Allusion to Midnight
By Kreyana

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, obviously. If I did, I think we all know what sasunaru would have been doing very early on… I do, however, own Rory/Lorelai.

Summary: After six centuries, Uchiha Sasuke finds himself surrounded with friends, but without the one person he needs; until he finds sixteen year old Uzumaki Naruto. But things with this boy are never what they really appear. SasuNaru

Notes:So! Wow. Not many reviews here, huh? But on the other hand, if you could see my Hits and Alerts! Wow. As of December 12, 2007, the number of hits was 1,196, and 49 alerts. I was pretty shocked at how fast those two numbers were shooting up, and on the first day! And only one person thus far has made it obvious that they've read my notes, and answered the questions. Thank you! And I'd like to point out that the Companion Fic is currently up here –taps head– and a little bit on paper. When I get that done, rest assured that I will mention it visibly in my intro notes.

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C.h.a.p.t.e.r3
C
lassmate
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"Take the empty desk behind Uzumaki," Kakashi commented as he hopped up to the chalkboard.

The new student, Uchiha Sasuke, quietly moved down the aisle and sat behind Naruto, never once taking his eyes from the blond.

An incessant shiver slithered up and down Naruto's spine all through the class session. Goosebumps periodically covered his flesh, and his stomach churned.

When the bell rang, he was the first out of the room and down the hall. He stopped in the bathroom, bracing himself against one of the sinks and taking in deep breaths. Behind him, the door opened, and he stiffened for a second as another body came in.

A hand fell on his shoulder as the other spoke, "Hey, you okay, Naruto?"

A relieved breath rushed from his lungs, "I'm fine, Kiba."

"You sure? You were tense all through class. Is it because of Uchiha? He was staring at you the entire time."

"Yeah-no... I don't know," Naruto sighed, shrugging off the hand as he turned on the tap. He splashed cold water on his face and dried off with the paper towel that Kiba handed him. "Thanks."

Kiba nodded in response. "Come on, we'd better not be late. Kurenai-sensei will have our heads."

Naruto laughed nervously - Kurenai-sensei really would have their heads if they were late again.

- - -

Nearly two hours later, Naruto sat in the boy's locker room as he dressed for his Physical Education class. Beside him, Shikamaru leaned lazily against the lockers and yawned at their friends' conversation.

Whatever it was, Naruto did not know, nor did he care. His mind had deemed such a menial task as dressing, quite a useful time to think. He'd felt sick, after that first class, with Uchiha Sasuke staring at him the whole time. Kiba had told him, sure; but Naruto had known all along, because it was nearly impossible to ignore that feeling - the one where you know someone is watching you, but have no ideawhy.

Then there was the matter of that other feeling. When he saw Sasuke, not only had his body - his mind - told him 'lover,' but so had his heart.

It flopped around uneasily in his chest again, and his stomach churned once more.

"Naruto."

He blinked from his thoughts, and looked quizzically to the speaker.

Kiba frowned, "Are you ready?"

"Oh, yeah." The blond hopped up, a grin in place, and followed Shikamaru and Choji. Kiba walked beside him, and Naruto did his best to ignore the worried look his friend gave him. He offered the brunet a reassuring smile as they stepped out to the field.

His heart lurched in his chest as he felt that gaze on him again. Glancing inconspicuously toward the rest of the class, Sapphire met Onyx. Naruto quickly looked away, flushing red.

Those eyes seemed to always speak volumes to him, without conveying actual words or thoughts. And, that time, those eyes smirked at him.

When he glanced back, the Uchiha was not looking at him, but rather he was spending their wait time stretching, and Naruto felt a pang of disappointment.

Disappointment? He frowned, unconsciously staring at Sasuke. What was wrong with him? He didn't even know this Uchiha Sasuke, but he was feeling such strange emotions... He shouldn't be feeling anything, least of all disappointment-

"Good morning!" suddenly resounded around them, loud and as annoying as ever. Their far-too-optimistic teacher, Guy-sensei, bounced onto the scene in his usual, horrifyingly green-spandex getup.

Naruto sighed, a groan bubbling up his throat as the class dully replied.

"Uchiha-san, welcome to Konoha High!"

Naruto glanced to the mentioned teen, who only replied with an acknowledging nod.

"Today," Guy-sensei began pacing in front of the class, "we will be running."

Mortified groans rose from the majority of girls, and some guys, while whoops of joy rang from others. Naruto grinned, bouncing on the balls of his feet.

Guy-sensei stopped pacing in front the Uchiha, a look of praise on his face. "Uchiha-san, I hear you are quite the sprinter." A slight nod replied, again, and Guy-sensei moved to a few paces front-and-center of the grouped students. "Uchiha-san, Uzumaki-san, please come forward."

