Disclaimer: I don't own nor have I contributed to Naruto in any way! Nope! None!
2nd Disclaimer: The songs and lyrics mention in this fic do not belong to me! Nu-uh! The songs in this chapter are: "Sexy Back" by Justin Timberlake (ew!) and "Somebody Told Me" by the Killers.
Sky-eyed Kitsune and Gomi-kun blab & Updates-
Sky-eyed Kitsune: Yay! A new EXTRA LONG chapter! A new chance for love!
Gomi-kun: A new headache…
Sky-eyed Kitsune: --Wacks Gomi-kun with a rabid banana--
Reviewer Replies:
To Destiny Writes: Yes, Itachi has delicate eyebrows, lol! Zomg! I luuuuuuv your suggestion! I was going to do that, but then I thought hm….nevermind. But now…YES!!! THANK YOU!!!
To HeyBabySoSad: --tries to pull Naruto out of Itachi, Gaara and Neji's death grip—LET GO!!! YOU DON'T GET HIM YET! –Sasuke pushes the author out of the way and pulls Naruto towards him, creating a tug of war of 3-1— Wa!!! Author down! Author down! Medic!!!
To ILoveItachihessohot: Yes, you are a very special! I luv your reviews!!! –fligs Itachi plushie—And I'm sorry to say, but Sasuke did get a Beating Heart Point in the last chapter, courtesy of his brother! The reason is below!
To itachisgurl93: All I can say is root for your suitor:D
To Dreamergirl667: Omg, I laughed out loud when I read the last part of your review about your screaming fangirl moment! LOL! XD Woohoo! Your pairing favs are the same as mine! Sasunaru in first and nejinaru second. Yays!
To Muchacha: Naruto is such a poor uke. –sigh—The guys just can't keep their hands off of him, and he doesn't know what to do! T.T
To Shiva-iceflame: The system is that YOU decide who the final suitor should be! You vote in certain instances for a suitor to try in win him Beating Heart Points and avoid the Broken ones. (Flip back about two chapters for full explanation) Ooo! It's so hard to pick a suitor! T.T
To blueserenityx3: I got your point, so there's some sasunaru in here for you:D
To KokoxKonoha: And yet more new reviewers! O.o Wow, you must luuuv itanaru! I actually don't like itanaru unless Naruto and Itachi are around the same age; otherwise it's just wrong to me…regardless! Root for your suitor and thanks for the review! X3
To Kawaii-Ningyo: Yay sasunaru!
To Silvertails: Wa! I luvles your review! Yay, finally a vote for Sai! (Poor guy- he's not very popular!) I know! No one understands Dei-dei! T.T Blowing up stuff his so much fun! Not that I do that…--cough, shifty eyes, cough—
To Krissy7p: Zomg! You were right about Shikamaru and Gaara!? O.o –holds out palms— Tell my fortune oh powerful physic!!! XD And thanks you lots! I try to make the pairings for this story as fair as I can, and I'm so happy you recognized it! X3
To Evee-chan: Wa! Thank you!! Oh boy, another Gaara fan! XD
To paylo27: Oh my, thank you sooo much! Even though I just recently joined I have been writing for a long time. I would love to read some of your fanfiction when you submit it! In fact, to all writers out there, Gomi-kun and I are both available as a team of beta readers if need be. Just post a request in a comment if you'd like us both to be your beta reader, and we will respond ASAP.
IMPORTANT CRAP!!!
Here's who you wanted to see Naru dance with!
Gaara: 3
Itachi: 7
Sai: 1
Sasuke: 3
IMPORTANT: THE DANCE HAS BEEN MOVED TO THE NEXT CHAPPIE! KYA!
HEART POINT TALLY!
O Beating Heart Points (good!)
X Broken Heart Points (bad!)
Gaara: O
Itachi: O
Neji: OOOOOO
Sai:
Sasuke: XO
Sasuke got a point from the last chappie because he looked so peaceful and beautiful when he slept! XD
Chapter Dedication
This chapter is totally OWNED by Destiny Writes and Silvertails! Destiny Writes for her wonderful suggestion of adding a bit of deinaru during the dance! XD I was thinking of that, but I wasn't sure. Now I'm positive. You rox my sox! X3 And Silvertails for her loverly review and sympathy for Dei-dei's obsession with things that go bang! Luv you!!!!
Chapter 10: Competition
BEEP
"Good morning Florida! It's Monday morning once again, so get your butt outta bed! The weather this week is going to be rainy with a few scattered thunderstorms, today with partly cloudy skies with a high of 65 dropping down to a chilly 44 degrees tonight and a 70 percent chance of showers. The news is comin' up soon, but here's a song to get your Monday morning rolling!"
…
"Breakin' my back just to know your name."
"Seventeen tracks and I've had it with this game."
Naruto groaned and shifted a bit under his black covers, his mat of gold hair peeking out.
"I'm breakin' my back just know your name."
"But heaven ain't close in a place like this.
"Anything goes so don't blink you might miss….."
Naruto curled up into an even tighter ball and hugged his pillow close. He felt too snuggly to get up!
"Cause heaven ain't close in a place like this, I said heaven aint close in a place like this."
"Bring it back down, bring it back down tonight."
Naruto flipped over to the source of the noise. He had to shut it up sooner or later
"Never thought I'd let a rumor ruin my moonlight."
Naruto's hand reached out blindly from under his covers onto the desk next to him, searching for his alarm that he had unpacked and set the day before.
"Well somebody told me, you had a boyfriend, who looks like a girlfriend that I had in February of last year. It's not confidential, I've got potential."
Suddenly a hand slammed down on the clock that wasn't Naruto's own and cut off the song. Naruto shrugged and snuggled back into the warm cave under his sheets, when suddenly his covers were ripped off of him.
Naruto cringed and curled up at the sting of the cold hitting his skin, and he opened his eyes groggily.
An angry Uchiha came into view.
"Dobe," Sasuke spat, trying to keep his eyes on the blonde's face, considering that he slept in just his boxers.
"I thought that one of the rules I told you was to NOT wake me up before 6am! It's freaking 5:30 in the morning!"
Naruto blinked, his still snoozing brain processing what Sasuke had said. When it did he snorted and sat up in his bed, his skin getting used to the cold quickly.
"Did you forget that there's an all school meeting this morning at 6:30 Teme?" he said, and Sasuke was a bit taken aback at the witty retort. Yes…he had forgotten. But there was no way he was letting the Dobe know that!
"Hn," he sneered as he turned back to climb into his bed again. "Not all of us take an hour to get dressed Dobe."
"Whatever," Naruto hissed as he stood up and stretched, Sasuke watching his every move out of the corner of his eye.
Naruto was in a perfect position for him to see every ripple and flex of his chest and back. His figure was lithe, his arms slightly muscled and his chest firm. His back was tanned and beautiful with defined shoulder blades and…was that a scar?
Yes, Sasuke was sure as Naruto turned his full back on him and walked to the bathroom; he had a diagonal scar across his back from his left shoulder to his right hip. What was that from? Sasuke's curiosity was sparked, but Naruto had a great body even with the scar. Oh to hell with it! He was damn gorgeous!
Sasuke mentally smacked himself. He was straight! So what if Naruto was hott? He just had to say it over and over again like a mantra.
"I'm straight, I'm straight, I'm straight, I'm straight, I'm…kitten?"
Sasuke blinked as Naruto's black kitten Cyclone walked up from the bottom of the bed and settled on his chest. He mewed, the little bell on his orange collar jingling as he blinked his big blue eyes.
Sasuke had no idea that Cyclone, who had dubbed Naruto as "mommy" had just proclaimed Sasuke as "daddy".
"Hungry?" Sasuke asked, and Cyclone bopped his nose with his tiny pink paw.
Sasuke munched on his piece of toast at the table in the small dorm kitchen. There was no use going back to sleep, but he wasn't getting dressed yet, which was why he was still in his dark blue pajamas. Cyclone sat in front of him, his black velvet tail swinging back in forth as he watched Sasuke bring the food to his mouth, chew, swallow, and occasionally take a swig of his orange juice.
Sasuke rolled his eyes and tore off the edge of his toast. He handed it to Cyclone, who snatched it and chewed the bread with his immature canines.
The swinging door suddenly opened and Naruto walked in wearing his school uniform for the first time.
Sasuke would have let his jaw drop if his pride had allowed it.
Naruto wore the black button up shirt with a dark red tie, and the symbol of the school, a red pointed spiral, on his right breast. There was a belt and matching black pants below that, outlining Naruto's slim legs and completing the look of his lithe figure. At the very bottom he wore black dress shoes.
The black suit made his sun-kissed skin glow, his whisker-like scars more predominant, his hair look even spikier than usual, and his sapphire eyes dazzle. His blonde mane went down to the nape of his neck, brushing against his shoulders and parted on the sides of his face beautifully. His ears were doubled pierced, the first hole of each with a small silver hoop and the second with a red stud. Sasuke spotted a silver chain sticking up a bit from Naruto's tie, and recognized it as the necklace with the ruby red spiral fox on the end of it.
