Back to School

A/N: here I am, again! Replies!

SharinganEyes: yeah, it could have, but Sasuke's one of those people that expect to get what they want and NOW! And I'm not overly fond of Karin either, and would gladly smack her once or twice. But she has her moments... and Kabuto, god, I'm still sore about him playing the good guy in the anime/manga and then he was the bad guy?!?! I was so confused!!! xD anyway, thanks again!

spoon: thou shalt taken good care of thy daisy! XD sorry, I was having a... weird moment. Anyway, thank you again! And it's Karin, though I don't really love her either x) and I hope some things are resolved in this chapter. Thank you for taking the time out to review!

(thoughts)

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Sasuke sat, once again, slumped in his chair, carving on the table with his kunai. Though this time it was more of a stabbing motion, the Uchiha was trying to vent out his anger and frustration in the most unnoticeable way possible.

Karin was walking over to him again, with a small sway in her step. ”So...” She drawled out, sitting on the table next to the stoic ninja. ”What did the table do to you?”

Sasuke seized the destruction of school property, laying his hands flat on the desk, calming himself. ”Did you have a purpose?” His tone was ice cold and thick with promises of horror if crossed.

Karin wiped her now sweaty hands on her thighs, forcing out a smile. ”I wanted to continue our discussion about you joining my master's group.”

Sasuke slowly blinked, looking bored, but his mind was contemplating on the possibilities. The time off could do him some wonders, maybe then he could get that idiot off his mind. Not to mention the power Karin spoke off, he might just use it to his advantage. (I could kick that moron's ass, beat him into a bulp, make him scream in agony and moan my name-)

”The additional power could help you with killing your brother.” Karin continued, completely oblivious to the mental rollercoaster Sasuke was going through.

Sasuke froze. Maybe for the first time since the massacre, he hadn't even once thought about revenge or killing his brother. (See, that dobe is messing up my style.)

Karin tried to look relaxed and cool in front of the Uchiha, but it was hard to keep from fidgeting with his black eyes staring to space so intensely, she felt like an outsider even when they were so close. ”Umm, Sasuke?”

Sasuke's gaze quickly shifted to the girl (what's with that hair, honestly) and he calculated his choices before answering.

”Tell me about your master.”

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Iruka adjusted his vest while walking through the crowds, looking for a blur of orange, black and bright blond hair. He was feeling guilty for dismissing Naruto so completely, but he had had some urgent business to attend to.

He was passing a store window when he happened to check his reflection, noticing, to his horror, a big red mark on his neck. Iruka quickly raised the collar a bit higher, making sure no one around him was looking at him. ”That pervert, I'm going to make sure he pays for this.”

Feeling quite uncomfortable, Iruka continued his quest.

He was just about to give up when he heard a familiar voice from behind the wall surrounding the park.

”I DON'T LUST FOR HIM, I JUST DON'T THINK I HATE HIM THAT MUCH!!”

Iruka chuckled and jumped up to crouch on the wall, looking down at the three shinobi sitting on a bench, arguing.

”Naruto, if you don't want my help, don't ask for it-”

”WELL IF YOUR HELP WOULD BE MORE THAN JUST-”

”Naruto-kun, lower your voice, everybody is watching.” Chouji interrupted, nodding his head to passerbys who were giving the loud blond a dissapproving look.

Naruto blushed and rubbed his neck nervously, grinning at the people who huff'd and tsk'd before going along their merry way. Naruto turned back to Shikamaru, growling in anger. ”I'm just saying that if I need someone to make fun of me-”

Iruka jumped down, landing right in front of the three, wiping off the imaginary dust off his clothes. ”Here you are, I've been looking all over for you.”

Naruto looked up and grinned widely as he saw his favorite sensei. ”Iruka-sensei! Just the one I need to talk to!” He sent the boy next to him a mean glare. ”I'm sure you'll be able to help, unlike some people.”

Shikamaru shrugged and reached automatically to his pocket, trying to fish out his cigarettes, before realizing that they weren't there. And as an afterthought, his eyes landed on his wrist and he grimaced.

