A/N: I am no longer a NaruSasu writer virgin! Yes! if that opening sentence didn't scare u off, plz continue reading.
Summary: Naruto is a newcomer at the most elite private school in Japan, with a mysterious past. Sasuke is the resident king of the school, and is the leader of a powerful gang, named Chikara (or power). When their class gets marooned on an island, there are suddenly mysterious disappearances, and it's clear not all is at is seems. What do you do when you realise you can't trust anyone, least of all those close to you...? NaruSasu.
Disclaimer: Don't own, don't sue. (Really, i mean it. -shakes fist at imaginary readers-)
C h a p t e r O n e: B a c k g r o u n d S k e t c h
"We were strangers
Starting out on a journey
Never dreaming
What we'd have to go through
Now here we are
And I'm suddenly standing
At the beginning with you"
- At the Beginning, Anastasia
Pitter- patter pitter- patter pitter-patter…
The rain continued to pound against the cold hard ground, heedless to the pain of a certain boy crouched down near the gutter. He was panting heavily, oblivious to the steady red trickle erupting out of several gashes on his arms, legs and head. All he could focus on was the torrent of emotions wreaking havoc inside his chest.
There was sorrow. Sorrow about those that he would never see again. Regret. Regret that he didn't do anything to stop it from happening. Anger. Anger at the ones who had done it. Last of all, there was fear. Would they come for him, too?
If they were to find him now, he knew that he would not stand a chance. It had taken all he had to escape, there was nothing left.
Just as the boy thought this, he heard the gentle screech as a black car stopped on the road right in front of him. He watched, paralysed, as a tall, cloaked figure got out of the car with an umbrella and started to walk towards him.
The figure extended a gloved hand towards the boy.
"Remember this. There will always be hope for those that are brave enough to look for it."
The boy slowly extended his own hand and finally grasped onto the gloved one, allowing himself to be pulled up and ushered inside the car.
The torrent of emotions seemed to have subsided.
But the anger remained.
10 years later.
It was another bright morning for the students of Konoha High Elite Private School.
Though perhaps today was a bit louder than usual. After all, the students were meeting each other after 2 months of winter holidays. The loud drabble of girls could be heard discussing who'd got the best tan at their parents' estates in Hawaii. A large group of guys were standing together in the centre of the courtyard, checking out who'd broken the most bones skiing in the Alps. Couples who'd been separated for the holidays were making up for lost time and snogging up against Konoha's walls, ignoring the constant screams from teachers telling them to "Have some decency! What kind of example are you setting for the freshman?!". The kids of major businessmen were on their cellphones and laptops, speaking quickly about why stocks weren't higher. Groups of nerds, dorks and geeks, who were too scared to gather near the others, had congregated in one of the Maths classrooms, discussing who'd been to the best Computer Camp & who'd beat their high score at Warcraft.
All in all, a typical first day for the richest teenagers in Japan.
"I can't wait until he shows up! He'll have to love me now, look how even my tan is!" cried a girl.
Another one snorted. "You look like a lobster. Besides, we all know he's secretly been pining for me!"
A guy shook his head in disgust. "Have you both forgot about his little girlfriend? Just try and get near him while that bitch is arou- ah!! What'd you do that for Lee?" he screamed, rubbing his shoulder where he'd just been punched.
"Don't talk about Sakura that way! She is the most beautiful creature ever to grace the Earth! And her forehead is so big and kissable!" proclaimed a boy with freakily round black eyes, a bowl haircut and really bushy eyebrows.
"You guys really shouldn't be so loud…don't forget who they are." Whispered a boy. He looked up suddenly. "Look, it's Gaara. They're here."
