Accidentally in Love

(This story is written all in Naruto's point of view)
I never meant for it to happen. I mean, who does? It’s like one of the top three rules of friendship. Never fall in love with your friend,
never fall in love with your friend’s ex, and never,
ever, ever fall for your friend’s brother. Especially when said older brother happens to be the one
your best friend adores, and looks up to. How did this happen, when did this happen, how could I let this happen, I’m sure you’re asking yourself. Don’t worry, I wondered the same myself. I’m pretty sure it started when I first saw
him, way back in first grade, at the tender age of
six. It was the first day of spring, and so, our
teacher and let us play outside as we waited for
our parents to pick us up. Sasuke and I were
playing tag with some of our classmates, and I
was it. Just as I was about to tag Sasuke, I
looked up and saw the most beautiful sight in
my young life.
A beautiful older girl, with long black hair was
leaning against one of the many cherry trees in
the yard. Her eyes were closed, and her
expression was peaceful. Just as I was about to
walk over and say something, Sasuke looked
over to where I was staring and cried out
“Brother!”
Wait. Brother? I quickly grabbed Sasuke before
he ran to the being near the tree. “Oi, that’s not
your brother, is it? She’s too pretty to be a boy!”
I said, looking at Sasuke and laughing at him.
His scowling face was the last thing I saw
before his fist came flying at me, knocking me
into oblivion.
* * *
After I came to, I saw my teacher, Mr. Umino,
hovering over me anxiously, checking to see if I
was all right.
“Naruto…Naruto, look at me. How many fingers
am I holding up?”
I looked at him oddly. “Five?”
“What is your full name?” Mr. Umino asked,
poking and prodding at my face.
“Naruto Uzumaki!” I said, as I batted away Mr.
Umino’s fingers. “What happened?” I asked,
glancing around and seeing the black haired
angel holding on to an annoyed-looking Sasuke’s
shoulders.
“Sasuke, why don’t you explain?” Mr. Umino said,
his voice deceptively soft.
Sasuke looked up at me and scowled. “I- I
punched you.”
“And why did you punch Naruto?”
“Because he called my brother a girl!” Sasuke
said, sticking his tongue out at me.
“You mean she’s not a girl?” I asked, looking
over at the girl, no, boy holding on to his
shoulders, and looking at me oddly.
“No,” his voice was soft and calm, “I assure you,
I am a boy.”
“I’m sorry!” I said as I blushed and looked at my
fingers.
“It’s alright.” He said as he smiled and looked
down at his brother, “Sasuke, what were you
going to say?”
“I’m sorry… idiot.” Sasuke said, again sticking
out his tongue at me.
“It’s all right,” I replied, smiling until the rest of
what he said caught up to me. “I’m not an idiot!”
I shouted as I jumped off the bed in the nurse’s
office and started running after him.
“Idiot, idiot, idiot…!” Sasuke chanted, as he ran,
“how could you not tell my brother is a boy!?”
“He looks like a girl!” I screamed and ran down
the hall chasing him, “and I am not an idiot!”
* * *
The years went by, and Sasuke and I were the
best of friends. My crush on his older brother,
whose name I found out was Itachi, grew and
grew, until it morphed into love.
I think it was in middle school, when I finally
realized this childhood crush of mine was love. It
all started when I found out that Itachi’s parents
were setting him up on a date with the daughter
of a friend of theirs, for “business purposes”
Oh, didn’t I explain yet? You’ll have to forgive
me; I tend to be forgetful sometimes. The
Uchihas were rich, as in one of the top ten
richest families in the country. As with most rich
families with a big “top ten” corporation, they
wanted their eldest son to make a good match
with a daughter from another corporation. Hence
the reasons for the string dates Itachi had, that
was to become the nightmare of my teenage
years.
I was invited over for dinner that day, and I saw
Itachi waiting in the foyer all dressed up, as I
was coming in.
“Someone looks good,” I teased, as I looked him
over, “What’s the special occasion?”
“My parents have set up a date for me,” he
replied stiffly, looking over at me and daring me
to comment on it.
“A date?!” I squeaked, turning red as he raised
his eyebrow to me. “I mean, why did they set up
a date for you?” I blabbered on quickly, hoping
to hide my surprise and sudden jealously at the
news.
