How Orphan Boys Play

Chapter 11

The bang and clang of the old bell signalled the end of the day for Konoha Junior High. A good few hundred, hyped up teens ploughed their way through the halls and left scattered bits of paper and trash as the escaped through the only main door in the entire building. On days when Sai had classes that weren't shared with Naruto and Gaara, he'd wait until the hustle subsided before even leaving the classroom. He'd spend those mad minutes that made up the end of the day clearing things way, take his time to his books away or sometimes just sit and wait until things got quiet.

It's not like anyone noticed anyway. Even the teachers would dash out the class and Sai was in no rush to meet anyone or do anything that quickly. Both Naruto and Gaara had clubs; the blonde was kept busy with sports and the occasional detention duties while Gaara had a book swap group. There weren't any art clubs. There was only one art teacher who, despite being fully dedicated to his job, was too over worked to put in the extra unpaid hours for a club. Most days out of the week, Sai walked home alone.

The hallways were eerie but peaceful when no one was around. No squealing girls. No moany attention seekers clinging to arms of idiots who kept giving them the attention they wanted. No burly brutes throwing their weight around to compensate for their lack of wit in their tongue. So, when Sai hear stomping steps coming toward him, the noise boomed from wall to wall as if warning the little ebony of an imminent danger. Sai had almost sussed where it was coming from when he was grabbed from behind by the shoulders, flipped around and slammed into his locker. His ebony head left a ricochet bump but the loud bang of metal being crushed under a punch made him freeze instantly.

"Look, don't freak out okay?"

"You don't make that easy, Sasuke"

"Just shut up and listen" Sai didn't have much choice. He was pretty sure that locker was stronger than him and you could practically see the shape of the Uchiha's fist in it now. Naruto had always taught Sai how to stick up for himself and it had a handful of times when they were smaller but, this guy.....that look in Sasuke's eyes never failed to make Sasuke's legs shake. However, something about the way Sasuke was standing looked oddly withdrawn; while one hand was still set against the locker next to Sai's head, doing its best to shake Sai up, the other was tucked away into a deep pocket. The taller ebony was hunched over slightly, his head turned away to stare down an empty hallway. "I'm sorry alright. I was talking to by Brother and even though he talks bullshit most of the time.....fucking smart-ass. I'm just sorry okay? I shouldn't have hit you. You didn't even do anything wrong. I fucked up" That probably had to be the most Sai had ever heard Sasuke speak in one go. If Gaara could hear how much this guy swore, the red head would have a heart attack. Sasuke leaned back, hiding both hands in his pockets and half his face beneath the collar oh his shirt. Sai was only just noticing that Sasuke's clothes looked a little big for the young Uchiha.

"You're not used to apologising are you?" At least, that was the impression Sai got. The smaller ebony could relate; before and even after he became friends with Naruto and Gaara, Sai was never very good around people. He used to have a bad habit of saying weird or rude things to people. He didn't really care if it made them mad. Idiots should be pointed out for the idiotic things they say and do. In his view he was being honest but it left him with few bruises from bigger kids. As a result, Sai learned from a very young age that it was better to keep your mouth shut. Sasuke seemed to bring out the inner voice in Sai though.

"Never really had to. Not even to my old man. Look can we.....keep hanging out?" This time, Sasuke was the one to look up and half flinched at the dead-like stare looking back. It was like Sai had slipped on some kind of cold mask. For a second Sasuke thought Sai was going to spit on him or something.

"Sure. I've got nothing better to do"

XXXX

It was almost like nothing had ever happened. The dark haired pair were perched on their branch, silent as ever with nothing out of the ordinary. Except for one odd thing; Sasuke was sitting particularly close to Sai for some reason, enough to look over the smaller ebony's shoulder and clearly see what he was sketching. Neither of them said anything about the change. Sasuke had most likely said everything he wanted to for the next month anyway.

"I saw you kissing that blonde kid from our home-room class" The pencil in Sai's hand snapped in half and his eyes twitched erratically. The Uchiha hadn't taken his own eyes off the sketching paper that now had a huge black line across the drawing that Sai had been working on. Sai tried to say something but forgot how to move his mouth, let alone form words with it. "You hear me". Sasuke was oddly calm. How was he to freak out so easily over the small stuff but this he keeps a cool face? Uchiha's are weird. "You've ruined your drawing" Sai suddenly felt shaky. Sasuke had seen him kiss Naruto, a boy! The smaller ebony wasn't sure if his friends were aware but, Sai knew full well that boys kissing is a BIG no no. If it was then his male class mates would be talking about it like all the girls do. They were always giggling over boys the liked and there were whispers about girls who liked girls but no-one mentioned boys who liked boys.

