Chapter Two: Riot- Summer Walker
January.
"Naruto, it's fucking freezing up there," said Sakura.
"C'mon, it's not even windy. Most of the snow has melted, and I even brought a blanket for us to sit on," he said as he excitedly continued to climb the stairs. Sakura whined.
"You know she's afraid of heights," teased Sasuke.
"I-I am not," she hissed.
"Chicken shit," murmured Sasuke. Naruto was amazed that Sakura still like Sasuke more than him, even though he treated her like crap.
"Don't worry about it," he said calmly, "They have gates at the top so there's no way you'd fall. Besides, Sasuke and I are here to keep you from falling."
"A-as if I would need your help, idiot," she shouted.
"Who said I'll risk my neck for something so stupid," grumbled Sasuke. Naruto ignored them both, trying to focus on the excitement of having a key to the roof. Being friends with Student Council President Shikamaru had its perks. He shuffled his blanket around his arms trying to remember which pocket the key was in.
"..."
Naruto's ears perked up, and he leaned closer to the door.
"Did you guys hear that," he said under his breath.
"What," Sasuke clicked his teeth, "Don't try to freak us out, you big re****. We're not the ones afraid of ghosts."
"I swear to God, Naruto," cursed Sakura. Naruto pressed his ear firmly to the cold of the wooden door. A shock and a shiver went down his spine. He strained to listen over them.
"But for my love, I need a riot
A riot~...
I hope you capture my drift..."
"No, no I heard somebody singing," said Naruto, standing up straight now that he was sure he caught someone singing. He wanted to see who it was. Before either of his friends could say anything more, he opened the door and stepped out.
The midday air was clear, and the depth of the blue sky could practically be tasted. There was nary a cloud in the sky. Naruto took a deep breath of the midday air and almost forgot what he had rushed up there for. He squinted his eyes (the sunlight was a bit harsh) and looked around.
Far in the corner of the roof, piercing green eyes locked with Naruto's. Sabaku's menacing visage wasn't diminished because he sat on the floor. For a moment, Naruto felt fear rip down his spine. The rumor that Sabaku had mutilated a kid in a younger year permeated the space. The lasting chill of the winter made itself apparent once more, and the appeal of eating out of everyone's reach disappeared.
"Hey Naruto, what the fuck are you-..."
The door slammed open again, and Naruto's staring death match was cut short. Naruto grinned, trying to ignore the glaring presence.
"See, I told you it would be fine!"
"Yeah, you idiot, except that it's fucking freezing," Sasuke said.
"You can always go back inside," Naruto grumbled, "S'not like I forced you to come up."
"Yeah, Sasuke, let's go back and eat with-... Ah!"
Sakura's loud gasp identified what Naruto had been trying to avoid. He nonchalantly laid the blanket in his arm on the floor and sat on top of it. His food was getting cold.
"Na-ru-to... Why didn't you warn us that he was up here," Sakura whispered harshly. He shrugged.
"S'not like he's bothering us," he said. Sakura made wide, angry eyes at him. The kind that said, 'We're bothering him, you bozo!'
"It's too cold for this shit," said Sasuke suddenly, turning back and heading to the door.
"E-eh," called Sakura, "Hey, wait up!"
Naruto sat stubbornly with his back to Sabaku. He carefully unpacked his lunch, and thought angrily that it was all Sabaku's fault. If only he hadn't been there. He wouldn't think about how his friends were a couple of dicks.
Well, he was alone now. They were alone. Together. And perhaps Sabaku wasn't that bad. No one ever talked to him, probably because his face was sort of f/r/i/g/h/t/e/n/i/n/g/ unordinary.
Naruto hadn't met a person yet that he couldn't make friends with, and that was saying something, considering Sasuke was apart of that group. He would make friends with that guy, and then he would no longer have to be unsure about having lunch on the roof. An added bonus was not having to ask Shikamaru for the key again, or waiting for Duckbutt and Sakura to come upstairs with him.
He nodded and made up his mind. Naruto looked around and decided he would not go empty handed. He picked up one of his mother's coveted pork miso flavored rice balls. He steeled himself. Before his nerve could disappear, he walked over as quickly as he could.
Sabaku's head was down in the book in his hands. A white string indicated that he had headphones in his ear. Naruto was briefly reminded of his singing voice. He made a note to possibly mention it. He stepped up to Sabaku, close enough that the other student could probably see his shoe.
