You are one of God's mistakes

D e a d B o d i e s

The road before them was dark, only lit up by a few street lamps and the shine from some of the apartments on their sides. They were all sitting in a bus, driving through the dark streets of Otogakure. They were still in the outskirts, so once they would get in to the centre of Oto, they would see a very distinct difference.

While the east part, the one facing Konoha, was a cheap place filled with drug dealers, prostitutes and other people who couldn't afford a real place; the centre of Otogakure was a beautiful place. Or, Otogakure could be a beautiful place if one wanted it to be. People who was not from Otogakure often called it a ghost town.

Naruto couldn't agree with them more. The only people he could see on the streets were women and girls with too small clothes, and most of the windows to the apartments were crashed and replaced with carbon paper. Naruto looked away. He knew that his guardian had lived here before he adopted Naruto and moved to the calm suburbia in Konohagakure.

"Fuck! Check that shit out!" Kiba's brash voice made everybody jump and flinch in their seats. It was almost midnight, and he was probably the only one who was still fully awake. Not even Naruto, who always tried to be alert all the time, was feeling drowsy.

"Could you shut up, Inuzuka?!" Sakura yelled back. "Some of us are trying to sleep!"

Kiba muttered a few low curses before sliding down in his seat and staring out through the window. Naruto could see, through the corner of his eye, how Kiba elbowed Sasuke in the ribs, and soon a silent little fight was started.

Kiba was grinning madly as he got the Uchiha in a headlock and started tickling him. Sasuke bit his lip, not wanting to laugh in the presence of others, and scrunched his eyes shut to prevent tears from the torture.

They were soon interrupted by their one of their sleepy teachers. "Wake up, kids, we're soon at the camping place!"

Naruto looked to his right, and he gasped silently when he saw that narrowed jade eyes were staring intently on him. He had almost forgotten that he was sitting next to Gaara. He forced a small smile on his lips. Gaara didn't look tired at all, as he raked a pale hand through his red hair.

The bus soon came to a stop, and a wave of groans and moans met his ears. Slowly, all sleepy teens stood up and formed a line before the bus driver even got a chance to open the doors. Naruto glanced at Gaara, who was now standing up and waiting for the line to end before he walked out. Naruto followed his example, standing up and waiting not even a minute when the line was ended and everybody else was outside.

Gaara gripped Naruto's upper arm and didn't care when the blonde winced. "Don't get lost."

Naruto nodded, and Gaara let him go. He looked around, and immediately realised why Gaara had told him not to get lost. They were on a huge mat of grass, a few tents spread here and there. Street lamps were placed here and there, and there were a few signs that showed the way to the building with toilets and showers.

The bus driver helped the teachers give out the belongings and all of the green tents. Naruto waited to hear his name, but he didn't. Soon, Gaara appeared next to him again with a tent under his arm and two bags in his hands. Naruto recognised one of the bags as his own, and raised his brows in surprise.

"I got yours too," Gaara muttered. "Come on."

Naruto smiled and followed Gaara, feeling happy. They found a place near a street lamp, and managed to put up the tent without help from one of the teachers. Naruto's smile didn't disappear. Gaara kept staring at the small smile, and he felt pleased to know that it was he who had evoked it.

UAUAUA

Sasuke woke up with a pain in his lower back. He groaned and stretched a little. His toes met something that felt like skin. He slid his pale foot up the warm, skin-covered cylinder. He frowned, wondering what it could be. He opened his eyes. His usually narrow eyes widened when he realised that he just had slid his foot up Kiba's thigh.

The brunette was still asleep, and Sasuke breathed out. He did not want to be teased for this.

He sat up, rubbing sleep out of his eyes. He realised almost immediately why his back hurt. He had been lying in the strangest position ever, with one leg over Kiba and his head resting on Shino's shoulder. He shivered, wondering how Kiba and Shino could be sleeping in the same position they had fallen asleep in.

