You like me! You really like me!! 8-) This chapter is totally dedicated to those who reviewed and all the people with me on your alert lists! You guys are the coolest!!
Same Warnings and Disclaimers.
Chapter Two: FriendsSasuke was facing a huge dilemma.
He had no idea where to go from here.
So far he'd talked to Naruto twice in English class and twice in homeroom. But they were just gentle flirting sessions, nothing big.
Though he did figure one thing out; If Naruto didn't trust him, Sasuke wasn't getting anywhere.
The onyx-eyed boy had been observing his prey for all three-days he'd been at Konoha High. (The bet was first thing on his mind, of course. Not the way Naruto sneezes three times in a row every time. Not the way he walks with his head down and a small, sad smile on his face. Definitely not the way his butt moved when he walked.)
Anyway, while Sasuke had been...observing Naruto he'd noticed this very crucial detail of trust. But just because he realized he needed Naruto's trust didn't mean he knew how to get it. Sasuke himself only trusted one other person besides himself and that was Kakashi, who had been his guardian for as long as the boy could remember.
Thinking of Kakashi...wasn't that guy supposed to be a genius? If anyone could figure this out, he could!
"Kakashi!" Sasuke called, walking into their house. "Kakashi, I need your help."
"I'm not giving the police another fake alibi."
Sasuke sighed.
"Must you always go straight tot he negatives?"
"Yes. That would be the definition of pessimist, which is only obviously an effect of living with you for sixteen years."
Sasuke glared and sat down on the floor in front of the couch his dad was reclined on.
"I don't need help with the cops." Sasuke nervously glanced at the book in Kakashi's hands. Maybe this wasn't such a god idea. Maybe he should rethink his idea. The man was a genius, sure...but a perverted genius.
"Then what is it? If it's sex, just go read one of my-"
"How do you get someone you've never talked to before to trust you?" There, he though. I just spit it out, he can fig-
"What?"
Sasuke sighed again with a look that clearly asked why he was given a thickheaded, pervert genius for a guardian.
"I asked how do you get someone to trust you?"
Kakashi raised his eyebrows and swung his legs around to face Sasuke. He leaned forward and squinted, looking right into Sasuke's eyes.
"Why?"
Sasuke squinted back.
"A bet."
They both moved their head to Kakashi's right (Sasuke's left).
"Worth?"
"1,000 dollars."
They leaned the other way.
"If I help...?"
"100."
"300."
"100."
"300."
Then the dad pounced and they wrestled for a bit until he got his son in a head lock.
"Ha! 300."
"Fine. Let go."
Kakashi did so and got into a thinking pose.
"In order to get someone to trust you, you have to become their friend. Proof would be if they invited you into their house."
"I only have a month."
"Well them you better get to it, Ice King."
And Kakashi went back to his Couch of Useless Wisdom, as Sasuke called it from that day on.
But he had to admit, what his elder said made sense. But how to get into Naruto's house? Hmmm...What could he use?
Or who?
Didn't Naruto live with Iruka?
Well, Iruka is pretty cool. And Kakashi always said as soon as Sasuke liked a teacher he'd want to meet him...
"Kakashi! I've got a plan!"
"Naruto, could you take Ichiraku out for me?"
"Yeah, no problem!"
The yellow lab came bounding in with a leash in his mouth. Naruto smiled and hooked it on him to take the dog outside.
They'd name the pup after their favorite place in the whole world. Partially because Naruto wanted to and partially because that's where Iruka had found him.
"So, how was school today?" Iruka asked as his son came in.
"You should know, I see you there everyday." Iruka rolled his eyes as he pulled the lids off their dinner: take-out.
"Humor me and tell me about when I don't see you."
Naruto shrugged and pulled off his jacket. Then he got out two cups and a gallon of milk.
"It's alright. You know that new kid we have? Sasuke?"
"Uh huh, what about him?"
"He talks to me a lot." The English teacher smirked and pinched Naruto's cheek.
"Awww. Is Naru-chan blushing?" Naruto pushed him away and wrinkled his nose.
