Naruto's friend with the brunette ponytail rolled his eyes. "Naruto, I'm not going to do the whole thing for you. There are way better things I could be doing right now," he said, not even bothering to look up from the laptop on the table he was seated at. "How did you even get this far in school without knowing how to make a powerpoint yourself?"

Naruto was pacing back and forth between the chalkboard and the back wall of the computer lab. No one else was there because the clubs had not officially started yet. It was only the second week of school, and most club leaders were still getting everything together. "Iruka always does it for me," Naruto whined. "But he's gone on a class camping trip with his little brats right now, and Kakashi refuses. Something about being independent or something, I don't know!"

"Okay, okay," the brunette sighed. "I'll show you the steps one more time, and then you're on your own."

Sasuke continued to stand in the open doorway, unsure of how to approach the two of them.

"It'll be so much faster if you just do it for me," Naruto insisted.

"Ahem."

Naruto and the other boy simultaneously turned their heads in Sasuke's direction. "Um, greetings," Sasuke said, feeling ridiculous as soon as the word left his mouth.

Naruto raised one blond eyebrow, looking entirely confused, but the boy at the computer smiled warmly at him. "Hello," he greeted Sasuke. "Are you here about signing up for the Tech Club?"

"No. It's a personal matter. I'd like you to look at my computer." Sasuke reached into his messenger bag and pulled out the laptop, which did not as of yet have a case or sleeve. "I've only had it since this weekend, but I think something's wrong with it." He hated to ask for help, but tried to think of it as a cheaper version of a computer shop. "I can pay you," he added.

"Sasuke Uchiha, right? Shikamaru Nara. Bring it here." Shikamaru held out his hand impatiently. Sasuke complied silently, standing by the table awkwardly with one hand resting on his messenger bag and the other nervously tapping his thigh while he waited for Shikamaru to boot up the device. "Password?"

"There isn't one." Sasuke watched as Shikamaru downloaded an anti-malware program, and wondered why he hadn't thought to do that himself. Sasuke was pretty much clueless when it came to technology, and he knew it.

"Feel free to take a seat," Shikamaru told him. "It's going to take a while for the program to scan your computer."

Sasuke walked around the table and hung his bag on the back of a chair, but did not sit down. Instead, he wandered towards the window. The computer lab - the smaller of the two at Konoha High - was on the third and highest story of the Sciences Building. Down below in the courtyard outside, he could make out two figures seated on a bench together. One of them was unmistakably Ino Yamanaka. Sasuke had become quite skilled at recognizing her from a distance so as to more effectively avoid her like the plague. He had a sudden urge to duck below the window sill to hide from her, but resisted. She seemed rather preoccupied with her bench companion, and was facing away from the building anyways. The person with her was some jock from the basketball team clad in the spirited green and orange combination associated with the Foxes, the school mascot. They seemed to be flirting happily down there in the open. People walked past them, paying them no mind at all, and Sasuke's heart clenched in his chest slightly. He turned away from the window to watch Shikamaru work, and saw that Naruto was looking over the brunette's shoulder with the biggest, most moronic grin smeared across his face.

"What?" Sasuke demanded, feeling slightly irritated. The laptop was practically brand new, so he was sure there was not anything embarrassing saved on it.

Shikamaru looked up at him, seemingly not as interested in whatever they were looking at as Naruto was. "Sasuke, if you're going to watch porn, I suggest you get an antivirus."

Oh my God.

Naruto looked up at him now too. "Who would've thought Uchiha the Ladykiller isn't even into the ladies. You know, this actually makes a lot of sense."

Sasuke stared into Naruto's eyes, imagining all the ways in which the blond idiot could use this information to ruin him. He felt so stupid! Why hadn't he just toughed it out and waited until he got out of Konohagakure? He could have found a real guy to fuck him, had a real experience. If only he'd bought a magazine, or downloaded a program to protect against this kind of thing, or gone to a legitimate computer shop run by people he didn't go to school with, or heaven forbid just not masterbated or… anything!

He took a deep breath as quietly as he could manage. I can fix this, he told himself. "What are you talking about?"

"Dude, this thing is riddled with "meet hot guys in your area" adware," Naruto explained, air quotes and all.

"Like, gay ads?" Sasuke was determined to lie his way out of this somehow.

The blond snorted. "Uh, yeah, like gay ads. You know, with naked dudes taking it up the ass?" He motioned a hand towards the screen. "The pop-ups don't lie, man."

"It must've been my roommate," Sasuke said dryly. "I always thought he was kinda creepy."

Naruto's eyebrow twitched noticeably. "What was that, asswipe?"

Sasuke wiped the sweat from his palms off on his pants. "I'll just make my roommate pay to get it fixed. Don't worry about it." He reached for his messenger bag and dug his wallet out. "Here's a twenty for your time." He tossed the bill onto the table and snapped the laptop shut loudly.

Naruto reached a hand over Shikamaru's shoulder and placed it firmly on the laptop before Sasuke could pick it up. "You know," he spat. "It's bigoted people like you who ruin this fucking town." Their eyes met, and Sasuke could see the other boy's anger clearly in his expression.

Sasuke just smirked wryly. "Faggot." And with that he smacked Naruto's tan wrist away and scooped up his laptop. He slung his bag over his shoulder and left without bothering to put the device back into the bag.

