I can't wait till the day we save 200 pandas... until then, you get this lovely update on a THURSDAY (Yup, I'm updating earlier than planned ;D) afternoon 8D. GUYS. I LOVE YOU SO MUCH. SO MANY BABY PANDAS HAVE HOMES NOW! AND SO MANY NARWHALS HAVE ICE CREAM PARTY BOATS. AND SO MANY CHINCHILLAS HAVE... shoes o_o.

Loool, IMVU totally made my day today. If you have one, you should add me 8D Guest_PossibleInsanity. I heart making new friends c:

Warning: WARNING. WARNING. FINALLY SOMETHING FLUFFY AND CHEESY HAPPENS. You will all LOVE me for this. And if you don't, well, the baby pandas will make you love me. So there. Stupid humor-just one of those days.

Disclaimer: In some alternate world beyond our comprehension I own Naruto. Until we find such a world, I'm screwed v.v.

Chapter Ten: Eighth Promise

+I'll Never Hurt You+

Every morning Naruto would wake up to the color pink—and this time it wasn't because of the after effects of a pleasant dream involving Sakura Haruno. His heart was still mending, invisible strings coming together to sew up holes. He could manage, though. Especially when he turned to his side, facing the vase where he put each and every rose he had gotten, and smiled. Things couldn't be so bad when he knew he had someone else, who, he could say, felt something for him.

What that something was, well, Naruto couldn't say he was ready to smack a label on that.

Pushing away the covers, the blond stretched out the sleeping kinks and knots. He lazily trudged down the stairs, his senses immediately being assaulted by laughter and the smell of pancakes. 'Kakashi's here?' he had long since dropped the "sensei" after the first couple of months. Seeing the way Kakashi treated Iruka, and how well they got along, made Naruto more sympathetic.

Granted, he still gave Kakashi a hard time but you can't have it all.

"PDA in the morning, blech," Naruto made a face and sat down in an empty chair opposite from his guardian and Kakashi. "Can't we keep it PG? I'd like to be able to stomach my breakfast, you know?"

"No one said you had to eat at the table," Kakashi reminded him. His hand was wrapped securely around his lover's waist and he was currently having the most delicious meal of his life—Iruka's neck.

Iruka giggled breathlessly. "Don't be mean, Kakashi." He turned to Naruto, a teasing smile on his lips. "Besides, you'll know exactly what it means to be in love one day, Naruto. Then it'll be you with the tongue shoved down your throat."

"Or other places," Kakashi chimed in nonchalantly.

Naruto slammed his face against the table—hard. "Must… erase… mental… images!"

One step at a time, dude—one miniscule step at a time.

+I Promise+

Instead of the customary rose tied with a promise hanging from his locker with a promise tied to its stem, Naruto found a raven… leaning against his locker… with a smirk.

'Just turn around slowly…' turning his body halfway, Naruto was ready to break out into a run towards the other direction. A voice caught him in his tracks, though.

"Don't even think about running away, Naruto."

Naruto whirled around, nearly stumbling over. He wasn't prepared to see the raven so up close and… personal. "Ever heard of 'personal bubble'?"

A slow smirk curled on his face, "Hmm… sounds familiar…"

Naruto frowned. 'Dammit, not only is he too cocky this early in the morning… he looks… not that bad.' His cheeks were dusted with a light pink as he, not too nicely, shoved the raven out of the way so he could reach his locker. "Well, I have one—just so you know. And I don't like it getting popped."

"You won't have to worry about that once we're dating," Sasuke said a little too coyly.

The blond turned on his heel ready to say something when the lock that was in his hand flew and clattered a few feet away. His mouth hung open awkwardly for a few seconds until he lifted up his pointer finger. "Hold that thought," he said and dashed for his lock. Once it was securely in his hands, he jogged back to see Sasuke stifling back laughter… actual laughter! Naruto stamped his feet in annoyance, a bigger blush coming to scar his face. "This is not funny, Teme!"

"You're right. It's hilarious."

"I will bash your face in with this lock!"

"I'd like to see you try."

Naruto was going to do it, too. Well that's what he liked to believe. Sighing, he pushed past the raven again to grab his things for the first three periods then slammed his locker door shut. Unfortunately that didn't scare Sasuke away at all. Naruto could accept a lot of things. Sakura not liking him, Sasuke actually liking him, and then Iruka pretty much hitched with Kakashi. It was the adjusting he just couldn't handle. Life was changing way to fast for his liking.

