A/N: Whoa, I got a lot of reviews for this! -surprised-

Some review replies:

Trekiael: Ah yes, it is a bit overused isn't it? Well, to be honest, I couldn't really find anything else that would give them some sort of contact… I needed to give them something so that they could meet each other, etc. and this was the only thing I could come up with. Other than that, thank you very much for reviewing! An honest critic is what I need, so I hope you will continue giving me some pointers xD

Shannigan: Eek, was it the name or the summary? I'm really bad at both! I'm glad you clicked though, thanks! XD

Remedy for Chaos: Thank you! I'll try to make longer chapters as I go!

Suzuran: Hm, no idea? I like the pairing NejiNaru too, so I'll be putting that in a bit (a little competition for Sasuke, eh? ) , but I'm leaving Gaara out of it. Do you mind looking it up? I always like reading Highschool fanfics xD if you don't want to, that's ok too, but then I can also check to see if it's the same and change it o.o I don't want to be one of those plagiarism people. I didn't mean to make it the same as another one, I just came up with this as I saw 'A Cinderella Story' (I had to watch it with my nieces! I swear! XD) and figured I could do something with that storyline, though I am making it different from that as well, but it still has the basic plot. Anyway, thanks for mentioning it!

To all the rest of you who have reviewed: THANK YOU! I really appreciate it and I hope you will continue reading and reviewing!

Chapter 2

After what seemed like hours, the lesson from the 'look-at-me-I'm-too-sexy-for-words-Uchiha' was finally over and Naruto could go home. Not that he was looking forward to it, but then again, he never had anything to look forward to- yes, it does sound pathetic.

"We could study at either my place or your place next time," Sasuke said, putting his book in his bag and glancing at the other boy. He had never actually looked around twice at the blonde, though he had noticed him walking around the hallway quite often. He also knew that he was getting himself into trouble all the time. Sasuke had always regarded him as an annoying, hyperactive and cheerful guy- but now that he looked at him closer, he saw something else in his eyes. The same eyes that he had- the lonely kind.

He was reluctant to acknowledge this of course- he was the type who would be quiet, act depressed and who would appear to be brooding constantly. However, this guy was just… always grinning and smiling. Always loud and obnoxious, but nonetheless cheerful.

Sasuke wondered how he managed to keep that up. And how come he wasn't able to?

"Why?" Naruto asked nervously. He didn't want the other boy at his house- they would be breathing down their necks the entire time and would probably just make fun of Naruto. They would call him a retard and an idiot (at this point, Naruto had forgotten briefly about Sasuke calling him an idiot constantly) and Sasuke would just bully him and then even Kiba would hate him and then-

"Because I don't like being at school longer than I have to, so let's just study and your place next time," he replied, interrupting Naruto's train of thoughts. He opened the door as he walked away from the classroom, followed by Naruto who wanted to talk the stupid idea out of the Uchiha's head.

"Wait, my place? Why don't we go to yours?"

"Because, idiot, my stupid brother is having a party Thursday and I don't want to be there when it happens," Sasuke replied coolly.

"Don't call me an idiot, bastard! And we can just-"

"Look," Sasuke interrupted him. "Let's just go to your place, or else I'll just tell Kakashi-sensei that you don't want to study, got it?" Naruto nodded reluctantly as they exited the school and each went their own way. For a moment, Naruto watched the other boy walking to his black car, before turning away from him and walking towards his house.

"Oi, idiot!" Sasuke called after him. He apparently had noticed that the blonde had to walk to his house.

"Don't call me an idiot, bastard!" Naruto yelled back. "And what do you want now?" He continued, giving the annoying Uchiha a glare.

"Want a ride, idiot?" Naruto stared at him for a moment. It was either walking the long way home, or taking the offer and ride with the scary Sasuke… he grinned, before replying.

"Sure, and don't call me an idiot!" He ran towards the other boy, who merely rolled his eyes.

-----

"Thanks for the ride," Naruto said, closing the door of Sasuke's black car. With a car, it only took fifteen minutes to get from school to his house, but when someone had to walk it would take much longer (obviously) so Naruto was rather glad Sasuke had offered him a ride. Not that he had expected it, of course, since the boy had never shown any real interest in anyone. Sure, he hung out with a lot of people, but he never said anything to them. Actually, now that Naruto thought about it, it seemed as though those people were just standing around him for them to look cool. And to try and get one of his many fangirls.

"Hm, it was on my way," he grunted as a reply. "See you Thursday, idiot."

"I'm not an idiot you bastard!" Naruto yelled as the car drove off. He watched the black vehicle until it was out of sight, before turning to face the house of all evil. He glanced around and searched for the dreadful pink car Sakura and Ino drove and cringed as he saw it standing on the driveway. Apparently, the spawn of the devil had returned as well.

