"I didn't know you were into origami, Sasuke-bastard."
"Stop calling me that."
Naruto grinned and leaned back on his desk while Sasuke read through his answers on the Uzumaki's bed. Sasuke hummed and handed it back to the blond.
"Do question 8 again. You almost got it, but you made a careless mistake."
That earned a groan from Naruto, who took the paper in his hand and slumped over on his desk. He was so close!
Sasuke twisted strands of his hair as he finished the last bits of his homework. Naruto had invited him to his house after the party through text so that they could be more comfortable while Sasuke tutored him. At first, Sasuke was against the idea of going to his house, but Mikoto had urged him to accept the invitation.
"What about this?" Naruto passed the paper over to Sasuke, who looked at it once more and shook his head.
"Not quite. Let me show you again."
Sasuke walked over beside Naruto's seat and bent down to write a couple of notes for Naruto to follow while he tried again. Naruto peered over Sasuke's arm and scratched his head.
"I still don't get it. What the hell does i have to do with square roots?"
"Idiot. I told you, i is equal to the square root of -1. It's an imaginary number, since you can't really get anything from it. You can't get a real number if you try simplifying a negative square."
Naruto pursed his lips together and took the pencil from Sasuke's hand.
"So..." He jotted down a couple of numbers. "The square root of negative 4... Is equal to 2i?"
"Yes. Now use that logic to find the answer for question 8."
Naruto nodded as determination lit up his eyes and began to write. Sasuke smirked and sat back down on Naruto's surprisingly not-orange bed. It was green, and there were lots of pictures of Naruto and his family around the room.
He picked up a stuffed frog and snorted. "You still have stuffed animals?"
"Leave me alone, it helps me sleep. My godfather gave it to me."
"Hey, I'm not judging. It's just funny."
"Funny how?"
"It looks like you."
Naruto turned around and gave Sasuke a questioning look. "How? I would have laughed if it was true, but I look nothing like it."
"Look at its face," Sasuke held it up and showed Naruto the confused looking frog. Naruto raised an eyebrow.
"It looks dumb, like you," Sasuke explained.
"Asshole!"
Naruto grabbed a pillow and threw it in Sasuke's direction, who hastily caught it. His eyes widened when he heard an unfamiliar sound come from the pale teen.
Sasuke was... laughing. Laughing? Naruto couldn't believe it, so he turned around to see it for himself. Okay, maybe laughing was an overstatement. It was more like silent giggling, with a hand covering his mouth.
"Hey, don't patronize me!"
"I'm not patronizing you, it's just funny. You really are a dunce, huh, dobe?"
"Sasuke..." Naruto held up another pillow in Sasuke's direction threateningly.
They were interrupted when a knock came from his door. Naruto gave it a puzzled look before shrugging. He walked up to the white door and twisted the knob, pulling on it until Tsunade was revealed.
"Hey brat and brat's friend. The pizza's downstairs."
"Thanks granny Tsunade!"
Naruto saluted as Tsunade walked off to wherever she was heading to. Sasuke seemingly heard what she said, since he was already cleaning and tidying up the place, stuffing the supplies into his bag.
"Oh yeah, Sasuke. Is there anything we need to know? Are you allergic to anything?"
Sasuke shook his head. "No."
"Do you even like pizza? We can always order something else."
"It's fine. Pizza's alright, as long as it doesn't have pineapple on it."
"You don't like hawaiian? What's wrong with hawaiian? Oh God, don't tell me you're one of those people."
"Don't get your panties in a twist, moron. I just don't like sweet things in general."
Naruto rolled his eyes lightheartedly and nodded, deeming it an acceptable response. He grabbed Sasuke by the wrist and led him down to the dining room, where pizza sat atop a polished, dark wooden table.
Sasuke looked around the room, smiling softly as he noticed baby pictures of Naruto and his relatives. The house was warm and inviting. Still, he smirked as he nudged Naruto.
"Look, a tadpole."
"Shut up!"
Physics class, like always, was painfully slow as Orochimaru droned on and on about things that Sasuke already knew. He pressed his finger against the desk before stopping, and doing it again.
Suigetsu wasn't as loud as Naruto, but he was just as mischievous as him when it came to pulling pranks on the teachers. This other guy, Kiba, also seemed to be rather exuberant when it came to it.
However, Orochimaru had made it clear that he was not one to mess with. Kiba had received detention almost 6 times now. Sasuke wondered if the kid kept count of the amount of times he'd gotten in trouble for fooling around.
He was halfway done with his assignment when familiar dark locks of hair gracefully fell and tickled the side of Sasuke's face. Sasuke grimaced and pulled back and away from Orochimaru.
