Either my memory is totally shot, or I didn't update last week. If I didn't, I'm sorry! If I did, then never mind, I'm just nuts.

Um... I can't actually remember what happens in this chapter, but I do hope you enjoy. I remember it being vaguely fun to write (and can you tell how much I missed Itachi? XD)...

Previous disclaimers apply.


21. CHARMING

I woke up in a very bad mood, and the fact that Shisui was the reason I woke up just made everything suck that much more.

He made me seriously wonder if insanity ran in the family, because in he came at seven thirty, big smile plastered on his face, and yanked the damn pillow out from underneath my head.

If that wasn't enough, the bastard decided that while I was having a shower (after I hurled a whole range of expletives at him for even thinking about waking me up), he would do the dishes I'd left on the sink from last night because I just didn't feel like doing them when he'd been an arse to me like that – which, by the way, he didn't utter a breath of apology for.

I walked out of the bathroom after my horribly cold, hot, cold, hot, cold shower, put two pieces of bread in the toaster, and clenched my teeth as I began to find it increasingly difficult not to forcibly remove that annoying, eager smile from his face.

It got even harder as he began humming to himself while he made himself a cup of coffee, and positively painful when he asked me what we were going to do today in a cheery voice that shouldn't have been legal before noon.

I looked up from my toast, grunting through a mouthful as I sat down, "I have school." I swallowed, glaring. "I couldn't care less what you do."

He shrugged, sipping his coffee. "So I can come with you then?"

Lucky I'd just swallowed, because there was nothing I could do to stop my jaw falling open in shock. "You what?"

He swirled his mug around, both hands hugging it, and said, "I'll come with you."

"Like hell you will!"

He finally ditched the sickening smile and glared right back at me. At least this was a little closer to my comfort zone.

"Sasuke –"

"Don't you 'Sasuke' me," I interrupted. "You're supposed to be out there meeting people who can dish the dirt on Orochimaru, and fixing this – this thing, not coming to school with your younger cousin! What the hell is that going to achieve?"

I threw my toast down angrily, no longer hungry, and got to my feet. His voice followed me as I stalked back to my room to grab my bag and the overdue science assignment that I'd finished at some ungodly hour last night.

"Where do you think all the people involved are? Where do you think Orochimaru is? Where, in all of town, is the most information going to be?"

I stopped at my bedroom door in frustrated silence.

Damnit.

Scowling, I slung my bag over my head and across my shoulder, slouching back into the kitchen.

"You're not coming to class with me, are you?"

Okay, so he was totally right about coming to school, even I could see that through my severe hatred for him at the moment, but that didn't mean I couldn't lay down some rules.

"Well –"

"Because if you are, please don't talk to me. Pretend you only speak English or something, whatever, but I'm not acknowledging you if I don't have to. There's a couple of my friends who know you, but that doesn't mean you can talk to them. And for the sake of your own safety, don't talk to Naruto. Or about him. Don't even mention him. In fact, don't even think about him, got it? Not around me."

He paused with the coffee mug halfway to his lips, raising an eyebrow. "Wha-?"

"Just don't."

"But –"

"Don't."

"Sasu-"

"Don't."

He held up his free hand in a surrendering gesture. "Okay, okay, I won't. Keep your hair on."

And I didn't need reminding that my hair was crap, thank you very much. Scowling further, I scooped up an apple on the way through to the front door (I'm a growing boy, okay? Food's important), and turned back to face him as I slipped on my shoes.

"Wait – what about drama?"

Shisui gave me a disinterested look. "What about it?"

I mentally squirmed, not quite knowing how to say it. "Well, are you going to be there, with my class?"

He nodded slowly. "Yes… I'm replacing Kabuto for the rest of the week." He smirked suddenly at my questioning look. "He fell ill."

…Oh.

I wrinkled my nose.

"Charming."

--

So apparently everyone knew my cousin was coming to school, because as soon as we stepped within the grounds (I'd tried to lose him several times along the way), he began racking off in that annoying morning voice of his, all the meetings he had today and tomorrow and where he had to be at what time, and could I please show him the way there, because the place had changed so much since he'd attended the same school that he couldn't quite get his head around it.

