It's finally here: Valentine's Day. What shall be discovered? What shall happen? Happy endings...or not just yet?
Contains crass language.

There was a sharp knock on the door, and as was the usual reflex in a school environment, almost all eyes in the classroom flicked towards the entrance in interest to identify the newcomer. Itachi didn't bother looking up. He'd heard the Taylor Swift music playing from down the hallway, and didn't need to look to the doorway to know that there were two girls from Sasuke's year standing there, dressed in short, white angel outfits with red wings and headbands with hearts on springs.

"We've got…four valentines for Itachi Uchiha," Sakura chirped brightly as the Uchiha facepalmed in despair. It was the second class of the day, and this was already his third lot of valentines.

"Bin them," he called out in as much of a disinterested tone as he could manage. When there was no sound indicating that cardboard was being tossed in the rubbish, he looked up in horror to see that that Sakura girl that liked his brother (he couldn't figure out why) was bringing over a dozen red roses to his desk. God, how was he supposed to do physics with those bloody flowers in the way?

Glaring at the offending plants, his shoulders slumped as Sakura cleared her throat; about to –as tradition decreed –read out the messages in those infernal cards.

"Itachi Uchiha," she read aloud brightly, "I've been admiring you for quite some time now, but I've always been too scared to approach you. I think if you gave me a chance, you'd find that we have a lot in common –" There was a loud aww at this that Itachi really didn't appreciate, but he loosened from his cringing state seeing as it didn't seem to be too bad so far. However, he was forced to revise this belief as Sakura continued reading; her voice growing increasingly more strained, "…because I heard you're into bondage and I'm totally into that so you can tie me up any time. And I can accommodate your anal fetish if –"

"Give me that!" Itachi snapped flatly; swiping three of the cards from her hands as she blushed and the entire class burst out laughing. He felt his cheeks growing hot against his will. Oh god, he was going to kill those little shits… How the fuck did Hidan go from such a nice little confession to absolute crap in the same sentence?

He quickly flicked through the other two cards he had managed to acquire without Sakura reading them out and gritted his teeth at the very mention of 'I'd let you cum inside me. I'm on the Pill, I swear'. This…this was the year that Hidan and Deidara died, he decided as he crumpled them in his fists and remembered himself enough to not melodramatically sweep the roses onto the floor.

"Anyone else interested to see what this one says?" Ino inquired cheekily as she nabbed Itachi's final valentine from the scarlet Sakura. Itachi looked up –trying to hide the terror in his eyes behind a mutinous glare. But apparently Ino was more thick-skinned than he was giving her credit, because she just giggled and opened the card, eyes lighting up in excitement. His classmates held their breath in anticipation.

"On the first day of Valentines, Itachi came in me, and filled my pussy with his seed…"

Itachi wanted to die right then and there. If he was anything less than an Uchiha, he would've leapt up and snatched it from her before she could continue. But he was an Uchiha, and they did not behave in such a way. They had their dignity, after all…but even that was beginning to dwindle very quickly.

"On the second day of Valentines, Itachi gave to me: two purple hickeys, and filled my pussy with his seed…On the third day of Valentines –" The class, and even their teacher seemed to be enjoying Ino's sing-song voice. " –Three brutal orgasms, two purple hickeys –" Why the hell was 'brutal' used to describe an orgasm, he mused to himself; head down to face his work. His teacher wasn't protesting, and the class was just egging Ino on despite the content of the song.

"–Five. ANAL BEADS!" Ino roared, and the class burst out in hysterics all over again. Itachi truly had never been one to wish for death…but now…now he was praying for god to strike him down…or for the ground to swallow him up. Anything. "Four fingers in me, three brutal orgasms, two purple hickeys and filled my pussy with his seed…"

He was lucky that Hidan only went to ten days of Valentines. He wasn't so lucky that by the tenth day the whole class had caught on to the words and was yelling it out at the top of their lungs. Even people in the next classroom over were joining in. Someone was videoing. A quick look up through his bangs indicated that there was more than one person videoing. Was Gai conducting them?

Well, he thought snidely to himself, his physics class might be singing him the most humiliating fucking song ever…but at least they were in key….

After sitting through the various days and apparently giving this fictional person various offerings of spankings, 'favours', toys, positions and god knows what else, it finally finished with an enthusiastic roar and a round of applause. As Ino took a dramatic bow for leading the choir, Itachi actually let his face slump down onto his textbook with a defeated thud.

