Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto or Romeo and Juliet I don't think I'd be spending my time writing fanfictions. But, then again, maybe I would!

Author's Note: Hey, everyone, I'm back with chapter seven! The beginning is like all actual paragraphs! I was sooo surprised when I wrote it because usually my stories are like 99.99999 dialogue. But like the first ten or more paragraphs are all actual paragraphs! If that makes any sense! We get some of Naruto's POV in here, which is good because up until now we have no idea what our cute lovable little blonde has been thinking.

Okay, one concern that people have been telling me: scene breaks. I know I know! But, I really do break them up! At first I used the little stars, whatever they're called, but they didn't show up! Then I used dashes and now those don't seem to show up either! Now in this one I tried the swiggly lines. Hopefully those show up. If they don't then I'm sorry! I'll try something else! Okay, whoa, that was a long A/N, so I'll shut the hell up now. Please read and review and thanks for all of your reviews! I love you guys::hugs and kisses: Bye, SilverRose88.

Chapter Seven

Being confused was a hard thing. Being confused and upset was even worse. After almost a week of avoiding Naruto, Sasuke had finally realized this. And, he tried to ignore the feelings, but they wouldn't go away. It was getting rather annoying, really, and Sasuke wasn't sure what to do. Avoiding Naruto had worked for awhile, but as the days progressed, Sasuke had found out that shunning the blonde boy had only had the reverse effect. Sasuke soon came to miss Naruto's antics, smiling face, carefree attitude, and loud opinions.

However, no matter what he was experiencing from being away from Naruto, Sasuke knew he had to do it at least until he figured out his feelings. It was hard though. Really, it was. Sasuke couldn't help but notice how Naruto was always looking at him curiously; his sapphire eyes full of confusion and, to Sasuke's surprise, even some hurt. Sasuke didn't like making Naruto feel that way, but he didn't trust himself with Naruto when he had these messed up feelings.

But there was a downside to all of this that made Sasuke cringe and seethe as though hellfire itself was boiling inside him. Since Sasuke was now out of the picture, Neji and Gaara had moved in. And, quite quickly too, Sasuke noticed. Practically the instant they'd realized that Naruto wasn't spending much time with Sasuke anymore, the two had pretty much jumped to gain the attention of the blonde and very oblivious boy. Naruto was always with Neji at work, and then with Gaara almost everyday after school. Then, during classes, both of them seemed to be wherever Naruto was.

It was making Sasuke incredible angry. He couldn't remember a time he'd been so pissed off. But, then the fact that he was angry brought another round of confusion and denial into the dark-haired boy's life. No matter how many times he told himself that these thoughts and emotions were his hormones going haywire, Sasuke had the subtle idea that he was lying through his teeth. But how could he like Naruto? He was a guy, for crying out loud! Sasuke liked girls and he knew Naruto liked girls. Naruto had this little crush on Sakura, which also made Sasuke cringe, especially since the pink-haired girl was way too annoying to be liked by anyone. And then there was the fact that she seemed to be everywhere Sasuke was; it got to the point that Sasuke couldn't even stand to look at her.

Keeping away from Naruto wasn't going as well as Sasuke had thought. The entire theory was thrown back into his face, having the complete opposite effect, and then there was the way Naruto acted. He was blatantly ignoring Sasuke. While at first he still tried to get Sasuke to talk to him and include him into stuff, now he just walked right past him in the halls, paid no attention to anything he said or did at all. Sasuke knew he couldn't really blame him since it was his fault. For one, Sasuke hadn't said a word to Naruto for almost a week. He made no attempts to speak to him unless absolutely necessary. For two, Sasuke kept making excuses to get out of studying or rehearsing together with Naruto. He'd said so many that he was now coming short of lies. Sasuke knew that Naruto was catching onto the fact that the dark-haired boy was not telling the truth, and this just seemed to make Naruto even more annoyed with Sasuke than he was before.

By Friday, the seventh day of this 'avoidance,' Sasuke was getting impatient. He still had no answers to his problems, and had only been gaining more trouble because of his so-called brilliant idea. How was he supposed to know that being away from Naruto would only increase his desires to be with him? How was he supposed to know that watching Neji and Gaara surround Naruto all the time, without being able to butt in, get him all heated up? How could he have known that he would have missed the blonde boy so much? Miss his smile, his positive, happy-go-lucky attitude, his childish ways of everything he did? How could he have known that he would miss spending time studying together or rehearsing lines together?

