Year of the Fox

Disclaimer: No, they’re not mine. I’m poor and mooch off my parents for a living. The man with the money is Kishimoto-sensei. Sadly, he doesn’t let the boys engage in yaoiistic activities, so I’m doing it for him. ^-^

Other notes: Don’t worry. There will be SasuNaru. It’s good to be patient.
Actually, I’m not patient either… xD I’m itching to get down to business. But I guess I need to lay the outlines first. ^.^;;
Ah well, I hope you’ll enjoy the chapter anyway.
And sorry for the short delay. Mooching and beloved friends are to blame. ^__^

EDIT: Omg! I just realized that the whole chapter has been in BOLD ever since I uploaded it!! *feels like a total moron*
Edit 2: Aaand... half of it was in italics. *hides under a rock* x__x

Nigatsu

“Uzumaki!”
Naruto stirred, snapped his gaze up abruptly and let it meet with Mizuki’s scowl.
“Tell me you were not sleeping in my class.”
“I wasn’t.”
“Then please answer the question I asked you five minutes ago.”
“Err…” Naruto chewed his lip. “England?”
“Yes, Hong Kong became independent from it’s English reign, but in which year Uzumaki?”
“Uhm…”
“You were sleeping weren’t you?”
“Well, I sat up late working on the project for Iruka’s class. So I’m a bit tired today, sorry.”
“Boo-frickin’-hoo.” Mizuki snarled. “If you can’t juggle your schoolwork properly, then that’s your loss. But no one sleeps in my class Uzumaki. Remember that.”
“Yes.” he yawned.
Mizuki glared, but said nothing.
As he again faced the black board one could vaguely hear him mutter something about ungrateful runts and lousy paid jobs.

Later, when he walked down the hall, Shikamaru caught up to him. Nonchalantly he walked by his side. Naruto’s next class was A math, the simplest of the three courses they taught at the school. Shikamaru was in the hardest class of course, in the classroom across the hall.
As they parted he turned to Naruto, giving him a friendly smile. “Hey, I appreciate your hard work, but don’t wear yourself out, ok? There’s still four more weeks left. Don’t let your other grades suffer because of this assignment. If you screw up, I have a few aces up my sleeve that may save us.” he gave Naruto a light pat on the shoulder. “Don’t sweat it ok? No need to offer Mizuki you head on a silver plate.”
Naruto just stared at him, dumbfounded.
“Later.” Shikamaru went into his class.
Naruto was left in the hallway, frozen in his tracks. It was strange, he thought, that someone treated him nicely at school. He smiled, even when you didn’t feel flat out lonely, it felt good not to be alone.
“Out of the way freak.” someone grumbled as they brushed past him and went through the same door Shikamaru had just closed.
“Jerk.” Naruto scowled, hoping his glare would burn holes in the guy’s back.
Muttering, he retreated to his own classroom.

“Naruto,” Shikamaru nearly scared him half to death when he was suddenly standing behind him in the line at lunch hour.
“Woah! You scared me Shika!”
Shikamaru frowned. “Listen, come over to our table. There’s some things I wanna discuss with you.”
“Sure.” Naruto grinned.
No one ever invited him over to their table, not since elementary school, when they only did it to pour his milk all over his lunch. Still, he wasn’t worried. Shikamaru was a nice guy, and it was probably about the project. Even if someone over there were planning to make a laughing stock of him, he knew how to cope.

They made for the table. Shikamaru’s group (though he rarely said much to any of them as if even speaking was troublesome) were always seated at the third table from the counter, close to the window.
Ino, Chouji, Sakura, Hinata, Shino and Kiba were already seated.
Their eyes followed Naruto as he came over and sat with them, right across the table from Shika.
“What’s he doing here?” Ino asked.
“He’s having lunch with us obviously.”
“Why?”
“Because we have a project to discuss.” Shikamaru said calmly, separating his chopsticks. “Ah, here comes the missing link now.”

