Sex: M/F/Other?

Sex: M/F/Other?

By: ladygizarme

Beta: ren

Summary: Teen life is hard: parents, school, raging hormones. Questions of sexuality, gender identity, eating disorders, cross-dressing, therapy, & society’s narrow views make things even harder. Your typical H.S. fic, with a not-so-typical twist. SasuNaruSasu, multiple pairings, Anal, Angst, AU/AR, Bi, F/F, HJ, Language, M/F, M/M, Oral, Peg, Rim, SoloF, SoloM, Toys, Trans, WIP, Yaoi, Yuri

Regarding Story Warnings: You may notice in the above summary, a few story codes are mentioned that weren’t in the main summary. I tried to put the most important Story Codes into the main summary, so I didn’t stretch the “Latest” page too much, but several other codes will come into play during this story. Maybe even some I haven’t listed here yet! I’ll try to warn you accordingly!

A/N: Yes, as you’ve probably surmised from the prologue, Naruto is biologically a girl. However, she will still be referred to as a boy unless I feel the situation calls for otherwise. If you’re confused as to why this is, don’t fret; all shall be explained… eventually.

Edit, 12/30/07: This note was already posted with chapter four, but I thought it might be a good idea to come back and add it to this chapter as well.

It was suggested to me in a review that I emphasize for the readers that Naruto is not going to be over-ukefied in this fic. Be assured, while his body is female, Naruto is male in every other way.

Now on with the show, dattebayo!

Chapter One: Stomachache, Running Late

Haku sprinted through the halls of Konoha Junior-Senior High School Gymnasium, the large structure that stood at the southwest corner of Konoha Senior High School, midway between the Senior and Junior High on the large, sprawling campus set in the middle of town. This building housed multiple gymnasiums, most of the sports club locker rooms and offices, two indoor pools, and the fully decked out infirmary, serving all of the Konoha Junior and Senior High students.

Haku was running late. He had just rushed from the lockers of Senior Gym 2, and was still tying the red bow of the sailor shirt of his uniform, his book bag strap slung over his shoulder and across his chest, the bag thumping against his opposite hip as he ran to the lockers of Junior Gym 1 at the opposite end of the huge facility. Letting his shoes skid across the floor, Haku grabbed the handle of the locker room door as he slid to a stop, took a moment to regain his breath, and smoothed the hair back from his face before pulling the door open.

“Naruto,” he called, taking long strides through the rows of lockers, heading straight for his best friend’s locker since the bench Naruto usually waited for him on right by the doors was empty. “I’m sorry I’m late! Gai-sensei was more energetic than usual today, and there was no way I could go without a shower this time, and you know how long it takes to rinse out my hair, let alone comb it out, so I—” His excuses immediately dropped off as he finally made it to Naruto’s locker, and found that bench empty as well.

“Naruto?” he called out, whipping his head around, his long, wet, black hair fanning out and following the action, falling back against his body heavily. Adjusting the strap of his bag, he turned around and started walking back through the rows of lockers, a little slower this time, scanning down the empty aisles for his missing friend. When that search was fruitless, Haku went to look in the showers, however unlikely it seemed that Naruto would be there either.

As he neared the tiled entrance to the showers, Haku heard a shower still running. Thinking maybe Kakashi-sensei had also driven his class hard today and Naruto was taking a rare shower after class, Haku pulled his shoes and knee-high socks off and stepped cautiously on the damp tile.

“Naruto!” he called out again, hoping to draw his friend out to him instead of chasing in after him. The shower room was in an L-shape and none of the showers in the first leg were on or occupied, so the culprit must be in the other bend. Haku really wanted to avoid getting his feet completely wet if at all possible, however there was no answer to his call. Straining his ears, Haku tried to listen for any sign of activity. Maybe there was no one actually in there, and it was just that some careless boy had left the shower on. If that was so, he was wasting his time here, making himself even later. But where else could Naruto be?

There! He did hear something! It sounded like… heavy breathing? And… was that a moan?! A little hard to be sure, with the sound of the running shower also echoing through the empty room, but… there it was again, that was definitely a moan! Was Naruto in there with someone?! Despite Haku’s usual respect for privacy, he couldn’t very well pass up the chance to catch Naruto in the act, could he? Especially when the boy refused to tell Haku who he was crushing on, going as far as to insist he didn’t have a crush when Haku had noticed the signs weeks ago! Oh no, Haku wouldn’t pass this up for anything!

