A/N: I thought I updated this before I went to Uppcon! I'm so, so sorry! I really am!

( I have no idea what Orochimaru's last name is. I thought about borrowing Tsunade's last name, but I ended up using "Sannin". Original, huh? )

Btw, I had a great weekend (I'm married now); the pictures from Uppcon will be found at my homepage, which you will find on my profile. Check them out and comment!

You are one of God's mistakes

H o w I t A c h e s

P a r t I I

A groan filled the vaguely lit room. Naruto fluttered his eyes open, and he shifted a little in the bed. It was cold, and he noticed that the blankets were on the floor. Pain ran through his body as he moved a little to get a better view of the room.

He didn't let out a sound as he sat up, but he was screaming inwardly. He was ready to vomit, anytime now. Orochimaru was long gone, if the clock was any evidence. His guardian worked a lot, as a surgeon, and Naruto hadn't expected anything else.

He let out a meek, disappointed mewl as he noted what time it was. He was three hours late for school, so it was no idea to limp there anyway. It hurt so much, and he felt violated. It wasn't unusual for him to feel this way, so he recognized the feelings easily.

Disgust and hatred towards himself, were the feelings that were most evident. He slowly got out of bed, but as soon as his feet touched the cold floor, he regretted it.

"It hurts," he whispered to himself. He didn't dare to curse his guardian out loud, but his mind was screaming so loud that he was sure that his head would explode. He needed to take a shower, so he slowly and carefully made his way out of the bedroom.

He didn't stop, even though he was hurting, until he reached the bathroom. He was used to this routine now. When Orochimaru quit his job early, he would always add more marks on Naruto's lean body. And he would never wake his adopted son up the morning after for school.

He glared with bright eyes at his reflection. He knew that he was ugly, but was it really necessary for his guardian to make him even uglier and dirtier? Naruto's eyes didn't leave the bruises.

They, along with the dried blood on his thighs, were the only evidence that he had been raped the other night. Orochimaru never let him go to school the day after these kinds of … activities, even though his guardian was sure that he wouldn't say anything about this.

Naruto would never utter the word "rape" in someone's presence, he was sure of that. The one time he had done that, when he was very young, he had been beaten so badly that he hadn't been allowed to go outside for two weeks.

Naruto had once been a very social, easy-going boy that enjoyed spending time with friends. But after that first time, he felt so wrong. He had never felt so wrong in his entire life – which said a lot.

With a small moan of pain, Naruto stepped into the shower to wash the blood and semen away from his thighs. If he rubbed hard enough, would the bruises go away?

UAUAUA

"See you tomorrow, Sasuke-kun!" Sakura waved, with a big smile on her face, after the Uchiha as he walked towards where his mother's car was. He ignored her loud voice and got inside, still wondering how to approach Hyuuga Hinata.

It had been the only thing on his sixteen-year-old brain the last twenty-four hours. He had only seen her face briefly yesterday, and he had actually mostly stared at her chest, but today he had managed to get a glimpse of her face.

And she was beautiful.

She had just as pale skin as him, and her hair was a slightly more purple-blue – raven – colour than his. His hair had once been in that colour, until he grew up and his hair became black. If he continued in this rate, his hair would be just as grey as Itachi's.

"How was your day?" Mikoto asked sweetly as her youngest son got into the car. He merely nodded to her, his head filled with images of Hinata in her P.E. uniform. He hadn't even noticed that the clumsy, blonde kid was absent. "Did something special happen?"

"Not really, no." He shook his head a little. "How was your day, mother?"

They drove home, and Mikoto told her son about her day. She had unpacked everything in the kitchen and carried a few boxes up on the attic, and Itachi had gotten off school early, so he had helped her…for about ten minutes.

"When I left, Itachi stood in your room, Sasuke, so you should probably check if he left his spiders in your bed first." Mikoto informed. Sasuke made a face; he had experienced that when he was around ten years old – and he had never even looked at the spiders' way since then.

"If he left his stupid spiders in my bed again, I'm telling father." Sasuke gripped his schoolbag tighter, ready to defeat the eight-legged monsters. He hurried upstairs and threw his door open.

