Summary: Naruto had been a good boy all through high school, and what had it gotten him? Rejected by his best friend for a series of one-night-stands. (OOC: darker Naruto, sexual Sasuke) SasuNaru - College AU
Warning 17+ only: Yaoi (Boy x Boy) - Homophobic readers please hit the back button NOW. Not appropriate for young readers.
Author's Note: Ok, for the many of you concerned that Taya would become a part of the plot, don't worry. I use OCs as disposable characters, because if I used a female from the manga, there would be some readers who are emotionally attached to that character and they'd want to know what happens to her in the end. No one will care that much about Taya. Her run ends here. I have been having trouble with my browser crashing on this site this week for some reason. I tried to reply to all your reviews, but sometimes it would crash when I sent a reply, so I'm not sure if they all arrived. If you didn't get a reply, just know that I read and appreciated your comment very much.
-xXx-
Naruto set the large stack of books down on the 'return' cart in the library where he had been studying for the past three hours. He hadn't gotten as much done on the paper on Diseases in the Ancient World as he had meant to over the weekend, given all the emotional shit he had been dealing with. But he had made good progress today. He was enjoying his class on medical history more than he thought he would. He had only taken it since it was a class that satisfied both a science and history requirement. He loved a double win. But it had turned out to be really interesting. And a little scary. He was glad that - for example - the strain of syphilis today was not nearly as deadly as the ancient form of the disease. He was pretty sure that he would never have even considered pre-marital sex if this were still around in its original form.
He closed his laptop, having taken enough notes and references to be in decent shape. As he headed out of the library, he noticed a familiar figure walking towards him.
"Hey, Nagato. I didn't know you were on campus," Naruto said, again feeling a slight discomfort at the man's presence, but shaking it off as just tiredness.
"Yeah, I have permission to use the archives in the library for my project."
"What are you working on?"
Nagato just smiled. "I'm a bit secretive about my work, I'm afraid."
Naruto shrugged. He supposed many writers are afraid of their work getting stolen before it is published, so he didn't push it.
"Are you done with what you needed to do for the day?" Nagato asked casually. "I was just heading out, so if you want you could come over to my place and meet a few friends of mine who happen to be in town for a few days. We can all grab dinner."
Naruto hesitated, not sure how well he really knew this man aside from the fact that he had been faculty at an event at the same school where Jiraya taught. Which, when he thought about it, wasn't really the best character reference. But this was the second time that Nagato had mentioned coming over this evening, and Naruto didn't want to be rude.
"It would give you a chance to avoid your asshole roommate," Nagato said, a small smirk on his lips.
Naruto snorted, already feeling the scales tipping towards going. "Tell me about it."
Nagato looked very satisfied with that answer. "If it's that uncomfortable for you at your dorm, why don't you grab a change of clothes and hang out with us for the night. My place is right by campus. Actually closer to the library than your dorm is."
Naruto hesitated, but in the end the idea of not having to deal with whatever Sasuke was going to dish out to him over-rode any uncertainties he had about Nagato.
"Ok. You don't need to wait for me. I can just go back to my room, grab my stuff, then walk over. I don't want to hold you up if you have guests."
"They're very old friends. They won't mind. I'll come with you."
Naruto shrugged again, not really thinking about the fact that it was probably strange that Nagato seemed to know which dorm he lived in.
They chatted about various authors as they walked to Naruto's dorm. When they reached the suite, only Chouji was there. He looked curiously at Nagato.
"Hey, Chouji," Naruto casually greeted his roommate as he grabbed a glass of water from the kitchen. "Do you want anything?" he asked Nagato.
Nagato just shook his head. "We should get going."
"This is my friend, Nagato. Nagato, this is one of my roommates, Chouji."
They nodded to each other. Chouji watched with some curiosity as Nagato followed Naruto to his room while Naruto pulled out his dirty clothes from his backpack and stuffed some fresh clothes in.
"Bring enough for a few days if you'd like, just in case."
Naruto hesitated, then jammed a few more pieces of clothing in, along with some additional books. His backpack was bulging when he zipped it closed.
"I'm heading out. Tell Neji that I'll be gone for a few days."
"You're taking off in the middle of the week? You'll miss classes."
"Nah, I'll still go to class. Nagato just lives closer to the library and most of my classes."
Chouji frowned, knowing that this had more to do with Sasuke than proximity to the library, but he assumed the older man must be a family friend, so he didn't say anything.
"See you later, then," Chouji said simply.
"Later," and Naruto left with Nagato following.