"Shut up."
Iruka laughed and went to answer the phone that had started ringing.
"It's about time you got a crush on someone. I was beginning to worry you'd never catch up to kids your age."
"Haha, thanks for the support dad."
Naruto continued to get their dinners ready while listening to Iruka greet whoever was on the telephone. This was the same every night. Not the phone call, but the Ramen take-out dinners. Neither one of them new how to cook and they never had time to go out to a nice restaurant or anything like that. But they were okay with it. After all, it was home.
Once Naruto got dinner on the table Iruka came back in with a mocking smile on his face that Naruto didn't particularly like.
"Speaking of Sasuke, that was his dad-Kakashi. They are coming over for dinner on Saturday."
"Why?"
"Something about my amazing teaching skills."
"Did you happen to mention that your cooking skills are limited to Easy Mac and Lucky Charms?"
"Nope."
"So which restaurant are we getting it from?"
"Sesame Inn."
"Should I ask Kiba to come pick up the boxes?"
"Yes, please."
The next day, Friday, Sasuke was bugging Naruto every chance he got. Truth was he could only remember one other time when he was this excited. He didn't quite know why either.
"What do you want us to wear? Is it formal?" That was a stupid question, Sasuke knew, but he'd never done this stuff before!
"Now way, 'Jeans and a T-shirt' kinda thing." Naruto said. "Now would you stop asking about it? It's just dinner."
When the blond turned his head Sasuke stuck out his tongue and crossed his eyes.
"Your face will get stuck like that if you keep it up." Sasuke snapped his head to see Iruka standing over him.
"Sorry." Naruto was snickering beside him and Iruka laughed.
"It's alright. Oh! We need to push dinner back to 7:30, okay?"
"Sure." He kicked Naruto under the desks and pulled out his notes.
"Oooh! Iruka, do you have a date?" Both boys cringed at how high one persons voice could go. Apparently the girl behind them had heard them talking about dinner.
"No. And it's none of your business if I did anyway."
But this got Sasuke thinking. Kakashi had been lonely lately... and Iruka seemed like the kind of person his guardian loved pissing off.
And somehow Kakashi always got a date or two out of the people he pissed off. That's how he'd met his homeroom teacher...
"Hey, Naruto." He flicked the blonde's ear to get his attention as the teacher continued to argue with the girl behind them. "What if we tried to get Iruka and Kakashi together?"
Naruto made a weird face that Sasuke couldn't really describe. It was somewhere between shock, constipation, and acceptance.
"I've never even met Kakashi!"
Sasuke rolled his eyes.
"Then after Saturday you can tell me if you want to or not. I think they'd be perfect together."
"Yeah, like I'm going to trust your opinion Mr. Four Schools in One Year."
The people Sasuke had made the bet with spread around his reputation just to make it harder for him. Now everyone knew not to piss the new kid off.
"Whatever. You'll see on Saturday."
Naruto shook his head and turned to pay attention to Iruka. And he didn't know why, but the blonde didn't think that having Sasuke come to his house was such a bad idea.
Sasuke was looking forward to it.
So, eventually Saturday rolled around. Iruka had picked up all the food they'd need from the Sesame Inn and Kiba came to pick up the boxes about an hour ago. For some reason that kid loved cardboard boxes...something about imagination...
Anyway, it was 7 o'clock and there were four people getting ready to meet up with very important people.
And aside from that Naruto, Sasuke, Iruka, and Kakashi were also getting ready for dinner.
While Naruto and Iruka had the radio blasting and were throwing clothes at each other trying to find the right sock that matches to the left sock, Sasuke and Kakashi were going about it in a much more dignified manner.
"What the hell did you do with my black shirt?"
"Which one? In case you didn't notice we only have black shirts!!"
"Oh...right..."
So, miraculously half an hour later, Sasuke was knocking on Naruto's door standing with Kakashi bugging him (no doubt on purpose) about if his shirt looked okay.
After he asked for the fiftieth time, Sasuke turned around and glared at Kakashi.