“Apparently I am old enough to become the
sacrificial lamb for the family,” Itachi commented
dryly, looking annoyed.
“What?” I returned, confused. ‘He’s a lamb? A
sacrificial one? Eh?’
Sarcasm was never my strong point.
Itachi turned to fully look at me and smirked.
“My parents believe me old enough to start
looking for someone suitable as a wife, who will
one day help me run the company.”
“Oh.” I replied, looking away, ignoring the feeling
of my heart wringing itself and started to walk
towards the stairs to go up to Sasuke’s room, “I
see. Good luck.”
In return, I heard a quiet “Thanks”.
My mood was ruined as well as the rest of my
day. It took me a while to understand why I felt
so down. It took me even longer to realize that I
was jealous. I mean come on, here I was, a
thirteen year old boy, feeling bad that my friend’s
older brother had a date, never mind that it was
set up by his parents.
After that, I started avoiding the Uchiha
residence. I needed to sort out my feelings and
find out what was wrong with me.
Besides, Sasuke would always fill me in on how
many girls Itachi went out wit, and how not one
seemed to catch his interest. Every time he did
that, I would get this odd twinge in my heart. It
felt as if my heart was breaking, and I wasn’t
sure how to fix it.
Sasuke would ask me once in a while why I
wouldn’t come over to his house, and I would
always end up giving him some sort of excuse.
Every other time he’d ask, he’d also casually
mention something along the lines of “Itachi
asked about you, and why you’re never over
anymore,” and that odd twinge would return once
again, tenfold.
It was the summer before I entered high school
that I decided to find out what was wrong with
me. My last year in middle school was spent
alternately being miserable and avoiding the
Uchiha residence. I hated being so down and
confused, and I took it out on everyone around
me. I became grumpy, and even Sasuke got tired
of my company. (You know something is wrong,
when even Sasuke gets annoyed at how cranky
you are.)
So to whom did I go to? My old first grade
teacher, Mr. Iruka Umino, of course! We had kept
in touch over the years, and he had become
almost like a father figure to me. Being an only
child, with busy parents can be very lonely
sometimes.
To keep things short, I told him what I felt, from
my crush on Itachi since I was six, to what had
been happening recently. The answer he told me
blew me away.
“You’re in love, Naruto,” Mr. Umino told me,
smiling.
“No way!” I yelped, “I’m too young, and we’re…
we’re both too different!”
“So?” he returned.
I sputtered some more, and paced around the
old classroom and left in a huff. ‘Me? In love?
How stupid!’ I thought, getting angrier by the
minute.
Then I stopped and actually thought about what
Mr. Umino told me. I then thought about all I’ve
heard on the subject, and all I’ve read on love.
The feelings I had for Itachi, the way the day
would seem brighter if I got a glimpse of him,
the way before The Incident happened, there
were times I told Itachi things I couldn’t, didn’t
want to tell Sasuke. The way he smiled, the
annoyed twitch his eyebrows would get when he
was mistaken for a girl, the way he would treat
me, the feeling of happiness I would always get
when I was near him… Was what I feeling really
love?
I turned around and walked back to the
classroom, only to see Mr. Umino waiting for
me.
“Er,” I stuttered, “Well, um, it’s like, er…” I trailed
off, my sudden discovery still evident.
“Go home Naruto,” Mr. Umino told me, “Come
back later when you feel you have everything
together and then we’ll talk.”
So I did just that. The summer was one of the
most memorable for me, the talks with Mr.
Umino, my apology to Sasuke for being a prick
and his answer, “Yeah, whatever. There was no
one else to call idiot anyway”, and my return to
the Uchiha household.
Fortunately, or unfortunately, take it anyway you
want, I rarely saw Itachi over the summer. He
was going to begin college in the fall, and he
was taking some summer courses. Oddly
enough, he decided to commute to college
instead of going somewhere far. Something
about “being too attached to the shards of
home”, or something of that nature. Weird, huh?
We talked sometimes, but there was a strange
feeling in the air, and it wasn’t as comfortable
talking to him as it was before. There was still
the steady stream of dates, but even that got
fewer, as college, and working at his parent’s
corporation took precedence.
Mr. Umino encouraged me to tell Itachi of my
feelings, but I was firmly against that. What if he
didn’t return my feelings? What if he told
Sasuke? I couldn’t stand to lose both my love
and my friend, so instead I decided to keep quiet
and just take what I could and be happy with
that.