Naruto swept past the dazed Sasuke, who continued to look at the spot where the blonde sex god had walked in, and he reached into the cupboard for a pot to boil water in. After he set the pot on the stove, he fetched a clear plastic container from a drawer (actually, he had to open several before he found one…) and poured some water in it, setting it down for Cyclone.
The room was silent as Sasuke snapped out of his trance and finished his toast, and Naruto waited for his water to boil.
"That scar…"
Naruto whipped his head around to look at his bastard roommate who had pierced the silence.
"That scar on your back…" Sasuke continued slowly, taking a deep breath. He didn't face the blonde. "What happened?"
Naruto scoffed.
"What do you care bastard? It's none of your business," he spat.
The remainder of breakfast was eaten in silence with the exception of Cyclone mewing for some of Naruto's ramen and the crunching sound of Sasuke's toast.
Sasuke got up to get dressed, but before he exited through the swinging door he heard Naruto say,
"Fire. A fire."
Sasuke stood there frozen for a bit before he smiled to himself and dressed in his school uniform.
"Teme, c'mon!" Naruto shouted as he stood at the dorm's door.
"Coming Dobe," Sasuke replied as he appeared in front of Naruto.
Naruto's breath caught in his throat.
Sasuke was wearing the same thing as himself, but it looked…utterly sexy.
His black hair looked almost tinted blue against his uniform, and the red of his tie brought out a crimson sheen in his eyes akin to Itachi's; hopelessly alluring. His fair skin seemed so delicate against the black fabric, like the moonlight dipping into the velvet midnight sky.
Naruto gulped.
"L-let's go," he studdered.
"Hn," Sasuke replied.
They left the dorm and locked it, both pocketing a pair of keys as they made their way down the long hallway, other students going in the same direction as well.
"Dobe, why are you in such a hurry?" Sasuke asked.
"Transfer students have to get there a little early and stay backstage," Naruto said as he stuffed his hands into his pockets.
"Hn, the orientation," Sasuke said, and Naruto nodded.
"HEY! NARUTO, UN!"
Naruto stopped and turned at the voice only to be tackled by an older blonde.
He slung his arm around Naruto's shoulders and grinned at him.
"What do you want Deidara?" Sasuke said bitterly. He had stopped along with Naruto because…well…he couldn't really explain it! Why was he raging at the sight of Deidara just touching the Dobe?
"Do I know you?" Naruto asked the older blonde impassively.
Deidara's grin grew.
"You don't remember? Who do you think found you in the hall and took you to Itachi so you could get all better? Un?" he said, and Sasuke's temperature rose a mile high. Itachi!? How the hell did Naruto know Itachi!?
"Oh, uh…thanks," Naruto said a bit awkwardly. When he saw Deidara he was just a fuzz ball in his line of vision after all!
"That and I've been assigned as your senior guide, un!" Deidara said, and started to walk forward with his arm still around Naruto, causing him to walk with him. Sasuke followed by Naruto's side, containing his anger……barely.
"So just ask me if you need to know anything, un!" Deidara said.
"O-ok…" Naruto replied a bit uneasily.
As the trio walked, two in particular VERY close, the other students in the hallways stopped to check Naruto out, scanning him with their eyes and whispering to their friends. One junior even had the boldness to wolf whistle as the young blonde passed. Naruto blushed, Sasuke snarled, and Deidara pulled Naruto closer to his side while they walked.
They soon arrived at the main building and piled in with the other students in the large auditorium.
"How do I get to the back of the stage?" Naruto asked over the chatter of students.
Sasuke opened his mouth to speak but was cut off by Deidara.
"I'll take you there! Gotta be a good senior buddy, un!" he said, and removed his arm from Naruto's shoulders, taking him instead by the hand and leading him through the sea of all male students.
-------------------------------------------------T-16--------------------------------------------------------------------
As Naruto passed through he heard many more whistles and shouts, and as he reached the stairs to the back of the stage with Deidara, he felt a swift smack to his butt.
Naruto stepped behind the red curtain and sighed, glad to be rid of all of the people eying him.
"What's wrong with them?" Naruto asked, rubbing his arse. "Major sexual frustration?"
"No. Over about seventy percent of the guys here are gay or bi, un." Deidara replied, and Naruto froze.
He cursed under his breath. Iruka was going to pay.
Naruto looked around. He saw a small podium by which he presumed the principal would speak and a few stage props, but no students.
"Where is everybody?" Naruto asked.
"You're the only exchanged student this year, un." Deidara answered. "We don't normally get a lot anyways."
"Oh…" Naruto said. "Thanks for showing me where-"
Naruto was cut off as Deidara suddenly reached out a hand to ruffle Naruto's hair.
"Deidara?" Naruto said uncertaintly.
"Naruto, you wanna know why all those guys were acting weird and whistling at you?" Deidara asked, his voice a bit quieter as he stroked Naruto's golden mane.
Naruto nodded silently and Deidara grinned in an admittedly attractive way as he lowered his head to the crook of Naruto's neck.
Naruto felt Deidara's breath ghost over his tan skin, and he shivered a bit.
"It's because you're so gorgeous, Naruto," Deidara said.
Naruto's breath caught in his throat as Deidara nuzzled his neck lovingly, brushing his lips over his sun-kissed skin. But for some reason Naruto felt anger and fear curl in his throat. Because he really was straight! Right? But what about Neji? Ok, so he liked when Neji did this, but he was NOT gay! Right? Yes? No? Argh!
Deidara moved his hand running through Naruto's hair down to the back of his neck as he lifted his head and looked at the junior.
"Naruto, you never told me your preference, un," Deidara said alluringly.
Naruto felt Deidara's free hand run up his uniformed chest and back down it again, and he curled back from the foreign touch.
"I…" Naruto croaked. "I'm…not sure."
Deidara laughed a little bit.
"Then let me help you, Naruto."
With that Deidara closed the space between himself and Naruto, pressing his lips against the other blonde's.
Naruto's eyes widened a fraction. The kiss was light, just enough for him to realize the contact of Deidara's lips against his own, until he felt Deidara's tongue swipe the crease of his lips and request entrance.
Naruto wasn't entirely sure what to do as his conscious had a mental war.
"Am I straight? Gay? What the heck is up with me!? Well I do know one thing…I don't like Deidara kissing me!"
Finally Naruto did something. He put his hands up on Deidara's chest, sending a wheel of flames up the senior's spine, and then…pushed him back.
The kiss broke and Deidara looked at Naruto, a bit confused.
"I-I'm not gay," Naruto said as he willed his voice to work, his face flushed a bit.
"What a shame, un," Deidara said, shaking his head slightly, but he didn't release his hold on Naruto.
"Naruto, if you're having an inner conflicts about which way you swing, then just solve both and decide that you're bi. I am, un," Deidara said.
Naruto thought about this for a moment. Bi…that made sense. He couldn't deny that he had an affinity towards guys, but he didn't totally dislike girls either.
"You can think on it," Deidara said.
Naruto looked at Deidara.
"You have to know your preference in this school if you want to be safe from guys constantly trying to turn you, un," Deidara said.
Naruto slowly nodded, and Deidara suddenly lowered his lips again to Naruto's.
Naruto's eyes widened as he tried to push Deidara off of him. He didn't want this! Not with someone he barely knew!
Deidara moved down to Naruto's neck, and Naruto briefly wondered if the hickeys Neji had given him were still there, but he doubted it. He was an extremely fast healer for some reason.
Naruto felt sapped of strength has he tried to wriggle out from Deidara's touch.
Deidara meanwhile hummed a bit with pleasure as he ran his tongue along the golden skin. Damn, Naruto tasted good!
"WHAT A WONDERFUL DISPLAY OF YOUTH!"
"Shit," Deidara said against Naruto's neck as a voice broke through, and Naruto thanked the gods.
Then Naruto's eyes bugged out a bit as he saw the young man standing behind Deidara. He looked to be a junior, tall and athletic with the BIGGEST black eyebrows Naruto had ever seen.
Deidara rolled his eyes, not even bothering to turn around, and reattached himself to Naruto's neck.
Naruto let out a small yelp as Deidara bit down harder on the blonde's neck.
Naruto blushed and looked up at the roof, incredibly humiliated that someone had intruded and was WATCHING him be involuntarily devoured. This, unknowingly to Naruto, gave Deidara more access to his neck. Or at least he didn't know until Deidara moved up the newly uncovered skin.
"Help!" Naruto cried to the big-eyed spectator.
"HOW INSPIRING DEIDARA! WHAT A FABULOUS THING IT IS TO BE SO FULL OF YOUTH THAT YOU CANNOT CONTAIN IT, EVEN AT SCHOOL!" the crazy-eyebrow junior said loudly behind Deidara, pumping his fist into the air.
