The Challenge

Chapter Four: “Planting the Seeds of Doubt.”

It was just before the time that he told Naruto to be at the school when Sasuke stood outside watching his brother drive away. He had some time before Naruto would show up so he entered the building to use the bathroom. This early in the morning the building was empty save for the teachers and only a couple students who had morning clubs. He was washing his hands when someone entered the bathroom, someone he recognized but had no contact with on a regular basis. Instead of using the facilities the red head stood at the sink next to his.

“You’re here early Uchiha.” Gaara turned to him without turning on the sink.

“Yeah well,” he pulled out some paper towels and stepped away. “My brother has early classes.”

Sasuke tried to ignore the other boy not liking the dangerous aura around him. As he dried the water off his hands he couldn’t help but wonder why he suddenly started attracting the attention of the popular students. He always considered people like Naruto and Gaara to live in a different world than him. His school career until now had been spent being invisible while Naruto and Gaara stood out. To a point he understood Naruto’s interest in him with wanting to be tutored in his best subject but Gaara suddenly talking to him threw him for a loop.

Naruto was popular but was also nice making him approachable where Gaara had a bad boy feel to him. His cold attitude and snobbish ways made it seem like he was far away even if one was standing right next to him. Sasuke never thought of himself as the type of person who would spend time with someone who would put a tattoo on their face. He also thought that Gaara seemed really standoffish for having the kanji character for love on his forehead.

Gaara advanced on him making him back up against the door. His back and head hit with a dull thud making him wince and step forward into the red head. A hand as pale as his own darted out grabbing his wrist and Gaara pushed him against the door. They were pressed chest to chest and a thumb moved slowly over the inside of his wrist rubbing against the scar only his brother and him knew was there. Panic set in causing him to try and push Gaara away but he proved stronger. “Stop, get off me.”

“Don’t struggle I’m not going to hurt you.” The hand not holding his wrist settled on his side just above his hip. He stopped moving. “Whatever you think you’re to Naruto you are wrong.” Soft red hair brushed his cheek as the other boy moved his face into Sasuke’s neck.

“I’m nothing just a tutor.” He shuddered violently trying to move from Gaara’s face and hot breath.

“Don’t sell yourself short you’re way more than nothing. You’re going to become a lot more than just a tutor for him.” Warm dry lips moved over his neck and up to his earlobe then something wet flicked over it. It was oddly familiar of a time and place that blurred the edges of his nightmares. A gently tremble ran down his frame.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Naruto just needed a tutor. But it that was true then why didn’t he ask one of his friends? The blond was desperate to have him tutor him. He shook his head not wanting to believe that the only boy to be nice to him was using him for a dubious motive. Gaara laughed softly in his ear.

“You’ve gone to school with Naruto as long as I have so you should know how he is.” The red head pushed closer pressing his hips to Sasuke’s making him gasp. “Think hard and I’ll bet you’ll figure out what he wants. Don’t worry though you’re not the first and you will diffidently not be the last.” Before he could react Gaara pressed their mouths together and bit at his lips. He gasped at the sting giving Gaara the opportunity to shove his tongue inside his mouth. It was wet and strong lapping at his tongue and teeth. The hand holding his wrist let go and twisted in his hair yanking his head back.

With both his hands now free he slammed them into the other boy’s shoulders dislodging him. “Get away,” his panic filled voice echoed off the tiled walls as he twisted to the side. He could feel Gaara breathing behind him making his hands shake. Tears filled his eyes blurring his sight and causing him to fumble with the door. It slammed into his shoulder when he tried to pull it open but he squeezed through the opening he created and tore down the hallway. His backpack slammed against his lower back as he ran and his sneakers squeaked on the floor. The sound of his heart beating echoed through his head sounding a lot like footsteps following him. When he dared to peek over his shoulder to see if he was actually being followed there was a sound in front of him and he crashed into a solid but strangely warm and soft wall. He bounced off and hit the ground.

“Oh my God, Sasuke are you okay?” The blond helped him to his feet and dragged him to a warm chest. Even with his panicked mind he recognized Naruto’s voice and let himself be held. Strong arms wrapped around his shoulders holding his close. The only person he’d ever let hold him was his brother Itachi but he decided this was just as good. Burring his face in Naruto’s shirt he let the tears come.

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The smaller body in his arms trembled slightly and a tear drenched face dampened his uniform shirt. He peered over a bunch of messy black hair and spotted Gaara. The red head looked at him and smiled before walking away down the hall. He didn’t know how but Gaara had to be responsible for Sasuke’s current condition. “Shh it is okay.” He petted the back of his head softly whispering reassurances.

Slowly the crying came to a stop and Sasuke started to pull away. Sorry.” He whipped at his eyes with his palm and sniffled. “I got your shirt all wet.”

