This way to the stars

AN:
This is a special, early treat for you guys since I don't think I'll be able to update much for this week... My finals are up for this Thursday, and I really have to study... (sighs) But don't you darlings worry! I'm still dutifully keeping count of your votes, and I promise to do all I can to update as soon as the finals finish!

Just to have you guys see how the polls are coming up:
A. SasuxNaru: 44 votes!
B. NejixNaru: 25 votes!
C. GaaraxNaru: 6 votes!
For a while back there, Sasuke and Neji were going neck to neck! But SasukexNaruto soon rose up in ranking, and there you have it! Still a week to go folks! Keep your votes coming! ^_^ Deadline is on January 14!


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~~Heart
"People think that I must be a very strange person.
This is not correct.
I have the heart of a small boy.
It is in a glass jar on my desk."
-Stephen King

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"I don't get it." Kiba thoughtlessly mutilated his chicken, not bothering to even glance at it as he stared at Naruto. "Why did he say that?"

The room was filled with the soft hissing and bubbling as occasional pots and pans clanged together.

"I don't know." Naruto irritably said, aiming a particularly vicious chop to his own plucked, headless bird. "Am I supposed to?"

Don't get alarmed folks. It isn't what it sounds like. They were currently in cooking class, (tastefully renamed 'Culinary Arts') and Naruto had just told Kiba all about his first encounter with the Uchiha. Now though, he wished he hadn't opened his mouth.

"And he just sat down? Just like that?" Kiba prodded, accidentally beheading a carrot sitting innocently by a corner. The boy wasn't paying any particular attention anymore, and was randomly swinging his knife down, uncaring at what he hit. Naruto warily inched his fingers away from the dancing (dangerous) utensil.

"Yeah."

Kiba stared at him wondrously. "That is too freaky!"

"Watch it!" Naruto yelped, the knife narrowly missing his hand. "Geez mutt-boy! Are you purposely trying to cause me bodily harm or something?"

"Sorry." He didn't look sorry.

The two had paired up for lab sessions... Naruto had first thought this was a brilliant partnering for his part, but was now slowly starting to regret it. Kiba had no talent in the kitchen whatsoever. If his pitiful and now misshapen chicken was any hint at all, the boy had no idea what he was doing. Naruto frowned. They were supposed to be doing a simple meal of chicken curry, since it was only the second week of class. Hardly complicated, but Kiba made the job almost impossible.

"No, wait-" Naruto panicked as Kiba started to dump the (unpeeled) potatoes into the boiling pot. "You need to peel them off first baka- auggh!!!"

Both boys jumped back as the potatoes splashed messily into the pot, sloshing hot curry (and then some) out and dripping to the floor. Kiba and Naruto stared at the mess.

"Uh..."

"What is going on here?!" the teacher elbowed her way to the two boys, her heels clicking noisily on the tiled floor. "Really now! I would have expected you two to at LEAST handle chicken curry!" she harrumphed, obviously not pleased. She was the batty kind of teacher who took her job almost obsessively. Cooking, as she said, was a subtle art- Naruto nearly laughed.

"It's not our fault!" Kiba protested.

"Yeah! The potatoes jumped out by themselves!" Naruto insisted.

She wasn't amused.

"You two are hopeless together." She said firmly. "Change of partners seems to be in order."

Naruto scowled. "Now wait just one minute-"

"Ah, yes." The teacher ignored him, her eye catching a worthy person. "Uchiha. You pair up with the blonde."

Naruto's face scrunched up in disbelief. "But that's unfair! I don't want to-"

"And you," the teacher pointed to Kiba. "...pair up with him." She gestured to Shikamaru, who was looking over them boredly.

Naruto stomped his foot, not pleased that he was being ignored. "I DON'T WANT TO BE UCHIHA'S PARTNER!!"

The teacher gave him a distasteful frown. "DO be quiet, child. Be glad I'm not failing you. Now finish up quickly."

She whisked away before Naruto could even protest. Kiba gave him an apologetic shrug and moved over to where Shikamaru was lazily stirring a pot. Bastard! Naruto cursed the boy.