"Nnn, go away Lee," Deidara whined between kisses. "I'm busy, un…"
"I AM SORRY DEIDARA, BUT I'M AFRAID YOUR DISPLAY OF YOUTH WILL HAVE TO END, AS TSUNADE WOULD LIKE TO START THE ORIENTATION!"
Deidara continued nonetheless.
"Stop!' Naruto shouted, trying to find the strength to push the persistent senior off.
"Deidara!"
Suddenly the older blonde was yanked off of Naruto in a flash, and Naruto collapsed to the floor.
He looked up in time to see Itachi punch Deidara hard across the face, and he fell on his ass, holding the sore spot which was his covered eye.
Itachi turned to Naruto and kneeled down in front of him.
"Naruto, are you ok?" he asked, and Naruto nodded slowly, a bit breathless.
Itachi whipped back around to look down at Deidara, death in his eyes.
"Damn Naruto," Deidara said, grinning as he ignored Itachi. "You taste good, un."
Itachi smacked him across the head, hard.
"Go molest someone else," he hissed, and the blonde grumbled before getting up.
"Ask me if you need help with school or anything else," Deidara said to Naruto as he turned to leave, when he suddenly grabbed Naruto's wrist and pulled him flush against his chest.
"And I do mean anything," Deidara purred as he gave the underside of Naruto's chin a final kiss before exiting the backstage.
Itachi fumed after him, glaring at the spot where he stood and practically setting the stage on fire in his rage.
"WOW!" Lee exclaimed as he walked up to Naruto, who Itachi immediately stood in front of protectively.
"WERE I NOT ALREADY IN LOVE WITH A BEAUTIFUL PINK FLOWER MYSELF, I TOO WOULD BE TEMPTED TO TASTE YOU!"
Naruto almost passed out.
"It's ok Naruto," Itachi said, placing a comforting hand on the junior's shoulder. "Lee is crazy."
Naruto looked up a bit at the sheen of the black and red glazed eyes so full of concern, and he smiled a bit.
-----------------------------------------------------------T-16 END---------------------------------------------------
The chatter in the auditorium was unbearably loud until a woman looking to be in her late twenties walked onstage. She wore a light blue suit for work that did absolutely nothing to hide the enormity of her breasts. She had her blonde hair in two loose pigtails and wore a shimmering stone necklace.
"All right, shut it and listen," she said as the first curtain lifted to reveal the podium, and she spoke into the mike there as it crackled to life.
The room quieted quickly.
"Hello and welcome to yet another year of insanity," she said. A few of the guys clapped and wooted.
"And for the freshman, welcome to the looney bin. My name is Tsunade and I'm the Headmistress here. This is the time of year in which we induct exchanged students. We had none last year, so we're fortunate to have one person this year. But before I introduce him, I want to put down the ground rules for the school since I didn't during September.
"They are the following: No drinking allowed on school grounds, guests allowed only on weekends, no animals or other pets, no pulling pranks on teachers, and finally, absolutely NO late night happenings!"
The crowd of boys burst out laughing.
"If I get a report of any 'noise' going on in a dorm from a student, I'll call your parents and have our lovely biology teacher Mr. Kakashi Hatake explain everything about the birds and the bees ALL OVER AGAIN."
The auditorium went silent, and the woman smirked.
"Now that I've gotten my point across, I'd like to introduce our new exchanged student. And as custom, the senior guide of each exchanged student may introduce them."
-----------------------------------------------T-16--------------------------------------------------------
Tsunade stepped aside as Deidara scrambled onstage from the side stairs, carrying a boom box hooked to the auditorium speakers.
Tsunade rolled her eyes. The poor kid had it coming.
"What's up, un?!" Deidara cried into the mike, and the guys cheered.
"Give it up for my exchanged student buddy, currently a junior, Naruto Uzumaki!" At this Deidara pressed the play button on the boom box and the second curtain pulled up.
Naruto walked forward into the light from the gloomy backstage, and almost had a heart attack when he heard what song was playing.
"I'm bringin' sexy back! Them other boys don't know how to act."
Naruto continued walking to the front of the stage nonetheless, and the room was dead quiet. To them, Naruto was a golden sex god in human form, walking in slow motion as sparkles surrounded him and his hair blew in a nonexistent wind.
Jaws dropped and Tsunade smacked a hand to her forehead.
"Dirty baaabe. You see these shackles baby, I'm your slaaaaave. I'll let you whip me if I misbehaaaaaave. It's just that no one makes me feel this waaay…"
Naruto finally came up next to the podium after what felt like a mile walk to him, but the music kept playing.
Finally the boys were brought out of their trance, and sprung up from their seat cheering, shouting, wooting and crying out confessions of love to the blonde junior.
Naruto blushed, only adding to his cuteness level that had gone into overload, and the crowd screamed louder.
Deidara finally put Naruto out of his misery and he pressed the stop button and Tsunade took her place back at the podium next to the golden-haired teen.
"All right, calm down!" she shouted, and the noise died down even though excited whispering remained.
"That's it for the meeting. Report to your classes in one hour. Oh and there's a fall dance this Friday, so be sure to come…"
Tsunade suddenly turned to Naruto and said in a low voice to him,
"I'll give you a ten second head start."
"Huh?" Naruto said, and Tsunade jabbed a finger at the crowd of guys sizing Naruto up hungrily with their eyes and practically bouncing in their seats.
Naruto nodded and ran off the stage back towards the auditorium exit.
Naruto had gotten half way through the instructive building when he heard a chorus of shouts and the low rumble of feet against white tiles.
Holy shit.
Naruto continued to zip down the hall, turning left and right as he tried to remember which way it was to the junior and senior dorm building.
"There he is!"
Naruto turned his head around and saw a pack of (all good looking) guys chasings after him like they were on fire.
Naruto was gone in a flash.
"Wait Narutoooo!"
"Come back!"
"MARRY ME NARUTO!!!"
They all shouted as they followed the blonde beauty.
After ten minutes Naruto was out of breath and out of luck. He was completely lost!
He could hear the fanboys behind him coming. They were even worse than his fangirls!
Naruto groaned and leaned one hand against the wall as his caught his breath.
"God, someone save me!" he whimpered.
Just as the herd grew deathly close to turning the corner where Naruto was, a door behind him opened and something pulled him inside.
Naruto blinked as he now stared at the inside of the door and heard the footsteps just outside it.
"Where'd he go?"
"Aw man!"
"Maybe he went over that way!"
Naruto held his breath as the group hurried off. He waited for about twenty seconds reigned in silence until he let his breath go. Suddenly he noticed the presence of a warm body behind his own and two arms around his middle.
Oh good lord…
"Dobe."
Saved!
Naruto leaned back a bit and looked over his shoulder at Sasuke's face.
"Teme," Naruto replied, but in a somewhat relieved voice.
"Got some fans there?" Sasuke said, and Naruto rolled his eyes.
"You have no idea," he said. Naruto suddenly noticed their close proximity and blushed.
"Sasuke?"
"Hn."
"You can let me go now."
Sasuke was about to reluctantly release the blond when from outside the door he heard,
"Hey! I hear voices in this room guys! I think Naru is over here!"
Naruto bristled. Naru!?
"Shit. I'm so screwed!" Naruto said, panicking as more voices coupled the ones outside.
-------------------------------------------------------------T-16---------------------------------------------------
Sasuke looked around. No window. No other door. Damn. He looked back to Naruto.
Suddenly angels sang in his head as he had an epiphany.
"Naruto," he said quickly.
"What?" the blonde answered just as fast.
"I know how to get you out of here unscathed."
"You do?"
"Yes, so don't get upset at what I'm about to do right now."
"Wha-"
Naruto was cut off as Sasuke placed his lips on his own, tilting his head down only about an inch to reach him.
Sasuke placed one hand on Naruto's waist and the other traveled up to caress the scars on his cheek as he kissed him softly.
Ok, Naruto couldn't deny it. This was a really soft kiss.
Naruto all but melted.
Strike that; he did melt.
Naruto's knees buckled and his eyelids drooped shut. He felt his legs become weak, so he wrapped his arms around Sasuke's pallid neck to help hold himself up.
Naruto breathed in Sasuke's scent- the smell of the fall leaves, the crisp air…one of Naruto's favorite smells.
Why was his body reacting so negatively when he had brushed off Deidara? And now he actually liked Sasuke kissing him? Was he straight or gay!? Naruto's head spiraled in confusion as he became high off of Sasuke's kiss.
Suddenly the classroom door slammed opened and the fanboys gasped, growled, and groaned.
"Aw man! We were too late! He's been taken today!" one said, and the others sighed.
"Man, Uchiha gets everything!" another pouted as they all left with their tails drooping between their legs.