Sai stopped, sneering. “Well, lunching with people today Naruto? Aren’t you lucky?”
Naruto turned a deaf ear.
“I didn’t know you guys were into charity?” the raven continued, smirking.
“Fuck off Sai.” Kiba growled.
“Actually, he has to stay a little longer.”
They looked over at Shikamaru.
“How much have you finished?”
“I’m about halfway done…” Naruto said thoughtfully.
Sai didn’t say much. No one expected him to. He wasn’t much of a team-player, they all knew that.
“Okay, I’m just about done. But I was thinking, since we’re getting close to the deadline, we should get together and discuss which way to present it. And then we should rehearse it.”
“Ack… So much work.” Naruto frowned. “Isn’t this…you know, troublesome?”
“More than you know, so I just want to get it over with.”
“You suck.” Sai stated.
“Whatever. So I’m just making a suggestion here.. We should meet outside of school. Like at my house. My mother is troublesome but Naruto’s-”
“is non-existent?” Sai snickered at his own funniness.
Naruto’s blood was boiling. His mother was missing, and no one knew where she was. He didn’t miss her, nor did he know if he’d ever forgive her for walking out on him, but he wanted to wring Sai’s neck for having made that statement.
He wanted to grab him by the collar and shake him, make that smug smirk fade from his face.
But years of coping with these situations had gained him the ability to hold back and stay out of fights. Rarely did he allow himself to be affected to the point where he’d actually show aggression and fight back.
But damn, he wanted to break Sai’s nose right now!
He clenched his fists, stood up.
“What’s the matter?” Sai probed. “It’s not like we don’t know that you’re a poor orphan who lives with a bunch of brats and a psycho.”
“Gaara’s not a psycho.” Naruto glared at him.
“Oh, did I hit a sore spot?”
“Fuck you Sai.”
“That’s more than enough.” Shikamaru broke them off. “As long as we’re doing this thing together, we are going to get along. Remember why Iruka-sensei put the two of you in the same group. Tolerance.” he looked from one to the other. “At least try to show some.”
“Tch,” Sai scoffed.
“Well, it’s settled then? Naruto’s house is not convenient, and I’m not stepping inside of Sai’s nest. We’ll go to my place tomorrow and work.”
“Fine by me.” Naruto sat back down.
“Show if you want to. If you don’t, we’re fine by ourselves.” Shikamaru informed calmly as Sai walked away from their table.
“Whatever.”
“My God he’s an ass!” Kiba exclaimed.
The rest of the group quietly agreed.
“I’m sure he’s a very sad and lonely person underneath that slippery surface.” Naruto said sarcastically, lifting a spoonful of curry to his lips.
They didn’t answer.
He cocked an eyebrow.
When he thought about it, this group was never amongst the rudest. They mostly stayed neutral, saying nothing and thus neither adding to the harassment, or preventing it.
Ino and Sakura were the two only exceptions, but they were always speaking their mind to everyone anyway, so even if they snapped at him it was more of a ‘them’ thing rather than a ‘we hate Naruto’ thing.
He concentrated on his meal.
With his eyes no longer watching them, the other teens began to talk again.
“Man!” Kiba shouted. “I just wanna wring that Sai’s neck! Who does he think he is anyway?!”
“I think he’s got a superiority complex.”
“No shit?!”
“Leave it be, Sai is a bastard and we all know it. Even the other assholes stay away from him. He’s just….”
“An eyesore.”
“Isn’t that strange though? How everyone finds him an eyesore, and sure he deserves it, but there are other people in this school who are treated the same way, without ever having done anything.”
Eyes shifted to glance at Naruto.
He pretended not to notice.
“The mob decides.” Shikamaru shrugged.
“Do you think that’s right?” Sakura asked. “That perfectly normal people have to suffer when bastards like him walk around and think they own the world?”
“That makes no sense.”
“Shut up Ino. What I mean is that no matter if we treat Sai like the jerk he is, his attitude won’t change. But the others that are tormented without having done anything are broken down to pieces. If something is going to change around here, that’s where we should start.”
“I…I t-think that….” Hinata’s thin voice drowned in the buzz of voices.
“Iruka-sensei wants us to learn about societies. Well, I know enough about them to say that this school is one dysfunctional society!”
“Things are what we make them.” Shino mumbled behind the collar of his jacket.
Naruto eyed him carefully.
Honestly, the guy creeped him out. He was silent, swift like a shadow and appeared behind you when you least expected it. His eyes were always hidden behind the pair of black sunglasses, and he was always calm and collected.
The blonde found it strange that he was friends with the loud and hyper Kiba.
The two of them were polar opposites, but seemed to be close friends. Even if Kiba always was the one who did most of the talking, and stirred up life around them.

