A/N: My apologies for any OOCness in this chapter- I certainly don't know if they truly are out of character here, but, well… Sasuke might be. And Itachi really is OOC, but I like him the way I make him in the fic, so nyah xD -sticks out her tongue-

Anyway, I try my best to keep them in character, but it's not so easy with a high school fic (kudos to everyone who can do it! xD)

Some review replies:

Shannigan: I'm glad you feel that way- I usually do have trouble with coming up with a good name and summary… and, it never works. But nyah, hope you will continue reading!

XXanime assassinXX : Yeah, it's pretty obvious that I don't like Sakura all that much, eh? XD I've never really liked her until the timejump in the manga, because all she did was cry about Sasuke. She's okay now I guess, but still not one of my fav's xD When I started to give the characters their 'roles' I figured Sakura was best as one of the stupid stepsisters, so I immediately put her in xD and then of course, I thought about Ino, who I dislike too… well, not so much as Sakura though xD

Devil Subaru Chan: Lol, I like the way he's treating her too… -grins- serves her right, ne? XD

Trekiael: I know what you mean, though the glaring tends to make me laugh a lot. But I don't really like the fact that three guys are after Naruto… too troublesome for him and the others… but I like it when there's a bit of a rivalry going on (I'll try to make the glaring short XD). And yup, Sakura is a bitch here, but meh… she needs to be in order to fit the role of evil stepsister -grins again-

Jelp: Hehehehe… you'll see… xD

Everyone else who reviewed: THANKS! I like it when I get reviews, it makes me want to write more. Tyranimo, Remedy for Chaos, Jenni Kunoichi, erning, chi no hana, Danya2, Gonrie and Wildbookaddict: Thank you! It's very motivating, so I hope you'll all continue reviewing!

Chapter 3

They didn't talk to each other in the hallway, nor did they talk to each other during tutoring, unless it was about math. Sasuke was a closed book, while Naruto was always willing to talk. Naruto was loud and got angry quickly- Sasuke was quiet and stayed calm. Naruto always wanted to be acknowledged by others while Sasuke only wanted people to leave him alone. They were the complete opposite of each other.

Naruto didn't like him.

The blonde stared at the mirror, while slowly tracing the odd whisker marks on his cheeks with his fingertips and thinking about the black-haired boy. He didn't like him, because he was arrogant, had a stick up his ass, didn't talk to him, called him an idiot and because people loved him. Maybe the last thing bothered Naruto the most- apparently Sasuke didn't realise what he had. The blonde would give anything to be that popular, anything to make people love him.

Perhaps Naruto didn't like him because he wanted to be loved.

Sasuke on the other hand, pushed everyone away. At least, that's the way Naruto saw it. Sasuke hardly ever talked to anyone in school and no one knows anything about his parents or anyone else in his family. It was weird, to say the least.

He looked at his face, blue eyes staring right back at him. He couldn't help but think about his father whenever he looked in the mirror- people had always said he resembled him so much. But not only did his face remind the blonde of his father, but his dad had always teased him with the whisker marks Naruto had on his cheeks and, after a while, came up with a nickname for him. Kitsune.

Naruto loved the nickname and would always love it, but he didn't want anyone else to say it to him. It had been something between him and his dad. As had so many other things been, but this was a lot more special to Naruto. He didn't know why, though and he didn't care for it either.

He smiled a sad smile at the memory, before grabbing his bag and heading to school, dreading the day.

----

"Hey Naru!" Kiba called after him. School had been bad, but it was nothing compared to what Naruto had to face now- going to Sasuke's house. He shivered at the thought. "Do you want to come over to my place? My mother would like to meet you," he grinned at the blonde before continuing, "She'll make ramen for ya." Naruto gasped and was about to say 'hell yes', before remembering he couldn't. His face fell down.

"Sorry, can't. Tutoring," said the blonde, smacking one of the lockers he was passing and leaving a rather big dent in it.

"Sucks to be you," Kiba answered. "Why don't you come Monday then?" Naruto shrugged.

"Can't. Tutoring as well, but I maybe could come over afterwards," Naruto said, looking up at the slightly taller boy who grinned back at him.

"Sure thing and you could stay over if you like. Mom said so, unless you don't like dogs of course, because we've got a bunch of them at home," Naruto nodded enthusiastically- he had never even met Kiba's parents. They sounded really nice, if they would invite him so suddenly. "See you Monday then!" He waved at Naruto, before sprinting to his house. Naruto couldn't help but grin at the sight- Kiba really did resemble a dog.

Naruto felt a lot better at the prospect of sleeping over at Kiba's house.

