Disclaimer: Y'all better thank the dust mites in your hair that I don't own it. If I did, there would be no more children born in Konoha. Why, you ask? Everyone would be gay, of course! x3
Pairings: SasNar (eventually… give it some time.)
Warnings: Mature language and yaoi later on. Oh, and fluff. Can't resist the fluff. It's what fills the pillows you sleep on at night. Who says no to that crap?
Chapter 5: Bored of Education
"Why are you so interested in the Uchiha?"
Naruto turned to look at Gaara, slightly taken aback by the question. "What?"
"Why are you so interested in him?" Gaara repeated patiently. "He's a heartless sonnuvabitch who doesn't spare anything a second look."
"Gaara, knock it off." Naruto crossed his arms. "He's cool. What's wrong with me liking him?"
The red-head didn't say anything but his jaw locked and his mossy green eyes narrowed slightly as they walked into English. Naruto didn't miss the way Gaara sent I'm-goan-kill-you looks at Sasuke as they took their seats. Nor did he miss the way Sasuke replied with a holier-than-thou smirk.
He resisted the urge to sigh. Really, what was with those two?
He looked up when he saw that Iruka-sensei had come over to stand by him.
"Good morning," the teacher greeted amiably.
"Uh. Hi?"
Gaara momentarily looked away from the Uchiha to investigate what was going on. His eyes took in Iruka calculatingly as he no doubt determined whether or not to intervene and tell the man to buzz off.
"I'd like to speak with you, Naruto. Mind going into the hall for a second?"
Naruto blinked a few times, baffled as to why a teacher would be interested in speaking with him. "Uh. Sure?"
Gaara said nothing as the two walked out of the class but he did send a Glare of Promised Pain after Iruka-sensei as a warning not to do anything stupid to Naruto. He watched until the door closed and then turned his glare over to Sasuke.
Sasuke was looking right at him, smirking.
Gaara resisted the urge to snarl as his eyes narrowed even more. "I will not say this again, so listen up, Uchiha." Even though he spoke in monotone, it was easy to pick up the animosity that the words held. "Stay. The fuck. Away. From him."
Sasuke's smirk stayed in place only now his eyes danced with amusement.
"What are you, his guard dog?"
The entire class quieted at they nervously watched the exchange. They all knew that no-one messed with Gaara or Sasuke. Ever. Ever in the history and future of ever. Gaara was perfectly capable of turning someone inside out if messed with and Sasuke…
The rule of thumb was to never upset the Uchiha. For everyone's sake.
Gaara scowled. "If that's what I have to be to keep you away, then so be it."
"Don't you think that Naruto should be the one to decide whether or not he wants to be near me?" Sasuke inquired coolly, smirk still in place.
Gaara's eyes darkened to an emerald shade with anger. "He has enough goddamn problems to deal with. Adding yours on top of his load is uncalled for. You will stay away from him."
The Uchiha just continued to smirk in his high and mighty manner, thoroughly enjoying the argument. His shoulders lifted in a quick up-down hint of a shrug. "I don't think that you're the one to make calls like that, now are you?"
Sasuke had to admit that he was impressed, though—he didn't even see Gaara move.
But he did feel his back slam up against the plaster of the wall. His head snapped back with the velocity and he blinked when a hot, prickly pain tingled the back of his skull.
All right. Not cool.
He narrowed his dark eyes at the red-head. "I don't know who you think you are that you think you can just hang out with Naruto like you're… chums or something," Gaara said slowly. His voice was low and unemotional. "But I'm going to tell you this right now. Don't you dare go near him again. I can assure you that I will personally see to it that if you don't, I will bust you up so that not even the crows would want to make your acquaintance."
Sasuke snorted, which necessarily wasn't the smartest thing to do at that point. Gaara was dead serious on protecting Naruto from whatever he thought/knew/foresaw the Uchiha doing.
"I have every right to be around him when and if I want to. This is completely his decision." A mischievous glint flashed in his dark eyes momentarily before disappearing. "And he sure wasn't complaining last night when—"
"That's quite enough, Uchiha," Gaara hissed, effectively cutting Sasuke off.
Despite the fact that almost every female in the vicinity was a mad-mad-mad Uchiha Sasuke fangirl, the female population in the room couldn't help but swoon over the fact that the Shukaku no Gaara was facing down the Uchiha Sasuke over the new, admittedly slightly adorable blond.
"What?" Sasuke inquired innocently. "If you would've let me finish, I would've said that he wasn't complaining about my company last night when his power went out." He paused for a second before raising a brow. "What did you think I was going to say?"
Gaara tightened his grip on the Uchiha. "Are you hanging out with him just to get to me?" he growled. "Just leave him. A. Lone. Naruto won't tolerate being used like that. And even if he doesn't do anything about it, I will."
Sasuke lifted his hand and grabbed a hold of Gaara's wrist, applying pressure and slowly forcing Gaara to loosen his grip. "What I do is none of your concern," he replied evenly in a cold voice. "If I choose to use him to get at you, that's my business."
Gaara lifted his free fist to deliver a good blow when the door opened and the startled voice of Naruto came from across the room. "Gaara! What are you doing? Stop it!" And then he jumped over a desk and forced himself between Sasuke and Gaara.
"What the hell is going on?" Naruto demanded. He took no notice in the fact that his back was flat up against Sasuke's chest and that his arms were raised up so that it looked like he was caging the Uchiha away—
"He was protecting his boyfriend!" star-struck, albeit slightly jealous, fan girls would squeal to any listening ear later on. Said fan girls seemed to not notice that Sasuke almost immediately shoved Naruto away. They also overlooked that fact that it was then Gaara who yanked the blond behind him, shielding him from the Uchiha.
Because, come on, how romantic was that?
—as he chastised them both like they were transgressing toddlers. However, neither Gaara nor Sasuke were actually listening to him. Both were far too busy hosting a Glare-of-Doom contest.
It was hard to tell who was winning.
The oblivious blond didn't take note that he was being almost completely ignored and continued his rant. "—to see what? You two hooligans snarling and growling at each other like some sort of—!"
"Naruto," Iruka interrupted. "I'll handle this."
Naruto took a steadying breath but quieted long enough for Iruka to speak.
"Sasuke, Gaara," Iruka said. "You both will serve detention this afternoon with me and Naruto."
Every female in the room let out some sort of mourning sound at the thought of their precious-darling Sasuke-kun serving his first ever detention—"all for that blond transfer!"
And that was how Naruto became the target of the SUFA lynches.