No, there was no possible way Sasuke could have ever realized any of this, and it had all but slapped him in the face. He'd never once assumed he'd miss Naruto this much. But he did, and by now, when the blonde wasn't so much as even looking at him, Sasuke wondered if things would ever go back to the way it had been before.

Naruto walked down the streets towards the restaurant after school angrily. It had been an entire week. One whole week since Sasuke had last talked to him. What the hell had suddenly made Sasuke decide he didn't want anything to do with Naruto? It had been so unexpected, that Naruto had just thought Sasuke was having a bad day. Everyone has bad days once in awhile, right? So, it only made sense to assume that at first. But, then as the days went on, and as Sasuke still made no attempt to talk to Naruto, made no answers whenever Naruto talked to him, did Naruto realize that something was off.

He'd been trying to figure it out. For a week he'd been trying to understand what was up with Sasuke. He learned after a few days that it was probably best to never try to understand the mind of a Uchiha. You only ended up confusing yourself. And that's what Naruto was. Confused. And hurt. He hadn't expected to feel hurt, but he did. He and Sasuke weren't exactly best buds, but they did spend a considerable amount of time together and Naruto was sort of beginning to see them as potential friends. But then this happened, and now Naruto wasn't sure what was going on. He felt hurt and upset. He'd felt that way before many times too. When he was little, he'd always been ignored by most of his classmates. So when Sasuke had just randomly decided to stop talking to him, Naruto had felt quite betrayed. It was like a flash of his past come back to haunt him.

But it wasn't all so bad. Just because Sasuke was being an ass didn't mean that Naruto couldn't live on normally. Sure, he did ignore Sasuke same as Sasuke ignored him, but he didn't really miss him or anything. However, a few times he did find himself thinking about the dark-haired boy and wondering what he was doing at that moment during the day. Or, he'd again try to find the reason behind Sasuke's game of avoidance. But, it wasn't really that important to him anyway. He had other things on his mind. Like work, the play, and the fact that his friendship with his best friend seemed to have been renewing itself.

Gaara and Naruto had been spending practically everyday after school together. They rehearsed lines or just hung out by themselves or with a group of friends. Naruto was extremely happy that his old best friend was back in his life again. He'd missed the days when they were little and now he was glad Gaara had taken the initiative to become friends again.

And, then there was Neji. Naruto couldn't forget about his other friend. He and Neji worked together when they shared shifts, and usually spent time afterwards either having dinner, catching a movie or rehearsing. Naruto had never been really close to Neji before, but now, the raven-haired boy seemed to have somehow bumped up to his second-closest friend.

Naruto shook his head. It was too much thinking of all that had been happening lately. Instead, he focused on what he needed to do right now: not being late for work…again.

"Naruto!"

Naruto sighed, breathing heavily. He'd practically ran the last block and a half to get here on time. The blonde looked up at his friend and said, "Did I make it?"

Neji checked and clock and then smirked. "Missed it by three seconds. But, I'll give it to you just because you look way too pathetic,"

"Hey!" Naruto said, taking offense at the 'pathetic' comment. "Don't be so mean, Neji!"

"Shut up, and get to work!" Neji said, tossing Naruto an apron. "You're working in the back today,"

"Argh! I hate working in the kitchen," Naruto whined, but he took the apron and put it on anyway, heading towards the back.

"Try not to drop anything today," Neji called after him.

"Haha, very funny!" Naruto said. "And, while I try not to do that, why don't you try to greet customers like a normal happy person?"

"Just get to work!" Neji snapped, smiling slightly however.

Naruto grinned and disappeared into the back room.

Neji sighed and then turned to a customer who was waiting to be greeted. Neji remembered Naruto's words, and just thinking of the blonde caused a smile to tug at his lips. He greeted the old woman with rare pleasantry, finding it very easy to smile. At least, with Naruto on his mind, it wasn't hard at all.

