High School Endurance
Chapter Two
-Family Feud-
Akito walked out of the locker room, now dressed in his school uniform. He didn't have track practice today, since it was only on Tuesdays and Thursdays after school, and the Chess Club, which he had joined, met every Monday after school, so Wednesdays and Fridays he didn't have to stay after. He was glad it was Friday, having already grown tired of school. He'd completed his first week at Gakugei High, and it wasn't all that bad.
He walked over to where everyone was sitting, waiting for class to be over. Natsumi, already dressed in her uniform, smiled up at him, holding her books close to her chest. "Hey Akito, you know how we have to have that power point presentation in history done by Monday, you want to do it together over the weekend?" she asked.
"Sure. We can do it over at my place if you want." He said, dropping his bag down next to her and sat down.
She blinked, looking a bit shocked that he had actually said yes. He'd never said yes to study before. "Really?"
"Well we have to get it done, don't we? Do you have transportation, or do you need me to come pick you up?" he asked.
Natsumi just sat there, staring at him, wide-eyed. Sakura, deciding to come to her cousin's rescue, hit her leg harshly, breaking her out of her trance. "Yes, she needs you to get her." She said. The bell rang, and Akito nodded.
"I will pick you up at one-thirty. Don't worry, I will look up your address in the school's directory." He said, standing and shouldering his bag. Then he turned and began to walk away.
"Uh ok." She said, for the first time speechless. Toshiro met up with Akito and gave him a smirk.
"Well, well, well. Look who's got a study date." The redhead said with a light chuckle.
Akito glared lightly at him. "It's not a date. We have to finish the History project, and that is all we will be doing." He said.
Toshiro shouldered his bag and gave him a look. "Right. The prettiest girl in school is coming to your house to study. And all you're going to do is history? Mhm, sure."
"Whatever. I'm not interested in her like that." He said, rolling his eyes.
"Please," he rolled his eyes. "Everyone is interested in her like that." He laughed, though that wasn't completely true, since he himself wasn't and a few others. "Anyways. You wanna come over today? It's Friday, and we can hang and watch some movies in my home theatre, it's pretty sweet."
He nodded. "Sounds great. A lot better than being stuck with my cousins. Just one more year, and then I can move out and get my own place."
"Yeah," he nodded, thinking about his own family. "Plus Temari is going over to Shikamaru's and Sasori is never home during the weekend. I don't even want to know what he does, since I'm pretty sure I already know. So here," he stopped and pulled out his cell phone starting to add him to his contacts. He handed him the phone and let him put in his number. "I'll text you the address and you can come over whenever."
"Sounds good. I'll just swing by my house and change." He said, exchanging phones with the redhead. "Then I'll come over."
"Sweet." He nodded, entering his number and name. He tossed the phone back and gave him a wave. "See you later. Try not to get harassed by your lynch mob." He snickered, pointing behind him, to the group of guys glaring daggers at the young Uchiha.
Akito waved and headed down one of the hallways towards a side exit, not really paying those guys any mind. High schools were just pathetic in their need for drama. It was in moments like this he wished he hadn't decided to pretend to be a nerd, and had continued on with his 'bad boy' image. But then he would just have groups of fan girls after him, and at least this way he could defend himself if necessary.
He walked out into the sunlight and down a set of steps to his motorcycle. Placing his bag in the small compartment serving as a trunk, he took off his glasses, put on his helmet and got on, starting it up. With a smirk, he shut the visor, hiding his face from everyone. Then he backed up, revved his engine, and sped off towards the richest part of town.
He loved motorcycles, they were fast, elegant, and just plain awesome. He slowed and pulled into a large driveway, leaving his bike out, since he was going to leave shortly. He went inside the huge mansion that he shared with his cousins and their parents. Akito ran upstairs to his room, quickly changing into a pair of loose, dark denim jeans and a black t-shirt. As he came back down stairs, he walked into the living room and grabbed his black converse, sitting down in one of the recliners to put them on.
Itachi looked up from the book he was reading, raising a brow. "Where are you going?" he asked.
"Out." Was all he said, tying up his shoes. Sasuke looked over at him, pausing in his act of flipping through the channels.
"What, is our company not good enough for you?" he asked with a smirk, not really caring.
Akito stood and grabbed his keys. "Actually, I just hate you guys, and don't want to spend any more time with you than I have to." He said, heading out the door just as he got Toshiro's text message. Knowing where the redhead's house was located, since it wasn't too far from his own home, he got back on his motorcycle and drove over.
He pulled up to Toshiro's house and got off his bike, replacing his glasses on his face. He walked up the sidewalk and rang the doorbell, stepping away as he waited for the redhead to answer. When the door did open, it wasn't the redhead, it was a harsh looking man with brown hair. "Hm." He gave the boy a once over. "You must be Akito. An Uchiha, correct?" he asked.
"Yes sir." he said, not intimidated in the least.