. . . .
Sasuke got back to the room about an hour later. He found Chouji cooking dinner in the shared kitchen. He greeted his roommate with a silent nod, and headed to his room to study. He had already gathered from the silence in the suite that Naruto was not home. Of all the things he could say about Naruto, 'quiet' wasn't one of them.
"Hey, Sasuke..." Chouji started, his voice hesitant.
Sasuke paused, and turned to face the older boy. He raised an eyebrow, indicating the other should continue.
"Do you know a guy named Nagato? Dark red hair, weird eyes, looks like he is maybe around 30. Is he someone from where you and Naruto grew up?"
Sasuke frowned. "No. I've never heard of him. Why?"
"It's just... Naruto was here earlier with the guy," Chouji shifted uncomfortably.
"And?" Sasuke had a bad feeling about this, somehow.
"He told Naruto to pack things for a few days and that he would be staying with him."
Sasuke frowned. Why would Naruto be staying with an older guy he didn't know? "You seem worried. Was the guy acting strangely?"
"No. Not really. He seemed nice enough. It was more just they way he looked at Naruto that seemed... off."
Sasuke felt his stomach clench. "How did he look at him?"
Chouji seemed at a bit of a loss to describe it. "Just... really intensely. He just stared at Naruto. It freaked me out a little. But I figured he must be a family friend or something, and maybe was just worried about Naruto because he's been so upset since..." Chouji trailed off, not really wanting to get involved there. "I'm sure it's fine, though. Naruto invited him in and seemed pretty comfortable about spending time at his place."
Sasuke didn't think that sounded fine. He went to his room and looked up the classes that he knew Naruto had signed up for, noting which building and rooms they were in. This was going on long enough. He wasn't going to let Naruto avoid him for the rest of the semester. He wanted to know how much of what Naruto had said was a misunderstanding, and how much was real. And he was going to fucking find out.
. . .
Nagato drove them to his apartment, which was in fact very close to the library. It was in a luxury apartment building, at the very top floor. Naruto felt a little out of place as he entered, and realized that Nagato must either come from old money or be extremely successful as a writer. Though he wondered a bit why he hadn't found any books by the man when he'd checked him out on Amazon. Even the lamest books showed up there. But lame books wouldn't provide an income enough to get a place like this.
There were three men sitting in the living room when they walked in. They appeared to be playing poker, with a pile of cash in the middle of the table. They looked up as Naruto and Nagato entered the room, and Naruto felt a breath of nerves as all eyes latched onto him. Nagato cleared his throat, and the tension eased.
"I see you made yourselves at home," Nagato said dryly, eyeing the bottles of liquor and shot glasses that were on the table and kitchen counter. The three men ignored the comment. "This is Naruto. He is a student here. We ran into each other yesterday at a bar and I invited him over, since he's having some roommate troubles at the moment."
"I'm Deidara, hn. Grab a seat. We can deal you in, yeah?" The man looked only slightly older than Naruto, with long blond hair and pale blue eyes. He was dressed in black jeans and a black tank top that was cut short to reveal his toned stomach and well defined arms.
"No, you guys finish your hand," Naruto said, nodding in greeting to Deidara as he set his bag down and took off his shoes.
"I'm Zetsu," the second man had dyed green hair and yellowish hazel eyes. Naruto had no sense of whether he was closer to Nagato's age or his own. He had a bag of dried green leaves next to him on the table, and Naruto didn't need to guess what it was. There was a book of rolling papers right next to the bag, and a joint dangling from his lips. He blew out the heavy scented smoke, and snickered. "Come on, come on... you should totally join us and hang out. Sit down, relax, loosen up."
"Shut the fuck up, Zetsu. You've been fucking babbling all fucking afternoon. Stop smoking that shit. It makes you even more annoying than usual, you stoned pussy." The third man there looked to be in his mid twenties, and was - aside from Sasuke - possibly the sexiest man that Naruto had met in person. He was wearing tight black pants and no shirt, with a leather choker around his neck. His hair was dyed a silver grey, and his eyes were a reddish brown. And his body was... fucking cut. Naruto wondered what this guy could possibly do for a living. Stripper? Hit man? Poet?
"That's Hidan," Nagato said.
"Whatever. You joining us blondie?" Hidan looked over at Nagato. "So what's the story with the kid, Nagato? Is he off limits? He's fucking hot."
"You know that I'm standing right here, with two perfectly functional ears, right jerk-off?" Naruto said, feeling more than a little annoyed at clearly being read as Nagato's boy toy. "And whether or not I'm dating someone right now, I have no interest in sticking my dick in your ass."
