AN: Almost at the end now guys, either going to be one or two chapters left, depends on whether anyone wants me to continue it any further or not. It'll definitely be updated regularly if it does.

Thank you: JustALook and kapech for following.

The Monday

S

It was only Monday but I had the jitters. I didn't have History class till Tuesday and yet I couldn't seem to stop myself from anticipating it. I couldn't just sit at home and wait, so there I was, on a bus going to Shikamaru's house 2 hours before school started because he was the only one I could go to.

I got off the bus and slowly made my way down his street; I was kind of pissed at how nice of a day it was. What right did Mother Nature have to be all happy and sunny when I was feeling dreadful? Sighing for what felt like the 50th time that minute, I knocked on the door to Nara's house loudly.

Why loud you ask? Because I wanted them all to wake up and suffer because of me. After a few seconds of me harassing their door with my knuckles, it swung open to reveal what I was guessing was Shikamaru's mum.

"Why hello Ma'am, I'm here to pick Shikamaru up for school." The woman leant against the door frame and raised her eyebrow doubtfully.

"Listen kid, I've said this to the others and I'll say it to you." Others?

"I don't care how much you're in love with Ino, trying to get Shikamaru to go to school is like forcing a fish to willingly leave water, it's not going to work. And even if you did get him to go, there's no way Ino would go for you, you're too scrawny and pale."

My face morphed from the expression of pure disgust at the thought of me being in love Ino to insulted at the fact that she thought I was 'scrawny and pale'. Before I could open my mouth and give that impudent woman a talking to, there was a faint snicker from behind her.

"Firstly, that's my friend Sasuke, mum, secondly there's no way he could like Ino since he has a boyfriend and lastly, I have already decided to go to school thanks to Sasuke for convincing me." Nara's mother's mouth fell open in shock but I don't know if it was the fact that he had friends, I was potentially gay or that he was going to school that shocked her the most.

Chuckling at her frozen state, Shikamaru gestured for me to come into the house and led me to his kitchen. "Have you eaten?"

"No." I lied easily, Itachi had tried to force something down my throat as I left but I had mastered my technique of arm dodging. Sighing, he grabbed two plates of freshly made waffles and fruit before leading me up to his room.

"How did you know I was going to come?" I took the plate from him grudgingly and began scoffing it down, I felt really hungry all of a sudden.

He scoffed at my sudden eagerness to eat, "call it intuition."

We finished our waffles in silence, there was still over an hour left till school started and Nara only lived 10 minutes away. I flopped down onto his floor and closed my eyes, "go open the window." I ordered, without a complaint, the idiot got up and did it.

Sighing contently I tried to fall asleep for just a little bit, but no matter what I did, I couldn't do it. I opened my eyes and looked around his room for something to do, "do you have a cat?"

"You asked me this yesterday, I'm going to give you the same answer I did yesterday, which is no." His voice was slightly muffled since he was lying face first on his bed. Sitting up so I could see him, I grinned.

"Are you suuuuuure?" One eye peaked out from the cloud of duvet to look at me suspiciously.

"Why? Do you think I have one?"

"Oh I don't know," I mocked, "why don't you ask the sleeping cat under your bed."

Shikamaru threw himself off of the bed instantly and landed on the floor with a harsh thump. The sound was loud enough to wake the cat who tried to scramble as far away as possible.

I caught it before it could escape out of the ajar door and petted soothingly, "care to explain?"

He leant back on his hands and a mutter of 'troublesome' left his lips, "I'm sorry, what was that?" I asked sarcastically and dangled the cat in the direction of the door.

"Ok, ok, I'll talk, just put the cat down." Using my foot to push the door closed, I took a seat of his bed and placed the cat in my lap, "now that's what I like to hear."

Shikamaru and I were sitting in the library, waiting for first lessons to start and yet I was still laughing about his story. I laughed when he told me, when I made him tell his mum, when we walked to the bus stop, while we were on the bus (that one got me some looks) and I'm still laughing now.

The whole circumstance revealed what kind of person Shikamaru was. He didn't stop going to school because he was lazy but because he found a cat, wanted to keep it, knew his parents would say no, so kept it a secret. He was scared the cat would leave his room in search for food or something if he left it alone so he stayed with it. He actually really missed school despite how boring it was for him but couldn't bring himself to leave the cat all alone at home.

So I reassured him, any parent that lets their child skip school for that long would let you keep a cat. So I made him tell his mum and he got told off (kinda) but he got to keep the cat so yay, I guess.

I felt content, even though the people I loved were soon going to leave me, I knew that I had at least one ally through it all. The noise around us picked up as more people began to enter school.

"Shikamaruuuuuuuuu," Ino raced towards us, her long blonde hair wiping furiously in her wake. She was breathless when she finally got to us, "oh my gosh, I didn't believe your mum when she said that you came into school today and with Sasuke Uchiha no less! Come on, you need to come talk to Choji."

She dragged him out of his chair and he shot me a look, "its fine," I chuckled as I waved him off, "go have fun with your friends."

