DISCLAIMER: Kishimoto owns, I think we all know that

Naruto glanced towards Kyuubi as he watched his brother pack his clothes up. Christmas and the New Year had passed and Kyuubi had to be back at his campus. His classes wouldn't be starting for another two weeks but he had a job and he only asked for so much time off for the holidays. Whereas the blonde's classes wouldn't be beginning for a while and he would just be spending his time at home or with Sai.

But before his brother left, Naruto did want to tell Kyuubi about Sasuke. Or at least that he had met with him briefly over the holiday by chance when they were out shopping. Now, he knew that his brother already didn't like his senpai even though he hadn't met him. Overall, when Naruto explained about Sasuke to his brother, his brother found him to be quite suspicious rather than genuine. And he understood that it was normal to be protective.

He believed in Sasuke's feelings so he wanted Kyuubi to believe that his senpai was a good guy.

"Hey Kyuu…" he said slowly. "I uh… that guy who likes me and wants to be my friend? You remember me telling you about him right?"

Kyuubi didn't stop packing but he nodded in answer. "Yeah, what about him? He still after you? I'm telling you Naru, I don't like the way that guy sounds. I think he's just hanging around you and waiting to grow on you to trick you into liking him. You said that you didn't really like him when you first met right?"

Naruto shook his head and then folded his legs. "I didn't say that. I mean… I had a small crush on him when I met him but I didn't think that we would be bonding together or anything like that. But anyways, I actually ran into him just a while ago."

This time Kyuubi looked up. The brothers had spent almost every day together since he had arrived at home for the holidays. "What? When?"

"It was when we went to the shopping center to get gifts with mom and dad. I just ran into him for a little bit and we talked." Naruto pulled down at his sweater when he felt it riding up. "I don't think you saw him in the store but yeah, he and I talked. But that was the last time I saw him."

"And nothing happened?"

Naruto bit his lip for a brief second. "Uh no. He asked me if we could, like, start addressing each other by our first names. I guess he felt that we were ready to sort of take things into another level, or something like that." He shrugged, trying to make it seem like a big deal. But the truth was that he was a little bit nervous and excited being able to call his senpai by his first name.

It proved that they reached a milestone in their relationship.

"… Alright Naru, just as long as he doesn't do anything to make you feel uncomfortable." Kyuubi said as he went back to packing. "I mean, if you were ever going to date someone I figured that you would get together with Sai. You guys are together a lot and you get along pretty well."

At that, Naruto stuck his tongue out and shook his head. "No way! I could never get together with Sai! He's way too pervy for me!" he laughed at the image of he and Sai being actual boyfriends. "He's more in love with his art than he is with me."

"Even though he's always saying how great of an ass you have and pinching it?"

"He just has weird boundary issues and I just happen to tolerate him on a very big level. Besides, he just likes to make people feel weird and uncomfortable."

Kyuubi rolled his eyes with a smile and zipped up his bags. "Gonna see me off Naruto?"

Naruto jumped off his bed and straightened up his clothes a little bit. "Yeah… but I won't be happy to see you go Kyuubi." He pouted but smiled when he felt a hand ruffle his hair affectionately. He walked with his brother down the stairs and tried to think of something to talk about. "So are you going to have a new roommate this semester or not?"

"I put in a request that I keep the same roommate but we'll see what the dorm facilities have to say." Kyuubi answered. "But man, if I get a new roommate I have to do that whole 'establishing rules' thing all over again and hope that he listens!"

The boys met up with their parents down the stairs. Kushina had a tissue in her hand and she was wiping away a few tears from her face. "Oh my baby, going back to college! You make your mom proud and earn that degree so that you could buy me a new car!"

Minato just rubbed at his wife's back and handed a bento to his oldest son with the other hand. "Drive safe okay son? Let us know that you got there safely."

"Sure thing dad. And you got it mom." Kyuubi gave both his parents a hug and let Kushina kiss his cheek. Naruto followed after him carrying his other bag and then put it in the trunk of his car. Then he squeezed his brother in a hug one last time. "Let me know when you want to come visit the college some time Naruto."

The blonde nodded his head and waved goodbye as he watched his brother back up out of the driveway. And as he walked back to the front door of his house, he stopped to see that Minato was holding up his winter coat, snow boots, and some money. "What?"

"While you're out there, your mother wanted you to buy some groceries. She wants you to pick up some beef, noodles, and oyster sauce." Minato said as he wrapped the jacket around his youngest son, helping him to put his arms in the sleeves.

"Out there? I'm ten feet away from the house! I'm not 'out there!'" Naruto pouted but put on his snow boots and took the money. "Can I at least get a snack while I'm getting mom's things?"

Minato smiled and nodded his head. "Don't take too long Naruto. You're mother wants to make her favorite comfort food: stir fried noodles with lots of noodles. And we don't have enough noodles." He looked at Naruto once more and asked if he wanted his ear muffs. His youngest son was sensitive around the ears, particularly around winter time for some reason. So when he saw Naruto nod, he pulled out orange earmuffs from behind his back and handed it to him.

