The Ultimate Defense

Disclaimer: My chappie. Not my Naruto or Harry Potter

SN123: I finally updated! Yay! I've been realli busy w/ skewl and everything so I can't update quickly, just bear w/ me plz. But I'm realli gettin into this story whenever I rite, lol. I tried 2 rite this quickly but it' not workin' unless I shorten the length of each chappie but I like how long each chappie is so it ain't gonna work. Hope u enjoy.

And Happy Very Belated Chinese New Year and Valentine's Day. ( When I began ritin' this chappie, it was tat time ;;;) And now itz nearly St. Patrick's Day. So Happy St. Patti's Day! Happy Good Friday and Easter. Spring break 4 us. We get it early so I got 2 upd8.-


Chapter 4: Trouble

The next morning, Shikamaru woke up to find that everyone had already left. Groaning in annoyance, he entered the bathroom, spending a good half hour inside before finally coming out, the steam from the shower following his wake. Only in a towel, he searched for some clothes.

Opening his suitcase, he decided on a form-fitting, short-sleeved fishnet and baggy black pants with green stitching down the sides.

Looking in the mirror, he decided to leave his hair down. Combing out the knots, he found a hat and crammed it on, making his hair surround his face. Then he grabbed his Hogwart robes and went out the door.

Looking at his watch, he saw that it was still early. His stomach started growling, clutching it, speeded up and tried to find the kitchen, only to bump into Harry.

"Mornin' Shikamaru," Harry greeted, rubbing his eyes blearily, "Why are you up so early?"

"I don't know, actually," Shikamaru sighed, "I thought I was late cause everyone else in the room was gone. And I could've slept longer . . . "

The last part he muttered quietly, making a face as he did. Harry sweat dropped before saying, "Oh, I see. Want to go grab something to eat? The house elves make great food."

"Sure, I was trying to find the kitchen, anyway," Shikamaru sighed. Although he was glad that Harry was, at least, protected now, he didn't like the fact that the other three kept abandoning their mission.

Laughing slightly, Harry started walking down the hall, beckoning for Shikamaru to follow.

"It's not that easy to find the kitchen here," Harry commented, "Ron and I only found it when Hermione and then the twins told us."

Narrowing his eyes slightly, Shikamaru asked, "And how did they know?"

"Well, Hermione is naturally smart and figured it out on her own, but the twins found it with the Marauder's Map — oops," Harry covered his mouth quickly, mentally berating himself for forgetting.

"Oh . . . ?" Shikamaru raised an eyebrow, his fingers playing with some of the bracelets on his right hand, "And what is this Marauder's Map. Is it something . . . illegal?"

"No, no, nothing of the like," Harry mumbled nervously, "It's just something the twins found . . . Oh Look, we're here!"

Distracted, Shikamaru let his mind wander off the topic. He was confused as they stopped in front of a large painting of a bowl of fruit. There was nothing special about it, except for a slight increase in chakra around the area.

"This looks like nothing special," Shikamaru commented, a bored look appearing on his face.

"I thought the same thing, too, when I first saw it, but look," Harry reached up and tickled the huge green pear. It began to squirm, chuckling, and suddenly turning into a large green door handle. Harry took it and pulled, opening it easily.

Inside was a massive room with mounds of pots and pans hanging from the ceiling and a steady fire right next to them. Suddenly, a blurred figure leapt at Harry. It was just an inch away before Shikamaru seized it easily and dangled it by the scruff of its neck in front of him.

"Who are you, and why did you jump at Harry-san?" Shikamaru demanded, glaring at its big green eyes.

When Shikamaru took another look, he saw the resemblance it had to a goblin, but that didn't make sense since goblins worked at Gringotts. Besides goblins wore decent clothes . . . this one definitely had a worse sense of fashion than Naruto and Lee combined.

"Eeee," the thing cried, large tears forming in its eyes, "Dobby wasn't going to do anything, sir! Dobby just wanted to express Dobby's glee that Harry Potter has come again, just like Harry Potter promised, sir!"

Looking at him through one eye, he glanced at Harry for confirmation.

Harry, on the other hand, was still stunned at how fast the other boy had grabbed Dobby. He himself couldn't even see him. And now, he was holding him with one arm, even though Dobby is little, he can't be that light . . .

Then he felt Shikamaru' glance and nodded slightly.

"Dobby's an old acquaintance of mine, he works here in the kitchen," Harry explained.

Shikamaru shrugged and dropped Dobby lightly on the floor. "I'm sorry, I thought you were going to attack."

