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I realize I said this was complete if any of you bothered to read the author notes at the bottom of the last chapter. A wannabe explanation is at the bottom of this if you care.
For Your Love
Chapter 6: Epilogue… Sort Of
TWO WEEKS LATER
The pair sat at the counter, momentarily caught up in silence as thoughts idly chased around their heads.
"Shikamaru, why didn't you try for me? You could've easily outsmarted them all."
The Nara genius gaped.
"You mean, you wanted me to!"
The blonde shrugged, then offered an easy smile.
"Yeah, you'd be too lazy to try anything!"
Annoyed, Shikamaru found it within himself to smack Naruto on the back of the head. He had heard of the… competition… that had occurred from Chouji, who had heard it from Kiba… and beyond that, he couldn't be bothered to care to learn where Kiba had heard it from.
He had felt sorry for the blonde.
Which would probably explain why he had allowed himself to "secretly" meet Naruto at a ramen bar. Although, the blonde had taken care not to choose Ichiraku's, it was still a ramen stand, and therefore, still predictable.
He was fully aware of the glare he was receiving as the holder of the kyuubi was currently rubbing the back of his head.
"I was surprised, though…" the blonde began, thoughtfully, "I really would have guessed that Gaara would be worse."
At this, Shikamaru raised his eyebrows.
"He wasn't?"
"No, he said something about not wanting to force me and well, I quit listening at that point. Though I think he was just saying that to get into my pants."
Shikamaru winced.
"I'd bet money that Temari was telling him what to say. She kept making hand gestures to either urge him on or stop him when she thought I wasn't looking."
"So you made it back from Sand relatively unscathed?"
"For the most part. Every once in a while Gaara would shove me into a closet or something to feel me up."
"I didn't need to know that."
His response was a shrug. At this point, however, their noodle orders were placed in front of them. Shikamaru lazily poked at his, watching his companion from the corner of his eye, noting the cute squint of his eyes as he smiled beautifully towards his first love. Letting out an annoyed huff of air, the Nara teen pushed those thoughts to the back of his mind. It was too troublesome to think about, and much easier to ignore.
"Sasuke was worse."
"Huh?" Shikamaru asked, attention suddenly drawn away from his own meal.
"Sasuke was worse. Or, he is worse."
The Nara teen did not want to know how Uchiha Sasuke was worse than Gaara of the Sand, but he had a distinct feeling that Naruto was going to tell him.
"He said that since he only had me for a week, he was going to make the most of it."
Shikamaru unconsciously shuddered as he took a bite of his noodles.
"I couldn't walk right for three days."
"Thbbt!"
"Ack!"
"Sorry," the genius muttered, grabbing a napkin and offering it to the blonde.
So Gaara had to earn money.
Unfortunately, Konoha wasn't willing to hand out missions to ninjas from other villages. Thus, Gaara had to turn to other sources for income. Fortunately, he had noticed something.
Kakashi sucked at the guitar.
Luckily, Gaara had watched several instructional videos on learning to play.
Temari had failed to understand at the time and therefore declined to comment.
"…"
"You've been sulking ever since you got back."
The dark haired man turned away from his partner, clearly sending the message that this conversation was over and any attempts to continue it would result in death.
Kisame sighed, sometimes, he really didn't understand Itachi.
He was being forced into guitar lessons, and what was worse, he was actually paying for them. Sighing, he could virtually see his acquisition of the latest volume of the Icha Icha series taking longer to get due to lack of funds.
Why would Gaara know how to play, anyway?
Temari smiled apologetically at him, until she had found out about his choice of reading material. She then started whacking him over the head with her fan. He made a mental note never to offer to show her a particularly interesting scene again.
He never agreed with the critics anyway.
"Pay attention."
Kakashi glanced over at his 'instructor' and grinned sheepishly.
"Ah…" He clumsily struck a few chords, wincing when it sounded more like he was skinning a live cat. Wow, he did suck. Just like Gaara had said. The jounin frowned as he thought about how coarsely and straight to the point the Sand nin had delivered that particular piece of information.
The least Gaara could have done was try to soften the blow.
Kakashi glanced over to the corner where Temari was sitting, sewing patches onto clothing. He half suspected she had sewn Gaara's and her own clothes.
Feeling eyes on her, she looked up to see Kakashi staring at her, who, for his part, grinned and winked at her before turning back to Gaara.
She didn't really have any desire to ask what that was about.
However, if he was going to start hitting on her again, she would deliver a very slow and painful death.
Naruto was not in the bathroom. However, there was a damp towel hanging up from earlier use. He made a mental note to introduce the blonde to bathroom sex, because water was oh-so-lubricating.
After the bathroom, he tried the servant's kitchen, as the primary had been consumed by flames, to again find it empty. There was, however, evidence of a meal having been prepared. The faint lingering odor coupled with the water droplets on the counter and the grains of seasoning told him Naruto had cooked ramen. Typical.
