High School Drama. Really?

Summary: Drifting apart and then coming back together. No matter how hard it is for them, somehow they find a way to overcome a fate that wants to tear them apart. Sasuke, Sakurai and Naruko need to overcome the things that keep them apart and realise; that their bond can not be broken. Not even by themselves.

Uchiha Madara, "When a man learns to love, he must bear the risk of hatred."

If there was one thing Sakurai knew about himself it was that he was far too delicate. Not physically of course, no male with his strong physique could be considered delicate. But, emotionally.

Emotionally he was weak.

To everyone else Sakurai Haruno seemed like a very stable individual, a bit of a goofy airhead sometimes, but stable nonetheless. He was sharp, quick-witted and probably a tad bit defensive when it came to his pink hair - but, what guy wouldn't be defensive about having pink hair? He probably came off as an average sixteen-year-old boy going through high school.

Yes, an ordinary guy, with a complicated love life.

~xXx~

"C'mon, Sakurai-kun, just one! Please…" Sakurai sighed for what felt like the hundredth time that day. He was tempted to just yell at the girl and stomp away from the nuisance.

"No, Naruko, I already told you." He turned to the blonde girl frowning as he tried to keep his voice from raising, "I don't date."

She always asked him, pestering him for dates every Friday. It used to be every school day but she had stopped when he told her he needed to focus on his studies. Apparently, that excuse had been enough to stop her requests… until Friday came around and the relentless pestering came back with full force.

Naruko's belief was that weekends should be spent having fun and going on dates (with her - as she had so boldly declared), not sitting in the library studying.

Sakurai had never accepted any of her requests, and he didn't plan on accepting them. He just wasn't interested in her. He had never been interested in her, at least not that way.

"Please, Sakurai!" The girl begged trying to seduce him with one of her 'sexy' poses. Her breasts pressed against his bicep as she pulled on his arm, large and soft.

He frowned, "I said no, Naruko. Besides I'm busy this weekend."

"That's not right, you really shouldn't study so much, Sakurai-kun," Naruko whined and her voice had a certain edge to it. Was she… upset? Why? He always rejected her, why would she be upset now?

He was confused, but when he felt a familiar presence he realised why she was being extra persistent today.

Sasuke…

"I'm sorry, Naruko. But the answer's no." Sakurai turned away, wrenching his arm out of the girl's grip and ignoring as she began to rant about how great their non-existent date would be. It didn't matter to him as he marched down the corridor, he knew why she was being so persistent.

It was no secret to him that Naruko only wanted to make Sasuke jealous.

His fists clenched at his sides. For as long as they had known each other Sakurai, Naruko and Sasuke had a complicated relationship. Whereas Sakurai was usually on the sidelines, Sasuke and Naruko were competing against one another. Fighting, competing or just yelling, the two were always at each other's throats. Sakurai would usually have to defuse the situation before one of them ended up in a hospital or in prison (depending on the day maybe even dead), having to push aside Naruko's feministic outbursts and look away from Sasuke's venomous glares.

It was worrying as hell but he didn't mind it most of the time. At the end of every fight and competition they were all still friends, and that was enough for him.

But as they grew older things began to change.

Sasuke became more distant, Naruko became more feminine and Sakurai tried to understand why his friends were suddenly not being friends.

When they were 14, just new in high school, Sakurai noticed things about Naruko changing. She was still the same in personality, but her attitude had changed. She acted like one of those girls Ino-chan would tell him about. She dressed scantily, with short skirts and tight shirts, her hair shinier than his own, and even makeup (although it was only a little). Whenever she talked to someone she would sometimes flirt with them. She even developed her own way of walking - swaying her hips and swinging her ponytails around like there was some ethereal breeze that only she could feel.

At the beginning Sakurai believed that she was just experimenting, getting into that high school spirit thing that people (Ino-chan) talked about. But then he noticed the other things, like how she would sometimes blush and look his way, her eyes glimmering strangely. Or how she would grab his arm and press against him - getting uncomfortably close in a way that Sakurai had to restrain himself from shoving her off. Her flirting became more and more common sometimes and as she charmed the male who stood in front of her Sakurai would sometimes catch her eyes looking his way.

