Oh. My. Freakin. Gosh. I am so sorry that I haven't updates in six (SIX!) months. I feel like a terrible person, and I'm about to feel even more like a terrible person, as I have an announcment. This chapter is mostly to assure all of you readers that I am in fact not dead. It is also however, to bear bad news. This story (which, btw, is passobly my most favorite story out of all the ones I've written so far) is going to have to take a back burner for a little while. It makes me so very sad, but it the long run I hope it will be better for the story. I'm going to try to crack down on finishing "Demons of the Woods" my other in-progress fic right now, because I'd really love to focus on this. I think this story, and you as readers, doesn't deserve anything less than the best I can put forward.

There will still be updates, but they'll probably be decently far apart. I have some back-up stuff that I can use, but I don't want to run out too soon, in case I'm not finished with the other craziness at the time. I'm asking you all now to not give up on me or this story because its going to be amazing and I have some great twists planned out that I don't think you will have seen coming and it makes me so happy just thinking about what this piece has to come. I ask your forgiveness and support...just don't give up on this one, please.

--Two deep breaths later-- Okay! So, bad news over, here is the extremely long and hilarious (well I think its a pretty funny chapter) chapter four!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any affiliated characters or titles (however, I do own Enzera's character and likeness)

CHAPTER FOUR

An Undiscovered Talent

Sasuke spent the next few days getting to know Naruto. He found the blond to be inexplicably intelligent, seeing as he acted like a complete hyperactive idiot most of the time. The two had physics together; Sasuke knew that Naruto was smart. The weird thing was, that as good as Naruto was at mathematics and sciences, he seemed to enjoy his literature class above all the others. Oh well. No sense in making the world anymore confusing. Sasuke had realized sometime within the second day of knowing Naruto that figuring out the blond was a useless endeavor. It was one of the best things about Naruto; he didn't need to be figured out for one to enjoy the ride.

Don't think however, this didn't stop Sasuke from trying.

Sasuke thought about Naruto a lot. The raven didn't have many friends. The fact that Naruto quickly became his best friend could be the reason for him thinking about him so often. Sasuke did rather enjoy the other male's company. Yet, somehow, Sasuke didn't think so. His musings were interrupted by the very same boisterous blond that he had previously occupied his mind with.

"Hey! Sasuke-teme! Wanna play Ultimate?"

"What?" Sasuke said in both confusion and annoyance.

"Ultimate Frisbee," said Naruto, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Jeez, what do you live under, a rock?"

Naruto took a moment to chuckle at his own joke before adding, "So, do you want to play?"

"I thought we discussed my dislike for Frisbee."

"Oh, c'mon," Naruto said rolling his eyes dramatically, "it wasn't that bad."

Sasuke scowled and made a slight growling sound in the process. He had decided that Frisbee was stupid and I was beneath him. It involved very little physical activity and was concentration was not a key requirement. It was simply tossing a disk back and forth.

"Besides," said Naruto, ignoring the obvious dark clouds above the Uchiha's head, "this is Ultimate Frisbee. There's a huge difference." Naruto held his hands at arm's length to emphasize the vast lack of similarities between the two activities.

Sasuke cocked an eyebrow. He shook his head saying, "Frisbee is Frisbee," and returning his attention to the book he had been reading in the shade of the large tree before Naruto had come barging over. Naruto, who was now upset that Sasuke was ignoring him, lowered the book and met Sasuke's aggravated stare with sad-puppy eyes of his own.

"Please Sasuke? It'll be fun, I promise!"

Sasuke felt his cold stare growing significantly less frigid by the cute smile on the blond before him. He nearly fell backwards at the random use of the word 'cute'—it had come out of nowhere—but luckily there was a tree behind him.

The next thing Sasuke knew, Naruto was dragging him—literally—into the game while hastily explaining the rules at light speed. Sasuke was a bit dazed, but he got the basic idea of what he was supposed to do.

Sasuke was surprised to find that not only did he get into the game, but for the first time in a long time, he was having fun at school. He was hanging out with other guys just for the hell of it, getting dirty for no apparent reason, and he even came close to smiling, but he had to stop himself to maintain full stoic-ness.

