On their way to the Great Hall, Draco still wanted to ask Naruto what had happened the other day. As much as he wanted to, he also knew that it would be best to get to know his (hopefully) new friend first. The only problem he had was how to make friends. He had once tried to make friends with Potter in their first year, but that didn't work as well as he had hoped. Draco really did want to be Potter's friend; he really did like Potter. Sadly he knew he had to give up his desire for Harry's friendship, as it was quite obvious Potter detested him.
It wasn't all his fault: as a Malfoy, he was expected to act a certain way, which rarely boded well for others. This time however, he wanted, no, he felt he needed to make friends, and Naruto was just the right person, because Naruto was new and didn't know what everyone else did. So there was nothing stopping him from being himself. He just needed to figure out how to.
Just before arriving at the Great Hall, Naruto had put on a fake smile and was acting happy again. He even had Draco believing that he was happy.
"Want to sit with me, Naruto?" Draco asked, hoping he didn't sound too desperate.
"How about at lunch we sit together? Right now I think I'll sit with Sasuke and the others," Naruto said with a wave, and he made his way over to his friends.
"Wait, Naruto, I don't think…." Unfortunately, Draco was unable to warn Naruto. So he sat at the end of the table unable to help.
Sasuke, Ron, Hermione, and Harry were on the other side of the room.
"So, what are your plans for today Sasuke?" Hermione asked.
"Explore," was all he responded. He didn't really want to talk to them but knew he had to
Sasuke also knew that Naruto was walking up behind him, and could already tell there was something up with his friend.
"Hey Sasuke….." Naruto was about to say something else but was interrupted by Hermione.
"Oh hello, Naruto. I'm afraid you can't sit here with us," Hermione stated as she stood up and blocked Naruto, preventing him from sitting with them.
Naruto was able to hide his shock with a well-placed smile, and only Sasuke was able to see the pain in Naruto's eyes.
"Why can't I sit here with you? I thought we were friends," Naruto said as he tried to get a look at all four of them but was blocked Hermione.
Hermione opened her mouth to tell him as nicely as possible that they couldn't sit together or be friends in any sense because he was in Slytherin. However, she was never given the opportunity to do so because Ron jumped up. He was getting mad at how happy Naruto was when he was told he couldn't sit with them.
"We aren't friends and we will never be your friend! Why? Because YOU. ARE. IN. SLYTHERIN! NOW GO AWAY!" Ron yelled angrily at Naruto, who appeared nonplussed.
This only angered Ron more. Sasuke, on the other hand, wanted nothing more than to kill Ron, Hermione, and Harry. Yes, Harry too, as he was smiling through the whole thing. Harry was happy that Ron had said that, because now he didn't have to worry about Naruto getting in the Harry's way to get Sasuke all to himself. Harry knew the moment he first saw Sasuke that he wanted him. Not only was he very good looking, but he had an air of power that told him Sasuke was incredibly powerful. That he possessed a kind of power that Harry wanted as his own.
Naruto was beyond hurt, but there was no way he would let them know that.
"That's okay. I didn't want to sit with you anyway," Naruto said as he turned to leave. As he did so, he told Sasuke over his shoulder, "I'll see you later, Sasuke." He paused. "Just don't kill them in the meantime," Naruto added, in hopes of aggravating Potter and his friends. Without giving Sasuke time to reply, Naruto walked off to the Slytherin table and sat near the end.
Harry looked from Naruto to Sasuke with venom in his eyes.
"What did he just say to you? Was it about me?" Harry asked Sasuke aggressively. Fortunately Sasuke knew better then to glare this time, even though that's the only thing he wanted to do right now.
"It was not about you," Sasuke said simply.
"How do we know he didn't just threaten Harry?" Hermione demanded.
All Sasuke wanted to say was that the world didn't revolve around Harry, but he didn't say anything.
Yet again Naruto tested the food in front of him before eating. It had become a habit of his to ensure it wasn't poisoned. Draco didn't see what had happened, but he walked over to Naruto and sat by him.
"Did they kick you out of their group already?" Draco asked. He wasn't sure why he asked; he just hoped he wasn't going to lose Naruto.
