People are strange when you're a stranger.
-The Doors
"Hyuuga-sama. You may now enter."
Neji stiffly straightened out his robe and followed the attendant into the hall. He was rarely called out into the main house, and he was usually not happy with the reason. The wood under his feet was polished to a fault, and Neji hated the dull sound of their footsteps as they neared the large, intricate doors. They were round, a symbol of zen, of high-grade wood and paper. They slid soundlessly open, the seemingly harmless gates of hell.
"Enter."
The head of the Hyuuga Clan was a stern and calculating man. Never mind that he was his father's twin brother, Hiashi Hyuuga wielded his birthright like an iron rod and treated his family, and the rest of the Hyuuga branch family, like they were inferior. Like they were his servants to do his bidding.
"You called for me, Uncle."
The room was beautiful, really. A zen masterpiece. It was bright, airy, with open paper-screen windows overlooking a Japanese garden. A painting of a majestic white tiger hung in the center of the room, along with the Hyuuga clan seal. The master of the seal sat under its shadow, calmly tending to a bonsai plant. Had he been in the mood for it, Neji would have laughed at the cliché.
"How goes your first weeks back in school?"
"Fine."
Get to the point, he wanted to say.
"How's the Uchiha boy?"
"Fine."
"Still playing that ridiculous sport?"
"He's become the Captain of the team."
The man chuckled from the shadows, the snap of his tool echoing in the stillness.
"Worthless fool. Let him play with his toys and remain foolish for a while longer. His parents will be rolling in their graves."
Neji forced himself to stay absolutely still.
"And the boy from Suna?"
"He has joined the team as well."
At that, Hiashi let out a bellow of laughter, setting Neji's teeth on edge.
"That old coot is attempting to keep an eye on both of them. And this is how she does it. How cute."
"Will there be anything else?"
Slowly, Hiashi rose to his feet, rising out of the shadows like a nightmare. Slowly, calculatingly, he reached out towards Neji's face.
Neji couldn't help but flinch as cold fingers touched him, brushing back the hair from where the Hyuuga Mark lay stark on his forehead.
"Say hello to your father for me." Came the sweet reply, as the fingers fluttered away.
Neji gave a stiff bow and retreated from the room, barely restraining himself from running. The place where the fingers had touched him was still icy. He ignored the several attendants bowing to him on the way and marched purposefully out of the main hall. He crossed the large courtyard and slipped into the quieter, more peaceful area of the estate.
There, he allowed his heart some time to rest, to stay the trembling in his hands. His footsteps gradually moved him deeper into the gardens, hand straying to a nearby shrub and picking a single delicate bud. He moved along the familiar steps to a nondescript doorway, the humble partitions unassuming against the many others in the same hall.
He raised his hand to knock, the answer of a wind-chime accompanying the soft voice that filtered from within.
"Come in."
"Excuse me for intruding."
Neji gently slid the door close shut behind him, carefully moving deeper into the modest bedroom. The walls were a light, beige color, the color of rice paper, and the hint of jasmine lingered in the air. Nestled in the bed by the window, was a delicate figure dressed in intricate silks, woven with gold thread. She looked up from her book, her long, silky hair, not unlike his own, falling over one shoulder. Her face broke out into an expression of joy as he held out the flower, a humble gift.
"How have you been, Hinata-sama?"
The sound of whistles blowing sharp in the air made Naruto wince. The grass beneath his feet was crisp and the weather was otherwise perfect, but it felt like walking to his doom. It was the first official week of club activities, and Naruto had been cornered by Tsunade, who gleefully informed him that all members (and that included him) were obliged to attend the try-outs for the main line-up. Naruto had begged and pleaded and even tried to make a run for it, but he was dragged by the hair into the soccer field where he now currently stood, feeling like a fool.
Gaara had spotted him at some point, barely giving him a nod before being whisked off to do warm-ups. Some people were openly staring at him—skinny, ratty gym-shirt and all, so obviously out of place among the gaggle of sturdily built athletes.
"Heads up!"
Naruto stifled a cry and ducked, the ball whizzing alarmingly close to where his head had been. He glared at the figure jogging towards him, ready to give him a piece of his mind.
"Sorry, 'nii-chan! Didn't mean to hit you. My ball control is still a little whack."
The insult died in Naruto's mouth. He was still getting used to people straight-out apologizing to him. He tried out a painful smile instead.
"Watch where you're aiming that thing."
"Working on it." The boy laughed, scratching his head. "Are you new? I didn't see you at the try-outs this summer."
"Oh, uh, I didn't. That is, I didn't try out."
"Special recruit, then? Wow, you must be insanely good." The boy looked far too interested than Naruto was comfortable with. "What position do you play?"
"I… I… er…"
"Number 23, get back on the field."