The first things he saw were boxes. Four of them, actually, along his wall. And then he saw Itachi, by his window. Sasuke glanced at his bed, but there were no little monsters on his sheets. "Itachi, get out of my room!"

Itachi winced in surprise. He didn't turn around, though. "I'm not leaving until he does."

Sasuke almost rolled his eyes. "What are you talking about, you big idiot? Get out of my room!" The youngest brother clenched his eyes shut, ready for a hit from his brother at the 'big idiot' comment.

After a while, he cracked on open, and relaxed. "The big idiot" was still staring out through the window. Sasuke walked up to him, jumping over a smaller box, and stopped by the window to see what Itachi was staring at.

He stared at the white house across the street. It wasn't ugly, nor was it beautiful – it was normal, average. Maybe a little bigger than the other houses down the street, but it was still looking…standard.

It wasn't until he looked at the garden that he noticed what Itachi was staring at. The grass was covered in a thin layer of snow, and a boy was sitting there. He recognized the blonde boy as his classmate – the clumsy kid. He smirked.

"Oi, why are you staring at Uzumaki?" He remembered that scary, unfriendly red-head talk about Kiba teasing 'Uzumaki'. It had to be the blonde kid, right?

That seemed to snap Itachi out of his staring. "You know him?"

"Nah. He's my classmate." Sasuke shrugged. "Why, interested?" Sasuke wiggled his eyebrows. Itachi hit him in the back of his head.

"Of course not, you little brat. Now, get out of here."

Sasuke walked out of the room, his bag still over his shoulder. It wasn't until he closed the door behind himself that he realized that he just had been forced out of his own room.

UAUAUA

Itachi frowned. It was raining. And the blonde kid was still sitting outside, in nothing but a t-shirt. It was already dark, and they had eaten dinner about two hours ago. When his mother was talking in the phone with an old friend, his father was watching the news and Sasuke was doing his homework, Itachi sneaked out in the hall.

He put on his father's coat, and then took his own jacket under his arm, so that it wouldn't get wet as soon as he walked outside. He took his mother's black umbrella and unfolded it before getting outside.

He almost slipped when he reached the wet asphalt, but managed to get his balance back before he made a fool out of himself. He then hurried over to the house across the street, and almost ran up to the blonde boy.

He was even more beautiful close up. Itachi found himself staring down in bright blue eyes that were filled with confusion. He held out the jacket, and kneeled down so that his umbrella would protect them both. The boy stared at the jacket, but silently took it.

"Why are you sitting here?" Itachi asked. He didn't need to raise his voice much, but the smattering as rain met the umbrella made him a little annoyed. It was ruining the moment.

The blonde boy shrugged. Itachi knew he couldn't be locked out, because he had seen a man in the windows from time to time, so Itachi knew that someone was at home. Besides, there was a silver car parked on the driveway.

"I'm Uchiha Itachi. What's your name?" He felt like a paedophile, for reasons unknown. It wasn't like he was trying to seduce the kid or make him do things. Itachi didn't even know why he was there in the first place, offering the kid a jacket! It was a very un-Itachi thing to do.

"Uzumaki Naruto," the boy answered. "N-no, I mean…Sannin Naruto."

"Sannin Naruto." Itachi repeated and sat more comfortably in the muddy, wet grass. He held the umbrella over them both and looked down on Naruto. The blonde boy was even more beautiful this close, but Itachi could clearly see the flaws on the otherwise perfect boy.

Sasuke said that Itachi criticized everything, because he was an "asexual, anti-social, people-hating bastard". Maybe there was a little truth in it, Itachi realized as he started pointing out the boy's flaws to himself.

To name a few things, the boy had discreet, almost invisible, scars on his cheeks. They were thin and bright, but Itachi could see them. The boy was also too skinny, and Itachi could see a collarbone peaking out from the shirt's collar.

Itachi could probably go on the rest of the day, writing down every little faulty on the boy. But he found himself noting the small, beautiful things too – which he usually never did.