The objects of their discussion chose that moment to walk through the vintage iron gates of Konoha High. Leading the procession was a tall red haired guy with ruby red hair and dark outlined eyes. He had a piercing in his lip. He wore the school's grey Ralph Lauren trousers, the hems covering half of his black Gucci loafers. He had a Lonsdale bag thrown casually across his shoulders, his hands thrust deep into his trouser pockets. Behind him was a boy with his hair messily scrunched up into a ponytail. He had both ears pierced, and walked with both his arms behind his head, one eye open. He didn't wear a tie, and wore standard black school shoes, designer though they were. All he carried was a classic Burberry schoolbag. As far as the students could remember, he had always dressed like this. When asked why he didn't make use of his good looks and dress up a little, he replied lazily "How troublesome." Next to him was a pretty girl with sandy blonde hair so pale it could have been white, swept up into a high ponytail with a few bangs framing her face. She wore the school's Prada skirt, the hem 2 inches above her knees. She wore black flats. A purple-washed Prada bag was enclosed in her fingers.
Behind this girl was a guy with a loose school jersey on. His messy brown hair wasn't made into any particular style, but this seemed to suit him, giving him that sexy I-woke-up-like-this-and-I-still-look-hot look. A dog was walking next to him, wearing a diamond-studded collar. Closing the parade was a tall guy, wearing the school's grey pants dangerously low on his hips, showing off his physique. He wore a limited edition of Air Jordan's, and it was rumoured that the designer himself had personally gifted them to him. He wore his shirt untucked and a Ralph Lauren blazer, the sleeves rolled up to reveal subtly muscled arms and a Gucci watch. His black hair was on the longish side, messily styled with a few bangs hanging down onto his face. Many of the male students had tried to achieve this look, but somehow nobody had ever learnt to master it. He had many piercings on his ears, 3 in one and 2 in the other. He had deep obsidian eyes, and full, soft looking lips that were right now forming a well-practised smirk. On his arm hung a girl with bright bubble gum hair, though he seemed to pay no attention to her. She, like the pale haired girl, wore the school's Prada skirt, but hers was a good few inches shorter. She carried a new season Fendi bag, and had her school blouse unbuttoned to her chest. Her blue eyes roamed over all the other students, and she too seemed to be smirking.
As was procedure by now, the other students couldn't help but gravitate towards this elite group. As always, the Fangirls were the first to lose control.
"Sasuke! How were your holidays?"
"Would you like to sit with me in class today, Kiba?"
"MARRY ME SHIKAMARU!"
"Sasuke! Sasuke! I love you!"
And so it continued, until the FanBOYS joined in.
Suddenly, the crowd's voices were drowned out by the ear splitting ring of the school bell.
"Holy shit, I'm late!"
Frantically, the boy slammed his hand down on his froggy alarm clock, cursing rather colourfully at it. He raced into the bathroom and tried to brush his teeth while simultaneously stripping to get into the shower. It wasn't really working out.
"Ouuuuch!" he yelled as the boiling hot water splashed onto his body. Wiping himself off, he grabbed the brand new school shirt, tie and shorts from his wardrobe and hastily dressed himself. Grabbing his bag, he was about to walk out the door, when he heard a deep rumbling in his stomach. Oh man…he really couldn't leave without breakfast, could he? Maybe just one slice of toast…No! He shook his head and with great self-restraint, ran out the door.
Thankfully, Konoha High was just a few blocks away from his house.
Panting, the boy finally reached the huge iron gates. He looked up at the school, towering above him. And looked. And looked. It was incredible. Time seemed to stand still as he entered the main courtyard. Cherry blossom trees were just coming into bloom, pink buds slowly emerging. Life size chess boards were in one corner, picnic benches and even several gazebos littered the huge ground. Walking into the administration building, he glanced out a window that overlooked the centre of the school. Football fields, basketball courts, a golf course and a horse-riding paddock were all visible. The boy sucked in his breath. He sure wasn't in Kansas anymore.
"Oh, hello. Are you Naruto Uzumaki?" came the question from a blonde woman with a green necklace and a rather sizeable bust.
Naruto nodded. "Pleased to meet you."
"Welcome to Konoha High Elite Private School! I'm Tsunade, your school principal. If you need any help to get settled in, my office is right over there." She said, pointing round a corner. "Just go up to the administration office, and they'll give you your timetable for all your classes. Well, good luck." Tsunade finished, privately adding you're going to need it.
