Rumor Has It

Rumor Has It

Warnings- Anal,AU,HJ,Lang,Oral,Preg,SoloM,Yaoi

New AN- This is the last chapter to be re-uploaded before a brand new chapter comes out. Believe it or not, I have not forgotten about it. My sister won't let me.

Old AN- It's been a while, hasn’t it? I was separated from my computer for an entire week when I went home for Thanksgiving break. It was good to be home, but a plot twist hit me and I wanted to get back and write it for you. It's certainly going to make things more complicated to write. Kiba finally has and idea and Gaara get a pov. Yea.

I just want to say thank you to everyone who's reading my little old fic. I'm glad you’re all enjoying it. I think I'm plenty funny, but its nice that other people agree with me. And there's gonna be lemons, I swear. It just that I'm more used to writing plot than I am sex, so the bedroom action is slow in coming. But it's coming (No pun intended. Who am I kidding? Yes there was) soon/soonish.

This chapter is in snapshot of the week format. You'll see what I mean.


Nailpolish


Wednesday:

Naruto


Hatake-sensei handed us our papers back first thing the next morning. I was shocked by the neat little F in the upper right hand corner of the paper. I mean, I knew I was bad at English, but not that bad. What was even more perplexing was the comment scrawled at the bottom of the page.

"Did not complete assignment."

What the fuck did that mean? He didn't tell us to specifically write anything, so how could I possibly fail? How? It's not like I left the paper blank or anything.

The faces around me were just as bewildered as I knew mine was, some border-lining angry. If Hatake-sensei noticed the discontent in the room, he pointedly ignored it. His teaching assistant, who's name remained unknown, kept shooting dirty looks at him and apologetic ones to the students looking for an explanation.

"Okay," he said finally as he sat on his desk. "I know you're all wondering why I failed almost all of you on this assignment. So let's start at the beginning. You, with the red hair."

Sakura's head snapped up. "Sir?"

"Name."

"Sakura Haruno." Prim and proper. Sakura prided herself in being the smartest girl in our grade. She had an ego complex.

"Miss Haruno. What did I write on your paper? I already know what I wrote on your paper, but for the benefit of the rest of the class, please."

"You wrote 'did not complete the assignment.'"

"And?"

She frowned, obviously not pleased with the idea of reading it aloud. "It says 'simpering and superficial.'"

"Okay. You with the blonde hair in the center row." There was no answer. Someone was shy. Wonder who? "Blonde hair, center row," Hatake-senei repeated.

Sasuke poked me in the shoulder. "That's you, dumbass," he whispered.

Right. Me. I'm blonde. I fidgeted in my seat, crinkling the paper in my hands as the spot where Sasuke had touched me tingled. Everybody was staring me impatiently, some failing to hide sniggers behind their hands. "Uh, Naruto Uzumaki. Did not complete assignment."

"Excellent. And that, everyone, is why you failed."

"But sir," Ino objected without raising her hand. "You didn't tell us what to write."

"Yes, I did Miss Yamanaka. I'm the teacher. It would be irresponsible of me not to detail the assignment as thoroughly as I could."

"You told us to write anything," Tenten said.

"No, I believe I told you to write something. If I had told you to write anything, you still would have failed."

I wasn't getting it. Something, anything, what was the difference between them? He said write something and I wrote something. He didn't say what kind of something. To make matters worse, he seemed amused by our confusion. I didn't think there was anything funny about using his position of power to amuse himself. I rose my hand.

"Yes Mister Uzumaki."

"Sir, could you explain the assignment better? I don't understand why I failed. None of us do."

"I can see that. Fine. Sasuke Uchiha, would you kindly share with your peers what you wrote on your paper?"

Ha, now he was going to pick on Sasuke too. That made up for his nasty little trick on Sunday. "I wrote something, sir."

"Spell it please."

The entire class turned to look at him, me included. Without looking at the paper, he started spelling out his assignment. "S-o-m-e-t-h-i-n-g," he spelled out slowly. The end. That's all he wrote.

What? The class murmured huffily, a chorus of teenage anger and discontent. He really wrote one word?

Hatake-sensei smiled victoriously, obviously enjoying the confusion he'd created in the classroom. "Excellent. Now, can anyone tell me why Sasuke is the only one of you who got an A?"

