Author's note: I seem to have developed a thing for A/B/O dynamics in canon Naruto setting. Sorry for that; my mind has weird fixations at times. This is another one in their Genin years. The idea popped up in my head and wouldn't leave me alone. I leave it up to you guys to decide if you want to read more.

Warnings: Sasuke's pov; canon divergent a bit after the Land of Waves; A/B/O dynamics; not really for Sakura fans; vague references to Naruto's shitty childhood

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Kishimoto owns it.

I hope you'll like this first part!

Part 1

When Sasuke arrived at the meeting place only Sakura was present already. He wasn't surprised that Kakashi wasn't here yet; since forming a team with the guy, it had become a well established fact already that the older man was never on time. He had plenty of excuses to throw around, each one more ridiculous and farfetched than the other one.

Naruto's absence was a bit more unexpected, though this wasn't the first time Sasuke arrived before him. Truthfully – although he would never admit it aloud – he preferred for the blond to already be present when he showed up, if only to act like a barrier between Sasuke and Sakura. He had no clue how many times he would have to keep rejecting her offers to go out before she would finally understand he wasn't interested.

"Sasuke-kun, good morning!" she chirped with a bright smile; her hands clasped together behind her back.

"Morning," he muttered and blocked out her voice once she started chattering about an upcoming festival. He already knew where she was leading with that and he wasn't interested.

He kept his gaze fixated on the trees peeking over the wall, watching idly how birds fluttered from one branch to the other. With October having started, the weather was becoming chillier with each week that passed and the trees were slowly starting to shed their leaves; the green foliage turning shades of yellow and red. The sun was hidden behind a layer of light grey clouds and didn't look like it was going to grace the earth any time soon.

"Good morning to you all," Kakashi greeted them lazily as he approached them.

"You're late!" Sakura said accusingly and pointed at him.

"Ah, when a nest of kittens was in need of aid, I couldn't possibly - " Kakashi started his usual bullshit, but Sasuke cut him off.

"Where's Naruto?" he asked, furrowing his eyebrows.

Naruto was never later than Kakashi, yet he still hadn't shown up so far. Where was he? How come he wasn't here yet? Even Kakashi was here now.

"Naruto sent me a message to say he's sick," Kakashi replied and scratched the back of his head. "So he won't be joining us today. Because we can't complete missions with only three third of the team present, we'll be training today instead."

Sasuke's frown deepened. In all the time he had known Naruto, the blond boy had never been sick. He couldn't even remember the other one having something as insignificant as a sniffle. Now he was suddenly so sick he couldn't show up? Something didn't add up. He had looked completely fine just two days ago; how could he have become so ill in such a short time period?

Training went by slowly. As much as Naruto could act like an idiot at times, he was at least a worthy sparring partner. The same could unfortunately not be said for Sakura. She barely put up any resistance during the sparring, forcing Sasuke to hold back or risk actually hurting her. Her hiding skills could use some serious improvement and she couldn't do much except try to cling to him when Kakashi ordered them to try to get at least one hit in on him. Naruto at least would come up with some kind of plan, which only served to frustrate Sasuke even further. As far as he was concerned this whole training session was just a waste of his time; what point was there in training when he had to hold back?

Kakashi must have noticed that Sasuke's patience was starting to run out, because he soon called for an end to their training session.

"We might as well take a break until we're complete again," Kakashi stated. "You have been training a lot and finishing several missions. You've earnt a break."

"Thanks, Kaka-sensei!" Sakura said brightly.

"We'll meet up again in let's say, three days," Kakashi announced. "We should have a complete team again then."

That only made Sasuke's suspicion increase, because did that mean he was certain that Naruto would be back? Naruto couldn't be that ill then if Kakashi was certain he would return soon, but if that was the case, why wasn't that idiot here now?

"Sasuke-kun, how about we - "

Sasuke walked away before Sakura could finish her question.