"Dobe."

The blonde shut his eyes, willing himself to calm down. Counting one to ten usually helped whenever he was painfully provoked by Sakura... perhaps it would work now. He schooled his face into a grim smile and turned to face the Uchiha.

"Well, let's get going and finish this!"

Sasuke shrugged, dumping Kiba's chicken (or what was left of it) unceremoniously into the waste bin. "Do you even cook, dobe?"

Naruto decided not to reply, experimentally stirring at what was left in the pot. It would do. Just a few more ingredients, then the chicken then they would probably be done. Naruto sighed.

"I'll get the mop."

Sasuke followed the blonde with his eyes as Naruto went over to the supply closet. True to his words, he pulled out the mop and started mopping at the mess he and Kiba had made. Sasuke noticed that the blonde was rather efficient at it.

"You're staring again." Naruto muttered.

Sasuke blinked. The blonde still refused to look at him, putting extraordinary concentration on his task.

"And if I am?" Sasuke lightly raised brow, efficiently peeling the skin off the potatoes. He worked neatly, precisely. Naruto grudgingly admitted that he was good.

"Stop it." Naruto scowled, tossing his blonde locks out of his eyes. "It's getting really annoying."

Sasuke shrugged. "That's good."

The blonde felt his patience bristle again. Ooh! Bastard! Stupid, self-assured prick!! Naruto huffed and purposely jabbed his mop at the Uchiha's feet. Sasuke glared at him. Feeling just a tiny bit mollified, Naruto went back to return the mop.

"Cube them." Naruto absently instructed the silent boy, turning his attention to his chicken. He picked up his knife and started meticulously slicing through the rubbery flesh.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow, but obliged, chopping the potatoes into the desired cubes. They were so precise, it was scary. For a few minutes, the two worked in silence- the sound of soft bubbling of curry and thunk of knife hitting on board permeating the air.

"Fifteen minutes!!" the teacher called out from the other side of the room. "You should all be done in fifteen minutes!"

Naruto cursed under his breath, quickly finishing off and dumping the chicken strips into the boiling pot. Sasuke silently followed the potatoes. The blonde grabbed a few seasonings and shook a dash of each. Sasuke took the liberty of stirring as Naruto added more spices.

The door to the CA room opened, and a murmur of foreign voices floated from the hallway beyond. The class looked up in curiosity as the door opened wider to let in a group of people dressed up in important suits and ties that looked starkly out of place in the CA lab, led by none other than the Hyuuga himself.

"This is the Culinery Arts room." He was saying to the apparent leader of the strange group. "Students spend half of their curriculum on non-major subjects like the CA, where we aim to develop and hone special non-academic talents. As you can see, CA is more of lab work-"

The Hyuuga nodded to the batty teacher who had come forward to greet them. Superintendents. He mouthed to the woman. "...what you are seeing here now is class 1-D having a simple lab session."

The man in the suit nodded, looking interestedly around the room. Neji looked up and Naruto caught his eye, grinning and waving his knife in greeting. The boy smiled back. Naruto made a quick note to himself to berate Neji for not telling him about his position as the SC president. Students shuffled uncomfortably, trying to seem inconspicuous, while others nodded their heads politely in greeting. Neji asked the teacher if the group could look around.

"Certainly. Certainly! " She eagerly replied, graciously sweeping her hand. "I will personally show them around!"

"There is no need for that." Neji calmly said. "They are here merely to observe."

Naruto, like everyone else, kept their eyes glued to the curious observers who were now splitting up and wandering over to work tables, occasionally asking a question or two to unsuspecting students. The blonde was too busy gawking at a particularly gaudy man with white spiky hair (who was obviously making a pass at Ino) to notice Neji coming up behind him.

"Naruto?"

"Huh?" Naruto, startled, quickly turned around, slicing his fingers open in the process. "Ow!!"

Neji immediately looked concerned. "Are you alright?"

"Wha-?" Naruto dropped his knife, blinking at the red blossoming on his finger, mind a bit muddled for a bit. "Neji?"

Neji impatiently gestured at the blonde. "Naruto, your... hand..."