The group all went silent for a few seconds. Shino’s words had been directed to them as well.
They all probably knew what he meant.
Naruto did too. 
He felt uncomfortable now, sitting there with them. Because they were uncomfortable with the situation themselves. By accepting him to their table they had broken an unwritten rule.
All of them had such strong personalities. They were all very different from each other, but seemed to be a tight bunch. It was strange, how a group of strong people like these guys could crumble under the pressure of others.

Naruto still thought about it as he went into his next class.
He’d left the others at their table, mostly for their sake. So they wouldn’t have to spend too much time with him and risk to be picked on as well.
He endured it well, but he didn’t want to expose others to it, and besides, he didn’t want to intrude.
Things were changing though. He could sense it.
Neither of his fellow classmates that had been seated at that table had seemed hostile in any way. And Shikamaru spoke to him like they’d known each other for years already. Well…They had known each other for quite some time, but they’d never really talked. Nothing apart from trivial school business had been discussed between them until now.
He noticed that the day went by quicker when there was someone to talk to.
It even helped him push away the thoughts that were gnawing in the back of his mind.

Shika’s house wasn’t big. It was a regular-sized home, with a small yard and an old, rusty gate.
His mother greeted them in the hall.
“Welcome home.” She smiled, before cautiously eyeing Naruto.
She knew who he was of course, but at least had the common courtesy to pretend like it didn’t matter. Without comments or questions she disappeared into the kitchen.
“We’ll head upstairs and get to work. She’ll be up soon with food.”
Naruto grinned. “Great. What about Sai?”
“Did you expect him to show?”
“Not really.”
“Case closed then.” Shikamaru said, heading up the stairs.

In Shikamaru’s room, Naruto took a seat in an old chair. Shikamaru himself sat down on the chair in front of the computer.
“Alright, let me see what you’ve got.” he said.
Naruto pulled the folder containing his notes and print-outs out of his backpack and handed them to the brunette.
“Nice.” Shikamaru said. “Less work for me then, though it looks like I’ll be doing Sai’s part too. He’ll get away with only the illustrations.” he sighed. “Really, that guy is a pain in the ass.”
“Tell me about it.” Naruto frowned.
“You know, Naruto…” Shikamaru looked over at him, turning around on the chair. “I don’t think you’re a bad guy.”
“I know.”
“Yeah? I don’t mind you at all, but I don’t care much for interfering in other people’s affairs. And you seem to be doing well on your own.”
“Yeah. It’s not like I’m not used to people putting me down.” Naruto replied. “And if this is an apology you don’t have to worry about it. I know that you’re not one to just strike up a conversation. I’ve always thought of you as a reserved type of guy.”
Shikamaru smiled slightly. “Heh, yeah. I’m fine with things the way they are too, but it doesn’t hurt to get to know you better. I don’t think you deserve to be ignored and stepped on all the time anyway.”
Naruto flashed him a grin. “You know, I totally agree with that.” he laughed. “Well, let’s get to work, ok? I have to be back by five. It’s my turn to help with dinner, so I can’t be late.”

After his first visit to Shikamaru’s house, Naruto found that he actually had a friend at school now. And with that he was invited over to the table by the window every day.
Gradually the rest of the group opened too.
It was like they had completely forgotten that neither of them had spoken to Naruto much, if at all, through the time they had known him.
It had struck more than one of them how forgiving he was, and it made them feel guilty. They hadn’t bullied him or been straight out cruel, but they still were responsible for the loneliness they were sure he’d felt.
Still they didn’t know him well, but with more than one barrier already broken, it shouldn’t be too hard to cross more borders and find out who Uzumaki Naruto was.
The real Naruto.
They were ready to put aside all the things they had heard and all the opinions they had made earlier, and get to know him.

Naturally, this didn’t go unnoticed.
If possible, Naruto got even more attention now.
The negative kind of course.

