A/N: The previous chapters were obviously milestone chappies guys! ^_^ and now we have a filler chapter.

On another note: I just had to let this one out guys. HOLY HELL! THE RECENT CHAPTERS IN NARUTO HAD ME GASPING! Squealing all over the place (internally) right now!

Another round of thanks to everyone! :D Don't want to be a thankless craphead so THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO'S STILL WITH ME ON THIS STORY!

*DISCLAIMER APPLIES*

BEFORE THE WORST

When Insecurity Strikes

"GOAL!"

Sasuke smirked at the view of the football hitting the goal net and then subsequently bouncing on the ground. Almost immediately, the sound of screaming girls called his name at the top of their lungs in clear adoration. It was not before long that his team patted him on the back for a job well done.

"Good job, rookie." The current team captain, Akasuna Sasori, saw the raven-haired freshman in high regard. There was great potential in his junior and it would be no wonder if three years from now the kid would attain the team captain status.

"Hn." Each compliment thrown his way was ignored however. Why take kind words from inferior individuals? Those weren't worth shit. Compliments that truly mattered came from those that were superior in skill. See the arrogance of the Uchiha.

With the sound of a nearby whistle, the practice game ended with Sasuke's team having the victory. The captain called for individual cool down and thus training for the day was concluded.

An army of girls came rushing at his side as he was just about to get himself a drink of water. There was nothing that irritated him more than obsessed girls all talking in their high-pitched voices at the same time. One girl stood out in particular as she had made it a point to push all the other teens aside with an air of authority about her to get to the handsome raven. Sasuke briefly noted the football uniform she had on. Hn. So it would seem that this girl was from the women's football team.

"Hi Sasuke! Remember me? Natsuhi? The women's team captain? We've met before." She fell in step with him in order to get his attention. Sasuke briefly glanced at her with his periphery and noted the senior's violet hair. It was true that he'd personally encountered with her before. It was during the Welcoming Party for the rookie members of the football team. This girl had been particularly more annoying than the rest of the girls in the team during that little soiree as she was not being discrete about her flirtation.

"Yeah. I remember." He answered just so he could get rid of the girl sooner.

"Great! That was pretty awesome how you bended the ball like that! Maybe you could teach me one on one next time? I'd love to learn that! Then maybe we could hang at the mall afterwards? Whaddya say?"

"Not interested."

"Aw come on, Sasuke. From one athlete to another? I could really use the skill to lead the team to the finals this year." Tch. And now she was making up lies just to get into his pants. He'd seen her play and he knew for a fact that she already knew how to bend the ball.

"Look, I'm not interested so take a hint and get out of my sight." Sasuke glared at the girl for extra measure before gazing out at the other girls that surrounded him. "That goes for all of you." The cold stare was enough to have all adolescent females in the area fleeing within seconds.

The boy sighed as he sat down on one of the benches and took three huge gulps of water from his bottle. The hassle he had to deal with every single damn day...

"What a way to handle your adoring fans, ass. I honestly can't understand what they like about you. You're as nasty as they get. Those girls really need to learn how to pick 'em. They have really bad taste if they think you're so great." He smirked as he heard the familiar voice coming from behind.

"I could say the same to you but then again" Sasuke turned and was greeted by the sight of Naruto leaning against the metal railing of the bleachers. "...you're not a girl, are you?" The statement had the blonde twitching out of irritation. She stomped her way towards him and glared. Now that she was closer, Sasuke took the time to give the girl a quick onceover. She was wearing the Leaf Twist cheer uniform which proudly had the school colours yet showed far too much skin for Sasuke's liking. Actually it was no different from any other cheer uniform and only showed a sliver of Naruto's lower abdomen; but Sasuke was possessive that way and he deemed the uniform too inappropriate for Naruto to wear.

"Oh you wish I was a man, don't you!" Although Naruto's retort was meant be a cool, calm, and collected comeback, she was far too much irritated at the 'not a girl' jibe to perfectly execute the intonation of her statement. Instead of sounding cool, calm and collected as she initially intended, she ended up sounding like a frazzled boy going through puberty.

