Maelstrom

By BlackFeatherz29

Chapter 1: Meeting

Rating: T

Genres: Friendship/General

Characters and Pairings: Sasuke, Naruto, NaruSaku, future SasuHina. No slash.

Summary: AU Sasuke never knew the day he befriended the ragged boy that Naruto would sweep through his life like a force of nature. Friendship fic. NaruSaku, later SasuHina.

Theme Song: Tabidatsu Kimi e, by RSP

Author's note: This has been floating around my brain for a few months, and it is meant to only be three chapters long. This is the first installment; there are two more to come. I've always wanted to write a present-day Sasu Naru friendship fic, especially since my epic-length X-men style AU seems to be crashing and burning right now. That, and the current manga. Can I just say #$% you Kishimoto right now? Kthx. I'm hating what he's doing with the storyline right now.

Disclaimer: Not mine. The fictional school and made-up chars (you know the ones) are mine but it's not like I'm really doing anything much with them...

"This is your new classmate, Shido Sho-kun. Make sure you all make him feel welcome," said the middle-aged teacher, looking and sounding as if she had said this too many times. Which she probably had.

"Shido-kun? Would you like to introduce yourself?"

Sasuke mentally rolled his eyes, but smiled nonchalantly with his face and recited his memorized introduction. "Hello, I'm Shido Sho. I just moved from Tokyo to live here with my grandmother. I like to read and I don't like annoying people."

Hmm. It seemed that his father's assessment had been accurate; Sasuke really had spent entirely too much of his childhood away from children his own age. Maybe that was why everybody was looking at him with wary eyes and whispering amongst each other instead of … how were normal junior high kids supposed to act toward a new student anyway?

"Shido-kun, please sit in the desk behind Masatani. Masatani-kun, please raise your hand."

A nondescript mousy-haired boy raised his hand uncertainly as if he expected Sasuke to bite it off or something. Sure, maybe he was a little too tall for his age. And his facial features were so sharp that they could have been carved from stone. And maybe his eyes weren't very welcome-looking but hell, what was he supposed to act like?

Several hours later when lunch began and all his classmates moved their desks away into opposing corners of the classroom to gossip amongst themselves, Sasuke decided that he needed to find a friend. He was never going to be able to accomplish his objective this way.

"I'm home!"

It would be a cold, dark day when the sight of his old nanny, Izumi, wouldn't brighten up his mood.

"Welcome home!" she called, not wasting a minute. "Hirofumi-san sent all of your luggage over while you were at school. They're in your room."

Sasuke gave her a nod of thanks and toed off his shoes, stepping into the foyer. He glanced around at the aged house, noting the lovingly used sitting area and the small shrine in the corner.

"Did you make any new friends today?" she asked, bringing around a pot of tea and a cup.

Sasuke mutely shook his head, frowning. "It was… different from what I expected."

Izumi laughed in that horse-like way that she always did. "Of course not, silly! I've always known that you should have spent more of your time interacting with others instead of studying all the time."

"I did," Sasuke told her, rolling his eyes. "I interact with other all the time. They're called business transactions."

"Not like that! You need real stimulation, something like friends your own age." She slapped him across the back good-naturally, ignoring the way that he tensed up like a wooden board.

Walking home after school, Sasuke happened to make his way past the riverbed.

The first thing he noticed was the hair. In the crowd of filthy black and rust-orange heads (because that is the color that black turns when bleached by amateurs), dirt-streaked bright yellow stood out like a sore thumb. Who the hell had hair that color anyway?

The second thing he noticed was that the tiny yellow-haired kid in question was most definitely getting whaled on by the others. Huh. He had probably started the entire thing anyway. Punk.

Sasuke preferred to not have his new school uniform dirtied by rolling around in the mud like those punks were, and anyway it looked like the fight was wrapping up. No point in attracting attention when you didn't have to.

Making his way down the grassy slope toward the gasping figure lying amidst a circle of churned-up mud, Sasuke moved to stand over the boy in question.

He was, undoubtedly, the filthiest human being that he had ever seen. Also, one of the shortest.

"What the hell are you looking at, dumbass?" the filthy person in question spat, sending dirt and blood flying upward.

"Nothing," Sasuke answered nonchalantly, delicately avoiding the flying debris. "Just the idiot that picked a fight with a bunch of guys bigger than him and has now paid the consequences."

This prompted the boy to try to drag himself up from the ground with a wet sucking sound, but the fight seemed to have sapped all of his strength. Falling back with a messy plop, he substituted with a few extremely vulgar words.

Sasuke shook his head. So uncivilized. Then, he paused, looking at the ruined school uniform, and thought for a second. This could all work out.

"You go to Nishino Junior High, right? What class are you in?" he asked abruptly.