If he walked down the hall he’d hear the usual whispers and notice how people pointed. Someone would call out; “Don’t think you’re anything special, freak!”
“Who do you think you are?!”
“You’re in the way. Move.”
“Don’t strut around like you own the place, Uzumaki…”
Such trivial comments meant nothing.
He overheard them, ignored them and walked on.
The difference from before was only that now and again someone would step up for him.
He’d hear someone shout; “Stop being so childish!” or “What did Naruto ever do to you?!”
Sakura and Ino were especially two who gave the worst jerks a piece of their mind.
And that, that caught their attention.
Whenever one, or both of the girls were around when someone started putting down Naruto they’d snap back. At first it seemed to startle whoever their yelling was directed at, but only for the first two days or so, then it started to piss people off.
The fact that Naruto had people who stood up for him, that dared to come out in the open and say that they actually liked him, it pissed them of to the point where there was no comparison.

The week after Naruto first became friendly with Shikamaru and his friends, all of hell broke loose at Konoha High.

Monday February 6th started out perfectly normal, with Naruto rushing to school, trying not to slip and fall as he dashed down the still ice-covered street.

Amazingly enough, thanks to a traffic-jam further up the street, he got to school in time.
He rushed through the doors five minutes before the bell rang, only to find himself wishing that he’d been late.
Around the corner by his locker someone was waiting for him.
Four of the guys who were the most notorious members of the ‘torture Uzumaki Naruto’ crusade.
“Well….Good morning, Uzumaki.” the first one sneered poisonously.
Naruto barely looked up, he plowed his way through the group, making for his locker.
“Get lost.” he muttered.
“Oh, I don’t think so.”
They blocked his path, crossing their arms over their chests.
The ‘leader’, to call him by that name, a guy Naruto recognized as one of his senpais, slammed him into the row of lockers.
“So…” he said. “You can’t deal with your own problems anymore? You have to have girls look after you now?”
“Huh?!” Someone echoed, another arm reaching out, slamming him harder into the lockers.
He grit his teeth and glared. “What the hell is your problem?!”
“You’re our problem!”
“Well I’m sorry, but this is a public school. Don’t think I want to be here. But if you hate me so much, why not just stay out of my face?”
“So you think you’re a wise guy, huh?”
“You piss me off Uzumaki!”
A balled-up fist hit him in the stomach.
Naruto bit down on his lip, but he endured it, he didn’t make a sound.
“Don’t think that we’ll treat you any better just cause you’ve got two hot girls on your side!”
Four scowls were directed at him, they moved in closer.
One hand touched his cheek, slid down to his chin and gripped it.
The others held him in place.
“Listen, never ever forget who you are and where you come from.” one of the four said in a low threatening voice.
Another punch hit him directly in the stomach. He groaned quietly, falling to the floor as they let go of him.
The leader spat on him.
“…’cos we sure as hell won’t, Uzumaki.”
They turned and left.
“Tch…” Naruto forced himself back onto his legs.
Something told him this wouldn’t be his only encounter with these guys.
He was right.

Tuesday morning they waited for him again. They searched him out when he was on his way to lunch; tripped him on his way into the canteen so he fell face first to the floor, knocking down a bowl of miso soup as he went. It wasn’t too hot, as expected from crappy cafeteria food, but it still stained his white shirt.
After that incident it dabbed off a little and they settled for commenting his shirt instead.
Stuff like “Hey, your mother needs to learn how to do laundry!” or “Food goes in the mouth moron!” followed him pretty much until he reached the gates to the orphanage.

Wednesday and Thursday passed in the same manner, with non-stop commenting, someone constantly pushing him or tripping him in the hallway. Anything Naruto said in class was overheard and thereby overruled by the rest of the class. Shikamaru’s group’s attempts to join in the discussion didn’t help much. They had broken the unspoken rule. They were socializing with the outcast. The price they paid for it was being treated the same way themselves.
Then again, freezing out the whole group didn’t do much good, or bad. It made no real difference, because they hadn’t been that friendly with the rest of the class anyway.
“That’s why we’ll keep standing up for you.” Ino said.
“I don’t need you to stand up for me.” Naruto grinned. “But, I wouldn’t mind getting a date with Sakura-chan?”
Sakura rolled her eyes.
“Come on!” Naruto’s grin widened. “I’m stepped on and ridiculed remember? I need someone to cheer me up and spoil me!”
“You’re hopeless.” the pink-haired girl laughed. “Come on girls, we’ve got to get back to the classroom, cleaning duty you know…”
“See you later guys!” Ino smiled and turned.
“S-see you t-tomorrow…” Hinata stuttered and followed the other two.
“You wanna grab a bite with us?” Chouji asked as the group of boys walked towards the exit.
“Nah,” Naruto replied, running his hand through tousles of blonde. “I have to get home and work on my math…And besides, it’d only be uncomfortable for you guys, right? So I’ll just see you tomorrow.”
Before any of the other boys had had the time to say anything back to him, Naruto had given them a wave and disappeared out the door.