He nodded and looked me in the eye, "see you at lunch." He was telling me to stay strong, and I would, I was alone before just fine so I could do the same now.

I packed up my stuff and began walking towards my locker when my name was called out. Turning, I found it was Ino running towards me again, "I forgot to tell you, thank you for bringing Shikamaru back, I can't tell you how much it means to me."

I rolled my eyes and continued to walk, "I didn't do it for you blondie."

"Then who did you do if for?" She asked in a huff.

I turned to answer her with a smirk when I made eye contact with the one person I was dreading on seeing. My heart instantly started to beat faster and my palms went sweaty, I wanted to touch him, kiss him, I wanted to scream and jump into his arms but I stayed rigid.

"Helllloooo, Sasuke, I was asking who you did it for." She waved her hand in front of my face and while maintaining eye contact with him, I answered her.

"For my favourite blond." I basically purred.

N

My heart thumped wildly in my chest when I saw Sasuke in what felt like a lifetime. He looked perfect, as always, with his cute hair and perfect smirk. I watched like a creep as he talked to Ino, why was he talking to Ino?

My heart swelled when he made eye contact with me, he seemed to go rigid, and I fell deeper and deeper into his black eyes. Ino waved her hand in front of his face, distracting me slightly, seriously, why was he talking to Ino!

"For my favourite blond." He kept eye contact as he said that, was that meant for me? A blush sprouted on my face and I watched as he smirked infuriatingly before walking away.

Hopelessly stuck in place, I could only watched him walk off; I wanted so badly to forget everything Itachi said and kiss him on the mouth hard. "Was he talking about you?"

I jumped slightly and looked down at Ino who was staring at me curiously. She didn't bother waiting for me to answer and continued speaking, "cause he sure as hell wasn't talking about me. But why would he bring Shikamaru back to school because of you?"

"He… what?" I asked in a bewildered state.

"What, you didn't know?" She pointed down the hallway to a guy with a familiar looking ponytail talking to Choji, "Shika's mum told me Sasuke showed up at their house this morning to take him to school and he seemed to be ok with it, he must've gone the day before and spoke to him right? Because why else would he agree to come back, I tried so many times with so many different methods, like this one time I got a fish…"

I drowned out Ino's yammering and looked towards Sasuke's locker which I could luckily see from mine. He was causally exchanging books in his locker as if he hadn't done the thing he swore he would never do a few days ago.

"But the rope wasn't tight enough so he escaped and because we took so long the turtle exploded early…"

Did he do it for me? Was it to make up for how he treated me? A romantic gesture like one you'd see in a movie. I sighed happily at the thought of Sasuke sweeping me off of my feet and kissing me like there was no tomorrow.

"That's how I felt when we finally covered him in honey! But I wasn't happy for long, the mice got loose and there was a hole in the boat so it was either the bowling ball or the cake…"

I wish he would talk to me; he needed to since it took all I had to not run up to him and start a conversation, any conversation. But I wanted Sasuke to want me as much as I wanted him, so I would be patient, for us.

"So in the end, the train was diverted and we ended up in Russia so I didn't get him to school on time."

I nodded my head, I had no idea what she was talking about and I didn't care, the first bell just rang, "cool story Ino, I'll see you later."

As I walked towards my first lesson I stopped for a second, "did she say covered in honey?" I shivered at the thought, I hate honey.

S

The day was going by agonisingly slow and it felt like I was seeing all the people I didn't want to see. The Naruto encounter in the morning, I saw Hinata on my way to my first lesson, Shino on the way to my second and Gaara was in my third!

Now it was lunch and still no sign of Shikamaru, the only one I wanted to see. I was coming up to the lunch hall but no matter where I looked I couldn't see him. He said he would meet me for lunch but where exactly?

"Sasuke." I turned to see the man in question walk towards me slowly from a classroom.

"Sorry, I was hiding from Ino." He explained as he stretched his arms above his head in a familiar lazy fashion.

I smirked at him and shrugged as if I didn't care, "so are we going to go in?" I gestured to the canteen.

"Who would we sit with? You're friends-"

"Ex-friend's." I interrupted him with a scowl.

He rolled his eyes, "or mine?"

"Let's go with yours, seems like less drama." We walked into the room and my eyes scanned for Ino's bright blond hair.

I let out a loud groan when I realised that both Ino and Choji were sitting at my old table. I turned to walk out of the hall but my arm was caught immediately, "you can't back out of this now, we already walked in." Shikamaru hissed into my ear.

"But it's not fair," I whined pathetically, I don't think I had ever whined in my life, "why are they sitting ther- did you tell them to do that? You told them to sit there didn't you?"

Nara ignored my accusations and dragged me towards the table, but I could tell by the way he was smirking that he was behind all of this; that little traitor. Since Nara was surprisingly strong for how lazy he was, I knew it would be useless to try and escape. I let him drag me to the table until we stood there by it silence.

Ino turned to face us with a grin, "there you guys are, and we thought you'd never show up."

