Disclaimer : Naruto and other characters are not mine.

Warning : SasuNaru. Shonen-ai. Some other pairings later on.

"bla bla" spoken

/bla bla/ thoughts

Sunshine After the Rain

By Misaki Sakura

Chapter 1 : The Beginning

"You have to be careful around here, Uzumaki-san."

Naruto almost laughed at the face Rock Lee made. It's hard not to when he was looking so serious. "I know."

"No, you don't know. This place is dangerous. You're a new kid around here so I have to tell you this. Never, and I mean never cross paths with Uchiha. New kids like you are his preys and he'll only stop when he's bored or you somehow manage to impress him."

Naruto's first thought was that Lee was exaggerating. "What did he do that makes everyone fears him?"

"You've never heard about it! He had half a dozen third years put into the hospital for three months last year! And he was a first year!"

"And the school did nothing?"

"His father is one of the most 'generous' donators to this school. Of course they did nothing. His acts intensifies when the 'preys' are new kids so you better watch out."

"I'll be fine."

And for the first time, Naruto saw Rock Lee shook his head and sighed, "I hope so."

11111

Naruto was walking to his class when someone blocked his path. Someone with black hair and an annoying smirk. One name rang at the back of Naruto's head. Uchiha. Especially when he saw some people near him suddenly jerked away.

"Uzumaki Naruto, I presume."

"… Yes …"

"Not bad." Sasuke eyed him as if he was assessing him. "Not bad at all."

Naruto hated him at first sight. "What do you want?" He could hear people around him gasped. Some shook their heads. This boy wouldn't live long.

"Is that a way to speak to your senior? I should give you a lesson, don't you think?"

"Whatever. I'm late. If you'd be so kind …"

"Unfortunately, Uzumaki, that's not one of my traits. But I'll let you go for now. Tomorrow will be much more interesting." He let out a very scary laugh and left Naruto confused.

"What were you doing!" Lee rushed to him with a very worried look on his face.

"Lee, I … is that …"

"You just proclaimed a war with Uchiha! This is not good." For the second time, he saw Lee shook his head and he knew his first day at school had been ruined.

11111

"How's school today?"

/Oh it's great. I have made Uchiha mad and became his prey just half an hour after I set my feet in Konoha, not to mention there's no one except Lee who wants to befriend me since the almighty Uchiha said so. That school sucks/ Naruto looked up from his book and answered, "It's fine."

"Have friends yet?"

He pondered it for a while before he answered, "I think so."

Iruka frowned at his answer. Naruto smiled and took his hand. "I'm okay. It's great. The teachers are great!"

Actually there's only one teacher who piqued his interest. Hatake Kakashi. He wore a mask, acted nonchalantly in class. Since it's only the first day, he didn't teach much. Most of the time he's busy reading a book that had the title 'Icha Icha Paradise' on its cover. He had a suspicion on what the book was about. The other teachers? They're … bearable.

"Good. I've prepared your favourite dinner so go and take a bath."

Naruto smiled broadly before leaping up and made his way to the bathroom.

11111

The next day was a bit uneventful, but Lee told him not to be off his guard. Uchiha Sasuke always kept his promise, especially when it came to tormenting poor souls that walked through the gate of Konoha. But still, nothing happened until …

11111

Naruto found himself staring at the ground. His hair was a mess, his books torn up, this was definitely not what he had in mind when he entered Konoha.

"Look at him. Pathetic." A third year boy sneered at him before dumping the whole garbage can content on to his head.

Naruto could see Sasuke in the background, with an unmistakable smirk on his face. He started thinking that maybe his decision to enter Konoha was a mistake afterall. Sasuke stood there for a while before raising his hand as a sign for them to leave.

He collected his things after the boys left. That time, he heard his cellphone rang. He was not in a mood to answer it but he knew it would be bad if he didn't when he saw the caller's name. Gaara.

"Hello. Naruto? What took you so long to answer? Where are you? Iruka's worried."

"Gaara …" he voice cracked. Gaara could hear the tears that were threatening to spill. He said nothing except, "I'll come. You wait there."

Naruto choked back his tears. "Okay."

When Gaara found him, he saw Naruto's eyes filled with tears. His eyes were red. He decided not to ask him anything. Naruto took the hands that were offered to him. "Let's go home."

