Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Sasuke does! ;D Yeah, yeah, I don't own Naruto or Romeo and Juliet.
Author's Note: Phew, it's finally here. I'm sorry this chapter took so long to get up, but it was because I had a major writer's block for an entire month, where I just could not think of anything to do in this story. Thankfully, my writer's block ended and I got this written, but I'm sorry that it isn't that good and that it isn't the play. This is the penultimate chapter, so there WILL be ONE more chapter. This chapter sort of, I dunno, ties up lose strings before the play night and also mentions some things I forgot to before…Like the fact that they're all graduating and stuff like that. Yeah, I dunno why I forgot something like that, but I did. It's in this chapter so, it's all good. And it's a pretty lame chapter…not much is going on, but I hope you all enjoy it anyway. I have started the last chapter, which is actually becoming easier to write than I had previously thought, so that might be out soon. I still haven't planned on an epilogue, but we'll see how everything goes.
Kay, next thing, during my writer's block, I did draw some lame fanart for this story. If ya wanna check it out, go to this site (ignore the spaces when typing it in the browser): www. silverrose88. deviantart. com. I have three pictures for the story. The titles are: 'The New Guy', 'Romeo and Juliet', and 'Cooking Lessons.' So, if ya get a chance, go and have a look. They're not all that good, but whatever. This info is all in my bio too, so it might be easier to look at it there.
I also wanna thank all of you for your reviews! You've been sticking it out through the story and we're almost at the end, so thank you all so much! And, thanks to those of you who read my valentine's oneshot and my Remember When story. It was nice seeing familiar names. Anyway, thank you to all of you for your constant support! So, please read, enjoy, and review. Yours truly, SilverRose88.
Chapter Twenty-six
"All right class, listen up! We have less than one month until the big night," Iruka said as he paced the length of the floor in the drama classroom.
Two weeks had passed by quickly and the play was now fast approaching. Iruka was making sure that everyone was busy preparing; it was constant rehearsing, designing, and no rest. Tsunade came a few times to watch over things when Iruka got too freaked out, and the principal's dictatorship only caused more work for the students in the class. They spent class time as well as after school time working on everything. There class even got help from a few sophomore students, from Iruka's other class, saying he'd give them extra credit to help out. Naruto seemed to immediately befriend three of them, a little group with it's ringleader who was the exact copy of the blonde by the name of Konohamaru. Needless to say, set design was suddenly much noisier and not the romantic opportunity the blonde's three suitors had first thought to believe.
That day, Iruka was starting class as he usually did: yelling off at everyone to work hard to ensure that the play would be a success.
"Props need to be finished, the costumes need to be fixed and altered, posters to promote the play need to be made and put up around the school and town, tickets must be sold and lines have to be perfected!"
Iruka turned to face the class. "You've all been doing a good job so far. You al know what team you are on today, and what you should be doing, so get up and get to it!"
"Sensei, we're not an army! Quit acting like a drill sergeant!" Naruto exclaimed from the back row, causing a few snickers and nods of agreement.
"Very funny, Naruto!" Iruka said. "If you've got something else to say, you can change groups and work on costumes!"
"Well, if you want all of your costumes looking like crap, then fine!" Naruto replied.
Apparently Iruka realized that changing Naruto's group would only result as a punishment for him and not for the blonde. He sighed and said, "Nevermind. Just go and start. You all know where you've working, so get going. …Naruto, Sasuke, can I see you two down here first?"
"Now what?" Naruto yelled.
"Just come down!"
"Do you know what this is about?" Naruto asked Sasuke as they walked down to the front.
The Uchiha shrugged and said, "No idea. But it's your fault if we're in trouble."
"Hey! You don't know we're in trouble!" Naruto said. "And why would it be my fault?"
"Because I say so, dobe, that's why."
"Quit calling me that!" Naruto exclaimed, but Iruka shut him up with a look. Naruto crossed his arms and said, "What's this about, Iruka-sensei?"
Iruka sighed and glanced between the two of them and said awkwardly, "The-The two of you are okay with your parts, correct? Even with all of the, um, you know, kissing scenes?"
Not expecting this, Sasuke and Naruto only stared at the Iruka curiously, while their sensei looked rather embarrassed even asking.
"I-I mean, we all saw you two rehearse the scene for Tsunade-sama a few weeks ago, so I assumed…But if there's anything wrong, we'll have to figure out a way to fake the kisses…"
Iruka glanced between them again, hoping for some response so that he wouldn't have to repeat himself again.
Thankfully, Naruto answered his prayers as the blonde slung an arm over Sasuke's shoulder and said, grinning brightly, "Of course we're okay with it, sensei! We're completely and totally perfect with it all! There's nothing to worry about!"
Iruka sighed in relief. "That's good. Thank you. Now go and get to work."
Naruto nodded and dragged Sasuke off to the auditorium since they were both on the prop design team.
Sasuke shook Naruto's arm off his shoulders and said, looking up at the blonde curiously, "What was that?"
"What?" Naruto asked, confused. "I told sensei the truth, didn't I? What're you all freaked out about?"
Sasuke opened his mouth but shut it after a moment. He looked away, feeling stupid. It was the truth, but Naruto's quick and easy response had sort of thrown him off.
Naruto leaned an arm on his shoulder and said softly into his ear, causing a slight shiver down the Uchiha's spine, "Hey, was I wrong? I mean, we're definitely okay with it, aren't we? It's not like we haven't gotten enough practice or anything."
Sasuke blushed and Naruto smirked slightly. He eased off of Sasuke's shoulder and began walking down the hall again. "Come on, let's go and help out before Iruka-sensei grows horns."
Naruto led the way into the auditorium with a slightly flustered Sasuke following behind and staring curiously at the blonde's back.
Again. He's acting like that again. It's been what? The millionth time in the past two weeks?