"Tell me about it."
"WAIT!"
They all turned to another suitor, his long ruby hair tied back into a pony tail and his dark brown eyes gleaming.
"They could be faking it!" he declared, and after thinking for a bit, the rest shouted in approval and stayed in the room. Naruto felt like he was having deja vu.
"Yea! Uchiha is totally asexual!" one cried in hope.
Sasuke was going crazy. He wanted to hold Naruto closer, to breathe in his full essence, and to taste his unique flavor for some reason unknown to him, but the freaking fanboys wouldn't leave!!!
Sasuke's thought's mirrored Naruto's almost exactly.
Sasuke moved the hand on Naruto's cheek to run through his blond spikes of hair, and he almost died at how soft and silken they felt running through his fingers.
The fanboys raised their eyebrows.
Naruto repressed a hum of pleasure at the insanely soothing feeling of Sasuke's fingers combing through his hair. Sasuke pulled Naruto's waist forward more, pressing their bodies closer together.
Naruto jumped a bit as Sasuke's tongue asked for entrance to his mouth. He thought for a moment, then attentively granted Sasuke entrance and parted his lips.
"Oh my god! That's French!" a brunette cried as he curled his fist in jealousy.
Sasuke would have jumped for joy right there. He was so excited that he forgot all about his inner preference conflict, focusing every fiber of his being on the teen against him.
Sasuke explored Naruto's mouth, and his own exploded with the sweetest sensation he had ever experienced. Naruto's taste was like the perfect candy, so addictive and amazing.
Sasuke brushed over Naruto's tongue with his own, sending a wild shiver up both his and the blonde's spine.
Sasuke nearly lost it when Naruto began to kiss back.
Naruto skimmed along Sasuke's tongue and mouth, filling himself up with Sasuke's indescribable taste, and a flood of warmth came over him. Those fanboys would never come back!
"Dammit Uchiha! Leave some for us!" the redhead cried, and he left the room, grumbling. The others followed, convinced it wasn't a fake kiss.
The door clicked shut, and Naruto's sensitive ears listened for the fading footsteps of his rabid suitors.
-------------------------------------------------END T-16-------------------------------------------------------------
The two teens parted their kiss, gasping for air, both with a slight air brush of pink across the bridges of their nose.
Naruto suddenly felt so grateful to Sasuke for warding off the fanboys, and then incredibly angry for kissing him.
"TEME!" Naruto shouted, his anger outweighing everything.
"Hn, Dobe," Sasuke replied as he went to the door. "I told you not to get mad. Weren't you listening idiot?"
Naruto sputtered incoherently, and Sasuke grabbed his wrist and pulled him out the door.
"C'mon Dobe."
After some sneaking around and creative shortcuts, Sasuke had finally led Naruto back to their dorm room unharmed. (Besides the still fuming blond next to Sasuke that is.)
Sasuke let go of Naruto's wrist as he fished out his keys and unlocked the door.
"Hey, Teme?"
Sasuke's ears perked up a bit. That wasn't a steaming angry question at all; just a normal one.
"Hn," Sasuke said monotonously.
"What number is your brother's dorm?"
Sasuke almost fell over as he pushed open the door.
"How do you know my brother Dobe?" Sasuke asked bitterly, his eyes clouded over with hate.
"I just need to thank him for something is all," Naruto said. He met Sasuke's killer gaze, but it didn't faze him.
Sasuke growled and curled his fist.
"Find it yourself, Dobe!" he shouted as he lost control, and he slammed the door in Naruto's face, hiting his nose.
"Ouch!" Naruto cried as he lost his balance, but quickly regained his composure. He rubbed his nose tenderly before going back the way he came to enter the left hallway that split from the entrance to the dorm building.
"435…436…437," Naruto counted aloud, and stopped at the last number he had read. He knocked quietly, as the hall seemed to be still, and the door swung out fervently to reveal…
"NARUTO!"
Naruto gagged.
Lee jumped at Naruto and wrestled him into an enormous hug.
"YOU ARE FULL OF SO MUCH YOUTH NARUTO! YOU ARE LIKE THE SPRING SUNSHINE LIGHTING UP THE WORLD SO THAT THE SEEDS IN THE EARTH MAY ONE DAY BLOSSOM INTO BEAUTIFUL FLOWERS!"
Naruto tried to choke something out as Lee began to swing him around joyfully.
"Keep it down Lee," an impassive voice said from within the dorm, and Naruto recognized it immediately, thanking the gods.
"Gaara!"
Said redhead appeared at the doorway, and Naruto felt himself blush at the sight of the handsome teen in his black uniform, his crimson hair shining in contrast to the dark color.
"Naruto?" Gaara said.
"GAARA, MY YOUTHFUL ROOMMATE! HAVE YOU MET THE NEW STUDENT NARUTO?" Lee asked enthusiastically, his eyes wide with excitement like a puppy about to receive a treat. Gaara was positive that if Lee had a tail, it would be wagging like crazy.
"Yes, I have," Gaara said. "Put him down."
"OF COURSE!" Lee answered, and released Naruto, who fell to his knees and gasped for air.
"YOU SHOULD HAVE SEEN HIS YOUTHFUL DISPLAY WITH DEIDARA! IF ONLY HE HAD BEEN MORE ENTHUSIASTIC, HE WOULD HAVE BEEN THE MOST BEAUTIFUL FLOWER OF YOUTH IN THE GARDEN OF-"
"Deidara?" Gaara asked. Lee opened his mouth to reply with vigor, but Gaara cut him off.
"Can you give us a minute Lee?"
"OH, YES!" Lee cried. He rushed back into the dorm and then came back out in a matter of two seconds, changed into an ugly green workout outfit.
"I will be running laps with Mr. Gai if you need me!" he said, his voice finally no longer piercing, and he flew down the hall with zest.
Gaara and Naruto blinked after him until Gaara remembered his question.
"So, about Deidara…" he said.
"Oh," Naruto replied, scratching the back of his head uncomfortably. "Well uh…Deidara kind of cornered me and kissed me against my will."
"What?"
Naruto shivered a bit at the cold intensity of Gaara's voice as if his blood had frozen over.
"Are you ok?" he asked, his tone suddenly shifting to concern.
Naruto met his worried emerald gaze and nodded.
"I'm fine. Itachi saved me," he said.
"Good," Gaara sighed. "You can trust Itachi."
"Are you guys friends?"
"Yea."
"Actually, that's why I'm here. Do you know what dorm number Itachi has? I wanted to thank him for the rescue."
"Sure. He's down to the left of this room, dorm 452."
"He doesn't have any demented roommates I should watch out for, does he?"
"No. Itachi doesn't have a roommate."
"Why?"
"He didn't want one, so that's what he got. He has student body president privilege after all."
"He's the president?"
"Yea, basically. Don't be surprised if he can't talk."
"Huh?"
"He's busy with paperwork this time of the year."
"Paperwork?"
"I'll let him explain."
"Ok. Thanks Gaara."
Gaara nodded as Naruto took off down the hall.
Itachi threw up his stack of papers into the air as a vein throbbed on his forehead and he fumed silently in the den of his dorm room. Why did he ever except the student body president position? Oh dear god why?
A soft knock came at the door, and Itachi thanked whatever angel was looking over him for the welcome distraction from his work.
He opened the door and his heart jumped a bit unexpectedly.
"Naruto?" he said, the blonde beauty inches from him on the other side of the door.
"Um, hi Itachi…am I bothering you?" he asked. "Gaara said you were kind of busy around this time-"
"No, it's fine," Itachi said, and ushered Naruto into the dorm.
Naruto took one look at the paper massacre and raised an eyebrow at Itachi.
Itachi blushed a little at the mess.
"I uh…the window flew open?" he tried. Naruto took one look at the window, which was closed, and then looked back at Itachi.
"Fine," Itachi sighed, and he sat down in front the coffee table in front of the black sofa where more files were scattered, crossing his legs on the dark blue carpet.
"It's this damn paper work," he admitted.
"Yea, Gaara mentioned something about that," Naruto said, sitting opposite on the floor at the table. "What's it all about?
"As president of the student body I have to file and organize every new student's record from all their old schools and validate all athletic sign-up sheets with my signature."
Naruto blinked.
"Wow," he said, and Itachi ran a hand through his loose black hair. Naruto noticed this hair style, which was new to him, and decided he liked Itachi's hair down rather than in a ponytail.
It fell in soft black sheets with a blue sheen around his face and brushed a little past his shoulders. A few stray shards of his outgrown bangs fell in his face, making his red eyes stand out like black fire against the night sky.
Naruto suddenly remembered what he had come for.
"Oh, Itachi…"
"Hm?"
"A-about Deidara…"
"Don't think about it Naruto," Itachi said. "Deidara is an idiot that likes to blow stuff up. Don't waste your thoughts on him."
