"Ugh," Sasuke groaned, collapsing onto his dorm bed. Things had gone from bad to worse for him. It had been almost three months since his mother had dropped him off at Kishimoto, and things were looking worse than ever.

On top of his classes, Sasuke was having to deal with the hostilities of Suigetsu on the court, something that was costing him a lot of patience. Juugo the center's strength and size weren't much comfort, either. And to top it all off, Orochimaru was getting…stranger every practice. Sasuke shivered, not wanting to think about his pale, sickly-looking trainer. Orochimaru may have been slightly pedophilic, but one thing was for sure: he was a decent trainer. Sasuke's game had steadily been improving, but Suigetsu found points to critique, nonetheless.

Outside the court, Sasuke's challenge was Karin and her group of followers. They enjoyed following him around after class, cheerfully harassing him and making it hard to find privacy anywhere else but his dorm. And he had to share the small space with Naruto, who was eating ramen and guffawing at magazines more often than not.

Even his old friends were no help. Neji was working hard at Bya Kugan, his one reply to Sasuke's email was a short sentence saying, 'Don't bother me. I'm busy.' Shikamaru was busy with Yale correspondence courses, and all the others who went to Konoha Community College were busy with their own lives.

Sakura, meanwhile, was only sending Sasuke emails that agitated him more and more. She kept talking about Sai, and what a fun person he was. The emails weren't written intending to make him jealous, but Sasuke was angered by them, anyway. All he wanted was a break – until he remembered that Itachi had broken out of jail, so his mother was likely to be down and sobbing the entire time he was with her.

Life sucked.

And then it happened. Practice had just begun, and Sasuke was distracted by the fact that he would have to train with Orochimaru for an hour after practice. So distracted, in fact, that he absentmindedly said 'yes' to a request that he should have denied. But it saved his life.

One of the offside guards, Kidomaru, came up to Sasuke, saying, "Dude, I forgot my water, and I'm frickin' thirsty. Can I have a sip of yours?"

"Hnn. Sure," Sasuke muttered, turning to the court.

"Thanks!" Kidomaru said, snatching up Sasuke's water bottle. He tipped his head back and squirted some of it into his mouth.

"Oi, Kidomaru! Stop filling up on water and get on the end line!" the coach barked. Kidomaru laid down the water bottle and started for the end line, but he never made it. He stopped halfway there, hands on his throat like something was choking him.

"Kidomaru! Are you alright?" another member of the team called. Kidomaru fell on his knees, the veins on his temples standing out. The coach ran over, followed by the assistant coach carrying the first aid kit.

"He's not choking, and there's nothing to suggest that he needs CPR," the assistant said frantically after a moment. "He needs medical attention!"

"Sakon! Ukon! Take Kidomaru to the hospital wing, quickly!" the coach barked. The two team members he had selected quickly picked up their suffering friend and left the gym. There was dead silence in the court.

"He drank some of your water, didn't he, Uchiha?" the coach asked Sasuke quietly. Sasuke nodded.

"But it was from the water fountain, I filled it earlier…"

The coach walked over to the bench with Sasuke and twisted the cap off the bottle. He sniffed the contents, then, dipping a finger into the water, he licked the tip lightly. He pulled a wry face.

"Son, that's not normal water."

"What do you mean?" Sasuke asked blankly. The coach ran a finger around the inside rim and showed it to Sasuke. A thin, white powder sparkled on his finger.

"Someone was trying to poison you," he said darkly. "That's rat poison, if I'm not mistaken. Dissolves colorlessly in water, and if you're thirsty, you won't notice the taste."

"But I don't understand!" Sasuke protested. "Who would be trying to poison me?!"

The coach carried the bottle over to a trash bin and threw the entire thing away. "Who knows, son?" He looked the Uchiha over. "You're looking peaky, I'll let you take today off. I'll call Orochimaru, tell him you're not doing well."

Sasuke made to argue, but the coach held up a hand. "GO, Uchiha! The rest of you, check your water. I don't want to lose anyone else to rat poison."

Sasuke got more than a few glares as he pulled off his basketball shoes and tied on a pair of running shoes. He threw his gear into a Kishimoto Shuriken duffel bag, slung it over his shoulder, and headed for the exit.

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"Whoa, hold on a second, teme!" Naruto said. "So someone was trying to KILL you?!"

Sasuke sighed. "For the fifth time, yes."

Naruto whistled. "That can only mean one thing."

"What?"

"You're FAMOUS, dude!" Naruto clapped his roommate on the shoulder. "You're so popular and talented that you've got ENEMIES! I wish I was that cool!"

"Hnn, well, it's not so exciting when you're the one who narrowly avoided being poisoned, I assure you," Sasuke said as they rounded the corner, heading for their next lecture hall.

"Well, I think that – oof!" Naruto had not been watching where he was going, and thus had walked right into another student and fallen on his rear end.

The person Naruto had walked into was tall, with platinum-blonde hair that was slicked back. He wore all black, and there was a small red cloud on the breast pocket of his shirt. Naruto scrambled backward like a crab.

"S-Sorry about that, dattebayo," he gulped. The man raised an eyebrow.

"Who the bleep do you think you are, you bleeping piece of ble-"

"Shut up, Hidan," a new voice said. Another man, shorter than the first, but equally as ominous, came up. "Your foul mouth's already gotten you into trouble before, you don't need to shoot it off because some freshman walked into you."

Hidan turned to his friend. "The guy's a bleep, Kakazu!"

Kakazu looked down at Naruto with distaste. "I know, Hidan, but he's only a freshman. There are better prizes worth your time."