Sasuke had started to notice that Naruto had been acting differently for the past few weeks. Sure, he was still loud and obnoxious, and stupid and annoying, but there was something off, and he couldn't pinpoint what it was. Not only that, but Sasuke had realized that Naruto only acted that way around him and not anyone else. It was like there was a more superior air to him, as if he knew something Sasuke didn't and not knowing was driving Sasuke up the wall. The Uchiha had also noticed that lately his attempts at fazing Naruto didn't faze him, while the blonde's attempts to faze Sasuke always did faze him. It was as if somehow the tables had turned on them.
"Geez, quit spacing out so much, Sasuke, you'll run into something," Naruto said, grabbing Sasuke's arm and pulling him out of the way towards the door he was about to run into.
"Th-Thanks," Sasuke mumbled. Not again. This is like the fifth time this week! I've got to stop thinking so much about him. But damn, it's driving me crazy not knowing what's going on!
"What's with you, Sasuke?" Naruto asked. "You've been spacing out a lot."
"Nothing. Just thinking."
"Who're you thinking of? Me?" Naruto asked with a grin.
Sasuke smirked. "Of course," he said sarcastically. "I don't do anything except think of you."
"Aw, I feel so special," Naruto cooed.
Sasuke shook his head. "You are so weird," he said.
"Naruto! Sasuke! Enough talking! Get to work!" Iruka exclaimed suddenly, startling them both.
The conceded and grabbed brushes and began painting the tomb Juliet uses at the end of the play. Sasuke immediately set off into 'work' mode, but Naruto began to discreetly watch the Uchiha out of the corner of his eyes as he'd started doing a lot since he'd discovered his feelings.
For the past few weeks, while most of the students found the constant working annoying and troublesome, as Shikamaru would say every chance he got, Naruto found it a haven that whisked him away from his own 'troublesome' life. After Gaara's confession, Naruto had decided that his life was just too complicated and he needed a break. He now avoided Gaara and Neji every chance he got and hung around Kiba, Shikamaru, Choji, and of course, Sasuke. He tried as much as he could to make sure he was around Sasuke, to see if maybe somehow the Uchiha would figure out his feelings for him, but his attempts seemed to fail. He did, however, make Sasuke blush crazily about ten times a day, which he credited as an A+ on his scale. But, no matter what, Sasuke was no where close to realizing Naruto's' secret, nor was he anywhere close to admitting his own.
Naruto was starting to get insanely pissed off. He wanted Sasuke to come forth and admit his feelings. In his opinion, if Neji and Gaara could, then Sasuke should be able to as well, right? But, apparently that wasn't how things were going on, and Naruto was left to wonder what Sasuke's problem could be.
The only answer Naruto could come up with, which he hoped wasn't the correct answer, was that Sasuke really didn't care about him the way he cared for the Uchiha. If Sasuke didn't love him, it would explain why Sasuke hadn't admitted his feelings yet. It made Naruto extremely upset and confused, and at the same time wonder if he'd been wrong about Sasuke all along. Maybe liking him was just a fling to the Uchiha, and that he really didn't feel that strongly. For awhile, that possibility was too much for Naruto to handle and he'd subtly started avoiding the Uchiha. However, his desire to be around Sasuke cut that avoidance short and instead he immersed himself with the Uchiha; spending as much time as he could with him.
"Hey, Naruto!" Iruka called, shaking the blonde out of his thoughts.
"Yeah, what?" Naruto replied.
"I need you to go and help with the poster making," Iruka said. "We need to get those done and there are only three people working on it, so go and help out."
Naruto froze and stammered, "The-The p-poster group? But, I-I don't want to!"
Iruka gave him a look. "Just go. They're working in the classroom."
Naruto dropped his brush and stalked out. Dammit, this is not going to be good.
He walked into the classroom and found the group on the floor with the posters lying around them. "Um, hi…" Naruto said awkwardly. "Iruka-sensei asked me to join you guys today."
Gaara looked up from the poster he was working on and tried to hide his surprise. "Ah, Naruto, he said.
The blonde nodded and sat down next to the redhead, feeling slightly uncomfortable. He hadn't talked to Gaara since the incident and it was hard to think of him the same way knowing how he felt about him. Naruto shook his head and began to work on the poster, deciding that as long as he ignored Gaara now, maybe the redhead would ignore him back.
But, of course, that didn't work out quite as he'd hoped, as Gaara was the first to make conversation and it was on the one topic he did not want to talk about.
"You've been avoiding me, Naruto," the redhead said and the blonde flinched slightly. He could sense the hurt in Gaara's voice, though it didn't show on his face.
"Yes, I have," Naruto replied, knowing it'd be pointless to lie. "You know why I have, Gaara, and I'm sorry, but there's just been too much going on lately. I need time to think to myself."
"You haven't been ignoring Uchiha. That's not being by yourself," Gaara retorted.
"And you know why I haven't," Naruto replied easily.
"Have you told him yet?"
Naruto flinched again. "N-No."
Gaara smirked. "And, why not?"
The blonde looked away and didn't respond.
"Scared?"
"Of course not," Naruto lied. In fact, he was scared. He was a bit frightened that Sasuke didn't feel as strongly for him as he did. Not only that, but he was also rather annoyed by that the Uchiha. He figured that if Neji and Gaara could confess, then Sasuke shouldn't have any problems; but so far, the Uchiha seemed to make no attempt to confess.
"I will tell Sasuke, Gaara, so don't get all excited. You know what I think about your feelings and you should focus more on trying to get over them instead of waiting for me to get rejected, or something like that," Naruto said with frustration.
The redhead gritted his teeth and looked way. He clenched his fists and calmed himself, trying to not lose control like he had the night he'd confessed. He knew he was on a thin line in the blonde's eyes these days with his refusal to let him go, and Gaara didn't want to do anything rash that would lower his standards. But it was becoming very hard to be calm with everything that was going on. He couldn't exactly be happy with the fact that Naruto loved Uchiha and not him. But his conscience reprimanded him that if he truly loved Naruto then he should do what would make the blonde happy; and if Sasuke was the answer to all that, then maybe he should just stay out of it.
