Gym again. Naruto sighed as he waited in line. Another thing in school that he hated was physicals. The second gym class of every year was always a physical.
"Next," a nurse, Shizune was her name, called out. Sakura waved to him and disappeared into the room. Each student was taken individually, for which he was very glad, so it normally took an entire period.
Naruto leaned against the wall. Even though most of the school wasn't required to know his true gender, the ones who did knew his situation. This included the nurses Shizune and Tsunade, who was actually his aunt. Sakura reappeared and walked past Naruto with another wave.
"Next," Shizune said, leading him in. He sat on the chair provided and waited for the women to proceed. An old woman, who looked surprisingly young for her age and had large breasts, knelt down beside him.
"Hey kid. How've you been?" she asked as she checked his reactions, hitting just below his kneecap.
"Alright. I have another jerk in my class this year, but it's nothing I can't handle," he replied.
"Bend over," she told him. "How's your mother treating you?" She ran her finger down his spine to check for any ingrowth.
"I think she's getting better. She still calls me Naruko though."
"I see. You really should work on telling her you want to be a boy again," she said.
"I-I know…" he said, looking away. She gave him a hard stare before continuing on in her examination of the boy.
"Stand on the scale."
"How's the…you know?" Shizune asked quietly.
"It's…alright. Only talked to me once just recently." Tsunade gave him a stern look as she measured his height.
"Are you still taking your medicine?" she asked.
"I hate that stuff," Naruto whined. She narrowed her eyes, and he raised his hands defensively.
"But don't worry. I'm taking it, just like I promised," he assured. She flicked his head, walking past him.
"Good. You're all done here, so you can run along now," she told him as she finished writing a few things down.
"Come visit us sometime," Shizune said as she led him out again. It all felt so…professional and yet, casual at the same time.
"Alright. Bye Shizune-san, obaa-san!" Naruto called as he left. Tsunade gripped her pencil at the "obaa-san" comment, breaking it in the process.
"That kid…" she said through gritted teeth as the next student came in. Shizune smiled and gave a nervous laugh.
"Itaaaachiii-kuuuuuuuun!!" Deidara called as he approached the Uchiha household. The blonde seemed to have no problem with simply bursting through the door, but the door apparently did. It didn't open when the blonde tried to push it open and walk in at the same time, which in turn, caused Deidara to walk into the door. From his position on the ground, he rubbed his forehead, mumbling a soft, "I-itaii…"
The large door opened slowly to reveal a tall man with long, jet-black hair that was tied back into a pony tail at the base of his neck, and strange looking crimson eyes. He wore black pants, a white button up shirt, and a pair of small, silver framed glasses on the bridge of his nose. The man looked impassive for the most part, but if one looked closely, they could see the corners of his lips twitching with amusement and his eyes showing a full out grin that he would never dare to wear on his lips.
"Deidara-kun…" he said in his low voice, catching the man's attention. Said blonde looked up with a grin, and then grasped the other's waist in a hug.
"Itachi-kun!! I missed you so much!" he cried dramatically.
"Yes, yes. I know you have Deidara-kun, but would you mind coming inside first before pummeling me with your death-grips? I think you may be scaring our neighbors with your blatant affection," Itachi said plainly.
"Oh, poo on them, 'tachi-kun. I don't care what they think. You didn't care what my neighbors thought that time that you-"
"Yes, well I don't much care for scaring my neighbors this early in my life here," Itachi said, cutting his lover off from explaining the more explicit part of their night to his new neighbors. Deidara sighed and stood up.
"Fine, fine. But you know it will happen sooner or later, un," he said seductively, adding his childish phrase that he only used around Itachi anymore.
"I'll take you up on that," the raven haired man said, leading his lover into his house, "but it'll have to be later."
Deidara pouted, but skipped on ahead of the other with as happy an air as he had in the beginning. He looked around the smaller house with a smaller smile.
"Decided you didn't need so much room?" he asked quietly.
"Something like that," Itachi answered in an emotionless voice, turning away from the other. Deidara frowned, finding no luck in catching the other's eye.