Like how the wide, ocean blue eyes were staring at him with clear interest and curiosity. Or, how those plump and rosy lips were slightly parted as he took in Itachi's appearance as well.

"Naruto! Come inside now!"

They both turned in surprise. Itachi's eyes narrowed as he took in the elder man's exterior. He was tall and pale – just like Itachi. He also had long and dark hair – just like Itachi. Itachi shook his head mentally, deciding that his own hair was much silkier and prettier than this man's.

"Naruto, you're going to get sick." The man sounded a bit tired, as if he had tried to tell Naruto to come inside over a million times before. Naruto nodded, and the man closed the door again.

He moved to take off the jacket, but Itachi held up a hand. "Don't. You can give it to my brother in school tomorrow."

"Thank you." Naruto bowed his head a little before he stood up and ran inside. Itachi sat still, and he closed his eyes. No wonder that the Naruto-kid had been sitting outside like this – it was quite refreshing.

Itachi didn't get up until five minutes later, when the rain started to fade away slowly, and then he walked over to his own house in an unusually slow manner.

UAUAUA

When Naruto got inside, Orochimaru fisted his hair. Naruto let out a small whimper at the pain.

"And what, exactly, do you think you're doing?" Orochimaru hissed. "You can't go around and talk to people like that! Especially not the new neighbours!"

"Why not?"

The question earned Naruto a slap. Orochimaru gripped his hair tighter, and slapped again.

"Don't question me, Naruto. Do not talk to those people again. Understood?"

Naruto tried to nod, but the pale fingers in his hair didn't allow him. "Yes," he murmured.

Orochimaru let go. "Take a shower before you go to bed. If you're lucky I might even join you in a few minutes."

UAUAUA

Sasuke yawned before climbing out of his mother's car. He almost dragged his feet towards the school entrance. He had stayed up way too long, trying to get something out of Itachi.

The previous night Fugaku had come in to Sasuke's room and asked for Itachi. Sasuke was stilly dying to know where Itachi had been. Somewhere, in the back of his mind, Sasuke knew that he probably shouldn't bother – but he couldn't help to be curious.

Itachi wasn't very found of walks, or rain, so he wasn't outside – because he didn't like being outside either. Actually, Itachi didn't like anything…besides himself.

"Yo! Uchiha!"

Sasuke looked up just in time, before he fell to the floor with a thud. "Kiba," he growled. "Get off me!"

Kiba got off him. "Sorry, it's kinda slippery here." The brunet rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "So, what's up?"

"You know that blonde kid that you always mock?" Sasuke said. Kiba nodded. "He lives across the street."

"He does? Where do you live, anyways?" Kiba looked confused, as if he hadn't thought that the blonde also had to live somewhere.

"I live, like, fifteen minutes that way." Sasuke pointed to his right. "I believe it's called the Hoshi-area."

"You're kidding me!" Kiba burst out.

"I kid you not."

"Whatever, man. That's, like, awesome! … Oi, you're saying that Blondie lives there too?"

Sasuke nodded and stopped by his locker. "That's what I said. Just across the-"

"Excuse me?"

Sasuke and Kiba turned around, only to face the person they had been talking about. The blonde kid stared at them with wide eyes. "Yes?" Sasuke demanded.

"Here." The blonde held out a black, nicely folded jacket. "Itachi-san told me to give it to you."

"What is it?" Kiba asked.

"His jacket." The blonde said, before bowing his head a little at Kiba and Sasuke and starting to walk away. Sasuke found himself before the blonde could disappear.

"What's your name?" He yelled after the blonde.

The blonde looked disoriented for a few seconds, looking stupid all the while, before answering. "Naruto. Sannin Naruto." Then the blonde disappeared into the crowd.

Sasuke looked down on the jacket in his hands.

"Itachi? Isn't that your brother's name?" Kiba asked curiously. Sasuke nodded. "You think he slept with Blondie?"

Sasuke shook his head. "Nope."

"He's straight then." Kiba stated. Sasuke shook his head again. "Bi?"

"Asexual," Sasuke corrected. Kiba frowned.

