Chapter 09:

It was weird to be with Sasuke’s posse. However, Naruto had to remind himself that he was now a part of this crew and would have to make the best of it. The looks of surprise or shock that was etched on some students faces as they walked out of school and towards the diner (it was only about two blocks away), would have pleased Naruto greatly if it wasn’t for the overwhelming edge to give them all the finger in salutation. However, he behaved himself, suffering Suigetsu’s enthusiastic one-sided conversation about clearing all levels of his latest game. Naruto didn’t want to burst the kid’s bubble by bragging that he had cleared the levels himself about a month ago, but instead chose to nod in all the right places. Funny how he had always assumed that Suigetsu deserved an indefinite vacation at a mental asylum, but listening to the boy now, Naruto couldn’t help comparing him a little to Kiba. In fact, under the right circumstances, Naruto was sure that Kiba and Suigetsu would make great pals…if they could stand each other long enough.

Juugo, he already knew, was a quiet and nice guy despite the way he looked. The big guy would be the first to offer you a towel to wipe your sweat after a sparring session, or be willing to get some water for you if you only asked. He seemed to like listening to others do all the talking, and only chimed in when absolutely necessary. Then there was Karin, who was proving to be a whole lot more than the bitchy persona she presented most of the time to the rest of the school. She could be gentle when she chose to be – like the time she tended to his wounds, or how girlish she looked when she blushed or how goofy she acted when she was embarrassed about something.

As for Sai…

Naruto eyed the dark-haired boy walking beside Sasuke ahead of him. He was talking to their team captain, a light stain of pink on his cheeks that didn’t seem to want to fade away. Even though they weren’t that far apart, Naruto still couldn’t make out what was being said, but whatever it was, Sasuke seemed interested enough to give a light nod or reply at certain intervals.

/I won’t let you have him…/

Geez. What was that all about? Naruto frowned and scratched the bridge of his nose, just as the familiar building of the diner was seen. It wasn’t as if he wanted Sasuke. Sai was more than welcome to him. Fighting over Sasuke was the least of Naruto’s worries - maybe he ought to make that clear to Sai when the opportunity presented itself.

“You kids will behave yourself today, right?” the diner owner grumbled as he noticed the group walking into his establishment. “Don’t need you scaring off my customers with your yelling.” He glared pointedly at Karin as he said this, causing the girl to blush.

“Sorry,” she muttered as she sat in their usual booth, patting the space next to her for Naruto. “Come sit with me, Naruto.”

Naruto really didn’t want to sit beside her, but ended up squeezed between her and Juugo, as Suigetsu, Sai and Sasuke sat across them. The booth was small…intimate… and knees and feet were bumped and brushed against as everyone tried to get comfortable. Naruto wondered if the gods were against him for he was sitting directly across Sasuke, whose knee was definitely brushing against his at this very moment. Weird, considering he was having to deal with Karin and Juugo beside him, and yet, he was more aware of Sasuke than the other two.

That’s what a goddamn kiss does to you, his mind screamed. You become more aware of the other person, no matter what happens.

“…Naruto?”

“Huh?” He blinked and forced himself to focus on his surroundings. Karin was leaning even closer to him, her flowery perfume threatening to make him sneeze.

“I asked what you wanted to order. Janice is here.”

Janice, a buxom woman with bleached blond hair and too much makeup (she was doing a damn good imitation of a clown with all that pancake on her face), smacked her gum even louder and tapped her note pad. “What’s it gonna be, sweetheart?”

“Uum…” Naruto picked up the menu before him and scanned the list of foods, hardly seeing anything as he felt everyone’s gaze trained on him. Man, talk about the pressure.

“Try the Philly Cheese,” Suigetsu offered. “American and tastes great!”

“Fattening too,” Karin added with a sneer, causing Suigetsu to stick out his tongue in response. “Try the salad bowl, Naruto,” she offered. “It’s delicious.”