He searched around a little in the tent, occasionally brushing his foot against Shino's chest as he leaned over Kiba to open his bag. He found what he was searching for, and slumped back down on his arse. He slipped out of his pyjama pants and fought with his jeans for a while. It was amazing that Kiba and Shino didn't wake up as Sasuke finally pulled up his zipper with a grunt.

He sat, staring at his crotch and catching his breath. He was glad that the pain in his lower back had prevented a morning erection. He glanced at Shino, but didn't spot a tent under the sheets. He looked over at Kiba, and immediately blushed. It would be awkward for Kiba to wake up and having to take care of that!

Sasuke put on a new t-shirt and then crawled out of the tent. He stood on his feet in the damp grass, glancing over the camping place. He had been here once before, with his brother and Kisame when he was younger. They had gone fishing and done other silly things an eight-year-old wanted to do.

He stuck his arm back inside of the tent and roamed around until he found his bag. He grabbed it and slung it over his shoulder. He didn't bother to pout on his shoes, knowing that there would be nothing but grass until he reached the building with toilets and showers and after that it would be clean asphalt.

He started walking. He spotted a few girls sitting outside a tent, combing and brushing each others' hair. They giggled and waved when he walked past them, and he raised his hand in a silent greeting before speeding up slightly. He was sure that he looked stupid, with bed hair and drooped eyes.

He soon reached the little asphalt road that led to the white and grey building. He walked up to the brown door with the word Gentlemen engraved. He opened it and sighed in relief when he noticed that it was almost empty. There were stalls to his left – the toilets – and stalls to his right – the showers.

He walked straight up to the mirrors and groaned at the sight of himself. He looked just as horrible as he had expected. His hair was flat in the back and he had a few curls here and there in his bangs. He nearly whimpered, but the sound of a door being opened stopped him.

He didn't even bother to look who it was, and groped around in his bag for his flattener. He found it and plugged it in next to the mirror. He waited impatiently for it to get hot, which only took a few seconds. He brought it up to his neck and grabbed a test of raven-coloured hair, flattening it.

He almost dropped the thing when a blonde boy walked up next to him. Naruto didn't look as tired as he did, no, quite the opposite. Naruto's hair was a mess, true, but his eyes were as clear as water.

"Good morning," Naruto said lowly, only casting a quick glance Sasuke's way.

"Morning," Sasuke murmured back. He looked back in the mirror, and almost blushed when he noticed that he still looked ridiculous with his curly and flat hair. He proceeded to flatten all the curls and then took out the hairgel.

He glanced at Naruto before squirting some of the gel out in his hand. The other teen was brushing his teeth, not even looking up in the mirror above the washbasin. Those clear blue eyes were staring down, and Sasuke easily got the chance to gaze at the blonde. Sasuke started fixing his hair, and he didn't even bother to look in the mirror, because he was used to do fix his hair every morning.

Sasuke noticed that Naruto had the faintest traces of lines on his cheeks. Three thin, faint lines – like whiskers. His dark eyes followed as he watched Naruto spit and wash the toothbrush and his mouth with water. Before he could stop himself, he opened his mouth. "How did you get those?"

Naruto looked up for the first time since he had offered Sasuke a good morning. He blushed slightly when he noticed Sasuke's intense stare. He raised a thin, long finger and traced one of the scars. "These?"

Sasuke nodded. He unconsciously took a step closer to the other boy.

Naruto stepped back slightly, looking down on the floor. "Uhm…I've always had them. I can't remember why I got them. S-sorry."

Sasuke smiled slightly. He snorted. "No need to apologise." He then moved to putt his things back in his bags, and proceeded to take out his toothbrush and the tube with toothpaste. He glanced over at Naruto, who was now washing his face.

The sound of toothbrush against teeth soon echoed in the almost empty local.

UAUAUA

"When did you wake up?"

