Title: Disadvantaged Children
Rating: T


Chapter Seven

Taste

"What is this emotion that I'm feeling right now? I don't understand it."
"Describe it to me."
"I see you and me in the future, living, breathing together. I feel safe, secure..."
"Happy?"
"Always."

Kakashi had given me specific directions to find Sasuke, but I still end up getting lost in the many corridors and hallways of the Mansion. There was the Sand dorm, go outside, there flew the tennis courts, and somewhere, between the locker rooms and grand hall, should be Sasuke's room. I finally encounter a door that had been stealthily trying to hide from me and I dash towards it, pocketing its location in the back of my head for future reference.

With a grimace, I knock on the door. There's no answer, so I sigh then knock again. Silence greets me and I growl under my breath. Trust the owner of the mansion to be late to his own appointment of torture.

"Obnoxious bastard," I mutter.

Several more minutes of pounding on the door is only met by silence on the other side. I adopt a stern and gruff voice, mimicking my counselor's dramatic voice. "I am Hatake Kakashi and I'm telling you that Sasuke expects more from you than from any other orphan in the Home. I also gave some pointers to Sasuke about being a completely insensitive bastard when it comes to meeting people on time. Oh, fear me and my impenetrable, literal mask."

I figure that I have every right to mock Kakashi, considering that he had been the messenger of bad news. Scowling, I continue pounding on the door.

"SASUKE-TEME! OPEN UP!"

The battered door withstands my abuse, occasionally groaning its annoyance, and I finally stop and sigh. Turning away, I choose a random hallway and keep walking, shoving away all thoughts of Sasuke's pale skin and dark eyes. I almost step out of the building, but a faint set of whispers distracts me. I frown when I hear traces of Kakashi's voice. Why was that bastard here?

The door, when I get to it, is hidden in the shadows and I realize that I must have passed it, unknowingly, at least three times. The whispering continues, and I hesitantly put my ears to the door, balancing on one precarious foot.

"-not what it's for. It's almost heartless, even for you, Sasuke-kun."

"Are you questioning me, Kakashi-san? I've exhausted all of my efforts, and this is the only way."

"Then why keep him?"

"You know exactly why! As soon as he accomplishes his purpose, we need to get rid of him."

"...You know the government is watching our every move. Not to mention that the-"

The voices get louder and the door opens, causing me to fall in front of Sasuke's burning gaze and Kakashi's exasperated eyes. It takes all my willpower not to do anything stupid, like show my utter confusion from the conversation that I had overheard. Instead, I stand up and avoid the dark eyes that are glaring my way.

Sasuke's voice is smooth, manipulative. "I know this might go past your intellect, Naruto, but that was a private conversation between Kakashi and me. Mind telling us how much you heard?"

I grind my teeth and the arrogance from the little snot makes me want to punch something. Namely his perfect face.

"Don't think so, Your Highness. But you could tell me when we're getting this over with."

Sasuke raises a hand to dismiss Kakashi. "Kakashi-san, would you leave me alone with Naruto? If you need anything, you know how to reach me."

I glare at Kakashi when he just cheekily grins and ducks out of the room, whistling. Sasuke, on the other hand, starts shuffling through the room, fluidly clearing papers away from a table and ignoring my presence. Up until now, I had only seen him twice; once in the cafeteria and once in that dreamlike clearing, where the stars had only accentuated his untouchable presence. Both times, he had seemed untouchable. What was it about him that left me shivering?

Even in this small room, I can only see perfection in Sasuke's lithe body. Along with the hardened face and his deep eyes, the aloof behavior somehow makes him more attractive.

"Take this and don't ask questions. I'm not in the mood to answer them."

I look up and foolishly get caught in Sasuke's frigid eyes. The guy was a bastard, but I still manage to get sucked in. It wasn't fair that my hatred didn't seem to realize how dangerous attraction could be.

As if reading my thoughts, he smirks and says casually. "Like what you see, then? It's nice to see that your file isn't wholly consisted of lies."