I'd grudgingly agreed, then seriously regretted my decision.

Because he was annoying, and I was frustrated. Because Haku was staring at me, and not in an I-want-to-ravish-you kind of way, which I was used to receiving from girls.

I shook my head.

No. Boy. That's right. Boy.

In any case, it was more of an I-would-really-like-to-pulverise-you stare. Which, okay, I was also kind of used to.

"Is she giving you trouble?"

I rolled my eyes. "No."

"She's not stalking you, is she?"

"No, Shisui."

"Then why is she – oh. You've caught her under the Uchiha spell, haven't you?" he smirked.

I sighed in frustration, turning to him with steely eyes. "One; that is a guy. Two; no, I have not 'caught him under the Uchiha spell', unless it's that handy old one where every guy seems to be out for your blood. Three; no he's not giving me trouble, though you could say it's the other way around, and four; please, shut up."

Shisui just shrugged me off, retuning his watchful eye over to Haku, who was waiting outside a neighbouring art room and really not looking all too happy with me. Not that I cared, but I was a little thankful that Kakashi had given me a heads up. I gritted my teeth and ignored him, though, looking off to my right, where Naruto was doing an excellent job of ignoring me.

Nothing seemed outwardly off as he laughed with Kiba and Sai, but he hadn't so much as looked at me since we'd arrived this morning. I'd passed him in the hall, accidentally bumped into him at the lockers, and he'd overtaken us on the way down to the drama room, but he hadn't acknowledged me once.

He knew Shisui, he knew what our family did, he knew there was something happening because he asked me when I would tell him, so I was expecting at least a suspicious glance every now and then, maybe even a thoughtful tilt of the head as he strained his tiny brain to figure out what was going on.

And who confesses their apparent love for someone and then completely ignores them afterwards? It wasn't like he was expecting an answer that hadn't been given, because he said I didn't love him. He didn't want an answer. Honestly, I was still a little put out that he hadn't given me a chance. Granted, I had no idea what I would have said because I didn't know how I felt even now, but he couldn't let me say something for myself.

And now I couldn't figure him out.

Why would he be ignoring me? It wasn't even the usual, blatantly obvious ignoring that one usually did when pissed off, but more like he didn't actually know I existed. He hadn't looked my way at all, not once, not even a fleeting, half-second glance, and now I had drama class with him, in which I had to pretend to be in love with him.

Or not pretend. Or think I was pretending, or even make him think I was pretending.

I sighed quietly in frustration.

Regardless of what I was going to have to do for the next hour and a half, it wasn't going to be a bundle of fun, that was for sure.

"Are you sure he doesn't hate you?"

Especially if he was there.

Usually I didn't mind him and we got along quite well, but only when he was in Sharingan Mode, when he was calm, calculating and sensible. And sane. God only knows I lacked a decent amount of that in my life.

But today it was taking him a while to get past full-blown Cousin Mode. 'Excruciating' didn't quite cover it. Or maybe he was always like this in the mornings, and I just hadn't spent enough mornings with him to know yet. If that was the case, I never wanted to spend another morning with him ever again.

"Yes he hates me, and in all honestly he probably wants to thrash me, but I don't care and neither should you."

Shisui lifted an eyebrow, whistling in appreciation. "Wow, you must've really done something."

I smacked myself in the forehead, growling in complete frustration. "It's his guardian or whatever that got caught out, and he's not happy with me because I was the one who started it all and now Zaza-what's-his-face has had to bail. Get it now? Good. So shut up and act like you're supposed to."

He said nothing, and I thought that maybe I'd gotten through to that coffee-killed brain. Maybe he'd realised that he was here for a reason.

"So… want me to deal with him?"

But no. Apparently not.

"No, I don't want you to 'deal with him'."

"You sure?"

"Yes."

A short silence.

"So what's this Orochimaru guy like?"

I pushed my palms into my eyes. Hard.

"Is he really as horrible as they say? Tayuya said he was a freak and a half who had no concept of personal space or breath freshener and no manners to speak of – with some foul language thrown in, of course."

"You'll just have to wait and see, won't you?"

