Art and Artifice

Art and Artifice
chapter 2

It was Friday at last. Usually, this would have put Sasuke in a good mood. Today however, his mother had informed him that his older brother, Itachi, would be coming home to visit this weekend. In actual fact the news was not likely to affect Sasuke's weekend plans in the least. It was just that the mere mention of Itachi got on Sasuke's nerves and while the feeling might have been short lived otherwise, the knowledge that he would hearing about him and possibly seeing him anytime he was at home for the whole weekend would be sure to hang over him all day. A few pedestrians were lucky to escape with their lives as a sleek dark blue Ferrari 308 GTSi with custom plates that read SASUKE1, tore around corners, weaving recklessly through traffic and disregarding crosswalks entirely on the way to Shinobi high school.

"Dude, what's got your panties in a knot on this fine Friday morning?" asked Inuzuka Kiba as he took in the dark look on the Uchiha's face. Not to mention the way he slammed the door of his precious car with savage force. Kiba was the only one of his friends that was brash and foolhardy enough to openly interrogate Sasuke when he was obviously in such a dangerous mood. A rather large group of females all shot Kiba dirty looks for daring to bother their sweet Sasuke kun. Sasuke just ignored the girls as he pressed the button on his key chain, locking the car with a loud chirp and began striding towards the school entrance.

"My brother's going to be down for the weekend. I hate that asshole."

"Oh yeah, he goes to that art college in Konoha right?" Kiba looked thoughtful. "You don't see much of him do you? Look at it this way, if he comes home now, that means that afterwards you won't see him for another few months." A raised eyebrow was all the response he got and Kiba shrugged helplessly. "Well whatever man. Just tryin' to help." Sasuke's current girlfriend chose that moment to cut in.

"You suck at helping Kiba! Leave Sasuke kun alone." She latched onto Sasuke's arm and gave him a flirty smile. "Don't worry Sasuke honey, I'll cheer you up in no time."

"I've told you before not to call me that." Sasuke growled. Then he reigned himself in a little and continued in a cold, level tone. "I don't need your cheering up. In fact I'm more than through with you. Consider yourself dumped. Now get lost!" The beautiful girl's eye's instantly filled with tears and her hands flew up to cover her mouth but not in time to stop one gasping sob from escaping. Without another word she turned and fled, probably to the girls bathroom to cry out her humiliation in relative peace. Sasuke didn't feel an ounce of remorse. It wasn't like he could even remember the girls name most of the time and out of all the girlfriends he'd had, that one had been particularly annoying. Couldn't she just shut up and let him wallow? For God's sake! Sasuke didn't want to be happy. He wanted to sulk damn it! A whole weekend of Itachi this and Itachi that and having to put up with those smug looks and that condescending tone. Nobody condescended to Sasuke but Itachi. It was like he thought his little brother was some poor, sad, pathetic creature. It was not to be borne!

Of course now he'd have to find a new girlfriend. He mentally sighed at the prospect, giving a quick glance over all the girls in the immediate vicinity. Nope. Nothing remotely interesting. On the other hand, he was getting pretty sick of girls. Maybe he would make his next conquest a guy. He pondered halfheartedly on the question, ignoring his friends' idle chatter as he continued on to his locker and picked up the things he needed for class.

On the way into his classroom, Sasuke happened to spot the perfect way to take out a little of his irritation. Uzumaki Naruto was just making his way into the room as well. Sasuke stuck one foot into the smaller boy's path and gave his back a little push for good measure. Naruto fell flat on his face and the rest of the students who had already made it into the class laughed uproariously at his expense. As he picked himself up without a word and made his way to his seat, a small, satisfied smirk crossed Sasuke's lips. Ah yes! He felt a little better already. A few more of those and this day might turn out half way decent after all.

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"Hey Kyuubi! What's up?" Haku cheerfully greeted his friend as he walked into the Advanced Art room. That was until he noticed that Naruto was favoring one leg a bit. His happy smile became a frown in heartbeat. "What happened to you? Are you hurt?" Naruto pulled back his hood, revealing his soft golden hair that looked too sunny to go with the tired expression on his face.

"I believe the bastard is in a crappy mood," he sighed. No more really needed to be said on the subject and Haku wisely asked no further questions. The two busied themselves with setting up their workspace in a comfortable silence for the next few moments and, as usual, the very prospect of doing what he loved the most began to lift Naruto out of his melancholy state. Haku smiled as he could practically feel his friend's energy change. It was an amazing thing really, how when Naruto was happy, a whole room seemed brighter. He decided to help the phenomenon along a bit.

"Just think about it Kyuu! Next week we'll get to walk the hallowed halls of our future alma mater! I can't wait to see everything!" Haku's excitement was infectious and his exclamation achieved the desired result almost instantly. A wide grin spread over the blond's face, his eye's sparkling in a rapturous expression as his thoughts ran off into speculations on what the next year might bring.

"I wonder what the other students will be like?" he wondered aloud. This one room that they were standing in was the only place in the school where he felt comfortable at all. In here he could show his face and speak his mind. These people were his friends or at the very least they shared a common interest and they didn't ridicule or criticize. They even went so far as to respect him for his abilities. They were generally friendly and most of them had picked up on the kyuubi nickname when Haku had discovered it and began using it all the time. (Though they didn't all know about the tattoo that it originated from.) Hell even Gaara, the quiet, creepyish redhead in the back corner of the room seemed to like him ok. This place was Naruto's safe haven on the school grounds. He could hardly imagine what it would be like to go to a school where everyone was like these people, where he could feel comfortable walking around an entire huge campus.