"He got an A?" I screeched before I could stop myself. "He only wrote one word!"

Infuriatingly, he ignored my outburst. "Sasuke was the only one of you able to look past the obvious to find the answer. I literally meant, write the word something." He picked up a book and held it up for us to see. "You're going to read at least eight books this year, and you will not be able to write intelligent papers for them if you don't look past the surface. Read between the lines, guys. Assumptions are not enough to get you through this class."

He really wanted us to write the word something? That was devious. I never would, and obviously didn't, guess. It was actually simple when I really thought about it. He told us exactly what he wanted us to write, but we all assumed that he needed something long-winded to impress him. And Sasuke had gotten it right from the start. Not only was he drop-dead sexy, but he was super-smart too. What a bastard. He was probably smiling smugly too, though I couldn't turn around and check for myself. Why did he get it all when I get nothing?


Gaara

The scent of Chanel gave away Temari's presence without even having to look in her direction, the same scent she'd been wearing since the night of her eighth grade formal she attended with Tyler Vangrad, looking like and believing she was a daydream preteen princess. She’s never stopped. The inane tapping of her manicured and lacquered fingernails against her diamond crusted gold bracelet gave away her irritation without having to look at the press of her lips. Alone in my room after classes, I'd been expecting one of my roommates to make an appearance, not my moody sister.

I examined the nail polish on my left hand as I waited for her to spit out whatever it was she'd come to complain about. I was obligated to listen to her troubles; blood is thick, runs through the veins like molasses. I wasn't not exceptionally close to either of my siblings, but family duty was family duty whether I liked it or not. Temari would do the same for me if I cared to divulge the secrets of my private life, secrets which would probably make her keel over and die. Then Kankuro would be upset with me, my parents would be angry, I'd be banished from the family and suffer an eternity of shame in the afterlife, yada yada yada. It was easier just to nod and pretend I gave a damn, even though we both knew that I didn't.

"He's hiding from me again," she said finally. "He" was always Itachi, the ever elusive object of Temari's affections. "Every time I spot him he somehow disappears. Makes me wonder if I was hallucinating to begin with."

Itachi was like creature of the night, blending into the shadows at the slightest sign of social confrontation. He always gave me the impression of a ghost, something lingering on this earth waiting to pass into the next life. "I wouldn't be surprised," I said as I inspected the chip in the polish on my thumb. I was going to have to repaint that one.

"I just don't understand. I'm a catch, aren't I?" The tapping of her nails grew more frantic. "I'm pretty, I'm smart, I have the money. We've known each other since birth. What is wrong with him?"

I unfolded myself from my position in the corner of my bed, setting aside the notebook I'd been scribbling away in. When I'm bored, I write. Not stories. Thoughts, observations, but not stories. I don't believe in writing endings. Shooting her a half-hearted reprimand, I picked up a bottle of mauve nail polish and waved it at her in admonition. The polish sloshed around in the tiny glass bottle. "I've known Sasuke since birth. I can't stand him."

"Did you just compare me to Sasuke?" she asked testily. "King of brats Sasuke?"

I thought about Sasuke's pale pretty features and dark lines, the trim circle of his waist, and the undercurrent of steely determination that stopped him from being too much of a woman. Temari, Sasuke's polar opposite in looks with tanned skin and blue-grey eyes, had that same strength in her. She was indestructible, like the glacier that sunk the Titanic. But more than that, there was something else that they shared. They were both bitches. I knew that Sasuke was a bitch, and Itachi knew that Temari was a bitch. We didn't care to know more than that because we both feared that there really was nothing deeper than that. Superficiality is comforting.

I shrugged as I opened the bottle of nail polish, the overpowering stench of nitrocellulose invading my nostrils and mixing with the strong scent of Chanel from my sister, strong and cold as an iceberg. They were deadly smells. Deadly, artificial smells. Temari sighed. She was different around me and Kankuro. She tapped, fidgeted, sighed, and rolled her eyes, signs that she was not the emotionless, omniscient being that she wanted to be. Temari tried the hardest out of the three of us to shut it out, to pretend that mom's pill popping didn't bother her in the slightest. Some of us are born with the strength to endure it all. Some of us had to paint our faces with flecks of metal to hide the pain. Temari was in pain. Temari would pop pills one day, just like mom. That's why I didn't write stories. I would never like the ending. "I don't make it a habit to know Sasuke well enough to make comparisons like that.” Whatever I knew about him is an accident.

