ADAGIO 4

As Sasuke got out of his car, he couldn't help but have an uneasy feeling as he first walked into the school without knowing where either Lee or Naruto were. He didn't know who he would hang around with while waiting for his first class to start.

To his surprise, he heard someone call to him, "Hey Sasuke, over here!"

As he looked towards where the voice was coming from, he saw Lee waving to him.

Sasuke felt a little relieved as he made his way towards the boy he met the other day. Beside Lee was another boy, who had red hair and dark lined eyes that studied him as he walked towards the two.

"Hey Lee."

"G'morning!" exclaimed Lee with a smile, "By the way, let me introduce you to oen of my friends. This is Gaara. Gaara this is Sasuke."

All Gaara did was nod which was returned by another nod from Sasuke.

"Hey Naruto's here," clamored Lee as he saw Naruto's car come up to the curb. "Thank god too because these two are killing my mood."

Sasuke gawked at the large black sedan coming towards the drop off area. "So the kid is rich… REALLY RICH."

As the blond got out of the car, he told the driver, "Thanks, I'll see you later today!"

"Thanks again, sir. I will see you later." And with that Naruto closed the door to the car and seemingly bounded towards Sasuke, Lee, and Gaara.

"Hey everybody!" He noticed an odd silence, "Why is everybody so quiet?"

"Call it an awkward silence," replied Lee.

Lee didn't have to say anymore. Naruto knew how shy Sasuke was, but he also knew how unwelcoming Gaara could be to new people, especially if they were to invade his space.

"So, Sasuke, are you ready for a GREAT day of school?" asked Naruto with a bit of sarcasm.

"I don't really have a choice do I?" replied Sasuke. His dark eyes looked at Naruto wondering how the blond boy could seem so distraught the other day to being so happy the next. Then it struck him, again, the image of Naruto's body--wet and glowing. Sasuke shook his head furiously to try to get the image out of his head.

"Are you alright there, Sasuke," Naruto asked with a bit of fear at the seizure-like movements.

Sasuke immediately stopped shaking his head and managed to say, "Yeah, I'm fine."

"He has fleas or something. Let's go dip him," said a stoic Gaara.

"I'm not going to like this Gaara guy too much am I?" thought an enraged Sasuke. The dark haired boy looked at Gaara and smugly replied, "While we're dipping me for fleas, why don't we wash your eye make-up off."

"Hmphf," was Gaara's stiff reply as he turned his head around.

"Alright guys calm down. Geez. Forgive him, Sasuke, he's not usually like this," smiled the blond.

"I would hope not," Sasuke answered with a scathing tone.

"And you Gaara, be nice, he's new remember."

"Ugh. I'll TRY."

"Thanks, Gaara."

"NARUTO, GAARA, LEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" The last name in particular was almost growled out.

The four boys turned around to see the loud mouthed, pink haired girl skipping towards them with her skirt flying up and down showing the higher part of her thighs to the boys. Behind her were Ino and Hinata who were looking at the ground, appalled at her behavior.

Gaara immediately hit Lee under the chin to shut his gaping mouth, "Focus."

"And who might your new friend be?"

Naruto chimed in and introduced Sasuke to Sakura, Hinata, and Ino. The girls introduced themselves to Sasuke and he did the same. Surprisingly, he did not show any interest in any of the three prettiest girls on campus.

Pleased with the introductions yet still disgusted in Sakura's previous skip fest, Hinata invited the four boys to a get together at her house the following Friday. All the boys, except Sasuke, sounded excited about the prospective party and said they would be there. Naruto then nudged Sasuke to answer, "Yeah, sounds great," came a flat voice.

"GOOD! I wouldn't have taken no for an answer anyway," grinned the kindhearted Hinata. "We'll see you guys later. Sasuke, nice to meet you." Sasuke gave her a nod, and with that Hinata, Ino, and Sakura went off to first period.

"I think the new guy is gay," blurted Sakura as they got further away from the boys.

"WHAT!? Sakura don't go accusing people when you just met them, it's not respectable," argued Hinata.

Ino, taking interest in the conversation, "What makes you think he's gay, Sakura?"

"Uhm, HELLOOOOOO EARTH TO INO! We're like the cutest girls in this damn school, and he didn't even twitch when he saw us. I even whipped out my sexy skip. That's pretty much a red flag, let's drop the disco ball, bring out the sirens, ding-ding sign that he is gay."