"I won't tell anyone" Oh? Well, that's slightly reliving in a way. Right? "Oh, on one condition though". Oh no. What did that mean? It's going to be something like stealing or punching Sasuke's short but really strong looking older Brother. No way! Sasuke's imagination was far more wicked than that but then, that could just be leftovers from Sai's imagination. "I wanna sit with you guys at lunch tomorrow"

Say what?

"That's it?" Sai croaked. He knew he shouldn't have asked but-"Why?"

"My Pain-in-the-ass Brother seems to thing I don't have enough friends. So, I might as well get to know whoever a friend with you is. Deal?" Sai nodded so much his neck could have snapped off. With all that said and done, the pair clicked back into place. Sasuke even took up his classic cool-pose against the tree, leaving Sai to doodle away in quiet anticipation.

XXXX

Lee was on his fiftieth hand-stand-push-up when Gaara staggered through the door, dragged himself the living room and slumped heavily into the thick, green cushions of the family couch. After ten more push-ups, Lee switched arms.

"A long day?" The bowl cut asked.

"A Long week"

"Let me finish this off and I'll get the munchies". It was a little ritual the Brothers managed to perform at some point or another without really noticing at first. The often found themselves nibbling on stuff they could find in the cupboards whenever they had to talk about stuff. Not every day stuff, otherwise Lee would be working off a sugar gut. Instead, it was the annoying crap you just need to get off your chest every now and then. Two weeks ago, Gaara was Lee's sentimental shoulder to cry on when the older Brother had asked someone he liked out and got rejected. The green athlete didn't mention who but, Gaara was too clever to fool and Lee was too simple to hide anything in a clever manner. Still, even Gaara was surprised to hear Lee about trying to ask that pink haired girl from his math class out. Although, Gaara had the slight feeling his Brother didn't ask in the traditional way most people ask a person to go out with them.

Big Gai wouldn't be home until late tonight, he has a meeting to attend to again, so the boys were free to talk as long as the needed. They deeply care for the green giant but........he tends to over exaggerate any situation even made Lee groan. Sometimes you just want to moan for the sake of moaning.

"So what's up, Gaara?" Lee ripped open a pack of Oreos. "Did something happen with Sai again? I thought you guys all made up?" The red head took a handful of the black and white biscuits and popped a whole one into his mouth before saying anything. There's nothing like good comfort food that's bad for you.

"We did. We even found out why he was avoiding us. Plus, that Sasuke Uchiha really knows how to stir things up"

"Woah! Sasuke's part of your little orgy now too?"

"I don't know what that means and I'm not asking." Lee just chuckled to himself and tussled his little Brother's hair up.

"I'm sorry", he laughed. "So, you found out why he was avoiding you guys right?" Gaara took a little while to answer, letting an Oreo just sit half way in/out of his mouth like he forgot it was there.

"He saw me and Naruto kissing and he got the idea in his head that we were going to leave him out".

"Then what happened?"

"We finally found him and I smacked the idiot out of him. But, it turns out he made a new friend in our absence and you won't believe half of what happened this week." Lee handed over the remaining half packet, indicating that they had all night and he was here to hear it all. Gaara still couldn't believe most of what went on. Most of it he was sure no one else knew was aware. I was enough of a surprise to see that Sasuke guy looking though the green-house. An even bigger surprise was to find Sai inviting Sasuke over to their lunch table. It was weird to say the least; Sasuke was the most popular kid in the whole school, despite his antisocial attitude towards other people. So why was he sitting with the Weirdo Trio? Needless to say it attracted a lot of attention from curious eyes all over the cafeteria but Sasuke gave them all some kind of look that Gaara couldn't see that made them all mind their own business. Not a word passed between them. Even Naruto just chewed away at his lunch. All the while though, both Sasuke and Naruto never looked away from each other.

They each stared at one another intently and Gaara was half convinced there sending each other death threats telepathically. Out of the blue, a voice called out to Sai from across the lunch hall. It was the art teacher, Mr Ibiki. He was really big and had plenty of deep scars to show off but, once had a paint brush In his hand, he was as soft as clay. As Sai stood up and walked over, Gaara suddenly had a heavy, sinking feeling in gut, like a tornado was about to hit and his body was trying to weigh itself down. Naruto made the first move.

