Hey guys! Sorry for the late chapter! I pulled an all-nighter for school the other day and then got sick… Not fun. But now I know that weird stuff happens to you if you get no sleep. I was having weird illusions and well, just strange things happened. Anyway, thanks to all those who reviewed the last chapter! I love all of you and your comments!
(Sasuke POV) – in classroom before school
Sasuke looked blankly down at the boy's blushing cheeks. Huh?
Uzumaki, still a dark pink shade, suddenly stood up and in his rush to get to his sit, fell over his on feet.
Without even thinking, Sasuke caught his arm before he could crash down to the floor. Uzumaki breathed in sharply in a sort of hiss, all traces of his blush gone. His face was screwed up in pain as he yanked his arm out of Sasuke's grasp. He muttered a 'thanks' before dropping down in his chair and putting his head down again.
Sasuke just stared at him in confusion. What was that? Something must be wrong with his arm. Uzumaki was breathing quietly but in a regulated, forced way. He had to be in some sort of pain to be breathing like that.
Sasuke looked down at the hand that had caught the boy's arm. It hadn't felt weird. Just lean and sort of wet, which was excepted as the boy was wearing a long sleeve shirt in this weather. Sasuke set his bag down by his desk and sat down, staring at the boy's back. Why would he wear such a shirt in this heat?
Despite the boy's seemingly normal background that Sasuke had heard from him yesterday, Sasuke had to admit there was something about him that was mysterious. Something that caught Sasuke's eye and bothered him. He wanted to know more about this Uzumaki Naruto.
He blinked a couple of times and shook his head at his own thoughts. He had never felt this sort of interest towards anyone before. But then again, really thinking on the answers Uzumaki gave to the questions yesterday, he did have a kind of unusual family life. Sasuke thought back to the questioning the day before.
"What do your parents do?"
"Umm… My mom stays at home and my dad works for the government." Uzumaki smiled while looking downward, avoiding their gazes.
"Ooo, you rich boy! Your mom doesn't work!" One of the students, Sasuke had recognized as Inuzuka Kiba gave Uzumaki a noggie, who had laughed loudly while trying to escape his hold.
Idiot. It was clear that the students had already taken a liking to this transfer as they all had laughed when he laughed and smiled when he smiled. Without even realizing it, Uzumaki had become the center of their attention.
"So do you have siblings?" Inuzuka asked, releasing Uzumaki from his hold.
Uzumaki rubbed his head and looked down. "Yeah, tons of them…"
Inuzuka laughed at his remark. "You're exaggerating! How many do you really have?"
"Thirteen." Then Uzumaki clapped his hand over his mouth like he hadn't meant to say that.
"Woo! No wonder your parents need to be rich! Thirteen kids! Where are you in the age line?"
Uzumaki smiled again but was now looking uncomfortable. "I'm the oldest."
"So you have to babysit the rest when your parents go out. Must be hard."
"Haha, mmm… yeah, I guess it is." Uzumaki was rubbing his neck again.
A girl cut in this time. "How old are all of your siblings?"
"Well, two fourteen year-olds, one eleven, three eights, two sevens, one five, one three, two twos, and one not even a year old."
"How old were your parents when they had you? Wow, your parents must like never age."
Uzumaki was looking very uncomfortable now. "Haha, yeah…"
RRRRRIIINNNGGG! The bell had rung for seventh period, and all the students that had crowded around Uzumaki started making their way back to their seats. Uzumaki had breathed out deeply and had a look of clear relief. Sasuke had not enjoyed the interrogation either as everyone was crowded near his desk.
Sasuke smirked a little. Of course, Uzumaki wasn't going to like talking about himself if everyone was going to treat him like a new creature that needed examining. Even now as the students lumbered into the classroom clearly wishing that they were at home, their eyes went first to the blond head and widened a little. The faces brightened, and they remembered that there was something entertaining that could make their school day interesting.
He focused back on Uzumaki, glad that he wasn't in his situation. Uzumaki's breathing had gone back to normal if not more deeply than before. His head slid forward on his desk, and his shirt tightened across his back.
Sasuke's smirk dropped from his face, and his mind went a little crazy. With the shirt slightly see through and tightly across his back, Sasuke could see big, deep purple and black marks all over his back that could be nothing other than busies.
What the hell had happened to him? No crash with a dumpster could cause the kind of bruises he had all over his back. He must have bruises on his arms too, Sasuke thought as he remembered the hiss Uzumaki had let out when his arm was caught. This was also why the boy was wearing a long sleeve shirt: to cover his body from prying eyes. Sasuke could almost hear his head buzzing as he tried to make sense of this boy. Nothing made sense. Everything he had heard and studied about the boy contradicted each other. Who the hell is Uzumaki Naruto?
