I cant believe I havent updated in so long! I'm so sorry!
I hope that this longer chapter makes up for it! It was 8 pages long in Microsoft! Thats long-longest I've dont ever in this story.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Sasuke, if I did I'd have a field day.

I dedicate this chapter to Nanami Of Falling Snow ^_^

I hope you guys enjoy :)

We were packing up to leave, when I saw someone enter the library from the corner of my eye. Turning and seeing Tsunade walk in, I sighed/wined.

"That's Tsunade-sama right?" I turned to Sasuke and nodded.

"There you are Naruto. Are you ready to go?" she asked when she was close to us. She turned to look at Sasuke and smiled. "You must be Sasuke-kun." he nodded and bowed, he actually bowed.

"Hai, hajimemashite Tsunade-sama." she chuckled, I took my backpack and walked over to her, she leaned over to me slightly.

"He's very polite, and handsome." she whispered in my ear. I nodded, you think he's handsome? I felt my face heat up.

I was agreeing to the polite part.

Sure.

Tsunade laughed and patted my back. "Well it was nice to meet you Sasuke. I'm just going to steal Naruto now." she turned and started walking down to leave.

"Bye Sasuke." I waved and followed her out of the library. Looking around the parking lot my eyes tried to find her old beige Corolla, but couldn't pinpoint it. "Where's the car?" she was standing next to a new Toyota Camry, it was a brilliant silver. I smiled. "You didn't" she grinned and patted the hood.

"I did." she took out her keys and unlocked the doors. We sat in, I looked at the inside, it was new and so nice. It even had that new car smell.

"I can't believe you traded the Corolla. I mean you actually did it." she chuckled.

"Yup, I took the chance." I laughed. For months she was saying that she wanted to get rid of the Corolla, me and Jiraya would tell her to just get another one. She always said she would but would chicken out for some reason. She turned on the car and drove out of the parking lot. "Oh and guess what."

"You ran over the neighbor's cat?"

"What?" I shrugged.

"You said guess." she ruffled my hair.

"No aho. I got my paycheck today."

"And we're having turtle soup!" she tried to hide her smile, I grinned.

"Okay, no more guessing. I mean, that you and I are going to go shopping." I groaned.

"No more shoe shopping, please. Last time we were there for hours."

"It was barely an hour. And no, well not for me." I looked at her confused. She drove for a little while longer and stopped in front of a large mall I wasn't familiar with. "We are going shopping for you."

"What? No, no you don't have to. I'm fine with what I have now." she looked at me.

"Have you seen your shoes?" I looked down at my shoes, they used to be a bright orange, well now they were a dull and dirty orange, the aglets on the laces were broken. "And have you looked in the mirror?"

"What you mean? I think I look nice."

"You've worn that shirt a hundred times. And not to mean, but you have no sense of fashion."

"Hey!" she smiled, I stuck out my tongue at her. "Fine, but just an outfit or two." she grinned and got out of the car. I followed her out and we entered the large mall. I looked at the mall in almost awe, it was huge. It was three stories high, but the ceiling that followed the large middle hall was just glass, you could see the clouds and sun. There were glass elevators at practically ever corner. People continued to walk past us as we walked in toward the center of that section, where there were stores of every kind, a jewelry store, a GameStop, dozens of different clothing brands and even those stands in the middle of the large hall of random items the sellers were attempting to get any person to buy.

"Woah."

"Yup. Alrighty lets go." she patted my back and lead me to a store next to a chocolate store. She pulled me over to a clothing rack and started looking through some shirts and pants. Looking around my eyes caught sight of a rack that said clearance. I shrugged and walked over looking through the different shirts. I saw a black one with an orange swirl on the front and a small one on the back near the collar. Looking at the price tag, it was only 9 bucks, it used to be 20. I continued to look through the racks and found black kinda tight jeans, an orange and black hoodie and a plain black short sleeved shirt. "Naruto, come over here." I put the clothes on my arm and walked over to Tsunade. She grinned and raised a shirt and pants. I raised my eyebrow, she held a green, white and blue striped dress shirt and beige khaki pants.