* * *
The years went by and then the twinge kept
returning.
The damn twinge .
It was that feeling that led me to where I was
standing. Looking at Sasuke, about to confess
my feelings for his brother.
“Sasuke,” I began, my voice shaking, “what I am
about to tell you is strictly confidential. You
cannot tell anyone.”
“What are you talking about?” Sasuke asked,
raising his eyebrow, putting down his book and
stretching out on the sofa.
“And… and don’t hate me for it. Or stop being
my friend. Or try to kill me. Or punch me. Or-“
“Idiot. Shut up and just tell me what you’re
talking about.” He snapped at me, the irritation
clear in his voice.
“I’minlovewithyourbrother!”
Both of his eyebrows were raised. “What?”
Sasuke asked.
I take a deep breath. “I’m in love,” I began
slowly, “with your brother.”
I closed my eyes tightly and waited for the verbal
and possibly physical assault. As the minutes
went by and nothing happened, I cautiously
opened my eyes. “Sasuke?” I asked, in a
tentative voice.
“Hm?”
“Don’t you have anything to say to that?” the
annoyance creeping into my voice.
“What? That you’re in love with Itachi?”
“Yes!” I could barely keep my hands from going
to his throat and shaking the answer from him.
“Oh. I already knew that. You’ve been in love
since the first grade. You’re not exactly good at
hiding things, you know.” Sasuke finally looked
up me, with that infuriating smirk gracing his
features.
“Oh that’s nic-“ I cut myself off, ‘He knew?!’
“How long have you known, bastard? Why didn’t
you tell me? Are you mad?” I fired one question
after another.
“Oi. Calm down… idiot. Of course I knew. Like I
said, you’re not exactly all that subtle. I had
suspicions about it since elementary school, but
I knew I was right during our eighth grade year.
Why do you think I kept telling you about all the
things Itachi was doing? I didn’t tell you that I
knew because I was waiting for you to tell me…
and it looks like my waiting paid off.” He paused
for a minute to let it sink, and then he smirked at
me once again. “Of course I’m not mad. I’ll
admit, it was a little weird at first knowing your
best friend was in love with your brother, but I
was never mad.”
A sigh escaped me. It felt as though a huge
weight had been lifted off my shoulders. I sank
ungracefully into the chair opposite Sasuke’s and
grinned tiredly at him. “So all this time, I could
have talked to you about this…” ‘I’m sorry I
didn’t.’
He smiled back at me. “… and saved yourself all
that trouble? Yeah, dunce.” ‘Don’t worry about it,
it’s okay.’
* * *
The next couple of weeks flew quickly by until it
was almost time for my senior prom. During all
my years at school, I had not dated, nor done
anything with anyone. No one could compare to
Itachi and I hadn’t even bothered. Sasuke, the
ass, took great pleasure in tormenting me about
that.
Sadistic bastard.
“So, Naruto,” Sasuke began one day, as he bit
into the rice ball he was having for dinner,
“what’s this I hear about Hinata Hyuuga having a
crush on you?”
“Shut up, bastard” I snapped, “I don’t know what
you’re talking about.”
Hinata Hyuuga. One of the nicest and quietest
girls at our school. She also had a crush on me.
I could never figure out why. I was annoying,
loud, and had never really talked to her, but hey,
love’s weird like that, right?
“I also heard she asked you to prom…” Sasuke
continued, ignoring my command. “What did you
say?”
“Be- be quiet!” I could feel my face flushing, and
getting darker by the minute. “It’s none of your
business!”
“Hah. I knew it. So, what did you say? Yes or no.
Come on idiot, it can’t be that hard answer…” his
voice trailed off.
“I- I-” I stuttered, not wanting to tell him that
when she asked, I ran away.
“Enough.”
Sasuke and I both looked up at Itachi.
“If Naruto doesn’t want to tell you, he won’t. Stop
bothering him about it, Sasuke.” Itachi continued.
“Tch.” was Sasuke’s insightful answer as he
finished his dinner and stalked off to his room.
“Thanks” I muttered to Itachi, still blushing, “I
just don’t think I could have handled it if Sasuke
started laughing at me when I told him I ran away
from her.”
“You… ran?” I looked up at Itachi, to see a flash
of relief cross his eyes. ‘Relief? Nah, must be my
imagination.’ I thought, as I grinned at him.
