A Single Act of Kindness

Classroom Gossip

Since their time together, it only felt natural to be around Sasuke now.

There was no discussion about it or any plans made about it. It was almost like an unspoken rule between them. After they would part ways from their campsite, they would go home, shower, get dressed, eat breakfast, and then meet back up at the Academy.

It didn't matter that they were early to class, or even late. Sasuke would always wait for Naruto at the tree that stood in the front of the Academy, the one that held the single swing. Naruto lived further away then Sasuke did, so made sense that he would always get there first.

The funny part was that the first time Sasuke waited for him before going to class, he wasn't surprised at all to see him there. It was like they had been like this since the beginning. There was a time that they weren't friends and all they did was fight. Now, however, they were friends, real life friends, and Naruto couldn't help but to feel so extremely lucky.

He knew what it felt like to be alone. He remembered the darkness that surrounded loneliness. It was a horrible feeling too. It could have sucked the life out of Naruto if he'd let it. Naruto was not one to lose; that much was certain. So he held on, fought for the day when he could finally have someone to walk beside.

He never wanted it to go away. He wouldn't allow it to happen. Naruto didn't want to go back to that lonely place.

The blonde made is way through the gates of the Academy, seeing Sasuke waiting for him as he leaning against the tree.

"Hey Sasu—"

Naruto stopped himself from speaking as he watched three girls approach Sasuke. He had never really talked to the girls, but he had seen them hang out with Ino a few times; Ami, Kasumi, and Fuki.

"Sasuke-kun…" Ami walked in front of the other two girls, bowing in front of him as she held out box towards him, "I wanted to let you know that I love you!"

The two girls behind her squealed at her confession, their eyes wide as they waited for an answer.

Sasuke looked like he rather be anywhere else, swaying back and forth on his feet, glancing around as if he was looking for a way to escape. Ami was trembling slightly, and even from where Naruto was standing he could feel her nervousness as she waited for his answer.

"Naruto."

Naruto eyes looked away from the girl and towards Sasuke. Who at that moment took the opportunity to escape from the three girls and walk over towards him. Ami watched as Sasuke walked away from her, clearly heartbroken by his sudden departure, tears running down her face. Her friends at her side as they tried to comfort her in her rejection, taking turns hugging her and patting her on the back.

Once Kasumi and Fuki were done consoling their friend they looked over towards Sasuke, following him with their glaze until they realized it was him that Sasuke was walking towards. Their expressions changed, once covered with concern over their friend was traded for a different face.

Their faces were laced with hate.

He had never even talked to those girls before… Why were they looking at him like that?

Sasuke approached Naruto, "Girls are annoying."

Naruto turned his attention towards Sasuke, "But Ami… She was trying to tell you she liked you."

"So?" Sasuke response was flat, his back to them, "I don't owe her anything."

"But her confession… That must have been hard for her, ya know."

Naruto glanced back over at the group of girls, who were whispering with each other, still staring at him… Still with those eyes.

Why?

"Forget about them. Are you able to train today?"

"No, not today."

"What do you do on your days off anyway?"

"I just have stuff to do."

"I heard Sasuke-kun has be spending a lot of time with that boy lately." Naruto could hear Fuki whisper to Kasumi.

"He's just going to get Sasuke-kun in trouble. I heard about him from my Dad. He's nothing but trouble." Kasumi whispered back.

What did her Dad say about him? What did any of them say about him? He wanted march right over there and ask.

Something held him back.

He didn't know why.

He knew deep in his heart, that hearing the answer would only terrify him.

What if the thing everyone hated about him was something he couldn't change?

What if their hate was justified?

"Why are you so quiet?"

Naruto turned his eyes back towards Sasuke, who was leaning on his left leg, flat eyed, a slight frown on his face. He almost looked concern, if his go-to expression wasn't annoyance Naruto would have thought he looked worried for him. However, Sasuke always looked bothered by one thing or another. So Naruto was sure he wasn't worried about him.

Naruto tried to force a smile.

"It's nothing, ya know." Naruto could hear it in his voice; he couldn't hide it no matter how hard he tried, "Let's get to class."

Shikamaru sighed loudly, dropping his arm loosely on the desk as he rested his head on top of it. Even at his age now, he dreaded coming to class to learn about the ins and outs of becoming a Shinobi.