I snarl and grab the trash bag that he had handed me. "What the hell would I need this for?"

He just shakes his head.

"What did I say about questions, Naruto?"

He walks out of the room and I sulkily follow him, muttering every obscenity and attaching it to his name. The Uchiha was acting as if I had been the one to request spending more time together, not the other way around. His impatience and the condescending tone in his voice completely belies my earlier thoughts about him. It's easy to remember why I hated him.

Perfection really was skin deep, in Sasuke's case.

With that thought in mind, I happily start crinkling my trash bag, knowing that the noise will irritate the black-haired boy in front of me.

"Where are we going? When are we getting there? Why aren't you in the mood to answer questions? Are we there yet?"

The response is a dead silence and a swiveled glare in my direction, but I grin and continue to smack the trash bag into the air.

"You know, Sasuke-teme, I really appreciated the roses and all, but you're just not my type. And you should probably re-think your sexual choices, because a lot of girls here would be disappointed if you just swung that way."

His shoulders tense and my anger fades into a gleeful joy. "And that speech in the cafeteria about me was really, really, really well-rehearsed. By God, do you practice in front of the mirror or do you just imagine everyone naked?"

He finally snaps and grabs me by the scruff of my shirt, leaning his face into mine.

"I don't want to hear your idiotic voice for any longer, so I'm going to clarify a couple of things for you. We are going to clean up your pathetic attempt to scare everyone by breaking my windows. You are going to do that..."

Without taking his eyes off my face, he wraps his free hand around my flailing arm and slides down, lightly, almost stroking the length of my arm. The cool touch is unexpected and I freeze as his hand slides down to gently grasp my own hand. He stays in that position, smirking at my discontent, until I feel his hand suddenly grabbing the trash bag that I had been holding.

"..by using this trash bag, which should not be used as a plaything, a toy, or a distraction to me." He roughly lets go of me and I stifle my rapidly pulsing heartbeat. "Got it, dobe?"

In the past, an intrusion into my private space normally meant the guy wanted to fuck or kill me. Having a deliciously attractive boy like Sasuke touch me with such intimacy would normally set me into a lust-crazed beast, intent only on capturing the next prey and landing him in my bed.

But now, where the Mansion was watching and the owner was Uchiha Sasuke, I couldn't do anything except catch my failing breath and shrug off all reminders of the same pale skin, the same crooning voice, the same distant gestures.

Gaara

The name is a thick mist, impossible to get out of, and my eyes narrow at Sasuke, who looks slightly surprised by my hostility. He falters for a second, then turns around and keeps walking.

Trust Sasuke to be the one to take out my emotions and neatly place them in a line. I couldn't dodge the betrayal, the pain, the love I still held for Gaara of the Sand. Maybe Sasuke wasn't stringing my heart into wires on purpose, but his callous behavior reminds me of Gaara's own behavior. To distract myself, I reel back from the past and center myself firmly in the present. I watch as Sasuke expertly navigates his way through his own home, occasionally stopping at doors to greet the inhabitants.

He was popular, even with the students. While he shunted me with silence, he acknowledged various members of the Sand, Sound, and Leaf dorm whenever they stopped our trek in the hallways. He was careful with his words and charming enough to elicit a smile from whoever he was talking to.

He was also met, several times, by admirers or girls with flowers, who ignored me but kept a steady stream of conversation with the arrogant bastard. He treated all of them the same way; smiling and polite, with subtle words that made the girls all sigh and sway. After watching the billionth girl skip happily after speaking to her beloved Sasuke-kun, I had the sudden urge to jump on a podium and yell about his actual temperament.

We finally arrive at the front entrance, where the tingle of memories reflects and bounces off every shard and broken glass. The glimmer and flicker of each speck of light, the dust that whirled peacefully around every shard and the sun shining down on the chaotic disaster created the mess of broken splintered glass slicing into the bare ground.

Someone had already cleared away the broken doors and all that was left were the jagged edges, gleaming maliciously at me.

