Update: 2015
Also working on a comic version, with original characters. In progress.
Tumblr: sammakesamess
DeviantArt: MemorySoul

Step 10: The 'COMPETITION' Pt1

Naruto's feeling nostalgic for his life before Leafville High on the anniversary of his parents' deaths. But when aKonohamaru, an old friend from Naruto's old neighborhood shows up, Sakura must go out of her way to help Naruto out, even if it means paying a little less attention to Sasuke for a bit. Is Sasuke actually jealous? Does Sakura even know about the unofficial 'rivalry' going on between him and Naruto?e

"Nuh-uh! Cat food tastes worse than dog food!"

"Amazing how you know that."

"Shut it Neji I never asked you!"

It's impossible for Ino and I to keep our giggles in – or anyone for that matter. Even Sasuke's cracking up next to us, and that's enough of a sight. It's lunch period now in school, and we were upping it up at our table with Kiba's amazing argument as to which pet food tastes worse. "Oh my gosh Kiba you're hilarious!" Ino cries, shaking her head.

"Hmph, you guys think I'm jokin' but I shit you not – dog food ain't the worst out there. Just sayin'."

"And you wonder why we make fun of you so much," Shikamaru notes as our table erupts into more laughter and smiles. I'm just falling apart to the point I can't breathe, and my head accidentally falls onto Sasuke's shoulder. Even worse – he's laughing too hard to even mind or notice.

This is what I like about my current high school life right now. Sure all of us have crap going on, but somehow we manage to make the most of it in tiny moments like this. It's almost hard to believe that only so long ago we never even acknowledged each other, or even hated one another. It's hard to believe that for years Sasuke and I have lived next to one another like this, and we never thought to say hi…

Along our laughter, I notice Naruto who's surprisingly the only one not laughing his lungs to oblivion Sure he's smiling and grinning, but something's off with him lately. Naruto.

"Smile guys!" says a random girl, taking our photograph. It catches us all off guard and I doubt it's a pretty picture. "Sorry – yearbook committee."

"Oh no problem! I love yearbook photographers!" Kiba barks, standing up on his school bench with one foot on the table. Neji manages to move his tray before Kiba's dirty shoe can flip it over. "Yo Uzumaki! Stand up on the table with me for old time's sake!"

I'm about to lecture them about how outrageous the idea is, but Naruto… seems to do it for me. "Sorry. Maybe later. I gotta go study for a test or something," he says dejectedly.

We watch Naruto pick up his bag to leave, his tray left behind and practically untouched. And Naruto always finishes his food – asking for more from others. A slight notion of worry runs through me.

The student photographer shoots one more shot of us before walking away, and Kiba sits back down in confusion. "What's up with him?" Ino blinks. "Since when does Naruto leave lunch early to study?"

"Moron's not studying," Sasuke informs, resting his chin on his hand.

I look around the table at everyone with Ino. Kiba, Neji, Shikamaru, and Sasuke are all suddenly silent. What happened to the spirit? Did something happen with Naruto? I glance at Sasuke for a second and get a feeling he probably won't tell me if I ask. "I'm gonna go check on him." Without anyone holding me back, I pick up my bag and tray and leave my spot at the table between Ino and Sasuke.

However this doesn't mean Ino's going to drop the subject so easily. The mood's already been brought down. "Is Naruto alright?" Ino throws out there, since no one's saying anything.

"It's weird," Kiba speaks up, scratching his head. "He gets like this every year on the same date."

"February 1st?" Ino blinks. "What happened on February 1st?"

Shikamaru shrugs. "We dunno. But he's been like this for as long as we've known him. He won't say why, but we leave him alone usually and he's fine by morning."

Ino furrows her eyebrows. They won't even go try and cheer him up? "Some friends you are."

"Hey. If he doesn't wanna talk then we won't force him," Shikamaru defends, as opposed to Ino's 'but-in-and-hassle-until-told' philosophy.

Sasuke remains in his position, thoughtful. Ma ybe it's better Sakura talk to him. Despite his better intentions, an unrelenting and unfamiliar emotion runs through him. Jealousy. But Sasuke tries his best to put it to the back of his mind. The emotion of jealousy. The confusion as to why the emotion was there in the first place.