The next day, Friday, Naruto barely made it over to his locker before he was jumped.
His assailants waited for the bell to ring and the hall to get empty before they took their prey into the bathroom.
“Take your time!” Naruto heard from the other side of the door.
“But don’t be too late! You don’t want to fail this class as well?”
He heard laughing.
Then the sound of the door being locked, from the outside.
Rather than getting pissed off, the blonde found himself wondering where they’d gotten a hold of the keys. When the hallway outside went completely silent he cursed under his breath though.
He glared out the window, confirming like so many times before, what he knew so all too well; he was on the third floor. There was no way he could jump from here.
Besides, this wasn’t the first time he’d been locked in here. And he knew from experience that he’d just have to stay put until someone unlocked the door.
That, could take hours. Most students would rather use a different bathroom than having to run all the way to the faculty office and have someone unlock the door for them. Maybe this was partly because most of the students at Konoha High knew who was locked in there, and for all they cared he could rot in there.
“Dammit!” he punched the wall, well-knowing that it wouldn’t be of any good at all.

His attention was immediately turned to the door once he heard someone fumble with keys outside. This was unusual; according to Naruto’s deduction no more than about forty minutes could have passed.
Normally he’d be stuck in here for at least a few hours.
Hr shrugged, waited for the door to be opened.
“You?” he exclaimed, standing up as he looked at Shino, the other’s face hidden behind sunglasses as always.
“Me.” Shino replied.
“How come you have the keys?” Naruto asked.
“I’m in the student council.”
The blonde accepted the answer, a little perplexed though, this was more than Shino had said all week.

“Naruto! Where were you?!”
“Relax Iruka-sensei, I’m here now.” Naruto replied.
Someone scowled at him from the back row, he flashed them a fox grin and slid down into his seat. “Please, just go on with your lecture.”
The teacher presented a worried frown, but turned to the notes on the blackboard again.
“How’s your assignment coming?” Iruka asked, not directing the question to anyone in particular.
A low murmur went through the class.
“I’ll take that as a good thing.”
Naruto glanced over at Shikamaru, who was looking over some stuff he’d printed.
Behind them, Sai was doing something as well, but it was very doubtful that it had anything to do with the project.
Naruto shrugged, at least his part was coming along nicely.
He only hoped they’d be evaluated individually so Sai didn’t run them all to the ground.
With Shika in the group, that wasn’t very likely, but the jerk still pissed him off.

“Don’t think that you’re all high and mighty just because you have friends now.”
Sai caught up to Naruto on his way across the school yard. School was out, and everyone was looking forward to a weekend with parties, movies, no school and no homework.
The raven however, almost seemed to dread the upcoming two days, because he wouldn’t be able to torment Naruto at all during that time.
“Fuck off Sai.” Naruto kept walking.
“There you go again, acting as if you’re actually worth something.”
There was no response.
Sai took a few quick steps, beginning to walk in front of the blonde, his back turned to the school gates, his eyes digging into Naruto’s. “You talk tough, but that’s all. You never stand up for yourself.”
“So?” Naruto shrugged.
“So? You have no problems with showing the world what a pussy you are?”
“I don’t waste my time on bastards like you.”
“That’s what you say, but isn’t the truth really that you’re too scared to fight?”
“I don’t fight because there is no point to it.”
“Because you’re so weak?”
“Because I won’t stoop down to your level. We’re not in grade school anymore, I’m just waiting for the rest of you to realize that. And you,” he glared. “Should focus on the project. Whether you like it or not we’re a team. If you wanna fight, we’ll do it once it’s handed in.”
“Ooh,” Sai gave a short laugh. “Is that a challenge Uzumaki?”
“It’s whatever you want it to be. Just do your part of the project and stop trying to split up the group.”
Sai kept walking in front of him, eyeing him challengingly. “I don’t believe you. I think you’re too chicken to fight. And we both know it.”
“You know, one wouldn’t think you’re in high school.” Naruto said dryly. “And for your information, I don’t like this any more than you do. And I want nothing more than to smash that ugly mug of yours. But I won’t. Yet.”
“You mean you won’t.” Sai replied. It seemed he was trying to fire him up. “You’ll either chicken out or send that psycho redhead after me.”
Naruto’s eyes grew dark. “Leave Gaara out of this.”
“Oh, he really is your sore spot, isn’t he?”
The blonde glared.
“Could it be that you…like him?”
“Just what are you trying to do asshole?”
Sai smirked. “It would be a bad move for you to turn gay right about now.”
Naruto frowned. “Someone ought to teach you the facts of life. And besides, even if I was, I wouldn’t be the only one in this school.”
“So? You’d still only make things worse for yourself.”
“Look how much I care!” Naruto pushed him out of the way, and continued to walk.
He didn’t care. Things were bad, true. Things could get worse, that was also true, but he really didn’t care. He was too used to these things to care.
Still, he was stressed. He had to get back home. He had things to do, the project among other things, and though he was used to - and good at putting his urge to crush the face of whoever was bothering him aside, he too had a limit. And Sai was dangerously close to stepping over it. Not because what he did was so much worse than what others had done to him, not because his words were spiteful and aiming to hurt, but simply because he was so persistent and annoying.