"Don't shut me out every time we come near the subject of your family, 'tachi-kun," he said.
"I'm not shutting you out."
"Yes you are. I've asked you about it on the phone before, I've asked you if you were all right, but every time I do, you clam up! You won't tell me anything Itachi!"
"You don't need to know everything Deidara. I've told you before, I'm fine, and I'm fine now too. Just leave it alone."
"But you're not! And it hurts me because I know you won't admit it! You shouldn't have to keep all of it in. You shouldn't have to bear all that sadness alone."
"Leave it alone, Deidara."
"Why should I? I care about you, I have a right to know how you're feeling, to know if you're hurting by yourself-!"
"I said leave it alone!" Itachi shouted. The blonde closed his mouth and glared at his lover. He wanted to know. He wanted to share the pain, even if he didn't understand. He wanted to be there for his love, but his love was being a stubborn ass. He wanted to show him he wasn't alone. Because no who's been hurt like this should have to suffer alone, he thought.
Silence stretched between the two. Blue eyes never wavered from crimson ones, both gazes equally intense. One said to back down, the other refusing with all his might. Itachi sighed, refusing to give in.
"Look, its-"
"No, don't even try to make an excuse," Deidara interrupted. "I care for you, and I know you know that. But until you realize that, I'm leaving. All I wanted to do today was make sure you were doing fine…"
With a shake of his head and a final sigh, the blonde turned on his heel and walked right back out of the house before Itachi could even call out to him. Sasuke approached Deidara, who looked about to cry any moment, but was holding it back to look strong.
"Hey…Deidara-niisan," he said slowly. "Is everything all right?"
The blond sniffed quietly and hurried on by him with a mumbled, "Hai, Sasu-chan."
Sasuke watched the blonde's back disappear. He'd known him for most of his life and rarely had he seen the happy man cry from something other than a movie or a book. Sighing apathetically, he walked into the house to see Itachi staring out into space in the middle of the living room.
"Itachi?" he called out. "Itachi!"
The man shook his head to clear his thoughts, and then looked down at his little brother.
"Is…" Sasuke started unsurely. He wasn't sure if he should even be asking. "Are you all right, nii-san?"
"Hai. I'm fine," Itachi responded, looking over Sasuke towards the door.
"Did you and Deidara have a fight?" Sasuke prodded, feeling a little braver. Although, he should have bit this particular question back. Itachi simply patted his brother's head, and then left for his office to work on papers. Maybe work would get his mind off things.
Sasuke simply stared after his brother. He knew Itachi had never been an emotional one, but nonetheless, his lack of response told him something was wrong, and he was sure he knew what it was.
Chemistry. Oh what a fun class…not! Especially when a certain pair had absolutely none of it. Sapphire glared at obsidian, and obsidian seemed to be winning, as it seemed to be doing a lot lately. Putting the two of them together was possibly the worst thing the teacher could have done, for their sakes and for the class's safety. Naruko pouted and turned away, silently admitting defeat…for now. She'd go for a rematch later in the day, as she always did.
"You two better get working, maggots, or you'll be behind the rest of the class. You've been here nearly a week and a half now, Uchiha-san, and you've been here longer still, Uzumaki-san. You should know I won't accept any sloppy work or late assignments," the teacher, Anko, said in her military-like voice.
"H-hai, hai Anko-sensei," Naruko replied. Sasuke may not have known, but she knew that woman was crazy. She really, really did not want to be stuck in detention with that psychotic bitch. And so, Naruko picked up a test tube, and re-read the instructions. Sasuke looked bored, but tried to help in completing their task so they could get back to hating each other. Hell if he was going to let some blonde chick get in the way of his getting a good grade in this class.
He mixed two of the solutions and swirled them together to see what color they would make so he could record it. Somewhere in the process, his thoughts had drifted off to his brother. He knew he'd had a fight with Deidara, but he didn't quite know the reasons. Itachi seemed to be isolating himself in his work more often now. Although it was a bit expected since he'd been given a lot of assignments at the department, along with…what happened to their parents…Sasuke sighed. He should try to apologize, in the very least, he thought.