Surprisingly, it was almost silent.
Almost.
The rhythmic thump, thump, thump, thump, thump, thump, thump, thump acted as background music for the incredibly tense atmosphere.
There were four people in the room: Iruka, Naruto, Gaara, and Sasuke.
Iruka sat in the front of said room in the teacher's desk, Naruto sat in a student's desk near the middle of the room, and Sasuke and Gaara sat on either side of the blond, glaring over his head at each other.
Thump, thump, thump, thump, thump.
Naruto continued to hit his forehead against the cool wood of his desk, bored completely out of his mind. An hour of sitting in a room doing nothing was way too much for him.
Thump, thump.
He wasn't sure just how long he'd be able to keep himself from going bonkers.
Thump, thump.
Though he had to admit it was nice to have Sasuke and Gaara for company. Though… it wasn't all that nice having them together in the same room; definitely not.
Thump, thump, thump.
Why was it that time seemed to be so plastic during times like these? At that moment, Naruto would swear to his grave that at least a half an hour had passed. In truth, it had barely been ten minutes. No lie. He checked. Profusely. Every ten seconds for a while there, in fact. It took every ounce of control he had not to look back up at the clock once again.
Thump, thump.
The air almost seemed to be charged with electrical particles and the blond would bet his left arm that his two wonderful companions were doing everything possible to resist the urge to jump up and tear the other one to shreds.
Seriously. What the hell happened between the two in the past?
Thump, thump.
And he was not going to take Gaara's cryptic "We have always hated each other" as an answer. And "We have clashing personalities" wasn't going to cut it either.
Nope. Nuh-uh. Don't think so, buddy. He was going to get a straight answer.
Thump, thump, thump.
If the two didn't kill each other first, that is. The air around him was still charged and the fine hairs on the back of his neck stood on end causing small goose bumps to flood his skin.
His rhythmic motion of picking up his head and letting it fall back to the desk's surface grew faster as he grew slightly nervous at the tension in the air.
ThumpThumpThump.
The two weren't going to just jump up and leap at each other… were they?
Thumpthumpthump.
Well, in the worst case scenario, at least Naruto knew CPR… although the thought of having to use such a skill was not appeasing in the least.
"Naruto." Gaara's voice made the blond froze, poised above the desk with barely an inch between his forehead and the cool wood. "Stop it."
Thump.
His forehead fell down and connected with the surface of the desk and he slowly, slowly picked his head back up again. There was no way Gaara was going to destroy his only source of entertainment—
"Dobe. Don't even think about it."
Naruto stopped and slowly sat up, blinking in surprise at the raven. "… Eh?"
"You're going to give yourself a concussion," the dark haired teen pointed out.
Naruto sighed and leaned back in his chair dejectedly. He looked at the clock and saw that it had only been a little over ten minutes. He swallowed a groan.
"Naruto."
The blond looked over at Gaara questioningly.
"You won't listen to me, but you'll listen to the Uchiha?" Gaara questioned lightly. "Does something about that seem off to you? You'll listen to him, but not your best friend?"
Naruto rolled his eyes and opened his mouth to reply but Sasuke beat him to it.
"I guess that just shows who he likes more."
The blond whipped his head to give the Uchiha a smoldering look. I'm going to kill you later, he mouthed to the raven before turning back to his fuming friend.
"Gaara—"
"Or maybe he just doesn't like you," Sasuke continued, ignoring Naruto who was fervently waving his hands in a 'stop' gesture.
"Bastard!" Naruto hissed. "Stop it, will you? You're being an ass—Gaara, no, wait, sit!"
The red-head paid no heed to the spazzing blond and advanced toward Sasuke. The fact that there were three rows of desks separating them didn't perturb him at all.
He just walked right over them. Literally.
Naruto sputtered before scrambling out of his seat and latching onto Gaara's arm. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Let's all just freeze and re-evaluate this predicament."
"You have three seconds to let go of me."
Naruto didn't even pay heed to the 'threat.' "How about we all just sit down and discuss our differences? And then at the end we can go all happy, hold hands, and maybe, just maybe if you're both really good, we can sing Lean on Me and depending on the mood and how much time we have left, we can squeeze in We are Family." He smiled hopefully at both of them.
"… You will let go of my arm right now."
"I don't like music," Sasuke reminded.
Naruto let go of Gaara and threw both of his hands up in the air. "Oh, fine! Be that way! We'll sing that dratted song that the Purple Lord of Darkness sings all the time—I Love You. Everyone, and I mean everyone, knows that song, whether or not you like music."
There was a collective silence and Sasuke raised a brow while Gaara remained unmoved.
"When you say Purple Lord of Darkness, you're talking about… the purple reptile, no?" Gaara finally broke the silence by asking.
"Yeah, Baa-Baa-Black-Sheep or whatever his name was." Naruto nodded in agreement.
"It's Barney," Gaara impassively informed him.
"Yeah, yeah. That dude. So how about it? Whose up for a round of I Love You?"
Iruka had to admit that while he had been skeptical in the beginning, the book was indeed amazing. The Memory Keeper's Daughter was too damn adorable for words. (1) It was written to make every little aspect, the good and the bad, beautiful and
"I love you…"
everything about it was just touching. While there was tragedy in it
"You love me…"
there was also some humor. He could very easily see why
"We're a happy family…"
it was a bestseller. When he first saw the book, he had been very skeptical
"With a great big hug…"
and had assumed that it was a huge sap story—which it was, but it was a cute
"And a kiss…"
sap story. And know what? Iruka no longer cared how sappy or sugary sweet it was. He always had been
"From me to you…"
somewhat of a softie. Besides, who didn't like sickingly sweet fluff every now and then?
"Won't you say you love me, too?"
Iruka blinked and looked up. He had a habit of getting so involved in reading that he locked out everything that he heard or that happened around him, but he was sure he had heard…
"Alright, guys. I sang it for you, now we're all going to join in!"
He saw Naruto standing between the Uchiha and the red-head. While his two companions were looking at him like he had just suggested they all spend the rest of their time frolicking around in some frilly, pink dresses and proclaim their undying love of the world and everything in it, Naruto was beaming happily. He was also completely oblivious to Sasuke's and Gaara's pained expression.
"It's short, sweet, and simple," the blond assured. "Ready? Here we go!"
He took a deep breath and began singing in a serene voice.
"I love you, you love me… Gaara, where are you going?"
While Gaara's expression remained passive, his eyes briefly closed as he most likely cursed out Naruto's stupidity. He then turned and stepped over the desks and took his seat again, burying his face in his arms (probably trying to block out the atrocious 'music').
