*Hello, just a warning. This has some boy/boy implied.
None of the characters belong to me, they are Masashi Kishimoto's creations.
I only created the fanfic. Enjoy. :) *
Gold Coins
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"10 gold coins."
"Is there anything more... cheaper?"
"Sorry kid, that's all I've got."
Naruto sighed and slumped his shoulders. Even a small loaf of bread was too much for him to afford. The market place was especially alive today with the everyday town's folk bustling here and there. The bright red, green and yellow of the fresh fruits and vegetables laid out on many different stalls made it more livelier. A gentle summer breeze blew.
The stall owner turned his attention to another buyer assuming the teen was not going to buy anything. Naruto looked around wearily, he had only five gold coins in the pocket of his dirty worn-out trousers and begging was out of chance for him. He still had his pride. Looking around, he carefully slipped the loaf of bread into a waiting bag while the owner was distracted before casually walking towards a more crowded part of the market. Taking advantage of the crowd, the teen slid his hands through numerous pockets while passing by, picking a few gold coins and a handkerchief on the way. It had become a habit since money was always scarce.
Giving a slight grin to himself, Naruto made his way towards the Town Centre.
'Maybe Iruka needs a hand today?' , he thought, just dodging in time to a speeding carriage.
"OI! WATCH IT!", a fist shook in the air.
"You watch it!" yelled the driver. Taking no notice, he ran towards a quaint- looking little book shop on the corner of the street.
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(Inside the bookshop)
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Skimming through the shelves and stacks of books Iruka sighed. He was sure that he had placed them here somewhere.
"Ah, here we go.", smiled Iruka at the customer. "One 'Icha Icha Paradise' the new volume."
The customer, a lazy looking middle-aged man with hair tied tied up into a high pony tail, yawned.
"Thank you, I've been waiting for months for this book."
Iruka laughed and made his way to the till. Business was alright. The bookshop had become quite popular in the small town of Konoha and there were always folks about, like this regular.
"That would be 60 gold coins sir." The man paid him and took the brown paper bag.
"Mr. Umino, if you don't mind, could you please let me know when the next volume will be out?"
"Of course Mr. Nara! I always pass by your place."
The man smiled nervously, "Yes, I know. Although can you please not mention it to my wife? That would be... troublesome."
Once again, Iruka couldn't help but give a small laugh. "No worries. Have a good day!"
Mr. Nara waved a hand in respond and made his way to the door before...
"HEY IRUKA-SENSEI!"
The door slammed open with such a force that some of the books nearby fell off their shelves.
"Naruto watch it! Careful!"
'Huh?', thought the blonde and turned around to see Shikamaru's father grumbling while walking out of the door. With an obvious big bruise on his face, he added.
"Naruto, how many times have I told you to not slam the door open. You're scaring the customers."
Naruto flushed. "Oops, sorry... heh, heh." he rubbed the back of his head.
"Did you get into another fight?"
"Huh? No! Stop being s-so s-suspiciouse." stammered the blonde under Iruka's scrutinising gaze.
"Yo!"
"And can you please pick those books off the floor?"
"Yea, I'm on it."
"Change your trousers as well please."
"You know Iruka, it's rude to keep your customers waiting."
Iruka turned around to frown at the silver-haired man who had just walked in.
"Good Afternoon Kakashi. You here for the new volume of course."
"How did you know?" chuckled the man, Naruto swore that the man was smiling under that black mask.
"As if he'd come here for anything else." he grumbled, picking up the books in a careless matter.
"Oh hello there Naruto! Didn't see you there." Kakashi ruffled his hair.
'And to annoy me and Iruka.' the boy stuck his tongue out.
"Naruto!" warned Iruka.
"Hmm, is that the way to treat your sensei?"
"Sorry Kakashi-sensei." he smiled brightly. He had to admit, the man was fun to be around at times.
"Now then, could you give us a moment Kakashi. There is more stocks of these books upstairs. Naruto could you please go and get them while I put on some tea for us, you look like you could use it. Stop fiddling with that bag, leave it there! You'll need someone to help you with those boxes-"
Just at that moment, in walked in a bored looking teen. "When can we leave? The carriage is stuffy."
Dark ebony eyes took in its surroundings. The teen was obviously part of a higher class with his navy silk shirt and tunic. The bright gemstones glittered with pride on his fingers that also brought out his eyes. He was pale, a common sign of a noble and his face was framed by contrasting spiky raven locks with a hint of dark blue when in sunlight. Most would agree that he was very appealing.
Iruka's kind face smiled at the boy, "How are you Sasuke? It's been a while."
"I'm all well. And yourself?" said Sasuke.
"Good, all is well."
Suddenly Kakashi ruffled the boy's hair and chuckled. "Say, Sasuke. Would you do Iruka-sensei a small favour?"
The annoyed look sent at the hand was ignored. "Yea."
"Iruka needs help bringing some boxes of books from upstairs."
Sasuke nodded.
"Hey Naruto, Sasuke will give you a hand." the silver-haired man turned back around to have a conversation with the bookstore owner.
Naruto placed the fallen books that he had picked up on the shelf and turned to glare at the other teen. Said teen glared back with just as much force. Naruto himself, was very appealing as well. If the blonde would have washed his hair from the dirt and changed his rough-looking clothes, one could guess that the boy had bright golden locks as well as tanned skin. His eyes however, were the most disarming. They could reflect so much emotion in their blue depths plus the simple blue crystal worn on a necklace really brought them out.
"Follow me bastard." snorted Naruto.
"Hn, Dobe." replied Sasuke.
