The Theory of Happiness (1c/1)
Permission to sob in a corner now, yes?
***
Characters: Naruto/Sasuke, Sai, Tamaki, Obito, Itachi, Mei
Rating: PG-13
Words: 14,749
Summary: “It’s still a wedding, isn’t it?”
“...I thought this was supposed to be a family type gathering,” Naruto mumbles.
“It is.”
Really, it was just a kiss on the cheek, which didn’t upset him as much as it took him by surprise, which then led to the clumsy kind of impulsive reaction he hardly ever means that Sasuke’s been steadily trying to break him out of the habit of doing, but Naruto still makes a point to ignore Itachi’s seemingly endless gaze.
Or at least he tries to.
He braves a glance away from his unfinished plate of food.
Itachi’s still staring.
After taking a small sip of wine, carefully setting the glass on the table, Naruto clears his throat.
Slowly, Itachi starts to smile, bearing a sly sort of misleading smile giving him this too highly amused look that almost makes Naruto want to squirm on the edge of his seat for something he’s not entirely sure he actually did.
“Without a doubt,” he says, a hand in one fluid motion pushing back stray hair falling over the side of the face, “you are the most innately droll person I’ve ever had the opportunity to meet.”
“Funny.” Snorting, Naruto reaches for the last piece of braised pork on his plate. He swallows it in one bite. “Not that I won’t take that as a compliment, but Obito and Sai mentioned something along those lines, too.”
“Meeting Sai, I’m sure it must have been an enlightening experience.”
“Eh, I can’t say I was prepared for it. Coming here, I really didn’t know what to expect. Sai, though, he...well, at first, I kind of got the feeling he didn’t like me,” Naruto says, tries to hide his reluctance of the admission behind a hesitant smile. “He’s not an easy guy to read, especially since he doesn’t mind being so blunt, but Sasuke and Obito already told me not to take what he says seriously.”
He lets out a low chuckle. “Not that I was anyway, but I really am trying to make a good impression, you know. Doing that kind of thing, it’s important to me.”
“I do believe Sai can be particular in how he chooses to express himself.”
Naruto scrunches his nose. “That’s definitely one way of putting it.”
There’s a small movement at the corner of Itachi’s mouth that almost turns into another smile. “However, I also believe it takes an incredible amount of resilience not to like you, Naruto.”
“Really? You think so?” Naruto all but preens. “When I first started trying to be Sasuke’s friend, he once said knowing me was like a war of attrition, because it took less energy to be my friend compared to all the times he tried to ignore me.”
Of course, Sasuke later said it was an annoying character trait Naruto shouldn’t be so pleased about having, but since his persistence got him where he is with Sasuke now, he thinks it all panned out pretty well.
“I’ll confess,” Itachi says, finishing the rest of his champagne, “someone with your infectious personality, I wouldn’t expect to find you sitting here alone.”
“Ah...” Naruto looks up, a finger scratching the side of his face below his chin. “For this sort of thing at least, I don’t mind taking a backseat. I’m a simple kind of guy, so if it means I get to see Sasuke happy, I’ll be fine.”
“Abiding by such a staunch mindset, it seems very selfless of you.”
“I’d like to think so, but really, the only reason I don’t mind is because seeing Sasuke happy makes me happy. Like I said, though, I’m a simple kind of guy.” Naruto shrugs. “Being in Yamaguchi, it’s the first time he’s come back here to see his family in a long time. You already know how important this is to him. I do, too. And this sort of formal occasion really isn’t my kind of thing.
“Besides, I plan on spending the rest of my life with him. I don’t want to do anything that’ll make me lose Sasuke. Not if I can help it.”
“That’s a bold assertion.”
“Which one? Wanting to be with Sasuke or not wanting to be without Sasuke?”
“Seeing there is a difference, since you’ve already made the distinction, I won’t entertain a question you know the answer to.”
Naruto licks his lips, picking up his glass of wine still half full. Staring at the red liquid swishing inside, he raises the glass a little higher, bringing the rim closer to his mouth, but then he places the glass back down on the table.
“It’s kind of scary, you know,” he says, “when I realise how strongly I really do feel about Sasuke, about this guy I still think of as my best friend, who’s become so much more than that, but I know he feels the same way, too, so even if it still seems sudden to make that sort of declaration, our relationship, it’s not something I’m going to let go of.
“I already promised Sasuke.” His mouth teeters on the edge of a straight line, eyes a fixed stare set on Itachi. “And I never go back on my word.”
“...as fickle as the future can be, you’ve never considered the possibility of having second thoughts?”
