THIS CHAPTER WAS BROUGHT TO YOU BY:
Politik by Coldplay
And
At the expense of my math, government, biology and spanish homework.
Note: I just noticed that instead of Umino Naruto, I've been putting Uzumaki! I corrected it in this chapter, but if I made that mistake in previous chapters I would like to apologize and say that it was supposed to be Umino. No plot developments there, sorry!
Disclaimer: I don't think Masashi-sensei would write a yaoi manga. So, no, I don't own Naruto. Just the plot. (I don't even have yaoi in this, it's shounen ai! Whoo, let down, let down.)
Chapter 11: Politics
Just his luck. It was just Sasuke's luck that he had a lazy bastard for a caretaker, and that the lazy bastard couldn't be bothered to wake Sasuke up if Sasuke happened to oversleep just once.
He wouldn't have time to shower, so Sasuke rummaged through the lined closet and came up with a bottle of baby powder. The blue teddy bear adorning the label smiled maliciously back at him.
Sasuke shivered. He couldn't believe he was going to do this. He had spent far too much time in the presence of girls, hearing them talk and blather on about makeup and hairstyles and clothing.
He could hardly believe there was a point to it all.
Waveringly, he went to the bathroom and looked in the mirror at his hair. Not quite greasy, yet. But it would be before gym came, along with the chance to wash his hair.
Sasuke twisted the cap. The little holes in the lid appeared.
He turned the bottle over. Eight little white spots appeared on his palm. He shook. Now a pile.
Still unsure, Sasuke applied the powder to his hair. Now there was...a white splotch on his hair. Maybe he should just call in sick. It had been awhile since he missed school.
"Sasuke-chan, make sure you get to school on time," he remembered. Kakashi called sweetly.
Sasuke took the hand towel and rubbed it in his hair. "Eh?" When he took it away, the white was gone, and his hair seemed less straggly than before.
He guessed it would do. Pleased, he continued to prepare for school.
Until he remembered, that he would have to take the subway.
-
Lee stood nervously by the door outside the classroom. He wanted to be sure he met Naruto as soon as he arrived. A few girls from student council giggled and hung a pink flyer between the rooms across from him.
One held the tape and rolled it into a tube, and stuck it onto the wall, while the other held the flyers and stuck the paper to the tape. The girl with the tape gestured, and they ran off, pleated skirts swaying about their thighs. Lee sighed.
He couldn't quite make out what was on the flyer; there were words and snowflakes, as far as he could tell. Lee would have walked over to see, but he didn't want to chance missing Naruto or being caught off guard.
Lee had to, had to, at least ask for Naruto to help make him pretty.
This, he decided, was his last chance.
-
Iruka pulled up to the school, and Naruto got out of the car, slamming the door and waving good-bye.
He hopped up the steps and jogged inside, slowing to a walk in front of the office and speeding up again once he had passed. He sprinted up the deserted staircase, not eager to reach class but less eager to idle in the halls.
Everything seemed normal, if more quiet than usual when he burst through the double doors from the stairs.
The first thing that caught his eye as he walked towards his homeroom was a pink paper on the wall.
"Ara? Winter dance?" He turned to look.
"Umino-kun!" a voice sounded behind him.
"Nyu!" Naruto shivered and turned around. "Hai!" A pair or round eyes met his.
Eyebrows!
Stop it , that's rude!
But they're huuuuge!
Quit it, you'll make me forget and say something!
"Aa-aa-yes?" Naruto backed up a few steps.
Lee realized how close he was standing, and backed up as well. "Gomen nasai. I didn't mean to startle you."
"-E-etou, it's ok." Naruto accepted the apology. "Can I help you?"
"..." Lee lost his train of thought.
"..." Naruto began, "Are you eyebro-alright?" Eyebrows, eyebrows, the eyebrows!
Lee gulped. Shit, he had forgotten what he wanted to say with this...golden child staring him in the face. Well, not staring directly at his face. Some of the time, though.
"I...uh..." Lee gulped again. Naruto continued to look expectantly.
"I...uh..." Lee steeled himself. He could do it!
Lee clenched his fists at his sides and didn't dare look Naruto in the eyes. "I would like for you to give me a make-over, Umino-k-kun!" He said loudly.
Naruto stared at the top of the bowl-cut with his eyes wide. Lee kept his head bowed and his fists clenched.
"Is everything alright?" a girl stuck her head out of a classroom to get a look with her cronies. It was enough to make Naruto snap to attention.
The blonde boy looked from the girls to Lee, who still had his head down. And to the girls again, and back to Lee. Umm...
He grinned widely and moved around to clap Lee hard on the back. "Sure I will, Turtle-kun! I never turn down a friend in need!" Lee coughed in bewilderment.
-
As Sakura rounded the corner, she was subjected to yelling, the sound of girls murmuring, and a loud smacking sound followed by more yelling. And to annoyingly sunny face of Umino Naruto.
Normally she would have turned around, or if she didn't have time, ignored them while she walked to her homeroom. But she was curious as to why the Gai-doppelganger was talking to her target. So she smiled sweetly as she slowed to a stop in front of them and asked,
"What's all the commotion about, Umino-san, Lee-san?"
