~*G*O*L*D*E*N*~

White is a color of war.

The sign of gruesome wounds

Allowing the weak to fight

This means war … Naruto thought as he tried to get comfortable on the hard floor of his cabin. As he drifted off to sleep, he thought of how he had gotten stuck with this punishment.

"I can take both of you myself," Naruto taunted purposefully bumping Sasuke as he stepped in front of her.

"Shut it, brat," said Zabuza, through the bandages around his mouth.

Sasuke examined the towering man in front of him. Without question he was the tallest person in the class, including Iruka. Before the match started, he pulled off his baggy black shirt to reveal muscles that seemed too big to be human. He certainly looked too developed to be the same age as the rest of the class, perhaps he was.

"I've beaten you before," Naruto continued, pulling his own shirt off.

He has a nice body, Sasuke admitted absently to herself. No. Shaking her head, she tried to focus instead on her opponents rather than how close Naruto's now bare back was to her face.

"Not by yourself," Zabuza said and wrapped his arm around the small girl at his side.

"You really should try to work with your partner," the girl urged quietly.

Even Sasuke admitted that she was a pretty girl. With long black hair and a thin body hidden by very baggy clothing, she appeared very cute and much more feminine than Sasuke.

"Not a chance!" Naruto yelled back.

Alright, Sasuke had had enough. She reached around Naruto and shoved him to the side. "I should be the one to fight them. I defeated both you and Gaara."

"Only because of your fancy tricks!" he shouted, rounding on her. Puffing his chest out, he stepped uncomfortably close to her and glared down at her. "This is straight combat," he breathed above her head, "and I don't remember you being able to stop me in that area."

"Then I suppose your poison affected your memory," she hissed, shoving his chest away from her face. His chest was hard and warm. "I was doing just fine against you and Gaara in hand to hand combat. The only time you were any kind of match for me was when you had your dagger, and even then you could not defeat me."

"Because you used cheap tricks," he growled, blushing.

"What? What did I do to you?" she asked with a low, smooth voice. She was not enjoying his blush and she was certainly not getting flushed.

"You … used your woman … ness." That was not awkward. He was not going to let her get to him. It should be easier to ignore her because she was a mess, but strangely it seemed even harder.

"Stop flirting!" Zabuza grumbled to the dismay of the rest of the class, who were rather enjoying the tension.

"Begin!" Iruka shouted to the four students on the matt, cutting off their banter.

"Just stand back," Naruto said proudly.

Before Sasuke could argue, Naruto had rushed to meet Zabuza, who had charged them as soon as Iruka finished talking. Naruto ducked under Zabuza's first punch, which was not hard since Zabuza was so tall. Then, Naruto countered with a shot to the gut, but Zabuza was not injured at all.

As the two boys battled it out, Sasuke and Haku stared at each other. With a pleasant smile, Haku nodded to the boys and started talking. "Why don't we let them drain some energy before we jump in?"

In response to such a sweet and gentle voice, Sasuke could only nod. Though she would never admit it, she was still somewhat tired because she had woken up just minutes before a long and boring lecture, which began to lull her back to sleep.

As the two men continued to fight aggressively, Sasuke took this time to examine Naruto's movements. He was pretty good. He might have beaten her in a straight out match, but she was too clever to ever let that happen. In battle, it did not matter how you won as long as you stayed alive. Fair play could only happen when you trusted your opponent and Sasuke trusted no one.

Suddenly, Naruto seemed to find an opening and knocked Zabuza backwards with a kick to the ribs. Just as he went to deliver a powerful punch to Zabuza's jaw, Haku rushed forward with incredible speed and caught Naruto's hand.

Zabuza recovered and went to kick Naruto, while Haku created an opening to Naruto's chest by pulling his arm. Being completely unguarded, Naruto's chest received a strong blow and he was knocked to the ground.

Sasuke frowned.

She didn't particularly like Naruto, but she really did not like seeing him double-teamed by the odd duo. Her mother had instilled in her the desire to protect the wounded as a part of her healer training. Therefore, when Zabuza and Haku began to move towards Naruto again, she walked forward to stand in front of Naruto.