However, Gaara didn't exactly like that conclusion, and no matter how many times he tired to ignore his conscience, it only returned ten times stronger. He'd soon reached the decision that until Naruto told Sasuke the truth, that he still had a chance to somehow change the blonde's mind. After Naruto confessed, then somehow he'd begin to slowly let go. But, Naruto hadn't confessed yet, and it didn't seem as though Naruto was planning on it any time soon either.
The redhead sighed. It was much harder living with his feelings out in the open that it had been when they'd been locked up inside. He wasn't sure what he should be doing anymore. He glanced at Naruto and asked, "When are you gonna tell him?"
"Why do you wanna know?" Naruto asked.
"So I know how much time I have to chance your mind," Gaara replied.
To his surprise, the blonde actually smiled. "My mind won't change, Gaara."
"You can't help a guy from trying, can you, Naruto?"
"Nooo, but I just don't want you to get your hopes up."
"They're not that high up anyway. Don't worry," Gaara said. "And you still haven't answered my question.
"Damn, and I thought you forgot," Naruto said with a snap of his fingers.
"Nah. I can't forget anything when it comes to you, Naruto," Gaara replied.
The blonde blushed despite himself and replied, "I-I don't know when I'm going to tell him. I'm waiting to see if he'll take the first step or not.
"Hm," was all Gaara said in reply. Then I still have some time.
"Hey, dobe!"
Naruto looked up into Sasuke's rather pissed off face and said, "What?"
"Sensei wants you back on props."
"But I just got here! Argh, Iruka-sensei's losing his mind," Naruto exclaimed. "All right, let's go. I'll talk to you later Gaara."
"Bye, Naruto," the redhead replied, eyeing Sasuke maliciously as the Uchiha led Naruto back into the auditorium.
"Did sensei say why he needed me back?" Naruto asked Sasuke.
"Yeah, because Kiba accidentally dropped a hammer on his hand and had to go to the nurse."
Naruto laughed. "That loser."
Sasuke quirked an eyebrow. "You're not that far off, dobe. How many props have you broken? Ten? I'm surprised you haven't broken all of your bones yet."
Naruto just laughed again. "That's because my body's made of steel!" he exclaimed, patting his stomach. "You know, all of those hours spent at the gym."
"Oh, really?" Sasuke replied, glancing appreciatively over the blonde's figure. "Hmm, I don't think you're really that great. Those long hours must not be doing well."
"Hey, it takes hard work to keep a body this good," Naruto said with mock offense.
"Well, you'd better show it to me because from here, I don't see it," Sasuke said, glancing over Naruto's body yet again.
"Here, this is my better side," Naruto laughed as he turned and posed.
Sasuke smirked and nodded slowly. "Oh, now I definitely see it. You're very…hot."
Naruto froze and a blush swept over his face. Sasuke's smirk grew as he thought, Heh, there. I'm not taking his comments anymore. I finally got to faze him.
Once he'd finished processing the fact that the word hot in that context had come out of Sasuke's mouth, and once he'd registered the fact that Sasuke had called him hot, Naruto regained his composure and put on a sly grin, leaning on Sasuke's shoulder.
"So, did you really want me to show it to you, because I don't mind, if, you know, that's what you want," Naruto said.
Sasuke blushed crimson and stammered, "I-I, uh…"
Naruto grinned and said, "You're so fun to tease, Sasuke," as he eased off the Uchiha's shoulder and began to walk off.
Sasuke followed behind slowly, trying to fight his blush down before anyone else saw him and thinking about what Naruto had just said. Teasing? He was teasing? Then, why did he sound like he meant it?
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The blonde's eyes widened in shock as the brunette leaned across the table, resting his elbows on the table for leverage, as he stared deeply into the blonde's eyes with an expression full of passion and undiluted desire.
"W-What did you just say?" Naruto stammered.
Sasuke chuckled lightly and replied, "I said that I love you, Naruto. I've loved you for a long time."
The blonde blushed at his confession, and Sasuke reached a hand up to grab the blonde's chin. He pulled Naruto's face close to his and stared avidly into those pools of heavenly blue that were swimming with mixed emotions.
"S-Sasuke, what're you doing?" Naruto whispered as Sasuke leaned closer to him.
The Uchiha smirked. "Claiming what's officially mind," he answered before pressing his lips against the blonde's in a fierce searing kiss, letting all of his bottled up desire and affection flow into that one special moment.
xxxxxxx
Sasuke shut his eyes tightly and then opened them as he sighed deeply. He turned and laid down on his back on his bed and stared up at the ceiling.
"God, yet again…This one was a bit different than last night's though," the Uchiha said as he continued to stare up at the ceiling.
For the past week or so, Sasuke'd been having these kinds of dreams. In every single one of them, he'd tell Naruto he loved him, sometimes Naruto would say it back, and then they'd make out. There were a few dreams where things went a bit further than that, and Sasuke always had to smack himself for thinking so pervertedly, and after he'd smacked himself, he'd basically drown himself in a freezing cold shower. And, this had been going on for almost two weeks.
Now, Sasuke was no dream interpreter, but it was pretty obvious what his dreams meant. Even his subconscious was telling him what he had to do. He wished that it would be as easy as it was in his dreams. Telling Naruto in real life would be harder because he was confused by the blonde's actions. Lately, things had been looking up; in Sasuke's point of view, it seemed as though Naruto was going through exactly what he had when he'd first started liking the blonde. Naruto had been acting more…flirty, and he always seemed to be spending as much time as possible with him and no one else.
But the thing was, if Naruto now did like him, why wasn't he getting rid of Neji and Gaara? Sasuke wasn't sure what had transpired between the three of them, but Neji and Gaara had been hanging around Naruto a lot more than usual and it was getting him completely pissed off. If Naruto liked him, which it seemed like he did, he should tell the others to get the hell out of his way. But, so far, nothing of the sort had happened and Sasuke was wondering if he was translating the blonde's feelings correctly.
