Title: Orchestral Infatuation
Authoress: Ira Vehementi
Warnings: eventual yaoi (I'm sorry, it might take me a couple chapters to get to the yaoiness you all love and cherish), OC who does not hook up with any of the series characters but shows her face from time to time, AU, and some OOCness that I'm apologizing for in advance. And language.
A/N: I finished HP and the DH yesterday, and all today I got forced to like fifteen different book thingies to discuss it. I hate that! Well, I like discussing books, but I hate having to go all over the place for it... plus, I read really fast, so people always say that I'm skimming and test me on things that happened in the book. ARGH, don't you just hate that? Okay, done complaining. : 3 It's a good read, people, you'll like it!
I got so many reviews, I'm really happy! Thank you all very much for liking my sense of humor; I like it too XD. I also got a lot of story alerts and favorites, for which I am very pleased, yay! This is a cutsey chapter that I wrote up... and I figured I might as well post it today, since I can't very well post two chapters today... maybe I will, just for kicks. Prolly not, though. I might go through this and correct various errors...There are a lot of them, XD btw, I was asking in a review what usuratonkachi meant. Usuratonkachi means moron, like baka. At least, that's what my sister's Japanese teacher says. So if that's wrong, bring it up with Keiko-sensei, not me... I only know basic Japanese, sorry guys... But I can direct you to the bathroom in Japanese, if you want XD
o0o
Cookie: Cooking Class
Naruto had spent two weeks at Konoha, and he had to admit, the school was pretty fun (even if most of the teachers were sort of… weird). He had a big group of friends (especially in the People Watching Club, which was only perverted when Jiraya needed to do some 'serious people watching') and was doing well in most of his classes, though he got plenty of help from Gaara. Most importantly, he was actually liked in Konoha Private, because people thought he was funny and pretty much amiable. It felt good! He wished he could give Gaara a piece of his happiness too, but Gaara didn't care about getting into Konoha.
He shuffled into cooking class with Kiba, who looked forward to this class everyday.
"I'm so happy I'm in group eight," Kiba said, like he had said everyday for two weeks straight. "I got so lucky you came here, Naruto! Otherwise I would've been paired with him…" Kiba glared at the back of Sasuke's head.
"I know," Naruto grinned at him. "Now you can talk to Hinata… too bad you burn all your food!"
"Shut up!" Kiba turned red. "You do too!"
"Yeah, but I'm not trying to impress anyone with my 'cooking skills'." Naruto made air quotes.
"I do so have cooking skills!"
"When it comes to dog food!"
"Shut up." Kiba pouted. Naruto clapped his shoulder and grinned.
"Don't worry, Kiba. She likes your other qualities, like your B.O. and"
"Naruto, I'm going to kill you!" Kiba roared, and Naruto danced away towards his group's cooking area, where Sakura was trying to talk to ever-so-stoic Sasuke.
"So…" Sakura was twirling her hair around her finger, "I was wondering if… next week after the performance, we could"
"Hey, Sasu-bastard," Naruto interrupted, dropping his things on the table. "Hi Sakura."
"You interrupted me, Naruto!" Sakura glared at him, but soon dissolved into a smile. "You're actually on time today?"
"Yeah, Kiba couldn't wait to get here and talk to Hinata," Naruto snickered. Sakura rolled her eyes.
"Don't laugh at him, Naruto!" She scolded.
He smirked at her and turned to Sasuke. "Hey, ice princess. Don't just sit there, say hi or something."
"Shut up, dobe."
"Are you thinking again?"
"Dobe." Sasuke shot him a warning glance, which Naruto learned meant stop-now-or-you'll-endure-severe-pain-or-embarrassment. That didn't mean Naruto always heeded this warning, though.
Today he sighed and turned to Sakura again, asking, "So how did your flute lesson go?"
"Ugh, I wish I could memorize music," Sakura muttered. "I can get that trill down right in the middle of the piece. It's so annoying!" She looked hopefully at Sasuke. "I wanted Sasuke-kun to tutor me, but he said no. Did you know Sasuke-kun plays the piano?"