In the corner of my eyes, I see Sasuke's eyes boring into me, trying to assess my reaction, but I just grit my teeth and grab my trash bag. Did he think that the great Uzumaki couldn't handle cleaning up his own actions? It was just glass. Not bombs, not knifes, not death.

I could handle it.

Shakily, I bend down and pick up a particular ember shard, careful not to cut myself. The glass felt smooth and caught the light, but it also felt wrong. Like it had been soaked in sin.

Gaara, are you here?

Sasuke's sneer is the only thing that meets my gaze and I unconsciously grip the shard in my hand a little tighter, not caring when the pain shoots up my hand. I wanted to break that pale face, wanted to scratch those perfect eyes. Then run.

I roughly deposit the shard into the trash bag and pick up more glass as fast as I can. My hand stings from the quick pace, but I couldn't afford to be careful. Each piece of jagged glass is a flash –

"I don't like to kill. Kyuubi normally does all of the work for me."
"It's easy."
"Yeah, for you."

-of memories and flashbacks that I discard as easily as I discard each fragment of the broken window. Blue, purple, stained green. Each piece becomes whole again as they reunite in the trash bag; a sad resemblance of what they could have been.

Fifteen minutes pass and I look around me, dismayed to see that there's still a ton of glass, all strewn everywhere.

My back aches from bending down and my eyes hurt from the kaleidoscope of colors that stretched everywhere. Why had I even broken the door to begin with? Now, it was the cause of stupid, grunt work.

Community service, indeed.

Sasuke coughs and I look up to see him staring at me with a small smirk on his face. His alabaster skin only glows under the sunlight and it would be so damn easy to pull him closer, steal a taste of his skin, but I push the thought away. Hadn't I indulged in enough of these hormonal thoughts with -

"How could you do this to me? You bastard, is love meaningless to you?"
"You don't know what love is, Naruto."
"So you're going to turn your back on this? Years of happiness, of... No, you can't. I won't let you leave, Gaara."
"Then I'll just have to kill you, won't I?"

- Gaara, the person who I had spent my life with? Sex may have been healthy back then, but I had no interest for it now. It didn't make sense that my thoughts concerning Sasuke were turning out to be so provocative. However attractive Sasuke was, I shouldn't want any sort of contact with the bastard.

My hand is bleeding. I barely feel the throb, though, as I continue, blindly picking glass after glass, memories after memories. The blood smears with each shard, coating it with a thin layer of blood, but I shrug off the annoyance.

"What the hell are you doing?"

Sasuke's voice is angry and it's impossible to confuse it with one of the haunting voices from the past. I glare at Sasuke, blue eyes meeting heated dark eyes, and I loudly shake my trash bag and continue picking up the bleeding windows.

"What does it look like I'm doing? Bastard."

My loud voice bounces off the walls and I hear Sasuke's teeth grinding. I had thought it would be harder to rile the normally stoic boy, but all I needed to do was go about things loudly. I laugh, inwardly, taking great pleasure in Sasuke's shattered composure.

"No, you worthless idiot." Sasuke swiftly walks to my side and grabs my wrist, momentarily halting my clean up job.

"What you're doing is spreading your revolting germs in my house. Clean the blood off your hand."

He looks at me with a deep loathing but I just grin at him, a feral instinct kicking in. His grip on my wrist is painfully tight and the blood from my hand trickles down. A look of disgust flashes across Sasuke's face.

An incredibly risky plan suddenly crosses my mind and, shaking off Sasuke's hostility, I mentally christen the plan 'Infiltrate Sasuke's Dead Soul,' in honor of Sakura's name. It was crazy, it was inconceivable. Of course, I was going to go through with it. In fact, why was I even thinking when I could be doing?

Without another thought, I slowly lick my palm, never taking my eyes off Sasuke's shocked face. The blood in my mouth is familiar and the cut on my hand stings.

"That's disgusting, Uzumaki. Of course a typical street urchin like you wouldn't know the first thing about hygiene." He lets go of my wrist and his voice turns cold.

