The bridge I crossed
The Sixth
When I woke up, I was in a different room, but this room, I noticed with a lazy smile, was better. I stretched a bit under the covers, and turned to make myself more comfortable, burying my face into the pillow. I breathed in deeply, savoring the smell of the--forest? And something more. It was, I took a distant note in my mind, the smell of something wild and fresh, like the smell of wet bark, damp soil, and dewy grasses.
It was-- "I'm sure you find my bed comfortable, but really."
It was the Uchiha's smell. I woke up with a start and sat up in bed. It was bare room, almost too bare, sparsely furnished, with a dark blue motif. The Uchiha was looking at me with his head tilted in that curious angle from a seat on the floor, in front of a raised table. He had a lap top on the table, a beer bottle next to it. I felt a blush creeping up to my face, and averted my gaze from him when I realized what had just happened.
"You fainted." It was almost as if the Uchiha could read my mind.
"He--uh..."
"Eiji wasn't trying to hurt you," he filled in. Eiji, the kind man at the loft, who I always called to get a new set of clothes sent down to the Uchiha. I kept my mouth shut, even though I could tell that the Uchiha was amused. "Did you frighten yourself into a faint?"
"If you weren't such a strange and inbred aristocrat and didn't send me servants, then maybe, UB, I would still be up and about." I bunched the blanket around me in indignation. I was surrounded by a scent in this room.
It was the Uchiha's smell, the smell that I caught around him when I leaned over his shoulder in his office or when he stood a little too close. It was a smell, I realized with a faint blush, that could make me giddy if I let it. I sighed, praying to God to let a ramen bowl appear out of nowhere. Why, oh, why did my life have to be this way? "If you're done reminiscing, you can leave." His voice jarred me out of my thoughts, and I glared at him balefully. He was wearing a muscle shirt and a pair of loose sweats.
"If you didn't notice yet, Uchiha," I snapped, "We're not in the office. I do what I like."
The minute I said those words, I regretted them. He looked at me over the top of his laptop screen. Slowly, he picked up his beer bottle and took a swig. "Fine. Stay."
"I will," I mumbled half-heartedly. I was acting like a three-year-old again: competitive to the point of self-destruction. I bunched up the blankets even closer to my body, unsure of what to do. I glared at the UB, hoping to catch his attention, but he didn't look up. Finally, "What time is it?"
"Almost eight." He looked up at me. "P.M." My mouth went dry at that information. I had slept through an entire day--"You had a slight fever," the Uchiha broke into my thoughts. "It broke sometime this afternoon."
I swung my feet over the bed and got up, a little shakily. It felt as if all the joints in my body were lose, out of synch. I looked around the room, and automatically, began to walk towards a book shelf. It was littered with books in no specific order and in all different languages--English, Japanese, Chinese, and a few other I didn't recognize. I flipped open a book that had English lettering but that looked jumbled. One, I recognized as French, and another as Russian.
"Can you read all these?" I turned around, holding up a book in my hand.
He glanced up and nodded before going back to his laptop, fingers flying over the keyboard. I rolled my eyes and returned my attention to the book shelf, hoping I'd recognize something in there. And I did. "The Things They Carried, huh." I picked it up. "It's a good book. Did you like it?"
"You've read it?" He asked, finally.
"Well. Yes." I stopped, and then added, feeling shy for some reason, "I like reading, actually."
He cast a side-long glance at me, and then stood up, beer in hand. Slowly, as if counting his steps, he walked over to the book shelf and came to a stop next to me. "What. You didn't think I read?" He was silent, so to fill in the silence, I asked, "Ever read Death Comes for the Archbishop?"
He nodded. "It was a long time ago," he said, moving the beer bottle in small circles. I looked at his face, wondering if he knew that he looked good. Wondering if he knew that I thought he looked good. How many women did he have in life? Did he treat all of them like this-- "What about it?" He asked, meeting my gaze.
"I don't know if I can finish it. That's all." I sighed, and raised my hands over my head, stretching before saying, "It's a bit boring."
"I liked it. It was--" He cut himself off, and then looked down at the bottle in his hand. I watched him, feeling something in my stomach twist at the sight of his messy hair, at how casual he seemed from my day-to-day encounters with him.
