AN : First off, thank you for coming here ;)
This is my first attempt ever at writing a story. I kept rewriting first 2 chapters so many times I thought I'd never publish them, but I finally pulled myself together and here I am. It still doesn't fully satisfy me, but oh well… J
Feel free to point out any mistakes. Also, I'm open to suggestions.
First two chapters concentrate on introducing the most important characters, so the action is not that thrilling, but I promise it'll get more serious and better as the story progresses.
Okay, I won't be keeping you anymore. I hope you'll have as much fun reading this story as I had writing it ;)
The blond boy stood before one of the largest school buildings he'd seen in his whole life. A really imaginative well-groomed garden, with all kinds of hedgerows and long rows of beautiful flowers made the building look even more magnificent. A middle-sized, marble statue of a student dressed in an old-fashioned uniform stood on the canopy above the entrance to the school. Naruto wasn't the kind of person to admire architecture, but this building practically screamed tradition, history and beauty. Thinking about living in this edifice sent shivers down his spine.
He held tight onto his belongings and took the stairs leading to the entrance.
As soon as he stepped inside, his expectations of how retro it would be inside were instantly crushed. The room he had stepped into, where the front desk was located, reminded him of a hotel. A big TV was hung over huge, glass doors on the left, which led to the part which held classes, as indicated by the inscription on them. The walls were filled with an impressive amount of various, modern paintings. The front desk itself was squeezed between two flights of carpeted stairs, leading towards the students' dormitories. He walked up it, and dropped his bags loudly onto the floor to get the receptionist's attention.
She looked up from the computer screen and eyed him lazily.
"How can I help you?" she asked, looking at his face.
"My name is Uzumaki Naruto, I'm a new student here. I would like to move into the dormitory I've been assigned to." Naruto replied, smiling at the woman endearingly.
"Naruto Uzumaki..." she drawled out as she looked up his name on the computer screen. "Yes, I've found it. It's room 112, on the second floor. Go up the stairs, and take the elevator. Your roommate is already there. Here's the key".
Naruto took the key from her and tucked it into his pocket.
"I hope you know that most of the new dorms are still being reconditioned at the moment?" He nodded politely.
"Students have been reassigned to the smaller dorms until the renovations are finished, but I believe the principal informed you of this."
Naruto nodded again.
"Great, then I won't be keeping you anymore."
Naruto grinned at her and took off.
He was wondering about his roommate as he made his way to his room.
Uchiha Sasuke.
That name rang a few bells, but he couldn't associate it with any person. The well known "Uchiha Corp" lingered in the back of his mind for a second, but he instantly dismissed it. It's probably a name coincidence.
Oh well, "Uchiha" also started with 'u', so they will get along just right!
Naruto was a people's person, so he didn't worry about gaining his new roommate's friendship. His pleasant personality, sweet childlike naïveté, cheek-splitting endearing smile, sunshine colored hair won over just about anyone. There wasn't a person who could resist his charm. Even the coldest people melted, when they looked into his deep, blue eyes resembling an endless ocean.
Before he even noticed it, he was standing in front of his new home. He knocked on the door a few times and waited for permission to come in. He didn't want to intrude after all, and he definitely didn't want to start off on a wrong foot.
He got no response, so he assumed his roommate isn't there. He pushed the door open and took a step inside.
"Hello?" he called out as he looked around for any signs of life.
The dorm was quite small. It consisted of a hallway, a bathroom and one room divided into two separate living spaces for each inhabitant. The right side of the room was already arranged. A huge, comfortable looking bed draped with blue and black sheets stood right next to a nightstand adorned with a very stylish lamp. There also was a wardrobe and a wooden desk with a monitor standing on its surface right next to the wall. However it was evident, that most likely Sasuke wasn't finished unpacking, as there still were a few open bags thrown here and there.
Naruto scooted to his part of the room and plopped his bags on the floor. He couldn't wait for his roommate to arrive. He wanted to get to know him. He felt absolutely elated, thrilled and a bit anxious at the same time. His curiosity needed to be satiated right that moment.
Suddenly, as if the higher forces wanted to fulfill his wish, the dorm door creaked open. Naruto looked at it expectantly, his heart skipping a few beats. Is he a nice, ongoing person, or more of a loner? An optimist or a pessimist? Dark, or fair haired? Does he also like ramen?
A thousand questions rushed through his head as a raven haired boy strode casually into the room. He wore a black, long sleeved shirt and black, stylish jeans. When he spotted Naruto walking up to him with his hand outstretched in a friendly gesture and a wide grin plastered on his face, he frowned.