Sasuke sighed as he parked his car in the lot before the restaurant. Why had he come here? What stupid force had compelled him to turn this way instead of heading back home? He didn't want to talk to Naruto. He didn't want to see Naruto. So, then why did he find himself sitting in his car outside of the exact place Naruto worked?

"Argh, to hell with it!" Sasuke exclaimed angrily. He wanted to talk to Naruto. At least see Naruto. Sasuke threw open the door and got out of his car, heading inside the restaurant. Sasuke practically snarled when he found Neji behind the counter instead of Naruto. He walked briskly to the counter and waited behind a few customers until he faced the Hyuuga.

Neji nodded and smiled to his customer, getting more and more used to actually smiling as his shift had gone on. Naruto was right, it didn't hurt acting somewhat nice to the customers. And, he got compliments in return for his rather nice behavior so Neji wasn't exactly complaining. But, his cheeks did hurt a bit. He wondered with a growing smile and shake of his head how Naruto kept his smile up all day long. That boy's just different, he thought, knowing it was true. And, knowing it to be a reason Neji was so attracted to him.

Neji knew that not everyone could smile all the time. He knew that he certainly couldn't for when he looked up again, expecting another simple customer, the smile was wiped off his face when he found the last person in the world he'd ever expected to see.

"You seem happy about something, Hyuuga. I've never seen that smile on your face before,"

"Uchiha," Neji ground out, feeling very angry, more than usual at least. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to talk to Naruto. He's here, isn't he?" Sasuke said.

Neji didn't believe him for one second. He knew that something had happened between Uchiha and Naruto, something that began with this bastard just blatantly starting to ignore Naruto. Because of his avoidance, Naruto had been quite upset, and Neji hated seeing Naruto upset. It was so far from the way the blonde usually acted, that it made him feel upset and desolate as well. Neji wanted nothing to do with the one who had done that to Naruto.

"Well? Answer my question, Hyuuga," Sasuke said, growing impatient. "Is Naruto here or not?"

"Even if he was, you couldn't see him. He's working," Neji said.

Sasuke glared at him. "I want to talk to Naruto. Bring him out here, now,"

"I told you that he's working. He just can't stop for the likes of you. And, I highly doubt he'd listen to you anyway, seeing as how you've been ignoring him lately," Neji said coolly.

Sasuke flinched. "What goes on between Naruto and me is none of your concern," he said through clenched teeth.

"I think you have that wrong. It very well does concern me," Neji said.

"Just tell Naruto to come out here," Sasuke said.

"I told you that he's busy working and doesn't have the time to talk with you," Neji said.

"And I told you to tell him I'm here," Sasuke said.

The two glared at one another, the electricity of hatred sparked between them.

"If you don't mind, Uchiha, but I must interrupt our little conversation seeing as how I have customers who need serving," Neji said.

Sasuke glared at him again. "Hyuuga--"

"You'd do well to remember what I said. Naruto has no intention of talking to you right now. Either leave, or I'll show you out," Neji said.

"You bastard, I'll get Naruto to talk to me again, and you'd do well to remember that," Sasuke said before turning on his heel and storming out the door.

"Okay, class, since we've finished early today, you can work on your project with your partner for the rest of the class period," Kakashi said.

The students got up and walked around to find their partners and began working immediately. There were only two students who weren't taking any initiative. A blonde-haired boy, and a dark-haired boy both sat rooted in their seats, which unfortunately for them were side by side, with their heads down on the desks. Neither boy said a word to the other, just waited, waited to see if one of them would take action or waited to see if they could make it though the rest of the period without having to do anything with one another at all.

Apparently the latter didn't work because a few minutes later, their teacher yelled loudly from the front of the room, "Naruto! Sasuke! Get to work now!"

The boys groaned, and lifted their heads reluctantly. They turned to the other and just stared for a moment. Then, when neither said a word, they turned back and put their heads down again.

"I mean it!" Kakashi yelled at them.

"Fine, dammit!" they shouted back.