"My friend," I said, wondering why I was actually telling him this, "Gave it to me for my birthday. Kind of morbid, don't you think? I mean, I'm sitting in my living room with my presents and I open this one package--it's obviously a book--and there's this big title, Death comes for the Archbishop." I stopped and tilted my head, remembering. "Honestly, for a second, I thought it was about the Pope, and then I thought that maybe my friend was hinting at something. You know, maybe he was saying, Look-it, Naruto, I'm gonna kill you real soon." I laughed out loud, and then fell silent. "I'm rambling."
"I noticed," he said quickly.
"Well, normally, during a conversation," I explained, carefully choosing my words in case they blew up in my face, "Both people talk. It's like this. I talk some, then you talk some. Kapeesh?"
He cocked his head again, and finally, he walked back to his laptop and sat down in front of it, ignoring me again. I followed him, determined now, and once I was close enough, I folded the laptop screen with a click. He looked up, angry. "Where are your manners? Ignoring a guest like this...Talk to me about something"
He was silent for a moment, and finally smoothed over his anger. "Like what?"
"Like anything. Comment on the weather. Talk about some more books. Ask me about my friends. Ask me about what I like. Tell me what you like or do--"
"The weather is nice."
I looked outside, and noticed the gathering clouds. "Well, if you think it's nice, then I guess it is."
Silence fell again, and I stared at him. "You have to say something else, UB."
"Oh." He sounded surprised. Then, "It's going to rain."
"All right..."
He took a swig from his bottle. He was silent for a minute or two, and then I sighed loudly. "Don't you have anything else to say?"
He looked at me. "What do you want me to say?"
"I don't know, maybe you sh--"
"Fine. What do you like?"
"I like ramen, but I guess you already knew that," I said instantaneously, sitting down across from him. Then, "Now. Your turn."
The Uchiha frowned. "That wasn't part of the deal," he said. "I only asked about what you liked."
"Right. I told you what I liked. Now I want to know what you like. Get it? I talk for a while, and then you have to talk a bit too."
He wrinkled his nose--unconsciously, I think--and said, "This isn't a confession booth. I don't need to tell you what I like." I opened my mouth about to retort something, but he cut me off. "Talk."
"About what?" I was confused, and it showed.
He paused, contemplating his answer, and then decided, "Anything."
"But I don't know what to talk about--"
"You'll think of something," he said.
"Fine. That's easy enough." I took a seat across from him. "Kiba, that's my friend who gave me the book," I said, resting my elbows on the table, "He's an assistant editor of the A&E section at the Tokyo Daigaku Shinbun. I was supposed to actually go into the same office as him, but I wanted to grad school first. I wanted to be more than a writer, you know, wanted to climb the ranks a little. I gave myself two years off to save up some money."
"What are you looking into?"
"Tokyo U, hopefully," I answered. "I don't know. It might not actually work out as I'd hoped it would."
"Why not?"
"Because." I stopped, feeling embarassed at my situation. He looked at me expectantly, waiting for me to finish my sentence. "I don't think I could afford it." It sounded strange now that I said it out loud. Only Shikamaru knew about my fears, and that too peripherally. And here was the Uchiha, witness again to something personal. These were my dreams, here, not just idle chatter. He knew about Haku, knew about my aspirations. What else did he want to know? What else would I willingly--without even knowing it--tell him?
"Oh," he said, quiet now. He must not have even thought about something like that. Here I was, with the richest man in Japan, unsure about my grad school fees. He was silent for a while before gesturing vaguely with his hand. "I could--"
"I wasn't asking you for help," I said, feeling ashamed that he interpreted my confession as a request for financial aid. "I was just telling you, that's all."
He didn't offer it again and instead, changed the topic. "You're from Nagoya?
"Yeah," I said, glad that he chose something else to talk about it.
"Kakashi is from Nagoya," he offered. "He used to work there."
"I don't think we ever had the chance to meet. I came from a--We come very different walks of life." It was delicate enough a substitute for the truth. What else could I have told him? I worked as a bar tender, conned people on the side line, went to the run down city school, and had a yakuza-leader-assassin for a guardian?