"Arigatou!" Naruto inclined his head and turned to his left; the Administration office.
"Hi, how may I help y—" began the lazy drawl from the office receptionist, looking over from her computer screen. She suddenly paused, and Naruto had the vaguely uncomfortable sensation of being x-rayed up and down. The receptionist suddenly became a lot more attentive, swirling her chair around to face him, her hand under her chin and a smile playing at her coloured lips. "What would you like, sweetie?"
He didn't think he wanted to know what was behind the sudden change in attitude.
"My name's Naruto Uzumaki, and today's my first day—"
"Ah! Well, I hope you enjoy your time here, Konoha's a brilliant school. The most influential people in Japan all have strong ties with the school, making it the most prestigious in the country." She swivelled her chair around once more, reaching up to a long white shelf above her desk. There she sifted through numerous files, before snapping her fingers and taking one down.
"Uzumaki, Naruto. Senior. 16 yrs old." She peered at him as she handed him the file. "You're a senior, and you're only 16?"
Naruto shifted uncomfortably. "Ano…you see, I was shifted up a few years in my old school. My teachers thought a higher class might be better for me."
The receptionist nodded. "Well, there's your timetable…right now, you have Advanced English. Your teacher's name is Gai." She seemed to find this highly amusing for some reason.
"Ok, thanks." Naruto said, turning away from her.
"Oh, and Naruto?"
He jerked his head back to her.
"Be careful here." She said, swirling back to her computer.
Naruto blinked. What did she mean?
He reached into the file and took out the copy of the school map. It took him several minutes to find E12, his advanced english room, on the huge sheet of paper. Groaning, he looked at his watch, crossing his fingers that his first teacher was a major pushover.
"Hmmm, Ad English first, huh?" grinned the boy with the dog. "Not bad for a first period. I've missed old Gai sensei."
"Speak for yourself Kiba. Remember how he made us write that 10 page essay on the joys of youth?" groaned the blonde girl.
Kiba let out a bark of laughter. "Oh yeah! I also remember that you and Lee were the only ones who actually did it, Ino."
"Fuck you, dog breath." Ino glared at him from under her bang.
"Come on guys, you've been here for what, 5 minutes, and you're already trying to off each other." Sakura said, obviously bored.
They filed into the large classroom, taking their usual seats at the 2nd back row. All except for Gaara. He sat with another guy at the back of the room. This guy had black hair and always wore black sunglasses; everyone besides Gaara was too scared to be around him.
"Hey Shino." Gaara said in his icy voice.
"Hello Gaara." Shino waved, a startlingly violet beetle dangling from the tip of his finger.
"What's that one?"
"Meet Isabelle. One of the last remaining Bikouchuu beetles from the Guranh region. My dad found it when Aburame went exploring there last week." Shino replied. "So, did Chikara do anything in the winter?"
Gaara looked at him, unblinking. "We had to take care of some business up north. Some people who thought they could get away without paying what they owed us. Sasuke sent me with the Black Ops, we tracked them down, hiding in mountain caves."
"Did they pay up?"
Gaara shook his head slowly. "No."
What he didn't say lingered in the air.
"Gaara." Came a cool drawl from the seat in front of him. "It probably isn't the best idea to share information like that…"
Gaara turned towards the voice, and was met with a pair of deep obsidian eyes. He nodded. "My mistake, Sasuke."
"Word around school is, we're getting a new student today." Said the boy with the ponytail.
"Really Shikamaru?" asked Sakura, wondering if the new student was a potential threat to her relationship with Sasuke.
"Don't worry, Sakura. It's a boy. Apparently orphaned. No big background. Was taken in by someone with a lot of dough, and has been moving schools since he was a kid." Shikamaru continued.
Everyone exchanged looks.
"Whoever he is, he must have some high connections. I mean, not just anybody can get into Konoha, especially in the senior year." Ino said out loud, voicing what they were all thinking.