"Okay dad. I'll be back!"

And so Naruto made his way into the town, glad that he was wearing his ear muffs. He looked both ways before crossing the street and checked his coat pocket to make sure that the money hadn't fallen out. But just like his mother, he did stop at the pet shop window for a brief moment and admired the kittens playing inside.

At the local market, he made sure to grab a basket and went down the aisles.

It was easy to find the noodles, buying two packs, and then went down to the meat section to buy beef. He stopped in the instant noodle aisle to get a cup of ramen (his 'snack') and then moved on to go look for the oyster sauce. And when he stopped at the aisle where it was usually placed, he bent down to look for the brand that his mother liked to use only to find that it wasn't in its usual place. He spent just a minute or two walking back up and down the aisle but couldn't find the oyster sauce.

When the blonde finally looked up, he sighed to himself to see that it was placed on the top shelf and he couldn't reach it.

Still, that didn't stop him from standing on his tiptoes to reach it anyway. He didn't have time to look for an employee to get the sauce.

But it appeared that someone had seen his struggle and easily reached for the oyster sauce and handed it to him. "Is that what you were reaching for?" the stranger asked.

Naruto shook his head and gave it back. "No, the one on the left!"

So the stranger put back the wrong sauce and gave him the correct one, handing it to Naruto. "That's the one right?"

This time Naruto nodded his head and looked up at the person who helped him. "Thanks! This is the one I-" he started to say but stopped midsentence, taking a look at the person who had helped him. He was mesmerized long enough for the stranger in front of him to grow concerned and asked if he was okay. But Naruto shook his head and put the oyster sauce in the basket. "No I'm fine! But um hey… are you related to Uchiha Sasuke by any chance?"

The man before him bared a very strong resemblance to his senpai and recognized him as the one Sasuke was standing with at the shopping center just a few weeks ago.

From a distance he could see the resemblance but up close and personal, it was very obvious that the two were closely related. Naruto had his money betted that they were brothers, if not cousins. So when the man in front of him confirmed that he was indeed Sasuke's brother and introduced himself as Itachi, Naruto did a little fist pump and gave him a big smile. "Oh, is he here with you right now?"

"He is somewhere. Are you a friend of his? Perhaps you're on the swim team with him?" Itachi asked, assessing the little blonde before him.

"Nope, I'm just a classmate of his. I'm Uzumaki Naruto!"

"I see, Very nice to meet you. So you and my brother are in the same class?"

"Uh… no. I mean, we go to the same school. He's my senpai."

Itachi then gave him a devious smile. "Is that so?"

ヽ(･ω･)丿

"Damn it, where are you Itachi?" Sasuke growled out. He stood outside the market and pulled the hood of his winter coat over his head. His brother had promised him that he wouldn't take too long inside the store to buy some ingredients for tonight's dinner. He wanted to cook dinner himself for their family since he would be driving back to the college tonight. And at his insistence, he had been dragged by his older brother to accompany him to the market.

But out of spite, he didn't want to walk in with his brother despite knowing that the heating would be a blessing right now. His legs were fucking freezing.

He heard the doors to the market open but only found that a married couple had walked out together, the husband pushing the cart full of food and the wife looking into her purse for the car keys.

"Fuck…" he muttered to himself.

The doors opened but he didn't bother to look at who was exiting out.

Sasuke briefly looked down at his phone to check on the time and when he looked up, he saw a familiar head of blonde hair walking away from him. "Hey Uzuma... I mean, Naruto!"

"Senpai?"

His kouhai walked towards him, one of his arms holding a plastic bag. "It's Sasuke, remember?"

That pretty face flushed and he gave him a grin. "Oh right! Sasuke, how are you? What are you doing out here? Shouldn't you be inside with your brother? It's cold out here and you're not even wearing any ear muffs!"

Sasuke shook his head and tried to repress the big smile that was trying to come onto his face. He didn't want to see too eager in front of his kouhai; he wanted to play it cool. And he was about to give a very nonchalant answer but noticed the extra question that was thrown in. "Wait, how did you know that I my brother was here?"

"Well, he helped me get a bottle of oyster sauce. They moved the brand that my family likes to use to the top shelf and I was too short to reach it. Luckily your brother came along to help me! You and your brother look so much alike! With me and my brother Kyuubi, people have to really look at us to see the resemblance! I guess it has to do with the fact that I've got blonde hair and he's got red. My dad has blonde hair and my mom has red hair and…"

Sasuke listened to his kouhai ramble on and found it how cute the dobe was getting lost in talking too much. But he was still very distracted by the fact that Naruto had met his brother. And speaking of the devil…

"I'm so happy to have met your kouhai otouto." Itachi said as he approached the two. "You're such a good senpai."

And that's when he knew that Itachi knew that Naruto was the kouhai that he had mentioned to him not too long ago.

Naruto just looked between the brothers and gave them both a smile. "Well… I have to go home now. My mom just needed me to pick up some stuff for her and my dad wanted me home as soon possible."

Sasuke nodded his head but grabbed Naruto by the arm before he could walk away. "Hold on dobe, your ear muffs are crooked." He said as he fixed them back into place.

