A/N-I UPDATED FINALLY! Sorry for this wait. ._.;;

All around me there were mixtures of "holy crap"s and "oh my god"s. I stood there, stupidly gaping like a fish as I watched Sasuke's thin, yet muscular, form disappear around the corner. I could feel the burning jealous sensation all around me. But I didn't care. I knew I had something on them that they could NEVER have. The fact that their perfect Uchiha was gay, and therefore not into girls, and the fact that I happened to be the only male student there.

I paused when that thought crossed through my mind. I was the only other guy. Was that why Sasuke liked me? Since he couldn't have anyone else...? I sighed and wiped that thought from my head. It was possible, very possible. But, Sasuke didn't seem the type of person who does things just because of a thing like that. Then again...I'd only known him for a few days, so how much could I really matter to him already?

I sighed and looked at Hinata, who was smiling cutely, and genuinely happy for me, at me from behind two fuming fan girls, a blonde and a pink. Inwardly I rolled my eyes at their obvious hopelessness but outside I blushed and stuttered like an idiot.

"Uh..I..uh...yeah. Hi." Wow. Smooth Naruto. Real smooth.

"HOW COULD YOU DO THAT IN FRONT OF US? WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?" Ino screeched and slapped me as hard as she could, and my eyes widened as she made contact with my face. Sakura just gaped at her in disbelief, never expecting her friend to do something like that. Hinata looked just as freaked as her pink haired room-mate.

"Ino! What the hell?" Hinata yelled, much to her own surprise as well as many others in the room. Ino just blinked, staring at her hand, obviously just now realizing what she had done.

I stood there in shock as her last words rung through my head. Who do you think you are? The voice of my father echoed angrily, followed by a memory of him doing the same as Ino. I quickly shook the image out of head, not wanting to think about it.

"Naruto, I'm so sorry!" Ino said, wide-eyed and sincere. She looked like she wanted to burst out into tears. "I..I don't know what came over me."

I wanted to scream as memories that had been under lock and key in the back of my mind started to flood through my head, as if they'd been knocked loose when Ino's hand had made contact with my now bruised cheek. I kept my emotions in check though, forcing a smile through the suffering.

"It's okay Ino," I said, genuinely accepting her apology through clenched teeth. "I know you didn't mean to." I forced another smile, obviously fooling Sakura and Ino. Hinata looked at me skeptically, knowing something was up. That was Hinata for you, she could tell when something was wrong from a mile away, but if you didn't bring it up she wouldn't press the matter, not wanting to make you feel worse. She was obviously a trustworthy friend. I knew I would tell her my secret eventually, when the time was right.

I motioned towards the door as the late bell rang for the next class.

"We're late girls," I said, turning around and grabbing Hinata's hand. "Come on!"

We walked out of the cafeteria with Ino apologizing every three seconds. Everything was in order again. Well, almost in order.

***time skip***

I yawned, stretching my arms over my head and swinging my legs over the side of the bed. I sat up slowly, dreading math class first thing in the morning. I finally forced my self to stand up and walk over to the closet, where I quickly changed into my pale pink school uniform. The skirt was a little to short for my taste but...I laughed. I was actually beginning to sound like a girl! I'd been hanging out with Sakura too much.

I sat down at Sakura's desk, checking myself over in the mirror. It had been a few months since I started at this school, and everything seemed to be going fine. My blonde hair was now shoulder length, (Hinata wouldn't let me cut it), I'd been going out with Sasuke all this time, no one knew my secret. Yep, life was good.

I sighed. But why did I feel like something was missing? I had amazing friends, pretty good grades, a perfect boyfriend, I was even one of the prettiest "girls" at that school for Christ's sake! But what? That I didn't know.

I finished brushing my hair and swiveled around in the chair, to face the bunk bed on the other side of the room. I smirked and sucked in a deep breath.

"RISE AND SHIIIIIIINE!" I sang loudly, earning some groans from the top bunk and a giggle from the bottom. Sakura threw a pink kitty stuffed animal at me from the top.

"Ugh, no thanks it's Saturday," she said rolling over and falling back to sleep.

"Good morning Naru-chan," Hinata greeted, rubbing the sleep out of her pale eyes. She always woke up fast and with no issues at all. The pinkette was another story...

"Well, it's 10AM. I let you sleep in an hour later than usual, Sakura," I replied to the sleeping girl. I sighed and chuckled. "Oh well, then I assume you are not coming with me and Hinata to the mall today?" And, with that, she was already in the bathroom getting changed.

Hinata went in after Sakura had come out in a red tank top and a jean mini-skirt, finished off with a pair of UGG boots. God, those things were ugly. Hinata came out wearing dark blue skinny jeans, a white t-shirt, blue converse, and a white knit vest-type thing. They had totally different fashion senses it was hard to believe they were actually friends.

