Chapter 7

"AAALLLLLRIIIGHHTTTTT! IT IS TIME FOR CLASSS AGAIIINNNN!"

Naruto winced and wrinkled up his nose. The large man was yelling right next to him. His head now felt like jelly and his ears felt like muck. He poked his pinky into his right ear, the one that took most of the damage. Twisting it around, he gave the sensei a cold glare which quickly turned into an eye watering grimace as the man flashed a million volt "Nice Guy" smile at Naruto (or so he calls it).

Naruto had been completely taken aback when he had first met Might Guy, their gym teacher. It was yesterday. He was greeted with a vice-like grip on each shoulder and a spine breaking hug. Guy-sensei almost cried in happiness of having another "youthful mind to guide along the path of righteousness and hard work"...or so he said.

"Gym class!" Guy-sensei took a deep breath, smiling contently at the scent of sweat and labour evident in the musky basketball court air.

Naruto sweat-dropped as Guy took a few more lungfuls of air. He was getting way too high off of other's perspiration...

"Well," Guy-sensei clapped his hands, apparently collecting enough sweat in his respiratory system.

"Let's practice for the upcoming competitions, shall we?" he said gleefully, a twinkle in his eye.

Everyone took a step back.

Might Guy was not always this creepy. Well, his huge hairy eyebrows were, but he, overall, wasn't. But today, with the joy of directing young minds into hard tasks, along with his god-awful green, full body spandex jumpsuit thing and his sweat induced hype, he was a frightening person to behold. Oh yeah, plus his eyebrows today too. You can't ever forget those...

Naruto gave a great shudder as he looked at Guy-sensei's brows...really, those things just begged for a hallucination where they wriggled around, alive, like great big hairy caterpillars...

Naruto shivered again, pushing the image out of his head.

"Today, we will be focusing on basketball and tennis. Okay, everyone split up. Tennis players, over to the doors," said Guy, pointing to a set of doors that most likely led to tennis courts. "Basketball players, here. Now, people! Move those legs!"

The students split up so quickly it was like their feet were on fire. No one wanted to make him mad...

Guy-sensei could have just said girls to tennis and boys to basketball because that's precisely what happened. Naruto counted the guys as the girls ran over to the door, awaiting Guy-sensei to get them started. For the guys, there was him, Kiba, this chubby dude that was eating chips, a guy with a high ponytail (Kinda weird, mused Naruto. But this was Japan. Weird hairdos were everywhere so he just assumed he was a manga fan or something), several other people that looked quite ordinary, and the Uchiha.

Naruto had heard so many Uchiha-bashing stories from Kiba that he felt a bit cold towards him too. It's not like his face did anything to disprove the rumours. Not that his expression was ugly, because it most certainly wasn't. Quite a charming face, in fact, Naruto admitted. Too bad he brooded all the time, or he could look even better, Naruto was sure of it. But never mind that. The point was, Naruto wasn't sure if deeming the Uchiha as a bastard before even talking to him was fair.

Naruto looked away from Sasuke, pushing the guilt away. There really was nothing to feel guilty for...really.

Starting to talk to Kiba, he missed the look from Sasuke, which happened just a moment after Naruto turned around. The gaze held for a split seconded before vanishing too.

"Okay, boys! Let's play a game and see how each of you fair!" Guy exclaimed, the basketball spinning endlessly on his finger.

He then split the guys up. Naruto, Kiba, the ponytailed guy, and a few other insignificant people were up against the rest and Uchiha.

"Starters are...Sasuke and Shikamaru," Guy ordered.

Sasuke stepped up wordlessly. The ponytailed guy, apparently named Shikamaru, lazily walked up too, his calculating eyes on Sasuke.

"One...two...Three...tweeeettt!" Guy blew the whistle and threw the ball straight into the air.

Sasuke leapt up when the ball came down, grabbing onto it while Shikamaru didn't even move, his eyes the only thing that followed the ball. Probably to make sure it doesn't hit him.

Sasuke dribbled it to the other side, successfully swerving around anyone who stood in his way. He passed Naruto, who was just standing there staring; mouth slightly agape, with a gush of wind. Taking aim and shooting with precision, the ball swooped into the basket perfectly. The girls erupted into cheers, despite the fact they were supposed to be following Guy out into the tennis courts.

Naruto was surprised. The usually stoic boy was a natural at basketball. His moves were perfect, without flaw...

Naruto's competitive blood boiled inside him.