Stepping lightly now, mostly on the balls of his feet, Haku snuck further into the showers. He could just see the water spraying to the edge of the partition as he turned the corner and, feeling mischievous, Haku grasped the bend of the tiled wall as he sprung from behind it, yelling Naruto’s name once more as he caught his younger friend red-handed in the act of heavy shower room petting.

…Except it wasn’t Naruto. In fact, neither boy was Naruto. A fact made even more clear (as if it wasn’t clear enough from their faces) with a glance to their nether regions. Not that they were completely naked, mind you. The shorter, black haired boy was wearing a towel round his waist, and the taller, broader-shouldered, white-haired boy was fully clothed in his school uniform—minus the jacket. However, the white haired boy’s shirt was untucked, and his clothes and hair were soaked through on the back, having apparently accosted the shorter boy just after his shower and pressed him up against the adjacent wall to ravage him, the shower perhaps being left on to cover the sounds of their moans. Well, it had partially worked, except for the fact that the sound of a running shower in an otherwise empty locker room also drew attention, especially if you were looking for someone that should be in that empty locker room, and were unable to find them.

Which brought Haku back to the topic at hand: the two boys who were most definitely not Naruto, as clearly evidenced by their outward appearances, as well as the obvious tent under the black haired boy’s damp, white towel, and the erection partially visible through the opening in the white haired boy’s dark grey uniform pants, which the black haired boy’s hand was currently wrapped around (and therefore mostly covering). A hand which, upon sudden discovery, tightened for a split second before abruptly pulling away, the black haired boy’s eyes widening in sudden shock, with the slightest obvious hint of anxiety around the edges; his already flushed cheeks darkening just that much more. The white haired boy simply growled softly, turning to Haku with lips pressed together tightly in irritation at being interrupted.

Well, now… this was awkward. Haku was immediately glad he didn’t blush easily, even if he were usually a more modest person by nature.

“Kaguya-senpai!” Haku breathed out in sudden shock as he recognized the Second Year Senior High upperclassman, Kaguya Kimimaro; feeling the sudden need to say something but having no real idea what to say in this situation.

“Yukimura-kun,” Kimimaro acknowledged with a barely noticeable head-to-toe-to-head appraisal of Haku’s girl’s uniform-clad form.

Apparently the black-haired boy noticed, though, because as soon as Haku’s name was out and before Kimimaro’s eyes came back to Haku’s, the shorter boy had returned his hands to Kimimaro—this time settling about his hips possessively, attempting to turn the open crotch of the pants towards him and away from Haku’s line of sight. The former deer-caught-in-headlights look the boy had had immediately transformed to a dark scowl and he sneered at Haku.

“What the fuck do you want? This is the boys’ locker room, girls aren’t allowed!”

At that look, and the sound of the voice, Haku couldn’t help but grin in sudden recognition. He hadn’t realized who it was before, what with his hair still being wet and mostly laying flat against his skull.

“Oh, my Kami… is that Chibi-Uchiha?! Sasuke-chan, ne?!”

If possible, Sasuke’s scowl deepened.

“Don’t call me that,” he gritted out. He was about to make a more scathing comment, reiterating in no uncertain terms that Haku, clearly a girl, was in the boys’ showers (where two boys were making out, no less, though he wasn’t about to point that out) and therefore most unwanted. However, Kimimaro cut him off before he could even begin.

“Was there something you needed, Yukimura-kun? It sounded before like you thought you would find someone else here. Are you, perhaps, looking for someone?”

“Oh… yeah! Sorry to interrupt but,” Haku turned his gaze to Sasuke once again. “You’re in this gym class with Uzumaki Naruto, aren’t you? Have you seen him, by any chance? I was supposed to meet him here after school, but I can’t seem to find him anywhere. I heard the shower on from the lockers and thought maybe he was back here…”

“No, Uzumaki never showers at school,” Sasuke said offhandedly, almost without realizing he’d spoken. Then, he seemed to pause abruptly, as if remembering something. “Actually,” he started slowly, squinting up at the ceiling through his wet bangs and the mist above his head. “I don’t remember seeing Uzumaki in class today. Or, at least, not since lunch.”