"Blondie's got attitude," Hidan said, smirking. "Hot. But if anyone's dick is going anywhere, it's my dick in your ass."
Deidara stood. "Hidan, come help me in the kitchen."
"Fuck you. I'm not going to cook for you."
"Hidan," Nagato growled. Hidan rolled his eyes but left with Deidara, and Nagato turned apologetically to Naruto. "Sorry about that. I didn't know Hidan would be here. He's a good enough guy, but a bit rough around the edges. He won't give you any trouble."
Naruto shrugged. If Hidan decided to give him trouble, he'd give some right back. Patience was not one of his virtues right now. Nagato had walked over to a small wet bar that was set up in the corner of the living room, and was already in the bar area pouring himself a drink. "What's your poison?" He asked Naruto.
"Rum and coke is fine, if you have it."
Nagato nodded and made the drink, handing it to Naruto just as Deidara and a slightly subdued Hidan came back in the room. Naruto felt Hidan's eyes on him, and simply turned and raised one eyebrow. He was sure he didn't pull it off as well as Sasuke could have, but he was not going to be intimidated by the older man. Hidan smirked appreciatively, but surprisingly kept quiet.
Deidara shuffled the deck and dealt a fresh hand. "Hey, guys. I... um... don't really have a lot of free cash for this kind of thing," Naruto said, trying to not sound embarrassed. I mean, he was a student, right? Most students had basically no money. There was nothing to be ashamed of. These guys were all older and presumably had finished with school (if they had ever gone).
"I'll spot you, blondie," Hidan said, ignoring Nagato's glare.
Zetsu pulled out a big, glass bong, its base already filled with murky water, and proceeded to fill the bowl with weed. "Alright. So, Naruto, you ever smoke? I have the best shit... I grow it myself."
Zetsu proceeded to explain the benefits of bong smoking vs joint smoking, and the importance of the quality of the herb.
...
Much later that night, Deidara and Nagato stood looking down at Naruto where he was sleeping, passed out on the couch. They had made sure Hidan had gone to bed before they left him alone.
"So, that's the one, yeah? He looks just like the picture you have of his dad."
"I know," Nagato said, staring at the picture on his phone he had taken of Naruto sleeping on his couch. His voice lowered to an almost reverent whisper, "He looks almost exactly like him."
Nagato thought briefly how a year ago, he would never have been able to be this close to the boy. Naruto's friendship with the Uchiha had seemed unbreakable, and there had been no opportunity to draw him in. Naruto may not have had a family to protect him, but his relationship with Sasuke had been just as binding, and had made it almost impossible to get close to the blond. But now that relationship was gone, leaving Naruto alone and vulnerable. And Nagato was going to make sure that whatever it stayed broken. He pulled open Naruto's phone, and was glad to see so few names on the contact list. And no Uchiha.
-xXx-
The next day, Sasuke headed over to the biology building right after his economics class. He knew Naruto had a gap after his morning lecture, just like he did. And they were going to talk. The pit lecture room had several exits, so Sasuke decided the best bet was to just wait outside the main entrance to the building and catch Naruto on his way out. He arrived about five minutes before the end of class, and was leaning against the wall by the stairs when he saw a tall, red-headed man approaching him. The man was looking directly at him, and Sasuke noticed his eyes were a strange, lavender swirl and realized this must be the guy that Chouji had mentioned. The man walked over to him, his eyes hostile.
"You're waiting for Naruto, aren't you?"
Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "I have no idea who you are, but what I do is no business of yours."
"He doesn't want to talk to you. Why do you think he's avoiding the dorms?"
"How do you know who I am? Why do you care about Naruto's personal business?"
Nagato smirked. "Naruto told me he was having roommate problems, and he described you to me. The overwhelming air of arrogance and the duck ass hair gave you away."
Naruto walked out of bio lecture, his head still pounding from the night before. Ino had looked at him worriedly, but he had brushed it off saying he was just tired. She had another class in the same building, so she had left him alone to race off to her next lecture. He wished he'd brought his sun glasses with him. But just as the thought flashed across his brain, he realized that he recognized the two men glaring at each other as he walked out of the building and into the cool, fall mid-morning sun.
"Sasuke... Nagato... what are you doing here? You two know each other?" Naruto asked, blood-shot eyes showing confusion.
"No," Sasuke said. "Naruto, who is hell is this guy?"
