AN: I'm getting better at this!

The Lessons

S

For the second time today, I found myself on a bus going towards school with Nara, but this time it was way more packed. I couldn't see, I couldn't breathe but I sure as hell could smell the sweaty armpit that was right up in my face.

I heard a snicker to the left of me, "you alright there Sasuke?" the idiot asked with an amused smile on his face from where he sat comfortably on what was the last empty seat. "You look like you're going to throw up or, dare I say, smelt something bad?"

Opening my mouth to retort was not an option, I didn't want any of it in my mouth. I just resorted to sneering at him the entire ride and hoping he would randomly combust and give me a reason to get off of this death trap.

It had been about an hour since we left school; we went to Nara's house immediately and he got straight into hacking the school records. It took him 5 minutes and 43 seconds to find the phone numbers I needed and that's if you include the pee break he took in the middle. The texts, with the location, the time and the multiple 'please's were sent in another 5 minutes. The only reason we were there for another half hour was because Nara claimed that he had been more active today than he ever had been his whole life and deserved a nap.

I couldn't blame him, it was a nice day, we were sitting on the floor of his bedroom with the window wide open and a refreshing breeze flowing through. The soft tinkling of wind chimes was all that could be heard since his house was calmingly silent. So we fell asleep. And woke up late.

Running for a bus while half asleep and dragging someone along behind you was not a fun experience. Especially due to the fact my hair was probably a mess and I probably smelt like cats. Nara doesn't have a cat but I had cat hairs all over my jumper and it was honestly messing with my head.

Nara grabbed my arm and pulled me off the bus, "come one man, we almost missed our stop, you gotta get your head out of the clouds."

I rolled my eyes and snatched my arm back, pushing down at my sleeve that got lifted in the process, "says you, you basically live in the fucking clouds."

We reached the building, the one Gaara took me to that day, when Shikamaru stopped. "What's up?"

"I'm not going with you, this is something you need to do on your own and I don't want to intrude."

"But-"

"No buts Uchiha, you need to tell them how you feel, honestly." I knew he was right and I hated it. Why was he always right? Why was he always so smart? If we were going to be friends he was going to have to tone down his 'better than thou' attitude.

He shot me smirk, "you just thought something bad about me didn't you?"

"What gave it away?" I couldn't help but grin back.

"Oh you know, the death glare, which by the way you're going to have to tone down on if I'm going to come back to school." My mouth almost fell open but I held it together.

Shikamaru had basically just told me I had succeeded and he was coming back to school. I had done it all by myself out of the goodness of my own heart and I hope Naruto was proud of me.

Without another word I turned away from my idiot of a friend and walked into the building ready to pour my heart out. "Take that Itachi," I whispered to myself, "little Sasuke does have a heart."

I walked into the dimly lit room to the three of them already waiting for me. Hinata was perched hesitantly on the edge of the couch constantly scanning the room while Gaara lay comfortably on the other end, his legs stretched out in front of him, you could tell that this was his hangout. Shino was standing on the other side of the room observing something on the wall; I could tell it was an insect of some sort because it was Shino. What else would he be looking at so interestedly?

I opened my mouth, ready to speak but no words would leave, I was frozen. Their eyes bore into me and I couldn't seem to call upon my usual Uchiha composure and shoot them my signature smirk.

What was I scared of? Their rejection? I was never afraid of anything so this was a new feeling to me but I knew that it was a good thing. It means the ice around my heart was melting, I wasn't just the Ice Prince, I was becoming Sasuke.

"You're late." My head whipped over to stare at the red head who spoke. His eyebrows (if he had eyebrows) were furrowed together. He looked conflicted, as if he didn't know how to treat me.

I forced a shaky smirk on my face, "I know, I ended up taking a nap and had to run to get onto a packed bus with a disgusting armpit in my face." I looked over at Hinata when she let out a cute giggle. There was a soft blush on her face as she smiled at me warily, this time I let myself smile back. Her blush deepened causing me to chuckle, I missed this.