“You’re kidding, right?” Both eyebrows raised, Naruto settles on giving him this exceedingly dry look that just might be inadvertently questioning Itachi’s sanity. “You know how hard I had to work to even get Sasuke’s attention? Not to mention, even being close to him then, how long it took for him to see me as more than a friend? And trust me. It wasn’t for lack of trying, either.”
Around a small smile, Itachi makes this soft noncommittal noise.
“Sasuke’s always liked you. You’re his brother. I don’t think he’ll ever stop liking you. But me...” Frown lines mar Naruto’s face, and he looks down, fiddling with the thick white fabric covering the table. “After all this time, though, he’d have to be the one to get rid of me first, and even if he tried, well-”
Lifting his head, Naruto cracks a wide grin that almost might have been enough to catch Itachi off guard. ”Just know I’d be coming to you, so expect a call if that ever happens, okay.”
“I’d prefer not to receive a call from either of you.”
“Good.” Naruto continues to grin. “Hearing that kind of thing from you, being able to talk to you like this, I really do consider you to be family, so one day, I hope you’ll consider me to be family, too, and maybe I can introduce you to mine-your family’s already so big, though.
“When Sasuke said a lot of people were going to be here, I wouldn’t have thought there’d be this many. I guess because your family is so old? He told me you could trace the Uchiha name all the way back to the Tokugawa period. I thought my mom’s family name was old, but the records for Uzumaki don’t even go past the Meiji era, so it’s kind of amazing to know your ancestors could have been ninja or something.”
“Our records aren’t so extensive, either, but I’d hesitate to say our family came from anything other than simple merchants and artists.”
“Still, who’s to say it couldn’t have happened? Being a part of that kind of history...” Folding his arms behind his neck, Naruto lets out a wistful sigh, leaning back into his chair. “My family’s pretty small compared to yours.”
Itachi nods with a low hum.
“Not that I mind. My mom and dad used to travel out of the country a lot, until I was about three or four, so I mostly grew up with my aunt and uncle. It was just the five of us for a while, until I was nine and then we adopted my sisters.
“Being a big brother, I think I probably spoil them too much, but they’re my little sisters, you know, so I’m okay with that. If only they didn’t like Sasuke so much, though.” Dropping his arms to rest on the table, Naruto leans forward with a grin. “Putting so much attention on him, I don’t know if that should make me happy or jealous.”
“Sasuke’s met your family?”
“Yeah, I took him there sometime in January, during the break. I’m from Mobara, so that’s not too far from Narita. It really was a spur of the moment thing, but I think he ended up getting along with my family too well. Especially with my mom.
“How they keep in touch, I already told him it’s weird-not that he actually listens to me. Not that anyone listens to me. Definitely not Sakura and-oh.” Sitting up, Naruto lets eager fingers fumble to dig out the phone in the side pocket of his pants. He falters for a moment, noticing his missing wallet, but then he remembers Sasuke has it.
“Here. Let me show you.” His thumb turns on the dark screen that brightens to reveal the wallpaper a photo of Sakura and Ino taken in front of the cherry blossoms at Tokiwa Park. They’re standing next to each other, cheek to cheek, wearing identical, wide smiles and pointing v signs at the camera. “These are my sisters.”
He places his phone on the table so Itachi can get a better look. “That’s Sakura’s on the left. She just turned thirteen last month. Ino, though, she won’t be thirteen until November,” he says, looking up to Itachi with a grin. “They’re really cute, aren’t they?”
“They are. Their smiles even share a likeness with you.”
Fighting a blush, Naruto laughs a little, stuffing his phone back into his pocket. “...thanks. They really like getting their picture taken, so I have a lot of photos of them, but my wallpaper’s one of my favourites.”
“Sasuke never did enjoy being in front of the camera.”
Naruto snorts. “He still doesn’t. Considering how much I like photography, I’m lucky I even managed to get what I have. Did he ever let you take any?”
“The photos I took before leaving for New York, I may still have a few of those on my phone.”
“Can I see?”
“Of course.”
Reaching inside of his jacket, Itachi takes out a sleek, extremely thin white phone. It’s the newest Docomo model that just came out a few days ago and way more than Naruto can afford on his skimpy personal budget not spent on school related expenses or bills or food, or any of the important kinds of things he needs in order to survive.
It’s still a really nice phone, though, only a little smaller than Naruto’s hand. Itachi brings it out of sleep mode and unlocks the touchscreen display. He opens a simple file manager type app, falling into a series of quick sweeps with his finger over the screen.
