An Interwoven Web Of Deceit

Ok, here we are with the next chapter. I was struggling slightly go get it to flow right and I still think there are problems. If you see any, tell me so I can rectify them.

Question. Didn’t ANYONE notice the suspicious item I placed in one of my chapters? No one has questioned it yet! I just wondered.

Anyway, please read and enjoy. Thank you for all of your reviews and as I’ve said before, I can always write a branch off from this story, (think sliding doors style) and make that Ino/Naru but this story in the end will be Sasu/Naru. The plot is already done and I have a few competitive scenes for Ino and Sasuke already planned. There will be a bit of Ino/Naruto in this anyway. I wont break them up nastily. I’m not saying any more or I will give away too much.

Right, onwards:

An Interwoven Web Of Deceit

Decisions Made And Problems Discovered

When it had been announced, practically the entire village went back to normalcy as if nothing had happened. Admittedly, it wasn’t actually broadcast but everyone seemed to know about it, probably because of a little display that quite a lot of people had seen, outside one of the many bars in the centre of the village.

Choji had been surprised, so had Lee. Kiba had been highly amused and had begun to take the piss, until he was reminded by Shino that something like that would never happen to him if he never grew up. This shut him up quite effectively.

Hinata had seemed to be devastated, for as soon as she had heard, she had run away in tears. It seemed that Sakura also hadn’t taken it very well, although she seemed subdued. Neji hadn’t shown that much emotion about it in public, but he had seemed slightly angry, walking away when they came into view, mumbling under his breath. When he was stuck in their company, like part of a group, he would either glare at Ino, or just stare at Naruto incessantly.

He himself had actually been pretty surprised. It wasn’t something he had thought would happen. Ino and Naruto made great friends sure, but they didn’t really work as a pair. They were too alike. He didn’t disapprove of them exactly, they just felt wrong.

Then there was Sasuke. The Uchiha had taken to lurking, usually in the area’s that Naruto and Ino had been. On more than one occasion he had made someone jump when he appeared out of nowhere with his face looking like a thundercloud.

Shikamaru had a pretty firm belief that Naruto had something to do with Sasuke’s stranger than normal behaviour, but he couldn’t place what it was. Sasuke most definitely wasn’t jealous of Naruto being in a relationship with Ino. As far as he could tell, Sasuke pretty much detested the girl, if any of the dirty looks she received were any indication.

Shikamaru thought of Ino at that moment. Where he had seen caring and affection in her eyes for Naruto, he had yet to see those emotions returned. Naruto did care, he could see that much every time they were together, but his eyes weren’t as warm towards Ino as hers were towards him.

He sighed then and closed his eyes. Why was he even trying to analyse all this anyway? It was all so bothersome and all he wanted was to snooze under the warm sun, his mind empty.

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“…nothing wrong with it!” An agitated voice made itself heard.

Shikamaru groaned. He didn’t even have to open his eyes to see who was arguing while walking in his direction. Ino’s voice was very loud and she always seemed to be bickering with Sakura about something or another.

“Of course there is. You hardly know him.”

“I know him well enough.”

“That’s not the point. He’s a guy. A teenage guy, with hormones! Aren’t you scared that he’ll molest you in his sleep or something?”

“Now you’re being ridiculous.”

If Shikamaru had been lying on his bed at that point in time, he would have grabbed a pillow and attempted to suffocate himself in frustration. Instead, he covered his face with his hands and groaned. He knew what this argument was about. A few days ago, Ino had left her parents house when they had shown their disapproval of her relationship with Naruto. She had practically moved herself into Naruto’s apartment, telling him that she would find her own place soon and get out of his hair. Sakura didn’t like the fact that her friend had moved in with her team-mate. The two girls, who had been at each others throats a little while back, were now on speaking terms again, if you could call it that.

“How is it being ridiculous Ino?”

“This is Naruto you are talking about. There is no way that he would do something like that.” Ino defended. “He isn‘t some random pervert.”

“He‘s a boy.”

“An innocent boy.”

“He is still a boy!”

“DO YOU MIND?” Shikamaru rarely raised his voice, deeming it too bothersome, but he was getting quite annoyed. Sighing, he sat up and stared at the two girls who had paused in their bickering to stare at him. “Some of us were patrolling at the crack of dawn and would like a bit of piece and quiet. If you are going to have a never ending argument, may I suggest that you take it elsewhere.”

Complete silence answered his outburst and the two girls stared at him in shock. Shikamaru was actually slightly shocked at himself. He hadn’t meant to yell that loudly.

