Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and Company. And, some of the lines in this chapter are quote from William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. That play does not belong to me either.

Author's Note: Hey, I'm back! I'm just on a role with this story, I love it. We're getting to some good stuff in this chapter. Well, at least I think so. Okay, I'll just shut up because I have nothing else to say. Please read and review. Yours, SilverRose88.

Chapter Two

"O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo? Deny thy father and refuse thy name; or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, and I'll no longer be a Capulet."

"Good, good, Sakura," Iruka said to the pink haired girl, who smiled and took her seat. "Next up, Sasuke,"

Sasuke got up from his desk and went down to the front. Iruka handed him the script of Romeo. "Isn't Naruto playing Romeo?"

"Yes, but this is only to see how well you each read the lines and perform. Start at the beginning of scene two," Iruka said.

Sasuke nodded, found the correct page and began to read, "But soft! What light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun. Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon, who is already sick and pale with grief that thou, her maid, art far more fair than she,"

The entire class stopped reciting their lines and turned to stare at Sasuke in the front who seemed to have transformed from a cold bastard to a soft intelligent actor. The raven-haired boy was performing the lines like a professional. Every work and action was full of heart. The sentences flowed like water down a river. Pronunciation and accuracy were precise and without flaw. The hand movements and actions fell exactly into place with the perfect reading.

When Sasuke finished reading a few paragraphs five minutes later, the stopped ands looked up at the awed expressions on every person in the room. "What?" Sasuke asked, staring at them.

The room was still quiet.

After another few minutes, "Damn! You're good! That was so-so elegant, you sounded like a girl!" Naruto yelled, pointing at Sasuke.

The class burst out in laughter. Sasuke turned an angry shade of red.

"Dobe! Don't say that! I'm not a girl!" Sasuke said angrily.

"I know that! You just performed way too elegantly and gracefully like a girl would be. I think you'd play a better Juliet," Naruto said.

"Naruto. Shut up." Sasuke said.

"What? It's true," Naruto said. "Don't you think so, Neji?"

Neji nodded, and gave a slight smirk. "Completely. Juliet would suit you better, Uchiha,"

"I don't want to hear that from you, Hyuuga!" Sasuke said. He turned to Iruka and said, "I'm done, right? Can I sit down?"

"Y-Yes, go ahead, and, um, good job," Iruka said. He turned to the other directors in the play. "What did you think? That was better than anyone in the last ten years!"

"Yes, he did a great job," Kakashi said, nodding.

"And, Naruto had a good point too," Jiraiya said.

"What? That Sasuke would play a better girl?" Iruka asked, confused and suspicious of the mischievous gleam in the other two's eyes.

"Yes. He even looks somewhat like a girl," Kakashi said. "We should get him to play Juliet,"

"But, Naruto is Romeo. Are we allowed to have two males as opposite roles?" Iruka said.

"Well, if the roles fit their actors, what does it matter? You know that Sasuke was much better than anyone ever, and the way he performed, well, he'd rather be in a girl's dress," Jiraiya said.

"And, how are we going to get him to play Juliet?" Iruka questioned. "You saw him flip out from one little comment by Naruto. If he actually plays the part of the girl…"

"Yes, it will be a problem getting him to accept, what with his and Naruto's complete hatred towards each other. The two of them are always at each other's throats in my class, and if they were to be rehearsing together too…it could end up in disaster," Kakashi replied.

Iruka sighed. "He'll be the last resort. If there's a girl better than him, then she'll get the part,"

"But none of the girls really want to work opposite Naruto, which is a shame, but what can we do? They'd all wished for Sasuke to play Romeo, then finding a Juliet wouldn't have been so hard," Kakashi said.

"Yeah, but then the girls that lost the part would kill the one who did, or kill us for not giving them the part," Jiraiya said.

"Then, it's a good thing Naruto's playing Romeo. But, if Sasuke's Juliet…"

"Yes, completely and utter chaos,"

"Oi, dobe, are you coming or not?" Sasuke asked a few days later after school.

"Nope!" Naruto said cheerfully.

"What?" Sasuke said. He turned to face the blonde in full.

Naruto shoved some books into his backpack and said, "I'm not going tonight. I can't,"

"And why the hell not? We have to work on our project, and Iruka-sensei is making me run lines with you for drama class. You are so horrible at performing, I guess I understand why,"

"Well at least I'm not like a girl!" Naruto shot back.

"Shut it with that comment!" Sasuke said. "Now, hurry up so we can go,"

"I told you already, I'm not going. I've got other stuff going on to research with you every day of the week," Naruto said, shutting his locker door. "Sorry, Sasuke-bastard, but you're on your own for the day,"

"Naruto--I-I'll buy you ramen," Sasuke said. It was a pathetic last hope.

Naruto stopped at the mention of ramen, but then shook his head. "Sorry, I'm already getting treated to ramen by someone else today!" Naruto said.

