Escaping His Past (Naruto/Akatsuki FF)

Chapter 13: Missions and Favors

Naruto's POV

It's been a couple months since Eita moved in with me. Both of us were getting along better than I expected.

Okay, call me crazy or something, but I've started... developing feelings for Eita. Like... deep feelings for him. I don't know what you call them. Love, maybe? But I don't think Eita likes me back in that kind of way. What if he's only into girls? What if I'm not good enough for him?

I want to be able to get closer to him. I want to stay by his side.

"Naruto. Hey, Naruto. Did you hear me?"

"Huh?" I turned around and instantly blushed when I saw Eita with a towel wrapped around his waist and another towel draped over his head to dry his wet hair while his chest from glistening from the water. "I said, I'm done in the shower." Eita said.

"Huh? Oh, okay. Thanks." I replied. "I called you from the bathroom. Didn't you hear me?" Eita asked as he dried his hair. "Oh... No, I was thinking." I said.

"About what?"

"Uh... Ramen." I lied.

Eita chuckled. "What else is new? Hurry up and take your shower. We have missions, remember?" He said. "Yeah, okay." I nodded. Eita smiled at me, then left the room, heading to his own.

Eita's POV

Naruto's been acting kind of strange lately. I wonder what's on his mind? Is he nervous about something? "Oi, Eita." Inari spoke. "Yeah, what's up, Inari?" I asked as I dried my hair. "Do you like Naruto?" She asked.

"What kind of question is like? Of course I like him." I said as began to get dress. "Not in that kind of way. I mean, do you have feelings for him? Deep feelings?" Inari rephrased. I stayed quiet as I pulled on my shirt. "Yeah... I like him..." I answered, hesitantly, as I blushed.

"For real?"

"Yes, I like him, okay? Just keep quiet or he'll hear." 

Inari began to laugh as I blushed with embarrassment. She sure does like it when I blush. "Shut up." I mumbled. Once I was dressed, I waited for Naruto in the living room.

After Naruto was out of the shower and he was dressed, he walked into the living room. "Ready to go?" I asked, in which he nodded.

Naruto and I walked to the rendezvous point where we were supposed to meet with Squad 7. When he got there, Naruto immediately glared at Sasuke. "Did something happen between you two, Naruto?" I asked.

"Yeah, he's a big, fat show-off." Naruto mumbled. I chuckled at his comment and waited for Kakshi to show up. It took him a while and made up some lame excuse to why he was late. After that, we were off on our missions. 

****

Our first mission was pulling weeds out of some lady's garden. It was nothing exciting... at least until Naruto pulled out all the weeds, including the herbs the woman was growing. Before she had a chance to hit him, I quickly stepped in front of Naruto.

"I'm sure Naruto didn't mean it. He was just confused to which were the weeds and which were the herbs. Please forgive him just this once." I said, giving a bow of apology. "Grr... You're lucky you've got your brother here." The lady said. "Hey! Eita's not my bro-!"

I quickly got behind him and covered his mouth with both hands. "Shut your mouth before you get yourself in even more trouble." I warned.

When we were done pulling out all the weeds, our next mission was to pull out garbage from the small river stream. "I can't believe how much trash is in this water." I mumbled as I poked at an empty soda can. "Gah!"

I looked at Naruto as he was getting carried away by the stream. "Naruto!" I chased after him and grabbed his hand, but the small waterfall took me down with him. I quickly used a wire and threw it towards a tree branch, making it wrap around it tightly.

I sighed in relief, then looked at Naruto. "Are you okay, Naruto?" I asked him. "Yeah. Thanks, Eita. You saved my life. I thought I was goner." Naruto said in relief. I smiled at him. "Don't worry, I've got you." I said, pulling us up. For some reason, that made Naruto blush. 

"Are you okay? Your face is red." I mentioned. "Yeah, of course I am!" Naruto said. 

Our next and probably final mission was dog walking. But of course, Naruto had to go with the biggest dog. For what reason? I'm not really sure. "Uh-oh." I mumbled when I noticed the dog was dragging Naruto over to a minefield.

"Could you hold this for a second?" I asked as I handed the leash over to Sakura. Once she took it, I ran over to Naruto and grabbed onto the leash as both of us tried to pull the dog away from the minefield.

"Did you have to choose the biggest dog?" I asked with a grunt. The dog gave a hard tug and I accidentally let go of the leash. I landed in the grass and all I could hear was Naruto yelling and the sound of mines going off. I sat up and sighed, seeing Naruto as one big mess.

Finally, our missions were complete. I guided Naruto back to the village as he was exhausted. "I need a nap." Naruto said, exhaustedly.

"With what you've been through, I think you deserve it," I said, chuckling, and Naruto laughed with me. "After you get the smell of dog off you, I'll let you sleep."

"Yay." Naruto cheered in a tired voice. Naruto said with a tired smile. "Eita," Naruto and I looked at Sasuke when he called my name. "Come over here. I wanna talk to you for a sec." He said.

I gave him a deadpan expression, telling him I was interested. "No, thanks," I told him. "Come on, Naruto. Let's go."

I began to lead Naruto to the house until Sakura called me over, saying she wanted to talk to me. When I said no, she quickly said that it was important. I groaned in annoyance. "Why does everybody want to annoy me today?" I mumbled.

"But I'm didn't annoy you today... right, Eita?" Naruto asked, giving me puppy dog eyes. "Of course not, Naruto. You were just the right company I needed." I said, smiling. "Yay!" Naruto cheered as he hugged my waist like a little kid.

An imaginary fox tail appeared behind him and began to wag happily. 'He's so cute.' I thought as my gaze on Naruto softened. I wish I could tell him how I feel, but I'm afraid Naruto will reject my feelings. But I know if I don't fess up soon, he'll be taken from me. 

Naruto waited for me by the fence while I went over to Sakura to see what she wanted. "So... I heard that Sasuke wanted to talk to you." Sakura mentioned as her hands were behind her back. I glanced back at Sasuke as he was staring at us.

'Talk about creepy.' I thought. "Yeah... And?" I said, looking back at Sakura. "Why don't you go and talk with him? You know, have some guy time." She suggested. "Um... Why?" I asked. Where was this heading exactly?

"Well... Okay, here's the thing! I need you to do something for me!" Sakura admitted. "I wish I could help you, Sakura. But I have to get Naruto home." I said, turning to walk away.

"Wait!" Sakura quickly grabbed my hand with both of hers, stopping me in my tracks. "I'll owe you if you do this for me! Please!" She begged. I sighed and faced her. "All right. Let's hear it. What's this favor you want me to do?" I asked.

"I want you to talk with Sasuke."

"No way. I have no interest in talking to him." My answer came out blunt and straightforward.

"Please, Eita! It's just one small favor!"

"It's not happening."

"Please!"

"Why don't you talk with him?"

"Because... It's a personal thing."

"Hang on. I think I can guess what you want me to do: You want me to talk to Sasuke and find out if he likes you, right?"

Sakura blushed and shyly looked down. I rolled my eyes. "Ugh... All right, fine." I said, reluctantly. 'Anything to get her off my back.' I thought. Sakura squealed with excitement and hugged my arm. "Thank you so much, Eita!" She cheered.

I groaned out of annoyance again. "Please let go of my arm." I requested. Why do I have a bad feeling about this entire thing? Probably because I knew something isn't going to go so well.