"What do you want?" Shino bit out in a harsh tone. I looked over to him sadly, I could understand the bitterness, he was the first one I spoke to after all, he must've felt like an idiot for believing me.

I took a deep breath before I spoke, vomiting would do me no good, "I came here to apologise," I paused, but didn't let myself watch their expressions and I instead watched the wall behind them. "I used you- well, I was planning to, and for that I'm sorry."

Silence hung in the air for a moment before Shino moved. He took a few menacing steps forward and although his face was covered by his coat and glasses I could tell his expression was full of rage.

"Bullshit!" Shino wasn't the kind of guy to raise his voice and you could tell by the way it was raspy, raw, unused. It hit me hard how much this has hurt him, how much I had hurt him.

"You expect us to believe you after all you did? You used us, you pretended to be friends with us Sasuke, for a school project, do you understand how fucked up that is?"

I nodded my head curtly, "I do."

"Then why?" His voice was no longer filled with anger but with pain and I realised that I was the one who had done that to him, and I was going to fix it.

"Because the me back then wasn't the me now." I glanced down at my hands, were these hands the same? Had I changed at all? "I was a cold and heartless person sure, but I was also friendless, and alone. I guess the project made me realise how lonely I actually was."

"What happened?" I looked up to Gaara who just rolled his eyes at my confusion, "you said you're not the same person anymore, what changed? I doubt a mere project could evoke such a difference."

I smiled softly to myself as I thought, what did change? One second I was Ice Prince Sasuke and the next, I was chasing Naruto down the hall for calling me 'Princess'. Was that it? Was that the moment I let a little bit of the ice melt?

"I met someone, and they changed me." I answered simply.

"Naruto?" Hinata squeaked, was it just Naruto?

"No- yes, I mean no, no it wasn't Naruto. Of course he was my first friend, caused my first laugh, stole my first kiss…"

I chuckled at the blush that spread from Hinata's face to her neck. "But you guys, you guys changed me more than you could ever imagine."

I turned to Shino, my first target, the man who started it all, "you're so weird."

He took a cautious step back, "but you're not afraid to be yourself and I admire that. You're so open and easy to talk to, our whole friendship came about because of that, and you're surprisingly really funny."

Shino chuckled a bit at the end and I smiled, that's what I wanted to hear, "you taught me not to be afraid of whom I want to be."

"And you!" I said enthusiastically, I was on a roll, "Hinata, beautiful, sweet, smart Hinata who's like a little sister to me."

A shy smile broke out on her face to accompany her ever present blush and it made my heart ache, "I wish I could protect you from the world," I spoke softly as I looked her right in her big, beautiful eyes. "But I know that I don't need to, because you're such a strong person, plus you've already got a guard dog." I winked and her smile widened.

"You taught me that it's ok to care."

Last but not least, Gaara. I looked to where he sat on the couch and almost laughed out loud at the awkward expression on his face. He wasn't used to this obviously, being honest, caring, feelings, he reminded me of me, the old me.

"You're so rough and tough," but that was just a shell, he wasn't like the old me at all, "but you're really a giant teddy bear."

I rolled my eyes as the noise that left Gaara's mouth sounded weirdly similar to the growl of a wolf, "you cheer me up awkwardly and encourage me hesitantly, but its little things like that that I really appreciate."

My eyes may have been deceiving me, but I saw a faint blush erupt on Gaara's pale skin. "You remind me of a better version of me, the me I want to be. But, you know, without eyebrows."

"Uchiha-" Gaara growled menacingly as he tried to get up but I held up my hand.

"Thank you, Gaara, because you taught me that I'm not alone, and I don't need to feel like I'm the only one who understands me because I don't." I looked to each of them, the insect lover, the shy girl and the truant, all here because of me and my mistakes. But I don't regret it one bit, "You guys do too."