"Teme… calling me a dobe in front of your brother." Naruto muttered to himself. "I'll um… see you later Sasuke." He then bowed slightly to Itachi and walked away from the brothers.

Both brothers watched the blonde walk away, the youngest catching the look his older brother was giving him. "What Itachi?"

"You're such a good senpai Sasuke." Itachi merely said and then pulled on his brother's arm. "If you like this boy Sasuke, you should get together with him soon. After all, you've only got one year left in high school and you don't want to waste it just being that boy's senpai if you like him so much."

"Shut up Itachi." Sasuke muttered.

But he couldn't deny the fact that his brother was right.

"Wow Sasuke-kun, your hair got long." Sai commented when he caught sight of the Uchiha. Never once during the winter break did he run into his teammate. "It looks nice and soft. May I touch it?"

"Don't be a fucking creeper Sai." Sasuke growled out. He had meant to trim his hair but he didn't get around to it during the last month. But with Sai, it did serve to remind him that he did need a trim. "Be quiet now, our new captain is about to be announced."

Back at school and with the cold weather slowly melting away, spring had come with a new school year. There were first year high school students, kids in their second year, and the upperclassman ready to close out their third year with good memories. The third years of clubs, particularly presidents or captains, would be handing over their positions to their fellow classmates who believed would be the best fit to take over their position.

The new captain announced for the new semester was a boy named Suigetsu, a third year student at their school with white hair and… shark teeth.

Sasuke found that strange but that it also fit him.

He did hold the fastest times for two of their swimming strokes and Sasuke saw how good he was at directing and improving the first years from their previous semester.

Everyone clapped and moved to congratulate their new captain.

They wouldn't be training for about another week so the team was let out until their practice schedule was announced. So Sasuke and Sai walked out of the building together, walking together in silence until Sai finally spoke up.

"So before you graduate will you finally get together with Naruto?"

Sasuke glanced over at him before looking forward again. "I would hope so. But tell me something, do you think that I will be able to have Uzumaki before I graduate? You're his friend and you know him best, so tell me."

"Naruto's stubborn but he's slowly given in to you. I think it's because he feels like you haven't forced yourself on him. With the other boys, he felt the same way he did about you. He had small crushes but when his crushes would try to talk to him, he felt as if they were trying too hard to try to be with him and become intimidated and decide that he didn't like them as much as he thought he did." Sai explained and then pulled out his phone to send a message to Naruto, telling him to meet him outside the gate. "So I would say your chances are fairly good, given if nothing screws you over."

Well, it was a relief to know that Sai had some faith in him.

Naruto stood at the gate of school, waving his hands in the air to show that he was waiting for the two boys. He ran to them instead and gave them both a grin. "You guys got out of practice early. You're not even wet!"

"We didn't have practice. Today was just the announcement for the captain this year. We'll be back in the pool by next week." Sai explained, putting Naruto in the middle as the three walked together. He playfully pinched the blonde's behind and blocked the punch coming to him. "Surprised you."

Sasuke and Naruto both glared at the artist but otherwise, didn't say anything about it.

Naruto turned to start talking to his senpai. "So uh… how was your day Sasuke?" Naruto asked, waiting to see If Sai would give out an embarrassing comment.

When he had told his friend about how Sasuke had asked him to start calling each other by their first names in the exact fashion that Sai had predicted well… it ended with a bruised leg and some blue paint spilling on someone's favorite sweater.

But Sai said nothing and just quietly walked alongside them.

"It was fine Naruto…" Sasuke answered back.

It was obvious that they were still a little bit nervous about having permission to address each other by their first name.

That and… there were some students from their school walking in front of them that were obviously listening in to them. They all heard the excited squeals and just knew that the very next day, people would be all over the news that Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto stopped formally addressing each other.

Well, it was sort of a big deal but it was also no one's business!

Naruto knew that from just associating with Sasuke, all types of news and gossip would go around. But hey, as long as what was being spread around was the truth then he almost couldn't really complain.

The only legitimate thing that he could complain about was…

"Sai, stop touching my ass!" Naruto growled out and stepped on his friend's foot. "Shit, we just started another year and this is how you're going to start it off? By groping me?"

"… That wasn't me Naruto."

"Huh?" Naruto stared hard at Sai before shifting his gaze over to his senpai. And judging by the way Sasuke just continued to look forward, he knew that he was guilty of the action. "… You know senpai, I almost forgot that you're kind of a pervert."

"Sorry, I couldn't help myself. Besides, if Sai gets that privilege then I should too." Then Sasuke lightly slapped him in the back of the head. "Hey, remember we're supposed to be calling each other by our first names now."

"Don't try to change the subject!"

Sai just walked beside the two, happily listening to the two bantering with each other.

He was actually the one to grope Naruto's ass and then pinned it on the Uchiha, giving Naruto more reason to talk to their senpai. Oh yes, Sai was hard at work pushing the two boys together. They would thank him later in the future when they would start dating and then eventually get married.

A/N: Chapters 5 & 13 of That Poor Sucker rewritten