No matter – he's made a mental note to see me later, anyway.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

I search around the school for Naruto. The halls re mostly empty since most of the students are on break, while the rest of the underclassmen were in class. Besides, Naruto's super yellow hair shouldn't be too hard to spot. "Where is that guy?"

Eventually I find him by his locker, just sorting books for the last half of the school day. He looks alright, and I exhale a bit in elief that I found him okay. "Yo," I call out, walking lazily towards him down the empty hall.

I finally catch the guy off guard, and he looks surprised to see me. "Oh, hey Sakura. Sorry for being such a buzz kill back there," he apologizes suddenly. And calmly.

"Huh? Oh no don't worry about it," I say first. Naruto seems so, chill today. And, mature. And lonesome. Like Sasuke. "Why are you acting like such a Sasuke today?" I try out in a joking manner.

That manages to make him laugh a little. "Sorry. Didn't mean to be such a chicken-butt this morning."

I shake my head smiling. "Hey all of us are Sasukes some mornings. Like uh, last morning Ino reset my laptop background to a photo of me posing next to a shirtless Sasuke from the photoshoot. You can imagine how ticked off I was."

"I'll bet," he laughs. Naruto's skateboard accidentally falls out of his locker, and luckily both of us manage to avoid it.

"Here I'll get it," I offer before Naruto can bend over – arms already full of stuff. I pick it up and place it back in his locker, but I can't help but notice the mess of things taped to the inside door.

Post-its, a B+ (possibly his highest test grade), perverted doodles from Kiba, some marker graffiti – and then a photograp of a pretty red-headed woman. I've never seen hair so red before – maybe on Karin but it's so obvious she died it. But this woman – her hair's so beautiful, and so red; like a tomato-red. I can't seem to stop staring at it before Naruto brings me back. "Sakura?"

"Hm? Ah, sorry. I was spacing out a bit, I guess," I smile, standing back up. As I do, I hear his stomach grumble. Well, he did skip lunch. "Still hungry?"

"Heh, guess so," Naruto grins sheepishy. Despite the smile, I can still tell something's on his mind.

I look into his messy locker. He usually has some chips or microwaveable ramen stashed around in there somewhere. "No junk food today in here?"

"Ran out yesterday," Naruto tells me. "I didn't get a chance to run to the grocery since I was out of cash. I don't get my allowance from Iruka for another day or two," he admits with a frown.

"You could just ask for an advance, you know. I mean it is food."

Naruto scrunches up his face and looks away. "Yeah but I still don't like asking the guy." I make a face. "It's a pride-thing okay?"

I roll my eyes. And here I thought Sasuke was the only one with that prehistoric man-pride. "Tell you what. After school how about you and me head to the grocery together and get you some stuff – my treat."

"What? No way Sakura-"

"Come on. All this time I've known you, you've never skipped out on food." I smile at the guy and stretch my arms above me, faking some tiredness. "Besides, I don't really feel like practicing my skating at Sasuke's with the guys' this afternoon, anyway."

Naruto laughs a little, but his solemn smile looks lke hes giving in. "He's gonn get mad."

"Psh, Sasuke and I are cool now remember? And he gets me mad all the time – and look at it this way: you and I will be skating to the grocery store, anyway. So technically I'll still be skating."

Naruot shakes his head and he closes his locker – just as I get a millisecond last look of the red-headed woman in the photo. "Your money."

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

That afternoon once school had let out, Naruto and I had made a quick get-away right after the bell so that Sasuke and the others wouldn't be around to drag us back to his place.

Nonetheless the guys still met up in his backyard. But it was just Sasuke, Neji, Shikamaru, and Kiba. For kicks they even brought Ino with them. It's a first for her, visiting the Uchiha's backyard/skating prep area.

"So this is where Sakura learns to skate," Ino notes, sitting in a sun chair next to the house. She takes note of the tiny half pipe and railings embedded into the cement. Long lines of sandbacks and tll metal barrels sit in as obsticalls for me to jump over, and a small shed for makeshift bard repairs until they all go to Anko's garage. "I can't believe I've never been here before."

"Because you've never been invited," Shikamaru says, earning a shove from Ino and a laugh from Kiba.

Sasuke's sitting on the small brick wall in front of the sun chairs with his board and a tool for loosening his trucks. Notably silent as ever – but Ino could tell otherwise. "Thinking of Sakura, Sasuke?" Ino grins teasingly.

