Photomanipulation:. Chapter 3

~Last Time~
Naruto's heart continued to pound loudly. Was he seriously sleeping from all of this? "Sasuke?" He poked his shoulder. He grabbed the covers and put them over Sasuke, then turned the other side so he couldn't face the ravenette, and sighed. What the hell went on in the Uchiha's mind?

----
A couple minutes went by, Sasuke watching Naruto's back, quietly. He carefully moved over and tracing Naruto's shoulder blade with a finger, eyes open and everything. He yawned loudly and waited for a response. "Good morning, Naru-chan."
Naruto visibly twitched at both the comment and the touch. "Don't call me that!" he protested and turned around. "Um... morning..." he eyes wandered away from Sasuke's general direction, trying not to make eye contact with him as he blushed profusely.
"Naruto, your face is bright red again." He put the back of his hand to the other's forehead, looking for a fever. "Did something happen while I was asleep? Are you sick?" Sasuke inquired innocently. He wondered what the blonde would say.
"Wha-wha--!" he freaked out. "I-I'm not!! It was probably just the lack of power! Y-you know, no air conditioning and all you know?" he laughed off, trying to hide the fact of what happened, but failed miserably. "Er... I'm fine."
"You sure...? You dont look all that well, Naruto. You know, you can tell me anything. I wont make fun of you." Sasuke blinked and rested his head on his hands. I can't believe this! How dare he lie about what I did and how he wanted me! Sasuke moved Naruto's golden-blonde hair out of his face and donned a worried expression.
Naruto's blush deepened. "Uh, y-yeah, I'm sure. Well, no. Well... uh..." Why does he always leave me tongue-tied? "Um... maybe," he pouted, crossing his arms. "Just don't worry about it. We were just a little... close. That's all."
Sasuke nodded, understanding. just a little?! right right, and my mother is george washington. "oh. okay." Sasuke broke eye contact and looked around, then coming back to face Naruto. "If I did anything I shouldn't have, I'm sorry. I was alseep, and Jiraiya says I do a lot of things in my sleep. so uh...sorry." hints of blush appeared on Sasuke's face.
"Uh... uh-huh. Okay. I'll keep that in mind." You could have told me that last night... Naruto sweatdropped. "Aw, Sasuke-chan is blushing?" The blonde giggled at Sasuke's expression. "How cute."
"cute?! What the-Naruto!!" Sasuke sputtered and pushed Naruto gently. "I'm not cute!!" His face turned even redder, Sasuke enraged by the fact Naruto can rile him up so easily. but then again, he did the same earlier this morning.
Naruto flashed the ravenette a foxy grin and poked Sasuke's cheek. "You getting all red makes you look even cuter, Sasuke-chan!" he continued to tease. Naruto was satisfied that he could rile up the Uchiha. "You are such a girl!" he laughed.
"You are too a girl!" Naruto smiled. "Look at the little girl hide under the covers!" he went on. He also went under the bidsheets to talk to bother him more. "Geez, you are so easy to tease, you know that? Worse than me!"
the model opened his eyes to find Naruto giggling in his face. "Oh my god!! Naruto!!" He struggled to turn away from him in the bed and he moved quickly away from Naruto but still under the bedsheets. "I am not easy to tease!!" He threw a leg out, searching for Naruto so he can kick him. Soon his foot connected with the other's stomach.
Naruto grabbed his abdomen. "Hey, asshole! What was that for? That hurt!" He fake-whimpered to get an apology from Sasuke.
Sasuke didn't turn around or move. "You deserved it, dobe. Don't try and sweet-talk me." Sasuke pouted and shut his eyes. But the whimpering wouldn't stop. "No, Naruto, I'm not going to say sorry." He scooted farther away from Naruto, but it had been too far, when he fell off the side of the bed and landed all too ungracefully.
"Ugh!" Naruto cried as he was dragged onto the floor along with Sasuke. "You... you are such a klutz, you know that?" Naruto froze when he realized he was on top of Sasuke, in a very awkward position indeed. His hands were over Sasuke's, practically pinning them onto the floor. Naruto used one of his hands to try to cover his blushing face.
