Here's a thanx to Mormongirlbyu for helping me out and beta-reading this! glomp You rock! Oh, and thanx to all of my readers too!
"NARUTO!" The blond head snapped up and he blinked. The teacher hadn't come in yet, and this was the first time he'd been to his new class, so he couldn't help but look over in surprise at his name being called, although that voice sounded familiar... "No way! You're here too! That is so awesome!" The black-haired Uchiha plopped down in the seat next to his friend, a grin splitting his face from one end to the other. "Now my mom can't say that we can't be friends!"
Naruto blinked at the boy, took a quick glance around the room at the few kids who had filtered into the classroom in the last few minutes before turning away and looking straight at the blackboard with a blank expression. "It's better if you're not."
Sasuke blinked. "Huh?" he asked. "Why?"
"Because."
"That's not a good reason!" Sasuke insisted. Naruto felt a vein in his forehead begin to throb.
"Of course it is!"
Sasuke folded his arms and shook his head. "No way. Unless you give me a good answer, I'm not gonna stop being your friend!"
Naruto grit his teeth and ignored the comment and went back to thinking on how badly this day would turn out, sitting stiffly in his seat and continuing to gaze at the blank chalkboard. "I wonder how this teacher will treat me..." he said softly.
"What?" Sasuke looked over. "What do you mean by that?"
"None of your business."
"Then why did you say it out loud?" Sasuke asked, a triumphant smirk crossing his face.
Naruto felt the throb of annoyance increase at the black-haired boy's words. "Because I'm used to being alone." He almost had to suppress a triumphant smirk of his own when Sasuke's sobered.
"Oh," Sasuke said, then his smile returned full force. "Well you'd better get used to not being alone anymore!"
It took everything within Naruto to not roll his eyes. For the love of Konoha, did this kid know when to quit?
"Hey…" Apparently not, Naruto thought to himself as the blue-eyed child spoke up again. The blond slowly turned and looked over at Sasuke (reluctantly) to see the dark-haired boy studying him. "Have you ever met my brother, Uchiha Itachi?"
Naruto raised an eyebrow slightly before settling his face back to being carved from stone. "No."
"Oh. You act just like him."
"What?" Naruto looked over at Sasuke, disbelief, confusion and annoyance written all over his face. Why would he want to act like a stupid, stuck-up Uchiha?
"You're--"
"Good morning class!" a man appeared at the front of the room in a puff of smoke. Sasuke immediately realized that it was the larger-set man with short hair that he and his father had talked to the previous day about Itachi, and sighed, his conversation with Naruto forgotten. He had a feeling that this would be a long day...so he cracked his neck and settled in for the ride like he normally did: with a smile hiding the grimace.
xXx
Naruto made a bee-line for the door as casually as he could. The less attention he drew to himself in the midst of all the kids rushing out the door to their waiting parents, the better...but at this point, all he wanted to do was get out of there before--
"Naruto!" He flinched at the sound of his name being called, knowing very well who had called it. Was this supposed to be some kind of punishment? He'd almost missed the loud boy when they'd been told that they couldn't be friends...now he was wondering how desperate he'd really become to ever think that. He quickened his pace, hoping that the other would take the hint (yeah, right), and had almost made it to the door with the other students when he felt a hand on his shoulder. "Hey, wait up!"
"Why?" Naruto didn't even look over his shoulder.
"Want to practice with me?"
For the first time in a very long time, Naruto wanted to scream in frustration, not that he did or would (again, it would only bring him more attention, and right now, that was the last thing he wanted), but still, he wanted to.
"What?" he asked, turning to see the blue-eyed Uchiha.
Sasuke's large grin sat on his face making him look...was it just Naruto's imagination, or did he look like a fox? He shook that thought from his head as soon as it entered.
He didn't particularly like foxes.
"I asked if you wanted to..." he faded off as Naruto shook his head. "Oh," he said, sounding more than a little dejected. Then, he immediately brightened up. "That's okay! Tomorrow then!"
With that, the Uchiha turned to walk out the door. He'd barely stepped through when he froze having heard his own name called. Turning, he saw his mother come walking up to him with a bright face.
"Sasuke! I was passing by and decided to pick you..." she faded off when she saw who had been standing right next to him. It didn't take a genius to put two and two together.
Not wanting to cause another scene, Naruto gulped and turned to walk away. Sasuke, seeing this, suddenly set his jaw and stalked up to the dark-haired woman.
"Mom," Sasuke walked up to her. "I don't care what you or anyone else says; I'm gonna be friends with Naruto. Now let's go." The unusually stoic boy turned and started walking through the training ground around the school, ignoring the confused looks other parents shot at the scene. Naruto winced at his words. That's all he needed, to make yet another enemy--
"Naruto-kun," he heard his name and froze, panic washing over him. Sasuke hadn't called him that time...so what? Wincing, he turned around to face the dark-haired woman. She had a resigned look on her face. Looking more than a little uncomfortable, she walked towards the blond boy, who shied back as if expecting to be hit.
Instead, she knelt down and looked him in the eye. Warily, he looked over at her, peeking through one eye, then the other.
"Naruto-kun...I owe you an apology." The first thing Naruto felt when hearing those words was an immense shock. No one except the Sandaime apologized to him. Disbelief came second. Why would anyone apologize to him? Especially anyone old enough to know why everyone hated him (stupid Fox!)? Then came confusion. So, had he just imagined her speaking like that?
"What I said to you that day..." apparently not…or he had happened into the midst of a genjutsu of some kind, "…they were only the words of a very worried mother." She sighed and shook her head, "that's no excuse, I know, which is why I am apologizing." She looked over her shoulder at her own dumbfounded son. "If you want to be friends with my son, I give you my permission. My only requirement is that you both be careful. People will not like to see you two as friends, and thus will not accept it...especially the rest of the clan."
She turned and walked towards a still shocked Sasuke before pausing and looking over her shoulder. "I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me. I know your burden is not your choice."
Sasuke watched the entire exchange almost disbelieving. Uchihas never apologized...ever! At least that's what he'd been told (not that he cared, but his mother had always seemed to be a proper Uchiha in his view).
Then, his mother's words registered, and he blinked. Burden? What burden? No parents? Everyone knew Naruto was an orphan. Well, that part definitely fit what she'd said. He didn't choose to be an orphan. Is that why everyone hated him? That made no sense though, he knew of other kids in their class who were orphans, and he didn't think that people hated them (and everyone thought he was unobservant too. He'd been really proud of himself when he'd consciously registered the way other kids and the teachers treated Naruto as compared to everyone else).
"Sasuke," he blinked out of his thoughts and looked up at his mother. "Can you forgive me as well? Can you forgive me for saying something so horrible about your friend?"
He responded immediately. "Of course, Kaa-san!" He noticed Naruto standing several feet away, looking as if he were digesting something particularly difficult. "That is, if Naruto forgives you."
"Well, today," she looked over her shoulder apologetically at Naruto, "Sasuke needs to train at home." She turned to her son again. "Just let me know when you two are going to--'hang out' I believe the kids today call it."
"Hai, kaa-san!" Sasuke grinned and waved at Naruto. "See you tomorrow!"
Naruto watched them leave with the vague feeling that he'd missed something. Nothing in his life ever turned out that well. Why should he honestly believe this was any different? Something in the back of his mind pointed out that none of the usual rules applied when that stupid Uchiha was involved, but he conveniently ignored that thought as he turned to head home, still in a daze.