"Yeah, they did, and I thought things were going well," Naruto answered.
"Oh wow, I knew Potter was stuck up, but I didn't think he would ever kick someone from his group like that. Well, who cares about Potter? You can hang with me," Draco kindly told the other blonde.
Naruto smiled at him. "That would be awesome!" he said happily. Draco smiled back.
Sasuke was seething with anger at the ones he was supposed to be friends with. Yet there was still something he just had to ask, so he took a deep breath and steadied himself for the answer.
"Why did you say that to him?" Sasuke asked all three of them.
"Everyone knows a Slytherin can never be friends with a Gryffindor. Slytherins are the worst of the worst, and they can't ever be trusted," Harry stated as if everyone knew this as fact. Sasuke wanted to yell at them, How can you possibly let something as small as what house they were in defend who they could be friends with?
But Sasuke knew he couldn't say what he was thinking if he wanted to be friends with Harry, Ron and Hermione, or at least act like he was. For who would want to be friends with a prick like Harry and his two cronies?
"So what do you normally do on days you don't have classes?" Sasuke asked.
"Homework and study,"' Hermione commented happily.
Sasuke had been watching Naruto out of the corner of his eye. It didn't surprise Sasuke that Naruto was being nice to others, but what angered him was the fact that this other boy was getting close to his Naruto. He knew it would be very hard to win over the blonde, but he was as sure as the sky was blue that he would never give up.
When Sasuke saw Draco acting all cute, he couldn't take it anymore and slammed his hands on the table and stood up. He was finished eating anyway, but he just could not sit around and watch as someone else try to win over Naruto.
"What's gotten into you?" Ron questioned Sasuke. Not wanting to talk to Ron because he had been a jerk to Naruto but knowing he still needed to say something, Sasuke took a deep breath to calm himself. "I am going outside."
He stepped over the bench and walked out of the Great Hall. Sasuke left as Harry was saying something, not that he was listening anymore. But if Sasuke had stayed in the shadows and not gone outside, he would have heard Harry plotting with Ron on how to make Naruto's stay there miserable or how force him to leave the school altogether. Hermione was also unware of what was going to happen because she was already in her own world reading books.
The night before, Sasuke wrote on a small piece of paper the word LAKE, and tossed it over to Naruto. When the other boy was looking at him, Sasuke left the Great Hall. Draco watched as Naruto caught the small piece of paper with ease.
"What was that about?" Draco asked as Naruto read the note.
"Just a note from Sasuke. I should go see what he wants," Naruto answered, wondering what his friend wanted
"Do you have to go now?" Draco asked sadly. He was hoping to spend the whole day with the sunny blonde.
"This mission is going to be interesting after all," a voice laughed in Naruto's head. What is that supposed to mean fuss ball? Naruto questioned the nine tails.
"Stupid fox," Naruto angrily commented under his breath. Draco just looked at Naruto, confused. "Sorry just talking to myself. I should be done by lunch. After that we can spend the rest of the day doing whatever someone does around here. Whatever that is," Naruto smiled at Draco.
"I can show you around the castle. What do you usually do most days?" Draco asked, wanting to get to know the blonde more.
"I mostly train," Naruto answered with a smile as he got up and walked out the door. He left behind a confused Draco, who was wondering what the other boy meant by mostly train.
It was a beautiful day. There were no clouds in the sky, and there was a slight breeze to cool off the hot summer day. Sasuke sat in one of the trees letting the breeze fly throw his hair as he waited for the blonde Naruto. He was putting the finishing touches on his plan, which was something that would help them hide their weapons but still have them at the ready. There was just the problem of how to make the seals just right. He had made one before, but it wasn't as good as it could have been. For one thing, it couldn't hold as many shuriken as he would have liked, and for another, he would always have to remake the seal every time he wanted to use it. Normally things like this had to be done on paper or cloth, but if given the right seal he was sure that it could be placed on the skin. The only thing he needed to do now was talk with Naruto about it because the blonde was quite the seals master, having learned from jiraiya.
Naruto walked over to the tree Sasuke was sitting in and leaned against the tree, looking up.