“No, definitely Philly Cheese,” came the rebuttal, and Karin would have gone after him again, when Sasuke cut in with mild irritation in his voice.

“I’m sure Naruto can order whatever the fuck he wants without you two arguing like idiots.” He nodded towards the blond and then tapped the menu. “What’s it gonna be, Naruto?”

Naruto stared into the black eyes that betrayed nothing in its expression. What was Sasuke thinking? Why had he really invited Naruto here? Well…something about talking about their opponents, but still…what lay beyond the cool façade? He found he wanted to get some kind of reaction from Sasuke…to have his hackles rising again. He glanced towards Sai and barely caught the brief but annoyed look on the boy’s face. Suddenly feeling cheeky, Naruto gave a brilliant smile and snapped the menu shut.

“I’ll have whatever Sasuke’s having.”

It was barely felt, but the light jerk of Sasuke’s knee against his, was the only tell tale sign that his answer had affected the dark-haired boy. Naruto had to give it to Sasuke. He could put on a nonchalant front like none other.

“All right, that’s a double cheeseburger with spicy fries and a large coke,” Janice rattled off. “Be back in a few.”

“Oh, just thinking of all the calories is killing me,” Karin said with a dramatic groan of misery. “And I wonder how you guys remain so skinny. I have to work out twice as hard if I ate anything like that.”

“Worry about your fat cells later,” Sasuke muttered as he pulled out the piece of paper from inside his blazer pocket. He spread it out on the table. “Here’s a list of all the schools participating.”

Suigetsu whistled. “Wow, twenty, eh? That’s five more than last year if memory serves me right.”

Sasuke nodded. “Sai’s been doing some investigation and we don’t really have to worry about most of the teams until we get to the main three schools – Seihou Gakuen, Hiro High and Seiwa Gakuen. You might not have heard of them, Naruto,” Sasuke looked up and into the curious blue eyes as he said this. “But these three schools have the best fighters in the country.”

“Seiwa Gakuen is led by Gaara. This is what he looks like.” He nodded towards Sai, who pulled out a folder from his school bag. He opened it to pull out a sheet of paper, complete with a picture of a sullen-looking teen with a lot of kohl around his eyes (talk about a Goth freak), short spiky red hair and a distinct tattoo on his forehead. Sai apparently took his job very seriously, for the sheet not only had the picture, but stats about Gaara’s fighting style and number of win/loss ratios in the past year. Two local tournaments had been held and this Gaara fellow was yet to lose a fight.

“What’s so dangerous about Gaara,” Sasuke continued, “is that he barely gets a scratch on him during fights. He’s that fast and has left his opponents either badly injured or paralyzed. Joining him will be Kankurou, his brother. Temari…his sister….”

“Temari?” Naruto blinked. Where had he heard that name before? Blond hair…tough chick….Shikamaru…! His assumptions were confirmed as the sheet with her stats was placed before him. “This can’t be right. Temari’s in Kusanagi Girls High School. She can’t fight for Seiwa, can she?”

“Since when did she become a student at Kusanagi?” Sasuke asked with a raised brow, glancing at Sai.

“I never heard of a transfer,” Sai reported quietly. “Perhaps she was pretending to be a student of Kusanagi…to get close to you.” He looked at Naruto as he said this, causing the blond to flush at the insinuation. Could it really be that Temari was a spy? Had she really come to the meet just for him? No…it was just too much of a coincidence. She couldn’t possibly have known that Naruto was a member of the club.

“Did she speak to you?” Sasuke asked.

“Not really…she said she was in Amaru’s class…wait…did you tell Amaru that I was a member of the club?”

“I don’t...”

“Does it really matter now?” Karin interrupted. “I mean, even if she knows that Naruto’s a part of the team, what difference does it make? You don’t really think the other schools don’t have their spies on us too? Hell, they might be in this very diner right now.”

The boys seemed to sit up a bit straighter at this, each trying to look around the diner as inconspicuously as possible. There really didn’t seem to be anyone paying much attention to their booth, even though the place was fairly busy.