It took a while until he realised that it wasn't him she would look at.

It was Sasuke.

He didn't know when he figured it out, but eventually, Sakurai realised that Naruko's feelings towards her rival had changed. That some time during the months between their second year of middle school and their first year at high school, Naruko had developed a crush on Sasuke.

He couldn't bear to call it love.

He was almost broken when he figured it out, not because he was in love with Naruko - Heavens knew that would be so much easier to deal with - but because he also loved Sasuke.

He couldn't bear to call it a crush. A feeling so intense could only be love.

He never acted on his feelings, not once, he didn't want to lose his friendship with Sasuke so he made sure to hide it well. It was enough for him just to be close to the other boy. But seeing Naruko so aggressive in her attempts to gain Sasuke's attention stressed him.

What if Sasuke chooses to reciprocate her feelings and they start a relationship?

He couldn't stand the thought, his mind plagued with images and scenarios of Sasuke and Naruko deeply in love, sharing kisses and walking down the hall arm in arm while he tailed along helplessly. Torturing him with their love.

Sakurai had no doubt, if he were a girl he would be competing against Naruko for Sasuke's attention. Like how Ino-chan fought against them. But for him Ino-chan was a sort of exception, he loved her too much to hate her for loving the man that he also happened to be in love with.

He also saw her as less of a threat than Naruko. But sometimes she would join the mental torment his mind would sometimes come up with, the torment that involved Sasuke and his desire for blued-eyed-blonde-haired girls.

He shivered hiking his school bag up his shoulder, it was best not to think about those sort of things. They did bad things to his heart. Things he couldn't handle unless he was shovelling Amitsu down his throat.

"Sakurai!" The very object of his thoughts called his name and Sakurai automatically responded, the word slipping through his lips before he can stop it.

"Sasuke-kun." He had always used the suffix, it was nothing strange since they were friends.

Naruko scoffed behind the handsome teen, looking off to the side with an annoyed expression. Sakurai guessed she had just been scolded by Iruka-sensei or one of the other teachers for yelling in the corridor - Iruka-sensei seemed to have a sixth sense when it came to Naruko's antics.

"We have training this weekend, make sure you get there," Sasuke said sternly, he looked a little haggard Sakurai noticed. Like he hadn't been sleeping well.

He gazed into onyx eyes a little longer than necessary before replying, "Training?" He repeated cluelessly, flinching when Sasuke growled, "Oh, right, basketball." Sakurai internally screamed. He had completely forgotten about basketball training, too busy helping his parents in the bakery and assisting Shizune-sensei at the reception desk.

Why did he even play basketball? Sure, he was good at it but it wasn't really a passion of his. He didn't take sports as seriously as Sasuke or Ino-chan did. But then he remembered the desperate look in his Sasuke's eyes when he told him the team centre had dropped out and they were losing members.

"Okaa-san says I'll have to drop out of the team as well if we don't find a centre by October."

He couldn't stop himself from volunteering to help back then. Offering to join the basketball team just so Sasuke would stop looking so crazed and stressed out, he even took up the role of team manager because the last manager had already graduated and she didn't leave any sort of replacement.

Sakurai had dedicated what time he could to basketball, but this weekend he had forgotten they had training.

Sasuke seemed to realise that because his eyes hardened to give him that stormy glare, "Did you forget?"

"Um, uh, no..?"

"Sakurai!"

"I'm sorry!" Sakurai exclaimed, "I kind of promised Maman I would help in her the bakery on Saturday, we just got in this huge order and it needs to be finished by Sunday morning for a wedding." He defended himself, it was true late orders were common during the winter season. People liked the idea of white weddings.

"What about on Sunday?" Sasuke asked his arms folded over his chest, he was getting annoyed Sakurai could tell. "We have a second training session after 12, can you make it then?"

Sakurai had to think about for a moment, if Père made the delivery to the wedding reception then he could probably make it. But if he had to make the delivery himself there was no guarantee that he wouldn't stick around. He loved wedding receptions, and the couple had actually invited him as a way to repent for the trouble they were putting the bakery through.

He would just have to try and convince Père to make the delivery.

"I think I can make it." He assured nodding, looking over at Naruko he nodded, "Yeah, I'll probably get there."

