Best Friend's Brother

Itachi x OC

Summary: Sasuke Uchiha has always been the center of attention at Konoha high. He's become so accustomed to the treatment he recieves, until a new girl arrives on his first day. Treating him as well as Naruto does, a friendship cant help but blossom between the two, but what happens when this new friend that grows so close to doesn't develop a romantic interest in him, but his older brother Itachi?

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters used aside from my OC.

It was the morning of the first day of Konoha High's school year. Alone in her room, a young girl, ran a hand nervously through her black locks, as she overlooked herself in the tall mirror of her bedroom. She was shorter than average girls, her black hair going to the middle of her back, her skin a light shade of ivory. She sighed turning to further investigate her reflection. Her deep brown eyes ran over her figure in the mirror, identifying every curve of her silhouette, and sighing.

'Why do my hips seem so wide?' she thought critically, running her hands down her sides. She turned back to face the mirror fully, reexamining the school uniform she wore: the white button up which worried her especially in the chest area, the large navy blue bow tie, the black jacket with the symbol of a leaf over the right pocket, the black skirt that went to her mid-thigh, and the long white socks, paired with a simple pair of black shoes.

'Now or never' she thought looking over the time displayed on her phone, before picking up her bag and making her exit to walk to the school.

"I'm heading out now Mom" the teen girl called out as she ventured into the living room, and saw her mother on the phone, offering an encouraging smile and wave before returning to her call.

'Probably another meeting' the young girl thought walking out into the streets, slowly making her way through the town to the large building where she'd be educated for the next four years.

She hoped that being the new face on campus on the first day, would mean blending in, but she was sadly mistaken. Upon arrival she was met with many stares and whispers as she walked the busy halls. She sighed as she gazed down to her schedule and made her way to what she thought was her first class.

As she entered the large room, styled as a college lecture hall with the seats rising higher with each row, she was pleased to see that the few people that were present seemed too occupied to notice her, so she swiftly made her way to the teacher's desk to assure she was in the right place (which she was) and proceeded to find a seat.

Not really feeling the front row or the back, she identified a suitable seat towards the middle of the class near a large window. As the young girl sat, she observed the multitude of clouds that passed and decided that this is how she would spend her time until class started. And this idea seemed ideal, until she heard the many whispers and felt the many stares boring into her.

"That's the new girl."

"What's she doing sitting there?"

"Should someone tell her?"

"She can't sit there"

"What do you think Sasuke is going to do?"

The many whispers went on much to the discomfort of the young girl, as she could feel the anxiety grow as more students entered and seemed to direct their attention to her. Yet even if she felt shaken, she continued to stare directly out the window, until she felt a sudden presence standing beside her.

Turning to the source, Natsumi was met with a pair of onyx eyes, which bore deeply into her own brown ones. There stood a young man, who she could tell was at least a head taller than her. He had a fair skin, which only further contrasted with his black spiky hair, and how oddly he'd styled it. He wore a similar school uniform to hers, with a white button up shirt, black tie, black school jacket, with matching pants and shoes. Overall he seemed very composed, with the stoic expression he wore.

"Uh hi." The timid girl began as she saw the entirety of the class now watching. "I-Is everything ok?" she asked as she blinked in confusion, before returning her attention to the boy.

"You're in my seat." He stated simply looking down at the confused girl. He had expected her to move upon hearing this and scurry off in fear, but she simply blinked in response as she continued to stare up at him.

"I didn't realize we had assigned seats." Natsumi finally replied as she shrugged her shoulders and gave the boy a sheepish grin. He raised a brow, no one had ever bothered talking back to him, they all simply followed in suit to not cross him, yet this girl wasn't taking the hint.

"You should get out of my seat." He said now more intimidatingly as he bent down to reach eye level with the girl yet Natsumi knew what he was doing, so her smile quickly fell and was replaced with a look of disdain.

"I don't see your name on it." She replied back, as sudden gasps were heard throughout the classroom.

"I can't believe she said that!"

"She's got guts."

"Who is she?"

"Who does she think she is talking to Sasuke like that?"

The many voices of class sounded off as the starring match continued between the two students over the window seat, taking note of the attention they drew, the boy rolled his eyes, before standing up right.

'So this is Sasuke' Natsumi thought looking over the young man in disbelief.

"Hn … whatever go ahead and sit there." The boy said as he took the seat beside the young girl, causing a look of pure shock to cross her face and the class to erupt in chaos over the outcome.

'Seriously?! What is this guy's problem? He went to all this trouble over a seat he ended up not wanting!' Natsumi thought looking at the dark haired boy in astonishment, before taking notice of what the class was saying.

"He's actually sitting by her!"

"He never lets anyone sit by him!"

"She has no idea how lucky she is!"

"She's gonna pay for talking to him!"

Natsumi was completely perplexed by the words she was hearing. Was everyone seriously so hung up on this jerk? And while she contemplated this, she didn't notice as a pair of onyx eyes studied her confused expression.

'What an idiot' Sasuke thought turning his gaze away from the dark haired girl, as he composed himself in the neighboring seat and tried to block out the chatter of the class.

"Alright that's enough let's start class!" the teacher finally announced as he stood from his desk and the bell went off, calling the attention of his class. Natsumi could see he was pretty young, maybe in his mid to late 20's. The man was of average height (but still taller or at least as tall as most of the male students), with tan skin, brown hair pulled into a ponytail, and a scar going across his nose. He dressed in a light blue collared shirt with the sleeves slightly rolled back as well as a green knitted sweater vest over top.

"Perfect timing!" he exclaimed looking to the clock, before continuing on. "Welcome to homeroom everyone! If you look around, you'll see that these are the faces you will see every morning for the rest of the year, so let's make the most of it by starting off with introductions. I'm Iruka-sensei and I'll be your teacher!" the man stated loudly pointing to himself with a smile.

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki, believe it!" came a sudden outburst from a blonde headed boy, a few rows ahead of Natsumi.

"Hold on there, Naruto." The teacher said putting up his hands and gesturing for the young man to sit down, which caused many of students around to chorus in laughter. "You're not going to be introducing yourselves for this assignment."

"What?" The boy named Naruto questioned out loud as he sat back down.

"Your first assignment for my class is to get to know the person beside you and then give an introduction of them to the class." the man announced as Natsumi stiffened at his words and she slowly let her eyes linger towards the boy next to her. For a moment her brown eyes met onyx yet again before being averted to the teacher. "So I hope you're all happy with where you chose to sit." Iruka-sensei finished with a smile.

Soon the room filled with chatter as the students conversed with their partners; it seemed everyone was enthralled with the topic, except for two students that sat quietly. Growing nervous over the situation, Natsumi slowly turned to face her partner and saw he looked straight ahead with his fingers folded and resting on his elbows.

"So…" the young girl began awkwardly as she watched the dark haired boy. "We kind of got off on the wrong foot." She stated as she bit her lip cautiously. "But we should probably get to work." She finished as he finally turned to meet her gaze.

"Hn" he replied before looking away yet again, and causing the girl's blood to boil.

