"I wouldn't mind if you want to kill me,
But I might struggle a bit."
-Trowa Barton
Fall was well on its way.
Students began breaking out their scarves as the leaves started to fade in earnest. Naruto was a little concerned over the fact that he still hadn't figured out how to re-direct some heating into the attic, but he did not dare talk to anyone at the house at the moment.
The fact was, everyone was on eggshells, as Sakura's father recently started coming home late, drunk and angry about something related to the company. Naruto was never privy to information about Sakura's father line of work, but he knew it had something to do with oil, and that he was in a very high position in the company.
Sakura herself seemed to be in a terrible mood, constantly snapping at everyone in the house and mostly keeping to herself in her room. Baby Saya had taken to giving Naruto the chore of cleaning her room—but he always waited until she left for school before tidying up.
One thing he noticed however, was a new addition to her room—a small, framed photo of Sasuke on Sakura's desk. Naruto had paused in front of it for an embarrassingly long time, staring at the candid expression on the stolen photo. It looked like it was from a soccer game when Konoha Academy had won championship. Sasuke would have been in middle-school then.
Looking at the photo made him remember last week, lying in a warm bed, wrapped up in arms and silk sheets—
Naruto shook his head and hurried away.
It's been a week since that morning.
Naruto had woken up in Sasuke's bed in a state of panic, staring up at dark lashes and pale face. He slipped out of the arms that were wrapped around him and tumbled out of bed, clutching his head and trying to re-orient himself.
Maybe this was happening way too often, but this was already the second time this month that he'd woken up in someone else's bed. But unlike waking up to Gaara, Naruto had absolutely no idea how to handle facing Sasuke when he woke up. What would he say? What was the right thing to do? He was so out of his depth.
The floor was smooth under his palm, so different from the rough wood in his own room. Somewhere, the delicate sound of tinkling glass floated in from the slightly ajar door, but instead of feeling comforted, his stomach dipped with something akin to fear. He didn't understand it himself.
And so, both mind and heart in a state of chaos, Naruto did the only thing he could do—he ran away.
He didn't stop running until he reached the black gates of the Harunos. He had hardly paused to catch his breath when the door opened and Baba Saya flew out with a furious expression.
He stifled a cry as she slapped him across the head, scolding him for disappearing the entire day. Inside, his punishment waited, in the form of a bucketful of laundry that had to be done by hand.
"I might stain something." Naruto protested, raising his wounded hands for her to see. "I can do the ironing instead—"
"Don't test my patience right now, boy." Baba Saya growled, shoving an armful of clothes into his arms. "There's a Dinner tonight and the silver hasn't been polished. The napkins still need ironing! If you hadn't disappeared like you did, we wouldn't be in this mess!"
Naruto stifled a groan as he was dragged into the laundry room.
Formal dinners! They were absolute torture. The entire household would be up to their elbows—preparing meals, cleaning the rooms; and for what? For a three-hour torture session with awful music and awful company, smoking expensive cigars that were impossible to wash out of the curtains.
Naruto told himself he was better off stuck doing laundry, than be under the foul temper of Cook that day. And so, hands still raw and wrapped with flimsy bandages, he gritted his teeth and spent the rest of the day wringing his hands in freezing water, trying to numb the stinging from his wounds. He tried to keep his mind off Sasuke and what happened that morning, and the knots in his stomach and what it could all mean.
By the time Naruto finished the last of his chores, the Dinner was well underway, and he was able to sneak a loaf of bread from the kitchen and hide in his room. The only good thing about the entire situation was that Naruto was obliged to stay out of sight, and so he wouldn't have to see Sakura's face. He was seriously contemplating if it was worth the repercussions for punching her in the face.
He sat by the window of his room, gazing out into the calm, star-less night and simply wallowing in his exhaustion. His hands were raw and swollen and they were absolutely ruined now. He allowed himself a small, lopsided smile as he imagined the look on Gaara's face when he showed him his hands.
The smile slowly disappeared as he stared down at the ugly shape of his hands.
"What am I doing?" Naruto wondered to himself.
The touch of the night breeze on his face kindled the memory of the feel of Sasuke's hands, warm on his skin; long lashes against the nape of his neck, and the aching ease in which their bodies fit together, like two pieces of a puzzle.
Naruto buried his face in his arms as he tried to wrap his mind around the whirlwind of events that had happened in the past 24 hours.
They had kissed. Again.
Naruto's fist clenched as he remembered. How did he react then? Nothing special. They didn't even talk about it. Was that normal?
Did it even actually happen? He wondered to himself.
Sitting there, in the cold silence of his dingy attic—Sasuke's clean, white walls and polished floors seemed like a far-away dream.