Sasuke had been instantly on edge, wondering what Nagato was doing outside of the biology building where Naruto had his lecture. Sasuke knew Naruto's schedule because they had registered together and he was his roommate. It didn't seem normal that this guy apparently also knew Naruto's schedule. Sasuke had been just about to ask him why when the blond had walked out and seen them.
"This is Nagato... he was faculty at a creative writing workshop I went to," Naruto didn't specify that it had been at a different school. It didn't matter anyway.
"Why does he know what class you have, and what is he doing here waiting for you?"
Naruto looked surprised, and turned to look questioningly at Nagato.
"You told me last night that you didn't want to be too hung over for your bio lecture first thing in the morning. I thought that you might need a coffee, so I stopped by to see if you want to grab one before the rest of your classes. I figured I owed you that much after Zetsu got you fucked up."
Naruto remembered mentioning he had a morning class, and supposed he might have said it was biology.
"I don't like this guy," Sasuke said to Naruto, keeping his eyes suspiciously on Nagato. "Why is a teacher out drinking with one of his students?"
"I'm not one of his students. He's not teaching any classes this semester. It was just a weekend workshop, and I wasn't even in his section. We met by chance off campus, and have just been hanging out. And I don't care if you don't like him. You don't need to hang out with him, do you?"
"Naruto, we need to talk," Sasuke said, his voice low and intent.
"Really? You know, I remember trying pretty hard to talk to you. For days. Actually for way longer than that. You've been blowing me off for a fucking year, Sasuke. Now all of a sudden you want to talk? Just because I finally stopped trailing after you waiting for you to give a crap? Fuck you, Sasuke. You want someone to talk to just look around." Naruto gestured to where there were at least four girls pausing as they exited the building to look at the attractive raven, casting coy looks at him. "You have plenty of takers. I'm just not one of them anymore."
With that, Naruto turned and walked away. Nagato gave Sasuke a very satisfied smirk, then followed.
-xXx-
Naruto had been at Nagato's for the past three nights, and he was exhausted. They had been up every night drinking, smoking, and talking, but Naruto still had classes and homework to keep on top of. Not to mention that yesterday Taya had texted him to meet her in the parking garage of her office building during her lunch break, which Naruto had thought was going to be to grab a quick lunch, but ended up in the back seat of her car. He was exhausted. He considered sleeping in his own bed tonight. Neji was studying in his room, but would probably be quiet. And more importantly, Neji's presence would likely keep Sasuke from seeking him out. It was clear that those two had issues with each other. Naruto hadn't spent a night in his room since Sasuke had returned after their major blow-out. In fact, he had managed to avoid even seeing Sasuke except for the one time where Nagato had strangely shown up.
Naruto had to do laundry anyway, since he was running out of clean clothes. He looked over at the clock and saw that he still had at least an hour before Sasuke would be back from his seminar. He ran a load of laundry down to the shared laundry room for their floor, and set it going. He came back and poured the water he'd set to boil over his cup ramen, and sat down on the couch while he waited the five minutes for the noodles to soften. He figured he'd have plenty of time to throw his laundry in the dryer and disappear into the safety of his and Neji's room before Sasuke got back.
Unfortunately for him, he fell asleep four minutes later.
. . . . .
Sasuke walked in to find Naruto asleep on the couch.
Naruto's head was resting on the armrest of the couch. He had removed his hoodie and the T-shirt he wore underneath was riding up slightly, showing a few bands of his taut abs. Sasuke could clearly see the purple marks along Naruto's collar bone, looking less than a day old, as well as light scratch marks on the back of his neck. He fought down the jealousy he felt at the sight, reminding himself of all the reasons he had to be annoyed at Naruto right now.
He sat down on the chair facing Naruto and sighed, running his fingers through his hair. He honestly didn't know what to do. Even if Naruto hadn't meant what he said about homosexuals being 'abnormal', he clearly was not interested in Sasuke in that way, and wasn't comfortable around him. And while Sasuke had a high degree of confidence in his own sex appeal, in the end, if Naruto was straight, he was straight.
He saw the shadows under Naruto's eyes, and felt a twinge of worry seep in. Naruto had always been careful to avoid trouble in the past. Now he seemed to be actively seeking it out. He had smelled the marijuana on Naruto the other day when he had caught him outside the biology building. And Naruto had looked hung over as well. What was he doing to himself? And why was he hanging around a group of seemingly much older people? It felt off.
But he knew that Naruto wouldn't accept him interfering. Things between them had just gotten so bad. He wondered if it was too late to fight for their friendship, and whether he honestly could handle being just friends with Naruto. He certainly didn't want to see him dating anyone else. What kind of friendship would that be?