"You know him more than I do."

"I don't know him," I said, smooth as the purple-pink color gliding over my thumbnail. "And you don't know Itachi."

Temari stopped her tapping abruptly, eyes boring holes into my body. "I'm trying to know him, Gaara. He keeps running away."

"You don't want to know him. You want to get into his pants. And he knows that." You're about as transparent as glass when it comes to getting what you want, all lies and shadow, so that you always know you're being stalked.

"I want to marry the guy if he would let me get within ten feet of him. I've been trying to ask him to the winter formal."

"Isn't that almost four months away?"

"The sooner the better. Oh, and on top of the lifelong Itachi aggravation, I have to find a good way to embarrass the hell out of your skanky little friend."

I took it she meant Kiba. None of my other friends were quite as disgusting as Kiba, mannerisms, eating habits, personal hygiene or lack thereof, and general gutter mouthed perversion. "You'd better make it good. He's supposedly formulating a counterattack."

"Like he could," she scoffed haughtily. Kiba was renowned for his lack of brains, among other things. Like getting his freak on with the Headmistress Tsunade.

"I said 'supposedly.'"

"What do you know, little brother?"

"Nothing yet," I replied as I blew on the polish. "And I don't come cheap."

Temari smirked like a fox, assured of her undeniable link to every wrong move Kiba made. Like I said, blood is thicker than water, thick like molasses it runs through the veins as a disease called obligation. Nothing personal Kiba, but family is family. We protect our own. For a price. Pays the chemo bills.


Thursday:


Sasuke

"Third day of classes and there's already a quiz scheduled for tomorrow," Kiba grumbled. "Our bio teacher is a psychopath."

"It's just the biological kingdoms," Naruto said. "How hard can it be?"

"You can't even pronounce phylum correctly," Shikamaru muttered.

"Yeah, well p-h shouldn't make an f sound. What crazy bastard thought of that?"

"The Latins."

"Damn Latins."

They were being too loud for the library. The three of them were grouped around a table surrounded by open notebooks studying for Namiashi's bio quiz. Other than that, they were generally being idiots. The Latins? They obviously weren't paying attention in world history last year.

Shikamaru was the exception to the group. He, like I, had probably already memorized all of the kingdoms, phylums, and classes sometime yesterday. I have a nearly photographic memory, so anything requiring memorization was a breeze for me. The difference was, I would actually take the quiz tomorrow. Sloth would just take a nap.

"Why are you even studying Kiba? You never study."

"Cause my mom'll be pissed if my grades are as shitty as they were last year. She threatened to castrate me and put me in public school if I get anything less than a C."

"But you hate it here."

"Yeah, but Lord Byron has one of the best football programs in the UK. If I want to go pro, I need to be here. Besides, I can't leave you guys behind."

After three days of observing Naruto in action, I'd discovered more about his friends than I ever wanted to know. The guy was almost never without at least one friend. So far I'd learned that Shikamaru really does smoke pot sometimes, Gaara paints his toenails, and Kiba once ate lint from between his toes. Today, sitting in my hiding place behind a row of books, I'd learned that Naruto didn't know that Latin was the language was spoken by the ancient Roman Empire.

My quarry was not that bright.

I'd also discovered that the three of them possessed a very strong sense of comradery, a kind of "us against the world" outlook that kept them aloft. Unlike most people at Lord Byron, they were actually friends, not people who knew each other through their parents. Backstabbing is prominent amongst the rich. I'd do it to a "friend" in a heartbeat. Quite frankly, my outlook on life is "me against the world." I don't belong to an "us." Their genuine friendship was an alien concept to me, one I didn't find plausible.

"What will we ever do without you, Kiba?" Shikamaru said sarcastically. I smirked. I liked Shikamaru just fine. Our attitudes in life were almost the same. I said fuck the world and Shikamaru told it to go fuck itself. If he wasn't friends with these idiots, I could potentially consider him a viable friend.

"Hey, you'd never do anything if not for me and Naruto. Without us, you'd just hole up in your room all night and sleep."

"I fail to see the problem in that."