"But I don't want to wait. You know what it's like being an Uchiha, Sasuke. You want something and you get it –"

"Have you seriously been researching him for four days and not found out what he looks like?"

I'd totally lose any scrap of faith I had in Sharingan if he didn't even know what Orochimaru looked like.

"Oh I know, I just don't know what he's like in person. Personal accounts can only tell you so much, you know."

I frowned. "He defines the word 'disgusting' almost as well as you're defining the phrase 'irritating beyond comprehension'."

I still had my hands over my eyes, but I really didn't have to look to see the amused smirk.

"Are you always this shitty when you get woken up?"

"Always."

I lifted my hands at the new voice, and blinked in the sudden light to see a face I really didn't want to be dealing with at the moment. "Kiba," I growled, shooting a warning glance at Shisui to say that this wasn't someone involved, and certainly wasn't a friend.

Dog Boy scratched the back of his head, clearly unsure of what to say. I didn't actually care, really. I'd rather jump into a shark-infested pool than listen to him try and start a conversation with me, especially since the last one we had hadn't ended particularly well.

"Look, I just –"

"I don't really care, you know."

"I'm trying to –"

"I don't care."

He clenched his jaw, snarling like the dog he was. "I don't want to do this either, but Naruto was pretty shitty at me on Saturday so I'm doing this for his sake and his sake only. I couldn't care less if you dropped off a cliff tomorrow and died, but if Naruto would get more upset by it than he is now, I'd probably have to step in and save you."

I sneered. "I thought you were with Shino now."

He blinked in shock, and I have to admit that I was a little disgusted at myself for stooping so low, but I couldn't take it back now.

"Is that what this is about? Is that why you hate me so much? Because of some stupid little thing that happened months ago that everyone has forgotten about already, including me?"

… So I felt a little stupid right about now.

"You know what? Nartuo was a fucking mess yesterday because you're pissing off, and I came here to tell you if you had a heart you would take his feelings into account, because he fucking loves you, man. Loves you. And you're still the biggest arsehole this side of the equator." He shook his head at me and I glared. "Get over yourself, Uchiha."

Then Orochimaru came and prevented me from giving the Inuzuka a piece of my mind (because, you know… I had something to say, and all…), but I gave him my worst, most defiant glare as he backed away, back to Naruto, who gave him a curious look and asked him something. Dog Boy just shook his head and followed the rest of the class as they filed inside.

Naruto still didn't look at me.

I gave Sakura a don't-want-to-talk-about-it look when she raised an eyebrow in my direction, and waited till the rest of the class had gone in before joining behind them.

I was internally fuming over what the hell gave Kiba the right to tell me to acknowledge Naruto's feelings. I'd had too much on my mind lately, getting myself into all sorts of trouble for him, and Kiba thought he had the right to think he understood the situation at all and tell me what to do.

"Oh, so that's why I wasn't –"

"And you're still not. Inuzuka just likes to ignore other people's feelings and say whatever the hell he wants so don't mention it ever again and start doing your damn job for once."

He scowled. "Well sor-ry."

But there was a visible change as he easily shifted roles again, back to the normal Shisui that we all knew, and his eyes grew hard as we were all ushered into the room, Orochimaru seemingly angrier than last time. Believe it or not.

I stood with Sakura at the back, only Lee and Kiba standing between Naruto and I, yet still he gave no sign of even knowing I was there. Orochimaru would notice. He was bound to. Naruto hadn't been home for several days, Tsunade was still gone as far as I knew, Kabuto was 'ill' (i.e.; dead, permanently missing, lacking in vital limbs and/or organs, held hostage in a whole range of possible places, etc.), there was a new support teacher who looked suspiciously like me, and Naruto and I weren't speaking since last lesson's incident.

Something was definitely wrong.

Orochimaru scanned his nervously fidgeting class suspiciously, eyes landing on Shisui standing off to the side. My cousin stared back, perfectly innocent as Orochimaru narrowed his eyes.

"You're too tall to be a student."

Shisui ducked his head. "Yes, sir."

"I take it you're the replacement?"

"Yes, sir."

Orochimaru sighed. "Get up here then. What's your name?"

