He couldn't believe it.

Couldn't. Fucking. Believe it.

Naruto's angry footsteps ricocheted throughout the locker-clad hallways of Konoha High. Not only were his footfalls aggressive, but his facial expression was one of Lucifer himself.

That asshole had called him a moron! What did he know, going around saying things like that? Naruto had been too shocked to come up with a valid insult, and with Iruka standing right there (not defending him- the traitor!), it's not like he could've up and slugged him in his pretty-little-face.

So he wasn't good at math! How did that make him a moron? Yeah, he knew most of his classes he passed with a C-, but sometimes he received decent grades, not that it mattered! Naruto didn't believe that grades were a measure of intellect at all!

And now, because Iruka had done him a favor, he was going to miss his big gig. The guys were all depending on him - he had a wicked solo in this one- and he'd fought long and hard with the manager of Joseph's Studio to get the band in. It was a studio mostly for college students, or young people just looking for some fun. But, since it was 21 and older (there was alcohol readily available- as a matter of fact, it was well known that frat boys liked to go there to 'lose it'), Naruto and Kiba had to argue pretty persuasively to get in. It was almost a year before, and the manager had been so frustrated he'd lied to them and said they were full until the next year. The stubborn boys agreed to come back in a year's time, and the manager made the mistake of believing they'd forget about it. So a few weeks ago, Kiba rang the place and reminded him, and in they were!

But not anymore, Naruto thought frustratedly. He bit his lip bitterly, and rushed over to the room the guys typically were at. They'd found the location in the middle of their freshman year, when they were horsing around and Gaara got a bit aggressive with Naruto. They had trouble getting along back then, but now Naruto liked to think of him as one of his closest friends. He'd shoved Gaara so hard he smacked into a door with enough force to break the latch securing it off and throw his body tumbling onto the dusty tiles of a closed-up custodian's office. Sitting up and rubbing the ache in his shoulder blade, Gaara glanced around until making eye contact with Kiba and Naruto. Naruto grinned and declared the space their own.

Since then, the band had expanded quite a bit. Kiba stopped being a bigot and started to notice talent in people they typically didn't hang around with- namely, the opposite sex. That's when they found a girl with a wicked voice, named Sakura. Initially, Naruto had been adamant about inviting her into the group, since he'd had (and still had) a raging crush on her since pre-K. Practically everyone knew it. Still, with a massive pep-talk from Kiba, he mustered up enough confidence to persuade her into rehearsing with them at least once. Okay, he might've begged. But when her assumptions that they were nothing but loud, 3-chord-playing idiots was disproven, she was impressed enough to join and even asked if her good friend Hinata could as well. Naruto was open enough about the idea, but inside, he wondered if it was a good idea, given the only time Hinata had ever spoken to him had been a simple hello, followed by her fainting. But, as it turned out, her timidness didn't translate in her piano playing, and she was boss on both piano and synthesizer.

Since then, Gaara was hardly ever away from the secret room. Actually, Gaara had a serious problem with cutting class, but his siblings never tattled and his dad never seemed to check his attendance record, otherwise he'd be meat. Kiba was slightly better, but he skipped classes every day, though not nearly as frequently as Gaara did. Naruto typically didn't attend history, and only recently had he began going to math. He often was greeted with the sick beats Kiba would drop and the sound of bass licks credit to Gaara when he walked into the room. Even Sakura visited over her lunch period, or when she had a substitute in any of her classes. Hinata would only skip occasionally due to her parent's strictness, but she still visited over lunch. Never would she skip english though: It was her favorite subject, and Naruto completely respected her love for literature.

Naruto knew that today, only Kiba and Gaara would be present: It wasn't Hinata's lunch period yet, and Sakura had an important Chemistry test. She wanted to be a doctor, so while she'd skimp out on english or history, no way would she miss Chem.

Naruto stormed in, a wave of bass plucking filling his ears.

"Hey Gaara", he greeted, his tense expression still across his face.

Gaara glanced at him with a lighter expression, silent. Naruto was used to it; that expression wasn't scrutinizing the way a certain someone's was, it was just neutral, maybe slightly depressed, but friendly nevertheless.

Kiba came out from behind his drum kit, and said "What am I, chopped liver?"