It was making him really angry that Naruto was acting all interested, but at the same time was dangling along the two bastards. He was coming close to just telling Naruto off about it all, but was refraining himself. He knew he'd have to explain why he was so concerned ad he wasn't quite up to that. His anger towards the blonde was restraining him from telling him the truth, even though he wanted to. But lately, with everything at school growing exponentially, telling Naruto he loved him was not one of the top ten important things. Since it was now May, and the last month of the year, his teachers were shoving the last bit of information they could down their throats in time for the finals. Son, on top of perfecting the play, Sasuke had to write two papers and take three finals. Well, four finals, counting the play since it was mostly the last performance that counted for the grade.
The Uchiha sighed and dragged himself out of bed just as the doors opened and a certain blonde walked in.
"N-Naruto? What are you doing here?" Sasuke stammered.
"We planned to work on our history project thing today. Did you forget?" the blonde replied.
"Yeah, actually," Sasuke admitted. "All right, I'll go get dressed. You can get started."
"Aye, aye, sir!" Naruto replied and took a seat at the Uchiha's desk, turning on the computer and sifting through his backpack for notes.
Sasuke stared after him for a moment, ignoring the voice in his head, and then walked into the adjoining bathroom.
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"Gah! No more!" Naruto exclaimed two hours later. He slammed his book shut, dropped it onto the floor and then fell on his back against Sasuke's bed. "No more! I can't take anymore words!"
"Finally fried your brain, huh?" Sasuke said from his desk.
Naruto replied, "I'd yell at you, but I have no energy."
Sasuke got to his feet and walked over to the bed, peering down at the blonde. "Have enough energy left to go eat?"
The blonde jumped up. "Yes! Food! Let's go! I'm famished!"
"All right, all right. Calm down. But after we eat, you've got to help so we can finish this project. We are presenting in two weeks, you know," Sasuke said as he shut off the computer.
"Two weeks? All ready?" Naruto exclaimed. "Damn, just shoot me now!"
"Gladly," Sasuke replied and Naruto stuck his tongue at him.
The Uchiha smirked. "But I'll let you eat first, because I'm nice like that."
Naruto snorted as he followed Sasuke out. "Yeah, right," he said sarcastically. "You're the type of guy who'd kill everyone with completely no mercy."
Sasuke laughed slightly. "Probably," he replied. Then he glanced at the blonde and said, "But I couldn't kill you."
Naruto blushed instantaneously and Sasuke smirked again. Once Naruto regained his composure, he said, "Well, I couldn't kill you either."
"Glad to hear it," the Uchiha replied. "Now where are we going to eat?"
Naruto replied instantly, "Ichiraku!"
"No," Sasuke shot down immediately.
"B-But they have the best ramen!"
"They only have ramen, and you know hate ramen."
"But I want ramen!"
"What are you, a child?"
"Yeess…"
Sasuke rolled his eyes and then sighed. "We'll go someplace that serves real food and your ramen, okay? That way, you get your crap and I won't end up starving. Agreed?"
"Okay!" Naruto exclaimed. "Thanks, Sasuke."
"Yeah, whatever dobe," the Uchiha replied.
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"I'm so excited for the play!" Naruto exclaimed as he and Sasuke were eating lunch in the back of the restaurant the blonde worked at. "I mean, even though it is so much damn work, I'm finally glad that we're going to perform it."
"Hn," the Uchiha replied. "You're probably the only one really excited then. Everybody's just waiting for it to be over, and Iruka-sensei's the only one who's freaking out about it."
"That's because he has no confidence in us," Naruto said. "But, I think we'll do a great job! I mean, you and me, we're the stars of the show, and we've got our lines down to pat. Not to mention, our scenes are probably the best in the entire play!"
Sasuke blushed slightly but Naruto didn't seem to notice. "Yes, I suppose we do have everything well taken care of. Which is surprising considering you are the lead role."
Naruto stuck his tongue out at him. "I don't appreciate that. I'm tons better than I was at the beginning of this play."
"And that's a good thing," Sasuke replied.
The blonde sighed and rested his chin in his hand. "But it is kinda depressing that the play's over. I mean, I got really into it, and it was fun."
He glanced up at Sasuke and added slyly, "And our kissing scenes made it all the better."
Sasuke blushed again and this time Naruto did notice; a tiny smirk tugged at his lips as he stared at Sasuke from across the table. The Uchiha stared back, cursing himself for falling for Naruto's easy little 'blushing-traps' as he now called them.
Deciding not to take any more of Naruto's traps, Sasuke replied just as easily, once he'd gotten over his blush, that is, "Oh, yeah, those were good scenes…But I think we got most of the practice when we weren't practicing."
Naruto laughed. "Yup, that's for sure."
Sasuke scowled; that hadn't worked the way he'd wanted it to. Was he losing his touch? Or, was it because Naruto was confident with his feelings? It would make sense for Naruto not to be fazed if he knew how he felt… So then, if the blonde was unfazed by Sasuke's comments, did that mean Naruto did have feelings for him?
"Sasuke?" Naruto asked, waving a hand in front of the Uchiha's face. "What's up? You went all quiet all of a sudden."
The Uchiha shook his head. "No, it's nothing. I was just thinking."
Naruto searched his face and then shrugged. Then he said, grinning, "So, are you excited about graduation? I am!"
"Dobe, you seem to be excited about everything that's going on lately."
"Well, it's not my fault all the exciting things are happening at the same time."
"Aren't you worried about your grades? We have finals coming up."
The blonde waved a hand dismissively. "I'm all set. The play's perfect on my part, and my other classes are simple. My only other big thing is the history project and we're almost done with that anyway."
Sasuke groaned. "Lucky you."
"Hey, it's your own fault for taking hard classes."
"Well, when I'm the one in the best college, you'll understand why I took the classes I did," Sasuke replied.
"Heeey!" Naruto said pouting. "You're so mean sometimes Sasuke. Besides, you know I got into the same college you got into."
"Yes, I know," the Uchiha replied. "But god only knows how."
"It'll be awesome!" Naruto exclaimed, ignoring the Uchiha's last statement. "We'll get to go to college together!"
Sasuke smiled slightly at the look of sheer happiness on the blonde's face. "Yeah, that will be nice," he replied.
