Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto, we would all be in serious trouble.

3karen3 asked an excellent question that I will clarify, along with one or two other things. First of all, the story is currently at the beginning of November calender-wise. Itachi is 21, Temari is 20, and Kankurou is 17 and a senior still in school. And as mentioned already, Hana is 22 and Hanabi is 9. All of our main characters are freshman (14 before their birthday/15 after) with the exception of Neji, Tenten, and Lee who are sophomores (15 before their birthday/16 after). If any other important characters come up with ages not mentioned, I'll be sure to put a note.

Warnings: This fic has bad language. Virgin ears be warned!

Chapter 6: Open Your Eyes

"Sasuke-kun!"

The girl's shrill cry literally made his toes curl. The Uchiha pouted. Dammit, he was not in the mood to deal with her today, not after the two hours of hell he'd just had. All he wanted to do was go home. "What, Sakura?"

He heard her jog down the empty hall, hurrying to catch up to him until she appeared by his side. "Sasuke-kun, don't worry about what Naruto said. Or Sai. There are lots of people that like you."

He felt a fearsome amount of rage bubbling up in his gut. "I don't care about what the dobe said." It didn't hurt at all.

"Oh, good. Because really, I'm sure he's just jealous of how popular you are."

Naruto? Jealous of him? "You can be the most 'popular' person on the planet, it doesn't change the fact that if you went around the school and asked everyone here what they thought of you, almost no one would like you." Did she really believe that? Wasn't she supposed to be smart? Because whenever she was around him, she might as well have just been another brainless fangirl. "You're so annoying."

Green eyes widened and she nearly tripped over her own feet. "W-what?"

"You heard me. You're annoying." He shot his patented Uchiha glare her way, forcing her to take a step back. "You don't know anything about Naruto, you don't know anything about me. You just run your mouth, Sasuke-kun this and Sasuke-kun that, and I'm sick of it."

She took a deep breath, bottom lip trembling a bit. "Well, I just--"

"Don't you know when to quit? I don't want to hear your voice anymore. You're. Annoying."

He was expecting her to burst into tears, but to his surprise, she didn't, no matter how much she looked like she wanted to. She did utter a soft, "Sorry," before turning on her heel and absolutely dashing away. He snorted disdainfully in her wake.

"That's why 'Sasuke-kun' doesn't have any friends. He's a prick, even when someone's being nice to him!"

He shoved the blond's voice forcefully from his mind. He'd only told her the truth, she was annoying. Very much so. He didn't feel bad, even if she had been trying to cheer him up. She'd done it in an annoying way. She was just another fangirl, and she got exactly what she deserved.

Sakura rushed away from the dark-haired jerk and out of the school building, quickly pushing past the usual group of boys waiting for their rides. Like every other day, Naruto called out his usual, "Bye, Sakura-chaaan!" Unlike every day, Sakura paused and tilted her head just enough to catch the blond in her peripheral. "Bye, Naruto."

Chouji dropped his bag of chips.

"Ha, y'see!" Naruto said loudly as she continued to walk away again. "I told you she was nice!"

Sakura walked a little faster.

Dattebayo!

Tenten unlocked the door to her apartment, mail in hand, flipping on the lights to illuminate the dark room. It was quiet, not that she expected anything different; it was always quiet when she got home. No one was ever there to greet her. Maybe she should get a cat. Then again, the poor thing would probably die, just like all the plants, fish, and gerbils she'd ever had.

With a sigh, she tossed her backpack onto the couch, wearily wandering towards the phone. The answering machine was clear, no messages. That was good, if anyone wanted to get ahold of her, they just called her cell. The only time they left messages was when they were attempting to reach her mother. Always a nuisance.

Stripping down as she went, undoing the twin buns from her hair, she climbed into the shower, trying to remember if she'd brought home that English assignment. A shrug. Oh well, it wasn't like she was worried if she didn't, sports were much more her thing. She was only in regular classes, maintained only average grades, and had enough common sense that she didn't have to work too hard for them. Turning in an assignment a day or two late was nothing new for her, she'd only get a few points deducted. Not turning it in at all was what really hurt. Then you ended up with a zero. And she was never making that mistake again.

Climbing out, drying off, and throwing on a t-shirt and shorts, she padded back to the kitchen, stomach growling. Tenten couldn't cook to save her life, so she had a much more practical approach to dinner. Leftover Chinese.

