Okay, so here goes attempt number 3 at making a new fanfic. XP I've started two others before this that never made it past the author's note, so we'll see if this one works. So yeah, as the summary said, this is an AU, SasuNaru yaoi fic, though the rating of T will never change, as I'm not writing any lemons. Sorry if you were looking forward to that, it's just not happening. Oh yes, and this will include much Sakura-bashing.

Full Summary: 16 year old Naruto Uzumaki has always been the kind of person who wears a constant mask of happiness, no matter his true feelings. He's been like this for so long that none of his friends even realize that it's just a facade. What happens when his adoptive father, Iruka, brings his long-distance boyfriend, Kakashi, over...and Kakashi brings his adopted son, Sasuke? Will Sasuke turn out to be the one to see the true Naruto? Or will Naruto continue to succeed in his venture to fool everyone?

PAIRINGS (subject to change or be added to throughout the story): SasuNaru eventually, but NaruGaa and NejiSasu near the beginning; KakaIru; ShikaTem; InoSai; onesided SakuSasu; onesided SakuGaa; either KibaHina or ShinoKiba (I haven't quite decided yet, possibly a bit of both?); and probably more that I just can't think of right now.

DISCLAIMER: I own nothing but my plot, though I'd love to have both Naruto and Sasuke for myself...oh the fun times the three of us could have...

The Boy Behind the Mask

Chapter 1

"I should be back in a couple days, so don't burn the house down or anything," Iruka was saying. Naruto rolled his eyes, though he was grinning.

"Oh, come on, give me a little credit. It only happened once."

"And once is enough that I feel the need to say it every time I go," Iruka said, smiling. Both of them were joking; Naruto had never actually burned the house down. This was just the type of routine they went through each time Iruka went on a trip somewhere, or would be gone for more than a day. "But seriously, don't do anything stupid while I'm gone. And if you need me, don't hesitate to call. And-"

"Just go already," Naruto teased. "I'm not a little kid any more, I can handle being by myself." For just a moment, his eyes shifted, and Iruka was seeing the eyes of the six year old boy who would cling to his leg and beg him not to leave. However, the moment was gone almost as soon as it appeared, leaving Iruka to wonder whether he was seeing things.

"I know you can," was all he said, then gave Naruto a quick, one-armed hug, and left. As soon as Naruto heard the car drive away, he sighed, letting go of his carefully constructed facade.

Ever since Naruto's sixth birthday, when he'd witnessed his parents' deaths, he'd been taken care of by Iruka, who had been a friend of his parents. Iruka had given up everything, including his boyfriend, and taken Naruto to a different city far away for the boy's protection. Luckily for Iruka, however, his boyfriend Kakashi was very understanding about the whole thing, and so the two of them had kept in touch. Now that 10 years had passed, Kakashi was going to move to where Iruka and Naruto lived, and Iruka had offered to drive out and help him.

As Naruto was about to pop a movie into the dvd player, he heard a knock at the door and went over to it, staring out the peephole. He grinned as he saw who was standing there, and opened the door. "Hey, Sakura!" he greeted his friend.

"So I see that Iruka-sensei is gone now," the pink haired girl noted. Iruka taught at the local high school, and had taught each of Naruto's friends at least once.

"Yeah, you wanna come in?" Naruto offered.

"Sure," Sakura said. "Come on in, everyone!" At her words, a huge crowd of people came rushing in through the door, most of them Naruto's friends, but others were just people he knew of at the school.

"S-sakura, what do you think you're doing?" Naruto exclaimed. "I never agreed to any of this!"

"Oh, don't be such a baby," Sakura said dismissively. "And anyway, this is your last opportunity to get to know some of the more popular kids before our last year of school starts tomorrow. You don't want to be labeled a loser all your high school life, do you?"

"It's just one more year, I don't see what the-"

"Too bad, you don't have a choice in the matter! C'mon, I'll introduce you!" Sakura dragged Naruto into the midst of the party crowd, who had already found the music and food. She spent about half an hour forcing him upon all the most popular people of their school, and made him talk to them all and try to remember their names, and it wasn't until he was meeting the tenth person – a brunette girl by the name of Tenten – that he was finally saved.

"Give the guy a break, Sakura," Shikamaru said, "he's obviously not interested in meeting all these people."

Sakura frowned. "But isn't it every high school kid's dream to be popular?"

"Not necessarily," Shikamaru replied. "Most just want to be accepted, have a few friends who are always there for them, that kind of stuff. And Naruto's already got that, so quit making him meet all these people."

Sakura pouted, but walked off, chatting with some of the other people. Naruto turned to Shikamaru. "Thanks, you saved my life there," he said with a grin. Shikamaru chuckled.

"Not a problem," he said, "though that wasn't the reason I came over here."

"Then why did you come over here?" Naruto asked.

Shikamaru leaned in and whispered in Naruto's ear, while his eyes darted around. "To escape Temari," he said. Naruto laughed.

"What, you finally get the girl you wanted after drooling over her since grade school, and now you won't spend time with her?"

"Shh, not so loud, she'll hear you!" Sure enough, a girl with short blonde hair came over and grabbed Shikamaru's arm.