"What the fuck is that?"

Sasuke smirked slightly, remembering the day Itachi came out to his parents as asexual. "He doesn't have sex at all. In fact, I don't think the narcissistic asshole can get it up."

"Oh…" Kiba seemed to think as he closed his locker. "What are you then? I don't have problem with homos. I have a friend that's gay."

Sasuke sent Kiba a glare. "I'm straight, thank you very much."

Kiba shrugged. "Just saying."

They got their things and then walked to the classroom, finding themselves in the music room along with the rest of their class in a few minutes.

The woman that taught music was tall and slender, and her dark hair fell down her shoulders. Sasuke forced himself to look at something else than the woman's breasts that weren't exactly hidden.

"That's Yuuhi Kurenai." Kiba whispered. "Nice body, eh?"

Kurenai closed the door and walked over to the black board. "Before we start today, I was asked to inform you about the class trip. The eighteenth January, eight o'clock, you are all going to Otogakure!"

There were groans heard in the class. Sasuke frowned – he didn't want to go to his old hometown!

"What are we going to do there?" Sakura whined.

"Well, I'm not coming." Kurenai smiled, as if she was very happy with the fact that she wasn't one of the teachers coming on the trip. "But you are going to visit a few museums and stay at a camp – the school will, of course, provide with tents."

Hands immediately flew up in the air, and Kurenai nodded towards Ino, whose hand almost touching the ceiling.

"How big are the tents? Can we pair up with anyone we want to? Boys and girls, mixed, right?" Ino babbled.

"The tents are big enough for three of you to fit in. Boys and boys, and girls and girls – no mixing! You can choose your own partners, but only if you see to that no one will be without!"

Sakura and Ino almost jumped to each other, and Sasuke glanced towards Kiba. Kiba seemed to get the silent question from Sasuke, and grinned.

"We'll share a tent, won't we, buddy?" The brunet gave Sasuke a small punch on the upper arm. "It's okay if Shino share with us, right?"

Sasuke nodded, looking towards Aburame Shino. He was a silent guy that always wore sunglasses. Sasuke had never really talked to him. He didn't know why, but he glanced Naruto's way to see if the blonde had a friend to share tent with too.

The freaky red-head, Gaara, was sitting next to Naruto, and Sasuke took it that they were going to share a tent. He wondered if anybody would dare to share tent with them. Gaara looked homicidal and Naruto was…well, Naruto was an outcast.

UAUAUA

"Oi, Uchiha, I need to go now if I'm gonna catch the bus." Kiba got up from Sasuke's bed, and gave the Uchiha a two-fingered salute.

"I'll walk you to the bus stop." Sasuke stood up and followed his friend out of the room. They had hung out for hours now, doing nothing and everything. They had mostly talked about the hot girls in their school, and the class trip to Otogakure, of course.

"What's up with that place, anyways? Is it ugly or something?" Kiba asked as they got dressed to meet the chilly wind outside.

"No, it's not ugly. I think it's the people living there that make your classmates not wanting to go there," Sasuke said. "It's an 'upper class' community, and everybody thinks that they're better than the other."

"Oh. I see." Kiba nodded and they walked outside.

They walked over the street, and Kiba actually slipped on the icy asphalt. "Fuck, that hurt!" He laughed as he got up on his feet again with Sasuke's help.

They both froze, in the middle of the street as the door to the house in front of them was opened with a harsh movement.

"And stay outside until you've learned to shut up!"

They stared as the clumsy blonde from school was shoved out of the house. The door was slammed shut in the blonde's face.

"Uhm, Sasuke…are you coming?" Kiba tugged a little in Sasuke's jacket. Sasuke snapped out of his staring, just the moment Naruto turned to face them. His cheek was red, as if he had been slapped – but that wasn't what Sasuke or Kiba thought of when they saw his face.

His otherwise normal lips were plump, and his lower lip was a bit blue – maybe purple.

"Let's go!" Kiba tugged one last time and finally got Sasuke to move. "Just ignore the moron."

Sasuke nodded, and they both hurried to the bus stop.

To Be Continued

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