"Family in Nagoya still?"
"No." I propped my chin on my palm, sighing. He looked relaxed himself, a little strange still in his work-out clothes, but relaxed.
"Here?"
"No. I have no family."
He didn't show any emotion. "They passed away?"
I sighed. "God, UB, take a hint, will you? I'm an orphan."
He looked surprised. "You were being vague."
Of course I was being vague. Most people who knew me didn't even know that I was an orphan. It wasn't something I shared with everyone. "Haku. He was your..." He trailed off, blushing lightly. Finally, "Boyfriend?"
I grinned at him. "Of sorts," I admitted, which was partially true. We were intimate, but not in a romantic sense. I must have felt some sort of attraction towards Haku, in hindsight. Maybe I was too stupid to understand it then, but I remember just how beautiful Haku was, how sometimes, my hands itched to touch him--"Kind of."
He looked uncomfortable, so I opened my mouth to change the subject when he asked me another question. "You and Orochimaru..."
I waved my hand dismissively. "It's not going to work out," I said. Because of you, I wanted to add.
"Oh." He coughed, flushing a little. "The other day. When I called--"
"Awkward times," I chuckled, not meeting his gaze. "Next time, when I'm out with someone, don't call, UB."
He narrowed his eyes, and abruptly changed the topic again. "Who's Shikamaru?" I raised my eyebrow at that. When had I mentioned--"The police came to my office looking for you. Someone named Shikamaru had sent a police search out for you."
I laughed at that, imagining MPD knocking down the Uchiha's office door. "Oh, Shikamaru's my friend. He's really protective of me." He was silent, so I went on. "He's a military strategist at Okinawa. He's smart, and lazy as hell. Kiba's just funny and likes to drink a lot. Kind of like you," I added looking at him.
He frowned at the comparison and very carefully put down the beer bottle in his hand. "Well, anyways, remember my first day at work?" I fought down a blush, but plunged on. "Kiba got me drunk the night before. He said it was celebration, but I think he just wanted to get me drunk because I get giggly or something like that. Shikamaru found me in the morning and woke me up. I think that if he hadn't woken me up, I wouldn't have--" I stopped suddenly, and remained silent, too embarrassed to mention my disaster and our kiss.
"So I can blame him for all of this."
I glanced up at the Uchiha, startled, and he returned my stare, bold and unwavering. Somewhere in the back of my head, an annoying voice that I had become familiar with began to whimper. His eyes, I realized foggily, were handsome. Not pretty, because that was too feminine to describe the UB, but handsome. He was too tall, too well-built, and was too broad-shouldered to be feminine or pretty. If anyone was feminine, it was me. I was slightly shorter than the average man, and didn't have broad shoulders; and was too scrawny to have muscles. I had eyes that were too blue, hair that was too golden. The Uchiha and I would look good together, I realized, as a couple.
I sighed, and looked away. If I hadn't met him, I would have been a happier man. It wasn't as if I was comparing myself to the Uchiha. It was just that I was beginning to notice things about him that would have made me happier if he were nicer, and a bit more homosexual in tendencies--neither of which would come true in the near future. My mind wandered to Orochimaru, and I realized that as long as I was working for the Uchiha, it would be hard for me to ever completely enjoy Orochimaru. It was just too...unnatural. I would be restless in the Uchiha's presence.
I came to an unnerving conclusion, and let my head rest against the table. The Uchiha was attractive, and that was disturbing me. Joy.
"You don't like me," he said suddenly.
"I like you, all right," I muttered, not looking up. "You're odd company, but I like you. It's just that you make me distraught." I took in a deep, shaky breath. "Gods, UB, just fire me already."
He considered it, and for a scary moment, I thought he might agree. "That's for me to decide."
I looked at him, my anger blazing again. "I did not get a Kyoto University degree for this."
"Pretty young to have graduated," he said, suddenly.
"Well, you're pretty young to be running a company."
"I inherited it," the Uchiha said with an amused smirk.
