There was a wet, squelching noise and Naruto immediately covered his head with his hands and recoiled dramatically in case of return fire. The expected attack arrived in the form of verbal assault, rather than the physical, which was what he'd been expecting.

"What is your problem today, moron?" Sasuke snapped irritably, wiping the so named 'eyeball-juice' off his cheek and gingerly removing the punctured sheep's eyeball from his collar, where it was leaking more of the eyeball-juice onto his shirt and skin. He tossed the ruined (and failed) dissection onto Naruto's tray and glared at him, demanding an answer as to why he was now covered in less-than-hygienic fluids.

"Uhh…I well…" Naruto stammered as he lowered his hands since Sasuke apparently wasn't going to throw any animal tissue back at him. "…I'm not very good at dissections?" he offered as a very weak excuse for why he had been poking at the sheep's eyeball with a skewer, hooked it onto it and accidentally-on-purpose sent it flying into his lab partner's face.

"…What are you, five?" was Sasuke's haughty retort, making a disgusted noise as he cleaned himself up. "Seriously, are you trying harder than normal to piss me off?"

"No, I would never," Naruto snorted sarcastically, even though this was exactly what he was trying to do today. Shikamaru had said that Sasuke tolerated him more than anyone, and he was willing to see how much truth there was to this claim.

…Too much truth, it seemed.

" –Can you help me?" he inquired suddenly.

"Why would I help you?" Sasuke snorted; gesturing at his ruined school polo. Naruto pouted and looked away, feigning reluctance.

"…Because…I can't…do it…" he mumbled. Even though he wasn't looking at Sasuke, he could tell that the Uchiha was wearing a smug smirk of superiority at Naruto actually having admitted that there was something that Sasuke was better than him at. He was pretty sure he could've struggled through the dissection by himself, or gotten Shikamaru's help, but he wanted to see if Sasuke would…

"Fine," the Uchiha snorted with a heavy sigh, grabbing a fresh eyeball with a pair of tweezers and tugging Naruto's tray closer to him, " –Watch closely, because I'm not showing you again, got it, you idiot?"

"…Who're you calling idiot?" Naruto grumbled automatically. Sasuke gave him a sharp look and he clamped his mouth shut. Okay, so biology wasn't his best class…

The raven grabbed his scalpel and quickly showed Naruto the best way to do it so that he managed to cleanly cut it instead of winding up with a punctured mess. Naruto half watched and half mused to himself about this situation.

…Sasuke constantly claimed that he was a moron –that was just simply a fact. He also claimed that he was a no-hoper not worth his time.

But he would always help him. Always, even if reluctantly or pretending to be reluctant.

Today, Naruto really had done his damned hardest to try and piss him off. He'd spilt PVA glue in Sasuke's hair in physics, and stolen his calculator in maths and thrown paper at him all through English –all of which had resulted in the other boy getting progressively more annoyed at him; throwing things right back and causing Naruto to get in trouble.

And just then, there was the mushy eyeball to the face, but Sasuke still agreed to help him in class. It was truly, truly puzzling, and Naruto was finding it a little unnerving. Resting his hand in his chin, he just stared at Sasuke for a moment as the raven continued with his own dissection; muttering something about Naruto being thoroughly irresponsible and a complete idiot.

"What's the problem now?" Sasuke huffed in annoyance; not bothering to look up. Naruto blinked in surprise. "…You're staring. What's. The Problem?"

"…Nothing," Naruto lied lamely, averting his gaze and staring down at the dissection in front of him; turning the halved eyeball over with a pair of tweezers, "...Just…why do you always help me?" Sasuke looked a little startled at the question but simply shrugged. Naruto was a little surprised himself, that they were actually kind of having a conversation.

"…If you start failing, you'll lose your spot in the first string," he replied, "And I don't concern myself with second-rate players." He obviously saw Naruto's confusion at the statement and scoffed with a small smile, "…Idiot." The blonde just stared again. That...he didn't understand.