“Where do you think you’re going?!” Sai grabbed his arm, jerking him back.
Naruto turned, glared. “You know, you’re really starting to piss me off.”
“Then why don’t you do something about it?”
“You know what? If that’s what you want, fine!” Naruto dropped his bag to the ground.
He clenched his fist, swinging it at Sai, hitting the other boy’s cheek.
Sai winced, the surprising blow threw him off-balance. As he stumbled, his hand brushed Naruto’s arm, his nails leaving scratch marks.
He landed, in the fountain.
His hand went up to his cheek, touching the already reddening skin. “You’ll pay for that Uzumaki.” he snarled.
“I’ll be waiting.” the blonde turned once again, picked up his bag and went out into the street.
Sai didn’t follow.
Naruto knew that he was probably seething with rage. But the fact was, and everyone knew, that Sai wasn’t too much of a fighter. He was a coward.
Their little disagreement wouldn’t end with this. Naruto knew that much.
Most likely their next clash would involve more than just the two of them.

“Today too?” was the first thing Gaara said when Naruto stepped through the door.
Every day this week he’d watched Naruto come home showing clear signs that they’d been at his throat again.
“Did you expect anything else?” Naruto threw his bag on the bed.
The red shook his head. “No, but I didn’t expect you to actually fight someone.”
Naruto looked at the scratches on his arm.
“Oh that…” he said.
“What happened? You fought with a girl or something?”
“Nope, I punched Sai.”
“And he scratched you?!”
“Accidentally. He didn’t fight back.”
“I told you.” Gaara smirked. “He’s a wimp, and you should just dispose off him.”
“I’m not you.” Naruto smiled.
“Still. He deserves it.”
“He does. We’ll see. I wouldn’t mind doing it again.” the blonde laughed. “Now come, it’s our turn to help with dinner again.”
Gaara sighed, but followed him downstairs.

Moday, February 14th was a day Naruto had no particular feeling for.
Valentines Day. Girls were supposed to give chocolates to the guy they liked.
Then the guy would have to give one back on White’s Day.
Naruto’d never been on the receiving end, and he’d given up on giving when he was in grade school. He found it amusing though, to watch.
The popular guys, Neji from the class over him for example, received tons of chocolate each year, which meant they’d be broke after White’s Day, when they had to return the favor.
He amused himself with these thoughts, mostly to get through the day.
When he was younger he’d always get down on this day. Shizune would always bring chocolate for the kids at the orphanage, but it wasn’t the same.
When the girl you liked rejected you and everyone laughed, because you’d actually thought you’d have a chance…It was easy to start hating Valentines Day.
But Naruto didn’t.
He didn’t like it. But he didn’t hate it.
Sometimes it struck him that maybe he cared too little?

He’d braced himself.
The school would be full of love-struck people by lunchtime.
Somehow, someone would find this as a reason to get him. Like always.
He hadn’t been expecting what met him in the hallway though.
Sai was standing there, waiting for him.
His cheek was bruised; a purple shade right under his eye.
“Happy Valentines.” he snarled. “I have something for you.”
Naruto cocked an eyebrow.
“I wouldn’t be so cocky.” Sai smirked. “Today, you’re going down.”