The boy stiffened to attention so fast, Naruto was afraid he had pulled a muscle.
"Y-yes, captain!"
The boy (number 23) jogged away, glancing back curiously as Sasuke stopped in front of the blond. Naruto fidgeted, plucking at his shirt and shuffling his feet.
"You made it."
Naruto immediately clamped down the stirring in his chest as he looked up at Sasuke. The sun was at a perfect angle, hitting his dark hair and accentuating his already devastating good-looks—what the fuck was he even saying.
The blonde gave a tentative smile, the quiet moment at the greenhouse still lingering between them, almost like forgiveness. Sasuke rewarded him with a small smile of his own—which, wow, Naruto didn't think he'd seen Sasuke smile before—and gestured for him to follow.
The entire field was now watching them, eyes boring onto the newcomer, assessing, calculating, speculating. No one had missed that it was Sasuke who had approached the blond first. And if this blond guy was someone for Sasuke to give special attention to… then he must be pretty damn special.
"Okay, gather up."
Tsunade had changed into more casual clothes, and Naruto goggled at the tight white shirt stretched across her generous chest.
"We're going to start the bloodbath for the main line soon, but before that, some announcements." She tapped the clipboard she carried in her hand. "The Spring Tournament won't be until next year, but we're already bogged with practice matches, training camp and inter-school mock 'tourneys. We've got a rep to maintain, so anybody caught slacking off will be gutted from this team like a fish. Got that?"
There was a chorus of yes' in the group and Naruto glanced around in bewilderment at the seriousness of their expressions. They were freakin' high school students, for god's sakes.
"Second in agenda." Tsuande gave a devilish grin. "Our very own Gai-sensei has volunteered to oversee our winter training camp this year."
This time, it was groans and cries of despair that rose from the group, and this time, Naruto joined them.
"Yeah, yeah, quit your whining. Also," Tsunade gave Naruto a quick glance. "We've got a new Manager, since the old one quit so unexpectedly."
She gave the stink eye as a couple of boys in the back snickered.
"This one ain't gonna be that easy to replace, so you better make damn sure you cherish him, alright?"
Naruto felt the clamminess in his skin as he stepped forward to be introduced, feeling the weight of everyone's attention on him.
"Um… I'm Naruto Uzumaki. First Year. I… I don't really play soccer—"
Someone snorted from the back. But instead of breaking his spirit, it just made him more stubborn.
"But I can kick balls as well as anybody." He glared at the boy who laughed. "So you better watch out."
A couple of jabs and snickering broke out from the crowd, until Sasuke stepped up to the front. Instantly, everyone fell silent.
"I will not tolerate disorderly conduct in this team." Sasuke said coldly, and Naruto suppressed a shiver. Somehow, he was thankful that he was never under the brunt of that tone. "He's here to make our lives easier. If you make his life harder for him, then you will have to answer to me."
The shocked silence was a cold and ugly one as they all heard the universal message: Fuck off. He's mine.
"And to me." Gaara stepped up, glaring for good measure.
Instead of feeling grateful, Naruto felt embarrassed and angry, knowing full well what the two idiots had just done. They didn't do him any favors with those words. They had just turned him into a pariah. Almost instantly, the curious and reserved gazes that were on him had changed into something more hostile.
"Everybody finish warming up!" Tsunade blew her whistle, almost rudely. "Formation in five!"
She sidled up to Naruto who was glaring at his shoes as the rest of the team broke away.
"You sure got a lot of knights in shining armor."
"You mean knights of freakin' dumbasses, right?"
"I never said they were smart." Tsunade smiled at him grimly. "They just made your life living hell."
Naruto groaned into his hands. "I knew this was a bad idea."
"Cheer up blondie. It could be worse. It could be Sabaku or Uchiha picking on you."
"How are they not picking on me right now?"
"Touché." Tsunade tossed him a file. "Your list of duties, princess. Also a record of our current team members- their strengths, weaknesses, play statistics, etc. Memorize it. Learn it by heart. You're going to be of no use otherwise."
"Gee, it feels great to be needed." Naruto replied dryly, leafing through the file. "Clean up duty? What am I, a glorified nanny?"
"You don't have to clean chicken squat, if you don't want to." Tsunade grinned at him. "Your job is to make sure the rest of them do. And let me tell you, they're a bunch of slobs. The lot of them."
"Like hell am I going to pick up after them." Naruto squared his jaw. He did enough of that back home.
"That's the spirit, kid." Tsunade walloped him on the shoulder. "Now, I want you to stick to Uchiha like white on rice and take notes of the stuff that comes out of his mouth. You get to be his secretary. How about that?"
"Joy." Naruto mumbled, dragging his feet towards Sasuke, who was busy glaring at a pair of seniors goofing around with a ball. "Naruto Uzumaki, at your service."