The movement’s too fast for Naruto to keep up with, nothing but a haze of various characters labelling the multiple folder icons passing on the screen.
At least until Itachi opens an image file that’s decidedly not a photo of Sasuke.
Which Naruto takes it upon himself to helpfully point out. Just in case Itachi couldn’t tell the difference between his brother and those hostile looking projectiles sitting in a large display case. For whatever reason. “...that’s not Sasuke.”
“My apologies. I must have opened the wrong folder. This is a photo from my sword collection.”
Picking up his jaw from the floor then letting it drop again, Naruto just stares at Itachi. Really, he just stares. Skewed sense of humour, his ass. He doesn’t care what Sasuke said earlier. There’s no excuse or good willed intent not even remotely sinister to justify showing that kind of thing. Who even walks around carrying that kind of menacing photo on their phone at all?
“...just how many of those ridiculously sharp and pointy looking things do you actually have?” he says, cautiously, because he doesn’t exactly appreciate the panoramic view showing a too large array of unsheathed swords.
It’s not the most comforting image to be shown by Sasuke’s older brother, especially since most of the time Naruto can’t tell when Itachi’s being serious or not.
If Sasuke was wrong about Itachi’s sense of humour, maybe Itachi really wasn’t joking about the whole treating him to fugu thing after all.
“Not as many as I’d like. I’m partial to antiquities, but most of them are difficult finds. Discovering these particular swords has been a gradual effort over the years.”
Wisely, Naruto doesn’t bring up the fact that the swords in the photo actually look brand new. Recently polished, too. More functional than decorative even.
Sure, he knows Itachi was the one who inspired Sasuke to take up kendo on the side, that Itachi was the one who gave Sasuke his shinai, that Itachi also retired from the international circuit during college as a ninth-dan, the highest grade given that pretty much doesn’t exist anymore, but he never thought breaking Sasuke’s shinai that day would come back to haunt him like this.
“You really do like your swords, don’t you?”
“It’s a hobby to pass the time. Nothing noteworthy,” Itachi says, although Naruto silently disagrees, “but I suppose it’s enough to store them in a separate room. If you ever feel inclined, you’re more than welcome to take a look.”
“Visit your condo? Maybe if Sasuke comes with me, too, but until then I, um...yeah, I think I’ll be okay. I get homesick too easily.” Naruto’s trying exceptionally hard not to let his admittedly overactive imagination run away with him, except it already is, and now he’s starting to get all kinds of images in his mind he’d much rather do without.
Being Itachi’s brother, it really is no wonder where Sasuke got his sadistic streak from.
Looking back at the phone Itachi placed on the table, Naruto actually takes a moment to appreciate the pixel quality of the photo and just how clearly he can see the gleam of the swords’ blades. A hand makes a slight gesture pointing towards the phone. “Do you mind if I...”
“Help yourself,” Itachi says, picking up the phone and handing it to Naruto. “It may not be a camera, but there’s been a notable improvement in the mobile phone market recently.”
“It’s impressive enough,” Naruto admits, “for the capability of a phone at least, but it could never compare to my baby. These new phones still can’t replace the real thing. With such small lenses, there’s still a big technical limit to what you can do with them, especially in different settings, which really does lower their performance depth, because there’s not a lot of room to offer quality control.
“So no matter how many times a camera phone improves, it’s still just a phone.” His finger and thumb close together touch the screen then quickly span apart to zoom in on the display.
“It is,” Itachi says. “However, I wouldn’t have taken you for such a purist.”
“Growing up watching my dad work, learning from him, I don’t think that way of thinking can be helped,” Naruto says, giving the phone back to Itachi, “so maybe I am a little of a purist, but that doesn’t mean I don’t take pictures with my phone, though. And it doesn’t mean your phone makes your swords look any less sharp, either. Pointy, too.”
“I’ve been told they appear sharper in person.”
That Itachi can say something like that so calmly, almost forebodingly, with such a soft and gentle looking smile, really, how’s Naruto supposed to even respond to something like that?
Settling on busying his mouth with a piece of chicken, he loops his finger around the broad end of his tie then bunches the soft material in his hand, giving Itachi another wary look that turns a little wry.
When he realises what he was just doing, though, he immediately straightens in his chair.
He groans, trying to smooth down his tie with his palm in the hopes he can make himself look presentable again. “Sasuke’s going to kill me,” he mutters. “I wasn’t even paying attention to what I was doing-my tie doesn’t look wrinkled, does it?”
“No, but your knot is loose.”
