Rain

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.


Rain
By 11


Chapter 03

“Haruno and Hyuuga, Yamanaka and Nara, Hyuuga and Inuzuka, Sharingan and Uzumaki, Aburame and Lee.” The names were called off of the list. The evil, evil, list that was biased against one particular person who would have been grouped with the same person anyway, the only difference would be just how close their names were.

Why everything had to be alphabetical had caused Sasu some serious contemplation of the validity of changing her last name as a girl to some other starting letter. It wouldn’t work anyway but then maybe Sasuke wouldn’t have to work with the blonde on every freaking project that came their way.

But this was just a sports event, so maybe it wouldn’t be as bad…

“Sasu,” the boy’s rough voice broke through the dark-haired ‘girl’s thoughts as she looked over at him with some distaste. He wasn’t really a pain to work with per say, but ever since the stairs incident Sasuke couldn’t help feeling some lesser feelings for the blonde. He wasn’t sure what bothered him more, that the guy barely acknowledged him or that he just existed at all. “They gave us lane 3, shouldn’t we start? The other teams are.”

How this whole class ended up co-ed again was still a mystery other than these were simple competitions and nothing too terribly big, but still. “Isn’t this… odd for boys and girls to be training for events together?” Sasu asked still regarding the blonde.

“Maybe, but that’s beside the point, we can run now or later though, your choice.” Naruto shrugged, well he wasn’t too miffed about the co-ed track teams… not that anything phased the guy. “He said the meet was in a week, so it might be a good idea to train later anyway,” he added as an afterthought to what he just said.

As things turned out the class was going to be over in a few minutes anyway as he had said before the instructor named the partners for the teams. “Do we have to do it now, after school?” Sasu asked, “I have a job to go to for the first few hours in afternoons, right now.”

“No, not now. How about we meet back here in a few hours, I have an afternoon job too, so I’ll see you then,” Naruto nodded, they confirmed the hour before heading in with the group to change from gym clothes and headed out to their jobs. Sasu didn’t see Naruto leaving, but then he wasn’t looking for the guy either. He’d better be there after school, Sasuke would not be looking to practicing alone at the school; he could practice alone at the park across from his apartment complex.

The studio was hurrying for the preparation of the shoot, Neji directing everyone, giving Naru a fifteen second lecture just before for yesterday’s no show before they began actually shooting. Sasu, Ino, and Sakura saw to it that Naru was ready in the designated outfits at the specified time from shoot to shoot so everything had a flow to it. Sasuke had somewhat gotten over the idea of helping a girl into complicated outfits… somewhat.

It was impossible to stop his hands from shaking whenever he had to work at a particular area that gave a view of either a taboo area or just showed too much milky skin in general, it was difficult to ignore the warmth radiating off of her in any case. It was a relief when it was again over and cameras were cleared and Sasu along with Ino and Sakura helped tidy up the studio before everyone headed out.

“Sasu! How are you!” Naru said into Sasu’s ear, the blonde’s arms wrapping around the dark-haired girl’s front and pulling the other ‘girl’ tightly against her mostly flat chest.

“Fine.” Sasu answered quickly removing herself from the blonde girl’s embrace. Naru chuckled a little at the dark-eyed girl’s blatant uneasiness.

“Well that’s good.” The model grinned, “Oh by the way, do you guys want to all go out tonight and do something?” Naru asked addressing all three of her errand girls. “We could go to the mall, a movie, maybe a concert? There should be one coming up, does anyone like the LNin’s?”

“Yeah!” Ino cried instantly, both her and Sakura’s faces lighting up, “LNin is so awesome! I have every CD they ever made!”

Sasu didn’t say anything at first, he really did like the LNin’s they were one of the most recent rock bands, in Sasuke’s opinion they were pretty good. He had only managed to get the first two CD’s when they came out, other more recent songs he’d heard every now on the radio, but that was it. To go to their concert would have been wonderful… unfortunately…

“I’m sorry, I’ll have to pass this time,” Sasu stated, drawing the other girl’s attention.

“Why?” Naru asked apparently having been sure the other girl would say yes.

“I have practice for the track meet after school today,” Sasu answered, “I like the LNin’s though… maybe another time.”

“I’m sorry to hear that…” Naru frowned. Then hugging him again from the side, “that’s okay we’ll wait until a day when we can all go together!”

Ino and Sakura couldn’t help laughing along with Naru when Sasu flinched away from the hug and then went about detaching herself from the glomping girl. Apparently even Sakura and Ino thought this was normal though…

So girls normally were supposed to jump all over each other?

As Sasu headed out from the studio he quickly decided that he had no clue, and girls were weird anyway, he would never understand them so he wasn’t going to bother trying.