The other student turned his head to look at it. After a long, awkward moment, Naruto realized he was standing on the corner of the other student's uniform. He realized then that the red head was wearing his gym uniform. He stepped back quickly.
Sabaku put his hand in his book where he had been reading. His eyes trailed up Naruto's leg. They were sharp when they connected with Naruto's. Slowly, he tilted his head and pulled his headphones out of his ear.
"What," his deep and quiet voice said, making Naruto swallow. Was Sabaku really his age? His voice was so-...
"I was just... wondering if you wanted to have some lunch with me," asked Naruto, taking a step forward, "I noticed you didn't have any, so I..."
A loud crack sounded beneath Naruto's foot. His stomach dropped into his ass, and he took a quick step back. A little glass faced music player dropped from the bottom of his foot. He swallowed.
"Oh fuck, oh shit, I'm sorry man," said Naruto, feeling so bad. He knew how hard it was to get one of those. He'd been saving up practically his whole life to get one for himself, and he had finally acquired it on his birthday before last.
"I'm- I'm so sorry," said Naruto once again. He began leaning down to pick up the music player. He wanted to see if it was just cracked or if he had actually ruined it. Sabaku's thin and pale white fingers swept up the music player before Naruto could make it all the way down.
Blinding pain exploded across his forehead and down his cheek. It was hot and sharp, making Naruto stumble back and cry out. His hand flew to his face, and through the one eye that wasn't throbbing, he could see a flash of red hair and pale arms. The door to the roof slammed as the blonde spun around.
"What the fuck," Naruto hissed, realizing not only was his lunch inedibly cold, but it was scattered across the roof from where he'd dropped it. Without thinking twice, or grabbing the blanket he brought with him, he raced after Sabaku. He was definitely taller than the red head, but the other student was fast.
"Hey," Naruto started shouting, unwittingly alerting teachers and students alike to the mounting altercation. He began hopping down flights of stairs, vaulting over the hand railings without thinking of tripping. When he saw that he was just above Sabaku, he hopped down once again and landed just behind him on the steps.
Sabaku tried to run out into the hall, but Naruto jumped out to tackle him. The other student twisted in his arms, grabbing his sides as they both crashed to the ground.
"What the fuck is wrong with you!?"
Naruto smashed his fist into Sabaku's face. Right away, his face turned a hard red color that was deepening by the second. He budged up his feet and threw Naruto off of him, leaving another sharp kick in his side. He was stronger than he looked, and Naruto landed a few feet away from him. The air was knocked out of his lungs right away.
Wheezing, aware of the people that were gathering, Naruto rolled and got to his feet. He at least wanted to land one last strike on him before they both got in trouble.
"Look, I said I was sorry, you little shit," he grabbed Sabaku by the front of his t-shirt and slammed their foreheads together. The adrenaline must have been pumping through him, because the pain he felt was dull and disappeared quickly. Sabaku fell onto his butt, and was grabbed by a teacher who came up behind him.
Naruto was put into an armlock by Iruka.
"Hey," shouted the teacher directly into his ear, "Have you lost your damn mind!?"
"He's the one who started it," Naruto snarled, trying to free himself. Sabaku's hands and arms covered his face, but through his fingers, Naruto could see blood. His adrenaline was shot through with a spike of fear. Did he hurt him that badly?
"We're going to the principal's office," Iruka said, pulling him away. Kakashi, who had helped Sabaku up began tugging him in the opposite direction, to the infirmary. Even with his hands covering his eyes, the red head wrenched out of Kakashi's grip.
Iruka chewed Naruto out the whole way to the teacher's lounge. The ever troubled young student knew by then to keep his mouth shut. Once he sat Naruto in a chair, Iruka continued his tirade. He was a flurry of pens and paper, pointed fingers, throbbing veins, and finally a cellphone.
"Your mother is coming to pick you up in twenty minutes," said Iruka, and Naruto felt his stomach drop.
"Hey, w-wait! It wasn't even that big of a deal," protested Naruto. Iruka's nostrils flared and he gripped the edge of his seat.
"Did you see Sabaku-kun's face!? Blood all over his forehead, a bruise the size of a small village on the side of his head- not a big deal!? You'll be lucky if Sabaku-kun's father doesn't press charges against you for battery!"
