Naruto walked through the halls of the school the next morning, happily as usual. He noticed Sasuke waiting outside of a classroom. He contemplated whether to run into him just for fun, but he decided against it.

"Good morning, Sasuke!"

Sasuke snapped his head toward Naruto, alarmed. "Oh Naruto!! H-Hey!" Sasuke said, trying not to sound too happy to see him.

They stared at the ground, not sure what to say. Each of them waited for the other to break the silence.

"Yesss!" The Uchiha exclaimed when the bell to end twelfth period had rung. This didn't strike anyone as strange, as Sasuke was always happy (the only time happy!) when the school day was over. Except today, he was happy about going to watch the amazing Uzumaki at his Kunai Game. Sasuke walked out of the school and down to the blank field where the competition game would take place. The home team was already on the field practicing. He looked around for the blonde...There he was.. Sasuke picked the bleacher that would allow the best view of Naruto and sat on it. He watched the practice for awhile. Then, the team walked over to the dugout and drank out of their water bottles. Naruto grabbed his bottle and made his way over to the Uchiha

"Ummm, hey Naruto!" Sasuke, watching Naruto take a swig from his bottle.

"Hi! How's it look out there?"

"Nice...I don't know how the other team plays, but it looks like you guys are in complete harmony. How're you feeling?"

Naruto wasn't like the other. He didn't hide his sadness when he felt it. He had told Sensei he was feeling better before. He had thought he was feeling better himself. But the feeling had only gotten worse as he walked through the halls. The more he tried not to let it upset him, the more it did. He sat down next to Sasuke.

"Um... Naruto?" Sasuke was concerned. He had only known the fox for two days, but he already knew there was something wrong with a non-cheerful NAruto.

"Sasuke..." Naruto let some tears fall as he leaned on the Uchiha's shoulder.

"Nn... naruto..?" The blonde took his head off of Sasuke's shoulder and wiped his eyes.

"I'll have to call you after I get home from the game...It looks like the water break is over..."

"Oh..." Naruto smiled at him. He ran back over to third base and resumed practice.

"WAIT!" The blonde stopped to see what was on his mind.

"You better beat the crap out of them or i'll have to do the same to you!"

Sasuke's joke just made the other laugh and took off

The game had gone smoothly. Naruto was his usual self. It seemed as though he had taken Sasuke's and Iruka's advice and let himself be himself for awhile. The Uchiha had been right in thinking that they would easily take the other team. Sasuke had also enjoyed watching the game. He wasnt much interested in the Kunai games even though he was like.. the best!, but watching Naruto... , beautiful, innocent, friendly, happy Naruto, made Sasuke happier than he ever thought he could be.
Naruto joined Sasuke after the game, and they talked for awhile, getting to know each other a little better. Neither of them mentioned what had been wrong with the fox before...they both knew that they would talk it over on the phone. Knowing that they would talk later, they said goodbye to each other and went home. Naruto rested on his bed, a bit exhausted from the game and from walking around with Sasuke after it. But he was content...If he hadn't had that traumatic locker room experience, this day would have been the best day of Naruto's life. Sasuke was probably worried about what had happened...the fox decided to call him.

Sasuke picked up the phone in his room he had given NAruto his home phone number earlier.
"Hello?" he said.

"Hiya!" Naruto said happily.

"NAruto!" The raven was happy that it had turned out to be Naruto on the phone this time.

"Hee...yeah. So...I bet you're wondering what happened to me before the game." NAruto was speaking rather calmly and happily for a boy who was about to relive a traumatizing experience.

"Uhh...yeah. I mean, if you still want to talk about it..."

"I do. I need to...umm..." He wondered if Sasuke would judge him. Iruka Sensei had mentioned that there were generally two kinds of people when it came to homosexuality. There were people who accepted it, and people who didn't. Sasuke didn't seem like the kind of guy who didn't...but neither did Neji or Shino... the blonde trusted the Uchiha to be a better person, anyway and continued his story. He told Sasuke all about every feeling he had, everything that had happened from the moment he walked into the locker room to the moment he left Iruka to venture the bitter hallways. Sasuke was speechless.
Naruto, already letting a few tears flow freely, began to cry harder. "Sasuke...I don't know what to do... I like boys...I don't like girls...I'm different from everyone..." Sasuke's heart broke, painfully, listening to the anguished cries of the one he was slowly beginning to fall in love with. He wished he had talked to Naruto about this before...He wished he would have been there in person to hold him while he struggled with his emotions, to make him calm when he was upset, to wipe the tears away from his face and tell him everything was going to be ok.

"NAruto..." Sasuke said quietly..

"Sasuke...do you...think I'm weird...?"

"SHUT UP!!" Sasuke yelled, almost angrily. The blonde just died.. Hearing this from his best friend just...

"I think you're..." it just...

Sasuke blushed, wondering whether he was stupid for saying this.