Chouji saw the motion and offered his chips to the boy, along with an apolotical smile.

Naruto got up from the bench and looked up to his sensei with his infamous puppy eyes. ”Ano, sensei, I'm kind of hungry and all this thinking uses up all my energy-” Iruka sighed. ”Say no more. Let's go get some ramen.” Naruto nodded enthusiasticly and grabbed the brunet's hand, pulling him towards Ichiraku's.

Shikamaru exhaled, sliding a bit slower on the bench. ”Thank god, I thought he'd never leave.” Chouji nodded and looked at his relieved friend, frowning as his eyes traveled once again to the cast.

”You know Shika, I'm sorry about your wrist.”

Shika looked up and, seeing the worry in Chouji's eyes, smiled. ”Well, it was an effective way and works as a great reminder.” As an emphasis, he banged the cast to the bench, making a kind of hollow sound.

Chouji chuckled, letting out a smile, but then frowning again. ”Yeah, but I shouldn't have done it. I just didn't want to see you get hurt-” He was interrupted by Shikamaru's dry laugh. ”You didn't want to see me get hurt so you break my wrist, what great logic.” There was a hint of blame in his voice, but not enough to make one worried.

Chouji fell silent at this, not really knowing how to put his feeling into words, he was never good at that stuff, that's why he had Shika.

Shikamaru sighed, he knew what his teammate was trying to say but he was still kind of sore about the whole 'you-smoke-so-I-break-your-wrist' thing, and not to mention the looming possibility of 'I-catch-you-again-and-then-it's-both-arms-and-maybe-legs-too'.

The silence stretched between them, making them both uncomfortable. It's not that they talked a lot when they were hanging out, but now the reason for it was because neither of them knew how to start talking again.

”Shika, I-” Chouji stopped when Shikamaru turned to face him, staring straight to his eyes. ”Chouji, I'm not mad at you for breaking my wrist and I understand that that's how you express your feelings to people you care about. And I'm grateful that you care enough to go to such extreme measures to get me do something so trivial, as to quit smoking.” Chouji was about to open his mouth, when Shika added. ”And I don't want you to keep on apologizing, it's too troublesome.”

After receiving a nod from Chouji, signaling that he understood, Shikamaru turned back to lean on the back rest, looking up at the clouds.

Chouji turned too, opening the bag of chips Shikamaru had just bought for him, and looked up to the sky too.

”That looks kind of like a bear, doesn't it?”

Shikamaru nodded, the corner of his mouth turning into a smile.

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Iruka was sitting across from Naruto, having a death grip of his tea cup, and staring at the embarrassed blond with wide eyes.

Naruto rubbed his neck uncomfortably. ”Sensei, could you say something? I'm getting nervous here, with you just staring and not even drinking you tea, it's probably getting cold, you should really drink it before it gets cold, it's way better like that. Not that cold tea isn't good too, but just not when it's been hot before, then it has this weird taste, like one time I was making tea and then I started looking for my jacket and totally forgot about the kettle-” Naruto's words died out and he swallowed the lump in his throat. He always rambled when he was nervous, it was a bad habbit of his.

There was another long silence, with Iruka still staring at his former student and Naruto fidgeting in his seat, his finished bowls of ramen on the table.

Naruto was about to open his mouth again when Iruka finally voiced the thought that had been running through his mind for the past ten minutes or so. ”You had sex on my table?”

First Naruto exhaled, relieved that his sensei had said something, and then he froze, cold sweat running down his spine.

”Ano saa, it's not that I wanted to, at the time, and I wiped the desk afterwards!”

Iruka raised his hand, desperately wanting to shut the blond up, and closed his eyes tightly, soon opening them up wide. ”Ooooh, the images, the images...”

Naruto bit his lower lip and grabbed the seat under him, wondering which one of them he should feel sorry for. ”Iruka-sensei, are you mad?”

Iruka had put the cup down and was rubbing his face with his hands. ”And I graded papers on that desk too, oh shit.”