“Agh.” Naruto lifts the flaps of his collar. “And Sasuke took his time trying to make it look so nice, too. Not that I don’t know how to tie my own tie. He just assumed I couldn’t and didn’t give me a chance to say I could. Plus, I like it when he does it instead, because I only know how to do a really basic tie, and he can do these-”
Moving the knot up to his collar, he pauses. “You won’t tell him what I just told you, will you?”
Itachi chuckles. “Not unless he asks.”
“Thanks.” Naruto sighs in relief. “I’m just glad I didn’t mess it up, since Sasuke bought it for me.” Looking down at his chest, he gives the dark grey tie a proud pat with his hand. “It’s made from real silk, too.”
Gaze warm, Itachi laughs again, this time a little softer, a little more relaxed with another one of those really gentle smiles. “...thank you, Naruto.”
“Huh?” Naruto looks up. “For what?”
Itachi makes a low noise and shakes his head.
Before Naruto can ask him what he means, however, he’s distracted by Sasuke and Mei taking the seats on either side of him.
“You certainly do have a boyish quality about you. Not only does it enhance your smile, it’s rather endearing. Charming, too,” Mei says. “Such a gorgeous blue, though, has anyone ever told you how striking your eyes are, Naruto?”
“Maybe, but, um...” Naruto blinks. “...thank you?”
“Would you like to dance with me?” she says, leaning a little too close for Naruto’s comfort.
At Naruto’s pleading look, Itachi sits back in his chair, crossing his arms and raising an ankle to rest over his knee. “I’m not the most competent dancer,” he says, like that’s really supposed to explain why his girlfriend seems so set on dancing with Naruto.
Still facing Naruto, Mei glances at Itachi from the corner of her eye. “My Itachi actually admitting he has a fault?”
Itachi gives her an amused look, probably part of some kind of inner joke Naruto really doesn’t want to know about. “I’m not without one or two.”
Momentarily forgetting his discomfort, Naruto turns to see Sasuke reaching over to swipe the last piece of chicken from his plate. “Hey, that’s-”
“Do you think you’ll be able to help me make Itachi jealous?”
More than a little alarmed, Naruto flushes under the intensity of Mei’s stare, lumbering for a response like some kid who just got hit by puberty. “O-oi, Sasuke-Sasuke, I know you’re seeing this. You have to be seeing this, right? She made a move on me first.”
Unfazed, Sasuke continues to chew on the piece of chicken formerly belonging to Naruto, continues to be indifferent to Naruto’s obvious pain and suffering.
“Appearing so at ease in this kind of situation, it isn’t normal,” Naruto mumbles, looking to Itachi, since Sasuke won’t even bother to take pity on him. “Shouldn’t you be a little more concerned about your girlfriend flirting so openly with another guy?”
“Are you implying you’re a reason to be?”
Naruto squeaks. “That’s not what I mea-”
“You should go, you know,” Sasuke says, choosing now of all times to be a vindictive bastard and throw Naruto’s words back at him, like he actually wants to give Naruto a death wish, because Itachi’s not staring at him with one of those really gentle smiles anymore.
No, Itachi’s just staring at him, wearing one of those really unreadable expressions that has everything on Sasuke, and Naruto swears he sees Itachi discreetly tapping twice the outside of his jacket right over the inner pocket holding his phone, under the pretence of brushing off a piece of lint that’s definitely not there.
It can’t just be his imagination this time.
“Hold me, Sasuke.”
“Don’t worry,” Mei says, “I’ll hold you, Naruto.”
With another squeak, Naruto shakes his head, inching a little further away from her, as much as he can on the chair. “No, no, I want Sasuke to hold me. Sasuke, I want you to hold me. I want to be held in the relatively safe comfort of your arms.”
Sasuke snorts. “You big baby,” he says, but smiles this tiny little fond smile that makes Naruto grin, because he knows it’s the kind of tiny smile that Sasuke saves only for him. “You can’t handle a little teasing?”
Vague, in the back on his mind, Naruto registers Mei quietly pulling away. She stands and brings Itachi to his feet, leading him to the middle of the ballroom where they slip away from Naruto’s sight.
Arms falling over his lap, he leans closer to Sasuke, but he doesn’t close in on the modest distance between them. “I like it when you tease me. Does that count for anything?”
“Looking at me again with that incredibly stupid smile,” Sasuke murmurs. He turns his head to the side then brings his gaze back to Naruto. “You really are such an idiot.”
“Am I?”
“...you are.”
“Well, that’s okay then,” Naruto whispers, slowly reaching for Sasuke’s hand with fingers Sasuke gives a firm squeeze.
“It is?”
