Chapter 5: Masks.
Parings: Naru/Sasu. (pshhh like I write anything else.-_-)
Rating: K-T (first) M-NC-17 (later)
Disclaimer: I do not own the sheer genius "Naruto"; Shippuden of other. The honours go to Masashi Kishimoto and his genius brain that created this masterpiece.
Summary: Remember the summer camp you went to; that quaint place out in the woods, by a lake, sitting around a campfire telling ghost stories and eating s'mores? Well this summer school, sure as hell, isn't that. Three months, a military camp chock full of teenage delinquents, illegal alcohol, pharmaceutical drugs, annoying shrinks, escape plans, a Shitzu from hell, and new relationships; welcome to camp. NaruSasuNaru.
A/N: I've got Sasuke planned out down to his blood type...yeah... HIS BLOOD TYPE! It's 'O' negative... the universal type... another reason to be a smug bastard. –rolls eyes –
A/N2: For those who read 'Wild Card' don't fret; the next chap is taking its time but it will come.
"An I.Q. test?" Sasuke asked darkly, facing Iruka. "Why?"
"Standard procedure," the sable haired man replied handing him a pen; "It's been a week already and we need to know the general calibre we're working with so we can adjust the curriculum if necessary."
Sasuke's eyes narrowed suspiciously. The man's eyes were still genial looking but Sasuke knew the underlying tendencies of psychoanalysts; they're never what they appear to be. Genial or not this man wasn't to be trusted.
Sitting down he warily opened the packet and swiftly scanned it; five sections consisting of math, memory puzzles, like-to-like associations, analytical dissection of a passage and responses to 'possible scenarios'; like what would you do if faced with a certain problem.
His eyes closed for a second mentally debating with himself; he could do enough to place him in the 'average' section which by coincidence he knew 90% of the inmates were, or, he could rip out the stops, blow it completely out of the water and shock the hell out of everybody.
Choices, choices.
A slight smirk crossed his face. Decision made he palmed the pen and went to work.
(*)(*)(*)
Classes resumed after the break; this time the classes had merged for a lecture on the active properties of the English language and the formation resemblances between it and the closest sister language; French.
While idly jotting down some sporadic notes, Sasuke mainly took to his favourite pastime, observing the motley group before him and calmly noting a division the size of the Grand Canyon that had recently cut through the masses.
The girls were by themselves as usual but a fraction of the boys was clustered into a small group of four. The two white haired twins with sadistic shark like grins on their faces, the purple tattooed guy who he had come to know as Gaara's kleptomaniac older half- brother Kankuro, and the deadly quiet dreadlocked guy, Renjii or something.
He could understand the motives underlying the shift and it wasn't like he wasn't expecting it; sooner or later a faction would have to emerge to form some kind of pseudo-authority and to try and inflict fear over an unstable group.
It was a paltry power play and primeval scare tactics in the simplest form.
His gaze shifted over to the blond and his left eyebrow lifted a fraction. Naruto was sitting very still, arms crossed over his chest, messy head bowed almost to his chest with fringes of spiky blond hair shadowing his eyes. The only part of his skin completely visible was the stretch of tan skin on the back of his neck. Seemed like the blond was taking a nap.
Black eyes carefully mapped over the his hunched over form; he was a diehard cynic but even he couldn't deny it, Naruto had an impressive body; long corded legs clad in the camouflage print pants, feet clad in tough thick soled boots, and his muscled torso wrapped in one variation of his numerous wrist length dull orange shirts.
For the last few days Sasuke had come to realize that the blond was a veritable mystery; sometimes, mainly with the Kiba, he acted like a six year old on speed, but in the room he was deathly quiet and very composed. They didn't speak much but from the small conversations they had Sasuke knew there were many layers to the Uzumaki. He didn't suspect that Naruto was bipolar or anything but currently he was certainly an enigma.
His gaze shifted over to land on Neji who was glaring death at the book shelf before him. It seemed like Hyuuga had apparently taken his words to heart and have been avoiding him for the past five days.
Complete blessed nirvana.
Based on the small amounts of chatter he had heard it seemed like everyone was treated to the cohesive I.Q. test in their personal sessions. Okay, that was slightly comforting; he wasn't the only one.
Twiddling his pen his gaze then fell unto Kin. She was still reclusive and far as he could ascertain hadn't formed any kind of attachment to any of the other girls. Her attitude was slowly but securely making him shift his opinion of her to assume that she was really an assassin; well a former one at any rate... but god knows she still acted like it.
"...nd that is the last comparison we will examine today. Class is dismissed."