But what a condescending frown that was.
"Hi, I'm..." Naruto began, but was promptly interrupted by the raven.
"I don't remember calling for the cleaning staff." he stated dismissively as he scanned the room, ignoring Naruto's awaiting hand.
"No no no, you are wrong" the blonde waved defensively, trying to hide his mortification. "I'm your roommate. My name is Naruto."
The dark haired boy gave him a long, hard glare. Naruto could feel a blush trying to creep its way up on his face after the raven stared at him for quite some time in absolute silence.
Finally, Naruto couldn't put up with this and a slightly annoyed "What?" slipped from his mouth.
"Hn."
Naruto stared at the raven incredulously. What's that supposed to mean?
"That's all? You're not gonna introduce yourself?"
"No. I've got better things to do."
The blonde felt anger, or rather irritation welling up inside of his chest. His roommate was turning out to be quite a difficult person.
"What's your problem, man?"
"Hn." he responded without turning around from his wardrobe.
Naruto was dumbfounded. Why does he act like a prick?
"Can't we get to know each other like all normal people do?" Naruto was absent mindedly digging his nails into his palm.
The raven finally turned around to face the blond, an angry scowl etched on his face.
"Okay, then let me humor you. My name is Sasuke and I want you to fuck off as hard as you can. Is that good enough? Are you done wasting my time?"
At this point Naruto's jaw went slack and he couldn't come up with an answer. Never, even in his worst nightmares had he envisioned this to go like that. It's common sense that people who are going to live in the same dorm should be on at least friendly terms with each other. Apparently, not for everyone, as evidenced by the raven.
"Did you suddenly become mute or are you just a humongous idiot?" Sasuke connected his notebook to the LCD and turned it on, the company's name flashing brightly on its surface.
The blonde turned his head to the raven and tried to bore a hole in the back of his head.
"What do you mean?"
Sasuke craned his neck to look at the blonde with a smug smirk.
"Humongous is a synonym for big, moron."
Naruto's insides boiled with rage. Who the hell does he think he is, walking around the room and insulting him without even knowing him for more than three minutes? Naruto pointed an accusing finger at the raven and waved it around wildly.
"You... fucker! Stop twisting my words' meaning! You don't even know me!" the blond yelled furiously, throbbing veins appearing on his forehead. "Haven't your parents taught you any manners at all?"
Sasuke flinched for a moment, but quickly regained his composure. His scowl deepened even further as he made his way towards Naruto and forcefully grabbed him by the collar and looked him straight in the eye.
Naruto yelped and tried to free himself but the grip on him was viselike.
"Don't you dare bringing my parents into this." the raven growled through clenched teeth. "I know you regularly shit on each other parents' good name in your circle of yokel friends, but here, in the civilized world, people come up with better insults."
"This conversation doesn't seem civilized to me, bastard." Naruto retorted as he successfully pushed the raven away.
"Really? Maybe it's because one of the participants is a nosy, annoying moron?"
"Well fuck you, asshole" Naruto snorted and straightened his shirt. It got really wrinkled after his roommate attacked him. "If it's such a hassle to just introduce yourself, then I won't bother your Majesty anymore."
"Great. Now that you're done, get out of here."
Naruto suddenly stopped fixing his shirt and looked at the raven disbelievingly.
"Excuse me?"
"I said get out. Didn't you hear?"
"You're really going overboard. It's not funny, asshole."
"It wasn't supposed to be. I need to do a few things in private and you weren't supposed to be here yet, so leave."
Naruto crossed his arms defiantly. There's no way he was leaving.
"You wish. First you act like a dick and then you want me to listen to you? Tch. No way in hell."
Sasuke glared at Naruto intently. His black orbs were practically screaming bloody murder at him. He didn't really expect any resistance.
"You know what the number one rule of the civilized people is? Respect each other's privacy, no matter what. Also, according to the rest of these rules, your behavior leaves a lot to be desired." the raven flipped open his phone. "To sum it up in simple words - you're a dumbass."
"I prefer to be a dumbass than a prick with a long stick shoved up his ass and an overgrown thesaurus."
"Way to prove my point." Sasuke scoffed, put the phone to his ear and left the room, not sparing Naruto another glance.
"Shitface!" the blonde shouted after the raven closed the door and flipped him off for good measure. Somehow, it made him feel better and eased his aggravation a bit.
He sat down on his bed and clasped his head with his hands. His psycho roommate didn't bide well for the future. He didn't even know that there were such antisocial and stubborn people walking on Earth. It surely couldn't go worse than it already had, but hell, his friends say that "impossible is nothing" for him, which wasn't a consoling prospect in this case.
