Chapter Eleven:


(Monday)

The cafeteria goes silent as they watch him choose his seat. Like it's some sort of sacred ritual for him to select a place and for them to watch.

Sasuke internally scoffs at how fucking ridiculous it all is.

Finally arriving at the bench near the center of the room, he opts to sit as far away from Naruto as he can at the blond's table. That puts him next to… the bug boy. He recognizes him from his childhood but can't put a name to a face.

"Is this seat taken?" He asks to be polite but has already set down his tray and pulled a chair out.

"...you can sit here," the muffled voice reveals itself through his uniform's propped up collar. Naruto still pretends he hasn't noticed them but Sasuke spots a muscle in his face twitch.

However, Sasuke is already sitting.

Most of the students stop staring.

"We went to primary school together. You're…" Sasuke trails off to be polite. He feels obligated to initiate introductions.

"Shino," the other teen fills him in. "My name is Shino. We have our first period together, or did you not notice?"

Awkward.

Sasuke shrugs, not wanting to admit that no, he didn't notice. Plus, if he recalls correctly, the brunette has always had insecurities about being overlooked. Not that he feels guilty.

He looks away to examine the others sitting at the rectangular surface. Quite a few of their classmates from primary school fill up the table. Across from Sasuke sits Choji, followed by Shikamaru, Ino, Sakura, and Naruto. On the Uchiha's side, after Shino, Hinata, Kiba, and Sai occupy the other seats.

Shikamaru seems to be eyeing him thoughtfully, but the rest are doing their best to ignore his presence. Treating him like an unwanted pimple.

So what if he's making them uncomfortable? He deserves to sit at this table just as much of the rest of them do. It would be his place if he had never left. Now that he's back, he still fits in with this group: the children of those on government payroll.

Ignoring the lazy teen still studying him, Sasuke turns to examine the cafeteria. Emergency exits take up a corner of the right wall. A teacher standing near the doors watches for any shenanigans. More teachers are scattered throughout the large room. He looks for hidden threats and catalogs what group sits where. A few eyes meet his but he disregards them.

It would be incredibly stupid for anyone to attack Naruto in the cafeteria, or the school in general but Sasuke still has to check.

Not detecting any threats, Sasuke turns to his food. It doesn't take him long to demolish the hefty helping and he picks up his pathetic paper napkin to make sure he doesn't have any leftover BBQ sauce on his face. This is when he notices that Choji has been holding a secret competition between the two to see who could inhale their food faster. Sasuke maybe beat Choji by fifteen seconds.

"Man, you eat fast." Choji acknowledges the challenge.

"I was unaware we were having a contest."

Choji's lips turn down in a pout, causing his cheeks spattered in BBQ sauce to puff out.

Disturbed, Sasuke busies himself with looking around the cafeteria trying to figure out where everyone deposits their empty trays.

Shikamaru decides to speak up. Prompted by his curiosity or his friend's somewhat hurt feelings, Sasuke can't tell. "So, you're back."

It's a simple statement, but the table falls silent.

Sakura, who's always had the biggest crush on him join in. "Yeah, how have you been?"

Sasuke notes a few winces as he mulls over how to answer the question. He could say "fine" and life would go on. Or he could say "shitty" and make them all feel even more uncomfortable.

Before he can choose, Naruto speaks for him. "Does it matter? Why is he sitting here anyway? Did anyone invite him?"

Sasuke is going to pretend that one didn't sting.

Naturally, Naruto is angry. So much so, that he's not even talking to Sasuke directly. This is a level of anger Sasuke has only witnessed once before. When they were about eight, Naruto's fat, fluffy orange cat named Gamakichi got ran over by a neighbor. It was an accident, but the Uchiha never saw the blond address his neighbor again.

Sasuke has a lot of work ahead of him.

"Naruto!" Sakura scolds before Sasuke can stick up for himself.

"What? Does he think he can come back and sit here and pretend everything is normal? That's not how this works."

"I read in a book-"

"No one asked you, Sai!" Sakura and Naruto interrupt simultaneously. Those two have always been able to yell in sync without practice. Sasuke takes it they yell at Sai a lot. A small part of himself can't help but feel a bit smug.

"Why are you acting like this? You used to be his best friend. Sasuke has as much of a right to sit here as the rest of us!"

A pinched expression comes over Naruto's face.

Sasuke recognizes it as pain, and instantly knows he's to blame. Why is he doing this assignment again? For his own self-interest? For Naruto's unwanted and practically unneeded protection? Is it worth it? Hasn't he already sacrificed enough? Initially, he was concerned about his friend's safety, but the school has eyes everywhere. Even an inside job would be nearly impossible to pull off. If that's the case, then no. It's not a good enough reason for him to make the blond feel this way. Especially on a level like this. The dead should just stay dead. More so if they're dying all over again.

"It's alright," he finally speaks up for himself, swallowing the lump that's climbed it's way up into his throat. "I'm done anyway."

Everyone watches him as he stands up. Everyone. Apparently, the cafeteria has quieted to listen to the argument.

He dumps his tray, like he's seen a few other students do, sets it in the window to the kitchen and leaves the room.

Sai is there to keep an eye on Naruto. Sasuke was a fool to feel like he was needed, or even wanted.


Unsurprisingly, Sakura comes to find him just before their next class starts up.