Naruto rolled his eyes. He'd become friends with the troupe of girls who surrounded his desk every morning to ogle Sasuke, but the problem was that they began to think that he was one of them. That's where Naruto drew the line, because he was not in love with a stuck up ice princess, and he definitely wasn't gay. Even if the guy was prettier than all the other girls in the school…. And…err… everyone thought that, not just Naruto.
While Sakura blathered on about Sasuke's many accomplishments and achievements, which Naruto had already memorized, Naruto sat down next to Sasuke surveyed the room. His group of friends all took this class. There was team seven: himself, Sakura, and Sasuke (although Sasuke wasn't really part of his group of friends as of yet); team eight: Kiba, Hinata, and Shino; team ten: Chouji, Ino, and Shikamaru; and team eleven (nicknamed team YOUTH by Lee): Lee (obviously), Tenten, and Neji.
Shizune was the cooking teacher, and she was also best friends with the principal, Tsunade. Which ultimately meant that if Naruto blew up anything in the kitchen, Tsunade would have his head on a silver platter, complete with garnishing. Tsunade was nice, but she was really old (Naruto considered her to be a historical landmark like the pyramids, except that she…well… moved around.). Shizune was extremely nice, except for the one time that Kiba force fed Lee a bottle of Japanese sake and Lee destroyed all of team eleven's cooking space— oh, excuse the language— team YOUTH's cooking space.
"Right Naruto?" Sakura asked.
"Huh?" He grinned at her, and with a huff, Sakura plopped into her seat and glared at him.
"Do you listen to anything I say?"
"When it's not about Sasu-bastard."
"Don't call him that!"
The bell rang and Shizune got up and walked to the center of the room. "Okay, everyone," She said, clapping her hands. "This week we have been working on beverages, right? Today I'd like you to create a beverage of your own, or recreate one of your favorite drinks!" She motioned to a table where there were fresh fruits, tea bags, coffee, and other assorted items. "Here I have some various fruits and vegetables if you'd like them. The refrigerators are stocked also— Please use only your cartons of milk and so forth, not those from the other classes— in case there is anything that you'd like to use. There are juicers in the cabinets above the sinks. Make four servings, one for each of you and one for me. I'll be checking in about fifteen minutes!"
With that, the class got to work. Sakura had hurried to the fridge, claiming she was making a surprise for Sasuke. Naruto looked at Sasuke and frowned.
"I don't know what I should make," he said, and Sasuke shrugged.
"What do you like to drink?"
"Soda," Naruto grinned. "and water, but I think water is cheating."
Sasuke smirked, "Dobe, why don't you make something that someone else would drink, then?"
"Like what, teme?" Naruto glowered at the dark haired boy. Sakura was using the blender now, and Sasuke murmured something low that Naruto couldn't hear. "What?" He raised his voice.
"Coffee," Sasuke repeated. "Make coffee."
"I hate coffee!" Naruto exclaimed.
"I'll make you a soda if you make coffee." Sasuke promised.
Naruto was taken aback. "You will?"
"Do you want a soda?" Sasuke asked, raising his eyebrow.
"…Well, yeah, but you'll make me one? Are you going to poison it?" Naruto scowled. "And how would you make a soda anyway!"
Sasuke shrugged. "Make me a coffee and we'll find out."
"You are such a bastard. But fine, deal." Naruto muttered. Sasuke looked pensive for a moment, then walked over to the table with fruits and vegetables on it. Naruto scowled and looked around.
There was a coffee pot on the other side of the cooking station, but Naruto didn't want to boil coffee for Sasuke. Plus, he absolutely hated coffee with a passion and couldn't work a coffee machine if he tried. Also, he didn't want to be anywhere near the blender, which Sakura had blended up some sludge in. All he could really do was think about the iced coffee craze that Iruka was on. Except that Iruka complained that the ice melted and made the coffee watery and disgusting…but it was the only profitable answer for Naruto.