Naruto's heart leaped nervously within his chest at the call of his name, right there with the new kid's. He stepped out of the crowd, stopping several feet away from Uchiha.

"Now, Uzumaki-san is our fastest student in decades. I would like the two of you to run together during this exercise. If you're as fast as I hear, Uchiha-san, then Uzumaki-san will finally not have to pace himself so far below his standards! Now, everyone line up!"

The whistle went off, suddenly overriding the pounding in Naruto's ears, and he took off. Halfway down the track, Naruto glanced to his side, where Uchiha Sasuke watched him from the corner of his dark eyes. The other kept pace with Naruto, easily, it seemed, and a smirk pulled at the corner of his lips.

"Is that all you have?"

A grin slowly spread across Naruto's lips, and he pushed on, sprinting in a near-blur past some classmates. The wind lashing at his face, the dirt ground thumping beneath his feet, the pounding of his heart, and the steady rhythm of his breath brought a brighter smile to his face. Running at this natural speed gave the blond a sense of peace he did not normally feel. And this peace, he realized, he only noticed because, at that moment, even with the Uchiha running at his side, Naruto didn't feel the previous nervousness the raven stirred within him.

This pleasant moment was ruined as Naruto slipped on a rock.

With a cry that was a mixture of pain and surprise, Naruto trotted, then hopped, as his momentum decreased. He fell to his rear where he stopped, and stared blankly at his throbbing ankle.

The Uchiha knelt beside him, one hand hovering near his shoulder. Naruto glanced to his partner, but the other was focused on his ankle.

Guy-sensei jogged over to them, his face unusually serious. "What happened?"

Naruto looked up at him, still blank, and distantly answered, "I slipped." His answer really did sound very dumb, even in his own ears, but his sensei only nodded and squatted down to examine his ankle.

"Let's see, here," he gently prodded Naruto's ankle with a finger, frowning at the hiss that followed. "Uchiha-san, would you please take Uzumaki-san to the nurse's office?" With the raven's silent nod, Guy smiled and backed out of the way, back to his usual self. "You're both excused for the rest of class. Excuse me," he wandered off to ward away curious and gaping students. "Nothing is wrong, keep going! Inuzuka, get moving, before I decide that three laps around school campus is a spectacular idea!"

The hand that hovered near Naruto's shoulder finally touched him, and slid across his back to the opposite shoulder. Sasuke's other arm slipped beneath Naruto's knees, and without any difficulty, he hauled the blond into his arms as he stood.

Naruto lightly flushed, looking anywhere but at the raven. "Ah... you don't have to do that, Uchiha-sa-"

"Sasuke."

He blinked, looked to the other with surprise, though Sasuke didn't glance down to him. "Huh?"

"Don't call me 'Uchiha.' My name is Sasuke."

"Okay... Sasuke-sa-"

"Don't be so formal, Naruto."

For some unknown reason, the sound of his name from Sasuke's lips made the blond shiver, and deepened his light blush. He looked away quickly in an attempt to hide it. "Hai, Sasuke."

When they approached the infirmary door, Naruto lightly rapped on its surface and pushed it open after the quiet grant of entrance from the other side.

"Hello, what may I do for you tod-" the all too familiar voice stopped mid-word, and Naruto gaped in surprise.

"Sakura?!"

Said pink-haired girl rolled her eyes, "No, I'm her evil twin that no one knew about." She glared at the blond for a moment, and huffed out something that sounded suspiciously like, I should have known I'd see you here sooner or later, clumsy little- though he couldn't be positive. With another huff and her hands propped on her hips, Sakura scrutinized the duo.

Naruto felt silly there, in the new kid's arms, and tried to hold back the resulting heat to his cheeks.

"Set him over there, please," Sakura said with a nod of her head toward one of the medical slabs they liked to call beds.

The Uchiha did as instructed, setting Naruto onto one of the thinly cushioned platforms, and he quietly waited, seemingly perfectly happy to keep one supporting hand on the blond's back.

Sakura returned to them with a clipboard and pen in hand, scribbling on the blank form. She set that to the side and seemingly gravitated to Naruto's injured leg. "Tell me what happened," she instructed as she separated the bow, and plucked at the laced string. She pulled off the shoe, dropping it carelessly to the floor, and gently peeled off the sock. She visibly winced as she saw the angry, light purple flesh of his ankle.

Naruto let out one of his embarrassed laughs, "Uh..."

"He tripped on a rock while we were running."

It was a stupid thing to do, really. And it shouldn't have hurt him, it hadn't happened before! The truth, so blatantly put out there, made that embarrassed heat rise to prickle at his face.

"How fast?" Sakura didn't break in stride, behaving truly professional.