“Oh don’t worry about that.” Naruto pulled his jacket shut over his wet shirt. “Are you okay?”

“I’m okay, Gaara scarred me is all.” Sasuke adjusted his clothes and back pack giving Naruto a chance to inspect the other boy. He was still visibly shaken fidgeting with the adjustment straps on his backpack. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what Gaara had done to the boy in front of him. One of his sleeves was pulled up slightly showing off a pale bruise and his lips were red and puffy. The next time he saw that little fuck he was going to rearrange his face.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” He reached out to touch his arm only to have him pull away. ‘I don’t like being touched.’ It had slipped his mind since just a moment ago he was holding Sasuke. “Sorry, why don’t we go to the cafeteria and get you something to drink.

Sasuke dropped his hands and smiled up at him. “Yeah,” the raven haired boy walked at his side but a half a step behind him. Sasuke carefully stayed a slight distance away from him making sure to keep them from touching. The cafeteria was quiet as they entered; just a few students eating breakfast.

“So you want a soda or something?” He motioned towards the vending machine.

“Um no, milk please, here.” Sasuke started digging in his pocket probably looking for money.

Naruto stopped him. “Don’t worry about it. It’ll be my treat for tutoring me.” Heading towards the breakfast line he dug out his wallet and opened it. With a sigh he removed his last dollar to buy a small carton of white milk. He made a mental note to ask Jiraiya for a raise in his allowance when he got home. Over at their table Sasuke had removed his coat and was rummaging through his book bag. Most likely he was looking for his science homework to compare it to his own. He quickly grabbed the milk and charmed his way in front of a cute underclassman to pay for it before heading back to the table. “Here you go.” He set it down sliding it over to Sasuke and plopped down in a chair. Sasuke grabbed the small carton and frowned making Naruto frown too. “What’s wrong, did you want chocolate?”

“No it’s not that it’s just that…” He waved his hand in front of his face as if batting an idea away. Never mind, it’s not important.” Sasuke tore the carton open in the right place but didn’t drink any.

Naruto scowled, “Really tell me what’s wrong.”

“Oh it’s nothing.”

“Come on, tell me or I’ll be bothered.” Naruto whined pulling at Sasuke’s sweater sleeve.

“It’s just that I need a straw.” Sasuke talked down at his hands his bangs hiding his eyes and Naruto swore he could see a cute blush spreading over his cheeks and nose. “I can get it; I mean you don’t have to if you don’t want to.”

Naruto stood before he was finished speaking. “No don’t worry about it, I got it.” Out of his bag he pulled a slightly wrinkled piece of paper and dropped it on the table. “Here’s my assignment. You can look at it while I get your straw.”

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Sasuke watched the blond walk away. He took a deep breath then another trying to get Gaara and what he said out of his head. Instead he straightened out the piece of paper and tried to read the scribble hand writing. To his surprise Naruto had answered all three questions and all the parts to each. From what he could read Naruto knew the basics of what he read or was really good at faking the answers from the text. The biggest problems were the multiple spelling errors and grammar stretches. He pulled out a pen and circled the misspelled words and added the proper punctuation then crossed out the stuff that was just babble to make the answers look longer. He had to laugh at the answers and the way Naruto phrased everything. So Naruto wasn’t completely stupid just trying to muddle through a boring subject.

“Here you go.” A white paper wrapped straw dropped on to the table and Naruto dropped into his chair. “So what’s the damage?” His finger tapped his paper.

“Oh it’s not so bad.” He unwrapped the straw and put it in his milk. Taking a drink he watched Naruto read over the piece of paper and frown.

“Not so bad you crossed out or circled almost everything. I’m so going to fail this class.” Naruto groaned and ran a hand through his hair tugging at the blond strands.

“No really I mean it, here look.” He pulled a clean sheet of paper out of his bag and a pen then slid it over to Naruto. “Start rewriting, I put the corrections on there.” Naruto bent his head and went to work while he dug out his text book and flipped to the correct page. “Reread this paragraph and reread question two and your answer.” The blond did as he was told surprising Sasuke. Until now he had his doubts about this tutoring business but watching Naruto bent over the paper and book he was rethinking those doubts. A small pink tongue poked out of the side of his mouth in a cute gesture as he concentrated on his handwriting. Using his hand he kept his place in the book as he read the specified paragraph. When he flipped back to the question his face got a look of clarity to it before his pen flew across the page.

“You’re right this wasn’t so bad.” He tossed the paper towards Sasuke who read it over.

“Well it seems you do have a brain under all that blond hair.” This time there was only a couple spelling errors and one run on sentence. “Iruka’s going to think you copied someone else’s paper.”

“No, I told him I was getting a tutor and to expect better assignments.” Naruto read the assignment one more time before tucking it safely in his text book to be turned in later. The blond looked at him then down at his own hands.