“What?!” Haku exclaimed, an old familiar feeling of dread creeping into his stomach. It immediately sent him into his rarely-seen, but quite perfected “mother hen mode”. “What do you mean he wasn’t in class? Did you see where he went? Did something happen to him? Didn’t the teachers bother to find him?! Our guardians are supposed to be informed if something happens—I’m supposed to be informed—!”

“Calm down, damn! It’s nothing to get worked up about. I think someone said he went to the nurse with a stomachache. Probably just an excuse to get out of gym, the dobe knows he can’t compete with me,” Sasuke reassured gripingly, the last bit muttered under his breath.

It didn’t matter, though, Haku had left before he’d finished the word “stomachache”, the sound of his feet slapping against the wet tiles echoing through the room. Sasuke quirked one black brow at the spot the “girl” previously occupied, then turned back to Kimimaro who was still looking at that spot thoughtfully.

“So…” Sasuke said, attempting to affect a husky tone to his voice, despite the unexpected interruption, as he stroked his boyfriend’s sides to gain back his attention. “Where were we?”

“I think,” the older boy replied, his green eyes practically burning into Sasuke. “You were about to get your knees wet.”

Sasuke’s eyes widened a bit at the thinly-veiled order, still feeling lingering apprehension in the act he was to undertake, as he’d only done it a handful of times. However, with a challenging curl to Kimimaro’s lips, and liquid sex burning in his eyes, it took barely a downward nudge to Sasuke’s shoulders for him to comply and drop to his knees.

*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*

Haku barely managed putting his socks and shoes back on before he was running again. He tried to remain calm as he backtracked his way to the middle of the facility, to the main entrance that was rarely used when going to an actual gym class, where the nurse’s station was located. After all, if Naruto had really gone to the nurse, he would be perfectly fine. There was no need to be alarmed, simply because he missed half a day of school. But still, a stomachache wasn’t something to get too worried over… maybe… unless Naruto’s old problem was making a little comeback. It hadn’t been that long since the last time… And why didn’t anyone tell Haku that Naruto wouldn’t be there waiting for him after gym?! If nothing was wrong, they could’ve at least had the decency to tell him he didn’t need to sprint the length of the building, after an extremely exhausting gym class of his own, to pick the blonde up! And if something was really wrong… well, all the more reason to come tell Haku!

Once again reminding himself to remain calm, Haku reached the doors of the infirmary.

Both the Junior and Senior High had small nurse’s offices near the disciplinary office within their respective main buildings, but those were barely anything more than a first aid kit in a closet, run by someone barely-certified to administer bandaids and aspirin. The real nurse’s office, or infirmary, was in the combined gymnasium building, and was more popularly labeled “nurse’s station”. Much more than an office, the nurse’s station consisted of: a filing office, which housed a desk used mostly for paperwork and filing cabinets full of student/patient records; a small waiting area with six lightly-cushioned metal-framed chairs; and a diagnosis-and-treatment area (The D-and-T), where the nurse spent most of her school hours.

The door for the office was beside the door to the waiting room. The office door was thick, wooden, and weathered, with a heavy duty metal doorknob that opened it inwardly on hinges; the waiting room door was the school’s standard sliding shoji. Once inside the waiting room, a short distance down the wall separating the waiting room from the office, there was a small, opaque sliding glass window, where students would knock lightly to announce themselves to the nurse. If she wasn’t busy, she would usually have the window open already and motion you in right away. A little further down that same wall, another sliding shoji led from the waiting room into the D-and-T, which housed another desk with a swivel chair underneath the sliding glass window, another waiting room-style metal chair beside a doctor-style diagnosis table, a scale, a height measuring stick permanently affixed to the wall, and a small counter and set of cupboards—which held all the other small accoutrements the nurse would need to determine what ails you and help fix it—on the wall adjacent to the desk. Beside the counter and cupboards was the inner door to her filing office—nearly identical in type and style to that of the outer door.

At the back of the room, partitioned off from the diagnosis area by thick, white curtains that ran on tracks set into the ceiling, were six cots—each sectioned off from the other with the same thick, white curtains—which students could rest on when an extended stay or wait in the nurse’s office was necessary. When no one was using the cots, the curtains were usually pulled open, making visible the two extra chairs set at the very back of the room. Near these chairs, at the opposite end of the same wall housing the inner office door, was a private, one-occupant unisex bathroom; to be used only by students in the infirmary. The nurse had her own private bathroom inside her filing office as well, though most students didn’t know—or even wonder—about it.