"Well, ten years ago, the Uchiha Corps wasn't this good," I said. It was common knowledge in Japan. The Business sections in all the newspapers were never completely satisfied with their theories. Not to mention the tabloids. It was an astonishing comeback for the dying institution. A dwindling Clan, and suddenly the youngest of the Uchihas comes back from China of all places and takes over. I remembered reading about in the university during breaks. There were entire pages dedicated to the Uchiha, detailing every single accomplishment of his when he was young, his history, and even his love life. Who, the newspapers asked, was this eighteen year old boy?
But that was it. That was all I knew about this man, while he knew most of my dearest secrets. We were unbalanced in this relationship, and I was starting to feel the strain of it.
"Good to know that you read the newspapers," the Uchiha said, snapping me out of my reverie.
"I had an education, UB. I'm not incompetent."
"Sure," he said, his disbelief in my words evident. "And how did you do in your education?"
"Oh, come on!" I threw up my hands and glared up at the UB who was now leaning languidly against the window sill. "I can't believe that we're bickering over our grades in college."
"We're not." He looked away quickly and added, "I never got to go."
"Go where?" I asked, reaching over to move the beer away from his reach. He drank too much, smoked too much, didn't eat right and barely slept. Someone had to take care of him, beat some sense into that thick skull of his.
He shrugged, nonchalant. "College. I didn't--" He takes an abrupt swig of his beer and finishes, squaring his shoulders, "I didn't finish high school."
It was a peace offering, even if he didn't realize it. What did he think, that I'd judge him for his lack of formal education? He didn't look comfortable talking about it, so I decided to answer his question. "Well, I did fine in every single class, except--" I ducked my head. "I had to fulfill requirements as an undergrad and took Oriental Literature. It didn't go too well," I mumbled the last part under my breath.
"How bad was it?" The Uchiha straightened, interested now. He picked up the beer again, swirling it a little before taking a sip.
I looked away, my face heating up at the memory. "That's none of your business."
"Of course it's my business. I'm your employer."
I was silent for a moment, and then, "I came last in my class of thirty." I waited, and then added hastily, "I was in the top five percentile in all my other classes. It was just...I didn't enjoy literature when I was in college."
Silence. Then, "So. A dead-last."
I bristled, and snatched the beer bottle away from him. "I'm not a dead-last, UB. And stop drinking."
"You admitted it yourself," he said, not bothering to get his beer back.
"No, I didn't."
"Yes you did."
"Shut up, UB--"
He leaned forward a little, a smirk tugging at his lips. "Naruto. It's Sasuke."
I blushed. "Uh--" He snatched his beer bottle back in the split second I stalled.
"I'm going to take a shower, dead last," he interrupted, not giving me enough time to answer. And with that, he got up and left.
*
The Uchiha was back in fifteen minutes, and by that time, I had convinced myself that I would take his nickname lightly, just as he had with the name UB.
I decided to stay in bed for a while longer, lounging on my back while trying to understand Spanish. The words looked familiar, the same as in English, but completely incomprehensible. "So where exactly are we anyways?" I asked, the minute he stepped out of the shower.
I glanced over at him, and regretted it the minute I did. He was wearing a towel around his waist, and another over his shoulder, nothing else. He looked comfortable, entirely at ease even as he began drying his hair idly. He was a broad-shouldered man, I knew, but I didn't realize the full breadth of his shoulders or the contours of his muscles. It was a well defined body, and I knew from his schedule that he dedicated at least an hour in the gym every day--he even invited me to go with him once, in a roundabout way, but I was a runner and liked the solitude of my morning treks through my neighborhood. Apparently, the Uchiha spent some time at the weights. Apparently.
There was a smattering of dark hair on his chest, leading down, down--huh. And suddenly, years of preferring well-groomed men fell away at the sight of the Uchiha in a towel. And again, images: maybe pull that towel off, run my hands over that chest, feel the stubble against my hands, because apparently (apparently), I now had a thing for big, brawny men like him and wouldn't mind pushing him onto his ridiculously comfortable bed, brace myself against one of those pillars of a thighs, straddle the expanse of his hip, and ride him nice and easy--
"My mother's place."
Oh. He was dressed now. "I'd like to meet her," I said, hurriedly putting the book away. "It's the least I could do."