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(Upstairs)
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"I lost fifteen gold coins because of you." grumbled Naruto while opening the old attic door.
The raven smirked, "Hn, maybe you shouldn't bother others next time."
The blonde turned to the raven in fury, "I wasn't bothering anyone! If you hadn't pushed me into that woman, she wouldn't have dropped all her goddamn apples in the pond."
"You asked for it Dobe."
"What! You-u, you tried to attack me!"
"Because you launched at me first.", snorted Sasuke who was shifting boxes around, "Or did you forget your grand invitation for a fight, exclaimed in front of Sakura?"
By this time, the dust that had settled was disturbed by the shifting of boxes. There was the musty smell of old books mixed with the strong odor of ink from the new ones. Together, there was the smell of adventure and infinite possibilities between those covers.
Naruto huffed, "I would've beaten you if we weren't interrupted. And you should treat her more nicely. Your such a cold hearted bastard to everyone all the time!"
Sasuke sighed, this was getting annoying. But he loved watching his rival feel so helpless."I didn't want to have dinner with her so I refused."
"She wouldn't have enjoyed it anyways...Ugh! Where is that box?" growled Naruto, attempting to shift two boxes at a time.
"You should have asked her them."
"I did! But then I realised that not all of us are loaded and spoiled like you. Restaurants are pricey. Where is it?"
"Maybe it's the one that's labelled 'Icha Icha'?"
The blonde gripped the sides of the box.
"Wait! Don't pull it from the bottom of the..."
Suddenly the whole pile of cardboard boxes toppled all over the place.
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(Downstairs)
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Thump. Thump.
"What was that?"
Both men looked at each other questioningly.
"Let's hope they're not up to trouble.", sighed Kakashi, stirring the sugar in his tea.
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(In the Attic)
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The dust slowly settled while both teens coughed loudly. He groaned, the boxes had hit Naruto really hard and the floor did not help soften his landing.
'Ugh!' The blonde wiggled while rubbing his eyes. 'These books are so heavy!' , he groaned mentally.
"You clumsy idiot!" exclaimed a voice.
'Huh?', that sounded really close. Naruto opened his eyes. His eyes widened.
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"Get off me!"
The raven winced and opened his eyes as well. "I can't idiot. There's a pile of heavy boxes on top of me!"
"What the hell?!"
"Shut up!" shouted Sasuke, "You're giving me a headache."
Both teens were currently sprawled on the floor, well Naruto was. Sasuke was sprawled on top of him. Piles of boxes were scattered everywhere. One particular large box that was labelled 'Icha Icha' had settled itself comfortably on Sasuke's lower half, trapping the other beneath him as well.
"Don't tell me to shut up!"
"I wasn't the moron who got us stuck like this."
"It was an accident!"
The raven looked down at the flushed boy beneath him, they were very close. He flushed too and tried shifting to create more distance between them.
"Ouch! Watch where you're putting your leg. Ow... Ouch! ASSHOLE!"
A fist flew and the Uchiha pinned both wrists to the cold hard floor. "Dobe. Stop." he growled at the struggling blonde.
"Your leg! Move it! That hurts!" gasped Naruto. Sasuke tried to shift it but that only put more pressure onto Naruto's pelvis making him yelp in pain. The pressure from the heavy box was only making Sasuke's leg dig deeper and more painfully.
"For fuck's sakes, you don't think my legs are killing me as well because of this stupid box!"
What a weird situation to be in. Not to mention awkward.
"I hate you. First you shove me into that lady. Make me lose my money. Embarrassed me in front of Sakura. And now I am stuck in this awkward position with you!"
Sasuke snorted. As if he was enjoying being stuck like this. All of a sudden, a very evil idea popped in his mind. The grip on Naruto's wrists tightened. "Hey Naruto.", said the Uchiha in a low voice and his face advanced closer. He chuckled at how abruptly the blonde had stopped all movement. Blue eyes widened in confusion. Naruto did not like the glimmer of mischief in Sasuke's eyes. He was the one who usually had that but Sasuke's looked more dangerous right now. The Uchiha slowly moved his face to hover beside the boy's ear.
"I..", the hot breath on the blonde's ear was making Naruto very uncomfortable. Why did he move closer? Weren't they close enough already.
"need to..."
Sasuke had moved towards Naruto's neck, breathing in the sweet scent of sweat, honey and grass. He felt like the predator and Naruto was his prey. The faint feeling of the boy's pulse quickening on his grip on the other's wrists brought a strange feeling to him.
"tell you..."
Naruto could smell the fresh mint and sweat on the other boy. 'Too close, too close.' His mind had frozen like a record on replay that stopped him from reacting. They were so close that he could almost hear the other's heart thumping. Or was that his own?
"something..."
The Uchiha blew cold air onto the younger one's neck. The blonde's breath hitched. Sasuke grinned against the tanned neck before transforming it into a smirk when lifting his head up. 'This is so weird.', Sasuke admitted in his head but he wanted to annoy Naruto and get revenge for being put in this annoying situation. Naruto was glaring at him again, looking annoyed.
"What?"
The curiosity behind those interesting eyes were very obvious. Once again, the raven leaned in so that his mouth hovered next to Naruto's ear.
"I..."
Once more, his hot breath returned, bringing cold shivers down the other's back. This reaction brought a pleasant shiver to Sasuke's form as well. Why was he getting so much fun out of this?
Naruto shut his eyes.
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"I ac-cepted Sakura's date."
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Without warning, a sharp pain made itself known on one side of the raven's neck as sharp canines sunk in and made their presence known.
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*Let me know what you guys thought of that in the reviews. This is my first fanfic after all.*