Naruto stared at his friend for a few seconds before shrugging and turning back to the Uchiha. "Oh, well. His loss. As we were, bastard. We'll take it from the top." Naruto cleared his throat and Iruka noted with some amusement that horror flashed across the youngest Uchiha's face for a second.
"I love you," the blond began, his voice once again serious and serene as he sang. "You love me. We're a happy family. With a great big hug and a kiss from me to you, won't you say you love me, too?"
"Dobe," Sasuke began, sounding slightly choked.
"Why aren't you singing, bastard?" Naruto demanded.
Sasuke paused for a second as he thought up of something that would excuse him from having to sing. "… Because I'm too busy… 'enjoying' your song."
Gaara was once again ready to kill the Uchiha when Naruto beamed and broke out into an encore. And Sasuke knew he signed his death warrant when Naruto decided to sing for the entire rest of the detention.
The blond needed something to do, after all.
Naruto rubbed his temples as he reigned in his temper. "No." Gaara continued to stare at Naruto so he repeated a little more forcefully, "No."
"Why not?" Gaara (not so) innocently inquired.
"Because you two are going to start fighting or something!" Naruto looked over at Sasuke and then gesticulated wildly to get his point across.
Gaara also looked over at the Uchiha with a sour face before looking back to Naruto. "You would rather walk home with him than with your best friend?"
"I'd rather make it home with everyone in one piece," Naruto dryly remarked.
Gaara crossed his arms and the blond knew that it would take a lot of bickering before he gave up. With a long-suffering sigh, he snapped, "Fine! But if either of you do anything to instigate a fight, I will personally run you both through a blender!"
The red-head smirked and sent a condescending look to Sasuke.
Naruto mentally cursed out his ability to make persistent, stubborn friends as the trio started off down the road. Only a few seconds passed before he gave a haughty sigh and demanded, "Isn't anyone going to even bother to make some small talk?"
"I didn't know the Uchiha lived this way," Gaara drawled.
Naruto scrunched his brows in confusion and looked between the two. If he saw the very peeved look Sasuke was shooting at Gaara, he totally ignored it. "Eh? Really? Where did you… uh, think he lived, then?"
Gaara's mossy green eyes flicked over to the raven and a holier-than-thou smirk that Naruto thought only Sasuke could pull off pulled at his lips. "Well, I was under the impression that he lived somewhere more… elegant."
Naruto was lost. "Elegant?"
"A mansion," the red-head clarified, going back to being indifferent.
Naruto wrinkled his nose and stared into the space in front of him. "A mansion, Gaara-chan? Are you fo' shiz?"
"Why would you have presumed such a thing?" Sasuke cut in, his voice clipped.
Gaara sneered. "I didn't presume anything, Uchiha."
Sasuke's impossibly dark eyes narrowed and he opened his mouth to give a scathing retort only to be cut off by Naruto.
"Oh! Oh, forshizzle my nizzle!" the blond exclaimed, pointing a finger at something across the busy street.
Sasuke lifted an eyebrow. "What's up with the new vocabulary?"
Naruto showed no signs of hearing him. "Gaara! Gaara, Gaara, Gaara, Gaara, Gaara! Do you see what I see!?"
"I don't need to see it to know what it is." Gaara grabbed a hold of Naruto's arm. "But nonetheless, don't go running across the road like the stupid idiot you are."
Naruto anxiously twisted in Gaara's grip. "But- but- but!"
"No buts about it," Sasuke agreed. "You would run blindly across the intersection and get hit, with your luck. For once, I have to say I agree with Sabaku." He spat the words out and looked almost disgusted at the confession.
"But it's a ramen vendor! You can not keep me from ramen forever! Fo' shiz!"
Sasuke barely kept from closing his eyes and rubbing his temples in an attempt to fend off an incoming headache. "Have some when you get home."
"Oh, I will!" Naruto promised. "I'm also going to have some right now!"
Sasuke had never had cardiac arrest. He never really expected to have one either. In his opinion, it was nearly impossible for an Uchiha to suffer a heart attack. They were brought on by stress, bad cholesterol, a history of heart problems in the family, bad diet, and high emotions.
Sasuke had never experienced any of that. He knew how he was going to die, and it was not going to be from keeling over dead as something as small as the tip of a needle clogged his arteries and forced his heart to stop. No, he was going to live to be an old codger—but not too old; he wasn't sure how immune to arthritis his amazing heritage was—living in a million-dollar beach house, married to a lovely person. He was going to go sitting on a rocking chair, rocking slightly in the sea-breeze, holding the hand of the earlier mentioned 'lovely person.'
And Sasuke would like everyone to be assured that they will have a torturous and painful demise (that will include ingrown hairs and hungry crickets) if ever they even breathe a word about his dream-death being… girly. Most assuredly, Uchiha Sasuke is not feminine or girly in any form or fashion.
Funny how things seemed to go haywire when a certain blond idiot was involved.
"Dobe." Sasuke tried to make it two syllables emphasized with annoyance. Instead, it came out a weird croak that nearly had Sasuke look over his shoulder to make sure that yes, indeedy he was the one who made such a weird noise. He then put a clenched hand against the area of his chest and waited for his heart to start back up. Million-dollar beach house be damned. Sasuke had had a little bit of a spazz attack when Naruto—being the lovable idiot that he is—had done exactly what both Gaara and Sasuke had predicted he would do and had ran blindly across the street. However, Naruto had been so euphoric at the sight of that condemned ramen stand that he hadn't bothered to wait just a few more minutes for the cars to pass.
Oh, no. Now why would anyone ever do that while there was ramen around?
Sasuke felt his stuttering heart start back up and let out a painful breath. He wasn't sure if he was disturbed or not at how he had panicked when he saw a car nearly crash straight into Naruto. He also wasn't sure when he had ran out into the street to grab the idiot and get him off the road.
"Bastard," Naruto replied, the word coming out as both a haughty retort and a whine. "Let go of me!"
Still nearly breathless, Sasuke forced the fingers that were secured in an iron-like grip around the other boy's wrist off. They came off slowly, one-by-one.
"Where's Sabaku?" Sasuke apathetically inquired once everything was hunky-dory again. Mentally, Sasuke sighed at himself. What he had wanted to do was thwack the blond upside the head and yell about how stupid he had been and then ask if he was okay. Sasuke consoled himself by reminding his woeful mind that he wasemotionally retarded and left it at that.
