Chapter Ten: A Student is An Annoyance

Author's Notes: I figured I'd give you all an accurate day in which Naruto is on in the calendar year, so you aren't so confused. Yeah, yeah, I should have saved it for Christmas, but sometimes when it's so hot outside, I just want to think of the cold. SHORTER CHAPTER.

Warnings/ Disclaimer: I warn you, it's just the same, and I disclaim.

Dedication: To my muses – Jen and Taylor. I love you both.

Chapter Ten: A Student is An Annoyance

Day Eight, December 11th:

Status: Apparently, I should give the bastard food every time he's in a crappy mood.

Sexual Experience: Can I write off a kiss as third base?

Personality: He's melting, melting! Ha!

Last Note: He's still a bastard to go through with the college thing.

"Let me see your test scores, I just talked to he dean. Apparently, after talking to Tsunade, he thinks it's the funniest idea he's heard in a long time." Sasuke said bitterly.

Naruto stood on the tips of his toes to peer over Sasuke's shoulder, his eyes trying to get a better glimpse of the paper or his expression. Instead, it was greeted by a coffee cup that was thrust in his face the message Contents Hot…were the only thing he could currently take in before he took the cup away instantly grateful when it began to warm his cold hands.

"It's hot chocolate. You said you like chocolate." Sasuke said as he began to briskly move away with or without Naruto.

The blond followed, wrapped in a long winter coat that was a deep jet black and lined with a warm fleece that he had stolen from Sasuke's closet that had easily become too small for him. He still had on his bright orange knitted hat and his scarf that was wrapped around his neck.

They weaved in and around the crowd of students and through the maze of halls, Sasuke moving flawlessly and Naruto tripping and half-jogging just to keep up. The blond spotted the door that read Guidance just as Sasuke strode through it, a few girls standing back giggling to let him pass through.

"Sit down." He said softly so no one else would hear, but in a commanding way that made Naruto glare.

He flopped in a seat and watched Sasuke walk up to a computer and nodded politely to an old woman who addressed him from the front desk.
It seemed like the time it took Naruto to blink it took that long for Sasuke to sign in at the computer for him, and he was sitting next to him at that moment. He sighed before sipping on his coffee, intent of getting this bit out of the way.

"Shizune is a good friend of Tsunade's. Try not to get me fired on my day off."

Naruto was somehow reminded of the movie Friday and was going to ask Sasuke loudly 'Wha chu stealin' boxes fo'?', but the dark aura surrounding him from the staring, giggling girls made Naruto think otherwise.

"Tsunade, your boss, knows a guidance councilor at a college?" He asked, trying to steer Sasuke's deathly glare from the dimwitted girls who started to wave.

"They go way back. Just like her and the Dean." Sasuke grumbled. "Between them, and the professors' cooperation, you'll be able to get an idea of college. It's going to be short lived, a few classes, but it will give you the ideas and drive to do it when you get home."

Naruto let out a pitiful excuse for a laugh that had Sasuke turning to look at him while he stared down at his cup, "Dumb teme, I don't have a home."

Sasuke was about to give his usual grunt and punch the idiot upside the head when a sweet looking woman with short hair poked her head out of her office.

"Naruto Uzumaki!"

Naruto's head snapped up and around, taking in the woman's kind expression before he felt Sasuke's hand wrap around his upper arm and yank him up and saw his hand usher him forward. He should have thanked him really, because if not, he would have pretended to not exist and sink into the chair before rushing out.

They walked into the small office, and no one bothered to even shut the door behind themselves. Sasuke took the seat closest to the door, while Naruto took the seat closest to the desk. The blond watched as the woman took out a stack of stick notes and looked up at him with a slight scowl.

She had heard about the 'old hag' comment.

"Alright, what major are you interested in?" The woman asked briskly, her stern face rather intimidating, and her eyes boring into Naruto's.

He stammered slightly from sheer nervousness, "I-I…" He cleared his throat, "I'm interested in something like child care. Or maybe even…" Naruto didn't even want to look at Sasuke,

"Teaching Elementary."

The woman smiled tenderly, her stern face diminishing, "I can see that perfectly. Now, I've spoken with the Dean about your special case. Three classes for the part-time, only for before the Christmas holiday, sound good?"

Naruto nodded with a grimace, still nervous, "What about prior educational… you know… whatever?"

She laughed lightly, "It's community college dear. Mr. Uchiha here will tell you it doesn't matter really, and we'll take about anyone. But, that doesn't mean to slack. These are some of the starting places where you start so you can transfer to all the Universities."

She handed over a list of schools, all of their names printed in bold, and next to them their location in the country.

"These are the locations in which your credits will transfer. So, we're happy to have you here for a little while."

Naruto looked over at Sasuke and grinned, "A little?"

Sasuke sighed, "Don't get ahead of yourself."

Naruto smiled brightly as they were seated in the restaurant that afternoon, Sasuke not having to work and enjoying the day off.

"Your Dean didn't have to do this…" Naruto commented as he looked over the menu.