Still having his eyes on the other boy, Naruto didn't notice a certain long, black-haired boy standing in front of him and so, he bumped into him. Yet again. "Ouch! He watch where you're go- Neji!" There stood Neji, smirking down at the blonde. Naruto thought he saw a hint of amusement in his eyes, but Neji was quite good at hiding it.

"Naruto," he said, giving him a nod. "I was wondering what time I should pick you up tomorrow."

"Oh, right!" Naruto said, enthusiastically. "Well, ah, it doesn't matter to me, actually." As early as possible, Naruto thought bitterly.

"11 A.M.? Unless you like to stay in your bed long-"

"No! That time is perfect!" Naruto said quickly. Neji raised an eyebrow, before nodding. He gave Naruto a small smile and walked away, followed by Naruto's eyes. The blonde sighed and briefly wondered why Neji was so eager to meet him. He probably just wants to get this over and done with, a part of him thought. But he did want to be my partner… maybe it's just some stupid prank they're playing on me. It wouldn't be the first time.

"Are you coming or not, idiot?" A cold and deep voice asked him. Naruto looked up and saw the face of Sasuke looking at him with the usual black and empty eyes. The Uchiha frowned slightly, before walking to his car. Naruto obediently followed him, while shouting 'bastard!'. The black-haired boy smirked and ignored the comment coming from the blonde.

They didn't notice that Neji was watching them, with a hint of jealousy in his eyes.

-----

"One tip," Sasuke said out of nowhere. The ride to his house was fairly long and the boy hadn't said a word. If Naruto didn't know any better, he'd say he was nervous, since Sasuke was tapping with his thumb on the steering wheel- something he hadn't done the day before. Naruto looked up and blinked. "Don't talk to my brother too much," he continued, his eyes never leaving the road. Naruto nodded and didn't ask any questions as to why, but pondered over it the whole way to his house.

If Itachi, Sasuke had told him his name, was anything like Sasuke, Naruto figured he wouldn't exactly be talking too much anyway. But then again, Sasuke was one of a kind.

"We're here," the dark-haired boy said, while parking his car on the driveway of a tremendously huge house. "Idiot, you look like a goldfish. Come on," he smirked as he was saying this, all the while looking at the expression on the blonde's face. He really did resemble a fish- his mouth was hanging open and his eyes were as huge as dinner plates. He had never seen a house as big as this one.

"I'm not an idiot!"

Well, as you might have guessed, Naruto's face paled as they entered the huge house, for it looked ten times as big when you were inside. Naruto guessed that there were roughly a hundred rooms (you have to consider the fact that the blonde boy usually overreacts- this was no exception). A small smile crept up on Sasuke's face as he saw the expression the smaller boy had, before dropping his bag on the floor and walking down the hall. He didn't want Naruto to see him smile.

Seeing as said boy was afraid to get lost, he immediately followed the other, still gaping at everything. "You want something to drink? We have," Sasuke scanned the refrigerator and sighed, before closing it again. "We have… water. Itachi must've forgotten to get some groceries."

"Water's good," Naruto said absently. He wasn't really paying attention to the black-haired boy, seeing as he was staring at one of the paintings hanging on the kitchen wall. It was a rather vague one- the form in it was rather blurry, but Naruto could clearly see a man, according to his silhouette. Whoever painted it, must have like the colour purple a lot- the whole painting was based on different shades of it.

"I really like this," Naruto said. Sasuke quirked an eyebrow at this, but did not respond. Instead, he gave the blonde his glass of water and stood next to him. "I mean, it expresses a certain emotion," Naruto continued, seeing the questioning look he got from the other boy. "I think loneliness. At least, that's what I feel when I look at it."

"I made it," the black-haired boy suddenly said. He wasn't planning on telling the blonde this, but he felt a need to. He was right about the emotion- Sasuke really did feel lonely and he somehow expressed it through this painting. He was somewhat surprised about this, for no one so far had even interpreted it that way. "I didn't want to hang it up here, but Itachi insisted," he continued, sounding rather bitter. "It wasn't meant for him to see either, but my brother's like that. He wants to know every single thing that I'm doing." Naruto was about to respond, until he heard another cold voice from behind them.

"Sasuke, it's not polite to be speaking of your brother like that."

Enter Itachi. He resembled Sasuke a bit, but he seemed to be a lot more social. At least, he seemed a lot more open than Sasuke was (not that it wasn't easy to achieve, but still). His long black hair was tied in a tail, his crimson eyes scanning the young boy besides him as he walked towards them. He had a certain goth look about him- black, leather pants (A/N: Itachi…in leather pants… -drools- ) and a sleeveless black shirt was what he was wearing, with several necklaces. He also had a tongue piercing, but Naruto couldn't see that just yet.