“Yeah, because I don’t mind being an idiot for you.”
***
Characters: Naruto/Sasuke, Sai, Tamaki, Obito, Itachi, Mei
Rating: PG-13
Words: 14,749
Summary: “It’s still a wedding, isn’t it?”
“...I thought this was supposed to be a family type gathering,” Naruto mumbles.
“It is.”
Really, it was just a kiss on the cheek, which didn’t upset him as much as it took him by surprise, which then led to the clumsy kind of impulsive reaction he hardly ever means that Sasuke’s been steadily trying to break him out of the habit of doing, but Naruto still makes a point to ignore Itachi’s seemingly endless gaze.
Or at least he tries to.
He braves a glance away from his unfinished plate of food.
Itachi’s still staring.
After taking a small sip of wine, carefully setting the glass on the table, Naruto clears his throat.
Slowly, Itachi starts to smile, bearing a sly sort of misleading smile giving him this too highly amused look that almost makes Naruto want to squirm on the edge of his seat for something he’s not entirely sure he actually did.
“Without a doubt,” he says, a hand in one fluid motion pushing back stray hair falling over the side of the face, “you are the most innately droll person I’ve ever had the opportunity to meet.”
“Funny.” Snorting, Naruto reaches for the last piece of braised pork on his plate. He swallows it in one bite. “Not that I won’t take that as a compliment, but Obito and Sai mentioned something along those lines, too.”
“Meeting Sai, I’m sure it must have been an enlightening experience.”
“Eh, I can’t say I was prepared for it. Coming here, I really didn’t know what to expect. Sai, though, he...well, at first, I kind of got the feeling he didn’t like me,” Naruto says, tries to hide his reluctance of the admission behind a hesitant smile. “He’s not an easy guy to read, especially since he doesn’t mind being so blunt, but Sasuke and Obito already told me not to take what he says seriously.”
He lets out a low chuckle. “Not that I was anyway, but I really am trying to make a good impression, you know. Doing that kind of thing, it’s important to me.”
“I do believe Sai can be particular in how he chooses to express himself.”
Naruto scrunches his nose. “That’s definitely one way of putting it.”
There’s a small movement at the corner of Itachi’s mouth that almost turns into another smile. “However, I also believe it takes an incredible amount of resilience not to like you, Naruto.”
“Really? You think so?” Naruto all but preens. “When I first started trying to be Sasuke’s friend, he once said knowing me was like a war of attrition, because it took less energy to be my friend compared to all the times he tried to ignore me.”
Of course, Sasuke later said it was an annoying character trait Naruto shouldn’t be so pleased about having, but since his persistence got him where he is with Sasuke now, he thinks it all panned out pretty well.
“I’ll confess,” Itachi says, finishing the rest of his champagne, “someone with your infectious personality, I wouldn’t expect to find you sitting here alone.”
“Ah...” Naruto looks up, a finger scratching the side of his face below his chin. “For this sort of thing at least, I don’t mind taking a backseat. I’m a simple kind of guy, so if it means I get to see Sasuke happy, I’ll be fine.”
“Abiding by such a staunch mindset, it seems very selfless of you.”
“I’d like to think so, but really, the only reason I don’t mind is because seeing Sasuke happy makes me happy. Like I said, though, I’m a simple kind of guy.” Naruto shrugs. “Being in Yamaguchi, it’s the first time he’s come back here to see his family in a long time. You already know how important this is to him. I do, too. And this sort of formal occasion really isn’t my kind of thing.
“Besides, I plan on spending the rest of my life with him. I don’t want to do anything that’ll make me lose Sasuke. Not if I can help it.”
“That’s a bold assertion.”
“Which one? Wanting to be with Sasuke or not wanting to be without Sasuke?”
“Seeing there is a difference, since you’ve already made the distinction, I won’t entertain a question you know the answer to.”
Naruto licks his lips, picking up his glass of wine still half full. Staring at the red liquid swishing inside, he raises the glass a little higher, bringing the rim closer to his mouth, but then he places the glass back down on the table.
“It’s kind of scary, you know,” he says, “when I realise how strongly I really do feel about Sasuke, about this guy I still think of as my best friend, who’s become so much more than that, but I know he feels the same way, too, so even if it still seems sudden to make that sort of declaration, our relationship, it’s not something I’m going to let go of.
“I already promised Sasuke.” His mouth teeters on the edge of a straight line, eyes a fixed stare set on Itachi. “And I never go back on my word.”
“...as fickle as the future can be, you’ve never considered the possibility of having second thoughts?”