"Oh, it's not your fault, sir. Dobby was probably too rash, I'm sorry, sir," Dobby apologized, bowing his head.

"Please stop calling me sir," Shikamaru complained, "It makes me feel like my dad . . . " Then he shuddered, "My name is Shikamaru."

"Yes Shikamaru, sir," Dobby replied.

Shikamaru sighed, as Harry started to speak, "It's nice to see you again, Dobby. Would you mind getting us some breakfast to eat?"

Suddenly five other house elves appeared, each holding a tray that contained one of the basic parts of a healthy breakfast such as toast, egg, sausage, milk and orange juice.

" There's more of these things . . . " Shikamaru sighed, knowing that he would get a headache later on.

"Yeah, they're called house elves," Harry told him, grabbing a piece of toast, "They take care of the sanitation and food. They're the ones that make the food appear on the tables in the Great Hall."

Shikamaru whistled, "These little things? You wizards are too weird for me. Why don't you just make the food yourself?" Then he started mumbling, "That's what we did in the village, but I prefer this way better."

Harry was confused. The boy had just said, 'you wizards,' but wasn't he a wizard himself? He had to be if he was allowed to attend Hogwarts. Were the other boys like him? Everything about the new students confused him. And confusing things were annoying.

Harry's emerald eyes darkened as he decided to try and find out more stuff about the new students.


Moments later, the two boys walked out of the kitchen, their arms full of food.

The house elves had been too generous when they asked for seconds.

"By the way, Harry-san . . . "

"You can call me Harry."

"Ok, Harry," Shikamaru began again, "I'd advise you not to tell Naruto about the kitchen . . . He has a rather . . . hearty . . . appetite when it comes to food. He might even manage to eat all the food here."

"You're not kidding?" Shikamaru shook his head, causing Harry to blink, "Wow . . . "

"Yea."

Harry laughed out loudas Shikamaru glanced at his watch, "It's almost time for first period."

"How are you able to wear a watch?" Harry asked, "Hogwarts doesn't allow muggle electronics to be used inside the school. And yours is a sports watch, too."

"...I dunno," Shikamaru stated, glancing at his watch, "I got it from a friend, I guess it's special."

He didn't look like he was lying so Harry believed him. Still a little confused, he led him to the Great Hall.

As they walked in, they noticed that the place was even louder than usual. Most of the commotion was at the Gryffindor table, so they continued their path.

They were close when they heard, "Where's he, I know he did this to my cat!"

"C-calm down, Mr. Finch. I'm sure Harry didn't do this . . . We haven't seen him all morning!"

That was Neville's voice, Harry recognized. He didn't understand what was happening.

Pushing through the crowd, he and Shikamaru reached the center to find that Filch was holding a tawny cat in his arms. It was old and lying on its side, seemingly dead.

Suddenly, Filch's eyes turned on Harry. With one hand, he grabbed Harry by the robes and pulled him up to his face, staring at him, eye to eye.

"M-Mr. Filch," Harry looked scared, then determined, "Put me down!"

"No, boy," Mr. Filch was angry, you can easily tell with his red eyes, "I know you did this to poor Mrs. Norris. You did it four years ago and it didn't work, I bet you were trying to see if you can do it again!"

"Wh-what are you talking about!" Harry exclaimed, he clawed at the hand holding him up, fighting to breath.

All of a sudden, he dropped ungracefully to the floor, landing on his side. When he looked up, he saw that Shikamaru was in a fighting stance and that Filch was holding his stomach in pain.

It seemed like Shikamaru had kicked the older man — hard enough for him to drop Harry.

"I will not allow you to hurt Harry," Shikamaru stated, his eyes bizarrely cold, "Even if you are a staff member."

Filch gritted his teeth, placed Mrs. Norris carefully on the floor and then charged at Shikamaru like a bull. The younger didn't look worried at all, gracefully dodging to the side and then kicking Filch in the back, making him sprawl to the ground.

"What is going on here!" A female voice yelled out, obviously angry. Professor McGonagall stood in front of them, making the other students scatter.

"Just one day since you've entered this school and there's trouble already!" McGonagall scolded, "And you, Mr. Filch, you know better than to be fighting with a student, and with muggle techniques too! I want to see all of you in my office at lunch, you hear. And if you're not there, I'll either lower your House Points or cut your pay, understand!"

"Yes, Professor," they all answered as McGonagall stormed off.

Mr. Filch cast one more look at Harry and Shikamaru before picking up his cat and leaving.