"It's none of our business you two. Leave him alone," barked Hinata.

"I was just saying Hinata. No need to get touchy. It's not like I have any problems with gays," answered Sakura, worrying that her friend was upset with her.

"Of course you don't, every time you hit on a guy, you basically turn them gay. I mean, that forehead is just plain MENACING, look at it, it's HUGE" chuckled Ino as she pointed. "Honestly, I'm surprised Lee hasn't jumped over to the other side."

With blood rushing to her face, Sakura clenched her fist and was about to connect it to Ino's face, when Hinata grabbed Sakura's hand and chastised Ino for making fun of Sakura.

"Come on guys the bell's going to ring soon." With that Naruto and Sasuke walked to their first period class, as did Lee and Gaara.

"That Gaara guy doesn't like me very much does he?" asked Sasuke to the blond.

"It's not that… He's just very protective of his close friends. He sees strangers as threats until he gets to know you, then it's not so bad," Naruto assured.

"How long have you known those two, Naruto?"

"Since we were in 1st grade we've always been around each other. You see, each of us were designated losers as kids. Everyone just pointed and laughed at us, so we found strength in each other, and it's been that way ever since. Do you have any friends that you've known for long? It must have been hard to move away from your old school."

"Not really. No one really talked to me which made me not want to talk to them either."

"You talk now, though, huh?" chirped Naruto.

Sasuke thought about it for awhile, "Yeah, I guess. So what's our schedule for the day?"

Naruto pulled out his schedule, "It looks like history for 1st, science for 2nd, Latin for 3rd, and then you have track and I have swimming for 4th. Ugh. I hate B days. That's a lot of hard classes in a row."

Sasuke looked at Naruto, "It's not that bad."

"I hope not."

Stepping into history, they greeted their teacher Kabuto Yakushi who made the general introduction of the new kid to the rest of the class. This same introduction happened at the beginning of each class and by the time 3rd period came along everybody seemed agitated with the repetitious introduction of one Sasuke Uchiha.

"B days went by so much slower than A days," thought a bored Naruto. He felt himself falling asleep again, but to his relief the bell marking the end of third period rang. Naruto couldn't have been happier when 3rd period was over and he could go swim again.

As Naruto and Sasuke made their way out of class, Sasuke looked at the exasperated blond, "So it really was that bad huh?"

"Yeah. I'm going to need to bring coffee to school on B days. It's ALL the boring classes," whined Naruto.

"So what are you doing after you swim today?"

"Nothing in particular."

"How about you, Sasuke, what are you doing after track?"

"I don't really know. I was thinking of staying here a little longer after practice to run more."

"I do that all the time too, " rejoined Naruto with amusement, "except swimming instead of running."

"Yeah I kno—" replied Sasuke before he could think about what his answer meant.

"What, how did you know?" asked a curious Naruto.

Sasuke searched for answers, SEARCHED HARD for an appropriate response, "Well I mean you are the swim team captain right? I bet you have to work hard to get that position." Sasuke sighed privately, "Genius answer."

"Yeah, but it's not just that. Swimming is important to me…" Naruto trailed off with a look of sorrow in his eyes.

"I wonder what it is about swimming that makes him happy, yet sad at the same time.." wondered Sasuke. The dark haired boy tried to change the subject, because he felt guilty for bringing the blond's mood down. "Sorry, Naruto."

Naruto, realizing he was showing a side of himself he usually never shares, looked up and changed his facial expression completely, "What do you mean? Sasuke, nothing's the matter," grinned Naruto.

Sasuke looked at the blond with a slight frown on his face, "If you say so." Sasuke could see that Naruto was hiding something behind that forced smile and those words. After that they walked in an uneasy silence to their last class of the day.

Naruto sensing the seriousness of the mood, lightened things up, "It's important to me because… It gives me this killer body," grinned Naruto.

"Yeah it is a pretty killer body," thought Sasuke as he remembered the envy he felt upon seeing the speedo clad Naruto in the shower. "Why did I bother asking..." sounded a defeated Sasuke. "You are… ugh."

"Wonderful and cute," laughed Naruto as he batted his eyes.

Sasuke couldn't help but roll his eyes and snicker at the blond.

When they got to the door that marked the entrance to the pool, Naruto waved to Sasuke as they parted ways for the day.