He shifted just to see the blonde shift as well. Hn; Seems like he wasn't sleeping after all.
The majority of the mass got up and left until it was just him and the blond in the room. Silence reigned until a long sigh emanated from Naruto and he pushed up from the chair; unfolding the massive structure that was his body and rolled his shoulders.
"Damn," he groaned, "if he was anymore boring I would be dead."
Sasuke snorted and levered himself up also. "They're worse than him...trust me."
"I highly doubt that." Naruto scoffed reaching the door and was immediately assaulted by a manic Kiba.
"Dude," the Inuzuka said hazel eyes momentarily shifting over to Sasuke then back to his blond target, "Basketball tournament against Athens for the next three days; first one tonight, at the courtyard...you in?"
A broad grin slashed across a tan face and blue eyes sparkled. "Well duhhh dog-breath. Who else is gonna be there?"
The two went off chattering among themselves while Sasuke took some seconds to marvel; no the Uzumaki wasn't bipolar he just...particular...with whom he included into his sphere.
Apparently he wasn't included.
A derisive scoff; yeah like he cared.
(*)(*)(*)
It was by pure chance he happened to come in contact with one of the maintenance men while exiting the dorm after quickly changing his shirt. The man was up on a ladder changing out the hallway bulb and with a small Phillip's screwdriver when one of the bolts slipped and landed just beside his feet. Crouching down to retrieve it he realized; all the bolts were homogenous. Same type of bolts for everything... including the bathroom vent.
"Hey kid."
He glanced up; "Gimme that would you."
Silently reaching up to hand him the screw he asked, "Those are fiber optic bulbs, right?"
"Yeah..." he replied his tone dark, "they burn out like crazy and have to be replaced almost every damn week... 'M just glad they're wired through the vents so I don't have to fix those too."
Black eyes widened a faction; "...The circuits are wired through the vents?"
"Yeah." He grunted, clambering down and folding the ladder, "There's some hot shot engineering crew from upstate that maintains them; 'cause they burn out sometimes."
'Perfect!' Sasuke thought. 'It means the vents are big enough to have the engineers access them and if they need tools the only place that they can access them is from outside and that means they must lead to the roof."
"Oh." He hummed; plans swiftly forming in his mind building on each other like solid cement blocks.
The man's brows furrowed, "Kid, shouldn't you be at class now?"
He snapped out of his reverie and managed a small smile, "Yeah. You're right." and left smiling.
(*)(*)(*)
"Sakura," he asked leaning back on same table in the yard they'd designated to meet just across from the Admin centre at her break times, "... is it possible to call my brother?"
"Yes," she blushed, "You are allowed to call your family in case of an emergency... is it one?"
"No," he sighed, "...I just need him to bring me some things...and talk to him... I miss him... if I'm asking too much then don't worry about it... I think I'll just write to him."
She bit her lip and thought, "No... It's not normally admissible but this time I think I can bend the rules a bit."
"Thank you." He murmured lowly and brushed the tips of his fingers over her wrist just to view her reaction. A violent blush.
"We'd have to do it in Gai's office though... and I need to clear it first, please wait here."
She got up and left. Five minutes later she returned smiling. "It's cleared, come with me."
She led him through the admin section to the teacher's lounge when a small crash emanated from inside. She paused a slightly curious look on her face; "I wonder what going on in Olympus."
"Olympus?" he asked brows knotted together.
She giggled, "The dorms are named after Greek provinces, so naturally we called the lounge Olympus; the domain of the 'gods'."
They entered the lounge with through a side door and made it to Gai's office; it was empty. Sasuke made sure to take in everything in the room; from the desk, the wall paper and even the carpet.
"Do you remember his number?" she asked.
"No." he lied.
"Oh... okay... it should be on your file." Sakura opened a three tier file drawer and quickly plucked out a manila folder. "Got it...here's his number."
Sasuke glanced up and noticed a similar vent, like the one in his shower, in the corner of the ceiling. Connected perhaps?
Sakura picked up the phone, dialled Itachi's number and quickly handed him the phone.
"Hello?"
"Nii-san." He said curtly.
"...Sasuke?"
"Yes, I ne-."
"What's wrong?" a panicked note had flown into Itachi's voice. "Are you sick?"
"No anik-"
"Are you hurt?" full blown panic mode now; "Is your bronchitis acting up again... your knee...your eyes?"
God Itachi was such a dramatic sod. Somewhere, and Sasuke seriously suspected it was while he was dating a flighty blond named Deidara, his big brother had contracted a 'Y' chromosome or developed an oestrogen gland of something because he was positively menopausal.