"You're filthy. I wouldn't be surprised if you had diseases or-"

I don't hear what he says next, because that's when I lean in and shove my mouth towards his. His surprise causes him to slightly open his mouth and I thrust my tongue in, letting him know exactly what I thought about his opinion of my blood. It was warm, being trapped with just his lips and the metallic taste of crimson swirling with Sasuke's own taste.

His sweet and musky scent engulfs me and I unconsciously pull closer, eyes wide open when I feel the lithe body touching mine and the heat causes me to squirm. The rage in his eyes speak of a simultaneous horror and fascination, but his soft lips still strain against mine.

Even if he was a bastard, I was still hopelessly turned on.

Before I have a chance to pull away, Sasuke suddenly stiffens and pushes me off of him. The craving doesn't vanish, but it doesn't matter because I'm met with a punch that knocks a few brain cells loose. A few seconds pass with only Sasuke's heavy breathing, a sweet unnamable taste in my mouth, and my sore jaw.

"You fucking freak."

And then Sasuke punches me again. This time, I hit the ground, wincing when I feel a throbbing pain coalescing with the taste of blood. Okay, so maybe kissing Sasuke with the excuse of infecting him with my blood hadn't been such a great idea. But I was known for surprising people, and it was nice to play up to my namesake for once. I just hadn't expected it to feel so arousing .

"Twenty points, Uzumaki." He says my name like it hurts him, like it's filth rolling off his tongue.

"If you touch me again, I'll kill you."

I shrug then grin when I see Sasuke's wide and furious eyes and the blood smearing in the corner of his lips. It was so goddamn satisfying to see him unsettled and this realization makes me bite my lip from laughing out loud. At this rate, maybe he'd regret ever requesting me to accompany him. Oh, if I could only dream.

I ignore the huffing Sasuke and calmly go back to picking up the broken glass, pretending that the last few seconds had never occurred. Oh, Operation Infiltrate Sasuke's Dead Soul was nowhere near over.

"Wanna hear something cool, Sasuke-kun?"

His sputtering and death threats indicate exactly what he thinks of the use of kun after his name.

I pretend to be engrossed in cleaning and continue, glossing over Sasuke's cold insults. My tone is rushed and irksomely cheerful, oblivious to the flush on my cheeks.

"I met this really cute girl in a ramen shop, two years ago, and we had lunch. The lunch was great and everything, but the best part was when she invited me over to her house!"

"What the hell would I care about your moronic-"

"Let me finish, Sasuke-kun. So at her house, she had all these nice things, like pretty things, you know? Wow, I think she even had this authentic ramen collection with shrimp flavor, chicken flavor, hot chili flavor, spinach flavor-"

"I'm taking ten points off for every minute that you're speaking, you idiotic-"

"-beef flavor, pizza flavor, ramen flavor, top ramen flavor-"

"There's no such thing as ramen ramen flavor. Now would you mind telling me what the hell happened-"

"-and bunny flavor. Don't glare at me like that, Sasuke-kun, or you'll go cross-eyed. Anyway, I'm getting to the best part. Where was I?"

"Three minutes, thirty points, Uzumaki."

"Oh yeah, so I was at this girl's house and then I started wondering why I was even over here. And it got really creepy because suddenly I see the girl completely naked and she's looking at me like she wants to do things that I'm not comfortable talking about in public."

Sasuke starts to pale and grits out slowly.

"Dobe. This isn't funny. If you're going to tell me that I have your diseased, infected blood in my mouth, then don't draw it out in a long, disgusting story."

I shake my head and grin. "Oh no, no, the girl didn't have any diseases or nothing."

"Then what's the point-"

"Because that's when her big brother comes out of the closet, get it, get it? And he's completely naked and he's also looking at me like he wants to do things that I'm not comfortable with, you know?"

"You fucking idiot, you've given me AIDS. I'm going to fucking kill yo-"

At this point, my lips are twitching and it's taking all will power to continue my story.