Sasuke sipped the milk through his straw slowly watching Naruto fidget uncomfortable. He tapped his fingers on the table then twisted his pen and looked at his watch. “Do you want a cigarette?” It wasn’t his place to do what he did the other day. If Naruto wanted to ruin his health by smoking then that was his problem but he was a fan of the school’s baseball team and Naruto was their star hitter.

“No it’s not that it’s just that my friends should be here soon.”

Of course Naruto just wanted a tutor and now that he was done he would want to go back to his real friends. He needed to put his coat and bag in his locker and change is shoes anyway. “Okay well I’ll see you later.” Gathering his stuff he left the cafeteria heading for his locker and didn’t think about the weird look on Naruto’s face. He had to be careful because Naruto wasn’t his friend and it wouldn’t be good for him to get too close. Besides he had other things to take care of. Beginning today after school Hinata and him would be doing the hardest part of the experiment. Making the maze and obstacles wasn’t too difficult but they needed visual aids and had to write an essay about the experiment. On top of all that he and Hinata were both straight-A students and Hinata had other hobbies.

At his locker he took off his coat but left his sweatshirt on. The school had a good heating system but he was still shaken from what happened with Gaara earlier. Naruto helped take his mind off of him but he just wasn’t ready to remove his armor yet so to speak. His first class was close to his locker so he didn’t have far to go. It was something Itachi saw to; making sure his locker was in the center of all his classes so he could visit it before and after his different classes. Itachi made a big deal about it after watching something on the news about heavy backpacks giving students back problems.

With his book and notebook in hand he walked to his classroom. It would be empty and he hated being the first one in class because he had to deal with everyone walking past him. At the door he peeked inside the window to see if Iruka-sensei was in class. He was but he wasn’t alone. Sasuke leaned to the side to keep himself from being seen from inside the room. Gentle science teacher Iruka was fending off Kakashi’s grabby hands. He watched for a couple moments to see Iruka try to go over his lesson plan but Kakashi was rubbing his neck and shoulders and kissing his neck successfully distracting him. The happy content look on Iruka’s face made him turn away blushing. His stomach fluttered a bit and his cheeks felt warm.

Two men together didn’t bother him love was love in his book they seemed like a strange combination. He didn’t have gym class but he had heard about Kakashi from other students and had seen him couch the baseball team. This of course brought his mind back to Naruto who was on the baseball team. He didn’t want to be outside the room when Kakashi came out so he went back to his locker even thought there was nothing in there he needed. Slowly students started entering the hallway to go to their classes. He kind of hid behind his locker door as Kakashi exited the science room and walked the other direction.

Abandoning his locker he went to class. He was still first in class but Iruka-sensei was writing an assignment on the board. Putting his stuff on his table attracted Iruka’s attention. “Oh Sasuke you're just who I wanted to talk to.” He sat down at his table and Iruka stood in front of him. “I just wanted to tell you that Naruto can be pushy sometimes. If tutoring him gets to be too much I can talk to him, just let me know okay.”

Sasuke simply nodded. He didn’t know Iruka-sensei and Naruto were so close. It bothered him a little to have him offer him the protection. He got enough of that from Itachi. “Naruto’s loud and obnoxious but I’m sure I can handle him. Besides don’t you want to see his grades get better?”

“Yes I would but I don’t want your grades to suffer.” Iruka smiled and stepped forward lifting his had as if he was going to reach out to him. He must have flinched or Iruka changed his mind because he stepped back to the whiteboard.

“Don’t worry they won’t.” Other students started entering the class room. Sasuke wondered for a moment what Iruka was going to do before he thought better of it. Those thoughts ended when Hinata entered and took her seat next to him.

“So are still coming over to my house after school?” Hinata was all smiles as usual.

“Yes, Itachi said that your parents would bring me home with you. Afterwards Itachi will pick me up.” He smiled at the thought of actually going to someone else’s house after school. It seemed sad but Hinata was his only friend even if it was just in this class and now afterschool working on their exhibit. Mostly he thought of their friendship as chance. They were the smartest students in school, candidates for valedictorian, and just happened to sit next to each other. After the science fair, winter break, and the seat change at the new semester he didn’t think they would spend any time together. He would make sure to make the most of their time together.

XX***XX

Naruto slept his way through his first class next to Shikamaru unnoticed by Asuma-sensei. It always irritated him how Shikamaru could sleep through most classes and still pass without a problem. His next couple classes were more difficult to sleep through giving him no choice but to pay attention and maybe even take some notes. Time always seemed to take forever since he hated school so much but today was worse. At lunch he was going to track down Gaara and have a word with him.