Naruto frowned to himself, trying to make sense of the reply, and then, the more he thought about it, the more it seemed like a compliment. Sasuke currently thought of him as better than a second-rate player -if he didn't, then, like he'd said, he wouldn't concern himself with him. They could go head to head in gym class because he saw him as worthy of his time. He wanted to keep playing with him and against him.

A small grin spread across Naruto's face in understanding as he toyed with his dissection tray. He quickly flicked a look over in Sasuke's direction and saw him chuckle to himself as the blonde finally clicked.

"…I think…you're actually an alright guy, Sasuke," he commented conversationally, a little surprised that those words were leaving his lips.

"Who said I care what you think?" came the retort and Naruto felt his hackles rising again. God, did he always have to be such an asshole about everything? Jeez, he was just trying to be nice…and then he saw that the raven was actually still kind of smiling.

For some reason, Naruto's anger didn't feel as…angry as normal. Maybe it was because he was kind of getting warm fuzzies from the fact that Sasuke-fucking-Uchiha, the bane of his existence for god knows how long –and his greatest rival in all things –had just given him a compliment, and it was about his soccer skills. Naruto had been trying to win his respect on the field for years, and now he finds out that he'd actually had it the whole time.

Nothing could ruin his mood.

And that apparently became rather obvious.

"…What're you grinning about?" Kiba inquired curiously as they relaxed during lunchtime that day. They were lounging on the steps in the school courtyard; watching Sakura, Shikamaru and Ino sitting at the Valentine's Day stall across the concrete quad.

" –Huh? Oh nothing," Naruto shrugged as he sighed; looking over at that damned stall. That's right –the whole reason he was borderline stalking Sasuke was because two days ago he'd found out that he was sending him a valentine…

Well, stalking was a harsh word.

It just so happened that he knew that Sasuke had chemistry next and would therefore be ambushed within sight of this particular spot just before the bell rang.

Clamping his hands over his face and leaning heavily against the stairs, he let out a small groan. Everything Shikamaru had said was turning out to be right! Sasuke respected him. He tolerated him. The whole 'being friendly' part he wasn't too sure about, because Sasuke didn't seem friendly towards anyone…but this was enough to bug him slightly. Maybe it was all true? Maybe this wasn't some stupid idea of a prank?

Right on cue, a few minutes before the bell rang, Sasuke Uchiha made his appearance, obviously having come from studying in the library during lunch. Hands tucked in pockets and signature scowl plastered across his pale face; he looked the epitome of cool –at least to his fangirls, who suddenly swarmed.

"Ugh," Naruto muttered aloud. Kiba raised an eyebrow.

"Still hating, huh?" he commented casually, "But you guys were getting on so well in biology!"

"Shut up," he snapped flatly, "We were not! He just helped me."

"Tch, you're the only one he helps," Kiba muttered, "He always refuses my help and says to ask Shikamaru; but the lazy-ass is always asleep. I don't know how the hell he gets any work done!" Naruto chuckled awkwardly to himself. He'd noticed that, actually, for a while now. Sasuke flat out refused to help Kiba, despite him sitting behind them –and god help any of the females that tried to check answers with him; let alone ask for a study date.

Ugh.

" –Those poor chicks," Kiba was saying, almost to himself.

"…Yeah, he's just being a dickhead and giving them hope…" Naruto snorted vaguely, "He should just come clean…"

" –About what?" Kiba inquired, and Naruto remembered that he wasn't meant to know that Sasuke wasn't actually interested in females.

"Uhh…I um…Nothing?" he offered as a very lame answer. Kiba just looked at him suspiciously and Naruto chuckled nervously to hide his unintentional slip-up. Looking over at the Uchiha, he discovered that it really was kind of strange that no one had questioned his sexuality before. Now that he thought about it…Sasuke really did regard them as completely platonic beings. There were no eye flickers to the chest region; no sly looks at their asses; no attempt to get into their personal space.

Sure, that could be down to being a gentleman…or him not being interested in that type of girl…but pretty much every type of girl was throwing themselves at him…and Sasuke being a gentleman?

There was only one thing for it.