She's too late to comfort him, though. He's already made up his mind to give Naruto more distance. And he can't just go back on his word. He's agreed to be the second babysitter with the Fire Lord and USO. He may not like it, but it would be embarrassing for him now to go back to them and say otherwise. He has his pride.

"I'm sorry, I haven't ever seen him like that before," she slides down next to him.

"Why are you here?" He asks, back leaning against a little nook by the lockers he's silently claimed.

She doesn't answer right away, so Sasuke takes the time to look her over as she picks at her jade green nail polish. They match her eyes. She's grown quite a bit. Gone is her obsessive attitude (or at least it's not as bad as it used to be), long hair, and girly dresses. Now, her pink hair stops at her shoulders. She looks older, more mature. Her chest has filled out to a nice gropeable size, too.

Sasuke internally shakes his head and examines her clothes. They fit in with the standard uniform with a few alterations: ankle boots, long socks, and a skirt length (which barely pass the dress code) flaunting her creamy, white thighs. It's getting a little too cold for bare legs, but Sakura has always liked to show off.

Not that Sasuke is complaining. Her calves and arms have become quite toned. She's probably picked up volleyball in the time he hasn't seen her. She always did like to watch the games.

"...Naruto and I are dating now. I don't want anyone to think badly of him, not even you."

Sasuke's heart skips a beat and he tries to cover the surprise that washes over his face.

Dating?

"I know, it's strange. But after you left..."

"You wanted nothing to do with him when we were young," Sasuke bites out, a bit more harshly than he intended.

"He pestered me all the time, went out of his way to embarrass me in front of the class by asking me on dates!"

She didn't need to remind him. Naruto tried everything he could to get the girl's attention. None of his plans ever worked and Sasuke always had to clean up the aftermath. Then, the girl would go out of her way to flirt with him, undoing his hard work of cheering up his best friend.

"Just like you went out of your way to embarrass me?"

She finally looks him in the eye. "I was a foolish child. I had the biggest crush on you and was determined to make you notice me. I was envious with your friendship with Naruto; I think everyone was. You always took such good care of him and asked for nothing in return."

Is that how it looked? While Sasuke did help the boy tie his shoes on occasion or help fight off the bullies who'd tease him over not having a mom, he'd received much in return. In fact, he only did those things in the first place to return the kindness. Sure, his father had always encouraged him to keep a close eye on the boy, but that wasn't the reason Sasuke invested his time in his friend.

Naruto was a ray of sunshine. Bright smiles, going out of his way to help everyone around him. He was always there when Sasuke's family was too busy for him. He was someone who'd given him a pencil when Sasuke's last one broke in class. Despite the fact it was the only one Naruto had that day. Sasuke was told it was because Naruto didn't want to do any more classwork. Even at a young age, he saw the excuse for what is was.

"Sasuke?" Ah, right. Sakura.

"Why are you here?"

"I told you, I didn't want you thinking badly of Naruto," she says nervously under one of his glares.

"You are not here for him. You hesitated before telling me you two were dating. You came here for me."

"So what?" she admits in a loud voice, cheeks flushed.

"So, if I find you have hurt Naruto in any way, I will make you regret it," and with that, he picks up his backpack and makes his way to his next class.

The bells rings then and he keeps going, ignoring the baffled looking girl sitting on the floor.


Unfortunately, his next class is biology, which he apparently shares with both Naruto and Sakura. At least Sai isn't in the class.

He pretends to listen to the teacher while he watches their close whispering at a lab table from the corner of his eye.

The teacher, an older man on the verge of retirement, doesn't appear to hear them. Or anyone else whispering for that matter. Maybe the elder has given up trying to stop the chatter.

Towards the end of the period, Naruto makes a face and stubbornly refuses to respond to his girlfriend any longer. Sakura just clutches onto his arm.

Disgusted, Sasuke is relieved as the bell rings for them to go to their next course.

He finds his way over to the gymnasium, already irritated, feeling even more so at the fact he had to take this class because Naruto was enrolled in it.

Why couldn't it have been a cooking course or some other nonsense for their last class of the day?

He pulls open one of the doors, careful not to put so much strength in it. Looking around the room, it looks just as he expects it to, having been here before for many of Itachi's basketball games.

He goes over to the bleachers and takes a seat. Stubbornly ignoring looks from his fellow classmates as they make their way into the changing room.

One girl even takes the opportunity to approach and inform him that he is supposed to change. He shrugs her off, internally grumbling about the class being co-ed.

Disheartened, she rushes over to the girl's locker room.

Next, Choji, Sai, Shikamaru, Kiba, and Naruto all enter the room. They walk right past him, Naruto determined not spare him a look.

An unusual amount of the blond's friends share this course. Sasuke supposes it makes sense. This is a requirement for all freshmen to take, making the number of students in it, quite large.

That doesn't help him feel any better at all. Can it get any worse?

The teacher tries to ghost up on his left. Sasuke notices the man long before he comes near. Green Spandex and all.

Yes, Sasuke supposes. It can.


A/N:


Sorry, to cut this one a little short. I have to go to work. D: But! I will work more on this story when I come back. I am super excited for this next chapter. ;)

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or BBQ sauce (although I'm not sure if that last one requires a disclaimer).

Next time: I don't want to give too much away so… Sasuke + changing room = drama. Also, beware of the Green Beast. Yikes.