He'd have to introduce Naruto to other foods, like strawberries and whip cream.
Ramen wasn't sexy.
Well, maybe Naruto thought it was.
Sasuke was lost in thoughts of how Naruto would react if he could somehow incorporate ramen into the bedroom. The blonde would never stray… and probably would demand it every time.
Absently, he wondered how cold the kitchen floor was on bare skin. Maybe the countertop?
He left the kitchen and found himself in the foyer, which opened up to an expansive living room.
How bouncy was the couch? Naruto was the type that would probably like that.
Thoughtfully, he ran his hand along the wall. Smooth… easier to run his hand down than up when force was applied. His hand would almost stick before shooting up the wall. He wondered what sweat would add to that equation. He'd make sure to find out.
The armchair was an interesting piece of furniture. Sturdy. Heavy… wouldn't move too easily. The arms were at waist height… Sasuke wiped the trickle of blood away from his nose with the back of his hand.
Quickly, his eyes swept the room again.
No Naruto. No Naruto's shoes.
He frowned.
Until his eyes caught something.
Gaara he didn't care about, because Gaara didn't count. He had even gone through the trouble of hiding a CD player in his sleeve when he went to sing to Naruto. He had no illusions about his vocal talents.
He could always kill Sasuke. Except, he'd wind up a criminal and would probably be put to death by his own family. Idly, he rubbed the bandages on his forehead.
It would take no effort on their part. Damn it!
If it weren't for that stupid jutsu, he'd kill Uchiha. Then he'd run away with Naruto and they'd live life on the lam, regardless of whether Naruto wanted to run away with him or not.
Hinata had been moping around the Hyuuga compound the entire time. He had finally figured out just why she had smelled like smoke at the bingo game.
It had taken him trapping her in a corner and three hours of interrogation. Frankly, he was surprised she had managed to put up such resistance. For once, he couldn't have been prouder of his cousin… and at the same time, slightly afraid.
He had never guessed dear sweet Hinata was capable of arson. Then fleeing the scene and having the gall to show up in front of the two remaining Uchihas afterwards.
It made him rather nervous to think of what else she was capable of.
Ever since he had found out, Neji took special care to avoid her and go over a thorough search of his room every time he entered it.
As far as he knew, she hid snakes in his bed.
"So is Naruto any good in bed?"
Temari yelped as she stuck her finger with a needle, quickly sticking it into her mouth and glaring dangerously at the jounin.
Gaara stared at Kakashi.
His face and eyes appeared blank, but his mind was running furiously.
/Naruto was walking down the corridor, heading to the kitchen when an arm of sand grabbed him around his middle and shoved him roughly into a closet.
Before the blonde had a chance to react, a warm mouth was trailing over his neck as seeking hands traveled under his shirt, bringing him closer to the wanting body.
Green eyes peered at him in the dark, then a rough tongue was sliding up the side of his face. Wind chapped lips enclosed around the tip of his ear, sucking needily as a hand grabbed his waist and thrust him into another's expectant hips.
The redhead ground against him huskily, eliciting a slight gasp from the blonde.
Dipping to the hollow of a warm, tanned neck, Gaara allowed his free hand to travel further up into the shirt roughly, feeling the forbidden expanse of skin.
Suddenly, the blonde tensed.
"Gaara… why is there a creepy sand eye in my pants?"/
The redhead looked at the sharingan user a moment longer, who after several minutes, still had not rid himself of that ridiculously happy expression.
"That is something you will never know."
The expression faltered into a pout.
Both boys turned towards the sound of the voice, seeing Sasuke standing in the entrance to the shop.
"Sa- Sasuke?" Naruto asked weakly. "How'd you find me?"
"You left a note."
Shikamaru turned a sharp gaze back to the nervous blonde.
"I didn't say where I was going!" he cried, defensively.
"It said, 'Went to eat ramen with Shikamaru.' There's only so many places in Konoha that could be, especially near his house," Sasuke replied, indicating the Nara teen.
Before the blonde could respond to that, Shikamaru opened his mouth. "You left a note?"
"Uh… no?"
Sasuke held up the incriminating piece of paper with Naruto's handwriting scrawled across it.
Shikamaru turned to his eating partner. "You wanted him to find you."
Naruto flushed heatedly, eyes suddenly wide as he gaped at the Nara genius. Resolutely, he turned back to his ramen bowl to ignore them both.
Shikamaru didn't know whether to laugh or smack the blonde, but the results of both actions were deemed far too troublesome to deal with, so he just glanced at the Uchiha heir. Sasuke, for his part, ignored him. His eyes were focused on Naruto, who was trying desperately not to squirm underneath the gaze.
Without saying anything, Sasuke walked over and grabbed Naruto's wrist, nodded his farewell to Shikamaru, and drug the blonde out of the shop.