Konoha High was an elite school for a reason. It wasn't easy to get granted a position here. Many millionaires had to place their kids on waiting lists for years before finally being offered a place. What mattered at Konoha, even more so than money (and this in itself was a big ask, with school fees in the hundred thousands), were social background, class & connections.
One thing was for sure; whoever this new kid was, he had to be big.
Just then, a large figure strode into the classroom.
The class cringed, as they looked him up and down. He wore what looked like a green spandex bodysuit, which sagged at the buttocks. His hair resembled a big black bowl and his eyebrows black caterpillars. When he got to the middle of the room, he extended his thumb and gave them all a huge WINK. His teeth sparkled scarily.
"I hope that you have all had a great winter, full as you all are of jubilant youth!" he bellowed at them all.
"GAI SENSEI! I did indeed have a very positive winter, and my youth bloomed forth like a new cherry blossom, allowing me to cherish each falling snowdrop as though I would never see such beauty again!" announced Lee, wearing a green spandex bodysuit suspiciously like Gai's.
Gai looked at Lee for a moment, and then broke into tears. They flowed freely down his face like twin waterfalls, and his fist was raised in the air.
"LEE! Your beautiful displays of your undying youth never fail to move me to tears!"
"GAI SENSEI!" cried Lee, running to embrace him.
"LEE!" cried Gai, hugging Lee, who by now also had tears falling from his round cartoon- ish eyes.
They stood there for several minutes, the sobs punctuated by occasional screams of "Lee!" "Gai!" and "youth!".
Sasuke sat in his seat, eyes drifting over the comical scene, which occurred every week between these two. He smirked, watching as Kiba urged his dog, Akamaru, to go and break up the reunion.
For the second time, a figure appeared at the door of E12. Though this time, it was the newcomer who cringed.
Sasuke shifted slightly in his seat, eyes grazing over this person. The new student…The boy stood at the door, unsure of what to do. He imagined Gai and Lee weren't helping matters.
The boy had shocking blonde hair, uncombed and falling haphazardly onto his face. It was the eyes that fascinated him the most, rippling pools of cerulean. The boy had a scar across one cheek, and Sasuke had the sudden urge to stroke it. He wore a half sleeved shirt, rolled up to reveal toned arms. A tie was loosely slung around his collar, which remained unbuttoned to the top of his chest. His shirt was untucked over the school's grey shorts, causing Sasuke to smile. No senior wore shorts. But this kid pulled it off.
Naruto paused at the door to the classroom, hand still raised in a knocking position, unsure of how to handle the situation. His first instinct was: run. Somehow, escaped mental patients had sought refuge in his Advanced English room. Then he glanced down at his student handbook. Under the list of teachers, there was the name "Gai"…and next to it was a photo of a bizarre looking man winking at the camera. Naruto lowered the handbook, and the bizarre man was in front of him, hugging a boy who eerily resembled him. There was also a dog barking wildly, apparently trying to separate the couple.
Naruto coughed loudly, and turned to the other students for help. He couldn't help but notice as he did so that every pair of eyes was on him, raking up and down his body. He lifted his hand to ruffle his hair, and noticed a boy in the 2nd last row of the classroom. Deep ebony locks framed a pale face, making his eyes even more noticeable. They were like twin coals staring back at him. Unexpectedly, a rush of blood went to Naruto's face, and he watched in despair as this brought a smirk to the older boy's face. Crap.
"Gai sensei! There's somebody at the door." Said a girl in the front row finally.
Gai let Lee go immediately, and bounded over to embrace Naruto in a bear hug. "Hello! What brings you here? Were you perhaps eager to join in our celebration of youth?"
"N-nmph!" the boy managed to get out from under Gai's embrace, "I'm new to the school."
"Oh, how wonderful! A bright new spark of youth to join our class! Why don't you introduce yourself?"
Naruto nodded. He wished Gai would've been one of those teachers who wouldn't have cared less, and had just let him sit down in silence. The two minutes to come could make or break him: everything was going to be judged; from his looks to his voice in these two nerve wracking minutes.
