Affinity

Pairing: NaruSasu

Rating: T

…..

Chapter 1: The Soul Destroyer

He heard that they always do it when you least expect it. For Naruto, it had happened in the middle of his Math Studies I class while his clouded mind was dipping between problem-solving and a deep unconsciousness. They poured in from the front door: six guards dressed in dusty, old suits and a woman with her hair pulled back in a bun so tight, Naruto thought her face could've torn.

They stood in the front of the room, gathering even the attention of the slackers in the upper-back rows. Naruto suddenly jolted upright from his seat, eyes blinking wildly.

The math teacher was violently shoved out of the way, his old and wrinkling body cowering from the ambiguity of the unwanted guests; he would be long forgotten in a few minutes.

"Good afternoon, students of Konoha High," the woman began, her words coated with a thick Italian accent, "Today, you and all of your classmates have the honor of participating in this year's partnership."

At this, all the girls in the room erupted in cheers and wild giggles. Most boys either loudly sighed or gasped. But either way, everyone was excited. The partnership was the fabled part of high school. It was the tale you heard from your parents when you were only five. It was the dream.

Figures, Naruto thought, that the hopeless girls would be relieved at the thought of having their love life delivered to them on a silver platter.

The woman talked aloud and slowly, enunciating every word she spoke. The men standing behind her never moved, their sunglass-covered faces never flinching nor reacting. The excitement in the room bubbled over itself so much so that the woman's warnings weren't even heeded. Hadn't everyone already known the rules about the partnership?

Jewels were worn as necklaces; the colors were supposed to be an outlook on the healthiness of your spirit and came in all of the vibrant colors of the rainbow. The necklace colors had individual matches for a person-to-person connection. When the two people met, the necklaces would disappear. The longer a person took to find their match, the more spiritual energy would be released from the necklace to help a person find their 'partner'. The longest the school went before all matches were found was fourteen days.

Naruto himself had heard all kinds of stories. Orange necklaces paired with red or green, black with yellow, gray and black and so on and so forth. He wasn't interested. Not at all.

But he couldn't deny that all thoughts of a mid-day nap disappeared when the six guards walked down the aisles of student chairs and pulled out boxes seemingly from nowhere. They started from the back of the room, much to Naruto's chagrin, as he was in the penultimate row.

The woman cleared her throat to draw the class' attention back to her. "When you receive your gem, place it over your head; it is to be worn as a necklace for its best effects. It is not meant to be worn in any other manner. It is also not to be removed under any circumstance until the individual partnerships have been achieved. If these rules are followed, a long life of happiness may await you."

Naruto watched in a sick fascination as the woman's painted lips curled upward in a smile. He couldn't be sure whether or not it was in appreciation.

He didn't react either when a white-gloved hand oh-so-casually placed a gem attached to a thick band on his desk. It glowed bright neon orange. He chuckled to himself. Figures.

"And the progress of the partnership is never to be spoken of, or their will be dire consequences for all involved. That means no gossip, no open conversations and no evidence on the internet. Is that understood? Otherwise, we wish you all the best of the luck in your romantic journeys." The woman concluded and then she stepped out. The gems were all received. The frightened teacher cleared his throat and stepped out from behind his wooden desk, taking a cautious look around the classroom. It was like they had never arrived.

A look to the left and the right brought Naruto even more mild amusement. Choji's was red, Kiba's was green, Sakura's was (naturally) a beautiful blushing pink, and Ino's a deep ocean blue. All the wild chatter and excited talk suddenly peaked when Shikamaru got his green gem. Also immediately, the room was filled with the whirring mystical noises of the gem in his hands.

"I hope my color matches Sasuke-kun's," Sakura said excitedly.

"Me too," Ino joined in, "I bet his color's a blue, just like mine."

"No, no way! It's definitely red!" another girl chimed in.

"He's mysterious! It'll absolutely be a black." said yet another one.