As they drew closer to her, Sasuke rushed to block both of them from reaching Naruto by placing her body in front of Zabuza and aiming a kick towards Haku. Haku easily jumped backwards, dodging the kick, but Sasuke had prevented her from reaching Naruto. Zabuza was more difficult. His huge fist came rushing towards her head and she had no time to block after attacking Haku. She put up as much of a defense as she could before the punch landed.

However, whatever pain she had been expecting did not come as instead she felt herself pulled backwards into Naruto's chest and out of range of Zabuza's punch. It was so warm. So warm that she did not notice Naruto move slightly forward with her and deliver a blow to Zabuza's face.

"Match. Naruto and Sasuke." Iruka's voice drifted slowly into Sasuke's ears.

"Match," she whispered breathlessly, still stunned. It appears that Naruto had knocked Zabuza unconscious.

"When participating in a two on two match, only one member of a team has to be knocked out for them to loose," Naruto whispered back as calmly as he could. Sasuke was not the only one feeling dazed in their current position, but thankfully for him, Naruto had become more careful about the emotions he showed around Sasuke.

"Naruto, why don't you take Sasuke back to your cabin?" Iruka offered softly. "It has obviously been a difficult first day."

"No way," Kiba yelled. "Why do they get to leave early?"

"Kiba," Iruka said, smiling dangerously, "I believe I put you in charge of getting Sasuke to class. I know you have the good sense to know I meant prepared, but if not, perhaps you need some more lessons on proper procedures. I know Mizuki would be more than happy to take some extra time to teach you."

That sent a shockwave through the entire class as everyone now backed away from where Kiba stood. Mizuki was a particularly sadistic teacher who believed he was a perfect teacher. No matter how painful it would be for them, Mizuki demanded his follow his training routines, which were always especially unusual and dangerous.

All Kiba could do was shake his head 'no' and hope that Iruka believed his threat had been effective enough and choose not to act on it.

"No," Sasuke announced, finally pushing away from Naruto. "Thank you for your concern Iruka, sir, but I am perfectly fine."

"It's okay, Sasuke," Iruka said pleasantly. "We will just be going through the rest of the matches and while there are lessons to be learned by watching others fight, I believe it is more important for you to learn to get along with your partner."

"So, you're punishing us," Naruto whined.

"It is a lesson you must learn," Iruka said, more sternly. "You demonstrated a basic understanding of what it means to have a partner. You each helped your partner, but you were not fighting together.

"I realize you were just assigned as partners and I can't expect you to be completely synchronized yet. However, that is all the more reason for you two to have some time alone. Naruto, show Sasuke around today and try not to kill each other."

"We shouldn't be partners!" Naruto yelled. "What was that crazy old man thinking by assigning us as partners? I am here for a reason, she is here on a whim!"

"You don't know anything about me," Sasuke whispered with venom in her voice.

"Both of you go to your cabin now!" Iruka snapped. "Now!" he repeated before they could say anything. "Or both of you can pack your bags and leave."

"Yes, sir," they both said quietly, sufficiently scolded.

Kakashi, I hope you and the Commander know what you are doing. Iruka thought as he watched the pair leave, still glaring at each other.

Once they were outside of the classroom building, Naruto and Sasuke separated several feet from each other and began to walk towards their cabin. Naruto glanced over to Sasuke and growled. Upon noticing she was a few feet ahead of him, he started running, turning back only for a moment to stick his tongue out childishly at Sasuke.

In response, Sasuke merely rolled her eyes and continued strolling in the same direction. She was too tired to get into a race against a moron. Once Naruto was too far away to see or hear her, she let out a deep sigh.

"Now that sounded like you had a wonderful first day," Sasuke heard a voice say from behind her. It was a very familiar voice, but not one she really wanted to hear right now.

"What are you doing here, Kakashi?"

"Just getting lost on the road of life," he said cheerfully. "So, how was your first day? How was your teacher? Did you make any friends? Did you learn anything interesting? What did you study today?"

"Kakashi. Enough."

"Did you really think this would be the same as the Institute?" Kakashi asked this question seriously.

"No," she said calmly, "and I am doing just fine without you meddling."