Naruto stopped fidgeting, a thought occuring to him. ”Wait, didn't you already know? I mean, what was all that 'proper treatment of school property' and stuff?”

Iruka seized the rubbing and lowered his hands to regard the shinobi sitting across from him. ”Well, I though that you had kissed or maybe made out, but not have sex! I'm so going to kill that pervert, oh you bet I am, he's as good as dead. And buried. Ten feet under, just to make sure.”

Naruto perked up, anything to change the subject from Iruka's desk to something far more interesting. ”What pervert? Jiraya?!”

Iruka looked at Naruto with an expression mixed with horror and disgust. ”No! That other pervert- and wait, weren't we talking about your love life?” Then it hit him again. ”Oooh, the images, they won't leave...”

Naruto sighed, he was getting annoyed with his sensei's inability to get over the fact that his desk was desecrated and nothing was bringing its virginity back.

”Iruka-sensei, could you please focus.” Iruka's eye twitched, he was supposed to be the one saying that! When the hell did Naruto learn to use such vocabulary?

”Okay, sorry. So, you keep on finding yourself kissing this boy-”

”Making out. It's way more slobby than just kissing.” Iruka coughed, willing the images to stay in that little box in his mind, titled 'inappropiate'. ”Yes, indeed. You keep making out with the boy and now you're wondering if you might be harboring some feelings for the grumpy ninja?”

Naruto snortgiggled, Iruka had just called Sasuke grumpy.

Iruka krhm'd, re-acquiring his student's attention. ”I think it would be best if you talked about this with Sasuke, it might be that he has, how should I say this, noticed the possibility of mutual fondness.”

Naruto scowled. ”Come on, Shikamaru said the same thing, and Chouji too, you were supposed to tell me something new! Like, 'beat the crap out of him, that ought to straighten him out!' or something along those lines!”

Iruka rubbed his temple with his left hand and lifted the forgotten tea cup to his lips with the other, scrunching up his nose when the liquid touched his tongue. (He was right, it does taste weird, stale.) He put the cup down and laid his hands on the table, taking a calming breath.

”If people keep telling you this, then maybe you should go and talk with him about it.”

Naruto shook his head, crossing his arms over his chest in a defying gesture. ”No.” Iruka gave the blond a questioning stare, waiting for elaboration. ”Why-” ”No.”

Iruka threw his arms to the air in frustration. ”I hate to be repeating, but like Shikamaru said, if you don't want help, don't ask for it!”

He was about to stand up and leave the stubborn blond to ponder by himself, when he heard a faint sniff coming from Naruto's direction, and felt like hugging him when he saw the sadness and desperation on his face.

”I can't do it.” Iruka exhaled and gave Naruto an encouraging smile. ”Tell me about it.”

Naruto fidgeted again, twisting his hands on his lap. ”Cos I have this feeling that I already told him about it, I just can't remember a thing.” He looked to the side, avoiding Iruka's eyes because he knew he was blushing. ”And he didn't do anything about it, so I'm pretty sure he's not interested, and I don't know what to do...”

Iruka sighed and stood up, walking over to Naruto and grabbing his shoulder. ”Naruto, did you ever stop and think that maybe he wanted you to do something?” He smiled to himself as realization dawned on the tan face, (I really know how to make people feel better) and took his hand off, motioning the blond to stand up. ”Now go and talk to Sasuke, he probably feels the same, he's just shyer than you.”

Naruto let out another gigglesnort, Iruka had called Sasuke grumpy and shy, it was hilarious.

Iruka huffed in annoyance. ”Stop that, I'm serious. Now go before I lose my nerve with you!” Naruto nodded and ran out of the stand, leaving Iruka to pay for their ramen and tea.

”Young love sure is complex, ne?” Iruka nodded, smiling to Teuchi. ”And it doesn't get any easier.”

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A/N: GASP! What be this? Another chapter after only few hours of the last update?! ...yeah, got a spur of inspiration. Though now you're gonna have to wait longer, because I seriously have to study! *bangs head to desk* ...I mean if I don't get bored and/or inspirated :D thanks for reading!