But he knew his brother had too much pride and ego to give in and resort to that right away. But still…he had sort of been looking forward to having Deidara around more. His energetic air reminded him of his mother…
Suddenly he noticed Naruko about to mix two solutions together that were not supposed to be mixed at all. He grabbed the girl's wrist and stopped her just in time.
"You aren't supposed to mix them, dobe," he said calmly. She frowned.
"Yes I am. It says so right there!" she retorted, motioning to her paper.
"Look again. You have the wrong tubes, ursuratonkachi," he shot back.
"They're right, and don't call me that! Now stop bothering me so I can get this damn lab done!" she said, pushing him away. Quickly, she mixed the two chemicals together and began to swirl them together.
Don't blame me if it blows up in your face, he thought as he turned back to his own tubes. Inwardly, he wished it would, just so he could see the obnoxious girl's reaction. He glanced out of the corner of his eye to watch for any changes in the solution.
Naruko looked back at the paper, then at the labels of the chemicals she'd just mixed. Her eyes widened as she realized Sasuke-teme was right, and started panicking in her mind about whether or not it would blow up in her face. She bet Sasuke wanted it to, as she noticed him glancing over at her for any changes. She stuck out her tongue out at him, and looked back at her new solution again.
Nice job, baka. You just love to suck at life, don't you? Great. It was back. Yippee…
Shut up. I just misread it!
She looked at the tube. Nothing seemed to be changing much.
Yeah. But did anyone say anything about whether or not the chemicals were dangerous to mix? I don't think so.
Well it's not doing much now. She couldn't keep a bit of nervousness from that thought. Even if she could, the voice would know it. It's cold cackle of laughter broke out in her skull and resonated in her ears. She squeezed her eyes shut in an attempt to shut it out, but that only made it seem to echo louder. Opening them again, she sighed as it began to die off. She looked at the tube once more.
She was really starting to worry about whether it would blow up or something. Hopefully Anko-sensei wasn't so crazy that she would give them chemicals without telling them they were dangerous to mix improperly like the voice had suggested…hopefully. Finally the solution began to mix and form a color. Naruko stared in wonder, and Sasuke caught himself staring as well. The mixture had become rainbow colored.
"Nice job, Uzumaki," Anko said, appearing behind the teen to inspect the mixture. "What'd you mix?"
Naruko pointed to the labels she'd used. Anko wrote them on her notebook with a curt nod.
"Didn't know that could happen. Extra credit," she added. "Don't do it again though. If those were stronger chemicals, you probably could have blown the school up. Read the directions next time."
"Hai, Anko-sensei," Naruko said, a bit relieved. The teacher walked on, criticizing a student here and there. The blonde continued on in her work with more caution, reading each direction a couple times over before moving on to go through with it. Sasuke glared at her. How dare she be able to get credit for something so simple, that it took a very talented person to screw up. She noticed Sasuke's glare and threw him a smirk. He turned back to his work with a scowl. Baka dobe…
"Konichiwa Dei-chan!" Naruko called out as she entered the office. It was a Tuesday after school hours, and the blonde secretary was finishing the paperwork for the day. Naruko looked at the secretary and saw the barely concealed bags under the man's eyes.
"Hey chibi. Aren't you supposed to be home now?" he asked, never taking his eyes from the computer screen.
"Yeah, but I told mom that I'm visiting Tsunade-baasan," she replied, taking a seat behind the counter with the man.
"Then what are you doing here?" he asked.
"What? I can't visit you anymore Dei-chan?" she said with a pout. He laughed at her cuteness.
"I didn't say that. Just wanted to know why you suddenly felt like visiting little old me," he replied.
"Well, I thought you looked like you needed a smile. You look so worn out. Has anything happened?" she asked, voicing her concern.