"H-Hey, Sasuke, do you think we could go now?" Naruto asked suddenly.
"What? Why?" the Uchiha replied. "You're not even finished yet."
"Uh, I'm not hungry anymore, let's just go," Naruto said.
Sasuke noticed he was looking at something behind him and turned slightly to see. He tensed immediately as he saw Hyuuga making his way from the back room into the restaurant.
Turning back to the blonde he nodded and replied, "Sure, we can go."
"Thank you," Naruto said and quickly got to his feet, making a beeline for the exit with Sasuke following him.
However, just as they reached the door, Neji called out for the blonde and Sasuke noticed Naruto tense again and turn with a forced smile on his face.
"Hey, Neji," the blonde said when the trio were all outside.
"Hi, Naruto, how are you?" the Hyuuga asked.
"I'm good," Naruto replied simply and glanced away. Sasuke found this rather peculiar and stared at the blonde, trying to figure out what was going on.
"What were you doing here?" Neji asked, apparently not up to letting Naruto go that easily.
"Sasuke and I were getting some lunch," the blonde replied, emphasizing 'Sasuke' and noticing that Neji had gotten the slight implication.
"I see," the Hyuuga replied.
Naruto nodded and glanced away again. After the day a few weeks ago when he'd formally rejected the Hyuuga, Naruto had hardly spoken to Neji at school. Just like he'd been ignoring Gaara, he'd been ignoring Neji too, and he knew the Hyuuga was probably really angry with him. For the last couple of weeks at work, Naruto would purposely make it so that he and Neji were always separated; if Neji worked in the back, Naruto would work out front, and vice versa. If, for some reason, they were placed in the same place, Naruto would only say a few curt words to the Hyuuga and then ignore him. He knew Neji was hurt by his blatant avoidance, but found that he didn't care all that much. He'd told Neji how he felt and it was the Hyuuga's fault for not letting it go.
"So, Naruto, are you free later today?" Neji asked. "I wanted to talk to you."
"Sorry, Neji, but Sasuke and I are working on stuff all day," Naruto replied. "I'll talk to you later, okay? We've got to go now, later." The blonde then grabbed Sasuke's hand, waved at Neji and began walking off.
"Hey, slow down, dobe, you're going to pull my arm out," Sasuke said and Naruto slowed down to a steady walk. "What's the rush?"
"It's nothing. I just want to get back to work, that's all," Naruto replied.
"That's a lie and you know it," Sasuke said.
Naruto sighed. "I just didn't want to talk to Neji, okay? That's why I wanted to leave. Can we go then?"
Sasuke knew there was more to it than that, but decided not to press him. "Yes, we can go."
"Thank you," Naruto said as he began leading the way to Sasuke's parked car.
The Uchiha followed quietly, thinking over what the blonde had said. He was surprised that Naruto hadn't wanted to see or talk to Neji because over the past weeks Naruto had seemed to be fine with the Hyuuga around since Neji hadn't left the blonde's side. That was one of the things that had made Sasuke so anger, the fact that every time he wasn't there, Neji and Gaara were and Naruto never pushed them away. But after what he'd just witnessed, it seemed more along the lines of Neji not letting Naruto go. If that was true, then he'd been wrong about Naruto dragging them along and this realization gave him a little bit of hope.
Sasuke glanced up at the blonde, wondering what was going on in his head. If there was the slightest chance that Naruto loved him like he did, then Sasuke'd leap at the opportunity to tell him. However, as it was, until Naruto got rid of Neji and Gaara, and until the blonde shed some light on this mess, Sasuke was going to keep it to himself. The fact was he was afraid of telling Naruto and being rejected. He wasn't sure if Naruto was just teasing him and pretending, or if he really did have feelings for him. Not knowing was killing him and if was also restraining him from telling the truth; no matter how much he wanted to.
"Hey, what's up? You're really quiet," Naruto said as they began to drive back to Sasuke's house.
"Just a lot on my mind," Sasuke replied.
"Yeah, me too," Naruto said with a glance at the Uchiha before looking back out the window.
"Really? Can't be that much," Sasuke said. "Your brain couldn't handle it."
"Wah, Sasuke, why're you so mean to me?" Naruto whined with a pout.
The Uchiha replied easily, "Because it's entertaining."
"So my deflated ego makes you happy?"
"Of course," Sasuke said with a smirk. He looked at the blonde pointedly and said, "Isn't that why you constantly tease me?"
"Actually, it's not, though that is a plus," Naruto replied.
"It's not?" Sasuke said. "Then, why?"
"Because to me, it's entertaining seeing you blush," Naruto replied, pinning Sasuke with a steamy gaze.
The Uchiha blushed, despite himself and Naruto grinned.
"See, see, there you go again. Aw, you're so cute when you blush, Sasuke-kun."
Sasuke blushed again; only now out of anger as well as embarrassment. "Don't you ever say 'kun' at the end of my name again," he snarled.
"Why not, Sasuke-kun?" Naruto asked.
Sasuke glared at him before answering, "Because it makes me think of my fan girls and that only makes me want to throw up." The Uchiha shuddered slightly at the thought.
Naruto did as well. "Okay, I won't call you that anymore."
"Good. That's all I ask," Sasuke said.
"Can I call you Sasu-chan, then?" Naruto asked and Sasuke blushed crimson.
"No you may not!" he exclaimed, as he got out of the car and slammed the door shut.
Naruto followed him into the house and said, "But it's so cute, Sasu-chan."
"Don't call me Sasu-chan!" the Uchiha yelled.
"Sasu-chan?" came Itachi's questioning voice as he joined the two in the hall.
"Yep, it's Sasuke's new nickname!" Naruto said with a grin.
"It is not!" the younger Uchiha exclaimed. "And don't tell Itachi! Now he's gonna call me that!"
"I think it suits you, Sasuke, or…I mean, Sasu-chan," Itachi said, grinning as well.
The fuming brunette threw his hands up in frustration. "Quit saying that!" he shouted before spinning on his heel and storming up to his room.
