“So, last week we talked about stepping outside of our comfort zones.” Kakashi started. “First, let's welcome Naruto. He's going to be working with Sasuke. Feel free to jump in any discussion you feel comfortable with, Naruto.” He gave the blond a wink before giving a once over to the room.
“Does anyone want to go first with sharing their experience on what they did to go out of their comfort zone?” Kakashi looked around the room, no one making eye contact with him. He let out a sigh. “Okay, I'll go first then. Over the weekend, when my boyfriend came over, I kept my mask off the whole time.”
The room was shocked into silence looking at Kakashi in awe. He smiled at them as best as he could before asking once again who wanted to go next.
Naruto quickly raised his hand and Kakashi called on him. “Well, to be honest, I'm usually an open person anyways but, I decided to apply for the job of being Sasuke's caretaker even though I didn’t think I'd be qualified for it.” He shrugged before giving the room a wide smile and threw his arm around Sasuke’s shoulder, pulling him closer. “But now me and this guy are the best of friends.”
The room laughed as Sasuke rolled his eyes. ‘In your dreams, moron.’
“He says he loves me.” Naruto smiled mischievously at Sasuke who only glared in return.
“Thank you Naruto, for sharing. Now who wants to go next?” Kakashi once again looked around the room before letting out a sigh. “Now, Naruto can't be the only one sharing.”
“You're right,” Kiba suddenly sat up in his chair, a look of determination on his face. “I'll share next.” He let out a sigh. “Well, over the weekend. I actually petted a cat.”
Sasuke let out a snort as Naruto looked at him in confusion. “What?”
Sasuke gently tapped Naruto's arm, trying to get Naruto's attention. ‘He's a bigger moron than you. Miracles happen everyday.’
Naruto glared at him. “Shut up, you jerk.”
“What did Sasuke say?” Karin leaned forward to look at Naruto, eyes curious.
Naruto looked between the two, Sasuke looking half amused, half annoyed. “Uh, he said, um, that he loves cats and doesn't see what the big problem is?”
Karin’s eyes gleamed as she sat back in her seat, mumbling to herself.
“Well Sasuke, the big deal about cats is that when I was younger, I was attacked by that gang of strays. Weren't you listening that first week?”
Sasuke rolled his eyes before giving a quick glare to the blond, who returned it with a sheepish smile.
“Thanks for sharing Kiba. Now, who'll go next?”
“I will!” Ino exclaimed, sitting up straighter in her chair. “So, as you all know, well except for you Naruto, I'm dealing with anorexia. So, over the weekend, my parents wanted to celebrate another successful season with their business. They asked me where I wanted to go to eat and I suggested a buffet.”
A gasp came from Karin and she leaned forward in her seat. “A buffet?! Like an all-you-can-eat one?” Ino nodded and Karin leaned back in her seat. “How much did you eat?”
“Three whole plates.” She replied with a smirk.
“Impressive.” Suigetsu said with a nod. “Now, I'll go next. I went with my cousin to a swimming pool and actually swam.”
Naruto looked on in confusion as Suigetsu didn't seem to want to explain further. He looked to Sasuke who had his arms crossed.
“Alright so now it's Karin and Sasuke. Which of you two want to go next?”
“I will.” Karin volunteered. She took a deep breath. “I went on a date and when he dropped me off, I didn’t follow him or look him up online.”
Naruto’s eyes widened and he looked to Sasuke, eyeing the grip Karin had on his arm with mild concern.
“That’s a pretty big step for you, Karin.” Suigetsu nodded. “The guy must’ve been ugly, huh?”
Kiba held back a laugh as Ino and Karin glared at him. “Shut up you stupid fish boy! For your information he's pretty good looking. Not like it's any of your business.”
Kiba nudged Suigetsu in the side. “She probably met him in the nut house. He's probably crazy enough to show interest in her.” The two of them started to laugh.
“Don’t listen to them Karin, they're just idiots.” Ino looked at her, frowning slightly.
“Is this always like this?” Naruto leaned to Sasuke, whispering quietly.
Sasuke only responded with a shake of his head and a bored look.
“Alright Sasuke, looks like you're the last one.” The whole room looked at Naruto and Sasuke expectantly.
Naruto looked around the room before facing Sasuke. “Alright the pressure is on, they're waiting for an answer.”
‘Don’t overreact. Promise me.’ Sasuke gave him a glare and Naruto felt his stomach beginning to do flips. He nodded, unsure of what Sasuke had to say.
‘I stepped out of my comfort zone by letting someone, besides my brother, into my room for the first time.’