"What a beautiful day, don't you think? But that's not why you asked me here, now is it? It's about the mission, am I right?" the blonde inquired.
"This mission will be tougher than we first thought because this whole rivalry with the Houses is going to be the biggest one yet. The other main problem will be our weapons. That one will be the easiest to solve because I have an idea," Sasuke thoughtfully answered.
"Let me guess. Your idea somehow involves me," the blonde looked up at his dark haired friend.
"You are getting smarter every day. Yes, this idea does involve you," Sasuke said nicely as he looked down at the blonde with a kind look in his eyes. There was only one person Sasuke would look at with such kind, sweet eyes, and that person would always be Naruto. Even if the blonde never saw Sasuke look at him like that.
Then Sasuke went on to tell Naruto what his idea had been.
"I like it. Sounds like a good idea if we cand pull it off. I think I can figure it out, with a bit of help." Naruto said happily, because he loved a challenge. Both Sasuke and Naruto were sitting in the tree at this point.
Sasuke smirked at Naruto. "I will help in any way I can. When would you like to start?" Sasuke inquired as he watched the blonde jump from the tree and pull a scroll from his pocket.
"Now would be the best time, plus I'm sure we can get this all done by lunch. I have everything we will possible need," Naruto replied as he opened the scroll and brought out everything they might need.
Sasuke jumped down from the tree and sat beside Naruto to help.
About two hours into the work, things were looking good. They were about half-way done, and there were a few bugs to work out.
They were so deep in their work that they didn't notice there were three others watching them from afar. The three didn't say anything but it did look like they were writing something and passing it back and forth.
Harry was mainly communicating with Hermione by writing notes, Ron on the other hand was becoming more and more suspicious about the ninja. They were wondering right now what Sasuke and Naruto were working on and what they were saying.
Even when Harry could hear them, it seemed like Naruto and Sasuke were talking in another language. The only thing they knew was that watching them was going to be boring because all they seemed to do was draw and talk weird. No matter what they tried, they couldn't seem to figure out anything useful, so after about another hour, they quietly left.
There was just nothing they could do, so Hermione had chosen to go to the library in hopes to find out anything she could, even if was just a simple translating spell she could use. As for Ron and Harry, they both went back to their common room to play some rounds of wizard chess.
It was an hour and a half till lunch, and things were going even better.
"Done. Now to just figure out where the seals go and to place them. One last question: did we want this to be permanent or temporary?" Naruto asked Sasuke so he would knew what to bring out and what to put away. Sasuke placed his hand on his chin as he thought about the question.
"Permanent until we choose to remove it," Sasuke decided.
"Okay, now let's get started. I have some cloth wraps if we need them. We should go back inside and finish this; it will be easier to work at a table," Naruto said, and he packed up his things.
"I know just the place." Sasuke replied, and he led the way.
Once they were back inside, they climbed the stairs to the new House Common Room that was built just for them. Naruto looked around to make sure no one was looking before he opened the door and went inside.
"Dumbledore did a good job making this for us. Think we should ask him to make us a place to train as well?" Naruto wondered aloud as he walked over to one of the tables to set his stuff up. Sasuke chose not to say anything, but silently agreed with the blonde as he set about getting their uniform shirts so they would have an idea on where to place the seals.
The uniforms they had picked were modified to their liking. Where nearly everyone wore ties, the ninja chose not to because they felt it would make them easy targets. They also felt it necessary to leave out those ungodly robes, as the ninja knew it would hinder their movement. Not only that but they change the shirts to short sleeves, the pants were also changed to be a different fabric all for better mobility. The only thing they couldn't get away without was the V-neck jumper. However, they were able to pick the sleeveless one.
As for right now, Sasuke had on a black muscle shirt and dark green cargo shorts, though he did have a bandage wrapped around his upper arm to hide the anbu tattoo on his left arm. Naruto, on the other hand, had black cargo pants and a deep red muscle shirt.
Like Sasuke, he too had bandages covering his anbu tattoo on his left arm.
Inside the many pockets, there were their weapons and scrolls at the ready, for they never knew when they would need them.