"I would never wear that.." she frowned.

"Come on, its cute." my face gave my oh so famous 'you're kidding right?' look. She sighed and nodded putting the clothes back. She looked over to my arm and asked what I was holding. Lifting the clothes from my arm I showed her the pair of jeans, hoodie and the two shirts.

"Clothing that I would actually wear." she took a look at them and shrugged.

"Well, not completely awful." I half-heartedly rolled my eyes, she grinned and ruffled my hair. "Alright then. Lets get out of here." I nodded, we walked over to the cashier and bought the clothes. It wasn't that much, since they were on clearance. She looked at me when she saw the price, I grinned and she chuckled knowingly. We walked through the mall for a while just looking at the shops. "Okay, now to replace those stinky shoes." she said patting my foot with hers.

"My feet are not stinky!"

"Are too."

"Are not."

"Are too." I blew a raspberry and she laughed. We entered a shoe store across from the food court. I walked through the shelves and scanned all the shoes that they had in my size. I spotted a pair of dark blue shoes with a red and purple line design that ran across the sides that seemed to curve slightly from three marks that made a circle on the front of the shoe.

"No baa-chan, I like this one." she walked over to me and pushed my head down.

"Aho." I grinned and pointed to the shoes on the shelve. She took one of them off and looked at it, after a bit she nodded. "Alrighty, try it on then." I grinned and dropped down to the floor, she chuckled and handed me the shoe. Taking off my shoe I took the new shoe excitedly and put it on, getting back up I looked at the small mirror that showed my feet.

"Can I get it? Onegai shimasu!"

"I don't know…" she said with a smile. I asked one more time and she chuckled. "Yeah of course you can."

"Awesomeness." she smiled and hugged me slightly. "Arigatou." I put on my old shoes, not wanting them to get dirty so soon. We paid for the shoes and exited the store.

"Wanna get some food?" she asked pointing to the food court. I shrugged slightly and nodded. I got some teriyaki chicken and Tsunade just got some pasta. "So how was school? Do anything fun?"

"Well unless cutting my palm counts as fun, not really." she shrugged, she gave me her hand giving her my hand she examined the bandages.

"Nurse did a good job."

"Oh, I didn't go to the nurse." she looked at me confused. "Um, Sasuke did it." she smiled and nodded.

"So I'm guessing the project is going good too." I nodded chewing my chicken.

"Hi Naruto-kun." I swallowed and looked up, Hinata was standing there, she had some shopping bags in her hands.

"Hey Hinata. Um do you want to sit down?" she smiled and slightly nodded before she took a seat. There was something different about her, I couldn't tell what it was though. Her eyes were the usual pale gray hue, her light skin remained unchanged, and she wore her familiar large coat that covered her body easily. I liked that about Hinata, she wasn't like the other girls who dressed so exposed, practically asking for- like I said, I liked her attire.

"Konbanwa Tsunade-sama. How are you?" she smiled, I noticed that she didn't have any food.

"Do you want some of my chicken Hinata?"

"Thanks but no, I already ate." I nodded, curiously I looked down at her bags and noticed that she had bought clothing.

"So what did you buy Hinata?"

"Oh, umm," she took one of her bags and placed it on her lap, "just some new clothes for the summer." she took out a purple shirt that would look a bit big on her, she took out others similar but different colors and with different graphics as well as thin jacket that was very similar to the large one she would wear during the winter.

"They'll look nice on you." she smiled and put the shirts back into her bag. "Did you get a haircut? Something seems different." she chuckled and grabbed the back of her hair, I noticed that it was a bit shorter.

"I got a trim, and had some layers put. Thanks for noticing Naruto-kun." we continued to talk till both Tsunade and I finished our food. I said goodbye to Hinata and left the mall, I put the bags in the back seat of the Camry and sat in the passengers' seat. Tsunade drove out of the parking lot into the road.