Sasuke glares up at the blonde. "Don't make me regret letting you over here."

"Sheesh. Just asking." Ino sits back, bored. "She must be with Naruto still."

"Wonder what they're up to," Kiba says, skating back and forth on the concrete behind them. "You ain't jealous, are you Sasuke?"

Neji observes the Uchiha from hisown seating. Sasuke's doing his best no to snap out at any of them. "Sakura and I are only faking our relationship – whatever she does with the dobe is none of my business. Besides, he's no good today so he could use her. I don't care."

"Mhm," Ino and Kiba say automatically, quite surprised themselves and earning another vein in Sasuke's forehead.

Ino plces her arms behind her head, and a cloud overshadows the sun for a bit of shade. "It is February after all."

"Your point?" Sasuke humors with no emotion whatsoever.

"You aren't aboutto go into some rant about Valentines Season, are you?" Shikamaru complains, eyes up at the clouds.

"No. Though I should," Ino says. "Sakura's birthday is about a month away from now." Everyone doesn't stop what they're doing, but their ears are invisibly more alert. Ino keeps her eyes at the clouds too. Shikamaru does it all the time, and Ino can suddenly see why. They're calming for her wild spirit. "Technically Sakura still hasn't found anyone yet."

"That's right," Kiba remembers. "Sasuke's just the cover I forgot."

"So she's supposed to find some boyfriend by her birthday to actually take her to her stupid party?" Sasuke asks nonchalantly, keeping his physical focus on his board.

"Yeah," Ino replies distantly. "But she's been so preoccupied with skating lately with you guys, and then whatever other crazy situation gets thrown into the mix – she never has time to really look at guys."

"Forget giving her time. I don't think Sakura's the type of person to go looking, anyway," Shikamaru anylizes. And Sasuke can't help but agree, sadly. "… Have you talked to her about it?"

"Not yet," Ino frowns, worried for her best friend. The huge cloud still casts a cool shadow over the yard. "I'm afraid if I talk about it too much it'l seem like I'm pushing her, you know? Then she really won't do it. Sakura… has to find it on her own."

Sasuke can't take staying silent anymore. Somehow, the topic bothered him. The fact that Sakura was in the same state she was in when their agreement and bet was first made bothered him. And even more so, Sasuke was so bothered by the fact that he was happy she wasn't looking for anyone. Why is that?

"I'll talk to her," Sasuke speaks up cooly, sounding indifferent and monotone.

Everyone looks up, surprised. "Really?" Ino asks, shocked.

"Maybe she'll listen to me," Sasuke continues. Ino doesn't know skateboards, so she probably can't tell what Sasue's doing with his tool and his board. But Shikamaru could see it – all Sasuke's been doing this entire conversation and tightening and loosening his trucks to no ends, stalling. "If that skater-girl poser has only a month left, then she probably knows it. She's not that stupid.

Ino furrows her eyebrows in worry. "But-"

"I said I'll talk to her," Sasuke assures the blonde, trying hard not to come off as a nice guy. The last thing he needed was for Ino to think he was going soft. She'd never let him live it down. Neither would Kiba or Naruto if he was here. "I'll find out what she's doing about this."

Ino doesn't look convinced, but she trusts him. "Okay," she says unsure. Neji in the background studies Sasuke's motionless face, somewhat content with where this was going.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

"Geez Naruto you really go all out," I say strained, skating with bags of ramn hanging from my arms. It's so hard ot keep balance, so in a way this is 'training' I suppose.

Naruto, on the other hand, looks a lot happier, like he'd just won the lottery in ramen. He's skating so much faster than me, too. "Are you kidding?! All ramen brands for just a dollar! And hey it's your treat so it saved you a lotta money!"

Yeah but my arms are killing me.

I blow some pink hair out of my face and smile a little instead. At this this ramen shopping spree cheered him up a little. Naruto never really brought up what was bothering him earlier. Just went around the conversation I guess. But it turned out better than I could've hoped.

"Ramen ramen ramen~" Naruto sings as we skate down the street to his place to drop of all this ramen. Mm, never been to Naruto's place before. "Hey Sakura?"

"Mhm?"

"Thanks for today."

"What? Hey you know money's no trouble for me."

"Not for the ramen," Naruto points out. His tonein voice has changed. "You cheered me up when I was down. I needed a good friend and you were there. Thank you for that."