Hidan had really outdone himself this year. Today could not get any worse.

As his class finally managed to get itself back under control, the song 'Candy Shop' by 50 Cent started violently blaring out through the room; quite clearly the explicit version. It took Itachi a few moments and the re-intensifying laughter of his classmates to realise that his phone was ringing, and that yes, somehow Hidan had managed to get his phone and change his ringtone. All it took was a single glance to know who was calling.

Not caring that he was in class, he answered and pressed the phone to his ear.

"Hidan," he remarked in a very dangerous tone, "…There are twelve roses on my desk. The next time I see you…they're going down your throat."

"Ooh, I'm so scared," Hidan simpered with a bark of laughter, "Happy fucking Valentine's Day to you too, Itachi!" He cackled maniacally –sounding thoroughly pleased with himself.

"Bite me," Itachi muttered flatly.

"Bet you'd like that," Hidan mocked, "Go on, talk dirty to me. Bet you want to."

"You're so dead," he snapped in a low tone, "I'm going to wring your fucking neck. Deidara's too."

"Careful, Itachi, yeah, you're threatening a masochist with a good time," Deidara could be heard sniggering in the background. Actually, there seemed to be a lot of giggling going on…

"Am I on speaker?" Itachi inquired darkly.

"I'll take you to the candy shop," Hidan sang mockingly, "I'll let you lick my lollipop…"

"Die," Itachi commanded; hanging up and turning his phone off. His face was flaming and he was losing his composure. Every year this happened! And every year he tried to ignore it and shrug it off. But this year, it seemed that things were going to get out of hand.

Although, as a scheming genius himself when the need arose, Itachi had to admire Hidan's inventiveness, just a little. Bearing that in mind, he allowed himself a small chuckle at his own expense as Ino and Sakura (finally) took their leave.

"Itachi, you never fail to make my Valentine's Day that much better," Pein commented from the seat behind him.

"I'm so glad my suffering amuses you," Itachi muttered back sarcastically. Pein just smirked at the mutinous Uchiha.

" –By the way, could I have one of your roses?" he inquired, "…I forgot to get something for Konan." Itachi mulled this over and nodded, deciding that eleven roses was still enough to cram down Hidan's throat –thorny end first.

Kisame's geography class had just finished, and he was headed for the common room for morning break. He was looking down in confusion at a small piece of card in his hand; turning it over again and again as though that would cause it to make more sense. He was so absorbed in it that he promptly walked head-first into the doorframe.

"Fuck," he swore, rubbing his temple, where his face had connected with the wooden edge. He nervously glanced to his side, hoping that no one had seen.

"…Watcha looking at Kisame, yeah?" a curious voice inquired, and Kisame looked down to see Deidara leaning over his arm to peer at what was held in his large hands.

"Nothing," he quickly lied, but he knew by the excited look on the blonde's face that he hadn't fooled him. "It's…it's…"

"You got a valentine?" Deidara exclaimed with a pout, "No fair! I just got one from Hidan filled with slut jokes and gay sex, yeah…" Kisame looked down at him and rolled his eyes dramatically. Those two were fucking unreal sometimes. The blonde was tugging at his hands, trying to see it, and when Kisame refused to unclasp his hands, he let out an annoyed whine.

"Oh fine…" Kisame muttered, since Deidara knew that he couldn't bear that noise, "But quit it. You're not a child."

"If I was, and you were my dad, I'd be spoilt fucking rotten, yeah," Deidara smirked, taking a look at the little red card, "You just can't say no to me –aww, this is so cute!" Kisame facepalmed and let out a heavy sigh. "Who's it from?"

"I don't know," Kisame replied with a shrug, "It doesn't have a name –and they…"

"They ripped it!" Deidara remarked in disappointment, seeing that it was only half a card. The back half of it was missing. "What if it said who it was from, yeah?" He sounded so downhearted that Kisame actually laughed, looking down at it again.

"I take it, it wasn't from you and Hidan?" he raised an eyebrow. Deidara shook his head vehemently.

"Nah, we're just too focused on Itachi, yeah," he replied, "By the way, check facebook –his physics class sang him that Valentine's song that me and Hidan spent like four hours on, yeah."

"He's going to kill you."

"He has to catch me first, yeah," Deidara reminded him –apparently quite confident in his ability to outrun Itachi. What Kisame didn't point out was that Itachi probably had the bonus of his limbs being fuelled by rage. He reckoned the two assholes had about…two hours to live, maybe three.

