Title: Dancing king

Rating: M

Disclaimer: characters are not mine.

~o0o~

Chapter 3

All is revealed

Naruto walked on wobbly legs to the nearest seat and plopped down gratefully on it. Sasuke kept a watchful eye on him the whole time in case he fell and injure himself on his way. He kept silent. If Naruto wanted to explain to him he would but in his own time.

"Sorry you had to see that Sasuke. I didn't know I was that weak," Naruto said in a dejected voice. Sasuke stood stunned and he let it show. He found it harder to hide his true feelings when he was in the company of the blond. Never had he expected the strong blond to give up so easily. Angered he stalked to him and grabbed the emotionless blond by the collar of his shirt and yanked him up hard.

"Listen here dobe. I don't know what went on with you and that creep before but that was then and now is now. You aren't the annoyingly cheerful blond I know so stop feeling sorry for yourself and wake up." Sasuke held back on punching the dobe as he was still close to tears.

Instead of waking up and having the shine back in his eyes, Naruto only creased his forehead and glared heatedly at the raven headed president, "look Sasuke I don't need you to tell me what to do okay. I had my life in control just fine until he showed up and messed it up again! I don't need a reminder of what I did wrong in the past! I am sick of regretting the past all the time so stop it and leave me alone!"

Naruto wrenched himself free of the raven's hold and fled. Sasuke scowled at the place the blond once stood and contemplated his actions. Thought taunting him would bring him back. Guess this is deeper and more complex then I would have imagined. Dobe what did you get yourself into?

~o0o~

The creaking of the rooftop door had Naruto opening his eyes and looking at it. A familiar red headed friend stood there with a scowl in his face. Guess he's angry I skipped class huh. He simply waited for the other to make the first move. Soon Gaara was stomping his way towards him and Naruto felt the menacing aura around the red head that had him up and alert for any swinging fists.

"Where the fuck were you Uzumaki?"

"Hahah...hah..errr...up here...?" Naruto continued shielding most of his torso with his hands because Gaara hadn't let up on his menacing stare and stance.

"Where were you supposed to be you dickhead?" Gaara lost his cool and that was never a good sign. The reason he was mad because at the beginning of the year Naruto had made a resolution to do the best he can in school so he could graduate and go to the same university as his other friends. Now how was he going to that if he kept skipping class all the damn time!

Seeing no way out, the blond decided to tell the red head the truth, "Kyuubi's back."

Gaara immediately shut up and let the blond explain. He knew about the history between the two so he knew this was going to be one hell of a story. He sat down and prepared himself.

The blond told him about their encounter and listened attentively. He remained unsurprised until the part about the Uchiha saving him from possible rape. Now that the Uchiha knows, this could be a problem as he wasn't part of the original Dance. He had guessed that Kyuubi would be back after what happened that day when Naruto's life went crumbling away like rubble. He was more concerned about the impact he'll have on his friend though.

Naruto fell silent as he finished explaining and let Gaara dwell in his thoughts. Swinging his legs back and forth, he let the wind blow through his hair and hit his face. A clearing of a throat had him on alert again. He locked eyes with the heavily eye-lined eyes of his friend.

"Seems like we have work to do this year if you want to win and get back on to," now that was not what the blond was expecting out of his mouth. He was hoping for some comfort although he knew the red head wasn't one to give them like a normal person.

"What do you mean Gaara?" Naruto took on a more aggressive stance, hopping onto his feet. He didn't like the sound of what his friend had said. It almost sounded like-

"We signed you up for The Dance."

"WHAT THE FUCK WOULD YOU DO THAT FOR?" Naruto glared heatedly at the red head and was desperately restraining himself to not punch the guy. So help him he deserved it along with all the others that agreed with him.

"You know it's the only way to get The Dance on track again. It needs its leader back Naruto... It needs you." Gaara stood up unfazed by the clenched fists by the sides of his friend that he could swing at any time, "it's time you stopped running away from your duty." With those parting words he left.

Naruto punched the nearest wall to him as the door to the roof slammed shut and he gave out an anguished cry. Why are they pushing this matter so far? Is it not enough to just leave it all behind? He slid to the floor and sat there with his head buried between his knees as his thoughts and emotions swirled dizzyingly around him.

~o0o~

Sasuke did his last patrol around the school. Classes had ended about three hours ago and all the participating dancers for tomorrow were safely led to the school dorms. The participants that were not scheduled to face off tomorrow were recommended fine hotels near the school so they can easily access it tomorrow morning and not be caught in traffic. He stopped when he heard the unmistakable sound of music again.

He followed it. This seems awfully familiar. Nonetheless he followed it to the same corridor as yesterday. However instead of the expected sight of the blond dancing, he was sat in front of his closed locker door with his head between his knees. Taking advantage of the blond's inattentiveness, he crept up to him.