Such a deep thank-you from someone so carefree and unserious. Somehow it means more coming from the blonde and I smile back. "If you don't mind my asking, what were you so sad about during school?" I try, hoping I don't make Naruto sad by asking.

Luckily he doesn't look too bad. "I didn't always live here in town. I used to live in the city, in those dangerous ghettos where grafittii lined the streets and you could never leave your front door alone."

"Really."

"I didn't stay there for too long," Naruto tells me. We're still skating, and we take a turn down a corner. "Do you remember me telling you that I lost both my parents?"

It was a while ago, but I can still recall the sad memory. And the shock that came with it when he first said so. How someone so happy like Naruto could go on living without a mom or a dad? I can't comprehend it. "Yeah?"

"Well, back in the big city, there was a gang war or somethin' when I was a kid. A bunch of people died one night during a big raid or whatever; a lot of them I knew and they weren't even involved." It's amazing how composed Naruto is telling me this story. "Good kids died that night. My parents included."

"And that's why you came here…" I realize, almost forgetting I was still on my skateboard.

Naruto nods once. "It's a bit of a blur; a huge protection-program thing. Gave me a new guardian, a new life, a different name."

Name? "So, your name isn't Naruto?"

Narut laughs at how funny that sounds. "I guess not. But it's what the kids always called me, since I always had naruto on my ramen." I think those spiral fish cakes Naruto always eats. "So I left the city, became Naruto Uzumaki, and met Sasuke and the others and we all became misfit delinquents of our own."

"Wow," I manage out, unsure of what to say. What do I say? Naruto looks so calm and past it but, I'm… not. "Naruto that's horrible."

"I know," Naruto says positively. "And I know it's wrong to just forget it all happened. So… once a year, today," he pauses, "it's the only day of the year I'm allowed to think about it."

The day his parents died. I feel like there's more for me to say, but Narutos grim smile keep me from doing so, and we leave it at that. Naruto's let it off his chest, and I've done my part listening. He should be fine, now.

As we take a turn down a few empty streets, a kid suddenly runs into the middle of it and we have no way of stopping since it's a downhill street. "SHIT!" Naruto cries.

He and I try to skid to a stop, but all we manage to do is fall over and barely miss the poor kid. Bags fall and ramen fly an roll everywhere across the concrete. "Geez," I wince, feeling some scrapped skin on my arms. "You've gotta be kidding me."

"Crap," Naruto groans, sitting his arms up. The first thing he sees is his plastic covered ramen bowl in front of him. He gasps, taking it, and looks around and the rest of the mess. It's no surprise he gets offensive about it towards the kid. "GOD DAMMIT WATCH WHERE YOURE GOIN' YOU BRAT!"

"Calm down Naruto he's just a kid," I try to defend, looking around for him. I swore I saw him fall too, whrever he is.

I find him a few feet away on the ground, having jumped out of the collision spot as well. At least he's all covered up so his skin didn't have to skid along the floor. "Hey are you alright?" I call suddenly, concern in my voice.

"DON'T ASK IF HE'S ALRIGHT SAKURA HE RUINED OUR DINNER!"

"Naruto they're prepackaged."

"LIKE I GIVE A DAMN!"

As Naruto's arguing with me, the adolescent sits up with a slight headache before looking at Naruto, and his face full of frustration and confusion washes away into awe.

I look to the side. Is the boy alright?

Naruto eventually looks back at what I'm staring at, and his temper dwindles in a second. It doesn't take too long for me to notice the boy and Naruto are connected. Eyes staring, and tension so thick I could practically see it between all of us. What the heck's going on with these two?

"Naruto-niisan?" the boy speaks first, rather lowly and barely audiable.

Naruto's eyes widen. "Konohamaru."

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Before too long, the three of u are inside Naruto's apartment. I've never visited anyone living in an apartment complex before. It's different from Sasuke's and Ino's houses, and way different from mine (obviously). But it's quaint. And Naruto's done a five-second clean up of the place. He clearly wasn't expecting compny when he left for school this morning.

"Eat up," Naruto mumbles, pushing a freshly-microwaved bowl of ramen to the starving kid. I can tell Naruto hated sharing his new ramen collection.

"So you two know each other?" I ask slowly, leaning against the wall. His kitchen's pretty small, so it's an intimate eating place.