"Put this on record," Sasuke said without prompting. "Numbers 14 and 17 to be taken down the roster to 17 and 21, respectively. Shuffle the rest of the team up."
Naruto hastily patted himself down for a pen, struggling to remember the barrage of data the Uchiha had just released. And he was still talking!
"Wait, wait, I need to write this all down."
"Keep up, dobe." Sasuke said impatiently.
"I will, if you just give me a moment." Naruto glared, finally tugging out a pen from his bag. "Okay, so 14 and 17… that's Davis and Yashiro, by the way."
Sasuke glanced at him.
"To be demoted… for what reason?" Naruto glanced up at him curiously.
"For being annoying as fuck."
The blond scoffed. "You can't just do that."
"I'm the captain. I can do whatever I want."
The Uchiha moved away.
"Tyrant!" Naruto called out, shaking his fist, before realizing he was supposed to be sticking close. Ugh.
The try-outs were brutal, and Naruto had to wince several times, watching player after player get hit with a vicious ball. Gaara and Sasuke were manning the net, challenging each player to get the ball past them. Each player gave their best, but every single time, the two monsters would catch the ball without fail and send it back to the kicker with twice as much power. Naruto wasn't sure if this was a try-out or a valid excuse to beat people up.
"You're having way too much fun." Naruto quipped, helpfully handing Gaara a towel.
"Does it really show?" Gaara replied dryly, mopping the sweat off his forehead. Suddenly, he yanked Naruto to the side, leg whipping up to counter the ball that had sailed towards them.
"What the fuck!" Naruto cried, alarmed, clutching Gaara's arm in a white-knuckled grip.
"If you're quite finished, I need to talk to you, Manager-kun." Sasuke said, tossing a ball threateningly.
"If you're quite finished being an asshole, I'll be right up, Captain." Naruto snapped, letting out a frustrated huff. He turned to Gaara, handing over a water bottle. "Wait for me after practice? I need to copy your Math homework."
Gaara gave him a look. "I'm exempted from homework."
"You're still letting me copy it, anyway." Naruto scowled. "I know for a fact that you solve equations in your sleep."
He didn't wait for Gaara to reply before turning and running towards an impatient looking Sasuke.
"What do you want?"
"Did you keep track of the score within the past few minutes?"
"Uh, yeah. Zero. Nil. On both sides. Why?"
"I expect a report on each players attack and defense plays during the past ten minutes."
Naruto's jaw dropped.
"You can't be serious!"
Sasuke gave him a look. "Part of your duties, Manager."
"You never told me to do that! How was I supposed to know?"
"Didn't Tsunade brief you?" Sasuke crossed his arms.
Naruto stomped his foot. "You can't expect me to magically know everything on my very first day. Stop looking at me like I'm incompetent! I'll just do better next time. Just you watch! I'll be the best damn manager this team has ever seen!"
"Looking forward to it."
The brief smile on Sasuke's face took the wind out of Naruto's sails. He stood there in dejected silence as Sasuke barked out an order for everyone to clear the field. The surreptitious glances towards his directions were not missed and Naruto gave another sigh as he steeled himself for the long climb ahead.
"Hey."
"What?" Naruto groused, glancing at his watch. It was barely four. If all went well, he could finish up his homework (copy off Gaara) and make it back in time for dinner duty.
"Come over to my place."
Naruto choked on his next breath and then gave Sasuke a flat glare.
"No."
"We need to work on our projects." Sasuke said pointedly. "We're paired up for almost everything, in case you haven't noticed."
"So let's meet at the library." Naruto shot back, fighting back the blush creeping up his neck. "Y-you know I can't just…" He fell silent, staring down his shoes.
An awkward silence fell between them. Greenhouse moment or no, the topic was still too raw after all.
"I'm coming over, then." Sasuke finally said.
Naruto ground his teeth in exasperation.
"What the fuck is wrong with the library?"
"What the fuck is wrong with your house?"
"It's not my house. It's S-sakura's house." Naruto had to practically spit out the words. He wanted to run away from the conversation. In fact, what was stopping him?
"Oi, dobe!"
"Don't come! Never come! Go to hell, bastard!" Naruto cried behind his back, sticking out his tongue.
Sasuke made an annoyed sound and rested his hands on his hips. The blond was like a skittish rat that was impossible to corner. A flash of pink caught his attention from across the field, and Sasuke glanced over the fenced area, where the cheerleading team was having practice. Haruno Sakura stood there, arms crossed and staring after the retreating blond.
Gritting his teeth, he squared his shoulders and moved towards her.
He knew what he had to do.
"Everyone pair up. Whoever's fine."
Naruto snuck a glance at Kiba who gave him a thumbs-up.