No, Naruto told himself. I remember his family. I remember what he said.
He remembered the pain in Sasuke's voice when he spoke of them.
He dug his fingers in his arms as he was gripped with the overwhelming longing to see him. He was vibrating with the need to run out of the house and run as fast as he could to Sasuke, who was alone in that big, empty house with nothing but memories of his murdered family.
He was ripped out of his thoughts by a sharp rap on his door, and a voice telling him to go down and help with the clean-up.
So he took a deep breath to center himself and took one last look out the window. He squinted and tried to look for a star in the vast darkness. And he prayed, as loud as he could in his head, that Sasuke would have pleasant dreams tonight.
He went down and wordlessly accepted a mop and began cleaning up the dining room. He did not look up, even as he felt Sakura's presence. He felt her watching him from the doorway, and he could imagine the look of contempt on her face—but he did not look up. He kept his eyes on the floor and kept repeating his wish instead.
It was past midnight when he was finally able to sleep.
In the safety of the attic and away from prying eyes, Naruto finally allowed himself to settle into bed, wrapping the blankets around him and imagined it was the warmth of someone else's arms, lulling him to sleep.
Gaara was the first to notice the change.
It was Monday morning, and Naruto had shown up with bags under his eyes, smiling tiredly at him and showing off his badly cut hands. Gaara was furious, of course, and it was not fair of him to lash out at Naruto; but it was no secret that Gaara had problems dealing with intense emotions. Naruto simply listened to him snarl and spit death threats, and then asked him to help wrap his hands.
They were on their way to Tsunade's to get fresh bandages when the Uchiha showed up. Naruto froze, like a deer caught in headlight. But before Gaara could tell him to get a fucking grip—Naruto had turned tail and run.
Gaara stared after his retreating form and then turned to look at the Uchiha, who did not take his eyes off the blond until he disappeared around the corner. Gaara would not have thought twice about it (Uchiha had the nasty habit of staring), until his eyes fell on the fresh linen bandages clutched in Uchiha's hand.
And then it hit him.
At first, Gaara thought it was funny in a twisted kind of way. The great Uchiha Sasuke, finally mingling with the mortals.
But then it got old really fast and Gaara honestly just found the whole thing fucking annoying.
Whatever happened between them during the short span of time Gaara wasn't looking, Naruto went from actively trying to ignore Sasuke, to being hyper-aware of him.
"He's not here." Gaara muttered as they entered the classroom.
Naruto jumped from where he was trying to stare a hole into the ground.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
Gaara's eyes rolled back so far he might have seen the back of his head.
For Sasuke, it was a bit more straightforward. It seemed that he could not control the way his eyes would follow the blond, or the way his hand itched with the overwhelming urge to touch. He spent class after class, staring at the back of the blonde's head, but Naruto would not react. It gave Gaara an ulcer watching them.
And then, of all things, Sasuke resorted to childish antics and began randomly kicking at Naruto's seat to get his attention.
It was juvenile, and for a while, Naruto simply ignored it, because acknowledging it would mean he would have to talk to him. But soon enough, annoyance won over any trepidations and one particularly hard kick had Naruto leaping out of his seat, yelling: CUT IT OUT, YOU BASTARD!
Azuma-sensei made him stay behind for that.
But, Gaara noted, that was that. The ice was broken and the two were back to sniping and trying to out-annoy each other. Which, in the end, only made Gaara so irritable, he walked out on them by lunchtime.
Kiba, on the other hand, who was usually unconcerned with Naruto's occasional behavioral quirks, had taken to shooting him strange looks. Still, he held his tongue even when Sasuke basically forced him out of his seat during a paired work. Kiba didn't appreciate sitting next to a foul-tempered Gaara, but he was torn between fascination and horror as he watched Naruto and Sasuke bantering like it was natural as breathing.
By now, Principal Jiraya's Uchiha-Uzumaki mandate was widely known in the school—but fresh rumors began circulating when they were seen eating lunch together.
"Give me your sandwich." Sasuke said, as he appeared by Naruto's table at the cafeteria.
The mere fact that Sasuke was inside the school cafeteria made everyone stop and stare in shock. He stood out like a sore thumb. Beside Naruto, Kiba was busy trying not to choke on his drink.
"I'll give you one with my knuckles." Naruto replied snidely, hiding his surprise with an annoyed expression. Still, he was dying to ask. "What are you doing here?"
He knew for a fact that Sasuke hated cafeteria food.
"The history paper is due today." Sasuke replied dispassionately. "After lunch."
Naruto slapped his forehead and groaned.
"Shit, I forgot. Can we just, I dunno, not pass it?"
The glare Sasuke gave him made him throw up his hands in surrender.
