Muted Love

Chapter 1

Naruto Uzumaki looked up at the three story mansion that stood in front of him. He stared in awe at the sheer size of the house before looking down at his smartphone that had the Craigslist posting for a live-in caretaker. He double checked the address before taking a deep breath and walking to the front door.
    He rang the doorbell and waited patiently as he heard hurried steps from behind the door. A guy, who looked to be about his age, answered the door with a scowl on his face and before Naruto got a chance to look him over, the guy was quickly signing to ‘go away’, and promptly slammed the door in his face. He blinked in surprise and was about to turn to leave when the door opened once again.
    “Sorry about my little brother, you must be Naruto?” An older replica of the guy who was just there appeared. Naruto nodded before quickly shaking his head and standing up straight.
    “Y-yes sir! I saw your ad on Craigslist to be a caretaker.”
    “Of course, come in. I just need to ask you some questions and we’ll see how it goes from there. By the way, I’m Itachi Uchiha.” He held out his hand for Naruto to take. Naruto looked down at the hand and gave him a firm handshake before following Itachi.
    Naruto admired the inside of the house as he carefully tried to keep up with Itachi.
    “Don’t worry, you’ll be given a tour of the house later.” Itachi gave him a wink and Naruto blushed before following him into a large living room.
    “Go ahead and have a seat anywhere. I just have to find Sasuke.” Itachi directed him to the middle of the room where there was a couch facing two chairs and a small coffee table in between. He watched Itachi leave the room before deciding to sit in one of the chairs.
    The room was sparsely decorated and felt pretty empty. The only spot that even looked like it was being used, was the bay window. It had a small bookshelf packed full with books and there were a few pillows on the bench. A forgotten coffee mug was also left on the window sill.
“Sorry about the wait, shall we get started?” Itachi walked back into the room with Sasuke angrily following behind him. He stepped aside to let Sasuke sit on the couch first before pushing him down once he was in front of him.
Naruto stared at Sasuke, he was handsome he had to admit.His midnight black hair framed his face perfectly, he could tell the guy was fit, but not too muscular, just how Naruto liked it. And those dark, onyx eyes that were staring into him. He blinked as he realized Sasuke was making eye contact with him, an eyebrow raised. ‘Take a picture.’ He signed at him before scowling.
Naruto turned his head away, blush lightly dusting his cheeks. He looked at Itachi who didn’t seem to have notice the exchange between the two.
“So, Naruto. Let me go over first, our situation here. Sasuke is mute due to a traumatic accident that took our parents lives about five years ago when he was 13. Ever since then, I’ve been doing my best to help Sasuke but I work pretty long hours and cannot always be there for him. Just recently, he tried to commit suicide.”
Naruto’s eyes widened and he glanced at Sasuke who had his head turned, facing the doorway, his head leisurely resting on his hand.
“Due to that, Sasuke is no longer allowed to be alone and that’s just not possible for me.So, that’s why you’re here. I wanted someone around Sasuke’s age, who also knew sign language. Now, let’s talk about you. You’re eighteen, just like Sasuke, and your parents are okay with you moving out and living here?”
“I’m an orphan. To be honest, I don’t really have a permanent place to live. I aged out of the foster system about two weeks ago and have just been crashing on friends couches ever since.” Naruto smiled brightly at him.
“I see. What about sign language? How did you learn that?”
“At one of the foster homes I stayed in, there was a deaf girl who was always lonely. I wanted to play with her but we couldn’t really communicate with each other. I started to check out books at the library to learn sign language. I only knew a few things at first but I gradually learned more. Then in high school, I took it as my language for the four years. I’d say I’m pretty fluent.”
Itachi’s eyes were wide. “I’m impressed. So how old were you when you decided to learn it?”
“Around seven or eight.”
“Excellent. Now, one final question, What makes you believe you’d make a good caretaker for Sasuke?”
“Well, I’ve been taking care of children and sometimes even my foster parents almost all my life. I’ve had to be on suicide watch for a couple of the foster kids. One foster mother I had, she was addicted to drugs and I had to watch her when she was going to become sober. One of the foster parents I lived with just used me to watch his elderly mother while he went out gambling. I’d say I have plenty experience taking care of people.” He noticed out of the corner of his eye, Sasuke was staring at him intently, he fidgeted under the gaze and brought his focus back on Itachi.
Itachi gave Naruto a thoughtful glance before nodding. “I see no problem with hiring you. What about you, Sasuke?” He turned to face his little brother who turned his gaze away from Naruto and back to the wall he was staring at earlier. “Well, there you have it. You got the job!”
Naruto's eyes widened and he stared at Itachi, dumbstruck. “What? Really?!”
“Yes. Now you can spend the rest of the weekend however you like but I'd like for you to be moved in by Sunday night so I can be at work first thing Monday morning.”
Naruto gave him a quick nod before standing up and giving him a quick bow. “Thank you so much!”
Itachi followed suit and stood up. “Would you like a tour before you go?”
“I'd actually really like that.” Naruto said excitedly. “You have such a beautiful house.”
“Why thank you.” Itachi smiled proudly. He looked down at Sasuke who was still staring at the wall. He roughly grabbed Sasuke's arm and pulled him up. “Stop being a little brat and let's go show your new caretaker where he’ll be staying.”
“Uh, do you need to be so rough with him?” Naruto asked, concerned about the health of Sasuke's arm.
Itachi let go and gave him a shrug. “I don’t need to be but that's what older brother’s are for. Isn’t that right Sasuke?” He ruffled Sasuke's hair as much as he could before Sasuke ducked out of reach. “Besides, he’s difficult to deal with anyways. Feel free to rough him up if need be.”
‘I'm right here.’ Sasuke signed with a roll if his eyes. He stuffed his hands in his pockets and walked out if the room.
“After you.” Naruto nodded at Itachi and followed after Sasuke.
After the tour of the house, the two brothers watched Naruto get into his car and drive away.
“So, he's pretty cute, don't you think?” Itachi gave Sasuke a smirk.
Sasuke scowled in response. ‘He seems like a moron.’
“Give him a chance. He's better than that one pink-haired girl who showed up last week.” The two of them shuddered at the memory and Itachi quietly closed the door.