Naruto rolled his eyes.

"Bro, you have no idea how pissed I am." Naruto replied, leaning his guitar on the peeling wall beside him and collapsing onto the shitty couch beside it.

"What the Hell sunshine?" Kiba teased, "Cloud's rolling through? What, you're not playin' today?" he reiterated, referring to the rejected guitar.

Naruto pinched his nose and kicked his bag from the couch to spread out further.

"Yeah, apparently" he said grudgingly.

Gaara cocked a brow and let his fingers go lax. Kiba crossed his arms, and that action alone was enough to tell Naruto he was gonna be pissed.

"I can't play tonight." Naruto said bluntly. Kiba snickered immediately, remarking, "which finger did you break?", referring to the time Naruto went to soccer tryouts and broke his pinky.

"I'm serious, dude." Naruto stated, running a hand through his golden tresses. Gaara sighed, looking at Kiba to validate that Naruto was being serious.

"Wh- What the fuck Naruto? You can't be serious! This is super important, you can't just ... Skip!"

"I know! I just... Iruka told me I needed a tutor and went through the trouble of finding me one and now I have to meet with him tonight..."

"What? You're actually trying?" Kiba asked incredulously. It was surprising, considering that Naruto had given up on math at the end of 8th grade when he had spent the whole year alone, in his room, cramming to get a C+.

"I don't really want to, I mean it's not my thing in the first place but Iruka's trying so hard to help me and this is a really important year for the future..." Naruto trailed off, knowing the whole thing about the future was something that the three of them had agreed was constantly over emphasized in comparison to the present. They talked about it going into their freshman year, when they agreed they were done trying to please parents, guardians, colleges, teachers, and decided that they'd live in the moment because they didn't want to die having never really lived at all.

Kiba glared. "That's a retarded reason to start trying again. And even so, why don't you just get help from Hinata or Sakura?"

It wasn't a bad suggestion, but Naruto knew that although Hinata had excellent skill in english and was decent in history, her grade in math was not much better than his, which was why she barely ever skipped. Sakura wasn't a bad idea: She was actually a great student and was in advanced math and science. However, he knew she didn't really like the subject and only had a B+ because she was naturally good at it. She didn't want to spend any more time doing math than she needed to, but rather wanted to focus her attention on the sciences, and Naruto didn't want to hold her back.

"You know she'd lose patience and skin me alive." Naruto replied, and it was definitely true, given Sakura's temper.

"Fine, fine, but can't you meet... like, any other day basically?" Kiba said, exasperated

"I'm really sorry! I don't think its optional at this point!"

"You know we can't change the date! Man, this sucks. You're, like, a feature in 'Invincible' and we really can't play without a guitar, it'll just sound..."

"Bare." Gaara said. Naruto knew he was one of the main highlights of the group. Sure, they were all greatly skilled at their instruments, but Naruto practically exuded confidence and loved the spotlight. That translated to an excellent soloist and lightning fast fingers.

He sighed, knowing there was really no other way. "The guy has something- Debate team, I think? - after school so we have to meet around five, and I think it'll be like, two hours or something so..."

Kiba nodded, knowing he wouldn't make it in time for the gig, which started at 6:30. It was early, in retrospect, but the college students attending typically got there early so they could get drunk as soon as possible and stay that way for as long as possible.

Gaara began plucking again, signifying he was thinking. The three sat in relative silence, waiting for the girls to arrive over their lunch period so they could tell them the bad news.

And we were all so pumped, too...

Sakura arrived first, Hinata shortly after. Hinata brought enough rice cakes for everyone, so they all gathered around her lunchbox and munched eagerly.

Typical of a bunch of rowdy teenagers to completely forget food for the day.

"We have crappy news." Kiba said after a few bites. Sakura had been eagerly babbling about the night ahead of them, and only Hinata was smiling along with her. She stopped abruptly when they shared the news, and Hinata looked exceedingly disappointed.

"What a let-down." Sakura said, and Naruto busied himself by picking on the celebratory rice-ball. He hated to disappoint Hinata and the guys, but disappointing Sakura was like a knife to his knee. He'd always been attracted to her, and though they were close enough now and platonic as hell, he couldn't help that his feelings were magnified by her own.