'I really need a Twix bar right now.'

"Hey, Naruto! And… Uchiha?" Kiba slowly put his hand down as he walked up to the two with a perplexed look on his face. 'Well this is new.' "So you guys are dating!" he walked up and punched Naruto no the arm. "Bitch, way to keep me out of the loop! I thought we were best friends!"

"Okay, first of all ouch!" Naruto rubbed his abused arm, glaring daggers at his so-called 'best friend'. "And secondly Sasuke and I aren't dating! He's just annoying."

"What Naruto means is," Sasuke stepped just a little bit closer to Naruto until their shoulders touched, "we have a thing, but he's just too stubborn to admit it."

"Ohhhh, I see." Kiba nodded along. "Naruto's always been a stubborn fellow."

"I am not!" Seriously, was everyone against Naruto today?

"Hm, you're funny when you're in denial, too." Why yes, Naruto, everyone is against you today.

The blond banged his head against the locker a few, good times. "Why can't you just leave me alone…?" he whined.

Kiba and Sasuke both shared knowing glances before they both broke out into similar glances.

"I thought it was obvious, Naruto." Kiba patted his blond friend on the back. "Sasuke liiikes you."

+I Promise+

Lunch time rolled by rather quickly today. Naruto was a little disappointed since Gaara was sick from school and the boy was supposed to bring him a Nutella sandwich to eat today! 'He probably freaking skipped just to spite me.' Naruto had his cheek pressed flat against the round table, his stomach barking at him to feed it now!

"You're pitiful, dude." Kiba plopped down beside his friend and scooped up a handful of fries and placed them in a napkin. He slide the food towards the blond who perked up instantaneously and nearly devoured his hand—good thing Kiba had mad fast reflexes. "Okay, now you're just deranged."

"Shut up!" Naruto shoved another handful of fries into his mouth and swallowed. "I didn't pack a lunch because Gaara was supposed to bring me something."

Kiba shook his head sadly, "I bet my entire stash of pudding cups that he skipped just to see you suffer today."

"I'm not even going to play along because I'm pretty sure you're right..." Naruto sighed and glumly stared at the last, standing fry. The lone survivor of the Fry Empire massacre... "Do you want to join your little buddies in my stomach, King Fry? They'll still need a leader, you know... all up in my stomach acid."

A warm hand attached itself to his Naruto's forehead and the blond nearly squealed—in a manly way, of course. He whirled around to see the raven with a concerned look on his face. Naruto could see the amusement and mischief dancing in Sasuke's eyes though. The glare that wanted to seep on his face was overpowered by his loudly, thumping heart.

"Should I take you to the nurse? It's not normal to talk to your food like that..." Sasuke was trying very hard to keep a straight face.

Naruto scowled and slapped the raven's hand away. That did nothing to scare him off, unfortunately. 'Dammit, I'm blushing aren't I?' To make sure, he placed a hand on his cheek and felt the warm skin tingle his hand. 'Fuck!'

"Now you're just scaring us, Naruto." Kiba sighed dramatically. "I can tolerate your strange habit of talking to food but really, this? Feeling yourself up and then freaking out about it? You need a straight jacket."

"Kiba, eat your fucking pudding cup."

"Fine then! Excuse me for caring!" in a huff Kiba turned around in his seat, grabbed his spoon, and dug into his pudding with a vengeance!

During the somewhat comical banter between blond and brunet, Sasuke had already sat down and unpacked his lunch, dividing the contents for Naruto and then sliding a portion over to the blond. "Here. I'm guessing you either forgot your lunch or it was magically stolen so have some of mine."

Now Naruto could handle the usual cocky, higher-than-thou raven that annoyed him on a daily basis. It was the abnormal spasms of kindness that would erupt whenever Naruto wasn't prepared for them he couldn't decipher. These moments made little skips in Naruto's heartbeat and made Naruto's mind reel back to the roses in the vase... and the completed promises...

And then a stupid, little thing called pride would come in and make Naruto difficult. 'I can't make this easy for him,' he thought as he tentatively reached over for the first thing he saw—something wrapped in aluminum foil. He eyed the food, sniffed the food, and even licked the foil...