He walked to his car briskly and tossed the messenger bag and the laptop onto the backseat. Once inside himself, he locked the doors - though he was not really sure why - and gripped the steering wheel hard, watching as his already incredibly pale knuckles turned almost truly white. Breathe, he commanded himself. Breathe, idiot. He looked out the passenger side window at the Sciences Building, and saw a head of sunkissed hair looking in his direction from the other side of the glass on the third story.

Suddenly Sasuke felt like the biggest hypocritical jerk on the planet.

X X X

Sasuke was sitting at the kitchen table eating orange slices. The sticky juice was all over his face and hands. He did not really like feeling sticky, but the sweet, acidic juice got everywhere regardless of how careful he tried to be.

"Little pig," Itachi teased. "Take this." He handed his little brother a damp cloth. "Put that plate in the dishwasher when you're done, too."

"Yeah, whatever." Sasuke hated being bossed around by his older brother, but figured that since Itachi had sliced the oranges for him, he would put the plate away.

Itachi snickered at his kid brother and left the room. Seconds later, Sasuke heard the hum of voices from the television, and put the plate away before going to the family room to join his brother, plopping down beside him and resting his head against the couch's armrest. Itachi was watching some movie with a lot of talking and not a lot of anything else. He often felt that his brother was quite boring for a twelve year old boy. He did not like action movies, superheroes, comic books, or any of the things that Sasuke liked. He watched grown-up movies a lot - movies where people argued, kissed or talked about things that weren't interesting. Sasuke could not help but fidget as he tried to get into the movie. It seemed to be the same one Itachi had been watching the previous night. He had paused it and sent Sasuke to bed earlier than his parents usually did. Sasuke had considered complaining to his mother that Itachi had sent him to bed much too early when they came home from their trip.

"When are mom and dad coming back?"

"Tonight, after you're in bed. They'll be here when you wake up tomorrow." It was not uncommon for their parents to leave them home alone. Itachi had a cellphone which he used to call them twice a day whenever they were away somewhere. They trusted Itachi, who never did anything bad or mischievous. They never left for more than a night or two, though. Sasuke shifted his weight to his other side to lean against his brother. In the movie, two men were walking along the beach asking each other questions about their personal lives. He felt a hand on his head and closed his eyes, falling asleep to the sound of waves crashing through speakers.

X X X

Sasuke had seriously considered not showing up for school the following day, but decided against it. Even if Naruto and Shikamaru had not bought the lie and told the entire town about his gay porn, his grades came first. He would have to brave it for the greater good - so he could actually leave next year. He closed his eyes for a moment in the parking lot to imagine himself as a college freshmen. He opened his eyes, summoned the most stoic, uncaring expression he could muster, then grabbed his bag off the passenger seat and left the car.

It was a nice day, as far as the weather went. The hot summer was about over, and it was finally cooling down, but the sky was still clear and the air was still warm enough that a jacket was not quite necessary just yet. The warm sun made Sasuke feel less tense, if only slightly.

He forced himself not to sneak glances at other students who passed him to watch for snickers. He plowed straight forward, gripping the messenger bag's strap tightly with one hand; the other clenched in the pocket of his white jeans. He reached the classroom and took his usual far back window seat, relieved about getting to it before that one quiet girl had. Speak of the devil, he thought when she took the seat beside him. She smiled at him, and he almost felt tempted to smile back, but refrained. She did not seem to mind, and looked towards the front of the classroom unfazed. "Sasuke Uchiha." He said his own name almost at a whisper, even though class had not started yet and students were still noisily filtering in.

"Hinata Hyuuga," she replied equally as quietly, still facing forwards.

That was all they said to one another. Naruto and Shikamaru rolled in just as Kakashi was starting to set down his book. Sasuke held his breath, watching them intently, but nothing special happened. They took the last two available seats, one at the very front and one towards the center beside Sakura - Naruto went for the latter of course. Sasuke watched the blond boy greet her. He could not hear anything from his spot at the back of the room, but it looked like she was ignoring him completely.

"Alright class, pass your assignments forwards." Kakashi motioned for the class to pass their homework towards him with one hand, the other holding his book open halfway inside the desk drawer. He waited until the sound of papers being stacked together and passed along ceased before finally setting the novel down and sliding the drawer shut. He collected the stacks of papers from the front rows, combined them into one large stack, and tossed them sloppily onto his desk. "Alright, labs are starting next week so today I'm splitting you all into teams of three. All of your lab work and group assignment will be within these teams. They are non-negotiable. They may or may not remain the same for the duration of the semester. Deal with it." He pulled a folded piece of paper from his shirt pocket and began reading off students' names in threes. "Shikamaru Nara, Ino Yamanaka, and Chouji Akimichi." Sasuke was relieved to know that he would not be stuck with Ino or Shikamaru, two very bad potential lab partners for very different reasons. "Hinata Hyuuga, Kiba Inuzuka, and Shino Aburame." He had not necessarily wanted to be placed with Hinata, but he definitely would have picked her over any of their other biology classmates. Oh well, at least there's only Naruto and Sakura to worry about now. "Sakura Haruno, Naruto Uzumaki." Sasuke had to internally laugh at the poor fool who got those two together. Naruto looked rather pleased with himself as he gave two thumbs up to his friend Kiba, who was seated two spaces in front of him.

"...and Sasuke Uchiha." Naruto's hands went limp at the wrists, Sakura lifted her head off of her desk, and Sasuke's brow met the wood of his own desk so violently he was sure it would bruise.