Watching

A/N: So sorry for the wait, but I’ve got my computer back, and another brand new chapter waiting for you! I've actually had my computer back for a few days, but was being lazy. You have my girlfriend to thank for the update, because it's her birthday today, and that's one of the things she wanted. I hope you enjoy the chapter. I’ll probably add review responses later, right now I’m exhausted and I just want to get this posted. Thanks again for all the great reviews last chapter, though! I broke 30,000 hits! I can't believe it! I'm thinking that maybe for either 35,000 hits or maybe 40,000, I'll do something special. Maybe write a fic, either a side story to this one or something completely original, that a reviewer requests. Whatever pairing and plot you guys want. Think about it, and let me know what you think.

By the way, I’m in such a rush to get this up that I haven’t read over it yet, so sorry if there are any mistakes. If there are, I’ll try to fix them when I do review responses.

Disclaimer: I don’t own Naruto, and am making no profit from this work.

***

Suddenly everyone wants to give me advice, or at least tell me what to do. Iruka, Kakashi… Hey, I’m not saying I don’t appreciate it, but… okay, I don’t appreciate it. Everyone should just stay out of my business. Uzumaki Naruto can take care of himself!

And… stuff.

All that depressing shit from before is over! I just needed to work everything out, and now I have! It could only take so long, of course, me being the genius that I am. So yeah, I’ve officially made my decision. Screw what anyone thinks. Screw all of ‘em. When I want something, I get it. Not to say I want Sasuke, ‘cause does that sound creepy or what? I’m just saying, well…

I’m getting him back.

***

“He’s never taking you back, you know.” Itachi idly twirled a few locks of Sasuke’s hair through his fingers, dark eyes--almost seeming to glint red in the soft light from Sasuke’s desk lamp--focused on the inky strands.

“Don’t talk about things you don’t understand,” Sasuke responded sharply, nearly snapping his pencil as his fingers tightened at his brother’s words. He wouldn’t listen…

“Oh, but I do understand.” Itachi moved to Sasuke’s other side, one hand settling on the boy’s desk as he leaned over him, whispering lowly in his ear. “You think I don’t know every single thing that goes through that pretty head of yours, little brother? You think I can’t see through your every action, your every move and gesture? If that’s truly what you think…” he touched his brother’s cheek. “…Then you underestimate me, little brother. That would be a mistake.”

“I don’t underestimate you.” Sasuke kept his eyes focused firmly on his schoolwork. He knew all too well what Itachi was capable of. He forced himself to turn his head away when his brother pressed his lips to his cheek, a soft gesture of affection.

Sasuke knew not to accept any affection from Itachi. Everything Itachi gave came with a price. Always. Sasuke was through paying.

What he wanted, Itachi couldn’t give, anyway.

***

“I understand that there have been some unsettling… rumors going around,” Kakashi began, for once in his life having the decency to look ever so slightly uncomfortable. It was inevitable, this really wasn’t what he’d expected to happen when he’d pushed his students together.

Naruto refused to look at his teacher, instead leveling the chalkboard with an icy blue glare. Kakashi was probably the last person he wanted to discuss this with, but he knew where the conversation was going, and the man did have a point.

“Rumors aside,” Kakashi continued. “You have a month until the end of the school year, and therefore you have a month until your group project is due. It is important that you, Sasuke, and Sakura continue with your weekly meetings. I don’t have any community service projects scheduled for the three of you until next week, so you need to get together on your own this week to work by yourselves. Understood?”

Naruto didn’t grace the man with a response, instead standing sharply, the legs of his desk scraping loudly against the tiled floor.

Kakashi’s one visible eye narrowed. “Understood?”

“Yeah.”

The blonde left the room without another word.

***

So now he was faced with the unfortunate task of finding the bastard and setting up a time for the three of them to meet. He’d have much rather spoken to Sakura about it, but he’d already searched the school for her and couldn’t find her. She was probably in the cafeteria, but Naruto knew not to venture in there.

His experiences with Sasuke, however, told him that the dark haired boy rarely bothered going into the cafeteria. Over the past few weeks, Naruto had gotten the distinct impression that crowds made the Uchiha uncomfortable, a trait that the blonde had previously found rather… cute. To think that the boy’s icy attitude came partly from a certain social ineptitude, almost anxiety, couldn’t be anything but.

Of course, now that specific flaw, like everything else about the Uchiha, only annoyed Naruto. Right. Because that was all he felt for the brunette; annoyance.

He found Sasuke at his locker, stooping to pick up books scattered across the floor. Naruto smirked. Mr. I Couldn’t Be Clumsy if I Tried had dropped his stuff all over the floor? Awesome.

“Need help?” the blonde questioned, coming to rest with his back against the lockers, definitely not looking at the backside of the other boy, who was still stooped to pick up his books but had definitely stiffened at the sound of Naruto’s voice.

“…No,” was the quiet response, and Sasuke straightened slowly, stuffing his things back into his locker. “So you’re talking to me now?”

“Have to. Kakashi made me stay after class earlier so he could lecture me about not finishing the project.” Naruto made sure to pick idly at his fingernails, intent on showing Sasuke that speaking to him no longer had any effect on him.

A hand slammed into the locker right by Naruto’s head, and Sasuke leaned towards him. “Stop being so goddamn coy.” Sasuke’s lips were an inch away from Naruto’s as he glared into bright blue eyes, and the blonde couldn’t help the there-and-gone flutter in his chest at the proximity.

And, of course, the bell chose that moment to ring. Because Naruto’s life didn’t suck enough already, right? And the hallway flooded with students, because the irony gods had decided that surely Naruto could handle just a little bit more torture. Cheeky bastards.