"Dunno." Naruto looked around curiously. "I think he disappeared…"
"I'm here."
Naruto yipped in surprise and whipped around almost defensively. "Gaara! Please don't do that; you really scared me!"
Gaara shifted his mossy green eyes on Naruto and shrugged in apology. Naruto took a full three seconds to calm himself down before cheering up and rambling on about ramen and the goodness of the godly food. And then, almost randomly, he proclaimed:
"Sasuke-teme! You're treating me!"
A grin stretched across his features and he leaned forward, hands clutched behind his back and let out a "Nihihihihi" laugh. Sasuke looked at him and raised a slender brow.
"And, pray tell, why would I do something like that?"
Naruto's reply was automatic. "Cuz you're rich!"
Sasuke shook his head in near-exasperation and pinched the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger. "You are an idiot that only comes once every millennium, I swear."
"Thanks!" Naruto enthusiastically cheered.
"That wasn't a compliment," Gaara retorted for the blond's sake more than anything.
"Oh…" Naruto blinked as he realized what Sasuke had meant. "Oh! Hey! Teme, what's your problem?! For that comment, you're definitely treating me to ramen!"
Sasuke "che'd" and opened his mouth to protest but wasn't given the time to say anything. Instead, Naruto grabbed a hold of him and practically dragged him over to the ramen stand. Once they were at the counter, Naruto dove into a seat and babbled off an order of three bowls of miso ramen—each with an extra egg—and his words came out so fast they were jumbled over top of each other and combined. Despite that fact, the older man behind the counter taking his order seemed to perfectly understand what Naruto was trying to articulate.
Begrudgingly, Sasuke took a seat next to the blond on the right while Gaara sat down on Naruto's left. Gaara ordered something pork while Sasuke just shrugged and said he'd have whatever.
Naruto frowned at him for that comment. "He'll also have miso," the blond corrected, sending Sasuke a hot glare.
Once the orders were placed, Naruto started off in a non-stop chatter. His comments occasionally caused the young woman—"Ayame-nee" as Naruto called her—and the older man—"Teuchi-ojii"—to chuckle. Even Gaara occasionally shook his head with a weird half-smile at Naruto's weird and outrageous antics and opinions.
Sasuke remained silent, but for the first time in a long time, he felt completely at ease with being quiet and just listening—almost like a bird watcher enjoys listening to the melodious songs of various birds intermingling and merging, creating a symphony of wonderful and unique music. And once—right after Naruto mused aloud about how there should be some sort of ramen arena where everyone came to experiment in different types of ramen and sample them—Sasuke had to put his tongue between his front teeth to remind himself not to laugh aloud and join in the banter.
Before anyone knew it, the sun fell down and was hiding behind the trees and sinking still. They had definitely spent several hours at the small ramen stand. A few other customers came and went—Naruto chattered in their direction, too—and Naruto had gone through not three, but three stacks of ramen by the time that the Gaara, Naruto, and Sasuke were getting ready to leave. Everyone but the blond—who was still incessantly chattering about everything and anything—took three steps back to examine the pillars that had formed. Sasuke included.
"Yeah, that's basically that." Naruto nodded to himself as he finished some sort of tale. "Anyway, we best be off," he continued. Then, turned his attention to Sasuke and again gave that "Nihihi" laugh.
Sasuke, in turn, gave Naruto a hard look. "What's your problem now?"
The blond boy merely blinked at Sasuke wordlessly with an expression that said what do you think, dumbass?
Onyx eyes narrowed ever-so-slightly in annoyance. "Naruto," he started in a warning tone.
"What?" Naruto asked innocently. "I told you you were paying for the bill."
Sasuke gave an annoyed "che" and looked over at Teuchi expectantly. The older man handed him a small slip of paper almost apologetically with a timid smile. Sasuke mentally rolled his eyes at the man's actions (he was very sure that the price of the bill wasn't that scary) and took the paper. His eyes scanned over it and he had to blink before looking over it again.
"Dobe," Sasuke said, deathly calm, "I think I'm going to kill you."
Naruto 'eep'ed, whirled, and fled the scene.
Sasuke had always been one for self-control. Seriously. When he was six years old, his bedroom door hinges had slipped out of place and his door wouldn't shut correctly. He had always been slightly afraid of his father so he had fished out an old hammer from a rarely-used tool box and tried to fix it himself. Since he had been little and he wasn't sure how carpentry worked (and he forgot a few basic principals of life and chemistry), he had forgotten to move his hand out of the way (or maybe in his child naivety he had forgotten that the hammer was not going to hurt him and he just didn't want to admit it). His thrust had been something fierce for a child so young and thus both his thumb and index fingernail shattered into fine pieces. His creamy-white, baby-smooth skin swelled up and turned purple as vessels were torn open and a steady stream of crimson blood flowed from his fingers. At first it was adrenaline that kept him silent, staring at his hand in mute disbelief, dumbfounded. Once his heart slowed down and reality sank in, along with the shredding, white-hot pain in his hand, he forced himself to keep from crying out. Sasuke had always had the best self-control.
So saying that he was three seconds from exploding was quite something. Especially since the cause of all his agitation was still within six feet of Sasuke. And breathing. And walking. And talking. And not shutting up.
But more importantly than the… annoyance, was the problem.
Gaara looked over at Sasuke and narrowed his eyes in contempt, scowling. Sasuke responded in the same manner. Naruto's incessant babbling continued obliviously.
"Oi."
Sasuke continued to stare coldly. "What?" he demanded shortly.
"I really never planned on ever saying this to you, but thank you," Gaara bit out.
Sasuke had the decency to blink once in surprise but when he spoke, his tone was even harsher than before. "What for?"
Gaara's mouth twitched like it was in pain. Thanking people was below him—especially when it came to the Uchiha. "For pushing Naruto out of the street before. It's undeniable that car would've hit him if you hadn't…" Gaara drifted off and mentally choked on the words and died, going to Hell where mercy was shown on his poor soul and his thank you never took place.
Sasuke gave his usual holier-than-thou smirk and a cocky "hn." Before he had a chance to taunt the red-head any further, Naruto's loud voice boomed:
" 'Kay! Well, Gaara-chan, Sasuke-teme and I live up this way and you don't, so you need to leave now!" To finish his darling parting words, Naruto grinned brightly.
Gaara turned his attention to the blond and cocked a (non existent) brow. "You both live up that way?" he repeated indifferently. "I was not aware that the Uchiha moved any time soon. The last I heard, he lived in a mansion on the other side of town—"
"I'm staying over at Naruto's for a few hours today," Sasuke hurriedly interrupted as casually as he could. His dark eyes were expressionless as they locked onto Naruto's bright sapphire-blue. "We need some more time to get to know each other."