She put her hands on her hips to show Sasuke's her resentment just as the boy stood up and went over to stand in front of her. "Hn. That could be hot actually. You'd definitely be bottom though." It was funny really. Sasuke had never seen such an intense shade red on someone's face before.

"ARGH! SASUKE-BASTARD!" Naruto clenched her fists, ready to get physically violent with the other when the sound of Sasuke chuckling caught her attention.

"Chill out, Sunshine. I'm playing." Sasuke took hold of the lower hem of her top and lightly pulled her a tad bit closer. "Hey." He whispered just enough for only Naruto to hear.

The blonde smiled at the greeting, forgetting her irritation with the other. "Hey yourself." She said in return. The fluttery feeling in her stomach was back and it felt awesome. Although they weren't official yet, Naruto could still proudly say that all of this, all of Sasuke, was hers.

"Judging from the uniform I'd say you had practice today but then again, I didn't see Twist on the field so care to explain? Plus why are you even wearing the uniform? You're not a cheerleader." In an attempt to hide Naruto's stomach, Sasuke began stretching her top down (but failed miserably as the clothing refused to cover Naruto's visible stomach). Never in his life would he think that he'd actually end up hating a piece of cloth.

"We were in the indoor gym. The other chicks couldn't concentrate what with you showing off so Koyuki had us go inside where we couldn't see you. "

Sasuke raised a manicured eyebrow and smirked "We? So you couldn't concentrate as well then." Judging by the blush on her face, it would seem that Naruto had actually slipped and admitted that she was one of the girls that couldn't focus during practice.

"Shut up." She childishly stuck her tongue out before continuing to answer Sasuke's questions. "About the uniform, every Twist member has one. Remember how I'm required to cheer at least once for the year? Well, it's your first game of the season this Saturday, right? I thought I might just get the cheering over and done with early in the year so I don't have to do it anymore." The blonde cutely scratched her button nose all the while avoiding Sasuke's gaze.

"Just say you wanted to cheer me on and we can move on with our lives easier."

"Like hell I'd go clamouring over you like one of your bimbos. I do have my dignity."

"You know for someone who told me they liked me you sure are doing a pretty lousy job of trying to win my affection."

"What?! Why do I have to do the work! You're the dude! You win my affections, asshole!"

Just when Sasuke and Naruto's usual conversation could intensify any further, they were interrupted by the presence of another Sasuke fan girl. Naruto was forcefully shoved to the side by a certain red-head that most definitely grated on everyone's nerves. The blonde was quick to growl at the intruder however chose not to fight any further. It was a waste of energy to argue with ignorant sods, Naruto believed.

"Stop wasting your time with trashy girls like her, Sasuke. Her tackiness might rub off on you." Karin was quick to invade Sasuke's personal space. The look the Uchiha sent her way was one of true loathing. Karin was lucky he was raised properly by his late parents because he would have surely pummelled her to the ground otherwise. Of course, being the proper Uchiha that he was, he had to deal with these matters with more class.

"Oh I agree, Karin. I personally make it a point to avoid trashy girls. Such terrible attitudes do tend to be contagious."

By the look on Karin's face, it was evident that she was greatly pleased to hear Sasuke's thoughts. Finally, Sasuke understood! "I'm glad you see it my way, Sasuke, now let's get outta here so we can-"

"...which is why I politely ask you to leave." Sasuke's follow up earned an ill-hidden snicker from Naruto. Sasuke was a jerk but at least he was the right kind of jerk. That was a sure burn on Karin's part for sure.

Karin stood mouth agape and unable to move. She had just been indirectly called trashy by Uchiha Sasuke. Oh the horror!

Sasori, with amazing timing, called the team for a few reminders before formally ending training. The Uchiha rolled his eyes at the red-head who still seemed to be internally grovelling over Sasuke's dismissal of her. The lad then smirk-smiled at Naruto, implying that he'd be meeting her shortly to walk her home after the whole ordeal of getting out of his sweaty jersey and whatnot.