It was probably senseless to make his way to Naruto's apartment instead of going home, but he wanted to know just how ill Naruto truly was that he couldn't even show up today. It just didn't make any sense considering how focused Naruto was on training. Even during their time in the Land of Waves when Naruto had trained to the point of pure exhaustion, he had refused to give up until Sasuke had to literally drag him back. Now he was suddenly too sick to show up? If that was the case, shouldn't he be seeing someone at the hospital? Because clearly whatever could keep that idiot down was serious enough to require medical aid.

He passed an elderly lady on his way to the apartment who shuffled towards the stairs without acknowledging him. Someone was playing music in their apartment and in the distance several dogs started barking.

Arriving at Naruto's apartment, he knocked on the door, calling out, "Naruto?"

There was no answer.

"Naruto? You here?" he tried again and knocked louder.

He should be here unless he had decided to go to the hospital, but when Sasuke tried concentrating on the blond's chakra, he felt it on the other side of the door. So he was home after all. Then why the hell didn't that idiot react?

"Naruto, open the door already!" he called out annoyed, but yet again there was no answer nor did the door open.

"Fine, don't say you didn't hear me," Sasuke muttered and almost instinctively tried turning the doorknob first.

It actually gave away underneath his touch and the door swung open to his surprise. He stood there for a moment, blinking. Did that usuratonkachi not know how to lock a damn door? Wasn't he worried somebody would try to break in? Tch.

He walked inside, closing the door behind him. A quick look around the apartment showed that it was surprisingly tidy with not even dishes left behind in the sink. The only untidy spot in the entire apartment was the unmade bed; the sheet half kicked to the end of the bed, half lying on the floor. The window had been cracked ajar, letting a cold breeze inside, but Naruto was nowhere to be found.

Right as Sasuke went to call out again, his ears picked up the noise of rushing water. Was Naruto taking a shower? Was that the reason he hadn't heard Sasuke knocking?

Walking over to the closed door behind which the sound of water was the strongest, Sasuke knocked again, making sure to be as loud as possible.

"Naruto?"

Again no reply.

Sasuke frowned. There was no way Naruto hadn't heard him by now. He had knocked as loudly as possible and he hadn't exactly been silent in calling his name either. Was that bastard ignoring him on purpose? Why would he do that?

"I'm coming in, you idiot!" Sasuke snapped. "Don't say I didn't warn you!"

He twisted the doorknob, already preparing his eardrums for a possible shriek and getting ready to dodge a punch or a kick, but when he pushed the door open, he could still only hear the sound of streaming water.

He turned towards the shower, ready to avert his eyes, but to his befuddlement Naruto was huddled on the bottom of the shower, still completely dressed in his pyjamas. He was shivering violently, which wasn't such a surprise when Sasuke came closer and tested the water. Ice cold. What the hell was this idiot doing?

He voiced his question aloud. "What the hell are you doing, you idiot? You trying to turn yourself into an icicle or what?" he asked annoyed and reached out to shut down the water.

In doing so he brought himself closer to Naruto. The second the water stopped running, he became instantly aware of a particular scent rising up, no longer covered by the cold water. It was something sweet, yet sharp, almost citrus like and it baffled him for a moment. Was it soap or shampoo? But no, there was not a bar of soap in sight, nor any bottle that could produce such a scent.

It was only when Naruto let out a quiet whimper, the strange scent gaining a note of distress that Sasuke realised what was happening.

Naruto was Presenting.

"Taking an ice cold shower isn't going to help you with Presenting, idiot," Sasuke sighed exasperatedly. "If anything it's only going to make you feel worse, you dumbass."

"N-n-n-not d-du-du-dum-dumbass," Naruto brought out through chattering teeth, finally showing a form of response.

"You are for thinking ice cold water is going to help with this," Sasuke told him bluntly and went over to the sole cabinet in the bathroom, pulling a large towel from the shelf.

"H-he-help m-m-m-me w-w-with wh-what?" Naruto asked, almost incomprehensible with how much he was shivering.

"With your Presenting, of course, what else?" Sasuke rolled his eyes and closed the distance again with the dripping blond, holding out the towel. "Come on, get out of there before you actually do get sick."

"Wh-wh-wh-what's P-P-Pre-Presen-Presenting?" Naruto asked obliviously.