"Eh?" Naruto blinked in confusion. "Teme, weren't you the one complaining last night about how you couldn't stand being around me for—?"
"And I need tutoring," Sasuke continued just as indifferently.
Naruto blinked again in confusion while Gaara glared venom at the Uchiha.
"You're an honorary student. Surely, you wouldn't—"
"In history. I have problems remembering dates." The tone Sasuke used dared both Gaara and Naruto to challenge him on that.
Naruto thought about it for a second then brightened. "Well, I suppose it couldn't hurt!" he chirped gaily.
"Naruto, he's lying to you," Gaara bluntly said tonelessly.
The blond crossed his arms. "Gaara. Don't assume things! Sasuke may act all cocky and smart all the time, but it might be an act to hide the fact that he's actually really stupid!"
(Sasuke discreetly winced at the thought.)
Gaara tried to patiently continue. "He's lying to you about a lot of things. The tutoring excuse—"
"Nope!" Naruto crossed his arms and stuck up his nose. "I'm not listening to you. When you're acting more sensible I'll talk to you."
And with that, Naruto whirled and sauntered off.
Sasuke and Gaara exchanged a look at Naruto's weird farewell before remembering their hate-hate relationship and having a glare-off.
"TEME!" Naruto cried from down the street once he realized the Uchiha had not followed him like a good little puppy should. "Are you coming or not!?"
Sasuke grunted "hn," and grudgingly followed the blond across the road (but not before sending one last sneer at the annoying red-head).
Due to the storm of words that had been flowing non-stop from his mouth, Sasuke had expected Naruto to babble about everything and nothing on the walk home. So when the only thing that hummed in the air was complete silence, he was slightly surprised. Even more shocking, Sasuke couldn't tell if he was missed the babbling or not, which was definitely weird.
The silence continued to stretch until they were just around the corner from Naruto's. It was then the blond finally spoke up. And even though the sudden breaking of the quiet was out of the blue and semi-surprising, the shock was nothing compared to the feelings that washed over him at the dobe's words:
"So, you never told me about yourself… like, um, your family and all that jazz. So I… heard some things… about your brother?"
Sasuke's initial reaction was, of course, astonishment; but after half a second, it morphed into an intense irritation that calmly lurked in the back of his mind, like a tiger waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike, eyes gleaming. Sasuke's voice, when he spoke, was calm, despite it being drenched in his anger. That might've been what scared Naruto most of all.
"I don't think I would've taken you as one to gossip. It's quite surprising, really. But not unexpected, I suppose."
Naruto frowned. "I'm not a gossip," he protested. "But it's not like I can block out everything those obnoxious girls blabber about in class an' stuff…"
"Hn." It was Sasuke's only reaction.
They both turned and walked up to Naruto's front door. The blond pulled out his keys anxiously. Before he slid the key in, however, he decided to continue their conversation.
"Mind telling me about it? I mean… I heard the basics through… well, yeah, gossip, but I'd rather hear it from you, ya know. I don't like sneaking around."
Naruto wasn't sure if the tense smirk was one of wry amusement or annoyed irritation. Either way, he somehow just knew that it was a sign of Sasuke consenting and as such, he pushed the key in the lock—the sound of the metal ridges running over each other being suddenly extremely interesting in the almost awkward atmosphere—and opened the door.
They both stepped into the empty home.
Naruto had to admit, he wasn't the biggest fan of tea. Not to say he hated it, per se, but if some rich asshole asked him to do a commercial for some sort of tea product, Naruto probably wouldn't do it—
Well… actually… he would, but only because he would get paid handsomely for it, not because of the product he would be advertising. But then again, who wouldn't do it for the money? Movie stars and those type of people were rich, weren't they?
But moving back to the point, while Naruto wasn't the biggest fan of tea, he would drink it on occasion, he just preferred sweeter drinks like soda, juice… and hot chocolate—made with milk, of course.
Which was currently what Naruto had in his cup—hot chocolate. He was idly stirring it with a spoon, watching as the creamy brown liquid distorted his reflection in fascination. He was allowing the silence that had lapsed to stretch a little bit, hoping the hush would quell some of the emotions that were rioting within Sasuke.
And—for the record—Naruto did not like tea… but Sasuke seemed to love it. The Uchiha had, to date, gone through about thirteen cups of it since they had taken their respectable seats in the living room. Sasuke had let Naruto into his mind for a few minutes, retelling the gruesome slaughter of his parents with such lush details that Naruto had almost felt as though he had seen it with his own innocent eyes.
"So let me get this straight," he finally murmured, breaking the silence as last. He continued to stare down at his hot chocolate. "Your mother, father, brother, and you were the perfect ideal family—quirks, fights, flaws, and all—in the perfect neighborhood, in the perfect family home, with a perfect life and your brother just kinda stood up one day and said 'fuck this' and killed your parents?"
Sasuke gave Naruto a look for summing it up in such a blunt manner but grunted, "Hn."
The blond took that as a cue to continue. "And then, just to put the cherry on the cake, your brother made you watch it and then didn't kill you, but instead demanding that you hate him and try to take your revenge on him?"
That time, the raven didn't make any sounds, opting instead to sip at his tea.
Naruto, in turn, put his cup on the table, leaned back on the seat, and crossed his arms. "… Hunh. Well, that's just not normal."
Sasuke continued to sip his tea almost daintily, with a grace that men just weren't supposed to have.
Naruto watched him for a second before he started with the theories. "Did'ja ever think that he just got tired of playing the perfect brother role? I mean… well, no one's perfect, and always expecting someone to be perfect is a little crazy, don't'ch'ya think? Maybe he knew that…"
Naruto paused before moving on to the next hypothesis. "Or maybe he pretended to be perfect and he was crazy from the start and he plotted to kill your parents from day one. But because he wanted some sort of physical reminded as to what he had done, he spared you to act as his anchor."
Another pause. Another theory. "Or maybe he was going through one of those teenage phases were parents do nothing but annoy the hell out of you and he just had one annoying day too many and decided to wipe out the problem from the source. In doing so, he felt that he was acting as a warped savior of a sort and you would never have to know annoyance that parents can be."
Pause. New thought. "Or maybe he couldn't get ramen at school for lunch and all he wanted really, really bad was to eat ramen. When he got home, craving ramen still, he saw fish on the table for dinner and just went ballistic and got in touch with his killer side and thought 'I'll teach them to not give me ramen!' and so the psycho killed the mom and dad."