So he headed over to the table where Kiba was busy picking through the strawberries.
"Hey, Naruto… Did you know Sasuke and Chouji took all the best strawberries and left the nasty ones here?!" Kiba complained. "I was going to make Hinata strawberry kiwi tea!"
Naruto pointed at a strawberry. "Isn't that one okay?"
"No!" Kiba lifted it up by it's stem. There was a huge bite in the back of it. "Chouji bit it!"
Naruto tried to hold in his laughter. "Why don't you make something else?"
"Are you kidding?" Kiba complained. "Hinata loves strawberry kiwi tea!" He moaned and decided, "Maybe I can make really good raspberry tea instead!"
Naruto reached for a carton of iced coffee. "What's Hinata making?"
"She's making a vegetable drink." Kiba muttered.
Naruto howled with laughter. "I told you not to get all those vegetarian dishes!" He laughed, and Kiba frowned at him.
"You are not a good friend, you know that?"
"I'm a great friend, you're just an idiot." Naruto protested, still chuckling. "So are you going to drink it?"
"I have to!"
"What's Shino making?"
Kiba made a face. "A protein drink."
"I bet Shikamaru's making water," Naruto drawled, and Kiba snickered.
"Yeah, and Ino's probably burning coffee, she's so bad at this class."
"So are you! Last week you burned the pancakes!"
"So? You destroyed the omelets we made last Monday!"
"You could burn cereal!"
"You could make milk sour by looking at it!"
"You could both shut up," Neji announced, walking over to the two bickering sophomores.
"Oh, hey Neji. What are you making?" Naruto asked. Neji shrugged.
"A cocktail."
"Are we allowed to make those?" Kiba looked devious.
"The seniors and juniors are," Neji smirked at Kiba. "You have to ask permission from Shizune to use anything alcoholic, remember?"
Kiba scowled and stalked back to his workspace.
"Are you all making alcoholic beverages?" Naruto asked, looking over at Tenten and Lee.
"Tenten wants to make a margarita, but Lee is making a 'youth' drink." Neji rolled his eyes. "Whatever that is."
Naruto laughed. "Tell him to make me a cup too!"
Neji sighed. "It's your funeral…" He said with a sigh, going back to his workspace. Naruto hurried back also, where Sakura had finished her drink and was frowning at it.
"I don't understand. I had one of these at a cute café just a few days ago and it's just not the same." She murmured.
Sasuke was juicing some raspberries and ignoring her, per usual, so Naruto offered to try a glass of Sakura's concoction. "What is it?" He asked.
"It's a milk and yogurt drink," Sakura replied.
"Ew," Naruto moaned. "Yogurt is thick!"
"Well, this isn't! I blended it!" Sakura scowled at him. "Just drink it!"
He drank the contents of his glass, then shrugged. "Tastes like milk and yogurt." He said. She moaned and put her head down.
"It's so bland!" She complained. She started ranting to Naruto, who wasn't paying attention.
Sasuke had finished blending his fruits and took ice cube trays out of the freezer, ignoring the two at the table. Naruto watched him thoughtfully. Why is he making me a soda anyway? He thought. He's so weird… it's kinda nice though. Sasuke set the tray down and seemed to be thinking, biting his lower lip. Naruto trailed his eyes to the caught lip, staring entranced until Sasuke let his lip go, licking it to soothe the pain that he'd caused it. The pale boy started to fill the ice cube tray, and Naruto realized he was staring and looked towards Sakura, fighting a raging blush. He hoped no one had noticed that little exchange.
Sakura looked up finally and exclaimed, "Naruto, are you alright?"
"Huh?" Naruto asked, confused.
"Your face is red! Was my drink that bad? Oh my god, I poisoned you didn't I? Oh, why me?"
"Uh, no, Sakura… It's not your fault! I just… uh…" Naruto struggled to find an excuse, his eyes trailing towards where Kiba was busy spitting up some drink. "I was trying not to laugh at Kiba!" He exclaimed. Sakura turned to look at Kiba and burst out laughing.
