Author's note: First, just for the record, I ADORE being emailed about my story. Second, I'm thinking of doing a "Special Features" side-runner for Chasing Naruto, including deleted scenes, bloopers, switched camera angles (ie, different POV on a particular scene), etc. If you have ideas or requests, please email them to me (as opposed to putting them in the reviews).

And fyi, Naruto and Sasuke are sophmores in college, and they're 19 going on 20 years old.

Enjoy!

Uzumaki Naruto is sexy.

Or, at least, that's what he tells himself. Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.

Sakura would know. She's seen him do it. Resting her hand on her chin, she watched the spunky blonde across from her at the cafeteria table. He'd been babbling about some stupid story or another for the last twenty minutes, and though she'd lost track of what he was talking about somewhere at the beginning, she continued to nod and make noises of agreement.

To his credit, Naruto is pretty cute... she mused as he babbled on. Giggling, she shook her head. Not Sasuke gorgeous, but not half bad, Naruto.

The boy in question paused, looking at her curiously.

"What's so funny?"

Leaning forward, she gave him a sly grin. "You've been talking your head off for a while now, Blondie. That usually means you're hiding something." The light blush that lit his cheeks at the comment made her grin. "So? Spill it."

Smiling nervously, he lifted a hand and scratched the back of his hair. "It's nothing, Sakura. Really."

She just lifted an eyebrow and waited. 5...4...3...2...1...

He sighed. Sakura grinned triumphantly. The Look strikes again!

"So? What's really on your mind?"

"Well...um...it turns out that a...person I've known for a while likes me. Really likes me." He turned a little red and looked away. "And he's not the only one."

"He?"

Sakura watched in surprise as Naruto winced at his admission. "You have a guy chasing after you?" She stared at him. "I didn't know you leaned that way, Naruto!"

He gave her a sour look. "Two things: one, I don't lean any way—"

"Which is a fancy way of saying you like boys and girls. Go on?"

"And two," he continued in a louder voice, then dropped his voice back to normal, "there's nothing wrong with guys liking guys, ok?"

Sakura gazed at him for a long moment before lifting her chin off her hand, planting that hand on the table, and leaning forward with an evil grin.

"So...who do you like, then, Narutoooo?"

"Oooh, no. I'm so not telling you." Shaking his head, Naruto folded his arms on the table and pinned her with one of his few trademark glares. "If I told you, you'd spread it all over campus in about thirty seconds."

Gasping in mock shock, Sakura sat back and placed an offended hand upon her chest.

"Why, Naruto! Give me some credit, will you?" She smirked. "It'd only take ten seconds."

When he glowered at her, she laughed and dropped the act. "Seriously, you know I won't tell. Who is it?" She tipped her head to the side. "Maybe I can help set the two of you up."

Naruto chuckled. "I don't think I need your help, thanks all the same. I'll do just fine."

"Does he like you back?"

Naruto gave her an enigmatic smile. "Let's just say that chances are high."

She lifted an eyebrow. "Then why don't you just ask him out? You're not the kind of guy who'd just sit back and wait for things to happen."

"You're right, I'm not. But that's the same reason that I can't ask him out. Not yet." He looked away, his face suddenly serious. "There are some things I have to take care of, first."

Confused, Sakura made a low noise and propped her chin on her hand again. Things to take care of? Like what?

Picking up on her confusion, Naruto gave her a charming smile. "Don't worry about it, Sakura. I'll ask when the moment's right."

With that, he glanced at his watch and stood. "I have to get going. I'll talk to you later."

Standing as well, Sakura gathered her things. "That reminds me. Where do you keep disappearing off to in the middle of the day?"

The blonde simply smiled and lifted a finger to his lips. "It's a secret." He turned and started walking away. "Later, Sakura!"

"Bye, Blondie!" Lightly pursing her lips, Sakura followed him out of the cafeteria. Naruto's planning something again. And if he isn't telling anyone, it must mean a lot to him. Trotting down the stairs, Sakura turned to head off to class. Naruto had a habit of setting up moves in advance when no one thought he was, and it always got him what he wanted in the end.

Hell, it was how they had ended up together all those years ago. After she'd realized that her current boyfriend would actually gamble her away, she'd dumped him and refused to have anything to do with Naruto, either. Then, later, she'd come to the realization that he had actually been showing her what a louse the guy was, and she started to look at him in a whole new light (and the flowers and puppy faces hadn't hurt).