"Who's your tutor?" Hinata asked, seeming to be the only one who was thinking of his needs over the night's disappointment.

None of the others had thought to ask in their delusional state of dismay. Naruto's fist clenched just thinking about it. He'd have to be spending his time with that asshole when his band could be playing at their dream location.

"Sasuke Uchiha." He spat, dreading the reaction Sakura was going to have. Kiba would probably have an aneurysm, too.

"What?!" was all he said, and thankfully, aneurysm-free.

"I know." Naruto replied, searching Gaara's face and finding nothing short of disgust on it.

The three of them have hated that kid's guts since the day he transferred in 7th grade. All cocky, taciturn, difficult to speak to- if he spoke at all. All the girls, Sakura included, had orgasms for him on a daily basis. He barely spared them a glance, in exchange. Sakura had been popular back then, before her friend Ino had rejected her and left her in the dust. The two of them had competed constantly; baking brownies and shit for the guy, trying desperately to get his attention. Of course, Naruto never asked why they'd cut it off, and he assumed it was because they grew to hate each other over that stupid...

He digressed. Hinata had been indifferent toward Sasuke, so he wasn't even half as asinine to her as he was to the girls who showered him in adoration. But still, the only words they ever exchanged were in AP Literature, when she moved to ask him for a pencil and he told her to shut up.

Naruto supposed thats when she started listening to him when he ranted about Sasuke.

Sakura simply looked at him, but in her eyes, Naruto saw a dreamy look and he knew she still liked the prick.

"Well," she said, ignoring the glares that the guys were casting at her, "even if you don't like him, he'll be a great tutor."

Naruto dreaded the fact that she was probably right.

"I will never understand why the hell all you women like him so much" Kiba proclaimed.

Sakura shook her head, as if she knew something they didn't.

"There's something in there." She said.

Naruto hung out with the gang a bit longer before he, Hinata, and Sakura decided they should probably go to class. He had history, so he didn't mind going and decided he needed a distraction from his depressed state of anti-climax. Even Kiba, with some persuasion from Sakura decided he should probably get to science every once in a blue moon, so Gaara chilled with the remaining rice-balls and his bass.

Class was nothing exciting, though the teacher, -er, doctor Ebisu, as he continuously reminded his students-, commented on his lack of attendance, which was met by a few snickers from Ino, who sat in the front of the class and tossed her hair about 40 times.

By the end of the day, Naruto was ticked off and far from excited for his tutoring session. Plus, he had to wait around until 5, and there was no way he could go home and find a ride back to the school.

His guardian was obviously not home, anyway...

So Naruto decided if he was to make this whole thing worth the time and misery, he might as well be as productive as possible and come up with his questions quickly so he could raise his grade and be done with Sasuke as soon as possible.

He went to the library- their meeting place- and retrieved his math sheet. He knew that even though there were only 20 problems, it would take him well over an hour to figure them out, considering he'd need to get some textbooks for reference.

UGH.

Pencil on paper, and symbols were traced across it with expert speed. N-A-R-U-T-O U-Z-U-M-A-K-I.

That was productive, right?

His leg bounced, and a hot chick with long red hair stalked passed him in tight skinny jeans.

Damn, he was easily distracted.

He had time though, right? So he whipped out his iphone 5c -bright orange, of course- and scrolled through his many Nirvana, Queen, and Pink Floyd albums. He was a real sucker for the classics, and was constantly trying to bring a new sound into his music, which for him was difficult, considering his preferences.

He settled for Lana Del Ray. Though he wasn't a big fan, he thought she was one of the more sophisticated artists of the day and she certainly had the ambient sound that the band was thinking of covering. He knew Sakura would be great at singing that melodramatic way, though she certainly had far reaching talents with the amazing way she could soften for their sad, acoustic sound as opposed to her usual loud, climactic sound.

Other than Lana, he did enjoy Linkin Park. Naruto used to be the lead singer of the band, before they realized that he was only good for being loud. He had an unusual voice, so it was funny that when he and Linkin sang in the upper register, they sounded similar. He forced Kiba and Gaara into doing a few covers with him. Naruto liked them because the lyrics were simple enough that people could feel the way they wanted, but either way they felt something because of the sheer emotion and stress the singer forced through his vocal chords. Even if Naruto wasn't the lead singer frequently any more, more opting to go nuts on his guitar, he did hope to some day have Linkin Park's emotional sound.