"No, Aniki I'm not sick... but visitation is tomorrow and I need you to bring some things for me."
Sasuke could practically hear the relief in Itachi's voice, "Fine, what do you need?"
"I need a double compartment water canteen; some more black shirts and a digital stopwatch." He said.
"...a stopwatch," he clearly heard Itachi's confusion over the connection, "Why?"
He smirked. 'So predictable.' "I play chess, they lend the boards out sometime for personally use, I just need to time myself."
"..Hmmm, okay. That's it?"
"Yes."
Itachi sighed; "...and Sasuke...how are you holding up."
"I'm fine; stiff, psychically exhausted and mentally irritated but fine, just bring my stuff, okay?" he could feel Sakura's eyes on him as he mustered up the next words and uttered them through gritted teeth "...and I miss you."
There was a small stint of silence on the line; Itachi was either stunned beyond belief or he had fainted.
"Otouto... I...I..." there was a pause, "...I will."
"Goodbye brother." He said softly and hung up. His hand rested on the cradle for five more seconds before he sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He forcibly squashed down the reaction to jump when he felt a hand on his shoulder; Sasuke looked up into Sakura's blue-green eyes brimming with an emotion; pity.
A small caustic smile crossed his face while he gently shrugged the hand off; "Don't look at me like that... I'm fine...it just... he worries about me too much."
"Sasuke," she murmured softly, "I think I know how your brother feels."
His eyebrow asked the question for him.
She sighed, "The only reason I got this job is because my best friend is in here."
(*)(*)(*)
There was about fifteen minutes left for the lunch break, he had just returned from the canteen after quickly consuming a huge Fiji apple and was making his way to the gardening shed when he saw it.
The silver haired twins were behind the second outdoor shed with the fat red haired guy Shikamaru had told him was his roommate Chouji Akimichi. One had his arm around his neck while the other was bracing his chest with what looked like a shank pressed up against his ribs. The pudgy face was slowly turning tomato red with the pressure on his windpipe and the force against his chest.
Sasuke slunk back into the shadows and watched silently while hoping this wouldn't take long; he had to get into that shed in less than ten minutes.
"Come on chubby," one said, "Hand it over."
"'hat?" Chouji garbled, "...I 'ont know 'hat your 'alking 'bout."
"The pills you got from the good doctor...hand them over."
"'thy're just 'ain killers."
Seven minutes.
One of them snorted, "Exactly, now give them here."
Chouji was gasping now, "Left... pocket!"
The pocket was searched and a small baggie of white pills was liberated from it. Chouji was immediately dropped to the ground while gasping in air. The twins' laughed, high-fived and sauntered away while leaving Akimichi was still heaving on the concrete floor.
Sasuke closed his eyes for a second and then when he opened them again the black eyes steeled over while he reminded himself; this wasn't a playground where you had bigger kids and teachers to watch over you; you had to know how to defend yourself in here.
Five minutes.
Sasuke silently watched as Chouji heaved himself up and arm wrapped around his waist hobbled off to the dorms.
Four minutes left. He slipped into the shed and quickly scanned over the grilled and locked off shelves of boxes which held tools and chemicals; Ethylene glycol (1), fertilizer, red mulch, hydrogen peroxide, copper sulphate and phosphoric acid. He paused; if there was anything he had learned in chemistry it was that those last two combined made a corrosive to eat away everything from granite to pure steel.
He skipped over; tools; hand gardening spades and forks, PVC pipes, thread tape, plastic joints, crowbars, iron rods, hoses from 15 feet to 100 feet, miniature generators...every god damn thing but screwdrivers.
Damn it. His fist slammed into the nearby wall; pain resounded along his nerve endings but he ignored it. Almond shaped eyes narrowed; it retrospect he should have anticipated this; this was a gardening shed, the only place he could find screwdrivers were;
"Auto shop."
The bell blazed through the air; Class again.
(*)(*)(*)
The whole math session he was silently cursing his inability to anticipate what happened in the last five minutes.
He was slipping and it required another trip to Admin.
Damn it.
The question radiated through the air until Sasuke couldn't take it anymore.
"It's called thermodynamics."
The room went silent. Multiple gazes swivelled around to peer at him. Sasuke's blank face stared back, "Physics...conversion of energy." He deadpanned, "heat... to fuel... equals energy."
The words were said very, very slowly in case he fried somebody's brain. Seriously most of these people know how to hotwire a car but don't know how it ran? Buddha save him from these people; again, 'idiots'.