"And it's not polite to interfere when someone has a guest," Sasuke replied, sounding rather annoyed. Itachi raised an eyebrow.

"It's also not polite to not introduce a guest," the older Uchiha said, with a mischievous grin on his face as he came closer to Naruto. He ruffled his blonde hair. "Especially one who is as cute as him." Cute? What the- Naruto's eyes widened at the blunt remark and Sasuke quickly pulled him away from his annoying brother.

"And it's also not polite to harass a guest!" He spat back and glared at Itachi. Itachi glared back. Naruto became nervous and agitated. They ignored him and kept on glaring.

"Alright, we now know what's polite and what not!" the blonde said eventually, looking rather frustrated. "But geez, you don't have to glare at each other like that, it's really creeping me out here," he continued, throwing his hands in the air. "Come on, let's get this over with." Sasuke was about to protest, but couldn't as Naruto started dragging him out of the kitchen. He didn't really know where he was heading, but he really needed to get out of there. The Uchiha family truly was a crazy one.

Itachi eyed Naruto as he was pulling his younger brother out of the room and an amused smile spread across his face, before returning to the office where he had been working. Interesting guy.

-----

An hour later, Sasuke decided it was enough for one day and let Naruto out. He had to admit that Naruto wasn't the dimwit that he thought he would be and that he was rather good when he concentrated- but that was the hard part of it all. Getting him to concentrate. But once he did, said boy would be silent and would actually work seriously. Sasuke had now and then allowed himself to look at the blonde and was rather amused by the simplest things Naruto did- slightly sticking his tongue out whenever he was thinking hard, chewing on the pencil he was holding or pouting whenever he answered something incorrectly. The dark-haired boy also noticed the whisker marks the blonde had on his cheeks and they oddly reminded him of a fox. He had to admit that it was pretty cute.

"Ehm…" Naruto began hesitantly when he was standing in the doorway, holding his bag. Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"You want me to give you a ride, don't you?" Naruto nodded and Sasuke could have sworn that he was blushing. He was probably embarrassed by it. "Come on then, idiot."

"I'm not an idiot, bastard!" Naruto stated loudly as he followed the other boy to his black car. He wasn't really happy to ask another ride of the young Uchiha, but he really didn't have a choice- it was a long way to his house and he didn't feel like walking at all. Besides, the sun was setting by now and he hated walking in the dark by himself. It would always creep him out- though he would never admit that to Sasuke, of course.

"You know, I understand why you told me not to talk to your brother," Naruto suddenly said in the car. Sasuke had to withhold a smile when he heard that, but Naruto saw the hint of amusement in his eyes and decided to continue, "I mean, the guy must be some sort of paedophile, talking like that to me!"

"Idiot, you're seventeen and he's twenty-two (1). I'd hardly call that paedophilia," Sasuke replied. Naruto could hear that he was holding back a smile and was wondering why Sasuke did that- as if he had some sort of barrier around him that he didn't want to lose. Naruto shrugged. Something must've happened in his childhood if it was true.

"Well, still, it is creepy," Naruto said. "And I'm not an idiot! If you really want to know, people happen to like me for my intellect," he continued, raising his nose in a smug sort of way. Sasuke snorted.

"So it would seem, look at the guy with the red make-up on his face- he sure looks like an intellectual," he replied, sarcasm unbelievably obvious.

"Apparently, you didn't see it very well. Those are actually tattoos. Secondly, he happens to know everything about dogs… not to mention how dog biscuits taste," the blonde boy grinned, thinking back on how Kiba had once told him that dog biscuits were actually good to eat once you got used to them. Naruto had merely laughed in his face at that.

This little remark however, made Sasuke smile. If only a little.

"Oh my God!" Naruto gasped, pointing at the other boy.

"What is it?" he said, trying to hide his concern- the blonde was looking as if he had seen a ghost.

"Did you just smile? Man, that was creepy." Sasuke raised an eyebrow at that- he didn't know if he should be amused or annoyed. Naruto grinned at him, but it soon faded as he saw that they had reached his house. Sasuke was a bit surprised at the disappointment he felt as well- he actually did have a nice conversation with the other boy and he was happy to continue it.

Not that he ever would admit that, of course.

"Ah, thanks for the ride," said Naruto, beginning to feel slightly nervous at the prospect of seeing his stepsisters and stepmother again. He was standing outside of the Uchiha's car and slammed the door shut. Sasuke pushed a button and the window rolled open, so he could say one last thing to the blonde.