There he went again, into the recess of his mind. Naruto shook himself, opting to allow the melancholy voice wash over him as he searched for a text book around the shelves.

Even with the text book, when it was found, Naruto couldn't begin to decipher the cryptic algebra before him.

By the time 4:30 had rolled around, though, he thought he had something going for him, so he attempted to solve the first five problems, following the examples in the text book with music blaring into his ears to help him get in 'the zone', as he called it.

He glanced up after a bit, and the sight of a body before him shocked him out of his zen.

Naruto tore the earbuds from his head, realizing it was Sasuke. But it was only 4:35!

"Startled easily, are we?" Sasuke said condescendingly, his notebook already before him.

"You came out of nowhere!" Naruto exclaimed, receiving a shh! from the librarian across the room.

"I've been sitting here for a minute." Sasuke replied effortlessly, and Naruto could've blushed. He supposed he probably did.

"No you weren't..."

"Yes I was. You were listening to your music at an obnoxious volume."

Naruto grit his teeth to keep from snapping at him.

Calm, collected, get it over with.

"Whatever. Why are you here early anyway?" Naruto asked without legitimate curiosity.

"I'm club president, so we finish when I say we're finished." Sasuke replied cockily. Naruto couldn't stand that tone of voice, and Sasuke clearly didn't answer the question.

"Alright then." Naruto said. They stared each other down at that point, neither willing to make the first move. Naruto realized that Sasuke was a prissy little asshole, but he didn't know he was gonna be this competitive over something as silly as who would start the tutoring session first.

It was starting to get weird for Naruto, and as much as he didn't want to back down, he let out a sigh and decided to be mature for once.

"Teach me." He said, and Sasuke's face changed from complete neutrality to amusement.

"What, you want me to lecture you? I don't even know what your class is learning."

Naruto huffed, remembering Sasuke was in AP Calculous. He was 2 years ahead of Naruto, even if they were in the same grade. He also seemed rather proud of it, which ticked Naruto off even further.

"Okay, Mr. High-and-mighty, why don't you tell me how to answer number 6." Naruto mocked, and shoved his sheet at Sasuke's folded hands. Sasuke didn't even touch the paper, his eyes barely skimming over Naruto's work without moving a muscle.

"Why would we move on to six if you haven't done one through five correctly." It was less of a question and more of a statement, so Naruto clenched his fist in his lap to alleviate the frustration he was experiencing.

He literally did nothing but procrastination, listening to music, and math for the past three hours and he still didn't get a single problem right.

"Okay, so what did I do wrong?" He inquired in a snippety tone.

"...Everything." Sasuke replied evenly.

Resist. Punching.

"I couldn't have done EVERYTHING wrong! Are you kidding me?!" Naruto exclaimed, assuming Sasuke was just being the prick he was.

"Well, when you skip class every day you can't possibly expect to know what's going on, moron."

That's it.

"You are such a self-righteous asshole! You think you deserve a gold star for attending class regularly, huh?!"

"Those are some big words, Naruto. You might want to tone it down a bit" Sasuke pronunciated, his ease and lack of mutual frustration driving Naruto off the edge.

"Just because you think you're gonna be valedictorian next year doesn't make you king of the world! You know, that Neji kid's a real dick, but I sure hope he gets the position just so you'll get down from your fucking pedestal!"

That seemed to strike a nerve in Sasuke, even if his face mostly held indifference.

"Oh yeah? Well, even if I'm not valedictorian next year, at least I wont be a lonely, floundering delinquent with no future ahead of him."

Naruto glowered at him with rage.

"I'm not the insecure little twelve year old I was when you came to this school in all your prissy-emo glory. I've got more friends than you'll ever have."

Sasuke shrugged at that, as though his friendless status didn't bother him at all. It probably didn't, when Naruto thought about it: He never was ignored or pushed around or anything, and he was sure while the guys of their school didn't like him much, if he wasn't so stuck-up toward them when he arrived, he probably could've been popular, especially given his connections with the girls. But how could anyone choose to be alone?