He trailed off, his eyes fixing on the person behind the blonde.

Sasuke had taken the Naruto's hand into his own and slowly brought it up to his mouth. His dark eyes never left the Hyuuga's pale ones as he took in the bloody finger and sucked. Naruto blushed a deep red, as he yelped at the pressure applied.

"S-Sasuke!" Naruto squeaked. "Let go! That's disgusting!!"

Neji's eyes narrowed at the Uchiha. Sasuke stared challengingly back, not letting go of Naruto's finger. The blonde looked back and forth helplessly at the two boys who seemed to have gone into staring mode.

"Naruto..." Neji murmured, his eyes not leaving the Uchiha. "I think you need a band aid for that cut."

Naruto blushed. "Uh... right. Sasuke!" he hissed. "Let go of my finger!"

Sasuke pulled out the finger from his mouth, giving one last lick before finally letting go. Naruto yanked back his hand like he was scalded by boiling water. What had brought that on?!

"Uchiha." Neji slowly said.

Sasuke levelly raised his chin, as if saying 'what now?', though his eyes remained bored and unresponsive. Silence stretched for a few more minutes, which seemed more like an eternity for Naruto. He then decided that he did not want a part of this mess, so he scampered off to look for the precious band-aids. Uchiha was acting weird. Neji was acting strange. Weird+Strange= None of my Buisiness. Naruto nodded to himself. Basic math, he could very well do.

"Uchiha." Neji repeated, his eyes narrowing.

The Hyuuga raised a hand. Sasuke tensed. Was he going to strike? Neji pointed behind him.

"You're pot's overflowing."

Sasuke blinked, turning around. Sure enough, the curry pot was bubbling angrily as it spitted and whistled its protest. They had heated it for too long! Cursing under his breath, Sasuke quickly turned off the fire. He grabbed a potholder and opened the pot, frowning at the lumpy remainder of their curry. Well, at least it looked edible enough.

"Dammit." Sasuke muttered, throwing the potholder to the side. He turned around and found that the Hyuuga had disappeared. He snorted.

"Hey, what happened?"

Naruto reappeared, a neat, blue, checkered band-aid wrapped around his finger. He crossed his arms and frowned at the still hissing pot. "Did you BURN our food??"

"You left the fire on too high, dobe!" Sasuke hissed.

Naruto scowled. "Oh right, that's just bloody brilliant teme! Now your blaming me?!"

"You were the one too distracted to pay attention to your work." Sasuke snapped.

"ME?!" Naruto yelled. "How about you? Having that stupid staring contest with Neji! Jeez, what IS that anyway, putting my finger-" he blushed, sputtering. "...doing THAT!"

Sasuke snorted. "Very articulate, Usuratonkachi."

Naruto gaped. Usuratonkachi?!!!!

"What's going on here?"

Both boys looked up to see the teacher standing by their workstation, her lips pursed in a tight frown. "Not fighting, are you boys?"

"It's his fault!" Naruto immediately pointed at the scowling Uchiha. "He burned our food!"

"I did not."

"Did too!"

"Usuratonkachi."

"Asshole!"

"Idiot."

"Bastard!"

"ENOUGH!!" The teacher rubbed her temples earnestly, as though she was sporting the world's biggest headache. "You," she pointed at Naruto. "It seems that change of partners do not work with you. Next time, you work alone."

Naruto glared at her. "Fine! It's not as if he's any help, anyway!"

She gave Naruto a curt smile and turned to Sasuke, the smile turning disgustingly saccharine. "Uchiha-san, I wont take any points off you, since I made you pair up with him. Go clean up now."

Sasuke barely nodded his head, as he picked up a random rag and started scrubbing the prep table. Naruto scowled heavily at the teacher's retreating back and stuck his tongue out. Gah, stupid, crazy teacher, having a crush on the Uchiha! He gritted his teeth and marched his way over to the ruined curry, dumping the content into the waste bin. He placed the pot on the sink with more force than necessary, wincing as he felt a dent form on the metal.

"Dobe-"

"Don't talk to me." Naruto snarled.