Naruto turned to Sasuke, annoyance etched on his face. The blonde wasn't in any mood to talk about anything with the raven-haired boy. It had been another three days of their avoiding one another and since Sasuke hadn't made any attempt to fix the problem, Naruto hadn't either. Why would Naruto be the one to heal the mess they were in? It was all Sasuke's fault anyway. He started it all with his stupid ideas about just randomly ignoring Naruto. And because of all Sasuke's avoidance, they hadn't spent any time rehearsing. Iruka was practically growing horns in rage at the horrible way they were acting. And then they hadn't gotten any farther on their project either, and had been in the same spot for almost ten days.

"Well, are we working or not?" Naruto asked.

Sasuke flinched inwardly at the cold tone of Naruto's voice. He tried to sounder a bit warmer when he said, "Yeah, sure. Let's get something done at least,"

Naruto looked a bit surprised at how easily Sasuke said yes, especially considering the past week. "O-Okay…" he said a bit uncertainly, but began taking out his notes on the famous western person they were researching.

They worked easily as though nothing out of the ordinary had been happening between them. But, at the end of the hour, they put everything away and parted without another word.

"What's up, Naruto, you seem unlike yourself today," Shikamaru said.

"Yeah, you've been acting weird lately," Kiba noted.

Naruto just shrugged, not really sure the about the answer himself.

"Is it something with Uchiha? The two of you haven't been hanging out for awhile," Shikamaru said.

"No, it's not about him!" Naruto said heatedly.

The way he replied completely told everyone the opposite. They rolled their eyes at Naruto, but the blonde didn't notice.

"Why don't you just confront him and find out what's wrong?" Kiba said. "You know you want to,"

"What? No, I don't! I don't care about that bastard," Naruto said.

"You're a bad liar, Naruto," Shikamaru said.

Naruto grunted but didn't reply. He turned his attention to his meal and said nothing more the entire lunch period.

Naruto tried not to let Kiba's words get to him. It wasn't Naruto's problem, so why should he confront Sasuke about why he was being a bastard? But, no matter what Naruto told himself, he knew he was lying. He did want to know what was going on. He wanted to find out if this avoidance will ever stop. He wanted to know if they'd ever be 'friends' again. But, Naruto didn't know how to do it. How was he going to get Sasuke to talk to him? Should he do what Kiba suggested? Just go up and confront him?

By the end of the day, Naruto had formulated his plan of action. He was going to confront Sasuke and he was going to get some answers. This had gone on long enough.

"Oi, Naruto, you coming?" Neji asked after school.

"Yeah, but I have to find Sasuke first. I need to talk to him," Naruto said as they walked out the classroom.

Neji stared at Naruto for a second before replying, "Uchiha? Why are you going to do that?"

"Because he's being an ass and I want to know what's going on," Naruto said. "you can just go ahead home. I'll come over when I'm done,"

Neji shook his head. "I can wait," he said quickly.

"You sure? Okay! I'll be quick!" Naruto said, then made his way to this locker, hoping Sasuke would be at his, too.

After Naruto had put away his stuff and had taken out his backpack, Sasuke came down the hall. He passed right by Naruto and to his own locker. Naruto waited patiently until Sasuke shut his locker and was about to leave before he called out to him, "Hey, Sasuke-bastard!"

Sasuke turned instinctively at the name and voice he had gotten so used to. "What do you want, dobe?" he asked.

"Don't call me dobe!" Naruto said loudly. "I want to talk. I've got some things I want to ask you,"

"Fine. Here? Let's go somewhere else,"

"Can't. I've got to be quick. Neji's waiting for me out front,"

Sasuke stared at him exactly as Neji had. "Hyuuga? You're meeting with him? What for?" Sasuke tried to keep his anger out of his voice.

"Yeah, because we're going to rehearse," Naruto replied, truly oblivious to the resentment in Sasuke's voice and the way he kept clenching his fists at his side. "Okay, so tell me what's been going on. Why have you been ignoring me?"

Sasuke knew he should have expected that question, but that didn't stop him from being a bit surprised. He had never thought that Naruto would actually come forth and ask about it. And, Sasuke knew he couldn't answer that. How could he possibly say that 'It's because I think I'm going insane thinking about you all the time!'? So, instead, not knowing what else he could do, Sasuke turned to the ever true method: denial and being a complete ass. If only he'd known what this method would lead to within the next few minutes.

"Hn. I don't know what you're talking about," Sasuke said, turning away.