When the Uchiha didn't provide an answer, Naruto lightly sighed. "Um... I'm not sure. Saskue's in my league, though, so Guy-sensei set us up as running partners..."

Sakura glanced up, to Sasuke, and back to Naruto with an arch of her brow. "You were going as fast as you can?"

The blond shrugged, "I guess. You know I don't pay attention to that when I run..."

Sakura made a sound - good, bad, impressed; Naruto didn't know which it was. He gasped and groaned as Sakura began to prod at his ankle. As if it hadn't hurt enough as it was, she had to go along and make it worse! The sharp pain slithered up his leg and made Naruto clench together his teeth.

Sakura muttered a slight apology, but continued to feel around the appendage, pausing every now and then to look over some chart on her clipboard. She finally let out an obviously happy noise, and relinquished Naruto's ankle to it's undisturbed throbbing.

"It's not broken," she informed with a smile up to him. "Though if it were, I imagine it would have looked pretty nasty." She wandered away from the bed, and returned a minute later with supplies in hand.

She first sat a bag of ice on his ankle, and then took a seat at a nearby desk, where she proceeded to scribble on that piece of paper again.

The throbbing of his ankle was somewhat easy to put to the back of his mind, especially with the bag of ice dulling that pain. He had to then wonder when Sasuke's hand had gravitated toward his own, and blushed at the thought that he'd been holding the other's hand for several minutes without notice. After the initial embarrassment of this fact subsided, another important thing came to mind, and he eyed Sakura.

"What are you doing here?"

The young woman, and his close friend, continued to write, completely un-phased by his question. "I'm the Nurse's Aid, Naruto. I want to go to med school when we graduate, so I've been doing some 'field work' here."

Naruto formed a silent oh and was silent again. Before he could say anything else, Sakura stood and removed the ice.

She wrapped his foot in an ankle brace, stuffed his forgotten sock into his shoe, and placed it on the end of the bed. Sakura picked up a small-ish box and handed it to the blond, "You can have this, in case Iruka-sensei doesn't have any wraps at home. You're not to wander around on that foot too much, you won't be participating in PE for a while, and if you argue with me, I will inflict more damage."

It really was scary how she could threaten him with such an innocent smile on her face...

"How long is 'a while'?"

A pair of crutches were then propped against the bed, and Naruto eyed them with a frown. "Don't give them that look, Naruto. You still have to go to school, so you'll have to use these until your ankle is better," Sakura chastised. "With what you've done to it, I'd say that 'a while' is a week or two. It all depends on how you heal."

He tried to protest that, but as he opened his mouth, she continued on.

"Use the wrap compress when you don't want to wear the brace, and when you sleep. It'll be more comfortable. And it's alright to use ice every few hours, but don't use it for more than twenty minutes at a time - Iruka-sensei knows this, and I'll tell him to keep an eye on you!"

There was another threat in there, Naruto had heard it, and he sighed. Sasuke helped Naruto stand, and while Sakura showed him how to use the crutches, picked up the shoe and wrap box.

"See you later, Naruto!" the but not back in this room implied was clear as they left the infirmary.

Their Physical Education class was over, which also meant the school day was complete, but the duo continued back toward the boy's locker room, where their things waited.

"Um, thank you... Sasuke. For helping me today."

"Hn," was all that replied, and silence reigned between them again.

In the locker room, they dressed into their street clothes (a slightly difficult feat for the blond, as he attempted to pull on his pant leg as carefully as he could to avoid jarring his ankle,) and Naruto stuffed his shoe and the bandage box into his bag.

At the front gates to the school, Naruto pasued and awkwardly rubbed at the back of his neck. "Well... um-"

"Let me walk you home."

"Ah," Naruto straightened, waving his arms in front of himself in a dismissive gesture - and nearly toppled to the pavement, having forgotten completely about his food and the crutches, until Sasuke caught him. He muttered an embarrassedthanks. "You don't have to do that-"

He recieved a pointed, like I'm going to believe you, look, and heat rose to his cheeks.

"Well, I mean, ah... I'm not going home. I go to Iruka - my adopted father's café most days. You can... You're welcome to come with me." He laughed, awkwardly scratching the back of his neck, "I mean, uh, obviously it's for the public, but still..."

The Uchiha stared at him during the entire, nervous monologue, and once Naruto drifted off, Sasuke motioned for the blond to lead the way.

As the Uchiha turned, Naruto swore he saw a small twitch of his lips, which could have been an amused smile.

- - -

Sasuke arched a brow as they stopped at the café entrance. "Spiral Café?"

"When I was four, Iruka asked me what I thought we should name it." Naruto shrugged, "Apparently I said 'Spiral'…"

"Four?" Sasuke sounded curious, and turned his back to the café.

"Yeah. I've been with Kakashi and Iruka since I can remember." He shrugged again. "They've been really good parents."