"Damn!" Seamus exclaimed, "What was that, it was like 'dodge, pow, pow, pow!'"

"Yea, I know!" (Jordan) Lee joined, "That was so cool, how did you do it!"

All of them crowded around the two boys, one looking stunned while the other was twitching slightly as everyone else kept asking questions.

"It's called taijutsu!" Shikamaru finally yelled, tired of the attention. He didn't understand how the others could stand, "Now stop asking me and tell me why that guy started to attack Harry!"

"Yeah," Harry murmured, "I would like to know, too."

The table suddenly became quiet, then Neville spoke up, "I don't know, Harry. He just came up to the table and demanded to know where you were. I think it had something to do with Mrs. Norris. I think it died."

"And good riddance, too," someone else mumbled,

"So he thought I did it and attacked me?" Harry asked.

"It must be," Shikamaru cut in, "And has anyone seen my friends?"

As they asked around, it seemed like no one knew, and they also couldn't find Hermione and Ron, too.

"Come on, Shikamaru," Harry called, "They're old enough to take care of themselves, we've got to get to Divination."

Deciding that it was too troublesome to worry, Shikamaru shrugged and followed the younger boy.

They followed the stream of students as everyone headed to their first period class. They were in the middle, jostled around by everyone else. When they finally got free, they trudged up several flights of stairs. It was a bother to Shikamaru as he voiced his complaints.

Harry, on the other hand, laughed as Shikamaru went through a string of curses, "You tired already?"

"No."

As he heard the answer, Harry glanced over and saw that Shikamaru wasn't even panting, as he was, just annoyed.

Harry laughed, "Well, you're going to have to do this nearly every day. It's a pain going up the North Tower, but you'll see it's bigger pain with Professor Trelawney as teacher. She's nothing but a load of bull, but it's easy to pass her class — just make up the worst possible death or experience for yourself and she'll believe you."

Shikamaru visibly grimaced as they reached the silver ladder, "Would she notice if I sleep." It was more of a statement then a question.

"Yeah, we tried that before," Harry replied, "I got detention with Snape for it — it's not fun."

Shikamaru didn't say anything as he went up the ladder, expecting the worse. As he saw the room, he struggled to breathe as the heavy smell of perfume clouded his senses. Getting annoyed at everything he saw, he picked a seat in the far back. It seemed like many others had the same idea as him 'cause the far most tables were packed.

Only two girls sat near the front, two of whom he recognized because of their constant annoyance to him since the banquet.

"Shikamaru, Harry! Here!" Naruto, Ron and the others were already there. The two boys walked back to meet them.

When they reached the table they sat down, the chairs were soft, uncomfortably so, as Shikamaru found himself slightly sinking down. On the table was a clear crystal ball and two piles of tarot cards. Everything was designed to make you feel fidgety.

"Where were you guys" Shikamaru asked.

"We just went for a walk," Naruto stated, grinning all too brightly.

"No, for real, where'd you go?" the older boy was getting annoyed, he needed his sleep and he wasn't able to get it because of them.

"Ok, ok," Naruto pouted, "I went to get a glass of water when I saw Ron leaving, so I decided to follow."

The said redhead was currently sleeping on the table, drool going onto the table cloth.

"And then these two," Naruto gestured at Neji and Sasuke, "followed me. So we all followed Ron and saw that he was holding an old broom and case. We reached this big field and he let this black ball free. It started flying all over the place and he hopped onto his broom and started flying! It was so cool, Shika, you should've seen it!"

Shikamaru lazily nodded in response before Naruto continued his story, "So then, he flew in front of these three gold hoops, right? So the black ball goes after him.."

"Bludger," Harry interrupted.

"And it... what?" Naruto was confused, staring at Harry.

"The black's called a bludger," Harry explained, "it's used for quidditch."

"Oh! Ok! The bludger goes flying at his head and he hits it with this bat. Then the ball zips around after being hit and tries for him the hoops again, only this time it went right to left really quickly and aims for the right one, Ron gets it and he kept doing this for a really long time!"

"Then Sasuke was snoring! And Ron," Naruto was interrupted once again.

"I was not!" Sasuke glared at the blond, "I was just... breathing really loud."

"Yes, you were!" Naruto glared back at Sasuke, folding his arms and sticking his lower lip out at the same time, making him look cute rather then intimidating, "You heard, too, right Neji!"

"Yep," Neji chimed his agreement.