"Aw," Deidara was saying as they headed off to the common room, "Your first valentine and you don't even get a whole one, yeah…" Kisame shrugged. It was probably meant as a joke, anyway. But, Sakura had promised to find and give him the other half by the end of the day, so he was keeping it –just on the off chance that it was real. He didn't like to think of himself as a sappy romantic, but he couldn't deny that despite being incomplete, the message had made him feel…well…

Happy.

"Somehow, I fell in love with you. And even if you do not feel the same, there is one thing that I wish to say –"

Naruto shifted uncomfortably in his seat and tried to not attract the attention of Anko. The class was unusually chatty today –Anko was in a good mood since a large bouquet of roses had arrived for her from her boyfriend. The entire class of course couldn't think of how the hell a woman as aggressive and violent as their biology teacher could find herself a boyfriend, but since Anko in a good mood was a very rare thing, they all silently agreed to keep their opinions to themselves.

Although, the whole class privately wondered if it was the ex-military PE teacher that was renowned for making freshmen cry in games of dodgeball.

In any case, Anko was more relaxed today, and so there was a low hum of conversation in the air. Naruto wasn't really engaging in small talk –he was too busy freaking out about when Sakura or some of her cupids were going to knock on the door to the lab. It was the third class of the day already, and he was starting to think that other people were noticing he was a bit on edge.

"Oi –Naruto, are you even listening?" Kiba inquired flatly from somewhere behind him. Not realising he'd spaced out again, he turned around apologetically, "Dude, I was asking if you're ready for the big game on Saturday?"

"…It's not really a big game," Naruto mumbled, "It's not like we're the football team…"

"It's the championship game," Kiba pointed out with a sigh as he copied down notes from the whiteboard, "It's kind of a big deal." Naruto just shrugged and snuck a glance at Sasuke, who was apparently absorbed in his work.

"It'll be fine," he assured him, "I mean, with me and the bastard, the game will be pretty much over before half time, right, Sasuke?"

"…Did you say something?" Sasuke inquired vacantly, turning to look at him with a genuinely distant gaze. Naruto cocked his head in interest; seemed like there was something playing on the guy's mind.

"Tch, never mind," he muttered, and turned back to Kiba, "And Neji's confident that we'll crush them –and Lee's vowed to play even if his nose isn't healed, so it should be an interesting match."

"Well, we'll all be there to cheer you guys on," Kiba chuckled, "Right, Shikamaru?" he elbowed the sleeping boy next to him, Shikamaru simply replying with a dozy, "Kiba, I already said you could copy my work…" Kiba shrugged helplessly and Naruto laughed; a little of the tension leaving his body.

That was, until there was a knock at the door. Sakura practically skipped in with a rather unenthusiastic Tenten in her wake. Tenten did not look at all at home in the short angel's dress, and Sakura was apparently ignoring her comments about her displeasure at the costume.

"Hello girls," Anko greeted, as she was handed another rose. The biology class cringed at the sight of their maniacal teacher actually blushing.

"We've got a couple here," Sakura admitted with a chuckle, "Two for Shikamaru Nara?" Shikamaru actually opened one eye as she wandered over to the table. "Um…The first one says, 'Touch my sister again and I'll end you. Go die' –" The class sniggered at that and Shikamaru chuckled to himself, "…And the other… 'Temari left her camera here. Kankuro found the pictures she sent you. Good luck, Gaara'." The whole class let out an 'ooh, you're in trouble' noise as Shikamaru face-planted on the desk.

"…Troublesome…" he grumbled into his workbook as Tenten started reading out other valentines.

"Sasuke Uchiha," Sakura finally remarked in a sing-song kind of voice. Naruto stiffened and actually clutched his pencil so hard that it snapped in two. He hurriedly hid his hands under the desk and looked at the diagram of a digestive system as though it was the most fascinating thing in the world. He didn't dare sneak a glance across at Sasuke yet.

" –We've only got one for you this class," Sakura remarked lightly.

"I'm thrilled," Sasuke deadpanned, "Bin it."

"Not how this works, Uchiha," Tenten reminded him flatly and he sighed, "We deliver them. You decide if you keep them." Sakura cleared her voice mightily, and glanced down at Shikamaru and Kiba, who were both smirking to themselves. She also noted that Naruto had gone practically motionless.