The raven sighed, "Jiraiya doesn't mind doing favors. He and Tsunade go back to when they were children."

The blond sighed, "I just feel indebted."

Sasuke snorted, "Trust me, you aren't. Once I told him about your first encounter with Tsunade, he was more than excited to help."

"That's what hooked him?"

"No, he owed me one favor. I explained to him that you wanted to further your horizons and better your chances in life, and he proceeded to tell me absolute nonsense about a book, and then finally agreed since he owed me."

"Why did he owe you?" Naruto asked, carrying on the conversation.

"I helped him win over a certain hag a few years ago." Sasuke smirked with a head shake. "Despite how much she says she hates him, says they aren't together and all that nonsense; you can tell-" Sasuke sighed, cutting himself off, "I just did him a favor."

"What?" Naruto asked, throwing his elbows on the table and propping up his head in both hands, "If you don't mind my asking."

Sasuke paused for a moment and considered chuckling, and absently, in the back of his mind knew that Tsunade was right.

He would die before admitting it.

"I played piano for them." Sasuke said simply, sinking back into the booth, "So they could dance."

Naruto dropped his head onto the table, making the raven flinch, "You play piano too. Anything else that you can do, teme?"

"Strangle you."

"I get it, I get it." Naruto said, waving him off. "Why do you like guitar more than the others?"

Sasuke looked towards him from gazing out the window at the angry gray sky, coming out of his thoughts of how much time they had before the sky opened up and poured down snow, sleet or something more unpleasant – freezing rain.

"Hn." Sasuke rested his elbows on the table childishly as well before flopping his arms down, "I thought you could have figured that one out dobe."

"I like to hear you talk." Naruto chuckled.

"It was the only thing I did that wasn't to impress someone."

There was a semi-comfortable air for a while. The two of them looked like children the way their arms rested on the table. Naruto watched the people in the restaurant; a crowd around the fire that rested in the middle, a few passing by and staring openly at the opened kitchen and a rowdy group watched a hockey game on their break at the bar. Sasuke kept his eyes towards the sky, his lips twitching, bunched towards the side of his mouth occasionally in irritation when he thought he saw a flake of snow.

"Naruto?"

The blond turned, his eyebrows raised lightly as Sasuke continued, "Why did you do the sports that you did?"

Naruto chuckled, and even decided to taunt death, and reached across the table to ruffle Sasuke's hair, "I thought you could have figured that one out teme."

Sasuke smirked, "Your voice annoys me."

The blond glared, "Fine."

"It's nice to feel free, isn't it dobe?"

Naruto kicked at Sasuke's shin underneath the table, "I thought you said you didn't know!"

"When did I say that?"

"Bastard."

"Say Sasuke?" Naruto asked, shivering against the cold wind that wiped against him.

The raven sighed, noting that the little idiot didn't have his seven layers of warmth during this outing, and he had said he was used to the warmth of the south. He started undoing the buttons of his coat and looked over at the blond who had his head bowed, the hat not doing much.

"What is it?"

"What aren't you good at?" Naruto asked, peaking up.

Sasuke took his coat and slid it off as they walked with the flow of the crowd, and easily draping it over Naruto's head leaving him temporarily blinded and having his coarse run right into a trashcan.

Naruto moved the warm coat up from his eyes and glared at the man who was smirking, his hands shoved in the pockets of his jeans and receiving dirty looks from passersby as he stood in their way.

"Come on, idiot."

Naruto trotted to catch up, and gave him a disbelieving look, "Aren't you cold?"

Sasuke shrugged, a black sweater clinging to his form. "Hn."

"Do you like any real colors?" Naruto asked lightly, skipping along with Sasuke's coat flapping behind him.

"What about you," Sasuke glanced next to him, "Batman's rejected sidekick. Do you like any real colors?"

"Orange is a great color!" Naruto protested.

"For what? Blind people?"

"Ooo. Great insult." The blond mocked in a deeper voice, waving his hands and trotting behind them as they made their way back to the apartment.

Naruto handed over a steaming cup to Sasuke who was sitting on the floor, in front of the coffee table. He had books spread out in front of him along with binders of notes, that to Naruto, looked far to organized for his own good. Sasuke took it absently and continued his studying, the blond remembering somewhere in the back of his mind that he had an exam or test of some sort coming up.

The blond set down on the couch behind him, peering over his shoulder and nibbling on his bottom lip as he took in the complex books and the difficult books.

"What is it now, dobe?" Sasuke sighed, rubbing at his eyes.

Naruto shrugged, and plopped his chin down on Sasuke's shoulder, "Worried."

Sasuke rolled his shoulder and then reached up and shoved his head away, "Must you? Go worry somewhere else if you're going to be like that."

The blond plopped over on the couch, pouting before kneeing the back of Sasuke's head, "Must you?"

Sasuke turned, glaring at Naruto and rubbing at the back of his head, his reading glasses askew.

"You wear glasses?" Naruto asked, sounding floored.

"How much longer are you going to keep up this question nonsense?" Sasuke asked sounding irritated.