Sasuke looked up at Naruto with frightened eyes. Blush covered his face and he reached a hand up to hide it, but as soon as he moved it he shouted in pain. He looked over at it and cursed. It was broken.
"Sasuke!" Naruto exclaimed, flushed. "A-are you okay?" he asked, worried. "You're hand looks weird!" He removed himself off of the Uchiha with ease, trying to get rid of the awkwardness that lingered between them.
Sasuke shot an annoyed glare at Naruto, stilling laying on the floor. "Of course it looks weird. You pushed all your weight on my arm and broke the bone when I hit the ground." He explained, carefully lifting his arm to his face. "Dammit." Sasuke winced as he put his other arm up to hold it.
Naruto's blush deepened, recalling the event. "Uh, I'm s-sorry Sasuke... um, what should we do?" Naruto glanced down at Sasuke. "I'm sorry!" he apologised again. "I-I didn't mean to! Are you okay? Does it hurt?"
The model sat up, stilling holding the injured arm. "It's fine, Naruto. I'm not mad at you." He examined it closer and bent his elbow. "It just hurts like hell." Sasuke carefully ran his fingers along the bump on his wrist. "I can try and pop it back into place so it doesn't look so gross."
"D-don't!" Naruto pleaded. "Because... well, what if you make it worse?" The paused it. "God... I'm really sorry," he murmured, as he bent down and gave the Uchiha a hug. "What should we do? Can you still model like this?"
Sasuke didn't pull back when Naruto hugged him. He put his good arm around the other boy's back. "Model? no. no I can't. Not with an arm broken." Sasuke shook his head profusly, not looking up or away from his arm. "I cant." He repeated, sounding horribly torn up by it.
Naruto buried his forehead in the crook of Sasuke's neck. "I'm sorry..." he whispered, his hot breath hovering over Sasuke's creamy skin. "We need to take you to a doctor or something!" he said, still not moving from his current position. His chest felt heated, what with them being extremely close, skin-on-skin.
Sasuke just shook his head. "It's fine Naruto. It's not your fault. I forgive you." He put his good hand on the back of Naruto's head and rubbed slowly, distractedly. "Yeah. a doctor....I have to tell Jiraiya what happened though, so he knows I wont be coming to work for about a month or so." He moved his hand farther down and caressed the warm tan skin.
Naruto shivered slightly at Sasuke's soft touch. "I hope things will be okay..." he sighed. He clasped Sasuke's injured hand in his and gave it a small kiss and smiled. "I'll drive you to the doctor's place, okay? When is the next scheduled shoot?"
Sasuke nodded mutely and stood up, carefully sliding on a shirt before answering. "today..I think." The black haired boy looked over at the clock. "He expects me in a few hours." After getting clothes on and getting stuff together, the two left for the doctor's first. Once there Sasuke got x-rays done. Not surprisingly, it was broken. But it was broken in two places. The doctor put on a short-arm cast, saying that later they'd have to move to a long-arm one. Geez, if only that doctor knew who he was speaking to. On the way to the studio, the model fiddled numbly with the cast. He still couldn't move his fingers, and above hie wrist started to hurt too. Sasuke leaned back in the chair and closed his eyes. These next couple of weeks aren't going to be fun.
Naruto cast a glance at the Uchiha. "So how does it feel?" he inquired. Naruto was constantly getting injured, so he was used to the feel of casts. But Sasuke, on the other hand... who knew? "Itchy? It's honestly not so bad, but since it's on your hand, it pretty much sucks. It's gonna be hard to do a lot of things like that. I hope you don't write with that hand!"
Sasuke looked down. The cast was on his right hand. The hand he writes with is.." I do." shit!! what the hell am I going to do now!? He leaned back again and covered his eyes from the sun with his left arm. Sasuke thought it was bad earlier, well...now these next couple of weeks are going to be hell. "Dammit." His voice quivered.