"It is my job as your bodyguard to meddle in your life," he said, acting cheerful once again. "You don't have to do everything on your own. There is a reason most fighters work in teams. Maybe you should try to get along with your partner. You and Naruto are not as different as you may think."

"We are nothing alike," Sasuke hissed. "I will be fine on my own. If I did need someone to train with, it would not be that loud, idiotic slob."

"You are not the only one in the world who has seen death," Kakashi chided. "Perhaps you should look into Naruto's eyes when you see him next time. You might see something familiar."

"Just go away, Kakashi," Sasuke muttered. Before he could say anything else, Sasuke started to walk away quickly.

"Play nice!" Kakashi shouted after her.

Sasuke sped up and reached the cabins only a few moments later. Upon reaching the door, she heard crashing sounds coming from inside and rushed through the door to find out its cause.

"What are you doing!?" she yelled as she watched Naruto pulling her stuff out of the closet. Furious she glanced around the room to see what else he had done only to find that he had also ripped her bedding off.

"Getting you out of this cabin," he yelled back, throwing one of her bags towards her. "This is my cabin. This is my closet. This is my kitchen. And, that is my bed." With raging eyes, he pointed towards the now bare bed.

As she looked at the bed, she noticed her most precious treasure ripped: the picture of her family. "It was not my choice to live here," she said with an eerily calm voice. "However, you had no right to go through my things." She walked over tensely to the bed and picked up the pieces of her family's portrait.

"What do you care? Buy yourself new stuff with your daddy's money. Buy whatever you want, just don't put it in my cabin!!" He did not seem to notice her clenched fists and shaking shoulders.

Within the next second, Sasuke had turned and charged him. Her eyes were now red except for the pupil and one small black spot in the iris.

Then, everything went black.

The next thing Sasuke saw was Kakashi's face hovering over her. Frowning, she tried to move her hand to push his face away only to find it tied down.

Noticing the movement, Kakashi explained, "You activated your Sharingan and the extra flow of magic overrode your brain. You lost control. We had to tie you down because we could not know whether or not you would be in control once you woke up."

Sasuke could only groan in response.

"But," he continued, regaining a happy tone in his voice, "since you appear to be conscious of your surroundings, I will untie you."

As he moved to untie her, she finally found her voice. "What did I do?"

He paused. "You and Naruto were fighting when I reached the cabin after sensing the change in your magic. He was getting beat pretty bad, but he was able to greatly minimize the amount of damage because of his training."

"How is he?" she asked, convincing herself she was only concerned about whether or not she would get expelled from the Academy for killing another student.

"He's fine," he grinned, recognizing something deeper in her question. "He has quite a few scratches and bruises, but nothing serious. You were not really very focused in that state and so could not fight properly."

"How much trouble am I in?"

"Not that much, actually. I saw the picture and was able to explain the situation to the Commander. In fact, I think Naruto is going to be in more trouble than you. Fighters are taught to defend their honor, so you will probably only receive a lecture. On the other hand, Naruto basically disobeyed an order from the Commander by trying to kick you out of the cabin, which the Commander very clearly ordered you to live in."

"Oh." That was all Sasuke could say after that.

"Don't worry about it. We should go see the Commander, if you are able to, and get this all sorted out."

Instead of answering verbally, Sasuke pushed herself up off the bed. Absently, she noted she was now wearing a silk, white robe and her hair had been combed. After realizing she did not know where to go, she turned to Kakashi and snapped irritably, "Let's go."

Chuckling, Kakashi walked out of the room in front of Sasuke. Silently, he led Sasuke down a long hallway and up a flight of stairs, then down another long hallway. Near the end of that hallway, they could hear loud voices from one of the rooms.

"… her fault … not fair … a stupid picture … my bed … stupid"

The words drifted out from behind a large wooden door embossed with gold patterns, which Sasuke figured was the Commander's office.

"He certainly has great lung capacity," Kakashi said, sounding impressed. "You know, I bet he's a great kisser."

Sasuke growled, but before she could do anything, Kakashi knocked on the door knowing Sasuke would never do anything unruly in front of anyone else, especially someone in authority like the Commander. Just as he thought, Sasuke quickly composed herself and put on an impassive face.

"Enter!"