Sasuke rubbed his temples and took a deep breath. “All the same. Karin’s right. Nothing we can do now about it. We’ve got Gaara, Kankurou, Temari, Yashamaru, and Matsuri.”

“Only five?” Naruto asked in bemusement as Sai began to clear up the papers.

“Teams can have at most six members per team,” Sai explained as he pulled out another sheaf to place on the table. “Here you go, Sasuke.”

“All right, next we’ve got Hiro High’s team Cloud,” Sasuke passed the papers to Naruto. “They are tough, but still relatively new, so we don’t know how strong they are. Their strongest is Kirabi…although he calls himself Killer Bee and thinks he’s a rapper.”

Suigetsu chortled. “He’s trying to make a CD. Remember what he did that last tournament? How he began to rap in the middle of the fight and confused poor Juugo.”

Juugo had the grace to blush. “He defeated me by distracting me,” came the quiet reply. “I hope I don’t fall for that this time.”

Naruto eyed the pictures of Hiro’s fighters. “Yugito…” She was a hot-looking blond. “Samui…” Another tough-looking chick with a severe shoulder length hair cut. “Karui…” Another babe with hair that looked like dreadlocks and dark skin. “And…holy shit!”

“What?” Sasuke asked. “You know him?” He noticed Naruto still gawking at the picture of the dark-skinned teen with blond hair that wasn’t all too different from Naruto’s.

“Eh…sort of…” Naruto mumbled as he eyed Omoi’s (the dark-skinned teen) stats. ‘Sort of’ was putting it mildly. Omoi was a good friend as they had gone to grade school together before his father’s job had forced his family to move to the other side of the city. If he remembered correctly, Omoi had been a pretty damn good fighter, and both had gotten in their share of trouble as kids. It was weird to think they’d now be ‘enemies’ because of the tournament.

“I haven’t seen him in ages though,” Naruto added quickly as he noticed their gazes trained on him. “So don’t worry. I’m not spying and telling him secrets or anything.”

Sasuke nodded and accepted the last sheaf of papers from Sai. “Last but not least, Seihou Gakuen…Akatsuki.”

“What kind of a name is that?” Naruto asked as he eyed the first picture of a guy with no face…actually his red hair seemed to be covering up most of his face.

“Who gives a fuck what it means,” Sasuke grumbled. “All that matters is that…”

“They’re assholes and deserve to die slow and painful deaths,” Suigetsu growled. “I think we already told you about our meeting with Deidara and Sasori, didn’t we?”

Karin gave an unladylike snort. “Geez. They think they’re better than everyone else.”

Naruto eyed the sheets of paper, feeling something akin to cold dread settle in the pit of his stomach as he read through their stats. The one with ‘no face’ was Pein. He looked skinny but his stats were pretty impressive. No losses in ten fights. Kisame – an ugly dude who looked as big as Juugo with a pale complexion that almost seemed blue. No losses in twenty plus fights. Deidara – a blond with long hair who looked too pretty to be a guy. However, if his mug shot of him sticking out his tongue to the camera was any indication, Naruto had a feeling this guy would be a handful. No losses in six fights. Sasori looked quiet and unassuming, and had the appearance of a kid still in grade school. No losses in ten fights. The lone female was Konan – a dark haired beauty with a piercing and a big paper-like pink flower stuck in her hair. No losses in five fights.

Damn.

“As you can see, they’re going to be a handful,” Sasuke was saying, just as Janice arrived with their food in tow. “They’ll pose the biggest problem when we get to the final.”

Naruto looked up and over his steaming plate of food, catching Sasuke’s eye. When, their captain had said, not if. An unspoken mutual feeling of respect seemed to pass between them and Naruto smirked. One had to admire the guy’s conviction. He could see why the others were loyal to Sasuke. He seemed to ooze charisma and confidence…but most importantly a determination to be the best at whatever he did. He expected his teammates to be perfect…or at least as close to perfect as possible and if it meant being a jackass sometimes to get his message across, then so be it.