Sasuke smirked. "Earlier than you." He didn't say more as he watched Shino and Kiba throw their bags back in the tent. Shino and Kiba had been forced to wake up only a few minutes ago by one of the teachers, since they were going to the first museum today.

It was an art museum, and Sasuke had been there with Itachi when he was younger. Neither Itachi nor Sasuke had been interested in art, but their mother had wanted them to do things, and apparently going to museums was one of those things.

"Anything funny happened while we were sleeping?" Kiba asked as the three of them walked slowly towards the meeting place, where the teachers would have a name call. Sasuke shrugged. Kiba snorted. "Nothing at all? You boring bastard."

"I'm the boring one?" Sasuke snorted. "You were the one sleeping the morning away."

"Yeah." Kiba scowled. "And I didn't get a chance to eat breakfast!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "That's just plain mean. How unfair. You should write a complain letter to the teachers."

Shino sighed at their childish antics and stood a little further away from them in the group. Kiba let out a roar and threw himself at Sasuke, who let out a surprised yelp as he landed on the grass with a heavy brunette on top of him. "Damn it, Kiba!"

"I'm hungry!" Kiba laughed. "I'm going to eat you!"

"God," Sasuke groaned as Kiba sat on top of his stomach. "You're such a kid."

The brunette shrugged, not bothering to deny it. It was true, after all.

"Oi! Kids, get on the bus!" Iruka-sensei yelled. "Kiba-kun, get off Sasuke-kun and move your ass over here!"

Kiba got off Sasuke and held out his hand to the boy on the ground. He heaved Sasuke up, which wasn't much of a fight. Sasuke was quite thin compared to most of the males in Konoha, since sports were very important to Konoha's high school.

They got inside of the bus and found seats in the back. Kiba slumped down, while Sasuke's naturally grace appeared and he sat down as if he was the emperor of the world. Kiba shook his head and snorted. Sasuke sent him a vicious glare.

"I wasn't laughing at you," Kiba whispered upon seeing Sasuke's dirty glare. "Look over there. Iruka is talking to – what was his name again? He told you, didn't he?"

"Sannin Naruto."

"Yeah, he's talking to Sannin – and it doesn't look like it's a normal conversation!" Kiba laughed, clutching his stomach and then turning to dig his portable game consol out from his pocket, even though they were strictly forbidden. Sasuke looked over to the front.

Naruto was sitting there, a pained look on his face while Iruka yelled at him. Sasuke could hear what he was saying.

"And where were you?! I thought we would have to cancel the trip only to look for you!"

Sasuke scowled. The bus was still standing still, seeing as the bus driver had went to take a leak. He stood up, unsure if he was really doing it. It felt as if he was watching the scene from above, and that it wasn't he who was slowly walking up to the front. Kiba looked after him, a puzzled expression on his face.

"There you are!" Sasuke cleared his throat and walked up to Naruto. "I'm sorry that I couldn't show you to the bathroom, Kiba was being a pain in the ass again!"

Naruto and Iruka stared at him as if he was crazy. He probably was too. But it didn't stop him from holding out his hand to Naruto with a smirk.

"Come on. I saved you a seat in the back." Sasuke gripped Naruto's wrist and tugged him away from Iruka. "I'm sorry that I didn't show Naruto to the bathroom, Iruka-sensei." And with that, he pulled Naruto back to the empty seats.

He nearly shoved Naruto down on the other side of the aisle and then sat down next to Kiba. Naruto stared at him with wide, confused eyes. Sasuke looked back at Kiba, who had the exact same expression as Naruto on his face.

"Uuh…" He cleared his throat. "Iruka-sensei was being unfair – I couldn't just watch…yeah…"

He sunk down in his seat, failing to look like his normally graceful self, and promptly shut up. He was behaving strangely, and he knew it. It wasn't as if he wanted to help Naruto out of trouble and soil his own name in the process. He just felt like…it was unfair, that was it.

To Be Continued