I held my breath as Shisui shuffled over to the front of the class, looking around meekly. "Shinji, sir."

I let it out in a rush of relief, thankful that he wasn't that stupid.

"And where are you from?"

"Isshiki High."

Orochimaru frowned. "You look an awful lot like Uchiha over there." He jerked his head in my direction.

Shisui glanced my way, looking perfectly confused. "Who, sorry?"

The pervert practically growled, expression suddenly changing to one of pure hatred as he began advancing on Shisui. "You know who."

"N-No, sir! I really don't know who you're talking about!" He dropped his head in a shallow bow, eyes fixed firmly on the floor, the barest hint of a fearful shake in his body.

Orochimaru looked down at him in disgust. "Stop grovelling. God, you're worse than Kabuto, and he was a pathetic whelp."

Oh really, now? From what I'd seen and Naruto had told me, he and his little lap dog were quite the team.

"I'm sorry, sir."

"And don't apologise. Sucking up won't get you anywhere."

"Sor- yes, sir."

Orochimaru 'tsk'ed, giving Shisui a look of pure distaste, and turned his disapproving gaze on us. His eyes moved from Ino to Neji, on the other side of Sai who was next to Naruto, spanning the whole length of our row distrustfully.

"Two more rehearsals, people. Two. My production will be nothing short of perfect, you hear me? Perfection. You will not forget a line, miss a stage direction, have a wardrobe malfunction, arrive unprepared or anything. Do you understand?"

"Hai, sensei!"

But it sounded empty without our row joining in. Ino just followed us, as she did, but even Lee and Sai said nothing defiantly, and they just didn't like him.

He glared at us all, not missing a thing. "If any of you have any petty little teenage issues with each other about who kissed who's boyfriend or whatever –" there was a stare aimed directly at me, "- then I strongly suggest you get over it." He looked around the room again after a meaningful pause. "Everyone clear? Good. Now get out of my classroom, act your arses off, and ask this sorry wreck here if you have any issues. I've got more important things to deal with than your endless whining."

And everyone scattered, knowledgeable enough of Orochimaru's moods by now to know when it was okay to play funny buggers and stay just to piss him off, and when it was the time to scram. Now was the time to scram, just like last time. Sakura squeezed my hand lightly before turning tail, and I was grateful for the show of support, no matter how small.

I'd been horrible to her and the others, but she still came back and forgave me without hesitation. Because she was Sakura, and if she decided she hated you then so help your sorry existence because that was it for you, but if she liked you then she was a keeper, and damn hard to get rid of.

In a good way, of course.

Even if she did have pink hair.

I didn't dare look at Shisui on his way out, knowing Orochimaru was watching me like a hawk, but I silently thanked him for acting his part so well. It made life a hell of a lot easier for me, that was for sure.

Suddenly Naruto thrust his hand in the air. "I don't feel well."

"You're fine," Orochimaru hissed.

The hand went down. "Okay."

I rolled my eyes.

This was gonna be a long hour and a half.

Sure enough, fifteen minutes in and Orochimaru was yelling at us. Half an hour in and he was positively livid.

"No, no, no!" he shouted, absolutely fuming. "What are you doing?"

Naruto didn't look at me as he folded his arms and shrugged. "Acting."

"You call that acting? I wouldn't give money to a beggar to see that shit! Now get it together or get the hell out of my classroom and don't come back!" You're both cardboard – you have no expression! Put some weight behind it, you hear me? Go!"

We both gritted our teeth, faced each other, and didn't move.

We stared for the longest time, but there was no way I could read Naruto's expression. It was perfectly blank, letting nothing through for once. 'Cardboard'. And that's how I knew he was dead serious. Naruto was always easy to read, at least on the surface, and it was when you could see absolutely nothing in those eyes that you could gather something was really eating him up.

I wasn't exactly ready for the wave of guilt, and I had an urge to just go to him before I got control of it. I ignored it, no matter how overwhelming it was, justifying it by telling myself sternly that I'd done nothing wrong. I had no reason to be guilty, because nothing I'd done was wrong.

The fact that he hadn't done anything either was completely beside the point.

"Did I say stand there at stare at each other? No, no I did not, so what are you doing?"