"She sure has grown. She's a nice girl." I nodded, Hinata was a good friend, I enjoyed her company. Turning on the radio I laid back in my chair and looked out the window to pass the time. The rest of the ride was silent, it had already been night when we left the mall. I grabbed the bags and took them up to my room, walking back down the stairs I saw Tsunade in the living room sitting on the couch doing some work.

"No baa-chan?" she looked up and smiled.

"What aho?"

"Could you help me with my math homework? Complex logarithms totally screw me up." she nodded, I put my bag on the floor and took out my math textbook and notebook. It took a while to finish even with Tsunade's help, when I was done I put my books away in my bag.

"Tsunade, could I have a bit of ice cream? Please!"

"Well, you haven't had any sweets for a while, sure." I chuckled, quite suspiciously might I add. "Right?" I gave her an apologetic smile. "What did you do?"

"Tsunade no baa-chan I had to! I mean I didn't want to be rude! So I had to eat the cake." she looked at me.

"What?" I sighed.

"You know how I told you that me and the guys were going to Ichiraku's right?" she nodded. "Well after I finished, I didn't have enough for dessert-"

"How much did you eat?" I chuckled.

"No, its just that I had invited Sasuke too, my treat." she smiled and let me continue. "Well. It just so happen that someone had bought me Ichiraku's specialty dessert, his chocolate ice cream cake with fudge, chocolate and whipped cream. So if some secret admirer was willing to buy me that, come on! It'd be rude if I hadn't eaten it." she just looked at me with a small smile, "No ice cream then?"

"Nope."

"Not even a little?"

"Nope."

"But I shared most of it, and lots of it just went to Sasuke's face.. And mine." she raised her eyebrow, I grinned, "don't ask."

"So do you know who this secret admirer was?" I shook my head, she smiled and got up. "Well if I had to guess, I might say that it could be Hinata."

"Why do you say?"

"Well she obviously has a crush on you."

"Well she wasn't even at Ichiraku's."

"Still." I blew her a raspberry, she chuckled and told me to go to bed, grabbing my bag I said goodnight and walked up the stairs to my room. Looking over at the alarm clock that sat on my desk I still had time before it was time to go to bed so I went to take a quick bath, I threw my bag on the chair and walked into the bathroom.

I laid in the hot water, letting it relax all of me completely. I wondered why Tsunade would think that Hinata had a crush on me, I mean I know that she used to, like four years ago. She's cute, and nice and smart, but I don't really see her in that kind of way-she's not one I think about all day, before I sleep, when I wake up, she's awesome, but she's just my friend. I got out of the bath and dried off, I brushed my teeth and put on my warm blue cotton pajamas. Getting under the covers I was about to turn off the lights when I noticed that my bag had fallen on the ground. Reluctantly I got out of my bed and put my books back in my bag, under my desk was a black book, that's not mine.. I grabbed it and opened it, seeing the familiar pictures inside I quickly closed it.

Come on, look at it.

I can't!

Aren't you curious?

Yeah, but it'd be rude!

You know you want to. Beside, you've already seen most of it. I paused, its not like it's a diary, it'd be okay if I took a peak. I reopened the book, he hadn't added anything new, I smirked-now would be great time to see those pictures of me Sasuke hadn't let me see before. I turned to the last page, it was a quick sketch of me in I think art, I was standing with an apron on talking to someone, but the other person wasn't drawn. Turning the page I saw another one of me painting, then one of me in science. It went on like this for a while, they were all really nice, and the fact that he had drawn so many of me was flattering. The last picture was just of my upper body, I think it was at my doorstep yesterday, my eyes were wide with my hair as crazy as ever. The person in the picture though, he looked radiant, all the pictures seemed that way, some what mystical. I looked in the small reflection from my photo frame, I definitely don't look anything like the person he had drawn on these pages. Not wanting to feel worse about myself I put the book into my bag, I'd return it to him tomorrow. I crawled back into bed and turned off the lights after slightly petting my old stuffed teddy bear who sat on my nightstand.

