word problems. And what teacher in his right mind would give an eight year old this kind of problem? Naruto groaned and handed the book back to the boy.

“Sorry kid, I don’t know the answer. I was never good at word problems. Maybe Sakura can help you tomorrow. She was always the math whiz in school.” Naruto said as he glanced to the side, ashamed that he couldn’t help Konohamaru when he finally asked for it.

“Maybe I can help. May I look at it Konohamaru?” Naruto almost jumped at the sultry sound of Itachi’s voice so near to him. He really hoped that this fancy of his boss would pass. He had turned down a few dates recently and Naruto was sure it was mainly due to the fact that they weren’t Itachi. He really hoped that Itachi hadn’t ruined him. If so, he was destined to be without a partner for the rest of his life.

Konohamaru looked unsure for a moment, but Naruto nodded his head in approval. He had hoped that maybe Itachi could help the kid. Naruto reflected back on the brief with Orochimaru earlier that day. The man had seemed vaguely familiar, but he couldn’t place his finger on it. He was pretty sure he had seen him with someone he knew. Naruto shrugged it off for now. He would more than likely remember later.

“There now do you think you can solve it on your own?” Itachi’s soft voice brought Naruto back to the present. A content smile spread across his face as he watched his boss get up from the floor and dust his pants off. Naruto couldn’t help the widening smile that graced his face.

“Thank you for helping him. I must seem like a total dunce.” Naruto said as he sat back down in his chair.

“Everyone has weaknesses Naruto, remember that. It doesn’t make me think any less of you because you can’t solve a word problem.” Itachi answered as he took his own seat.

“I’ll remember that. So Konohamaru was that the last of your homework?” The blond asked as he turned to the kid.

“Yeah. Don’t worry, I didn’t forget my DS!” The young brunette exclaimed as he pulled the hand held system from his book bag.

~`~

Naruto let out a groan of relief as his body hit the couch. It had been a long at the office and he was glad that Konohamaru had mostly behaved. It seemed that the kid warmed up to his boss after Itachi had helped him with that math problem.

The shower he had after he came home had defintely helped relieving some of the stress from today. He had yet to place who Orochimaru was, but he wasn’t too concerned with it. The blond reached for the remote, turned the T.V. and began channel surfing. There was absolutely nothing on the television and Naruto just left it on a random channel. He liked having a bit of background noise and he knew Konohamaru didn’t mind it, that kid could sleep through an earthquake.

Naruto was in that place between consciousness and sleep. He was almost into that wonderful place of full blown sleep when the phone rang. Naruto shot off the coach and cursed when he somehow managed to hit the floor. He mumbled some more curses as the phone continued to ring. He made his way to the kitch and picked up the phone.

“What? This had better be a fucking emergency!” Naruto growled out into the phone.

“I’m…sorry Naru. I…can I just come over? Please?” The voice on the other end was broken and Naruto could have sworn it was Sasuke.

“Sasuke? Is that you?” Naruto was more alert now that he knew the person was his best friend.

“Yeah, it’s me. I just, please let me stay the night!” Sasuke was begging, which was something the youngest Uchiha never did.

“Yeah. Come on over, I’ll be up. You had better be explaining shit when you get here too.” Naruto said before he hung up.

It didn’t take long for Sasuke to arrive. So the blond was sure that Sasuke was near by when he called. And the state that the Uchiha was in, angered Naruto to his core. The Uchiha was paler than normal and the red rimmed confirmed that he had been crying and there were only three who were capable of that and Naruto was sure he wasn’t that person.

The blond grabbed Sasuke by the shirt and drug him into the apartment since it seemed that Sasuke wasn’t capable of doing it himself. Naruto led him to the couch and pushed the Uchiha onto it. Naruto then crawled into his friends lap and rested his head on the slightly bony shoulder.

“Sasuke, please tell me what’s wrong. I don’t like it when you’re like this. Please say something.” Naruto pleaded. He could easily feel the pain roiling off his friend in waves and Naruto was worried that he wouldn’t be able to help.

“Kiba…he…proposed to Hinata.” The sentence held no emotion whatsoever. Which told Naruto that his friend was done crying and that he would now close himself off to everyone but Naruto.

“The fuck?” Naruto growled as he pulled back. “Explain. Now!”

“I went to surprise him at his apartment. I wanted to finally move in together, you know. So I went over there and used my key to get in. And fuck, the whole place is riddled with candles. Thank god there no rose petals. I was curious so I kept going. And in the living, Kiba’s on one knee with a ring.” Here Sasuke had to break his sentence off and began to sob. The blond hated crying bastard Sasuke more than pissed bastard Sasuke, but Naruto said nothing as he cuddled closer to who he considered his brother. He put the rest of the story together. He had never wanted to kill Kiba as much as what he did then. He just hoped that Kiba was smart enough for a few weeks.

Eventually Naruto felt Sasuke’s breath even out. The blond pulled away and watched the sleeping man before him for a few minutes, wondering why in the world the two of them had never fallen in love with one another. It would simplify a lot of things. But in the end, Naruto knew that a relationship of that caliber would have destroyed both himself and Sasuke. And that was something the blond never wanted for the two of them. They were fine the way their relationship was.

Naruto laid Sasuke down on the couch and covered him with the blanket from the back of it.He always kept it there in case he got cold. He just hoped that the youngest Uchiha would talk some more to him tomorrow. A closed off Sasuke was a dangerous Sasuke. Naruto groaned as he heard the phone ring, he hoped that it wouldn’t wake the sleeping man.

He quickly picked it up and answered it. “Dude is Sasuke there? I really need to explain shit to him.”

Naruto forced back a loud growl. “That is none of your fucking concern Inuzuka.” And the blond slammed the phone on the hook after hanging up.