The teacher's eyebrows rose a fraction, "That's right...the basics of the combustion engine. Sasuke Uchiha right?"
He nodded tersely.
"Well done." He turned back to the room, "Well everyone, get your gear, we're dissecting the fuel accelerator today."
The timing couldn't have been more perfect; it should be easy to swipe a screwdriver. Under his bangs he glanced over to see Naruto and Kiba at one table; the Kankuro guy and the Aburame were in here also and surprisingly the girl with the buns.
"TenTen." The teacher snapped, "Stop admiring the saw blade and get suited up."
The girl shifted with a goofy smile on her face and while replacing the blade said. "Aye, aye sir."
Sasuke eyes narrowed; it wasn't abnormal for a girl to be in auto shop, but it definitely wasn't normal for a normal girl to that glint in her eye around weapons.
As it turned out the group had twelve people before he came and they were divided into pairs and not prepared for the unexpected addition they only had six engines so he was paired with two other people; the girl TenTen and Shino.
The tools were already assembled in a two tier tray on the stainless steel table; wire clamps, screws and screwdrivers. Phillips, Phillip's, Phillip's...he needed a Phillip's.
He spotted one; with a smooth shift he knocked over the whole container and with a small sigh ducked down to retrieve it. In a move that could do Houdini justice he slid the screwdriver in the side of his boot and covered it with the pants leg.
Straightening up he replaced the container and fought to hold down a smirk. "Objective one; covered."
The sky was a dulcet blue when Itachi arrived. Sasuke was sitting on one of the stone seats dotting the quad and his eyes carefully took in the arrival of the midnight blue Sedan.
He watched as Itachi parked, got out while carrying a small bag and checked into Admin. He knew they were searching him and the bag and then directing him to the visiting area. Two or three people had visitors; so he was basically left alone, until;
"Sasuke."
Sasuke slowly sat down beside the almost identical version of him; just older with a mess of stress lines at the corner of his eyes.
His black eyes met red and narrowed, "What's wrong Aniki?"
Red irises widened a fraction then returned to normal; "I forgot that you have mom's eyes...she could see everything; but no, nothing's wrong ... I'm fine otouto...just stress from work."
'Yeah right,' Sasuke thought acerbically, 'that and non-existent sex life.'
He grunted; whatever. "Did you get everything?"
"Yes. I did."
"Great." He said holding out his hand for the bag and rifled through it. Palming the plastic sealed watch he smiled slightly.
"I miss that."
He snapped back to his brother who was looking at him softly.
"What?" he asked tersely.
"Your smile." He answered, "I miss it...ever since you and Neji fel-"
And that just reminded him; he smiled nastily and leaned into Itachi's face, "And speaking of the bastard...guess who's in here Nii-san...Neji Hyuuga."
Blood red eyes flew open, "W... what...how...why?"
"I don't know," he leaned in more staring into the older brother's eyes, "Please do me a favour... find out exactly why the bastard is in here."
The pale face sobered, "Why Sasuke...so you can get even?"
He pulled an innocent face; "I'm just curious." while thinking, " 'Even' oh no...I'm going to make his life hell."
The screwdriver slotted into the screw's groove perfectly. Within five minutes the four corner screws were lying on the soap rack and he slowly pushed the vent out of the frame. A space about three feet long and two wide gaped down on him. He placed the screws on the inner rim of the vent and with one hand grasping the vent itself he managed to hook his fingers on the hole's edge and while bracing himself on the tub's rim he heaved himself up and into the small space and immediately dropped the vent back into the slots. He shifted and immediately clenched his eyes.
Damn it; he forgot about the claustrophobia.
Breathing slowly he regulated his heartbeat and forced himself to open his eyes. Light reflected of the curved blue-silver steel as he switched on the watch and slowly crawled forward. On the floor of the vent ran the thick black electric cables just like the man said.
Foot by foot he moved, carefully mapping his journey, if his sense of direction was on point the vent was east bound. He came to a fork in the passage; one continued straight the other veered off to the left. He went straight and around a corner he came to a dead end and cursed.
Carefully reversing to the cross he took the left. Through the small glimpses he snatched through the passage vents he was moving over other rooms. A small part of him worried about the minimum level of noise he was making and if anybody happened to suspect something but then he settled; it was proven, people rarely looked up.
He came to another dead end. He paused and looked up and above him was a steel grate. Hooking his fingers into the spaces he pushed up and the grate gave way. Shoving it over to the side, he clambered out of the vent and checked the watch.
Not factoring in the small time of the detour the whole trip amounted to seven minutes. Good time.