"What you up to, Uchiha?"

"None of your fucking business, Loser. Can't a guy sit where he wants for lunch in your world?"

"Bull shit and you know it". Gaara attempted calling out to Sai using to his own thoughts but didn't have much luck.

"Not as dumb as he looks. Fine. I'll lay it out for ya then. You're gonna fuck it up with him sooner or later and when that happens, his ass is mine." There was a savage look in Sasuke's eyes that really creeped Gaara out but, it was Naruto's eyes that scared him more. He knew where that look could lead. "He's happier being with me anyway. Even a loser like you can see that" Gaara clutched Naruto's arm desperately but it went unnoticed. "Like you could make anyone happy"

Oh-no. Naruto don't. Please calm down. He doesn't know what we all went through. He's trying to get you mad on purpose. Please don't fall for this!

"What the fuck do you know?" Naruto growled. His whisker marks curled as he snarled and Gaara could swear he saw the blonde's hair flare of it's own accord.

"I know he'll never let you get as close to him as I already have. Just face it", Sasuke pushed his arms against the table to lean a little closer. A long sneer spread across the Uchiha's face. "He loves me"

Lee stayed very quite. He'd seen his little Brother stressed out before and this wasn't the worst level it could reach but, he could see the hurt in Gaara's eyes.

"If Sasuke had said 'like' or 'he wants to be my friend' or something like that, Naruto might not have flipped out so bad. I haven't seen him that angry since....the bad days". Gaara had mentioned these 'bad days' before but the red head never went into further detail.

"What happened?" Lee asked cautiously.

"He.... let it out. He jumped right over the table and just...grabbed Sasuke by the neck" It had been viscous and relentless. Sasuke had probably seen it coming because he grabbed Naruto's wrist half way down the fall and tossed the blonde right over his head and threw Naruto over an adjacent table. Before chatter and curiosity could even spread through the cafeteria, Naruto leapt back after wiping food from his eyes and was on Sasuke in second. Uproar began. Swipe after strike. Blow after kick. Some were cheering and goading the pair on as they beat each other senseless. Two, looked on helplessly.

"Gaara," Lee spoke softly as he placed a hand on his little Brother's shoulder, "you okay?" Lee wasn't sure if Gaara was aware he was hugging his own knees. Lee had only seen Gaara do that after a bad nightmare.

"That...that son of a bitch planned the whole thing" Woah. This is really bad.

The pair of fighters had to be pried apart by teachers and didn't come out of Head Master Sarutobi's office for a really long time. Gaara doubted either Naruto or Sasuke said anything about why they were fighting. When they were led out of the office door, the little red head kept himself hidden around the corner. Sai appeared from down the hall, he must have skipped class. Before Sai even reached the pair, Sasuke was walking off; his hands in his pockets and face unfazed by anything around him. However, Gaara was the only one to notice that Sasuke didn't leave, he just hid himself near set a of large lockers.

"He couldn't see me, but I saw him and that fucking smile of his. He was lovin' it, Lee. He knew Naruto would say something to hurt Sai. He knew exactly how to fuck with their heads"

Gaara prayed from his little hiding spot that Sasuke's plan wouldn't work but he could already see the massive collision about to happen.

"Sai.....", Naruto huffed like was desperately trying to hold something back. They were eye to eye with barely a blink between them. "Tell me now. Who do you care about more, him or us?" No, Naruto don't. Please. We nearly lost Sai already. Keep your cool.

"Why....why would you think-?" Sai's brow quickly furrowed and he levelled up against Naruto. "Fine" Oh-no. "That's how you want to think, then fine". Sai turned on his heel and bolted straight out the swing doors. As the sound of the door frame screeched against the floor, down the hall Little Gaara watched as his beloved blonde friend broke down. He watched as Naruto bloodied his knuckles by bashing them them into the stone floor and how that......monster was holding his stomach as he held in the laugh.

"I didn't know what to do, Lee. I know I should have told Sai what was going on but we early lost his once already. He would have thought I was spying on him, like I no longer trusted him.

"Gaara....", Lee sighed as he wrapped an arm around his little Brother and let Gaara rest his head against Lee's shoulder.