"Except you, Naruto." Kakashi said cheerfully, waving a finger. "Principal's order."
Naruto gave a deep sigh as Kiba stood up, already making a beeline for Shikamaru. Naruto grabbed his shirt, scowling.
"You're pairing up with Gaara." He muttered at him.
"Over my dead body." Kiba muttered back through gritted teeth.
"I'm sure that can be arranged." Sasuke said, looming over them. He tossed his head at Kiba. "Change seats."
"No." Kiba said stubbornly.
"Shikamaru's already paired up with Chouji." Naruto said exasperatedly.
"No!" Kiba wailed.
"Kiba, for god's sake—"
Gaara stood up with an earsplitting scrape of his chair. Everyone stared as he calmly moved to walk away, towards the direction of the door. They were doing library work.
"You'll pay for this." Kiba cried, shaking his fist at Naruto as he turned to follow Gaara out of the classroom.
Left with Sasuke, Naruto shuffled his feet, gathering his notebook and a pen. He tried a tentative smile.
"We better get going too."
Sasuke simply shrugged and followed Naruto out of the room. They walked in silence all the way to the library, and Naruto tried not to feel awkward. This was normal. This was totally fine.
"Hey."
"What?!" Naruto said, a little defensively.
Sasuke frowned at him. "The History section is this way."
He pointed to the left. Naruto felt himself go purple.
"I knew that." He said instead, making a sharp turn.
They were supposed to be looking up books on a famous war lord, but honestly, Naruto couldn't even remember his name. Besides, Sasuke didn't care either way. Still, Naruto pulled out a few books and made his way over to an empty table, just to have something to occupy his hands.
Sasuke took the seat next to him a few minutes later, leisurely opening his book and flipping over a few pages. They sat like that for quite some time.
"Have you written that report yet, Manager-kun?" Sasuke murmured out of the blue.
Naruto rolled his eyes, refusing to look at him.
"There's nothing to report on, Captain. No one scored a single ball. You and Gaara pulverized them, hurray for you."
"So they're all useless."
"Not totally useless." Naruto protested halfheartedly. "They couldn't score, but some were pretty good… Like Raidou."
"Who?"
"Number 12." Naruto said exasperatedly. "Honestly, you should at least know the names of your players."
"Hm, he had good aim." Sasuke agreed casually. "Number 14?"
"Too hasty. He needs to think before acting." Naruto replied, flipping a page of his book.
"It's called instincts."
"Well his instinct sucks."
"Who else?"
"Number 23 needs to work on his ball control." Naruto slowly ventured. "But I like his spirit."
"Spirit isn't going to get the ball to the net."
"He's working on it."
Sasuke smirked. "Well, well. Looks like you're not useless after all."
Naruto flushed.
"You need to fix that attitude of yours." He muttered into his hand.
"What was that?"
"Nothing." Naruto spotted a flash of red. "Gaara's surprisingly good, isn't he? I mean, who would have thought?"
Immediately, Sasuke scowled.
"Next topic."
"What do you have against Gaara?" Naruto frowned at him. "He doesn't bother you. You guys are on the same team. Leave him alone."
"Since when were you best friends?" Sasuke said dryly.
"We're soul-mates." Naruto replied sarcastically. "Haven't you heard? We're in love."
Sasuke eyed him. "Oh, really?"
Naruto couldn't keep a straight face and started snickering. "No way! We just clicked, okay?"
"You 'click' with Sabaku Gaara?" Sasuke asked in skeptical tone. "Really?"
"Like you're one to talk." Naruto scoffed.
"You don't know anything about me."
"I know you hate people." Naruto replied easily, ticking off his fingers. "And you hate the attention everyone gives you. You hate rain. You hate cafeteria food. Basically, you hate everything."
Sasuke was quiet for a moment.
"I like tomatoes." He finally said.
"No way, really?" Naruto couldn't help but feel relieved that Sasuke didn't punch him. "Okay, noted. Uchiha Sasuke doesn't hate tomatoes. Uchiha Sasuke doesn't hate something!"
"I don't hate you."
Naruto's words got stuck in his throat and he fell silent, staring down at his hands.
Suddenly, he remembered that quiet moment in Iruka's class, when he listened to Sasuke read his poem. That same, floating feeling settled in his stomach, like balloons.
Those who search for happiness, must have known it once upon a time.
Naruto felt a small smile break through his face. He glanced up at Sasuke, who was calmly reading his book. Naruto pulled his own book closer to himself and focused for the first time on the words written on them.
In 334 BC, the army crossed the Hellespont with approximately 48,100 soldiers, 6,100 cavalry and a fleet of 120 ships with crews numbering 38,000.
He kicked Sasuke gently under the table, the corner of his lips turned up on one side.
"Thanks, bastard."