"It's okay, Sasuke," Naruto reassured. "It's happened to me plenty of times, but you'll be okay." Naruto placed on of his hands on the ravenette's cast. "Besides," he smiled, "it's fun to get people to sign it and stuff," he finished, trying to somehow cheer Sasuke up. He turned off the vehicle. "We're here. Ready?"
"Sign it? If you think I'm letting anyone touch this you are dead wrong, Naruto." Sasuke stated. He watched Naruto turn off the car, then taking his seatbelt off and stepping out. Once inside, Jiraiya almost tackled the two. Sasuke hid both arms behind his back. "SASUKE!!! It's about time you showed up!! Where have you been!?! Tenten has been waiting to take pictures of you for an hour!!" Sasuke looked down, nodding as Jiraiya spoke, but saying nothing. The perverted hermit took notice and quieted down. "Sasuke my boy? Are you okay?"
Naruto on the other hand, tried to keep a low profile by just not saying anything. He sat down next to Sasuke, appearing uninterested. "That's odd," Jiraiya noticed. "You both came in at the same time. Are you two friends or something? That's so cute!" he pointed out, while Naruto looked down and blushed. "Or something more?" Jiraiya felt like adding, and again, Naruto didn't speak. "Uh... what's going on?" the pervert sweatdropped. "Why aren't you guys getting ready?"
Sasuke blushed at the hermit's comments. He was talking about them as if they weren't there. His face was red but that wasn't the only reason he couldn't make eye contact with Jiraiya. Sasuke looked sadly to Naruto, then swallowing his pride and unfolding his arms behind his back, showing his boss the cast.
Jiraiya blinked. "Er? What's that thing doing there?" Naruto sighed. "It's a cast. Sasuke broke his hand," he admitted. It's not like they could have hid it much longer. "So... Sasuke's gonna need a month off the job... i-is that okay?" Naruto held his breath for Jiraiya's reply. Even though he wasn't in Sasuke's shoes, he still definately cared about the dilemma that Sasuke was in.
Jiraiya thought a bit, and looked between Sasuke's downcast eyes and Naruto's pleading face. He then smiled warmly and patted Sasuke's shoulder. "It's alright buddy. So you broke your hand. I'm not going to make you work. You get a break." Jiraiya then turned around and yelled to Tenten that the shoot was cancled. Sasuke heaved a relieved sigh.
"Uh... Jiraiya-san..." Naruto spoke. "Hm? What is it, boy?" Jiraiya inquired. "Well..." Naruto looked down and kicked at his own feet bashfully. "...I know I've only worked with you for a few days but... I was wondering if maybe I could stay with Sasuke until he's better," the blonde admitted, a blush overtaking his face. "I-I mean, he needs someone to take care of him, and I don't really..." He met Jiraiya's eyes. "...mind? I mean, you don't have to pay me or anything, I'll be okay for a few weeks, as long as you let me back..."
Jiraiya smiled and nodded. "No problem! I know how relationships bond over photoshoots. I'll just let you back when Sasuke comes back. It's just, I can't pay either of you for that amount of time you missed, so I suggest getting better fast." Jiraiya teased, dancing around. Sasuke relaxed and nodded. "That makes sense. I'll find a smaller job til then."
Bond? Naruto smiled and nodded. "Thanks, Jiraiya. I'll take good care of Sasuke-chan," he laughed childishly, while rubbing the back of his head. "Sasuke, you shouldn't take any jobs while you're in a condition like this," he advised. "You want to heal fast, don't you? Just don't worry about it! I've got it covered. Okay, Sasuke?"
Sasuke looked over at Naruto, light blush gracing his face. "Naruto, I'm not going to get paid. I need to have a job to keep myself up. If I let you do everything, then you'll be holding up not only yourself but me too and I-" Sasuke was cut off by Jiraiya who was giggling. "Oh Sasuke, you're so cute when you're flustered. Have fun you two!!" Jiraiya pushed the boys out the door and shut it behind them.