"I suppose they would be a lot like us...Well mostly anyway, in the ways that count. You know what I mean?" Naruto hadn't actually been expecting an answer and was jolted out of his mental meandering at Haku's voice.

"Oh! I said that out loud, didn't I? He laughed sheepishly, unconsciously rubbing the back of his head. Haku smiled wryly and shook his head at the blond.

"You're so weird."

"Hey! Coming from you...." Naruto's good natured retort was cut off abruptly when a light blonde blur suddenly glomped him out of nowhere.

"Kyuubi chan! Just the person I've been looking for!" Naruto squirmed around enough to get a look at the thing that had wrapped itself around him so thoroughly. He found himself looking into pastel blue eyes, much too closely.

"Ino? You need something don't you?" he asked in a slow and careful voice almost as if he were dealing with an irritable bear.

"Must be something big." Haku snickered. "I've never seen anyone suck up quite so...forcefully."

"Quiet you!" Ino sent him a glare, but it was rather ineffective as he could see the contained humor behind it. "Can't you see I'm in the middle of conducting a business negotiation?"

"Oh, you're already in the middle huh? You must be very confident." Haku grinning like a cheshire cat now.

"Shut up! This is really serious!" Ino whined. Naruto decided to step in.

"Ok Ino, I'm listening. What is it?" he asked as he worked his way out of her grasp.

"Ok, I have this amazing idea for a photo series. It's going to look so cool and I've already got almost everything worked out for it. The only thing I need now...is a model."

"Are you kidding?!" Naruto's eye's were comically huge all of a sudden. "You 'must' be kidding! You couldn't possibly be suggesting..."

"It doesn't involve nudity. I promise! Well not full nudity."

"That's not the point!...Not that I would 'ever' pose nude for you."

"Then there's some hope that you'd pose otherwise?" Ino clasped her hands batted her lashes at Naruto, putting on her most innocent face as she inwardly enjoyed his stuttered back-pedaling.

"It seems it really is the point," muttered Haku with a grin. He was greatly enjoying himself and wasn't bothered in the least at the glare he received from both parties.

"Come on Kyuubi," Ino coaxed in a soothing voice as she rubbed a hand in circles over his back like a mother comforting her child. "You're the perfect person for the job. I need somebody really interesting and unique. You can do this. Really! It won't be anything too hard."

"Why don't you get Haku to do it? He's unique right? And he's pretty enough to be a model." Naruto pointed a finger rudely in his friend's face as he argued. Haku's eye's crossed at the finger almost touching his nose before he glanced up at Ino and lifted a brow. He spread his arms out to the sides and spun a slow circle, showing himself off while Ino looked him over, pretending to consider it. Truthfully Haku did have a very pretty face and his style could definitely be called 'unique' if one were polite enough to word it that way. He was currently wearing a kilt over a pair of faded jeans with a forest green muscle shirt under a full sleeve, fishnet shirt. The 'look' was topped off by copious amounts of his own odd parody of 'bling'. Alas for Naruto, Ino just didn't think Haku was the right kind of unique for her project. She had pictured Naruto in the images from the second the idea had been conceived. Naruto was so expressive and she wanted to capture some of his personality with her photos. Besides, in Ino's oppinion, Haku's prettiness was no substitute for Naruto's...arresting features.

"Hmmm...Nope. It definitely has to be you." Naruto's face fell and she almost felt sorry for him. She knew he was shy but it was about time he started getting over that right? "Oh stop being such a baby! It's not going to hurt you." Oops! It seemed this was the wrong approach to take. Naruto had stiffened, his shoulders thrown back stubbornly.

"No! I won't do it. I absolutely refuse and that's final!" he exclaimed in a firm tone. "You'll just have to find someone else Ino." Ino took in the determined look on his face and decided it was time to bring out the big guns. Taking a deep breath she let her eye's tear up a bit and stuck her lower lip out in a pout, careful not to exaggerate too much.

"You know it's my dream to be a professional photographer," she practically sobbed. "This project is going to be my major portfolio piece. The school doesn't take just anyone you know. It has to be absolutely perfect. I 'need' your help! My 'entire future' is riding on this! What will I do?!" Now the sobs were coming full force. Naruto's eye's had widened in horror.

"Don't cry! I'm sorry! I'll do it! God just don't cry!"

"You will?" Ino sniffled

"Yeah I'll do it." Naruto crossed his arms and glared off at the wall. He knew he was being manipulated but his own dreams for the future were so important to him that the very thought of costing someone else theirs was too much to handle. Plus he'd always been kind of a sucker for tears and apparently that wasn't something he could help. He was thrown almost completely off balance, his tough-guy-pose ruined as Ino launched herself at him once again.

"Oh thank you so much Kyuubi chan! You're my hero!"

"You are going to let me see these pictures when you're done right?" Haku's question cut off any response Naruto might have made.

"Of course," said Ino. "Someone has to critique them for me before I send them in. You can help me sort out which ones are the best shots." As Ino happily made her way back over to her work station to actually get something done this period, Haku looked at Naruto who looked like he might be about to have a nervous break down, and burst into a fit of giggles.

"You are such a softy."

"I know." Aaand he was back to sighing.


A/N; I wanted Sasuke to have a really obnoxious car so I gave him the same model from Magnum P.I. (cute no?) As far as other pairings go I haven't given it a lot of thought and they won't be getting much of the spotlight but there will be some mention of Zabu/Haku here and there and I intend to throw Kiba and Hinata together 'cause they're cute. Awww! You know, the usual suspects. Anyhow, happy reading!