The other boy wrinkled his nose at the suspicious question. "What's in it for you?"

"Just answer the damn question."

"3-D," he answered after much deliberation.

Sasuke frowned. "I didn't see you in class today."

"Hell no! That school's so freaking boring that I could skip every day of the year and still pass!"

Huh. Interesting. More so than that, the unnatural bent of the other boy's foot seemed to warrant needed help. What was most logical in this situation?

He had better be able to wash this shit out of his uniform when all this was over with.

"So… you dragged me all the way back here because you thought it was only logical? What kind of crap reasoning is that?"

Sasuke smirked indulgently as his former nanny, Izumi, finished wrapping the boy's ankle. "Of course it was. You happen to go to the same school as me, and since I don't know anybody at this school, it was only logical that I find an ally wherever I can. Finders can't be choosers."

The boy ('Uzumaki Naruto!' he had proudly proclaimed his name to be; who the hell names a kid 'Naruto'?) bobbed his head absentmindedly, then narrowed his eyes. "Oi. If you wanted to help me, why didn't you help me fight them?"

"Because I didn't want to get dirty."

Naruto sniggered. "Shoulda thought about that before trying to help me up, dumbass!"

Sasuke's smirk turned slightly nasty. "Now how would I have known that the dobe couldn't even pick himself out of a widdle rain puddle?"

The other boy nearly punched him, but fell off balance because of his weak ankle. This earned a tongue-lashing from Izumi for both of them.

It was the start of a beautiful friendship.

"So… you're not really from around here? You're the son of some sort of huge business tycoon? And you're feeding everyone a bogus identity?"

Sasuke looked at him in annoyance. "Why do you keep asking? I just told you that. And stop starting your sentences with 'so'."

"Geez, you're such a spaz. And for your information, I can start my sentences with whatever I feel like, Shido Sho." A beat. "So… what kind of messed-up father do you have who would send you to this dump in the middle of nowhere?"

A vein twitched in Sasuke's forehead. "It's for my own good, dobe. Unlike you, I actually respect my father's decisions."

"Alright, alright! So lemme guess; he sent you out here so you could actually learn to interact with human beings instead of mindless drones."

Silence. Sasuke looked at him suspiciously. "That wasn't his exact wording, but yes, that is why. How did you know that?"

Naruto let out a sharp bark of laughter. "Dude, you're seriously telling me that you don't know what kind of waves you put out into the air? You look like you're gonna skewer somebody with those eyes! Nobody's gonna want to be your friend if you keep doing that!"

"Since you seem to be such an expert on all things social," replied Sasuke frigidly, "please do tell me all the things wrong I've been doing."

The blond raised his equally blond eyebrows in surprise. "Wow, you're serious about this."

"Hell yes, I am. The sooner I can do this, the sooner I can get out of this godforsaken town."

"Well, first off…"

It was a curious sight that greeted the members of class 3-D at Nishino Junior High the next day. Not only was the infamous delinquent Uzumaki Naruto actually at school today, he seemed to be immersed in conversation with the scary new student, Shido Sho.

"… and if you make it like this, then they can't tell at all what you're trying to pull! It's foolproof!"

"What are you, an idiot? They're going to see that little bit sticking out, and it's in such an obvious place, too. If you wanted to hide that you'd have to stand in that way; it's too obvious. It's like choosing between a rock and a hard place."

The class representative was forced to confront them in order to begin class. "Um, can you please put away what you have and face the front?"

Two pairs of eyes glared at her suspiciously. "No." Then they turned back to their… bomb-making?!

"Are you sure it was okay to nearly give that girl a heart attack? She might inform the principal."

"Psh, what are they going to do? And anyway, these aren't even bombs! They're just fireworks; perfectly harmless."

"They don't look harmless. You know that my school record is going to suffer if they actually take this seriously."

"Your fake record, you mean, Sasuke-chan. 'S never bothered me before."

"Don't call me that. If you break my trust, I'm never talking to you again."

"Take a chill-pill, you spaz! You know, you seriously need to learn how to take a joke. You're way too touchy."

An almost embarrassed pause. "… I know."

"Yo, 's okay! That's what I'm gonna teach you! Can't let my choice of companionship humiliate my glorious reputation, now can I?"

"Don't push it."

"And seriously, just look how you turned out. Your parents must be real proud of you."

"Eh, my mom's somewhere else and that old geezer wouldn't care anyway. I've always done whatever I wanted."

"Really now? So where did you learn how to do quadratic equations and slope-point?"

A grin worthy of the Cheshire Cat. "That, my friend, was to scare the teacher out of her wits. You have no – okay, maybe you do know how much fun it is to mess with authority figures."

A feral smirk. "Why, yes I do. How ever did you notice?"