It didn’t take too terribly long in Sasuke’s opinion to get back to the school and run around the back, though by the time he got there he wondered if just running over there qualified as the required exercise. Naruto was already there, rinsing his hair out in the outside sinks. It didn’t take long for him to notice ‘her’ and turn off the sink. A simple movement of his neck sent his hair back over from his face to his back, vivid blue eyes now focused on ‘Sasu’. “Ready?”

Sasuke had no idea why the other boy was rinsing his hair, but it had quickly left his mind when the two of them lined up on the track and on the blonde’s count took off. Naruto was fast, but Sasuke did not let himself fall behind, he was still a boy, and he wasn’t going to let this guy beat him. Stopping after one circle, Naruto took out a stopwatch and let Sasu go alone, taking her time. Sasuke made it around in 17.350 seconds, not bad.

Naruto’s time was 17.348, only a .002 second difference. With a scowl, Sasu demanded another run. This time he just made 17.349. He scowled, but he needed a quick respite, that would normally be provided when Naruto took another run. He did. Sasu’s time eventually started to wind down, but the blonde had such stamina, through the entire exercises he didn’t seem to have even broken a sweat.

“Should we take a break,” he offered, noting Sasu’s tiring body.

“We’ve only been out here 20 minutes. You giving up already?” he challenged, his female’s voice slipping down to his more husky normal tones, but because of the running Naruto didn’t seem to notice. He only shrugged and set up at the ruts again. Sasu times him once more, they were consistent between 17 and 15 seconds each time.

It had been 45 minutes, and again Sasuke found himself glaring at the blonde, he had finally started to breathe a little harder but it was getting frustrated, did this guy work out constantly? “It’s been a while, we should probably clean up now.”

Sasuke smirked, “You go ahead, I’ll take another run,” he said heading back to the track, timing himself when he started out of the rut, Naruto watched as he completed the circuit, the grin at the end was an obvious challenge. The blonde set back into the rut, completing another circuit. Sasuke set into the next rut, he and Naruto started out at Sasuke’s count.

The blonde still had plenty of energy left, and Sasuke was starting to fall behind, it was becoming straining on his muscles to keep up. When the next circuit was complete, Sasuke still refused to let the challenge, go, at another run though he barely made it in with Naruto. The next run, Sasuke was really falling behind, and he almost collapsed down on the pavement when his lungs decided to shut down on him.

“Sasu!” Naruto’s arm caught the dark-haired ‘girl’, pulling her back up to a mostly standing position, using his body as a support for hers. Sasuke would have pushed him away, but he had no energy, after a moment his lungs started breathing again.

Running for almost a straight hour could take a huge toll on one’s body, and yet Naruto had seemed so much better off. But held here against the other’s body, Sasuke could hear the other’s rapid heartbeat, and feel the unbearably warm body heat, perspiration coating the top layer of skin the same way it did his. Perhaps if Sasuke worked out more, and lost this skiny wiry frame he’d had over the year’s he could begin to compare to the other boy’s stamina and speed.

“You’re shaking,” he stated, and Sasuke glanced down at his arms, hanging limply against him where Naruto held his sides. His arms where slightly quivering and he willed them to still, but they wouldn’t his sweat had turned cold.

Sasuke let his eyes close briefly, if he just waited for a little bit some of his strength would return, then he could get away. But he didn’t mind the warmth, Naruto’s breathing lifting his chest slightly every now and then, strong arms supporting him, but he’d prefer to be laying down, with this same warmth, but laying down, and then maybe those hands would move to warm the rest of his cooling body.

Sasuke’s eyes snapped open realizing what he was actually thinking about. “I’m fine,” Sasuke said pushing away from the blond, having to catch himself on his feet, before he staggered away towards the girl’s washroom.

Turning on the warm shower he rinsed his body, ruffling his hair with some shampoo, and soap in a few necessary places. Letting the heated water surround him, he felt like leaning into it, and if, if he did it would catch him and hold him, if briefly. Reaching up for the handle he switched it to cold, hissing at the sharp temperature change before stepping out and toweling off.

Resting for a moment against the locker, he realized how scary it was that he didn’t mind being held by that guy… it was just the warmth. It could have been anyone. He nodded to himself, that was all it was after all. That was all it was. That was all.

Unfortunately his regular clothes he hadn’t changed out of for the practice, which left the gym clothes with short mostly tight shorts, and a white shirt, which if wet or sweated into enough would be see through. It was that or his school clothes with the too short to possibly be healthy skirt and sailor shirt.