Sasuke folded his arms, staring distantly past Naruto.

"Sasuke?" Naruto waved a hand in front of the other's face, and slightly jumped when Sasuke suddenly caught the appendage. "Um… do you want to go in?"

Sasuke let go of Naruto's hand. Without a word, he opened the door and held it for the blond.

The bells rang as the door was held open, and Naruto swung through the doorway on his crutches.

"What happened to you?" The voice was entirely too entertained, and Naruto glowed as he slid into a booth, the crutches propped up nearby and out of the way.

"Nothing," he grumbled, opting to pay attention to the outside world and not his annoying teacher-father, as the Uchiha quietly sat across from him.

"I don't believe you," the silver haired man sing-songed, and hummed as he studied the blond. When Naruto twitched, Kakashi smirked. "Oi, Iruka's in the back."

Naruto shrugged, the comment wasn't very interesting to him. Actually, he probably should have gone straight home instead of the café. Iruka could have quite the temper when it came to Naruto and hurting himself... When he glanced over to Kakashi, the man wasn't watching him, but staring toward his companion.

Naruto glanced across to Sasuke, who was staring right back at their teacher. The blond looked continuously back and forth between the two, his brows scrunching in his confusion, until Sasuke broke eye contact with Kakashi and turned to Naruto.

It was only a second before the Uchiha looked away, closing his eyes with a slight nod.

"I'll see yoou tomorrow, Naruto. Sensei," he nodded to Kakashi as he stood.

The door's bells jingled in his wake.

Naruto frowned after his new classmate, "What was that about?" He turned the frown onto Kakashi as the man took Sasuke's place, and the look didn't seem to phase him at all.

Kakashi shrugged, pulling out his little, orange book. "Had places to be?" he offered. "Who knows. Do your homework."

With a childish raspberry at his surrogate father, Naruto pulled a book from his bag and thumped it down on the table, obediently doing as he was told (for that was how the duo had raised him.)

He would take his sweet time doing it, though.

- - -

Movement in the glass window reflection caught Naruto's eye as he stared out into the dark night, splotched with orange-yellow street lights. He sat there, chin-in-hand, eying Iruka's reflection as it approached his table.

"Get all of your work done?"

He received a dull mm-hmm in reply.

Iruka reached for the crutches, touching them lightly with his fingers. "Sakura called me."

Naruto still didn't move, again replying with his dull mm-hmm.

Iruka sighed, falling into the seat across from the blond. "I'm not mad, you know. You slipped, it happens." He shrugged, and folded his hands on the table to wait.

Iruka frowned when Naruto seemed determined to stare out into the darkness.

He sighed, "Naruto."

Finally, the blond turned, confusion written in his features.

"Is something wrong?"

"No, why?"

Iruka teasingly smirked, "When you get quiet, it's time to worry."

Naruto stuck his tongue out in reply, "I was thinking."

It was Iruka's turn to hmm. "Shop's closed. Come on, let's go home."

- - -

Naruto sat at his computer when someone knocked on his door and entered the room a second later, without waiting for his reply. The blond turned to his teacher-father, a brow arched.

"Yo," Kakashi grinned, giving the blond a little wave with a pack of ice. "Ice for ya."

"Thanks," Naruto muttered, turning back to his computer.

Kakashi set the ice pack on Naruto's desk and sat on the bed. "Spending time with Uchiha already, are you?" he commented offhandedly.

Naruto shrugged, "Guy-sensei partnered us in gym."

"Hm. Only person that can keep up with you, then."

The blond nodded in reply. "Ah," he suddenly turned to Kakashi, a mild curse under his breath. "I forgot my bike at school."

"It's in the garage." At the confused look, Kakashi explained, "Uchiha brought it after he left the café. Iruka doesn't know, yet."

Naruto frowned, "Doesn't know what? That Sasuke brought my bike home?"

Kakashi sighed. "Doesn't know that Uchiha is back."

"What's the big deal? How do you two even know Uchiha Sasuke in the first place?"

"Past acquaintances," Kakashi replied dismissively. He stood and made his way to the door. "Goodnight, Naruto. Don't stay up too late."

"Kakashi-" the door closed and Naruto frowned. Iruka and Kakashi were hiding something.

And Naruto was determined to find out exactly what that something was.

- - -
To Be Continued...
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End Notes: Later than I'd like, but... here we are! I've decided I'm going to try and update monthly xD which is going to be absolute torture to a friend. Heh. Oh well. I absolutely love the response this fic is getting! As of this post date, there are 1564 hits, 30 reviews, and 60 alerts. xD Amazing! Well, I hope you all have enjoyed the chapter. See you in the next! And, of course, as usual... reviews inspire me to work faster!

Ch. 4 is in progress.