He bent down low to the blond's ear and blew.

A shriek and a thud had the raven smirking smugly and the blond looking at him with a blush on his face.

"What do you want teme?"

"Hn. Nice to know you love the school so much but the gates will be closed soon." He swung the key around his finger for added effect.

"I know that you teme I was going to leave soon anyway." Naruto looked away to avoid the raven making eye contact.

"It doesn't look like it you dobe. All I see is someone who's afraid of what's coming his way." He braced himself for the outburst. He wasn't disappointed. Their situation was reversed it seemed. Now he was the one with the crumpled collar.

"Teme! Not you too! Did they tell you huh? They should learn to keep their mouths shut if they know what's good for them. Everyone has been telling me to not be a coward. WHAT DO YOU GUYS KNOW HUH? NOTHING! So don't preach to me about shit you don't know about." The fire in his eyes was back at least.

"I don't know what you meant but if you're talking about your friends they didn't tell me anything. You have always been easy to read and it's not different now. And obviously we wouldn't know what is happening to you if you don't TELL us, you annoying dobe."

Naruto slackened his grip and fell to the floor defeated, "how am I supposed to explain all these to you, huh?" he grabbed handful of hair and tugged.

"I have the key so take your time." The Uchiha took a seat next to the blond on the floor, taking his hands to stop the self inflicted pain the blond is causing to himself.

With a sigh, the blond started right at the beginning...

He talked about the history of him and Kyuubi and how they were like two peas in a pod. How it was rare to see them apart as they were best friends and on the verge of becoming something more. How both have a strong passion for dancing and leadership comes easily to both. That it was not surprising that they became the best dancers in the world that even topped the most professional and experienced dancers and were respected like Gods in The Dance at the age of only thirteen and fifteen. But like all good friends, there came a time when their friendship was tested.

Kyuubi was the better dancer of the two with his vast knowledge and refined skills so he was naturally ambitious. He felt that The Dance should only have dancers that were just as good as he and Naruto so he decided to create the competition also known as 'Dancing King'. The winner of the entire competition that included dancers from all around the world would be gifted the title of Dancing king and hold the power to transform The Dance into any form he or she wishes. Kyuubi intended to win the competition and rid The Dance of any he deemed unworthy. At the time being the naive thirteen year old that Naruto was he just went with the flow. However when he saw the evil that Kyuubi had done to corrupt The Dance he rebelled and along with his friends tried to stop Kyuubi by having a face off.

Maybe by some stroke of luck, Naruto won and he became the new dancing king since he defeated the current one. However to save all the attention, he didn't announce his title and lived as Naruto. Kyuubi vanished after that and was never seen again due to humiliation. After Kyuubi vanished The Dance fell to ruins as Naruto didn't take up his responsibility as the new Dancing King.

In the short reign of Kyuubi the damage to The Dance was already done. It was already corrupted and nobody was dancing purely for the joy of it. The competition Dancing King was kept and continued to further divide the dancers that was once a huge family.

Naruto finished with a sigh of relief that he had managed to explain all that without breaking down although some tears still gathered in his eyes that he refused to let fall. He remained quiet after that.

Sasuke contemplated all that he had heard and sympathised with the blond for all he had gone through. No wonder he craved attention and company so much. He needed the distraction from the reminder that he was a coward.

"I have one question though."

"Shoot."

"Are you and Kyuubi together? Was that why it was hard for you to let go and take responsibility?"

"Of all the questions teme you had to choose that one...We were together I guess I mean I did say yes. And yea I guess you can say that I felt overwhelmingly betrayed that I didn't want to take up what my supposed significant other left behind oh so lovingly for me...but no it wasn't very hard for me to let him go after I saw all the shit he did to our beloved 'family'."

Sasuke nodded in understanding and stood up, "Dobe I really need to lock up."

"Ok then go ahead."

"...You're still here."

"Ok ok I got it. Yeesh, you impatient bastard, can't let a guy go out of school without being chased away." Naruto pouted.

Sasuke ignored him and walked away. He felt satisfied for some reason and felt that whatever Naruto had confessed he should bring with him to his grave. At least he got his fire back...

Naruto looked at the retreating back of his...friend? Can he call Sasuke that now...and felt relief washing through him. For the first time in a while he felt refreshed and happy like all was right in the world. Thanks teme.

~o0o~

AN: well it's the school holidays again and thought I should really get back to my stories^^ hope you like it so far and I've cleared all your questions : If there is any just leave a review or pm. Now it's on to the dance off! By the way thanks to all those that had helped with the searching of my story in the previous chapter but unfortunately I still couldn't find it :c Maybe the author took it down... oh wells...