He considered it, and then, "Fine." He snapped his laptop shut, and stood up, not even waiting to see if I would follow. He opened the door to his room, and stepped outside with me close behind.
I was about to say something when I felt a presence over my shoulder. I bit down my lip, stifling my surprise and turned, only to be met by Eiji's bared grin again. I stepped back in reflex, and bumped into the Uchiha who had turned as well. He pushed me towards Eiji, but I pushed back until I was plastered to the UB, my body shaking. The servant reminded me too much of Zabuza, and brought back memories that I had long suppressed.
"Dead-last," the Uchiha's warning rung through the still, rain-touched evening air.
"No," I mumbled, turning around to face the UB, and successfully blocking Eiji's face from my line of view. He was looking down at me, and I looked back up at him, our faces close enough that I could feel his breathing against my forehead, tickling my hair there a little. I shook my head, hoping that he would be considerate this one time. "No," I repeated.
He didn't let any emotion show, and still looking at me, said, "Eiji, we'll be a minute." The servant left, his footsteps soft on the wood. I heard him stop at a respectable distance, but still close enough that he would hear the UB's summoning.
"No," I repeated, and reached up to bunch his shirt in my wrist. "Not with him."
"I heard you the first time, dead-last." His voice was dangerously low, and it took all my will to remain standing that close to him.
"You're not acting like you did," I pursed my lips, and held my ground.
"You're being rude," he said, moving to untangle my hands from his shirt.
I held on, and pulled him closer. "No. You're being rude. Ever since I've come here, you haven't acted with even a scrap of decency--"
"I'm not the one who's intruding on somebody else's privacy."
"Oh, really, now?" I gritted my teeth, and realized with a frown that the Uchiha was considerably taller than me: tall enough that I only came up to his chin. The mere difference in heights gave him an unfair advantage and that only fueled my anger even more. He was being inconsiderate, and assumed that he could force me into situations that I didn't like.
"Well, what would you call this if it isn't--" Somewhere, dimly, against the hotness in my head, I heard the hurried pattering of feet, and then, Eiji's voice again.
"Mas--"
Without turning, I snapped, "In a minute, Eiji."
There was silence, but the man tried again. "Master--"
I snapped my head to look at him, breaking the Uchiha's eye contact, but still clinging to his shirt as if my life depended on it. "I said," my voice was low and cold even to my own ears, "In a minu--"
I would have finished off my sentence, had it not been for the green eyes that met my stare with equal fierceness.
"We heard." Her voice was taut with anger, and I felt my eyes widen, my anger completely forgotten.
"Sakura. I wasn't expecting you so soon." The Uchiha' voice rumbled through his chest, and tingled my fingers. He placed a hand on top of mine and untangled my fingers from his chest, prying away each finger individually. There was a gentleness in his actions that surprised me, but I let him push me away, feeling a blush fighting its way up. It had to be luck that made Sakura walk in at the most awkward situations.
Behind her, Eiji looked towards me apologetically, and I smiled at him, realizing that I was being rude. Eiji was Eiji, not Zabuza. I walked past Sakura and joined Eiji. "Could you take me to his mother, please?" I waited for Eiji to respond, which he did without a pause and I left Sakura and the UB to their own fate.
The entire time I walked away from them, the voice in my mind kept repeating, See if I care.
*
The minute we were out of hearing distance, I apologized to Eiji, which he accepted with a grateful nod.
We walked in silence the rest of the way, and I wondered how the UB was faring with Sakura's wrath. Or maybe Sakura would be kind to him, and corner me one day and unleash her anger on me. I sighed and turned a corner behind Eiji, and realized that I was at another dead-end in the mansion. Like the UB's wing, this section also had only one door, and I walked towards it, nodding my thanks to Eiji.
At the door, there was a servant, and upon my arrival she immediately stood up. "Could I see her, please?"
The servant nodded, and turned to open the door quietly, leaving me alone for a moment. Inside, I heard her voice say, "Lady Wazuka, Master Naruto wishes to see you."