“You’re kidding, right?” Both eyebrows raised, Naruto settles on giving him this exceedingly dry look that just might be inadvertently questioning Itachi’s sanity. “You know how hard I had to work to even get Sasuke’s attention? Not to mention, even being close to him then, how long it took for him to see me as more than a friend? And trust me. It wasn’t for lack of trying, either.”
Around a small smile, Itachi makes this soft noncommittal noise.
“Sasuke’s always liked you. You’re his brother. I don’t think he’ll ever stop liking you. But me...” Frown lines mar Naruto’s face, and he looks down, fiddling with the thick white fabric covering the table. “After all this time, though, he’d have to be the one to get rid of me first, and even if he tried, well-”
Lifting his head, Naruto cracks a wide grin that almost might have been enough to catch Itachi off guard. ”Just know I’d be coming to you, so expect a call if that ever happens, okay.”
“I’d prefer not to receive a call from either of you.”
“Good.” Naruto continues to grin. “Hearing that kind of thing from you, being able to talk to you like this, I really do consider you to be family, so one day, I hope you’ll consider me to be family, too, and maybe I can introduce you to mine-your family’s already so big, though.
“When Sasuke said a lot of people were going to be here, I wouldn’t have thought there’d be this many. I guess because your family is so old? He told me you could trace the Uchiha name all the way back to the Tokugawa period. I thought my mom’s family name was old, but the records for Uzumaki don’t even go past the Meiji era, so it’s kind of amazing to know your ancestors could have been ninja or something.”
“Our records aren’t so extensive, either, but I’d hesitate to say our family came from anything other than simple merchants and artists.”
“Still, who’s to say it couldn’t have happened? Being a part of that kind of history...” Folding his arms behind his neck, Naruto lets out a wistful sigh, leaning back into his chair. “My family’s pretty small compared to yours.”
Itachi nods with a low hum.
“Not that I mind. My mom and dad used to travel out of the country a lot, until I was about three or four, so I mostly grew up with my aunt and uncle. It was just the five of us for a while, until I was nine and then we adopted my sisters.
“Being a big brother, I think I probably spoil them too much, but they’re my little sisters, you know, so I’m okay with that. If only they didn’t like Sasuke so much, though.” Dropping his arms to rest on the table, Naruto leans forward with a grin. “Putting so much attention on him, I don’t know if that should make me happy or jealous.”
“Sasuke’s met your family?”
“Yeah, I took him there sometime in January, during the break. I’m from Mobara, so that’s not too far from Narita. It really was a spur of the moment thing, but I think he ended up getting along with my family too well. Especially with my mom.
“How they keep in touch, I already told him it’s weird-not that he actually listens to me. Not that anyone listens to me. Definitely not Sakura and-oh.” Sitting up, Naruto lets eager fingers fumble to dig out the phone in the side pocket of his pants. He falters for a moment, noticing his missing wallet, but then he remembers Sasuke has it.
“Here. Let me show you.” His thumb turns on the dark screen that brightens to reveal the wallpaper a photo of Sakura and Ino taken in front of the cherry blossoms at Tokiwa Park. They’re standing next to each other, cheek to cheek, wearing identical, wide smiles and pointing v signs at the camera. “These are my sisters.”
He places his phone on the table so Itachi can get a better look. “That’s Sakura’s on the left. She just turned thirteen last month. Ino, though, she won’t be thirteen until November,” he says, looking up to Itachi with a grin. “They’re really cute, aren’t they?”
“They are. Their smiles even share a likeness with you.”
Fighting a blush, Naruto laughs a little, stuffing his phone back into his pocket. “...thanks. They really like getting their picture taken, so I have a lot of photos of them, but my wallpaper’s one of my favourites.”
“Sasuke never did enjoy being in front of the camera.”
Naruto snorts. “He still doesn’t. Considering how much I like photography, I’m lucky I even managed to get what I have. Did he ever let you take any?”
“The photos I took before leaving for New York, I may still have a few of those on my phone.”
“Can I see?”
“Of course.”
Reaching inside of his jacket, Itachi takes out a sleek, extremely thin white phone. It’s the newest Docomo model that just came out a few days ago and way more than Naruto can afford on his skimpy personal budget not spent on school related expenses or bills or food, or any of the important kinds of things he needs in order to survive.
It’s still a really nice phone, though, only a little smaller than Naruto’s hand. Itachi brings it out of sleep mode and unlocks the touchscreen display. He opens a simple file manager type app, falling into a series of quick sweeps with his finger over the screen.
The movement’s too fast for Naruto to keep up with, nothing but a haze of various characters labelling the multiple folder icons passing on the screen.