"He's from my old hometown – from before I moved here," Naruto says with crossed arms. What happened to the smiles before while we were grocery shopping? Now, Naruto's so serious. Troubled. It reminds me of Sasuke and this persona doesn't fit him. "He's one of the kids I thought died that night with my parents."

When that processes through, the boy slows his rapid eating a little and my body tenses. Guilt shows over the room somehow, and it completely phases through Naruto. He sits across the boy at the small table, like a father about to lecture his son. It's intimidating somehow, even for me.

"What are you doing here, Konohamru," Naruto asks seriously.

The kid 'Konohamaru' slirps up the last noddle on his chopstick before putting on a strong front. "What a guy can't come visit his favorite big brother-figure?"

"You died," Naruto cuts off. I'm wincing emotionally, and I can see it too in the brunet boy. "I saw you get shot, Konohamaru!" Naruto almost shouts. He's trying to hold in his anger – anger I never even knew Naruto was capable of.

I don't know whether to intervene or just stay put and listen.

Konohamaru puts his chopsticks down, eyes lowered. "That night that gang attacked the street, it's true I got shot." Konohamaru unzips his large hoodie, revealing a tank top that reveals a part of his shoulder-chest area. A nasty gunshot wound is left, self-healing after years of 'skin regeneration'. But a scar is still a scar.

I check Naruto. Even he's a bit paralyzed by it.

"But I survived," Konohamau finishes. "It was a miracle, they said. I should've died, but I didn't," he stresses. How old is this kid? Younger than us for sure, but, the pain in his voice. I recognized it. No child should have the experience to know that pain at such an age. "At the time I thought it was horrible that I survived when no one didn't. Udon – Moegi – none of them made it. Everyone was shot to death and somehow I was alright."

I knew neither of the names, but by the look on Naruto's face, he must have.

"And then I heard that you were alright," Konohamaru says slowly, bringing us out of the dark. "But I couldn't find you in the hospital with any of the other survivors. My gramps wouldn't tell me anything."

"Old Man," Naruto says, recognizing him. He looks to me, like a lost child who's lost everything. "He's the guy who found me my new home, Detective Sarutobi."

"Everyone from the old days are gone, Naruto," Konohamaru says back. "But I knew you were out there somewhere; Big-brother Naruto. I felt like it'd do our old group some justice if I'd at least found you. So I ran away after seeing you on TV."

"TV?" Naruto and I blink.

The boy nods. "Some stupid male beauty pageant on some stupid channel. You were in the crowd somewhere cheering for some Sasuke Uchiha guy." The same memory flicks through mine and Naruto's memory. "Leaville City – I tracked down this little inky-dink town and ran away with my grandfather's credit card." Gosh.

"Well you found me. Now go home, Konohamaru."

What? "Are you serious?" Konohamaru asks. Naruto what are you doing?

"No. You're going home. Do you have any idea how dangerous it was for you to run away and come find me? You could've gotten hurt or kidnapped or-!" I've never seen Naruto so protective or angry before.

If there were ever a time to intervene, I pick now. "What Naruto means is that your grandfather must be worried sick about you," I reword, sitting Naruto back down. This is my first time talking and I wonder if it's appropriate to butt in. Well, too late now, Sakura. "Now I'm sure if we all calmed down we can all reach a-"

"And who the heck are you supposed to be, you ugly cow?" Konohamaru says bluntly, eyes half closed and chair leaned back.

(. . .)

"AAAARGHAAHHHAGGRRRR!" This time Naruto's the one holding me back from tearing this demon child's head off. The boy's gripping to the back of his chair with a sudden fear at my temper I didn't even know I was capable of. "WHAT THE HELL DID YOU SAY, KID!?" my inner spirit yells as my body sprawls and struggles in Naruto's hold.

Somehow within the next three minutes, I was seating at the tiny table as well, somewhat grumpy but still calm. This kid…

Naruto exhales. He soo wasn't expecting any of this this afternoon. "So, what else do you want from me, Konohamaru. You found me. What were you expecting? Closure? To stay and eat all my food?"

"Mm, a bit of both," Konohamaru shrugs before pulling something out of his pocket. "But it's more of what I was hoping to do for you, actually." It's a piece of paper, and he slides it across the table to Naruto.