No, if he wore the uniform he’d get hit on all the way home, that also might happen in the gym clothes… but at least they were comfy. Sasuke didn’t plan on getting any more sweaty or wet, the spandex might not be such a good idea but they were dark colored and it was more likely that no one would notice than that someone would.

Stepping out of the girl’s locker room, it looked like Naruto was already done, and he was still there. Sasuke froze when he realized that the boy’s eyes were locked on his lower body… oh no… the one time he thought it was safe to wear spandex as a ‘girl’. “You haven’t changed the bandage on your leg. Have you?”

Sasuke let his breath out, he hadn’t realized he’d been holding it. The blonde looked back up at him, the dark-eyed boy was relieved that Naruto hadn’t seen anything suspicious; that would not have been good at all. “No. Why?”

“You need to change it every now and then otherwise it gets dirty and then it could get infected,” the blonde explained. “You should do that before you leave for the day.”

“The nurse’s office is closed by now anyway, I’ll change it tomorrow.” Sasuke said, brushing the matter aside.

“But then there’s a chance of it getting infected,” Naruto reminded him. “It won’t take you too long to just go by and have the nurse change it, a few minutes really.”

With that reminded the blonde picked up his stuff and headed into the school, Sasuke frowned but followed him; where was he going. “And what are you doing going back into the school?”

“I have to go pick up some stuff from my locker,” Naruto replied, then looking back at Sasuke over his shoulder; “and you’re going to the nurse’s office to get your bandages changed.” His words left no room for complaint or objection, so he turned back ahead and kept walking, slowly Sasuke stopped walking, glaring after the blond before he disappeared at the stairwell.

He had no reason to do what that guy told him to, none at all. He snorted and turned heading down the hallway. He had no reason to do what Naruto said, so why did he find himself in front of the nurse’s office?

“Hello?” he called out into the room, before entering. There was no reply, looking around the small area, he quickly found that with most of the other faculty, the nurse wasn’t around. Great, that was fine really; it would be better if he applied it himself.

The gauze was on the top shelf, easily reachable by climbing halfway onto the counter, however actually tying it on right, was a bit more difficult than he’d thought. First he tried and it was so loose it fell to his calf when he stood up again, and the second time he tied it tight enough that it made a dente into his thigh to the point of extreme irritation.

If it were not for the fact that Sasuke never lost his cool ever, or became frustrated over something, he might have thrown the worthless bandages across the room, cursing loudly like a certain hotheaded model who had everyone do everything for her. If Naru were here, she’d probably be laughing at Sasu’s inability to bandage her own leg.

“Need some help?” the soft baritone caused the dark-haired boy to jump startled before he turned to face the blonde. He had probably managed to get the stuff from his locker and stopped by to make sure Sasu was okay.

“No, I’m fine,” Sasuke answered managing to sound feminine, and yet still irritated. Turning his attention back to his leg, he figured that the other boy would just leave and leave him to his own devices, but of course the stupid guy couldn’t seem to leave him alone!

“Hey!” Sasu started, when Naruto took the strips of cloth away from ‘her’ and set about unwrapping what Sasu had managed to accomplish.

“It’s difficult to bandage yourself,” the blonde reasoned simply removing the bandage completely to reveal the dark cut where the lead had stained the skin around the rim where the skin was starting to heal over. “It is easier to do to another person.”

“It’s good that the skin’s already starting to heal over,” Naruto noted as he went back to the cabinet for a moment, taking out a small thin bottle, and squeezing a bit of the clear viscous substance onto his fingers. Dark eyes watched in some puzzlement, so that was a kind of disinfectant?

Sasuke’s body jerked when the blonde’s hand went to his thigh, and the fingers touched along the skin carrying the disinfecting oil. A dull burn started behind the dark-haired boy’s cheeks, trying not to allow dark eyes to focus too much on the spot that the other boy’s fingers were massaging. However, by not concentrating on it, the touch felt too much like some kind of odd massage on a single part of his body – that wasn’t right either.

“It shouldn’t sting. Right?” He asked, blue eyes flickered towards Sasuke’s briefly for the question’s sake. The raven-haired youth felt his face burn further and not trusting his voice grunted an affirmative. After another moment or so, Naruto’s hand withdrew; and the thigh seemed to throb slightly with the absense of the warm touch. Sasuke inwardly winced at that, it was unnecessary.

The thing is, weren’t most guys, like those guys Sasuke met the first day, supposed to be flustered or a little shier around girls? It was a bit irritating really, the dark-eyed boy thought to himself, even as Naruto put a clean bandage over the would, just to make sure for no infection.