"Sasuke. You were always my goal. I'm really glad I met you."

She placed the valentine down on the desk beside Sasuke, trying to gauge his reaction. He was blinking in confusion; startled, she thought. Even if Shikamaru hadn't seen Naruto sneak this valentine into the collection box –a tell-tale smudge of ink making it identifiable to anyone who had witnessed the act –it wasn't too difficult to tell who it was from, if you looked hard enough.

Currently, Naruto was blushing up to his ears and looking rather like he was holding his breath. Sasuke slowly reached out to pick up the valentine and read it over a few times before slowly closing it again and sliding it into his notebook. Naruto let out a visible sigh of relief and withdrew his hands from under the desk; hands shaking slightly. Sakura gave Shikamaru a knowing look and he gave her a weary thumbs up that Naruto was too busy being absorbed in his nails to see.

"Don't worry Uchiha, we've got a whole bag of them for you next class," Tenten assured him with a laugh and his shoulders slumped in annoyance. "Happy Valentine's Day everyone!" Anko waved her away with an actual smile, admiring her roses. The door clicked shut, but Shikamaru noticed that the tension didn't leave Naruto's body.

"Oi, what's the problem?" Sasuke remarked to Naruto with a raised eyebrow. The blonde, apparently so startled that someone was speaking to him, recoiled in shock and as a result, toppled right off his seat to land on the lino in a pile of stationery. The whole class stared at him and then burst into giggles.

"Uhh…I uhh…am stressed…" Naruto mumbled as some sort of explanation to Anko, "…And the…big…game…on Saturday…Yes…" Anko gave him a suspicious look but asked no questions as the bell thankfully tolled for the end of class, and he scuttled around to pick up his things.

"Physics now, right?" Kiba confirmed as they traipsed out of the classroom. Naruto nodded distantly.

" –Really, the game's got you that stressed?" Sasuke scoffed, having waited outside the classroom for Naruto to catch up. The three of them dropped into line and slowly headed towards their physics class. "…You've been tense all morning."

"No I haven't. I don't know what you're talking about," Naruto spluttered immediately and found himself blushing again. Dammit, pull yourself together! It wasn't even a romantic valentine that you sent! You have no reason to be blushing like a little girl!

"Tch…whatever…" Sasuke rolled his eyes. Kiba raised an eyebrow, but didn't ask questions.

He was sitting across the other side of the room from Naruto and Sasuke, but even from there, during class, he could see that Naruto was physically uncomfortable. He apparently couldn't stop fidgeting –something that appeared to be driving Shino insane –and kept glancing nervously at the door. Kiba privately wondered what Shikamaru had written on the valentine he'd sent to Naruto from 'Sasuke'. He hoped it was realistic enough for Naruto to buy it.

He didn't have long to wait to find out. About halfway through their class, the cupids appeared once more, and unceremoniously dumped a shopping bag full of red cards and roses on the desk in front of Sasuke. As Sakura continued around the class, she eyed the way that Sasuke sifted through the cards one by one; reading them briefly, rolling his eyes and then balling them up and throwing them into the nearest bin. Kiba saw her watching him, and could only conclude that her valentine for him had been in there.

But one by one, the cards joined the trash. The roses though, he thought were a pity to waste, and kept them on his desk. Kiba felt a little bad when he saw Sakura's expression fall.

"Naruto Uzumaki," she called out finally, and Naruto promptly spilt the entire contents of his pencil-case across the floor. The whole class stared at him as he went red and shrunk down in his seat –trying to be as invisible as possible. Blue eyes flicked across to see if Sasuke looked back at him, but the raven was busy with his calculations.

"One for you," Sakura remarked kindly, wandering over and placing one rose down on the desk beside him. She smiled at him as she read it aloud, but Naruto didn't hear it. He was too busy looking down at the rose in front of him. He was distantly aware of the class letting out a resounding 'aww', but was only brought back to reality when the card landed on the desk in front of him.

Eyes widening, he tentatively opened it up –embarrassed at having completely missed what it said.

You're my kind of idiot. Don't ever change.

In his mind, he heard those words said in Sasuke's voice –said with a touch of the normal condescension –and felt his heart thud loudly in his chest. He let out a shaky breath, licking his lips and a small smile crossing his features. If this was…if this was Sasuke's valentine, and from the vibe of the wording, he was almost certain it was, then he figured himself fluent enough in Sasuke's language to interpret it how it was intended.