Sasuke stared at him. "What?"

"I'm meeting a friend for ramen, so you don't have to treat me to any," Naruto said.

"Hey! Naruto, are you coming?"

Naruto turned and waved at Neji. "Coming!" he called back. "Sorry, Sasuke-bastard, but I've got to go. Ramen awaits!" He ran off to join Neji.

Sasuke glared after the two boys; he was certain that the dark-haired one had given Sasuke a smirk. Sasuke continued to glare long after they were gone. As he walked to his car, he started wondering why the hell he even cared if Naruto was going to get ramen with Neji. Big deal, right? Neji worked at that restaurant; he's probably getting some discount or something. Sasuke suppressed a laugh. Trust that blonde dobe to try to get cheaper meals. Yes, there wasn't anything wrong with Naruto going with Neji. They were friends, right? But then what was this odd feeling Sasuke was having? He didn't care. He hated that blonde. He hated him.

"Thanks for taking me, Neji," Naruto said. "I didn't know what I was going to do,"

"Not a problem," Neji replied. "You needed a job, and we needed the help,"

"This is great! Now we get to work together! Yahoo! It's so awesome!" Naruto said excitedly, grinning.

Neji could help but smile back slightly.

"H-Hey! Is-Is that a smile?" Naruto exclaimed, staring awed at his face.

Neji blushed a tiny bit, and quickly hid his smile. "What? No-no, it wasn't,"

"Yes it was! Ha! Ha! The great cold Hyuuga smiled!" Naruto said.

Neji shook his head. "Come on, and I'll show you what you've got to do," Neji said.

"I've got to make ramen! I know that!"

"No. You're a waiter,"

"What? But that's no fun!"

"I told you when you wanted the job that you were going to be a waiter. Didn't you hear me?"

"I did, but I forgot!" Naruto said.

"Well, it's too late now. You've already got the job. Now, if you work hard today and don't screw things up, I'll buy you ramen like I promised, got it?" Neji said.

Naruto nodded vigorously. "Yes, yes! I'll be the best waiter this place has ever seen! Thanks Neji, you're the best!" Naruto grinned and Neji looked away so that Naruto wouldn't see his smile.

"You've got to be one of the worst waiters I've ever seen," Neji said.

"Wah! Don't be so mean. It was my first time. I-I'll get better!" Naruto said.

"Lets see, how many glasses did you break? Ten?"

"Five!"

"And how many times did you get the order wrong?"

"…Three…"

"And how many trays did you drop?"

"One! Only one!"

Neji rolled his eyes. "That still isn't a very good day, Naruto. Keep this up and you'll get fired from here too,"

"But I'm trying! You can't condemn me for that!" Naruto said.

"No, I guess not," Neji said.

Naruto grinned happily.

"Hey, Sasuke-bastard, come on in!"

"Don't call me bastard, dobe,"

"But it fits you. And, don't call me dobe!"

"But it fits you," Sasuke replied, setting his backpack on the floor. "Okay, what first? Run lines, or research?"

"Run lines, I guess," Naruto said. He took our his script and began reading, when Sasuke interrupted. "What?"

"This fell out of your book," Sasuke said, holding up a photograph. Sasuke glared at the picture angrily.

"Oh, thanks! Neji gave that to me today. Now I can put it up on my wall," Naruto said, smiling at the photo of a blonde in uniform, grinning broadly and pulling a rather annoyed looking long raven-haired boy, also in uniform, into the picture. Naruto found a thumb tack and pinned it onto his wall of photos. "There!" he said satisfactorily, still smiling.

Sasuke moved over to look at the photo better. "Isn't that that one restaurant's uniform? Where you at ramen that day?"

"Yep, I work there now!"

"I thought you worked at the hotel," Sasuke said, staring at him.

"I did. But now I work here,"

"Did you quit?"

"Nah. Got fired. But it's okay. It's more fun to work with Neji anyway," Naruto said.

Sasuke cringed. "Is that why you didn't come to research Tuesday?"

"Oh, yeah. I went to get the job,"

"And you gave me that stupid excuse instead? Why didn't you just tell the truth?"

"What's the big deal? You don't really need to know what I do. What do you care?" Naruto looked at him curiously, then shrugged, and began reading his lines.

Sasuke glanced at the picture again and seethed. Suddenly, the gap between them seemed to have made and appearance. Even though the two of them had been spending practically every afternoon working on their projects together, it had never quite occurred to Sasuke that they weren't really…friends. But it wasn't that Sasuke wanted him as a friend. He was just a dumb dobe.

The raven haired boy looked over at Naruto who's face was scrunched up thoughtfully as he read the script. Sasuke suppressed a smile, but then realized what he was doing, he quickly shook his head, trying to get his mind back on track. Who cares if Naruto worked with Neji? They were friends, right? Sasuke didn't really care about Naruto. Just because they worked together, it didn't mean anything. Sasuke didn't need friends. He was fine on his own. Or, that's what he kept telling himself, at least.