As Haku walked into the waiting room, he immediately noticed the window was closed. He didn’t pause to announce his arrival, however, and slid open the door that allowed him entrance to the D-and-T. The next thing he noticed was that the curtains at the back were drawn. Someone was using a cot.

Turning concerned, brown eyes to his left, Haku asked softly, “Excuse the intrusion, Shizune-san, but is Naruto back there?”

The black haired nurse looked up from her book, startled by Haku’s sudden question, his soft voice seeming as loud as a slamming door in the quiet room. Apparently she’d been too deep into the story she was reading to hear the door slide open. It wasn’t the first time, though that’s not to say she didn’t take her job seriously, or ever slacked off where the health and safety of the students was concerned—that definitely wasn’t the case. She was simply very efficient with her paperwork and filing system (a skill she happily and dutifully appreciated, especially after years with her older, blonder counterpart who probably couldn’t keep a tidy office to save her life), and when she had no patients to look after, a good book was a perfect time filler.

“Oh, Haku!” Shizune exclaimed, though quietly. “Yes, Naruto is lying down.”

“Is he okay? Why didn’t anyone come tell me he wouldn’t be waiting for me after gym? I didn’t know he was in here so I wasted time looking for him. We’ve already missed the first bus, and at this rate we’ll miss the second, too.”

“Is it that late already?” she asked, glancing up at the clock above her check-in window, eyes going wide as she saw it was nearly half-past the final bell, which rung at 3:00pm.

Getting up from her chair, she exclaimed again, her voice louder this time, “Oh, my, it certainly is! Naruto-kun, it’s time to get up, you’re running late! I’m sorry, Haku, I didn’t notice the bell at all! I meant to wake him and send him out to meet you before your class ended, but it’s obviously too late for that now, oh well… If you run, you might still make it. Naruto-kun,” she finished her worried rambling by calling out to the blonde again, gently nudging his shoulder now that she had crossed the room to the very last cot on the left side where the boy lay sleeping.

The gentle nudge became a little rougher, as Naruto grumbled and refused to wake, but finally he gave in, sitting up and peering around groggily through messy, sleep-tousled locks. Rubbing his eyes, Naruto shook the fog of sleep from his head before finally focusing on the two people standing over his bed.

“What’d you wake me up for? Couldn’t you have let me die painlessly in my sleep? No, you have to force me to live through this torment!” Naruto whined and huffed, pouting petulantly, arms crossed over his chest.

Haku gasped at the statement, ignoring the attitude and focusing on the “die painlessly” aspect of the complaint. Was Naruto relapsing? Haku thought he’d been doing really well lately, but maybe…

His worries were put to rest for the moment when Shizune spoke.

“Oh, come on, Naruto-kun, don’t be so dramatic. Honestly! And you don’t have time for this stubborn nonsense, you’ve already missed your first bus—”

Naruto cut her off, “We missed the bus? Aw, too bad, and I was so looking forward to it…” His sarcasm was abundantly clear.

Shizune put a quick end to any thoughts he was entertaining of skipping his appointment. “Not to worry,” she said wryly. “You can still catch the second bus and make it in time, so hurry and gather your things and get your feet moving. I’ll give you a painkiller before you leave.” With that, she went back to her cupboards to rummage for the promised pills.

Haku eyed Naruto questioningly, but the blonde merely sighed heavily and swung his legs over the side of the bed, pulling his shoes out from under the bed and putting them back on. Then he pulled himself out of bed, scratching absently at his bed ruffled hair and dragging his bag with him from off the floor. Haku made to follow with him after Shizune, but Naruto went the opposite direction, going into the infirmary bathroom, closing and locking the door behind him. Recalling what the Chibi-Uchiha had said about Naruto supposedly having a stomachache, Haku decided to wait for him at the front with Shizune.

“I’m sorry I can’t drive you two myself,” she said as she noticed him approaching from the corner of her eye.

He shook his head. “It’s okay, we understand. You’re the school nurse, so you’re needed here until the clubs are all finished for the day in case there’s an injury.”

Leaning against the wall between the desk and shoji, Haku eyed the counter behind Shizune curiously. She had set a single dosage package of capsulated painkillers there, along with a small cup of water.

“I heard he was here since lunch, is that true?”

Shizune nodded solemnly.

“Stomachache?”

A glint came into her dark eyes momentarily, and he almost swore he saw a smirk try to break onto her lips before she schooled it away. “You could say that,” was her evasive answer.

