A/N: Little bit of cheesiness going on here. :D
Writing chapters for BTW is so therapeutic for me. I'm so relaxed right now (sighs as I raise my feet up the sofa).
IMPORTANT NOTE: This is in response to reviewer Fernis (Hi! ^_^) but this will also serve as an announcement of sorts. :D I put a few details in my profile about the Before The Worst series but I'll post some of it here as well! ^_^ So far, we still have a loooong way to go before the drama starts. I still want to write about Sasuke and Naruto's relationship progression (basically more fluffiness :D) and I think a couple more character introductions. Readers get to have a feel of their life together before all the crap starts (so you guys can hopefully have a better hurting experience when the crap does start. Heh). The next series to BTW, involves ... ermmm ... fluff as well (that's all you get to know for now. Ahehe). The main story (the 3rd and last installment) is where the drama is at actually. BUT worry not! BTW has it's bouts of drama although it will only appear at the end. ^_^ Hope this helps.
Personally, I'm enjoying the SasuNaru fluff-writing while I still can. DUN DUN DUUUUUN! Hahaha! Seriously though, writing the fluffy goodness is such a good stress reliever.
BTW NEXT UPDATE: So since my mom is visiting me for a bit (and also school work is starting to pile up... It has begun -_-"), I probably won't be able to release the next chapter any time soon. :p Sorry But brace yourselves guys. Next one is a bit on the sad (and lengthy) side. It's gonna be the foundation of Sasuke's and Naruto's fate as a unit.
*DISCLAIMER APPLIES*
BEFORE THE WORST
Diagnosis: Love Sick With A Minor Case Of Bad Taste In Men
Part II
The second day of intramurals proved to be not much different from the first. If anything, it was actually more tiring. Team 7 had been playing a series of different games nonstop; and, naturally, they were winning all their events. People had to agree that it was all because of their impeccable teamwork!
"Kyaaa! Sasuke! We love you! KYAA!"
"Do your best Sasuke-love!"
"Marry me, Sasuke!"
Unfortunately, Sasuke's horde of fans only saw the wonder that was Uchiha Sasuke. Seriously! Sakura and Naruto were each doing a third of the work too! Why did Sasuke get all the credit?
"These girls all have horrible taste in men." Naruto mumbled as she dribbled the basketball in her possession. She said the words loud enough for the rest of the kids playing in the basketball court to hear. What? It was true anyways! Sasuke wasn't the same charming little boy Naruto met way back when. Now, he was just grumpy and mean. What was so attractive about grumpy and mean?! Really... If they weren't best friends, Naruto would probably have whooped the guy's ass ages ago.
"Hey! Stop insulting Sasuke and get your head back in the game!" Sakura both scolded the blonde and blatantly defended the love of her life in one breath.
"Alright, alright! Geez, Sakura-chan." The blond girl kept her stance guarded as she tried to manoeuvre her way around Kiba. The dog-loving schmuck was directly behind her and was valiantly attempting to steal the ball away. The three-on-three basketball game was intensifying. The half-court they occupied was brimming with unrestrained competiveness.
"Shino, keep Sasuke busy. Hinata, you take care of Sakura!" Kiba, acting as their captain, commanded with authority. Heh. No way Naruto could pass him – the Great Inuzuka Kiba! He pressed closer against Naruto's back. Blondie was trapped! She wasn't going anywhere not while he was guarding her.
Naruto growled as she continued to dribble the ball. She quickly scanned her periphery to see if there were any options left. There wasn't much time left on the shot clock. Naruto had to do something soon. She had to at least try!
The blonde looked to her left; Sasuke was a no go. She looked to her right; Sakura wasn't doing too well either. It was a clear path to do the basketball ring. If she could just get past Kiba...
Ten seconds on the shot clock.
She was going to make a wild run for it.
Her eyes briefly locked with Sasuke's. The boy, in turn, smirked. As if he understood what she had in mind, he yelled his encouragement. "Go for it, Naruto!"
Seven seconds on the clock.
Naruto abruptly twisted her body around, ducked under Kiba's stretched arm, and passed right under the extended limb.
Five seconds.
"Oh no you don't!" Kiba was immediately right on Naruto's heels.
"Kiba, be careful!" Hinata screamed, noticing how Kiba's following distance to Naruto looked to be like an accident waiting to happen. That fact does not go unnoticed to one suddenly concerned Uchiha.