She heated up some sweet and sour pork with rice, grabbed a bottle of water (most mass-produced drinks had too much sugar or carbs for her liking), whisked the plate from the microwave, and plopped herself down on the couch in front of the TV. She hit the power button, punched in the appropriate channel, and sure enough, CSI was just starting. One of her guilty pleasures.

Ten o'clock that night brought about a fifteen year old girl, curled up on the couch, discarded empty plate left lying on the coffee table, TV still running softly in the background. Blearily, she reached up behind her, grabbed a fistful of blanket, and pulled it down to wrap around her like a cocoon. Within minutes she was asleep, having completed her evening like every other before it.

Dattebayo!

Kiba all but growled at the figure in front of him, holding his dinner high above their head, a taunting smirk firmly on rose-colored lips. How the hell was his sister still taller than him anyway? She wasn't some sort of freak giant. When was he going to fucking grow?

"Dammit, Hana, give it back!"

The container of Easy Mac inched higher, brown eyes taunting. "I'm sorry, what was that?"

His hands balled into fists, muscles straining. "Dammit, Hana, don't be such a bitch!"

He felt a hand whack him across the back of the head and blinked in surprise at his mother who had appeared out of nowhere. How did she always do that?

"Hana, give it back to your brother."

With a heavy sigh, the plastic cup was dropped into Kiba's waiting hands, complete with a pink tongue pointed his way.

Kiba rolled his eyes. "And you're an adult? Wanna try acting more your age?"

Hana pinched his cheek in a way she knew he hated. "Trust me, sweetie, you'll soon find being an adult and acting your age is highly overrated." She completed these words of wisdom with an annoying hair ruffle before sauntering out of the room.

Kiba, used to such things happening on a daily basis, turned to pour some water into his dinner and stick it in the microwave. That wasn't going to be enough of course (he was a growing boy, after all), so he'd probably end up eating three or four of them. That should be sufficient... maybe.

Yanking it out when the beep prompted, he stirred in the packaged cheese flavoring, ignoring the few noodles that spilled over the edge, seeing as how they were immediately lapped up by Akamaru. There was never any need to clean up food when you had dogs.

"Kiba." His mother's voice drifted over from the kitchen table (which was never used for actual eating) where she was bent over a bunch of papers, most likely bills. Her brow was creased, but he figured that probably had to do with all the crap in front of her.

"Yeah?"

Tsume paused where her pen was poised over a paper, carefully thinking her words out before she spoke. "You were invited for Thanksgiving."

Kiba didn't even notice when the plastic cup slipped from his grip. "What?"

"Thanksgiving. You were invited."

Kiba swallowed hard, noting that his mouth had gone oddly dry. "You're sure?"

"Yes. I made sure he was specific. You're invited for dinner that day."

The boy leaned heavily against the counter behind him, listening distantly to Akamaru eating his dinner on the floor. He had been invited for a holiday? "Did he say why?"

"No. You can call and ask if you want to."

Kiba gripped messy brown locks tightly in both fists. This was beyond unexpected and he really didn't know how to take it. Dimly he noted that his mother had yet to actually look up at him, meaning she didn't know just how to take it either. Shit, this was... "Did he invite Hana?"

Tsume's jaw tightened a fraction. "No. Just you."

Well, at least that made his decision easy. "Then you can tell him to go to hell."

His mother's brown eyes, nearly identical to his own, locked gazes with him, wolfish smile in place. "Good boy."

Dattebayo!

"I'll show that lazy know-it-all. Thinks he knows fucking everything. I'll prove that bastard wrong." Ino grumbled to herself as she punched angrily through the contacts on her cell, finally landing on the desired name. Hitting the send button, she leaned lazily against the pink pillows of her bed, examining her nails with a frown. She'd have to get them redone.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Brian, it's me."

There was a muffled noise on the other side of the line, like he was shifting his phone around. "Oh hey, baby, what's up?"

"Nothing, I just wanted to know what you were doing tomorrow after school? I was thinking you could maybe come pick me up from tutoring and we could, y'know, hang out?" She would have completed this offer with puppy-dog eyes and pouting lips had she been speaking with the boy face to face. Shika was right about one thing, she was a pretty big flirt. And she was good at it.

"Yeah, no problem. What time?"

Ino frowned as she pondered that. She didn't want Brian to see the other kids who stayed, lest his peabrain actually manage to put together that it couldn't possibly be a tutoring group with well-known brains like Neji and Sasuke and Sakura there. So she'd just have to wait around a little longer. If the usual pick-up time was four-thirty... "Four forty-five."