I like you; just the way you are.

A different blush began tinging his cheeks –not the flaming red of embarrassment, but a soft pink of 'oh. He likes me…' Without even meaning to, he picked it up and held it in both hands; drawing it towards his chest in an attempt to still his unnaturally lurching heart. Kiba saw this reaction and raised an eyebrow in Sakura's direction. She'd obviously noticed this as well –even if no one else had –and shrugged. Kiba gave a silent kudos to Shikamaru. He'd really nailed that.

When Naruto felt his heart rate slowing, he let out a shaky breath –unsure why it was shaking. Sakura had departed once more, and the class had resumed normality. Okay…so now…now, he had to talk to him. Well, not right now. Maybe, in a more…comfortable environment.

"Uhh, Sasuke?" he inquired –his voice sounding more hoarse and unsure than he had wanted. The raven looked back over his shoulder with a quirked eyebrow, and Naruto swallowed the lump growing in his throat –sure that he could see the beginnings of a fond smile in the Uchiha's eyes. Was that his imagination? Surely? He managed to mumble something.

"What?" Sasuke retorted flatly, and Naruto tried again with only another jumble of syllables coming out. Jeez, where was his manly pride? What the hell was wrong with him? Thanks mouth, for making him seem even more like a bumbling moron trying to ask out his first crush –which he obviously wasn't.

"Practice after school?" Naruto repeated once more –a little more coherently this time. He'd decided to try simplifying his sentence down to the minimum number of words required to get his point across. He saw Sasuke mull this over in his mind and shrug.

"Fine," he remarked disinterestedly, but Naruto knew that that was just an act. He saw the small smile dancing around the corner of the raven's lips. For reasons unknown, those butterflies that in recent days had taken up residence in his stomach, began fluttering around uncontrollably. He smiled to himself, pocketing the valentine with one hand and pressing the other to his belly to try and control the backflipping of his stomach. God, why was he so nervous about playing some soccer with Sasuke?

Well, probably because he didn't really have a good rejection-and-understanding speech planned, and he didn't know how Sasuke was going to react to such a speech. That was cause enough to be nervous, right?

"Kisame, help me you fucking traitorous bastard!" Hidan shrieked from where he was zigzagging across the school's official sports field. "Ow! Itachi, you fucker, that hurt!" he yowled as a rock went hurtling into his shoulder-blade with precision.

" –I've already saved you once today!" Kisame drawled from the bleachers as he finished eating the lunch he hadn't managed to finish at lunch time since he'd been too busy fetching gross fruit and vegetables from the supermarket, and then picking the lock that chained Deidara and Hidan to a tree –whilst avoiding the mushy fruit being thrown at them. Itachi had a vast fan club who were more than willing to cough up a few dollars to throw food at the men who had angered their god. Kisame had opted to both support Itachi's cause and later unchain the other two. (Itachi had wanted to leave them amongst the fruit pulp)

"You helped him!" Hidan shouted back.

"Well yeah –I wasn't going to pass up the opportunity to throw fruit at you!" Kisame hollered back, "But at least I helped you escape afterwards!"

"It's all for nothing if I –OW –die now!" he yelled back; covering his head, "Oh come on Itachi, the song was fucking classic!"

"It's on Facebook!" Itachi howled; allowed to lose his composure since there were only the four of them there. Deidara was currently being Kisame's footrest –having been mercifully spared a stoning since he'd taken a nasty stone-fruit to the face at lunchtime. That, and Itachi had stuffed roses down his pants.

"SO?"

"My mother liked it!"

Kisame let out a booming laugh and accidentally dug his heel into Deidara's back. The blonde winced in discomfort. The bigger man looked down at him unsympathetically.

"…This is your own fault," he reminded him reproachfully as Itachi succeeded in felling Hidan with a rock to the knee. Hidan face-planted into the grass and was subsequently yanked across the field by his hair. "Be thankful you're not Hidan." He pointedly got up, dragging the blonde with him, and met Itachi over by the dumpster. With ease, he lifted both of them up and hurled them into it. Both minxes groaned, but bumped fists nonetheless.

"Worth it," Hidan sniggered.

"Totally, yeah," Deidara agreed with a smirk and then let out a yelp as he realised that there were a whole bunch of unwanted roses in the dumpster with them.

"Feel better?" Kisame inquired lightly.