Pause. "Or maybe the bunnies—"
"Or maybe you ought to shut up now." Sasuke rubbed his temples, reigning in patience that he really didn't have at the moment. "The more you open your moth, the more stupid you grow."
Naruto pouted and grumbled, "Well, I'd go apeshit, too, if I didn't have my daily ramen…"
"The was no ramen involved," Sasuke assured blandly. Naruto opened his mouth to persist his stupidity further, but he was cut off before given the chance. "Ever. Itachi wasn't a huge fan of ramen."
And that started off a whole new rant.
"How can someone not love ramen!? It's a gift! A gift, I tell you! It was given to us out of pure love and compassion by geniuses of the world who had the best taste in food! There's no way someone could be so cruel as to not love its rameny goodness!"
Sasuke remained unmoved. "He didn't like it."
A fire sparked behind cerulean-blue eyes. "I hate him, too! Down with the non-believer!" Naruto raised his arm in a very Hitler-like way.
The Uchiha was less than impressed. "It's none of your concern," he clipped. "I would appreciate it if you just stayed out of it and minded your own business."
Naruto blinked, his arm lowering. "I was just kidding, Sasuke," he murmured comfortingly.
Sasuke, however, wasn't comforted in the least. "You taking this as a joke isn't humorous in the least." His voice was low and deadly. "I know it may be difficult for your thick head to grasp the concept, but that was a very painful memory."
Guilt squeezed at the blond's heart. He really was an idiot, wasn't he? "I know that, Sasuke, and I'm sorry. I'm really didn't mean—"
"You don't know," Sasuke snarled, his grip on the tea cup becoming so fierce that the porcelain creaked and groaned. "You just don't get anything," he continued, voice vicious. "I should have known that you wouldn't understand. You—with this happy little world you put yourself in. Do you think the world is that much of a surreal place? It's ugly out there, Naruto, and lonely."
Naruto could feel his entire body pulsing in tune with his heart, even his trembling lips. Sasuke looked… so lost. In his raw anger, he looked so…
"You're wrong," he breathed out.
… broken.
Sasuke's dark eyes locked onto Naruto and narrowed.
"You're wrong," Naruto repeated. "About me, about the world—about everything. You're just… so wrong. I know what pain feels like, Sasuke. I know as well as you do. I know what it feels like to lonely. I know what it feels like to be hopeless. I know what it feels like to be desperate for a purpose. I know."
"How would you know anything?" the raven snarled. His eyes bore into Naruto's ferociously. Behind their fury, Naruto could see the raw pain of an angry orphan. "How do you know anything? You have your family. You have your life. You're not alone—everyone loves you."
"Everyone loves you, too," Naruto breathed. "And I'm adopted. My parents died when I was young. I never got the chance to meet them. I've always wondered what my life would be like if they were alive… if I'd actually be happy."
Sasuke's eyes were still violent. "They're still your parents. They raised you—you weren't alone growing up."
There was a pause before Naruto whispered, "For as much as they cared, I might as well've been alone. They stopped caring about me after a while." Especially Mizuki… had he even cared about Naruto at all from the beginning?
Sasuke wasn't impressed. "Everyone feels that way about their parents. It's a love-hate relationship most of the time."
"No," the blond said slowly. "They hated me. They hate me now. Mizuki—my, uh, dad, I guess, well he… I think he's trying to find a way to get rid of me." For some reason, Naruto just couldn't bring himself to confide in anyone how bad the hate was between him and Mizuki—about how Mizuki beat on him.
Sasuke was silent and he looked down at what was left of his tea. He took a tentative sip—with that feminine grace of his—and allowed for the blond to talk.
And, like an equivalent exchange, Naruto found himself briefly telling Sasuke about himself—from the orphanages to the Touji family to his expulsions.
Sasuke had to snort at that. "Trust you to get expelled in kindergarten," he commented when Naruto had finished, shoving his shoulder into the blond's back almost playfully. Somewhere along the way, they had gravitated toward each other and Naruto was currently reclined so that Sasuke's left side was his support with his legs sprawled across the cushions. Sasuke was still sitting in the corner of the couch staring down at his cup—now empty—but he had calmed down long before and he was fully relaxed against Naruto. The blond's voice had acted almost like a lullaby and they were both sedated by it, extremely open with each other as they teetered on the edge of sleep.
Naruto chuckled. "That was nothing compared to that last time I got expelled. I really snapped last time and did some damage."
"What happened?" Sasuke inquired.
Naruto yawned and glanced at how late it had gotten. He was slightly surprised when he saw it was nearing midnight. "I'm tired, bastard," he mumbled, turning so he could snuggle with Sasuke's arm and yawned again.
The raven frowned and tried to pull the appendage from Naruto to no avail. Naruto grumbled and glared half-heartedly at Sasuke. "Will you knock it off?" the blond mumbled. He then snuggled with the arm again, content.
It takes seven minutes for someone to fully take the dive to sleep, but when Sasuke nudged Naruto a few moments later (mumbling about how he had to get home and would you let go of me please), that theory was tested. Naruto was out cold and beyond the point of no return. Disgusted at the turn of events (or convinced he was), Sasuke rearranged the small pillow that accustomed the couch for decorative purposes and did his best to make it that both he and Naruto could lie comfortably.
And then he knew no more.
He had no qualms with Hinata Hyuuga. Really, he didn't. But when anyone followed him around day after day after day and didn't say anything (unless stuttered syllables counted, which they didn't in Naruto's perspective), he was bound to grow exasperated. He'd only been attending classes at his new school for four days and in just those few days, his patience was already done in.
"Hinata-chan," he began, unsure as to what he was going to say.
Said girl froze, her eyes widening, a pretty pink flush painting her cheeks. "Y- y- y- yuh- yes, Nuh- Nuh- Nuh- Nuh- Nuh- Nuh- Naruto-kun?"
Naruto hesitated. "Well… er… isn't there something you need to do before school starts? I don't want to be the cause of you failing or anything…" Not quite what he wanted to say—"STOP FOLLOWING ME, WOULD YA?!"—but close enough.
Hinata's blush darkened—'She's so weird… Does she have a fever or something?' Naruto couldn't help but think when he noticed—and she twiddled her fingers. "Nuh- Nuh- Naruto-kun is so nice to me. Buh- But Nuh- Nuh- Nuh- Naruto-kun doesn't have to worry about me. I always have everything I need…"
Naruto stared at her for a moment, so completely confused as to why she was smiling so much. The girl sure was adorable, that was for sure. And he told her so. "You're cute, Hinata."