Naruto watched with horror as Shikamaru suddenly bolted upright in his chair, stood, and, with wet and wide eyes, walked to the front of the room where Temari looked at him curiously. With a gentle hand, he cupped her face, and she smiled cautiously.

"Finally," she breathed.

The room was filled with the harmonious colors of green and purple as colored smoke and chunks of gem went flying and dissipated in the air like steam.

Everyone cheered. It was the first matching of the partnership. Naruto could not share the same enthusiasm.

Naruto and all six of his friends minus Shikamaru were silent at the lunch table, though everyone seemed to have retained the ability to eat except for him. Well, at least Choji could. But Naruto himself was way more interested in the dangling ruby red piece of jewelry bouncing animatedly from Choji's neck than the steaming bowl of ramen placed in front of him.

"Hey," Kiba said softly and everyone looked up. Watching. Waiting. "Nothing will change, right? Nothing's supposed to change."

"There's nothing to be afraid of. What, now you're scared of having a girlfriend?" Neji teased, while fingering his own piece of purple jewelry gently. Kiba scowled and opened his mouth to retort until Haku interrupted him.

"I don't think it's anything bad," Haku interjected in his own gentle voice. They had all heard later in the day that Haku's pink found his match with Zabuza's gray. But it wasn't a surprise to anyone. "I'm still here, right?" Naruto thought his smile seemed artificial.

Kiba leaned in slowly. "What was it like, Haku? The whole feeling right before your partnership?" They all leaned in closely, almost as if talking about it would get them into some serious trouble.

Haku sighed, a blush on his cheeks. "It was like my whole body warmed up like a fever, but my head was perfectly clear. I couldn't hear, see, or feel anything else. Just him. It was like my whole world narrowed itself down to one person. The person. Him." He smiled, and sighed dreamily again. The response seemed to please everyone, who immediately began firing off rounds of questions about the partnership.

Gaara was the first to back up in disgust. He gently touched the black gem attached to his neck. Naruto looked at him from the corner of his eye. To him, it almost looked as if the gem belonged on the young red-head's neck. It fit his look so perfectly. Naruto had always admired his friend Gaara for his looks, even if the reasons were sometimes confusing even to Naruto. Gaara was comforting when things got troubled. And things had definitely gotten troubled.

"Hey," Naruto whispered, so that the rest of his friends wouldn't break away from Haku's story, "Are you alright?"

He waited patiently for Gaara to answer. It wasn't unlike him, Naruto noted, for Gaara to deeply ponder his answers before responding to any question, and usually Naruto would make a joke out of it. But today for some reason, this just wasn't a day for joking.

"I'd like to be able to choose." Gaara replied, sending tingles all over Naruto's body when their eyes connected. He'd always been entranced by Gaara's blue-green eyes. "If I had to fall in love so early, I would like to choose who it would be. I'm not afraid of it, maybe—"

Here, Gaara paused to lick his lips.

"I may be disappointed."

Naruto searched his face and replied quietly, "Disappointed?"

At this, Gaara stood suddenly, looking out into the lunchroom filled with the happy seniors, inquisitive freshmen, nosy sophomores, and the excited juniors. The whole table's chatter shut off, and all eyes were on him. Naruto swallowed thickly with a strange feeling blossoming in his chest from the intense gaze he was receiving from his closest friend. But he'd like to believe that was just the partnership gem talking.

Gaara looked at Naruto from the corner of his eye. "Haven't you noticed your gem hasn't disappeared yet either?"

It wasn't until the redhead was well out of earshot that Kiba snorted and said, "Keh, he thinks he's so cool. That was just his punk-ass way of confessing. You don't need to be paired up to a mysterious guy like him." Even Neji half-smirked.

Naruto rolled his eyes. That's just the thing, I feel like I do. It's so much safer.

Maybe he'd give eating his lukewarm ramen a shot after all.

What do you think? It's attack of the plot-bunnies late night version. I'm gonna die unless I get this idea out. I plan to get real intense and angsty on you guys in the next chapter. I think you'll like it. Well, at least, I hope you will. Give me your thoughts on the first chapter? Please review!