"All right, babe, see you then."

She slid the phone shut, laughing softly to herself. Take that, Shikamaru. We'll see how long this relationship lasts. She wouldn't be dumping Brian anytime soon. And it's not like Brian would dump her. No one had ever dumped her.

"Ino, dinner!"

"Coming, Dad!"

Less than a minute later found the blond girl at the table, her equally blond father sitting across from her, pleasant smile in place. Dinner (spaghetti and meatballs with green beans and garlic bread) sat steaming in front of them, just waiting to be devoured. Ino felt her neglected stomach rumble. Her father was an excellent cook.

"So, how was school?"

She shrugged indifferently, taking a small bite of pasta. "Not bad."

"Mmhmm... And the after school program?"

At this, the girl huffed out an irritated sigh, blue eyes rolling. "Daddy, do I really need to stay? It's so stupid. And Shikamaru's driving me crazy!"

"Yes, he's always been good at that, hasn't he?" Inoichi mused with a small chuckle.

Ino wasn't impressed.

"Sweetie, you have to stay. I'm sorry, but I'm not going to change my mind."

The girl sighed again, much more resigned this time, and slowly chewed a single bean. Stupid therapy program thing, stupid Shikamaru, stupid--

Her father's cell phone went off, and she listened listlessly as he talked to whoever was on the other end about work. Inoichi was a neurosurgeon, and as such, was very busy. It wasn't too often that he and Ino actually got the chance to sit down at the table like this.

Ino swallowed a quarter of a meatball as he hung up, turning back to his own food. "Oh, you don't have to come pick me up tomorrow. My friend's coming to get me."

"Which friend?"

The question had been expected, which was why Ino already had a lie prepared. "Mallory Jacobs. You remember her, right?" Mallory Jacobs was always Ino's excuse when she was out with whoever she was dating at the time. She was the only one of Ino's older friends her father had ever met, Inoichi had liked the girl a lot, and she was old enough to drive. What her father didn't need to ever know was that Mallory had moved to Florida three months ago.

"Ah, yes, of course... Ino?"

The girl looked up immediately, recognizing her father's serious tone. "Yeah?"

"I know you're very popular at school and everything, but..." There was a long pause. "Just make sure you're careful, hanging out with all these older kids. You're only fourteen you know."

Her had tightened around her fork, but she forced a cheery smile onto her face. "I know that, Daddy." Standing to take her plate to the sink she said happily, "I'm done. It was delicious."

Her father frowned, eyes concerned. "Already? You barely ate anything."

"You always give me too much!" she scolded playfully. "I'm just a little girl." Her smile began to falter when she saw he wasn't playing along.

"Just a few more bites." His blue eyes looked so sad. "Please?"

She swallowed, her throat suddenly bone-dry. Was he onto her? "Sure." She forced herself to finish the rest of the plate. No matter how sick it made her feel afterwards.

Dattebayo!

Sakura slammed her books down onto her bed, feeling the tears still stinging the back of her eyes. It took her nearly an hour and a half to walk home, and the whole time she had been relentlessly plagued by the angry boy's words. It was like he had taken up permanent residence in her head and refused to shut the hell up.

Annoying. She snorted. Of course she was annoying around him, or at least she found it annoying. Turning into a blithering, squealing mess. She hated it; but she thought that's what guys liked. Ino-pig acted like that, and she was the most popular girl in the fucking school, was dating a new, older guy every week it seemed. Why did it work for her and not Sakura? Stupid bitch wasn't that good-looking!

With a despairing groan, Sakura buried her face in her hands. Why was she putting herself through this? What the hell was so damn special about Sasuke Uchiha?

She froze as the words ran through her mind. What was so special about him? He was good-looking and popular. When she was younger, Sakura had felt drawn to him, more than almost anybody else. She had then interpreted that feeling as 'having a crush' on him. Then Ino-pig had said she also had a crush on him... and their friendship had crumbled from there. It had quickly become a competition to find out who could nab him first. A competition that had never died down even to this day.

She frowned so hard it hurt her face. Was that the only reason she liked Sasuke? Because she was obsessed with beating Ino?

No, she really had been drawn to him when she was little, she remembered it clearly. But then again... she had been drawn to someone else too, before that had become 'unacceptable'. And the way she felt for Sasuke now... she still felt drawn to him in a way. But she wasn't so sure anymore that her feelings towards him were romantic. A hot blush spread across her face. Especially when you compared them to how she felt for someone else.