"Baka!" Sasuke hissed and grabbed the aluminum wrapped object out of Naruto's hands. He made quick work of the foil and shoved the sandwich in the blond's face. "It's a Nutella and fluff sandwich! You know, chocolate hazelnut? What the fuck did you think it was?"

"Nutella?" bright blue eyes exploded as he snatched back the sandwich and shoved half of it in his mouth. "Mmmm... Dear God... Sasuke! You are no longer a full bastard."

"What does that make him now? A half-bastard?" Kiba scoffed.

Naruto was a little too preoccupied with his magical sandwich to throw back any logical retort so Kiba turned his attention to the satisfied raven across from him. Two and two clicked together and Kiba pulled out his Sidekick to send off a quick text.

Ur so busted

A few seconds later...

(;

+I Promise+

"Today we're going to split the team in half. Suigetsu, you're leader of the Blue Team." Itachi instructed.

"Hell yeaaah!" Suigetsu hollered.

"Neji, you'll be the leader of the Red Team. Since Coach is out on leave, I'll be running things for the next week. Today's exercise is all about working with people you normally wouldn't talk to, so captains I advise you to not pick your friends." a glare was purposefully sent Suigetsu's way who somehow was transfixed by an invisible floating butterfly at the moment...

Soon names were called and the teams were split evenly eleven and eleven. There was no Junior Varsity team, but there was definitely a huge gallop of ages mixed in together. Awkward conversation settled between both teams.

'Yup, this is officially awkward.' Naruto didn't know anyone but Pein. The guy was big and always wore an expressionless mask. His bright orange hair made Naruto not once, but ten times consider whether or not such a color was natural or if Pein regularly died his hair to keep it that bright of a color. And then there were the piercings...

'I can barely handle getting shots,' he shuddered.

Pein looked over at him for a few seconds. His ringed eyes—that Naruto had found himself on more than one occasion getting lost in—were almost peering into his soul before he barely cracked out a smile. "You're nervous." and there goes Pein. Always making statements and never asking questions.

Naruto nervously scratched the back of his head. "I've been told I'm socially awkward in a group of strangers."

"Don't worry. I'll introduce you." A hand attached itself to Naruto's shoulder as Pein introduced Naruto to the other nine players of the team. So far, Naruto knew a few familiar faces. 'I'm pretty sure Shino's in my Bio class…' their eyes met and Naruto waved amiably, a shy smile on his face. Shino merely nodded back, his usual head garb that covered up half his face and his sunglasses blocked Naruto from seeing any and all emotion from the brunet's face.

Other people he remembered bumping into once and twice in the hallway. Some seemed to just have popped out of nowhere. Naruto was the only sophomore on the team, but that didn't defect him from having conversations with a few of his teammates.

"So how are you able to put up with Uchiha?" Haku, a senior and one of the team's best forwards, asked.

A little fun fact, the first interaction they had Naruto had thought Haku was a girl. To prove him wrong, Haku had bluntly grabbed Naruto's hand and placed it on his crotch… Needless to say, Naruto forever had the info engrained that Haku was all male.

"Simple. I bitch."

That seemed to satisfy Haku.

Neji cleared his throat and the talking ceased. "Everyone has gotten to know one another, correct?" Mumbles of agreements and head nods surfaced up. "Good. Then I'll choose your positions. Haku, you'll be—"

"Hold on!" Naruto raised a hand in the air, effectively cutting off Neji. Too bad he wasn't aware of Neji's pet peeve; he hated being interrupted.

"What is it, Uzumaki-san?" the brunet grounded out.

"Dontcha think we need a team name first? I mean, come on! What's the point of splitting up into groups if we don't have a kickass team name to rep?"

Naruto had a good point—for once. It seemed like a lot of people agreed because murmurs of agreement erupted like wildfire.

Once again, Neji found a vein threatening to pop open and bleed… stuff. Gross stuff. Stuff we shouldn't talk about. "That's a ridiculous notion. What makes you think that—"

"A team name sounds fun," Pein interrupted casually. He may not have been the oldest, but people respected him for his logical input and reasonable decisions. Pein rarely ever spoke up unless he was determined to have his opinion realized and fought for.

More murmurs erupted, and really, Neji didn't want to handle a team mutiny so early in the game. So, he sighed, threw a couple of curses mentally, and then flashed his pale eyes towards Naruto. Who, if you wanted to know, was smiling rather goofily.

"Fine. Team names, sure, whatever. Any suggestions?" the question was directed right at the blond.