Sasuke gave an indignant snort. "I was just going to tell you to watch your finger. I'm sorry I even bothered."

Naruto silently ignored him, but noticeably took more care not to hit his finger. The cut was pretty deep... but the bleeding had thankfully stopped. The blonde was too busy washing what little dishes they used, that he didn't feel Sakura coming up to him, an irritated scowl on her face.

"Come here!" she hissed, grabbing him none too gently by the shirt and forcefully dragging him away.

"Hey!"

Naruto managed not to drop the plate he was washing, his soapy hands leaving watery trails on the linoleum. Sakura dragged them off to the storage room, and shut the door with a bang.

"What's the big idea?" Naruto demanded. His hands were still sudsy and oily- yuck!

"You," Sakura tersely said. "...stay AWAY from Sasuke-kun."

"What?!"

Apparently, she had seen everything.

"You heard me, you monster. I don't want you to EVER come near him again!" Sakura yelled at him, shaking him by the shoulders.

Naruto angrily shoved her hands away. "Don't you tell me what to do! Were in school now, so I don't have to be at your every beck and call!"

"How dare you!" Sakura growled at him. "Sasuke-kun is MINE! You keep your filthy hand away from him, you sick queer! He's mine!"

"You can HAVE him!" Naruto growled back, his hands clenching into tight fists. "I can't STAND that bloody bastard any more than I can stand YOU. Now leave me out of your sick fantasies and you keep out of mine!"

"I'm telling father." Sakura threatened him, her face stretching into a sneer. "If you so much as even LOOK at him, I'm telling him you're messing with my property."

Naruto felt sick. Sakura was talking about the boy as if he were some object she could own. Sick, sick, sick.

"I'm not afraid of you, Sakura." Naruto said lowly. "And don't you ever believe that you have me around your little pinky. I'm NEVER going to bow down to you. I never had."

Sakura opened her mouth to retort but the blonde turned his back on her. Whatever words that came out of her mouth, he did not hear them. Naruto opened the door and walked out.

He never looked back.

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Review Response!
You people are all so sweet! I'm terribly sorry to those I can't reply to... but if you want to talk or anything- email me! (chocolate_cookie@myway.com) I'll get right back to you. ^_^ Cheers!