"There you are, I've been looking all over for you," she said. "My younger brothers are here, they want to meet you. Or rather, I've told them they want to meet you."

Temari was three years older than Naruto and his friends, but since Shikamaru had laid eyes on her – once he'd gotten out of the "girls are icky" phase – he'd wanted her more than he'd ever wanted anything. She'd gone to the same school as the rest of them, though her two younger brothers had both gone to a different school, for reasons nobody but the three of them knew. Before Shikamaru or Naruto could object – or escape – Temari had waved over two of the boys Naruto hadn't recognized.

"These are my brothers, Kankurou and Gaara," Temari announced, gesturing at each of them in turn. Gaara was looking away, clearly unimpressed by the whole situation, while Kankurou was grinning at Shikamaru.

"So you're the brave guy who decided to take on the horrors of my sister," he said, then reached out and put a hand on Shikamaru's shoulder. "Good luck, she's a real handful sometimes."

"Kankurou!" Temari exclaimed. "Don't go saying stuff like that! Besides, it shouldn't even matter to you, you're younger than me!"

"Only by nine months," Kankurou said with a shrug. "I'm close enough to your age that I get to switch between being the protective brother and the annoying brother whenever I feel like it."

Temari scowled, and Naruto stealthily snuck away before he could get dragged into this any more than he already had been. He went into the kitchen, which was surprisingly empty considering the amount of people in the house. In fact, the only person in the kitchen was Gaara. Naruto went over to him.

"Hey," he said simply. "Your name is Gaara, right?" Gaara looked at him and nodded briefly before turning his attention back to the wall opposite him. "I didn't see you escape from Kankurou and Temari," Naruto continued. "You must be more stealthy than I am."

"I've had years of practice," was all the redhead said in response, still not looking at the blonde. Naruto grinned.

"I'll bet. So how come you don't go to the same school as me and...well, pretty much everyone else here? You look like you're the same age as me."

"I'll be joining you this coming year," Gaara said after a long while. Naruto frowned.

"That didn't exactly answer my question..."

Gaara walked out of the kitchen before Naruto could say anything else, leaving the blonde to stand there in confusion. He sighed. I wonder how long it'll take them to notice I'm not there, he thought to himself. There's so many of them, I could probably sneak off to my room without anybody realizing it. But can I trust them to not make a mess of the place if I'm not there? ...I guess a better question would be whether I can trust them to not make a mess of the place at all, even if I am there. Well, no harm in leaving them alone, then. With that thought, Naruto made his way upstairs to his bedroom. However, when he opened the door, he found Ino and Sai rolling around on his bed, making out.

Naruto stood there for a moment, torn between doing what he wanted to – which was yell at them to get the hell out of his room – and what people would expect him to do. With a small sigh, he plastered a grin on his face and jumped onto the bed, inserting himself between Ino and Sai. "Hey, you guys," he said, grin widening as he saw the shocked expressions on their faces. "Mind if I join in?"

Ino shrieked. "Ewww! Hell no! Why would I want someone like you to have a threesome with me?" She jumped up and ran out of the room, and Sai followed her silently, shutting the door behind him. Naruto couldn't help but laugh a little, then wonder what he would have done if Ino hadn't refused. He shuddered at the thought, then shook it out of his head. It doesn't matter, because I knew from the start she'd say no. Otherwise I wouldn't have done it.

Naruto lay there silently for a while, until the door opened and closed quickly. He blinked and looked over to see Gaara standing there, eyes on the door, unaware that Naruto was in the room. Naruto cleared his throat, and Gaara looked over and shushed him. Naruto blinked in surprise, but stayed quiet. Moments later, he heard footsteps outside the door, and a familiar female voice calling Gaara's name. Naruto raised an eyebrow. So Sakura is already trying to dig her claws into the new kid, I see, he thought to himself. I guess that shouldn't surprise me, that's just how she is.

"Don't worry, she'll forget about you as soon as someone else comes along," Naruto reassured Gaara once he was certain the threat had passed.

"What do you mean by that?" Gaara asked, not moving from his position by the door. Naruto sat up, swinging his legs over the side of the bed.

"Well, Sakura's the type of girl that isn't happy unless she's chasing someone down," he replied. "She doesn't seem to care whether that person is a guy or a girl, as long as she deems them attractive. The more they ignore her advances, the harder she tries, and the happier she is. I swear, she's already gone after almost all our school by now, so she's been trying for others that don't go there. If you want her to stay away, then don't try to run. Either that, or wait until somebody else comes along."

Gaara frowned. "So if I don't want to be with her...I should go along with what she wants?" he said in confusion, and Naruto nodded. "That doesn't make any sense."

"It's Sakura. Nothing makes sense when it comes to Sakura." Naruto grinned as he said this.

"Oh. I see." There was silence for a while, until Gaara spoke again. "So, why are you up here? It's your party, isn't it?"

Naruto grimaced slightly. "Not exactly," he said. "It was more of a spur of the moment thing that Sakura decided on without even asking me first. She likes to do stuff like that to me."

"Sakura is your friend?"