Naruto clasped his hands behind his head and simply smiled. "Two words: Naked... Zebras."

Silence, and then finally...

"Are you out of your mind? Naked Zebras?" Neji scoffed, "Is that the best you could come up with?"

"Hey! It's original." Naruto turned to Pein, "Right?"

The big ol' carrot top shrugged, "I don't hate it."

It was two against one and once again Neji was never one to ignite the flame. With more restraint than he thought he owned, Neji begrudgingly accepted the weird team name. There was something that was clawing at his mind, though, that he couldn't help but voice.

"If the Zebra's naked, wouldn't that simply make it a horse?"

It was a good question, if you thought about it.

+I Promise: A Funny Interaction+

"Prepared to be taken down, Red Team!" Suigetsu hooted. For some reason his team were all shirtless with blue war paint all over their faces. A few of the freshman were huddling with one another to escape the fall chill—with no such luck.

Reluctantly Naruto's eyes connected with Sasuke's toned chest and gulped—audibly. 'Still not fair.' and then he came face-to-face with that damned Uchiha smirk and his accelerating heartbeat nearly stopped cold. 'I take it back. I'm taking him down—so hard.'

"Actually!" Naruto shouted back. Their team had red bandanas tied around their hands and spiffy red tape to put around their shoes. "We're called the Naked Zebras, so get your facts straight!"

Once again, silence followed Naruto's outburst. Until Kiba was the first one to crack in fits of laughter. Suigetsu followed suit and then the whole Blue Team transformed into giggly soccer players... that were half naked.

"Dude," the brunet said after regaining a thin strand of control over his hysteria. "Wouldn't that just make you horses then?"

"That's what I said!" Finally! Someone sympathized with Neji!

Naruto scoffed, "Don't be jealous because we have a cool name and you don't!"

"Bitch please," Deidara countered. "No one can top our team name!"

"Oh yeah? Prove it then!"

"Titanic Mutant Narwhals."

Seriously... what is wrong with these people?

"Enough of this," Itachi nodded to Juugo—giving him the signal. Juugo dropped the soccer ball at his feet and then punted it into the mass of soccer players. "Game on!"

+I Promise: It's Worth a Shot+

'My body's going to shut down on me one day... or explode. Probably explode. I wonder what my insides would look like? Oh, maybe they're pink!' Naruto was leaning against the bleachers, thoroughly spent from a hellishly fun practice. His team had managed to win once the game had turned into free kicks. He had a few unlucky run-ins where he nearly lost a leg, an arm, and even a kidney (Don't ask how. It just happens that way). Overall though he had to admit he couldn't complain too much about today's practice.

'If I had some water right now, that would be great.' the blond was already forgetting his water...

Coldness seeped through his head, chilling his face, as a water bottle was pressed against his skin. Naruto bit his lip to suppress the moan that wanted to rip its way out of his throat. Tired blue eyes looked up to meet playful, but equally tired, onyx eyes.

"Remind me to bring you an extra water bottle. If you keep forgetting all the time you'll end up with some serious problems."

Naruto somehow found the energy to shrug. He barely moved his shoulders an inch, though. "You don't have to."

"I want to." Sasuke knelt down and brushed his fingers through Naruto's sweaty forehead, swiping away pieces of grass and moving the hair out of Naruto's beautiful blue eyes.

Naruto almost raised his hand to slap the raven away, but he thought against it. It was nice to be pampered; cared for. Yes, he was still adjusting, however he couldn't deny that Sasuke's fingers playing with his hair felt really good... His eyes were lulling close as the tiredness seeped through his bones.

"What? No sniping remarks or complaints you want to throw at me?" Sasuke smirked. "I have to say I'm a little disappointed."

One blue eye cracked open, "Too tired," then snapped shut.

Sasuke watched as the blond slowly drifted off to sleep. 'How he could ever find that position comfortable I'll never know.' his thoughts raced with all the opportunities he could take at this precious moment and clamped them down before they dived too far down the naughty path. 'Take it slow, Uchiha. One wrong move and you're back to square one.' that is, of course, if Naruto doesn't burn that square to the ground if Sasuke does something stupid.

+I Promise: A Jealous blond is Funny+

Naruto had somehow gotten himself hitching a ride with Sasuke. He partially blamed Kiba for ditching him abruptly and Gaara for skipping school altogether. 'It's a conspiracy!' he scowled and hoisted his duffle bag higher. 'They're all out to get me.'