"Weeeell, I best be changing. See you in the locker room, Red." The blonde gave a two-fingered salute before slowly stalking away. It was a good thing Sasuke was way out on the field because Karin was raring for a fight with Naruto. "I don't understand what he sees in you. You're brash, loud, obnoxious, everything a girl shouldn't be. You're stupid and coarse. Shoddy in every sense of the word. You're more of an animal that got out of its leash than anything. How in the hell does Sasuke even stand you? Why does he even want to hang around you?"

With every insult thrown her way, Naruto paced slower and slower until she came to a full stop. Karin had just shoved a treasure trove of insecurities in her face. Ever since her birthday, she'd been plagued by such questions just before she went to sleep each day. With every passing minute, she tried to bury these negative thoughts and simply took no heed to the voices in her head that brought her down. Sasuke was smart enough to choose his company, right? Besides, they'd been best friends for years! Being sort-of together shouldn't be any different. She reasoned with herself in the hopes of calming the raging inferiority she was experiencing; and her rationalizing seemed to have worked so far.

The game changer was the fact that Karin had actually voiced out Naruto's insecurities. By doing so, the blonde's concerns had become more real and more palpable than ever before. Karin had successfully rendered Naruto speechless and unable to quip in her own clever remarks. In order to shield herself from Karin's verbal attack, she kept her back towards the latter. It did not lessen the pain of the blows but whatever made Naruto feel safer in a sense would do.

"You know, I might have been more accepting if it was someone else. Say that chick Sakura for instance. At least she's really smart. Or maybe that loud-mouthed Ino. She has that pretty face to compensate for that mouth of hers. But you? You have nothing to offer him, Uzumaki."

Naruto clenched her fists and fixed her dead gaze to the field. There she saw Sasuke being hounded by another girl from the women's football team. Either a junior or a senior from the looks of it and she was good-looking even from a distance. There was something different this time with the interaction though. Sasuke was actually speaking with the girl in a more relatively animated manner (as animated as Sasuke could get which was not much but it was something).

Karin took notice of Naruto's gaze and looked to what had caught the blonde's attention. Although the red-head herself became jealous of the sight that was beheld to her, she was trying to make the point across to Naruto that only exceptional girls should be graced with Sasuke's acknowledgement. "See that girl? She's most likely gonna be the next team captain and she's in the top 25 of her class. Girls like that are more deserving of Sasuke's company, don't you think?"

Naruto kept silent as she watched with sad eyes at the scene unfolding on the field. The blonde, in truth, didn't know who the girl was but Sasuke and she looked good together. Was Naruto just fooling herself into thinking that Sasuke would stick with her and not grow weary of their relationship?

"You're not good enough for him, Naruto, and it's gonna bite you both in the ass someday. Think about that for a bit." Karin trudged past the blonde and mockingly patted her back as a gesture of supposed comfort. "I'll see you in the locker room, okay?" And with that, Karin left, leaving behind a poor girl whose confidence had been mangled and left for the dogs.

llllllllllllllllllll

Sasuke and Naruto (mostly Sasuke) decided to hang around and sit at the park for a while before going home to their respective houses. He reasoned with the blonde that he needed a little time away from his perverted guardian but really it was just an excuse to be with his best friend some more. Sasuke expected bantering, cursing each other out, and play fighting. What he didn't expect however was the rigid and silent Naruto he was being presented with.

"Oi. You going to talk or are you hell bent on wasting my time?"

Based from Naruto's response or lack thereof, the answer would be the latter. It wholly bothered the young Uchiha that his companion was not uttering a single sound. A silent Naruto was a scary Naruto. The blonde wore her heart on a sleeve therefore it was easy for Sasuke to predict her thoughts. It was when she was being quiet that Sasuke had totally no clue what to make of the situation.

Just as Sasuke was having his own internal breakdown, Naruto spoke. "Sakura's really smart, isn't she? She's what? Top 5 of the class? And she's on her way to becoming a student leader. She also told me she wanted to be a doctor."