It wasn't until they'd broken up that she'd also realized that Naruto had fully intended for her to go out with him in the end, not at the start of things. He was a tricky little bugger when he wanted to be.

Shaking her head, Sakura quickened her stride.

Strange that a guy who looks so dumb can be so smart.

Gaara was having a day. Not a good day, nor a bad day, just a day. If he were a lesser person, he'd either be bored out of his mind or frustrated.

As it was, Gaara settled for going for a short walk between his afternoon classes, his hands stuffed into the light jacket he was wearing. He frowned lightly as he walked, his thoughts revolving around a certain blonde who was staying frustratingly out of reach.

We've been working out together every day, but I can't seem to break through to him. His frown increased. I know for a fact that he doesn't consider me anything more than a friend. If things stay this way, I'll hardly be a contender for his affection.

Before Gaara could determine a course of action that stopped shy of demanding that Naruto strip down and screw him, he spotted the object of his thoughts walking in the opposite direction with a dark blue duffel bag over his shoulder.

"Naruto," he called lightly. The blonde glanced up, blinked at him, and smiled.

"Yo, Gaara! What's up?" He came to a stop beside the redhead. "It's been a while since I've run into you outside of the gym."

Gaara simply looked at him, then at the duffel bag. It seemed oddly shaped. "Where are you going?"

"Huh?" Naruto glanced down at his bag. "Oh, I was just taking some supplies back to the room."

"Supplies?"

"Yeah." Deciding to change the subject, Naruto looked over at him. "What about you? What are you doing out here?"

Gaara didn't reply, his mildly bored expression answering for him. Naruto smirked.

"That kind of day, huh?" He glanced to the side. "Well, if you're not busy, do you want to catch a bite to eat with me? I'm starved."

Blinking with surprise, Gaara let a small smile cross his face. "Sure. Let's go."

The two walked in companionable silence until they approached an ice cream parlor. Grinning, Naruto darted inside.

"Oh man, I haven't had a good sundae in so loooong!" he whined. Snagging a table, he glanced at the Wall of Fame gracing the left side of the parlor. When Gaara sat across from him, Naruto gave him a challenging smile.

"Hey, Gaaara. You up for a duel?"

The redhead lifted an eyebrow. "A duel?"

Naruto pointed at the Wall of Fame. "If we can eat the Monster Sundae, we get onto the Wall. It's eighteen scoops of ice cream, plus toppings." He grinned evilly. "Care to see who can finish it first?"

Gaara stared at Naruto for a long moment, his lips slowly quirking into an answering smirk.

"You're on."

Grinning, Naruto hailed the waiter. "Yo! Two Monsters over here! Pronto!"

The parlor fell silent as an astonished waiter went to fetch the dishes. Two waiters had to bring them out, the towering mounds of ice cream casting an aura of impenetrable doom about the store. When the dishes were set in front of the two boys, Naruto leaned to the side and smirked at Gaara.

"Ready?"

The redhead snorted. "Get ready to lose, Uzumaki."

"Hey! You're talking to a human trash compacter here!" Picking up his spoon, he poised it in front of the sundae.

"Seeeeeet..."

Gaara lifted his spoon in kind.

"Go!"

The rest of the restaurant stared as the two boys dove into the mountains of ice cream. Naruto's splattered violently as he shoved the confection into his mouth, whereas Gaara's movements were more controlled. Jaws dropped as the sundaes began to disappear at alarming rates, and a nearby waiter with a stopwatch was staring at them with an expression caught between amazed and nauseous.

A part of Gaara was wondering why he was even bothering with this contest, but since Naruto seemed to be enjoying it so much (if the grunts and slurping sounds were any indication), he supposed he could let it slide.

Besides, it was a challenge.

As he methodically demolished his sundae, a sudden image plundered his mind: Naruto, spread out on the table, with ice cream and chocolate syrup arranged on top of him and a come-hither look on his face...

After trying not to choke on his ice cream, Gaara suddenly found the ability to eat his sundae quite a bit faster.

About five ice cream splattering minutes later, both boys hit porcelain with their spoons. They scraped out vestigial portions of ice cream (Gaara calmly, Naruto nearly licking the bowl) and set their spoons down simultaneously. Applause immediately broke out around the salon, and the waiter with the stopwatch declared them record breakers and took their names for the Wall.

Grinning at Gaara with vanilla ice cream and chocolate syrup smeared on his face, Naruto sat back and laid a hand over his stomach.

"I guess I underestimated you, Skinny."

Gaara smirked, his face immaculately clean. "You didn't do badly yourself, Uzumaki."