Sasuke paused and stared at him. This had to be a joke, right? There was no way Naruto couldn't know what Presenting was. "You know all about Alpha, Beta and Omega, don't you?" he demanded suspiciously.

"O-o-of co-cou-course I – I d-d-do, b-b-bas-bas-bastard!" Naruto huffed.

It seemed that the more he talked, the more cognisant he became again, which was good, because Sasuke had no idea how else he would be able to get Naruto out of the shower and back to his bed.

"Then why ask what Presenting is?" Sasuke sighed and wrapped the towel around Naruto. "How long have you been sitting here like an idiot?"

"J-j-jerk," Naruto muttered, but clumsily grabbed the edges of the towel. "I – I st-still do-don't k-k-know wh-what y-y-you-you're t-t-tal-talking a-a-about."

"How can you not know - " Sasuke cut himself off when he realised something.

He could smack himself. Naruto had grown up all alone; he didn't have any guardians as far as Sasuke could tell that could have informed the blond what was going to happen once he turned twelve. It sounded so impossible to Sasuke, but this was very likely the truth: Naruto had no idea what was happening because he never had anybody to tell him.

He had no idea he had been staring down at Naruto until an ice cold finger poked his wrist, startling him out of his thoughts.

"S-S-Sasuke?" Naruto regarded him confused, his blond hair plastered against his forehead.

Sasuke shook his head. "Let's get you out of the shower first."

If this had been any other moment, no doubt Naruto would be hissing and spitting like a cat, insisting he didn't need Sasuke's help, but he was oddly compliant now, allowing the young Alpha to pull him up and help him step out of the shower where he proceeded to drip all over the floor. If his changed scent hadn't already made Sasuke suspect which Class Naruto was Presenting in, his almost demure behaviour would have clued him in for sure.

Naruto was Presenting as an Omega.

Being an Alpha himself it wasn't actually advised for Sasuke to remain near Naruto during his Presentation, but who else would be here? Naruto had no parents who could take care of him; his neighbours clearly couldn't be bothered and Kakashi hadn't even looked concerned that Naruto had missed a training. Sasuke supposed he could drag Naruto all the way to the hospital and leave him there for the medic-nins to take care of, but that didn't feel right. Presentation should always happen in a familiar environment; the hospital could hardly be called that.

Could he call Sakura? She was a Beta and wouldn't be considered a threat to a newly Presenting Omega. However … Considering how she tended to treat Naruto most of the time – ignoring him at best, sniping and occasionally punching him at worst – she didn't seem like such a good option either. She had been pretty useless during training; he didn't want to imagine just how useless she would be when looking after Naruto now that he was in such a vulnerable state.

So that left Sasuke as the only option to take care of Naruto. Not exactly what he had had in mind when coming over here, but it was what it was. He couldn't exactly leave him here on his own, not when knowing what was actually happening.

He guided Naruto to his bed, using a second towel he found hanging at the edge of the sink to dry his hair a bit. The blond boy was a right mess, with his hair a mess and his wet clothes clinging to him like a second skin. His cheeks were flushed bright red, almost like he was suffering a fever, and his blue eyes were glittering brightly, occasionally turning unfocused. His gaze tracked Sasuke across the room; the boy seemingly content to just sit there and drip all over his bed while Sasuke looked through his wardrobe. It didn't take long for Sasuke to find a second pair of pyjamas, mainly because Naruto didn't have that many clothes to begin with.

Naruto grunted in surprise when Sasuke threw the pyjamas at him. "Get changed; you're dripping everywhere."

That made Naruto grumble but when Sasuke turned around to give him some privacy there was the rustle of cloth, followed by a couple of wet smacking sounds as he presumably threw his wet clothes on the floor.

"You done?" Sasuke asked when it was silent for several seconds.

Naruto hummed tiredly.

Sasuke turned back around and decided that Naruto looked only slightly less like a mess now. At least he wore dry clothes now; that was a marginal improvement.

"You got anything to eat?" Sasuke asked while he busied himself with collecting the soaking wet clothes to dump them in the basket he had seen in the bathroom before.

"Don't know," Naruto mumbled and weakly grasped at the sheet. "Haven't gone to the store in a few days."