The random statement threw Sasuke for a loop. That came out of nowhere. "Uh-huh?"

"And Ino's hell'a pretty. I mean geeze! Long eyelashes, soft hair, slender built, flawless skin. She's a total ten." The bitter smile Naruto adorned was not lost to Sasuke.

"When did you start liking girls? Please tell me I didn't do that." This was Sasuke's attempt to make light of the circumstances. Usually their teasing bouts improve the bummed out moods. Unfortunately, Naruto did not react to Sasuke's words. "Sasuke, I'm not smart. I'm probably at the bottom of the batch. I'm not pretty. I've got these horrible scars on my cheeks. I ain't even that talented. I just dance. That won't get me anywhere. I'm not worth much, am I?" Naruto cynically chuckled at the end of her monologue. Karin was right. There was nothing she could give Sasuke. Nothing.

"Tch. Don't be an idiot." Sasuke rolled his eyes. So this was what the drama was all about? And here he'd thought it was serious.

"I already know I'm an idiot! Would you stop rubbing it in, Uchi—" She stopped shouting when she saw Sasuke stand up to leave.

"Hang out with me when you're not being a little whiner. This whole self-pity act is giving me a migraine." The Uchiha slung his bag on his shoulder and slowly walked away.

Naruto stood up, feathers appearing ruffled. "Bastard! I'm in a sensitive condition right now! The least you could do is..." She trailed off before she decided to sit back down and wallow. Naruto losing her fight? Now that was truly strange; strange enough for Sasuke to look back in worry. The raven treaded back to the blonde and stopped once he was in front of her grieving form.

"Why do you hang out with me? Why am I even your best friend? It doesn't make sense." She asked as she kept her head buried in her hands.

There was no brief silence prior to Sasuke answering her query. The Uchiha didn't need to think about his response because the answer came to him as naturally as the sun rose in the east.

"You're a dunce but you're clever and witty. You keep me on my toes. The scars on your cheeks are never ugly. They are a symbol of your bravery and strength; and I respect that. You're a dancer and it shows how passionate you are. You're annoyingly talkative and it's perfectly fine with me because a day isn't complete without me hearing that god-awful voice of yours. You're my best friend because you compensate for my shortcomings as a person. You're kind and thoughtful and not a bastard as you so kindly describe me. You keep me grounded and without you my head would be so high up the clouds that it could never come down. You see me as your best friend; not the heir to a corporation, not the guy with the highest GPA or the football prodigy. To you, I'm me; and to me, you're you, that's why you're my best friend. And mostly because you didn't tell old man Sarutobi on me for saying 'stupid' way back in preschool." Sasuke smiled once he recounted only a fraction of the things he adored about the girl. The heavens knew there was so much more he could say, so much more things he liked (loved) about the blonde; but he didn't really feel like being a total sap, so Naruto would just have to deal with it.

Well damn.

What do you say to someone who'd just said all of that without even having to think about it? Naruto was at a loss so she did the most logical thing to do in her state. She smiled.

Naruto stood up from her seat and walked to Sasuke with smile still in place. "That's the most I've heard you talk in a loooong time, S'uke." The blonde giggled at Sasuke's resulting expression. His once nonchalant look had a sourer tinge to it that made Naruto laugh even more.

"Hn. Whatever, loser. I swear if you start acting different and weird, I'll cripple you."

Naturally, being Sasuke's friend for more than a decade now, it was effortless for Naruto to read between Sasuke's lines.

Don't change, you idiot.

"Thank you, Sasuke." Her gaze softened at her love and then she decided to give said love a chaste kiss on the cheek.

"Idiot! What did I just say about acting weird!"

Naruto didn't worry too much about Sasuke's previous threat. As if he had the heart to cripple his beloved best frie—

"OW! Asshole! That hurt!"

She took it back. Sasuke was a heartless sonuvagun; a nice heartless sonuvagun, but still a sonuvagun nonetheless.

Heh. Who cared what Karin or whoever bitch thought about her? Naruto had friends who had her back and she had Sasuke who'd be there until the end of the line.