"No, no, Sasuke-kun, that's not what I'm getting to. Will you let me finish? Good grief, you kill stories, you know that? Abso-fucking-lutely."

Sasuke's eyes are twitching and he says in a creepily calm voice. "Okay, then, Naruto. Finish your story. Please."

"Wow, thank you for being so obliging, Sasuke-kun. You're much more appealing when you're not yelling or glaring or stick-up-the-assing or-"

"NARUTO."

"And anyway, I don't do anything with those two naked freaks, because I just don't roll like that. Really, Sasuke, I'm hurt that you'd think so lowly of me. So, I run outside, but I have two left feet, so I end up tripping over the stairs. You'd better be listening, Sasuke, because I'm getting to the best part. So, I trip and guess what I trip over?"

I pause for effect, ignoring the murderous look on Sasuke's face.

"Yeah, that's right, Sasuke-kun. A drooling, savage, rabid dog."

All the blood from Sasuke's face drains away, except for the smear of my own blood on his pale lips.

"Are you saying that-"

I look up with the straightest face that I can muster and nod, with a sad finality.

"And that's how Uzumaki Naruto got rabies."

"Naruto... Naruto, you.. You.."

Sasuke suddenly starts coughing, his eyes bulging, and rage pouring. His breaths steadily get more shallow and I watch, very amused, as his voice becomes more and more strangled. His reenactment of death has me so entertained that I sit down and snicker into my palms.

I had no intentions of letting my first prank fail, so I keep my mouth shut as Sasuke stumbles, like a drunk man, choking on his own air.

"I'll... Kill.. You.. Rabies.. Help."

After ten excruciating minutes of spazzing and shuddering, Sasuke dramatically dies when he finally sees fit to collapse into a sprawled heap of long legs, arms, and peacefully 'dead' face. I let a few more minutes pass, mentally giving the death scene an eight out of ten. It would have been a seven, but Sasuke's last words had been 'help' so I give the poor guy a break.

Holding back laughter, almost choking on it, I crawl towards Sasuke and watch his chest go up and down in quick, spasmodic breaths. I peer over him, face to face, and being so close to him reminds me of how many times I had encountered death in other living forms. The blood-stained lips are a souvenir of our kiss and his closed eyes are testament to his belief that I had given him rabies.

Funny how a dead Sasuke was preferable to a living, sarcastic, unfriendly Sasuke.

I sigh and get up, but a hand suddenly shoots up and grabs my arm. I look down and Sasuke's opened his eyes, an almost weary look hidden beneath pools of ice. We stay like that for a couple of seconds and I struggle to keep down a flush when the memory of our kiss stampedes all over my mind.

When he finally speaks, it's an accusing tone swirled with something else I can't quite place.

"You were lying, weren't you?"

My snicker is the only response and I think I see a brief smile play on Sasuke's lips. But, the moment passes and Sasuke's fist comes swinging at me and hits me straight in the face. Before murder can catch up to me, I just run of the room, laughing the entire way.

And the final verdict on Operation 'Infiltrate Sasuke's Dead Soul'?

So worth it.


A week passes by and things go in a routine fashion. I would fall out of bed, grumble at Sai, chat with Kiba, have an entirely different kind of chat with Kakashi, go back to grumbling at Sai, then suffer through team interactions, inter-dorm interactions, group counselor meetings, and of course, the ever-dreadful hours with Sasuke.

During my community service with Sasuke, I would normally do slave work in the Mansion. His smirks never failed to irritate me, especially when I was picking up weeds, cleaning up barf, or squashing all the insects in His Highness's room.

It was always silent, me working and him lounging around or talking on the phone. Any efforts I'd make to start a conversation would be shot down. Half of the time, I didn't even know why I tried. I just had an itching feeling to make the bastard smile; it was a challenge, plain and simple. The memory of our first meeting always tugged in the back of my head, taunting with its saccharine scents and the brush of lips.

I still hated him, though.