Haku frowned, knowing he was missing something. But at least Shizune didn’t seem worried, so there shouldn’t be anything seriously wrong. He tried to let the tension leave his shoulders, bending over to tidy his white, knee-high socks and straightening back up to smooth his charcoal grey pleated skirt and tuck back his hair.

Noticing the action, Shizune commented, “Don’t you usually put your hair up for gym class?”

Haku nodded. “I did have it up, but Gai-sensei was brutal today, and by the end of class my hair was almost completely free from the pins and I was so sweaty,” he wrinkled his nose in disgust. “Usually I can manage without a shower, since it’s the last class and I’ll just go home, but I’m not going there the total mess that I was. And by the time I’d finished my shower and rinsed everything out of my hair, I was too worried about meeting up with Naruto to bother with putting it back up.” He shrugged, done with his explanation.

“Better put it back up,” Naruto declared as he joined them fresh from the bathroom. “You know how crowded it gets on the bus. Wouldn’t want to get your precious hair yanked.” His tone was rather cutting.

Haku frowned, “You’re awfully testy today.”

Naruto shrugged, popping the pills Shizune handed him and gulping the water down. Crushing the small paper cup in his fist and tossing it away, the blonde retorted, “Actually, it’s more like the opposite. But then that’s the problem, isn’t it?” Not waiting for a reply, Naruto slung his backpack over his shoulder and walked out, muttering, “Later, Shizune-nee-chan.”

With a long-suffering sigh and a roll of the eyes, Shizune waved off Haku’s concern as she slid open the frosted glass window. “Love you, too, Naruto-kun! You didn’t forget the package I gave you, did you? There’s a new bottle of painkillers in there, too!”

“I know, it’s in my bag!” Was the harassed-sounding reply, before Naruto stomped from the waiting room and slammed the shoji closed, putting a stop to further shouted instructions or terms of endearment.

Shaking his head and chuckling softly, Haku said goodbye to Shizune with a wave of his hand and followed Naruto out the door.

Haku followed Naruto’s trail to the doors that led outside, finding his blonde friend grudgingly waiting for him there, leaning up against the brick of the outside of the building. Naruto barely acknowledged his presence before he took off and Haku followed close on his heels. Haku wore his black, low-cut Converse with white sole and trim, rather than the black loafers that were normally standard with the girls’ uniform, which made running for the bus easier. Konoha High was a huge campus, with lots of open ground between buildings, and the two boys had to run through the school grounds, past the gardens, and around the large stone fountain right in the center of the campus walkways, to the open, wrought iron gate of the archway that served as entrance and exit to the school.

Once they were away from school, they did not stop but ran faster still until they were finally to their bus stop, gasping a bit as they caught their breath. Pulling back the sleeve of his dark grey uniform jacket slightly, Naruto adjusted the orange Velcro strap wrapped around his wrist, until he could finally see the green face of “Gama-chan” looking back at him with huge, black googly eyes. Looking into the frog’s wide open mouth, Naruto saw the time staring back at him in green glowing digital numbers, and let out a faint sigh—whether in relief or despair, even he wasn’t quite sure.

They’d made it with two minutes to spare. Make that one minute—the minutes had just changed. It was 3:34.

They hadn’t spoken a word to each other since leaving Shizune’s office, having been too busy rushing to the bus stop to waste time or breath for talking. Now that they were stationary, though, and alone at the stop for once, Haku took the opportunity.

“So what’s up, Naru-chan? I heard from Uchiha you were in Shizune-san’s office since lunch. What happened, eat too much ramen for lunch?” Haku teased, hoping to get Naruto back into his usual lighthearted mood. A grumpy Naruto was not something he considered fun, no matter how much Haku loved his friend.

The ploy didn’t quite work, though, as Naruto crossed his arms, the frowning pout returning to his face. “Hmph, as if there’s such a thing as too much ramen. And don’t call me Naru-chan, it’s so girly!”

Haku’s eyes widened at the underlying accusation that he was calling Naruto girly. Haku often called his friend ‘Naru-chan’, ever since they were little, and the blonde may have griped about it in a playful tone, but Haku couldn’t remember him ever actually being upset by it. Something was up. Grabbing the blonde’s hand, Haku squeezed, getting his friend to look at him.

“I’m sorry, Naruto, I didn’t mean anything by it. Just tell me what’s wrong, okay? I hate to see you upset.”

