Here's chapter 2. Sorry it probably has more grammar mistakes than the last chapter because I only read over it 10 times instead of the normal 30. XD

I'm rushing because I'm going on vacation tomorrow!!! But the good news is that from chapter 3 on, I will have a beta reader: Ma Chat! Thanks for volunteering, sweetie:)

TRUTH V:

I don't dislike the girls in Naruto. Especially after the time skip, I feel Sakura is must better developed. Anyway, I think the only bad thing with shounen series (my #1 fav genre in manga) is the under-development of female characters, so I feel fans should use their creations and the fandom as chances to develop these characters more. Just my opinion.


Home of the Sun

Chapter 2: Rabbits in Wonderland

Published: 8/9/07 (yay vacation!)

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The next day Sasuke woke up late. Even though on Mondays and Thursdays he didn't have morning classes, his biological timepiece would always wake him up at 8am without an alarm, just like every other day. But on that particular Monday after the Kanto soccer regional championship, Uchiha Sasuke lazily sat up in bed and found the hands of his clock cheerfully pointing at 9:30.

Groaning, the boy dragged himself out of bed and to the kitchen, on the dining room table sat a bento box and note with Hinata's neat handwriting:

"To Sasuke-niisan, I bought some octopus on sale this morning at the fish market so I made your favorite! Enjoy, from Hinata."

Odd. Even the smell and sound from Hinata's cooking had not woken him up.

Nonetheless, the raven-haired boy felt a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. He could still remember the day he was adopted into the Hyuuga household. The 14-year-old Uchiha had been tremendously rebellious and rude toward his new foster family, hell bend on making everyone else's life just as miserable as he felt.

One day, as Sasuke sulked in the driveway of the main manor, he saw the young Hinata stumbling home after school with tussled hair sticking everywhere and missing her favorite hat. The girl replied to Sasuke's questions truthfully: a classmate named Kimiko and her friends took her hat after a scuffle. The boy, never one to see injustice go unpunished, had wanted to teach those bullies a lesson, but the little 11-year-old pulled on his sleeves and spoke the longest paragraph he has ever heard her saying, even until this day.

"Kimiko's mom died last month and it was her birthday today. One of the other girls came back and told me and she apologized... they're not bullies..." The girl had looked up with her incredibly pale eyes and suddenly, the older boy wasn't sure if this speech should be said by a girl three years his junior. "I understand why she was sad and wanted my hat; it must have meant more to her than it would to me... Nii-san, humans live together, so we have to understand each other before resorting to something we might regret later. It's much easier for us to be happy that way, don't you agree?"

Needless to say, Hinata's hat came back after three days. "Kimiko" had returned it, cleanly washed and with a letter of apology. Even 'till this day Sasuke had suspicions that his innocent younger sister had made up that story to teach him a lesson, but he's never asked directly and she's only ever offered a knowing smile every time he brought up the story of her favorite hat.

It might have been a fake story, but Sasuke understood something that day. He had been too busy rebelling against reality he's lost sight of how it looks like. Yes, his parents were dead. Yes, his older brother went crazy. And yes, he's now the second son of a big-shot business tycoon family. Maybe the Hyuugas only adopted him out of pity—maybe it was even LESS than that! Maybe they only wanted to use his sob story to polish the already spotless reputation of Hyuuga Zaibatsu. But whatever the reason, this was reality. He's been given another shot at life, and it is much easier to love than it is to hate.

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He glanced at his watch. About an hour 'till his first class, plenty of time to eat Hinata's special lunch. He rounded the corner and suddenly saw a hurl of pink dashing into his arms. Sasuke steadied himself and instinctively reached out to catch the... whatever that crushed into him. Ah, he realized, it was a girl—more specifically, the girl from yesterday.

She was now starring back at him and the boy realized their currently position: he had caught her from falling to the floor with his left hand and was cradling her in his arms. It looked like a romantic scene between lovers: the prince dipping the princess before going in for a sweet kiss.

"Wow, classic shoujo manga pose." The female chimed and suppressed a chuckle as she slowly stood up.

Sasuke coughed, somewhat embarrassed at her frankness.

"I'm Haruno Sakura, nice to meet ya!" She bowed hurriedly, turning her attention back to the ground where two large plastic bags rested before Sasuke could properly introduce himself.

"I'm Uchiha Sasuke, nice to meet you too, Haruno-san."

"Thanks for saving me there, Uchiha-san. I was rushing to deliver some food to a few mindless eating machines so I didn't see you. Sorry... but I guess I was lucky! Haha, betcha all the girls in the hallway who witnessed that were dying to switch places with me!" Sakura winked and the pale-skinned student felt his face getting warmer. Sakura giggled at the boy's blatant awkwardness. She was enjoying this, he could tell.

"Sakura-chan, where are you?!" The shrilling yell saved Sasuke and Sakura turned to see who had interrupted her amusement.

It was a girl running at top speed, darting in and out of empty classrooms, her blonde ponytail whipping behind her.