It's a white paper; a photograph. Naruto and I eye it suspiciously before he turns it over. His eyes widen as do mine. It's the red-headed woman from Naruto's locker.

"I just may be able to reunite you with your mom," Konohamaru says scruffily, but in all seriousness true.

I look to the boy first, then to Naruto. He looks speechless for once. In awe. So the red-headed woman, was his mother? The mother he thought he saw shot to death years ago? The mother, he could possibly be reunited with?

"B-But," Naruto stammers, unable to comprehend this so suddenly. "H-How-?

"I found from my grandpa's police files that a Kushina Namikaze was a survivor of the massacre," Konohamaru tells us. "She's been relocated too to a new place like you."

"Like me…" Naruto almost stumbles back while sitting down. I've never seen him like this before. Suddenly Naruto slams the table. "Konohamaru you have to tell me where she is!"

"Don't you think I would've told you by now if I knew off the top of my head?" he says with attitude.

"YOU LITLE PRICK THEN DON'T TELL ME THINGSLIKE THIS!" Naruto shouts as I hold him back by the arms. This is the last thing I need: a Naruto with a temper.

Konohamaru sighs calmly. "Give me a day or two with a computer and I can help find her okay?"

"You can actually do something like that," I say in disbelief.

The kid smirks. "Of course. I'm a genius tracker and hacker. How do you think I managed to make it this far on my own?" he says proudly. But then his face turns serious once more. "But my gramps probably knows I went looking for you. He'll find me here if I stay."

"Sakura!" Naruto is suddenly gripping my arms with the biggest blue eyes I've ever seen on the teen. Oh geez. "Please," he begs as I try not to look at him. "PLEASE?!"

"No way ask one of the other guys!" His face is way too close.

"But Sakuraaaaaaa!~" He holds out the 'a' of my name for a long time that it eventually gets to me. Naruto can be such a little kid sometimes.

Eventually I slap my and over his mouth to get him to stop. "Alright okay he can stay at my place!" I give. I push him off me, and I think of the rising pile of favors these guys owe me what wit them abusing me and my home all the time. Now I'm an underground inn for run-way brats.

"Thank you, Sakura!" Naruto bows, on his knees with the most pathetic expression he's ever given me in our entire friendship. Somehow, I feel like this is probably the worst idea, and I'll regret it within the next three hours.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

"So you have everything?" I ask as I walk with Konohamaru down the street. He's hold a small suitcase with some spare clothes Naruto could manage to spare. A little big in size for him but, it's all he could manage.

"Yeah," Konohamaru says. It's a silent walk, and kind of awkward. We barley know each other, if anything only through Naruto do we have anything in common. He called me a cow for heaven's sake.

I glance down at the kid at the corner of my eye. Does he even like me? Come on Sakura. Be strong. This is for Naruto, remember? He has to find his mom.

As we close in down towards the end of the culdesac, I can see Konohamaru's confusion as the number of houses dwindle down and down. Naruto has wisely left out that I lived in a mansion. "So uh, where's your house?" Konohamaru speaks up.

After rounding a tree, the large gates finally come into view, and Konohamaru's mouth open wide. "That's where you're staying," I start out, pointing at the mansion beyond the gates and gardens. A small part of me is a having a bit of fun seeing Konohamaru's reaction. It's not every day I get a new person to show off my 'house'. And as abusive as the other guys are, I'll never forget their initial reactions to the interior rooms.

Hopefully Konohamaru isn't as bad.

After we pass the gates and finally walk all the way up to the front doors, I open them up with my keys as casually as Naruto did walking into his apartment. I have to give Konohamaru a little push to get him to enter.

We're inside the ballroom first, hallow and empty but still open and wide. "Wow," Konohamaru says. "You really are loaded."

I begin walking up the stairs, with him following quickly behind. "My parents aren't home yet, and most of all my Mom can't know you're here. She already has private little fits with me whenever Naruto and the others mess up the place."

"So where am I staying?"

"My room has another-" I stop when I open my door, expecting to have it empty like the rest of the house. For some reason, I feel a mini heart attack upon seeing Sasuke just standing around by the window.

And he looks just as surprised to see I have a guest. "Um, hi?" Sasuke stares.

"So you have a boyfriend that can live with you but I can't stay here?" Konohamaru remarks.