Naruto took a big breath, then let it out, opening his mouth to speak. Before he could, though, the bus they were waiting for arrived, and instead of answering he pulled Haku onto the bus by the hand still holding his. He dragged Haku through the maze of pressing bodies until they were finally at the very back, gaining a semblance of privacy tucked in the last corner of the bus as they were, all the other passengers preferring to face the front or stare out the windows at the passing scenery, watching for their stop. The seats at the back were occupied, but it hardly counted as an audience. The college-age guy asleep with his headphones blasting; the homeless man on the opposite end, in the same condition minus the headphones; and between them, the old man reading a newspaper, the paper held up so as to completely cut himself off from the other passengers (whether by accident or by design, who could know?).

The bus lurched forward as it left the stop, causing Naruto to fall back since he hadn’t completely secured his footing, or grasped the strap hanging from the ceiling yet. Haku caught him easily though, and Naruto mumbled a thanks to his friend before straightening back up and grabbing the strap handle. The longer haired boy tucked his hair back, and again as the bus jostled for a stop a few minutes later.

Naruto noticed and commented. “You still need to put your hair back up, Haku.”

His cutting tone from before had all but disappeared. Haku was glad, and gave Naruto a small smile.

“I will, don’t worry. But first, we should change now. We’ll get there right at 3:55 with this bus, so we won’t have time to change once we get off the bus, like we usually do.”

Naruto gave a sharp nod and moved to open his oversized, orange backpack. From underneath a small, white plastic bag with a first aid symbol and a stack of books he pulled out what, at first glance, appeared to be a duplicate of his school uniform. Naruto handed the pants, shirt and jacket to Haku, who set them on top of his bag which he’d placed flat on the floor. Stepping out of his shoes and standing on top of them to keep his socks clean, Haku pulled the pants on underneath his skirt, leaning on Naruto for support. Once the pants were on and fastened—making it obvious they were not merely a duplicate of Naruto’s, but actually a larger size to fit Haku’s taller frame—Haku unfastened his skirt and slipped it off, handing it over to Naruto. The two boys were similar in waist size, Haku being just a bit broader but still quite slender, so Naruto was able to secure the skirt around his waist sufficiently before leaning against Haku as he quickly untied and yanked off his shoes and then pulled off his pants.

Next came the shirt, which Haku shirked all modesty for by simply pulling the sailor shirt off completely, sash and all, and handing it to Naruto before even worrying about putting on the boy’s version of Konoha High’s uniform shirt. As Haku did up his buttons, Naruto wrestled with how to get his shirt unbuttoned, removed, and replaced with the girl’s shirt without exposing himself to all of Konoha. After performing a feat of near-contortionism, Naruto managed by putting Haku’s larger sized girl’s shirt over his shirt, not putting his arms into the long sleeves of the sailor shirt yet, undoing his shirt buttons from inside the girl’s shirt, slipping his arms out the short sleeves of the white, buttondown shirt, and finally putting his arms through the sleeves of the sailor shirt. It got a bit precarious around the middle, with the bus making another stop just as Naruto basically straight-jacketed himself under the two shirts, and he was nearly knocked over by the addition of new passengers pushing Naruto and Haku even further back. Haku helped Naruto stay on his feet, though, and finally the task was accomplished.

Haku caught the discarded shirt as it fell and waved it like a victory flag as Naruto made sure his undershirt was tucked into his skirt, then smoothed the sailor shirt down and straightened the wide, grey collar. Haku grinned as he saw a smile trying to hide under the frown Naruto directed at him, then he put the “flag” back in the bag. He leaned on the smaller teen’s shoulder for balance as he tugged one shoe back on and then the other—the laces still tied loosely. Then he lent his support to Naruto as he did the same.

Like Haku, Naruto wore black Converse All-Stars, though his were the hightop version. He’d decorated them to fit his personal style, with most of the white parts colored in orange marker, part of the black piping outlined in red, and the occasional red swirl drawn on the white laces. Naruto squatted down to tie his laces, leaning against Haku a bit as he did so, the older teen’s hand on Naruto’s shoulder to brace him against the movement of the bus. Leaving a bit at the top undone so the tongue could hang out a bit and expose more of his white, crew-cut socks (no way was he going to trade for Haku’s socks—not only were they too big for him, but he hated knee-highs!), Naruto tied the laces in a bow, and accepted the offered hand from the brunette, using it to stand back up once he was done.