Naruto's nervousness began to triple, and his stomach did award winning flips. Gods he knew he was going to get a lashing from the dean, suspended, but what would his mother do? He was dead, he was so dead! Not like there was anything he could do about it, either.
"I knew that you'd been acting out ever since Sasuke came back to school, Naruto," said in a now cool and disappointed voice, "but this is going too far, even for you."
"I was defending myself! He hit me first, I just," said Naruto.
"Defending yourself is one thing, but doing what you did to Sabaku-kun is a whole separate level. If he was harassing you, you could have talked to me, or Kakashi, or any of the other staff members."
"Yeah, and look like a puss-"
"I see you don't care who it hurts, so long as your reputation is intact," said Iruka over him, making him shut his mouth, "You obviously don't care about being the bigger person. I'll have you wait it out in the dean's office, then."
Without saying anything more, Iruka led Naruto to the dean's office and left him just outside the closed doors. Iruka murmured to the secretary, slipped her a paper, and left without another word. Naruto sat in his chair, listening to the seconds on the clock tick-tick-tick by, signaling his impending doom. He could almost hear the clicking of his mother's shoes.
"Naruto Uzumaki... Have you lost your mind," his mother's growling voice stalked him from around the doorjamb. To punctuate her arrival, the principal's doors slammed open. A man who looked like Sabaku's double with a different color scheme and an extra set of legs to stand on stalked out of the room. He scowled like he didn't want to be there, nor did he have the time. Without acknowledging Naruto, the secretary, or Kushina, he stalked out of the office. Behind him trailed his son.
Naruto tried catching his eye to flip him off, or make rude gesture, but he didn't look anywhere but at his father's heels. His eyes were empty, and the bruise on his cheek and forehead had swollen up and made him look even more terrible than before. Naruto began to feel a bit bad about what he had done. He wasn't in nearly as bad condition as Sabaku.
"Naruto," Kushina said, cracking her knuckles, "That better not be the young man you got into a fight with, earlier."
"Mrs. Uzumaki," called a gruff but old voice, "Please bring Naruto in."
Sarutobi-sensei and Kushina began their long back and forth apologies to one another. Naruto looked on anxiously out of the side window to the parking lot. His mother had probably taken the train to come get him, which would be much worse than the car. She would yell at him publicly, all the way home. He couldn't see her car from there, only a few stragglers.
A big black truck that had far too many doors and foreboding tinted windows blinked on as if to get his attention. From his seat, Naruto saw Sabaku Sr. and Sabaku Jr. sidling up to it. Before they could make it, Sabaku Sr. whipped around and punched his son in the face, on his already bruised cheek. The bandage on his forehead began to peel away as he landed on the ground. Sabaku Sr. kicked his shoulder, then his chest. Naruto couldn't believe what he was seeing.
The father opened the driver's side door. For a moment, a terrible moment, Naruto got the idea that Sabaku's own father would run him over. He shook in his chair as Sabaku Sr. decided that he didn't want to get into his car after all. He began stomping into his son, over and over, and Naruto was reminded that Sabaku didn't make a sound when Naruto hit him. Not one pained grunt, not one shout for help.
Naruto didn't know why he was still looking. He looked away, didn't want to be held accountable, looked back. He saw his schoolmate being dragged up by his limp arm. He looked away. Was Naruto supposed to tell someone? Was he supposed to look away? His teeth clenched and his foot bounced as he broke out into a cold sweat.
His mother. She would know what to do. He opened his mouth to tell her what he had just seen.
"The other student admitted to being the instigator, but I'm disappointed in you, Naruto," said Sarutobi. All the air got sucked up into Naruto's lungs and he felt as though he couldn't say a word. After a moment, Kushina asked him, "Isn't there anything you'd like to say?"
He worked his jaw, flapped his lips, but in the end, all he could say was, "I'm sorry. I-I'm so sorry."
He looked at Sarutobi, trying to tell him what he just saw, but nothing else would come out except for apologies. The elderly man sighed.
"Well, it's not me who needs to hear this. I'll have you do a written apology to Sabaku-san while you're suspended for the next three days."
"Once again, we sincerely apologize," said Kushina, pulling Naruto to stand up and pushing his head down to bow. She tightly grabbed his arm and began pulling him out of the office. Naruto glanced out the window again, but the car, and Sabaku, was gone.