At least until Itachi opens an image file that’s decidedly not a photo of Sasuke.
Which Naruto takes it upon himself to helpfully point out. Just in case Itachi couldn’t tell the difference between his brother and those hostile looking projectiles sitting in a large display case. For whatever reason. “...that’s not Sasuke.”
“My apologies. I must have opened the wrong folder. This is a photo from my sword collection.”
Picking up his jaw from the floor then letting it drop again, Naruto just stares at Itachi. Really, he just stares. Skewed sense of humour, his ass. He doesn’t care what Sasuke said earlier. There’s no excuse or good willed intent not even remotely sinister to justify showing that kind of thing. Who even walks around carrying that kind of menacing photo on their phone at all?
“...just how many of those ridiculously sharp and pointy looking things do you actually have?” he says, cautiously, because he doesn’t exactly appreciate the panoramic view showing a too large array of unsheathed swords.
It’s not the most comforting image to be shown by Sasuke’s older brother, especially since most of the time Naruto can’t tell when Itachi’s being serious or not.
If Sasuke was wrong about Itachi’s sense of humour, maybe Itachi really wasn’t joking about the whole treating him to fugu thing after all.
“Not as many as I’d like. I’m partial to antiquities, but most of them are difficult finds. Discovering these particular swords has been a gradual effort over the years.”
Wisely, Naruto doesn’t bring up the fact that the swords in the photo actually look brand new. Recently polished, too. More functional than decorative even.
Sure, he knows Itachi was the one who inspired Sasuke to take up kendo on the side, that Itachi was the one who gave Sasuke his shinai, that Itachi also retired from the international circuit during college as a ninth-dan, the highest grade given that pretty much doesn’t exist anymore, but he never thought breaking Sasuke’s shinai that day would come back to haunt him like this.
“You really do like your swords, don’t you?”
“It’s a hobby to pass the time. Nothing noteworthy,” Itachi says, although Naruto silently disagrees, “but I suppose it’s enough to store them in a separate room. If you ever feel inclined, you’re more than welcome to take a look.”
“Visit your condo? Maybe if Sasuke comes with me, too, but until then I, um...yeah, I think I’ll be okay. I get homesick too easily.” Naruto’s trying exceptionally hard not to let his admittedly overactive imagination run away with him, except it already is, and now he’s starting to get all kinds of images in his mind he’d much rather do without.
Being Itachi’s brother, it really is no wonder where Sasuke got his sadistic streak from.
Looking back at the phone Itachi placed on the table, Naruto actually takes a moment to appreciate the pixel quality of the photo and just how clearly he can see the gleam of the swords’ blades. A hand makes a slight gesture pointing towards the phone. “Do you mind if I...”
“Help yourself,” Itachi says, picking up the phone and handing it to Naruto. “It may not be a camera, but there’s been a notable improvement in the mobile phone market recently.”
“It’s impressive enough,” Naruto admits, “for the capability of a phone at least, but it could never compare to my baby. These new phones still can’t replace the real thing. With such small lenses, there’s still a big technical limit to what you can do with them, especially in different settings, which really does lower their performance depth, because there’s not a lot of room to offer quality control.
“So no matter how many times a camera phone improves, it’s still just a phone.” His finger and thumb close together touch the screen then quickly span apart to zoom in on the display.
“It is,” Itachi says. “However, I wouldn’t have taken you for such a purist.”
“Growing up watching my dad work, learning from him, I don’t think that way of thinking can be helped,” Naruto says, giving the phone back to Itachi, “so maybe I am a little of a purist, but that doesn’t mean I don’t take pictures with my phone, though. And it doesn’t mean your phone makes your swords look any less sharp, either. Pointy, too.”
“I’ve been told they appear sharper in person.”
That Itachi can say something like that so calmly, almost forebodingly, with such a soft and gentle looking smile, really, how’s Naruto supposed to even respond to something like that?
Settling on busying his mouth with a piece of chicken, he loops his finger around the broad end of his tie then bunches the soft material in his hand, giving Itachi another wary look that turns a little wry.
When he realises what he was just doing, though, he immediately straightens in his chair.
He groans, trying to smooth down his tie with his palm in the hopes he can make himself look presentable again. “Sasuke’s going to kill me,” he mutters. “I wasn’t even paying attention to what I was doing-my tie doesn’t look wrinkled, does it?”
“No, but your knot is loose.”