Deciding not to make a scene, since the man was clearly putting up a front of him apparently checking over Sasuke's work, Sasuke glared at the man and brushed the hair away from his desk.
"You're already up to that page?"
"Hn."
"That's excellent," Orochimaru murmured, pulling out an envelope and placing it on Sasuke's desk. "I want you to consider joining this."
Sasuke watched as Orochimaru slowly pushed the sealed purple envelope towards him with two fingers.
"What is it?" Sasuke asked.
"A very lucky opportunity. Consider it a token of gratitude for your service."
Dark eyes gave the teacher a skeptical look. Gratitude? His service? What was going on?
"I don't understand."
A chuckle escaped the creepy teacher's lips. "Think of it like this. Your brother is the heir to Uchiha Corp, no?"
Sasuke reluctantly nodded, wondering what Itachi had to do with any of this.
"Don't you think it would be bad if something were to happen, maybe if information was to come out that could potentially ruin his chances of becoming the next CEO?"
Sasuke froze. There it was again, the hints that Orochimaru knew about what had happened. He felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand as his hair covered his eyes. "Yes... Yes, it would be bad," he admitted.
"Now, if there hypothetically was information about him that you believe shouldn't be revealed, wouldn't you do anything in your power to prevent it from getting out there?"
Everything was hazy now. He didn't want to think about this anymore, but he knew he was being pushed into a corner. What was he supposed to say? If he said yes, the chances of Orochimaru knowing would be even higher. If he said no, well- maybe that would cause the man to dig deeper. Sasuke knew he looked tense and unsure, but he couldn't help it. The man was terrifying him.
"I.. Hypothetically... I would... "
Orocohimaru laughed quietly, though it still chilled Sasuke to the core. "Don't think too much about it, I was only playing with you. But..." His yellow eyes narrowed into slits, much like a snake.
"I suggest you tread carefully from now on, Sasuke-kun. Someone as intelligent as you should already know what to do." Orochimaru finally stood, patting Sasuke on the shoulder before returning to the front of the class.
Bile rose up the Uchiha's throat. That vile man had just threatened him, and he didn't know whether he felt worse about being threatened by a physics teacher, or actually feeling intimidated by the threat. Sasuke clenched his fists, watching his knuckles fade from white to a pale peach color. There was no doubt that Orochimaru knew the truth about the massacre.
But how?
Sasuke hadn't said a single word, which meant that Orochimaru had either been there, or... A petrified expression took control of his face. Maybe someone had told him.
He squeezed his eyes shut. He wasn't going to let himself become paranoid for Itachi. This was his brother's problem, not his.
But was he going to allow himself to be blackmailed into joining.. whatever the envelope was offering him? He didn't think he loved Itachi, but he didn't hate him either. They had been through a lot together, and Itachi still.. acted like he cared. Sasuke wasn't sure if it was real, but it still counted as something.
As soon as the bell rang, Sasuke stormed out. He didn't need to turn around to feel Orochimaru's gaze burning into his back. Suigetsu ran after him and called his name, but Sasuke didn't wait for him to catch up.
"Ino, you bitch! Give it back!" Sakura screeched.
"No way, forehead! This is gold."
Shikamaru rolled his eyes as he continued to type on his phone. Neji massaged his temple lightly as he tried not to focus on what the girls were talking about.
"Ugh! I was, like, 9 in the picture. Leave me alone."
"You looked like a skinny version of Patrick the Star."
"You mean Patrick Star, you pig."
"At least I'm not pink like a pig."
"Alright, alright. Settle down, you two," said Kiba.
Ino crossed her arms. "Someone's feeling hypocritical today, huh?"
Kiba scoffed in disbelief, sparking an argument between the two about hypocrisy in the friend group. Shikamaru groaned halfway through it, complaining about how listening to them was too much of a drag, and that he envied the clouds that dragged themselves along the sky, carefree and tranquil.
"Whatever. I'm going on a hot date later, and she's on her way right now. Don't fucking embarrass me, or I swear to God I will-"
"Okay, okay, we get it," said Sakura. "Say, who's the girl, anyway?"
Kiba blushed and looked away, mumbling something in a way that resembled a certain Hyuuga.
Interested looks arose from the rest of the group. Kiba was never timid, so there was clearly someone in the picture.
"What did you say, Kiba?" Ino asked with amusement.
"...nata."
"Nata?"
Neji's eyes widened in recognition. "What?"
"... Hinata," he muttered.
The older Hyuuga's eyebrow twitched as he slowly faced Kiba. "You're going on a... hot..."
"No! Not like that! What the fuck, Neji?!"