"What are you doing?" Kiba inquired, trying desperately to hide a trace of amusement from his voice as Naruto got to his feet and brushed off some non-existent dirt from his shirt.

"Uhh…" for what felt like the hundredth time that day, Naruto didn't have an excuse, so settled with just stalking off towards Sasuke; grabbing his bag as he did so. Kiba chuckled and caught Shikamaru's eye across the quad. The pair of them smirked and Shikamaru nudged Sakura to pay attention to Naruto.

He managed to catch up to the raven as he pulled ahead of his fangirls; hands firmly in pockets to prevent gifts from being thrust upon him.

"Yo, Sasuke," Naruto chirped cheerfully; skipping into step with him and nudging him friendlily, "You got chemistry now?"

"…Yeah, what's it to you? Don't you have Economics?" Sasuke queried. Naruto was a little surprised. Sasuke knew his classes? Well, to be fair, they shared all except one…

" –Uhh yeah," he admitted sheepishly, finding himself walking elbow-to-elbow with him, something that was earning him jealous glares from the girls all around him. He was subtly manoeuvring his limbs away from their grasp –Naruto had to admit he was very good at it.

"So Sasuke, how about it? Want to come hang out after school?" an incredibly pretty girl offered; batting her eyes at him.

"No, hang out with me, Sasuke!" another exclaimed –which of course set them all off.

"I have plans," Sasuke informed them all coolly, and there was a loud upset chorus from the crowd. His pace quickened for a moment to avoid being wrapped in a desperate hug from behind by one of the dejected fans.

"What could be better than hanging out with me?" one of them complained.

" –Hanging out with me, obviously –"

"Who is it, Sasuke?" someone wailed, "Is she from another school? Are none of us good enough for you?" Sasuke looked like his patience was waning and he was about to retort with something less than polite, but Naruto saw an opportunity and he took it

"Hah, sorry to disappoint you ladies, but Sasuke's hanging out with me," he chuckled; slinging an arm around the raven's shoulders familiarly. He received a deathly glare from the Uchiha but just smirked at him, and was surprisingly, not shrugged off. There was again, another groan of disappointment, but he heard vague murmurs of relief that their darling Sasuke wasn't sneaking off with a girl from another school.

Naruto was getting a little claustrophobic amongst the crowd of girls and wondered how on earth Sasuke managed to deal with this constantly. Maybe he wasn't jealous of this…

Thankfully, the bell rang, causing the girls to disperse –an action which prompted Sasuke finally shrugging off Naruto's arm companionably slung around his shoulders. They'd arrived at Sasuke's chemistry class –the opposite side of the school from Naruto's Economics.

"Was there something you wanted?" Sasuke inquired darkly, brushing off his shoulders where Naruto's touch had been. The blonde glared at him and then pouted a little.

"I was just…wondering if like, you actually did want to…hang out after school?"

Sasuke almost stumbled and then looked annoyed at himself for being so ungraceful. He raised an eyebrow and looked at Naruto; adjusting his bag on his shoulder. The blonde fidgeted a little –not looking him in the face.

"…Tch, if you want," Sasuke remarked dismissively as he turned and headed towards his class. Naruto beamed at him as he saw black eyes look back at him with a small smirk. "Go to class, moron." Naruto just stuck his tongue out and flipped him his middle finger before realising that he had to sprint across the school to not be late.

As he ran, he was suddenly struck by the realisation that this was going to be the first time he'd hung out with Sasuke outside of school. Even the fact that he was doing this to see if Sasuke acted differently with him than with other people, wasn't daunting.

He was…actually…a little excited?

Kisame sighed heavily as another piece of scrunched up paper landed on his desk with a small tap. He looked up and saw that their teacher, Kakashi –he insisted that the seniors call him by his first name –was reading (probably porn), and hadn't seen. He glanced across the room and glared openly at Hidan, who had his feet up on the desk and was obnoxiously blowing bubbles with his gum.

Open it, Hidan mouthed –or something to that effect. The gum was partially obscuring his mouth. Kisame rolled his eyes and opened the note.

Who's Itachi's bird?

