Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of the characters.

A/N: Thanks for the reads and reviews, and I'm glad some of you guys are enjoying it so far! It always brightens my days when I go into my email to find a review from someone.

As far as updates are concerned, I've decided on a system of updating every two days, in the rotation of Rich & Famous - Hat - Believe - Unbreakable. If you read all four, the wait won't be so bad, but if you only read Believe, my apologies.

Chapter 4: Give and Take

The week dragged on as Naruto waited for classes to start. He was pretty sure he was one of the few actually excited for school, but he had a good reason, dammit. The apartment was silent unless Neji and Shikamaru were over, which is when Naruto was able to converse, laugh, and practice more Clash of Ninja 4.

He tried talking to Sasuke some more, challenging him to one-on-one matches in the game, and even offered to hang out somewhere but he was rebuffed or ignored each time. Mostly ignored. The blond silently fumed, frustrated, and on Friday he resorted to calling Sakura.

"Hey blondie!" she answered. "How's life so far? Does Sasuke miss me?" In the background, he could hear another girl yelling something Sasuke at the mention of his name before Sakura hissed out a muffled "shut up, whore!"

Naruto blinked. "Uhhh…"

"I'm only kidding." She laughed, though he could hear the tinge of bitterness in it.

"It kind of sucks living with Frosty the Snowman," he said. "Craving some company. You free today?"

"I'm not, actually. I'm with the girls today, a party tomorrow, and that study group planning session on Sunday, but you'll be there. Sasuke is still going, right?" He got the feeling she was only going for Sasuke anyway.

"As far as I know, yeah."

"Oh, great! I'll see you guys there, and I hope you find something to do, Naruto." He thanked her and hung up, sighing in dismay. How boring.

He chose to spend the rest of his day setting up a Facebook account in his room, and after he finished adding in the details to his profile, he chewed on his lip, thinking about who to add. Iruka, of course. After a second of indecision, he requested to be friends with Yamato as well. There was also Sakura, Neji, and Shikamaru.

Strangely enough, he couldn't find Sasuke on here. Maybe he went by another name instead of his real one. He typed 'Duckass Emo Bastard' in the search box and came up with nothing. Remaining in his bed, he yelled, "Hey bastard, I can't find you on Facebook!" Last he checked, his roommate was relaxing in the living room.

"Nope," the raven called back, leaving it at that. Naruto frowned. How damn antisocial was this guy, anyway? Then again, it was something that the bastard even bothered to respond to Naruto in the first place. Hope!

'Let me guess, after you meet your goal of befriending him, your next goal is to get him on this website?'

Naruto smirked. 'You know me so well.'

'Don't say it like it's a good thing.'

Sasuke was stretched out on the couch, taking up the entirety of it, to Sakura's chagrin. So far it was just them in the lounge of the local bookstore, waiting for the others to arrive. She had tried talking for a while but gave up when her efforts were only met with silence.

He checked his phone, noting that he had ten minutes to go before anyone else would start showing up at the agreed time. If he knew Sakura was going to follow him he wouldn't have left early at all. He should have dragged his roommate along but the idiot was still playing Clash of Ninja 4.

He sighed and took out his schedule, scanning its contents. He heard Sakura shifting around in the chair a few feet away, and she eventually got up to peer at his schedule over his shoulder. His eyes narrowed but she ignored it. "What are you taking Chinese for?"

Maybe answering would get her off his back. "I'm going into Business. Chinese will be beneficial to me."

The pink-haired girl gave him a wide smile. "That's cool." He rolled his eyes, not that she was able to see. "I have wondered why you take classes, though, or even plan on starting a business. Your parents had a fortune, right?"

The raven closed his eyes at that statement, entertaining thoughts of hitting the insipid girl behind him. Instead he chose not to respond, but a third voice entered the conversation, bringing with it a stupid blond.

"You don't expect him to sit on his ass for the rest of his life, do you, Sakura? A lot of people want to do something, even if they don't have to."

The girl flushed, perhaps finally realizing how ignorant what she said was. "You're right, I was only thinking in terms of making ends meet. What about you, Naruto?"