Luckily, Sasuke wasn’t quite up to the irony gods’ level of bastardly-ness, and pulled away before anyone could see how close they’d been. That didn’t stop the usual group of assholes from spotting Naruto at his locker and making their way over, however. The blonde cringed, resisting the urge to move behind Sasuke. He knew better than to be caught in the halls, but he’d been distracted…

The main asshole sported a lewd grin and shoved Naruto’s shoulder lightly. “Aww, isn’t it cute? The lovebirds are spending time together.”

Naruto stumbled back a few steps, but didn’t fight back. He just glared, having learned by that point that it was best not to say or do anything. There were too many of them for him to fight, and anything he said would just be used against him. Sasuke, however, hadn’t learned this lesson.

“I’m sorry, do I need to kick your ass again? Because I guess I made the mistake of thinking you’d be smart enough to get the message the first time.” The brunette tried to move in front of Naruto, but Naruto scowled and pushed him to the side. “I can take care of myself, dammit! Besides, there are too many of them!”

The group proceeded to snicker, several murmurs rippling through them about the lovebirds “protecting” each other.

“The fag has a point, man,” Asshole #1 stated calmly, shoving his hands into his pockets and smirking at Sasuke. “Two of you and all of us. You might want to keep your mouth shut.”

Sasuke’s dark eyes narrowed, and he was about to respond when a more hesitant, feminine voice spoke in his place.

“…That’s three, actually. There are three of us.”

Naruto saw a pink head of hair making its way through the crowd, and then Sakura emerged, making sure to shove the jerk who’d spoken before extra hard before moving to Naruto’s side, her eyes apologetic as she looked at him. The expression in those green eyes changed instantly to something dangerous when they turned to regard the group of boys.

Naruto’s face broke into a wide grin. “I knew you’d come around, Sakura!” Who could resist him, after all? No one, that’s who!

The head asshole still didn’t seem impressed, though. He snorted. “A girl? So what?”

“Girls are troublesome.” The group turned to find Shikamaru standing behind them, looking rather bored, a sheepish-looking Kiba and Chouji on either side of him. “But you idiots blocking my locker again is even more troublesome.”

Chouji was rapidly consuming potato chips from a bag in one hand, but was doing his best to look fearsome despite that. Kiba gave Naruto a short wave, before scowling at the group standing in front of the blonde and now facing him. “Sorry we took so long, Uzumaki.”

Shikamaru sighed. “It would seem your target has more friends than you thought. Why don’t you just give this up? It’s more trouble than it’s worth.”

Asshole #1 sneered and looked like he might say something else, but the bell rang again and the halls began emptying out. His friends scattered, and after a moment’s hesitation, he followed.

Naruto let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding, then whooped loudly, raising a fist in the air. “I guess I showed them! HA! They won’t be coming back!” He then crossed his arms over his chest proudly, before noticing his friends glowering at him. “Oh… right. Thanks for your help, guys.”

Shikamaru ignored him, walking past him without a word to open his locker and begin getting out his books. Chouji followed, giving Naruto a nod. Kiba just shrugged. “Whatever. We… shoulda helped sooner. Gotta get to class, see ya.”

Kiba jogged off and Shikamaru slammed his locker shut, giving Naruto a lazy wave before heading to class. Chouji trailed after him, pausing in stuffing his face to shout back, “Let us know if you have any more problems!”

“I will!” Naruto stuck his hands on his hips. “Not that I can’t handle things myself. Did you see how those guys ran off? Scared of my manliness, that’s what they are.”

Sakura covered her mouth to muffle a giggle, but sobered quickly and lowered her hand, looking up at Naruto. “…I’m sorry about everything, Naruto.” She glanced over at Sasuke, whose sharp gaze seemed to be urging her on, and continued. “This is all sort of my fault. Do you forgive me?”

Blue eyes blinked several times at her. “Wha…? Of course!” Naruto winked. “You’re too pretty to be mad at. Let‘s go on a date!”

Sakura laughed, sensing the fact that Naruto’s requests for dates were no longer serious, and smacked his arm lightly, deciding it was definitely time to make her exit. She could practically feel Sasuke fuming behind her. “I don’t think that’s such a good idea. But let’s set up another time to meet for the project, okay? I’ll wait for you two in front of the building after school.”

“Right!”

Waving one last time, Sakura held her books to her chest and hurried off down the hall, turning left and out of sight. Moments later a classroom door slammed shut, and Naruto and Sasuke were left alone in the hallway.

“A date, huh?” Sasuke leaned back against the lockers, shoving his hands into his pockets and staring darkly at the ground.

Naruto turned to look at him, trying not to smirk. “Well, she turned me down.”

“Smart move.”

“Yeah?” Naruto moved closer, pushing the brunette’s shoulders back into the lockers and looking into his eyes. “Why’s that?”

“Because you’re mine,” Sasuke responded unabashedly.

“Think so?”

“I know so.”

“You’re pretty damn cocky.”

Sasuke smirked. “According to the rumors going around school, you like that.”

Naruto turned red and shoved his shoulder, and Sasuke curled his fingers in the blonde’s shirt, tugging him closer until their lips met. Naruto made sure the kiss stayed short and innocent, pulling back after only a few seconds and regarding the other boy with a forced stern look. “We’ll talk after we meet with Sakura, when school’s over.”

Sasuke was about to curtly inform him that what he had in mind didn’t involve any talking at all, but Naruto stepped back and grinned at him before running off down the hallway.

***

A/N: Gyah... that was so sugary sweet, it gave me a toothache. Naruto's friends all standing up for him... I usually don't like writing things so... cliche (XD But I'm doing a high school fic, so who am I to complain about cliche?), but I felt it was necessary in this instance. Also, for those of you thinking this is about to end soon... it's not XP I have one more curveball to throw Sasuke and Naruto before this draws to a close. You really didn't think I could let them be happy for TOO long, did you?