Suddenly, he could feel his phone vibrate in his pocket. He pulled it out and looked at its screen expectantly.
He pressed the dial button and put the phone to his ear.
"Yo Naruto. How are you? Got your dorm already? Seen your roomie?"
"Don't get me started on that asshole Kiba." Naruto looked at the device in his hand hatefully.
"So he's shitty?" the teen laughed merrily, ignoring Naruto's somber tone.
"You can't even begin to imagine."
Sasuke waited a few moments before the other person picked the phone up.
"Itachi." the raven stated.
"Sasuke." the man replied.
"I assume you've talked to my guardians? My confirmations and assertions are apparently not enough for them."
"Yes I did. They said you can stay here as long as you keep getting excellent grades."
"That's nothing new." Sasuke snorted.
Itachi sighed wearily. Sasuke could practically see his brother rubbing his forehead on the other end.
"You know that you are welcome to stay at my house anytime you want?"
"I know, but you know my reasons."
"I do, I do." he sighed again.
"But if I change my mind, and that's very probable, I will definitely accept your offer."
"Why? Is it about your roommate? He cannot be that bad. It's not a school for people with mental deficits."
"Itachi..." Sasuke drawled out his brother's name. "You can't even possibly begin to imagine."
"I got here as fast as I could. This place's like a maze." Naruto stepped into the dorm and took off his shoes. A brown haired boy grinned and motioned him to get inside. His teeth were unnaturally sharp, which have always reminded Naruto of a… wolf.
"Yours is not here yet Kiba?"
"Nah, he's not" said boy fell on his bed and sighed loudly. He propped his head on his hands and looked up at Naruto. "As far as I know, he's coming next week."
"Great" Naruto responded and sat right next to Kiba. "Can I sleep here if my roommate drives me nuts again?"
Kiba laughed and snorted at the same time. "I can't believe it. You barely know him. Give him another chance."
"How the hell am I supposed to do it? He told me to fuck off after like 15 seconds and tried to beat me up. He's a condescending asshole, who acts all high and mighty, thinking he's above me and that I'm not worth his precious time. He even mistook me for the cleaning staff. Tell me, do I really look like someone from the fucking cleaning staff? Do I wear a cap, a white uniform and hold a broom in my hands?"
Kiba looked at him funnily, not knowing if he should laugh or feel sorry. He settled for shaking his head.
"Thought so. His thinking process is beyond me. God, this is so annoying." He huffed and ran his hand through his hair. "If you hear the name Uchiha Sasuke somewhere, run the fuck away and don't look back. Trust me, you're better off not having the 'pleasure' of meeting him."
"You know, he sounds like a really interesting guy. I'd actually love to be his friend."
Naruto shot him a pointed glare.
"Chill man, I was joking. That really blows," the brown haired boy patted his friend on the back.
"but you have to suck it up for now. You know, as soon as they finish renovating the dorms, you'll be either separated by a few layers of walls or end up in a completely different room."
"You always know how to cheer me up, don't you?" Naruto finally let up and laughed.
"I know. You'd die of sadness if it weren't for me." the brown haired teen grinned and ruffled his hair.
"But honestly, if you really wanna see him for yourself, just come over later."
"Tch, 'see him', it sounded like he's some zoo animal."
"That would actually be awesome." Naruto smirked at the mental sight of his roommate being locked in a cage, gobbling up all food by passers throw in.
Suddenly, somebody knocked loudly at the front door. Naruto and Kiba looked at each other knowingly.
"You've invited someone?" Naruto asked as they both got back up on their feet.
"Of course not. I've just arrived here."
"So who is it?"
"I'd tell you if I knew, stop asking stupid questions."
Kiba, with Naruto right on his heels, walked up to the door and opened it.
The sight that greeted them was two men - one was slightly overweight and the other one had a really bored expression plastered on his face.
"Hello! It's nice to meet you!" the chubby one chirped. "My name's Chouji, and this guy here is..." he drawled out the last word, hoping his companion would introduce himself. The ponytailed teenager glared at his friend, his eyes clearly saying "what the hell do you want from me, why don't you go away and leave me alone" but Chouji seemed completely unfazed. After a moment he gave in and sighed in defeat.
"It's Shikamaru."
Kiba glanced between the duo with interest, a bit amused at their strange behavior, but there was one thing that still bothered him.
"That's all cool and shit, but just who are you guys?"
Shikamaru rolled his eyes as Chouji coughed fakely.