His few moments of peace were disturbed as Sakura and Ino blocked the way to his room, asking him all kinds of questions.

"Who was the guy who gave you a ride?" They both demanded, which made Naruto smirk slightly. He could rub it in their faces that he got a ride from their three year crush and that he had to study with him for the next couple of months. Not that he was glad with this little fact, but he could make the other two jealous…

If Naruto had been an evil mastermind, he would be rubbing his hands together and chuckling evilly right about now.

"Ah, I got a ride from Sasuke," he said nonchalantly, making the other two gasp in horror. They stared for a couple of moments, before Naruto continued, "Would you mind? I have homework to do." He wanted to walk past them, but Ino got a hold of his arm and pulled him back. "Hey! Don't touch me!"

"Stay away from Sasuke-kun, freak!" Ino said furiously. "We don't want to ruin our chances with him and if a rat like you even looks at him, we'll make your life a living hell." Naruto grunted, looking at the two girls who seemed like they wanted to kill him right there and then.

"You can't make it worse than it already is," he hissed at them, before pulling his arm back out of Ino's hard grasp and running up the stairs to his small room in the attic.

The room wasn't much, but it was his. It was his private space and therefore he locked it. He needed some privacy and he needed to rant to someone about his situation, about the Evil Duo… so, he took his cellphone and sent a text message to Sharingan- the only person he could trust and also the only person he wanted to trust.

He could also trust Kiba, of course. And then there was Shikamaru, who simply was too lazy to listen to him. And Chouji, but he was always busy eating so he probably wouldn't hear a thing he said- but Naruto knew he could trust them, even if they did hear him. They wouldn't tell.

However, Naruto found that it was much easier to talk to Sharingan than to any of those. He told Kiba about his experiences with the two horrors once in a while, but he usually said, "If you want, I can kick their asses for ya", or something similar to that, which wasn't really helpful either.

While waiting for a reply, he decided to take a shower. He had his own small bathroom as Ino and Sakura had refused to share the bathroom downstairs with him ("We'll get some disease if we wash ourselves in the same shower as him!"), so they had decided to make him his own small one. Naruto didn't complain.

After the refreshing shower, he hurried back to his bed to check up on his messages. He grinned at himself while reading.

'Ah, hard time at home again, eh? I wish I could do something to make it better…'

Naruto quickly sent his reply.

-----

His phone was beeping once again and his heart started to beat louder- it was him. The only one he wanted to talk to, the only one he wanted to trust. The only one he wanted.

He never gave his number to the 'fangirls' at school, though they practically begged him for it. It was simply too troublesome to do such a thing. He had once tried it, figuring it would be nice to talk to someone outside of school, but the girl kept calling him even in the middle of the night. It was scary.

He had been hesitant to give his number to a complete stranger he had only talked to once- but it was definitely worth it. He felt like he had become addicted to this person, like he needed him.

And he probably did need him.

It felt weird though- he didn't even know the guy's real name! And yet he felt like he knew the real him- no charades, no hiding behind a mask, or anything like that- it was just him. Just Kyuubi. And he was himself as well. He could easily let the barrier that he had created down whenever he spoke to this boy and be Sasuke.

It was only too bad that he needed to tutor Naruto, or else he would've started to send messages an hour earlier, but he figured they could catch up on lost time…

'Don't worry about it, listening to me ranting is enough… I mean, I'm sure you have something far more interesting to do, right?'

Sasuke grinned. He actually needed to do some homework- but it could wait.

-------

'I can't think of anything better to do with my time actually. Now, is there anything more you wanted to rant about?'

Naruto thought hard about this. Well, there was this thing with the Sasuke-bastard… but he didn't want to say that since Sharingan would most probably find out that the guy he had been talking about was actually the freak, also known as Naruto. He shook his head- no way, he wasn't going to let him know who he truly was.

With a soft smile one his face, he messaged back, ignoring the pounding on his door for just a few seconds.

------

The next day wasn't any better. At least, it started bad, but became better as it went along.

First of all, he forgot to set his alarm clock and woke up when he heard his stepsisters' car drive off. It figured that they wouldn't wake him up, especially since they were still jealous of him and that they couldn't stand the fact that he actually got tutored by the most popular guy in the entire school. This made Naruto grin slightly.

After he got dressed, he quickly looked if he had received a message from Sharingan, before sprinting out of the house. He would be really late this time for school- and worst of all, his first class was Geography. And that meant that he had to face the wrath of Iruka-sensei.

Naruto shuddered at this thought.

----

"Iruka-sensei!" He yelled and entered the classroom. He was completely out of breath from running the whole way and panicked. I mean, who wouldn't with a teacher like Iruka? The man was scary- really scary. Especially when one was tardy.