"See! Now stop interrupting my story!" Naruto waited for an argument and was content when there was none, "So... oh yeah, Sasuke snored so loud, Ron heard him and he stopped the ball and flew down to us! I asked him if I could fly right so I jumped onto the broom with him, 'cept he kicked me off! So mean. But he showed us where the other brooms were and me and Neji went to get them. We left Sasuke sleeping."

"I nearly fell the first time! But then Ron explained it to me and I got it so fast! 'Cept Neji got it faster. Then Ron told us to try and aim the red balls into the gold hoops and we did, but he caught every single one. Then we went faster! It was so fun, going so fast, and I got one goal in before this scary lady saw us. We put the brooms back and ran away, we nearly forgot Sasuke but I went back and got him!"

"Sounds fun..." Shikamaru said dryly.

"Ron must've been practicing as keeper," Harry commented, "It's good he's getting better."

"Quidditch sounds like so much fun!" Naruto squealed, "I want to join the team!"

"Dobe, you can't just say you want to join and expect to get in," Sasuke retorted.

"I know that!" Naruto argued.

"But you can try out, I'll tell you when we're going to start the quidditch season," said Harry.

Before Naruto could express his joy, a cloud of purple smoke and strong perfume came from the front of the room.

"Oh great, Professor Trelawney is here," Harry muttered, shaking his friend up. Ron rubbed his eyes and nearly choked as the strong smell clouded his senses.

"Hello, class," Trelawney called out, her voice low, like the hum of an annoying insect, "It's time for divination. The only class where your minds are free to wander! Now, we're going to be looking into the crystal balls today."

Shikamaru cut her off as he yawned loudly. She glared at him as the two girls followed, but their glares turned dreamy as they saw who the offender was. Professor Trelawney, however, did not think so lightly of his rude interruption.

"Mr. Nara," she said sweetly, "because you already seem bored of my class, why don't you come up here and let me read your fortune. You'll be the lucky one who gets a true prediction from me."

"Fine," Shikamaru slowly got up, "But does that mean that I don't have to do anything for the rest of the class?"

"No," Professor Trelawney snapped.

Shikamaru gave a pissed look before sitting down in front of the teacher.

In the back of the room, Ron whispered to Neji.

"What's she trying to pull now?" he asked.

"I think she wants to humiliate Shika or something," Neji responded, glancing down at the teacher as her crystal ball became clouded and she turned cross-eyed.

"Whatever it is, Shika's not dumb enough to fall for it," Neji added, "He's too smart."

"Really?" Ron was surprised, to him, Shikamaru didn't look at all smart, just another lazy, yet mysterious, guy.

"Yeah, it really doesn't look like it, but he's smart, I'll give him that," said Neji. He put his head down as the professor suddenly gasped.

"Love, my dear," she started, eyes closed as her arms are spread out wide, "Love will come to you soon, in the form of a beautiful, yet cunningly smart, girl. And oh! What do I see, it seems like she's in this room... and very close to you! Oh dear..."

Then Trelawney opened her eyes and winked at Parvati and Lavender before looking back at Shikamaru. She gave him an innocent smile that seemed like she was happy for him, in return he gave her a coy smile.

All of a sudden, a laugh erupted from the back of the room, Naruto was on the floor laughing his butt off.

Trelawney raised an eyebrow, "And what, may I say, is so funny?"

Shikamaru interrupted, "I have a girlfriend already and she's not the most polite girl when she gets angry. If she finds out that I have a lover here, while I don't have to worry, the girl who's supposed to be this lover, might end up missing a few body parts.(1)"

"Thank you for that fortune," Shikamaru sneered, "It is very helpful."

Professor Trelawney reddened slightly before flapping her hands and telling the class to start their work.

In the back, Ron clapped Shikamaru on the back. They continued to talk and pretended to look into the crystal balls, predicting the worst possible scenarios and laughing throughout the class. To Ron and Harry, it was the best divination class they ever had.


The following classes weren't as eventful as the shinobi struggled with their sticks. Everyone other than Harry only received theirs after Divination as Professor McGonagall found them and handed the three of them elegant boxes.

She also told them that Filch was sorry since he realized that Mrs. Norris only had a stomach virus and that she hadn't died.(2)

When Naruto frowned and asked why he hadn't come and apologized himself, she told him that it was because Filch wasn't that kind of man and he'd come and say it when he worked up the courage.

They're currently eating lunch in their common room. Both Harry and Shikamaru had left their excess food in their rooms and left for breakfast in the morning, leaving plenty of food for them to eat now.