"Oh, no," Naruto said. "I just came by to say thanks…you know, for basically saving me from him."
Itachi looked up from his paperwork and met Naruto's sapphire eyes, the ocean churning gently within them. He smiled and nodded.
"Tell me when he's being a bastard again," he said.
Naruto nodded as he stood up, and was about to head to the door when he stopped and looked back at Itachi.
He suddenly plunked down beside him, startling the Uchiha a bit, and took some loose matching papers in his hands to organize them in a manila folder.
"Naruto?" Itachi asked, a bit confused.
"I'm gonna help you file to say thanks, ok?" Naruto said, smiling warmly at Itachi.
"No. You don't need to be put through this torture."
"It's fine, I'm used to it. I help my guardian file all the time since he always has a shit load to do when he comes home."
Itachi was a bit amazed as Naruto quickly finished the file as he spoke, and moved on to the next. He definitely looked experienced.
"Alright," Itachi said, giving in. "I'll put the things to be filed in a pile right here after I'm done with them, ok?"
"Sure!"
About a half an hour later Naruto and Itachi had finally finished the dreaded paperwork, and it was settled neatly in a corner of the coffee table waiting to be taken to the main office.
Naruto had stopped now and then as he waited for another file from Itachi, and stole glances at his peaceful and concentrated face. Naruto felt himself smile a bit. Itachi looked so beautiful when he wasn't wearing his emotionless mask, and let his expressions run free across his face. Naruto could even feel the tranquility unfolding off the young man next to him as he worked, frustration passing his face now and then as he scribbled something out.
Little did Naruto know that he also did not go unnoticed at Itachi made quick glances his way form the corner of his eyes. Naruto eyes seemed somewhat lighter and warmer…and where had that beautiful smile come from? That real, genuine one? Itachi's eyes quickly glazed over the blonde, noting how handsome he looked with his tan skin glowing against his black uniform, and his head dipped slightly so that his golden locks fell over his sparkling oceanic eyes.
Itachi sighed in relief as he pushed himself back from the coffee table with his hands and laid back on the carpet. He closed his eyes.
"Finally done," he breathed.
Naruto stretched and grinned.
"Yea," he said. He walked over to Itachi on all fours and rested on his knees near him.
Itachi opened his eye and saw the upside down face of Naruto. He grinned like a fox, his blonde hair reaching down just barely to brush against Itachi's cheeks.
"That was boring!" Naruto said, and Itachi suddenly noticed how much more chipper the blonde was. Itachi smiled and nodded in agreement.
"Yea, thanks for staying though," he said as he locked his deep black and crimson eyes with Naruto's sapphire blue ones.
"Had to pay you back, remember?" Naruto said, still smiling wonderfully. Why didn't he smile more often?
Itachi's eyes scanned over the whisker-like scars over Naruto's cheeks, and before he could stop himself, he reached up his hand to let his finger's caress the black marks over the sun-kissed skin.
Naruto's breath caught a little at the feather light touch, but he quickly calmed down and allowed it, remembering that this wasn't Deidara and that he could trust Itachi.
"Naruto," Itachi said. "How did you get those scars?"
Naruto looked away from Itachi's eyes and Itachi quickly pulled back his hand, reprimanding himself.
"I'm sorry," he said, sitting up. "I don't know what I was thinking there. I think the paperwork clouded over my mind."
"It's ok," Naruto said, and looked back to Itachi sitting next to him on the floor.
"I'm just not used to telling the story. It's been a long time…"
Naruto sighed and mentally prepared himself when Itachi cut in,
"Naruto, you don't need to tell me, really," he said, and Naruto smiled softly yet again at the senior in front of him.
Itachi blushed a bit at the sheer beauty of the smile.
"I think I kind of need to…" Naruto said. "So that I don't forget again..."
Naruto took a deep breath.
"When I was eight a serial arsonist set my house on fire. The guy's real name was unknown, but he was known to everyone else as 'Kyuubi'. He had been setting a lot of buildings on fire when he chose our house as his next target.
"My mother, father, and I were trapped inside the house as it burned…"
Naruto held a hand to his forehead and shook his head.
"It's really fuzzy when I try to remember, and most of the time I just draw up a blank. But from what I can recall, my dad threw me across a big burning piece of our roof that had inwardly collapsed, and it separated us. I remember shouting something, and my parents to keep on going, and that they would be ok…"
Naruto curled his hands into fists as they rested on his uniform pants.
"I got to the front door when something exploded, and I just remember feeling these hot objects slash my face. I bled a lot, got out the door…and then it all goes black."
Naruto's eyes were back to their deep and empty ocean blue, Itachi noticed. He looked at Naruto with sympathetic eyes, who would meet his own gaze.
Naruto suddenly felt himself being pulled forward by his wrist, and he met something warm and firm. Naruto felt strong arms hold him in a gentle embrace as he heard Itachi whisper,
"I'm sorry you've had to suffer so much Naruto…I know you don't deserve it."
Naruto smiled and he felt tears well up in his eyes. He wrapped his arms around Itachi's neck, his fingers passing through the glossy black and blue tinted hair in the process. He buried his face in Itachi's chest and let the tears from so many years past flood out and spill over his cheeks.
"Thank you, Itachi," he said quietly, and Itachi held him even closer, isolating the blonde from the outside world where the pain would come back to haunt him as soon as they parted.
"Itachi…I'm sorry I keep causing you trouble, but please…I just need to cry for if only a little. Please…don't leave," Naruto said, barely audible, but Itachi heard him. He rested his head on Naruto's, ran a soothing hand through his golden locks, and closed his eyes, breathing in the rain.
"I won't."
"Naruto? Naruto??"
Itachi shook the blonde laying against him reluctantly after flicking his gaze over to the time.
Naruto had fallen asleep against Itachi, worn from crying over the years forgotten in his memory and the spark of sickness left in his body from the day before.
Itachi smiled at the snoozing blonde, his hair falling over his softly closed eyes and his rosy lips parted ever so slightly. His chest moved up and down rhythmically with his steady breathing, the black shirt of the uniform rippling between the breaths.
Itachi traced the scar marks on Naruto's face gently, barely brushing them. What had Naruto been like before his accident and suffering? Had those eyes ever been brighter?
Itachi sighed as he shook the blonde again.
"Naruto, we're going to be late for class," he said.
The sleeping blonde mumbled something and gripped Itachi's shirt, hoisting his head up to rest in the crook of his neck.
Itachi turned red as he felt Naruto's breath waft across his neck and sent shivers down his spine.
Why did the blonde affect him so much when no one else could? Then again, most people just stayed away from Itachi, intimidated by his cold exterior and death glare.
Itachi suddenly didn't want to let the blonde go; to just stay there sitting on the floor with his body pressed up against his chest, keeping him utterly warm.
Itachi leaned back and carefully peeled Naruto's slender tan fingers from his shirt, and instead his wrapped his arms around Itachi's middle like a big teddy bear.
Itachi flushed crimson down to the tips of his hair.
"N-Naruto!" he said, but the blonde seemed unfazed.
Itachi leaned back some so he could see Naruto's face…an angel's face.
Itachi cupped Naruto's face with his hand and he stroked his thumbs along his cheeks gently.
Naruto let out a soft hum and pressed into the warmth.
Itachi leaned forward, his forehead touching the blonde's.
"I don't know why I'm acting like this…" Itachi thought to himself as he pressed his lips ever so lightly against Naruto's.
"It's like my heart is beating at a mile a minute and I can't stop it. But then again, I'm not sure if I want to. This feels…right."
In a matter of seconds the delicate kiss was over, and Itachi looked back at the sleeping blonde and smiled as he let his head fall against his chest again.
"I'm not sure what you're doing to me Naruto…but it makes me feel happy."
Naruto suddenly whined a bit, and he peeled open one drowsy sapphire eye.
"Neh?" he said, yawning a bit and taking on the appearance of a sleepy golden fox kit.
So cute!
Itachi snapped out of his daze and regained his composure.
"We need to go to class," he said.
Naruto nodded as he stood up and stretched out.
Itachi did the same, minus the stretching.
"Wow Itachi, you're warm," Naruto said, and Itachi fought down a blush with every fiber of his being.
"Hmmm…now where's the English room?" Naruto thought aloud as he scratched the back of his head.
"I can show you Naruto," Itachi offered as the two headed to the door.
"Thanks, but Gaara is showing me to all my classes. We have the same schedule," Naruto replied.
"May I see your schedule?" Itachi asked, and Naruto handed him a folded white piece of paper.
Itachi opened it and skimmed it with his eyes.
"I have one class with you- musical enrichment/ chorus at the end of the day," he said, and handed the sheet of paper back to the blonde.
"Can I see yours?" Naruto asked, and Itachi pulled his schedule out of his inside uniform coat pocket.
Naruto's eyes bugged out as he read it.
"Wow! These are all AP classes! (2)" Naruto cried. "You must be really smart!"