"A while." He replied simply, shrugging and turning to lie on his back, "You're making this teaching thing hotter by the second."

Sasuke growled and turned back around fuming, trying to focus back on his work.

"Name three things you aren't good at, teme. Just three." Naruto said playfully, nudging Sasuke's head with his foot.

"Cooking Italian food, speaking Spanish, and fixing my computer," The raven mumbled.

Naruto smiled up at the ceiling, "I'm not good at playing instruments, drawing, or being quiet."

Sasuke snorted.

"What?"

"Some things are horribly obvious dobe. Now why do you keep going on with this question nonsense?" Sasuke sighed, setting down his reading glasses and glaring at the clock.

Naruto shrugged, "The idea of someone understanding and knowing me sounds promising."

"Dobe," Sasuke said, standing and knowing it was time for bed, "No one is going to be able to understand that thick head of yours."

Sasuke was pretty surprised to find the room absolutely silent as they laid down to go to sleep that night. Usually, Naruto would pester him about nonsense, talking into the night until Sasuke would firmly to tell him to sleep as if having to deal with a child. But tonight, for some reason, it was quiet. Sasuke could hear the cars on the street below zoom by, he'd hear the distant car alarms going off, and he heard a few people yelling – just like usual. But since Naruto, he hadn't been able to hear it. And since Naruto had started sleeping in his room, he'd only been able to hear talking, laughter, which faded into soft snores.

He was surprised that it took him so long to figure out why Naruto was quiet, and that the idiot was lying awake on the other side of the make-shift barrier and was actually silent.

"Are you that worried about school?" Sasuke asked, feeling as though he was talking more to himself than Naruto.

It was silent for a few minutes, and for awhile Sasuke thought he was mistaken and Naruto was, in fact, asleep, but the quiet and tiny voice that replied told him otherwise.
It sounded as if it were a little kid talking, scared for their first day ever of school, instead of the loud and obnoxious man on the other side of the barrier.

"Yes…"

"Hn." Sasuke turned his head, eyeing the pillows and looking at them as if he'd be able to see the blond through them. For some reason, he kept picturing Naruto panicking.

"Why?"

Sasuke was tempted to smack his palm to his forehead, hard enough to leave a mark even. This routine of questions and answers must have finally taken its toll on his brain, because here he was, interacting with the idiot.

He heard Naruto sigh before he watched the blond sit up, and frowned when he noticed the asshole took off his shirt. He watched he curve of his back, his shoulders move up and hold before dropping as he sighed again, and watched as Naruto rubbed at the hair on his head in frustration.

"I'm no good at school…I'm not like you! Come on, one B? Yeah Sasuke, I got a B once, once. But the rest weren't A's. I don't have a gifted brain made for school. Say it with me…idiot."

"Calm down."

"NO! I will not calm down." Naruto said turning and facing him in the darkness, "Do you know what it's like, having a teacher call on you for the easiest problem and you don't know it. Oh wait, you don't."

Sasuke pursed his lips, before blowing out a big burst of air in annoyance, "You'll do fine."

"And here I am, supposed to get some fucking sleep, and Professor over here wants me to sleep on limited next to nothing worth of shit of bed space." Naruto growled, shoving at the barrier.

Sasuke glared into the darkness and wondered if it was the jitters getting a hold of his tongue or just an excuse.

But, as Sasuke watched Naruto throw his head in his hands, he recognized that same frustration and jitters. Trying to live up to your own unsaid expectation and leaving yourself scared.

"Alright, let's compromise." Sasuke said, sighing.

Sasuke watched Naruto go rigid, "You actually know that word?"

Sasuke was going to kill Tsunade.

"I'll take all this crap off the bed, if you put your clothes back on."

"Oh deal!" Naruto said, jumping up and easily sporting neon bright, glow in the dark orange boxers.

"AND!" Sasuke snapped, "Keep to your side of the bed dobe. I mean it. Kakashi left, I don't have to live with this."

Nauruto dove back onto the bed, diving underneath the covers with a grin as he faced Sasuke, "I get it. Sounds good. How about another compromise?"

"No."

Naruto threw his hands up under the covers, "Come on! Just one."

"Will you shut up?"

"Yes."

"Hn." Sasuke said, flipping over and turning his back to him.

"How about I do one thing you're really interested in and you do one thing I'm really interested in?"

"No. Sex." Sasuke pulled the covers up to a more comfortable level, easily covering up Naruto's face.

"NO! I'm serious!" Naruto whined.

"Let's see how you do tomorrow in school, then we'll talk."

"Alright," Naruto smiled lightly, "Who knew you could compromise."

Sasuke sighed into the dark, just as sleep was about to over take him, "Yeah, who knew."

A few blocks over, Tsunade was sure that hell had just frozen over.

Author's Notes: The Friday comment, in the movie, he got fired on his day off for stealing boxes (cardboard), and the line Naruto wanted to quote was the taunting line.
Shameless Promotion: Just right of Perfect = ALLTF sequel. Read It, love it, review it.