"Why not? He looks like an idiot!"
Relieved, Naruto turned to Sasuke again, catching the boy staring at him. Naruto was sure that his face turned redder. Sasuke didn't seem to notice or care, and didn't even look away when he was caught. He finally smirked at Naruto and said, "Are you going to make your drink or what?"
Naruto scowled at him and decided that he'd copy Sasuke and make ice cubes. But he was going to make his drink cooler than Sasuke's!
He pushed Sasuke out of his way and grabbed an ice cube tray from in the freezer, which Sasuke had turned the temperature down on. Then Naruto decided that if he didn't want the iced coffee to get watery, he'd make the ice cubes out of the iced coffee too. So he poured the coffee into the ice cube tray and then stuck it in the freezer. He took out four glasses, filled them with coffee, and put them in the fridge to chill. Then he smirked at Sasuke triumphantly. The dark eyed boy wasn't paying attention to him though, and Naruto felt a little let down.
Ino had wandered over and was talking with Sakura about— what else?— Sasuke. The two girls giggled to each other when Sasuke turned away from them to retrieve his ice cubes from the freezer. Naruto had to hold himself back, because he didn't want to scowl at them or anything… not that he knew why he was feeling like scowling at them.
"Dobe." Sasuke said, and Naruto scowled at him.
"God damnit, my name is Naruto!" He started, and Sasuke handed him a cup. The drink was colored slightly golden yellow and had pink and red ice cubes in it. There was a straw in the drink too, but it wasn't a bendy straw, and those were Naruto's favorite. "What is it?" Naruto asked, eyeing the drink warily.
"Soda." Sasuke said, leaning back. "Drink it."
"Is it poisoned?" Naruto asked, suspicious. "Did you pee in it?"
"Dobe," Sasuke said, as a warning.
"I'm serious," Naruto continued. "'coz you're always being all sneaky, Sasu-bastard."
"Just drink it," Sasuke ordered, and Naruto narrowed his eyes at the drink and finally captured the straw in his mouth and drank some of the drink. It didn't have carbonation like soda, but it was really refreshing.
"…It's….good!" Naruto exclaimed, staring at Sasuke in surprise. The boy grunted in response. "What is it?"
"I told you." Sasuke said, shrugging.
Naruto was about to ask him another question when Sakura jumped up. "Oh, did you finish your drink, Sasuke-kun?" She asked sweetly. "I'll take mine, then! Here," She shyly produced her drink to him. "This is for you."
Naruto knew better than to do that. Sasuke was like a gourmet. If he tasted your food and hated it, he'd dump it. He'd done it to Naruto twice already… And he had done it to Sakura at least ten times. Chouji and Sasuke were the best cooks in the class, so Naruto tolerated it— barely.
Sasuke handed her one of his creations silently, and then took the drink she was offering him. Naruto watched Sakura smirk at Ino, who scowled and then stalked off to rejoin Chouji and Shikamaru, who were arguing (because Shikamaru had decided to make water since anything else was too troublesome).
"This is so good, Sasuke-kun!" Sakura gushed. "What is it?" He shrugged at her and downed her drink.
"…This isn't good." He said, finally, looking at his cup. She sadly looked at her feet. "It's just milk and yogurt."
Naruto felt bad for Sakura and scowled at him. "Could you stop being an ass and be nice for once?"
Sasuke snorted, "Shut up, dobe." And then to Sakura, "I'll remake it. You just need something more."
"Okay. Thanks, Sasuke-kun, I'll help!" Sakura cheered up immediately.
Sasuke shook his head and went towards the table with fruits on it, Sakura on his trail. Naruto took his ice cubes out of the freezer and took out the four chilled glasses of coffee. He dropped two ice cubes into each glass and sighed. I didn't make anything special for Sasuke. He thought dismally. But he created a great drink out of nowhere for me. I have to do something… he frowned at his cups, not even noticing that Sasuke and Sakura had returned.