He was really old, I've had him for as long as I could remember, I think my mom or dad had given it to me before they died, he wasn't as big to me anymore. He was almost as big as my torso, which was gigantic to me when I was younger, his eyes were small and black, he had on this faded red bow tie that made him look like one of those singing quartette people, he was a light brown with a lot of slightly new stitches that helped hold him together thanks to Tsunade. I found it amusing that it's name was 'Beary', man how expected of a small child. Remembering back to when I was younger, I'd always sleep with it, he gave me a feeling of security, something I desperately needed in the orphanage. Letting my heavy eyelids close I fell asleep.

*-* [*o*] Next Scene \(^-^)/

The sudden cold air around me jolted me awake, rubbing my sleep covered eyes I was greeted by Tsunade's satisfied smirk.

"Wake up, I made you breakfast."

"And you didn't burn down the house? Wow!" she smacked my head and threw me back my covers.

"Hurry up aho." I walked out of bed to the bathroom to brush my teeth and attempt to tame my hair. Going back to my room I decided to wear my new shirt and shoes, along with my almost black jeans and faded orange jacket with the top half being a no longer so dark black. I grabbed my bag and walked down the stairs to the kitchen.

"Ohayou gosaimasu." I sat down on the chair and looked down at the crummy made pancakes. Tsunade sat down next to me and gave me the syrup.

"Well, eat up! You need your breakfast. It's the most important meal of the day." she smiled and took a bite of her pancake, I smiled, she wasn't ever the greatest cook but I was glad that she bothered to make breakfast herself. Taking the syrup and lightly coating the pancakes I took a piece and ate it happily-even though the pancakes didn't look the best, they did taste good. While we ate we talked a bit, I told her that Sasuke and I had to get materials to start our science project and that in art we had to paint what summer means to me, and that I had no idea what to paint. After we finished, Tsunade drove me to school, I got there later than I usual do, but usually I took the early train to school.

"I'll see you at home." I gave her a hug and got out of the car after she practically crushed me. Entering the school I saw Kiba and the guys down the hall, turning he saw me and waved me over, I smiled and walked over.

"Hey Naruto! Can you believe that these suckers are challenging us to another game?"

"Really? I thought after we beat them 20-13 that they wouldn't dare."

"We are determined Naruto! Our youth will let us achieve victory this time!" we all laughed at Lee's words, Kiba put his arm around my shoulder and grinned.

"Well with Naruto on our team we'll beat you just like last time!"

"We'll see about that Kiba." Neji smirked, the warning bell rang, "Let's get to class Naruto."

"Later guys." the guys walked down the hall, Neji and I turned and walked toward our history class. We entered the classroom before the teacher arrived, Neji and I took our seats in the middle of the classroom, I took the seat next to the window, Neji sat on my right.

"So Naruto," he leaned over slightly, I turned to face him, "Gaara's back huh?"

"No duh Sherlock." he flicked my nose. "Oi!"

"I know that idiot. I mean, with Gaara, that's an extra player." I slightly rubbed my nose, I hadn't thought of that.

"Then we'll just get another guy to play." he shrugged and turned to the front of the class as the teacher walked in. I did the same, I felt the class fly by, I was nodding off when the bell rang, signaling the end of that class. "I'll see you at lunch Neji." he waved and left down the hall, I walked into my math class and sat in my usual seat next to Shikamaru. We talked for while since the teacher hadn't come in yet.

"So Naruto," he rested his chin on his hand and turned toward me, "you friends with that Sasuke now?"

"Why do you ask it like that?" he raised his eyebrow, keeping his lazy stare.

"Monday you were complaining about how you have to partner up with him. Yesterday you stare at him in lunch-"

"I was not!"

"I'm not stupid Naruto." I felt my ears burn up. "Then you invite him to eat with us and act like you've been friends forever."

"What's so wrong about becoming friends with someone?" he sighed.

"There's nothing wrong with it, its just-"

"Then what's the big deal?"

"I just don't understand how you could go from hating him to liking him so fast." sighing I shrugged.

"Well I never hated him."

"You've always said you loathed him."

"Well I guess I never hated him as much as I said I did. Look, why are you making such a big deal about it!"