"...amazing..." Naruto's heart fluttered, and he stopped crying. He stopped feeling bad about himself. He stopped feeling bad at all. Had Sasuke just called him amazing? What did that mean?

"Naruto.." Sasuke began again, trying to clarify his feelings. "You don't have to worry about being different...you're not alone. I...I'm the same as you. I don't know if this helps any, but...I like boys, too. In fact...I joked myself into thinking I could change my sexuality. And then you came along...and I realized that I didn't need to change a thing. It made me happy to be...to be attracted to you."

Naruto could hardly speak. He thought Sasuke would either accept him or not accept him...and now Sasuke was telling him that he had feelings for him?

"Sasuke...I think I feel that way, too. About...you. Hearing you say those things puts me so much at ease...thank you..."

Sasuke wanted so much to give Benny a big kiss right there, but of course that wasn't possible.

"Naruto.." They knew they had finished discussing and felt they had said everything they wanted to say, but they didn't want to leave each other, even if they were only connected by telephone. So, they sat in silence, simply listening to each other breathe.
When they finally decided to hang up, Naruto was feeling even happier than he had felt before he had called Sasuke.. He couldn't sleep at all.. thinking of what just happened and what WILL happen.. its all new and exciting for the fox.

The next morning, Sasuke called Naruto to see if he would like to come hang out at the public. He assured Naruto that there would be plenty of hot, wet, shirtless boys there. Naruto assured him that he was the only hot, wet, shirtless boy he cared about.

When Naruto arrived, Sasuke was on the diving board. NAruto stood behind the fence to watch. Sasuke dove with amazing form and barely made a splash as he entered the water. Naruto was proud to love him. He walked onto the pavement and sat down at the edge of the pool. He wore his swimming trunks and a t-shirt. Some other ninjas gawked at him, wondering who he was, but paid him no mind.

Sasuke swam over to where he sat.

"Dobe, you made it!"

"Yeah...that was a great dive..." Naruto blushed deeply, loving every inch of Sasuke's bare chest and creamy skin.

"Thanks..." Sasuke said, pushing his wet hair out of his face. He lifted himself out of the pool and sat next his best friend

Naruto excitedly giggled when Sasuke finally pulled him behind a rather tall bush behind the fence. Naruto eagerly stared up at Sasuke, blushing, smiling, and waiting...

Sasuke dismissed all his nerves and kissed the blonde the way he had wanted to so much during their conversation over the phone the previous night...

Naruto lovingly accepted his lips and deepened the kiss.

Naruto placed his hands on the other's cheeks. Sasuke held the other's around the waist...

A stifled squeak came from near by...

The boys quickly broke apart and looked around.

"Ah..." Naruto said, spotting the source of the shocked noise.

"Uh... Sakura!" The Uchiha said, running after the girl who was now in tears of shock as she ran toward the pool.

Naruto worriedly followed them.

Sasuke finally caught up to Sakura and grabbed her wrist. She angrily freed herself from him, but she didn't run. She merely stared at him, a heartbroken expression on her innocent face.

"Why..."

"Sakura, look...I have something I need to explain to you..." The Uchiha spoke calmly to his friend.

"Why didn't you tell me..."

"It's not that easy! Everytime you showed yourself, I thought about how I was going to tell you!"

"But why did you pretend..."

"I'm sorry if I made it seem like we had something going, but...I was trying not to break your heart, and trying not to give myself away at the same time! I guess it didn't work...in the end..."

"No..."

"Sakura, I don't know what I can do..."

"There's nothing you can do...You can't help how you feel, and you can't help how I feel. You can't force yourself to like me. And you can't force me not to like you...so what's the use in even trying to..."

"I'm not going to let you just cry over this! Let's talk..."

"What about..." she looked over at the blonde who was looking very worried for the both of them.

"Naruto won't mind...will you?" Sasuke looked to NAruto's for approval.

The fox shook his head. He didn't mind.

"Sasuke...I've had this silly little crush on you for awhile, now. I figured you knew...I thought you were just shy or playing hard to get...I can't believe I didn't see it before. How could I fool myself like that?" Sakura said, her head in her hands.

"We were both fooling ourselves...Before...well, before I met Naruto, I had myself believing that if I worked at it, I could make myself like girls. But...like you said."

"There's nothing we can do about the way we feel..."

"It's true..." NAruto said darkly, "Iruka Sensei told me. And Sasuke, you told me, too...There"s no way we can control who we like and don't like."

Sakura smiled at Naruto. The fox smiled back, very glad that she wasn't angry with him.

"Yes...Naruto, you and Sasuke do make a nice pair...As for my feelings...I suppose I'll just have to get over them, won't I?"

Sasuke hugged her out of feeling sorry for her. She tried to continue her natural facade of acceptance, but...he was warm against her. She could feel how much he cared for her (yeah right!). But...it wasn't the kind of caring she had for Sasuke. It wasn't the kind of caring he felt for Naruto...she cried silently in his arms.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

3 words. Plz dai Sakura-chan