"Where are you guys from anyway?" Ron asked, his mouth full of food.

"Yeah, you have great physique and some of the things you guys do are just amazing," agreed Harry.

"We come from Japan," Shikamaru answered, "In our village, it's natural to know how to fight."

"Really?" Ron exclaimed, "My mum wouldn't even let me near a blade, she thinks I'm going to hurt myself."

"It's not really about blades..." Shikamaru started, "It's actually more like martial arts when you look at it."

"Kakashi's gonna start teaching us martial arts in the DADA class," Naruto added.

"That's our next class," Hermione chimed.

"Where did you come from!" Ron exclaimed. She had just popped up, startling him. Hermione was smiling brightly as she lifted up a stack of books.

"I just came from the library," She explained, "Professor McGonagall let me get the first half of the day off, I just have to get all the class work I missed and finish the assignments due."

"I'll let you copy," said Harry, rummaging through his bag.

"Thanks," Hermione sat in-between Harry and Ron on the couch. Shikamaru had stretched himself across a chair and was watching them now. Sasuke has his eyes closed as he is sitting comfortably other chair. Both Naruto and Neji are on the floor with their backs against the couch. Neji seems to have fallen asleep while Naruto talked with Harry and Ron.

Hermione took a piece of pumpkin pie before observing the four boys. There was a comfortable silence in the room, with the occasional chewing sound letting out.

To her, the boys were obviously beautiful, or handsome, whichever they liked. Yet they seemed to be hiding something.

It wasn't that obvious, but you can sometimes see a constant twitching of their hands when they were together with the three of them. They also seemed to be more observant than most would, like the time they had found the device that had shut Sirius' mother up. Yet, they were friendly and trustworthy enough.

Whenever she was with them, she would get a comfortable feeling that made her feel safe. She didn't know if it was their tall stature or their personality, but she liked the feeling.

"'Mione," Ron shook her, "it's time for class."

"Oh, ok," Hermione shook herself out of her stupor and grabbed her bag, following the boys down the stairs.

They started chatting animatedly, even Sasuke joined, letting out an occasional smile.

They arrived in front of their DADA room to find a large crowd standing outside.

"What's going on?" Harry asked.

"The teacher isn't here yet," Neville answered, "We can't get in."

"Yeah... We forgot to mention that Kakashi can be a little late sometimes," Naruto stated, rubbing the back of his head, "It's an annoying habit of his. Can we get the door open without him?"

"No, he is the only one with the spell," Hermione answered, "I could've done it already if I could."

"Move out of the way, puss-pats!" a voice shouted, "I need to get to the door."

Their group turned around to find the source of the voice, it was Malfoy and a whole gang of Slytherins.

"What are you doing here, Malfoy?" Ron sneered, "We don't have class with you."

"Well, now you do," Malfoy stated, "Our schedules changed. Instead of having a free period now, we have to have this stupid class."

"Whose class are you calling stupid?" a male voice asked?"

"This muggle's..." Malfoy turned around to yell at the person, only to find Kakashi standing there, leaning against the frame of his now open door.

"Oh, really?" Kakashi looked bemused, "How about you go first in our activity today, then we'll see if this class is at all stupid."

"Fine," Malfoy sneered.

Kakashi gave him a coy smile under his mask before moving into the room, beckoning everyone to do the same.

The chairs and tables were gone, instead, the whole floor was covered in straw mats. The only furniture in the room were two chests that sat in the opposite corner.

"Everyone, find a seat along the wall, spread yourselves out pretty evenly," Kakashi ordered, sitting opposite of the door, " And don't block the door or sit close to it, you might get hit when it opens."

The room was subtly divided in half, Slytherins on one side of Kakashi and Gryffindors on the other.

"In this class, I'll be teaching you how to fight without a wand," Kakashi started.

"That's like muggle fighting then!" Malfoy exclaimed. Many others agreed, voicing their opinion.

Kakashi just looked bored as they continued, finally annoyed, he told them to shut up, "It is muggle fighting— don't say anything— but, it does have its advantages when you find yourself without a wand and in trouble. Has that ever happened to anyone?"

Harry raised his hand, soon nearly half the class did.

"Exactly," Kakashi continued, "So Dumbledore allowed me to teach you how to fight without a wand, that way, you have something to back you up when that happens. We'll only be learning the basics this semester, you bunch of losers are too weak for anything else."

They were about to protest when Kakashi silenced them with a hand.