"I was really glad he made a new friend though", Gaara mumbled. "None of us could do that before. That's how we managed to become friends because no-one else liked us. He made a real friend"

But you did make real friends, Gaara. You love them and they love you

"He's not talking to us again and, this time, it was out fault. Sasuke took him from us because we let him"

"What's stopping you from getting him back then?" Gaara suddenly looked up with bewildered and slightly watery eyes. Lee briefly wandered if the dark rims around Gaara's eyes might smudge if the red head started sobbing. "You heard me. Since when did you and Naruto take a slap on the hand and sit in the corner?" Lee stood up in one quick motion. His arms were folded across his chest and he was facing away from Gaara slightly, as if looking into the beyond.

"You've got passion got passion, Gaara. Every day since I met I've seen you push yourself, as well as your friends, forward. Yet, sometimes when you see someone who doesn't want to move ahead, you force yourself to stay with them". The elder Brother looked over his shoulder, a conclusive look in his fish-like eyes. "You've got to eb the one who keeps everyone on track, Gaara. There's a lot of people who rely on someone like you. They need you love for them to keep them going"

"My....love?"

"YES!" Lee declared as he struck the air with his fist. In a second he clutched his little Brother's hand, yanked the red head up from the floor and added a spin for good measure. " We love those who are most precious to us, even if we're not the most important person to them. But you do have someone who loves you dearly and really needs you now. Will you be there for them?"

"I'll always be there for them!" Gaara exclaimed before even thinking. He even looked angered by the question.

"Even if you're no longer precious to them as much as you want to be?" That, caught Gaara off guard but only for a second. He took a step back, his invisible eyebrows met. Lee stepped aside and watched a blur of red hair rush by him and out the door.

"I'm a little worried, " Lee said to himself. "If he ends up having sex before I do". xxxx

Pythagoras can go to hell! Logic and mathematics never equate well with arty kids and Sai's inky little world was struggling to fight off the onslaught of calculations. All Sai's maths book had scribbled on it were a few triangles, some badly attempted formulas and probably ten doodles for each answer he scored out. Yamato was useless at this stuff too. You'd think a guy who measures and calculates on a regular basis would know something about this. The plant man was baffled at the notion of mathematics using letter as well as numbers. A few bangs of the head to the desk later and still no answers.

"That's some study tactic you've go there". Sai jerker up. His open window, that looked over his desk had a guest leaning on it's edge. Sai had a momentary image of a mortified Yamato if the man could see Sasuke climbing up his prize wining wall roses.

"Why can't maths be easier?"

"Same reason why not everyone can draw"

"That's not the same thing, Now help me", Sai growled as he tossed a pencil at Sasuke, missed and it fell it out the window.

"What makes you think I'm any good?" Sai looked up from his torn/doodled/crumpled homework sheet with an odd look on his face. The Uchiha knew fine well what the little ebony meant. Sasuke may not be the pride and joy of the family but, he was too far off from a perfect academic record. However, that didn't exactly mean he was any good at teaching. It'd be like trying to teach a frog how to purr.

"Why are you climbing up the side of my house anyway?" If Sai wasn't going to get any help with his homework, he might as well talk about something more interesting. Sasuke looked over his shoulder, his impassive face gazing across the wide yard that made up Yamato colourful garden. He slowly looked back at Sai with a light curl in his lips.

"I thought I'd try my hand at being romantic". That curl became a grin at the sight of a blush blooming over Sai's cheeks. The Uchiha made a gesture, asking Sai to come closer. Those damn eyes. They weren't the same from Sai's dream but, something about them were just so alluring to the little ebony. Sai popped his head out of the window, almost face to face with Sasuke when he realised the young Uchiha's expression changed the closer the little ebony moved. There was this quick flicker of nervousness and quivering gap between Sasuke's lips. Sai just held his place, bent over on all fours on his wooden desk. He wasn't going to do anything that Sasuke didn't want him to do; not unless the little ebony wanted to be thrown out of a window. A pale hand, that could probably knock Sai out in one blow and hold him down like a weak kitten, reached out almost fearfully. Another steadily followed until the Sai could feel his face being held by sweaty palms. Maybe if Sai closed his eyes it would make this easier for Sasuke. This wasn't like the dream at all. Sasuke seemed more like...well Sasuke in Sai's dreams compared to now. The young Uchiha reminded the little ebony of that really shy girl with the blue hair from their English class.