"Do you really want to fail our first assignment because you have an ego issue?!" the young girl shot back with an annoyed look, causing Sasuke to raise his brows as he turned to look at her.

"What did you say?" he asked menacingly.

"You heard me." The girl replied in a cold tone. "You know what forget this, if you're not going to work with me on this project then I-"

"What? Tell the teacher?" he challenged.

"No! You'll get whatever introduction I give you!" she shot back. Sasuke's eyes grew wide at her statement. "This is Sasuke and for some reason everyone seems so enchanted by his bad attitude and sociopathic tendencies!" Natsumi rehearsed, causing Sasuke's mouth to drop open.

"You know two people can play at that game." Sasuke replied glaring at the young girl.

"Please do." Natsumi challenged.

"Fine! This is- uh … um" he began as he realized his mistake and looked to the girl, who now wore a smirk.

"This is Sasuke and he's too much of a narcissist to even bother learning my name." the girl stated.

"Why would I need to bother learning some nobody's name?" Sasuke replied coldly and obviously embarrassed.

"Guys let's play nice!" came the sudden interruption of the teacher as he now stood in front of the two students with his arms crossed. Both quickly looked down and apologized in unison. "You know everyone is really hitting it off but you two might need a little help." He thought aloud as he reached for his chin and an idea finally struck him. "Alright everyone, could I have your attention please?" he suddenly announced causing the two dark haired students to sink down in their seats as everyone turned to face them.

"Today you will simply be introducing the name of your partner and at the end of the week; you will be giving an oral presentation on them." He announced as the multitudes of students groaned in response at how their assignment had grown.

"This is your fault." Sasuke muttered towards the dark haired girl, as the teacher returned to his desk.

"If you wouldn't have been such a jerk, none of this would have happened." She replied in a similar tone, as Sasuke turned to look at her. He couldn't believe the way she talked to him; it wasn't anything like the normal fearful looks of submission or annoying admiration from the girls. He blinked as he looked over the girl next to him and truly took a minute to see her. She wasn't bad looking, but something that really stood out to him was the attitude she obviously wasn't afraid of giving him.

"My name is Sasuke Uchiha." He stated before glancing away for a moment and upon looking back seeing her hand extended to him. He looked up to meet her gaze and saw any remnants of her past seemed to fade, so he took her hand, before she spoke.

"I'm Natsumi Nakamaru." she replied simply as the two shook hands.

'Natsumi…' Sasuke thought before his thoughts were interrupted by a sudden hand on his shoulder.

"Now that wasn't so hard was it?" Iruka-sensei stated loudly as he gleefully patted the two students on the back, bringing them much alarm.

Soon after the class introductions were done as everyone went around telling the name of their partner. Natsumi noted that the homeroom seemed to be very well acquainted, but also all the glares she seemed to be receiving from the other girls in class, which she could only assume was because Sasuke Uchiha.

'So much for blending in." the girl thought bitterly as she rested her head in her arms on her desk.

"Hey Nakamaru." came the sudden interruption from the Uchiha, himself. The dark haired girl turned her head to look his way as she continued to rest on her desk.

"Hm?" she replied simply looking to the black haired boy.

"When do you want to work on this presentation?" he asked leaning back in his seat.

"I'm not sure." The young girl replied honestly sitting up and looking at the clock. "I mean as far as I know I'm available whenever. Do you have any after school commitments?" she asked turning back to him.

"Not on the first day." He replied reaching behind his neck. "But we don't have to just work on it after school." He said pulling his phone out of his pocket. "Here." He then stated holding out the object to Natsumi.

"You want my number?" she questioned raising a brow.

"No I want you to look at it." Sasuke stated sarcastically, earning an annoyed look from the young girl.

"I'm not giving you my number." She stated firmly.

"Don't be difficult." Sasuke said once again motioning her to take it.

"No."

"Then give me your phone and I'll give you my number." He said now becoming agitated with her lack of compliance.

"No" she said yet again now crossing her arms and turning away from the young man. The pair continued this bickering soon gathering the attention of the class again.

'I give up, they're worse than if Sasuke and Naruto sat together' Iruka-sensei thought dejectedly dropping his head into his arms on his desk.

"Just take it!"

"Take a hike!"

"Stop being difficult!"

"Stop being a jerk!"

"Give me your number!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"No"

"Yes"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"Fine!" she finally gave in taking the phone from Sasuke and punching her number. "Happy now?" she asked handing back his phone angrily.

"Like you could make anyone happy." He said taking his phone back and beginning to put in her caller ID.

"What did you just say?" she asked.

"You heard me." Sasuke replied with a stoic expression.

'I'm going to kill this kid.' Natsumi thought looking over the cocky look on his face. She was just about to retort with a threat when she was interrupted by the bell.

"Have a nice day" the teacher said waving off the class as everyone quickly exited the room. So Natsumi sighed in defeat and left as well.

Entering the hall left Natsumi feeling utterly exposed in the worst way as the many eyes of the students fell on her and the many whispers, that she was sure were about her as well, lingered as she passed. The young girl averted her eyes as best as she could as she walked, taking a deep breath to calm her nerves.

'If I would've known that Sasuke would cause this much trouble I would've just let him have the seat.' She thought bitterly. 'He didn't have to be such a jerk about it though, but there's no use in dwelling on it now.' Natsumi went on taking another deep breath.

Deciding it best to simply move on, Natsumi took out her schedule and tried to figure if she was going in the right direction, yet her focus was soon broken upon hearing the sudden shouts and fast approaching foot steps towards her.

"Hey! Hey Natsumi!" came the sudden voice that was behind her. Natsumi had a nervous feeling in her gut as she turned around to meet the source, which was so actively pursuing her.

"Yeah?" she replied sheepishly as she was met with a black t-shirt that was shown underneath the unbuttoned white shirt and black jacket of the school uniform. When Natsumi looked upwards, she saw that the pursuer was a tall young man with sun kissed skin, three distinct marks on each cheek (almost like whiskers), bright blue eyes, spiky blonde hair, and a large toothy smile. Immediately she recognized this young man as the boy who introduced himself prematurely in homeroom, this boy was Naruto Uzumaki.

"Whoa you sure do walk fast!" Naruto exclaimed as he reached up to grab the back of his neck and smiled widely at the young girl, who now wore a confused expression.

"Uh yeah." Natsumi replied awkwardly as she tried to inch away, especially when she noticed the crowd the very loud Naruto had attracted in trying to catch her.

"I just wanted to get the chance to meet you myself. I'm Naruto Uzumaki." Naruto stated confidently as he gave the girl another dazzling smile and stuck out his hand. Looking around, Natsumi saw the small crowd that formed watched her intently to see what her next move would be, she grew more nervous.

"Natsumi Nakamaru." She said quickly taking his hand to try and make the exchange go by quicker, but upon doing so she was pulled alongside the hyperactive blonde, as he slung an arm over her shoulders and the two began walking. Natsumi was in utter shock at his actions.

'He sure is friendly' the girl thought looking up to the blonde haired boy that currently occupied her personal space.