This time, Sasuke distinctly caught the look that both juniors shot him. Then Hidan shrugged.

"Whatever. Let's get the bleep out of here, yeah."

Kakazu snorted. "You're starting to sound like Deidara."

Naruto got back to his feet as the two black-wearing juniors rounded the corner and disappeared. "Man, they were SCARY, dattebayo!"

"They weren't just weird," Sasuke said grimly. "They were from Akat Tsu Ki."

Naruto shivered. "I dunno about you, but I'm staying AWAY from those guys."

Sasuke didn't respond, lost down the corridors of thought.

Did Itachi ever wear the black shirt with the red cloud over the pocket? Did he ever terrorize freshmen like that? Who IS this Akat Tsu Ki, and what do they have in common with my brother?

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PHWEEEEEEEEEEET!!

The crowd groaned dismally. The score was 34-27, and the Iwakagure Bulls were in the lead. The Shuriken coach called his team over.

"Look, guys, their center is TALL. You shut them out of the box, OK? A triangle and two, and SHUT THEM DOWN!"

Further down the bench, those who were not currently playing were sitting in various positions of boredom. A familiar black-haired teenager was among them. Sasuke stared blankly at the court, glaring at the polished wooden floor. It was the fifth game of the season, and so far, he had spent all twenty quarters sitting on the bench.

The buzzer went off, signaling that someone had scored. The crowd cheered again. It was all white noise to the Uchiha.

Suddenly, a flash of pink on the far side of the court caught his eye. High up in the dome, filing down to get to her seat, was a familiar face, wearing the Kishimoto colors.

SAKURA!

As she sat down, a black-haired man with shifty-looking eyes took his place next to her. Sakura cheered and clapped her hands, turning to the man beside her and saying something. He murmured something in reply, which made her laugh. Sasuke growled. A few months ago, only he would have been able to make her face so joyous.

He watched as Sakura scanned the court for him, her eyes gravitating towards the ball. Her face fell as she realized, after a few seconds, that Sasuke was nowhere on the court. Sasuke looked up as she spotted him on the bench, and for only a second, their eyes connected. But only a second. The man beside Sakura nudged her and whispered something in her ear. Sakura nodded, and the man got up to go get something. Sasuke recognized him as he stood up again.

Sai!

Sai was here, with HIS Sakura!

Sai had brought HIS Sakura to the game!

Sai had brought HIS Sakura to the game, and Sasuke couldn't even play in front of her!

"Hey, are you OK?" Kimimaro asked as the whistle blew and the play ended. All five of the players on the court had come back for water, and Kimimaro was squirting his own into his mouth. The spell was broken, and Sasuke looked around.

"Huh? What?"

"Dude, I'd see somebody about that twitch you've got in your left eye, it really looks bad," Kimimaro commented. "Come on, it's halftime, we gotta go!"

Sasuke scanned the crowd once more as he grabbed his water and jogged back to the locker room with the rest of his team. His eyes could not find the pink again.

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"Alright, men, what's wrong with you?" the coach roared. "We're down to Iwakagure! IWAKAGURE! I've NEVER seen you play so pathetically!"

The team looked down at their shoes.

"It'd be easier if we weren't worried about being poisoned," someone muttered. The coach glared.

"Who said that?"

No one answered.

"Look, guys, I'm worried, too. But just because Kidomaru had to go to the hospital doesn't mean that we can't beat Iwakagure. The two are NOT related. You got that?"

The team muttered incoherently. The coach scanned the players, looking for someone.

"Uchiha!"

Sasuke looked up.

"Yessir?"

"Go to the subs table halfway through the third quarter," the coach instructed. "I want you to sub for Kidomaru. Sakon? Go in for Ukon at the same time. Juugo, you good?"

"I'm fine, coach," the huge man said. Beside him sat Suigetsu, who shot Sasuke a death glare that plainly said: I'm not sharing any of the court glory with YOU.

"Alright, then, if that's it, let's GO!" the coach yelled.

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The game was still doing badly by the middle of the third quarter. Iwakagure had managed to put another 8 points on the board, and the Shuriken were lagging.

"Uchiha! Sakon! Sub in!" the coach barked during a timeout. "The rest of you, come here and look at this." He was holding a clipboard with an analysis of Iwakagure's defenses.

Sasuke and Sakon leapt up from their places on the bench and trotted to the scoreboard table, kneeling at the side. "Subbing for number 24," Sasuke said eagerly. The girl at the table looked him over.

"This your first time?"

Sasuke grinned, unable to contain his excitement any longer. "You bet!"

BOOM!

There were several screams as something exploded. The coach whirled around, shouting.

"What the-"

Sasuke stared in shock.

The Kishimoto Shuriken bench had just blown up, and the bomb had been placed EXACTLY UNDER THE SPOT WHERE HE HAD BEEN SITTING!!!!

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Does anyone know how to do the funky gray lines? If so, advice would be GREATLY appreciated...

Long reviews! Rhulain wants to love long reviews, but all she gets are two words! 'Update' and 'soon'! Yes, those ARE important words in your vocabulary, my dear reader, but they are not satisfactory subsistence for a starving sequel-writer! Predictions, SUGGESTIONS (need a LOT of these), and smiley faces are welcome, as are the 'u' word and 's' word, but only in block paragraphs, plz! You're in school, write me an essay:) Consider it practice... :P lolz JK but long reviews ARE appreciated, and I WILL mention long reviewers by name next chappie! Thank ye kindly, sirrahs!

Rhulain