“Yeah.”
“I… ah, see” his lips twitched. “What did she say
to you after?”
“I don’t know,” I replied, still grinning, “I avoided
her the rest of the day.”
We stopped and stared at each other for a
moment and burst out laughing. Just as suddenly
he stopped and just stared at me. “Hey, Naruto,”
Itachi began.
“Hm?” I replied, still calming down with the
occasional chuckle.
“Don’t ever change.” he told me, an odd emotion
passing though his eyes, smiling at me slightly.
My heart sped up, and I quirked my lips, trying
to calm down the blush threatening to cover my
face. “I’ll try not to.”
* * *
It was the night of Sasuke’s graduation party that
my life changed forever. Before I get to that, I
should probably back up and tell you what
happened the last few weeks of my senior year,
huh?
Senior year had gone by quickly, and Sasuke and
I had both decided to attend a college together.
We both decided to attend a college somewhat
far away, for different reasons. Sasuke had
wanted to get away from his parents, and the
coddled life, and I, to get away from Itachi. I had
finally figured out that I would never get him the
way I wanted, so I thought maybe getting away
for college would help my heart heal faster.
When Itachi was told the news, he didn’t say
anything, but just walked out of the room, mouth
in a grim line.
When I looked at Sasuke, worried about his
reaction, he just shrugged and said that his
brother probably had a business meeting to
attend or whatnot. The peculiar expressions on
both the Uchiha brothers’ faces bothered me, but
I just ignored it. It was probably just my
overactive imagination again.
So, back to the night my life changed. I was
moping around at the party, depressed that I still
hadn’t seen Itachi yet. After all, this could be the
last time I would see him for a long while. The
college years would be busy, and after that, who
knew if I would see him outside of little functions
where we wouldn’t be able to do anything except
exchange handshakes, and a word or two, here
and there.
“Dunce,” Sasuke came up behind me and poked
me, “stop acting like such an idiot and help me
get some more food for the table.”
I swatted his finger away. “Sure. Whatever.” I
replied, not paying attention to what I was
saying.
“Let’s go then,” Sasuke said, as he pulled on my
arm. “It’s in Itachi’s room.”
“What? The food’s in his room?” I said, suddenly
paying attention, “he’s not in his room right?” I
asked, feeling nervous for some odd reason.
“How the hell am I supposed to know,” Sasuke
said, rolling his eyes, “What do I look like? His
damn watchdog?”
“Damn, do you always have to be such a jerk?” I
mumbled at him, emotions getting to me.
Sasuke suddenly stopped before opening Itachi’s
door. “You’ll thank me for this one day.” he said
as he pushed me into Itachi’s room and
slammed the door shut, the sound of a lock
being turned echoing down the hallway.
I turned around and started pounding on the
door. “Asshole! Let me out! You good for
nothing, motherfu-“
“Don’t bother,” a voice interrupted my shouting,
“He’s gone.”
“Itachi?” I said in surprise, “What are you doing
here?”
“Where else would I be?” he replied, looking at
me from his bed, “It is my room.”
“I know that,” I responded as I blushed. The
image of Itachi stretched out on the bed filled
my mind with images not meant for children to
know about. Hey, I was a hormonal teenager,
okay? Cut me some slack.
We both sank into silence for a while, before my
nervousness forced me to break it. “Isn’t there a
way out of this?” I asked, hesitantly.
“Don’t you think I would have let the both of us
out, if there was?” Itachi said, voice harsh.
“Sorry.” I responded quietly, sinking back down
and leaning on the door again.
I heard Itachi sigh deeply. “Don’t be,” said he,
before continuing, “I did not mean to be so rude
to you. I apologize.”
“It’s okay.” We both fell into silence again.
“Naruto?” This time, it was Itachi who broke the
silence.
“Yeah?”
“Why didn’t you go out with anyone when you
were in high school?”
I froze. ‘Shit, shit, shit!’ I thought, ‘I can’t tell him
the real reason!’
“Why the sudden curiosity?” I asked, tried to
laugh it off. “I just didn’t want to…”
Itachi unexpectedly sat up and crooked his finger
towards me, “Come here, Naruto.”
I went to him.
He patted the space on the bed next to him.
“Sit.”
I sat.