Itachi folded his schedule back into his pocket.
"I think it's just dumb luck," he said shrugging.
"No way, you've got to be really smart to be in all those advanced classes!"
"Thank you…how about I walk you to your first class along with Gaara, Naruto?"
"Sure, ok!"
"GAARA! WOULD YOU LIKE TO ACCOMPANY ME ON THE WALK OF SPARKLING YOUTH TO OUR FIRST CLASS?"
Gaara sighed as he straightened out his shirt in the mirror and ran a pale hand through his hair.
"I'm taking Naruto to his class," he said as he headed for the door.
"Ooooh!" Lee squealed. "What a wonderful ray of beautiful sunshine to be next to! I shall accompany you!!!"
"Huh? Lee, I think I hear Mr. Gai calling you," Gaara said.
"Really? What amazing hearing you have, Gaara!"
"Yea, he wants you to run five laps around the academic garden before class starts."
"WHAT AN EXCELLENT SUGGESTION!"
Lee zipped out the door in a blur and Gaara shook his head as he too left the dorm, but at a reasonable, non-manic way.
"Hey Naruto," Gaara said as he met the blonde in the hallway standing next to…Itachi?
"Itachi?" Gaara said, voicing his question.
"Hey Gaara," Itachi said.
"What're you doing here?"
"I'm joining you in walking Naruto to class. Is that ok?"
"Uh…sure." Gaara did a double take as they set off down the hall to the academic building, Itachi to the left, Gaara to the right, and Naruto in between. Itachi Uchiha actually wanted to be near someone?
Hell must have frozen over.
Itachi stole a glance at Naruto, and noted that he had retained his cold exterior once again that he sported when he had first met him.
His eyes were lifeless.
Gaara and Itachi acted like body guards to the blonde, glaring at any person who happened to wink at him, check him out, or even wolf whistle.
The trio managed to reach the academic wing before Gaara tackled a senior that gave Naruto a slap on the butt.
"Here's where I take my leave," Itachi said as they rounded a corner.
"Ok," Gaara said, and Naruto nodded.
"Bye Naruto, Gaara." Itachi made to leave when a tanned hand whipped out and grabbed his wrist. Itachi looked back to meet Naruto's blank ocean eyes.
"Itachi…thank you…for before," he said. Suddenly his voice sounded like he hadn't used it in ages as he seemed to force it out.
Itachi noticed this and was a bit concerned, but smiled and nodded nonetheless before leaving as Gaara and Naruto entered their first period.
"Good morning class. For the new student, my name is Miss Kurenai," a beautiful young black-haired woman with striking crimson eyes said, smiling at her new group of students, two being Naruto and Gaara who sat in the back.
"As is customary due to new exchanged students entering the school, we'll be starting a new chapter today. But first let me just say welcome to our new student from Los Angeles, Naruto Uzumaki."
Kurenai flourished a hand in Naruto's direction, and he stared blankly at his desk as the other students in the lecture hall turned to look at him.
Kurenai saw that Naruto's didn't like this, so she moved on.
"All right, now open your text books to page 221. We'll be moving on to chapter four, "Shakespearian Romance."
Naruto decided he liked this teacher. She was kind and calm and it made him feel relaxed.
"Alright maggots, listen up!" a burly and muscled man said. He had black hair with facial hair to match, and a cigarette hung lopsidedly out of the corner of his mouth.
The students at their desks sat up straight for once, some of the freshman shivering.
The man held his hands behind his back as he said, "I hope all of you newbie's remember me from orientation."
The few ninth graders shivered and Naruto's eyes widened a bit. He flicked his eyes to Gaara for a sarcastic remark or comfort, but he gave none, his eyes glued to the dry erase board ahead.
"I understand we have fresh meat today?" the man asked as he removed his hands from behind his back, revealing a ruler that he slapped in his hand as he grinned menacingly. The man's dangerous brown eyes locked on Naruto, and the poor blonde lost his cold exterior, finding the extreme need to wet himself or cry, "Meep!"
The man walked up to him slowly. He could already hear the music of impending doom playing in the background.
Once one foot away from the junior, he thrust out his ruler at him, aiming for his throat.
"You. Name," the man demanded.
"His name is Naruto," Gaara said for the petrified blonde, and the man suddenly slapped the ruler hard on Naruto's desk.
"I asked the blonde Sabaku," the man said roughly to Gaara.
"Naruto doesn't speak a lot," Gaara said, already having picked up on the blonde's fear of talking to others outside of a very small circle.
The man looked back to Naruto.
"Name," he demanded again. "Last name, that is."
Naruto willed his voice to work, and found that it was like trying to start up an old beaten up record player. Why did he lose his voice in crowds?
"U…Uzumaki," he choked out.
"Alright Uzumaki," the man said, finally lifting the ruler from Naruto's desk.
"My name is Asuma Sarutobi. You will call me Asuma, understood? Not Mr. Sarutobi, not Sir, not Teach, just Asuma. I call everyone by their last names, keeping the formality of this class. Is that clear Uzumaki?"
"…yes," Naruto said quietly.
Asuma went back to the board.
"Alright Advanced Pre-Calculus Class," he addressed the room. "Open your text books to page 124."
"Alright, welcome to Naruto Uzumaki, our new student. Do you speak any Japanese Naruto?"
Naruto nodded.
In front of him was a man in his late twenties with wild spiky hair kept out of the way by a black headband, a stubble on his chin, and a long horizontal bandage across the bridge of his nose.
"That's great," he said, smiling. "We just started teaching this language after studying Japan during our culture festival here last year, and so many students took to it. Do you speak fluently, Naruto?"
Naruto nodded again.
"How about writing in kanji?
A third nod.
"Well then, this class should be a breeze for you. My name is Kotetsu Hagane. You can call me Kotetsu or Mr. Hagane, whichever you prefer.
"Welcome to…." Cough, "US History." Cough. "My name is…
cough, "Mr. Hayate. Please ignore the…" Cough, cough! "Coughing…"
Naruto raised an eyebrow at his teacher.
The poor guy seriously looked like he needed some sleep as his eyes displayed under the navy bandana he wore over his chestnut hair…and a cough drop wouldn't hurt either.
After lunch Naruto headed to the library, his only class without Gaara…and he bumped into a certain bastard.
"Teme," Naruto said as he plunked his books down on a free table.
"Dobe," Sasuke replied as he settled his books across from the blonde on the same table.
"Alright, shut up and listen up!"
Naruto turned his attention to the librarian's desk where a young woman with dyed purple hair in a spiked bun and light tan eyes sat.
"I'm only gonna say this once, so listen!" she said loudly, and Naruto's ears twitched a bit from the loud noise in contrast to the silent room.
"This is a study period! So study or I'm kicking you out!" she continued. "Talk amongst yourselves, but if I can hear it clearly, you're too loud! So shut up and we'll get along fine!"
Naruto walked to his next class after meeting up with Gaara, and by this time he was already drained. He moved to the back of the row of desks in the lecture hall, until Gaara plunked him down in the front row.
Naruto gave him a look that clearly stated, "WTF!?" and Gaara shook his head.
"He always tortures the back," he said.
Twenty minutes had already passed, and Naruto was asleep at his desk as the other students chatted idly, waiting for the advanced biology teacher.
Gaara smiled as he watched Naruto sleep. He looked so peaceful and carefree, his cold outer shell shed in his dreamland. Most of all…he looked absolutely beautiful.
Even more so than when he was awake. Gaara was positive that even without wings, he took on the appearance of a fallen angel.
Suddenly Gaara had the urge to reach out and run his fingers through the locks of sunshine that fell over Naruto's eyes and around his scarred cheeks…but why? He had never wanted to touch anyone before until then. What was this Uzumaki Naruto doing to him exactly?
Gaara let his impulse loose, and he ran a hand through Naruto's hair gently, caressing the locks.
Suddenly another pale hand locked around Gaara's wrist, and he looked up.
"Uchiha," he snarled.
"Sabaku," Sasuke replied venomously as he sat on the other side next to the blonde.
"What do you think you're doing Uchiha?" Gaara said, narrowing his eyes as he kept his voice down, lest he woke the golden angel.
"I should ask you the same thing," Sasuke said, also speaking softly but dangerously as he released Gaara's wrist.
Gaara let his hand fall on his desk as he and Sasuke had a heated glaring contest.
"Why do you care?" Gaara said, and a vein above Sasuke's head throbbed. But even he couldn't answer that question. Why did he care? And why had he enjoyed the blonde's kiss so much? It was only to distract the crowd of fanboys after all…right?
Sasuke unconsciously licked his lips as if trying to recall Naruto's flavor, never breaking his eye contact with the red head.
He opened his mouth to retort, when the teacher came bursting in through the door, papers flying from the stack he held jumbled in his arms.
Sasuke turned to the front as he hissed, "Later Sabaku."