"I'm not I'm just trying to understand." I hesitated. "I-I… um.."

"Okay class! Hand in your homework!" I sighed in a bit of relief. I handed in my homework and did my best focus up front.

When the bell rang Shikamaru said we'd continue later and left toward his next class. I don't know why he was being so persistent about this, why did it matter if Sasuke and I were friends? I mean if you look past his cold stare and somewhat cocky persona, he's not that bad. I shook my head in agitation, it didn't matter, he and I were friends and I wasn't going to change that. I entered the boys locker room and changed quickly before Zabuza-sensei could yell at me for taking so long. I walked out and grunted a hi to Kiba, with what had happened with Shikamaru, it had put me in a sort of bad mood.

"Alright! We are going outside and have a couple of races. 40, 100 and 200 meter races. We'll take a warm up lap." we all walked outside together, Kiba was mostly talking to Shino, he knew when I was in a bad mood, I shouldn't be bothered. Half of the guys were put on the track for the 100 meter, on my right was that white haired guy, Suigetsu I think. He looked at me and smirked, showing his sharp teeth, he winked at me and turned forward.

"Alright! On the count of three! One.." I looked ahead of me, "Two.." if he thought he was going to beat me, "Three.." he was wrong. "Go!" I sprinted, he and I were in the lead, it only took a second for him to realize that I was challenging him in this race, he smirked and caught up to me. The wind hit my face, slightly cooling me, we were almost at the finish line, he was right next to me, I pushed and ran ahead of him.

"WOO! Way to go Naruto!" Kiba yelled, I walked over trying to catch my breath. I felt someone pat my back, looking back I saw Suigetsu walking with me.

"Woah… that was cool… didn't think you had it in you… you know with your frame and all.." he said in between breaths.

"Thanks I guess.."

"I'm Suigetsu." he outstretched his hand, I took his hand and shook it.

"Naruto. You're friends with Sasuke right?" he smirked slightly, sitting down on the grass against the fence that surrounded the track. I leaned against the fence next to him.

"Well, we're not exactly friends. But I can talk to him, something not as remarkable anymore huh.." he looked up at me and winked, what did he mean remarkable? Sasuke had always been popular, I always thought he had a bunch of people who he'd associate with.

"Good job Naruto. Ever thought about joining our track team?"

"Umm not really Zabuza-sensei.."

"You should think about it. Haku and I could use someone as fast as you." he said as he shifted his sideways bandana. I nodded, he smiled and continued with the rest of class.

"Suigetsu… Are Karin and Sasuke… umm an item or something?" he turned to look at me and looked back at the trees across the track.

"Don't know… Don't care.."

=] \(^-^)/ Next Scene *-* [*o*]

Walking into chemistry I saw Sasuke sitting next to Karin, he usually sat with her so I ignored it, what did it matter to me who he sat with.

Hey buddy, be cool. Take a chill pill

I am chill.

Not so much in here buddy.I took a deep breath and went to sit next to Hinata. "Hello Naruto-kun. Are you okay?"

"Yeah. Why?" she shrugged and stared down to her feet. "Umm, I see that you're wearing your new shirt. Purple looks nice on you." she blushed and smiled, "Thank you. You too, the shirts nice. Oh and your shoes." I thanked her and plastered on my usual large grin. After a bit Kakashi-sensei walked in with his laid back attitude and lazy stare. He was wearing a dark green bandana over half his face like he oddly always wore, his silver hair covered his left eye, I always wondered why you could only ever see his right eye at almost all times.

"Alright class! New chapter today, fun ne?" he turned and started writing on the chalkboard, I did my best to stay out of my head and focus. When the bell rang I walked out of the classroom and headed to lunch, but remembering what Shikamaru had said, I didn't want to go.

"Naruto!" I stopped and saw Sasuke run up to me.

"Hey."

"You okay?"

"Yeah I'm fine."

