Art and Artifice

Art and Artifice
chapter 9

The strains of Muddy Waters' Louisiana Blues rolled over Itachi as he pulled into the driveway of the Uchiha residence on Saturday morning. He was in a much better mood than he would normally be in when a weekend at his parents loomed ahead of him. But then it usually promised to be a rather boring affair. 'This' weekend he had a cute little blond to seek out. It had only been a few days since he had met Uzumaki Naruto but he had found himself thinking about the younger boy over and over in those few days and he had decided to visit 'his family' earlier than he would have otherwise. He wondered, as he turned off the engine, if the boy would be free later today.

Sasuke had been up for only a few minutes. He was sitting on the squishy suede couch in the lounge with a bowl of cereal in one hand the remote in the other as he flicked through the channels absently. The window behind him was open and he dimly noted the sound of a car pulling in. He assumed it must be his father, who had been away on business for the past couple of days. Nobody else would be coming here at the ungodly hour of ten thirty on a Saturday. Just before the engine cut out, he thought he heard some bluesy sounding music.

"Huh," he paused a moment before shrugging and changing the channel yet again. Then his sleep addled brain caught up with him and he blinked. "Blues?...No way!" The pyjama clad boy dug himself out of the cushion to turn around on his knees and look out the window. Sure enough there was Itachi's blue jaguar roadster parked outside.
"What the hell?!" Sasuke tossed the remote at the couch as he whirled out of the room, the cereal that he had put down before, already forgotten.

"What the hell are you doing doing here?!" Itachi was just taking off his shoes when his brother's irritating voice rang out through the foyer. He looked up to sea Sasuke, still in his silky black pyjama pants, staring at him incredulously.

"I'm visiting of course," Itachi deadpanned.

"You never come two weekends in a row!"

"What can I say," he smirked, ruffling his brother's bed-head in a very annoying manner."I missed you so much, I just couldn't stay away." Sasuke slapped Itachi's hand away with a glare.

"What are you up to?" he demanded.

"Now now, that's not a very warm reception little brother. Can't I visit my family whenever the urge overtakes me? I'm sure Mother will be more happy to see me." With that He stepped around Sasuke and wandered out of the foyer in search of his mother, who would be upset if she wasn't greeted properly. Sasuke watched him go suspiciously. 'Just visiting' his ass! Something specific had to have brought Itachi back here so soon.

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At nearly eleven thirty Naruto was just wrapping up with a client when his phone vibrated in his pocket. He ignored it for the moment as he took the cash and cheerfully waved the older man out the door. When he pulled out the phone to see whose call he had missed he was surprised with the name Uchiha Itachi. He felt his heart thump heavily in his chest and his throat constricted uncomfortably.

"Oh my God! He's actually calling me! What do I do?" he thought frantically, before taking a deep breath to calm himself. "Ooookay." Carefully he glanced around to make sure that nobody had noticed him quietly freaking out. Shaking fingers slowly dialed the number to call the older Uchiha back.

"Hello?"

"Hi. Itachi?"

"Yes, hello. We're you busy?"

"Yeah I'm at work but I've got some time now."

"Ah, I'm sorry to disturb you at work. I'm in town today and I wanted to know if you might be available this evening."

"Oh yeah! I get off work at six. Um, we could do something after that if you'd like...uh, and don't worry...You weren't disturbing me." Itachi could easily tell the blond was a bit nervous. It was cute.

"Six o'clock would be fine. I could pick you up from work if that's alright with you. I know where the place is."

"Um, I guess that's ok. Do I get to know what we're doing?"

"No." Itachi could hear the smile in the blond's voice and smiled himself. "I think I'd rather surprise you." Naruto laughed at that.

"Ok, I guess there's nothing I can do about it then."

"Not a thing. So I'll see you then Naruto chan."

"Ok...Bye."

Sasuke, who had been eavesdropping around the corner since he had heard his brother's phone ring, in hopes of discovering the reason for his visit, felt his mouth drop open.

"Did he just say Naruto?" he thought. Then he decided to say it aloud. "Did you just say Naruto?" he demanded as he jumped out from around the corner. Itachi decided on a whim to just admit it and see how his brother reacted.

"Yes. Uzumaki Naruto. I just met him a while ago. He goes to your school. Do you know him?"

"You. Have got. To be kidding. You did not just make a 'date' with 'him'?!"

"Well it's certainly not a business meeting." Itachi retorted.

"You can't go out with him! What if people found out? It would be embarrassing!"

"I assure you, I would not be embarrassed in the least." Itach was starting to get more than a little annoyed at his brothers derogatory tone.

"Not for you. You're like, a hippie, art freak guy. I know nothing embarrasses you. I was talking about me. Uzumaki Naruto is like the biggest loser in the whole school! I can't let my own 'brother' be seen with him."