Silence fell once more as I took a shaky breath, it was nerve wracking yet so refreshing to spill my feelings like that. "I'd understand completely if you guys didn't forgive me," my voice was weak and I was emotionally exhausted, "and you don't have to tell me your decisions now. I'll wait till Tuesday, when our project is announced, if you guys choose not to be in my group I completely understand but if you do, we'll be best friends forever."

The last bit didn't even garner me a chuckle like I had hoped, just more silence.

"Is that everything you had to say?" Shino's voice had returned to its usual volume. When I replied with a nod, he passed by me silently and walked out of the door without a glance back, the other two following not far behind.

I heard their footsteps trail off and tried my best to hold in the tears, they'd made their choice pretty obvious. I know I told them that I'd completely understand if they left me, but damn did it hurt like hell to see that not even Hinata had lingered for a second longer.

After a few moments, I heard footsteps once more and could easily tell who they belonged to by how they dragged along the floor. "You alright Sasuke?"

He placed a hand in my hair and rubbed it affectionately, I didn't notice nor did I remember falling to the floor and curling into a ball to cry.

Omake

G

Why he chose here I didn't know but it was my hangout. I flopped onto the couch, it seemed like I was the first one there and I didn't mind at all. This was going to be weird, talking to Sasuke, I didn't want to ignore him, he was my first… friend. Ugh, it was weird even thinking the word.

"Hey."

I almost fell off the couch in fright, behind me was glasses dude, crouching behind the couch mysteriously, "where you here the whole time?"

"I think we should come up with a plan." Ooook just ignore my question.

"W-w-what kind of plan?" I jumped again, this time it was purple girl standing in the doorway.

"It's pretty obvious that Sasuke's going to try and convince us to forgive him," glasses dude explained, his tone was bitter and I could understand why, "but no matter what he says we should all just walk out. Whether you forgive him or not, when he's said what he has to say, walk out."

"Why would we do that?" Purple girl asked as she moved to sit on the other side of the couch.

Glasses dude stood up from where he was weirdly crouched and began walking, "to show him that he can't control us, even if we do all forgive him, I want him to suffer just a bit before we do."

A smirk grew on my face, devious, I liked it, "sure, I'm in."

"M-m-me too." Purple girl didn't seem like the kind of person to do that which for sure would hit Sasuke hard. This was going to be fun.

I heard a giggle to the right of me, "what are you snickering about over there?" I asked purple girl. She jumped at being addressed but smiled at me shyly.

"It's just, your smirk just then reminded me a lot of Sasuke and then I remembered how he told me that you reminded him of himself." She smiled at the memory and my smirk only grew.

"Ah that's what he thinks but he's too soft to ever be like me."

A snort sounded from across the room and both of us looked over at glasses dude who shook his head with a smile, "that, reminds me of the time Sasuke and I actually became friends."

I rolled my eyes in amusement, "I bet that was a pointlessly extravagant and funny moment, he seems to like doing those."

"Well you'd be right. I was just sitting on my own at lunch, staring at an ant hill when…"

After half an hour of laughing at Sasuke related incidents, we all lapsed into a silence. He may have screwed us over, but in just a week, he had made so many memories with all of us. Stupid memories for sure but ones we would remember forever. He was my first real friend, he was all of our firsts and I didn't think that I would ever be able to not forgive him. But he did us wrong, and I couldn't just let that go.

In that moment he walked in. His usual smirk absent but his demeanour was familiar as ever. Before I could even get a moment to doubt myself I opened my mouth, "You're late."

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Shouta Izukai: There's no need to be worried, Sasuke has it all under control ;D

AN: Thank you everyone who read this chapter and is still sticking with me despite all of my screw ups. Nanowrimo has really helped get my creative juices flowing so expect a lot more out of me in the future. And since the chapters are already written up and ready you dont have to doubt me :) Please FAVOURITE, FOLLOW and REVIEW if you did or didnt enjoy, i love love hearing from you guys even if it's just one word or 3 paragraphs.