"I totally plan on opening up my own ramen restaurant. People from all over the world will travel just to get a taste. World famous!" Sasuke finally looked away from his schedule and at the idiot, noticing that Sakura was just as speechless.

"Well, opening up a restaurant is a good ambition. Right, Sasuke?"

"Hn."

"See, he agrees, too." He didn't agree or disagree, he just didn't give a shit. "I'll be going into theatre. It's been my dream my whole life, and I've been working hard towards it."

Naruto finally took a seat in the chair opposite Sakura, scratching a cheek. "Like Broadway?"

"Exactly." She smiled at Naruto, then gave Sasuke a look to see if he was at all interested in her life. He rolled his eyes, this time knowing she saw. She frowned.

Within the next few minutes the rest of their study group arrived. Of course there was Shikamaru and Neji. There was also Lee, a very exuberant boy with too much fondness for the color green. Ino, Sakura's flirt of a best friend who was also intent on bagging Sasuke. Hinata, Neji's cousin who barely talked due to a crippling shyness. Tenten and Shino were the last arrivals, a tomboy whose thoughts thankfully weren't on Sasuke and another quiet person who constantly wore sunglasses and was said to have a large insect collection.

Everyone settled into the couches and chairs after scooting their closer, and Naruto was looking around at everyone. "So what exactly do we talk about? And hi, I'm Naruto." He waved.

Sasuke wished he wouldn't have asked. Or introduced himself. As expected, Lee took it as an opportunity, leaping up from his spot on a chair and launching himself at the unsuspecting blond, who took it as an attack, yelped, and tried to dodge out of the way. They collided, Lee wrapping his arms around his prey in a breath-defying hug as they toppled off the couch.

"Two embraced guys on the floor. Hot," Ino said, smirking. Her long blonde hair that was almost always pulled back fell over her shoulder as she leaned forward to watch the action. As usual, one of her green eyes was practically invisible behind a hunk of hair she never bothered to pin back.

Naruto managed to push Lee off of him and scrambled back on the couch, while Lee stood and gave him a thumbs up. "It is amazing to meet you, Naruto! I am Lee! All of us gather here to combine our youthful energy and help each other with our glorious studies and overcome the challenges our wonderful teachers provide us!" The newcomer was looking around, likely for an escape route.

Shikamaru reached over and tugged on Lee's shirt, forcing him to sit back down. "Lee, stop," he said, rubbing his temple with a finger. "Troublesome. Anyway, Naruto, it's basically as the martian over here said. We meet today just to compare schedules, see what classes we share. We'll meet every Sunday here to help each other out with anything that has to do with classes, even help tutor each other if need be."

"So it's like a big study group support network," Naruto said.

"Basically."

"That's really awesome, I'm glad I'm a part of it then." The blond gave a dazzling smile, and Sasuke huffed. "Bastard, do we have anything together?"

"I'd rather not find out. Idiot."

Ino grinned again. "Aww Sasuke, you answer to the name 'bastard,' huh? If I knew you were into that kind of thing I would have changed my tactics—"

"If I'm such an idiot then you should help me out if I need it."

"Do your own work."

Naruto huffed. "Then why are you in this group?"

"So I can watch dumbasses like you fail."

He should have seen it coming but he didn't, and the next thing he knew he had a fist being driven into the side of his face. He leaned against the couch for a few seconds, blinking away the shock, before he jumped off and tackled Naruto. He was able to pin the blond idiot to the ground and bloody his nose, deaf to the screams of Ino and Sakura, and then he was being pulled off by Shikamaru and Neji.

"Stop," Neji hissed at him, shoving him back on the couch he was on. "We'll be lucky if the owner didn't hear that. Can you two behave yourselves long enough until this meeting is over?" At that he turned to glower at Naruto, who had been helped up by Tenten. After giving Sasuke a pissed off stare, he nodded and sat back down, thanking Tenten for her help.