Naruto's eyes widened and he opened his mouth to say something before Sasuke gave him another glare. ‘You promised.’ Naruto closed his mouth and nodded before relaying the message back to the group.
“Well, thank you everyone for a good session today. We'll discuss more on Wednesday.” Kakashi stood up and the rest of the room followed, all stopping outside.
“So, Sasuke and Naruto, we're all going to grab a bite to eat after this? Wanna come?” Ino asked the two of them before they headed to the car.
Kiba snorted. “You ask Sasuke everyday and the answer is always no. I don’t know why you even bother.”
“Sure, we'll go.”
The five of them all turned to face the blonde, Sasuke glared while the other four looked on in awe.
‘I don't want to go, dumbass. Let's go home.’
Naruto gave him a smirk. ‘What about stepping out of your comfort zone, asshole? These people just want to be friends with you.’
He gave him a scowl. ‘I don't need friends.’
Naruto's smile grew brighter. ‘We're going and that's final. You need to get out more.’
Sasuke glared at the blonde and Naruto kept his smile, gaze not wavering. Finally with a suck of his teeth and a sneer, he turned away, admitting defeat to the blonde.
“Yeah, so we'll be joining you.” Naruto turned towards the group, smile still on his face. “We'll meet you there, just tell me where to go?” He held out his phone and Ino eagerly grabbed it, typing in the address.
“Well done, blondie!” Suigetsu threw his arm around Naruto's shoulder. “We've been trying to get the ice prince to join us forever and you've managed to do it in a mere 2 minutes. Impressive.”
“I told you he loved me.” He snickered as he saw Sasuke roll his eyes and started to walk towards his car. “Alright, well see you in a bit!” He quickly ran after Sasuke.
The two of them arrived at the diner that Ino gave them the directions too. They patiently waited until the rest of the group arrived.
“We have our own special booth in the back that Sakura always reserves for us.” Ino said over her shoulder as Naruto and Sasuke trailed behind.
Sasuke quickly stopped and grabbed onto Naruto's sleeve.
“What?” Naruto asked, looking at Sasuke with concern when he saw fear flash across his eyes.
‘I can't go in there.’
Naruto narrowed his eyes in suspicion. “Why not?”
“You two love birds coming?” Suigetsu called out as the four of them looked at them with curiosity. Kiba started to laugh as Karin hit Suigetsu over the head.
“One sec, go on ahead.” Naruto waited until they were in the building before turning back to Sasuke. “What's the problem now?”
Sasuke turned away from him, a scowl on his face. ‘I just can't go in there.’
“Why? Is the food bad or something?” Naruto looked up at the sign on top of the building and shrugged. “If you won't tell me, I can't help you out.”
‘Its Sakura.’
There was silence until Naruto let out a quick, sharp laugh. “You're afraid of girl. Oh, this is priceless!” He started to laugh harder as Sasuke's face turned a darker shade. “The almighty, fearless, Sasuke Uchiha is in fact scared of a girl.”
Sasuke quickly faced him, a dark glare on his face as Naruto continues to laugh. ‘It's not funny, moron. She's….something else.’
Naruto's laughter died down and he shook his head and shrugged. “I don’t see what the big deal is, you deal with Karin, what makes this Sakura girl any worse?”
Sasuke didn’t have time to answer as a knock came from the window and the two boys jumped, not expecting to see a glaring Ino gesturing at them.
“Come on, don’t worry, I'll protect you from the big, bad, Sakura.” Naruto snickered at the look he received from Sasuke and followed him inside the diner.
They headed to the back and easily spotted the rest of their group.
As they sat down, a waitress came up to them, she had a cute face and shoulder length green eyes. “Hey everyone!” She greeted. Her eyes stopped at Naruto and Sasuke and her eyes grew wide and she took a step back with a gasp. “S-sasuke?”
Naruto raised an eyebrow in curiosity and turned to face the raven who looked like he became five shades paler.
“Yeah can you believe it?” Kiba threw an arm around Naruto's shoulder. “It's all thanks to blondie!”
She turned to look at Naruto, eyes narrowed. “Who are you?”
“Naruto Uzumaki! I'm Sasuke's caretaker. You must be the lovely Sakura.” Naruto flashed her a bright smile.
“And how do you know my name?”
Naruto blinked at her owlishly before gesturing to Sasuke. “He told me about you.” There was a sudden pain in his side and he hissed as he glared at Sasuke who was sneering at him. He stuck out his tongue and turned to face Sakura, her eyes were wide and mouth slightly agape.