"I like you Natsumi." Naruto suddenly stated meeting the young girl's stare, causing a pink blush to cross her cheeks. "It takes a lot of guts to stick up to Sasuke like you did and I like that you didn't just give in or get all gaga over him like the other girls." He continued as he now gave her a closed eyed smile and chuckled a bit at the end, giving Natsumi a bit of relief and causing a similar smile to grace her features before she let out a slight laugh as well.

"Really?" she questioned now giving her full attention to the young man and for a moment forgetting the many eyes that followed the teens.

"Yeah, I mean he's my friend and all, but all that attention he gets is kind of annoying. So it was nice to see him get put in his place by someone, besides me." Naruto replied much to the surprise of Natsumi, whose eyes grew wide.

'There's no way that jerk is friends with this kid.' Natsumi thought looking at the stark differences between the joyful blonde and moody black haired boy.

"Back in the day I was the only one who ever bothered to fight with Sasuke. And boy did we get into it." Naruto stated, looking back on the pairs younger days before returning to look at the girl under his arm and smiling yet again. "But in the end we found out no one understood us quiet like the other, so we became friends. "The blonde continued.

"That's crazy." Natsumi said nodding her head in understanding, waiting on the boy to continue.

"Yeah, but when you guys were going at it in class today, it kind of reminded me of the things Sasuke and I would say when we fought. Especially with the whole 'what did you say?' and 'You heard me' parts, you know?" Naruto imitated as he continued to smile down at Natsumi, who simply laughed in response.

'Did we really sound like that?' she thought in embarrassment.

"Hey Naruto, can I ask you something?" the young girl suddenly said, catching the young man's attention.

"Uh yeah of course!" he replied with another warm smile.

"I heard someone say Sasuke doesn't let anyone sit by him, is that true?" Natsumi worded carefully looking down.

"Well Sasuke doesn't really like the attention he gets, he calls everyone annoying and no one really wants to get on his bad side, so they just sort of stay away too." Naruto contemplated placing a hand on his head in thought.

"Well why don't you sit next to him?" Natsumi pressed curiously as her eyes once again met blue. Naruto simply laughed, much to the girl's confusion.

"Last year Kakashi-sensei made it rule that we shouldn't sit next to each other or we'd disrupt class or something." Naruto managed to reply between chuckles.

"Kakashi-sensei?" the girl questioned.

"You really must be new, huh?" the blonde replied looking over the young girl who still wore a confused look. "Yeah he's just this teacher we really got to last year in history, but this year I heard he's teaching English and couple math classes instead, maybe you'll have him then." Naruto thought aloud.

"Maybe" Natsumi agreed pulling out her schedule.

"Oh what's your next class?" Naruto asked suddenly catching sight of the young girl's schedule.

"Uh History with Asuma-sensei" Natsumi replied holding up the paper to the blonde boy.

"No way so do I!" Naruto exclaimed in excitement, before taking the girl's schedule to study it over.

"Homeroom with Iruka-sensei; History with Asuma-sensei; Science with Orochimaru-sensei; Study Hall/Applied Assistant Training with Shizune-sensei; Lunch: Art with Kurenai-sensei; English with Kakashi-sensei; Math with Kakashi-sensei; and PE with Bushier Brow-sensei." Naruto read out loud as he memorized the girl's schedule.

"I thought I had Guy-sensei for PE?" Natsumi questioned as she gave Naruto a questionable look.

"Yeah that's just what I call him." Naruto laughed and Natsumi nodded in understanding. "Anyways" he said suddenly seeming a bit more serious. "You have me for History, then Sasuke for science, not too sure about that study hall or art but then I think you have me and Sasuke for the rest." The boy thought counting out his fingers.

"Hn" Natsumi replied in understanding as she had just noticed Naruto had led her to a door, which she presumed to be the class, and she was right. So the pair entered and went about the class as normal.

Natsumi was relieved that they weren't late, as it seemed they had talked forever in route to the class. They had made it just in time as the teacher himself wasn't present. He had shown up soon after though as he explained that he needed a quick smoke break before class started, causing most of the students to raise their brows as they gave the man questionable looks. The teacher was a very tall man in his mid to late 30's, he had black spiky hair as well as a small beard, his eyes were dark and tan skin. He wore a light blue button up with the sleeves were slightly pushed up, with no tie, black pants and a bandanna tied at his waist displaying a symbol. He'd introduced himself as Asuma-sensei, stating the basics of any other introduction.

From that point, the class was pretty uneventful. Asuma-sensei only reviewed the syllabus before allowing the students to visit freely with one another. During this time, Natsumi found herself having her ear talked off by Naruto, but saw it as the better option as opposed to enduring the many wandering eyes and whispers about her from the other students.

'Jeez, when is this commotion over the Sasuke thing gonna die down?' The young girl thought, trying to keep her attention on the hyperactive blonde.

"Hey Naruto, aren't you gonna introduce your friend?" interrupted a sudden voice. Turning to see who had disrupted, the pair noticed that they had been approached by a group of three others. The leading one was a tall boy with tan skin, dark brown hair, two red marks on each side of his face, and a canine like smile. He wore his uniform very similarly to Naruto, only with a white instead of black undershirt exposed by his opened white button up and jacket. The next young man was the same height as the first, but with light skin, spiky brown hair, and a small pair of sun glasses hiding his eyes. He appeared to be wearing his uniform correctly from what Natsumi could see as he also wore an extra-large jacket over top with the zipper undone. Finally, the young girl who was with the boys, was roughly Natsumi's height, with fair skin, black hair styled with bangs that perfectly framed her face and light purple eyes. She wore her uniform normally, but instead of the school jacket, she had a large oversized grey button up sweater overtop. Natsumi could tell by the way the girl clung to her sleeves; she was much more timid than the boys.

"Not now Kiba. I'm in the middle of a story." Naruto said crossing his arms in an annoyed manner.

"It's not like it would kill you to show some hospitality." The young man in the oversized coat said.

"Alright fine" Naruto said in an exasperated sigh. "Natsumi, this is Kiba, Hinata, and uh … um … and ... uh" Naruto began to introduce the trio before seeming to forget the final boy.

"You forgot my name again." The young man stated as a dark aura seemed to surround him.

"What? No I didn't!" Naruto exclaimed defensively. "It's uh um … you're um …" Naruto tried again as Natsumi watched the young man's head drop in defeat. She noticed that Naruto was genuinely trying to name him all the while, the boy grew more upset.

"It's Shino" he stated flatly, causing a look of utter surprise to decorate Naruto's face.

"Shino!" the blonde exclaimed in astonishment. "Wow you sure have changed. I haven't seen you in forever, no wonder I couldn't place you at first!" Naruto explained with a sheepish grin as he scratched the back of his neck nervously.

"It wasn't that long of a summer break." Shino stated obviously annoyed. Natsumi felt very sorry for him, but the rest kind of just laughed it off.

'Poor guy, but I guess this must be normal.' Natsumi noted as she looked around the small group.

"So Natsumi I heard you got into it with Sasuke this morning in homeroom is that true?" the boy named Kiba asked with a smirk that showed his sharpened teeth.