He looked up at Hidan, who was looking at him quizzically. He just shrugged. Hidan's expression darkened and he rapidly scrawled another note; biffing it across the room. Kisame caught it easily and flattened it out.

How can you not know? Don't you wanna fucking know? Kisame just turned it over and wrote a big, 'MYOB' on the back; tossing it back. It hit Hidan in the face and he glared.

The next note read, What the fuck is that supposed to mean?

Kisame facepalmed. The guy was an idiot sometimes. His return note said something along the lines of, 'Mind you own business. If Itachi wants you to know, he'll tell you.' Hidan seemed to mull this over and his mouth widened into a smirk that was vaguely unsettling. He caught the next note that was tossed and actually blinked several times as he read over it.

Are you gay?

Another note landed on his desk and he slowly unfolded it.

Because me and Dei think you are. No offense. Kisame rolled his eyes dramatically and scribbled as a reply, 'I'm not having this conversation with you through notes in English class'. Hidan chuckled to himself and Kisame saw him gleefully mouth, 'You are, aren't you?' across the room. Kisame sighed heavily and just shrugged noncommittally. Hidan let out a silent bark of laughter and crudely mimed giving a blowjob.

"Hidan, settle down," Kakashi commented lazily from the front of the class –not even looking up from his book. Hidan bit his lip with a grin and quickly wrote something down. Kisame returned to his essay; scrunching up the notes in annoyance.

What the hell? Deidara and Hidan knew?

So he was gay, yeah –not that he advertised that. In fact, no one outside his family knew, mostly because no one had asked. If no one cared to ask if he was into males or females, he didn't see any point in making special mention of it. People assumed he liked women, and (rightly) assumed that he was unsuccessful with them.

Another note landed on his desk and he glared in annoyance over at Hidan.

I fucking knew it! Come on man, you could've told us! We knew there had to be a reason you didn't care about getting chicks and valentines and shit! We're fucking cool with it, man. Can I tell Itachi?

Kisame's response? I don't chase chicks because I'm not a sex-crazed maniac.

Hidan actually laughed out loud; earning himself a pen thrown at him by their lazy teacher. He quickly tossed back: You also look like a shark. Can we tell Itachi, please? He's gonna be fucking offended that his best friend didn't tell him something like that. Guess this takes all the no-homo out of you fucking him in the ass, right? Kisame gave Hidan a bored look but the other boy seemed to think that his own joke was hilarious.

A little amused and annoyed at Hidan's commentary, and wanting to get this essay finished on time, Kisame chucked one final note back, Yeah go ahead; tell him. I don't care. But if you make butt-sex jokes about us to his face I'll chuck you in a dumpster again. I don't want him being fucking weirded out.

Hidan looked absolutely elated at this; even going so far as to salute him to assure him that there would be no inappropriate remarks made –not that Kisame trusted Hidan's fat mouth.

Well this was an unusual development. He'd never thought he'd be coming out to Hidan of all people, in the middle of his English class, via crude notes. Then again, he'd never thought that Hidan and Deidara left their own little world for long enough to pay attention to things like him not having any interest in females…

Although, those two thrived on drama.

There was suddenly a bold knock at the door and Deidara stalked into the room with a red slip. Kakashi sighed, putting down his book for a moment to sign the slip that indicated that Deidara had been sent out of his chemistry class again.

"…Blow another student teacher up?" he inquired in amusement.

"Nah, just gassed the class out, yeah," Deidara sniggered, waving at Hidan with a smirk.

"Casualties?"

"None this time, yeah," he assured him, "This one girl passed out though. She'll be fine." Kakashi chuckled to himself and waved him over to sit in the spare seat next to Hidan.

"Deidara, if you really wanted to see your boyfriend so much, why don't you just swap into my class?" he inquired mockingly as the blonde slung himself down in the seat and promptly elbowed him in the cheek.

"He's not my fucking boyfriend, Kakashi," Hidan drawled in annoyance.