The poor girl momentarily stopped breathing, her thoughts a messed jumble. "Oh- Oh- Oh, nuh- nuh- nuh- nuh- no. Nuh- nuh- not ah- ah- ah—weh- well, ih- ih- if yuh- you…" She blinked in embarrassment at her hands before whispering, "Really?"
It was even more adorable that her voice trembled uncertainly as she asked. Naruto smiled and flicked her forehead playfully. "Yeah, really." At her hesitant, pleased smile, he continued, "You don't get a lot of compliments, do you?"
Hinata looked down at the ground, her burning ears reddening even more. Her short hair fell to cover her eyes, making it that all Naruto could see was her flushed skin. Rather than verbally reply—afraid she'd make a fool of herself again as she tripped over her words—Hinata shook her head.
Naruto cocked his head curiously. "Why not, Hinata-chan? You're pretty, cute, smart… I'm sure your parents at least praise you often for your good grades—?"
"Why would she receive praise for something that's just a natural part of the routine??" a new voice inquired fiercely.
Hinata let out a quiet whimper—so hushed that it stayed in the back of her throat and Naruto didn't hear it—and shriveled in on herself. Naruto looked over curiously to see who had spoken. The voice wasn't familiar… Although, then again, not a lot of voices were familiar since he was new.
"Neji-kun…" Hinata breathed, peeking up through her fringe at him.
The boy—Neji—frowned at her. "I don't think you should be addressing me so familiarly anymore," he said. Said. He didn't snap, he didn't murmur, he didn't inform her. He said it.
And that seemed to hurt Hinata most of all.
She nodded slowly, hiding behind her short locks of hair desperately. She wanted nothing more than to disappear at that moment. "Sorry," she mumbled.
Naruto frowned at this 'Neji' person. "Oi, what's your problem?"
Neji's white—Naruto had to squint to make sure of it, but yes, Neji's white—eyes locked in on the blond and he sneered. "You're the transfer?" His tone was distasteful.
Naruto scowled back. "Yeah, I am. What of it?"
The boy didn't reply for a while, instead his pale eyes were scrutinizing Naruto, taking in every feature and angle. Finally, he spoke: "I'm not quite sure how you managed to beat those kids in a fight. You're scrawny and awkwardly built."
If Naruto had been a cat, he would have been hissing, tail straight up in the air, fur on end. "What the hell do you mean—?!"
"Furthermore," Neji continued, finally making eye contact, "you're more of a delinquent than a student. Why aren't you in a more appropriate school? Believe it or not, our high school has a pretty good reputation and all you're going to do is sully it."
"Listen here, bastard. I don't know who you think you are—waltzing up to me and just randomly insulting not only me, but Hinata-chan as well—"
"Oh, but of course," Neji cut the blond off (much the latter's frustration). "I'm Hyuuga Neji. And I have every right to 'insult'—as you put it—because I speak the truth. If all you're going to do is cause everyone trouble, then why don't you just leave now. It's not like you'll be able to control yourself when the time comes around. And as for her—" Neji's eyes settled on Hinata. He almost seemed to look down his nose at her. Hinata just kept looking at the ground. "—I have every right to say just about anything I want. She's shamed our family too many times for me to keep patient. Hoping she'll get better with time is pointless. She's a failure." Neji started off, but not before calling back over his shoulder, "It's actually appropriate that she associate herself with a monster like you."
Naruto whirled, intent on stomping after the asshole, but Hinata spoke up in a hushed voice. "It's okay, Nuh- Nuh- Naruto-kun. Neji-kun's always been…" She drifted off, looking to the side.
Naruto growled. "He has no right to say things like that, Hinata! He's an asshole, that's what his is. Don't listen to a word of what he says—you are not a failure just like I'm not a monster." His eyes were intense as he gently grabbed Hinata's chin and forced her to look him in the eye. "Understand?"
She flushed again—confusing Naruto once more—and tentatively nodded.
Maybe that was when a friendship bloomed between them…
In any case, that was when Hinata knew for sure she was doomed to fall in love with the blond-haired hothead.
.
.
.
.
.
So Naruto was starting to wonder if Neji thought he was a prophet of some sort.
"—need to leave before you sully this school and everyone in it with your cursed presence—"
Like, seriously. Where did the boy even get half the crap he spewed?
"—just an abomination to everything around her. Our family is—"
So far, Naruto had come up with two theories as to where Neji got all the crap he lectured.
Theory number one.
"—disowned. There's no excuse for—"
Neji had a lot of free time on his hands at night when he had finished his homework and everything else on his agenda that he talked so highly of. As such, he needed a past time of a sort. And since he didn't have friends (yes, in Naruto's mind, an asshole who treated his family like a deity didn't even waste his time on those things normal people called 'friends'), Neji decided to just sit down and write down his sermons. He made sure to find a dictionary and a thesaurus to use huge words that no one had ever even heard of and put them in his sentences. It didn't matter if it made sense or not in the sentence, because if someone didn't know what the word meant, it wouldn't matter anyway. Naruto couldn't even count the times he had heard the word 'floccinaucinihilipilification.' (2)
It was a good thing he wasn't a hippopotomonstrosesquipedalian. (3) ('Oh, buuuuuuurn, Neji! I can use big words, too!' Naruto cackled evilly.)
And then there was theory number two.
"—but I suppose you two don't even realize anything of the sort, do—"
Neji was secretly insane. (Insert immature, maniacal cackling from Naruto's inner child at that point.) At night time, messengers from his subconscious came to him in a dream (think Neji-angels!) and told him of the wicked ways of the world. As they preached to the brunet, he took diligent notes, very serious in being schooled by himself. He was a genius, and it was his job to purify the world of its garbage. He was just one of the millions of workers undergoing such a large task…
"—would be better off without a failure—"
Hinata shifted uncomfortably next to Naruto, tearing him away from his musings. Upon seeing that the older Hyuuga was still going at it, he rolled his eyes. "Give me a break, asshole. You say the same thing every single day. I don't even pay attention anymore, to be honest." He made a shooing motion. "Now please, step aside and let me get to class. I refuse to be late because of you."
Neji gave a "che." Even though he didn't know it at that moment, the same noise from a certain raven-haired Uchiha would bring an eerie sense of déjà vu to the blond.
Naruto found himself sticking out his tongue and making faces at the asshole as he retreated into the school.