Thinking about his plan to confront Gaara brought his mind back to Sasuke. The tear stains on his shirt had long since dried but the memory of his scent remained. He could almost still feel the small trembling body clutching him so tightly. No wonder he always wore those oversized coats and sweaters, his body was so cold. He could feel the chill of his face through his t-shirt. The shorter boy had smelled like coconuts probably from his shampoo. Normally something like that he would consider being girly but Sasuke had smelled so good. He couldn’t wait to get close to him again.

But first he would deal with the red haired little bastard. Lucky for him he knew where Gaara’s locker was and it wasn’t far from his classroom. His seat was by the door. Usually he sat in the back but this was his class before lunch. He already had his things put away when the bell rang. Before getting the assignment for the next day he was out the door and heading for Gaara’s locker.

It didn’t take long to get to it and Gaara was waiting for him. The other boy was leaning against his locker with his arms crossed over his chest. “I’ve been waiting for you.”

“Have you now?” Naruto walked straight up to him and slammed one hand against the locker by Gaara’s head. “What did you so to Sasuke this morning?”

“I don’t know, what do you think I did to him?” The calm smirk on his face and the way he answered his question with a question of his own pissed him off. His bigger presence did nothing to threaten Gaara. He just continued to watch with mild amusement. “Why are you so angry? I did you a favor.”

“How was scaring him a favor to me?” He ground his teeth and grabbed Gaara’s shoulders slamming him into the row of lockers.

“Yeah I scared him alright right into your arms.” A scary gin marred his features making Naruto wince. “Now you get to play the big hero who saved him from the big bad bully. Wasn’t that nice of me, maybe you should thank me.”

Shocked Naruto dropped his hands and stepped back. “Don’t touch him again.”

“No worries, I’ve already gotten from him what I want.”

Naruto started to turn away but was curious about one last thing. “Why are you doing this?”

“Because like you I’m bored; maybe after you’re done with this you and I can play.” Gaara pushed away from the wall and walked away.

He couldn’t help but feel that there was more to it then Gaara was admitting to. When he ran into him Sasuke was more than just scared he was terrified. Gaara wasn’t a nice guy but surely wasn’t so cruel as to actually hurt another person seriously. They didn’t know each other well enough to be doing favors so whatever happened had to be part of some game Gaara was playing. He didn’t know Sasuke well enough to ask him about it and he had seemed pretty embarrassed.

Before it was over he made it to the lunch room to at least get something to eat. He wanted to talk to Sasuke but he was sitting with Hinata and he had promised Neji. Instead he ate with Shikamaru and Kiba. Kiba grilled him about his progress so far. He admitted to making a start but didn’t go into details before skillfully changing the subject.

In his science class he shocked the hell out of Iruka by turning in a readable assignment that was almost perfect. “You didn’t just copy his, did you?” Iruka asked skeptically.

Naruto rolled his eyes. “Of course not I maybe lazy and stupid but I’m not a cheater.” It kind of hurt his feelings that Iruka would ever think such and thing.

“You’re not stupid but you are lazy.” Iruka turned away laughing to start the class.

The rest of the day went rather quickly much to Naruto’s happiness. He didn’t bother visiting his locker before heading to the back of the building to see Sasuke. At first he just thought he was earlier than usual but soon all the buses were gone and there was still no sign of Sasuke. While waiting he patted his pockets looking for a cigarette only to remember Sasuke destroying them.

Soon members of the faculty started exiting the building and heading towards their cars. Sasuke must have left early or something so he pulled out his keys and went to his own car. He really wanted to ask Sasuke about what happened that morning with Gaara. Now he would have to wait until the next day. On his way home his phone rang. “Hey Neji, what’s going on?” The caller ID told him exactly who was calling.

“Want to know something?” Neji’s bored voice came through his phone.

“I always want to know things.”

“Sasuke’s at my place right now.” With that his so called friend hung up.

No wonder Sasuke didn’t show up he probably went home with Hinata. That means he would be brought home by her parents or Itachi would be picking him up at the Hyuuga house. Not today but soon he would need to pay Neji a visit.

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Notes:

Originally I had Gaara going after Sasuke and competing with Naruto as to who wins him over first. In a last minute change I thought it would be more interesting if Gaara went after Naruto who is going after Sasuke. He is also just being a bully to Sasuke.

I wrote the scene with Sasuke asking for the straw because I wanted to have him behaving a little bit childishly. Itachi’s being over protective has left him slightly stunted so he doesn’t act like a normal fifteen year old.

In the last chapter and in this one Neji is acting kind of weird. His thoughts and actions will not be fully realized until chapter 10 or so.

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On the subject of High School:
I picked the high school setting because it fit with my plot line more than a college setting. Because I am in my early twenties I have to rack my brain to remember what high school was like. I am also female so I have to take artistic licenses with the lives of boys in high school. Because the story centers on adolescence it contains drama that seems childish.

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