The redhead couldn't resist smiling at the blonde. The other boy looked so...content with ice cream all over him...and god, Gaara would give anything for the chance to clean him up...manually...

Abruptly, Naruto's face went blank and all of the color drained out of his cheeks. Gaara started in alarm as Naruto suddenly cried out and leaned forward, clutching his head.

"Naruto? What's wrong?"

"! My head! It huuuuuuurts!"

Gaara stilled, half out of his seat. "...Are you referring to brain freeze?"

Naruto whimpered. "Someone do me a favor and shoot me...GAH!"

Torn between amusement and annoyance, Gaara sat back down. "I'm sure you'll survive, Naruto."

"But it huuuuurts." Naruto looked up at him, his eyes pathetic. "It hurts really bad!"

Gaara rolled his eyes, debating whether or not to tell Naruto that if he pressed the tip of his tongue to the roof of his mouth, the headache would go away. Better yet, I could do that for him. After a long moment, the redhead leaned forward in his seat and gently pressed his fingers against Naruto's temples.

"Here. This should help a little." He started gently massaging Naruto's temples with the pads of his fingers. Naruto melted under his touch.

"Mmmmm. That feels better," he murmured.

Gaara smiled, enchanted with this dependent, vulnerable Naruto. Considering the fact that all of the time he spent with the blonde was in the gym, a verified testosterone factory, Gaara didn't get to see this side of the blonde very often. He shifted closer to the edge of his seat, sliding his fingers back into Naruto's hair—which was surprisingly soft—and gently kneading the boy's scalp.

In a doujinshi somewhere, a chibi Gaara was smiling goofily and holding up a victory sign, hearts dancing about his head.

The little moans that Naruto was giving him did nothing to pull Gaara's mind out of the gutter...nor did the enthralled, rapturous expression on his face. Deliberately keeping his breathing even and his face controlled, Gaara wondered what else he could do to put Naruto in this state...

You'll have to excuse the slightly dreamy smile he developed.

After indulging himself for a few minutes, Gaara retrieved his hands and placed them in his pockets. He smirked when Naruto lifted his head and blinked blearily at him.

"Feel better now?"

"Much!" Smiling happily, Naruto rubbed the back of his head. "It's nice to know that I'm not the only one who can give massages."

Gaara blinked. "You give massages?"

"Yup. Damn good ones, if I say so myself." The blonde smirked, leaning back against his chair. "So I guess if you're too sore after I abuse you at the gym, I could give you a rub down."

The chibi Gaara was drooling.

Smirking, Gaara leaned back in his own seat. "I may take you up on that, Uzumaki."

Naruto stuck his tongue out at him. "Why do you keep calling me that? My name's Naruto. Calling me 'Uzumaki' makes me think of Sasuke when he's being pissy."

Immediately, Gaara's face shifted into a frown. "I am not similar to Uchiha."

"Like I don't know that already," Naruto replied dryly. "But still, the effect is the same."

Gaara continued to frown. "Fine, then. I will simply call you 'Naruto' from now on."

Naruto grinned at him. "Please, do."

As they began to chat quietly, Gaara inwardly smiled. I will do what it takes to get you to notice me...Naruto. His chibi self was rubbing its hands together and chuckling evilly.

And believe me, you will notice.

Glowering at the wind that had just decided to have at him, Sasuke fought his way back to the dorm after his last class of the day. His class had been clear across campus, a fact that rarely bothered him unless nature decided to pick on him for the day.

Today was apparently one of those days.

Muttering under his breath, Sasuke sought brief shelter under the awning of an ice cream parlor. He watched as trash was blown past him, half expecting to see a witch and a spinning house fly by in black and white. He glanced into the ice cream parlor, debating whether or not it would be worth his time to try and wait out the brewing storm.

Naruto...was sitting at a booth with Gaara. And they appeared to be having a very good time.

The wind forgotten, Sasuke clenched his fists and scowled, heading back out on the road. Is he on another date? Jesus! Jealousy went on a rampage inside him, knocking over buildings and roaring. Is he really that oblivious to my feelings for him? Or does he just not care?

His frown turned thoughtful as he blindly made his way home. If the other two are going to be so aggressive regarding Naruto, I can hardly just sit back and watch things unfold. I'll have to stake my claim.

A determined expression settledon his face. One way or the other, I'm going to get him to go out with me. And this time...

He smirked.

This time, I'll sweep him off his feet.