"You sure?" I looked up at him, for some reason he knew I felt like crap, and for some reason I couldn't put up my usual mask around him. I just nodded and continued to walk down the hall, he let it go and walked along with me. "Umm, well I was wondering if you wanted to do something after school? You know before we have to meet up with Sakura." I stopped and just stared at him, what did he mean? Like hang out? Then why was he so flushed?

"Sorry got plans." he nodded but I could tell he was uneasy. "Why don't you ask that Karin girl? Ain't you going out?"

"Why would you say that?"

"Well. You talk to her a lot."

"She's just a friend."

"I thought you said you didn't really have any." he furrowed his brow and shuffled slightly.

"Well. She's not a good friend, she's just a girl. Our families knew each other, so I've known her for a while but I don't really think anything of her." after he finished somehow I felt better, it was kinda like what Suigetsu said, they could talk to him but that was really all. "I noticed that you were tense in Chem. It wouldn't have been about Karin would it?" I paused, had it been? Had I been angry at the idea of him and her dating? But why? I looked back at Sasuke, he seemed to be observing my movements, his eyes showed that inside he cared-don't look at me like that Sasuke, I don't deserve it, don't look at me with those eyes…

"Oh, I almost forgot." I opened my bag and took out his black book. "I found this in my bag, I must have grabbed it by accident yesterday." his eyes widened as he took it into his hands. He hesitated for a bit, his cheeks turning a cherry red.

"Umm, you didn't look at it did you?" I let out a forced laugh.

"Oh don't worry teme! I don't care about those pictures! They're good.." I paused for a bit, "I just don't get why you'd bother with me." my voice was so small I was surprised he heard me.

"What do you mean?" I leaned against the cold locker door and sighed.

"I mean.. out of everyone why would you bother to draw me, when you could draw someone more.. More I don't know.. Worth it.." he raised his eyebrows and just looked at me, after a bit he sighed and took my hand leading me somewhere. We walked into the boys bathroom, "Hey, I don't want to be with you while you do your business!"

"What? No! Baka…" he walked me up to the sink and pointed to the mirror, I didn't know what he was trying to do so I just looked at his reflection. He was wearing a dark blue long sleeved polo shirt that had his family crest on the left, it wasn't buttoned but he wore a black shirt under that still slightly showed his chest. I think he was wearing khakis , they were really black so I couldn't exactly tell, but he looked his usual-you can say-handsome self. Sasuke has always been a really attractive guy. I mentally slapped myself for that thought. He grabbed my chin and turned me so I could face myself. "Naruto… you're b- umm.. Umm," I saw that he was a bit flushed, "Beautiful, you're outstandingly beautiful." all I did was stare at him, he couldn't be serious, how could Sasuke Uchiha ever call me beautiful? I was a boy, how can a boy even be considered that, especially me.

"Kurenai-sensei is beautiful, Mei-sensei is beautiful. Hinata is beautiful, heck even though he's a guy, Haku-sensei is beautiful." He cracked a smile, "I am not beautiful." he looked at me and sighed, he turned me back to face myself.

"Naruto if you were a girl I'd be all over you. And I think that's saying a lot." he said as he gave me his breathtaking smile. If I were a girl. But I'm not Sasuke. You couldn't love me as I am then? There was lump in my throat. Did I want him to love me? What was I thinking! Sasuke is definitely not gay, he would never feel the same way I feel about him. I felt my stomach drop. Had I really just said that I liked Sasuke Uchiha? Get a hold of yourself Naruto! Don't let yourself sabotage your friendship with him! I screamed to myself. I shook everything inside me away. I pretended to swat something away.

"Man you're making me feel like some chick. Oi teme, you were on the basketball team right?" he stood there for a bit with this confused look, completely looking past me as if I wasn't even there. "Earth to Sasuke?" I waved my hand in front of his face but he just kept looking at me. "Sasuke.. Sasu.. Sasu-chan!"

"What did you call me?" I grinned.

"You were out of it or something, and I knew that would get your attention teme." patting his shoulder slightly I laughed and made my way out of the bathroom.

"What were you saying about basketball?" he asked as he followed me out.

"Well I was asking because my friends and I are having a little rematch after school today and they need another player."