Naruto blinked, breaking eye contact, but not before I saw that mask slip for half a second. I may have seen his eyes start to water, but it was too quick to be sure.

"I'm not doing it."

I didn't even blink, not overly surprised. I was relieved, actually. Today had been a total failure, and we hadn't even gone through the first page of the script yet. We just couldn't do it, neither of us.

It felt awkward and forced, and completely unfamiliar despite how many times we'd been over and over it both in school and out. Everything was stilted and nervous, not sure where we stood with each other anymore and not sure what we could and couldn't do. Despite the fact that we both knew it wasn't us anymore, it was Nao and Kazu, everything we did was hesitant.

Naruto had to touch my hand at one point, and when I realised how much he really didn't want to do it, I left my hand on my lap, out of sight, just so he wouldn't have to. I didn't bother scoffing and saying "It's just a hand, get over it." I understood. It was awkward.

But I still couldn't figure it out. For the life of me, I couldn't work out why he was so afraid of me.

I hadn't bloody done anything!

"Excuse me?" Orochimaru stepped forwards at a slow, menacing pace.

Naruto faltered.

"We're not doing it," I said for him, standing up. "Not today."

Orochimaru laughed horribly. "Oh really now? And what makes you think that, hm?"

"Because we can't," I said icily. "Some days you can make it work, others you can't. Today we can't, so we're not doing it."

Oh, he didn't like that.

"You don't have the right to turn your backs on me because of some petty little problem that no one cares about! If I say you can act, then you can damn well act until I say stop!"

He was screeching at us, and I unconsciously took a step back, trying to get away from the spit that was flying in his sudden rage.

"I direct what happens here, got it? You're here for me! You can't just decide when you want to play and when you don't. You agreed to it so you're in it for the long haul, you ungrateful shits! You should be thankful that I've even given you a chance! You can't turn your backs now. You can't leave me with nothing to show. You're both pathetic! Get over whatever the problem is before I make you get over it, and don't set foot in this room again until you do, you hear me? Not a toe in this room until you can both accept that I'm running the show, here! I'm the one you answer to and what I say goes. You can't just decide when you're in and when you're not. Now I say get out, so get out!"

We didn't need to be told twice.

Automatically, I grabbed Naruto's hand and yanked him out with me. I couldn't care less if he didn't want anything to do with me, there was no way in hell I was letting him stay in a room with that.

Orochimaru was bright red, eyes wide and angry, barely keeping himself under control, absolutely fuming… and I had a vague feeling he wasn't talking about our play anymore. Or even about us for the most part.

Maybe Itachi was right, and there really was a change in the ranks. Or so Orochimaru thought. Or something.

But I didn't get much of a chance to think on it too hard, because the second we were clear, Naruto pulled his hand away and kept walking, speeding up his steps presumably to get away faster.

I wasn't letting him go that easily.

I hurried after him determinedly, grabbing at his hand again and pulling him around to face me. "What the hell is up with you?!"

Okay, so I could have worded that a little better, but whatever.

He wrenched his hand out of mine without looking at me, and said nothing as he spun around. I watched him angrily as he stalked off like I didn't exist, and growled in frustration.

"Naruto!" I shouted, watching as he finally turned around.

But he looked tired, overly so, and frustrated. He shook his head and lifted a hand in dismissal as I went to take a step towards him, saying just loud enough for me to hear, "Forget it, Sasuke."

I frowned, a little surprised, as he turned back around and walked to where Sai and Ino could be seen with their group.

What was that meant to mean?

---

"You spoken to Naruto yet?"

I glanced at Neji, suspicious of his offhandedly curious tone, and shook my head slowly. "Why?"

He shrugged as Gaara answered for him, not looking up from his designs.

"Because you've both been in a shit mood since Saturday and it's annoying. Your outburst is testament enough to that."

I sighed. "Look, I've said I'm sor- wait, you've spoken to Naruto?"

They stilled, and I barely noticed Shikamaru stiffen next to me.

"…Maybe," Gaara said, shrugging.

I narrowed my eyes. "You know something."

"I know nothing."

Shikamaru snorted. "We know."

