Escaping the Past Chapter 4

Warning: Yaoi, AU (High School), Mention of violence
Characters/Pairing: NaruSasu, implied Kiba/Shino, Gaara/??,

Rating: PG for this Chapter. M later.
Chapter Summary: Naruto ponders about his meeting with Gaara and sorts out his ‘misunderstanding’ with Sasuke. Sasuke ends up going over to Naruto’s apartment.

--

Letting the door shut behind him with a soft click, Naruto breathed in a breath of the light warm air of early fall. It felt like the first breath of a drowning, man and in a way it was. The conversation with Gaara left him drained and suffocating in thoughts he would rather not think, and memories he would rather not remember. As much as he valued family, even his own messed up one he did not want to think of them now. Not when he is trying to break contact with them and start him life over. Now when he is trying to escape from his ghosts.

Not when he is trying to escape him.

Leaving had to be the hardest thing Naruto ever did but he knew he had to if he was ever to move on with life and not live as a vessel for his brother’s hatred as well as his brother’s love(1). One person cannot take that kind of strain and Naruto was only that; a person. So he snapped – and left. He left his other half for the sake of both of them; he only hoped that Kyubi would see it that way too.

He knew that Kyubi only opened up with him and he knew that now he must feel abandoned and shut out but it had to be done if either one of them was ever going to recover and move on. Naruto needed reassurance of real life, of normalcy of the fact that not everyone was as messed up as him, and Kyubi needed to have time away from Naruto, who was a constant reminder of what they used to be, in order to forget. Both of them needed to break their masks and open up to people other then each other. Naruto needed to stop faking a smile even when he didn’t feel like smiling and Kyubi needed to show others that there was more to him then his predatorily grin and blood lust. To that they needed to be apart, Naruto realized this and as much as it hurt - he left.

It seems unnatural for twins to be so different especially these twins. Identical twins. Considering their appearance one would think that they where strangers, maybe at most brothers. No one would guess that they where twins, much less identical twins. Before that incident they where copies of each other both with blond hair, blue eyes and big smiles but now only one of them had retained that innocence.

Naruto and Kyubi know what they are to each other even though others don’t see it, they know how close they are linked – knowing this only made it harder for Naruto to leave. Knowing that he was leaving his other half.

He let out a saddened sigh as he looked at the still green trees lining the school ground and let a hand rest on his navel. Itching to reach under the shirt and trace the scar that was still there after all these years, the scar that proved them as identical twins. They know that they are different now but once they where one egg and at birth they where even conjoined, luckily their mother’s pregnancy was a prolonged one and they had separated almost fully only linked by the skin tissue around their belly buttons. After their separated the half circle scar remained.

Giving into the temptation to reassure himself, Naruto reached up under his untuck white uniform shirt and let his fingers trace the semi-circle, then moving on to trace the light indent of the tattoo there. He smiled at the feeling, remembering the day that he and Kuybi had gone to the tattoo parlor to get their scars turned into something more personal, something that identified them. This memory was one of the once that he would always cherish.

Shaking his head a little he made his way from the school toward the bus stop that would take him to his new…apartment. Naruto still couldn’t call that place ‘home’ - not until he had unpacked the more personal items. For now those boxes where left standing by his bed while everything else was unpacked.

Seeing the bus he needs pull into the stop, Naruto is yanked out of his musings. He broke into a sprint waving his arm at the bus, hoping the driver will see it and wait for him. He makes it there breathing hard as he jumps onto a bus and fumbles with his backpack as the bus pulls out. He pulls out his wallet and flashes his pass before turning to look for an open seat. The bus is mostly empty since it goes to the area of cheap housing and apartments that are meant for student. Normally this means that the bus would be packed with students but since this is a fairly posh school the kids either live at home or in their own apartments. None of them have a need to rent. He notices maybe ten students and a certain dark haired head catches his eye. Or more like the hairstyle is what catches his eye and he makes his way towards that seat.

Plopping down into the seat beside the other student. He grins and reaches over to yank out the earphone in the raven’s ear, successfully startling Sasuke who had not seen Naruto come in and forcing the raven to snap his face away from the window to look at the blond.

“Did you know you’re hair looks like a duck butt?” Naruto asks over the loud rock music blaring out of the earphone.

Sasuke just glares and turned back to the window. He has yet to forgive Naruto for blatantly ignoring him.

Naruto seems to catch on to the anger Sasuke is radiating – which is unsurprisingly easy since Sasuke had the unrivaled Glare of Death in their school – and tries to prod what’s wrong out of the raven.

“Sasuke.” Poke, poke.

” Saaah-suke!” Poke, poke, poke, push, poke.

“Saasuuuke” Push hard.

“Come on! What the hell is wrong with you? Can't you just fucking look at me!” Okay so maybe Naruto wasn't the most patient ever but at least it worked to a degree when Sasuke snapped his head to face Naruto and glared harder – if that was possible -and yelled, “What do you WANT??”