"Considerably, thank you, Kisame," Itachi sniffed; composure back in place, "I'm going to shower and wash away all memories of this humiliating day." He swiftly retied his ruffled hair and flicked it casually, before stalking off in the direction of the locker rooms. Kisame leaned up against the dumpster with a wicked grin as Hidan and Deidara's dirty, tired faces appeared over the rim. Deidara had a banana skin on his head.

"I think you did it this year," he mused, "I think you really broke Itachi."

"Well it was fucking hilarious," Hidan cackled, slinging an arm around Deidara's shoulders and getting head-butted in the cheek for the action. "Oi, not the face, jackass!" He nudged the blonde in the face with a fist and Deidara glared at him at it made contact with his tender cheekbone.

"Oh, Kisame, there you are!" a voice called out. The three of them looked up to see Sakura jogging over –red wings bouncing comically. "I've been looking for you everywhere!"

" –How'd you find me?" Kisame raised an eyebrow, "…School's over…"

"I followed the screams," she replied with a shrug and looked up into the dumpster. Hidan waved casually, "…Why are they in a…no –not gonna ask. Nice black eye, man."

" –Peach to the face at lunchtime, yeah," Deidara replied with a shrug.

"Oh…" Sakura mused, "Uhh, that may have been me…" Deidara was about to let out some angry response, but Hidan promptly pushed him down by the head and forced him back into the dumpster; sitting on his shoulder-blades to pin him into the rubbish.

"What can we do you for, sweet thing?" he inquired with one of his wicked smirks. Sakura rolled her eyes and held out a red piece of cardboard to Kisame. "Ooh; other half of Kisame's fucking valentine? What's it say?"

"Thanks," Kisame remarked with a chuckle and added, "…If you go past the boy's locker rooms now, you might catch Itachi in the shower." Sakura flushed red but snickered when he winked at her mischievously. She skipped off lightly with an innocent look on her face.

"He's gonna kill you next," Hidan deadpanned, peering after the pink-haired girl.

"…Ahh well, I've lived a long and happy life," Kisame chuckled with a shrug.

"Hidan! Let me up, yeah!" Deidara complained, "I wanna see Kisame's valentine, yeah!"

"No, shut up down there," Hidan snorted, keeping his entire weight on Deidara's shoulders. The blonde's legs kicked out; trying to buck him off. Deidara's hands reached behind his head and gripped Hidan's thighs to try and shift him –rolling in an attempt to free himself.

"No fair!" he complained, twisting and finally managing to roll onto his back. Unfortunately, this meant that Hidan was now sitting on his sternum, and he was greeting with a face-full of his friend's crotch.

"Quit your fucking squirming," Hidan snorted.

"Why, is it turning you on, yeah?" Deidara snapped back. Kisame glanced back into the dumpster and rolled his eyes dramatically.

" –Are you guys serious?" he deadpanned.

"So what if Deidara's got my junk on his face?" Hidan retorted flatly, "No homo." He looked down into his lap with a teasing look and added, "No biting."

"Asshole!" Deidara growled; arching his back and then head-butting Hidan heavily in the crotch. His friend doubled over for a moment in pain, and Deidara scrambled to his knees –peering over Kisame's shoulder curiously to see the rest of the valentine.

Kisame just stared at the card in disbelief, his mouth falling open slightly.

"Do you reckon it was fucking supposed to rhyme?" Hidan inquired –only to get hit in the face by Deidara.

"Shut up, Hidan!"

Kisame barely heard them over the sound of his heart beginning to race.

Somehow, I fell in love with you. And even if you do not feel the same, there is one thing that I wish to say…For everything, thank you, Kisame.

Naruto wiped his sweating forehead and rolled his shoulders as he slowly dribbled the ball back towards the school. Really, truly, he'd meant to use this time to talk to Sasuke…but he'd just gotten so caught up in their game that it had almost slipped his mind. And now, they were heading back from the practice fields to the locker rooms and he couldn't find the words to say. But he needed to say something. Now that their game was over –and he had thoroughly enjoyed the game –they'd descended into what had been a comfortable silence until Naruto had started thinking again.

"Say, um, Sasuke?" he commented in an attempt to sound casual, "How many valentines did you get today?"

"Lost count," Sasuke shrugged dismissively and Naruto glared at him.