"Hm. Good. At least my sons are keeping good company. Unlike that riff raff of a blonde." he said darkly, allowing him to pass. "Well enjoy your stay. Toshiro is already in the theatre, if you need help finding it, the maids can help you." He said, before leaving, most likely to head out to the office.
He stepped into the massive foyer, the whole place was done up in an old fashioned, traditional style. Everything was made of a dark mahogany, with beautiful carvings everywhere. The floor was made of black and white tiled marble. There were two stairs cases going along either side of the walls, two doors on either side of him. A woman walked through the double doors from between the stair cases. She stopped and blinked, "Can I help you sir?"
"Can you tell me the way to the home theatre?" he asked.
"Oh yes," she nodded and pointed up the left staircase. "It's in the left wing, just go all the way down the hall. You'll have to make a few turns, but it's on the end with double doors. Master Toshiro is there already. Can I get you anything Uchiha-sama?"
"No thank you." He said, heading up the stairs and following her directions. He finally came up to a door that was fashioned like a movie theatre door, and that was when he knew he was at the right room. He opened the door and walked in, seeing Toshiro sitting in the middle row. "Sup man." He said, sitting next to his friend.
"Hey, glad you could make it. Though good thing we live in the same neighborhood." He smiled, leaning back in his chair, a huge bowl of popcorn in his lap.
"Yeah. The house wasn't too hard to find at all." He took a handful of popcorn and began to munch on it. "So what are we watching?" he asked.
"Dinner for Schmucks." He snickered. "I heard it was hilarious."
"Sweet." He said, facing forward as the movie began to play.
Toshiro picked up his glass and offered it over to him, without taking his eyes off the screen. "Dr. Pepper?"
"Yup." Akito said, taking the glass and drinking from it without looking away. Then he handed it back to Toshiro. They sat in comfortable silence, enjoying the movie. It seemed they would be excellent friends. Not twenty minutes into the movie, the door in the back opened and there was loud chatter. Sasori and Itachi walked in, snickered darkly, most likely talking about their favorite thing in the world. Women.
They stopped at the top and looked down seeing their brother's. "Oh little Toshi, staying home on a Friday night?" he asked, going down and taking a seat next to his brother. Itachi did the same and sat next to his cousin.
"What are you talking about Sasori, he's not staying home. He's got himself a date, doesn't he Akito?" he smirked, patting Akito's knee. "It's ok. I still accept you as my cousin."
Akito glared at Itachi. "Shut up Itachi." He said, trying to ignore his elder cousin and watch the movie. A few minutes later the door opened once more and in came Sasuke and Gaara.
"Oops. It appears we are interrupting a double date Gaara." He said, smirking. Itachi didn't even spare them a glance, ensconced in the movie.
"Too late, little brother. I already used a similar joke. Seems you still can't come up with any good jokes of your own." He said. The corner of Akito's mouth lifted at this. No matter how much he hated his cousins, he did enjoy seeing Sasuke brought down by Itachi.
Gaara glanced to his friend and shook his head, giving him a knowing smirk. "My friend, this is much less formal than a double date. As you can clearly see, this is incest." He pointed, walking and sitting down behind his younger brother as Sasuke sat behind Akito. They kicked their feet up and propped them on their chairs and in turn, their heads. "Oh, Dinner for Schmucks. I love this movie." He said, leaning forward and fisting a handful of popcorn from Toshiro.
The youngest redhead's eye twitched, and he was gripping the bowl so tightly that his knuckles were turning white. Akito took a deep breath, trying to stay calm. "I thought you said they would be gone." He said lowly, so that only Toshiro could hear him.
"They were gone…I have no idea what they are doing here." He said back, just as quietly, until he looked over at his older brother. "What are you doing here." He demanded.
"Well, I just left to go get Itachi. I was feeling cozy since tomorrow I'm taking the day to woo the lovely Haruno Sakura." He said, making Gaara sit up quickly and glare down at his elder.
"Excuse me?"
Sasori glanced up and shrugged. "She's just so sweet looking I want to taint it. Besides since we couldn't decide which we wanted, Itachi and I played rock paper scissors for Natsumi. Unfortunately, I lost, but Sakura is a wonderful consolation prize."
"Sakura is not a consolation prize damnit!" Gaara practically yelled, only getting angrier.
Itachi turned then. "You're absolutely right Gaara." He said.
"I am?" the redhead asked, slightly stunned. Itachi never took his side in things, since he was just as bad as his older brother.
"Of course. Sakura is more like a trophy. Something that Sasori is going to have to work at a bit to win." He explained.
This only made him angrier. "I'm going to kill you, both of you. You stay away from Sakura, you got it?" he glared, more so at his brother than Itachi.
Sasori just smirked, his brother simply made it too easy and far too much fun. "Well, Gaara. I think you shouldn't deny Sakura if she wants what she wants. I am the elder of the family and I do not take orders from you. So take a chill pill and go make friends with another little girl. Because for the next couple of weeks, I will have my fill of that precious flower's sweet spot."