"This is all crap!" Naruto suddenly exclaimed, brining Sasuke back to reality. "I'm bored. And I can't believe Iruka-sensei is making me do this! Argh!"

"Well, if was your punishment," Sasuke pointed out.

"B-But, it's too hard to understand! And, how am I going to memorize it all for the play? I can't. I won't. I give up. You be Romeo, you're better anyway," Naruto slumped down onto the bed, staring blankly at the ceiling.

"Get up, dobe. Sensei told me to teach you, now budge up," Sasuke said.

"No way," Naruto said. "I don't wanna,"

"Naruto--"

His words were cut off by a knock on the door. Sasuke turned to Naruto who was still lying on his bed. "Aren't you getting that?"

Naruto waved a hand. "You answer. I don't wanna get up,"

Sasuke rolled his eyes and heaved a sigh. He opened the door and stared, finding, "Hyuuga,"

Neji looked surprised. "Uchiha. What are you doing answering Naruto's door?"

Sasuke ignored him and turned back to Naruto. "It's Hyuuga,"

"Neji? What are you doing here? Wait. How did you even know I lived here?"

"I asked a friend of yours," Neji replied. "Now, Naruto could you kindly tell your butler here to let me in? He seems to be blocking the door on purpose,"

"Sasuke-bastard, let him in!" Naruto called from the bed.

Sasuke seethed and reluctantly let the Hyuuga in. "You better have a good reason to be here. Naruto and I were studying,"

"Yes, well, I happened to find some ramen at home that I thought Naruto would want, since I didn't need them. So, I brought it over," Neji said.

At the r-word, Naruto sat up quickly. "Neji? You brought ramen?"

"Yes,"

"Ahh! I love you!" Naruto exclaimed, running over and launching himself on the ramen deliverer.

Sasuke cringed at the 'I love you' comment, although he wasn't sure why. He glared at the grinning idiot and the quite smug bastard. "Naruto, we have research and rehearsing to do," Sasuke hissed.

"Aww, can we do that tomorrow? Please?" Naruto begged.

"B-But--"

"I promise to work tomorrow! It's Saturday! Okay, I-I'll give up the Three R's for awhile and we'll work promise!" Naruto said, peering into Sasuke's face with his large blue eyes.

Sasuke tried not to cave, but couldn't help it. "Fine. First thing tomorrow, come over to my house and we'll study, got that?"

"Yes, sir!" Naruto saluted. "Thanks Sasuke!" Naruto gave him a hug, and Sasuke's eyes grew wide. "I'll see you tomorrow then!"

"La-Later," Sasuke managed, trying to hide his surprised and sudden blush. He grabbed his backpack and left.

"What's with you and Uchiha?" Neji asked.

Naruto blinked. "…Nothing…We're just partners,"

"Not friends?"

"He hates me,"

Neji noticed how Naruto didn't say he hated him.

"You seem unusually out of it. Something wrong?"

Sasuke ignored his brother, and focused on his research.

"Why do you always work? It's not good for you, you know,"

"Look who's talking,"

"Why don't you go out ever? Like with friends or on a date?" Itachi inquired.

Sasuke tried to ignore him, but at his words the image of a certain blonde flashed through his mind. Sasuke mentally attacked himself for even thinking of that. He'd told himself before that Naruto meant nothing to him except for being his class partner. They weren't friends; Naruto hated him--his 'Sasuke-bastard' nickname confirmed that. Wait, had he just thought nickname? No. It wasn't a nickname, it was just what Naruto called him. Like how Sasuke always called him dobe…Like a nickname…

Sasuke shook his head again. Besides, he wasn't too fond of the loud obnoxious, ramen obsessed blonde anyway. After this project was finished, Sasuke would want nothing to do with him.

"What's with you little blonde buddy? He hasn't been around for awhile," Itachi said.

"Naruto's fine. He had some other stuff going on these few days," Sasuke replied, bitterness in his voice. That damn Hyuuga…

"I see," Itachi said, staring curiously at his brother.

"He'll be back tomorrow,"

"Great. Have him over for lunch or dinner, Sasuke. That kid's just so-so…cute, I guess,"

Sasuke lowered his head to hide a creeping blush. He knew very well how cute and childish Naruto could be. He saw it everyday. How excited Naruto got over ramen. How easily he showed his emotions for practically everyone and everything. How he could affect someone's decision with those big blue puppy dog eyes. He knew how Naruto's clumsiness and happy attitude could even make the most coldest stone on the block turn into watery mush.

"Now, what's that look, I wonder?" Itachi said slyly, noticing an odd expression that had never been on his brother's face before.

Sasuke was genuinely smiling.