Naruto blinked in slight confusion from the abruptness of Jiraiya's actions. "Err, Sasuke..." he started again. "Just don't worry about it, okay? I don't want you to be stressed out and stuff, you know? What you need is relaxation. I'll take care of things." Naruto put a finger to his lips thoughtfully. "Do you want to stay at my place for a few more days? I mean, I-if you don't mind..."
Sasuke, still bright red, nodded. "Yeah. That would be better. But, can we go to my house fist? I kind of want to get some of my clothes and things." He walked towards the car and sat in the passenger's seat. "I'd rather have a bit more choice in my wardrobe."
"H-hey!" the blonde exclaimed as he entered the car, sitting down firmly in the driver's seat. "Are you telling me that I have bad fashion sense? Eh, Sasuke-bastard!?" He pouted. "And, uh, yeah, that's fine. Excluding the fact that I have no idea how to get there."
The black-haired boy rolled his eyes and looked at the street. "Dont worry, I'll guide you there, It takes awhile but directions aren't hard." He explained and put his seatbelt on then snatching the keys from the stalling blonde and starting the car with one hand. "Go that way." He pointed to the right, once they reached the end of the parking lot.
Naruto simply nodded. "Okay," he confirmed, turning to the right with his vehicle. About half an hour had passed on the way (not to mention Naruto got lost twice), and eventually they made it to the apartment. "What exactly do you want to get?" Naruto inquired. "I'll help you," he continued, parking the car.
"Just some of my clothes and stuff." Sasuke mused, hopping out of the car and shutting the door. He pulled the key out of his jean pocket and went inside. Looks on the outside can be decieving. His house was huge. It was furnished nicely with mahogany furniture and cooler blue hues and lots of black. Sasuke slipped his shoes off and wandered into his room, then turning around to look at Naruto. "You dont have to just stand there, you know. Come help me."
Naruto didn't stir, his eyes fixated on the sight before him. He blinked and gulped. "This..." he began quietly, "...THIS is your house?!" he exclaimed, in disbelief. "Whooooa!!" He was mesmerised, walking up to all sorts of couches and vases, just to stare and marvel. "Th-this is amazing! Why the hell would you ditch this place for my rinky-dink place, ehh?" he asked, trailing the fabric of one of the couches lightly with his index finger.
"My whole family used to live here." Sasuke breathed out, watching Naruto stare and gape at every little thing. "They're all gone now." He walked away from the threshold of his room and placed his hands on the back of the couch. "There's...too many memories inside these walls." Sasuke squeezed the couch with his left hand and winced.
Naruto momentarily paused his marvelling and looked at Sasuke, not knowing what to say. "O-oh..." He looked down. "I'm... I'm sorry," was all he could muster up. "Um, hey!" he began again, in attempt to lighten up the mood. "Let's gather your things now, ne Sasuke?" he smiled. "Or do you wanna just sit and do nothing all day here?"
Sasuke nodded and walked again toward his room, beckoning Naruto to follow. He walked inside his room; the same room he's had since he was little. All the walls were black and a small bed sat in the corner. There was a dresser and a desk, all made with dark wood. The closet was tightly shut, and nothing was on the wooden floor, save a small blood red carpet. When Sasuke stepped fully in, he kicked the carpet into the wall and made his way towards the dresser, pulling out heaps of dark clothing.
Naruto was a bit surprised at the... bleakness of Sasuke's room. Whoa. How creepy! he thought. "Uh, wow, nice room, Sasuke," he laughed off. "Um, h-hey, do you want any help?" he asked, offering Sasuke a hand.
Sasuke shook his head, grabbing a bag and putting said clothes into it. "I'm fine right now, Naruto. You can do what you like. Wander around, sit down, whatever. Just do not, and I mean do not, go into the room at the end of the hallway. Got it?" Sasuke stopped to look up at Naruto sternly.
Naruto cocked his head to the side curiously. "Um... okay..." he muttered, crossing his arms and sitting on Sasuke's bland bed. I wonder what that's all about? Does he keep corpses in there or something? Well, it i his house, so I guess I'll respect his wishes... he decided. "Say Sasuke, could I go get a drink of water? I'm thirsty."