"Know what?"

"That you know nothing."

"But he does know," I insisted.

"What do I know?"

"You know something about Naruto, and I know you're playing dumb."

"I'm not."

"You are."

"Not."

"I know you know!"

"But I don't know!"

"Oh shut up!" Ino said loudly, glaring at us all from across the table before turning back to her conversation with Tenten and Hinata grumpily.

"What did he tell you?" I hissed.

Gaara held up his hands and shook his head, refusing to speak.

"Give it up, man," Shikamaru supplied lazily, slowly sitting up straighter as Sasori came into view. "You won't get anything out of us that you don't already know." He stretched and yawned loudly. "It's something for you and Naruto to sort out, as you've told us countless times."

He had a point, but he always had a point, and it was always something that you couldn't respond to very well because you knew he'd just shut you down again anyway.

All I managed was a mumbled, "But he still knows."

"I don't know!"

Neji rolled his eyes, sitting straight as well. "What are you, five?"

We both glared as there was a sharp knock on the glass of the classroom door, and glanced behind us. Sasori was standing there, large box of scrap materials in hand and a scowl set firmly in place. He seemed to be waiting for someone to open the door for him.

Hah.

I smirked, continuing the final copy of my assignment, copying out my sketched design from earlier in the term and wondering how long it would take. I figured he'd be waiting a while, considering none of us liked him enough to help, but within seconds Neji was there, holding the door open for him.

"Sorry, didn't see you there, Sensei. Would you like help with anything?"

Sasori simply raised his eyebrows at him and pushed past, heading off into the back room. Neji closed the door behind him, face entirely expressionless.

I shared an understanding glance with Shikamaru as Gaara smirked.

Ooh, we see what you're doing.

Well, why not? Might as well, if we'd been given permission. One of us might even sneak in a punch on the last lesson. That would be fun.

"No, thank you…" Sasori said cautiously as the whole class looked on, a little stunned.

Tenten slowly sidled up behind me and whispered, "You're smart. What's he doing?" in my ear.

I allowed a sneaky smile but shook my head. "Just watch."

Neji sighed and Gaara stood up to join him, the both of them taking the box from Sasori. "That's too heavy for you, sensei. Let me take it."

Did Sasori just bring the box closer?

Huh. Odd.

The wannabe teacher narrowed his eyes and shook his head. "It's not heavy. Not like you could help anyway," he added, looking Neji up and down.

Neji just laughed horribly and waved his hand. "No, no, it's fine." He all but ripped the box from Sasori's hands, a brave move if I say so myself. "Now where would you like me to put it?"

Sasori cracked his knuckles. "Hyuuga, I don't know what you're trying to do but I suggest you stop it. Now."

I stifled a laugh as Gaara schooled his face into something that surprisingly didn't resemble pure hatred, and put a hand on Sasori's shoulder. "He's just helping, sensei. What's wrong with that?"

Sasori mumbled something about 'ulterior motives' and 'untrustworthy' under his breath. Gaara really did look like he was concentrating very hard on not ripping his head off, and Neji was – Neji was Neji. Mr Perfect. Enough said.

Suddenly Sasori threw up his hands, in turn forcing Gaara's hand off his shoulder, and said loudly, "All right! Fine! Do what you like just don't get in my way. I'm not even going to ask what the hell's going on."

Oh this class was going to be so fun.

Sasori needed a soldering iron; I got one ready for him.

He needed a piece of copper; Neji handed it to him.

He wanted the class to shut up; Gaara scared everyone into silence.

And if he wanted anything done that required thought, Shikamaru was there in an instant to help him out.

The pineapple-head's enthusiasm made us all falter. Just a little. I don't think any of us had seen him put in so much effort for someone else before. Ever. Not even me, and he'd been helping me with various issues since he saved my arse a few years ago

And Sasori had to try not to tear our hair out during the entire lesson

He was completely confused, obviously stunned that every time he turned around one of us was there to help when usually we'd watch him flounder with some sick expression of amused satisfaction.

A bit of a turn around, to say the least.

And man fucking with people's heads is fun.

--

I sat on the uncomfortable chair outside Tsunade's office, checking the clock for the thousandth time that hour.