"But with me on the other team, you'd lose."

"Oh so you think you can beat me?" we walked into the cafeteria over to the lunch line, Sasuke laughed slightly and nodded.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure I could." I took the bento box and a chocolate milk.

"Alright then, put it on the table. If I win…" I paid for my food, I thought about what would make him completely mortified. "Ah I got it! If I win, you have to do whatever I say for a whole week."

"And when I win you have to do what I say for a week."

"You're so cocky teme! So we gotta deal?" he thought about it for a bit and nodded.

"Deal." we shook hands, alright I had to beat Sasuke, I couldn't let him order me around for a week.

"Deal? What deal?" I hadn't realized that we had already gotten to my table, Kiba looked at us with his usual curious stare.

"Oh, well we just got the extra player we needed." I said patting Sasuke's back.

"Alright, alright. I cant wait to see Sasuke's mad skills then." Kiba said as he pretended shoot a basket. I didn't hear what he said next but everyone started laughing, even Sasuke cracked a smile.

"Well, I'll see you later do- Naruto." he smiled slightly and walked over to his table with Suigetsu and some other guy with orange hair, he was really tall and built, I think his name was Jūgo. I shrugged to myself, I had a lot of friends, Sasuke could have as many as he wanted, as long as we were still friends. I sat down in my usual seat across from Kiba in between Gaara and Shikamaru. As I ate I felt Shikamaru's eyes on me, after a bit it got too uncomfortable.

"Is something wrong?" I asked him, he didn't answer for a while, I'm guessing he's doing his whole, think about everything in my head routine. I continued to eat while he did this, after a while he finally spoke.

"Don't you think that the guys are going to have an unfair advantage since Sasuke was like the all-star in basketball?" for some reason I hadn't completely considered that, but it was too late now, I have to win! Kiba must have heard Shikamaru because then he jumped in.

"No way Shikamaru! Naruto can beat Sasuke, dattebayo!"

"That's totally my catch phrase Kiba!" he laughed and just went back to talking with Shino and the others, I chuckled and continued to eat. "Well don't worry! I won't go easy on them, we are winning this game!" Shikamaru just looked at me, I didn't know what was running through his head, I just hoped it wasn't 100 different scenarios where I'd lose to Sasuke.

"How troublesome." he said, I just laughed at his 'catch phrase' that clearly showed his lazy personality. I finished eating just before the period ended, I grabbed my bag and walked with Gaara to our next class.

"Hey Naruto, after the game do you wanna come over? Just got the new Mortal Kombat."

"Really? That's so cool Gaara!" I paused, "Uhh… I forgot that Sasuke and I have to get our supplies for our science project."

"Oh, whatever." he looked a little pissed, but I couldn't blame him, we hadn't hung out since he came back.

"Oi, but it won't take long! Then I'll be over your place, and kick your butt in MK!" I patted his back, he smirked-which was a good sign-he nodded and we entered the classroom. We had study hall so we only stayed for the first few minutes and left toward the school grounds. Taking our usual spot under a large Sakura tree we laid down on the grass and just watched the clouds pass by. We talked about things, Gaara told me more about his trip to France, but mostly we relaxed in a comfortable silence. I had missed this, since he hadn't been here for the past month I had mostly spent my study hall with Iruka, if he wasn't busy with Kakashi-sensei, he never told me why Kakashi was always be calling him up for the strangest of reasons. When Gaara spoke I listened attentively, but when we were quiet, my mind kept going to Sasuke, I was anxious for today's game.

I was definitely not letting him win.

.

.

.

Did you guys like it? I really hope you guys did! Yes I know, finally after EIGHT chapters one of them confess their feelings! I just realized that they are definitely too OOC, I just cant really capture the characters huh. Oh well, what can be done right? .

Translations:

Hajimemashite- Nice to meet you

Aho- silly

Onegai shimasu- please

Arigatou- thanks

Ohayou gosaimasu- Good morning

Thanks for all the reviews guys! it gets me running *cough**cough* :3
Thanks so much for reading! Review pleease~