Disclaimer: (Is twitching on floor) Do I really have to say it?
Hordes of Lawyers: Yes.
Me: Fine…(Picks self up off floor) I don't own anything. (Loses a little piece of herself again) Damnit…there goes my right kidney.
Summary: There's a fine line between Rival and Friend and an even finer line between Friend and Lover. Sasuke refuses to cross any of these lines with Naruto, but fate seems to have it in for him. School fic NaruSasu
Warnings: Slash/Shounen Ai/Yaoi, occasional swearing and knowing me some eventual angst. I promise I'll try to make this my first humour fic! WISH ME LUCK!
Much love to Azamiko for betaing for me!
Crossing the Line
Previously:
'If Naruto wants to be my friend, he can walk through hell and back to gain my trust,' my mind is made, 'I won't trust anyone, especially him unless they truly want it and earn it.'
Chapter 5: Damn Catatonics…
A few days pass and slowly, like an infection, Naruto begins to take over my mind. All I can think about is him and his damned smile. It's not the kind of thinking that one would automatically assume though; I am by no means falling in love with him. It's more of a, 'why the hell does he want to be my friend' kind of contemplation.
He says he cares. Fine. He says he wants to know the real me. Fine. He says he wants to earn my trust. Not so fine.
See, the thing is, when I drew the conclusion that I would allow him to attempt to receive my faith, I miscalculated two things. The first being that he would actually follow through and be prepared to go through hell to gain my trust, and the second being that I was so caught up in my fluffy feeling of happiness at that moment that I didn't realize how terrifying the prospect of letting someone try to know me is.
This leads me to my current dilemma: Naruto wants to come over, to my house, after school.
…
I know, that's what I thought when he first proposed the idea. Actually, my thoughts went more along the lines of 'No way in hell!' So here I am, standing awkwardly in front of Naruto, staring at him with a blank face while I bring you up to speed on what is currently proceeding.
"Sasuke…" Naruto leans forward so that he's in my direct line of vision, which happens to be aimed at the floor. I snap out of my daze and stare at him, attempting to keep the colour in my face as my mind runs through a million possibilities of what could go wrong if Naruto came over.
'First, there's the car ride with Itachi, I know he'll try to hit on Naruto. Then, there's the possibility of mom and the new mailman. Kisame could be over when I get home. That doesn't pose as much disaster potential as the other two glitches but he's still creepy as anything. Dad could have a whore over… Mom and dad could be at home having a screaming match. He could find the empty sake bottles hidden under my dresser…'
I know now that I've paled. Naruto could find out about the one thing I have allowed to become my friend…
"That's not a good idea." I reply, taking a step away from him and his confused crystal eyes that are watching me with concern.
"Oh…" His face falls and I feel like I've let him down somehow. I'm not even his friend, damnit, how can I have let him down?
"Why can't we go to your house?" I ask sharply. If all else fails, be an asshole; it's worked thus far.
"We can…" He bites his lip and stares at me a moment. I can almost see his mind replaying the conversation that changed our status from 'rivals' to 'kind of friends.'
"I don't expect you to trust me. I haven't given you any trust. I mean…why would you give without first receiving?"
I watch with a feeling akin to sympathy as he continues to contemplate, his inner turmoil evident on his face.
"We can but…" I prompt, hoping that, perhaps, he'll take his advice and give a little. I really want to trust him. But so far, he hasn't given me anything. I think we're both scared to be the first one to really hand a piece of ourselves over for examination. We have been rivals for the past twelve years, after all.
"Well, you see…" He pauses again and looks at the people around us. It's currently lunch hour, and we're sitting at a table by ourselves in the cafeteria. However, despite our apparent isolation, the eavesdroppers are many. This is probably the first time I've had a non-violent conversation with Naruto since…ever… This is front-page news people!
"Want to go to the roof?" I suggest, and my face softens as he lets out a relieved breath of air. His secret will be safe from wandering ears there.
"Yeah, thanks." He's standing now, and we're both walking the familiar path to Kakashi-sensei's class. It seems to take little to no time, as we're both trapped in our thoughts of what could happen to our fragile friendship if we were forced to face a test this early on. We both know the result. We'd fail.
We enter the room and crawl through the window, and within a matter of seconds, we're both seated in our familiar spot on the roof.
I decide to say nothing as Naruto pulls together his courage. Whatever it is that follows the 'but,' it's something that Naruto has never told anyone before.
'He's probably never had anyone to tell,' I realize as he draws a shaky breath and turns to me with a forced smile.
"I live alone." He confesses, his words come out slowly, and we both know he doesn't need to say the rest. His parents are dead.
"Oh," is all I manage to say as I stare at him blankly, unable to allow any feelings to show on my face, even though his eyes beg otherwise of me.
I'm shocked. I'd never known that Naruto was an orphan. It would explain his need for constant attention… A moment passes where we both stare at each other before Naruto sighs and looks away.
"Yeah." His face is red and he continues staring at his suddenly intriguing feet, scared that now that I have a chance to pass judgment on him he'll fail.The bell rings and neither of us move.