'Great they know' Natsumi inwardly whined.

"Uh yeah I guess you could say that." the young girl replied awkwardly trying not to meet the gaze of Kiba.

"That's pretty cool; usually girls aren't like that with that guy." He stated pulling up a seat directly in front of Natsumi, much to her discomfort. Soon the other two followed suit, and Natsumi hoped that this wasn't the only reason people would be interested in her.

"So I heard." Natsumi replied as casually as she could as she found herself looking around almost everywhere to avoid Kiba's gaze.

"But now you're hanging out with Naruto, so are you guys dating or something?" Kiba asked leaning onto the desk as Natsumi immediately looked at him.

'Could this guy be any noisier?' she inwardly questioned, giving him an 'are you serious?" look.

"No we're not." Naruto Immediately stated waving off the question with a slight blush and big smile. Natsumi was grateful for his response and found herself studying the reactions of those around her. Naruto laughed lightly still blushing, while Kiba and Shino both laughed in amusement, but Hinata was looking down with a face way redder than Naruto's and a look of what seemed to be relief.

'Does she like Naruto?' Natsumi thought continuing to look over the young girl before noticing that every now and then she seemed to glance Naruto's way.

Noticing Natsumi's distracted look, Naruto lightly nudged her arm, bringing her back to the discussion.

"Well?" Kiba asked leaning toward her more and causing Natsumi to lean back.

"What?" the young girl questioned, giving the boy a puzzled look.

"Do you have a boyfriend?" he asked with his smirk widening as it perfectly displayed his canines. Natsumi's face felt like it was on fire, this guy might not have been able to read a room, but his closeness wasn't at all necessary.

"No" she replied trying to suppress her blush as she smiled shyly. Looking up, she noticed Kiba too had a similar color on his face and an odd look in his eyes.

"You know if you were looking for one then I wouldn't mind-" Kiba began before being cut off by Naruto.

"You really think a girl like Natsumi, would want to date a guy like you?" Naruto asked rhetorically as he placed an arm on the back of Natsumi's chair.

"Well I don't see anyone else asking" Kiba retorted glaring at Naruto, which the blonde returned.

The laughter that once chorused from the group was long gone and replaced with an awkward silence, as the two boys glared at one another, Shino hung his head in annoyance, and Hinata looked away sadly. Natsumi felt strange being in the middle of the situation, but had a feeling that this might be a norm between these two boys.

"Come on guys, it doesn't matter. I'm not into hotheads like you guys anyways. I think I like more quiet guys … like Shino!" Natsumi suddenly exclaimed light heartedly with a smile, in an attempt to break up the awkwardness.

Both boys immediately turned to face Shino, who had a blush so red it covered the entirety of his face and seemed to be so taken aback by Natsumi's statement that he fell back in his chair. This time it was Hinata to release the first giggle and from there the whole group once again laughed together, even Shino from the floor. Natsumi was glad that she was able to resolve the conflict and even get Hinata included. Soon after, the bell rang and Asuma-sensei quickly dismissed the class before heading out as well, for what the children presumed was another smoke break.

Natsumi was thankful that Naruto had offered to walk her to her next class, as she was pretty confused with the direction of the science wing. Once getting to the room the two were enthralled in a conversation and didn't notice the scene that currently occupied the entirety of the class.

"Oh Sasuke, I just talked to the sensei, and he said it would be important to sit with partners for our experiments. So I was wondering if you'd want to sit together?" a certain red head asked all the while batting her lashes at the stoic Uchiha.

"No" Sasuke replied coldly continuing to look towards the front of the class.

"But Sasuke, the sensei said you have to have a partner." The red head whined stomping a foot much to the annoyance of the onyx eyed teen.

"I don't want to be your partner Karin." Sasuke replied honestly, much to the dismay of the girl.

"Well who is going to be your partner then?" Karin asked angrily as she pushed up her glasses. Turning to look around the room, Sasuke was pleasantly surprised to see a certain black haired girl saying goodbye to Naruto; he quickly got off the stool at his lab station and walked to the two.

"Yeah but I think you should go or you might be late." Natsumi hinted as her blonde friend simply laughed off her suggestion.

"Natsumi, stop worrying, I have plenty of time!" Naruto said with a closed eyed smile.

"Hey dobe" Sasuke suddenly said, catching the attention of both teens.

"Sasuke!" Naruto exclaimed before realization set in. "What did you call me?" he asked in a slightly angry tone, to which Sasuke gave no answer.

'I almost forgot Naruto said Sasuke would have this class with me.' Natsumi thought looking between the two boys.

"You should get to class" Sasuke said casually putting his hands in his pockets.

"I've got plenty of time." Naruto stated once more now placing his hands on his head.

"Don't you think Kakashi and Obito-sensei will be upset that you're late for that Applied Math?" Sasuke asked, making a bright red blush cover Naruto's face.

"Hey I said to keep that between us" Naruto quickly said in a hushed voice, scrambling to cover Sasuke's mouth as he looked over to Natsumi.

"What's Applied Math?" she asked simply looking over Naruto's worried expression with furrowed brows.

"Uh it's uh … well you see …" Naruto began to try and explain before being cut off by Sasuke.

"It's an extra math class that dobe needs to take since he's an idiot." Sasuke replied pushing away Naruto's hand as he looked to his flustered friend.

"Shut up!" Naruto said now grabbing Sasuke by the collar of his shirt, to which Sasuke simply laughed.

"Naruto" Natsumi suddenly interrupted catching the attention of both boys as she simply pointed to the clock. Noting the time, Naruto's expression suddenly became worried.

"I really thought I had more time" the blonde exclaimed beginning to run off. "But uh catch you later Natsumi!" he then yelled from down the hall.

Natsumi simply smiled and waved off the blue eyed boy, before noticing the hand that suddenly clasped hers as she was led to a lab station with a very angry looking red headed girl.

"Karin, this is Natsumi, she will be my lab partner." Sasuke suddenly announced releasing Natsumi's hand in front of the girl.

"You can't be serious Sasuke" Karin exclaimed looking over the dark haired girl in a judging manner. "Who is she anyways?" the red head continued.

"Excuse me?" Natsumi asked defensively, crossing her arms and looking over the angry girl before her. She was about Natsumi's height, with a light complexion, bright red hair, and dark eyes beneath her glasses. Natsumi noted that the girl wore her white blouse buttoned all the way up, but with no tie or school jacket and she also seemed to have made an alteration to her skirt to hike it up more, yet instead of the standard issued white school socks, she had on black thigh socks.

'Who does she think she is?' Natsumi thought as Karin met her gaze.

"A nobody like you, doesn't deserve to sit next to Sasuke!" Karin stated adjusting her glasses.

"Just sit down and ignore her Natsumi." The sudden voice of Sasuke came as he pulled a chair out for the young girl. Natsumi simply blinked in surprise looking between the two teens.

'Is this normal for Sasuke?' thought Natsumi as she continued to look over his relaxed composure versus the aggressive stance of his fan.

