This Is How A Heart Breaks

By Jasmine Starlight

Full Summary: Yaoi/het. Neji/Sasu Sasuke's slightly mordant; Itachi just might be a sociopath. Maybe Gaara is from a broken home. Neji just may be in the closet. Maybe Naruto might be lonely. Maybe Kabuto needs someone to love. Maybe Kakashi might need someone to hold. Maybe Sakura might need real friends. Maybe Temari needs a reality check. Maybe Kankurou needs anger management. Maybe Jiraiya needs Tsunade. Maybe Orochimaru needs them both. Maybe Hinata needs freedom. Maybe Kiba might need acceptance. Maybe Ino needs confidence. Maybe Tenten needs medication. Perhaps Shikamaru needs love. Shino, quite possibly could need companionship. Maybe Tayuya is hiding behind her personality. Maybe Haku fears rejection. Maybe Kimimaro desires friendship. Maybe Lee is crying out for attention. Maybe Obito needs compassion.

Pairings: Neji/Sasu…Kimimaro/Haku…Obito/Kakashi eventual…then Itachi/Kabuto…Tenten/Kankurou…Naruto/Gaara Orochimaru/Jiraiya/Tsunade…Open to suggestions. Shikamaru/Temari…Kiba/Ukon! Zaku/Kin… Hinata/Shino…Tayuya/Lee. Dosu/Kidoumaru…Zabuza/Haku…then…Zabuza/Kisame! Shisui/Sakon! Ino/Sakura.

There is a lot of gay mentoring in the chapter. Just to warn you. And I started using text messaging and emails as well as IM conversations.

The formatting on is gay and wont show the email adresses for my email convo. Itachi starts and is selfloathersunite at konoha dot net kabuto replies and is opaqueglasses at sound dot net.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

LONELY NO MORE

"Oh star fall down on me
Let me make a wish upon you
Hold on, let me think
Think of what I'm wishing for

Wait, don't go away.
Just not yet.
Cause I thought,
I had it.
But I forget.

And I won't let you fall away,
From me.
You will never fade.
And I won't let you fall away.
From me.
You will never fade away from me.

---Paramore; Oh Star

§§§§§§§§§§§

Itachi bit his lip worriedly as he stared blankly at his computer screen.

-----Original Message-----

Kabuto,

You haven't been in school for weeks, where are you? What did you have to do for your father that's taking this long? You're scaring me. I hope you get this and I hope you reply quickly so I don't have to come and find you myself. Seriously though. Come back.

Itachi

Itachi had written Sincerely Itachi, then Love Itachi, then Sincerely Itachi again before forgoing the whole business.

He had never had this much trouble writing an email before. It was disconcerting.

§§§§§§§§§§§

Kabuto smiled when he received Itachi's email. Oh Itachi-kun. You're so cute sometimes. He scratched at his bandages before tapping out his reply.

-----Original Message-----

Itachi,

Don't worry. I'm alive and well. I need to finish my job and I'll be back at school soon. I hope I haven't missed that much. Help me catch up?

:D

Love, Kabuto

§§§§§§§§§§§

Itachi frowned as he read Kabuto's reply and tried to ignore the way his heart soared when he read the Love, Kabuto part. It's nothing. He's being friendly, we're friends. That's it.

-----Original Message-----

Kabuto,

You still haven't told me where you went. Seriously. I'm not going to tell the whole world. I can keep secrets you know.

Sincerely, Itachi

Itachi winced at his ending before sending it.

§§§§§§§§§§§

-----Original Message-----

Itachi-kun,

If I could have told you. I would have already. It's cute that you worry so much. Relax. I don't want your beautiful face to be marred by wrinkles. I'm fine.

Kabuto

§§§§§§§§§§§

The one that Neji expected to see cornering him at his locker was Sasuke but instead it was Sakura.

"Can I help you?" he asked warily as the girl proceeded to stare at him for five minutes and say nothing.

"I need your help with something." The pink haired girl said quickly as they walked to their only class together, PreCal.

"What can I do for you?"

§§§§§§§§§§§

"Any news on the boyfriend front oh dear cousin?" Sasuke asked boredly, as the pair sat in their usual secluded booth in their usual coffee place.

"Not really. I've started talking to him online." Shisui said, tearing into a scone.

I'm really horny. Why is this taking so long? Shisui is soooo whiny. And he thinks he can be seme. I feel bad for Sakon. I wish I could be doing someone right now. Instead of listening to Shisui whine about his love life. God this sucks.