"Yes, okay. We'll do it now." Naruto groused. He nudged Kiba. "Budge over."
"I think I'm done." Shikamaru stood up from where he had been silently watching. "See you later, Naruto."
"Uh, me too." Chouji followed him and they were soon gone.
"You can have my seat, Uchiha-san." Lee said politely, and Naruto goggled at him. "Bye, Naruto!"
"See you later." Shino muttered.
"Kiba, wait—" Naruto made to grab at him. But Kiba was already gone.
"Look what you did." Naruto crossed his arms, glaring as Sasuke casually took a seat in the now-empty table.
Naruto looked around uncomfortably at the people staring and whispering, and felt his hackles rising. He was about to suggest that they move to another location, when he noticed the stiffness in Sasuke's shoulders, and the way his jaw was locked, as if in determination.
So Naruto held his tongue and took the report Sasuke brought, pulling it closer and leafing through it. Wordlessly, he pushed his sandwich to Sasuke. After a few moments, Sasuke picked up the sandwich with mechanical movements and began to eat it.
Naruto hid a smile and began to write on the paper, making up bullshit for Kakashi-sensei to read.
And that was their first lunch together.
Usually, Naruto would alternate sitting with Gaara or Kiba's group for lunch, depending on if he felt like subjecting himself to the noise and crowd of the lunchtime rush. Whenever he decided to be sociable, he left Gaara to brood by himself in the classroom, while he re-joined civilization through the comfort of Kiba's table. Most of the time though, Naruto would drag Gaara out to a quiet place behind the school, or by the bleachers, and share a sandwich between them.
But Gaara apparently could not stand Sasuke's face and had little patience for Naruto's constant Sasuke-this, Sasuke-that—so when the bell rang for lunch, the red-head gave Naruto a look of disgust and high-tailed out of the room. Before Naruto could follow him, however, Sasuke dragged him up to the rooftop ("Aren't we breaking a school rule here, somewhere?") and they would end up spending lunchtime with the excuse of homework between them.
Naruto tried to reason with Gaara:
"I promise to kick him in the balls if he insults you, will you please have lunch with me?"
"No."
"Okay, I'll sneak off and run away with you. Will you have lunch with me?"
Gaara wordlessly turned around and walked away.
"I still love you!"
Soccer practices were held every day, after school, much to Naruto's chagrin. Still, despite his rocky start, Naruto found that he had a talent for keeping track of things, and an even greater talent for keeping the more unstable players on their toes.
"You can't tell me what to do—"
"On the contrary, I have every right." Naruto replied crossly. "So if you can't pick up your damn towels like you're freakin' five, then I'll have to call your mommy and tell her what an idiot son she has."
Davis turned so red, Naruto was prepared for a fist-fight—but then Gaara walked by at that precise moment and… well. Davis picked up his towels.
He had even found an admirer in Konohamaru, or, what he's forever known in Naruto's head as 'Number 23.'
"Naruto 'nii-chan!"
"That's Manager to you, kid." Naruto groused, but he couldn't help ruffling his hair. "Did you finish your warm-ups?"
"Yeah." Konohamaru bounced around like an excited puppy. He was still in middle-school, but he did a good job keeping up with the more senior players. But, a kid was a kid. "Can you help me with my drills later? I swear I've been practicing!"
"Just as soon as I finish organizing these files."
"I can help—"
"Number 23," Sasuke's cool voice was heard like a foghorn, despite him being on the other end of the field. "Do you have so much free time in your hands that you've got nothing better to do than chit-chat? Give me ten laps around the field."
And Naruto swore he didn't laugh, but Sasuke glared at him anyway.
By the end of the week, Naruto felt that he had somehow managed to find a balance, and work through the screwballs the universe had thrown into his life as of late.
He should have known it was too good to be true.
"Naruto Uzumaki."
Naruto and Kiba both looked up from their conversation at the back of the room. It was homeroom period, and that meant thirty minutes of free time while Kakashi-sensei read his erotic novel from his desk.
Today however, for some reason, Yamanaka Ino, the class representative, was up in front, conducting some sort of discussion with the girls half of the class.
Naruto must have heard wrong, he thought he heard his name being called—
"Naruto." Ino cleared her throat awkwardly. "Naruto Uzumaki."
"Uh, yeah?" Naruto glanced at Kiba bewilderedly, but Kiba had the same blank look.
"Congratulations." Ino looked like she was fighting a smirk. "You've been nominated as our class' Fall Princess."
The thing was, Naruto understood nothing of what she had just said. Nominated? Fall Princess? It was Kiba who leapt to his feet in indignation.
"Stop screwing around!"