"I don't know if I can handle all the drama it takes being around you" Natsumi admitted honestly. Sasuke and Karin both quickly turned their heads to look at the young girl in shock.

"Wh-What did you just say?" Karin managed to say, looking at Natsumi in a questioning manner.

"Is it always like this?" Natsumi asked looking at Sasuke, who continued to stare at the young girl, perplexed by how uninterested she, seemed in him. Meanwhile, girls like Sakura or Ino would've killed to sit by him.

"Come now students let's start taking our seats." A man, Natsumi assumed to be the teacher, stated calmly approaching the trio. "What seems to be the problem here?" he asked looking to the three students.

He was a tall slender man, with long black hair, pale ghostly skin, and a slim almost serpent like face. He wore a simple light grey button up shirt, black pants, black shoes, and a white lab coat overtop. Yet out of all his outstanding features, the thing that stood out most was his yellow eyes that seemed to be looking further into his students than their outward appearances.

"Sensei, Sasuke won't let me be his partner, even after I told him you said we needed partners!" Karin immediately whined in an annoying tone. The sensei, took a moment to absorb this before his gaze lifted to the young man.

"Well if the youngest Uchiha prodigy doesn't want to take a partner, then he doesn't need to." The man stated calmly looking back to the red head whose mouth hung open in astonishment. "I believe Sasuke Uchiha could handle the work load alone, unless he preferred to take a partner?" the teacher questioned looking over to Sasuke, before continuing. "Would you like a partner, Mr. Uchiha?"

"Only if it's Natsumi." The young man stated looking over to the dark haired girl, who stood looking between him and their teacher in shock.

"And it looks like that's what'll happen." The teacher stated with an almost snake like smile. Karin immediately stormed off to the opposite side of the class, leaving the pair to awkwardly look over one another, before Sasuke took his seat and looked to Natsumi expectantly. Not really feeling up to looking into a different option, she cautiously took a seat in the stool beside the young man.

"Good" the teacher stated again with his snake like smile before he returned to the front of the class, to wait for the bell, which sounded soon after.

"Welcome to my laboratory students. I am Orochimaru-sensei. I will be your educator this year for Science and try as I might to help you all in understanding the subject, that can't be guaranteed because I will also be teaching at the local university, so I might not always be available" The sensei stated beginning to write his name on the white-board. "Also this is my intern Kabuto Yakushi, he's a college student of mine from the local university, who you'll be seeing a lot of during this year as well." he went on gesturing to the corner of the room where a young man with white hair and glasses sat typing on a laptop. He hadn't even bothered looking up when mentioned; he seemed too far gone in his work to notice.

Natsumi found herself watching the man work away as the teacher went on about the topics the class would cover. He appeared to be slightly older than her maybe 18 or 19, with his white hair pulled back into a low ponytail, yet there were still a few shorter pieces that managed to fall out and frame his face. He had light skin as well as black eyes behind his glasses. He wore a simple purple plaid shirt, buttoned up with the sleeves rolled back. For a moment, the young man looked up and caught her eye, causing a slight blush to cross her face as she quickly averted her eyes.

'Way to be creepy!' the girl mentally scolded herself before returning to look at the young man again. She would have been relieved if she saw him simply returning to his work, but to her horror he gave her a slight smile and wave, making her go beet red as she quickly turned back to the teacher.

The rest of the class was mostly uneventful from that point on as Natsumi refused to look back to where Kabuto sat. At some point, the sensei finished his speech and allowed to students to converse freely. So Natsumi set her head down beginning the mental countdown to the bell, something she found quiet peaceful, until she felt a light tap on her shoulder. Turning to the source she was met with onyx eyes.

"Yeah?" Natsumi replied.

"What were you doing hanging out with the dobe?" he asked much to the alarm of the young girl.

"You mean Naruto?" she asked while furrowing her brows.

"Hn" Sasuke replied.

"We had history last period together." She stated giving the Uchiha a questionable look.

"Hn" he replied yet again looking towards the front of the class.

"Why?" she asked now intrigued, but Sasuke didn't reply, much to her annoyance. Not long after, the teacher announced that the class was dismissed when the bell rang.

"Hello?" Natsumi said waving a hand in front of Sasuke's face. "I asked you a question." She stated obviously annoyed as he continued to ignore her presence.

'This guy has a lot of nerve acting this privileged.' Natsumi thought, as Sasuke finally turned to look at her with his same stoic expression. Natsumi was growing angered over the look her partner wore, she prepared to shoot out an insult, but further to her dismay, the bell sounded, once again interrupting her.

Sighing in defeat, the young girl, decided to wait until most of the class filed out, before venturing out to face the crowded halls. It was not until she realized, she had no idea where her next class was, that she noticed that Sasuke was already gone.

'Wow no goodbye?' Natsumi thought as she looked at the boy's empty stool.

"Everything alright?" came a calm voice beside the young girl, jolting her from thought, with wide eyes, as her gaze fell onto Kabuto.

"Uh yeah." The dark haired girl nervously replied, meeting the dark eyes of the teacher's intern, who obviously didn't buy her tone.

"You sure?" he asked raising a brow. Natsumi gave him a sheepish smile in return before deciding to tell him her predicament.

"I'm new this year, so I have no idea where my next class is." She said offering the young man a closed eyed smile as she scratched the back of her head.

"Orochimaru-sensei, would it be alright if I showed miss…" Kabuto began to question before trailing off and looking to the girl for response.

"Nakamaru. Natsumi Nakamaru." The girl responded in understanding.

"Ah yes … If I showed Miss Nakamaru, to her next class?" the young man asked adjusting the brim of his glasses. The sensei turned to look in the pair's general direction before nodding in approval. So Natsumi took the opportunity to show Kabuto her schedule, before she collected her things and the two exited into the still very busy hallway.

"Did you hear about that girl getting to sit next to Sasuke again last hour?"

"Who is she?"

"I heard she was getting really cozy with Naruto before that."

"Who does she think she is?"

"I heard she was making eyes with a teacher's intern last hour."

Natsumi was mortified hearing the many ongoing conversations as the pair walked through the bustling halls.

"Seems you're quite popular for a new student?" Kabuto questioned playfully as the color red tinted the young girl's face.

"This is embarrassing" she admitted truthfully allowing her head to drop and her black locks to fall in her face. Kabuto simply laughed at her actions, alarming her as she lifted her head to look at the young man.

"Get out of your head, it's just first day gossip." He reassured the young girl pushing up his glasses by the bridge and smiling to her. She found comfort in the fact that, he spoke from experience, so she closed her eyes, took a deep breath and released her own light laugh.

"Thanks Kabuto." She said flashing the young man a genuine smile.

"No problem" he replied. "Anyways, where are you from?"

"Not here" she replied looking down the hall.

"Ah I see" The young man nodded in understanding before continuing. "Why here?" he questioned.

"My parents got a divorce, so my mom thought moving back to her hometown was a good idea." Natsumi answered truthfully. Kabuto turned to look at the black haired girl with alarmed filled eyes.

"I-I'm so sorry" he responded immediately, worried he may have upset the young girl, but was surprised to see she seemed to wear a blank expression.

