Welcome. I'm Wing, and I plan to keep an archive of my writing here. I sometimes leave my house without a flashdrive, and find myself itching to finish a story... but I don't remember what I wrote beforehand. I'm hoping that if I have an Internet back up, I can write wherever I want, as long as there's an Internet connection. C:

Of course, I'm not expecting anyone to read this stuff. (My writing is kind of horrible, hehe.) But if anyone does read, you're welcome to critique me through a PM. Please do not post in this thread, since it might confuse me. @[email protected]

Note: Every post signifies a scene change or time skip.

Plan B: Plan A

"S-Sasuke! Matte!"

With a blush spreading quickly across her cheek, Haruno Sakura took a deep breath. She mustered all of her strength to turn the corner. The pink-haired girl knew what awaited her there; her fate, her destiny... she needed to follow this plan through, and this was the crucial moment. Trembling, she forced herself to look into a pair of dark, midnight eyes.

And immediately, she had to look back down before a nosebleed could start.

Indeed, even a second of Uchiha Sasuke's sparkly-sparkliness could cause a girl to have a heart attack or writhe around on the ground in a spazzing spell. Due to his good looks, flawless skin, cool demeanor, or just plain sexiness, the sixteen-years-old boy earned himself a fanclub the minute he stepped into the grounds of Konoha High two years ago. And Haruno Sakura, being one of the first to spot and talk to this prince, was self-proclaimed Number One Sasuke Fangirl, President of the Official Uchiha Sasuke Fanclub.

Even though she's obtained these titles, no person could possibly muster enough courage for the type of thing that she was about to do. Needless to say, no one has ever even tried to do what she was about to do. She was face to face with the teen that all girls--and maybe even some guys--from her high school dreamed about dating. After all, Sasuke pwnz0rz all other eye candy.

"What?" A voice interrupted her thoughts. She looked back up with a start, only to be blinded by Uchiha-smexiness once again, though with a stop-friggin'-stalking-me-and-go-away expression added on.

"A-ano," Sakura stuttered. It was a mistake to look back up, she realized. She was so full of nervous energy, there was no doubt that she would seem like an idiot in front of her crush. Heck, it was a mistake to ask him this in person! