A/N: Okay (takes deep breath) this is it. The last chapter…. I first want to thank all of you that have kept up with my craziness. I still am awaiting any feedback, sorry for all the errors in spelling you may have come across (a little late to apologize for that though!) Lets just get a move on. Onto the final chapter! I hope the ending does this story justice...
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Sasuke hobbled down to the newly remodeled dining area. In the distance he heard a strange cry. Something about being a homophobic... maybe it was just in his mind.
Uhhh... Thrusday already. And I hardly got around to sleeping the vacation away like I had planned. That sucks. I bet the others will be returning from their trips tomorrow. Maybe Lee and Naruto will find another unlucky individual to annoy. Then again I'm not that fortunate.
He trudged into the room and paid no attention to the daily turmoil as he grabbed a piece of fruit and left to find a deserted area.
Oh look, it's Naruto. Hn. Seems to me he's more jumpy than usual. Sasuke bit into the apple and grinned. Naruto's strange jittery behavior brought him happiness. For once Naruto's happy-go-lucky character was not present.
He ducked everytime someone said "-ly."
Sasuke watched cheerfully for a while. Alright, that's enough of this. He's pathetic, but possibly my key to freedom of Lee.
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This is fantastic! I can get into any room I want! Hahahaha! No room is off limits to me now! Lee went skipping down the halls, unlocking each screen he found closed.
"Hahahaha! I feel so bad! But yet, it feels great!" He ran past Sasuke. Whoa! Backing up! Beep-beep-beep-beep! He jogged backwards to catch Sasuke, who was not in the mood to run or talk to Lee. If you could call it talking.
"Hello my beautiful!" Sasuke was tempted to stop and scowl, but he continued to move. It's easier to lose him if I stay mobile. Don't stop, keep walking. Just ignore him.
"What's wrong? Are you still being a Mr. Poopy Head because of earlier this morning?" Poopy Head? Damnit. Can't I just hit him once? No! That would just encourage him.
"Why? I only got to pull your covers down. Even though that's not the only thing I wanted to pull down! Hehehehe!" Only once? No. Once! NO! Great, now I'm sounding like Sakura. Since when do I have a split personality?
"Why don't we head back to my dorm room and shed all this unnecassary clothi..."
CRACK!
"Owowowy!"
"SASUKE UCHIHA!"
"Oh fuck it!" Sasuke cursed under his breath as he saw Gai turn the corner and walk towards him.
"Don't you dare move, mister! No Kakashi around to let you off easy now! Just you and me... And you're in need of some major discipline!"
What the hell! Does he follow Lee around like a shadow? Making sure he doesn't get bruised? I didn't even hit him hard.
Lee was rolling around on the ground, holding his gushing nose. Making quite a display of himself, though.
Gai was now standing in front of him. "Look at me in the eye, like a man Uchiha!" Sasuke gave him a sarcastic look. How can I look at you like a man when I doubt you're one yourself.
"That was needless force. I want you to take him back to his room and..." "Sensei, I refuse."
"What was that?" Gai growled and crossed his arms, but Sasuke stood his ground. There was no way he was going to go back into that torture room without a fight.
"I can't. I hate Lee. He's gay. And I'm not." He dismissed his bluntness, but Gai was less forgiving. (In the meantime, Lee was still squirming on the ground, oblivious to everything going on)
"Sasuke! How dare you talk about a fellow student that way! Lee is extremely gifted, you just refuse to accept it! Now you will take him to his room and assist him. NOW!"
"What if I refuse?" Sasuke matched the frown of Gai.
"Hmmm." Gai looked down at Lee, who had slowed down the accessive rolling to a fidget, and thought of Sasuke's question. "You have to stay in isolation, just like another ninja is as we speak."
Isolation? This gets better and better. I wonder if there's a catch.
"Like I said, he's gay."
"Get to your room! ISOLATION!"
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"What's he doing in my room?" Using his Byakugan, Neji could see Naruto slumbering in his bed.
Kankuro grinned as he passed by with his luggage, "Sounds like someone was having seperation anxiety, hey Neji? I didn't know you were so sympathetic to minors."
"Shut up, Kankuro." Hn. Sounds just like my brother. Wonder where he is by the way. I wasn't expecting any welcome, but he's usually in a corner or something.
"I was just about to offer my assistance..." He shrugged.
Neji turned his head slightly towards him. "I'm more than capable of handling something like this."
"Right. Can I watch?"
"You think I care?" Neji slid open the door and Kankuro slipped in behind him. He'd better make this fast. It took me a long time to smuggle those weapons in, and I want to install them as soon as possible.
Both moved stealth-like to the bedside (they were experienced at this). Kankuro bent over and closed one eye, glaring with the other.
"I know this kid. He's the one with the big mouth, ain't he?" The Hyuga was too distracted to pay any attention. Neji was taking in all the damage done to his previously well-kept room.
"This is a mess."
"I'd say... Whoa! Who's that!" Kankuro pointed at the shattered framed picture of Ten Ten. Neji looked at Kankuro, annoyed.
"So you do have a girl. You never mentioned her before. I think I'd definately recall a hottie like her." Kankuro tapped the side of his head.
"I don't 'have a girl'. Right now, that's beside the point." Kankuro didn't interrogate farther.
"If you're so bummed by the mess, make this pathetic chicken shit clean it up. Not like he'd do a good job or anything, but it'd be fun. C'mon. A week, no...month of doing servant work! It'd be great!"
Neji looked out his window. "Wake him."
"With pleasure!" Kankuro took out a wooden mechanism and began to unfold it, revealing a complex array of wires and springs.
Kankuro pulled a string from the side of the oddity and connected it to Naruto's index finger with a ring on the end.
With a soft whurring noise, he unwound the total length of the cord and postioned the wooden piece precisely between the sleeper's spread legs. Pins held it in position on the mattress.
Neji watched the whole thing, not bothering to ask what he was up to. Kankuro hummed to himself and when his trap was set, moved back to Naruto's face.
He had no desire to release the trap himself, so he didn't bother to touch the blonde. Instead, Kankuro bent to his ear and quietly called into it.
"C'mon lesser! Get your ass up and out of Neji's bed!" Naruto stirred and stretched his arms, closing his fingers into fists, just as the sand ninja had expected.
THUD!
"OWWW! WHAT THE--?"
"HAHAHAHA!"
"You disgust me."
"HAHA! How can you not find that funny! HAHAHA! I needed another test subject! Worked like a charm!"
"At the least, he's up." Neji turned from the window and over to the intruder. "Naruto Uzuamki I presume?"
With a gasp, Naruto managed to answer. "Depends...on who...wants to...know."
"This is my room. And it's all your damage. Therefore, it's all your responsibility to mend all you've destroyed so carelessly..."
"Hn! And that could take a while... Welcome to hard labor kid!"
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"Hey Gaara... I'm back." Choji entered with a plate of food and handed it to Gaara who sat lazily in an armchair.
"Must suck having to stay in here all day." Gaara grunted and set the plate aside, continuing however, to stare at the television set. He knew all too well he could leave at anytime he felt like it using the Body Flicker technique.
"The other guys returned today." Choji took a peach off the plate. "Kankuro was one of 'em."
"Hn." Gaara remained unemotional.
"When can you go?" Choji had gotten fed up with having to bring all of Gaara's meals to him. And he hardly ate anything anyway.
"Monday. Now shut up. I'm watching this."
"Monday!" Choji whined. "That's like...nine more meals!" Gaara's glare silenced his pouting.
"Better than forcing me to live off your junk food stash under the third floorboard from your bed."
Choji's eyes widened as he rushed into the bedroom, no doubt to make sure nothing was taken.
That should occupy him for a while. Gaara took a bag of chips he had "found" earlier and opened them.
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Sasuke looked at the door that was once again being pounded on. He saw the silhouette of a rectangular piece of paper being stuck onto it.
What does that say? Don't feed the animal? Hn.
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As always, it was a mad rush to the dining area that Saturday morning. With the exception of three students: Sasuke, Gaara and Naruto; it was full.
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Naruto had been ordered to dust the entire dorm hall of the older students. Even though he had protested against being treated like a slave, the endless list of threats persuaded him.
"Clean. I never clean. Where do they keep the polish anyway?" Naruto muttered to himself.
"Hey! I know!" He recalled all of the cleaning supplies in a cabinet of Sasuke's when he had been searching for the list of pointless items days before.
He won't care if I just borrow it! Naruto smiled widely. Pleased at his intelligence and ability to remember something so tedious, he dashed to the first floor.
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Damnit! Locked! Hey... what's this! Naruto looked at the sign posted on Sasuke's door.
"Attention All Students." He began to read outloud. "The release of this student Uchiha Sasuke, is strictly prohibitted until the date that follows: Monday, April 18 Any student who disobeys or assists in releasingof Uchiha , will be punished. Certified by: Maito Gai ."Naruto let out a whistle. "Hm. Looks like Sasuke's in deep shit! Hahaha!" Still, it's not helping me. I guess I could go in. I just won't let him out! But how to get in...
"Hello Naruto! Need a key!" He jumped at the familiar voice.
"L...Lee!" Great! What's he doing here?
"So you've come to help free Sasuke, too!"
"Uh...no. I just ne..."
"I know how you feel! My sensei has gone too far! Sasuke should not be punished for his actions! Come Naruto! Let's discharge him from the foul prison he's been sent into!" Lee stuck the key into the lock and threw the door open.
Cool. I guess that worked... Naruto walked inside and headed for the cleaning cabinet, while Lee admired his sleeping crush.
"He looks like an angel!"
"Uh...sure. Okay! I'm done here, so see ya..."
"Wait! We have not yet achieved what we came here for!"
"Huh? I'm just here for this cleaning stuff, believe it."
"No, no my good roommate! We must help an unfortunate." Naruto looked over at Sasuke who was sleeping soundly. Doesn't look unfortunate to me.
Before he could get out of the room, Lee was pulling Sasuke's bed and the unconscious ninja, into the hall. "What the..." "Be free mighty Uchiha!" Lee threw his hands into the air triumphantly. No movement. Sasuke was still out cold. "Okay! Well, I have yet another to save from the tortuous depth of their wrong doings!" Lee skipped off down the hall. Naruto shook his head and turned the other direction, but not soon enough. "Hold it right there!" Gai strutted over to where Naruto and Sasuke were. "What do you think you're doing?"Naruto held up the cleaning supplies innocently. "Cleaning."
"Hmmm. Cleaning what exactly!" He grabbed the can. "Aha! You tried to let Sasuke out, didn't you! And by the looks of it... you were going to clean your grimy fingerprints off of the wood. Destroying evidence that leads right to you!"
Naruto gave Gai a dirty look. "Hey! I didn't mean to have Sleepy come out! It was your insane pupil that dragged the whole bed out here!"
"Stop blaming Lee and accept your punishment! Even better, since you and Uchiha apparently want to spend time together, I'll let you share it!"
"Gai!" He looked around and saw Asuma heading towards him, dragging two other students along.
"I caught these two trying to escape..."
"Fuck you both! For the final time... I was not trying to escape! Lee barged into my room!" Gaara's eyes were bloodshot. Lee looked bashful for once.
"Gasp. Is this true Lee?" Gai looked hurt by the news.
"I'm so sorry! Yes!" Lee started to bawl.
Gaara, Naruto and Asuma rolled their eyes at the pathetic scene. The loud crying woke Sasuke.
"What the hell! What are all of you doing in my room?" He took in the different surroundings and realized he was not inside his dorm.
"What am I doing out here!"
"You tell us, Uchiha!" Gai barked angrily. "So, now that there are four of you... You can all share a group punishment!"
"WHAT!"
"More discipline!"
"For what exactly!"
"You son of a..."
"Hey! Cut it out! This shouldn't be too hard for tough genin like yourselves..."
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So there you have it. The wretched ending to this scathing tale. Although, it didn't all end in tears...
During their two week helping of volunteer hell, the four boys had their own special highlights.
Naruto had escaped Neji's punishment, but still avoids the second floor as much as possible, just in case Hyuga ever changes his mind. Naruto still has the same habit of breaking into Sasuke's room, but ever since the extra locks Sasuke installed, the "breaking in" has dropped to "attempting to break in".
Rock Lee finally got to spend time with his three favorite men. Way to go Lee... I suppose that this was a punishment to some more than others. But each morning before they set out, he is searched, just in case he has a camera on him. But to Lee's disappointment, not stripped searched.
During the community service schedule, Gaara found work in an arcade. Although, he was banned and a full day was added to his punishment after he beat an eighteen year old with an interactive snowboard from one of the games. Being a sore winner isn't the way to be... By the way, the guys are still cleaning up the game room from his last temper tantrum.
Sasuke did not even get close to sleeping the entire vacation away. On the brightside, he has forgiven Lee for framing him and (literally) dragging him into the whole predicament. It only took him about eleven "accidental" beatings with a rake, dealing Lee a treacherous 21 bruises or punctures to come to his peaceful mindset.
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A/N: The story is at its conclusion! Now what am I gonna write about? I'll think of something. It may be romantic, it may not be. It'll probably turn out to be weird. : P What did you think? If you came THIS far, I love you forever!
Lotus.Under.Thorns ; )