"Can I still come over after school?" I ask tentatively, pushing strands of black hair from my face. The beginnings of a smirk flirt with the corners of my lips as Naruto stares at me, stunned.
"It's gonna be messy." He divulges, his serious face a contrast to his glimmering eyes. I roll my own eyes and allow an exaggerated sigh to escape my lips.
"How predictable," I drawl, standing up and extending my hand for Naruto to take. He scowls and stands without my assistance, pouting.
"Are you saying I'm messy?" He demands, crossing his arms over his chest and glaring at me with as much force as he can muster. I have to concede, he's pathetic at intimidating people.
"No, I'm saying that you, and everything you touch, are messy." I turn away from him and crawl through Kakashi-sensei's window, smirking as the class that is dutifully waiting for their teacher to arrive all stare at me, slack-jawed.
"Sasuke you asshole!" I can hear Naruto running towards the open window, "I'm gonna kick…your…ass…?" Naruto trails away as he crawls through the window and takes in the sight before him. An entire class of tenth graders is staring at us with wide horrified eyes, all unsure of what to do or say. Smirking, I walk through the nearest aisle of desks and to the door, pausing upon realizing that Naruto is no longer beside me.
"You gonna stand there all day, dobe?" I ask dryly as Naruto continues to stand, his face mirroring those of the students in the class who are watching him nervously.
His jaw snaps shut and Naruto is suddenly back to his old annoying, boisterous, overwhelming self.
"Oi Sasuke! I'm not a dobe, you pig-headed asshole!" He protests and stumbles down the passageway hurriedly. I notice some thickheaded jock smirk at Naruto and before I have time to realize what he's done, Naruto is stumbling towards me at full force.
"Oh shit!" I manage to gripe as Naruto's body slams into mine, knocking us both out the door and to the ground.
"Ugh…" I moan as I roll my head to the side, very aware of the splitting headache currently plaguing me.
"Owwwww…" A voice whines from atop me, the breath tickling my cheek.
'Wait…tickling my…OH GOD!' My eyes widen and my face burns to a cherry red as I suddenly realize our position and just how compromising it looks and…Naruto's thigh rubs my…thing…and suddenly I know our position doesn't just look compromising, it is.
"Get. Off. Now." I order, trying to push Naruto off me, but apparently, he's decided to go catatonic on me again. Damnit, he has the worst timing!
I stare at his face. His eyes are glazed over and widened in shock. His lips are ghosting just above mine, brushing them with soft erratic breaths.
'Pull him closer…' My mind demands; my eyes widen. I'm pretty sure Naruto wouldn't like it if I suddenly started macking him in front of a crowd of grade tens while he's catatonic. I avert my gaze from his lips, which look so damn tasty and, instead, stare at his cheeks, noticing for the first time the soft whisker-like markings that mar them.
Without thinking, I raise my hand to his cheek and trace my fingers along the lines on his left cheek, amazed that they don't look like scars. They look natural. And…damnit I'm sounding cliché!
I slowly trail my hand away from his cheek and close my eyes, hoping that Naruto will recover and get off me soon. I don't like him, but it's hard for a closet gay male to get any and… damnit…he's rubbing me again!
"Sasuke…" My eyes snap open at the voice, "Naruto?" Sakura is appalled; I don't even have to look at her to realize that.
"Wha-" Naruto's eyes slowly pull into focus, and he stares at my face briefly before making a horrified face. A soft blush spreads over his cheeks, and he hurriedly pushes away from me, regaining his capacity for mobility.
"Good to know you don't go catatonic on a regular basis." I say dryly as I push myself into a sitting position and dust off my clothes.
"What were you doing two doing?" I glance at Sakura in annoyance. Her eyes beg me to tell her we weren't doing what it looked like we were doing.
"Sakura… Sasuke and I were just… well we fell an-" Naruto's rushing to explain the situation before Sakura tries to murder him…
"We're together." I interrupt calmly, casting Naruto a look that clearly says 'don't speak.' His eyes widen and a strangled sound escapes his throat but other than that, he remains silent.
"You're what?" Sakura cries out, looking back and forth between Naruto and myself in horror.
"Together, dating, making out on a regular basis…" I smirk as Naruto's face takes on a green tinge, and I surreptitiously cast him an apologetic look, "She saw us Naru-kun; we can't deny it any more." I coo smoothly, forcing a saddened smile to my face.
"Sasuke…" Naruto doesn't seem impressed with my fake pet name for him.
"Yes Naru-kun?" I question coyly, crawling towards him, hoping to make Sakura so awkward that she'll have to leave. She stands there, as catatonic as Naruto was two minutes ago.
'Damnit what is it with these people and going brain-dead?' I mentally fume as I begin making googly eyes at Naruto and giving him a sexy smile that clearly says 'when she's gone I'm going to ravage you…'
Apparently, Naruto feels the need to say something despite my obvious intentions to rid us of Sakura's presence.
"Um…well…er…you see…" His eyes are shooting back and forth between Sakura and myself nervously. I really want to punch him…
"I think I'm gonna be sick!" Sakura groans, suddenly grasping the situation and regaining a state that is not that of a vegetable. She watches with disgust as I slowly stand and help 'Naru-kun' up.