Naruto and Itachi grinned at one another before the blonde followed Sasuke up to his room. "Sasuke?" Naruto said as he walked into the Uchiha's room.
Sasuke, who was sitting at the computer, turned to the blonde and glared at him. "What?" he said bitterly.
"Look, I'm sorry with all the 'Sasu-chan' stuff, okay?" Naruto said. "I didn't mean to make you made at me."
Surprised at the apology, Sasuke asked, less angrily this time, "Why were you making nicknames for me anyway?"
Naruto shrugged. "I was bored?" the blonde replied.
Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Come on, dobe. Let's just get to work."
"All right, Sasu-chan!" Naruto exclaimed.
"Naruto!" the Uchiha yelled as he flung a book in the blonde's direction.
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"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!" Sasuke recited the next Monday.
"Shall I hear more, or shall I speak at this?" Naruto replied.
"'Tis but thy name that is my enemy: thou art thy self, though not a Montague. O be some other name! What's Montague? It is nor hand, nor foot, nor arm, nor face, nor any part belonging to a man. What's in a name? That which a rose by any other name will still smell as sweet. So Romeo would were he not Romeo called, retain that dear perfection that he owes, without that title. Romeo, doff thy name; and for thy name, which is no part of thee, take all myself," Sasuke said.
"I take thee at thy word. Call me but love, and I'll be new baptized: henceforth, I will never be Romeo," Naruto said.
"All right you two, that's enough," Iruka called. "You two are doing wonderfully. I believe the two of you are going to steal the show."
"Thanks sensei!" Naruto exclaimed.
"Naruto, you can go change if you want; I'm done testing your scenes. Sasuke, you're back on stage," Iruka said and Sasuke groaned.
"I'm going to the bathroom to change then," the blonde said and joyously made his way down into the hall. Turning the corner, however, he ran head first into someone else and fell ungracefully to the floor.
"Naruto, are you okay?" Neji's voice asked worriedly.
The blonde grabbed the Hyuuga's outstretched hand and pulled himself up. "Yeah, I'm fine," he replied though he purposefully avoided the Hyuuga's pale eyes. "I've gotta go and change. Later, Neji," Naruto said quickly passing the Hyuuga but stopped when Neji grabbed his arm.
"What, Neji?" the blonde asked.
"Why have you been ignoring me?" the Hyuuga questioned.
The blonde flinched slightly at the hurt in his voice but held firm as he answered, "I think you know why, Neji."
The Hyuuga nodded rather reluctantly. "Yes, but--"
"Then what's the deal, Neji?" Naruto asked.
"I don't understand why you have to keep ignoring me. We're still friends, aren't we?" Neji asked.
"Of course we are," Naruto replied instantly.
"Then, what's going on, Naruto? I've been trying to talk to you for a long time, but you haven't been letting me say a thing."
Naruto sighed and looked away before replying, "I'm tired of having you hanging around all the time so obviously. Neji, I know how you feel, you told me, all right? So, give me some space to breathe, dammit."
The blonde looked directly at the Hyuuga and continued, "You're my friend, so I'll give it to you straight. You're annoying the freaking hell out of me."
Neji blinked and looked rather hurt. "Naruto, I-I didn't mean to--"
"Yeah, yeah, I know," the blonde replied with a wave of his hand. "Look, ease up a bit, okay? Then maybe I won't ignore you so much. If you're trying to prove that you're not going to give up, well, I already I understand, okay? So, let's just continue being friends, instead of you getting on my nerves. Deal?"
"I suppose I can live with that," Neji replied.
"That's all I ask," Naruto said with a grin. "I never knew you could be so annoying though. Geez."
The Hyuuga blushed slightly but replied, "I was only taking after you, Naruto."
"Hey!" the blonde exclaimed and Neji laughed lightly. "I'm not that annoying, am I?"
Neji shook his head and then looked directly at the blonde. "No," he said. "But you can be… though that's what makes you so cute."
Naruto blushed despite himself and Neji smirked slightly.
Easing off a bit like the blonde had requested, Neji asked, "Are you doing anything tomorrow after school?"
Naruto shook his head. "No, why?" he asked.
"Iruka-sensei asked me to put up posters around town. I was wondering if you'd like to come help me. It'd take me almost the entire night and it'd be more fun with you there," Neji replied.
"Sure! That'll be fun," Naruto exclaimed.
"Really? You're not going to say no?"
"I just said yes, didn't I?"
"Yeah, but I just thought--"
"Hey, just take good will for good will, okay? Quit questioning my answer," Naruto said delivering a slight punch on the Hyuuga's shoulder.
Neji smiled. "Fine, fine," he replied. "We'll go after school tomorrow then, okay?"
"All right!" Naruto agreed. "But, right now I should go and change, okay?"
"Talk to you later then, Naruto," Neji said and then walked back to the auditorium as Naruto walked the opposite way to the bathrooms.
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"Gah, how many more do we have to put up?" Naruto complained as he taped about the thirtieth poster onto a store window.
"There's about another ton in the car," Neji replied.
"I'm going to kill Iruka-sensei for this," Naruto gritted through his teeth.
"I'm glad you came to help. This would have taken me hours longer if I'd been by myself," Neji said as they headed back to his parked car.
"Heheh, it's no problem, Neji," Naruto said. "Besides, sensei said he'd give us extra credit for helping out and all."
"Why? Are you failing the class that badly?" Neji asked with a smirk.
Naruto stuck his tongue out at him. "No, I'm not. I'm not even close to failing. I'm doing really well, thank you very much."
"Are you sure about that?" Neji asked teasingly.
"You're so mean, Neji!" Naruto whined and Neji just smirked again.
"Come on, Naruto. We've got to go to Chidori's next," Neji said.
"Chidori's? Really? I wonder if Sasuke's working today," Naruto said excitedly.
Neji almost crashed his car into the one in front of him. "Uchiha works at Chidori's?" he asked.
"Yeah! It's kinda funny thinking of Sasuke working at a pizza place, but it's true," Naruto replied, easily understanding Neji's sudden concern but not caring in the least.