"Yeah, she is. I know what you're thinking; if she's my friend, why do I say the things I do about her? Well, it's just that kind of friendship. She's my friend and I care about her, but I'm not about to pretend I agree with all the things she does."

Gaara nodded slightly. "I suppose that makes sense," he said, "though I wouldn't really know. I haven't had any friends."

Naruto's eyes widened. "You've never had any friends?" he asked incredulously. "That's insane! How is that even possible?"

Gaara shrugged. "Nobody particularly likes me, not even my family."

Naruto frowned. "Well, that just won't do. How would you like to be my friend, Gaara?"

The redhead looked up in surprise. "You'd...you'd really do that?"

"Be your friend? Hell yeah."

"But...why? You barely even know me."

Naruto smiled. "Well, let's fix that, then." He motioned for Gaara to come sit by him on the bed, which Gaara did, after some hesitation. The two of them talked for hours, though it was mostly Naruto doing the talking, until somebody knocked on the door.

"Naruto?" Sakura's voice called out. "Are you in there, Naruto?"

Naruto sighed and got up. "Yeah, just give me a sec." He pulled Gaara up wordlessly and directed him to the closet, where he hid. Naruto went over to the door and opened it. "What's up?"

Sakura frowned. "What are you doing holed up in your room? There's a party going on downstairs, you know, and everyone's looking for you."

"I know, I know," Naruto said with a grin. "I just needed a bit of air, it's kinda stuffy with all those people in there. I'll be down in a minute, you go on without me."

Satisfied, Sakura nodded and left. Naruto closed the door again, and Gaara walked over to him. "So how can you be so comfortable around Sakura, knowing what she's like? Hasn't she ever tried to go after you?"

Naruto shrugged. "I've gotten used to her. And sure she's tried to go after me, but she gave up pretty quickly once she found out that I'm not interested in girls."

"Then does that mean that you're...?" Gaara began, but wouldn't finish.

"Gay?" Naruto supplied, then grinned at Gaara's expression. "Yeah, I am. And I don't care that you know. In fact, it's one of the first things I make sure my friends know. I'm not ashamed of it, and because of that, all my friends are comfortable with it. I think Hinata is still in denial about the whole thing, but she's the only one. Now come on, we'd both better get back to the party. Sakura will never leave you alone if you keep hiding from her."

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Everybody left at around midnight, since school would start the next day, and Naruto spent the next couple hours cleaning up the house. He knew that Iruka wouldn't mind him having a couple friends over, but he wasn't sure how his guardian would react to the knowledge that a party had happened while he'd been away and unaware.

When Naruto woke up the next morning, he was surprised to hear voices in the kitchen. He got out of bed and slowly walked out to investigate. Iruka met him at the top of the stairs. "Oh, good, you're awake, Naruto," he said. "I was starting to think I'd have to come wake you." Naruto blinked in surprise.

"Iruka?" he said sleepily. "What are you doing back already? I thought you'd be gone another day."

"So did I," Iruka admitted, "but it seems Kakashi was very eager to get here, because he was already almost halfway here when I met up with him. Come on, you should come meet him." Iruka grinned and grabbed Naruto's wrist, pulling him over to the kitchen.

"Hey, wait!" Naruto protested. "At least let me put some real clothes on first!" But Iruka didn't listen, and kept pulling Naruto along. Sitting at one of the chairs in the kitchen was a man who looked only a few years older than Iruka, yet somehow had silver hair. He looked up and waved.

"Hi," he said. "I'm Kakashi Hatake. You must be Naruto. Iruka has told me a lot about you."

"Ummm...hi," Naruto said, kind of uncertainly, then looked up at Iruka. "What kind of things have you told him about me?"

Kakashi laughed, while Iruka looked a little uncomfortable. "Only good things, don't worry," Kakashi said, trying to save his boyfriend some embarrassment.

"Well, anyway," Iruka said, "Kakashi, this is Naruto, Naruto this is Kakashi."

"It's nice to meet you, Naruto," Kakashi said. "Oh, and..." He looked around. "Dammit...where'd he run off to now?" Naruto heard footsteps from behind him, and Kakashi's face brightened slightly. "Ah, there you are. Naruto, meet my son, Sasuke Uchiha. Well, he's my adopted son, but you get the picture."

Naruto turned to see a pale teen, about his own age, with jet black hair and even blacker eyes. Naruto blinked a few times. He...he's beautiful, Naruto thought, unable to take his eyes off the other. He watched as this boy – Sasuke – opened his mouth to speak.

"Nice boxers, moron."

Beautiful...but a complete jerk.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

There you have it! The first chapter! It actually worked this time! This is going to be a lot different in many ways from my other Naruto fanfics, mostly because it's AU (obviously) but also because the only Japanese I'll be incorporating into it is "sensei", as well as the names obviously. XD I'm only using "sensei" because I like it better than having the characters say things like "Mr. Umino" like we'd do over here in North America. So yeah, let me know what you think, and if you think it has potential. In other words, REVIEW, MY MINIONS! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH-(cough) Sorry about that. My evilness sometimes slips out at odd times. XD