The gang from last week, plus three more came around the corner.
“You’ve really put your foot in it now.” the ‘leader’ said
“I thought you didn’t want to fight? Well, clearly you’ve changed your mind…you want to fight Uzumaki? Bring it on!”
“Good luck.” Sai spat.

Everyone froze in their tracks, stopped on their way to the classrooms, to watch the fight.
The word spread like a wild fire, and kids rushed into the hall from all over school.
It wasn’t the first fight involving Uzumaki Naruto and several others, but it never ceased to amaze them how skilled of a fighter Naruto was.
It was so easy to think that the boy was broken and without any backbone at all.
But the way he delivered punches and kicks and still managed to block most of the blows, proved them wrong.
They watched in amazement, wondering why he struck back so seldom. With skills like this, he should just put an end to the bullying himself.
And yet he didn’t.
At times like these, there was more than one student who caught him or herself to subconsciously root for the blonde, even though they wanted him to be ripped apart.
And everyone used the same excuse; it was that his way of fighting was so fascinating. They wanted to see his next move. But did they like him?
Hell no!

Even with Naruto’s skills, seven guys was a bit too much.
Inevitably, though he knew he’d take them had they been one on one, or even going at him two at the time, Naruto had to give in.
A powerful blow struck him in the jaw, while strong hands slammed into a row of lockers.
The sound echoed in the corridor.
“Bet you regret what you did now punk!” the one holding him spat.
Naruto just glared at him. “It was one of the best moments of my life.” he said calmly.
“Why you-” a hand was raised to hit him again.
“ENOUGH!”
The sound of the principal’s voice caused the crowd that had assembled in the hallway to shrink. Tsunade was a very strong woman, in more than one way.
And she was intimidating.
The way she stood now, with her hands on her hips, eyes almost black, her thundering voice ordering them to stop…It scared them half to death. The fact that she didn’t breathe fire struck them as a wonder.
“Everyone, back to your classrooms. NOW!” she boomed. “And you!” her dark gaze rested on the group by the lockers, including Naruto. “My office.”

Naruto waited outside her office while Tsunade talked to Sai and the others.
He was bored out of his mind.
How long had they been in there now? Thirty minutes? Forty? An hour?
“Jeez…Get it over with Granny!” he muttered.
Now and again she’d shout something. He couldn’t make out the words, but he was betting that the crowd in her office was close to pissing themselves by now.
He snickered to himself.
Tsunade was scary.
Luckily she’d probably just bore him with her worries and speeches on how he had to let her know when someone bothered him. She didn’t accept bullying of any kind in her domain.
It sounded like they were wrapping it up in there now.
He heard chairs screeching against the floor, and low voices muttering something.
He looked at the door. Nothing happened.
Did she really intend to keep him waiting longer?! He sighed, letting his gaze wander over the corridor he sat in. There were four doors on each side, all of them offices. Further down he could spot the reception desk. It was located in a different room, again with offices on each side, but they weren’t visible from here.
He saw Kakashi, the teacher seemed to be coming out of the office on the left, heading for the one straight across from it.
Naruto blinked. Who was that following behind him?
He noticed him because of the jet black, spiky hair. He wore a school uniform. Who was that?
Something in Naruto’s gut told him he needed to know, or…that he already knew?

“Naruto, you can come in now.”
He’d been so busy staring he didn’t realize that Sai and the others had left and that Tsunade was waiting for him to come with her.
Forcing his gaze away from the desk he stood up and followed her inside.
“Who was that?”

Iruka was also in Tsunades office.
Naruto sighed as he sat down.
Goody, this meant more worries.
“Naruto, I want you to tell me what that was all about.” Tsunade said.
“What do you think?”
“Naruto! Answer properly!” Iruka hissed.
“You already talked to them!”
“They said you started it.”
Naruto scoffed. “Oh yeah.”
“Did you hit Sai?”
Naruto ran a hand through his hair. “Yeah. On Friday. I got fed up with him. It’s an act of revenge I guess?”
“Naruto, are they giving you a hard time again?”
“Iruka-sensei, they’re always trying to give me a hard time.”
“You have to tell us these things!”
“Why? It’s my problem, I’ll deal with it however I want!”
“Wrong!” Tsunade thundered. “This is my school! I need to know these things so I can prevent it! Don’t pretend like you’re fine with things the way they are!”
“What? They’re all still in grade school mentally, and I allow them to be. When I get sick of it, I open a can of whoop-a-”
“This is serious!”
He went quiet. “I have to defend myself, right?”
“In this case you had no choice. But there is no need to pick fights.”
“And there is no reason to pretend like they’re not bullying you.”
“I’m not pretending. I’m just not bothering.”
“Obviously you are.”