"Well do you talk to him in person?" Sasuke asked robotically bending his straw back and forth just to pass the time.

"We don't have any classes together."

"Lunch, what about lunch?" Sasuke queried resting his head on his folded arms.

"I have English that period."

"I guess you better start cutting class if you want anything to happen." Sasuke said boredly, fishing around in the pocket of his hoodie to find his cell phone to check the time.

1 NEW MSG

From: Neji

I'm bored. Where are you?

To: Neji

Sorry, I'm busy now. Familial piety and all that. I'll call you later.

From Neji:

I had the weirdest day. I need to tell you about it.

Sasuke sighed and closed his phone. "Shisui—I really think that all you need to do is ask him out and take it from there. You really don't need a mentor for this. I didn't. And all went well. Well relatively."

"You have a boyfriend?" Shisui asked in disbelief. The runt? Who is the bastard? I'll kill him.

"Sort of." Sasuke said evasively, avoiding Shisui's eyes.

"Who?"

"Like I'd tell you—poster boy for the closeted. Maybe when you're on my level I will deign to release such information."

Shisui threw his scone at Sasuke.

"Is that anyway to treat your mentor?"

§§§§§§§§§§§

"Gaara-kun, do you like Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked suddenly as they both lay on the glass behind school. The building had become deserted within twenty minutes of the last bell.

"I thought we were meeting to talk about our online buddy and his troubles?" Gaara asked defensively.

"Well, since he hasn't been online lately. We have no leads. So I figured I'd ask you a blunt personal question in case it was the right one that no body had ever asked before so even if you wanted to talk about it you couldn't."

"That is the longest thing you have ever said to me." Gaara said.

"You're avoiding the question." Hinata said gently fingering her blue studded belt; she'd grown rather fond of it lately.

"I plead the fifth." Gaara said obliquely.

"So you do like him." Hinata said accusingly. "And he's too dense to realize it. And you're too heartbroken to do anything about it." She said knowingly.

Gaara looked at her suspiciously, "I've read manga on the subject. I'm very knowledgeable. You can ask me anything." Hinata said with more confidence than Gaara suspected she had.

"So you've figured out my secret. What do you intend to do with this information?" Gaara said blandly, rubbing a dandelion stalk between his fingers.

"Help you of course. That's what friends are for." Hinata said cheerfully. "I have some books you can borrow—to draw ideas from, it's always good to have research you know."

"Books?"

"More like manga. But it's still helpful. And trust me. You need the help."

"Gee thanks."

"No problem Gaara-kun." Hinata replied blithely ignoring his blatant sarcasm and marked due to his severe sexual repression.

§§§§§§§§§§§

Chat #45641977422 has been opened

RedAsBlood09666 has entered room

UZImaki01 has entered room

RedAsBlood09666: Hi Naruto.

UZImaki01: Yo!

RedAsBlood09666: Are you busy tomorrow? Like after school?

UZImaki01: Nope. What did you have in mind?

RedAsBlood09666: Er…maybe we could go someplace. Like the ramen shop.

UZImaki01: SUGEI! Is anyone else coming:D

RedAsBlood09666: Uh. I thought it might just be the two of us.

UZImaki01: That's cool. Is everybody else busy?

RedAsBlood09666: Not exactly. You see. I thought it could be a date?

UZImaki01: A date? Like handholding and kissing and flowers and chocolate kind of date?

RedAsBlood09666: Um. If you want it to be. I figured we could just go for ramen.

UZImaki01: That's cool.

RedAsBlood09666: Yeah.

Uzimaki01: Hey Gaara?

RedAsBlood09666: Yeah?

UZImaki01: I like you a lot. But I didn't know what to do about it. I mean, you are a really good friend to me. And a lot of the time I didn't deserve it.

RedAsBlood09666: Um. No problem. I guess.

END

YoungSasuke- Not so much Nejisasu this chapter. Sorry

Dragon77- Thanks.

Taiy-Chan- :D Thanks.

Niver- Why thanks. And I might put that pairing in. Just maybe.

DancingDragonBlaze- Ah. You left me many a review. It was rather mind boggling. Dear—a transvestite is a man who dresses like a woman or vice-versa.

Limecandy- That's the point with the usernames. Thanks.

e-rabbit- I hate to say it but that's what happens when a fandom gets too big. Thank you.