However, there were two things that bothered them. One was Sasuke couldn't carry his sword with him and Naruto couldn't carry his twin daggers. The other main issue was that there weren't any usable pockets on the uniforms. For most people, it wouldn't be that bad, but for ninja it was like a nightmare.
Sasuke walked over to where Naruto was now sitting and placed the white button up shirt on the table, just out of the way yet still in sight. After that, Naruto couldn't keep his eyes off Sasuke, who was now taking his shirt off. The blonde had to look away as Sasuke sat on the other chair and was trying to hide the blush on his face. Unfortunately for Naruto, Sasuke had seen the blush and smirked.
" I was thinking that the seal holding my sword should go here." Sasuke pointed to his left arm under his anbu tattoo. "Plus two seals on each lower arm for shuriken and Kunai," Sasuke added.
Naruto shook his head and set about mixing everything for the ink that he would need. Then he placed the sketches for the seals beside him.
"Okay, I will start with the one on your upper arm and then work on your lower arms," Naruto said when he was done mixing the ink.
Sasuke did notice that Naruto was blushing the whole time the seals were being placed on. Once the blonde was done with his work, he gently blew on the ink to help it dry faster.
Sasuke's heart was fluttering, but never once let it show.
"Done, and might I say this is my best work yet? What do you think of it?" Naruto asked, because he really wanted to know if his friend liked his work or not.
"Yes I do like it. Thank you," Sasuke honestly answered as he looked at his arms better. Naruto blushed again and looked away.
"Okay, now it's your turn. Off with your shirt," Sasuke commanded.
"I can do it…" Naruto began, but he was unable continue because he was interrupted.
"No I'm going to help you and that's that," Sasuke said in a matter of fact way.
Reluctantly Naruto took off his shirt and passed over the ink and brush to Sasuke. It took Sasuke longer to draw on the seals then it did Naruto because Naruto was more proficient with seals then Sasuke was. In the end Naruto's seals for his shuriken and Kunai were on his lower arms and his twin blades were on his upper arms, just under his anbu tattoo.
"Now for the final test," Naruto commented as he stood up and walked over to his bed. Sasuke watched him pull out his twin blades from their hiding place. Sasuke didn't wait long before he went over to his side of the room and got his sword.
"Here goes," Naruto said as he sealed his twin blades and his other small weapons with a big smile of success. He looked over at Sasuke who, just like him, had finished sealing his weapons away.
"This really is your best work yet," Sasuke complimented.
"Wait! I'm not done yet," Naruto dashed over to his trunk, leaving a confused Sasuke behind. "I know I put them in here…" Naruto trailed off as he started to look for something he had made a while ago in hopes of giving Sasuke something so he wouldn't feel so alone.
"What are you looking for? I thought you had everything you needed out already," Sasuke asked as he watched his friend.
"I made something for you a while back to help you feel that you weren't alone anymore, that you still had family even if it's not close by…. There it is!" exclaimed Naruto excitedly as he pulled out something. Naruto didn't wait to hear what his friend would or wouldn't say as he passed Sasuke two pbjects which looked like arm bands.
Sasuke took them and looked at the arm bands. They were a dark blue with red at the seams, and when he looked closer, he could see the family crests for everyone on his team as well as his own, even though the arm band was his family's colors. Then he looked over to Naruto, unable to say anything.
He noticed that Naruto was putting on his own arm bands, which looked just like his, only the color was orange with black on the seams.
"I made some for Sakura and Kakashi too. I gave them theirs before we left…. Anyway I hope you like them?" Naruto stated yet asked at the same time.
"Umm…" Was all Sasuke could manage to say, as so much was going through his head. Naruto looked up at Sasuke, who had not moved at all.
"I'll take your silence as an I love them." Naruto said joyfully. That snapped Sasuke out of his thoughts and he began to put them on.
The arm bands covered his wrists and a small part of his hands and went down half his forearms just enough to cover the seals but was still easy enough to roll down in a rush.
I hope you liked it. Sorry for the long wait, and yes I did rewrite the others chapters. Hopefully you like the changes. And again please review and comment!