Sasuke took great pains in reminding me of this fact whenever he'd insult the dirt under my nails or pin me down with a dissecting, disgusted look. He never broke down whenever I insulted him, and this, in turn, would make me angrier. Sometimes I would get an uncontrollable urge to shake him until he broke, until his little smirks and unperturbed eyes disappeared.

It was sickening to feel so much hatred for one person, then switch to a completely different feeling whenever I happened to catch his scent in the air or whenever his body brushed mine.

I almost stagger from my lust-filled thoughts then straighten up when I hear Kiba snickering at me. The bell had rung, leaving us to rush to our next class. Free time always seemed to end earlier than it was supposed to, especially free time with Shikamaru and Kiba.

The chatter from the hallway and the cheerful kids passing me remind me of schools that I had attended in the past. No one would have been able to guess that this was actually a Mansion filled with hardened juvenile delinquents.

Shikamaru casually interjects into my thoughts with a yawn.

"Group today is Orochimaru. People say he's a pedophile. Ne.. You should probably watch out, Naruto. You could easily pass for a six year old, sometimes."

I glare at Shikamaru who only responds with an unruffled smile. I then turn my attention to Kiba, who looks like he's about to sneak away to ditch.

"C'mon, Kiba. We have to go to group."

Kiba responds by shoving his hands into his pockets and looking up at me with pathetically large eyes. "But I don't wanna."

I sigh. "At this rate, they're going to make you clean up windows like I did. Come on, just this once?"

Kiba looks at my worried face, then reluctantly allows himself to be pulled into the crowd.

"I haven't gone all week." He grumbles, but nevertheless takes my arm with a slight grin.

"I'm only going because of you."

I grin and ruffle his hair. "Yeah. I know."


I walk inside of the room and the first thing that I notice are the fluorescent lights. I blink, wincing from the brightness, and notice how sterile everything looks. For some odd reason, the harsh lights make me feel like I'm naked, like I'm at the spotlight and the whole world is looking for me. I blindly reach a hand out for Kiba to ground me, but he's already being ushered into a seat.

"Late. Ten points off."

A young guy with glasses smiles at me then hands me a piece of paper. I just stare at him. How could he be smiling in a place as controlled as this? Was this some sort of laboratory? Or was I imagining things? I shake my head and focus on sneering at the guy who had given me the papers. I figure he's a student assistant for Orochimaru, because he looks only a bit older than me.

"What's your name, kid?"

I scowl at the word kid, but answer. "Naruto. Uzumaki Naruto."

He checks my name off his clipboard, but not before giving me another look. I just roll my eyes and wonder if I've fallen victim, yet again, to someone reading my file.

Has everyone here read that piece of shit?

I watch, already jaded, as his eyes probe me. His look shifts from disgust to pity, until he finally settles on a gentle curiosity. He goes back to looking at his clipboard and his nametag (Kabuto) tints when he beckons me into the inside of the room.

Without a moment's hesitation, I pick a seat at the very back of the class and promptly drop my head on my desk. I had already decided from Kabuto's weird attitude that I wasn't going to enjoy the group class. Even the temperature was uncomfortable.

As if to prove my point, a random fly drops dead on to my desk, wings twitching from the chilly atmosphere.

I sigh, sweeping the fly off my desk, and go back to dozing. I hear the clatter of students arriving, but I do my best to ignore the chatter and the bright lights. I'm about to fall asleep, when a voice interrupts.

"Children, children! Sit and be seated, please."

I yawn then look up, and frown.

The counselor's long, well-kept hair and his sashay around the room causes me to blanch. His voice swirls even after he's finished talking and the bright lights cause his pale face to illuminate with a shine.

His eyes, though, practically scream "I-Want-To-Molest-Little-Kids." The scaly look he gives to certain people in the room reminds me of the way a snake will eye its next meal before going in for the kill. Even his tongue, when he spoke, would wheedle its way out into the open and slither wildly, making conversation quite disturbing.