And another thing, Sasuke’s tastes in food was great. Naruto realized how much he was missing out as he took another hungry bite of the loaded burger, allowing the delicious juices from the beef, onions, tomatoes and all the other little things that gave it a unique flavor, to melt in his mouth. He darted out a tongue to lick his lips and fingers, looking up at the same time, only to blush to the roots of his hair as he met Sasuke’s darkened gaze. Despite being surrounded by their teammates and a noisy diner, it was amazing how all of that seemed to melt away.

Stop looking at me…stop looking at me like that, goddamn it!

He was back in Sasuke’s room. He was trapped beneath Sasuke’s hard body again. He was being pushed back against the couch, his lips crushed against Sasuke’s as their jeans became tight…tight….tighter still until…

“…sorry!”

The douse of cold water on his pants had Naruto jerking back to reality. It took an extra second to finally understand just what had happened. Karin was trying to dab the mess with a napkin as she had knocked over her glass of water. However, Naruto, realizing he was sporting an erection, no thanks to goddamn Sasuke, grabbed the napkin before she could discover it wasn’t a wallet creating the bulge, and wiped himself with hands that trembled slightly.

“I’m so, so, so, so, sorry,” Karin was muttering, secretly wishing she could be the one wiping his lap.

“It’s cool. It will dry,” Naruto replied with a quick smile. He was damn grateful this had actually happened. Goodness knows how long that staring match would have gone on without the distraction.

Or just why the hell you’re still acting like a virgin whenever he looks at you with those fuck-me eyes. Shit!

“Oh and before I forget,” Sasuke said, as he finished up his meal, acting as if nothing had happened between them. “Wednesday is picture day for clubs and stuff. So…I’m guessing Sakura and co will be at the dojo before practice begins. We’ll have to be dressed in our gi. Got it?”

“Aye, aye, captain,” Karin chimed in with a mock salute. “Meeting adjourned? I’ve got dance classes to attend.”

The boys gaped at her and she blushed. “What? I like dancing.”

Suigetsu laughed. “You? Dance? That’s …ouch! That’s it, you bitch! This is the last time you throw something at me.” Before anyone could stop him, he reached for the ketchup bottle and began to squirt the red liquid on Karin. Her squeals were only interrupted by her helpless giggles as she reached for the mustard bottle to squirt its contents, not just on Suigetsu, but on Sai and Sasuke as well.

Naruto, unaware he was holding his breath, wondering if Sasuke would explode in fury, was quite surprised to find the dark-haired boy actually break into a small smile as he reached for the bottle of maple syrup to squirt its contents directly on…

“Oh shit! Sasuke, you bastard!” Naruto laughed in pleasant shock as the thick liquid fell on his hands and then face and all over his uniform. He dove for the extra bottle of strawberry syrup and began to shoot towards Sasuke and Juugo, cracking up as Sasuke tried to dodge the attacks coming at him from all sides as his teammates suddenly ganged up on him.

“OOOOUUUT!!!” came the sudden bellow from the diner owner as he began to stomp towards the misbehaving teenagers. “GET OUT!! ALL OF YOU!!”

“Yes, sir!” Suigetsu cried out, giving a mock salute before tossing the now empty bottle, towards the scowling man. Sasuke was quick to place the money for their meal on the table as they ran out of the diner, all laughing in mirth at the chaos they had caused. They didn’t stop until they reached the gates of the school, each trying to catch their breath.

“That was fun!” Karin giggled. “You all look like shit.”

“Hehe, let’s see you go dancing looking like a walking condiment now, Mademoiselle Karin,” Suigetsu teased as he walked up to her to trace a line down her cheek. He stuck his coated finger within his mouth and licked it off, only to gasp as he was suddenly tugged by his tie and pulled into a hard kiss.

He was released with a loud smack and a breathless whisper from the girl. “That should give you something to think about, bastard. Bye, guys! See ya tomorrow!” She blew kisses at the stumped/stunned/shocked/stupefied boys before skipping away with a song on her lips.