"You better. You've missed most of our practices this month. The coach is considering kicking you out of the team if you keep slacking off." Sasuke informed him with a casual air.

"What?!" Both Sakurai and Naruko exclaimed. Sakurai out of shock and Naruko out of indignation.

"Why would he do that? Sakurai-kun is one of the best players in the entire team, he's even better than you! Why would he kick him out?!" Naruko demanded with her hands on her hips, she knew that Sakurai's position on the basketball team was important so it didn't make sense to her at all. Why would they kick out one of their best players?

Sasuke rolled his eyes at her and began walking, moving their conversation down the hall. "You've been skipping training, and you've been slack in some of our practice matches. The coach is worried you might start pulling down the team if this keeps going. It's a logical choice to kick you out if you're not going to give it your all in the game." He delivered with blunt honesty.

To be expected. Sasuke was never one to beat around the bush. Especially when it came to sports.

Sakurai was in near despair. He was going to be kicked off the basketball team?! What kind of decision was that? He couldn't comprehend the fact that it was - as Sasuke said - the more logical choice. But, still! He couldn't stop playing basketball, it was one of the few times he and Sasuke could actually hang out together without anyone else interfering.

Basketball was his source of intimacy with Sasuke!

"If he does kick me off the team what will happen then?" He mumbled more to himself than either of his friends. Would the team be alright without him, he wondered?

"Asuma might bring that kid Sora onto the team to replace you. He's been showing up at some of our training sessions."

If Sakurai were in a level space of mind he would have heard the bitterness in Sasuke's tone. The contempt he held towards Sora leaking into his tone.

"Sora? That kid from the temple outside of town? Really?" Naruko asked grimacing, "Isn't he, like, some sort of monk? What good could he be?"

"No… Sora's small, but he's strong. He would probably make a better centre than I would…" Sakurai released an aura of depression as he slumped. The idea of being replaced didn't sit well with him. He didn't want anyone taking his place on the team but he knew a tough opponent when he saw one.

"Oi." Sakurai looked up and felt a sudden throbbing on his head when Sasuke took advantage of his mood to hit him.

"Ow! Wh- what did you do that for?!" He cried out in dismay, his hands raised to rub at the bump forming in his hair. Never let it be said that Sasuke is not a hard hitter.

"Stop moping. It's gross." Sasuke scolded harshly, his arms folded over his chest as he glared down at him. "If you show up at training on Sunday everything should be fine."

"Yeah, Sakurai-kun!" Naruko chimed in, she gave him one of her sparkly thumbs-up poses and added with a mischievous gleam in her eyes, "Then when you show everyone who's boss we can go on a date together!"

Sakurai stared, stunned into silence by the girl's decree, before he burst into laughter. Sasuke scolding her in the background only heightened his joy. It was like they were still 12 and best friends all over again.

"Hey," He spoke up once he regained his composure, grinning broadly he swung his arm s around the both of them, "How about we go and get something to eat? My treat."

"Yeah! All right. Sakurai-kun's treat, yeah? I'm in!" Naruko exclaimed, the prospect of free food turning her irritation to joy in an instant.

"..." Sasuke looked away in silence.

Sakurai frowned, "Sasuke-kun?" He asked unsurely. Is he still...

"... Fine. Anything but dango. I can't stand that stuff."

~xXx~

Author's Note:

Meet my new Genderbend cast of High School Drama. Really? With Male!Sakura, Female!Naruto and just regular Sasuke. With the Romance, Friendship and Drama, that comes with being Team 7 in a High School AU.

I want to point out this was made purely because the lack of Sasusaku Yaoi fics was frustrating me, I mean, spread out, expand your ways, people! Explore the possibilities! It's not that bad, and this isn't even my first Sasusaku Yaoi fic (my others will be staying with me until I decide whether or not they're ready for public view, one of them just feels way too dark for an audience other than myself).

I also want to point out that in order to write this I needed to re-familiarize myself with writing about same-sex relationships, so I went to a place were homosexuality reigns supreme.

I went back to Hetalia! But, I'm not going back into the Fandom, that place is kind of terrifying.

Read and enjoy - or not, your choice.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or it's characters, this is Fanfiction. Fan. Fiction.