There was silence, and then the servant returned, opening the door for me to enter. I stepped inside, and froze. The room was extravagant, but what surprised me most was Kakashi's presence at the table next to a long-haired man with milky white eyes. They were both sitting on the floor, on a raised platform in the room.At what seemed like the head of the table, sat Lady Wazuka who, I realized with a start, was blind.
Kakashi smiled at me, and beckoned for me to sit down, which I did gratefully. The Lazy Wazuka smiled, and held out her hand the minute I had joined them. "Ah, Naruto?"
I nodded, and then realizing that she couldn't see me, added, "Yes." I touched her hand, and felt her fingers tighten around mine.
"How are you feeling?" Her Japanese, I noticed, was slightly tinted with a Chinese accent, with each vowel slightly blunter than it would be in Japanese.
"Better now, thank you."
"That's good. I was hoping to meet you. Kakashi was telling me about you," she said, and moved her face towards Kakashi. I looked over at the silver-haired man and smiled.
"He does that often, from what I can tell," I said. Kakashi chuckled and took a sip from his tea for cover. Lady Wazuka laughed lightly, almost like the trickle of water in a brook. I glanced over at her, and understood where the Uchiha got his looks from. His mother, even at her age, was beautiful, with long black hair that was shot through with gray and white. There was an austere elegance about her that made her attractive. The Uchiha had gotten his sharp chin and chiseled face from her.
"True, true. Kakashi can't keep a tale to himself." She reached over and placed a cup in front of me before pouring tea into it with practiced ease. I was about to tell her when to stop, in case the tea spilled over, but she did so without any warning from anybody. "This is Neji, my nephew. Neji, this is, well, you've heard already."
I glanced over at Neji and smiled. "I don't know if I'm happy that you've heard about me already."
He looked at me for a second before letting a small smile grace his face. He was, like the Uchiha and everybody else, an aristocrat in all ways. His long hair didn't take away from his strong shoulders. I could see him as the Uchiha's cousin, but still, it seemed like a distant relation. "It's a pleasure to meet you after hearing about you for so long."
I glanced at Kakashi again, and shook my head reprovingly. "Honestly, Kakashi."
The man laughed, and then turned to Lady Wazuka. "As I said, Wazuka."
The older woman nodded in agreement, and then looked towards the door, almost as if she was afraid to be heard. "Well, I hope you didn't run into Sakura on your way here."
I was curious to see her opinion on the marriage, but reigned in my thoughts, instead saying, "I actually did."
She looked back towards my voice again, and I felt two more sets of eyes land on me for a more detailed explanation. "It went moderately well," I lied. They all nodded to themselves, mulling over their own thoughts, and I picked up my tea.
"I was surprised when Sasuke said he was bringing you here. It was, I mean no offense, Naruto, a bad idea. Especially now..." Lady Wazuka trailed off, and Kakashi filled in for her.
"Naruto, today was a family reunion, of sorts, to celebrate their marriage."
I nodded, feeling disappointed, and more importantly, out of place. "I'm sorry," I offered. "The UB--"
"UB?" Neji and Lady Wazuka chorused while Kakashi shook his head with a small smile.
"Wouldn't it be US?" Neji asked, confused. I blushed, remembering that US was, in Kiba's dictionary, Ultimate Sex.
"It's--slightly altered," I lied again. "A nickname of sorts."
Lady Wazuka was about to question me even more when the door opened again. "Master Sasuke," the servant announced. I stiffened, and felt Kakashi's quick glance towards me.
A few seconds later, the Uchiha walked in, looking calm, as if Sakura's storm had never passed. "Mother," he acknowledged, taking a seat opposite from me. He reached out and touched his mother lightly on the back of her hand. Lady Wazuka's face visibly brightened, and her smile was radiant. "Kakashi--" A nod of acknowledgment--"Neji--" Another nod. And finally, deliberately, "Dead-last."
"UB."