"Ino-chan, I'm here!" Sakura put down one of the bags and waved her arm conspicuously.

The blonde girl, arms carrying a large clothe bag, rushed over. But her pace slowed when she spotted the handsome boy.

"Ooo... you're distracted by this hottie, I see." "Ino-chan" teased her friend and threw a sultry look toward the boy. "Tsk, tsk, Sakura-chan, what would your boyfriend say?"

Sakura sighed and slightly bowed to Sasuke, who by now had realized the newcomer was probably not his savior, but a devil in disguise, "This is my friend Yamanaka Ino. Sorry about her... she's... uh... not well." The comment earned a half-hearted scowl and a shrug from the girl in question before Sakura continued her introductions, "And this is Uchiha Sasuke-kun, I accidentally ran into him and was just apologizing."

But Ino wasn't listening to the pink-haired girl anymore, her completely attention was now being directly toward the sole male and Sasuke was getting nervous.

"So... Uchiha-kun, What year are you? What department? Do you live in the dorms or in an apartment? Birthday? Hobbies? Blood type?" Sasuke winced at the bombardment of questions and tried to ignore the intense flirtatious vibe emitting from the blonde's every pore. In his peripheral vision, he could see Sakura smacking her forehead with her spare hand.

"I'm a third year—" the boy replied hesitantly before Ino interrupted with a squeal.

"REALLY?! I'm a third year too! It must be fate!!" (1)

Just as Sasuke was silently praying for a hole in the ground to swallow him up, Sakura's cell phone blared an Utada Hikaru song he didn't recognize and the girl fumbled through her purse to see who's calling.

"It's Naru! Oh no it's already 12:15!!" The pinkette lost her composure and grabbed her friend. "Ino, we're so late! If we don't get these food to them, Naruto's going to start eating our friends!!"

At those words, Ino stopped checking Sasuke out immediately, obviously knowing what would happen when a certain blond soccer player doesn't get his food.

Without another word or glance toward the boy, the two girls sprinted away from him, muttering "we're late! We're going to be late!" like the white rabbit in Alice in Wonderland.

Bizarre... Sasuke looked at the dust left behind, frowning but half bemused, what a wacky bunch of people...

What he didn't know was that his life was going to get a lot more interesting.

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"During the summer, you will keep monitoring the growth of your virtual business. Remember to check the stock quotes everyday and act accordingly; feel free to consolidate with other projects if the need arises. Keep your goals in mind: to increase profit margins while protecting your assets. And as always, the winner of this little competition will get a prize from your handsome teacher!" The silver-haired teacher raised his eyebrow suggestively and if not for that ridiculous mask covering half of his face, the perverted man would be drooling at his own words.

Most of the people in the class—like Sasuke—has taken courses with Hatake-sensei, or Kakashi-sensei, as he preferred to be called. They know the infamous pervert enjoyed joking with his students and often set up prizes like "A Date with Kakashi" for the class projects. Of course, the prizes were never carried out—to many of the girls' dismay—and Kakashi, despite what most outsiders thought, kept a clear line between teacher and students. Moreover, rumor has it that he was already romancing someone. A man, no less.

Sasuke rolled his eyes at the idea. As long as his teachers were capable and professional, he could care less who they slept with behind closed doors. And Hatake Kakashi was nothing if for a capable professional. What he did before becoming a professor here at Konoha three years ago was not known to many people; his resume listed two large Tokyo corporations as main references and contained an impressive list of awards... why he quit his glamorous banking job was something Sasuke would not know. But the teacher liked Sasuke's diligence and intelligence and that alone would guarantee a spotless recommendation letter after he graduates.

Ah, there's Neji. Sasuke quickened his pace as he spotted his older sibling turn the corner into the biological sciences building.

Weird... Sasuke thought to himself, what's a fourth year business student doing in the biology department?

The raven-haired boy stuck his head out while hiding enough of himself in hopes of spying on the elder Hyuuga without being noticed. Standing in the hallway of the first floor was Neji, politely bowing to... Uzumaki?

"You've got to be kidding me." Sasuke was struck by Neji's actions. Had he come to gather information on that Inuzuka kid for Hinata? Still, Neji seemed grateful for some reason, though the blonde kid was hastily waving his hands and shrugging off the matter with a laugh.

Had Uzumaki-kun's info about Inuzuka-kun been THAT helpful? Enough to make the proud Neji bow his head in appreciation? The question clouded the Uchiha's mind as he turned to head home.

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Sasuke silently watched the shy girl fluttering around the small kitchen, magically mixing concoctions that will surely turn into a delicious dinner. He bit his lip slightly and furrowed his forehead, signaling that he was thinking intently about something important.

"Hinata," his curiosity finally gained the upper-hand, "do you know a first year named Uzumaki Naruto? I don't think he's in your department though..."

She blushed at the name. He frowned.