"Yes, shut up!"
"Hello Sasuke!" Both men jumped and screamed (not girly screams though, manly ones) when Iruka opened the door.
"H-h-hey!! Iruka! Er..." Sasuke looked around for a second not sure what to say. Then he remembered the guy standing behind him. "Oh yeah! This is Kakashi! My guardian."
The older men shook hands and smiled at each other.
"Hello." Kakashi said, attempting a suave, James Bond kind of voice. He liked Iruka.
"Hiya!" Said Iruka, attempting to scare the James Bond impersonator away. Kakashi scared him.
"Sasuke! You're late!"
"By all of three-minutes! You can' t be mad at me for that!"
"Can so." Naruto came up to stand next to Iruka. "You know dad, it's kind of a key point in inviting someone to your house to actually let them in."
"Oh yeah! Sorry." They stepped aside and let the other two in. They took off their shoes and hung their jackets on a coat hanger.
"Are you hungry?"
"Starved." Yep, Kakashi was very close to whipping out the 'Shaken, not stirred' lines. Damn was Iruka in for it.
"Right."
Sasuke and Naruto stayed behind their guardians and the latter leaned over to his friend.
"He's weird."
"He's an idiot." Sasuke replied. "He likes your dad, but doesn't know how to go about it. He's stuck mostly to the opposite sex so far. It's just a new environment."
Inwardly, the brunette couldn't believe he'd though his dad was a genius at 'People Handling'.
"Anyway, hope you like Amazing Chicken!"
"Er...Sure. Let's just go eat."
And the evening was pretty much spent like that. They had a great dinner (which everyone commented on, though Naruto laughed any time someone brought up Iruka's 'Fantastic Cooking Skills' which got him a few new bruises on his shins.)
After dinner, Kakashi and Sasuke decided they didn't really want to leave and Naruto broke out the all time greatest 'Awkward Silence Repellent', also known as Avalanche 1080.
Sasuke kicked his ass.
"No way! I thought you said you've never played Gamecube before!!"
"I haven't."
"You are such a liar!"
"I am not."
"Are too!"
"Am not!"
"Are too!"
"Awww, look Iruka! A lover's quarrel." They heard laughter and jumped a mile apart. Neither had noticed how unbelievably close they'd come while arguing.
"Sasuke, it's almost midnight we've got to go."
"What? You're kidding."
"I don't kid."
"Good point." Both guests walked over to the door and got their shoes and jackets on. Iruka was saying goodbye to Kakashi and kind of ignoring Sasuke almost. Said boy smirked at his blonde friend.
"Told you they'd like each other." Naruto glared, defeated.
"Fine, so they like each other. What are we going to do about it?" Sasuke though on it for a minute and decided this would be the perfect opportunity to work on the bet.
"I'll talk to you at lunch on Monday. You have it fifth, right?"
"Yeah."
"Meet me by the bathroom on the sixth floor and we can plan it."
"Fine. I'll see you later!"
"Don't forget about your assignment Sasuke."
"Of course not. Bye." Then Kakashi and Sasuke left the house and started the walk back to their own. It wasn't too far, fifteen minutes at most.
"Great." Naruto said, rubbing his neck.
"What?" Iruka asked as he closed the door.
"We didn't have take-out tonight! That means dishes."
Iruka's finger flew to rest on his nose and his left arm shot in the air.
"Not it!"
"Damn you!"
"Love you too! Goodnight." Iruka walked up the stairs to his room and left his son to the dishes and some late night thinking.
Sasuke isn't half bad, despite his reputation. Cool.
And a block away Sasuke was rethinking this whole bet. Wouldn't it be better to just know Naruto without getting money? It's not like this could end well if the blonde ever found out.
But it was a thousand dollars! How could he pass that up for someone he's just met a week ago? Why would he even be thinking about that stupid dobe's feelings? He'd never thought of anyone else's feelings before and he wasn't about to start now.
This was a long one, huh? Thanks for reviewing and everything please review again!! (Or for the first time if you didn't last time...)