Sakura looked at me and frowned. "Why are you wearing your school uniform again? Don't you have other clothes?" She asked, heading over to my dresser. She was going to force me to change I knew it.

I sighed. "Don't go through my things, Sakura," I said, grabbing a bag with some clothes in it. I never really put my stuff in the dresser, since it obviously wasn't the safest place to store personal things. "I'll go change," I stated with another sigh.

I went into the bathroom and put on my "normal" clothes. A pair of black basketball shorts, an orange hoodie, socks, and Vans. Considering it was male clothes, Sakura would have a fit. I opened the door and stepped out, earning a disgusted look from my fashion conscious room-mate.

"Yeah, so I changed. Whatever. Now let's get going. We have to meet Sasuke out front since he's driving!" I said, smiling at the thought of hanging out with Sasuke all day. He'd just gotten back from a three week trip for some floral competition, so I hadn't gotten any time with him in like forever.

We made our way to the red *Ferrari 360 Spider, the raven haired god in the driver's seat. I greeted him with a kiss on the cheek as we all hopped into the expensive convertible. It had been Sasuke's prize for the Nationwide Floral Competition he'd been at. Prizes like that made me seriously wonder why I never took up gardening before!

We drove in silence to the mall, besides the blasting stereo featuring Breathe Carolina,

Kill Hannah and Atreyu. Sakura didn't seem to enjoy the music selection very much, but ignored it, texting away on her new pink iPhone. Hinata was reading a book so she probably hadn't paid much attention to it either. I sighed and looked out the window as Sasuke parked the car, earning awed glances from car lovers in the parking lot.

Everything was going perfectly. But...I couldn't shake the feeling that we were being followed...

"Naruto?" Sasuke asked, taking my hand and looking a bit concerned.

"Hmm?" I said, turning to meet his beautiful gaze.

"Is something wrong?"

"No, why?"

"Well, you keep looking around like something is," he said.

I smiled, shoving the feeling into the back of my mind for later. I was probably just being paranoid or something. "Oh, well nothing is wrong," I laughed a bit to reassure him.

Hinata and Sakura were already at the entrance, waiting for us to catch up, patiently of course.

"You really should talk about your feelings Naruto," he said, a serious tone in his voice, making me a bit startled.

"The only feelings I know are my feelings for you," I said. That sounded extremely cheesy, but he seemed to buy it, since he placed his lips on mine and I melted into the kiss. I was always week when he kissed me, I just couldn't help it.

"Well then," he breathed after parting, "I love you."

My heart stopped cold. He said he loved me. After all this time together that was the first time he'd actually said it, in those exact words at least. I always wondered how those three little words could be carelessly tossed around like they are, but still have such a dramatic affect on the receiver of those words. It was mind-boggling!

I blushed deeply, my whole face turning all red. It was so weird, no one besides my mother had ever told me they loved me before.

I turned away from Sasuke quickly and bolted for the door without returning the words. I felt like such a jerk, but I just couldn't...not yet...I still didn't know if I could trust someone who said they love you. They could really turn out to be a mass-murderer who killed your mother and is wanted all over the country. Oh wait...that was just my world.

I looked around the mall, heart pounding furiously in my chest. For several reasons actually. I still felt like I was being followed, that was the main issue, and for Sasuke too. I stopped, realizing I had run right past Hinata and Sakura, and was now lost in a huge mall I had never been to before. It was a horrible feeling.

I wandered into the food court, reaching into my pocket for my cell phone when I turned the corner by the restrooms. I had five unread text messages my phone announced in bold blue letters. I opened the first one, where are you? -Sakura. Then the next three asked the same questions from my other companions, two of which being from Sasuke. I opened the last one, expecting it to be another where are you, but I cocked my head at this one. I didn't know who had sent it, but it read, go to the back exit of the food court by Taco Bell.

Hmmm...very suspicious. I guessed it wouldn't hurt to just check it out. I mean, there were hundreds of people crammed into that place, so no one could do anything to me. It did seem like a bad idea but...

I walked over to the exit replying to the others' text messages, "in food court by Taco Bell". I sighed and shut my phone, shoving it back into my pocket and taking a step outside of the exit. There didn't seem to be anything unusual or worth coming out here, so I turned and went to take a step back inside.

"Where are you going?" A deep voice came from behind me, as a tan hand covered my mouth so I couldn't scream. I knew it was a bad idea to go out there! I titled my head up only to see a face that I knew all too well. "Surprise!"

A/N- Yeah, sorry for my WAY late update. I fail I know, D:

And this chapter didn't really much SasuNaru action as I'd have liked, but I wasn't really in a romance-writing mood, so yeah. I'm having ideas pop up into my head for the next chapter, so stay tuned because it will be soon I promise!

*Red Ferrari 360 Spider, my sexy dream car. Google it!

Please review for the next chapter!