Neji's expression was one of bewilderment as his face turned redder and redder. The dark haired junior covered his face in embarrassment. Everyone knew he was extremely protective of Hinata, especially after misunderstandings between the two branches of the Hyuuga family had been cleared up.
Sakura laughed at the interaction and ran a hand through her hair. "Say.. Has anyone seen Naruto? He's been pretty MIA today."
Shikamaru shrugged. Ino had a pensive look on her face. As if on cue, a familiar laugh came from another direction. Sakura swung her head around, mouth opening slightly along with the rest of the group as they saw Naruto along with another person.
He was holding a book, which was completely new to them. Naruto never read books willingly. But the sight of who was next to them was even stranger. Sasuke was walking alongside him with a small smile on his face, and pointing to a page in the book.
... Sasuke never smiled when he was with her. Not once. She'd tried, but she had failed. Nothing that she had done had ever made him look as happy as he did now. That felt like a punch to the gut.
Ino placed a hand on Sakura's shoulder, who said absolutely nothing as she slowly sat back down and turned around. She didn't want to think about what she had just seen.
"You okay?" Ino asked with genuine worry in her voice.
"I'm... I need to go," she announced, abruptly getting up and power walking off before anyone could process it.
No one felt like talking anymore, not even Kiba, who was just talking about how excited he was to meet up with Hinata. When one of them was upset, it spread to the rest of the group. Ino soon ran after her, since despite the insults she always threw at the pink haired girl, she cared for Sakura deeply.
They all knew Naruto wasn't going to leave Sasuke anytime soon. While the two didn't know it yet, their eyes always seemed to gleam in a different way than usual whenever they were with each other.
Hinata arrived a minute or two later, her shoes barely making a sound on the asphalt. Kiba's mood quickly lightened as he ran over to her and began to talk endlessly about some subject he'd probably planned on telling her about for days.
"Y'know, Sasuke, you really aren't as bad as I thought."
"Hn."
Naruto's eyes rolled upwards. "Except for when you give me responses like that."
"It's because everything you say doesn't call for a response," Sasuke informed him.
"Pfft. So, where exactly is this place you're taking me?"
Sasuke looked up at the sky. It was safe to say that he and Naruto were now friends. In his head, considering someone as a friend had requirements. And he had already 1, had Naruto come over, 2, spent time with the blond outside of school and 3, went to Naruto's house twice.
"It's a family secret. Well, more like me and Itachi's secret when we were younger," he corrected.
"I don't know if I like the sound of that or not." Naruto grinned.
"Are you adventurous?"
Naruto blinked. He didn't know what Sasuke meant by that. The word adventurous had so many levels, it could span from taking a hike to jumping off of a plane. He thoughtfully scratched the back of his head before nodding.
"Yeah, I guess I am."
"Then you'll like it," was the immediate reply. "Trust me, it's thrilling."
The two of them took a bus, which would have freaked the hell out of Minato if Naruto hadn't lied and told him he was at Kiba's. Sasuke seemed to be used to this path, so Naruto trusted him.
The bus was a new environment, but they stayed in it for a while. Naruto got to talk to little kids that innocently boasted about the toys that their parents had gotten them. One little girl had latched herself onto Sasuke, which Naruto had found hilarious and overwhelmingly cute. They talked with their parents as well, who taught them countless life lessons and stories along the way.
They didn't exit the bus until the last stop, which kind of freaked Naruto out. He hadn't ever gone this far from his house without family. Sasuke led him past a rocky path, one that seemed distinctly Victorian and medieval compared to the modern environment in Konoha City.
Sasuke's hand was wrapped around Naruto's wrist this time, and brought him closer when they finally reached a dark bridge. It was small, yet big, and Naruto noticed that there were rails on top of it. Sasuke kept walking in its direction and Naruto felt his heart rise to his throat.
He stopped abruptly, causing Sasuke to stop as well. The raven turned around, dark eyes examining blue.
"What?"
"Sasuke... Where are you taking me?"
"I told you-"
"No, where exactly?"
"We've reached it," said Sasuke, his tone devoid of emotion.
His eyes widened as his stomach flipped. "W- what do you mean?"
Naruto had seen enough movies to know that railroads were definitely not a good area for a person to take another. Even if he was wrong, he didn't want to go on a train away from the city, even farther than he had already gone. Urgency and panic began to surge through Naruto's nerves.
Sasuke sighed, obviously knowing what Naruto was thinking. "Do you trust me?"
The blond's hand began to shake in Sasuke's grasp. He didn't want to die. He didn't want Jiraiya's death to be in vain. He wanted to step back, but he was scared. He didn't care if he was overreacting. Sasuke's eyes softened as his own hand moved down to hold Naruto's in his own, to show Naruto that they were on equal ground.