"Naruto?" He merely said, raising an eyebrow. Naruto had the tendency to start biting his nails right about now- Iruka never got mad immediately. He'd get mad when you tried to explain why. "Would you mind telling me why you are late today?" Naruto quickly scanned the classroom for his two stepsisters, who were seated near the window and were smirking at him. Clearly they wanted to have their revenge.

"I'm sorry, sensei," Naruto quickly said, seeing the vein on Iruka's forehead becoming more visible. Oh dear God, he was going to die. "Really! My alarm clock- I forgot to set it- and then I had to run all the way to school and-"

"Detention for one week!" Iruka yelled, the vein throbbing. Naruto backed up a little, sweating as he saw his life flashing- okay, maybe that's a little bit over the top, but you get the idea.

"Y-yes, Iruka-sensei!" Naruto stammered, quickly regaining himself and walking to the back of the class. He sat down next to Shikamaru, who was staring out of the window and watching the clouds. The usual lazy attitude and yet the guy always managed to get good grades- Naruto didn't understand how he managed that.

"Good, now that the disturbance is over," Iruka gave Naruto one last glance. "We can continue. As I was saying, you will be working on a project the next couple of months. You'll be working in pairs-" Naruto quickly looked at Shikamaru, hoping that they could pair up, "-and you'll have to research together and also write a complete report about it. I will hand you some sheets that will guide you in writing this paper and that will provide you the remaining information. In the meantime, please pick your partner." He nodded at his students, before taking the bunch of papers and handing them out.

Naruto was about to turn to Shikamaru to ask him if he would like to work together, but unfortunately- he had already found his partner.

"Sorry Naruto," he said, looking at him. "Choji was first." Naruto nodded, but felt rather left behind. Who was going to be his partner now? He didn't know anybody else in this class that he liked and-

"Naruto, would you like to be my partner?" A calm voice suddenly asked him. For a moment, Naruto resembled a fish as he was moving his mouth, gaping at the black-haired boy that was standing next to his desk. Neji wanted to be his partner! Was it the end of all time or something?

Apparently, he wasn't the only one who was surprised- all the girls stared at them and some even started crying.

"Well?" He said, ignoring the looks people gave him. Even Shikamaru seemed to be surprised.

"Ah, sure," Naruto quickly said, nervously.

"Good. When do you have time to research? We could go to my house," Neji continued, still ignoring the stares. Naruto thought they were beginning to get quite annoying and decided to voice his thoughts.

"Oi! Do we look like an exhibition or something? Mind your own business!" A few stared for a moment, before indeed turning around and continuing with what they were doing. Neji was rather amused at this, but hid it quite well. He let himself smile just a bit though. Naruto turned around to face the black-haired boy again, before answering his question, "I'm not sure when, perhaps Saturday?" He looked hopeful at Neji, his blue eyes almost pleading.

Saturday was horrible for him. He'd be home all day taking care of Sakura and Ino who would just shower him with all kinds of stupid chores. He really didn't want that and if he had a good excuse to get away… he'd gladly take it. Even if he did have to work with Hyuuga Neji.

"Sure," Neji replied, before turning around to walk back to his desk.

"Neji!" Naruto called after him. "I-I don't know where you live," Naruto said, hesitantly. Neji let himself smile briefly again- how can he not know where the Hyuuga mansion is? Practically everybody in Konoha knew… he loved the boy's innocence- it was rather appealing. And he wasn't one of those guys who just hung out with you because of your lineage or money- unlike most people at his school.

"I'll pick you up then," he said. Naruto merely nodded.

-----

"So, are you ready?" Sasuke walked up to Naruto and while doing so, slid his hands in his pockets. For a moment, Naruto didn't know what he was talking about, but then quickly remembered that today was Thursday, which meant that he had to be tutored once again. Crap. "Well? Let's go, idiot," Sasuke continued and walked up to his car.

"Don't call me an idiot, bastard!" Naruto yelled and followed Sasuke, who was smirking.

The ride home was not that long and the blonde had started to fidget in the passenger's seat, praying to God that they (and by 'they', he means the Evil Duo) had gone to visit someone, or got ill, or died- or at least something like that. Anything to keep them away from Naruto and Sasuke.

"Are you nervous or something?" the other boy asked coolly. It had been rather annoying- over the past five minutes Naruto had been pushing the 'up' and 'down' button for the automatic windows and it was beginning to get on Sasuke's nerves. Naruto swallowed, before replying.

"Ah- uhm, well, why would I be nervous, right?" He said, giving his usual big grin.

"Right…" Sasuke replied, hesitantly. It seemed to him that the boy was nervous, but like Naruto had said- why would he be?