Shikamaru threw the green disk in Sasuke's direction, and it was caught with ease. As the raven looked about for some one to pass to, he was tackled to the ground by…something. The two rolled down the small hill, due to the angle of the tackle, and finally came to a stop at the bottom of the slope. Sasuke looked up fully prepared to become extremely angry at whoever had the nerve to pin him down, but when he looked up he was met with Naruto's bright blue eyes.

Both boys were breathing heavily; dirt smeared faces inches away from each other. Sasuke could feel the blood pounding in his ears. He had he sudden urge to just move his face up, just crane his neck a few inches, and capture the soft lips in front of him, but then stopped himself, knowing that it was wrong to think about Naruto that way.

If only Sasuke could see that Naruto was having a similar dilemma. One could even say that the blond boy's was a bit…harder to deal with. He restrained his desire, knowing that forcing someone into something was a bad idea.

Yet despite both being fully aware how compromising their situation was, neither dared to move either away or toward the obvious.

In the midst of both boys' struggles to find a solution—these thoughts were not helped by the hormonal interjections of perverse images—a bead of sweat made its way down Naruto's forehead, down his nose, rolling of the side onto his cheek, down to his chin, where it hesitated, before plunging straight into Sasuke's open eye.

"Ahh!" said Sasuke quickly as his hand shot to the offending eye. Salt water was in no way isotonic to tears. Naruto immediately leapt off of Sasuke and began sputtering out apologies and attempting to help the other boy of the ground.

Sasuke's heart gave a twinge when he saw Naruto trying desperately to gain Sasuke's forgiveness. For two reasons really: one; Sasuke hated to see Naruto grovel or look pathetic, and two; the raven didn't find the whole ordeal unpleasant. He wasn't angry, and as he looked at Naruto blushing in embarrassment before him, Sasuke found that he was never more positive in his life of his homosexuality. He inwardly sighed. He didn't want to ruin the first real friendship he had ever had by coming onto to his friend. Figures this would happen. In the end Sasuke decided that he wouldn't say anything.

"No harm, no foul," Sasuke said as he stood up and brushed himself off.

"Oh good," said Naruto, sounding truly relieved. "Well, c'mon then, let's go to class!"

"Hn," replied the Uchiha as he shoved his hands in his pockets and began walking behind the blond as he chattered about nothing in particular.

--- --- ---

Despite the tremendous amount of dirt on the boys, especially Sasuke and Naruto, all the participants of the so-deemed 'epic' Frisbee game, decided to go to class anyway.

"Mr. Uzumaki! Mr. Uchiha!"

Okay, so apparently getting super dirty and semi-bruised and then going to class wasn't the best idea of the year. The professor who had sent the boys to the guidance department believed the two had gotten into some sort of scuffle, and the other students who claimed to have seen them wrestling, weren't doing much to help.

"Hey Sasuke," Naruto whispered as he shifted in his stiffly stuffed guidance office chair.

"Yeah?" said Sasuke, somewhat intrigued by Naruto's whisper. Naruto does not whisper.

"What would you say to having some extra fun with this?" Naruto said as he smirked. Sasuke could swear he saw a glint of evil pass through the seemingly innocent boy's eyes.

Sasuke cocked an eyebrow, "What exactly do you have in mind Naruto?"

Naruto just continued to smirk evilly and told him to go along with things. After that neither of the boys said a word for a few moments until their seemingly tense silence was interrupted by the presence of a man. The administrator was apparently a guidance counselor. The man was bald and dark skinned. Even though he wore a business suit, one could tell he was muscular. The man instructed Sasuke and Naruto following him, and on the way to the office, Sasuke gave Naruto a nudge and a look that clearly asked what the blond was up to. Naruto's silent reply was a Cheshire-cat grin that clearly said 'You'll see.'

Sasuke had a bad feeling about this.

The two boys sat down on one side of the table, while the counselor seated himself opposite them. He took a deep breath, folded his hands and when he opened his eyes he looked straight at the boys in a way that was neither threatening nor overly gentle.

"So boys, what seems to be the trouble?"

"There's no trouble," Sasuke said darkly glaring at the man, as if daring him to continue to interrogate them. The counselor simply ignored him and looked at Naruto, who also assured him that there was nothing wrong.