Naruto looked like he'd been slapped. "What the hell are you saying? You know very wall what I'm talking about, you bastard!"
"You stupid dobe, I told you that I don't know what you're talking about," Sasuke said. "So, just do me a favor and get lost,"

"Sasuke, don't lie! I know something's up, I know you're hiding something, so why the hell can't you tell me what has been going on? I thought we were friends, damn it!" Naruto yelled.

Sasuke froze at that last statement. He turned sharply to face Naruto, his eyes growing wide. "I-I-you-what?" he stammered incoherently.

But Naruto didn't hear him. He looked away and said, "I guess I was wrong. Just forget about what I said. I've got to go, Neji's waiting for me. Goodbye, Sasuke-bastard," And Naruto turned on his heel and walked off.

Sasuke stood, rooted to the ground staring at the spot where Naruto had stood just a second ago. He was still trying to process what the blonde had said. He was still trying to understand the meaning of the words, and the meaning of what his avoidance and of what his words had done. Naruto had seen them as friends. Naruto had seen Sasuke as his friend. For once in what seemed like a long time, Sasuke understood what having 'friends' felt like. For once, he felt the warmth in his heart that could only come from having friends. They were friends.

No. They had been friends. Sasuke had ruining their entire friendship with his stupidity and now Naruto seemed to hate him.

Damn it, What have I done?

"Thanks for waiting, Neji," Naruto said.

"Not at all. What happened?" Neji asked.

Naruto shrugged and didn't reply.

Neji stared at him and felt upset that Naruto couldn't open up and tell him things. He wished Naruto would, but knew that there wasn't any way to mention it to the blonde without sounding incredibly awkward. Neji did know that the best way to get Naruto to open up more was to befriend him more. They were friends, yes, but they still weren't very close. Neji wanted their friendship to be closer. He wanted them to be really good friends. It would make things easier that way.

Suddenly, Neji had an idea. He mentally attacked himself for never thinking of it sooner. "Hey, Naruto, instead of rehearsing, do you just want to hang out? Maybe see a movie?"

Naruto turned to him a bit surprised. "That was random. Any reason?"

"I'm just not in the mood to rehearse. And you seem down. Some ramen and a movie should cheer you up. Want to go?" Neji asked.

Naruto continued to stare at Neji for a while before grinning slowly and exclaiming, "Ah! Neji you're the best!" Naruto hugged his friend tightly in affection.

Neji blushed slightly. Then, he smiled and led the blonde down the street.

Sasuke didn't remember a time he'd felt more disgusted with himself. It came to the point that he wanted to just give himself a good hard kick. Naruto had thought of him as a friend and Sasuke had practically gone and burned all their chances of ever begin friends again. Why had he ever thought that avoiding Naruto would help in any way? Avoiding Naruto hadn't worked in the least and now Naruto was so angry with him, try weren't even friends anymore.

Sasuke swore. He couldn't believe the mess he was in. What was he going to do now?

He could just talk to Naruto, but after what happened that day, Sasuke was certain Naruto wouldn't even look at him anymore. And then there was how Sasuke could hardly get near Naruto with Neji and Gaara around. But Sasuke wouldn't just give up. Uchihas never gave up that easily. It wasn't in their genes to do something as pathetic as that. Therefore, Sasuke knew he couldn't just give up. Now way. Sasuke would have to try at least. Besides he'd told that bastard Hyuuga that he'd get Naruto to talk to him again. And an Uchiha always keeps his word. Even to the enemy.

Sasuke knew what he had to do. No matter what he was going to get Naruto back on his side. He was going to heal the friendship they had. Sasuke wasn't going to give Naruto up that easily.

A/N: Bleh. I don't like this chapter much. I mean, its good and all, but I think I could have had some more going on. I do however LOVE the confrontation between Sasuke and Neji. That was the best part I think. I was going to just end the chapter with Sasuke storming out the restaurant, but I didn't want to risk you reviewers coming after me with pitchforks. But you wouldn't do that would you? I hope not. Anyway, there you go, chapter seven! I know the ending sucks, but I got bored with the chapter, so I decided to cut it off. Next will be chapter eight, which I better start since I have no idea what's going to happen! Well, later from SilverRose88.