Naruto quickly discovered that trying to free himself was useless. The Uchiha had a death-grip on his wrist and was refusing to let up, despite cursing, scratching, and biting.
Sasuke, on the other hand, seemed to be searching for something. Dark eyes roamed the streets that were going from busy to dead as they walked further, until they spotted what they had been searching for.
In a matter of seconds, Naruto found himself going from an empty street to being pinned against a wall in a dark alley.
Sasuke smirked hungrily at him. "Naruto, I haven't had breakfast."
The blonde's eyes widened when he realized just what Sasuke intended to have for breakfast. It was orange, blonde, and ramen flavored.
Back at the ramen shop, Shikamaru realized he had just been stuck with the bill.
He wasn't, however, fluent in squirrel.
That didn't seem to matter though, as they attached themselves to him and more or less, led him away.
In no time, Lee found himself amidst a large procession of squirrels, walking through some of the older streets of Konoha, looking at the grand houses and compounds. He had passed his teammate's house, hurriedly, as it seemed the Hyuuga compound had a dark and scheming cloud overhead.
The rodents led him further, however, to a section of town he wasn't sure if he had ever been in more than once or twice. On the few previous trips, it had seemed as if the air was saturated with sorrow and death.
Now, it felt as if the thick suffocating black veil of pain and sadness had been replaced with a deviously happy one.
The squirrels seemed very excited about this.
Lee was led up to a rather large compound, seeing large iron gates with a clan symbol wrought into the metal. He recognized that fan, suddenly understanding where he was.
The rodents at his feet urged him on though, and he was led up to the largest house.
They didn't even allow him the chance to knock as they set about opening the door. He briefly wondered how the squirrels had acquired this skill, but realized that it was obviously the result of hard work and determination.
Were they picking the lock?
However, as the door swung open, soft noises reached his ears.
Noises that made the tips of his ears turn very very red.
"Sasuke, quit it! Right no-… ohhhhh…"
That voice…
On the floor, two sets of legs intertwined with each other stuck out from behind a chair. On the other side, a tuft of blonde and silky black could be seen.
"Hey, Sparky's back!"
Suddenly, the blonde hair and a pair of legs disappeared as the owner shot to their feet to greet one of the squirrels.
Blue eyes widened, however when they fell on Lee… and their many visitors.
"Lee! Thank God you're here!" Naruto sounded extremely relieved.
Lee, on the other hand, believed there was a very logical explanation that would explain what he had just witnessed, one that was not what it looked like, and would hopefully explain Naruto's torn shirt. It looked like someone had sliced it open with a kunai… Until, that is, Sasuke stood up, completely shirtless, nodded at him and wrapped his arms around the blonde, lips fastening onto the juncture of neck and shoulder.
"Sasuke! Lee's here!" Naruto started out growling, ending with a whine.
The Uchiha heir smirked, showing no intentions of letting up, especially as one of his hands traveled lower and a high pitched squeak turned into a low moan.
Lee fainted.
The squirrels chattered amongst themselves, seemingly very interested in this new turn of events.
Naruto slumped over the back of the armchair, swatting away Sasuke's dirty hormone-driven hand.
The Uchiha looked put out momentarily, and paused long enough to glance at the multitude of beady eyes that were staring at him intently. He looked at the rodent Naruto had named Sparky and forced him to keep, knowing somehow, the bastard squirrel had led them here. Lee was passed out on the floor.
He could've sworn he had locked the door.
His eyes traveled to the open door then, and widened when he saw who had just arrived.
Naruto, too noticed.
"Uh… hi Gaara."
Sand poured out around the body of Lee and shoved him outside. The squirrels twittered before swarming out after their fallen comrade, shutting the door behind them.
The redhead, gourd slung over his back and a guitar strangely slung over his front, surveyed the scene before him, eyes lighting strangely.
He thought back to his studies of porn with Kankuro.
"Naruto, we're going to have a threesome."
Gaara + guitar cute.
Well, I had considered this story 'complete' but I got a lot of reviews asking me to write more and whatnot. So, I took it upon myself to reread the entire thing and I realized it wasn't much of an ending. That's what happens with time constraints, I guess.
It also seemed really short, but that's not the issue here.
So, I (finally) managed to get myself to add an epilogue, of sorts. Hopefully this is more appeasing. It would've taken longer, but there's another story I really want to write, and it didn't feel quite right to start that one, when this one was in Limbo.
Personally, I love Shikamaru. The Sultan of Sloth. He's probably my favorite, second only to Naruto. I'm not sure why he never made it into the story until this point.
Oh, and CHECK OUT MY SCHWEET NARU/SASU DRAWING at deviantart. (Shameless self-promotion.) For those of you that are old enough (and those of you who were like me and didn't care if they weren't, even if I am now) the link's in my profile.