"Let's go somewhere else first," Neji said. "Don't want to disturb Uchiha, now do we?"
"Since when do you care about disturbing Sasuke?" Naruto asked and Neji didn't reply, only gripped the steering wheel tighter. "Don't worry about it; let's just go to Chidori's. If we're lucky, maybe Sasuke's almost done and then he can help us put the last of these posters up!"
Neji looked as though that option was not even close to being counted as 'lucky', but he knew that Naruto was doing this on purpose and he had no choice but to go along with it. If he refused Naruto then the blonde would only get mad at him and start ignoring him all over again and Neji didn't want that. Of course, he didn't want to see Uchiha either, but there wasn't much he could do at the moment. So, reluctantly and angrily, Neji drove down to Chidori's with a grinning blonde sitting beside him, hoping to the gods above that Sasuke wasn't working that day.
It seemed as though the gods were trying to tell him something too because the first thing Naruto said when they walked into the restaurant was "Hey, Sasuke!"
The Uchiha looked up from the counter and a flicker of surprise flew across his face. Then he smirked and said, "What the hell are you doing here, dobe?"
"Don't call me dobe, bastard!" Naruto exclaimed as he walked over. "How late are you working till?"
"Actually, I'm off in a few minutes," Sasuke replied.
Neji had the urge to bang his head on the wall.
Naruto grinned. "Really?" he said. "Awesome, then you can come with Neji and me and help us put up the rest of these goddamn posters."
Sasuke only then realized Neji's presence and felt a jolt of anger rise up his spine. But then he smirked superiorly at the Hyuuga and turned back to Naruto. "Sure, I'll come," he said.
"Great!" Naruto exclaimed. "We'll wait for you outside, okay?"
The Uchiha nodded and Naruto walked back over to Neji.
"Sasuke's coming in a little bit. We can wait outside," Naruto said.
"Let's get the poster up first, Naruto," Neji reminded the blonde.
"Oh, right!" the blonde said. He glanced around the restaurant and pointed to the opposite wall. "We can put it up there; that wall's empty."
"Get to it then," Neji said.
"Why do I have to do it?" Naruto whined. "I've done all the other ones!"
"No, I have. You've just been handing me the tape," Neji replied. "That's not the same."
"Fine, I'll do it this time," Naruto said as he took the poster from the Hyuuga and walked began to tape it to the vacant wall. When he finished putting up the poster, which took a longer time because Naruto insisted he could do it without Neji helping with the tape, Sasuke emerged from the back room and joined the two as they were leaving the restaurant.
"You do know, Uchiha, that you are not required to accompany us," Neji said to Sasuke as Naruto led the way back to the Hyuuga's car.
"I know," Sasuke replied easily. "But Naruto asked me to come help and I'm not about to let him down."
Neji glared at Sasuke and said angrily, "You do not need to be here. Just get lost."
Sasuke glanced at Neji from the corner of his eyes and then slowly smirked as a thought hit him. "If you're that nervous by my presence, then something bad must have happened to you concerning Naruto, am I correct?" he said slyly and his smirk widened when he caught Neji's almost indistinguishable flinch.
"You have no idea what you're talking about, Uchiha," Neji replied venomously. "So I suggest you keep your mouth shut."
Sasuke opened his mouth to reply but Naruto called for the two of them to hurry up. He gave the Hyuuga another smirk before joining the blonde.
Neji followed after slowly, watching angrily and jealously at the Uchiha. His hatred for the Uchiha had gone up tremendously after Naruto had told him it was Sasuke he loved. He just couldn't stand seeing Sasuke with Naruto all the time; it made him sick and furious at the same time. Even though he knew that there probably wasn't anything he could do to change Naruto's mind any more, he still wanted to believe that there was still a bit of hope. At least until Naruto actually told Sasuke how he felt, there would still be a bit of hope. But, over the previous weeks, Naruto had hardly left Sasuke's side and because of that, it made it harder for Neji to try and convince the blonde of his feelings.
Neji sighed and shook his head. He didn't like pining like this. He needed to somehow accept that Naruto loved Sasuke and not him. But no matter what he told himself, it wasn't easy letting the blonde go. Especially when the person he was letting Naruto go to was Sasuke.
"Hey, Neji! Whatcha doing?" Naruto exclaimed as he shook the Hyuuga's shoulder to get his attention.
Neji blinked and looked down into curious blue eyes and let a small smile grace his lips. "Oh, Naruto," he said.
The blonde blushed at the way Neji was looking at him, but then grinned and said, "Come on, we've still got a lot of posters to put up!" He then dragged the Hyuuga to his car and practically shoved him into the driver's seat. "You're awake now, right? Don't go spacing off while you're driving!"
Neji gave him a look, but nodded. "Yes, yes, I won't. Now get in and be quiet."
"Aw, Neji, you're so mean!" Naruto whined as he and Sasuke got into the car as well.
The Hyuuga smiled yet again as he cast a sideways look at the blonde before pulling into traffic. As the blonde began jabbering about something or another, Neji had come to a conclusion.
He loved Naruto too much to give him up…yet.
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Friday May 12th Play nightabout an hour before the start
"Come on Sasuke, just one more picture!" Itachi said holding up a camera in front of a very disgruntled looking Sasuke.
The youngest Uchiha snarled venomously in reply, "If you come within ten feet of me, I swear I'll kill you and have no remorse."
"Aw, please!" Itachi whined. "You look so beautiful as Juliet! We have to record every second of this fabulous night."
"Yeah, Sasuke," Naruto exclaimed, emerging from the dressing room decked out in his Romeo costume. He slung an arm over the Uchiha's shoulders and said, "Itachi's right; you look awesome! So you've gotta get pictures taken!"
Sasuke blushed slightly but then shrugged Naruto's arm off and flared at him. "He's taken about fifty pictures already and he's only going to use them to blackmail me," he said. "I'm not letting him take anymore." Sasuke made a grab for the camera, but Itachi held it out of his reach, holding it above his head, then switching hands, and even hiding it behind his back as if hiding a toy from a child.