He decided he'd wait until Naruto woke up and then try to talk with him.
Just then, Naruto's phone went off, playing "Thong Song".
Naruto jerked up and stared at his phone almost in horror for a second before he answered it, looking up at Sasuke and flushing slightly in embarrassment as he put the phone to his ear. Sasuke sat there, torn between amusement at Naruto's reaction and annoyance at what was likely to be the topic of the call.
"Oh my god... did you really change your ring tone on my phone to this?" The faint sound of female laughter reached Sasuke's ears from Naruto's phone.
"Shit, I'm changing it back. This makes me look like a total ass." Sasuke could hear a woman's voice, but he couldn't make out the words she was saying.
"Right now?" Naruto looked at his watch. "Ugh. I didn't mean to fall asleep. I haven't finished my laundry."
Another pause.
"Heh, yeah, that was crazy. But tonight I just..."
Sasuke watched as his friend's face slowly turned bright red.
"I don't think... is that even physically possible?"
A message flashed on the screen, and a photo appeared, which Naruto immediately closed, sending a panicked, embarrassed glance at Sasuke.
"Holy shit! Don't send pictures of yourself like that. What if I turned into some creep and forwarded it to your boss or something? Delete it!"
Sasuke could hear laughter again from the phone.
"Ok, ok... I'm coming," Naruto walked over to the door, pausing long enough to see that his ramen was completely ruined and turned to mush. With a regretful sigh, he threw it out, and pulled on his shoes, phone still to his ear. "Fine, but you'd better have food for me," and with that he hung up.
Sasuke scowled, watching as Naruto headed out for what was clearly a booty call. "Tch, don't you ever get tired?"
"Only tired of you, asshole."
-xXx-
Naruto got back after midnight, and since it was the middle of the week, everyone was asleep. He pulled his laundry out of the dryer, surprised that no one had gotten annoyed and dumped it on the floor, then collapsed into bed taking care to not wake up Neji. He was asleep within two minutes.
He woke up when he heard Neji getting ready for class. "Hey," Naruto said, cracking an eye open.
"Good to see you. I was starting to wonder if you had moved out."
"Nah, just hanging out with some new friends."
Neji looked at him consideringly. He didn't have a lot of time before his next class, but he didn't know when he'd see his roommate next. "How well do you know these new friends?"
Naruto smiled. "Not that well. I know, don't worry. I'm not going to get in over my head."
Neji wondered what Naruto meant by that. Instead of feeling reassured, the comment made him more nervous. Naruto clearly realized that there was something not right with the situation, but was staying in there anyway. Neji looked at the clock, and knew he had to leave or he'd be late.
"Just be careful."
Naruto nodded, then rolled over and went back to sleep as Neji left the room and closed the door. Naruto's first class wasn't until much later. He decided to sleep another hour or two, then go to the library. Sasuke had a lecture at the same time as Neji, and had already left for class, unaware that Naruto had even come home.
. . .
After his classes, Naruto was walking over to see Ino so they could work on their take-home test for bio lab. He would have had her meet him at the library, but she had a cold and didn't want to go out. He had managed to avoid Sora for the past two weeks except for the class they shared, and he hoped he wouldn't run into him. Given that he lived in the same dorm as Ino, it was a risk, but there wasn't much of a choice.
"Hey, fag. What's the matter? Too much of a woman to defend yourself?"
Naruto's blood froze as he heard the insult hurled, assuming it was at him. He looked over to where the voice had come from, and realized that it had been meant for someone else. Two guys were holding a slim, dark-haired male while the third assailant rained down blows on the boy. The four males were surrounded by a group of bystanders, who appeared to be watching in dismay. Naruto recognized the male that was being beaten, and dropped his bag to the ground and took off at a dead run towards the group.
Sora.
"What the hell is wrong with you people? Someone go get an RA or call campus security!" Naruto shouted at the bystanders as he plunged into the ring of people. Many of the observers had their phones out to get the fight on video. But apparently no one had thought to intervene or call for help.
The one that had been pounding Sora looked up at Naruto and smirked. "What, you want a piece of this, too? Are you his little boyfriend?"
Naruto saw red. This was why his life sucked. Because everyone was so fucking prejudice about sexual preference that he couldn't just be honest about who he liked. Because you risked not only rejection, but utter humiliation and being ostracized. He hated everyone there at that moment with every fiber in his being. Not just the three idiots who where beating the crap out of Sora, but the twenty others who just stood there and watched as though Sora somehow deserved it because he was gay.