Everyone else seemed to get over their initial surprise and began laughing. Naruto Uzumaki? Fall Princess! It was so preposterous, it was funny.
"What the fuck is a Fall Princess?" Naruto complained, brows furrowed. "And I'm a boy, in case you haven't noticed."
"Now, now. Who says boys can't be princesses?" Ino was now outright grinning, waving a piece of paper in the air. "Besides, you've been rightfully chosen through a bureaucratic process."
"What?!" Naruto ran up to the front, grabbing the paper in her hand and reading his name off it. He grabbed the other slips of paper that littered the table and it all said his name, clear as day, for everyone to see.
"Very funny, guys." Naruto said exasperatedly, throwing the slips of paper in disgust as the class rippled with more laughter. "Ha-ha. Jokes on me. I'll apologize for not paying attention, is that what you want?"
Kakashi-sensei chose that moment to decide that he would try a hand at being a teacher.
"So! Is everyone satisfied with their choice of candidate?"
"Sensei, for god's sake—"
"I say yes to Naruto!" A girl from the back giggled.
"I second the motion!"
"Me too! Me too!"
Naruto was rooted to the floor, feeling an out-of-body sort of experience as the idea caught on. What the hell was even going on—
"Okay, that's that!" Kakashi sensei snapped his book closed, rising from his chair. He clapped a hand down Naruto's shoulder and grinned at him as the rest of the class burst into applause and whistled catcalls. "Congratulations, princess."
Of course. Of course, the bell would ring in that exact moment.
"Wait, wait—!" Naruto tried to grab Kakashi-sensei. Everyone else was busy grabbing their things for next period at the Music Room. "You guys must be joking right? What the hell is going on? What the hell is a Fall Princess?!"
"It's a joke, that's what." Kiba scowled. "The entire Dance is a joke, and the only reason we're still doing it every year is because it means the midterms get pushed back two weeks."
"So I just ignore this, like a bad dream." Naruto said forcefully, as they moved classrooms.
"You do that, blondie." Kiba rolled his eyes in exasperation. "Stupid girls. They just didn't want it to be them, you know? Each class is required to shell out a candidate to run for the pageant. Basically they bully each other into it and then the girl who gets to be crowned Harvest Queen will have to bear the shame forever."
"But I won't need to worry about that, because my participation is invalid." Naruto insisted, like he was trying to convince himself. "I mean, do I look like a princess to you?"
"Well, if you squint reaaaaaally hard—"
"KIBA."
"Right, before we start class, we need to settle our entry for Harvest King." Ino spoke up from her seat up front. "I leave that to you boys. Pick whoever you want. I need the name before lunch today."
Naruto quickly turned to glare at Kiba, who immediately raised his hands.
"Ah, yeah, there's a Harvest King. It's a goddamn pageant, blondie. But you're not the real princess, remember?"
"What the fuck is the entire point of this stupid pageant, anyway?" Naruto scowled.
"There is no point." Kiba sighed. "There's a dance, at the end of the festival, and the school puts up a show since we're opening the gates to outsiders for that one night."
Naruto paled.
"I'm going to be a public mockery?!"
"Technically, you both will be—"
At Naruto's sour look, Kiba hastily corrected himself. "But that's not the point here—"
"Kiba." Naruto grabbed his hands, staring at him seriously. "Be my Harvest King."
"Whoa. No can do, man. I'm not meant for sovereignty." Kiba snuck a look behind Naruto. "What about, uh, you know, Sabaku."
Naruto whipped around, like the thought never occurred to him.
"Gaara!"
The glare the red-head fixed on him could have curdled milk.
"Come on," Naruto whined. "It's not like it's real or anything. We can quit togetherrrr."
"No."
Naruto sighed, resting a cheek on one hand. Whatever. He'll have to hunt down Kakashi-sensei first thing during Lunch time and clear up this nonsense. After all, Kiba said it himself, the pageant was a joke. It wasn't a big deal. This would all be forgotten by the end of the week—
"I'll do it."
Some people turned to look, but most of the class wasn't even paying attention. Naruto shot Sasuke a glare, motioning a cut-it-out motion with his hand.
"I'll be Harvest King." Sasuke repeated.
Naruto hated the heat creeping up his cheeks.
"That was joke, you bastard. Shut. UP."
"What's the matter? It's not like it's real or anything." The smirk was all the warning he gave before Sasuke stood up with a loud scrape of his chair, instantly commanding the attention of the entire class. "I'm running for King. You got that, Yamanaka?"
Naruto cried out along with everyone else as Sasuke's words doomed him. He was never going to get out this now, he just knew it! Some of the girls began rallying towards Ino, insisting they would like a re-election. But Ino's expression said it all.
He was fucked.