"Life is about more than how much shuteye you get, Shika." Shika? How sickeningly adorable. Nicknames were too cute for my tastes. "Speaking of which, you gonna hang with us in our room tomorrow night? Gaara's got some very expensive liquor with your name all over it."

"I'll pass."

"I'm in," Naruto exclaimed. "That stuff is so strong that I'm drunk after two glasses."

I tucked away that useful tidbit of information for future reference. A low alcohol tolerance had serious mind-fucking potential. Other kinds of fucking, too.

"Easier to get drunk when you're rich," Kiba said appreciatively.

"Amen, dude."

"You guys aren't actually studying, you know," Shikamaru pointed out. "And if you don't need my help then I'm leaving."

"We're good, Shika. Naruto's got flash cards." A shuffling sound signaled that Kiba now held aforementioned flash cards aloft. "We got this."

"Uh huh. Hey Naruto, what kind of animal is in the phylum annelida?"

There was a moment of silence as Naruto pondered the question. Worms I prodded internally. Come on dumb ass, you can do this. I can't screw your brains out if you don’t have any to begin with.

"Mammals?" said Naruto.

Wrong answer, you freaking idiot. I'm in your bio class. We just went over this today. In eighth period. One hour ago. Ironically using flash cards as a review method. I was beginning to wonder if it was possible to play with his mind at all. He didn't seem to have much of a mind. The Latins, remember?

"You're right. I see you've got this under control. I'll be in my room. Sleeping," he emphasized. "You two have fun." With that, he abandoned them to their own, less-than-capable-of coherent-thought devices.

Kiba sighed heavily as soon as Shikamaru was out of earshot. "I can't even get the guy to hang with us in a group."

"We already knew he was anti-social," Naruto reminded him. "It's like pulling teeth. Hey, how do you pronounce this?" Something else Latin.

"I dunno," he said distractedly, sighing again. "You think he'd want to hang out with his friends though." He sounded more disappointed than he should have in my opinion. Something clicked in my mind as I remembered the night we first arrived, when Kiba sat too close to Shikamaru on the bed. At the time it could have just been Kiba behavior, but now I wasn't so quick to write off the possibility that he was gay.

Kiba really ought to be more careful. There were always listening ears in Lord Byron.

A sudden presence nearby caught me off guard. Familiar, but creepy all the same. Had to be Itachi. No one else's aura gives me the shivers quite like Itachi. Don't get me wrong. I loved my brother and we get along just fine, but sometimes I wished he knew how to conduct a normal conversation, or actually announce his arrival without sneaking around like he had something to hide. His social skills were nil.

"What are you doing here?" I asked without looking at him.

He sat down next to me, sighing lightly. "Temari." Itachi had the amazing ability to speak volumes in one word. And yes, that word was more than enough to send any sane man running for the hills. Temari has been after my brother for years, hounding him for dates to dances and the like all in hopes of one day marrying into the Uchiha family. Both sets of our parents would be ecstatic to hear of such a grand joining of prestigious families. They'd throw a big soiree to celebrate.

Itachi didn't like parties, and he certainly didn't like Temari. I did my job as a brother by warning him every time I saw her approaching. I didn't want Temari in the family because that would make Gaara my brother-in-law and I didn't want Goth Boy as my brother-in-law. I didn't want him near me period.

"You?" he said with the faintest hint of interest. I'm one of the special people in his life that he rewards with reciprocation. At this point in any other conversation, he would stay silent and wait for the next question which he might or might not answer. So you see, he cares about me in his strange, Itachi way.

"Spying on my new quarry." I moved a few books aside to create a peep hole. "Care to join me?"

He scooted a little closer until he could see through the hole without straining his neck. "Which one?"

Whoa, two words. He must be feeling comfortable. By the end of his stay, I would have him speaking in full sentences. "The blonde with the enormous blue eyes and goofy grin."

Itachi scrutinized my intended prey, although not in a way that made his calculation obvious. He maintained the same look at all times, flat, hard, and disinterested. A defense and prevention mechanism that started when dad held him for the first time and told him that it was his job to carry on the Uchiha name. That's why he doesn't smile often. "Not exactly your type, Sasuke."

"What's my type?"

"Tall, dark, and Italian."

I chuckled lowly. It was true, I didn't usually go for blondes. There was something about Naruto that attracted me to him nonetheless. He oozed sexual naivety and that was a turn on. "He's a virgin."