It was a happy, sugar-filled Naruto that finally made his way back to his room, a full-fledged storm beating at the walls of the dormitory. Humming lightly to himself, he pulled out his key and opened the door.

Gaara's a pretty cool guy to hang out with. Maybe I should invite him out to more stuff. He hesitated, tossing his bag on the ground. Then again, maybe I shouldn't. If he has a crush on me, too, I would only be encouraging him. Not to mention that Sasuke would probably rip my head off and shove it up my ass.

Shaking his head, Naruto flopped backwards onto his bed and stared up at the ceiling, his arms folded under his head. Honestly, Sasuke needs to do something about that jealousy. It's flattering and all, but it's really restricting when you get right down to it.

He frowned up at the ceiling. I guess it amounts to him not trusting me at all.

A few minutes after he'd laid down, a soft knock sounded on his door. Naruto lifted his head, then blinked in surprise.

"Sasuke?" He sat up. "What's up?"

The brunette watched him for a long moment. "...How was your day?"

Naruto gave him a confused look at the odd question (for Sasuke), but he answered it anyway.

"Uneventful. Class, lunch with Sakura, more class." He paused, then broke out into a grin. "But I also got onto the Wall of Fame at the ice cream parlor today! Gaara and I decimated the Monster Sundae."

Sasuke looked away. "You and Gaara...had ice cream together?"

Picking up on his unasked question, Naruto pouted. "Look, it wasn't a date, ok? We were just hanging out." An exasperated expression on his face, he mimicked Sasuke's earlier words. "Is that a crime?"

The Uchiha looked at him at that. His eyes narrowed. "No, it's not a crime, it's just..."

"It's just what?" Naruto pressed. He fixed Sasuke with an intense gaze as he waited for the boy's answer. Come on...just say it already!

Sasuke looked away. "Nothing. Never mind."

Dammit!

Irritated, Naruto leaned back on his bed and resumed his analysis of the ceiling. "Fine then. No problems."

Sasuke was quiet for a long moment, not moving from his position by the doorjamb.

"Actually, what I came in here to ask was..." He hesitated long enough to capture Naruto's attention, and the blonde lifted his head to look at him.

"What?"

"...Are you free this weekend?"

When Naruto simply stared at him, Sasuke squared his shoulders and continued. "I found a Star Wars marathon that I could get tickets to, if you want to go."

Naruto gave him a slow, I'm-not-sure-I-heard-that-correctly blink. "You like Star Wars?"

Sasuke shrugged. "It was revolutionary for its time." Taking a soft breath, he pinned Naruto with his gaze. "Do you want to go?"

"Nope."

Sasuke blinked, clearly unprepared for that response. He opened his mouth to speak, but he closed it without saying anything, his expression slightly hurt. Taking pity on him, Naruto sat up.

"I already made arrangements to go home this coming weekend. Otherwise, I'd jump to go with you." He tilted his head to the side, watching as Sasuke relaxed almost imperceptibly. "Do you want to come with me?"

Sasuke stared at him. "What?"

Smiling slowly, Naruto slid off his bed and stood, shoving his hands into his pockets and walking over to Sasuke. He stopped a few steps away, leaning against the wall.

"Do you want to come home with me this weekend? I'm sure the kids will love you."

"The...kids?" Sasuke continued to stare for a moment before he caught himself and smirked. "Sure, why not? They can't be any worse than you."

Naruto chuckled. "You'd be surprised. Some of them are awfully stubborn."

Sasuke snorted. "I wonder where they learned that."

"From the best, of course," Naruto replied easily. "So we're on?"

"Yeah, we're on."

Enjoying the smile on Sasuke's face, Naruto shooed him out the door. "Alright then. Go away, I need to take a shower."

Sasuke lifted an eyebrow as he dutifully stepped out into the hall. "You're kicking me out this time? You didn't care before."

"Yeah, but your tongue was on the floor last time. I decided to give you a break." He gave Sasuke a fox grin, loving the shocked expression that landed on the Uchiha's face. "Later, Pretty Boy!"

He closed the door on Sasuke's lightly blushing face, then leaned against it and laughed.

Oh, Sasuke. You are so much fun to tease.

Author's note: Sorry it took so long for the females to arrive. And about the switched camera angles, so long as they don't give anything away, I'll do what I can.

Bishihuntress did a wonderful piece of fanart for this story! You can find it at her deviantart site. (I'd post the url here, but fanfiction is being retarded about it).

Special thanks to Lillilly for inspiring the new take on Naruto's personality.