"It's ok" she said turning to the young man and giving him a reassuring smile.

"I don't have much of my parents in my life either." The boy replied sheepishly looking away from the young girl's innocent brown eyes. "They were in an accident at the end of my senior year." He admitted looking off somewhere distant. Natsumi set a comforting hand on his shoulder, much to his alarm, as he turned to meet a sad smile on her face.

"I'm really sorry." She said looking into his dark orbs.

"It's ok" he said giving her a closed eyed smile, before deciding to change the subject. "So have a boyfriend?" he asked alarming the young girl.

"N-no" Natsumi responded trying to suppress the impending blush to her cheeks.

"Really?" he questioned with a light chuckle. "I would've expected a girl like you to be in a relationship." He stated.

"What do you mean a girl like me?" she asked curiously.

"A pretty girl" he responded almost immediately, causing the blush to take over the young girl's face. "Has anyone asked you out yet?" he asked now turning to look at the tomato red teen. "You ok?" he asked furrowing his brows.

"Uh yeah, um thanks, but no … no one has." She sputtered out, before thinking back to Kiba and Naruto's fight and releasing a light nervous laugh.

'I guess college kids don't really beat around the bush' Natsumi thought looking over the young man that simply blinked at her actions. 'First I'm creepy and now I'm weird" she continued to think as she smiled to the confused looking boy.

'She easily opens up when she thinks she can trust someone' the young man thought observing the dark haired girl.

"Well we're at your class" Kabuto suddenly announced coming to a halt. "Would you like me to walk you in?" he questioned looking down at the young girl who carefully gazed into the room.

"Hey don't be nervous" he said surprising the young girl, placing a hand on her shoulder. "If you want, I could ask if I could sit in?" he offered further alarming the young girl.

"No that's not necessary at all, besides Orochimaru-sensei should be expecting you back soon." Natsumi immediately replied raising her hands to stop the young man. "Besides, I think I see someone from another one of my classes." The girl continued, giving the young man a reassuring smile.

"Alright, good luck Natsumi" Kabuto said waving the young girl off with another comforting smile.

Looking into the room, yet again before entering, Natsumi tried to see if she actually did know anyone from her previous classes and was pleased when she saw the long black hair of a certain girl from her history class.

"Hinata!" the young girl exclaimed, running up to the seat next to the girl with dark locks much like her own.

"Na-Natsumi?" Hinata responded obviously surprised by her presence.

"Would it be alright if I sat here?" the brown eyed girl asked with pleading eyes.

"Um yes" Hinata replied with a warm smile, much to Natsumi's relief. So the brown eyed girl quickly sat down and gave Hinata an appreciative smile.

"So do you know what this class is about?" Natsumi questioned looking around to the few desks occupied by even fewer students.

"I'm actually not sure, but I have a feeling Shizune sensei will explain when she's done working." Hinata answered pointing towards the women, who sat busily working away at her desk. She was a young woman maybe in her mid-20s with short black hair, black eyes, light skin, wearing a loose black blouse and black slacks with black flats. She seemed so enthralled in her work; Natsumi could feel the determination radiating from the teacher, known as Shizune-sensei.

"Hn" Natsumi responded, followed by the bell, as a couple more students rushed in to take the remaining seats, yet the teacher continued to work away completely unaffected by the sound. It wasn't until a few students cleared their throats at once, that she quickly stood to give her introduction.

"Hello students, I am Shizune and most of you know me as the principal's assistant but I will be your sensei for this Study Hall/Applied Assistant Training class." the women stated as the students blinked in reply. "Now the purpose for this class was to take the few outstanding students who seemed most academically fit, and train you to assist teachers in the classroom."

"Then why is it called a study hall?" A young man with dark hair, asked casually as he raised his hand.

"I'm glad you asked" the sensei stated pointing to the young man. "You will be training to be classroom assistants for the most part, but when needed you can take this time to use as a study hall since you will sometimes be sacrificing more than just this class's time." She responded turning back to her desk and beginning to shift through papers.

"What do you mean more than this class time?" Hinata suddenly asked timidly raising her hand.

"Well the first few weeks in this class, you'll be trained on how to be a proper assistant, and then when the time is right be sent off to work under your choice of teacher. But since not all teachers will have the same needs at the same time, you may be pulled out of certain classes to help them when they need you. That's why we specifically choice this group as you all would most likely be able to handle the flexibility for this class."

"How will we be graded?" another young girl asked now taking her turn to raise her hand.

"Good question" Shizune-sensei replied beginning to pass out a paper amongst the students. "Once you have selected your desired teacher, they will send back input and that assessment will determine your grade." She said now returning to the front of the room. "This is a quick quiz of hypothetical situations to see where you all stand on the subject matter." She suddenly stated as many groans of resentment were heard.

'Great a pop quiz' Natsumi thought looking down at the sheet on her desk before returning to look at the teacher.

"Please take your time in responding, stay quiet for those around you, and when you are done you may place your papers on my desk, then use the remaining time freely." Shizune-sensei stated before returning to her work at her desk. Looking over the questions, Natsumi slowly began to fill out the answers while some of the students continued to sulk over the work given on the first day.

After finishing, Natsumi took notice that a few other students finished as well. The first one done seemed to be a boy who'd asked a question earlier, as well as Hinata. Taking a deep breath, she slowly stood from her seat to place her paper on the teacher's desk. While sitting back down she noted that only a few students were still writing, so she decided to simply watch the clock. Minute after minute ticked away, until Natsumi felt a light tap at her shoulder. Turning she saw it was Hinata, informing her that everyone was done, so the two girls, much like the rest of the class, began to fill the remaining time with conversation.

….

"Whoa so you've all pretty much known each other since grade school?" Natsumi asked as her brows rose in astonishment. Hinata simply smiled and nodded shyly in response to the young girl's question.

"Hm so I guess you all really notice when there's a new kid right?" Natsumi asked now leaning back in her seat and looking to the ceiling.

"Especially when the new kid is a pretty girl causing a lot of commotion over Sasuke." Hinata replied jokingly, almost making Natsumi fall out of her chair.

'And it looks like the shy girl has jokes!' Natsumi thought as she offered the girl a closed eyed smile and watched Hinata laugh.

"Don't tell me you're one of the girl's that hates me over Sasuke" Natsumi said, for a moment stopping Hinata's laughter before causing her to break out into a fresh fit of giggles.

"No … I'm not a part of the fan club" Hinata said raising her hand to Natsumi, who raised a brow in curiosity.

"Fan club?" Natsumi asked.

"Yeah, it's mostly every girl in school, but the main ones are Sakura, Ino, and Karin." Hinata explained, listing the members out on her hand. Natsumi's eyes grew wide in alarm as she recognized the final name, as the red-headed girl from her science class, who had wanted to sit next to the infamous Uchiha.

"Natsumi, are you alright?" Hinata asked waving a hand in the young girl's face as she seemed to be in thought. Snapping back to reality, Natsumi shook her head to escape the thought of the red head and her dirty looks over Sasuke.

