Watching

::EDIT:: AFF is BACK, baby! Heh... in the absence of the only site on which I get off my lazy ass and post, I have written two and a half new chapters for this fic (along with a few ItaSasu one-shots that stand alone, but I'm not sure yet whether or not I'm going to post those [EDIT again XD: To Daze, no, I wasn't planning to post the ItaSasu one-shots within this story! That was just an aside, to anyone who might want to read them. I'd post them seperately from this story. This fic is, above all, a SasuNaru fic, and I promise that it will stay that way. I may throw in hints of ItaSasu, mostly because it's my OTP and I adore it, but they will always be fairly vague and DEFINITELY one-sided]). I will post the new chapters within the next few days. However... T_T I only got like... four reviews for this new chapter, what with all the craziness that AFF went through, so I would love you guys forever if you could give me your thoughts on this one before I post the new ones. Either way, I WILL be posting new chapters within the next few days, because I'm not one of those evil authors that demands reviews. But I would appreciate a few reviews ^.^
::/EDIT::

Hm… I should really change my penname, since Seiaa and I broke up. But what would I change it to? Sigh… I’m so bad at making up names. Any ideas?

Bwahaha! And now to make you all feel really bad for bitching out Sakura! …Well, semi-bad for now. Really bad later. XD I’ve told you guys, I like her. I’d never make her a complete villain.

***

Alright, there are a few things that I never wanted the entire student body to know. One, I sleep with a stuffed panda named Mr. Snugglekins. Two, I do, on occasion, make disturbingly loud bodily noises. And three, I sometimes like it when Sasuke sticks his tongue down my throat.

I have to face it, anyone who knew me as a kid knows about the second one. I mean, I was pretty damn proud of my bodily noises back then. The Mr. Snugglekins secret, however, I will take to my grave.

But Sasuke… Sasuke is almost like a part of me now. What we had was new and exciting and… between the two of us. It was private.

But it’s not anymore.

***

Naruto walked into school the next day and literally heard everyone that could see him go silent. He hesitated in the doorway for a moment, unused to this response. Glares and sneers he was prepared for. Even the occasional shouted insult. But this was new.

He was forced further inside when a student shoved the door behind him open, hitting him in the back and causing him to stumble a few feet. After catching his balance, he glared back at the jerk, intending to offer him a few new nicknames for his mother. But the muttered word of “faggot” made him freeze, and the guy walked past without another word.

Naruto swallowed and straightened, fixing his wrinkled shirt and forcing himself to meet the gaze of every student staring at him before walking down the hall, doing his best to ignore the muted whispers that had started the moment he’d walked away from the door. He made his way to his locker, but frowned when he found a group of guys standing in front of it.

“Oi, you’re in my way.” Naruto had never been very polite, and he wasn’t going to start now.

One of the boys sneered. “We just wanted to see for ourselves. Thought we’d wait for you.”

“See what?”

“A fairy in person.” The group erupted in snickers, and Naruto’s fists clenched, his face heating up.

“Hey,” Shikamaru wandered over, ignoring the group and giving Naruto a small nod. The blonde stared wide eyed at him for a moment, having honestly thought that no sane person would want to be anywhere near him. Shikamaru, however, stood casually next to him, hands in his pockets, eyes finally moving to the group in front of Naruto’s locker. “Why are they just standing in front of your locker?”

The boys had been momentarily surprised to see that Naruto apparently still had a friend, but soon regained their composure. “Hey, are you another fag?” one of them asked, grinning and nudging a friend beside him.

“Relationships are too much of a hassle,” Shikamaru responded, shrugging lazily. “But I guess if I found the right man…” his eyes flicked up to look at the boy. “Why, are you interested?”

That had them fleeing for their lives (and manhood), and Shikamaru walked past Naruto to his own locker, which was right beside the other boy’s, and began turning the combination. Naruto stared at him for a few moments, resisting the urge to hug him, and finally took a breath, moving to his own locker and opening it slowly. No thanks were necessary; Shikamaru wouldn’t accept Naruto’s gratitude, and wouldn’t appreciate his actions being recognized, anyway. Putting effort into defending Naruto would prove he wasn’t quite as lazy as he’d like everyone to think, and Naruto wasn’t going to be the one to ruin his friend’s fun.

Naruto shut his locker after getting out the necessary books, and walked with Shikamaru to his first class.

***

Naruto had heard rumors that there was some sort of surprise attack waiting for him in the lunch room; something involving tampons, and he wasn’t about to find out what it was. He wandered the halls for a few minutes before venturing into Iruka’s room. The man was sitting at his desk, diligently grading papers. Naruto hovered in the doorway, not sure if his presence would be welcome any longer. “…Iruka?”

Startled, Iruka looked up. His eyes softened when he spotted Naruto waiting nervously in the doorway. He’d been meaning to find the boy later. “Naruto. Come in.”

The blonde bit his lip lightly before taking hesitant steps into the room. He took a seat at one of the desks in the front row, facing Iruka. Iruka gave him a small smile, then glanced at his watch. “Lunch already!” Standing, he went over to a little mini-fridge behind his desk and pulled out his lunch, then carried it over to where Naruto was sitting. He sat in the desk beside Naruto’s and carefully opened the small meal. “We can share.”

Naruto’s stomach rumbled gratefully, and he gave Iruka a tired smile. “…Thanks.”

Iruka dutifully separated the meal into two portions, putting Naruto’s on a napkin and setting it on the boy’s desk. “As I’m sure you’re aware,” he began, taking a bite of his half of the sandwich, “there are some rumors going around about you.”