"Come on, Sasuke, at least take one picture with me, okay? A Romeo and Juliet picture to document all the fun we had on this play!" Naruto said, grinning.
Sasuke blushed again. A picture with-with Naruto…? "Fine," he mumbled, hoping he didn't sound too eager.
Naruto's grin widened and he put his arm back over Sasuke's shoulder.
Itachi smirked and said, "All right, boys, three, two, one, say 'Sasuke looks like a girl!'"
"Sasuke looks like a girl!" Naruto repeated as Sasuke yelled, "Itachi!"
"Sorry, sorry! I couldn't resist!" the eldest Uchiha laughed.
"I bet you couldn't," Sasuke said, glaring daggers at his brother.
"Come on, once more," Itachi said. "For real, this time."
Sasuke crossed his arms sullenly, but let a small smile grace his lips as Naruto stood beside him, his arm over the Uchiha's shoulders and his free hand held up in a peace sign.
"Three, two, one, cheese!" Itachi said and only Naruto repeated the word while Sasuke gave a small grunt.
"Awesome!" the blonde exclaimed after the picture was taken. "Make me a copy, okay?"
Itachi nodded. "Sure thing," he replied.
Naruto grinned and turned to Sasuke. "Come on, Iruka-sensei's probably wanting to give us all a pep talk before the show."
Sasuke nodded. "Let's go, he said, but then turned and successfully grabbed the camera out of Itachi's hands. "Ha! There. Now get lost."
Itachi pouted. "You're so mean, Sasuke. But, no worries, I've got a camcorder set up that'll get the entire play so we can watch it over and over again."
Sasuke groaned. "Oh, dear god."
Itachi grinned and said, "Break a leg, Juliet, and you Romeo. I'll be watching from the very first row!"
Sasuke groaned again but Naruto laughed and waved goodbye before dragging Sasuke backstage where the rest of the class was waiting.
"Not to worry, the stars of the show have arrived!" Naruto exclaimed as they joined the group.
"No one was worried," Kiba said.
Naruto stuck his tongue out at this friend. "No one asked you, Kiba."
Kiba rolled his eyes and glanced between Naruto and Sasuke before whispering to the blonde, "Told him yet?"
Naruto blushed slightly. "I have no idea what you're talking about," he replied.
"Please," Kiba said. "You're so obvious it's not even funny."
"You're kidding! You knew?"
"I've been telling you for two months the two of you look good together, remember?"
"I didn't think you were serious."
"I'm always serious."
"Sure, you are…" Naruto gave Kiba a very skeptic look.
"Hey!" Kiba said. "So, are you doing to tell him?"
"All in due time, my friend," Naruto replied.
Kiba shook his head. "You should just tell him, Naruto. I'm pretty sure he feels the same way."
"Yeah, I know, but…" Naruto trailed off and glanced away.
The Inuzuka looked at his friend and replied, "You're waiting for him to tell you first, aren't you?"
"I have no idea what you're--"
"Save it, Naruto!" Kiba exclaimed. "If you're waiting for Uchiha to go confessing, then you're dumber than I thought. I don't think he ever will unless you do it first."
"But why not?" Naruto questioned and when Kiba shrugged he shook his head. "Well, I did decide to tell him before graduation."
"That only gives you about three more weeks," Kiba replied.
"I know. I'll get to it," the blonde said and then gave his friend a sly look. "Have you told Hinata-chan yet?"
Kiba blushed crimson and stammered, "That-That's none of your business, Naruto!"
"Oh, and my love-life is all of your business?" Naruto shot back.
"Boys!" Iruka suddenly exclaimed. "Quit your chattering and come over here!"
"Boys!" Iruka suddenly exclaimed. "Quit your chattering and come over here!"
The class gathered around Iruka and Kakashi and listened quietly as Iruka began a pre-play speech.
"All right, class, tonight is the night, the moment we've all been waiting for!" the brown-haired man said.
"You mean the moment you've been waiting for," Naruto corrected.
"Shut it, Naruto," Iruka snapped and the blonde stuck his tongue out at him. Iruka ignored the childish behavior and continued, "Anyway, this play will determine almost half of your grade. I'll understand if there are some mess-ups given its' the first night, so that's why we're grading overall during the three performances this weekend. Honestly, I believe all of you will do marvelously. Dress rehearsals went perfectly and I have no worries. So, please, don't disappoint me, all right?"
"If you're not worried then why are you asking us not to disappoint you?" Naruto pointed out.
"Now, now, Naruto," Kakashi finally spoke up. "Don't disturb Iruka. He's very anxious and fragile right now."
"I'm not fragile!" Iruka exclaimed.
"Calm down, Iruka," Kakashi said, placing a hand on the other man's shoulder. "It's not going to help if you're that nervous. So, why don't you go and check to see if the guests are ready and we'll finally get this show on the road."
Iruka opened his mouth to say something, but Kakashi shoved him out the door. He then turned to the class and said, "Soo, everyone raring to go?"
The class grumbled various responses and the silver-haired man grinned.
"Now, no one's planning any kind of tricks or screw-ups on purpose, are they?" he asked looking around at everyone but then stopping at Naruto.
"Hey, why're you singling me out? I'm gonna do the best out of everyone here!" the blonde yelled enthusiastically.
"I'm sure you will," Kakashi said. It's your lovely suitors I'm wondering about.
He glanced slightly at Sasuke and then at Neji and Gaara, who were both casting the Uchiha furtive glances with a determined look on their faces as if they were plotting something.
Kakashi grinned. Now this will be fun, he thought just as Jiraiya walked backstage and said, "We're starting! Places everyone!"
"If you're not up in the first scene, get off the stage!" Kakashi yelled as the students frantically began running around.
Naruto followed Sasuke off stage and into one of the backrooms. "So, this is it, huh?" he asked.
Sasuke looked back at the blonde and replied, "This is it," he said. "Ready, Romeo?"
Naruto smirked slightly and replied, "Only when you are, Juliet."