The librarian from earlier had a tensed face and her bony form paced over to their table.

She hushed them aggressively and told them they couldn't have their session there, but Sasuke managed to persuade her to allow them to finish for the day. She was averse, but he was pushy and well liked among teachers and staff, so she caved eventually.

Naruto was quiet. It was five o'clock finally, meaning they'd wasted a half hour arguing and staring at each other.

"So are you going to tell me what your test tomorrow is on? Or are you going to waste more of my time." Sasuke said, deadpan.

"It's on exponents or something." Naruto stated, to which Sasuke shifted the paper in front of him to validate Naruto's answer. It irritated him to no end that he wouldn't believe him about his own test.

"Well, there are multiple rules that you'll have to keep in mind. The first one being the rule of like-terms, meaning that any term with a variable cannot be combined with a term with the same variable squared, which is why number one is erroneous. In addition, what you did in number two is incorrect because of the rule of multiplying with variables to a power, in which case you add the exponents together when the bases are-"

Wait, what? Naruto drifted off. He'd honestly made an attempt at paying attention, he really did want to pass the next day. But all of Sasuke's words were too fancy and he was explaining so fast and kept telling him he was wrong. Naruto's brain was jumbled, and as he tried to regain focus, Sasuke realized he was lecturing thin air.

"You're not listening." He affirmed. Naruto groaned. Sasuke took a deep breath, pinching the bridge of his nose, and let it all out. Naruto crossed his arms, already exhausted.

"You're lecturing is boring." Naruto said.

"You're brain is insipid." Sasuke retorted, "What else do you want me to do? I'm telling you what you did wrong and why."

"I don't know! What do you do with your other...students?"

"I just go over their mistakes with them, and typically, they listen because they're sitting here with me to learn, not to pass the time."

Naruto rolled his eyes, yet again.

"Fine. If you just love to criticize me, why don't you just sit next to me while I do a problem and every time I do something wrong, tell me?" Naruto suggested unhappily.

Sasuke 'tsk'ed him, and turned the paper toward Naruto, not even bothering to sit next to him; like he could do Naruto's sophomoric math upside-down.

Nevertheless, Naruto started to write on number six. He combined the numbers he knew, and-

"Wrong."

"Are you fucking kidding me?!"

"You didn't use the conjugate."

"So?"

"So the terms wont cancel out."

"So?"

"So you're not simplifying the problem, idiot, you're making it more complex!"

"I don't even care!" Naruto exclaimed, and a student nearby turned to see the source of the sharp cry.

"That's a different problem entirely." Sasuke replied. He took Naruto's pencil straight from his hand, and upside-down, walked Naruto through the problem. Naruto could almost follow along, but he knew he'd never be able to do it himself.

By the end of the session, at 7 pm when Naruto was sure all of the band was sulking around because of his useless absence, both boys were fed up with one another and certainly didn't want to have to meet the next day.

"So I guess we can't use the library tomorrow, cause of that lady..." Naruto drawled, packing up his shit and standing with his guitar.

"We'll go to your place. Start at six, end at eight." And with that, Sasuke exited the room, not leaving Naruto with any choice but to comply. At least he and the band could practice after school, or even hang out at his house just for fun.

Before exiting the library, he texted Gaara about his predicament.

I don't know why Iruka expects me to do this.

Hang in there

I might maul him

Get good footage if you do

Naruto snickered. It was texts like those that made Gaara one of the coolest guys he'd ever met. He exited the school with a stupid smile plastering his face.

Naruto walked home, since the school was built into a small city, and it was easy for him to navigate even though the walk took him about thirty-five minutes. It was refreshing, and the cool fall air woke him up enough that he could tinker around a bit when he arrived.

The house was empty upon entrance, and even an hour and a half later, when eight-thirty rolled by, his guardian hadn't arrived.

Hope he's alright.

Naruto guessed Jiraiya wasn't going to be home that night, and he didn't have to wonder where he was. Naruto shut his eyes tightly, and with great pain, ate cup ramen and bedded himself without the company of anyone but his beloved guitar.

A/N: This will be a slow development. I hope you enjoy the ride, and if you do, drop me a review! 'Till next time :)