"…Yeah, Deidara's your girlfriend…" Kisame remarked flatly; smirking when the class burst out laughing and both Hidan and Deidara glared at him openly. He chuckled, not even feeling a little bit bad, even when Hidan pointedly spat his gum into the blonde's long hair.

"Are you fucking kidding, yeah?" Deidara exploded, gingerly tugging at the gum in disgust, "…Asshole!" The class sniggered again as Kakashi pulled his book out.

" –Keep the foreplay to a minimum in class, you two," he called out casually, "Kisame; swap with Konan? That way you three can whisper together and stop distracting the rest of the class with your infernal note-throwing." Kisame huffed in annoyance –he wasn't going to get any work done now –but Konan was already on her way to avoid the Hidan and Deidara show, so he didn't have a choice.

"…So…Kisame…You're into dick…" was Hidan's opening line as he sat down.

"…Say that a bit louder; I don't think the rest of the class heard you," Kisame muttered flatly, "That was sarcasm, Hidan," he added when it appeared that his friend was choosing to interpret that as him granting permission. With a weak smile, Hidan clamped his mouth shut again. The pair of them stared at him from the seats in front, eyes wide and excited about this news.

"Why didn't you tell us, yeah?" Deidara inquired curiously as he continued to tug gum from his hair.

"…The opportunity never arose," Kisame replied dryly.

" –So…which of us is hotter?" Hidan asked bluntly. He just stared at him. "You know…which of us would you prefer to fuck?"

"Neither of you," he deadpanned and they actually pouted.

"…Have you…you know?" Deidara queried vaguely. Kisame chuckled and raised an eyebrow. "…Had sex with a dude, yeah?"

"…Yeah."

" –Goddam it Kisame! This is stuff you're meant to be fucking sharing with your friends!" Hidan hissed, "You didn't have to come out to us, but jeez you're kinda fucking obliged to tell us who you fucked! Hell, Dei almost screwed a dude once –"

"Hidan, that was you, yeah," Deidara muttered, "…And we said we'd never talk about it!" Kisame's mouth fell open and he crammed a hand over his mouth to prevent himself from sniggering even louder.

"You guys didn't…" he managed to chuckle out.

" –No, we didn't," Deidara assured him darkly, "…We were…really drunk…and Hidan –"

"I wanted to see what anal was like…" Hidan admitted with a shrug, "I'm fucking man enough to admit that. But, in all seriousness; I truly thought he was a chick." Deidara glowered at him. "…Come on man, that fucking hair…and the fact that you've got a vagina…"

"Shut the fuck up, yeah, I'm a dude, with a dick –and now the class is listening…" Deidara stammered; sinking down into his seat in embarrassment as he tried to become suddenly very small. Kisame let out another bark of laughter –earning a raised eyebrow from Kakashi. He'd thought about coming out to his friends on rare occasions, but never had he foreseen things going like this.

"You were gonna let me do it," Hidan pointed out.

" –I was not!" Deidara squawked in a hiss.

" –And I thought you guys' friendship was weird enough as it is," Kisame snorted.

"Nothing happened," the blonde insisted. "Okay, we kissed, yeah –but nothing else –I'm not into dudes. And if I was, Hidan would not be my type, yeah."

"He'd totally be your type," Kisame chuckled into his hand, "…Anyway –why the hell did you think I was gay?" Deidara and Hidan exchanged glances; the blonde finally giving up and stealing a pair of scissors to cut gum from his hair.

"…Uhh…it started as a personal joke when you and Itachi went to the freshman dance as a pair, yeah," he shrugged, "And then uhh, we kinda noticed that you…didn't go out with girls…and never looked at them, really. And Hidan may have found gay porn on your computer that one time you forgot to log off…" Kisame rested his face in his hands. He didn't get embarrassed a lot…but this was definitely the time for it.

"…I'm not one to judge a guy's taste in porn," Hidan shrugged casually, "Like, I've jerked off to things that I am not proud of. But yeah, it was kinda a dead giveaway." Deidara was nodding in agreement, though Kisame had the feeling that he'd heard about some of these things that Hidan wasn't so proud of.