Then Naruto started rummaging in a smaller zippered pocket on the outside of his backpack.

“Got my tie in there?” Haku asked hopefully.

Naruto pulled the black and red diagonally striped tie from the pocket with an attempted flourish and handed it to Haku, wrinkling his nose at it.

“I don’t know how you can stand to wear that. Or this for that matter,” he groused, tugging at his skirt, feeling utterly exposed with the breeze between his knees and other more… delicate parts. Attempting optimism, Naruto silently decided he was at least glad the skirt came to his knees, as it was fitted for Haku, who was almost a head taller than him with longer legs.

Haku shrugged as he tied his tie on auto pilot. “The more detail to this image, the better. Wouldn’t want Yakushi-sensei reporting my “relapse” to Mist County, would we? Besides, that guy’s creepy. The more clothes between me and him, the better!”

Naruto snorted at that, completely understanding.

“And as for the skirt,” Haku continued. “Well… that’s just more comfortable. Less constricting and all that.” He waved one hand around in a vague manner before returning it to his tie and tightening it, adjusting his stiff collar over it.

Grinning as he watched Naruto attempt to “girlify” his hair with two pink and two red bobby pins he’d found in the aforementioned backpack pocket, Haku added, “Besides, how can I not show off legs like these?!”

Snorting again as he watched Haku perform an exaggerated pout at his now pants-clad legs, Naruto gave up his attempt at neatness and shoved the bobby pins into his hair haphazardly.

Haku put on his uniform jacket and pulled his mid-back-length hair out from under it, putting it into a simple, low ponytail with some of his shoulder-length forelocks left framing his face. Then he fixed Naruto’s pins so his fringe lay neatly against the sides of his face, held by one pink and one red pin crossed in an ‘X’ on each side. The rest of Naruto’s hair was still messy, and much of it hung down around his ears since the gel he usually used to style it into messy spikes had worn off while he slept in the nurse’s office earlier. It worked for him, though, so Haku left it alone.

Finally dressed, the two friends gave each other the once over, making sure they were presentable and hadn’t missed anything. Nodding at each other in approval, they picked their bags up from beside their feet and put them on, and they were ready to go.

And just in time, too. The next stop was theirs.

They left the bus through the back exit just before it made a turn in its route, and the two teens hurried along the sidewalk together, heading in the opposite direction from the bus.

“So?” Haku suddenly questioned as they speed walked down the crowded downtown sidewalk.

Naruto quirked a blonde brow at him. “So what?”

“Sooo, are you going to tell me what that was all about earlier, when you blew up at me in Shizune-san’s office? Or, better yet, why you were there to begin with?”

Naruto blinked. “When I blew up at you?”

Haku fought to not roll his eyes. “Yeah, remember? I called you ‘testy’ and you got cross with me and said it was the opposite. What was that supposed to mean?”

“Ohhh,” Naruto said in recognition. He’d almost forgotten about it for a bit. Waving his hand flippantly, he answered, “That was just something stupid, nevermind.”

“Ah, but I do mind. You were cross with me, so I get to know why.”

Naruto huffed out a sigh, unhappy but unable to deny Haku’s logic and rules of fair play.

“Fine, fine… okay, so you said I was being testy, and I said it was the opposite and that was the problem…” he trailed off, hoping Haku might understand this time without Naruto spelling it out. No such luck. Reluctantly, he continued with a huff, “You know… testy… as in testes… as in, I have none?”

Haku blinked, and blinked again. And once more, for good measure. Naruto blushed to his ears, scowling lightly.

“See? It was stupid. Just me being lame, can we forget about it now?” Gripping the straps of his backpack, the blonde stomped faster down the sidewalk. He tried to ignore the way this created a breeze that tried to lift the hem of his skirt, but failed as he suddenly hoped it didn’t lift high enough to reveal his underwear—short, red, boys’ boxer briefs.

Shaking his head in mild amusement at his friend, Haku matched Naruto’s faster pace easily.

“Alright, now tell me why you spent most of the day in the nurse’s office. Are you sick?”

“No, I’m not sick,” Naruto grumbled. “I’ve got my… thing,” he finished lamely, feeling embarrassed, which was a strange feeling to have around the best friend he’d practically grown up with. Especially when Haku looked like he still wasn’t getting it.