“I want to know what the hell you’re so angry about. I swear for a second there I thought you had laser beams for eyes!” Naruto glared back. Glaring in itself wasn't a very rare occurrence since he could do it pretty well to...say his enemies or...say people that offended his friends or only family but it was rare for him to glare at...say people he considered friends. And Sasuke was the first real friend – even if it was pretty one sided on Naruto's part - he had in a long time.

“Why the fuck do you care?” glare.

“Because I do.” Because you are my friend. But Naruto kept that part to himself for now.

“Well you shouldn’t” Sasuke snapped and turned his head away to face the window.

Naruto just ignored Sasuke and scooted closer, “Well I don’t care about what I should do or shouldn’t do. I do what I want. And right now I want to know what’s wrong with you.” Naruto said as he rested his head on Sasuke’s shoulder. Sasuke just shrugged him of and sighed. He felt like this was a losing battle and no matter how well he could hold a grudge – and he could hold one for years – he couldn’t seem to stay mad at the blond idiot. Probably because he’s so stupid that he doesn’t even realize what he did…Sasuke defended himself The least I can do is enlighten him…

With that thought Sasuke shifted slightly so that he was sitting straight and glanced at Naruto, “Who was the redhead in English class?” he asked. It wasn’t like the raven was going to come right out and say he had been jealous and wanted attention. That would be far too humiliating. Though this straight out question wasn’t exactly subtle either, but that can be blamed at Sasuke’s inability to socialize. This was he could at least find out why the redhead was important enough to draw Narutos attention from him. And if asked why he wanted to know he can still blindly deny being interested. Hopefully the explanation Naruto gave was good enough for he could forgive the blond for ignoring him. If not….well even Sasuke didn’t want to think about that. He enjoyed Naruto’s company – even if the blond was childish and an idiot – far too much to not forgive him.

“Oh, Gaara?” Naruto asked in confusion. It was an odd thing to bring up and Naruto wondered for a second how he should answer. Deciding to go with a more or less honest answer he hesitantly said, “He’s someone I know from my old school. We weren’t on the best of terms when I left so I was surprised to see him here, but I worked everything out.” He grinned, “Don’t worry about it.”

Sasuke noticed the loophole. Or maybe not exactly a loophole but an unlikely coincidence in Naruto’s answer, “If he went to your old school before, why is he here now. Especialy if you two didn’t get along?” he asked.

“Ummm..it’s just…Gaara had…family issues…and this summer he decided to leave. So since he knew I was coming here, he must have decided to follow me. Just for the sake of having a familiar face around…”

“But I thought you two didn’t like each other.”

“We don’t…or didn’t. We never really got to know each other. We were just expected to hate each other because of our…families…but now it’s different. Both of us have cut ties with our families so we can try being friends for once.” Naruto grinned at the end. He was finding it funny how he kept referring to the gangs as families because in a sense that’s what they were to them and to many of the kids in them. Though, if they were really families, they would probably by the most dysfunctional families around.

Sasuke nodded in agreement. He could relate to family feuds. He and Neji were expected to hate each other. They don’t hate each other so much anymore but they did back in elementary and middle school. Now Sasuke found the whole ancient feud redundant, especially with his parents not there anymore. He and his brother hardly counted as a prestigious family anymore. They were just two orphans left with their own company and huge trust funds. Which Sasuke despised because he couldn’t get to them until his 18th birthday and had to live off his monthly allowance that he relieves through the bank. But anything was better than relying on his brother for money.

Naruto grin widened at Sasuke’s nod, “Is that all you wanted to know then? You aren’t mad anymore right?” he asked

Sasuke just shot Naruto a halfhearted glare and grumbled out, “Whatever you say dobe.”

“Teme!” Naruto automatically responded.

Their petty fight, if it can even be called a fight, was instantly forgotten and instead Naruto grabbed the forgotten earphone that he had pulled from Sasuke’s ear and put it on. All the while complaining to himself about angry kids and their angry music as he settled into his seat to wait for his stop. Sasuke just ignored the comments and turned to watch the drab scenery pass by.

--

Naruto saw his area up ahead and saw his apartment building come into view, “I have to get off at the next stop” he said simply.

“Hn” Sasuke responded.

Naruto didn’t even notice the response, “Hey hey, teme!” He exclaimed in excitement as he got up from his seat, “I’m supposed to do your uniform anyway, so wanna come over now? I can start on it.” Nature offered.

Sasuke looked up at Narutos hopeful face. He wanted to go with Naruto, wanted to see where he lived, wanted to see him work on his uniform. He just wanted to know more about the blond. But he didn’t know if he could take staying that close to the blond, alone, for so long.

The temptation won out in the end and he agreed with a roll of his eyes, “Fine I’ll come. No reason to beg.”

Naruto just smirked in triumph, “I wasn’t begging and you know it. You just wanted to come.”