“Wha…what the hell was that?” Suigetsu asked, still frozen in place as if unable to believe what had just taken place. Naruto laughed and placed an arm around the boy’s shoulder.

“That, my good man, was a kiss.”

“I know it’s a kiss, dumbass,” Suigetsu grumbled and pulled away. He looked towards the direction of where Karin had gone, a scowl on his face. “What the fuck did she do that for? Grr. Karin! Get back here!”

He took off after the girl, leaving his teammates staring at him in bemusement.

“Does he even understand the concept of a relationship?” Sasuke finally mumbled as he peeled out of his blazer to eye the mess. His shirt was even worse and let’s not even talk about how sticky his hair and skin felt. He’d have to soak in the tub tonight to completely get rid of the stench.

“I’m sure he’ll figure it out soon enough,” Juugo said quietly. “I have to leave now. I will see you all tomorrow.”

“G’night, Juu,” Sasuke said absently, tugging off his tie.

“G’night Juu,” Sai repeated. He looked as if he couldn’t wait to get out of his messy clothes and was sniffing his blazer with mild disgust on his features. “Are we leaving now, Sasuke?”

“We?” Naruto kicked himself for the question, hoping they wouldn’t read too much into it. Why the fuck had he asked anyway?

Sai seemed to look smug. “I will be working with Sasuke tonight on his…”

“Not tonight, Sai,” Sasuke said as he took off his shirt and ran it through his hair like a towel. He didn’t seem to mind that he was revealing his bandaged torso, not that many people were still on the school grounds to notice or pay that much attention to it anyway.

Sai frowned. “But, you promised we’d work on it tonight. I wanted to show you…”

“Sai,” Sasuke said softly…quietly…in that husky voice Naruto had been privy to before. He could feel his cheeks heat up as Sasuke walked closer to the other boy, leaning close to place a light kiss on the parted lips before him.

I knew it…but more importantly…I’m not seriously getting turned on by watching this, am I?

“Go home, Sai,” Sasuke whispered. “I’ll call you later, okay?”

Sai seemed to want to move even closer to Sasuke, but their captain wasn’t having any of it. He pulled away and slinging his jacket and shirt over his shoulder, began to walk into school without a look back.

“Damn him to hell!” Sai muttered and kicked at a stone angrily. “He can’t keep fucking around with me like this!”

“Why don’t you tell him you like him then?” Naruto asked, not even wanting to have this conversation and yet he was curious as hell.

Sai spared him the same glance he would have given a cockroach. “Don’t you think I have? Unlike you trying to hide your real sexual preferences, I want Sasuke. I need him. I want him so much it hurts, can you possibly understand that? Oh, sorry, of course you wouldn’t. I forgot I was speaking to the school retar…urgh!”

He stumbled to the ground, holding his aching jaw. “That’s right, Naruto. Resort to your barbaric nature when you hear things you don’t like. You think I don’t know about you and that animal, Kiba? Don’t you think your pretend relationship is only a deep, hidden need for male companionship?”

“You’re sick,” was all Naruto could say as he began to walk away, not trusting himself to remain next to Sai, for fear he’d hurt the boy even more.

“No, you’re the one that’s sick,” Sai continued with a bitter laugh as he rose to his feet. “It’s okay to swing both ways, Naruto. Admit it and you’ll feel so much better.”

“Shut the fuck up and go home, dipshit,” Naruto growled, giving Sai the middle finger.

“You wish you could fuck me,” Sai replied with a smirk as he spun on his heels and walked away with an exaggerated swing of his hips. Naruto, as much as he tried to look away, found his gaze straying all the same, and cursing out loud, he squeezed his eyes shut and turned away with an effort. Opening them, he stalked into school, furious at the conversation and at how everyone seemed to want to label him gay all of a sudden.

He knew he shouldn’t have started that stupid game with Kiba.