"So I live here now," Sasuke smirks, walking towards us.

Just what I need. I hope he can see me roll my eyes. "Sasuke what are you doing here? I'm busy."

"Babysitting?"

"I-" He's right. "Can you come with me for a second?" Leaving Konohamaru by himself in my room, I immediately grab Sasuke's hand and pull him out of my room, making sure the door's closed behind me. Once it's shut, I toss his arm away and face Sasuke straight. "You've really gotta stop the whole climbing trough my window thing."

"But why? You never complained about it before."

… What the hell is he talking about? "Yes. I have! Countless times!"

"I'll quote you on that the next time you ask me to buy you donuts at the Mini-Mart," Sasuke notes with a smug tone. Oh my gosh. "I was just coming by because I uh," Sasuke pauses, and I stare him down. "Um, I was, bored," he surmises.

Sasuke was bored. "Bored," I repeat in disbelief. Surely if he wanted to bother me Sasuke could've come up with a better excuse than that.

In reality, Sasuke was biting his inner lip at how close he was to losing his cool. (Assuming he hadn't already). In reality, he's been thinking about Naruto and I ever since school ended, and he couldn't figure out why. Then after sitting in his room for about an hour, Sasuke had decided to just, come over – make sure I was home by then.

And there he was. "So uh, who's the kid?" Sasuke asks.

No use really keeping it a secret. "Someone I'm watching for Naruto." Sasuke gives me a look. "It's a long story."

"Everything alright?" I'm not sure whether I'm allowed to say anything. Naruto looked stressed enough with Konohamaru's sudden appearance.

"Everything's fine," I muster up convincingly. "You know Naruto's place. Tiny – So I offered to let the kid stay over here that's all." If there were a time limit for hope for me, it ended that second.

"Hey cow," Konohamamru sticks is head out my door. "Your internet's out," he tells me. Did he just go into my laptop? "And nice background of you and shirtless here."

"W-Wha-" Konohamaru closes my door closed once more after returning his head, and Sasuke an I are left alone once more. Only I feel speechless, and Sasuke uh, confused. "Did he-?" I stammer.

"And you have to watch him for Naruto," Sasuke re-analyzes, looking back from my door to me. "The poor guy must've bribed you with something good." I wish. "Look uh, I know Naruto's not in his best spirits lately and things must be weird for him today."

"You know?"

"About his family and stuff? Yeah." I'm a little relieved to know Sasuke knows. At least now I don't have to go beating around the bush. "I texted him a little while ago before I came over. We're gonna ditch school tomorrow to go hang and get his mind off things. You wanna tag along?"

"To skip school," I almost scoff. "And what am I supposed to do with Konohamaru?"

"Bring the kid along," Sasuke shrugs. "Beats you going to school and leaving him in your room."

Ooh, I didn't think of that. "W-Well…what're we doing tomorrow?" I ask warily. I never thought I'd ever consider the idea of skipping school, but he had a point.

"You leave that for me to figure out," Sasuke says, walking towards the stairs. Hope that means he's leaving. "So uh, you have a shirtless photo of me as your desktop background huh?"

I feel my face burn a bit. Ino I'm going to kill you. "GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!"

Tumblr: sammakesamess
DeviantArt: MemorySoul

PREVIEW:

"So how's finding Naruto's mom?" I whisper, sliding a smoothie in a paper cup to Konohamaru.

"Hey it's not as easy as I made it out to be okay?" Konoahamru says, not even thanking me for the shake. Little brat. He's busy typing away at my laptop now that we have some downtime. On the monitor are so many windows and numbers and graphs. I didn't even know this stuff was capable on my computer. "Like Naruto, his mom's been put under a protective cover. So she has a new home, new name, probably a new look. She's not that easy to track down."

x-x-x-x

"Agh," I sigh, leaning over the bar above the tall slide. "I'm exhausted. We've practically been all over Leaville."

"I know," Sasuke chuckles, watching Konohamaru and Naruto run around in circles. "But the idiot looks happier."

"He does," I agree.

x-x-x-x

"You told me my parents were dead," Naruto continues in a glare, unable to look Konohamaru's grandpa in the eye. "You lied to me, made me take on some fake-ass name and move somewhere I totally didn't want to be!"

"What I was told to do was not my decision, Naruto," Sarutobi states, understanding of Naruto's anger.