“Sorry ‘Maru-kun.” Ino grinned at him, snapping herself out of her shock. “I forgot that you need ‘lots’ of beauty sleep!”

Sakura giggled at that and Shikamaru growled.

“Ino…”

“Don’t worry. I’m leaving. I have to find Naruto anyway.”

With that, Ino waved at himself and Sakura and ran towards the Hokage monument. Shikamaru sighed and lay back down, resting his head on his hands and stared back at the clouds. It was a few minutes later that a rustling was heard then a presence sat down on the grass next to him.

This surprised him slightly. Sakura rarely spent any time in his company and she would never willingly sit with him while on her own.

“What do you see when you stare at the clouds?”

He stared at the pink haired girl questioningly. Sakura was sitting with her hands behind her on the grass and her legs stretched out in front. Her head was tilted back and her eyes were on the sky.

“Oh, this and that.” was his reply.

“I see freedom,” Sakura smiled. “Escape. Lack of burdens.”

“Freedom?”

“Yes. A way of throwing away your old life and becoming a better person.” Sakura stared back at him and their eyes met. She smiled sarcastically but it wasn’t directed at him. It seemed it was directed inwardly at herself. “Growing up and throwing the silly things away.”

“What are you getting at Sakura?” Shikamaru was intrigued. He had never heard this girl talk like this. She was the number 1 Sasuke fan girl and all he ever heard from her mouth was Sasuke, Sasuke, Sasuke. This was a welcome break from the norm.

“I’m giving up on hopeless causes and I intend to move on with my life.”

“Sasuke.” Shikamaru acknowledged. “What you mean is, you’re giving up on Sasuke. Why?”

Sakura nodded at his conclusion, then answered his question.

“I woke up. It was just a crush. I realised that I never saw him for real, just the him that I had made up in my mind. He didn’t like me the way that I wanted him to and I realised that he never would. I need to move on.” The sarcastic smile left her face and she gave Shikamaru a real smile. “Ino helped me realise that, when she began hanging out with the only boy who ever showed me a hint of real affection. I know better now. She‘s moved on, now I need to.”

Shikamaru was impressed, but he didn’t show it. Instead he lay back down on the grass and stared at the clouds again.

“Erm, Shikamaru. Is it okay for me to sit with you while you cloud watch?”

“Sure, if that’s what you want.”

Shikamaru listened while Sakura made herself comfortable on the grass next to him and he inwardly questioned himself why he had agreed to her company. It wasn’t like he knew her very well, but what he did know was that she was an incessant talker, just like Ino was.

He was pleasantly surprised however when the pink haired girl didn’t say a word while laying next to him, and the next time he actually looked at her, she had fallen asleep.

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“Are you hiding from me Naruto?” Sasuke gave a small smirk and stared up into the leaves of the tree he was leaning against. The blonde boy had been up there since he had arrived at the training grounds and had yet to come down.

“No,” came the sullen reply.

“So why aren’t you coming down?”

“I don’t wanna!”

“Dobe,” Sasuke growled. “Get down here. I thought you wanted to train.”

Naruto frustrated him sometimes. He had known that as soon as he had gotten to know him. The blonde haired boy was stubborn, reckless and an idiot, but still he had stuck with him. There was just something about him that he couldn’t ignore.

When he had heard about Naruto and Ino’s agreement to begin dating, not even from their own mouths, he had lost a few more pieces of furniture to his temper. He had calmed down quite quickly though, not understanding why he was so angry. He had then decided to stop the frustration and focus on finding out what exactly the problem was.

“I do.”

“So get down. I’m not going up there.”

There was a rustling and then Naruto appeared at the foot of the tree. To Sasuke’s surprise, he wasn’t wearing his normal orange getup, but rather a pair of black pants and a white t-shirt. Not the slightest hint of orange in sight. As for his headband, it was attached to a loop on his waist, leaving his blonde hair loose.

Sasuke couldn’t deny it. Naruto was quite a pleasant sight to behold, especially with his hair loose. It seemed that he was reluctant to get a haircut and his fringe was falling into his eyes while the rest of his hair nearly reached his neck.

“Okay, what’s with the outfit change?”

Naruto pouted at him. “Ino,” was the reply. “She decided that I needed more variety in my wardrobe since most of my clothes are orange. I threw on some clothes I found and escaped before she dragged me shopping. I‘m not sure what she has done with my other clothes.”

Sasuke shuddered. One of the things that he hated about girls was their necessity to clothes shop!”

“Is that why you were hiding in the tree?”