"No problem, idiot," Sasuke replied and before Naruto had a chance to protest at the word 'idiot', he said, "And don't let that Sakura put you down like yesterday. You're an idiot, but you can stand up for yourself." Without waiting for a reply from Naruto, he drove off and leaving a slightly confused, yet happy Naruto.

----

"Freak! Where have you been? I'm starving, make us something to eat," Sakura said the moment Naruto came in. Said blonde looked at her and was about to comply, until he remembered what Sasuke had said to him. Ino was also looking at him with pure hatred and her eyes were clearly saying 'I totally agree with her, so go!'.

"Make it yourself," Naruto simply said. Sakura and Ino looked at each other, their eyes narrowing. "I'm not your slave!" And with that, Naruto ran up to his small attic and locked the door, somehow relieved that he had done that.

But then fear washed over him once again.

Oh no, they'll tell Une (2) and then she'll do something terrible to me… Oh, why did I even listen to him? I can't believe it, I'm really in trouble now. Une was on vacation to Hawaii (3) for a couple of weeks so he really didn't have to fear anything just yet, but Ino and Sakura wouldn't forget. Not when they could make his life even more miserable. So it was better to apologise immediately. He was about to go downstairs to apologise, when he suddenly heard a familiar 'beep' coming from his pocket.

'How are you today? Feeling better?' Naruto snorted at this when he read it. It was, of course, from Sharingan and he felt his heartbeat increase rapidly as he replied.

'The usual… and you? Going to a friend's place tomorrow, I'm glad to get out of here for a while…' Naruto smiled sadly as he remembered the fact that he was still in this house. This life. The life of someone who was an utter loser- hardly any friends, no true family… he usually even wondered why he was alive.

Why was he?

He still hadn't found the answer. He refused to believe that he was alive because Sakura, Ino and Une needed him. He wasn't alive because his father needed him. He also was rather certain that he wasn't alive for anyone else, for that matter. At least, not yet. And he could hardly see himself being loved by someone… though he was hoping that someday, someone would sincerely love him. That someone wanted to grow old with him.

But still, the question 'why am I alive' was still roaming inside his head.

And he hated it.

----

The next day he was reluctant to get out of bed. He was looking forward to get out of the house though, but first he needed to get past Sakura and Ino, who wouldn't let him leave the house without making fun of him first. Especially after what he had said the previous day.

He had decided not to apologise for it, as the words of Sasuke kept coming back to him. And Sasuke had been right- he wasn't some pushover, he was a human too and he didn't deserve to be treated the way they had been treating him. And he wasn't going to take it all anymore.

Well, at least not as much as before.

At 11 P.M. the doorbell rang. Naruto looked up from his bed with a look of utmost terror on his face- it was already this late? Naruto quickly pulled on some clean pants and a clean shirt, before rushing downstairs to see Neji standing in the doorway, smiling slightly at the boy, who seemed rather flushed.

Neji could clearly see the blonde just came out of bed- his hair was messier than usual and he still had a drowsy look in his eyes, even though he seemed to be energetic as usual. He hadn't noticed the fact that Ino and Sakura were actually talking to him and were surprised to see that there was yet another popular guy from school at their house. Well, they weren't exactly surprised- they were more delighted.

Naruto briefly stared at them and could easily read the expression on their faces- they clearly thought Neji was coming to see them. Heh, wouldn't they like that…

"Naruto," Neji said, nodding. He ignored the looks he got from the two girls and greeted him. "Are you ready to go?" Naruto nodded and was about to pull on his shoes, when two familiar hands grabbed his arms. Apparently, Ino and Sakura weren't too happy to see him leave.

"What do you think you are doing?" They both said at the same time, gritting their teeth. Naruto stared at them calmly, before replying,

"I am going to work on our project with Neji," he pulled himself free from their grip as he walked towards the other boy, who had one eyebrow raised. "So, if you don't mind, we're off."

Sakura and Ino merely stared at them.

----

"Well, that was… decidedly odd," Neji finally said in the car. His car was beautiful, just as Sasuke's had been and Naruto wondered how all those guys got that rich.

"Yeah," Naruto replied- he didn't really want to continue discussing his 'family' with Neji as he didn't know what the other boy would think about him if he did tell him. He probably would ignore him or something, or decide that he didn't want to talk to him anymore… the usual thing.

"Are they your sisters?" Crap. Apparently Neji wasn't done talking about them.

"No, stepsisters," Naruto replied. He had the urge to say 'unfortunately', but managed to restrain himself from doing so. Neji quirked an eyebrow.

"You know, I think they always sit at our table. Not sure though," Naruto snickered at this- it was true, they really were always sitting with Neji and Sasuke and all the rest of the popular rich boys. "I always found them quite annoying."