"I'm gonna beat him," Naruto hissed to Kiba out of the corner of his mouth. His eyes glinted dangerously. Kiba shrugged, not really into basketball anyways.

Naruto saw that Sasuke was in possession of the ball again. He dribbled it over, his expression set and still a bit blank.

Sasuke let the feeling of the ball flow through his every pore. He looked around at all the losers who stood no chance against him, whatsoever. Especially the lazy ass that just stood off to the side the whole time; or that new kid who stood there like an idiot when Sasuke had passed him. Smirking (on the inside), Sasuke dribbled on, overly confident in himself.

Almost there...swerve...fake...another swerve...Sasuke had passed everyone again with no problem. He stopped running and looked at the hoop, envisioning the ball going through it a second later. He took the ball into his hands and...

...found out it wasn't in his possession anymore. Whirling around, he was the blond dribbling it just a few feet away, grinning that irritating grin of his.

Sasuke growled, not wanting to be out-played by some newbie. He ran at Naruto who ran too, towards the other goal.

Everyone just watched in shock. No one ever took the ball from Uchiha before...not that he played often, but when he was forced to, he was king of the court.

Sasuke continued chasing after the blond who was putting up a pretty good fight. It was making the situation more and more frustrating.

Naruto kept trying to score, but Sasuke always, somehow, got in the way. Gritting his teeth, he tried again and again, but never achieved more than aiming the ball.

After seven minutes of intense stealing and dodging, both players became weary.

Sasuke took a big breath, his glare on the blond staying steady.

"Give it up, loser."

The first words he had ever said to Naruto.

Naruto shook his head, still avoiding the attempts being made to grab the basketball away.

"No way! You give up, bastard."

The first words he ever said back to Sasuke.

The crowd could feel the spark between the two igniting then and there. They were not going to get along...

The stubbornness of both boys kept them determinedly in the game, their tries never stopping.

Finally, Naruto accidentally let the ball slip from his fingers and Sasuke caught it, a triumphant smirk on his face. (Yay expression! XD)

Naruto gave an anguished yell and chased after Sasuke.

Too bad he didn't notice that during their little match, one of his shoelaces had untied itself and was now flapping around dangerously. So naturally, Naruto tripped on it with a small "Eep!"

Sasuke turned around just in time to see the blond falling, wide eyed, into him.

With similar oomph's, they both fell to the ground.

Kiba and several observing girls gasped.

The position they had fallen into was quite...suggestive. Naruto was sprawled across Sasuke's body in a forty five degree angle, his hair tickling Sasuke chin. Sasuke's hand was placed conveniently on Naruto's bum (which was quite perky, Sasuke discovered). The fact that both boys' shirts were riding up just made the scene so much more intimate.

Sasuke instantly snapped his hand away and roughly pushed Naruto off, growling.

Kiba ran over to Naruto, helping him stand up. He gasped and Sasuke looked to where he was staring at.

Naruto's knee was skinned and bleeding quite profusely.

Naruto clenched his teeth in pain. Funny how the deeper cuts hurt less than simple stuff like a paper cut or, in his case, a scraped knee.

"Tch, served you right for bowling me over, loser," Sasuke mumbled, getting up.

Naruto and Kiba both snapped their heads up to glare at Sasuke.

"Bastard! You feel me up and that's what you say?" Naruto accused, his eyes watering a bit from the pain.

Sasuke flushed, remembering how soft the grope had felt...

Naruto, though, mistook the red as more anger, and in turn, he got angrier too.

"What the heck's your problem, for fuck's sake? Can't you see I'm INJURED here? INJURED? While you seemingly got by with no bodily harm at ALL? And it's not like I wanted to crash on top of your sorry ass!" Naruto yelled, wanting to punch the bastard's face in.

Sasuke just hn'd, turning around and walking away. He was a bit surprised at the outburst. No one, not even the most rebellious guys, had ever shouted to him like that before. Not even his family.

He refuses to apologize though. He never apologizes to anyone.

But, His knee did look rather painful...

However, never would an Uchiha stoop as low as apologizing. As far as he's concerned, they were always right, no matter what. And if someone says otherwise, they're gonna talk to their lawyer.

Sasuke sat down on a bench while he watched Guy-sensei help the boy leave the gym, probably on their way to the infirmary.

He didn't feel guilty. No, not at all. Who cared if he added insult to injury? He's always been like this.

But then, Sasuke pictured Naruto's tear-filled eyes...and he almost felt sorry for the poor guy. Almost. He didn't really.

Really...

...

Original writings of xXCabbageXx.

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