Kakashi pulled the door open for Sasuke, grinning at her nervousness.

Upon entering the room, Sasuke immediately received a glare from Naruto, who then received a smack in the back of the head by Iruka. Slowly, nervously she walked into the center of the room. No one seemed to know what to say. To distract herself from the silence, Sasuke looked around the room. There were lots of books. She had not expected that.

Noticing where she was staring, the Commander chuckled pleasantly. "Didn't expect so many books," he voiced her thoughts. "Despite what you think, thanks to this one," he paused pointing his thumb at Naruto, "fighters are not savages. Knowledge is very important in battle."

"Yes, sir," she said quietly.

"Don't be so nervous," he said playfully, walking closer to her. "I had to be tough on you for the test, but now that you have passed, you are one of my students. Nothing will ever change that.

"Now as for your little fight," he said more seriously now. "You should not have had to fight, but I understand why you did. Naruto acted inappropriatly for a student of the Royal Academy of Fighters, but perhaps next time, if there is a next time," he warned, glaring at Naruto, "you will attempt to find a teacher instead of acting on your own. You must know how to defend yourself, but more importantly, you must know when to defend yourself.

"Naruto's punishment was to clean up all your things, which he has already done under Iruka's supervision, and he will be sleeping on the floor tonight, since we were not able to move a new bed into your cabin because of the mess.

"Tomorrow, I want you both to meet me in my office again, so we can work on your teamwork." He quickly turned to Naruto to stifle any protest he might try to make. "Go to bed, now. We'll talk more in the morning."

Naruto really wanted to protest, especially after seeing the satisfied look in Sasuke's eyes, but knew it would only get him in even more trouble. The trip back to their cabin was tense and silent, but otherwise peaceful.

When they got to the cabin, Sasuke noticed was even cleaner than when she had moved in last night and was thankful for that. Kiba was lying on the bed, watching the two as they walked around the cabin. He obviously wanted to say something, probably to yell at her some more, but he kept silent. That was a bomb waiting to explode, she noted with apprehension, but was too tired to deal with it tonight.

Without any more trouble, they all prepared for sleep and climbed into bed, well, bed and floor in Naruto's case.

This means war … Naruto thought as he tried to get comfortable on the hard floor of his cabin. As he drifted off to sleep, he thought of how he had gotten stuck with this punishment.

The next morning was just as silent as the evening before. This time, Sasuke woke herself up on time and got ready before either of the boys had woken up. She was pacing around the front of the cabin when Naruto stepped outside.

"You actually woke up, milady," Naruto taunted, "without a servant waking you up. And, look at you. You actually dressed yourself."

"Hmm… most guys don't notice what a girl wears unless they are interested in them," she challenged. But, she did not want him to notice her and she certainly did not wear her best white robe lined with lavender silk around the neck, sleeves, and hem just to impress him.

Naruto certainly was not impressed at how the colors of her robe made her skin look even more porcelain or at the way the dress emphasized that she was very clearly a woman. "As if," he growled, blushing slightly, though thankfully the bandages on his cheeks hid most of it.

"Let's just go to the Commander's office," she said, "We can get this partnership punishment over and maybe fake it long enough to graduate."

"Fine by me," Naruto mumbled.

They both trudged up to the main building, occasionally glancing at each other. Once they reached the towering structure, Sasuke had to follow Naruto because she had forgotten they way. As she walked behind him, she could not help but think just how much her life had changed because of him already.

She had never been punished before, and even though she was not really being punished very much, she felt horrible. She had let herself loose control because of this idiot and had endangered her chances of fulfilling her duty.

Before she could dwell on this too long, they had reached the ornate door from the previous night. Naruto threw the door open without even knocking and Sasuke cautiously followed, worrying about entering the office without announcing herself.

"Good," the Commander said once they were both standing in front of his desk, "you are both here in one piece. So, here's what you two are going to do. For the next two weeks, you are going to be examining each other. You will find out each other's strengths and weakness. You will figure out each other's motives for being here and most importantly what they wish to achieve by being here. After two weeks, I want a report on my desk on clean paper with nice legible black writing,"

Black is a color of peace.

The sign of written conversations

Allowing enemies to talk

~*A*N*G*E*L*~