“Damn it!”

“Naruto? Is that you? What the hell happened?”

Naruto spun around at the sound of the familiar voice, sighing inwardly as he realized who it was. Iruka-sensei…his Math teacher.

“Sensei…” He eyed his messy uniform. “We were playing at the diner…got into a food fight,” he muttered.

“Why am I not surprised?” Iruka replied with a small smile. “Speaking of getting into trouble…you didn’t show up for class today, making it the third time in less than a week. You’ve missed a make up test and if you hope to at least get a C in this class, you’re going to have to make an A in the upcoming test, Naruto. Do you want to stay back and watch your classmates graduate?”

Naruto felt that sinking lurch in his stomach as he looked away from the sad eyes staring at him. He didn’t need Iruka’s pity, but then again, he was one of the few teachers who seemed to still have hope for him.

“I’ll study,” Naruto replied. “I’ll study really hard.”

“Have you tried the student tutoring center,” Iruka asked. “Remember I told you about fellow students who are willing to help…”

“Seriously?” Naruto asked with a scoff. “You think anyone wants to help me? I’m the school moron, remember? They don’t care about helping me. The one time I went there…”

“…you stormed out shouting obscenities, Naruto.”

“That’s because that bitch, Tenten, called me a moron just because I couldn’t figure out some dumb equation she wasn’t even teaching me properly!”

“Naruto…”

“I’ll study on my own and I’ll pass that motherfucking test and then I’ll shut everyone’s mouth up. How’s that?”

“Well, that’s all well and good, but you’ve got to prove it to me. The test is next Friday. Think you can study hard enough by then?”

Naruto panicked at how soon it was, but he nodded firmly and put on a brave front. “You bet I’ll pass it or my name isn’t Uzumaki Naruto…what? Why are you looking at me like that?”

Iruka shrugged and tried to hide his smile. “Because for a moment there, I saw the real Naruto that’s been hiding behind the slacker attitude. I would really like to see him again…maybe on a more permanent basis, hmm?”

He reached out to ruffle the blond’s hair, but decided not to as he took in the sight of the congealing ketchup and whatever else was stuck in there. “Have a goodnight, Naruto.”

“Yeah, whatever,” came the low mumble as Naruto stalked away with sullen bravado… only to slump down against his locker in disbelief at the enormity of the situation. He held his head between his hands and shook it slowly. Who the fuck was he kidding? He couldn’t study that hard in a week! Let alone make an A in a subject he loathed with a passion. Christ! Someone just stamp an F already and get it over and done with.

“I can help if you want.”

Naruto blinked and then lifted his head slowly to stare at the black pair of shoes, up the long legs enclosed in the familiar khaki pants, shirt and blazer. Sasuke had cleaned up as best he could (Naruto figured he kept an extra pair of uniform in school) and his hair was still damp from probably the shower he must have taken in the gym. He smelled pretty nice and Naruto blinked at the errant way his senses had taken him.

“Help me with what?” he finally asked as he raised a brow in bemusement.

“I overheard your conversation with Iruka-sensei,” Sasuke explained as he opened his locker to search for the books he needed. “You need help and I’m offering my services.”

“I’m not paying you.”

“You couldn’t afford me, idiot.”

“I don’t need your help.”

Sasuke slammed his locker shut and spun around to pin an irritated gaze on the sitting blond. “Get your head out of your ass for one second, Naruto and realize how much trouble you’re really in. if you don’t pass that test, you’ll fail, got it?! You’ll repeat the grade! We’ll all graduate and you’ll be left behind! And I can’t fucking let that happen!”

Naruto shrugged and lowered his gaze. “Nice speech, but why should you give a shit? You only want to sleep with me, that’s the only reason you’re trying to act nice. Goddamn you.” He rose to his feet, only to fight back a grunt of pain as he was thrust hard against the locker. He found himself staring into the furious dark eyes and felt a well of shame and yet anger at the way he was being treated.