Eventually, Sai could feel faint but rapid breaths near his lips. He took a peek and saw Sasuke's eye were shut tight, his brow twitching with trickles of sweat ready to run down his nose. Just before Sai could relive the his dream induced fantasy, he woke Sasuke up. Sai brought up his hand and covered Sasuke's mouth. The Uchiha hadn't let go but his eyes widened dramatically. Despite the barrier over his mouth, Sasuke jerked forward a fraction like he was about to protest but faltered and turned away. Sai couldn't tell if Sasuke looked more ashamed than embarrassed.

"But....", Sasuke down at his knees, he seemed to be searching for something. "Please. Just one, Sai. I need to know if-"

"You're not gay" Sasuke visibly flinched at the last word. It could have been a moment of instinctive rage but the Uchiha raised his fist. However, Sai was quicker and caught Sasuke by the nose, bringing him to eye level. "You're not gay"

"How do you know that?" Sasuke's voice came out in humorous, nasal tone but Sai was in no mood to find it funny.

"Do you think about my penis?" The Uchiha nearly choked and squirmed when he tried to pull away with his nose still trapped. "Would you milk yourself with thoughts of me in your head? If I took your shirt off and started licking you, would you like it?" Sai could feel the volcanic heat radiating from Sasuke's reddening face. The poor Uchiha never looked so helpless and probably felt enough humiliation to last him ten life times. Sai let go and was surprised to see Sasuke hadn't decided to jump right out the window and run for dear life.

"You don't have to be gay to be my friend"

".......but, that Naruto guy?" Sauke was cut short by a peculiar look on Sai's face. He was smiling but it looked so out of place as if it was a rare facial expression the smaller ebony was quite sure how to use yet.

"We've loved each other for a long time"

"Oh. So, I really don't have to, you know, kiss you and-", the Uchiha grimaced as Sai's previous and graphic terms came back to haunt him. "-stuff?" Sai shook his head, still smiling.

"Nope. But-", Sai moved like a dart and landed a peck on Sasuke's still crimson cheek. "I get to kiss you whenever I want" Sasuke wiped at face viciously.

"Eeeeewwwwww, Gay germs!" Sai then slid back across his desk and sat in his chair.

"Now, if you're not going to help me with this then go and ask that girl you've been eyeing up since the start of the year." Sasuke didn't even bother to the let the embarrassment hit him because he was happy enough to have an excuse to go but, he did leave with a casual wave as he hurriedly climbed back down the wall roses. Sai heard his friend land and waited a few minutes until he was sure Sasuke had left. He then ripped a sheet of square-paper from his maths notebook, scribbled something in it, folded it into a basic paper-plane and aimed out the window into the garden where, he was sure Gaara was hiding. Sasuke may have had too much on his mind to notice but Sai could spot that red mop-head a mile away without even trying.

It took longer than Sai would have liked but, eventually, Gaara started climbing up the wall. Did none of his friends know how to use a door? Gaara used to be really good at keeping a blank face just like Sai but lately he'd lost his natural touch for the skill. Sai took no notice of Gaara's shame and just help up his homework assignment.

A couple of hours passed by with only Gaara speaking. Sai would just nod whenever the Gaara asked if he understood the equation. Sai was left handed and Gaara was right handed. Their free hands sat on the edges of their own chairs with just a short space between each other. The ebony closed his note book when the final problem was solved and turned his head to Gaara with an unblinking stare. The little red head tired to keep his cool but bit his lip out a nervous habit he'd picked up somewhere. Sai quickly reached into his pocket, pulled out his reliable black marker, clutched Gaara by the chin and pushed the nib against his red headed friend's forehead. When Sai let go, Gaara presses a palm to whatever mark the ebony left there. The ink residue on his small hand was the outline of a heart.

"Thanks for looking out for me, Gaara"

"Su-Sure. That's okay"

"Kiss on it?" The red head couldn't help but burst into giggles and felt bubbles of happiness in his tummy when Sai pulled him in for a bunch of fun kisses all over his face.

Wow. These last two chapters took so long to get through. I'm trying to get out of this bad habit of writing everything down by hand and then typing it out cause it just takes so god damn long. Right, now for the main point, I will be editing previous chapters to this story. I feel like I've gotten better at some of my writing skills through this story and, thanks to my good friend Zimm, I've had some great inspiration for new ideas for this sotry as well as others. I've still got a pocket full of ideas for Orphan Boys but, for now, I wanna focus on making what I already have better. Hope you all enjoy. R&R. Thanksfolks. Also, there may be a few mistakes in this chapter and the previous because they were very long and tiresome to write at points but hopefully I found them all ^_^ bye!