But Naruto was still alarmed. He'd never done anything like this.
"I... Yes? I- but-"
"I promise nothing will happen to you. I've done this plenty of times."
Pure adrenaline was the only reason Naruto nodded. He didn't know why, but something in him told him he absolutely had to do this.
His throat tightened as he heard a shrill sound that could only come from a train. Horns, whistles and bells flooded his ears as Sasuke gripped his hand tightly and began to run. Naruto shouted multiple protests, instantly regretting his acceptance.
"No! Sasuke, no!" Tears pooled in his eyes as his face was contorted in an expression of fear.
The train was approaching fast, and Naruto could see its outline in the distance. He could feel the vibrations under them as they reached the bridge. Naruto couldn't move anymore, and had to rely on Sasuke to move farther under the bridge.
He was confused now. The train was above them, wasn't it? What was Sasuke aiming for?
Sasuke gently sat Naruto down beside him and ran a careful hand along Naruto's forehead.
"I told you, nothing's going to happen. Think of it as a rollercoaster ride."
Naruto looked up at Sasuke. He knew he looked pathetic right now, with tears streaming down his face, but could you blame him? He wasn't some ninja. Life was fragile, and he didn't want his to be wasted by some stupid train. He didn't want anybody to cry over him, either.
"Wh... What if it falls?"
Sasuke smirked. "That's what I said the first time. I was eight. Come on, you could do better than an eight year old."
Naruto sent Sasuke a weak glare that quickly faded into fear as the train got even closer.
"It's coming," he whispered as his eyes widened like saucers again. He couldn't help but inch closer to Sasuke out of fear. The tracks rumbled loudly, sending jolts up Naruto's spine every time one got too close to his ears.
A scream ripped from his throat when the train finally made its way above them, and he continued even as he felt his face get buried in someone else's chest. The screams slowly developed into sobs as his tears soaked through Sasuke's shirt. Arms gently, yet awkwardly made their way around Naruto's torso, pulling him closer as he hid himself in Sasuke's hold.
They remained that way even after the train passed by. Naruto clung to Sasuke desperately as he continued to weep and wail like a child who lost his mother at the grocery store. He didn't know why his body reacted like this, it was like a continuation of that day ten years ago. Subconsciously, Naruto reached up to touch his face, reminding himself that the scars were still there.
As the blond's sobs died down into whimpers, Sasuke pulled him away with a concerned, apprehensive gentleness that Naruto would have never recognized as Sasuke's.
"You crybaby."
"Shut up... Fuck you."
Sasuke looked at Naruto, surprised with a flash of worry. There was pure concern on his face now. He was about to speak, perhaps an apology, when Naruto gave a half-suppressed giggle.
Then another one, then a full one, and it escalated further and further until both of them began to laugh. Naruto wiped the tears from his eyes as Sasuke handed him a tissue to blow his nose in.
A shaky sigh came from Naruto as he was pulled away from the bridge.
"Y- you were right, by the way," he said.
"Huh?"
"It really did feel like a rollercoaster ride. But way scarier."
Sasuke's lips curved upwards. Sharing this experience with Naruto was so worth it.
"But what the fuck? Was your brother crazy, taking you here when you were eight?"
Sasuke smirked. "Maybe. But I got to show you this place, so I guess it's okay." He paused for a moment. "Actually.."
Naruto looked at him, waiting for him to continue.
"I... I think the reason why he took me here was because it was an alternate for roller coasters."
"What do you mean?"
Sasuke looked down, suddenly feeling some appreciation for his older brother. "When I was seven, I.. Something happened. And I ended up being in a coma for two weeks. After that, we found out there was something wrong with my brain," he explained. "I couldn't play sports or go on rollercoasters like everyone else could, and my memory was out of commission for years. I guess... Itachi took me here to replicate the thrill of roller coasters."
Naruto's eyes were warm and sympathetic, but not pitying. He understood how pitying glances could make someone feel. He realized now that that was the reason Sasuke didn't participate during gym. He didn't press on with the subject, not wanting to annoy the Uchiha.
"That's... Wow. Itachi sounds like an amazing older brother. You're lucky."
Sasuke was quiet for a moment as the sky darkened into a rich purplish blue behind him. He nodded.
"... I guess I am."
Naruto smiled, happiness radiating off of him like illumination did from a lightbulb. This time, he took Sasuke's hand to lead them away from the bridge. Sasuke let himself be dragged along as the sky continued to turn dark blue without caring about what was happening below it.
Sasuke had always wondered why Itachi held him so gently every time he cried while the train passed, but now he understood. Holding someone you cared about and knowing that you were the reason that they were calming down was one of the best feelings in the world.