Four seconds.
While Shino was too preoccupied with watching Kiba pursue Naruto, Sasuke easily slipped past the tall mysterious brunet (who, curiously, was still playing with his sunglasses on). Shino grunted in shock as Sasuke made a dash for Naruto. "Kiba! Sasuke's on your tail!" He warned his teammate.
Three seconds.
Naruto began to do a lay-up.
Two seconds.
"Not today, blondie!" Kiba jumped in time with Naruto.
One second.
Apparently, Kiba put a little too much force in his attempt to block Naruto's shot.
BEEEEEEEEP!
The two bodies painfully slammed with each other at the exact time the shot clock reached zero. Naruto, as if in slow motion, caught sight of the hard floor while she was falling. This was going to hurt; she could tell. Just as she was about to hit the ground, the blonde tightly shut her eyes to brace herself upon impact. Curiously, the pain never came. Instead, she felt warm arms envelop her before wham! She was down on the ground.
Hm. Strange. There was impact but totally none of the sting that came with hitting the ground. Speaking of the ground, why was it soft and squishy? Grounds weren't soft and squishy, were they?
"You can get off of me anytime, you know." The pained voice came from below her. She immediately snapped her blue eyes open. Surprisingly enough, there she found Sasuke beneath her and still clutched onto her.
Sasuke had just...
"You caught me?" She lifted her head slightly to look at the dark-haired boy in the eye. He looked like he was in real pain. Naruo flinched at the sight. She scrambled to get off of Sasuke's fallen form and knelt beside the Uchiha. "Idiot! You could have just let me fall! Now look at you! You probably injured your back, stupid!"
Sasuke slowly sat up, wincing as he did so. "Moron... What kind of a best friend would I be if I didn't catch you when you fall?"
Well crap.
Naruto just felt her heart burst there.
The young Uchiha slowly began to stand up. "Besides, I'm fine. This is nothing." He nonchalantly dusted the nonexistent dirt off his person. The cacophony of girls screaming out of concern and/or jealousy echoed in the gymnasium; but all fell deaf to Naruto's ears.
"Are you two alright? Does anything hurt?" The referee approached the two to see if anyone was seriously harmed. Sasuke and Naruto shook their heads in response. That was a relief. Other than Kiba rolling and whining on the floor, everything looked a-okay. After giving the two teams a couple of seconds to regain their bearings, the referee blew his whistle to announce that the game was to resume.
"Naruto..." Sasuke caringly smiled at his idiot of a best friend. The blonde, who had temporarily lost the gift of speech, raised her brows to regard the other. To her surprise, Sasuke casually tapped her on her forehead. "You said a bad word, stupid." Despite the name-calling, the affection and the relief over the fact that Naruto was unharmed visibly showed on his youthful face.
Okay, maybe the fan girls didn't totally have bad tastes in men. Sasuke was a pretty decent guy... sometimes.
"Tch. Right back at you, jerk."
The whistle blew which indicated that the game had recommenced. Team 8 was about to go down.
llllllllllllllllllll
Naruto walked alone down the corridor after having gone through three gruelling games of basketball. Geez. She was dead-tired already and it wasn't even noon yet! Luckily, their next game wasn't due for an hour so she took that time to refresh herself and maybe grab a little bite to eat.
"You're hair is so pretty and long, Ino!" An obscure voice squealed inside the female washroom Naruto just passed. She paused and listened in. No shocker there; Naruto would always be Naruto.
"Hey, yours has gotten long too, huh Sakura?" A voice the blonde recognized to be Tenten's said. Sakura made a cheerful sound. "Yeah! It took me awhile but it's finally grown to a nice length!"
"I can't get my hair to grow that long!" The unknown girl complained as it sounded like she stomped her feet on the tiled floor of the washroom. "Sasuke will never notice me now!" The comment had Naruto tuning in to the conversation more intensely. What was this about Sasuke?
"Eh?! I don't get the connection about you not being to grow your hair and getting Sasuke to notice you." Tenten wondered out loud. Good. The bun-haired girl had voiced out Naruto's exact same question.
"They say Sasuke has a huge thing for girls with long hair." Ino answered straightforwardly. This statement cued in a series of girlish squealing and chattering. The girls in the restroom further discussed other beauty tips to get Sasuke's attention (well, save for Tenten who, although agreed that Sasuke was cute, wasn't all that into the younger by a year Uchiha). The rest of conversation however was left unheard to one particular eavesdropping blonde.