His pupils quickly adjusted to the dim light and he made out a small walkway that he suspected engineers had put in place because it was lined with dull L.E.D lights. Carefully following the path he came up a ladder that led to a latch. Climbing it he pushed that open and his face was assaulted with chilly night air.
The roof.
Perfect.
Smirking like a demented hyena he heaved himself unto the concrete roof and swiftly crouched down. The whole landscape was visible to him now; Admin, the auditorium, the front quad, the classes, the library, the girl's dorm, the gardening sheds and through a copse of trees, the garden itself and further beyond the stretch of bare land. Shifting one-eighty degrees he spotted the lighted teacher's lounge.
It was less than thirty feet away from the roof he was on; the problem was he was about twenty feet up. Height vs. gravity vs. fragile bone structure; so not good.
He glanced down, the watch face gleamed eight five, he had twenty-five minutes to get the information he was seeking and get back into the room. He shifted and his eyes caught a pair of men, just emerging from the security booth slowly walking the wall and chain link fence. Exactly eight minutes passed while they slowly made the first round.
Fifteen minutes later another team made the same route. Eight minutes for the trip and a fifteen minute window.
He shifted again and noted the fog rising off the lake slowly blanketing the ground in a thick sheet of mist. The mist was so dense it could camouflage a person entirely.
"YO KIBA!"
'SHIT!' he cursed, the blond wasn't supposed to return for another ten minutes. Guess the match had ended early. His conscious mind clamped down on the reaction to hurry back down.
"MEET ME AT THE QUAD IN FIVE!" Naruto's voice.
The information he needed was gathered and he slowly got back into the hatch and carefully closed it behind him. The ladder, the grail, and the passage he got through in less than three minutes. The vent was entered and the slow crawl back was nerve-wracking.
He made his way to the bathroom and was just about to move the loosely placed vent when he gasped but was quick enough to slam a palm over his mouth while his eyes popped open wide in shock.
Naruto was in the shower; his tan back bared to him and what he saw made him almost unconsciously whimper.
The blonde's back was a web of puckered scars, burn marks and healed over slashes. Across his shoulder blade, stretching from arm to arm, was a large black tattoo in gothic script; 'VERITAS'.
'Latin for 'Truth'.' He realized. Naruto's hand was braced on the wall while the warm water flowed over his messy blond hair. The steam was rising up and tickling his nose. No...no...no! The building burning sensation in his nasal membranes meant one thing; a sneeze was building up.
He clamped firmly on his nose and breathed slowly through his mouth while his eyes couldn't stray from the tan form in the bath. Those scars couldn't emerge from anything but a barbed whip and based on the mess of healed scars he had been whipped for a long time.
Unbidden something tingled in his eyes, tears...at least the urge to cry anyway. He hadn't cried since he was seven and he wasn't about to now.
He calmly waited until the blond finished his shower and stepped out. Under five minutes Naruto was dressed and out of the room. He sighed, and leaned his throbbing head on the cool steel of the vent. He was going to have a killer migraine.
Corralling the dregs of his strength he lifted up the vent and carefully slipped back down. The vent in place and the bolts screwed back in; he quickly left, entered the dark room and flopped on the bed. Body exhausted while his mind reviewed everything he had just gone through.
The plan he was slowly forming... It could work.
Just needed time.
*** 8a.m; Teacher's Lounge***
"Iruka," Kakashi said seriously slamming down a sheet of paper on the desk, "We have a problem."
The sable haired man glanced up with raised eyebrows at Kakashi's melodramatic action. "What wrong?"
"The I.Q. test results, they're back."
"So?" Iruka reached out palming the paper and looked down at the printout, scanned it and went very pale. Kakashi grimaced.
"N...no...no." he stuttered, "This isn't possible... I haven't seen an I.Q. this high since-"
"Me." Kakashi grated out through clenched teeth, "...and to looking at him you would never guess his score is 175."
"...Uzumaki Naruto." Iruka whispered.
"You were right 'Ruka." Kakashi said scrubbing through his messy silver hair and referencing to the seemingly harmless statement Iruka had uttered a month ago before the project started, "This year is going to be different."
(*)(*)(*)
Twists and turns... I'm so not apologetic.
Oh S'uke...about those 'idiots'...you are sooooooo wrong and it turns out that the ice prince Sasuke does have a heart...yeah shocked my myself...and I'm the author... -_-
A/N: Ethylene glycol (1) is commonly called 'anti-freeze'.
Return to your regular programming.
And one more thing:
REVIEW DAMNIT!
-smirks-