"Mmm…It would be…" Kisame mumbled with a sigh; rubbing his forehead, "…Well, I guess you know now. You could've asked before now, you know? Seriously; you guys have been joking about this since freshman year? What other conspiracies do you guys have?" Hidan and Deidara frowned; obviously deep in thought.

"Well," Deidara admitted, leaning in close, his face mock serious. "…We think Itachi's a serial killer." Kisame snorted and pushed him to face the front so he could actually do his essay. God, did his friends ever take anything seriously? Although, he supposed it was for the best. Maybe he should be the one to tell Itachi? Who knew what Hidan would say...

"I guess he totally bought it?" Shikamaru commented as he and Kiba left Economics with Naruto and watched the blonde hurriedly begin crossing the school towards the chemistry block. "He genuinely thinks Sasuke's sending him a valentine?"

"Yup," Kiba shrugged, "He's been trying to figure out if it's true for a few days now…I mean, did you see what he did in biology today? That thing with the eyeball…" he burst out into chuckles at the mere memory of it. " –They're hanging out after school."

" –Hanging out?" Shikamaru repeated flatly, "Actually hanging out?"

"Yep," Kiba replied, "Weird, I know, right? But Naruto really wants to know if Sasuke's into him, so I guess this is…probably the best thing…"

"Yeah, I guess," he yawned, "…Only a matter of time now…"

"Well yeah –but it's only a couple of days until Valentine's," Kiba pointed out, "And Shikamaru? There's the problem with Sasuke's actual valentine. What happens if that person finds out it was Sasuke and blabs it all over the school?" Shikamaru just shrugged as a response.

"Ahh, we'll deal with that when the time comes," he assured him, "Obviously the person doesn't know they're getting one (or they'd be boasting)…so they probably wouldn't know it was from him." Kiba mulled this over and admitted that this was a likely scenario.

"So, you're expecting that Naruto will send Sasuke a valentine?" he inquired.

"…What I'm thinking, is that Naruto really doesn't hate Sasuke as much as he thinks he does. And it's troublesome…but I think this little experiment will help him realise that."

Naruto bounced up and down on the balls of his feet nervously as he waited outside Sasuke's chemistry class. What should they do? He didn't know him all that well…maybe they should just go to the mall or something? Did people hang out at the mall these days?

"Oi, moron; what're you thinking so hard about?" the cold tone of Sasuke Uchiha's voice inquired of him. His head whipped around so fast he heard it crick and saw Sasuke's lips upturn in amusement. "…Coming?"

Without knowing why, Naruto found himself letting Sasuke take the lead on this one; just dropping into step with him as they headed towards the mall.

"How was chem?" he asked, since they appeared to be in silence.

"…My brother's friend gassed out three classrooms," Sasuke retorted and Naruto burst out laughing. "Karin fainted." That just made him laugh even harder. Eventually, even Sasuke began to smile a little bit; chuckling along as well.

"Oh my god; you're laughing!" Naruto snorted with a grin; genuinely amazed to see such actual mirth on the Uchiha's face.

"Tch, of course I can laugh," Sasuke rolled his eyes. Awkward silence dissolving, Naruto immediately broke into a play-by-play of his day –which admittedly, Sasuke had already been a part of. They reached the mall, and Sasuke bought some 'lunch' since he'd been studying at lunchtime and hadn't had anything to eat. He'd also, after seen Naruto looking longingly at a burger stand, deigned to buy him something.

"Wanna go to the arcade?" Naruto inquired with his mouth stuffed with food.

"That's disgusting," Sasuke scrunched up his face distastefully, "Eat with your mouth closed!" Naruto obnoxiously chewed loudly right next to his face and just laughed, scattering the Uchiha with crumbs when Sasuke shoved his face away almost playfully.

Three hours, ice cream and a whole lot of wasted pocket money later, Naruto was waving good-bye to Sasuke as the pair of them parted ways at the bus stop –Naruto pretending to be angry that he had been consistently defeated at air hockey.

"I guess I'll see you at school tomorrow," he commented with a small shrug. "…And then at practice after?"