"Um. Well. My name's Naruto Uzamaki and I'm new here." Well that's a great start, just repeat the obvious why don't cha? He sighed.
"I've actually never been to a school like this before. At my old place, there were only about 30 kids in the whole school. So, um. Yeah…" Naruto wondered if his cheeks would ever go back to their normal colour after this.
"What do your parents do?" said a boy with glasses, quite rudely.
"I…" how to explain this? "I don't live with my parents. They died when I was 6. I'm staying in an apartment right now."
"What? By yourself?" asked a girl, shocked.
Naruto nodded. "But the man who took me in looks after me. He saved me." He said suddenly, lifting his head up. The classroom seemed to hold its breath, salivating for more. Most of them had never been through a day of real hardship in their lives, and thought this sort of tragedy was restricted to movies. And the poor.
There was a loud sob from the corner of the room; Gai sensei had started to cry once more. "That…was…so BEAUTIFUL!" he cried out. Apparently unable to form any more sentences, he gestured towards the row of desks, apparently urging Naruto to sit down. The only available seats were in the front and back rows. Picking up his bag, Naruto automatically began walking to the back of the room. Get away from the sobbing teacher, and all will be ok.
At the back row, there were two seats. One was next to a boy with shocking red hair; the other was next to a boy playing with a beetle. Breathing out slowly, he placed his bag down next to the redhead. As he sat down, he felt eyes boring into him from his side. Lifting his gaze, he found himself staring back at the boy. The redhead seemed to be glaring at Naruto, who had no idea why. He was certain he had never seen the boy in his life.
So why was he looking at him as though he recognised him?
The bell finally sounded for the end of the period. At once, there was a scurry of bags and books as everybody hurried to get out of the classroom. Kiba, Shikamaru and Gaara were about to stand up, but were stayed by a brief hand movement from Sasuke. Ino raised her eyebrows expectantly, and then followed Sakura out of the room. She knew better than to interfere.
Sasuke's eyes followed a certain blonde as he exited the room too, frowning eyes peeled on the map in front of him, mouthing the words "Geography of the Americas- Room HSIE 11". He almost smiled, but then turned back to the matter at hand.
"What is it Sasuke?" asked Shikamaru, for once not looking as though he was going to drift off to sleep at any minute.
"New kid. What do you think?" it seemed an innocent enough question.
"Naruto? He seems alright." Kiba stated, and then let out a bark of laughter. "He'll get eaten alive here though. I could see half the class undressing him mentally as soon as he walked through the door. Me included." He added as an afterthought.
Shikamaru was staring at Sasuke. "You mean about his story, don't you?"
Sasuke nodded. Sharp as ever.
"It was too neat." Shikamaru continued. "His parents die, he gets saved by a stranger. And not just any stranger, but one who gives him his own apartment and can get him into Konoha."
"Exactly what I was thinking." Said Sasuke. "There's something missing there."
Gaara growled, "What are you thinking Sasuke?"
Sasuke stood up with his bag slung over his shoulder and walked out. He didn't reply.
Kiba sighed. "We know what that means. The paranoid bastard's telling us to watch our backs."
A/N: ok, there was the first chapter!
i tried to end it on a cliffhanger, i hope it was ok .. if you have any q's, review/ pm me, and i'll try to answer them, coz this story might get a wee bit confuzzling. other than that, i hope you liked it!
To come in the next chapter (probably):
What /who exactly is Chikara?
How will Naruto and Sasuke get along? (nb: i am gonna try my beeeeesssttt to make good yaoi bwteen them, but it might take a while for things to heat up. Unless i'm in a smutty mood when i write. Then u may just find a random citrus here or there )
If i can manage it: enter Itachi. enter Kakashi. enter Akatsuki.
Anyway, last of all, i hope u guys review! It gives me that fuzzy feeling i can only otherwise get from copious amounts of alcohol. Or seeing L (deathnote) eat cake.