The second the bell for lunch had gone, Shisui appeared in my Metalwork class and yanked me out of there, ignoring the strange looks from Sasori and my classmates. He ignored me as well when I asked him just what in hell did he think he was doing.

"I need to see Tsunade," was all he said, and I stared at him.

"You really don't know, do you?"

He shook his head, but funnily enough he was dragging me in the right direction. "Come on, man. You so do."

"No really, I don't."

That explained nothing, of course.

We went straight to Tsunade's office, him leading the way and refusing to tell me why we were going. God only knows why I was dragged along too. His secretiveness was really starting to shit me. Seriously. I found myself grinding my teeth so much just in these last couple of days that I kept telling myself I wouldn't have any left if I kept that up. The meeting had been going for nearing on forever, and no doubt they were discussing things of great important to me, except – oh no, Sasuke can't know what's going on despite being directly related to the issue. Of course not. That would be stupid.

I scowled at the dark carpeted floor before directing it at that ominous wooden door to the principal's office, cursing it to a whole range of places along with that woman inside it.

Well, no, actually. She was quite nice, and while it had taken her a while to understand what her problem was, I felt I could sympathise now. But oh, so she wasn't a bitch and she was being blackmailed and had a lot of issues behind her – so what?

She could at least leave the door open a crack so I could hear something.

"Are they still in there?"

I looked up at the vaguely familiar voice, nodding dejectedly at Shizune as she juggled a heavy stack of papers and frowned at the door beside me.

"Yep."

"What's that now, then? An hour? Hour and a half?"

I shrugged. "Too long."

Shizune nodded thoughtfully. "I don't know why she wanted all this now if she's still in a meeting…" She glanced down at me with a curious look. "He's your cousin, right? Or some relation."

I nodded carefully, unsure of how much I was allowed to say. "Some relation, yes."

She didn't seem to pick up on my obvious avoidance tactic, merely humming thoughtfully to herself. Suddenly, she stepped up to the door and knocked sharply three times before opening up and letting herself in.

I strained my ears as I watched her walk in and drop the papers on Tsunade's desk, but, of course, they stopped their conversation the second the door was opened.

"That's everything you wanted, Tsunade-sama," Shizune said quietly, bowing and heading back out the door.

"Thank you, Shizune."

The short woman ducked out the door, closing it behind herself. But not all the way, I noticed with a smirk. She closed it so that it was resting open just slightly, and winked at me on her way past. I nodded in acknowledgement and thanks, my respect for the already-respected woman shooting up a couple of notches. She made it to the end of the hall, just outside the door leading back into the front office, and Tsunade had gotten as far as "Sorry about the interruption. So how many -?" before that damned smartarse cousin of mine cut her off.

"Shizune-san?"

I looked to the left as she hit the wall lightly with her palm, turning back to me and murmuring, "I tried," on her way past.

"Yes?" she asked innocently, poking her head into the room.

"Please close the door properly this time. We can't have the wrong ears listening in."

Bastard. You didn't have to be a rocket scientist to pick up that hint.

"Yes, sir."

And the door definitely clicked shut this time.

Well, I'd just have to force it out of him later. Perhaps a threat to unleash Itachi on him would do the trick…

An hour later, no Japanese class and five minutes into science, they finally walked out, laughing like old friends and saying 'we should do this again sometime'. I narrowed my eyes at the both of them, especially my cousin.

Oh he was not going to do this to me.

The second Tsunade was back behind her enormous doors I turned on Shisui with a glare.

"And?"

He began to walk down the hall, me following. "And what?"

"And what was all that about?"

"You know what it was about."

"Yes, but I'd like to know what happened."

"We talked."

"About what?"

"You know what."

Ugh. He always was good at circular arguments to avoid saying what he didn't want to. Fine. I'd get him when he least expected it.

I went back to science, chewed my lip as I fumed silently the entire time, ignored Naruto right back, and couldn't get out of there fast enough as the bell went. Meeting Shisui outside the gate as soon as school was over, I began to hound him immediately.

Each attempt was met with a warning-filled "Sasuke."