"Oh yeah, I totally forgot, we live right next to each other, so we..."
"He." Shikamaru added quietly, but loud enough for everyone to hear.
"...decided to come visit you 'cause we're, well, neighbors." Chouji smiled sweetly as he elbowed his friend in the ribs. "You know, we thought it'd be nice."
"It really is!" Kiba grinned and shook their hands vigorously. "The name's Kiba."
"And mine's Naruto," the blonde chirped and also shook their hands. "but I don't live here. I'm just visiting Kiba, catching up on news and whining about my asshole of a roommate."
"Uchiha." Shikamaru stated simply. "It's him, isn't it?"
"Whoa, how did you know?" Naruto stared at him in awe.
"He's the only person I know who can make someone hate him in a matter of a few minutes."
"Why don't you guys come in?" Kiba piped up and motioned them to come inside. "Standing in the doorway brings bad luck, or so I've heard."
The newcomers crossed the doorway and plopped down on some random chairs strewn across the room.
"Well, you can see that I'm not fully finished here, so pardon the mess." Kiba said as he sat on his bed and scratched the back of his head sheepishly.
"Don't sweat it man. I've seen worse." Chouji glared at his friend, who let his head drop down and looked as if he tried to fall asleep.
"Actually, this room's gonna look much worse after he's done with it." Naruto said as he opened a window and the smell of fresh air wafted into the room.
"Whatever." Kiba dismissed him with a wave of his hand.
Naruto sat on the edge of the window sill with one leg laid on its surface and the other one hanging in the air. He was taking in the wonderful scent. It sure was stuffy in here.
"So how did you know about Uchiha? You friends or something?"
Shikamaru looked up from over his crossed arms and set his eyes on the blonde.
"You might say that."
"So he actually has friends? That's really unexpected, 'cause he seems like a..." he paused for a second here. Shikamaru was his roommate's friend after all, so he might get offended if he insulted him too badly. "whiny son of a bitch."
"Just wait until the school year begins and girls start flooding the dorms." Shikamaru smirked to himself and put his arms behind his head. "You'll see he's 'quite' popular yourself."
Naruto chuckled lightly and shook his head. "That can't be true. I bet his behavior scares everyone off."
Shikamaru shrugged and decided not to continue this troublesome conversation. Naruto got the clue and dropped the subject. Oh well, that's not gonna help him anyway.
"What about you, guys?" Kiba inquired. "It seems like you know each other well."
"Our families are long-time great friends, so we practically grew up together." Chouji said. "And you?"
"We first met about ten years go in grade school, so you might also say we're long-time friends." Kiba replied and patted Naruto on the back.
Suddenly, a loud sound of a ring tone echoed throughout the room. The pony tailed teen fished his phone out of his pocket and looked at the screen. His bored expression quickly turned into a grimace.
"It's that annoying woman again." he stated, exasperation laced in his voice. "What a drag."
Chouji looked at him questioningly.
"You mean your mother?" Shikamaru nodded. "Oh come on, she's just worried about you. Just answer it or she's never gonna stop trying."
He brought the phone to his ear and instantly a loud voice erupted from the other side.
"Hi son, are you alone? We need to seriously talk about..."
"No, I'm not." he barked into the microphone. "Why bother asking if you don't even wait for my answer? Hang on for a moment."
He stood up and made his way towards the exit at a surprisingly brisk pace.
"Sorry, but this is going to be a long 'conversation'." he huffed and turned the knob. "See you later."
"I guess I'll be going too" Chouji hurried after his friend. "He's gonna hang up on her if I won't be there to stop him."
"Then why don't you just let him do it?" Naruto asked.
"'Cause she's gonna come here and gut him. And you know what? I don't want a new roommate, this place seems to be filled with assholes." he grinned at Naruto. "Oh, and one more thing. Are you doing something important in like two hours?"
Kiba and Naruto both shook their heads. "Why do you ask?"
"Want to go to a nearby pizzeria? I've heard it's good."
Their eyes lit up at the mention of food.
"Sure thing. We'll be waiting."
"Okay then." Chouji saluted and left the room.
After the rendezvous at the pizzeria with Chouji, Shikamaru, Hinata and Tenten, who also lived in the dorms, Naruto was in a really good mood. They spent some quality time together - they laughed, joked, talked and got to know each other better. It seemed like nothing could throw him out of balance. Hell, they could even get robbed right now and he'd still be happy. At least they'd share an exciting moment together.
And then, he remembered what's waiting in his dorm. His smile instantly faltered and a nasty scowl took its place.