"Today, I'll be testing you to see if you have any chance at learning martial arts," Kakashi informed them before coyly looking at Malfoy, "And cause this young boy was nice enough to volunteer, he'll go first. Sasuke, how 'bout you evaluate him?"

"Fine," Sasuke's face was emotionless as he walked up to the middle of the room, Malfoy was already there. Many girls squealed at having the chance to see their hottie fight.

"Malfoy," Kakashi addressed, "you can use anything you want against Sasuke. Your target is to be able to draw blood. Sasuke, your target is to not get hurt, understand? Do not attack."

Sasuke nodded as Malfoy smirked. The blond was expecting to win, laughing at their teacher's stupidity for giving him an opportunity to hurt the other boy.

"You're in for a world of pain, pretty boy," Malfoy sneered, taking his wand out, "I hope I don't mess your face up too much."

Sasuke just smirked, he felt the barrier go up around them and got into a fighting stance. He agreed that Malfoy was strong magically, but only on the level he was when he was a genin, which was long before.

"Start!"

Sasuke tensed as his muscles coiled, ready to dodge at anytime. Malfoy yelled out a word Sasuke didn't understand, suddenly a beam of red light shot from the blond's wand. Sasuke dodged easily and waited for next attack.

When Malfoy saw that the taller boy had dodged, he shot his attack again. Sasuke continued dodging with ease as Malfoy gritted his teeth. Malfoy kept trying, to no luck.

Bored, Sasuke dodged the now green beams and ran quickly up to Malfoy who was surprised to see him gone. Sasuke took the wand from the other's outstretched hand and flipped gracefully over him, landing a few feet away.

He faced Malfoy's back as the blond realized that his wand was missing, turning quickly, the shorter of the two charged.

Sasuke sighed softly and held the boy back with a finger to the forehead before pinning him down completely and sitting on his back. The barriers fell as the match ended.

"Now, you see how it is much better if you knew martial arts," Kakashi explained. He knew that these pampered wizards were weak, yet he hadn't expected them to be like this. But the match was longer than he expected, it seemed like Sasuke prolonged it to provoke the other boy.

"Get off me!" Malfoy yelled, humiliation evident on his face, "No one does this to a Malfoy! No one! You'll pay for this!"

His screams were muffles as Sasuke placed a foot on his head, pressing it into the floor.

"Sasuke! You're hurting him!" Naruto suddenly yelled, pushing Sasuke off the blonde, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, I don't need your help," Malfoy muttered, getting up slowly. Crabbe and Goyle rushing to his aid who he brushed off roughly, trying to gain some dignity back.

"What does that mean!" Naruto huffed, "I was just trying to help!"

"Well, you're not," Malfoy said as he walked over to his side of the room.

Naruto pouted and walked back to his seat with Sasuke, who was shading his eyes. Kakashi called others to the floor as he tested their skill. Sasuke ignored them as he focused on Naruto.

He didn't understand why the other boy had rushed to help the blond. Wasn't he the victor? Shouldn't he get the attention? Sasuke really felt like slugging the next person who talked to him.

It was just so frustrating, he wanted Naruto to notice him, yet whenever he tried, it just wouldn't work.

He felt a warm presence sitting down next to him. Glaring, he saw that it was Neji.

"What do you want?" he asked.

"I dunno, really," Neji answered, his eyes on the match before him, "But a shinobi has no emotion remember. If you let that affect you, you won't be able to protect Harry-san."

"I know that," Sasuke interrupted, "I don't need to hear that from you."

"Don't get mad," Neji stated, "It's just that Naruto tends to help the underdog. That's how he is. It doesn't mean that he likes Malfoy more than you."

"...How do you know how I feel," Sasuke asked, looking at the older boy.

"Cause I sometimes feel the same way, but I realized that this is just how fate made Naruto to be," Neji explained, "But it doesn't mean I'm going to let you have Naruto."

"Exactly what I'm thinking," Sasuke smirked.

The tension between them lessened a little as they understood each other, yet the other was the one standing in their way for Naruto's heart.


(1) I dunno if I should choose Ino or Temari. This way, it's which ever you want.

(2) I'm gonna make sumdin happen. Not tat soon, but expect it 2 b connected 2 Flich's attack n Mrs. Norris' 'death'

I had 2 stop there...I can't think anymore. And I h8 tat last part...itz so... ick! And I luv my beta, Akki no Tama. Cause she's so patient w/ my slow updating

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4 reviewin' n thnx 2 all the past reviewers 2, cause I couldn't rite every1's... I 333 u!

Buh-bye 33