"Ye-yeah" Natsumi managed to stutter out, in hopes Hinata would not probe, but she was mistaken.

"You met one of them didn't you?" the dark haired girl asked knowingly, as Natsumi's false exterior shattered, and she gave Hinata a guilty smile.

"I had Karin in my science class with Sasuke" Natsumi admitted looking towards the ground.

"I'm guessing she didn't seem too friendly after hearing you sat together in homeroom" Hinata stated.

"That and Sasuke having me be his lab partner over her." Natsumi replied tucking a stray strand of her black hair behind her ear.

"You sat together again?" Hinata questioned.

"Yeah" Natsumi answered, before noticing the confused look on Hinata's face. "Uh why is that weird?" she continued looking to her companion.

"I just know he doesn't like anyone sitting by him … even Naruto" Hinata replied in a hushed voice, as she turned red towards the end, making a sly smirk cross Natsumi's face.

"Hm I guess that makes sense, with having a fan club and all" Natsumi stated casually turning from Hinata and looking towards the clock. "And I guess the fan club, would make sense with him being a prodigy and not half bad looking" Natsumi continued, looking to Hinata with her preferable vision. "But you know I'm curious as to why you didn't jump on the fan club bandwagon, you know, especially with everyone knowing each other for so long?" she questioned as she watched Hinata began to turn from pink to red. "Unless you like someone else" Natsumi stated holding up a finger and turning to look at a tomato red teen beside her.

"We-well I –I don't really know what yo-you mean" Hinata replied nervously fidgeting her fingers and beginning to avoid eye contact with Natsumi, who inwardly smiled at how much she'd learned about this young girl already.

"Who is it, Hinata?" Natsumi asked, playing dumb, as she watched Hinata furrow her brows and turn even redder, which she didn't think was even possible.

"Wh-what … I – I … um I … well uh …" the flustered girl began to try and speak. Deciding she'd had enough fun, Natsumi smiled to the girl beside her, before turning to face her and leaning in close enough, so she'd hear her at a lower volume.

"You like Naruto" Natsumi whispered quietly, as Hinata stiffened at her words. Her eyes grew wide, her palms sweaty, and her heart felt as if it'd burst from her chest as she felt mortified.

"N-Nar-Naruto … N-no I-I …" Hinata began to try and deny worriedly, before she a comforting hand was placed on her shoulder, much to her surprise. Taking a moment to release her eyes from their spot on the floor, she was surprised to see Natsumi giving her a kind smile.

"Don't worry you're secrets safe with me" Natsumi said removing her hand from a still very shocked Hinata. "I hope you're not upset I figured it out though, at first it was just a hunch." She went on placing a hand on the back of her neck.

"Uh you gue- but-but … how?" Hinata managed to get out looking to the young girl still in shock.

"I just kind of guessed, you know?" Natsumi replied shrugging her shoulders and letting out a slight laugh. Hinata could feel herself began to start blushing yet again, how had she been so obvious that a new comer could figure out her secret?

"Hinata?" Natsumi asked cautiously, now taking her turn to wave her hand in front of her face to get her back from her deep thought.

"Ye-yeah" Hinata responded looking back to a concerned looking Natsumi, in hopes that her blush may have lightened.

"I'm sorry Hinata. I really didn't mean to upset you. Honestly you're probably the first real friend I've made today." Natsumi said with furrowed brows, much to Hinata's alarm.

"No I'm not upset at all" Hinata immediately responded shaking her hands in front of her. "I'm surprised" she admitted, placing a hand on Natsumi's.

"So we're good?" Natsumi asked raising her brows.

"Of course" Hinata replied with a warm smile, as both girls began to laugh for really no reason at all.

The two went on in conversation, until the bell. Hinata had answered mostly all of Natsumi's questions, pertaining to class's locations and the overall social hierarchy of the school. Natsumi took comfort in having Hinata as a friend, and felt the two would get along well.

Shizune had allowed her class to leave early seeing as everyone finished their questioner sooner than expected. Within that time, Hinata had showed Natsumi how to open her locker, something she had purposely avoided to stay away from hassle. The two had begun to slowly make their way towards the cafeteria, when the bell rang and the halls suddenly filled with the masses of students, causing the two girl's to become separated.

'What? No!' Natsumi thought very startled by the large amounts of students who shuffled through the halls, creating an immediate flow in the direction of the cafeteria. Natsumi found herself being pushed to the general location for much of the way, before deciding to break from the pact. She watched until the heard dwindled down as they entered the large doors, most taking no notice of her presence. Taking a deep breath the young girl slowly pushed open the doors, before entering.

The building was fairly large, the main entrance being two sets of large double doors with wide windows on either side, with a high white ceiling, plain white walls with several motivational posters and many long tables, practically filled with hundreds of students, all of whom seemed too occupied to notice Natsumi. As she made her way through, she came upon the small entry to where the food was being served; she soon found her way to the lunch line, which was pretty empty at this point. Natsumi was pleased to see the array of food that didn't seem like the basic run of the mill school lunch, so she quickly grabbed a tray.

Walking around a bit more, she tried to locate a familiar patch of long dark hair, when she did, she smiled. Hinata sat across the cafeteria along with the two boys from history, as well as a girl with her brown hair tied in two buns, a boy with a bowl haircut and another boy who also had long dark hair and shared her pale eyes. Natsumi begun to make her way towards the group, but after taking her first few steps, she was stopped by a loud voice.

"Hey Natsumi!" the voice sounded. "Hey Natsumi come sit with us!" the voice went on calling loudly. The young girl felt herself stiffen in embarrassment as the yelling continued and many students turned to look at her. "Natsumi, are you gonna stand there all day? Come on!"

Turning to in the direction of the shouting, Natsumi wasn't surprised to see a certain blonde haired, blue eyed boy waving her over rapidly with a huge grin on his face, attracting even more attention. The dark haired girl gave him a small smile and wave before turning away to try to make her way to her original destination. She made progress as she'd gotten some of the way and noticed that some turned their eyes away in disinterest, but she was suddenly caught by the back of her arm and being led back towards where Naruto was. Looking to the person leading her, she was shocked to see it was Sasuke, and to worsen the blow, all eyes were now on the pair as they moved.

"If you don't sit with us, the dobe is just going to keep yelling" The dark haired boy explained as if it justified her sudden kidnapping. Natsumi raised her brows at the Uchiha, giving him a questionable look that he didn't seem to mind.

Upon getting to the table, Natsumi was met with the smiling blonde and a few other curious eyes, as she sat between Naruto and Sasuke. The Uchiha had placed himself at the end of the table; then Natsumi noted it was her; Naruto; a tall young man with red hair, pale blue eyes, a tattoo for the symbol of love on his forehead and his uniform worn almost normally except without the tie; a girl with dirty blonde hair tied into four ponytails and pale blue eyes to the previous boy, as well as the school uniform but without the jacket over the white button up; a boy with brown hair who looked very similar to the red head except for his eyes which were not at all the same blue, as well as the black button up he wore instead of white with his uniform; across from him a heavy set boy with light brown spiky hair and two red swirls on his cheeks, who wore his uniform without the tie; next to him a boy Natsumi vaguely recognized from her last class as the boy with spiky hair in a ponytail, who wore his uniform with his tie undone; then a blue eyed girl with long blonde hair pulled back into a high ponytail, who had slightly altered her uniform as she had cropped her white button up to show her flat stomach with her jacket missing; and finally a pink haired girl with green eyes who aside from Natsumi was the only one wearing her uniform properly without any personal moderations.