"I'm glad to know you approve." I'm glaring dryly at her and beginning to walk away. "Let's go Naru-kun." I grab his hand, interlocking our fingers, and pull him with me down the nearest corridor.
He glares at me once we're out of sight of the leech, and I find myself sighing.
"Sorry about that. It's the first chance I've had in a long time to get her off my back." I say, shrugging.
"You do realize the entire population of the school is going to know about our 'relationship' about five seconds after Sakura tells Ino?" Naruto informs me with a slightly put-off expression. He's taking this better than I thought he would.
"I didn't overlook that fact if that's what you mean." My noncommittal answer doesn't seem to satisfy him because suddenly I'm pushed up against the wall by a very frantic Naruto.
"Sasuke…you cannot do this to me!" He wails, his rancid breath assaulting my sense of smell. I cringe and he continues, "Do you know what they'll do to me?" His eyes are flittering around, a habit I'm starting to connect with nervousness.
"Um…" I'm so eloquent!
"Sasuke, they'll eat me alive! Kill me! Burn down my apartment!" His grip on my shoulders tightens, and I raise an eyebrow.
"Naruto…they don't love me that much." I'm trying to give my voice a soothing effect in an attempt to calm him.
"Sasuke…They. Are. Nuts!" His face is inches from mine and I find that his breathing has somehow grown more erratic than it was moments ago when he was catatonic…
Personally I think he's the one that's nuts.
"Yes…" I agree, too busy focusing my willpower on not jumping him. Damnit I need to find a way to vent my sexual frustrations. I just had to be gay!
"You have to tell them we're not going out." He pleads, his deep blue pools staring at me pitifully, and somehow his words make it through my lust-hazed mind. I shake my head, trying to think of a logical plan.
"…I'll just make sure I'm always with you, they can't hurt you while I'm there." I'm a frickin' genius! "Besides, they'll steer clear when you're around, they'd hate it if we made any public displays of affection, Naru-kun." I smirk as he releases his grip on my shoulders and heaves a relieved sigh.
"All right then, I'll see you later Sasuke." He mutters and I swear as he's walking away I hear him murmur, 'Gaara's going to kill me.'
The strange thing is, I don't feel curious by any means; I only feel blinding hatred towards Gaara…
Thanks for reading! Hope it went over well with anyone, next chapter should be up soon!
POOF
toodles
TJ
word up.
AND NOW FOR THE LOVERLY MUCH AWAITED REVIEWER RESPONSES(Because I love you all l-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------THIS------------------------------------------------------------l MUCH!)
Carazon- Thank you so much for your review. No worries I'm making it my number one concern to make sure that I, at all costs, do not rush anything. Mucho gracias again for you support! It means tons to me!
Fractured Dreams- (Blushes) Aw, thank you so much! I'm glad that you're really liking this! I'm so flattered! That's basically the only way I can express how you're reviews make me feel! Oh, and never feel like they're too long, long reviews make me all fuzzy and warm, kind of like fluff. (smirks) Thank you so much for reviewing every chapter so far, it means tons to me!
Azamiko- (Glomps) THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR BETAING! (dies happy). Glad you've liked it thus far and hope it continues to work out ok!
NaruSasuObsessed- Thank you! My goal is to slowly become a more adept writer so that one day I will be a writer that makes jaws drop. (starry anime background begins behind me) Hehe… thanks for the constant support!
Sleepy Mangos- Thank you very much! After your review I actually feel motivated to go and edit up stuff in the earlier chapters that I don't like…hehe, it was kind of in my mind for some time but sometimes you need someone to point that out to you ne? Anyways, I'm glad that this is taking a turn for the better thanks!
Sweetsong- Hehe, I've never really been a fan of Sakura, I only like her when Sasuke's not around. I find her to be an absolute twirp when he is! As for not posting much, I suppose some part of me is like (evil laughter) REVIEWS! But the main purpose is so that I always have a chapter to post once a week. Thank you for the review and there will be some chasing going on in the near future…
Shizu2- Thank you very much for taking time to review, I really like knowing that people like it! Thanks!
Nadramon- Thank you very much for your review. As for Sasuke's family life, I've seen up to ep 140 and I decided that in order to make Sasuke all angsty and…Sasuke-like I had to give him a dysfunctional family. I didn't want him to be an orphan living with Itachi so I decided to completely revamp his family so that he would have a reason to be untrusting, standoffish and basically Sasuke-esque. As for other pairings I'm not quite sure, it's looking like Temari and Shikamaru will end up together but as for everyone else I'm not quite sure. I'm just going with cannon crushes for the rest of them. I'm kind of against making EVERY character date someone so there will be two other pairings tops. Thanks for the long review. I LOVE THEM LONG (squee)
Gravity Rise- Thank you tons for your input. I definitely did not take that the wrong way. In fact, I'm entertaining the thought of going back and editing Ch 4 because I thought you had a very valid point. I love getting critism! Thank you for the long review and your constant support, it really means a lot to me!
Mickeylover303- I'm a fan of 1st povs as well, I think they're fun to write because you can make the characters so much more sarcastic! Thank you to infinity for your comments and your totally non-boring (it made me smile!) review!