Gaara glared back, and looked back to Naruto, still sleeping. The blonde must have been a heavy sleeper.
Gaara moved a hand to shake Naruto awake, when another pallid hand beat him to it.
"Dobe," Sasuke said, pushing Naruto's shoulder a bit.
"Nyah…" Naruto mumbled as he let his arms splay out more over the desk and his head drop, scattering his hair over his tan face like shards of sunlight.
Sasuke and Gaara blushed from his sheer beauty.
The duo looked back nervously at the teacher with dyed white hair that stuck up, falling to the left a bit. He must have had to use major hair gel.
"Man, he's gonna fry Naruto if he catches him sleeping!" they thought simultaneously.
They both knew the one thing that would probably wake up Naruto without the teacher noticing, and at the same not cause them any trouble.
Sasuke looked at Gaara.
Gaara looked at Sasuke.
They both looked at Naruto, and then back to each other.
Ok, this meant war.
Gaara scooted closer to the blonde, but Sasuke instead looked past Gaara's shoulder with a small look of terror on his face.
Gaara saw this and suddenly stopped.
Shit. The teacher was right behind him, wasn't he?
Gaara turned around slowly, and Sasuke took that opportunity to lunge for Naruto.
He quickly grabbed the blonde by his slim waist, pulled him into his lap so that his legs straddled him, grabbed a handful of his hair, and kissed him.
Gaara turned around to this scene and Naruto woke up immediately at the contact.
Gaara fumed and turned away. If Sasuke wasn't saving Naruto's butt from utter humiliation, he would have bitch slapped the Uchiha into the next dimension.
The first thing Naruto saw was pale skin and gently closed eyes. Then black and blue glossed hair came spilling into his view, and an obvious presence was on his mouth, caressing his lips.
Wait…what the hell was going on!?
Naruto tried to push Sasuke back some, but the Uchiha slapped a hand hard on his desk, jolting the blonde slightly.
He suddenly heard some wolf whistles around him and some clapping from the front.
"Very good Sasuke- you've finally found your match," the deep voice said, and Naruto raised an eyebrow.
What match!? Him and Sasuke!?!?
Sasuke parted from the now fully awake blonde, and spun him around in his lap to face the teacher.
Before Naruto stood a man in his mid thirties, his white hair lopsided and a medical patch over his left eye that revealed the tips of a vertical red scar. His other eye was black, the lower half of his face completely covered by a black cloth mask, and he held a pair of thin reading glasses in his right hand.
"Welcome to Advanced Biology Mr…?" he said to Naruto.
"Uzumaki," Sasuke answered for him, and he hugged Naruto more tightly to him. "Naruto Uzumaki."
The teacher's eye curved up happily as he said, "My name is Kakashi Hatake. You can call me Mr. Hatake or Kakashi. Feel free to sit where you want as I have no seating arrangements."
At this the class laughed a bit and Naruto turned red.
"Kuso…" he muttered.
Sasuke raised a confused eyebrow and Kakashi laughed.
"Now, now Mr. Uzumaki, no cussing in class, even if it's not in a language everyone can understand," he said.
"I commend you Naruto. Sasuke's been a loner for so long that the class thought he was asexual. But then you came along. Thank god for little miracles, ne?"
Naruto sputtered incoherently Kakashi turned around to walk to his desk.
Sasuke leaned his head down a bit and nuzzled Naruto's neck.
Naruto turned so red that he thought he would explode.
"Dobe," Sasuke said lowly so only the blonde could hear. "Play along if you don't want to be publicly humiliated. I'll explain after class."
Naruto thought he couldn't be more humiliated, but after a moment of thought, he changed his mind and decided to listen to Sasuke.
"I'll listen, but I'm not doing anything Teme," he hissed, and Sasuke smirked.
"Fine. Just don't push me away, because I will."
Naruto gulped.
Kakashi clapped his hands together, earning the attention of the class.
"Alright everyone, listen up!" he said happily. "We'll be beginning a new unit today. Since we've gotten the first chapter out of the way required by Tsunade, we'll be skipping ahead to my favorite part of Biology! Chapter 23- human reproduction!"
The class stayed silent, then blushed, then went into a rage.
"You pervert!"
"Neh, I don't wanna hear the 'talk' again!"
"MAKE IT STOP!"
Kakashi put up a hand.
"Calm down," he said. "I'm not assigning you to read anything from your textbook."
The class took a relaxed breath.
"Instead, you'll be reading…THIS!!!"
Kakashi flourished a small orange book, its cover with a picture of a cartoon man chasing a beautiful woman on the front.
Kakashi got down on one knee and held the book above him like it was the Holy Grail.
"ICHA ICHA PARADISE!!!" he proclaimed. The large portion of the class who didn't speak Japanese just blinked, but Naruto wriggled uncomfortably in Sasuke's lap and used the folder on his desk to hide his beet red face.
Kakashi went by each desk, passing out a book.
"You two can share," he said when he reached Naruto's table, and when he turned his back Naruto stuck out his tongue at him.
Naruto flipped the book over on the back to read the preview while the rest of the class stared at the novel like zombies.
"Uhhh…Kakashi?" one student said. "This is all in Japanese kanji."
"You all went to the culture festival last year, correct?" Kakashi replied. The room was silent except for a few hands that went up, including Sasuke's.
Oh the joy of being junior class president.
"And there are some of you in the Japanese class for foreign language, correct?" hands dropped and a few others went up.
"There you go! The rest of you will have to learn, because you are going to be translating this whole book!"
The class groaned.
As Naruto read the kanji on the back Sasuke felt him shudder occasionally and grimace. When he finished he was a positively bright cherry color all over.
"Oh god…" he groaned, covering his face with his hands.
Naruto suddenly relaxed a bit as he felt something warm caress the back of his neck, and he shifted his gaze to see Sasuke nuzzling him affectionately.
"Wow, he's really good at this acting thing," Naruto thought to himself. He let his eyes droop as he melted into the light brush of Sasuke's soft skin against his own.
Sasuke didn't know what the hell was going on. Why did he feel the urge to comfort the blonde when he saw him miserable? He should have laughed at his face and called him an idiot! So why didn't he???
"It's all to fool Kakashi, it's all to fool Kakashi," Sasuke repeated in his head, but he felt something ache in his heart every time he silently told himself this.
Suddenly Sasuke heard a gentle rumbling noise, and his paused in his cuddling.
"Naruto," Sasuke said quietly to the blonde.
"Nn?" Naruto replied.
"Are you purring?"
Naruto opened his eyes, which had fully closed, and put a hand to his throat. So that's what that reverberating feeling in his gullet was!
Naruto smiled a little as Naruto shut his eyes tightly in embarrassment. He had never said he disliked the purring. Quite the contrary, it was positively adorable.
"Now that everyone has a book-"
BANG!
The class jumped as the sound of an explosion erupted from down the hall and the desks shook.
Kakashi raised an eyebrow.
"Must have been the Chemistry roo-"
"DEIDARA!!!"
"Art room," Kakashi corrected as he opened the door and poked his head out into the hallway. A steady stream of smoke protruded from the open door of the art room three doors down, filtering throughout the school like a wild fire.
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
The class groaned and held their ears as the fire alarm screeched and echoed down the halls.
"Attention students and faculty," Tsunade's voice said over the speakers.
"There has been an explosion in the art room. I'm not going to name anyone, but they are in big trouble. THAT MEANS YOU DEIDARA! Ahem…professors- please evacuate the students as you would a regular fire drill."
The speakers crackled off and Kakashi sighed.
"Ok, everyone up," he said, and the class filed out into the halls with other students and teachers. The flood of them split up through their respective emergency exits, and they gathered outside the school.
Deidara passed the teachers with a mysterious grin, the red-haired art professor following him angrily from behind, clay all over his face and making his hair stick up in a mad scientist fashion.
"But Mr. Sasori!" Deidara whined. "That was art, un!"
"No, that was detention for a week!" the man named Sasori replied.
The other teachers giggled as they organized their students.
"All right, one alphabetical line please!" Kakashi said to the advanced biology class.
This unfortunately meant that Naruto and Sasuke were stuck with each other.
"Dobe," Sasuke said, crossing his arms.
Naruto looked at him and then turned away.
Sasuke raised a skeptical eyebrow.
Naruto wasn't taking his challenge? Was something wrong with the world???
"Hey, Dobe," Sasuke said again, but Naruto didn't look at him.
Sasuke spun Naruto around roughly by the shoulder.
"Dobe!" Sasuke said, but Naruto's face was turned to the ground, his hair concealing his eyes.
"Sasuke."
Sasuke's blood ran frigid as he looked over Naruto's shoulder to his brother Itachi standing there.
He actually seemed a bit ticked off.
"Let go, Sasuke," Itachi said, and smacked his brother's hand away from Naruto's shoulder.