(Naruto POV) – first period
The bell rang, and Naruto snapped awake. He yawned and rubbed his eyes. He must have fallen asleep again. He looked around at the now full classroom. Most of the students were looking at him and smiled when he smiled at them. Sakura-san waved at him from her desk across the room, her eyes sparkling and her shiny, light brown hair pulled up in a bun. Naruto waved back, giving her a wider smile and focused to the front of the room when the teacher walked in.
Sakura-san called out, "Rise." Everyone stood up. "Bow." Everyone bowed. The teacher waved her hand, and everyone sat back down, sinking down as the teacher started her lecture.
Naruto looked at his notebook and started to take notes as he became aware of the eyes from yesterday pressing more heavily on his back. He blushed a little again when he remembered the handsome boy from earlier that morning. He had been an idiot and sat down in the wrong chair, but at least he got to see who was staring at him the day before.
The weight of the eyes were heavier today though, but the more Naruto tried to ignore them the more Naruto became aware of them until he could not stand it any longer. When the teacher's back was turned, Naruto turned and faced the eyes.
The pale-skinned boy made no effort to hide the fact that he had been staring at him, and they just gazed at each other, neither of them saying anything. Naruto felt the blush rising on his cheeks under the boy's gaze, but he didn't look away. Why was it that he always blushed around this guy?
"Uzumaki! Uchiha! Eyes on the board!
Naruto snapped around and tried to avoid his classmates' stares as more blood rushed to his face. He didn't feel the eyes again, but strangely he had a disappointed feeling in the pit of his stomach.
…
The bell finally rang for fourth period to be over, and Naruto stood up and stretched. He had been starving for ramen since second period, and by the end of fourth, he was sure his stomach would cave in from hunger. Forgetting all about the handsome boy behind him, Naruto weaved through the desks to Sakura-san.
"Sakura-san," he called out. "Where's the cafeteria?"
She looked up from organizing her notes and smiled brilliantly at him. "Give me a moment, and I'll take you there."
Another student with short brown hair put his arm around Naruto. Naruto winced a little at the pressure, but the boy didn't seem to notice. He recognized him as the boy who had given him a noggie the other day. "We'll come with you two." Behind him where two other boys, one tall with puffy black hair and what looked like round sunglasses on, and another who was shorter and looked slightly overweight with light brown hair and small grey earrings in.
"Hey Uzumaki-kun! I didn't introduce myself yesterday, did I?" said the boy with his arm around Naruto. "I'm Inuzuka Kiba! You can just call me Kiba-kun. This is Aburame Shino," pointing to the one with the sunglasses, "and Akimichi Choji," pointing to the overweight one. "Sino-kun has to wear sunglasses because his eyes can't handle too much light, and you almost never see Choji-kun without some food." Sure enough Naruto looked down and saw a bag of chips in his hands, reminding Naruto of his own state of hunger.
"Hey guys, you can call me Naruto-kun. Does the cafeteria sell ramen? I'm starving!"
Choji-kun answered this question. "You bet it does with all different flavors too!"
"Mmm! I can't wait!"
"Naruto-kun? Ready to go?" Sakura-san stood up and pulled out her lunch from her desk.
"You bet!" And the group exited the classroom and headed down the hall, where a girl with long brown hair that went down to her waist even while it was in a ponytail.
"Sakura-chan!" She called. "Want to go eat lunch?"
"Hey Ino, I'm going to the cafeteria with Naruto-kun and the others first if you want to come," Sakura-san answered as the girl run up to her.
The girl looked at Naruto as if she were examining him. "So you're the transfer everyone's been talking about? I'm Yamanaka Ino. Nice to meet you."
"Uzumaki Naruto. Nice to meet you too."
…
"So you were talking to Uchiha-kin earlier?"
Naruto looked up from his ramen to see Sakura-san staring at him. "Umm… yeah." He couldn't really say that they were just staring at each other. "Why are you asking? You like him?"
He was just teasing, but she blushed bright red and punched him on the arm. He sucked in his breath a little at the contact with a bruise. "Yeah, so what?"
He laughed nervously, uncomfortable with the anger in her eyes and tone. "I was just teasing."
"Oh…" She looked down, obviously embarrassed.
"So… Why did you ask?"
She looked up. "Well, he is sort of a loner. I was just wondering what you were talking about. He rarely starts a conversation himself, except with his friend, Nara Shikamaru. And he looked sort of intense so I was just wondering…"
This time it was Naruto's turn to blush. "Umm… We weren't really talking about much of anything."
He thought back on that hard gaze. It looked like he had wanted to ask him something, but what?
The chapter was a little longer than usual so I hope everyone enjoyed it! The attraction between the two of them has started to develop! I'm so happy! Naruto's answers in the flash back are a little confusing so bonus points to anyone who can figure out what he is talking about! Also what I talked about in the previous chapter about the hair applies here too! If it bothers you, you can always just ignore it and imagine the characters how you want.
Please review too! I know most of you are just reading the story, but it gives me a lot of encouragement if you write something. Just a word or two would make me really happy!
Thanks to Mistress Xaneeva for editing this!