"Look, you boys are covered in dirt and other students claim to have seen you fighting in the courtyard last block. You need to talk things out instead of fighting."

Both boys looked blankly at the counselor. After all, this tough-looking man was telling them to 'talk-it-out.' Skepticism was alive and well in the office, on both parties.

"Sasuke, is there anything you would like to say to Naruto?"

Sasuke shook his head. The counselor turned his gaze to Naruto, who Sasuke suddenly noticed had taken to fidgeting slightly in his seat.

"Naruto, is there anything you would like to say to Sasuke?"

"Well…" Naruto began, sounding extremely hesitant.

"Yes?"

"You see…"

"Yes?"

"Sasuke…"

"Yes? 'Sasuke' what?"

"Well…"

The guidance counselor's blood pressure was rising in both excitement and frustration. Excitement because, this was his first day on the job and if he e a big help on the first day, he would acquire a quick reputation; frustration because Naruto had apparently lost the ability to speak in coherent sentences.

"Naruto, would you like Sasuke to leave the room?"

"No," said Naruto firmly, "he needs to hear this."

The counselor nodded. Naruto turned in his seat to look at Sasuke. He took a deep breath and then spoke:

"Sasuke, I really did like it that one time when you—err—buttered my bagel," Naruto paused to emphasize the awkwardness of the apparent euphemism, "but do we need to do it every day?"

The guidance counselor had caught on to where the conversation had apparently turned, and in the process chocked on his own saliva. Needless to say, it was about the last thing he had expected, and he ha gone a full shade paler. Sasuke, also caught on, and remembered what Naruto had said about playing along.

"Jeez, Naruto, I thought you liked it," Sasuke said rolling his eyes as if it was the most obvious thing to feel about the situation.

The counselor's eyes had never been wider.

"I do," said Naruto hastily. Then in a shy voice he continued, "But I would prefer…um…cream cheese."

Sasuke could swear he saw Naruto blush. He was fulfilling his shy role well, and don't for one second think that Sasuke missed the direction Naruto was headed with the 'cream cheese' comment. Sasuke lived with Itachi.

"As long as I can lick your knife, I don't mind," said Sasuke, smirking.

The counselor fainted.

"Wow," sad Naruto, breaking his out of character act to stare at the now unconscious man. "I definitely thought it would take more than that. Should we wake him up?"

"I suppose."

The boys propped the man up and splashed his face with cold water. The man let out a small yelp and the boys proceeded to help him up. The man cleared his throat and looked at the two boys who were attempting to look as innocent as possible—well one of them was anyway. Sasuke continued to be a glob of stoic-ness.

"Boys, I realize at this age you want to experiment, but a relationship cannot be based solely on sex or problems like your cur—"

"Whoa! Hold on!" exclaimed Naruto. "Who said anything about sex?"

"You said, that Sasuke buttered your bagel and—"

"Um, yeah. For lunch I usually buy a bagel. I tend to complain about eating it raw so Sasuke puts butter on it for me."

"It's just to shut you up," said Sasuke darkly.

The counselor looked at Sasuke then at Naruto and then back to Sasuke again.

"So you boys aren't, um…"

"Look, Mr. um…counselor guy. If you think my bagel consumption in inappropriate then I'll just buy a sandwich or something."

"Why don't you get a muffin next time Naruto," Sasuke said in a velvety voice, "I'd be happy to butter that. Over and over and—"

Both boys turned to see the source of a sudden thumping sound, only to see the counselor on the floor again.

"Eh. I say we leave him," said Naruto.

Sasuke smirked and nodded. The boys discretely exited the counseling office, resisting the urge to die of laughter. Once they were a safe distance Naruto began howling with laughter and Sasuke let out a chuckle or two of his own. Naruto finally settled, wiping a tear from his right eye.

"By the way, Sasuke, that was some nice acting back there," Naruto said as he moved away toward his next class. "You've got some real talent." He called to the raven.

"Yeah," said Sasuke quietly, "talent."

A/N: And there you have it! (Look how long it was!!!) I hope you found it enjoyable, if you didn't let me know. If you did, also let me know :) Praise is rather nice as well!

Again, I'm sorry about this being temporarily slowed. Don't forget about it though, you'll surely regret it if you do!

-EverPlotting-