As they followed suit, Hinata brushed a few locks of her lengthening hair from her eyes. The gesture caught the attention of Naruto. "Oh, your hair's getting long," he commented.
Hinata tucked a lock of it behind her ear and nodded shyly. "Yes, I- I'll need to cut it soon…"
Naruto mulled that over for a few seconds before replying, "Did you ever think of letting it grow out? I mean, it's been short for most of your life, right? You should let it grow a little. I'm sure that it'll look nice on you."
The dark-haired girl ducked her head and almost seemed to hide from Naruto's crystalline blue eyes. "Uh- I, um… um… I… it… d—um… It would look… nice, Nuh- Naruto… kun?"
Hinata's stuttering problem, Naruto had found, was usually a come-and-go thing. Before, when he had first started talking to the girl a few weeks ago, she hadn't been able to string three words together. Lately, she was getting extremely better at it, it seemed. She fumbled over her words every time he gave her a compliment, however. He wasn't sure if he was amused or saddened by the thought. She really had received close to no praise growing up…
Sadness swirled around his stomach, clenching, as he smiled brilliantly at her. "Yah! It looks so pretty Hinata—you should let it grow really long! It would look so good on you."
The girl's pearly white cheeks darkened to a lovely pink. "I… don't…" Her bottom lip trembled for a second before she gave up what she was originally going to say in favor of: "Real- Really, N- Naruto-kun?"
Naruto shook her head at her naivety and leaned forward to plant a quick kiss on her forehead. "Yeah, I really mean it. Now, c'mon. We're going to be late." He trotted past her.
Hinata, red-faced with her fingers hovering over the burning skin that Naruto's lips had touch, knew she was doomed for doing so, but couldn't help it. She had fallen for him and spiraled down deeper every moment.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Naruto—huge surprise—feared that he was going to be late to school. Again. He left a cloud of dust in his wake that had many passerby stopping to cough at wave their hands in the air in a futile attempt to clear it. Not so surprisingly, he was going to fast and paying so little attention to his surroundings that he ran face-first into something.
He ricocheted off and landed with a thump on his rear, an ungraceful "oomph!" spurting out of his mouth involuntarily. A snarl forming on his lips, he snapped his gaze up to give a piece of his mind to whoever or whatever dared to get in his way—
"Hunh?"
—but almost instantly deflated when he saw that he had run into not one thing, but a cluster of things. People to be more precise. A huge crowd had gathered together, thoroughly fascinated with something.
A low chant pulsed all around him from nowhere and everywhere. "Fight… fight… fight… fight…"
Curious, nosey, Naruto started edging toward the heart of the crowd where he guessed the main attraction was playing out. He ducked, shoved, and crawled his way through. It was long before he started hearing the sound of skin on skin, slapping noises almost, and the gentle grunting of a female. Between the legs of the crowd, he was able to see that there were two people in the center, doing just as the mob begged for them to do.
"Fight… fight… fight…"
The right figure—duck, lunge, swirl, block, dive, kick, roll, crawl.
The left figure—lunge, duck, block, dive, roll, crawl, dive, swirl.
A flash of blue.
A flare of silver.
Hinata.
Neji.
Fighting.
"Oh, shit," Naruto breathed, wriggling harder to get to the other side of the mob—to where Hinata was taking a beating.
She twirled in the air as Neji sent her flying. She hit the ground on her back and bounced before skidding an inch and stopping. Down but not out, she immediately rolled and leapt to her feet again. Neji lunged at her again, left hand held out to strike. Hinata leaned back and Neji's finger tips whispered against her forehead, her hair flying back and swaying with the after effect wind currents.
Naruto, torn, wasn't sure if he was supposed to call her back, acting on his fear of her getting seriously hurt, or cheer her on, fueled by his excitement of her standing up to her bullying cousin. Finally, an applaud ripped from his throat, "Go, Hinata! You can do it!"
Hinata, surprised by the sudden outburst, stopped her defensive dance and whirled to look over to where he stood.
"Shit, Hinata—"
But it was too late.
Neji, ever the oppurtunitist, took full advantage of her hesitation and lunged, attacking Hinata all-out. At first he kept his aim on her face, making quick whipping gestures with his hands that sliced into her skin. Her whole body jerked with each blow, followed by a small mist of blood. When he was sure that she was too stunned to react quickly enough, Neji took a quick pace back and directed his attention at her torso.
Naruto's ecstatic face fell when Hinata's eyes closed and her legs gave out.
He saw red when her body landed with a hollow thump.
"You cannot change your destiny. It was predetermined," Neji gently—almost with the patience that one would use when addressing a wayward child—told the fallen form of Hinata. "Fighting it and fighting me was one of the most pathetic—"
"She's unconscious," a deep rumble snarled. "Talking to her when she's down is merely foolish on your part—you look quite stupid."
Neji looked over to where the voice came from. Red eyes blazed back at him.
He learned the real definition of destiny then.
It was dark. Very dark.
Smacking his mouth gently to moisten his dry mouth, he rolled over, looking for something and not knowing what it was exactly he craved. Then his hand met warmth and he discovered what it was.
Too sleep-deprived to really take responsibility for his actions, he made himself comfortable again.
He fell asleep again, this time in his companion's warm arms. It had been a long time since he had felt such warmth of any sort.
(1) The Memory Keeper's Daughter is a book that I was reading when I wrote that section of the chapter, oh, say, a year ago. It's a book that I can easily see Iruka enjoying. So it's a real book, I don't own it. All rights are disclaimed.
(2) Floccinaucinihilipilification is a pointlessly long word which, summed up, basically means "abomination." Broken down—"flocci" or a wisp of something. "Nauci" or trifle. "Nihili" from "nihil" which means nothing. "Pili" or something insignificant. Put that all together and you have a redundant sequence of words that has a bad denotation—abomination.
(3) Hippopotomon strosesquipedalian is also a pointlessly long word which, also summed up, means one who fears long words. Which is ironic, because the word itself is quite a monster, ne? xD (It is also one word, but FF-dot-net deletes it from the chapter when it doesn't have the space... weird much?)
Woooooooooow. I am SO sorry. I know, I know, it's been over a year. There are actually good excuses as to why. Simple ones, too. One—my life fell apart. Two—I was almost homeless. Three—school kicks my ass now. Four—I had semi-writer's block.
Have at it. In any case, I'm back-ish now. I'm going to try and work on this over summer. And I also have another story idea. (SasNar, of course.) I think I'll be posting it soonish, too.