Without further thought, he launched himself into the fray. The guy took a swing at Naruto when he saw his intent, but Naruto didn't even flinch as it caught him on the shoulder. His brain shut down as every drill and trick that Jiraya had taught him flooded back. He tackled the one that had been doing the most damage to Sora, landing on top of him and smashing his fist into the older boy's face repeatedly. When the guy's stunned partners realized what was happening and dropped Sora to come help their friend, Naruto lashed his foot out and caught one in the stomach, then stood and drove an elbow into the solar plexus of the other. The one he had been on top of stayed down, so the fight was now two-on-one. Naruto ignored the blow to his face as one managed to make contact, and pulled the man's arm and snapped the elbow forward with one sharp crack. The third boy stood there, seeing two of his friends on the ground in agony, and froze. Naruto had to use every ounce of self-control to not attack the remaining assailant. He heard sirens, and evidently so did the other boy. When the older boy made to run, Naruto grabbed him roughly and held on until the police came. At least someone had finally thought to call for help.
Campus security would have been easier, but evidently they had decided the fight was serious enough to call the real police. Naruto was surprised when he found himself cuffed and shoved against the police car.
"I didn't start it. They were beating the crap out of my friend because he was gay. No one was helping."
"We'll sort this all out down at the station," the officer said. Naruto heard another officer asking the crowd if anyone had captured the fight on video, and several stepped forward.
Naruto looked to his right, and saw the first guy that he had taken down also getting cuffed. The guy was crying, but shouting how his family was important and the police were going to be in trouble for arresting him.
"Hey, asshole," Naruto said, getting the guy's attention. "You hate gays, right? Well, you better make sure not to drop the soap where you're going. I bet they'd just love to get a taste of your sorry virgin ass."
The guy blanched, then exploded. "All you fags are the same, always chasing after us normal guys and lusting after us. You're disgusting!"
Naruto laughed as the police opened the door to the back of the car and started maneuvering him in. "Dude, I would fuck a corpse before I'd fuck your ugly, prejudice ass. Don't flatter yourself. The only reason you'd get any in prison is because there's not much selection."
"Naruto!" Naruto's head snapped up as he saw Ino was standing there, watching him get arrested. He shrugged. He didn't care what happened. He didn't do anything that he would change if the same situation happened again. He had no faith that he'd be released, especially if it were true that at least one of the guys came from a connected family. He knew how these things worked. But he was so pissed off right now he just couldn't give a fuck. Even if the police let them go, Naruto was pretty damn sure that these guys would think twice before they did anything like this again.
"Go check on Sora," he shouted over to her as the cop closed the door.
. . .
Chouji was eating dinner for himself when he heard a frantic pounding on their door. He put down his chopsticks and went to answer it, just as both Sasuke and Neji poked their heads out of their rooms to see what all the banging was about. Ino burst in, almost in tears. "Is N-Neji here? I need to t-talk to him. It's an em-mergency."
Neji walked over, hearing her voice. "Ino, right? What's wrong?"
"Naruto's b-been arrested. You're p-pre-law, right? Can you help? It was t-totally not his fault. Some guys were b-beating up his friend Sora, just because he's g-gay, and no one was h-helping," Ino took a shuddering breath, forcing herself to stop crying. "Naruto was coming over to my place to work on our lab homework, and he saw them and he jumped into the fight to help Sora, even though they haven't talked since his birthday, and he put one of the guys in the hospital, but someone called the police instead of campus security, and Naruto got arrested, and one of the guys comes from a really wealthy family, and Naruto told him he'd rather fuck a corpse than him, and -"
Neji put his arms on Ino's shoulder and shook her slightly. "Stop. Breathe. Slow down, and tell me what happened step by step."
Sasuke didn't miss the sharp glance between Chouji and Neji when Ino had babbled the part about Naruto not talking to Sora since his birthday. He didn't need to be a rocket scientist to put two and two together, and he felt his blood slowly begin to boil. One of Naruto's friends had basically date raped him. No wonder Naruto had been so freaked out about everything the next morning. Sasuke's hands balled into fists. Only Naruto would have still come to someone's defense after they had done something like that to him. As far as Sasuke was concerned, that Sora fucker had gotten off lightly.
"Ino," Sasuke asked, trying to keep his voice casual. "What was Sora's family name again?"
He knew that Neji would handle Naruto's legal situation. Sasuke was going to handle Sora.
-xXx-
to be continued