I kept my eyes on the floor as Ino moved aside and let Nara and I sit. It amazed me how many people were sitting at this one table, how had it not run out of space yet? There had to be at least 12 people right?

I looked up when someone cleared their throat to find I was staring right into Naruto's bright blue eyes. In an instant, I saw deep longing pass through them. A smirk formed on my face, it was nice to know someone still wanted me.

He blushed lightly, "hey." He spoke the first words since Nara and I sat.

I didn't bother glancing around the table to gage their reactions; my eyes were focused only on Naruto, "hey."

I felt a jab in my side, "apologise to him." Shikamaru hissed lowly so that only I could hear. I scowled at him, why should I be the one to apologise? He didn't even know what I did or if it was my fault.

"Now, Sasuke." He had a glare on his face which meant he meant business.

I stood with a sigh; couldn't I just have one moment not filled with drama?

"Can I talk to you, alone?" I made sure we held eye contact for 3 seconds before I turned and walked away, not bothering to watch if he followed. It was a foolproof technique, Uchiha approved to work every time.

Instead of hanging about in a dingy classroom again, I went outside this time. I slowed my stride to a stroll so that Naruto could easily catch up, and made my destination a small picnic bench at the back of the playground. It was overgrown with greenery and was slightly behind the sports shed making it a perfect place for a private little chat.

Climbing over the table, I sat down on one side of the bench and Naruto plonked himself down on the other. There was a moment of serene silence, the kids could be heard playing in the distance and the wind was blowing refreshingly. It felt like the perfect moment to spill all of my feelings, even if I was rejected it was something he deserved.

I took a deep breath, "I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry!" I looked up at the same time as Naruto, "why are you sorry?" I questioned, "You haven't done anything wrong."

"I know." He replied sheepishly while scratching his head, "I just didn't want to be apart from you anymore and I didn't know if you were actually going to apologise or tell me to stay the heck away from you and I just couldn't risk that happening even with what Itachi said. I-"

"Wait, Itachi?" I cut off Naruto's ramblings, "what has my brother got to do with this?"

A guilty smile with a guilty laugh, "I kiiinda went over to your house yesterday."

Slamming my hands on the table I stood furiously, "what!"

He held up his hands in surrender, "but, but, buuuut I did go to see you. I went to apologise but you weren't there, probably off getting Shikamaru, and he made me stay for tea and told me that if I wanted to be happy I would wait for you to come to me."

Sitting back down again I looked Naruto straight in the eye, "I did go and get Shikamaru, and I brought him back to school for you."

His eyebrow furrowed despite his happy hand twitch, "why though, what do you gain from that?"

My heart clenched when he used the words I had used previously, "well you know me, I never do anything without a gain." His face instantly morphed into a scowl as if he couldn't believe that he had trusted me for one second.

"I gained Shikamaru's friendship for one, which is now and irreplaceable treasure of mine since he's helped me through so much in the course of a day." His glare softened and I continued.

"I gained his trust and respect and he gained mine." I swallowed, my mouth felt dry. I think I had talked more these last few days than in my whole life.

"I hope I gained something from you too."

"What?" He whispered as if afraid to break the moment.

"Your love back." I reached out and took his hand in mine, "I miss it, I miss you and everything you've done for me and everything you've pushed me to be. I hope that, through this, I've shown you that there is no Ice Prince Sasuke, but just regular Sasuke who sometimes has his bitchy days."

I intertwined our fingers and smiled at the feeling of his sweaty palm. "Will you take me back Naruto?"

He opened his mouth to speak but no words came out. After a few minutes of silence I grew impatient, "well?"

He was jerked out of his reverie, "you said take you back but I thought we weren't in a relationship in the first place."

I sighed, "really Naruto, you're going to make me do this?"

He grinned cheekily, "you said it not me."

With a roll of my eyes, I removed my hand from his and grabbed his face with both hands. I looked deep into his eyes and didn't dare open my mouth till his face was completely red, "Naruto middle name Uzumaki-"

"I don't have a middle name."

Another sigh, "Naruto no middle name Uzumaki-"

"You could just say Naruto Uzumaki you know, not everyone has to have a middle name, I'm pretty sure you don't have a middle na-"

"Naruto."

"Right, sorry."

I took a deep breath before beginning again, "Naruto Uzumaki," he smiled brightly from between my hands, "will you do me the utmost favour and grace me with your eternal presence by becoming my boyfriend?"

Naruto sighed happily before puckering his lips; I knew what he wanted but didn't give it to him. "You haven't answered me yet."

"Yes, yes, yes, 100 billion times yes if you would just please kiss me." He begged before puckering his lips again.

With a happy chuckle I leant forward and placed my lips over his own lightly which seemed to make him explode with happiness. He made an excited noise before climbing over the table and smothering me into a hug.

"I missed you too Sasuke, so so so much you wouldn't even believe it."

I let myself be suffocated and just smiled at his antics, even if the whole world turned against me; I knew I would always have Naruto.

AN: Thanks for reading and sticking with me this far guys. Please favourite, follow and review, they really make my day!