Sasuke nodded and continued with his work, grabbing another bag to put things in. "Yes, the kitchen is back down the hallway and to your right. There should be some things in the fridge you can have. I dont care what you get."
Naruto smiled. "Thanks!" he said, pacing his way to the kitchen. I hope whatever is in his fridge isn't as weird as what's in his room, he sighed, opening the said fridge. Bleh. It's just water and milk. Where's the ramen? he asked, as if expecting for ramen to magically be in the fridge. Kool-aid? That's so out of place! But whatever! He pulled out the small red packet, and poured it into a small glass of water. He began to stir. Do not, and I mean do not, go into the room at the end of the hallway. Got it? Sasuke's words ran through Naruto's head like the plague. He shook his head, before taking a sip of the red liquid. No, no no! he fought with his inner self. Oh, damn... I'm curious! I can't help it! Just one peek! I'll be discreet about it, even! He tip-toed his way back to the hallway, kool-aid disposed of, as he silently paced past Sasuke's room. He then took baby steps as he approached the forbidden chamber. His hand shook nervously as he touched the brass doorknob. Quietly ... he twisted the knob, and opened the door slowly just to see ... a regular room. Eh? What the hell was Sasuke all freaking out about? he pondered as he subconciously decided to take more than just a peek; he walked in.
It seemed to be just a normal room, until Naruto walked in fully. The room smelled horribly of death, and there were dried bloodstains everywhere on the walls and floor. knives were embedded in the wall and pieces of loose leaf paper were strewn all over the floor, all having only one thing on them: a small fan-like emblem. the window was open, blowing the heavy dark curtains around and letting no light in. the only light in the room was a small candle.
Naruto covered his nose with his hand. And I thought Sasuke's room was bad...! He couldn't believe it. He had never seen anything more shocking in his life. He opened up one of the dusty drawers to find some notes in them, written inside were words of hate. In surprise, he backed away, and headed towards the door. I need to get out of here...! he pleaded.
"....naruto..."
Sasuke grabbed Naruto's waist and pulled him back quickly, then throwing a knife towards the window and smashing a hole in it, then pulling Naruto back further and quickly slamming the door shut. He then looked at Naruto and slapped him across the face. "GOD DAMMIT!! WHAT THE HELL DID I TELL YOU?!" Sasuke screamed, pulling his voice til it was hoarse. "ARE YOU STUPID?! CAN"T YOU FOLLOW DIRECTIONS?!"
Naruto used his arms as a defense against the angered Uchiha. "Sa-Sasuke--!!" he whimpered, in pain from the hit. He didn't want to hit back though; the last thing he wanted was a fight started. "Wh-what is your problem?!" he pleaded, only raising his defenses. "I'm sorry, okay? I know I shouldn't have, but you know me! My curiosity gets the best of me! You don't have to be such a damn asshole!"
Sasuke growled and shouted more. "YOU COULD OF FREAKING GOTTEN MURDERED YOU IDIOT!! JESUS CHRIST I CANT BELIEVE YOU!!-" Sasuke's rant was cut short as his knees gave out and he collasped to the floor, breathing heavily and shaking, his eyes tightly shut.
Naruto bent down to the floor to the fallen Uchiha, watching his shaking form with bewildered eyes. "Sasuke?!" Is he okay? And what the hell is going on? Murdered? He grabbed Sasuke's shoulders. "What... what are you talking about, Sasuke? What's going on? What do you mean, 'murdered'? Sasuke!"
Sasuke didn't say anything, letting his panic attack slide away. Then he looked up at Naruto, with a horribly frightened expression written on his sweating features. "Naruto....didn't you...didn't you hear him..?"
Naruto's heart paced at the horror-stricken expression plastered on Sasuke's face. He'd never seen this side of the ravenette before. "Hear him...? Hear who...?" Sasuke.. you're scaring me...
"...my brother, Naruto. My brother." Sasuke swallowed the lump in his throat and continued. "He called your name while you were in there. He's here." Sasuke shivered briefly. " My brother is a psychopath Naruto. He kills people. People like you."

~To Be Continued~