Possessive or Jealous || SasuNaru ||

Chapter 24

He had to admit, the phone call was a little unexpected. He hadn't figured to hear from Sasuke until... well... not so soon.

Naruto was still trying to get Kiba out of his apartment, but the dog-like man wouldn't budge. And then his phone rang, and before looking to see who it was, he had answered, only to hear that deliciously sultry voice on the other end.

And really, he hadn't expected it to be Sasuke. Things had been so weird that morning, Sasuke had seemed so grumpy, he had thought Sasuke would need more time before he would call him again. But here he was, not two hours since he had dropped Naruto off.

"Sasuke," Naruto replied, a bit dazed.

"Dobe, I have some bad news."

"Eh? Bad news?" For a terrifying moment, Naruto actually thought Sasuke might have called to break up with him.

"My brother set an actual date for you to meet him."

Naruto blinked at the wall. Was that bad news? "Uh, you mean..."

He could hear Sasuke heave an exasperated sigh on the other end of the line."I had hoped to postpone it as long as possible, or, well, indefinitely, but Itachi won't have that. We're meeting him Friday night for dinner. Dress up. In fact, I think I'll take you shopping, that way you can get something I know won't irritate Itachi. Because as much as I enjoy irritating my brother, we need you to make a good impression."

"Um... we do?"

Sasuke huffed. "Dobe. Don't you want my brother's approval? You made me get your father's."

"Oh, uh, right. Yeah. Of course I do. I guess I'm just a little nervous."

"That's understandable. Itachi isthe devil, after all."

Naruto smiled. Sasuke said it like it was really true, like it was a fact of life. Which, according to Sasuke, was probably exactly how it was.

"So, um, Friday night. When are we going to go shopping then?"

"I'll pick you up from work tomorrow. Be ready."

"Oh, yeah, of course. I'll see you then." Naruto's cheeks were heating up at the thought of seeing Sasuke again so soon. He bit his lip, his hazy blue eyes searching out his house crasher to make sure he wasn't in listening range. "Love you, Sasuke."

Sasuke was silent a moment, then he replied, "Yeah."

Naruto frowned. What the hell kind of response was "yeah"?

"Aww, how cuute," Kiba taunted from directly behind him.

"Damnit Kiba, why are you still here?" Naruto screeched, pulling the phone away from his mouth and covering the receiver. Kiba was too busy laughing uproariously to pay Naruto's embarrassment any heed.

"I'll see you tomorrow," Sasuke finally said, not sure if Naruto heard or not, then hung up.

Naruto had just barely heard, and he frowned at the phone. But all he could really do was sigh and get back to the matter at hand- kicking Kiba out.

If there was any one thing that could definitely make an Uchiha uncomfortable, it was the "L" word. Emotions, in general, were not something cold-hearted Uchiha's were generally acceptable of, and the "L" word was at the top of the avoid-at-all-costs list.

It wasn't that they were anti-love. His father had been completely enamored of his mother. But in spite of that, he could only count on one hand the number of times his father had ever expressed with words his love to her. It wasn't so much the words themselves that were particularly embarrassing or "weak", it wasn't that emotions such as love were considered undesirable traits for a powerful man like an Uchiha, it was rather the opposite. To an Uchiha male, such words held great meaning, vast importance. Rather than being the kinds of people that mouthed off the words quickly and frequently, Uchiha's believed such powerful words should be sparingly used – only said when truly felt. And an Uchiha believed the fewer times the words were uttered, the more strongly the feeling could be portrayed those moments they were voiced.