11111

"I heard you did something to a new kid at school … again."

Sasuke looked up at his brother. Itachi really didn't know what the meaning of privacy was. "Get out."

Itachi shrugged. Instead of going out, he sat on Sasuke's bed. He could only glare at his older brother and decided to ignore him. Which was impossible.

"Do you want him to drop out of school? What had he done to you, Sasuke?"

"Nothing. Some fun is what I want. Now get out!"

"Why do you always do this, Sasuke? We are worried."

"You start talking like mother, Itachi. I hate that. All I want to do is to get rid of those lowlifes from Konoha. Happy? You know the way to the door."

Itachi sighed and finally, much to Sasuke's consent, he stepped out of the room and closed the door behind him. /What happened to you, otouto/ He looked at his mother who eyed him worriedly, then shook his head.

11111

"Are you okay now?"

Naruto nodded. "Thank you, Gaara, Lee."

Just when Gaara was looking for Naruto, he met Lee on the way who helped him find Naruto. Lee himself was being locked in an empty classroom until he managed to break the window and got out. He then took Naruto and Gaara to his house since there's no way they're going to let Iruka see Naruto in that state.

"Who did this?"

Naruto shook his head. "I don't know."

"Probably Uchiha."

"Uchiha?" Gaara's eyes flared. "I've heard about him. He did this to you?"

"Gaara … He didn't beat me up. He's not-"

"From what I heard, I'm sure it doesn't take him to do this alone. He has many followers. Dammit!"

"Gaara, I can handle this."

"No! You're not going back to that school, ever!"

"No! I won't run away from him! It's okay, really."

"Na-"

"Please."

Gaara sighed. "Fine. I'll be going home."

When Lee opened the door for him, Gaara said, "I'll tell Iruka he's sleeping over. Please take care of Naruto."

"I will!" Lee answered with his fist held up high.

11111

Iruka was worried. Even though Gaara had told him everything's fine, Naruto's fine, he still felt worried. No, Naruto's not fine. Gaara's eyes told him that and after years taking care of Gaara and Naruto, he knew when they were lying to him. This was one of them. But he also knew there's no use to ask when Gaara had made it clear he had nothing to tell him. He remembered the time when he picked Naruto up from the orphanage. Gaara had told him that there's no way he'd let Naruto be taken without him. Iruka remembered he smiled at that time and adopted Gaara too. It didn't take much effort, the orphanage had difficult times that they'd be glad to give the children to anyone who was willing to take care of them.

Gaara was harder to handle than Naruto. He only opened up when it's Naruto-related. He had sworn he would protect Naruto. Other than that? He didn't give a damn care. Sometimes Iruka wondered if Gaara ever cared about him. He never blamed Gaara though. He had heard about Gaara's family. After his parents died, his sister and brother were taken by his relatives but no one wanted to take care of him. They were … afraid of him. So they decided to put him in an orphanage. When he met Naruto, he felt like he had a family, a little brother to be taken care of. So he became his protector, his brother.

Iruka sipped the hot chocolate in his mug and sighed. If only he knew what's going on inside Gaara's mind.

11111

Naruto sighed. It's been three months since he started studying in Konoha and nothing had changed. Nothing meant, they're still out there hunting him, he didn't have any friends except Lee, who was brave enough to stand up for him. He had the suspicion that Lee had managed to impress Sasuke in the past that he had never even once seen Lee being the target of their pranks even though he had befriended him.

Naruto had come to get use to it. Every day he'd bring umbrella, spare uniforms, keys, flashlight, etc in his backpack. They usually came in handy. He started to enjoy it, in the midst of the never ending works the teachers had been giving them. The first day he almost cried because he didn't think it could be that bad. But he didn't want to depend on Gaara anymore. He had to face his problems himself.

Sasuke never did anything to him personally. People usually thought that's good for they knew what Sasuke could do, at least that's what Lee told him. But for Naruto, it's an insult. Naruto was not weak, unlike what people thought about him. Gaara sparred with him in his spare times, saying things like protecting himself when Gaara's not around and it intensified when he heard about Naruto entering Konoha. Gaara was in the Sound High School, appointed as the Kazekage, the head of the school council there, and was the top of his class. He's probably the only one who had the same reputation as the Uchiha minus the bad boy reputation. No one dared to annoy him or mess with him when they saw his black belt in karate among other things.