If he had his way, he'd be spending his days looking up at the clouds. He could almost envision it; a nice grassy park, a gentle breeze, prefect end of summer weather, bright blue sky, and nice, big, puffy white clouds to pass the time. Sometimes he'd spend his time finding shapes within the clouds, but that was more along the lines of what Choji liked doing.

He liked the clouds because he didn't have to pay attention to them. They floated by him in the sky, pacing by without a care in the world.

He envied the clouds.

"Hey, have you been noticing lately," one of his classmates Kōta whispered to Unagi, both boys sitting in front of him, "Sasuke has been hanging out with that kid lately."

"My Dad told me to stay away from him," Unagi whispered back to the to the boy, Shikamaru never listened to classroom gossip, but today for some reason he couldn't help but to eavesdrop, "He's such an idiot. I don't know why anyone would hang out with him."

Shikamaru's eyes wondered down to 'that kid' that the other two were talking about.

Naruto Uzumaki.

He had heard other people and their distaste for the blonde, his parents had never told him to stay away from the boy, but other adults have. So, that is what he did as well. He never really thought on why he stayed away from Naruto. Everyone sorta kept their distance from him. If anyone thought about the social structure of the village, with the Hokage being the head of the village, it seemed as if everyone accepted the fact that Naruto was at the bottom of it.

Though, he had to admit, it was sort of messed up once he thought about it that way.

"Hey Shikamaru!" Lazy eyes looked away from the blonde and glanced up at Choji, one hand inside his chip bag.

"Choji, hey." He watched as his friend reached for a handful of chips and plopped them in his mouth. Choji took the seat next to him and offered him some. Shikamaru reached inside the bag, "Have you noticed that Sasuke and Naruto have been hanging out lately?"

Choji shrugged, "Not really."

"Everyone has been talking about it," Shikamaru reached inside the bag for one more handful of chips, "You haven't noticed?"

"Well, now that you mention it, class has been a lot quieter."

Shikamaru nodded, remembering a time when all Naruto did was challenge Sasuke, and Sasuke showing off in front of the class in defeating him. Behind Shikamaru, he could hear more people whispering about Sasuke and that boy. Everyone around them seemed to be talking about it lately. Shikamaru sighed, "I wouldn't say quieter, just, a change in tempo."

"It's been kind of nice," Choji took another handful of chips in his hand, looking down at his hands, staring down at the chips. Something had stopped Choji from eating, and Shikamaru had been around him long enough to know something was up, "You know…" Choji looked over at Shikamaru, "My Dad use to tell us to stay away from Naruto, remember?"

"Yeah, I remember," one of the reasons Choji was his best friend was because they could always be on the same wave length, he would just have to hint at the subject and Choji could pick up on it, explaining it would have been too much trouble, "Did he ever tell you why?"

"He just said he was dangerous."

"Him? Dangerous? He can't even make clones."

"Everyone in the village says he's dangerous."

"But has anyone ever told you why?"

"…No, not really."

Shikamaru glanced back at the blonde, seeing him with a scroll in his hand reading it as he sat next to Sasuke, who was staring out the window next to him. The Nara frowned at Sasuke. True, without Naruto egging him on in the middle of class, Sasuke had stopped showing off as much with the class. Yet, that wasn't really the thing that bothered Shikamaru. There was something about Sasuke that just rubbed him the wrong way.

As if he was right on queue, Shikamaru's eyes caught Sasuke's from across the room. Sasuke seemed to stare him down, eyes laced with something dark in them. Something way darker then any kid their age should have within them. Sasuke had this way of making everything around him just stop. It didn't sit right with the Nara.

Shikamaru rolled his eyes and looked away.

"If anyone's dangerous, it would be him."

"Who? Sasuke?"

"Yeah."

"Why do you say that?"

"Let's just say it's a hunch," Shikamaru lowered his head back on the top of his arm, closing his eyes, "What a drag."

Sasuke felt someone watching him.

He turned around, seeing the Nara boy watching him from across the classroom. They didn't hold their gaze long, before he turned his head and looked away from Sasuke.

The Uchiha couldn't help but to frown at this. It was already bad enough to get all the attention he got from the girls, but now even the guys in class were paying too much attention to him. He had been hearing the whispers around him about hanging out with Naruto, and he assumed that Naruto had been hearing the same kind of thing.