Sasuke easily sidestepped Naruto and picked up a glass of the coffee before Naruto could object. He stuck a straw in the drink and walked off towards Sakura, who was asking what Sasuke was going to do with his new ingredients.
"Oh, is that Naruto's drink?" Sakura asked, hurrying towards Naruto. She picked up a glass and sipped it. "It's just iced coffee." She murmured. "Do you really like coffee, Naruto?"
"No," He scowled.
Sasuke spoke up. "It's good." Immediately, Sakura gave Naruto a look that read what kind of pixie dust did you put in this drink? Naruto tried to give her a convincing shrug.
"But Sasuke, it's just coffee," Sakura complained.
He looked at her. "But it can't get watery," He pointed out. "The ice cubes are made of coffee too."
Sakura looked mystified, but still she congratulated Naruto as if he had just solved the problem of world hunger.
Naruto, for his part, stared at Sasuke. Since when was anything I did good He wondered, watching Sasuke blend Sakura a new drink. Sasuke poured out four cups and handed one to Naruto. Dazed, Naruto didn't even scowl at Sasuke, just took the glass and downed it.
"Wow, Sasuke-kun, it tastes so much better! You were right about the honey and the lemon juice!" Sakura admired, and Naruto silently agreed. Sasuke just drank his and then went back to sipping the iced coffee. Sakura skipped off to tell Ino how Sasuke had helped her, leaving the two boys staring at each other.
"…" Naruto felt his face flush and he turned away from Sasuke. This is weird. This is really weird!
"You can have my soda." Sasuke said suddenly. "I don't like juice."
"…" Naruto noticed that he had finished the soda Sasuke had given him. "How'd you make it?" He asked, again.
"It's just fruit juice cubes in cider." Sasuke responded lazily. "By cider, I mean hard cider, not apple cider the drink. That's why it tastes like a soda, it's kind of sugary."
Naruto sighed, hoping his face was back to normal. "Well…" He said finally, turning to face Sasuke, "you can have my coffee. I hate coffee."
"I know." Sasuke smirked.
"It's just regular coffee. Why is it so good?" Naruto asked. Sasuke shrugged.
"Because you thought about it, dobe. It was creative."
"Whoa, don't get all Shizune on me," Naruto muttered, picking up Sasuke's soda. Sasuke only smirked (Naruto wondered if Sasuke was capable of actually smiling) and finished his coffee.
When class ended, Sasuke and Chouji were (once again) praised for their "creative and tasty" beverages. Chouji had made frothy strawberry drink that he swore only took ten minutes. Naruto snickered when he saw Shizune pick up Shikamaru's water and gave him a confused look. Ino had created cranberry lemonade, which she claimed had secret love powers that bound two soulmates together (when she had proclaimed to the class that it was called Ino's Love Potion, Naruto almost spit up his soda). Lee had made a drink he called "YOSH THE POWER OF YOUTH". Naruto didn't even want to know what it was… since it was glowing green. Luckily, Neji had failed to tell Lee that Naruto wanted a glass. Tenten and Neji had taken a sip each from Lee's drink, and they were both passed out of the table, their beverages still not quite made. Shizune didn't try that one, but she did call the nurse (Tsunade, unfortunately; Naruto had learned this when he thought he could skip a geometry exam by going to the nurse's office). Shino had made an energy drink, and Kiba had managed to somehow singe himself making iced tea. Hinata had made a carrot and tomato vegetable drink. Shizune spent the rest of class explaining about how certain beverages came to be, and gave them homework.
The bell rang and the class was dismissed. Kiba was going to walk Hinata to her next class (Naruto could only tell because Kiba grinned toothily at him and practically danced after Hinata when she left), so Naruto decided he'd walk with Sasuke to gym.
"Are you following me again, dobe?"
"I'll have you know that I never 'follow' you, you just always go where I'm headed!"
"So you're following me," Sasuke said blithely, ignoring Naruto's splutters about how braindead Sasuke was. "Chill, dobe," Sasuke said finally. "I don't care if you follow me."
That shut Naruto up for the rest of the walk to gym.
