Studies and Half-Melodies

Disclaimer: I don't own anything! The lyrics that Naruto's singing are from Mr. Brightside from the Killers. I know from experience that thet's hard to play.

Author's Note: This is a fic for freexflyer, who requested I do a smart!Naru fic. Here's my try at it.

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"Every problem, Mr. Higgens, is simply an opportunity in disguise."- Inara(Firefly)

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Speed is equal to height times velocity squared, so if the African Swallow is flying at 134 feet and is going 54 miles per hour….Sasuke suppressed the urge to throw the textbook against the wall. Why was he supposed to care how fast the swallow was going? A hushed argument caught his attention and Sasuke peered at the two out of the corner of his eye.

One was a brunette with dark hair pulled into a spiky ponytail with dark brown eyes. The other was slightly shorter with brilliantly blonde hair that looked like it sorely needed an introduction to something called a brush with three scars on each cheek that looked like whiskers and the cerulean eyes that were shining as the argument continued.

"Come on, Shika! Just tell me the one answer and I'll be done!"

"I already told you no, Naruto. You figured out the others, why not this one too?" the brunette gave his good friend a sleepy, uncaring look. He'd been trying to get a nap in before PE, but as usual, the blonde was making it damn near impossible.

"You did the work already, Shika. You know that that one takes forever!" Naruto whined, "And why'd you do the work anyhow?"

"So I could maybe get some sleep without the Kurenai-sensei biting my head off." The sleepy look switched to a glare.

An encouraging smile spread across the blonde's lips. "So if you give me this answer, you can go to sleep and I won't bother you for the rest of the period." Naruto enticed.

Shikamaru groaned. "Thirty-eight."

"You're a life-saver." Naruto scribbled the answer down before folding it into a plane and throwing it so it landed smoothly into the first period basket.

"Uzumaki, why couldn't you have just gotten up and placed it into the basket? It's three feet away!"

"Are you sure that's the exact mathematical distance? I don't thin kit was quite three feet. And because I'm a lazy ass, same as most of us in here."

Kurenai groaned. There was no winning with that kid sometimes. Sasuke looked at the swallow question. It was the last one of the first part of their assigned assignment. Glancing at Kurenai before hastily writing the answer down, Sasuke leaned back contentedly. That problem was a bugger to solve. Hopefully, he could get away with no work.

-?-?-?-?

"Theory of evolution-who thought of it?" Yamato wasn't the best choice for a Biology Honors teacher, but he was better than a lot of others.

The class seemed at a blank and no one, not even the class know-it-all Haruno Sakura, had the answer.

"No one? Uzumaki?" The class's eyes turned to the blonde, who sat a row behind Sasuke. The paper that was their review sheet was blank of answers and filled with doodles of musical notes and instruments.

"You say something, sensei?" Naruto looked up from a new doodle, a ribcage, but instead of a heart, there was a guitar.

"Who invented the theory of evolution?" Yamato repeated slowly.

"Charles Darwin in Origin of the Species. 1859. Detailed the theory of natural selection." Naruto replied of-handedly, adding slight shading to the ribs.

Yamato's eyes narrowed while everyone else's, save for Shikamaru's whose were closed, got impossibly wide.

-?-?-?-?

"You know, for study hall, you're actually supposed to study." Sakura hissed from across the table.

The bright blue eyes caught the hankie sack he was playing with and his lips twisted into a smile. "Really, Sakura-chan? How many kids here do you think are actually studying?"
"With your grades, you need to!"

Naruto chuckled a little before leaning back on two of the chair's legs, resuming play with the hankie sack. Ino looked at her best friend significantly. "Don't even try it, Sakura. If he wants to fail, let him fail."

Sasuke found it difficult to believe that Naruto was failing, at least in Biology. He'd known the answer from memorization. Sasuke had known only one other person able to do that and that was his older brother, Itachi; His parent's pride and joy. The one who didn't have to try to do anything-He just knew. Sasuke stopped the train of bitterness before it got too far and stubbornly returned to his American Government homework.

-?-?-?-?

The room was empty when Sasuke entered, dropping his bag onto a chair. Or, he thought it was. He looked over and saw the Uzumaki kid sitting on a piano bench, studying a piece of paper, guitar in his lap.

"Jealousy, turning saints into the sea

Swimming through sick lullabies

Choking on your alibis

But it's just the price I pay Destin-Frick." Naruto cursed under his breath as his fingers slipped a fret too far. He looked up and watched Sasuke curiously, but didn't say anything.

"You here for tutoring too?" Sasuke asked, remembering the girls' talk of grades.

"That's why you're here then." Naruto set the paper on the piano and flipped the guitar over so the back was facing up. There was a renewed interest in his eyes. "Name's Uzumaki Naruto. Now, whaddaya need help with?"

"I'd rather wait for the real tutor." Sasuke told him.

A half grin, half smirk upturned Naruto's lips. "I'm not one to wait around for myself."

"You're the tutor?" Sasuke couldn't completely banish the disbelief from his voice.

The grin was full-fledged now. "So what was it you needed help on?"

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Author's Note Pt 2: Whew. That was quite the challenge. As for the math question at the very first part, I honestly don't know what it is, although the Evolution Theory info is right though. Tell me what you guys think so far!