"Hey, Sasuke-kun!"

I stared at my pink friend from across the dirt field. "Oh, hey Sakura-chan!"

At The Academy, it was my last normal day before graduation. I had already passed so the test so I was good.

Now, I was 12 years old, a milestone for most ninjas in The Academy. I was on top… I was Mr. Big. Everyone looked up to me. Yet surprisingly I felt as though they were nothing and my friends were the only ones that mattered.

Now walking up to the girl, I waved cheerily and said with a close-eyed smile, "Hi!"

"Hey there, boy… did yah miss me?" she said, kitty-scratching my arm for some reason.

"Oh, uh, no… not really… where's Naruto-san?" I said, getting on tiptoes looking over her shoulder through the gate.

"Ugh… what is it with guys and their best friends…?" said Sakura looking down with a dark cloud over her head.

"Sorry, Sakura-chan, but Ninja Warmonger 6 just came out! It has character-packs unlike anything anyone's ever seen!" I said, getting into a sumo stance and putting my fists out in front. "There are five new sets of enemies and five new sets of good guys!"

"Boys!" she said exasperatedly as she walked away. "Don't talk to me anymore today, SASUKE. Hmpf!"

"Hn." I said. She left me just standing there…

". . ."

Anyway! I entered the halls to The Academy, passed by the water fountain and took a sip. Then that's when I nonchalantly entered my classroom after a few minutes of searching for it.

"SUP!" I said boisterously.

The class looked at me in disgust… well, all except a few of the girls. I aloofly shrugged off the glares and headed to my seat next Naruto. As I sat, I noticed it was 15 minutes till the first bell. Perfect! Iruka usually gets the late anyway, so I can speak to Naruto about the new N-Warmonger.

"Hey, Naruto-san! How about we meet up after school and go get the new N-Warmonger? I bet we could get enough money to get a copy to share then we can play it over at my place."

"Oh, I already got my copy a couple of weeks ago… sorry. Besides, Chichi and Haha want me home by 6:00."

"Well, if we sneak out of art club, can we come back later on with it in my shoulder bag." I said; I then pointed to it. "See?"

"Um, I don't know… my mom would probably-" said Naruto, but he stopped. "How would we do that anyway?"

I smiled devilishly… "You go into the bathroom, make two shadow clones, and tell one of them to transform into me. I'll hightail it out the class, while your clone and my clone come back into the club. I mean, you can copy pretty much anyone's art style, right? And we both had our parents make us join the girliest club there was in the history of ninja! We both hate that class, right?"

"Yeah, but I'm a lot more mellow than you. Hikari-san can notice subtle differences in behavior." said Naruto dubiously.

"Yeah, you're also more of a wuss than me." I said getting rather annoyed. "Since your parents want you home right after clubs,"

"With some time in between…" said Naruto.

"If you got time, then why am I asking?" I said getting more annoyed.

"Because I gotta go straight home. I live in the new housing district now with my little sisters and it's half way across a minefield of old people that need my help!" said Naruto.

"That's not straight home, but whatever…" I said, turning away.

"Alright, I'm in. But you won't just burst out of the room like an idiot, will you?" said Naruto.

I sweat dropped, chuckled slightly, and scratched the back of my head sheepishly. "Uh, that was the plan. Heh-heh-heh..."

I looked back with a nervous smile and he facepalmed. "Baka! You need to go to the bathroom, too."

"I don't know if it'll work, but maybe if I say it's an emergency." I said with a nervous frown.

"We have to not get caught on the way out of school grounds."

"Sorry I'm late, class!" said Iruka-sensei as he entered the room with smile. He then looked at our two grins... that's when his smile faded, like he had never seen us so happy before. We tried not to look at each other, Naruto and I... I hope Iruka-sensei doesn't try anything a little bit later...

XXX

It was in art club that Hikari-san was watching us draw. We were the best in the class, though only because I like to draw and paint secretly even though I act like it's the girliest thing on the face of the earth…

As for Naruto, his mom makes him do it because he has natural talent, but he's still not as good as me with all my years.

The assignment today was to draw a picture, hand it to your neighbor then make them try to draw their style. It was supposed to help with 'experimenting' and 'not sticking with one thing all the time.'

I was halfway through drawing the manga drawing of Sakura (Naruto's), and I handed him mine. If the day couldn't be more perfect…

I tapped him on the leg and the plan commenced. "Hikari-san! May I go to the bathroom?" said Naruto.

"Is it an emergency? It's still considered school hours so you'll need a hall pass."

Shit! I forgot she only had one for the boy's room and one for the girl's.

"Aw crap… I knew I-I shouldn't have eaten the calamari for lunch!" I said and the class roared with laughter.

"Sasuke-kun? Is there something the matter?" said Hikari-san innocently. "I might have an extra hall pass if you need it…"

"YES! Please, Hikari-san."

Mission accomplished!

She looked at me dubiously as I pretended to dance around. She handed me the pink hall pass for the girl's room and we exited the room, passes in hand.

"Alright." I said as we entered the hall started walking down it to the door, "I don't think she noticed my pack. Now put the passes in here and-"

"What are you two doing?"

It was Iruka-sensei! Oh shit.

"OH! Hi, Iruka-sensei!" I said with a fake-happy tone.

"You're up to something if you're out of class… but it doesn't matter. Pretend you didn't see me."

I tried not to let my mouth go agape. "Why?" I said, tenacious for the truth.

"Family troubles must be really hard. I can't imagine a time when I had them. If you have to leave, then that's fine. When I was a kid, they let me leave early to since I wasn't in a club, but you two are in the art club, are you not?"

We nodded.

"Well, there's no harm done leaving the school grounds early so close to the end of the year." he sighed. "I'll tell Hikari-san that I gave you permission to cut class."

I would have no idea why he would be like this if it weren't for the end of the year… he always dreaded the breaks, and wanted to teach, like he was important when he did that. I just goes to show you how important I am to the one's I love…

Naruto saw my scowl and looked worried, but only patted my shoulder like guys do. "Come on, before anyone else comes…" said Naruto into my ear and Iruka walked away behind us. I nodded that's what we did.

XXX

It was later that I had brought home my new video game and played with it reluctantly. However I was a little bit too reluctant, because Itachi came up to me bothering me with his small smile.

"What do'you want?" I said haughtily.

Itachi looked at me with that same smile even after he saw my frown and then tilted his head. "May I play with you?"

"You're already ten times better than any player I've ever seen. Why don't you just go away?"

Itachi scowled, "Sasuke-kun, is something bothering you?"

"I heard them talking about getting married. Remember Mai-san? She moved in and then right back out. No one can put up with dad better than mom could. I remember she used to give me nightmares sometimes whenever I lied or did something I shouldn't have." I said as I shivered.

"Alright, I know you particularly like Misami-san, and you want her to be your mom, right?" said Itachi recapturing his smile.

"What? How? I never said any of that." I said, looking intensely at him.

"Maybe that's what I think of her then," he said, "And maybe you are the same."

He walked away that moment and slammed my head down on the kitchen table. That's when I went, "Gahh!" then realized it was my move.