I see the uneasy frowns on other people's faces, which confirms my belief that our group counselor was a total creep. He's slowly walking to the back of the class, peering at random people and then murmuring names like they're sacred. I cross my fingers and hope to every deity that Orochimaru doesn't shamble to the back of the class to talk to me.

Of course, the deities decide that they'd be better off sleeping than trying to fend off a pedophilic attack on a little blond boy.

I wipe off all the ill feelings fluttering in my stomach as Orochimaru sashays his little walk over to where I'm sitting. He browses through his paper and, when he finds my name, looks at me carefully. Even though I purposely avoid his gaze, I can still feel the stare grinding into my body, stripping me of my clothes. It must be the fluorescent lights or something, because I can imagine myself as an experiment and Orochimaru's eyes as the scalpel.

Oblivious to my forced fists and my clenched jaw, Orochimaru suddenly tilts my head with his cold fingers and leers as I lean back into my chair.

Why do I hate this guy so much?

"So we finally meet.. Naruto-kun.."

Okay, that's why.

The sound of his voice takes its time to reach my ears and when it does, I grimace. His voice is so silky, smooth, and hypnotic, that even now, I can see some of the people next to me subtly look my way. How horrible that a pedophile could master a voice like that.

In response, I glare and keep my gaze focused on the chalkboard. When he realizes that I'm not paying attention to his caressing voice or the clammy hands stroking my hair, he leans in closer. I wince when I see his tongue slithering and quell the urge to chop it off with a knife.

"I can see you've got a spirit, my Naruto-kun."

A dramatic side of me wants to silently weep from Orochimaru's use of the possessive word 'my' in front of my name. Who was this man? What did he want with me?

Without flinching, I manage to reply sharply. "And I can see that Konoha needs to bring back one of its old laws concerning pedophiles like you."

Orochimaru stops caressing my hair and raises an eye. "Oh? And pray tell, what would that law be?"

I stare him evenly in the eye. "Chopping off dicks."

I smirk when I see his eye twitching and even manage to snicker, even though I'm pretty sure it's taking all of his willpower not to strangle me right now. I wait, patiently, as his blotchy red face finally calms down and his fingers stop shaking from anger. What a creep.

I'm not prepared when Orochimaru leans in and whispers into my ear with a sly grin.

"I'll break you."

I hide my sudden fear and snort.

"Like hell you will." I lower my voice, unable to avoid the loathing in my words. "Go and teach the class, you fucking disgusting son of a-"

I freeze, eyes wide, as something wet suddenly slithers behind my ear. My body won't move, because I'm not used to feeling so scared. Was this how Orochimaru worked? Did he do this to everyone? Trying to calm my racing heart, I scan the room, wondering how the people in front of me don't notice that their group counselor is literally licking and taking pleasure in my horror.

I steal a ragged breath when Orochimaru's tongue continues its slimy trail down my neck. Everything was so cold. The room, my blood, the hand slipping lower down my back. I can't do a damn thing, because this was my own group counselor.

As suddenly as it began, the tongue stops slithering and withdraws back into Orochimaru's mouth. Revulsion and relief remain in my tense shoulders and my eyes eat him with hate. I feel dirty, used.

It was a reminder.

"Your taste excites me, Naruto-kun. Is this how you kept Gaara of the Sand?"

My mouth is dry and every inch of my skin burns. No, please don't.

"Tell me, did you beg? Did you spread your legs and beg to be taken like the filthy little whor-"

I snap. Disregarding the room full of people, I throw myself out of the chair and hurtle into my own group counselor. Squawks from my classmates fill the air as I start pounding the spite right out of Orochimaru. My knuckles feel each satisfying smack of released anger, even though my mind keeps reminding me that this is suicide.

Someone finally pulls me off of the beaten and bloody Orochimaru, who hastily draws back and glowers at me.

"Thirty points." His hiss causes me to shudder from revulsion. "Now get out of my sight before I expel you."

The gawking witnesses whisper my name in hushed tones, but I shrug off my anger as easily as Orochimaru had sloughed off his slimy skin. It seemed that the Mansion still held its own secrets, even though it had claimed to be a place of refuge. Disappointment is familiar, but it still hurts.