Sasuke checked every cabinet and cupboard and opened the fridge, but aside from a single carton of milk – of which the expiration date had already passed more than two weeks ago, what the fuck, Naruto? – there was nothing edible or drinkable in this apartment.

"How have you survived for so long?" Sasuke groused as he tried to come up with a way to solve this problem.

Naruto shrugged his shoulders almost laconically. "Waiting to get paid. Don't want to dip into my savings just yet," he muttered tiredly.

Sasuke paused and glanced at him. With his family's wealth available to him, it was easy for him to stock up on food and drinks. It hadn't occurred to him that Naruto would have a lot more trouble providing for himself. Or well, on a certain level he had been aware of that, of course, because everyone knew that Naruto was an orphan, but seeing the empty shelves with his own eyes, it suddenly hit him full force.

"You need food," Sasuke stated, because nobody could get through their Presentation without some sustenance at least.

"I'll get it when I'm better again," Naruto said dismissively and flopped onto his back. "You still haven't explained what Presenting is and why I'm feeling like shit now."

"Well, sitting like an idiot in the shower with ice cold water running certainly didn't help your case," Sasuke scoffed and pursed his lips, walking over to Naruto's bed.

Now that he was warming up again, there was finally a spark of life unfolding again in Naruto. He scowled up at the dark haired boy, pouting. "Not an idiot, bastard," he complained and huffed. "I'm burning up; I thought it would make me feel better."

"It won't, trust me," Sasuke sighed and gingerly took a seat on the edge of the bed.

This close and without water blocking it, Naruto's scent was becoming quite oppressive, permeating every corner until it was the only thing Sasuke was able to smell. It wasn't a bad scent at all. That might actually be the worst thing about it, because his scent, the combination of sweet and citrus, worked somewhat distracting. It was the first time that he could remember that a scent distracted him to this degree. Mother's scent had always been pleasant, a comfort whenever he felt too frazzled. Father's scent had always been rather mild; quite a contrast to his severe face. Itachi's scent, similar to mother's, had never failed to calm him down when he had been younger, wrapping around him like a protective cloak.

He shook his head, ruthlessly pushing down the memory of it. That was in the past; it definitely was no longer comforting to him now.

Naruto's scent wasn't exactly at the same comforting level that mother's or Itachi's had been, but it was quite pleasant nonetheless, even to Sasuke who had always been rather picky when it came to appreciating scents. The combination of sweet and citrusy shouldn't work well, but somehow it did and Sasuke caught himself inhaling it deeply a couple of times, allowing it to settle deep within him.

Something warm touched his wrist, making him nearly jump in surprise. He whipped his head around, staring down at Naruto, who had somehow without Sasuke realising it shuffled closer to him until he was lying almost flush against Sasuke's back. Blue eyes looked at him imploringly and hot, too hot, fingers closed around his wrist like a shackle.

"Sasuke, Presenting?" he rasped confused.

Sasuke couldn't believe he was about to do this, but truly did he have any other choice? Sakura wouldn't be a good choice, Kakashi couldn't even be bothered to check up on one of his students and there was nobody else close to Naruto who could explain everything to him.

Wait, there was Iruka, wasn't there? He had seen their former sensei often sharing a bowl of ramen with Naruto. Sasuke thought he would be amenable to taking care of Naruto – and would definitely be a better choice – but when he made to stand up, Naruto's hand clamped down harder around Sasuke's wrist and his other hand shot out as well, clutching Sasuke's other arm.

"Can't go!" Naruto insisted; his eyes gaining a slight dazed sheen.

Sasuke grimaced and managed to hold back a groan on time. All right, it looked like it was up to him then to tell Naruto what was happening. This was going to be so much fun.

AN2: So what do you think? Interesting enough to read the rest? Or are you tired of this particular theme? ^^; Let me know!

Please leave your thoughts behind in a review; should you spot any mistakes, please point them out to me.

I hope to see you all back in the next chapter! Please stay safe and take care of yourselves!

Cuddles

Melissa

P.S. For more information about my upcoming and posted stories, please visit my profile.