They were two orphans; it didn't seem unusual for the both of them to find some kind of common ground with one another. Yet, everyone had been acting like him hanging out with the blonde would get him in some kind of trouble. Naruto was troublesome, this was true (and getting all this unwanted attention lately didn't sit well with him), but he still didn't understand what everyone's problem were with it. It was starting to become annoying.

"What's wrong Sasuke?"

Sasuke directed his eyes back at Naruto, "Nothing."

Naruto turned back towards his scroll, a sad smile crossed his face, "You know Sasuke, I didn't mean for everyone to act like this towards you."

"What do you mean?"

"It's just-"

"Excuse me Sasuke-kun!"

Naruto and Sasuke looked over to see the pink haired girl standing behind them, Sasuke had to take a moment to realize her name was Sakura.

"Mind if I steal him for just a second?" A hand landed on Naruto's shoulder.

The blonde dropped the scroll at the moment she touched him, "Me?" Naruto's face almost frozen in surprise by the sudden touch.

Even Sasuke couldn't deny the fact on how big Naruto's smile was when Sakura touched him. He didn't answer her, instead using his hand to motion Naruto and the girl away.

"I'll be right back, Sasuke!"

Sasuke watched as the girl took Naruto away. He was just about to turn back towards the window when he looked down at the scroll that Naruto had been reading. Picking it up, he read the title to himself: How to Preform the Clone Jutsu

He couldn't help but to sigh, learning that technique was one of the easier things to do in the Academy. How could Naruto still have problems with it? It was almost laughable.

Sakura placed her hand on his shoulder, and Naruto's mind froze as he looked up to see Sakura standing right behind him, "Mind if I steal him for just a second?"

"Me?" Naruto's heart fluttered. Sakura wanted to talk to him? He had liked her for so long and now she was finally noticing him!

"I'll be right back, Sasuke!" Naruto couldn't hold his excitement, he felt himself floating in the air as he followed Sakura outside the classroom. Finally! Everything was starting to come together. First he had a friend, soon he'd have a girlfriend, and next would be Hokage! Everything was changing so fast and he just was so excited about it!

Once they entered the hallway and out of Sasuke's eye sight, Sakura reached over and pulled on his ear, "This way dummy!"

"OUCH SAKURA-CHAN, THAT HURTS!" He wailed, trying to pry her fingers away from his ear. She pulled him along with her, and no matter how much he asked her to stop she wouldn't.

Finally, when she released his ear, he was standing in front a group of girls from his class. All of them with their arms crossed, all of them mad.

"Just what do you think you are doing?" Fuki snapped.

"Uh, what do you mean?" Naruto squinted. He didn't know what he did to make any of the girls mad. He hadn't pulled a prank on them in a long time. Lately, he had been to busy training with Sasuke to even pull off a good one.

"What did you do to get so close to Sasuke-kun?" Kasumi leaned forward, "All of us have noticed, and we don't understand why he's hanging out with a troublemaker like you."

"Sasuke-kun is too cool for the likes of you," Ino shook her head at the mere idea.

All the girls nodded in agreement at this statement. They turned back to Naruto, eyes still glaring, waiting for him to answer.

He didn't want to tell them about their training. If they had found out they would ask to join, and in turn they would somehow find a way to push him out of the way, and he didn't want that.

"Well," Naruto grinned, placing his hands on his hips, "He just realized that I am the more superior Shinobi and he wanted to learn how to become awesome like me, ya know."

Well, Naruto figured, he wasn't really lying. Sasuke was learning how to cook from him after all!

Instead of a response he got slapped across the face. Naruto fell over, holding his cheek he looked up to see Sakura glaring down at him, "Take this seriously! We wanna know and you're gonna tell us how to get close to Sasuke-kun!"

"Ouch," Naruto frowned, "You don't got to hit me, Sakura-chan."

Naruto returned to his seat with a bright red mark across his cheek. He noticed Sasuke's eyes widen seeing him as he took his seat, and picked up his Clone Jutsu scroll.

"What happened to you?"

"Nothing," Naruto snapped back a little too aggressively, using the scroll to cover his face.

"Fine," Sasuke turned his attention back to the window.

Parts of Naruto wanted to cry just then, but he was strong! Strong guys like him didn't cry in public.

His cheek was throbbing in pain from Sakura's slap, and instantly put his hand against his cheek to help smooth the pain. He didn't do anything wrong, but it seemed like everyone was starting to have a problem with him being friends with Sasuke. He heard everyone at class whispering about it after all, but he didn't think the girls would go so far as to corner him and hit him about it.