“What do you want? You want to hit me? Go ahead. Tell me what a moron I am. Go on. I can take it.”

Something flickered within the dark eyes for a moment before Sasuke loosened his death grip on Naruto’s shirt scruff. “Why?” he whispered softly. “Why do you push people away, Naruto?”

I’m afraid of what you might see…

“Look who’s talking, Mr. Big Shot,” Naruto sneered. “You think I don’t know it’s all a front, Sasuke?”

“What are you talking about?”

“You fuck around with people’s feelings and you expect them to act like nothing’s wrong. Sai’s practically drooling for you, man. He wants you so bad, it’s sickening. Why don’t you just put him out of his misery and do him for the sake of it, huh?”

Sasuke’s lips quirked into a smile. “Pretty ironic, don’t you think, Naruto?”

“What?”

“Why don’t you put me out of my misery by doing me, hmm? For the sake of it. Maybe that will get you out of my system.”

Naruto couldn’t stop the blush from flooding his visage as he realized Sasuke was making a valid point. “Yeah…well I’m not giving you any signals like Sai so…”

“No signals?” Sasuke breathed as he leaned closer to whisper into Naruto’s ear. “Then why does this happen when I do this?”

Naruto’s eyes widened as Sasuke thrust a leg between his, his obvious arousal pressed tightly against Naruto’s torso. He gasped and then fought back a whimper at the gentle kiss on his ear, trembling as Sasuke moved ever so slowly…teasing…pressing hard into him until his erection was more evident.

Shit!

“No signals, hmm?” Sasuke muttered thickly, his breath now shallow and hot against Naruto’s neck as he licked and tasted the combined mixture of sweat, ketchup, mustard and syrup from his flesh. “Mmm…spicy and sweet…just the way I like it.”

Oh….God…!

“I haven’t stopped thinking about you…about us…that night…” Each phrase was punctuated with a hard kiss and lick of his skin, causing Naruto’s knees to nearly buckle as he struggled to gain control of the situation. “God, Naruto…just one night with you…we could be…perfect…together…I just know it… but until then…”

He pulled back so suddenly , that Naruto did loose his footing to slide to the floor in a slump, gasping and trying to gather his scattered wits as he looked up and into the flushed but smug visage of his tormentor standing above him.

“I need to whip you into shape.”

Naruto blinked at the brief but random image of Sasuke holding a whip, and shook his head to get rid of it. “Wha…?”

“I need you to work with me, Naruto. After practice, you’ll come to my house, or we’ll go to yours, I don’t care, and for one hour I’ll help you with whatever problems you might have with your classwork. Deal?”

“How do I know you won’t keep doing…” He waved his hand between them, unable to explain just what the hell they were doing anyway. This kissing and dry humping was not exactly what he would categorize as normal.

“Not to worry,” Sasuke reassured him with a shrug. “I do know how to control myself when the occasion calls for it, as bad as my case of blue balls is going to be tonight. So, ready for my brand of teaching? I won’t go easy on you and I’m not the most patient of people.”

“Whatever.”

“Is that a yes?”

Naruto closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Yes! Yes, goddamn it! Teach me! Geez!”

“A thank you, Sasuke would have sufficed, you ungrateful fucktard,” Sasuke scoffed. “Tomorrow, we go home together, got it?”

Naruto opened his eyes. “You’re really serous about this, aren’t you?”

“I don’t fuck around when I set my mind to something, Naruto.”

“No kidding.”

“Tomorrow then?”

“Tomorrow…sensei.”

“Huh.” With a small smile, the captain walked away, leaving a very bemused boy behind. If he had stayed a bit longer, perhaps he would have seen the grateful look that eventually filled Naruto’s countenance. For besides Shika, Chouji and Kiba, no other student had really gone out of their way to help Naruto for anything, and knowing that the Uchiha Sasuke (for all his perverseness) was willing to go this far for him…

…my heart…shit…why…why does it hurt in this funny way…?

Chapter Ten

©KiyaSama 2009