I tried again several times on the way home, my frustration steadily getting the better of me as I was either shut down or ignored every time. How could he do that? How could he drag me along to a meeting for apparently no reason whatsoever, not invite me in, then refuse to even tell me what transpired?

Seriously – what was the point?

So I whipped out the Itachi threat when we got home. It didn't work. Which is why I was in my room, battling with the written part of my metalwork assignment (again, overdue. Fights with your boyfriend could do that to you), pointedly ignoring him like he did to me. I spoke to him long enough to say grumpily, "I have homework. Start dinner," but that was it. He wasn't worth the breath, really. He'd been an arsehole last night, annoyingly like Itachi today with absolutely no hint of feeling apologetic for yesterday, and he was still acting all superior and I-am-more-knowledgeable-than-though with this meeting crap.

So I was in the dark about everything.

Still.

I wasn't used to that.

I didn't like it.

All I wanted to know was – okay, so I wanted to know everything, but it all seemed so much worse now that I didn't know what the hell was up with Naruto, either. I honestly had no clue. All the way home, while I was busy hounding Shisui then proceeding to ignore him because he was crap, I tried to work it out. Work all of it out.

So we had a fight almost a week ago, that I understood. I also understood that perhaps he was still a bit pissed about the way I flipped out when I went round to see him on Saturday, but it was everything after that that threw me off completely.

He said he loved me, and though a large part of me wanted to pass it off as us just being young, it didn't mean anything, an even bigger part knew it was the truth.

It was the truth.

Oh God, it was the truth.

Naruto didn't do stuff like that. He put his heart into absolutely everything, and never would he only e half in. He couldn't not love me. Right from the start he hated me with everything he had – everything. Then we both accepted that perhaps there was something else, and he was entirely ready for it. He threw away all his issues and jumped straight in. With me. Because he did that. He did things like forgive people. He did things like fall in love with bastards like me.

But if he did love me, as he'd so insisted, then why was he being so frustrating? Seriously. I just didn't get it.

Why would he ignore me if he'd basically forgiven me? Why would he ignore me if he wanted answers? If he wanted to know what had been going on practically since we'd gotten together three months ago?

I threw my pen angrily at the desk, scowling horribly and practically growling out my complete frustration.

Naruto was supposed to be easy to read. He always had been and always would be, but now here I was, confused out of my mind because I didn't understand what the hell was going through his.

I'm an observant person. Blame it on the environment I grew up in or whatever, but I had always made a point of looking further into things than most people, and learning those around me.

For instance, the man I could see outside my window right now, our neighbour, watering the garden and whistling to himself, was a liar. He blinked too much, looked over his shoulder, whistled a tune that was far too obvious. He was probably cheating on his wife, or doing something just as shifty, by the way he frequently checked his phone. He was slouched as he walked from plant to plant, giving each one a generous amount of water despite the rain that was forecast for tomorrow night. Because he wanted to spend as much time as possible away from his wife. It was simple.

It took me all of ten seconds to work that out. I probably could have done it in five it Naruto wasn't occupying an enormous portion of my brain while another portion was taken up by being frustrated at Shisui.

And that annoyed me.

I could look at pretty much anyone (except a select few) and figure them out. Shisui and Itachi, on his good days, had taught me what they knew, and I absorbed it all. I could know what someone was feeling even if their voice claimed something completely different, it didn't matter who it was. Even Gaara, who suffered from epic emotional fail.

And now… now Naruto. Naruto stumped me. Out of all the shifty bastards involved in this roller coaster of events, it was Naruto who made me stop and think.

And that didn't make sense.

I'm sorry for the awful cut off point... It was the only place that seemed right, and otherwise this chapter would've been a monster.

And I don't want to sound whingey or naggy, but really, if you're still reading this and want me to continue then tell me. There are still a handful of you who review regularly and the only reason I'm even updating this is because of you guys. I don't have to do it. I have mid-year exams coming up and I could (seriously should) be studying right now. This story is really just an extra pressure I'm putting on myself because even though its already written, I have to edit each chapter and that takes longer than you would think.

I don't expect an epic review or anything like that, but it would just be nice to know who's still with it, that's all.

Um... yes. Sorry? –hides-