“Hn”

Naruto continued to grin as he pulled Sasuke up by the arm in his excitement and practically dragged the raven of the bus, “Let’s go, let’s go!”

They made their way to the apartment building that was just across the street from the bus stop. The building was unremarkable. Just a slab is rectangular concrete with the number painted on. The typical cheap housing complex. Naruto unlocked the door to the equally unremarkable lobby and led them to the one elevator. The door slid open and Naruto walked in pulling Sasuke by the sleeve behind him. The elevator was dirty and small. The florescent lighting on the ceiling was bared and one bulb broken. The metal walls had crude comments carved in but Naruto didn’t seem to notice. He didn’t notice how they barely had any space between them either or how his bent knee just barely brushed Sasuke’s leg and his hand was still holding onto Sasuke’s sleeve, ready to pull him out. Sasuke on the other hand noticed everything and it only put his nerves more on edge. If he couldn’t focus just from being in a confining space with the blond for less than a minute how was he supposed to deal with spending the next couple hours in the blondes presence? Alone. Together.

Thankfully he was spared any more embarrassment as the doors slid opened and Naruto hastily pulled them out and led them down the hall to the last door on the right.

Sasuke just had enough time to notice the number on the door; 804 and file it away for future reference when Naruto had the lock undone and the door opened, “Ta-da! We’re here.” He said cheerfully and stepped in, beckoning Sasuke in behind him, “Make yourself at home. I live by myself and I wasn’t expecting guests so it’s kind of messy. I hope you don’t mind.”

Naruto slipped his sneakers off with practiced ease and dropped his backpack on the floor as he made his way inside. Sasuke did the same and quickly followed Naruto. The apartment was small and filled with junk. There was one room that dubbed as both the living room and bedroom, a small kitchen of to the side and from what Sasuke could guess – a washroom and a closet on the to the other side, judging by the closed doors.

They made their way into the relatively clean kitchen. The counter was filled with appliances and jars of necessities such as tea, coffee and cereal. But otherwise it was clean. No half eaten food or dirty plates. Sasuke was impressed. Though in reality he shouldn’t have been since the only reason for that is that Naruto had yet to make a mean involving anything other than instant noodles- which came with their own plastic bowl - since he moved.

“You want anything to drink?” Naruto askes casualy as he opens the fridge, “I have water, coke, and ummmm….yeah. That’s it.” He throws a sheepish smile over his shoulder at Sasuke who is lounging against the counter. The raven just rolls his eyes and replies with a simple “Coke”.

They get their drinks and Naruto quickly ushers his guest into the living-room/bedroom.

“Sorry for the mess, I was in a bit of a rush this morning.” He quickly kicks all the clothes, towels, pillows and other miscellaneous objects into a pile by his bed. Then from seemingly nowhere, though Sasuke later realizes it was probably from under the bed, he produces a large dark orange throw and drapes it over the mess of blankets and pillows in an attempt to make it look presentable. Instead it just looks orange and lumpy.

“Sit down, make yourself at home,” Naruto says cheerfully, “I’m just going to go get some stuff and then we can start.”

It takes Sasuke a moment to figure out what the blond is talking about. Start what? Then it hits him. The whole reason he is here is because of his stupid ill-fitting uniform and the ‘deal’ that the blond forced on him. Not that he minded. If it gets him a better uniform that he wouldn’t feel embarrassed walking in to school then it can’t be all bad, right? Plus this way I get to spend more time with Naruto.

He is yanked out of his mussing by a heavy spiraled bound sketchbook landing on his lap and Naruto’s voice telling him to go to the last used page. Sasuke follows the instructions automatically, all the while keeping his eyes on the blond who has traveled over to one of the closed doors and with a determined look on his face yanks the door open. A flood of clothes, materials, boxes, bags, ets comes spilling out of the closet. The noise makes Sasuke jump slightly and he looks up with surprised eyes at the blond who just smiles at him and goes to work rifting through the pile, every couple second pulling out a seemingly random scrap or two.

Finally about ten minutes later Naruto straightens up and scoops the small pile into his hands. He walks over the bed and bumps it next to Sasuke.

“So. This is what’s going to happen.” Naruto states in an exited voice. Sasuke just stares at him then at the drawing in his lap then at the pile beside him, trying to connect how the blond expects to make all that junk into what he promised in the picture.

--

(1) I mean the “brother's hatred” in verbal and emotional abuse only. Not physical. And I mean “brother's love” in a platonic, family sense as well. There will not be any incest because I don't wanna screw Naruto's life up any more then I have to.

--

A/N: Sorry this took SOOOO long. But I have stopped reading Naruto for the last…god knows how long. I only recently started reading a few fics from the fandom again. so I felt the need to write this. It’s kind of short-ish. But I have a general sense of where I’m going with this. All the major events are planned out, I just need to manage to get to them. Hopefully this writing mood, that I am in right now, will last at least a couple more weeks, or even days, and I don’t get sidetracked by my boring life again and forget all my plans for this fic.

Read and Review please.