"Shit." he hissed at nobody in particular.
Kiba, who was walking right beside him, looked at him with concern in his eyes.
"You okay Naruto?"
"I don't think I'm ready for another round with that dick."
Everyone but Hinata looked at him with various levels of amusement visible on their faces. Even usually stoic Shikamaru smirked a little.
"Oh really, Naruto? I didn't know you swing that way." Tenten snickered as Hinata blushed so hard her ears turned red.
"What?" Naruto looked completely dumbfounded. Only after a moment had he realized his poor choice of words and rolled his eyes.
"Ha-ha, very funny, assholes." the blonde muttered under his breath. "That's really not funny."
After they had parted ways, Naruto stood in front of his dorm's door, groping for the keys in his pocket. In fact, he didn't really want to go inside and deal with Sasuke, so he took his sweet time doing it. When he finally found them, he scrunched his face and grimaced.
"I hate my life sometimes." he whined inwardly as he pushed the door open.
Inside, his roommate was sitting in front of some books scattered across his desk. He had headphones on his head and didn't even turn around to look at Naruto. Naruto was really thankful for that, because he tripped over his own legs when he was taking his shoes off, but luckily pulled out his hands just in time to avoid falling straight on his face. He quickly pushed himself off the ground and hurried to his half of the room. And right then, Sasuke turned around to look at Naruto.
It was the most bored look Naruto had ever seen in his life. His eyes were half-closed and showed no emotions whatsoever, his lips were a straight line. He looked as though he saw something even less interesting than a speck of dust. It instantly got Naruto irritated because he believed that negative attention is still better than its lack. He absentmindedly scrunched his eyebrows at his roommate's display of arrogance.
Sasuke blinked twice. Naruto glared. Sasuke blinked again. Naruto kept glaring. Finally, the raven sighed wearily, took off the headphones and raised a brow questioningly.
"What the hell's your problem this time?" he snapped.
"Don't look at me that way." Naruto replied and tried to replicate Sasuke's disinterested look to the best of his abilities. Sasuke snorted at the blond's antics and crossed his arms over his chest.
"Did you expect me to throw a spontaneous 'welcome home' party for you or something?" he spat. "The only thing you've managed to achieve so far is pissing me off."
"Ooh, so it's mutual." Naruto chimed sarcastically.
"So what's the damn point? Go back to whatever you do and leave me alone."
"Fine."
"Great."
Sasuke put his headphones back on and turned his attention back to his books.
Naruto exhaled loudly and reached out for his backpack. He retrieved his laptop from its depths and placed it on his outstretched legs. He might have looked upset on the outside, but inwardly, he smirked to himself. At least he got that guy to acknowledge him.
Naruto opened his eyes, feeling tired. He really hoped it wasn't time to get up yet. He groped for his cell phone on the nightstand, but then he realized, that it wasn't completely dark. A dim, pale light filled the space above him. The blond rubbed his eyes groggily and tried to locate its source. It was Sasuke sitting in front of his computer. Doesn't that guy ever go to sleep? Naruto had to squint to see anything at all, the light was too bright for his oversensitive eyes.
"Hey, wha-time izzit?" he burbled incoherently.
"The ghost hour." Sasuke responded in a serious tone and stomped his foot on the floor a few times, effectively making Naruto jump out of his bed and crash on the floor ungracefully.
The raven haired teen snorted condescendingly as he turned around to look at Naruto, who tried to untangle himself from the blankets.
"The fuck you did it for?" Naruto yelled loud enough for everyone in the dorms to hear. That was probably the fastest time he had ever gone from being groggy to wide-awake.
"Hn." Sasuke simply stated.
"You don't do this shit to sleepy people! I thought it was for real!"
"It's your own fault for being a dumbass."
Naruto clenched his fists. What did he even think in the first place, asking that guy to tell him what time it was?
"Why don't you turn this shit off already? I can't sleep because of you." Naruto motioned at Sasuke's computer.
"You kept snoring for the last three hours, so I really doubt it." the raven rolled his eyes at his weak excuse. "Besides, I don't care if you can't sleep. That's not my problem."
"Asshole." Naruto plopped back on his bed. "I hope your computer blows up."
"I've got two replacements."
Naruto groaned and put a pillow over his head.
"I knew you weren't that dumb and could come up with a solution." Naruto heard the slightly amused and muffled voice of Sasuke from under his pillow.
"Fuck you." he mumbled and concentrated on going back to sleep.
AN: Thanks for reading the first chapter. I'd appreciate if you could write some reviews - those things can really work wonders when it comes to writing new material ;)