Naruto knew very well that if he came home in bruises, Gaara would declare a war against Uchiha and that's not what he wanted. He wanted to show Gaara, Iruka, and the kids in that blasted school that he could manage by himself. Heck, he had managed to convince them to let him study there, without Gaara behind his back all the time. He swore, Gaara was a big brother from hell. Even the term 'overprotective' was an understatement for him.

Things weren't going so well lately. He had to do something. They were getting more and more restless, even the girls picked on him. Especially Ino and Sakura. He knew they were trying to impress Sasuke but really, was that necessary? It's not like Sasuke would notice them.

Naruto felt something wrong though. When he was being pranked, Sasuke was always there to gloat, without saying anything, only by his presence, but there's something in his eyes that made him never actually hated Sasuke. He didn't know what though. Something there … something he thought he knew …

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Sasuke watched as Naruto talked cheerfully with Lee. That's not what he had expected the blond to do, not after what he had done. It was no secret that he tried to get him out of the school. Not that he had a grudge against him or anything, it's just the thing that people acknowledge him of. As Uchiha Sasuke. He never failed to do that. The one Itachi had never done. Why wasn't it working on the dobe?

"Is there anything wrong?"

"It's … nothing."

"Naruto?"

Sasuke looked up and glared at Shikamaru who only shrugged. "This is the first time anyone can handle your torture for that long without doing anything."

Sasuke silently agreed. The blond was not just anyone.

11111

Naruto looked at the fangirls around Sasuke. He flinched everytime he heard them said things like :

"Sasuke-sama!"

"He's sooooooooo cool!"

"Sasuke-sama, will you go out with me?"

"No! He'll go out with me!"

Naruto shook his head. Pathetic. Those girls were blind or what! Sasuke was a bastard. A totally, good for nothing bastard. Sure he's good looking, smart, strong … but didn't they see he's a super anti-social who loved no one but himself? Stupid girls!

Suddenly Naruto saw a hand on his table. He sighed. "Yes, Sakura?"

Sakura looked at him with disgust. "It's Sakura-sama to you! This is not your place! Get lost!"

Naruto looked behind her and saw some Sakura followers nodded their heads. /This school is sick/ he thought. /And to think that Lee has hots for her. Ew/ Fortunately, Lee was not there with him, he had to do an assignment Gai-sensei asked him to do so he's in the class doing … the assignment, whatever it was.

If there's something Naruto's known of, it's not his patience. When he told Kiba about his time in Konoha, he laughed so hard that made him want to punch the dog lover's face. He remembered him said "And Gaara did nothing! YOU did nothing?"

"Hey! Didn't you hear Sakura-sama? Go away!"

"I got here first."

Everyone was too stunned to react, even Sasuke. After their first encounter, never even once Naruto said anything when they pranked him. This made them think he was scared. Actually he was testing his patience. He didn't want Iruka to be sad or anything because he knew if he tried anything, it'd become a reason for Uchiha to expel him, which he could do with his power. But Naruto was sick of it. And like Kiba said, the real Naruto wouldn't stay silent. Bye bye patience.

"But- but this is our table."

"I don't see your name written on it. Isn't it … big forehead?"

Sakura was so angry. No, scratch that. She was furious. /Hey, I can see smoke coming out of her ears./

Probably too shocked or humiliated, Sakura just stood there with her mouth hanging open. Naruto smiled and watched her. The others watched them. The whole watching thing lasted for about five minutes before Sakura turned on her heels and left with her Sasuke fanclub members tailing behind her.

For the first time since he entered Konoha, Naruto felt so happy. Of course, that caused him to miss the look a certain Uchiha gave him.

TBC

Okay! Another chapter! I'm so happy with the reviews I received. It's fun writing this story. I know Naruto seems a little bit too angsty and Gaara is sooo OOC… In case so you know, this story has no GaaNaru in it. Pure brotherly love. I'll pair him up with someone later.

Angsty Naruto? I don't like angsty Naruto. Naruto holds himself back because he's afraid of being expelled (read : Iruka being sad), but he'll change in later chapter.

Oh and don't forget to review! See you in next chapter! Hopefully soon …