Sasuke snarled as Itachi placed his own hand on Naruto's other shoulder.
"Are you alright Naruto?" he asked.
Naruto turned his head to look over his shoulder, and Sasuke saw hold cold and lifeless his eyes were. But they were just fine a moment ago…what happened?
Sasuke remembered those eyes well, so full of pain like himself and utterly uncaring. Those were the eyes Naruto wore when he first met Sasuke.
"This is just like with that picture…" Sasuke thought as he remembered the photo of Naruto as a young teen, his eyes alight and happy, compared to the recent one.
"He won't talk much in class or out here, and I didn't see his mouth move once during lunch…not that I was looking! But he speaks to me, Gaara, and he apparently knows my brother. What's the difference?"
Sasuke let his eyes drift around the scene from the corner of his eyes, and a light bulb went off in his head.
Crowds! New people!
Naruto always seemed to loose his voice in such instances, and now seemed like an undeniable time to do so. He would put up his mask, his colder outer shell, and shut himself away at these times, but when with people he knew better, he began to let his barrier break and his true self shined through.
Sasuke still wanted to see that light shine its brightest.
Sasuke blinked as he came out of his epiphany and found Naruto talking quietly with his brother.
Sasuke felt rage bubble up in his blood a bit at the sight, and he curled his hands into fists at his sides.
"Ooooh, somebody's jealous!" Kakashi crooned.
Sasuke flipped him off when he turned his back.
BOOM!
"DEIDARA!"
"IT WASN'T ME, UN!"
BOOM! RUMBLE!
Sure enough, the source of the noise was coming from overhead.
The students all looked up to the once blue sky, now a malevolent churning grey, and the teachers hustled to finishing counting their students.
Naruto shivered a bit as he looked at the clouds fearfully.
Both Uchiha's saw this, and as Sasuke was about to say something, Itachi beat him to it, pulling Naruto into a hug.
Naruto looked up a bit at Itachi's face (he's not that short!) and saw those red and black eyes so filled with concern and kindness.
He let Itachi see a small smile appear on his face, which to said Uchiha made his entire week, before letting his head drop to settle on Itachi's chest.
Sasuke was hissing vehemently at this point.
The sky suddenly opened up, and the rain came pouring down in sheets, soaking the students through almost immediately.
"Alright, the rest of classes are canceled until we clean up the mess in the art room and clear the smoke! So back to your dorms!" Tsunade shouted over the thunder, and everyone made a beeline for the doors in a hurry.
All except for three.
Naruto pulled away from Itachi, nodding another thanks, before walking to the door as if he weren't being drenched.
Sasuke walked with him, a concerned look on his face.
Naruto coughed a bit and the bridge of his nose flushed.
Sasuke's worry amplified by ten.
Sasuke grabbed Naruto's hand as he stopped, took off his suit's jacket, and hung it over the blonde's head. Then without a word to the confused blonde, he grabbed Naruto's hand, intertwining it with his own, and led him back to the school building.
It was a longer trek when walking, and the only sound in the air was the rain.
"Sasuke…" Naruto said quietly, his gaze to the ground, and Sasuke stopped and looked at him.
"Why…" Naruto croaked, and he put a hand to his throat. He never regained his voice quickly.
Sasuke saw Naruto shiver, the flush on his nose spreading a bit, and before he knew what he was doing, he pulled the blonde into a warm hug.
Naruto's eyes widened a bit, but his body curled into the warmth nonetheless, and he found himself resting his hands on Sasuke's chest and resting his head in the crook of the younger Uchiha's neck.
His head cradled there perfectly as if the spot was created for the sole purpose, and Naruto breathed in the scent of the crisp fall air. He could see the brown and red dappled leaves and almost hear them crinkle under his feet. So this was how Sasuke smelled…like the fall…
Naruto sighed contentedly.
"Sasuke," he repeated, and he found that his voice was working better.
"Why are you doing this? One minute you're calling me Dobe…and the next you're hugging me or…kissing me…"
Naruto blushed at the last part of his sentence even though Sasuke couldn't see. A pink tint ran across the brunette's face as well actually.
"Because," Sasuke said. "I…" Sasuke sighed.
"I don't know," he said truthfully.
"You make me do some weird things, Naruto. And as for the kissing, it's so you don't get mauled by your fanclub of humiliated by Kakashi, Dobe."
Naruto pulled back and looked at Sasuke, pouting.
--------------------------------------------------T-16-------------------------------------------------------------------
"See! You did it right there! I swear Uchiha, you're bipolar or som-"
Sasuke cut off Naruto as he pressed against the blonde's.
There was no motive this time.
There was no reason, no cause, no explanation.
This was just a pure act of passion. Kissing Naruto just for the sake of kissing him.
Sasuke didn't care if it was real or not.
He didn't want to wake up.
Naruto's eyes widened a fraction as he felt the gentle caress of Sasuke's lips against his own in a rhythmic pattern akin to beat of his heart.
As Sasuke entered his astonished mouth, he tasted the Uchiha's flavor vividly, and felt himself melt.
What was that taste?
It wasn't anything at all, but at the same time it was so powerful that Naruto felt himself become dizzy.
Naruto rubbed his tongue against the Uchiha's for a better sample of his taste as he kissed back, and Sasuke jumped a bit in surprise, but reveled in the sensation nonetheless.
After a few seconds of contemplation, Naruto pinned the taste.
He had experienced it when he was fifteen, unlike most people who tasted it when they were very young.
It was the taste of a single snowflake falling and landing on his outstretched tongue, disappearing quickly but leaving its taste in the cavern of his mouth.
A taste Naruto would never get enough of.
Naruto ran a hand through Sasuke's wet hair, forgetting the rain, and he pressed his body closer to the Uchiha's, giving the kiss more pressure.
Sasuke groaned a bit as Naruto did this.
He ran his hands from the blonde's hips up to his sides and back down again, feeling every curve in his lithe form.
They broke for air momentarily, at which time Naruto lost his balance and fell onto his back, taking Sasuke down with him.
Naruto closed his eyes as the raindrops hit his face, cold and wet, and ran down the small rift his scars made on his cheeks.
Then suddenly the drops were gone, and he opened his eyes to see Sasuke's face hovering over his own.
Sasuke let his head fall so that his forehead was touching Naruto's.
"Sasuke…" Naruto said, looking at him through confused eyes.
"Please don't ask, Naruto," Sasuke whispered. "Even I don't know. But I hope I will soon…"
With that Sasuke dipped his lips back down to meet Naruto's.
Sasuke placed a hand on the blonde's chest, and with the other he cupped his face, gently running his thumb over the scar marks.
After getting over the shock, Naruto realized that he actually wanted to kiss back, even if he was unsure of what it meant. Sasuke was too after all, so what difference did it make?
Naruto reached up and wrapped his arms around Sasuke's neck. His fingers gripped his hair, one hand running through the wet black locks back and forth as he kissed Sasuke back.
Sasuke asked for entrance to Naruto's mouth, keeping up the gentle caress of the golden angel's scarred cheeks, and after slight hesitation, Naruto let Sasuke enter.
Sasuke circumnavigated Naruto's mouth carefully, moving slowly over some more sensitive spots to see how the blonde reacted.
There was no response from the blonde besides his rhythmic kissing until Sasuke moved to massage Naruto's tongue with his own, and Naruto let out a groan when Sasuke reached the underside of his tongue.
Neither teen seemed to notice the rain anymore flowing over them and seeping into their skin. All that was there was the kiss.
Sasuke broke for air, looked at the blonde beneath him, and black clashed with bright ocean blue.
----------------------------------------------------------T-16 END----------------------------------------------------
Bright…Naruto's eyes looked brighter, almost like a sky blue…
BOOM!
Another loud clap of thunder emanated from the sky, and Naruto shut his eyes tightly.
Sasuke smirked.
"Dobe," he said. "You're scared of thunder?"
Naruto glared back up at Sasuke and shivered, the rain finally reaching him.
Sasuke stood up off of Naruto and helped the blonde up, and the duo headed back to the academic building.
Another loud roar of thunder rolled off the clouds, and Sasuke felt something warm press into his hand.
He looked down and saw a tan hand in his own, and he turned his gaze to Naruto.
The blonde was looking up at the sky a bit fearfully, clinging to Sasuke's hand.
Sasuke wrapped his hand tighter around Naruto's and gave it a small squeeze of comfort.
Naruto looked at Sasuke who kept his gaze ahead, but a light blush appeared across his face.
Naruto smiled and looked at the wet grass beneath his feet.
Sky-eyed Kitsune: Phew! I promised you a looong chapter, so I hope I delivered! XD There is no new voting in this chapter, but if you haven't voted for who you want to see Naru dance with, then now is the time!
Zomg! I made Dei-Dei such a bad guy in this chappie! T.T –hugs Deidara plushie— Forgive me Dei-Dei!!!