"You're not the only one," Naruto said, chuckling. It earned him an amused smile from Neji in return.

----

The ride on the way to his house was spent in a comfortable silence and Naruto didn't mind it one bit. Somehow, Neji made him feel a lot more calmer than any other person he had ever met- even Sasuke didn't achieve this with him. Though he was pretty close.

"Wow," Naruto only managed to say as they stopped in front of the Hyuuga mansion. Neji smirked at the sight of Naruto, who stood there with his mouth open, just like he had done when he had seen Sasuke's house the day before. Again, the house was huge and beautiful and very welcoming. "It's almost as big as Sasuke's!" The blonde exclaimed, as they walked up to the front door. For a moment, Neji seemed to be annoyed by something, but quickly gave him a gentle smile.

"You've been to Uchiha's house?" Naruto nodded while he looked at the keys Neji was holding.

"Yeah, we went there yesterday. He's tutoring me in math."

"I'm pretty good at math myself," Neji said and opened the door, which earned him another gasp from Naruto as the house was also beautiful from the inside. "Maybe I could help you with it as well, if you'd like." Neji grinned at himself and gave him a mental pat on the back as Naruto nodded enthusiastically.

"Whoa, thanks Neji!" He said cheerfully. He had no idea why, but the boy actually seemed to like him- it was odd, but he was glad about it, maybe they would actually become friends. "You know, you're really nice!" Neji was about to reply, until he heard someone speaking.

"N-Naruto-kun," said a soft voice from the hallway. Naruto looked around to see where it had came from and saw a girl with black hair standing behind a table, fidgeting with her fingers while looking down.

"Hinata!" Naruto said loudly and greeted her cheerfully. He had known that she was related to Neji, so he wasn't really surprised to see her there- she must've been visiting. Hinata was in most of his classes, but she didn't really talk to anyone. He sometimes attempted to start a conversation with her, but failed miserably as the girl was too shy. "How are you doing?"

"G-good," she stammered, the blush on her cheeks growing even redder as she looked up to meet his eyes for just a moment.

"Ah, that's good," he replied, smiling.

"Come, Naruto, let's get started," Neji suddenly said and grabbed the blonde by the wrist and took him to his room, leaving Hinata alone.

----

After a couple of hours researching on Neji's laptop, he and Naruto finally had a good deal of information that was needed for their project and had also divided their work. In the end, Neji was content with all the results and a certain feeling arose as he watched the blonde fidgeting with his pencil.

"Naruto, I was thinking," the black-haired boy started and interrupted the other's concentration. "I have these concert tickets for Shinedown and, since I couldn't think of anyone else to go with me, perhaps you would like to? I mean, we could get something to eat and perhaps work on our project that afternoon and-"

"Are you kidding me!" Naruto said, throwing his hands in the air. Neji was slightly startled at this- he apparently thought Naruto didn't want to go with him, until the blonde continued, "Shinedown is my absolute favourite band- hell yeah, I want to go!" Neji smiled amusedly as the boy started to jump around the room screaming 'I'm going to Shinedown!' and was glad that he had asked him.

Something told him a certain Uchiha wouldn't be, though.

----

"Thanks for the ride Neji and are you sure you don't want any money for that ticket? I mean-"

"Don't worry about it, they were a gift from my father anyway. Now stop asking about it. I'll see you Monday, right?" Naruto smiled at him and nodded, before slamming the door of the car shut and waving him goodbye.

As he entered his house, he ignored the glares that Sakura and Ino gave him and went straight upstairs. He was far too happy to let them ruin this moment- he was actually going to a concert. With a friend. Who liked him. No, he definitely wouldn't let them ruin it and he also was in luck- his stepmother wouldn't be back next Saturday, when the concert was and therefore couldn't stop him from going.

He was jumping on his bed and was cheering when suddenly he heard the familiar 'beep' coming from his phone once again and quickly jumped off and grabbed it.

'Kyuubi, I don't want to wait any longer. I want to meet you, I want to meet you soon.'

Naruto stared for a full five minutes at his phone, wondering if he should do it or not.

----

A/N:

(1): I don't know how old Itachi really is, but in my fic he's twenty-two. So nyah. XD

(2) I couldn't find any character that would be the best to play the evil stepmother. I guess I could've taken Tsunade, but I don't know… she wouldn't really be very fitting, so I just made one up using the name of one of the characters from Gundam Wing… I really hate Lady Une there, so I guess I could make that one evil xD

(3) I know I said in the previous chapter something about that Naruto's stepmother had said that Naruto needed to make dinner- well, just pretend she said that over the phone and everything's okay xD I wanted her to be at Hawaii at this point, but Une will enter the story pretty soon.