With a last glance at Orochimaru's dribbling malice, I leave the room.


Kiba finds me collapsed against a wall, my arms hugging my body. An hour had passed, but I can still hear Orochimaru's hisses and feel his tongue. My mind is blank, leaving me with nothing to do except tremble and shove away emotions.

Kiba sighs and drops, ungracefully, next to me. His voice, though casual, doesn't hide his worry.

"I've been looking everywhere for you."

I just close my eyes and dig my hands into my hair. A silence passes before my mouth finally opens.

"He knows. About Gaara."

Emotions run through Kiba, before his face finally settles on pure fury. His fists clench and I feel a surge of love for my best friend.

"That little fucker. Was that what he was doing back there with you? I'll rip his slimy head off."

Even though the image of Kiba and I ganging up on the twisted Orochimaru is more than satisfying, I shake my head. There was no way in hell that I'd let Kiba suffer for me.

"No. We'd get expelled."

Kiba snarls. "Like I'd care. Besides, that snake's been asking for it. All week, he feels up on everyone and nothing ever happens. You know how many people was cheering when you pounded the shit out of him?"

I smile. "Really?"

Kiba loosens up when he sees my smile and laughs. "Sure. You were damn tight in there, man. Next time you go beat up a teacher, tell me so I can join you. All right?"

I laugh with him and the tension inside of me unravels. "Okay."

He leans against me and we stay like that for a while. This was familiar. We had done this more than once in the past, especially after my fights with Gaara. I'd be bloody and bruised, but Kiba would just sigh and tend to my injuries. He was an extension of me.

Why can't I imagine a future with you, Kiba?

Knowing that I have to confront the taste of memories, I absentmindedly trace an image in the air.

"Do you think I'll get over him? Gaara?"

Kiba's grim face matches his words. "No. I don't think you ever will."

He pauses then continues. "But I believe you can put him behind you."

"..how?"

Kiba ruffles my hair then grins. "Take your pick. You got me, for one. Then you got all these counselors, who actually ain't too bad. I know you, Naruto-kun. You're shutting yourself from the world, but that'll kill you."

"But-"

He interrupts me, grin never fading. "You can't do everything on your own, y'know. You gotta be the Naruto-kun that I knew. The little boy with a tan from playing in the streets... You're still that same kid."

I look at him, understanding in my gaze. He was right. But it's hard to accept that the last six years have been a waste. So I lock his words in a safe place and pull him closer to my body. His scent throws me into the chaotic whirlwind of the past, but his touch grounds me.

Gaara had damaged me and left me for dead. The day he had harmed Kiba was the day he had killed my entire soul. Was it possible, then, that this was the same Gaara of the Sand who had taught me love, given me happiness, and become my second chance? How could it have come to this?

"You'll be okay, won't you, Naruto-kun?"

I draw in a long breath, then let it out in a hiss. Wasn't it time to let go?

"Yeah. I think I will."


This is it. I've done all that I can for you, Naruto.

You're like a brother to me. Always have been. When we got lost, I looked for you, searched everywhere. When I found you, I was so damn happy. Ashamed to admit it, but I almost cried.

You've saved me way too many times, you know? Because of you, I know what love and trust is.

I can't let you down.

Kiba


AN: Thank you so much for reading! Please tell me your thoughts! :)

So you know how T-Rex's roar in Jurassic Park voice was comprised of a bear, a walrus, a camel, and a cockroach? Well, that's exactly how I felt about the characterization of Sasuke. I took various people from all kind of things; Draco from Harry Potter, Dr. Cox from Scrubs, the Grim Reaper from that cartoon show, and an unremarkable bit of Alvin from Alvin and the Chipmunks. And then I molded them together to try and produce a nasty, terrible Sasuke. Of course, the end product turned out to lean more towards Sasuke from the manga than anyone else, but you never know... Alvin has a way of appearing from nowhere.