"Psh, I could tell that you were a sadistic bastard the first time I met you. I bet your sadism extends to things smaller than you too, eh? You were probably the kind of little kid who liked to dissect worms and dead birds."

"I'm so glad that you think so highly of me. But no, I only screw with people whom I think deserve it. Like you."

"I would have noticed if you were screwing with me! There's no way that – wait a minute, you're just screwing me right now, aren't you? You slimy bastard."

"You're very welcome."

Gradually, the class of 3-D learned to ignore any strange behavior that their two resident delinquents exhibited. There was just no way to deal with them.

Although they skipped school every other day, they somehow managed to ace every test that the teacher ever gave them and dodge the flying pieces of chalk at the same time. This was unheard of. Nobody had ever seen them study; they were always tinkering with strange objects or drawing up complicated-looking diagrams that turned out to be pranking plans.

For Shido Sho, the stiff way he carried himself and the entirely too-serious demeanor suggested a swot-type personality. Normally, somebody like this would barricade himself inside his own room and spend every available second studying for the high school entrance exams, but Shido Sho was freaking skipping school. What the hell?

As for Uzumaki Naruto, nobody really knew where he came from. There were some who said that he was some sort of fox spirit who was born without a mother, since in the entire history of the town there was never any mention of who his mother had been. His father, though? He was commonly known as the old hermit on the west side of town. Uzumaki Keitaro was the type of man who scared little children who came too close to his perimeter and threatened them with whippings of bamboo sticks. It was hard to see how he even got the chance to procreate.

Naruto himself, though, was never really normal. The short boy spent most of his days fighting and skipping school but when he did come, he would the poor teacher with his unparalleled ability to find the right answer for every question he was asked and his unmatched vulgarity. She eventually stopped trying to get him to come to school regularly.

The two of them turned up at school more often than not, but liked to ditch in the middle of the day as if mocking their own attendance records. The rate of petty crimes like graffiti and stink-bombs tripled in occurrence as well. But at school as people got to know them, they began to notice Naruto's easy charm and Sho's reliability. Although Sho joined Naruto in skipping school every other day, they garnered quite a few new friends.

Sho became known as a serious, charismatic leader with the uncanny ability to lie through his teeth. Nobody ever quite knew when he was joking or telling the truth. Naruto, despite all his violent tendencies, turned out to be quite friendly and eager to interact with others.

It was curious how close two people could become in only one short school year, but in some strange way the worldly Uzumaki Naruto and the uptight Shido Sho just … clicked together. Although they spent most of their time arguing and what little time they had left staring out the window into space, there was a familiarity with each other that not many people could boast about.

However, even the closest friendships don't stay that way for long. Something has to change.

"So let me get this straight. You want me to go with you to the top elevator preparatory high school in Tokyo? The one that shunts straight into Tokyo University?"

Sasuke sighed impatiently. "I'm completely serious. You would do well there."

Naruto searched for words to accurately convey his sentiments and finding none, gave up. "But… why the hell would I want to go there? I hate large cities; all the people make me feel all caged in. And I hate studying for somebody else."

"Look, you won't be studying for anybody else. Don't you see? You can fulfill your full potential this way. Get out of this dinky town, become rich and famous, travel the world! Isn't that what you always wanted?"

"… I guess…"

"It's true and you know it. Tell you what, I'll even put in a good word with my father about you. We have a special foundation set up to donate scholarships to kids who are good enough but can't afford to pay for top-quality schools. All you have to do is get in, and it's all yours. It's the chance of a lifetime."

Naruto's face twisted into an unreadable expression and he stared at his knobbly knees. "I really have to get back to you. I don't know about this…"

As he left, Sasuke stared at his back, eyes steady. 'You'll choose the right path. I know you will.'

The graduation of the legendary duo was marked by an explosion of fireworks on the school rooftop immediately after the ceremony concluded. Nobody expected anything less.

Meanwhile, the poor homeroom teacher of class 3-D was positively ecstatic that her two most problematic students were going to the preparatory high school destined for the best university in the country.

Afterwards, nobody would hear about the mysterious Shido Sho and Uzumaki Naruto again for many years. Tokyo was waiting.

Cherry blossoms dance under the chilly spring sky.
You march on, with dreams and hopes upon your little shoulders.

I want to send you off as you begin your journey.
I should have done that seriously at least today. (I should have.)

I placed all my smiles in a bouquet of flowers
that I am sending to you along with a message:

Thank you for laughing with me.
Thank you for crying with me.

Don't worry, you will be fine.
Just keep going straight in the path you believe in.

- Tabidatsu Kimi he - RSP

Author's note: This took a little while to finish, and I can't promise anything about the next chapter. But I will try to finish it soon, since I do seem to have a bit more time now that I'm only a few months away from graduating high school. Be cool and review 'n stuff. Thank you!