Broken (SasuNaru / NaruSasu)

34. The Pendant.

To hide his shame and embarrassment, to save his wounded pride, Naruto ran from home.

Right after him was Shikamaru, who unlike everyone else, was already aware of every single detail.

Shikamaru blocked the elevator midway so they can have some alone time.
The blond slid against the metal wall and broke down in tears.

In the house, the rest were in an outrage for how Sāra not only accused their blob of sunshine of such a heinous act but proceeded to physically assault him.

"What the hell was that for Sāra?" Sasuke shouted.

"He's not your friend. I- I met Naruto before. Sit down" she asked him and she sat next to him holding his hand. "I met him in the record label. I heard him offer an absurd amount of money to drop you. They refused...I don't know how someone like that thinks they have the right to call themselves a friend let alone your best friend"

"Naruto would never" Sasuke was not who he once was, he'd have once got angry, rushed to conclusions but now he wanted to hear what Naruto had to say. "I have to hear it from him"

The elevator started working shortly after and it continued its descent to the underground parking floor.
Shikamaru got out with his friend beside him to the garage. Once they were in Shikamaru's car the latter drove away.

"Where do you want to go?"

"Doesn't matter, just away from here for now" he looked at his phone, Sasuke's name and face popping as it rang. He denied the call.

"You will have to tell him eventually"

"He probably believed what she said. The last thing I need is hear him rage in my face" Naruto turned off his phone altogether to not be bothered.

Shikamaru texted Temari before he continued the drive. The older male took them to his favourite spot. At the edge of the Hokage mountain where you can see the whole village.

They stood there together, no words spoken. Only the wind blew against their bodies as they watched the city sunset.
It was peaceful, very few people came there.

"If you don't want to tell him. I can do it for you" Shikamaru threw the cigarette bud on the ground and stomped on it.

They had been outside for hours, just in complete darkness.
"Can you drop me off the new place? I'm spending the night there. I'll text Karin and tell her to bring Sora-chan with her" he pretended Shikamaru didn't ask.

"Naruto, you can't just ignore it"

"You can do whatever you want...really changes nothing. Sasuke has a history of believing everyone else but me. So I'm not going there, I don't want to get angry. I don't want to get more stressed"

Shikamaru sat beside him on the harsh ground.
"People change"

"From all the chances I had given him, Sasuke is yet to show he had changed. I feel stupid for loving him...for loving anyone at all."

"Naruto, you deserve to be loved" the man reminded him. "I'll take you to your new place...I'll talk with Sasuke and uhm...this whole mess we'll work it out somehow"

Naruto said nothing in reply. Only got up when he was asked to, getting in the car and buckling up. He watched the street lights go by so fast as Shikamaru drove to the new house.

"Will you be okay?" Shikamaru asked. Ever since the last time Naruto tried to commit suicide, the older male had been keeping an extra eye on his friend.

"Yeah" Naruto walked in, the place was fully furnished. Dark wooden floors contrasted the light colours of the walls and the hand painted ceiling. The house had a state of the art kitchen. Everything was shiny and squeaky clean. The smell of brand new stuff lingered in the air still.