Chapter Two
Toying With Fate

Naruto shut the door to his apartment and pulled off his wig, setting it on top of the hook by the door. He ruffled his hair to get it back to it's normal spikiness. He headed straight to the bathroom and cleaned the make-up from his cheeks. He used the bathroom and then went to his bedroom and changed out of his girl clothes and into his boxers. Finally, he climbed into bed and fell straight to sleep.

His first dreamless sleep in years.

xXxXx

Sasuke walked quietly through the mansion, so as not to notify his parents—or worse, his brother—that he had returned home. He made his way up to the fourth floor and then turned to the right, where his room—more like a suite—was. He shut and locked the door, and then took a shower, putting his dirty clothes in the laundry shoot. Then he dried off, pulled on a pair of clean boxers, and went to sleep.

And he didn't think about that mysterious, beautiful girl either. Not once.

Really.

xXxXx

Naruto slammed his hand down on the alarm, silencing the annoying beeping. He groaned and dragged himself into the shower, letting the warm water wake him up.

Dressing quickly and inhaling a bowl of cereal, Naruto tried to push away thoughts of what he would do after school. Thinking about that didn't help him any with his concentration problems in school.

It's best not to think about the fun stuff until you're done with the dull stuff.

xXxXx

Sasuke pressed the off button on his alarm and sat up, rubbing his eyes blearily. He got out of bed and pulled on his clothes. He went over to the mirror and attempted to flatten the back of his hair. He failed, as usual, and walked out of his room to get breakfast.

Unfortunately, Itachi was sitting at the table when Sasuke got there. He sat down and began to eat, hoping to get all through the meal in a nice, stony silence.

So, of course, Itachi started chatting.

"Father is flying out for a business meeting in Tokyo. He'll be gone the next few weeks."

"Hn." This wasn't unusual—Sasuke's father was often gone on business.

"Mother is gone for the next week, too, for her gardener's convention."

"So?"

"So you'll be by yourself for a while, because I'm gonna be staying at Kisame's place until mother gets back."

"Hn." Thanks for the image, brother.Sasuke stood, gathered his bowl, and left, setting his bowl in the sink on the way out.

What did he care if Itachi went to stay at his boyfriend's place while their parents were away?

And he wasn't the least bit jealous.

Really.

xXxXx

"Sasuke, you and Naruto are sparring partners for today."

"Yes, Guy-Sensei." Sasuke strode over to the beaming blonde. "Are you ready?"

"Bring it on." Naruto was having a hard time not giggling at the memory of their previous meeting. He couldn't stop the grin from creeping across his face.

xXxXx

Sasuke smirked triumphantly at his beaten and bruised opponent and went into the locker room to shower and change. He had about ten minutes before the other students flooded into the room because he had defeated Naruto in record time.

He walked out the locker-room doors just as the other boys flooded past, Naruto straggling behind, limping slightly.

Pausing for a moment of concern, Sasuke wondered if perhaps he had been too harsh on the smaller boy. And then he shrugged, and made his way to the bench in front of the school to await his driver.

Five minutes later, all the other children burst through the gates as class was let out.

Ten minutes after that, Sasuke frowned. How dare his driver be late? He'd see that the man got a pay reduction for this…

He was distracted from his musings by a slender, tan girl with long blonde hair and vivid orange overalls walking through the front gates.

"Naru?!"

The girl jumped, spinning on her heel with her hand at her heart. "Oh, Sasuke…it's you. You scared the heck out of me!"

"Oh…Sorry." Sasuke stood, smiling, and walked over to stand in front of the captivating girl. Her T-shirt was the same vivid blue as her eyes, which were just as lovely as he remembered. "Would you like to go for a walk with me?"

--

Naruto was sure to dawdle in the showers until all the other boys were gone before starting to dress.

He had decided not to wait till he got home to put on his "Naru" persona. No one ever hung out by the locker room after school anyway, so why not?

Today he decided to go with some simple orange overalls and a blue T-shirt that he thought was especially feminine.

He spent extra time on his makeup, having a few bruises to cover up as well as his scars. He was so distracted while fighting Sasuke that he supposed he should count himself lucky that the raven-haired teen hadn't given him a black eye.

Adjusting his wig a bit, Naru ran a brush through it to get rid of a few stray knots and then smiled at his reflection, satisfied.

Taking his backpack and swinging it onto his back, Naruto started his way to the front gates.

"Naru?!"

Naruto jumped, spinning on his heel with his hand at his heart. "Oh, Sasuke—it's you." His breathing steadied. "You scared the heck out of me!"

"Oh…Sorry." Sasuke stood from where he sat on the stone bench, walking over to stand in front of Naruto. "Would you like to go for a walk with me?"

"A walk?"

"Yes, in the park? Just to talk?"

"Hmm…" Well, he didn't really have anything better to do… "Alright."

"Great!"