Sasuke had heard bits about the blonde's home and that he lived with the two most annoying girls he had ever met, Sakura and Ino, and that he somehow was their 'servant', as they had said it. But Sasuke had never believed them really, he just let them talk about it and he never did care- but now it seemed as though Naruto was ashamed of himself and his house. Maybe that's why he didn't want me to come.

Sasuke parked near the blonde's house and honestly didn't know what he could be embarrassed about- the house was huge. By the looks of it, way too big for only four people. But then again, if Sakura's and Ino's mother is anything like those two, they'd want to live in such a big house, if only to brag about their wealth.

"Hn," he grunted, as Naruto came out of the car and started to mutter something incomprehensible. He was nervous, the way his body responded to everything was very obvious to the Uchiha.

"Well," Naruto said, while fidgeting with his keys. "Here we go then." He opened the front door and Sasuke was able to take a good look inside- and he wanted to run away immediately.

Everything was pink.

The couches were pink, the chairs were pink, even the freaking walls were pink. Everything! Sasuke was afraid that he might've thrown up right then and there, had it not been for Naruto who quickly grabbed him by the arm and started dragging him upstairs. Sasuke in the meantime, let himself get dragged and was able to view some of the pictures hanging on the wall- all of them were of either Ino, Sakura or some slightly older woman Sasuke didn't recognise. He figured that must've been his stepmother. She looked as though she had a lot of operations on her face- she looked younger than she truly was, but it did show that she had undergone surgery.

There were none of Naruto.

"Don't worry, my room isn't pink," Naruto said reassuringly- apparently he had regained some of his confidence and opened the only door in the attic. The Uchiha merely sighed in relief when he heard that his room wasn't the awful colour and was eager to get this over with- they would definitely study at his house next time. Naruto opened the door and-

Oh. Dear. God.

The room had a decent size, but it was orange. His bed was blue, but the rest of his room was completely orange! Sasuke could hardly believe this- was the family mad or something?

Wait, don't answer that.

Despite the bright colour and the bed, there wasn't anything else standing there. Only one chair decorated his room and one poster of some band Sasuke had never heard of- the floor was rather messy though, with all kinds of clothing lying around and several books were lying near Naruto's bed. He apparently didn't have a lot of assets.

Naruto grinned at him, slightly nervous, but obviously was expecting some sort of a reply. "Very… orange," Sasuke managed to say and tried not to sound too mean with that. Naruto didn't take it as an offence though- he started to grin like mad.

"Yeah, it's my favourite colour!" He said, which slightly amused the Uchiha.

"Alright, let's get started then." The other boy agreed.

----

About half an hour later, a high voice could be heard from the other side of the door. Naruto looked mortified at the sound and started to become pale.

"Naru-chaaaaan!" It definitely was the voice of Sakura- it was the thing he feared most. Well, that and the voice of Ino. Sasuke merely raised an eyebrow at the boy's nickname and felt rather sorry for him.

Without knocking, the pink-haired girl entered. "Fix this skirt for me, freak, and after you're done with it, mother wants you to cook-" She blinked at the sight of Sasuke sitting on the floor of her obnoxious stepbrother. For a moment, Naruto thought that she was going to faint, but unfortunately for him, she ran to him and sat next to him. "Sasuke-kun!" she yelled, ignoring Naruto's objections. "Sasuke-kun, what are you doing with him?" She shot Naruto a short glare, before returning her attention to the black-haired boy who looked almost as pale as Naruto. "I mean, not that I mind having you in my house, but you don't have to waste your time with trash like him. Why don't I show you my room and we can leave that freak alone- I can show you my car and then we could have dinner together and-"

"Sorry," Sasuke cut her off coolly. "I'm busy tutoring Naruto and I have to leave now anyway, I don't have time for you." Sakura was stunned for a moment again, before turning to Naruto.

"You," she hissed.

"Me," Naruto replied.

"Freak! Don't be witty with me, I'll make sure mother locks you up for two days and doesn't feed you anything! What are you doing, bothering Sasuke-kun like this and-"

"He's not bothering me," Sasuke immediately said. Naruto could clearly hear the irritation in his voice. "You, however, are. You're just annoying and in my way." Both the blonde and Sakura seemed to be stunned for just a couple of seconds- especially Naruto. Sasuke was standing up for him? Maybe he had judged him too soon and- "What are you gaping at, you idiot?"

Maybe not.

"Anyway," Sasuke said, clapping his book together. "Naruto, I'll see you tomorrow again, we'll go to my place instead. Meet me at my locker and don't be late, idiot." He gave the blonde boy a nod, before grabbing his bag. He didn't even spare Sakura a glance as he made his way out of the room and out of the house.