He was the one who liked Sakura. Sasuke didn't like her at all. Why couldn't she see that?

He really tried to think what he did to make everyone hate him, but for the life of him he couldn't figure it out.

Sasuke watched Naruto from the corner of his eye as the blonde held onto the side of his cheek. He seemed so happy before he left, but now his expression was completely different. His eyes were looking down at the scroll in front of him, but he could tell that Naruto wasn't reading it.

His eyes were going in and out of focus, trying desperately not to gloss over. Naruto's eyes gave him away completely; he could almost hear the thoughts that the blonde was thinking to himself.

'Why?'

Sasuke turned around to face Naruto, he reached out, grabbed his wrist, and pulled his hand away from his cheek. Naruto jumped at the sudden approach, flinching at the contact.

The redness was starting to fade, the mark almost gone completely, but he could still tell that someone had slapped him.

"Who did this?" Sasuke could feel his teeth clatter at how angry he was becoming.

Sasuke saw that Naruto was trying to think of an answer to give him, and that hesitation told him what he needed to know. He could tell that blonde knew he figured it out as well, "It didn't hurt," Naruto answered quietly, "It doesn't matter, its fine."

"No, it's not fine." Sasuke stood up from his chair, "You need to start standing up for yourself or they are going to keep pushing you around."

"If I did anything stupid it's just going to be worse," Naruto paused, turning away from Sasuke, "Besides, there's only one way things will change," Naruto's shoulders hunched forward, "I have to become Hokage ya know, it's the only way everyone in the village will respect me."

Sasuke didn't like that answer. He felt his hands form into a fist. He didn't know why he was so angry but he just was. He didn't like standing there and hearing his friend be bullied and harassed by everyone around him.

His friend was smarter then people gave him credit for, able to figure out how to survive completely on his own.

His friend was a good person. He was the kind of guy who offered him food when he had nothing for himself.

His friend carried the same burden of loneness that he did, he knew that it consumed him, isolated him from everyone around him. Sasuke knew that loneliness; he carried the same burden along with him.

His friend had a smile that could rival the sun.

Sasuke would not allow anyone to take that smile from him.

He had not really been thinking at that point. He walked past Naruto and down the steps. His eyes burning as he made his way down to the pink haired girl sitting in the front of the class.

"Hello class, everyone take your seats so we can begin!" Iruka entered through the classroom door as everyone started to take their seats.

Everyone but Sasuke; who reached the bottom of the stairs and to the girl his eyes were set on. She was sitting in the middle of the table, Kiba and his mutt sitting on one side, and the girl who confessed to him outside of class on the other.

Kiba was the first one to look up at him, "Hey Sasuke, class is—"

He pushed past Kiba and stood above Sakura. Her eyes lite up as he approached her, standing up from her chair she smiled at him brightly as if nothing was wrong, "Sasuke-kun!"

He pulled back his hand and slapped her across the face.

The class erupted.

Iruka had to admit; he didn't know how to react as everyone got up from their seats. The girls got up and ran towards Sakura, eyes wide at the sudden slap across the face, tears instantly falling down her face.

Kiba, Unagi and Hibachi were the first to reach Sasuke, pulling him away from Sakura as Ino and Ami were the first to reach her.

"What the hell Sasuke!" Kiba yelled as he grabbed Sasuke's arm, "You're not suppose to hit girls!"

"If she is going to become a kunoichi," Sasuke ripped his arm away from Kiba, "Then she's going to have to learn how to take a hit."

"Sasuke-kun, why?" Sakura had tears in her eyes, eyes wide and unblinking as she held onto her cheek.

Sasuke didn't answer as he tried to walk past Kiba and the others and walk back to his seat, but Kiba reached out and pulled him back towards him, "Why- you jerk!"

Kiba took a swing at Sasuke which he was able to dodge the attack with ease, however, before he was able to make another move Unagi and Hibachi grabbed onto his arms, holding him back.

The rest of the students ran out of their seats and circled around the table. Iruka tried to get pass his students but too many of them were in front of him to reach the boys in time, "Everyone sit down! Stop it!"

Kiba was about to punch Sasuke again, but a blur of yellow messy hair tacked him down before he was able to make contact. The sudden attack allowed Sasuke to rip out of the other boys' grip. He went to reach for one of them when something stopped his movements.

A shadow that wasn't his own was under his feet.