Everyone was there for roughly an hour, which passed peacefully. It helped that Sasuke and Naruto refused to even look at each other. Sasuke kept to himself and the group left him alone, and he heard Naruto and Hinata agree to help each other in their shared Psychology 101 class while making plans with Tenten to play soccer together.

Afterwards, they both went back to their apartment. As soon as the door closed they were glaring at each other, fists clenched. He could tell Naruto was tempted to start the fight again, and Sasuke was close to inciting him to do it. Instead he sneered and walked to his room, slamming the door behind him.

'Leave things be,' he growled. 'You're being obnoxious about this whole duckass thing.'

'I will if he does. Fuck being friends if he's just going to act like that.' Naruto was sitting up in bed two hours before his first class, staring at the coffee maker. He got up earlier and moved it from the kitchen to his room. He bought the thing, he had the right to, especially when the other person that wanted to use it was an asshole.

'Yes, forget it. You have met other people now.'

Naruto glared at the wall, getting up to get dressed. 'Yeah, all friends I made through him.'

He finished getting dressed and grabbed his books and laptop case and phone. His English class didn't start for another hour while campus was a few minutes walk away, but he wanted to stop by a cafe across the street. Plus, he wanted to be gone before the bastard woke up.

He took his time at the cafe, settling on a breakfast sausage croissant sandwich. It was pretty good, but he couldn't help wishing it was ramen. Twenty minutes until class started, he left so he could get to class early enough for a seat of his choice. When he got to the auditorium-style room he slipped into a seat near the back, not bothering to look around. He already knew no one shared this particular class with him.

Others filtered in, laughing and talking with others or looking around nervously, obviously alone and feeling unsure. Naruto tried smiling at these people, and while most smiled back, they chose to sit on their own, until the brunette man anyway.

His hair was wild and he had an easygoing air about it, while he was easy to pick out with a red fang-like shape tattooed on each side of his face. He saw Naruto smiling and offered a wolfish grin and sidled over to sit next to Naruto like they were long-lost friends, the two dog tags he wore on a chain jangling.

"Kiba Inuzuka," he said, still grinning. Naruto noticed his canines were a bit more pronounced than normal. It fit him, really.

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki. Great to meet you."

"You from the area? I'm not, so it's awesome to meet someone so soon."

"I am, but was homeschooled up until now so the feeling is mutual."

Kiba gave a low whistle. "Rough." Naruto checked his phone again, noting that the teacher should be there any moment. "You in the dorms?"

"Apartment, but my roommate is a complete asshole so feel free to come over any time." His companion laughed as Naruto ripped off a scrap of paper and wrote down his address and number. He didn't notice how the chattering classmates had quieted down. "It's right by campus."

Kiba took the piece of paper and pocketed it before pausing to look at something behind Naruto. His face went from curious, to haughty, and then settled on nervous before he looked straight ahead, scratching the back of his head nervously. Confused, Naruto turned around and flinched at the person standing silent as a statue behind him.

Gaara Sabaku. He'd recognize him anywhere, even if the last time he saw him was when he was nine and punching the other in the face at school for taunting him about Kyuubi. He had the same short, messy red hair, pale skin, and dead green eyes. Naruto assumed he also had the same dangerous, murder-fueled personality. The only differences between then and now was his height, which was still pretty short, a kanji tattoo on his forehead, black eyeliner, and the fact that he decided to grow eyebrows.

Naruto licked his lips nervously, reminding himself to breathe. "Hey."

He said nothing, just continued standing over him and watching, not even glaring. Just dead. His stare scared people along with his personality, proven by Kiba tugging lightly on Naruto's sleeve, apparently trying to get the blond to get up and go somewhere else. He refused to budge for this guy.

Finally, Gaara said something. "I want that seat. Move." Or else was silently added. He kind of reminded Naruto of Sasuke, but he immediately felt bad comparing the two. Both were silent forces of nature just by looking, true, but Sasuke was more haughty, commanding, and disdainful while having the Uchiha status. He demanded and got respect. Gaara was more of a whisper of death who felt no qualms about releasing his rage, verbally and especially physically, and no one would be surprised to wake up at night to him standing over the bed and slitting their throat.