"I am so glad I don't have to deal with crap like this." Sasuke said, crossing his arms and leaning back in his seat.
"That's because you're gay, Sasuke. And don't pretend like you're not." Akito said, having given up on getting to see the rest of the movie.
The middle Uchiha glared down at his cousin. "I don't see you taking an interest in women either Akito, so keep your mouth shut."
"Au contraire, little brother. Akito here has a study date with my dear Natsumi tomorrow." Itachi said, smirking.
"It's not a date." Akito said, hating that everyone was labeling it as such.
Itachi raised a brow at him. "Then you wouldn't mind if I popped up to keep you guys company, would you? After all, someone needs to show her what a real man is."
"Don't even think about it. We are going to be working on a project, and will need solitude and silence in order to complete it." Akito said, glaring.
"Well as the man of the house, I can't allow you two to be left alone in a room. So I will just supervise." The eldest Uchiha said.
Akito crossed his arms. "I really hate you right now." He grumbled.
"Me too." Said Sasuke, mirroring Akito's expression.
Itachi just smiled and leaned back in his chair, crossing his own arms triumphantly. "Good, then my daily goal has been met."
"No fair Itachi, that adorable little button is going to be in your house tomorrow? I call foul on that." Sasori spoke up, giving his friend a look. Toshiro glared at his brother. What were they doing now? Making Sakura and Natsumi a competition? That was just disgusting.
"You guys make me sick." The youngest spat out.
Itachi just ignored him. "You can't call a foul. It is completely fair. And it isn't my fault Gaara doesn't have the balls to ask for Sakura to come over to your house. Clearly, all that perfection intimidates him." He said.
"It doesn't intimidate me!" Gaara stood, his hands formed into fists. "And Akito didn't ask Natsumi, she asked him! Besides, why the hell would I want Sakura to come here when that vile man lives here." He pointed accusingly at Sasori.
"Hey!" Sasori stood as well, glaring at Gaara. "I am not vile, you little brat. And I'll show you just how un-vile I am when I have Sakura all to myself." It was then that Gaara actually lunged over the seats and tackled Sasori to the next row, where they started getting into a fist fight.
Toshiro stood as well, a bit wide eyed, as the rest did and leaned over to try and get a better view.
"Come on Gaara, you got this is the bag!" Sasuke cheered, showing support for his best friend.
"Get him Sasori! Don't let that pansy win!" Itachi said.
Sasuke glared at him. "Don't call my best friend a pansy you ass!" he yelled, tackling the older Uchiha so that they were fighting alongside the elder Sabakus.
Akito looked from the fight to Toshiro. "So, you wanna go do something else?" he asked.
"Yeah," he sighed, walking out of the theatre. When the doors were closed and the noise was behind them, Toshiro looked to his friend. "Sorry about that. I didn't know they were coming over here."
"It's no problem. At least now they won't come bother us, since they're occupied." He said.
"I'm kinda interested to find out who'll win." The redhead laughed.
Akito shrugged. "Quite honestly, I'll be happy so long as both Itachi's and Sasuke's faces are covered in bruises." He said, the corner of his mouth lifting up in a small smile.
"I'd prefer Sasori to have a nice big black eye. That's just messed up what they're doing. I like Sakura and Natsumi. They're both really nice." Toshiro admitted, they finally stopped at some double doors and went into Toshiro's room. It was enormous and had everything a boy could want. There was a fire place, a magnificent mantle with a nice sitting area around it, a nice stereo system and a wonderful balcony. "Well this is my room, we can just hang in here."
"Awesome." Akito said, taking a seat. "So Gaara likes Sakura, huh?" he asked, wanting to get a handle on the full situation.
"Yeah, he's liked her since like…the third grade. Ever since she gave him a Valentine…which she also gave one to the whole class." He smirked, sitting down in one of his chairs. The whole room was decorated with red, brown, and black. So it had a nice warm feel to it.
Akito smirked. "And does she return your brother's feelings? Seems to me like all she cares about is school." He said.
He shrugged, "I dunno. She's about as easy to read as a blank piece of paper. She is really focused. But she hangs out with him a lot. Though she mostly keeps to herself. I think her and Natsumi have…issues…with each other."
"Hm." He said, not really caring enough to delve further into it. "So who do you like?" he asked, raising a brow at his friend.
The question seemed to catch him off guard, but he veiled his surprise. "Oh no one. I'm indifferent to the ladies." He said with a sigh.
"Makes sense. Women only cause trouble." Akito said, nodding.
The two just talked about idle things after that, getting to know one another. When it got pretty late, and had been dark outside for a long time, Akito rose to leave. He didn't want to be tired the next day, after all. Not really caring if Itachi or Sasuke were still there, he got on his motorcycle and left, thinking about the day to come. Despite what everyone else said, it was so not a date.