"You shouldn't have thrown them all out," he scolded, "All those girls are gonna be crushed! You should've seen Sakura's face when –"

"I didn't throw them all out," the Uchiha retorted simply, and Naruto promptly accidentally stood on the ball instead of kicking it. He stumbled, and would've fallen, had Sasuke not reached out and caught him by the elbow. For some reason, his touch felt rather warm on Naruto's skin.

"Oh?" Naruto commented innocently as he headed over to collect the stray ball, "How many did you keep?"

"You sure are clumsier than usual today," Sasuke remarked in mocking amusement. Naruto pouted and he rolled his eyes, "One. I kept one."

"Oh…Uhh…cool," he replied lamely and coughed awkwardly. "Yeah I…I got one too."

"I know," he snorted, "Remember how we're in the same classes? Idiot."

"Right," Naruto chuckled nervously. God, why were words failing him today? "Um, look…about the whole…"

"Was it from you?"

The bluntness of the question nearly sent Naruto stumbling all over again, but he was prevented from doing so once more, by Sasuke stabilising him. Big blue eyes guiltily looked up into Sasuke's knowing black ones. "Oh please, don't be such a moron. You practically fainted from embarrassment in biology and could barely look me in the eye all day."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Naruto snorted, looking down and suddenly realised that Sasuke hadn't released his grip on his wrist.

"…As usual," Sasuke scoffed in a condescending tone, "…But try saying that to my face, this time." Naruto tried to look him in the eye and deny involvement, but as soon as he looked across into Sasuke's face, the words fell from his mouth. "I'm your goal, am I?"

"Say, Shikamaru," Sakura commented curiously, having met up with he and Kiba at the bus-stop to wait for their bus together.

" –Sakura, why's your nose bleeding?" Kiba raised an eyebrow.

"…No reason," she replied quickly, pulling out a tissue to dab at it, "But I…owe someone a favour now…"

"Right," Kiba rolled his eyes.

"What is it?" Shikamaru asked with a yawn.

"I've been wondering," she continued in a puzzled tone, "Seriously, like how did you make that valentine to Naruto so realistic? I read it out to him in class today, and it just seemed perfect. I don't know how you pulled it off?"

"Oh, that?" Shikamaru shrugged in a bored tone as he tucked his hands into his pockets disinterestedly, "The whole thing was too troublesome."

"…Too troublesome?" both Kiba and Sakura queried in confusion as he turned his back on them so that they wouldn't see the smug, knowing smirk playing around his lips.

"I couldn't think of anything to write, so I never bothered sending him one."

Naruto's breath began to shake and he tensed as he felt nimble fingers around his wrist slide down and slot perfectly between his own. Almost as a reflex, his fingers curled to lock their hands together. Then, suddenly, he found himself being dragged forwards, and before he knew what was happening, his hands were up against Sasuke's chest and there were lips hotly pressed against his own.

His eyes widened as the circuits in his brain suddenly fizzled and became nonresponsive. He could feel strong arms wrapped around his back; gripping his body and shirt tightly. A small gasp escaped from him as a tongue sensually trailed against his lips, and he fisted the front of Sasuke's shirt tightly as that tongue slid into his mouth.

Everything started happening far too fast for him. Brain, trying to reboot, could only register the pleasure of being kissed like this, and he unconsciously let out a deep moan in his throat. At the sound, he felt a low vibration in his mouth and realised with a jolt that that sound had come from Sasuke. His tongue batted at Sasuke's gently, but that contact quickly became more furious when it caused heat to begin spreading through Naruto's limbs.

Tanned hands reached up, clutching at raven hair and clawing at Sasuke's back as he was pulled in tighter; a thigh slipping between his legs and pressing against his crotch. A surge of what Naruto knew could only be arousal spread through his body and he moaned again; eyes fluttering shut.

Sasuke was…Sasuke Uchiha was kissing him. And right now, Naruto's mind and body were at war; torn between pushing him away and kissing him back. He clutched at his shirt desperately; half with a mind of dragging him off, and half because he needed something to hold on to in case his legs collapsed out from under him.

He was being reeled in again; his chest connecting with Sasuke's and his crotch rubbing up against the thigh pressed between his legs. The Uchiha's lips were devouring his hungrily; and he wasn't resisting as much as he wished he was. Without meaning to, Naruto let out a keening, aroused sound into Sasuke's mouth and his eyes flickered open once more.

What he saw was a pale, blushing face that was far too close to him. Sasuke's eyelids had fallen to half-mast, and Naruto, though unexperienced in these matters, could see those black eyes foggy with desire.