The following hour went on like that. Eventually Iruka brought up the topic of Shikamaru’s group and how nice it was that Naruto was finally friendly with someone.
He thought it was nice that they stood up for him.
Naruto on the other hand, told them how pointless that was.
They got nowhere.
They’d been over it before, over and over again.
Finally, Tsunade had to admit defeat. Naruto would never come running to her, or anyone else.
When he left the office she was left rubbing her temples, muttering under her breath.

Just as Naruto was about to head to class, he spotted something on the chair he’d been waiting in. It was a small box, tied with a ribbon, a card attached in one end.
Looking around he picked it up and read the card.
“Happy Valentines, Naruto.”
He read it over and over.
This was new.
It didn’t seem like a joke either.
But who’d give him…?
He didn’t recognize the handwriting.
Shrugging, he stuck it in the pocket of his jacket, smiling to himself.


Two days later, another unexpected thing happened.
It was during Kakashi’s class.
The teacher was late as always, and Naruto was struggling to keep awake.
He’d had trouble sleeping at night lately, especially after that day in Tsunades office.
He kept dreaming glints of the past, but he was never able to piece the puzzle together.
He’d see himself from years ago, outside, with the one he couldn’t remember.
He heard his voice, saw his face…But when he woke up, usually around twelve times every night, he didn’t remember anything but the eyes.

When the classroom door opened, he didn’t react.
Neither did he react to the mumbling around him.
He heard words, but they meant nothing. He was already on his way into dream land.
“Who’s that?”
“Handsome!”
“Do you know-?”
“He’s new….”
“Sorry I’m late.” Kakashi’s voice was a buzz in the background.
Naruto was snoozing.
There he was again! He saw him now… But still…His vision was blurry.
The boy said something, but Naruto only saw his lips moving. The upper half of his face was blurred out. “Who are you?” he asked.
There was no reply.
Someone poked him.
He opened his eyes, glaring over at Kiba.
Kiba smiled, and jerked his head towards the front of the room.
Naruto yawned.
“That dream again… Just who IS that kid?! What was his name again? U-something…S-whatever…Suchi? Sachi?”
“This is our new student, he’ll be joining us from today.”
Naruto looked lazily to the front of the classroom.
“S…S…Seigi?”
“Be nice to him, ok? His name is Uchi-”
“Uchi? S...S.."
Naruto’s eyes flew open.
“Sasuke!”

***TBC***
Please review people! It makes me happy in pants! ^___^
(I'm not sure I like this for a cliffhanger.... ^^;; *shot*)

Replies!

nothing but another fangirl: I'm glad you like it so much you want me to update every day!! *hugglomp* I'd love to do that myself, unfortunately I'd have to write so quickly it'd completely deprive me of sleep and steal my time. But I'll keep updating once a week unless something comes up.

Blue_genjutsu: I'm wondering that myself actually. ;p Just keep reading, and I'm sure the answers will come to you and me both!

Momoiro_Usagi: OMG DARLING! Your excitedness makes me so YOUTHFULLY happy!!!
I love the way they interact too! I felt like Naruto needed some stability somewhere, even if Gaara isn't particularily stable... But that part was easy, since they are so similar in the canon story as well, and since Naruto's smile can rub off on anyone.
YES YOU DO THAT! I have links for tons more! But I couldn't remember them at the time, but ask and thou shalt receive!!!

Rage: Thank you! ^___^ Well, here's your update, hope you liked it!

Hen: I know that with these AU's you can easily get stuck in a cliche, so I tried my best to at least make it a different cliche. Of course Naruto is sad, but he's realized that there is no point to it, so he just shaped up himself. Or somethign like that. Don't worry, they'll get what they deserve... I think, when I figure it out. As for now... I hope that Naruto put up some resistance to your liking! ^___^