But then, that was a whole nother story.

With another despairing groan/growl thing, she shoved her pink locks irritably away from her face, wishing for the millionth time that she could just cut her damn hair and be done with it. She hated it long, it was such a fucking pain, but she couldn't have it short because Sasuke liked girls... with... long... hair...

Jade eyes blinked as what she had just thought truly penetrated her brain. She was honestly keeping her hair long for someone who had royally insulted her less than two hours ago, based on a rumor that he liked girls like that better?

Sakura wasn't going to pretend she had a lot of pride in herself, because she didn't. But even she wasn't that fucking pathetic.

Dattebayo!

A frog shaped alarm clock blared to life at six in the morning, prompting a tanned hand to reach blindly around the nightstand until it found the correct button, turning the alarm off. A messy blond head rose slowly from the bed, blue eyes half open and weary. Naruto blinked once, rolled over... and went back to sleep.

Ten minutes later, "Naruto Uzumaki, you get out of bed this instant! Don't make me come up there!"

So, fearing the wrath of Iruka, the boy dragged himself from his nice, warm bed, groggily making his way to the bathroom, stripping as he went. There he turned the shower on nice and hot, climbed in, sat down in the corner beneath the spray... and went back to sleep.

Fifteen minutes later, "Naruto Uzumaki, get out of that shower now! You're going to be late!"

Five more minutes to dress, yank a comb through unruly hair, and brush his teeth, and Naruto was in the kitchen by six-thirty, sitting down at the table, smiling sleepily at his guardian. "Morning, Ruka."

"Good morning, Naruto. Did you finish all your homework?"

"Yes."

"Study for your history test?"

"Yes."

"Get your gym clothes from the laundry room?"

"Yes." A plate with bacon, eggs sunny-side up, and an English muffin was set in front of him. He promptly began to fashion it all into a sandwich. "Hey, Iruka? Can I... skip the after school program today?"

"Why?" Iruka frowned, turning from the stove with a disapproving look. "What did you do, Naruto?"

The boy fiddled absently with a piece of bacon. "Well, nothing. I mean, I really didn't do anything wrong. I just... I think I might have hurt teme's feelings."

Iruka blinked. "Sasuke? I thought you always hurt each other's feelings. Since when did you care?"

Naruto waved his hand, brow furrowed. "No, we always fight, but we're never, like, serious. I mean I think I really hurt his feelings. I said something that maybe I shouldn't have... but he really deserved it!"

Iruka stared for a moment before moving to the fridge. "Do you regret whatever you said?"

Immediately the blond head shook, eyes narrowed. "No, he was being a bastard like usual. And I only told him the truth anyway."

Iruka hummed an acknowledgement, spreading peanut butter over the slice of bread in his hand. "Then...?"

"I dunno, I just feel bad, okay! So I just don't wanna see him today, dattebayo!"

"Naruto, just because you said something not particularly nice to someone doesn't mean you can avoid them afterwards." He finished the one sandwich, putting it into a ziplock bag, and reached for two more slices of bread to start the second. "I understand your reasoning, but no, you can't skip the after school program. In fact, this is a good lesson for later on in life. This kind of thing will happen all the time when you get out into the working world."

Naruto pouted like a small child before an evil little smirk took its place. "Oh yeah, right. Like you and Kakashi-sensei."

A slice of American cheese hit the floor as brown eyes narrowed to slits. "That incident was nothing like this."

"But--"

"I do not want to talk about Kakashi Hatake!"

Chuckling, Naruto turned back to his breakfast in a considerably better mood while Iruka grumbled to himself about lazy, one-eyed bastards and haphazardly threw a ham and cheese sandwich together in record time. He still didn't want to have to see Sasuke later that day, but he knew Iruka was right. He couldn't avoid the prick, and he still stood strongly by what he had said anyway. Sasuke had deserved every single word that had left his mouth... That just didn't stop him from feeling kind of bad about it.

Dattebayo!

Gaara had long ago come to realize his brother was an anomaly. As he walked through the school's main doors with him, having been given a ride by one of Kankurou's friends, he realized once more just how true this was. By all accounts, Kankurou should be labeled a 'loser' by his fellow peers, a 'weirdo', an 'outcast'.