The light in Itachi's eyes flared, and I knew I was in for trouble. "When exactly did you lose your virginity?"

Oh damn. Now he knew too much. Itachi was my brother and I was one of the few people he liked, but that didn't mean he was always nice to me. He now had some information that could get me in trouble with mom and dad if I pissed him off too badly. It didn't happen much, because I knew his boundaries, but it had happened and I ended up grounded for two months. In the summer, the only free time I had. He would alter the gender of my conquest to save my ass from excommunication, but still. "Over the summer," I replied since I was already caught. No harm in it now.

"With a tall, dark Italian?"

"Eh, not so tall."

"Hmmm. Is he the kid who was singing on the balcony last year?"

"That was him?" I remembered that day clearly. He was singing and dancing to a Justin Timberlake song on the landing of the grand stair case. Singing badly. Kiba was there too, now that I thought about it. It made me laugh. I mean, who does that in a school like this? Naruto either had very high self-esteem or he was more stupid than I originally thought.

"I think so. Quite the attention seeker."

"Yeah, he is isn't he?" I smiled ferally. Low alcohol tolerance, scattered brained, and an attention whore. I could work with that.

"Should I have said anything?"

"Probably not. But thanks," I said as got to my feet. Sometimes its nice to have a brother who remembers things even better than I do. "I have a plan to formulate."

"And people say I'm evil," Itachi said as I departed. If I turned around, there would probably be a small quirk of entertainment in the crease of his eyes. I amuse him to no end.


Friday


Shikamaru

"I failed the fucking quiz," Kiba angsted as we left the bio lab. "I guessed half of the answers, Shika. Half. That's ten questions."

I had nothing to say to him. I knew he wouldn't study once I left. He got distracted if no one is there to help him focus.

"This year is off to a bad start. I'm failing."

"It's one quiz in one class."

"It's a sign." We wove our way through the crowd together, trying not to bump into too many people. Their glares are fierce. If I could, I’d give everyone the finger. "And I studied, too."

Hah, yeah right. "You didn't study," I said matter of factually. "You and Naruto played hangman and talked about your nonexistent love lives."

"You make us sound like a bunch of chicks. And it was tic-tac-toe."

"I call 'em like I see 'em. Naruto's got a thing for the world's biggest male bitch and you've got a thing for every man that walks. And you talk about it. A lot. Personally, I don't want to hear one more word about how hot Sasuke’s ass is."

He grabbed my arm and swung me against the locker a little too roughly, banging my head against the metal. As the back of my head throbbed unmercifully I contemplated what I would give to slam my boots down on his ankle and tear some skin off. I also contemplated dashing back to my room to sneak a shot of vodka and a cigarette. Then I could light it up and burn a hole in his skin. "Could you not talk about my sexuality in the middle of the hall?" he hissed under his breath. "Temari and her vultures are trying to bring me down and you keep spouting off your big mouth."

Yup, right in the shin. "First of all," I said cooly, whispering to appease him. "Its too early in the morning for you to go all manic on me so get off of me before I kick your ass. And secondly, you can proclaim your sexuality from here to Mount Fiji and it wouldn't make a difference. It doesn't matter if they know you're gay, Kiba. They're not going to spread a rumor if they know it's true."

His grip on me went slack, but he didn't let go. Honestly, what now? Dealing with him was going to drive me to the brink of my sanity one day.

"You're right," he said as if the meaning of the world had just dawned on him. "They won't spread a rumor that's true."

"Yeah, I know." I'd been trying to tell him that for a year now but Kiba's about as dense as a concrete wall. You can crack it but you'll break a few bones in the process. "You can let go now."

He let go, but the grin on his face spelled out trouble. "Hey, Shika? I think I have an idea. I know how to beat the bitches."

Kiba had an idea and that is never good. Last time Kiba had an idea, grape jelly ended up all over my wall and carpet. And my hair. Oh, and the microwave exploded, causing a small fire which I was charged for. Nothing good comes when the wheels in Kiba's little brain start turning. "And I suppose you're going to tell me, aren't you?"

"Oh, I'm gonna tell you all right. And it's gonna be good."

R&R does not mean rest and relaxation. Your input is important to me. New chapter will be out soon, perhaps sometime today or tomorrow.