"Who's your friend, Naruto?" the young man with red hair asked in a deep voice making Natsumi's heart stop.

'His voice' the dark haired girl inwardly exclaimed in admiration, as she looked over to him. When their eyes met, she could feel her heart skip a beat, taking in his features. 'He's beautiful' she went on in her mind, turning forward to lessen the eye contact, so she wouldn't start starring.

"Oh this is Natsumi! Natsumi Nakamaru!" Naruto replied loudly, slapping a hand on the young girls back, much to her alarm.

"Natsumi" the young man said repeating Naruto's answer, and leaning over to look at the dark haired girl who was trying to fight off a blush.

'The angel said my name!" she inwardly cheered, as she felt his eyes wander over her figure, before he spoke again.

"Oh" he said, dropping the young girl's tail, as she looked over to watch him turn his attention to the blonde beside him.

'My heart, my self-esteem, they've been shattered.' The young girl thought dramatically in her head, while maintaining a calm demeanor on the outside as she looked down at her tray.

"Yeah well she's really cool!" Naruto went on, gaining the attention of the table abruptly, as they all turned to look at him and the young girl.

"Oh yeah, how'd you meet?" the young man with light brown hair asked taking out a hand full of chips and munching on them, causing both Natsumi and Sasuke to stiffen, while Naruto stifled a laugh.

"It's actually a funny story" the blonde said holding back his chuckles, the table leaned in, obviously intrigued.

"Naruto" Sasuke suddenly interrupted, catching mostly everyone off guard, much to Natsumi's relief. "Don't you think you should introduce the others to Natsumi first?" he asked, as the blonde boy's eyes lit up in realization.

"Oh yeah I guess you're right" he said placing a hand on the back of his neck as he smiled sheepishly. "Natsumi, you know Sasuke and me, but this is Gaara, his sister Temari, their brother Kankuro, Choji, Shikamaru, Ino, and Sakura... Oh yeah and Sai usually sits with us but he said something about talking to the councilors about his schedule. " Naruto said pointing out each member of the table and acknowledging the empty gap, as Natsumi nodded in understanding, looking around the table yet again. She noted that the two girls who sat across from her and Sasuke were close with the looks of disdain they sent her way.

'These must be the other fan club members' Natsumi thought giving the pair an awkward smile, as she found herself scooting away from Sasuke.

Yet her act did not go unnoticed, as the Uchiha took the opportunity to move closer to the young girl. She sweat dropped as the pair across from her glared.

"I have enough room" Sasuke then stated quietly leaning in for Natsumi to hear him better. The dark haired girl simply nodded in response as she averted her eyes to her tray but already sensing the worsening looks from the blond and pink haired girls. Taking notice of this situation, Sasuke smirked as an idea came to him.

"Natsumi" the black haired young man stated, gaining the attention of the table. Turning to look at him, the young girl was alarmed when he suddenly reached up to brush a few stray strands of hair behind her ear. Her eyes grew wide, as she noticed from the corner of her eye that Sakura and Ino seemed to be on fire in a jealous rage, while the Uchiha simply smirked at her before returning to his lunch.

"I'm gonna kill this kid" Natsumi unknowing thought aloud, as she realized the reason behind Sasuke's actions.

"What did you say?!" came the sudden outburst from both Sakura and Ino simultaneously as the pinkette slammed a fist onto the table. She was met with silence as Natsumi simply blinked at the pair.

"See this is what I mean guys, Natsumi is awesome" Naruto suddenly stated breaking the tension with a laugh. "She doesn't take any crap from Sasuke or get all crazy about him" the boy explained putting an arm around the young girl's shoulders and bringing her close, something to bring her into the conversation with the others and in a way shield her from the death stares she was receiving.

"So how'd you meet?" Shikamaru now asked casually reiterating Choji's previous question, making Naruto chuckle slightly, before retelling the events of homeroom that morning. The group took interest in this as they too acknowledged the stark difference in how Sasuke affected other classmates.

"That was you" Ino stated after Naruto's tail, holding up a finger to the young girl, who simply blinked in response.

"Why wouldn't you move? It was Sasuke's seat to begin with!" Sakura then said looking at the girl under Naruto's arm.

"It's the first day, it's not like he had his name on it." Natsumi explained calmly, as she removed Naruto's arm.

"But Sasuke always likes to sit in the middle of a class closest to a window" Sakura explained angrily as she balled her fist. Once again Natsumi simply blinked in reply, much to the girl's annoyance.

"Sasuke always sits in the same place, and no one ever sits next to him" Ino now stated seemingly growing angrier.

"Why didn't you move when he said?" Sakura pressed, before Natsumi shrugged in reply.

"Don't try to act so cool about this" Ino suddenly exclaimed as the teens all watched the scene unfold.

"Wow Sasuke I didn't realize you were so spoiled to have a fan club carry on fights for you" Natsumi soon said as she closed her eyes and took a released a deep breath, much to the alarm of everyone. Sasuke's eyes grew wide, Sakura and Ino's mouths hung open in surprise, and the others burst into laughter.

"What did you say?" Sasuke then asked in a menacing tone, as he turned to the calm teen girl beside him.

"You heard me" she replied opening her brown eyes to meet with onyx ones.

"Whatever" the black haired boy said turning his gaze away, much to the alarm of everyone yet again.

"Hn" Natsumi simply replied returning her attention to the girls across from her, who continued to stare in shock.

"Who do you think you are, talking to Sasuke like that?" Sakura suddenly exclaimed angrily.

"Yeah what's your problem?" Ino now said pointing at Natsumi with a finger shaking in anger.

"Would you both just shut up!" The sudden outburst from Sasuke came much to Natsumi's surprise. "I swear you two are so annoying" the boy stated looking to the pair of girls, who seemed to shrink back in demeanor.

The atmosphere changed drastically after this as the two girls looked down to their laps in shame, as Sasuke returned his attention to his tray. The tension was so thick; it felt as though you could cut it with a knife.

"Well now it's awkward" Natsumi admitted looking to the others for a response.

"There's always drama with these guys" Shikamaru exclaimed taking a deep breath and shutting his eyes as he motioned to the girls. "What a drag" he finished, as the mood suddenly lightened and the group laughed in agreement.

The rest of the lunch time was spent in getting to know Natsumi and discussing the classes that they all had together. It was peaceful and the young girl liked these people. It seemed she might not dislike her year as much as she thought, looking around the group of teens with a genuine smile gracing her stoic face in happiness.

A/N: First fanfiction I've written in a while so I hope I'm not too rusty. I forgot the password to my old account which is why I'm starting fresh on this one. Anyways I hope you all enjoyed and please remember to read and review :)