"Let me?" said Itachi dangerously. "I will do whatever I please, wherever and with whomever I please. You do not 'let' me do anything. Now grow the hell up. Not everything revolves around you, and who 'I' spend time with shouldn't matter to 'your' friends in the least." With one last cold stare, Itachi swept out of the room leaving Sasuke fuming behind him.

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When Itachi walked through the door of Shuriken Studios at five to six Izumo was manning the counter. He smiled politely and gave him the usual spiel.

"Hey there, welcome to Shuriken. What can I do for you?"

"I'm looking for Naruto." Izumo was a bit surprised. People didn't usually come in asking for Naruto. Kyuubi, yes but not Naruto.

"Ah, he's with a client," he answered motioning toward the back. "He should be finishing up very shortly though." With a nod of acknowledgment, Itachi walked further into the shop. Naruto was in one of the booth-like work areas. There was a big window that accompanying friends (or moral support) could look through, with blinds that were currently open as this client had been willing to forgo privacy. Itachi looked on with interest as Naruto put the finishing touches on a rather large dragon on the right shoulder blade of a young man who was obviously a repeat customer. From what he could see, the blond's work was impeccable. A few moments later Naruto turned off the gun and smiled at the man.

"That's it. We're all done!" Itachi heard him say. "I don't suppose I need to go over the rules of proper care with you." the blond continued jokingly as he handed the guy a large hand mirror and began to clean up his station.

"Nope I got it under control. Your so awesome Kyuubi! Thank you." Itachi wasn't sure he liked the way this guy was looking at his date. "Has anyone ever told you what gentle hands you have?" Aah, and there it was. Itachi interrupted here with a light tap on the glass. Naruto looked up and saw him. A blush rose instantly to his cheeks and he smiled even more beautifully than Itachi remembered. Naruto hurried out to meet him and Itachi slid an arm around the little blond and ushered him up to the front, with a pointed look back to the now irritated client.

"Hey! Am I running late?" Naruto asked.

"Not really." Itachi gave him a small smile of reassurance.

"So Kyuu, who's your friend?" Izumo's voice cut in. He'd been watching closely since Mr. Tall-dark-and-handsome had walked in.

"Uchiha Itachi," he introduced himself, offering his hand. Izumo shook it with a pleasant smile. Then the name registered and he shot a questioning look to Naruto.

"Uchiha?"

"Yeah, he's the Bastard's brother. They're nothing alike though. Don't worry." The blond gave a humorous grin. Izumo looked back at Itachi and grinned as well.

"Well I'll be damned! Oi, guys! Come out here a second!" he called. Kotetsu and Raidou came from the back where they had both been doing sketches for some clients, Genma following slowly. Kotetsu took in the scene of a handsome guy they'd never met with his arm around a blushing Naruto and jumped right into the teasing.

"Kyuubi chan's got a boyfriend!!" he cheered.

"Uh.. well...he's not exactly.." stuttered the blond.

"Hey can I pay now or what?" came the sulky voice of Naruto's forgotten customer. Itachi smirked. Izumo caught the look and barely contained a laugh.

"Uh, yeah I'll do that up for you right now," he offered.

"Of course you will. Kyuubi obviously has places to go!" Kotetsu put in obnoxiously as he waggled his eyebrows at poor, mortified Naruto.

" 'Are' you going out with this guy Kyuubi?" asked Raidou. Naruto cleared his throat.

"Sort of. Guys, this is Itachi..."

"He's the Bastard's brother," Izumo clarified.

"No way! You're goin' out with his brother?! That is so wild!" exclaimed Kotetsu. "What were the odds?"

"Aaand Itachi, this is Kotetsu, Izumo, Raido and Genma." Naruto pointed out each in turn.

"It's nice to meet you all."

"Hn.." Genma answered for all of them with contemplative nodd.

"We should probably be going," said Naruto. They made to leave but were stopped suddenly by Raidou.

"Hold on." He looked Itachi in the eye. "I just want to tell you that if you do anything that makes him even remotely uncomfortable, I will break your arms," he stated with a straight, deadly serious expression.

"I'll keep that in mind," Itachi answered with equal seriousness.

"I'm sorry about that," Naruto apologized a moment later as they were walking to the car. "Raidou's kind of parental. They 'are' the closest thing I have to family." Itachi just waved it off.

"I think I like your friends," he said with a smirk. Naruto beamed happily at him.

A/N; Dude! Spell checks are really starting to get on my nerves. I'm Canadian so I naturally use the British spelling for everything, but spell checks are always American so they mark it all as wrong. Then when I 'correct' them it looks wrong to 'me'. I'm actually pretty anal about spelling (aside from a typo here and there due to speed, and thanks for pointing that out by the way:) so it really digs at me. Who knew just how many things Americans spell differently? Well I'm spelling pyjamas the British way damnit! And 'nobody' can stop me! Bwahahaha!...Ok I'm finished now. Sorry about that. Anyway, they're going on a date! Awww! But now you have to wait 'til tomorrow to read about it. So I'll see you then.