“S-sasuke talked about me?” Sakura looked at him hopefully and Naruto nodded. There was a loud squeal and both Kiba and Suigetsu covered their ears at the sound.
“Oh boy, here we go.” Ino rolled her eyes and closed the menu with a huff, resting her head on top of her fist.
“What? Did I say something bad?”
“Yes.” Kiba and Suigetsu said at the same time.
“Move over, four eyes, I need to sit next to my boyfriend.” Sakura huffed at Karin who glared at her and scooted her chair closer to Sasuke.
“You don’t need to sit at all, you're working! And he's not your boyfriend, he's mine!” Karin tried to lean on to Sasuke only to almost fall off her chair as she realized he scooted his own chair closer to Naruto.
“Don't make me laugh! He doesn’t want to date a crazy psycho bitch like you! And besides, you're not the one he's talking about to his friends now is he!”
Karin stood up to glare at her. “He's probably telling him about how ugly and desperate you are. At least I can use my craziness as an excuse, what's yours?” She crossed her arms over her chest and smirked.
Sakura growled at her, fists clenched at her sides. “You stupid, little, slut!”
Naruto watched in awe as the argument started to escalate and he looked around the table to see Ino on her phone and Kiba and Suigetsu arm wrestling. He turned to face Sasuke, eyes slightly wide in fear.
‘I told you I didn't want to go. Let's leave.’ Sasuke stood up and Naruto silently nodded, unsure of how to respond to the situation.
“Um, we're gonna go guys. See you Wednesday!” Naruto quickly said as he began to follow Sasuke out of the diner.
“Look you pink-headed freak, you scared him off!” Naruto shuddered as the door closed behind him and Karin’s final words reached his ears.
“Holy shit, man. That was crazy.” Naruto started to laugh as he started the car as Sasuke got in.
Sasuke shook his head before looking out the window for the rest of the car ride.
They reached the mansion about half an hour later and quietly walked into the house.
“So what do you want for dinner?” Naruto asked, taking off his shoes and placing them to the side.
Sasuke shrugged as he took off his own shoes hurriedly, beginning to go up the stairs.
“Wait a minute!” He grabbed Sasuke's arm to stop him. “Just tell me what you want.”
Sasuke roughly jerked his arm out of Naruto’s grip and turned to face him with a scowl. ‘I don't care.’
Naruto gave him a confused look. “What's wrong with you?”
‘I told you I didn't want to go but you made me go anyways. This shit happens all the time with those two. I don’t like dealing with those annoyances.’ He glared down at Naruto who's eyes also were narrowed in a glare.
“Well you stupid asshole, maybe if you tried to tell me what's going on in your life instead of acting like a big scaredy cat all the time, I would've known and then maybe we could've done something about it. And for another thing, you need to get out more and I took the opportunity to try and get you to make friends.”
‘I don't need any fucking friends, you dumb idiot. I've never needed anybody but myself.’
Naruto crossed his arms over his chest. “And look where that got you, hm?” Sasuke stiffened and Naruto took a step up. “It's not healthy to keep everything inside, Sasuke. I'm just trying to help you out, okay?”
‘I don't need your fucking help either. Just leave me the fuck alone, and stay out of my life.’ Sasuke turned around and headed back up the stairs.
Naruto watched in concern at Sasuke's retreating form and continued to stare until he heard the slam of Sasuke's door. He let out a sigh before turning around. He gasped in surprise as he saw Itachi standing at the bottom of the steps, a look of indifference set upon his face. “How much did you hear?”
“Pretty much all of it.”
Naruto let out a defeated sigh and hung his head down. “I didn’t mean for things to get out of hands like that. I'm sorry. If you're willing to still give me a chance, I'll try not to upset him again.”
Itachi’s eyes widen a bit in surprise but he quickly collected himself just as Naruto looked back up to him. “Do you think I'm going to fire you?”
Naruto sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. “Kinda? I mean I really upset him, not on purpose of course! But-”
Itachi let out a chuckle and put his hand up to stop him. “Listen, I'm not mad or anything. This is honestly the most emotion I've seen out of Sasuke since before the accident. Like you said, it's not healthy for him to keep everything bottled up. I'm just glad he's getting some of those pent up feelings out. As long as he doesn't try to commit suicide again, I have no reason to fire you over him getting upset because of something you did.”
Naruto smiled at him and gave him a nod. “Thank you.”
YOU ARE READING
Muted Love
FanfictionPicture is not mine and neither is Naruto Sasuke has been mute ever since his accident and all his brother, Itachi, wants is for him to have someone to take care of his little brother. In steps Naruto, an orphan who has a passion to make those ar...