That, or they just want to see sparks fly. Either one was pretty probable.

Then, he saw something he could have lived without. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the raven talking to a girl he didn't recognize. His heart twisted uncomfortably as he watched the girl literally meld her body with Sasuke's. Naruto gritted his teeth and clutched onto his bag tighter.

He knew this feeling. It was something he used to direct towards the raven. But now, rather then killing Sasuke over and over again in his mind, every thought and action he was experiencing were all pointed in the direction of getting that girl offof Sasuke.

If Naruto's anger were flammable right now, he would have combusted into flames.

'Why the hell am I jealous over that girl touching Sasuke? I...I don't care, right? But Sasuke's supposed to like me... then what the hell?' right on time Naruto caught Sasuke push the girl off of him, scowl, and then give her the rumored Uchiha death glare before stalking off. Naruto smiled widely as he saw the girl's shoulders slump as she walked away dejectedly.

'Take that, bitch.'

When Sasuke approached the jeep, he nearly took a step back when Naruto came up as if holding weaponry ready to shoot off his head.

"You... you..." Naruto shook his fist, his face fully flushed.

"Words, Naruto. Speak words." the raven had to admit he was a tad scared... especially since he had no clue what set the blond off like this.

"You... How the fuck could you let that girl all over you?"

Sasuke's eyes widened considerably. 'He's...jealous?' the raven couldn't even begin to wrap his head around such a huge prospect. One minute Naruto couldn't stand him and now the blond was getting jealous over some girl hugging him? Hm, progress is definitely a good thing. "I can't believe you saw that..." Sasuke shook his head, trying to fight back the smile wanting to worm its way on his lips. "Naruto, she barely touched me and I pushed her off. I even rejected her nicely."

"Like hell she didn't! That was full on body contact, Sasuke! Fucking full on!"

This time Sasuke smiled, though it was a small one, and closed the distance between him and Naruto. He had the blond pinned against the jeep door. Blue clashed with onyx; fear bleeding in with trepidation. Sasuke leaned forward so that his words gently caressed the blond's reddening ear.

"You're jealous," he whispered.

Naruto attempted to struggle free from Sasuke's body, but dammit... he was so warm... and Naruto was feeling his strength drain away fast. "I-I am not, Teme! Back up! You're invading my bubble!"

The raven merely chuckled and wrapped his arms around the blond's waist. Their bodies melded perfectly, as if they were two puzzle pieces that were meant to fit. Naruto gasped, the warmth igniting his skin and sending his heart into a tizzy and blinding whir. Sasuke wasn't helping out the situation by having his lips barely touch the blond's neck...

"Naruto Uzumaki, listen to me carefully." the wind whistled. The stars were climbing out to peek at the rare moment they were gifted to see. The coldness of the jeep door danced up along Naruto's spine and the heat of Sasuke's body meshed with his front. Conflicting feelings, hypersensitive nerves... Naruto was on the verge of passing out—or exploding, either one. "I like you, no one else. You won't have to worry about others because I only want you."

"W-What?" Blue eyes were lit up with sparklers. His heart had finally exploding and Naruto finally realized he was caught in the trap. The trap of those brilliant onyx eyes and the smoldering body pressed up against him... He couldn't fight it anymore, and he found himself leaning in closer... "You mean it...?" a rosy red tint scarred his cheeks as his voice had dripped down to a whisper.

Sasuke's smile grew a little wider as he cupped the blond's cheek in his hand. "I promise."

"T-Teme," Naruto squeaked, noticing that the space between their faces was growing smaller and smaller. "W-Why are you leaning in so close...? T-Teme!" he tried to push the raven off, but Sasuke was a persistent little thing. "N-No..."

"Be mine...?" his words brushed against the blond's lips and then...

They connected.

And Naruto had finally fallen. Fallen into the heat, the passion of the words, the promises—there was no going back now.

Here's a small fact: Naruto's first kiss was in the parking lot. It was stolen by a cocky but sweet little raven.

THE END... of this chapter c: Some parts of this was extremely corny... to me o.o But anywho. Have an IMVU? Feel free to add :D. DO YOU WANT BABY PANDAS BURNED AT THE STAKE? NO WE DON'T D: So let's save one more baby panda from a gruesome death and review... O:)