“Closer,” Itachi said, smirking “I don’t bite…
promise.”
I moved over, until we were almost touching.
“Now then, the real answer, if you please.”
“What are you talking about,” I asked, my voice
low, “That was the real answer.”
“Really…” he drawled, “Sasuke was told me some
very interesting things these last few weeks.”
I paled, vowing to kill Sasuke the next time I saw
him. “Itachi, I don’t-“
Suddenly I found myself under a very annoyed
Itachi. “Why, Naruto?”
“Because,” I breathed, as his face came closer to
mine.
“Because…?”
“… Because I was…”
“You were what?”
“Because I was in love with someone else!” I
hissed out, my emotions getting the better of me,
and the closeness of Itachi not helping either.
“In love with who?” he asked, his lips grazing my
neck, and starting to work its way upwards.
“You.”
Itachi paused momentarily from his ministrations
and raised his head and looked down at me.
“Say it,” he whispered.
I kept my eyes on him. “I love you.”
Itachi mumbled something like “finally”, before
swooping down and kissing me.
When we finally separated, I was gasping for
breath and my heart was beating erratically.
“Itachi?” I panted.
He looked down and smiled at me. A real smile,
and his eyes were… glowing, for lack of a better
word. “You… really are dense.”
“I am not!” My confusion was quickly turning into
displeasure.
Itachi saw the expression on my face, and
laughed. “I’m in love with you, Naruto, and I have
been for a very long time.”
“Itachi…?” I was becoming confused again.
“How? Why? How long?”
“Must you ask so many questions?”
“Yes,” I replied trying to sit up, “I’ve been
waiting to hear you say those words for twelve
years. I think I deserve some explanation.”
“I could say the same,” Itachi started, reversing
our positions so I was lying on top of him, “How
and why?”
I pouted down at him. “I asked first.” The rest of
his sentence came back to me. “What? The
same to me? You mean-?”
He rolled his eyes and let out a sigh of
exasperation. “Yes, twelve years, Naruto.”
“But… but…”
“I thought there were many times you would have
figured it out. You didn’t, and I was running out
of time. I didn’t know how to tell you, and didn’t
know if you felt the same for me. The day you
told me that you were moving for college… I was
upset. Very upset. Sasuke confronted me, and I
confessed everything to him. My little brother
told me he knew the whole time, and told me
you felt the same.” Here Itachi paused, and ran
his hands down my back, making me shiver. He
grinned wickedly and continued, “These last few
weeks, I have been trying to do everything in my
power to make you realize that I love you.
Unfortunately, you didn’t pick up on any of the
hints, and I became… desperate.
“It wasn’t the best of plans to lock you up in a
room with me, but it was all I could think of, and
Sasuke agreed to help.”
I just stared at Itachi, mouth agape, the past
weeks running through my head. The way he was
always around, and always near me, the spurts
of jealously when Sasuke teasingly mentioned
another girl’s name linked with mine, the way
Itachi would always find a way to stay close to
me and touch me, smile at me, and whisper little
innuendos at me.
* * *
“Itachi, don’t you have anything better to do than
stay home?”
“Now then, little brother, why would I want to
leave the company of Naruto and you?”
* * *
“So Naruto…I saw Hinata stalking you again.”
“Shut up, bastard!”
“It’s okay, don’t worry, I know she’s the lov-“
“Quiet, Sasuke.”
“I could say the same to you Itachi.”
* * *
“Naruto, you don’t mind if I sit so close to you,
do you?”
Blush. “N-no! It’s all right.”
“Oi, Itachi, what are you doing to Naruto?”
“… Just trying to get comfortable.”
* * *
“That shirt looks really nice on you, Naruto.”
“Th-thanks, Itachi…”
“It would look even better, if it was off you.”
“What?!”
“I mean, it’s such a warm day today, I just
thought you might be more comfortable taking it
off.”
“… Oh.
* * *
I closed my mouth and grinned sheepishly at
Itachi.
“Umm…oops?”
“I-di-ot.”
“Listen you- Mmmph!”
* * *
In the end, I decided not to go to the college far
from home, and instead go to the same one
Itachi had attended. Sasuke followed, saying
something along the lines of, “Someone needs to
keep an eye on you.”
And Itachi?
Well, let’s just say I am living my happily-ever-
after out, and I wouldn’t change a thing.