"Aa, just a lot of work with transfer students and schedule screw ups. Happens every year," he told her with a small smile, hoping to sound sincere. In truth, Itachi had yet to talk to him again, and he was worrying more than ever now. He really shouldn't have stormed out like that. Of course he wouldn't have wanted to talk about it yet…
"Deidara-chan?"
"Huh?" he said, snapping back to the present.
"You spaced out for a minute," she told him.
"Oh..."
"…Is it something with Itachi-san?" she asked. Deidara froze. He slowly turned back to his monitor with a pained smile.
"We…got into a—small fight. I said some things I shouldn't have, and I wanted him to apologize to me for something he didn't do…" he explained. "We haven't spoken in almost two weeks."
"I'm sorry," Naruko said quietly, hugging the man. He patted the girl's head.
"It's alright. I've made up my mind to see him again this weekend if he hasn't come by then," he said. He chuckled a little. "With his Uchiha pride, I'm sure I'll have to be the one to go to him."
"Okay. I hope everything goes well with that then," Naruko said cheerfully. "Now I really do need to go see obaa-san, or she'll tattle on me to mom."
"Haha, alright chibi. See you around," the blonde man called as the girl skipped out of the room. She waved happily at the man and took off down the hallway. Deidara sighed and slumped in his chair with a hand over his closed eyes and a grin on his lips. Somehow, that girl really had a way of giving others confidence and putting a smile on their face.
"Konichiwa obaa-san!!" Naruto yelled as he entered the nurse's office, much like he had when he'd said hello to Deidara. A thick medical book came flying out of nowhere, connecting with the boy's head and knocking him over. Suddenly a very angry, and barely concealing it, Tsunade appeared over him.
"What have I told you about calling me that, brat," she growled.
"Aww, come on obaa-san! You know I don't mean it!" he whined.
"Yes you do, so stop it or I'll throw something even heavier at you," she threatened. She would do it too. You know how people get a rush of energy in a dire situation and are able to pick up a car? Well, he'd seen her pick one up when she was perfectly calm…when it had three people in it. He knew she wasn't afraid to use her strength if needed. She sat at her desk and began to rearrange papers in a folder.
"So what'd you want, brat?" she asked.
"Umm…nothing really. Just felt like popping in to say hello," he replied with a shrug. "And to say that…I'm…not going to be here on Thursday." She paused in her work for a second before continuing on.
"Go home right after school tomorrow, then. You know what'll happen if you don't," she said. He nodded solemnly and brushed his fingers over his whisker scars gently. It was a habit when someone hinted at that day. "I'll go with you on Thursday. I know your mom doesn't like to go, and I haven't gone to visit in such a long time."
"Thanks," Naruto said with a smile. He glanced up at the clock, sighed, and stood slowly. Tsunade threw him a questioning look over her papers. "Mom wants me home at four."
The woman nodded understandingly and stood as well.
"I'll drive you home so you're not running there. I don't really have much work left. I'll ask Shizune to finish it up for me. I know she won't mind," she said, stretching a bit. Naruto raised a brow with a smirk.
"You just want to dump all the work on her instead of doing it yourself, don't you?" he said slyly.
"Who asked you, brat?" she growled, slapping him upside the head as she walked past him to the door. He laughed, knowing he was right. They snuck out of the building, in case the brunette woman was wandering around the halls, so she wouldn't catch the slacking blonde. Poor, poor Shizune…
A/N: Hello again. Sorry this took even longer than last time…it did take longer, right? …yeah. Well, it's done now, so here you go. Just to let you know, I haven't had chemistry yet in my school career so it's safe to say I have no idea what I was talking about at that part. I just thought that would be pretty freakin' amazing if you could do that, so I put it in. And don't worry, you'll find out what they were talking about in that last part next chappie. It'll explain some more things about little Naru's past! Fun stuff there. Anywhos, I really hope you liked it. I'm very pleased with the response to this story so far. Please review, it means a lot. Trust me, if more review, it puts me on a guilt trip to hold off making the next chapter. Therefore, it will be done faster. So the moral of that story is…review!! Please and thank you!