So Sasuke liked girls with long hair huh?
She hadn't heard that one before.
Naruto unconsciously let her fingers run through her boyish-looking tresses. Come to think of it, she'd never tried growing her hair before. It had always been short and spiky. Maybe it was time for a change?
"Yo Naruto. What are you doing crouching by the bathroom door?" The blonde yelped and jumped from surprise at the voice. She looked behind to see Kakashi. Before the teacher could question her any further, Naruto yanked at the man's arms and pulled him down the long corridor. The girl paid no mind to the man's mumbled protests. Once she had spotted a nice deserted area in the building, she halted her strides.
"What was that all about?" Kakashi expressed his bewilderment at Naruto's strange actions.
"Kakashi! You gotta help me! I've been having the strangest feeling lately!" Naruto loudly whispered her concern. It was nice of Kakashi to conveniently appear when she needed him for answers. The teacher, however, took the question in a wrong way.
"Oh no... I'm gonna have to give you the talk aren't I? Damn. I kind of expected that Jiraiya would have spoken to you about thi—"
"What the hell are you talking about, old man? What talk?" Naruto scrunched her face out of utter confusion. The scarf-adorning teacher gave a sigh of relief at the expression on Naruto's face. Thank God. She wasn't talking about 'the talk'.
"You know what, never mind. We have more important things to talk about. Something weird is going on with me Kakashi and I have a feeling it's Sasuke's fault!" Kakashi's ears perked at Naruto's admission. Apparently, things were starting to get good between the mismatched duo.
"Elaborate, Naruto."
"I think he might be into voodoo!"
Okaaaay... Not what Kakashi was expecting. Chalking it up to Naruto's inborn ineptness, he gestured for Naruto to continue with his hands.
"You see, my stomach feels like it has major gas. I feel like I'm feverish. My palms are—"
"They get sweaty, your heart beats crazy fast, you feel shortness of breath, and there's this fluttery feeling in your chest? What's more, those symptoms only happen when Sasuke is around?" Kakashi continued for her, knowing perfectly well what was going on with the paranoid blonde.
"Exactly! How did you know?" Naruto looked up to the teacher in amazement. Wow. Kakashi was good. Real good. If Kakashi knew what was going on then maybe she could still be saved from whatever was plaguing her.
"Let's just say that I know exactly what's going on with you." The man was greatly enjoying this. Wait til Jiraiya found out about this!
"Great! So you can cure me, Kakashi-sensei?" The girl, pulling out the cute and innocent card, looked hopefully at the lazy-looking instructor. The man was quick to chuckle and sigh at Naruto's naivety. On second thought, maybe he'd keep this information to himself for now. He wanted to see how this thing played out on its own. Kakashi playfully ruffled the girl's hair as he evidently smiled at her. "Sorry, kid. I'm afraid what you have is an incurable sickness."
Naruto face paled and she looked like she had just seen something frightening. "So I am dying! I knew it! Sasuke said you couldn't die from halitosis but nooo! He had to be smug and pull out the 'I-know-all' attitude! I bet he doesn't actually know what halitosis is! I oughta wring his neck and chop his-" Naruto rambled on quickly to the point that Kakashi wasn't even understanding what the girl was saying anymore. Sigh. Guess he had to calm her down now before Sasuke actually did get a beating from the feisty yellow-haired kid.
"Now, now, Naruto. Calm down. I can assure you that you're not dying. Just sick with ... like a cold or something." That calmed Naruto down significantly.
"Oh good. So it'll go away on its own?"
"Sometimes it does. But in your case, it'll probably just get stronger and stronger." Before Naruto could freak out again, Kakashi explained further. "It's not going to hurt you in any way. But tell you what. If you stick with Sasuke, the feelings will get more intense but I can assure you that it'll be the greatest feeling in the world if Sasuke catches what you have. And, believe me, that's gonna happen in the not too distant future." The man was almost sure of it. Those two kids were destined to be together in every sense of the word.
"Eh?! I totally did not get what you just said right now, Kakashi."
It was truly quite amusing to him. He would imagine Sasuke and Naruto being too young to properly deal with the emotions once they understood what was going on. Not to worry. The world wasn't rushing. And these things took time. Things would fall in to place when the time was right.
"You'll understand soon enough."
To be love sick really was such a beautiful thing.