We stared at each other for a moment or two, and then, "Sakura--"
"Was happy to see you." I finished, cutting him off and replacing whatever he had in mind with words of my own. "She--"
"Sends her regards to you," he finished for me. I smiled coldly at him. "You've--"
"Met your mother and cousin, yes." I paused. Now would be the time to make my exit, get away from this entire situation. "I'm--"
"Welcome to stay through the celebration." He didn't break eye-contact, and then, tilting his head, said, "You--"
"Might not be able to stay," I finished for him, hoping that he would understand, for once, the need for us to maintain distance. This wasn't the time for us to become friends. He was getting married and there was already doubt around my relationship with him. "I--"
"Can cancel other plans." He smirked. It was a challenge, I knew. "Even--"
"If they're important." I frowned, and then traced the rim of the tea bowl. "Sakura--"
"Will be joining us soon." He watched me look towards the door, and then, added, "She--"
"Might not be too happy with this." I picked up my tea and took a sip, deliberately cutting off the conversation. The other three fell into a surprised silence at our strange exchange. Finally, Lady Wazuka cleared her throat. Before anyone could say something else, the door opened again. The servant came through and bowed lightly. "Lady Sakura."
Moments later, Sakura herself walked in, wearing a very light green kimono that set off her eyes in the most flattering manner. Her hair was pulled back into a bun with only a few strands of hair falling onto her face. With red hair, she looked stunning. I wondered how she looked with her natural hair color.
I smiled at her, looking sorry, but she paid me no attention, and instead, went to sit next to the Uchiha. The only un-coupled people around the table were now Lady Wazuka and me. Neji was sitting next to Kakashi, across from Lady Wazuka, while I was left sitting across Sakura's silent wrath and Uchiha's occassional, nonchalant glance.
"Wazuka," she touched her soon to be mother-in-law's hand and then acknowledged the other two as well. She glanced at me finally, and then, tightly said, "Naruto."
"Sakura," I answered her. We sat staring at each other for a moment, and Kakashi took the responsibility of breaking the silence. He skillfully steered the conversation away from any awkward topics, and I followed his lead, molding our dinner so that the most serious thing we talked about was the most recent tennis game on the Wimbledon. The Uchiha and Neji, although quiet, both spoke up occasionally, the Uchiha going so far as to tease me lightly. By the time desert had arrived--anmitsu, doroyaki cake, and anko-- we had all relaxed. Sakura seemed to have accepted the fact that the past was just a blunder on my behalf, and nothing serious from the Uchiha's part.
When Lady Wazuka finally dismissed the gathering, Kakashi was the first to stand. He bent over and kissed Wazuka lightly on the cheek and said his farewell, mockingly offering to escort me back to my room. I laughed, and brushed aside his comment, opting instead to offer my good-night to Neji who had also decided to leave. Sakura followed, lingering to see if Sasuke would take her back--which he didn't-- and then Wazuka, Sasuke and I were left.
I stood up, and watched Lady Wazuka do the same. She walked with me and the UB to the door, holding onto my hand lightly. "It was nice seeing you, Naruto," she said softly. "It is good that you are here. You are kind to me at my age--" She laughed at this, and then, "I would like it very much if you stayed for the celebrations."
I protested, pointing out that I was not exactly family, and that I had to attend back to my life in Tokyo. She shook her head, and raised her chin. "Well, life can wait for you in Tokyo." Her comment, so much like Uchiha's attitude, took me by surprise, and before I could reply, she had convinced herself that I was staying. There was nothing else for me to say, and I wished her good night.
The Uchiha followed, leaning down to kiss his mother's forehead, and hugged her. I tried to turn around, but the scene, so unnatural because the Uchiha was part of it, held my gaze. The Uchiha murmured into her hair, "Night, Ma," and then he was outside with me, closing the door behind him. He had let me see that, had let me be a part of it.
I stood looking at him, and he stared back. After a while, he asked, "What?"
"Nothing," I muttered, and then again, "Nothing."
We walked in silence back to his room, sleep tugging at my eyes, my body aching for some strange reason. My mind told me to walk back to my own room, but by the time I had reached the UB's room, all reasoning was out of my body. I opened the door myself and stepped in, hearing the Uchiha follow and close the door behind him. We were silent for the rest of the night, and neither of us said a word when he collapsed onto the bed next to each other.
End of The Sixth
Footnotes:
*Uchiha Wazuka: I know that's not Sasuke's original mother's name. The reason for this is that I didn't want to write an actual character for a fabricated role; it would be a little too strange, even for an AU.