“I was not hiding, bastard,” Naruto growled.

“That’s what I would call it.” Sasuke smirked. Riling up Naruto had always been a favourite pastime of his.

“That’s it!” Naruto charged him, his fist held out to punch him in the face. Sasuke dodged to the left and kicked out. Naruto flipped away from him, landing on his feet a few yards away and grinned.

“Are you ready for me?”

Sasuke, instead of answering, found himself staring at a small patch of skin at Naruto’s waist, which had become visible when his t-shirt had shifted upwards slightly and rumpled while flipping away. For some reason, it was calling out to him, begging him to touch it!

“Sasuke?” Naruto yelled loudly, making the black haired boy blink stupidly for a moment. What was he thinking?

“What?”

“I said, are you ready?”

“I’m always ready.”

The spar began, with lots of flying fists and feet, twists and turns and dodging. It was as fast as ever, although Sasuke was distracted. His concentration was always on the blonde, but instead of focusing on his arms and legs, preparing for an attack, he found his attentions on any piece of bare skin that became visible when he moved.

Because of this, he had barely got a hit in and Naruto had the advantage. A fact that made itself well known when Sasuke found himself on his back, his waist straddled by his smirking blonde team-mate with his arms pinned above his head. He felt his heart beat speed up and resisted the strange urge to press himself into the warm body above him.

“Surrender.”

“No.”

“Bastard, I’ve beaten you.” Naruto leaned down so that his breath fanned over Sasuke’s cheek, making him shudder. “Give up.”

“Why are you dating Yamanaka?” Sasuke blurted out before he could stop himself, then silently berated himself for asking, but he still wanted to know. Naruto’s eyes widened and then he made to get off of Sasuke’s body. Sasuke gripped onto Naruto’s wrists when his hands were loosened and held the blond boy where he was.

“Why do you want to know?” Naruto looked uncomfortable, not looking Sasuke in the eye, which annoyed the other boy immensely.

“Curiosity. I didn’t know you liked her in that way.”

“I… I… I do…” Naruto sounded uncomfortable. “She told me that she loved me, but I never thought about it before. She was my friend and I thought that was enough.”

“She loves you?” Sasuke growled, his heart twisting slightly.

“Yes. She kissed me, then I asked her if she wanted to try dating.” The blonde hung his head, so that locks of hair tickled Sasuke’s forehead. “I couldn’t tell her that I don’t love her, but then again, I don’t know what I’m feeling right now. I want to give it a chance.”

Sasuke went silent at this point and he noticed that this annoyed the other boy, seeing as Sasuke still had a firm grip on his wrists, not letting him go.

“So what you are saying exactly, is that you’re leading her on,” Sasuke finally commented.

“What, no!” Naruto sounded outraged.

“Did you tell her that you have no romantic feelings for her?”

“Well, no…”

“But you’re dating anyway!”

“It’s not like that,” Naruto whispered. “I wanted to try it out and see what happened. I just…”

He fell silent and Sasuke heard him whimper slightly.

“Dobe?”

Naruto was wincing and biting his lip, much to Sasuke’s confusion. Naruto then whimpered again.

“Dobe, what’s wrong?” Sasuke let go of Naruto’s wrists and raised them both to a sitting position. Naruto then pressed is hands to his forehead, palms pushing it hard.

“It hurts,” Naruto’s wincing continued. “God, it really hurts.” He had doubled over on the ground and his face was practically pressing into the grass. “It’s never been this bad.”

“What hurts?”

“My head. I’ve got to get to Baa-chan’s.”

Naruto got to his feet slowly and then wobbled, Sasuke catching him before he fell, holding him around the waist.

“Dobe, what’s going on?” The concern in his voice sounded foreign, even to himself but was sincere. Sasuke was genuinely worried. Naruto never voiced pain to a point where he demanded help, just like he didn’t. Both were too proud to admit that they needed help and were usually pushed into receiving it.

Naruto didn’t look up at him, just kept his eyes closed and constantly winced. “Please Sasuke, take me to Tsunade.”

Please? At that point, Sasuke decided that all questions could wait. There was definitely a problem. Not caring if anyone saw or commented, Sasuke swung Naruto up into his arms, cradling him against himself. He heard a weak, mumbled protest from Naruto, but ignored it, his mind focused on the task of getting to the Hokage as soon as possible..

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Ok? Well, please tell me what you thought. I am so happy that you are enjoying this fic and I hope you continue to enjoy it.

I sill need to update my other one! Oh well!

Luv Rie

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