Sasuke looked up to see Shikamaru standing up on his desk near the back of the classroom, his hands seal Rat posed in front of him. He felt like he lost control of his whole body.

"Damnit," Sasuke mumbled, "I can't move." He felt his blood begin to boil, as he tried his best to fight off the jutsu. He felt Shikamaru's shadow struggling from under him as he tried to maintain control.

Naruto stood up after his tackle from Kiba, "Stop it you guys! Don't fight!"

"I bet you had something to do with this!" Ino yelled, holding onto Sakura's shoulders as she cried, "You're a bad influence on Sasuke-kun!"

"I didn't do anything!" Naruto took a step forward towards Ino and Sakura, trying to explain himself, they flinched as his tried to approach them.

"Don't come near us!" Sakura screamed, more tears rolling down her cheeks.

Naruto stopped, frozen at Sakura's voice as she screamed at him. Before anyone else could react further, Iruka made his way to scene, grabbing Naruto by his shoulder, "That's enough."

"But Iruka-sensei, I didn't do anything!"

"Everyone back to your seats, now!" The class did a collective sigh, the excitement over as everyone moved back to their assigned seats, "At the moment we will have an open period."

Sasuke felt the pressure against Nara's Jutsu leaving his body, letting out a breath he didn't know he was holding. His eyes darted up at Shikamaru, but the kid wasn't even looking at his direction. The Nara kid's eyes were closed, as he collapsed into his seat. Clearly worn out by his jutsu.

The lone Uchiha narrowed his eyes at him. No one had ever been able to hold him back before.

He'd have to deal with the Nara later.

"Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura, the three of you follow me. Now."

Naruto and Sasuke sat outside the teacher's office, waiting for their turn to talk to their sensei.

Naruto had to admit, he was confused on everything that had happened just moments ago, "Why did Sasuke slap Sakura-chan like that?"

"She hit you, didn't she?" Sasuke responded, causing Naruto to jump at the sudden answer.

He didn't realize he had asked that out loud.

"Sakura-chan just wanted to know more about you," Naruto answered, rubbing the side of his cheek where she had slapped him earlier. It no longer hurt, but remembering what she had done still caused him pain, "She really likes you.

"I could never like someone like that," Sasuke closed his eyes; "I don't like people who push around others for their own amusement."

"Sakura-chan isn't like that," Naruto answered, letting go of his cheek, "She's really smart, ya know. I think she is smarter then you. She's really nice to everyone else too. I see how much she cares about you. She just wants you to like her back, ya know."

"She's an idiot."

"Don't call Sakura-chan an idiot!"

"I can call whoever I want an idiot, idiot!"

"Stop calling me names too!"

"Then stop acting like an idiot!"

"But I'm not—"

The door opened next to them, Iruka and Sakura standing at the doorframe, "Will you two be quiet? You're already in enough trouble as it is!" Iruka turned towards Sakura, "Sakura, head to class, I still have to talk to the boys about what happened."

Iruka turned towards Sasuke, "Alright Sasuke, you're up now, please come into the office."

Sasuke stood up, putting his hands into his pockets; he didn't even turn towards Naruto or Sakura as he walked into the door, Iruka closing the door behind them.

When it was just Naruto and Sakura in the hallway, Sakura turned her gaze towards Naruto. He was use to those eyes of hate, but, it still hurt to see his crush staring at him like that, "Sasuke-kun hates me now, and it's all your fault."

"I didn't tell him anything, I promise Sakura-chan," Naruto wanted to cruel up in a ball just then and disappear, "I just told him just now you wanted to just know more about him, ya know. I swear!"

"I'm going to get you back for this," Sakura narrowed her eyes at him, her hands forming into fists "I'm going to take him away from you and then you'll know how I feel."

Sakura didn't wait for him to respond, she stomped away from him, her hands still clenched in a fist as she made her way back to class.

When she was out of eye sight Naruto lowered his eyes towards the floor. He was grateful that Sasuke stood up for him. No one had ever done that for him before, and Naruto knew he should be happy that he had a friend who wanted to look out for him.

Yet, he knew that this whole incident would cause more problems for him in the long run.

There was no way anyone else would like him after this.

He couldn't help but to feel alone just then, feeling the darkness in his heart fill him up. If he let it, that darkness would consume him.

He wouldn't let the darkness win though. He was Naruto Uzumaki and he as strong.

Or at least, that's what he told himself.