Naruto kept his eyes down. Here it comes… he thought.

“Are they true?”

Trying to focus on eating his food, Naruto simply nodded once, tanned cheeks taking on a hint of pink.

Iruka smiled a little. “There’s nothing wrong with you. You know that, right?”

Naruto looked up at him in surprise, blue eyes wide. “You mean… you’re not…?”

“Disgusted?”

The blonde nodded again.

The older man gave a soft chuckle and shook his head, looking back down at his meal. “You can’t help the way you are, Naruto. The way you feel. And if acting on those feelings won’t hurt anyone, then there’s nothing wrong with doing so.” Besides… while Naruto and Sasuke were complete opposites in nearly every way, Iruka got the feeling that they… needed each other. Both had difficult pasts, and though Iruka wouldn’t have thought they would end up together, it made a strange sort of sense.

Naruto was staring at his teacher with a dumbfounded expression. Iruka was okay with it? He didn’t think Naruto was a freak? A tiny bit of the tightness that had built up in his chest over the course of the day loosened ever so slightly, and he let himself smile. It didn’t fix everything, but if he had allies like Shikamaru and Iruka, Naruto knew he’d be able to get through the day, at least.

“But what about everyone else?” Naruto couldn’t help but ask.

“Everyone else?”

“They all hate me now.” Naruto scuffed the sole of one shoe angrily against the floor. “Even more than they did before.”

Iruka’s face got very serious, almost stern, and he looked over at his student. “I’ll tell you exactly what someone very close to me told me when I asked the same question.”

The blonde looked up at the dark haired man, certain he was about to be provided with a few pearls of wisdom.

Iruka smiled slightly and ruffled the boy’s hair. “If they don’t like it, screw ‘em.”

Naruto stared at him in surprise for a few moments, then laughed. They went back to eating, both content with the way the conversation had gone, and comfortable in the silence that ensued for several minutes.

Finally, Naruto cleared his throat. “Iruka?”

“Mm?”

“Was the person close to you that you were just talking about Kakashi?”

“LIES!”

***

Sakura moved quickly down the hall with Ino, weaving through the crowd eager to leave the building. The final bell had rung, and they just had to go to their lockers before going home.

“But what I told you was in confidence! I didn’t want anyone else to know!” Sakura had arrived at school that morning to find everyone whispering about Naruto and Sasuke. Yes, she was still upset, but that didn’t mean she had wanted to spill their secret to everyone!

“And I kept it in confidence! …Mostly.” Ino bit her lip, glancing over at Sakura apologetically. “…I kind of told TenTen. But only TenTen!”

Sakura sighed. And then things had gone like they usually did. TenTen had told one person, that person had told one person… she should have known this would happen. Now, because of her, Naruto’s life was even more of a living hell than usual, and Sasuke… well, he was at school, but was more distant than usual. He wasn’t having the hard time that Naruto was; gay or not, no one wanted to pick on the guy everyone either wanted or wanted to be. The girls were still stalking him, but now with wistful, “I’ll never be able to have him…” looks, instead of their usual rabid adoration.

Both girls paused when they rounded a corner and nearly ran into a large group of students. Closer inspection found that the group was gathered around Naruto, laughing, shoving, and shouting insults. Sakura nearly cringed when she saw hopeful blue eyes finally land on her. Naruto was really expecting her to defend him, if only a little.

But looking at him brought back the memory of him entwined with Sasuke, and she felt all the hurt from before well up in her chest again. She turned, intent on fleeing the scene, and nearly ran into Sasuke himself. Dark eyes looked down at her, then ahead to what she’d been running from. Those same eyes narrowed, looking at her with disgust. “…You’re such a bitch.” Sasuke shoved away from her and pushed his way into the group, curling his fingers in the shirt of the boy who seemed to be the “leader”. He spun him into the lockers, smirking in satisfaction at the loud crash of the boy’s body hitting the unyielding metal.

The group began to break up with Sasuke’s presence, and he released the boy, giving him a harsh glare that sent him running. He turned to make sure Naruto was okay and found the slightly shorter boy wiping at a bloody lip and scowling at him.

“I was fine, you didn’t have to do that…”

“You were obviously not fine.” Sasuke moved over to him, reaching up to touch his bleeding lip only to have his hand smacked away.

“Don’t, Sasuke,” Naruto murmured, glancing away. “Just… don’t touch me right now.”

The brunette clenched his fists. He’d known this would happen. He’d finally gotten Naruto to respond to him, and now these idiots were scaring the other boy away. “You can’t let them run your life, stupid. Who cares what they think?”

“I don’t want anyone to hate me more than they already do.”

“It’s done now! What does it matter?!”

Naruto slammed his locker shut. “I just need time to make up my mind. Until then… we’ll only see each other for the project.”

Sasuke grabbed Naruto’s shoulder and pushed him against the lockers, jaw tight. “Don’t I get a say in this?”

Naruto shoved him back and stalked past him. “Not really.”

***

“I told you,” Itachi murmured, moving around the large leather chair in which his younger brother was seated and dropping onto the armrest. “I told you that it was a mistake.”

“You don’t know that yet,” Sasuke snarled, turning his head away, arms crossed petulantly over his chest.

“Oh, I do,” the older of the two responded, leaning closer and brushing Sasuke’s bangs back from his eyes, slender fingers stroking one pale cheek. “And soon, you will, too.”