It was annoying; that Naruto didn’t even seem affected by this one way or another. It was bad enough that Sasuke knew they were both guys, but Naruto acted like he was maybe a bike that he was oiling, or putting air in the tires; not a human, not important. Not important, that was it; and feeling unimportant was an infuriating feeling.

Didn’t the blonde feel? Shouldn’t he be able to feel something? Would he still have been so nonchalant were the positions reversed, and it was Sasuke’s hand rubbing oil into a puncture on Naruto’s leg, and responsible for bandaging it?

“Yes?” Naruto asked, glancing back at the dark-haired girl who had been glaring at his back ever since he started bandaging her leg. Dark eyes only glared deeper, but eventually blue eyes flickered away and he headed for the door. He didn’t care at all. Of course it didn’t affect him. Stupid Naruto.

“Do you want me to walk you home?” he asked once they were both out in the hall. A single fine black eyebrow arched at the blonde.

“What?” Sasuke asked, just a bit surprised.

“It was a suggestion, since it’s pretty dark out now.” The blonde shrugged as they exited the school doors for the final time that day.

Sasuke frowned at the idea. It wasn’t like he couldn’t handle himself. Of course he was a ‘girl’ right now, so considering the hour it might be more troublesome than usual. “Do what you want.” Sasu answered, still a bit huffy since the nurse’s office.

Walking along the roadside, Sasuke noted that Naruto continued walking with him; great so he was going to escort him home. Well, whatever. Pausing at a red light to wait for traffic to clear enough to cross, dark eyes drifted to the vendor at the corner, a couple of magazines on display; one in particular caught Sasuke’s gaze.

It was Naru, in a white and golden orange summer dress that waved around her in a field of sunflowers, an innocent smile gracing her features. Innocent, maybe if Sasuke didn’t recognize it as the kind of smile she made when she intended to play hooky or was on the run from fans and hid in a bathroom stall by standing on the toilet.

Come to think of it… Naru, Naruto. Both had similar names, and they had blonde hair and blue eyes. “Hey Naruto, you know Naru kitsune?” Sasuke asked for the sake of the moment. Blue eyes turned to the magazine in quizzical askance. “You’re names are kind of alike after all.” The dark-eyed boy pointed out.

“Don’t know her,” The blonde answered simply, without having to think about it. “Though personally I find her kind rather disgusting.”

“Her kind? You mean models?” Sasuke asked confused. “How’s that?”

“Models hurt themselves constantly to stay skinny, to stay able to fit into the designer clothes and show off their bodies.” Naruto shrugged. “Most are anorexic, or have other eating disorders. It’s stupid because it tells everyone else to be just like them. Skinny, with flawless hair and skin; it’s not right, cause human’s have flaws. And we’re all human. Stupid; making a person like a doll, plastic and unrealistic.”

Sasu frowned at that. Naru Kitsune was not like that; she was anything but fake as far as Sasuke could tell from working with her so far. Abusing her body? She was a heck of a lot more alive and healthy than he could say about some girls.

The light changed and the pair crossed the street. Sasuke let the subject drop; he wasn’t going to tell the blonde all that, not after he so vehemently dissed the model. But it really didn’t matter; right.

“Sorry if I offended you with anything I said about models.” Naruto mentioned after a period of silence that was only interrupted by the cars driving in the street beside the sidewalk. Sasuke shook his head.

“No, you’re entitled to your opinion.” Sasuke told him plainly. Wow, so Naruto had walked him all the way home to his apartment complex. “Okay, see you tomorrow.”

“Yeah, tomorrow,” Naruto waved, briefly as they parted and the blonde kept walking, towards wherever his home may be.

Sasuke hurried on up to his apartment, to see to his homework for the next day, thankfully there wasn’t too much to deal with, although it kept him busy for another hour or so pouring over papers and books. Such boring subjects also allowed time for the mind to wander over other subjects as well; some not academic in nature.

Naruto, is still so strange. Sasuke didn’t understand him at all, and he didn’t seem to think of anything or anyone as important for some reason or another. Then suddenly he gets concerned and walked Sasu home, but even that seemed more for some reason other than just be nice, and I don’t want this person to think badly of me.

It was also still a puzzle as to this Kiyotaka guy; the one whose arm Naruto supposedly broke and was driven away from Tokyo. And what was with his strong dislike of models? He could be filled with feeling, detestation, and then suddenly nonchalant and unable to be fazed by anything at all.

There was no way the guy was on drugs, or else he wouldn’t have been able to maintain such a great athletic skill as he demonstrated on the track. So then what was it? All that guy was, nothing but questions; and why it was even important to him in that he wanted to know at all.

He could feel it; these puzzles were going to drive him entirely insane.

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