I mean, come on, the boy was far more eccentric than Gaara was. Like his little brother, he wore almost nothing but black. He wore a hoodie a good ninety percent of the time, hood up, and he had systematically gone through every single one he owned and sewn cat ears onto the top of them. Then, just to concrete his weirdness, he wore makeup. Not some simple eyeliner like Gaara did, oh no, the freak wore full out purple face paint, every day, in a specific pattern of lines he carefully painted in front of the bathroom mirror each morning, and when asked about it, he would giggle like a little girl and say it was his war paint. He was the kind of person old ladies stopped and stared at in the mall. And yet the moment they walked through those doors, it was like a sea of people descended upon them, all clamoring to talk to his ridiculously popular big brother. It didn't make any fucking sense.

Like many mornings before it, Gaara was unceremoniously shoved out of the way by one of his brother's fans, just barely managing to keep his balance this time. Bastard... or had that been a girl? Bitch seemed more appropriate were that the case. Regardless, Gaara tried once to gain Kankurou's attention, failed, and decided it really wasn't worth it. The older boy had promised the redhead last night that he would help him this morning with some algebra he couldn't understand but... Well, it was no big deal anyway. Gaara currently had an A in math, so even if he failed the test that day he would still be all right. Besides, Kankurou was too busy flirting to pay any attention to his kid brother.

Not that Gaara had expected anything different... he had just hoped a little.

Dattebayo!

"Okay, today we're going to be working in groups of two. So everyone go ahead and pick a partner while I pass these papers out."

Hinata sighed softly as she watched the bustle of girls changing seats, finding a friend to work with. Child development class. A very popular class amongst the girls of Konoha High, particularly the freshman. One of the two elective courses she had taken that year and probably the only class she didn't have to work her ass off in to get at least a B. Because her father would never accept less than a B, and, quite frankly, even those didn't make him particularly happy.

A packet of articles and worksheets on the different aspects of childbearing was set in front of her, making her frown. This was the one area of the class she was a little worried about. The majority of the time they talked about child rearing and occasionally they'd spend the class period down at the daycare center literally right across the street from the school. Those were her favorite classes, seeing as how she loved working and playing with the kids. And unbeknownst to her, they loved it whenever she came. The workers at the center couldn't even count how many times a child would come in in the morning, asking if 'Miss Hinata' or (the less observant ones) 'the white-eyed girl' would be coming that day.

But now was the only time during the class they wouldn't be talking about taking care of or raising children. No, this part of the course was all about conceiving and giving birth to children. And Hinata feared a big fat F waiting for her during this chapter.

To make things worse, Nicole, the girl she normally worked with as a partner, in this class, was absent that day. Meaning she had no one and would either be alone or whoever else was left would get stuck with her. Pushing her fingers together and finding what little comfort she could from the familiar act, the last thing she expected was to be approached by someone. Particularly when that someone was the only male of the class and a senior.

"Hey... you're Hinata, right? Mind if I be your partner?"

Like a switch had been flipped, all the excess blood rushed straight to the girl's face, lavender eyes doubling in size. Was this real? "I-I-I-- y-y-you-- you want t-t-to work w-w-w-with me?" Ah yes, the infamous nervous stutter. Just another reason why Hinata loved herself so much.

"Yeah, course. If you want to that is."

Well, why the hell wouldn't she want to? She didn't have any reason to reject him, she didn't even know him. Besides, it's not like anyone else wanted to work with her. "I... um... o-okay."

He shot her a million dollar smile, occupying the empty seat next to her, sliding his pencil behind his ear in one cool, fluid motion. "I'm Josh, by the way."

"I, y-yes. I-I know." Of course she knew his name. Who didn't know his name. The question was why did he know hers?

"So... guess we should get started. This packet's a bitch."

With a weak nod, Hinata twined her fingers one last time before reaching for her own worksheets. And as they read through the articles, Hinata blushing quite a bit through certain parts while Josh chuckled softly, and answered the proffered questions, the younger girl felt herself slowly relaxing, tension about the chapter and her partner easing away bit by bit. She couldn't help it really. Josh was just so damn charismatic and friendly. And... well, he had a really nice voice.

If you don't completely understand Sakura's thought process yet... well, you're not supposed to. So don't worry.

FantasyChick, UberRandom, remychan123, sasunaru4evar, iscreamdrizzle, diadem-de-amor, miss kaitlin inuzuka, AspergianStoryteller, Magical Fox, midnight. wolf62, 3karen3

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