The girl stopped her dance and directed her attention towards him, "I don't have any classes with him, but I've met him once."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow, wordlessly asking for an explanation.

With a flushed face, Hinata replied, "do you remember when Hanabi visited us about five weeks ago..." Sasuke nodded at the mention of the youngest Hyuuga. "Well, I had classes on that Friday so I told her to stay in my dorm building until I finished. But she wandered outside to explore the town and ran into some high school delinquents—"

"What?!" Sasuke jumped up from his seat. He was never as close to Hanabi as he was to Hinata, but why didn't people tell him these things?

"It's okay, it's okay!" Hinata scrambled over, alarmed at the anger flashing in her brother's cobalt eyes. "Sasuke-niisan, it's okay. They tried to pick on her but apparently Uzumaki-kun saw them and saved Hanabi. He brought her back to my dorm so I met him briefly."

Sasuke sat back down, going over the story in his head. "And I assume Neji knows about this?"

"Umm... Hanabi asked me not to tell you guys. She was afraid that Neji would scold her... but I accidentally let it slip last week when I was talking to Neji-niisan..."

Had Neji gone to give thanks to Uzumaki? It was easy for Sasuke to imagine... Neji had always been the noble kind of guy and he would definitely seek out the savior of his younger sister. Heck, he was nowhere as noble as Neji, but he probably would've done the same thing...

Except... the story seemed fishy. If it was anyone else, Sasuke would have believed it without a question, but Uzumaki Naruto? He wasn't aware the young blond kid knew anything except food and soccer.

A great athlete, a handsome face, a shining personality, AND a prince charming? That was just way too good to be true, Sasuke smirked. And I'm going to figure it out.

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Sasuke squinted under the hot July sun. It's day three of operation "find-a-fault-in-Uzumaki-so-my-little-sisters-don't-fall-for-him" and he was bored!

Basically, what he's seen in the past few days hadn't been anything that would surprise him. The boy obviously had a lot of friends and admirers. Every day during lunch when Sasuke had been sp—uhm! observing him, the first year student always had a new crowd of people hanging off of him.

Yesterday, there was even a boy sitting in Uzumaki's laps at the beginning! Twenty minutes after that, the blonde girl Sasuke met on Monday was feeding him food as if they were a couple. Wasn't he going out with Haruno-san?

Sasuke was so confused. Either Uzamaki-kun was dating all of these people, or he was dating no one! And by the intimate looks he was giving to them, he definitely wasn't "dating no one."

What kind of weird love-polygonal relationships did these people lead? Sasuke wondered.

See, there! He said to himself as Yamanaka-san tackle-glomped the boy, almost sending him into the ground. Sasuke took another bite of his cafeteria-bought sandwich and grimaced at the bland taste. How he and Neji survived on these lunches before Hinata arrived was something he's not willing to find out again. If only he didn't forget Hina's home-cooked meal today...

One more day. The older boy promised himself. Tomorrow is Friday and I can wrap up this investigation. Uzumaki was just a super-facial jock who had nothing except his looks, and Sasuke sure as hell wasn't going to hand over either of his sisters to that playboy.

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He looked.

He looked again.

He wasn't there.

This was weird. Sasuke had thought Uzumaki always had lunches during this time. He's noticed the loudmouth plenty of times under that cherry tree. It was the biggest cherry tree on campus, and everyone knew to find Uzumaki Naruto there if they had love letters to deliver or fights to pick.

But that Friday, he wasn't there. His friends sat under the tree, their presence lackluster without the blond. Sasuke thought he saw a girl from one of his management classes, a blonde fourth year who aced every test effortlessly, as if she was the one who wrote the books.

"Are you looking for me?"

Sasuke whipped around at the sound of that sparkling voice.

A gorgeous boy starred back with exquisite blue eyes.

Speak of the devil.

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To be continued.


Endnote:

(1) "It must be fate!" or "Unmei desu!" in Japanese is just an inside joke between my friends and I. We watch way too much j-drama and like to make fun of cliche storylines by say "unmei desu!" lol! we're dorks, ignore us.

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So what do you guys think? I'll give cookies to whoever can guess the boy sitting in Naruto's laps!! XP Also for those who are wondering why Sasuke is "nice" to Sakura... well, this is Japan and Japanese people are nice. Especially since she's done nothing to annoy him so why shouldn't he be at least amiable to the girl.

Like I said before, I'll be away from tomorrow 'till my birthday on the 18th. I have about half of chapter 3 written already and will most likely finish chapter 3 and 4 while I'm gone. Next chapter will be from Naruto's POV so you get to see what our favorite hokage-in-training (except not in this fic) is thinking of the emo kid (again, except not in this fic). LOL!

If you have suggestions for plot or couples, let me know!

Thank you for those who reviewed, and those who added me to favorite stories, etc. But I'm a little surprised by how few review I got... is it because there are so many Naruto fics every day the amount of people who read each story is low? lol... i hope people are reading this story...

Anyway, 'till next time! --Mars