Naruto tried forcing a grin. "Nice to see you again too, Gaara." It sounded strained even to his own ears, and he heard Kiba suck in a breath. He could feel the eyes of everyone in the room on him. Gaara studied his face, and the blond could tell he was trying to remember.

Then, his mouth quirked up, and Naruto almost flinched again. "Right." He paused, and when he continued he made sure his voice carried. "Naruto Uzumaki, the boy who claims to talk to a monster in his head." Gaara smirked as the students around them were split between looking fearful of Gaara and amused at Naruto.

The blond forced another grin, this one feeling less strained, and he knew he appeared genuine to everyone else. "Ancient history, Gaara, I was nine. And you're over here making a fuss over a chair."

In a flash he was being yanked forward by the collar and the green eyes were suddenly very close to him. He had to grip onto the table to make sure he didn't fall out of the chair. Gaara opened his mouth to say something, and just then Naruto saw a slightly older man with a mask covering his lower face and crazy silver hair walk in the room dressed in a loose-fitting suit. He mentally crossed his fingers that this was the teacher they've been waiting for, though lord knows why he wore a mask.

"Hey teacher, you're late!"

Gaara froze as the teacher waved a hand in Naruto's general direction, not looking at him. "Yes, yes, I was riding here on the public bus when I had to help a woman give birth to a healthy baby—"

At last he actually looked at Naruto, tilting his head at Gaara's frozen position in Naruto's face. "Problem here?"

Naruto looked at Gaara and grinned. Black-lined eyes narrowed. "No," the red-head gritted out.

"Great. You're obviously Gaara, so go ahead and take a seat. On the other side of the room." Giving Naruto one last look filled with promise he slinked off to another empty seat while the teacher continued to the front of room. "Anyway, I'm Kakashi Hatake, call me whatever. But not Mr. Hatake."

"What the hell was that?" Kiba whispered next to him, eyes still wide.

"I went to school with him up to 4th grade. I got into a fight with him and a few others and after that I was pulled out to be homeschooled."

"And the shit about a monster or something?"

Naruto laughed lightly. "I was a very...creative child, I guess. My adoptive father freaked out about it and I was landed with a psychiatrist for a while."

The blond frowned. 'Speaking of, you've been quiet.'

'I have not, brat, you tuned me out again once the shit started to fly.'

Naruto sighed. 'I wish I could learn how to do that whenever I felt like it.'

'I don't. Harassing you is the only fun I get.'

Kiba was nodding sympathetically, and Naruto had to quickly remember the last thing he said. "That sound sucky, man. At least you're here now." With that the conversation closed as class got started and Naruto sat back. That was close. He'd have to stay away from Gaara.

"Really, Naruto?!" Iruka was practically screaming over the phone. Naruto rubbed the bridge of his nose as he sat down on his bed. "First day of classes and you just had to piss off the most unstable person in the room."

Naruto gaped at the speaker for a second, affronted. "Pissed off? I was only sitting in a chair that he decided to want!"

Iruka sighed, calming down finally. "You're right, of course, I just wanted things to go well for you. You're getting along fine with Sasuke, right?"

He felt a flash of guilt, sparing a glance at his closed door as if Sasuke was right behind it. One good thing today was no Sasuke, which meant he was practically in the clear on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Then again now he had to see Gaara on those days. "Yeah, he's just kind of quiet, but we're fine." His nose was still sore from when Sasuke punched him.

After a few more minutes of reassuring Iruka that overall things were fine and he met other people and other than Gaara his Monday had been great, he was able to close off the call. He flopped back on the bed, wanting nothing more than to rest.

Nothing met his head other than the mattress. He shifted around and still felt no soft pillow under his head, and when he turned to look he found no pillows on his bed at all. Where did he put them? Looking around, he noticed the coffee maker was gone from his room, too.

He growled out loud, ignoring Kyuubi's laughter. Bastard.

That wraps up chapter 4 of Believe! Hope you enjoyed the read and please leave a review, even a short one. Reviews make my day awesome. :)