Frowning at both Haku and himself, Naruto boldly declared, “My period, okay?! I got my fuckin’ period! Bleeding, cramps, the whole nine yards! And to go with it: a neat, little package of sanitary products courtesy of Shizune-nee-chan! Now, if you don’t mind, let’s talk about something else!”

The crowd they were walking through paused and parted around them slightly at Naruto’s outburst, but neither boy paid them too much mind—Naruto being too distracted to notice and Haku being too happy that his friend was healthy to care what the people around them thought. He knew Naruto hated having his period, but the fact he had it this month was a good sign; Naruto was taking care of himself and his health was finally returning to normal. Before Haku could comment on how proud he was of the blonde, Naruto suddenly stopped in front of him. Looking up in front of them, Haku saw the large office building. The time for talking was over, they had arrived.

Haku opened the glass door and they walked inside. An elevator took them up to the 10th floor and they walked silently down a long, carpeted hallway. Two, chest-high, leafy fake plants marked the end of the hallway and the entrance to a waiting room. A stiff, foam-stuffed sofa, covered in dark, gaudily-flowered fabric, sat against a wall to their left. A generic, light-colored, assemble-it-yourself coffee table sat in front of it. At each end of the coffee table sat a stuffed chair, foam stuffing as stiff as that of the sofa, if not more so, and matching fabric too. The coffee table looked about to collapse, covered in worn and outdated magazines and the occasional discarded pamphlet on different aspects of mental health which had been plucked from one of the pamphlet sorters stuck to the walls; one above and to the side of each of the chairs. In the square areas formed between the chairs and each end of the couch, two more fake, leafy plants filled the empty space in the corners of the wall.

On the opposite side of the room sat a black metal desk with a small computer monitor, a phone, and an old fashioned rolodex. The chair behind the desk was currently unoccupied. A matching black filing cabinet, as tall as Naruto, sat in the corner behind the desk, and another fake plant sat against the wall on the opposite end of the desk. The wall directly across from the waiting room entrance had a similar open doorway of equal size, also with a hallway behind it, though this hallway ran horizontally, unlike the hallway now behind them which ran vertically.

As Haku and Naruto stepped into the waiting room, the formerly missing secretary came out from the hallway.

“Oh, Mr. Yukimura, Miss Uzumaki,” The foreign girl, Kin, greeted in English.

Naruto grit his teeth in indignation at the title. Why did she insist on greeting him like that, instead of in Japanese like the rest of the time she spoke? At least “-san” didn’t label you with a gender. He couldn’t complain, though, because that would only create more trouble for him and his new foster family.

“You’re running a bit late today,” Kin continued. “I’d almost given up on you. It’s nearly 4:00 already, you two are usually here long before now.”

“Missed the bus,” Haku answered simply, smiling benignly.

Kin nodded absently at his reply as she rounded her desk to sit in her swivel chair. “Well, Dr. Yakushi is ready for you, Mr. Yukimura, so you can go on back. I trust you know the way by now. Miss Uzumaki, if you’d like to take a seat, it’ll be just a few more minutes for you.”

The blonde teen sat on the chair facing the hallway, cradling his backpack on top of his feet and hooking his fingers into the loop at the top in an attempt to cover his skirt-exposed legs. Haku waved to him before disappearing around the corner, and Naruto grabbed the nearest magazine to leaf through while he waited. Though he wasn’t looking forward to the appointment with his psychiatrist, Naruto was glad he wouldn’t have to wait the usual twenty minutes since they’d missed their usual bus earlier.

After several excruciatingly long minutes, the intercom on Kin’s phone buzzed and she picked up the receiver to answer. When she hung up, she looked up at Naruto, who was watching her expectantly.

“You can go in now,” she said.

Naruto slung his backpack over his shoulder as he stood, nervously tugging at his skirt again as he turned into the hallway. His psychiatrist’s office was the very first one, and the door was already open, waiting for him. Naruto walked in and closed the door behind him.

TBC

*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*
A/N: So, more setup, I know, but things will pick up soon! I have lots of plans! Please let me know what you think so far!

Things to look forward to next chap: Peek into Naruto’s session, and find out his female name! And… other stuff! (You’ll just hafta see…)

Until then, I leave you with these words of wisdom:
“This house is like a notebook, and we are pens.” ~ CC1 (my 4-year-old, be awed by his sage-like prowess)

♥

~ LG