Lulu: Thanks for voting! ^_^
Bakura: I'm terribly sorry dear!! Here, this one's for you... ^_^ And I'm sorry bout your other votes... only the sasuxnaru counts... ^_^
Reiko: Thank you darling.. ^_^
liankitty: I was so terribly pleased as well! I love all the beautiful people who took time to review.. I try to show this appreciation by updating as frequently as possible!
kaka-she: haha! Thanks for voting!! Keep reviewing.. :)
Zuwie: Thank you dear... thanks for voting... :)
Kirume: Oh, that's perfectly fine! I think that's a good way to review... every chapter.. that way, you get to tell the authors more solid critiques. ^_^ And as for the dark eyes... who else of our boys have dark eyes anyway?
losthimagain: i simply adore you, dear.. Thank you for voting! ^_^
Mochi~: Aww... your such a darling... Are you going to vote for Neji?? Or was that just a comment? ^_^
TenshiKaitou: Thank you so much! I try really, really hard to update since i love you guys so much! haha! I was a bit confused about your vote... but since im so nice, i decided to count both of them. ^_^
Satori: thank you for voting. :)
powder07blossom: *stares at the screen and falls of laughing* You crack me up darling. I wasnt sure what to do about your vote... ^_^ I dont think orgies count... but if you vote again and tell me a specific pairing, i'm sure i can work things out.. :)
tes: Oh! I can only hope so.. :)
nejiluva: Thank you for voting. :)
Anon: ^_^ Vote counted!
random: turtle cute! Interesting prospect... ^_^ thanks for voting!
Chrys: I hope so.. :) thanks for voting.. ^_^
Saki: Aww, your so cute dear.. but i'm a bit confused about your vote.. so.. ARE you going to vote SasuNaru? ^.^
BlackKat: I love ramen too!!!
krickets: Since i'm nice, i'll count Neji's in! ^_^
yks: not to worry dear, no wimpy Naruto is going to appear anytime soon! ^_^
the_true_silver: Thank you very much.. :) So.. er.. are you voting?
Niuu: Haha! Go glomp Neji!! but just to be sure... were you voting for them? :)
MeeraMeeraluv: Er, so you vote nejixnaru? Just checking..
carrot: haha! Thanks for voting!!
lalala: So, er, who are you voting then?? ^_^
Tamara: Thank you so much dear, for a wonderul review! You made me think of a lot of things, and yes, i do get a kick at stealing food from people's plates! I'm particularly vindictive about fries.. (laughs) Thanks so much for being honest... its really appreciated! ^_^ Thanks for voting.
Trekiael: Thanks for voting and thanks for being such a regular reviewer! You guys make me happy. ^_^
Late_Sleeper: Since i'm SUCH a nice person.. I'll count your votes in! But no 1/2! let's make that whole shall we? ^_^
Kiara: Aww, arent you a sweet dear?? ^_^ Thank you for voting... Happy new year to you as well.
Naotoki: *laughs at Gaara waving about* Thanks so much for voting!
Enma: Thanks for the review.. :)
mindy: haha! So who are you voting for really? ^_^
neversweet: Go vote! ^_^
Haze: So.... are you voting?? ^_^ Please do!
Miri-chan: Aww, your so cute! Thanks for the summary compliment... It just struck me at the last minute that "Hey, let's get Sakura to the the summary." And so yeah... ^_^
whiterose: All right.. thanks for voting! :)
ShinigamiKitsune: Since im so nice, i counted both votes! ^_^
Herme23: Vote counted, darling. :)
Kyuubikit: Thanks so much.. :) Thanks for voting!
sansty: aww, that's alright... Here, have a soda! ^_^
Kativachan: Thank you once again! Those quotes mean a lot to me! ^_^ Yeah, i thought the journal idea was funny... so i put it in! haha...
SoraJr: Thank you! (hugs)
dreamsraven: Aww, darling, you still have a lot of time to vote! The deadline is still next week: Jan. 14! Drop by and vote if you change your mind! ^_^
Ash-chan: Will try my very best! ^_^
sapphirexkat2: (smiles at you) You'll see!
Reyn: Vote counted! ^_^ Thanks so much for being SUCH a supportive reader!!
terry: Thanks for voting! :)
blood water: (Hugs you) Awww!! You're sooooooo sweet! *treasures the crown so much* This is for you!!! ^_^
Pic's Pixie: Thanks for voting! You guys are sooooo great!
Penguin: Darling, you made my day.. ^_^ Thanks for reviewing!
dakara: Aww, you really love your boys! Thanks for being sooooo supportive! :)
hogo-chan: You're very, very welcome dear... And, just to clear it up... were you voting?
ShiroiGardenia: Hmm, food for thought... but i'm more of a going with the flow kind of person... maybe if the mood strikes me. Thanks for the suggestion though. ^_^
mieran: Awww, you have such a nice big heart! All righty, since i'm so nice, i'll count all three votes! ^_^
LoopiX: Hello! Thanks for voting... Keep reviewing! ^_^
Devious Lil Devil: Vote counted. ^_^
Zane: (Hugs you) Aww, you are sooooo cute! I have a fan?!? Thank you!!
digi-girl: you do that.. ^_^
Sarung Luv: its good to see you again dear.. :)
Duo/Folken/TK: Vote counted!
hinanee: That's alright dear, i'll count both for you... ^_^
mitziginger: Darling, trust me, as much as it pains me i DO realize those mistakes! XD And i do my best to fix em whenever i find em! Beta's huh? I suppose... I'll think about it! ^_^
hinanee: haha! Alrighty then... (erase one vote for NaruxSasu) Thanks for voting!
miyuki_chan: Since i'm sooo nice, i'll count all of em! ^_^
seph: DARLING YOU ARE SOOOOO CUTE!!!
Anon: Aww, love you too dear. ^_^
Hezzer: Alrighty then... er... were you voting?? (Just to make sure) ^_^