Again, normally she wouldn't have referred to Rock Lee in such a familiar way, using his first name, but...Rock-san just sounded too weird. She wondered what people called his parents.
When Lee didn't answer, Naruto decided to answer for him. "Turtle-kun asked me for a bit of help, so I said I would!" he replied while slinging his arms around Lee's shoulders, to imply that they were friends.
Sakura gagged at the contrast between Lee's green uniform and Naruto's garish orange t-shirt, which was showing beneath his school jacket.
"I doubt there's any help for him at this point," Sakura muttered just loud enough for them to hear and breezed past them to first period.
"Oooh, I hate people like her. All nice on the outside but so condescending to the people who don't need it," Naruto hissed after her, his arm still around Lee.
Lee had frozen up. Turtle-kun? TURTLE-KUN! Good god, will I never be free of Gai-sensei's influence!
Naruto turned back to Lee. "Yosh! We'll get you looking like a model, in time to show you off at the winter dance, Turtle-kun!"
Lee decided to ask. "...Turtle-kun?" he hedged.
Naruto looked at him blankly. And then... "I have no idea what your name is,"
Lee felt like crying. He...didn't know his name? But they were classmates! If Naruto had no idea what Lee's name was, no wonder he though Lee was weird, coming up to him and calling him by name!
Idiot...Turtle-kun? Turtle-CHAN would be much better.
"Ee-etou, Turtle-chan, daijoubu?"
"D-daijoubu, Umino-kun!" Lee slumped further.
"G-gomen nasai! I'm sorry! Don't cry!" Naruto felt immediately bad. Although not really.
Well, what else could you do? He was being creepy, and you know what that normally means. And I saw him watching us. Don't want him to get any ideas—
But it was mean! Even though I really don't know his name!
Don't know his name! How can you not, you've been in his class since you came, and he's one of the loudest people here! Don't know his name, my ass!
But I really don't!
Lee! Lee! Sakura called him Lee-san, you dumbass! Baka! Konoyaro!
Gomen...
"Lee-kun! Lee-kun! See, I know your name!" Naruto frantically patted Lee on the back. Why he thought that would help Lee up out of the hole of depression he was slowly sinking into, Kyuubi knew not.
"...you just heard Sakura-san call me that..." Lee mumbled.
"Oh, come on, beautiful people don't act like that! Stop it or I won't help!"
"...you don't really want to help me, do you..." mumble. Mumble.
"...urk..."
-
Sasuke rounded the corner that Sakura had rounded only minutes before. And saw Naruto hugging...a green thing.
Why did shit seem to come in shipments these days? The hair, the late, now this–
Shikamaru was probably gonna confess and get accepted today or something, too.
Sasuke grumbled and growled. "What are you doing, Naruto?"
Naruto looked up, wide eyed and pathetic. "He won't stop! Sasu-chan, he keeps on sinking! Oh god, help!"
And Sasuke was struck by how very, very wrong that could have sounded. Especially in a place that wasn't school. "...what?"
"What the hell do you mean, baka? Sinking?" Sasuke glowered.
Naruto put his hand to the side of his mouth and whispered (as if it would have done any good, with Lee right by him,) "I forgot his name, and he asked me to give him a–" Lee's hand slapped over his mouth, and part of Naruto's explanation was garbled. Naruto continued without repeating, anyway. "and then Sakura came and said it was hopeless and Lee got all depressed, and I don't know what to do." Naruto gasped to a halt.
Sasuke glowered. "You're both stupid." He breezed by, much as Sakura had, but taking the time to hit Lee on the back of the head. Lee's comically straight hair bounced and returned. "Get to class, baka. Both of you."
Naruto and Lee looked at Sasuke, who was already inside the classroom.
"Did he...smell like baby powder to you?"
Lee nodded. It was a smell he was familiar with; it was used to keep clothes from sticking to the skin in some cases.
"Huh. I hope he hasn't regressed to wearing diapers." Naruto brooded. "Anyway, we'll talk strategy tomorrow, Lee-kun. I have to see when I'm meeting with Shikamaru and Sasuke to work on that project. Plus I'm having dinner with Iruka-nii on Sunday, so that won't work."
Lee still looked downcast, so Naruto gave him a good dose of the nice-guy pose. "Yosh! I won't let this mission go unaccomplished!"
-
Shikamaru considered jogging. Honestly, he did. But then the bell rang. So he decided, there wasn't really much point to rushing, anyway. He would just have to stand in the hallway.
TBC! Dundundun...
Uwaan...Lee was reminding me of Shinji from Prince of Tennis for awhile there... Gomen for the short chapter. And...I think I used more japanese than normal? I try to avoid it, except for suffixes and stuff, but...I was watching anime, I couldn't help it! I randomly say Japanese words to myself now, and I don't even understand it half the time! I have issues.
Japanese note: In case you didn't know 'daijoubu ka' is basically 'are you alright.' same for just 'daijoubu' and it is usually replied with 'daijoubu' as well, so...well incase you didn't know.
Read, review, die. But make sure you review before you die, because you sure as hell can't do it after! philosophy of the day
please review, I don't usually get very many: ( I apologize for the lateness, I'm an awful person.