"…Naruto…" Sasuke whispered huskily against his swollen lips.

"…Sasuke…what are you…" Naruto breathed back; the sudden influx of oxygen –and realisation –causing him to freeze, "…Sasuke…what the fuck are you doing?" Panic was rising.

"I thought that was obvious –" Sasuke frowned, "Moron…" Suddenly he was being flung backwards as Naruto tore away from him in horror at what had just happened –and that his body had apparently betrayed him.

"Don't just kiss me like that and then call me a moron!" he exploded aggressively, "You can't just do that! What the hell?" He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and took a few more paces back as Sasuke righted himself.

" –You kissed back," he growled.

"Only because you startled me!" Naruto squawked; his face turning crimson for the umpteenth time that day, "Holy crap! I'm not fucking gay!" Sasuke couldn't have looked more puzzled, angry and almost shocked if he'd tried.

"Then why the fuck did you suddenly start being so friendly and touchy?" he snapped, "And sending me a valentine and asking me to come here –"

"I wanted to be your friend!" Naruto shouted, not entirely sure why he was reacting like this, "Shikamaru thought that you were nice to me because you liked me, and I just didn't see it, so I tried to be nice! I sent you a valentine to be nice, and just wanted to play some soccer with you! Jeez! I didn't fucking…"

" –You didn't fucking think I'd get the wrong idea?" Sasuke growled bitterly, turning his back on him, "You're a fucking moron, you know that?"

"Quit calling me a moron!" Naruto snarled violently, "I didn't think you'd come onto me!"

"How could I not?" Sasuke muttered, his voice suddenly darker than he remembered it ever being, "…When I'm in love with you…"

"No, you're not!" he exclaimed; his voice betraying panic. This wasn't how this was supposed to go. He wasn't ready to hear that –not after what had just happened –not after his body had reacted that way to Sasuke touching him. "Don't say that! I don't…" he clutched at his hair –not knowing what he was supposed to say.

"Why? You knew I liked you," Sasuke snapped accusingly, cramming his hands into his pockets.

"You weren't supposed to kiss me," he hissed, "I was…I wanted to talk to you…and say that we're cool and all…and that I'm not into you but I want to be friends still…but –" he clamped both hands over his mouth to try and give himself time to gather his thoughts, but his mind was a whirlwind and his eyes couldn't help but follow the way Sasuke's tongue trailed across his lips. That tongue had just been practically down his throat, and those lips had been on his.

He was babbling, and he knew it. "…I didn't even really believe that you were…"

"Gay?" Sasuke snorted bitterly, beginning to stalk off, anger, disappointment and frustration radiating from him, "…Well if you want to pretend this never happened, then fine by me. But if you knew, then perhaps you should have made your intentions clear."

"Maybe you should've been more observant of my sexuality!" Naruto shot back as the raven stalked off towards the locker room alone. He might've thought that he could hide it, but Naruto could see the hurt in his face. "Bastard!"

God no, this had all gone horribly wrong. Why had he started the yelling, when he had been enjoying himself so much? Actually, that was the thing. He'd been enjoying himself too much, and the realisation of that had stunned him into fight-or-flight state. If he'd just shaken off Sasuke's hand...if he'd pulled back instead of accepting the kiss...maybe then they could've talked it out...

Then again, he and Sasuke had never been very good at talking. Maybe this whole idea had been doomed from the start? And now he'd rejected Sasuke Uchiha -the guy who never opened himself up to anyone.

For a while, he just stood there while his mind recovered. He was feeling a little lightheaded and became rather hyperaware of how badly he was trembling. His hands were sweating and his lips aching, his tongue tingling, skin burning and the butterflies in his gut had morphed into giant pterodactyls. The way Sasuke had said his name still lingered in his ears, along with one other thing that he'd said, that he couldn't block out.

Sasuke didn't just like him. He was in love with him.

And no matter how much he tried to deny it to himself…strangely, that knowledge made his heart soar.

Naruto, you poor child. Try to do a good thing and it just...backfired...Though, Sasuke's not without fault. Probably wasn't the most...subtle of options.
Overreaction plus misinterpretation, makes for a pretty awkward situation.

A good valentine's day for some.
And for others...not so much.

When the panic fades, how does Naruto feel? Will he be able to properly explain himself to Sasuke?
Find out in the next and likely final chapter!
Much love for reading and reviews, m'dears
xx K