"Yeah," Sasuke remarked distantly, and then added, in a strange tone, "…I'm staying late after practice tomorrow."

"And?" Naruto raised an eyebrow –wondering why he'd mention this.

" –And you could use the practice," the raven snorted. Naruto's mouth fell open; offended, but then realised that he had to sometimes read between the lines with Sasuke. Since they'd never really had conversations, he hadn't noticed up until now.

"Sure, I'll practice with you," he smirked gleefully; proud that he'd gotten the hint. Sasuke just did that infuriating smirk-smile that Naruto had actually begun to notice contained more smile than he'd originally thought. "Later, bastard."

"Moron."

It was with a slight spring in his step that Naruto began walking home. He'd been surprised, actually, with how much fun he'd had with Sasuke. He'd been a serious competitor on Dance Revolution –and sworn to punch Naruto's lights out if he told anyone, and they'd gotten the team high score on the zombie shooting game in the arcade. When he wasn't looking down on him, he was kind of alright. Distantly, he wondered why he'd never really tried to be his friend as well as his rival. Maybe because he'd always thought that Sasuke just thought he was so much better than him? Maybe because he'd always thought that Sasuke was a stuck up asshole. And those beliefs had been somewhat revised today...

It was only as he was walking home that he remembered that he was getting a valentine from the guy. That thought made him pause in his stride, frowning to himself. Well, these past few days had confirmed at the very least that Sasuke treated him differently. It was possible that the valentine was only going to say something not horrible. He didn't treat him like how…a person treated their crush or anything. It wasn't weird when they hung out –and as far as he knew (not that he knew anything about male-male flirting), Sasuke hadn't made any passes at him.

So, maybe this whole valentine thing was fine? Maybe there wasn't going to be any kind of weird confession? Maybe it was just something, well, nice?

Something nice…

Actually…in that case. Naruto's face broke out into a grin as he mentally clapped himself on the back for remembering. In their freshman and sophomore years, his friends had just sent friend-valentines to each other; saying things that they liked and just generally trying to make their day. And Shikamaru and all that had said that he couldn't say anything nice about Sasuke? Well, he would show them!

He could send Sasuke a valentine –not sign it, because how embarrassing would that be –and just say something nice to him. Maybe…maybe he could even say that he was willing to talk to him? Because, well, if the valentine was something other than just friendly…he had decided that he could hear him out. Not even Sasuke Uchiha deserved to be left hanging.

So, at lunchtime, he was going to collect one of those stupid little cards, and start thinking about what he was going to write to Sasuke. Firstly, something nice –that let him know that he knew that he was kinda an alright dude, even if he didn't let everyone else see that. (His fangirls didn't count; he could do anything and they would still worship him.)

Secondly…how did you say, 'hey man, cool that you like me…I'm not into dudes, but we should talk about this because I'm not a homophobic asshole, and I think I might actually wanna be your friend' in a bit more of a classy way –without giving away that you had prior knowledge of said man's intentions before reading the fateful valentine?

Naruto wasn't so good with words. Maybe Shikamaru would know what to say? Shikamaru was really smart; he always knew how phrase things right -although he always tended to know more than he let on...

Despite the fact that he was going to have to write this damn valentine (and think of something nice to write about Sasuke –god forbid), Naruto couldn't help but feel that tomorrow was going to be a good day.

…And it had absolutely nothing to do with playing soccer after school with Sasuke. Absolutely nothing at all.

At least, that was what he told himself.

So, this is my first update of the New Year. Hopefully yours has been off to a good start. Actual Valentines will be here before we know it!

Our dear Naruto is making an effort with Sasuke -even so far as to be excited to hang out with him. Interesting, ne? And he's decided to send Sasuke a valentine. Will he find the right words? Will Shikamaru's plan go better than even he could imagine? Valentine's Day isn't far off!

And on a side-note, I can't tell if Hidan and Deidara are shitty friends or awesome friends. They're terrible...but I also kinda love them.

Much love: I promise to have the next chapter up soon if you're willing to read it!

xx K