“Agh.” Naruto lifts the flaps of his collar. “And Sasuke took his time trying to make it look so nice, too. Not that I don’t know how to tie my own tie. He just assumed I couldn’t and didn’t give me a chance to say I could. Plus, I like it when he does it instead, because I only know how to do a really basic tie, and he can do these-”
Moving the knot up to his collar, he pauses. “You won’t tell him what I just told you, will you?”
Itachi chuckles. “Not unless he asks.”
“Thanks.” Naruto sighs in relief. “I’m just glad I didn’t mess it up, since Sasuke bought it for me.” Looking down at his chest, he gives the dark grey tie a proud pat with his hand. “It’s made from real silk, too.”
Gaze warm, Itachi laughs again, this time a little softer, a little more relaxed with another one of those really gentle smiles. “...thank you, Naruto.”
“Huh?” Naruto looks up. “For what?”
Itachi makes a low noise and shakes his head.
Before Naruto can ask him what he means, however, he’s distracted by Sasuke and Mei taking the seats on either side of him.
“You certainly do have a boyish quality about you. Not only does it enhance your smile, it’s rather endearing. Charming, too,” Mei says. “Such a gorgeous blue, though, has anyone ever told you how striking your eyes are, Naruto?”
“Maybe, but, um...” Naruto blinks. “...thank you?”
“Would you like to dance with me?” she says, leaning a little too close for Naruto’s comfort.
At Naruto’s pleading look, Itachi sits back in his chair, crossing his arms and raising an ankle to rest over his knee. “I’m not the most competent dancer,” he says, like that’s really supposed to explain why his girlfriend seems so set on dancing with Naruto.
Still facing Naruto, Mei glances at Itachi from the corner of her eye. “My Itachi actually admitting he has a fault?”
Itachi gives her an amused look, probably part of some kind of inner joke Naruto really doesn’t want to know about. “I’m not without one or two.”
Momentarily forgetting his discomfort, Naruto turns to see Sasuke reaching over to swipe the last piece of chicken from his plate. “Hey, that’s-”
“Do you think you’ll be able to help me make Itachi jealous?”
More than a little alarmed, Naruto flushes under the intensity of Mei’s stare, lumbering for a response like some kid who just got hit by puberty. “O-oi, Sasuke-Sasuke, I know you’re seeing this. You have to be seeing this, right? She made a move on me first.”
Unfazed, Sasuke continues to chew on the piece of chicken formerly belonging to Naruto, continues to be indifferent to Naruto’s obvious pain and suffering.
“Appearing so at ease in this kind of situation, it isn’t normal,” Naruto mumbles, looking to Itachi, since Sasuke won’t even bother to take pity on him. “Shouldn’t you be a little more concerned about your girlfriend flirting so openly with another guy?”
“Are you implying you’re a reason to be?”
Naruto squeaks. “That’s not what I mea-”
“You should go, you know,” Sasuke says, choosing now of all times to be a vindictive bastard and throw Naruto’s words back at him, like he actually wants to give Naruto a death wish, because Itachi’s not staring at him with one of those really gentle smiles anymore.
No, Itachi’s just staring at him, wearing one of those really unreadable expressions that has everything on Sasuke, and Naruto swears he sees Itachi discreetly tapping twice the outside of his jacket right over the inner pocket holding his phone, under the pretence of brushing off a piece of lint that’s definitely not there.
It can’t just be his imagination this time.
“Hold me, Sasuke.”
“Don’t worry,” Mei says, “I’ll hold you, Naruto.”
With another squeak, Naruto shakes his head, inching a little further away from her, as much as he can on the chair. “No, no, I want Sasuke to hold me. Sasuke, I want you to hold me. I want to be held in the relatively safe comfort of your arms.”
Sasuke snorts. “You big baby,” he says, but smiles this tiny little fond smile that makes Naruto grin, because he knows it’s the kind of tiny smile that Sasuke saves only for him. “You can’t handle a little teasing?”
Vague, in the back on his mind, Naruto registers Mei quietly pulling away. She stands and brings Itachi to his feet, leading him to the middle of the ballroom where they slip away from Naruto’s sight.
Arms falling over his lap, he leans closer to Sasuke, but he doesn’t close in on the modest distance between them. “I like it when you tease me. Does that count for anything?”
“Looking at me again with that incredibly stupid smile,” Sasuke murmurs. He turns his head to the side then brings his gaze back to Naruto. “You really are such an idiot.”
“Am I?”
“...you are.”
“Well, that’s okay then,” Naruto whispers, slowly reaching for Sasuke’s hand with fingers Sasuke gives a firm squeeze.
“It is?”
“Yeah, because I don’t mind being an idiot for you.”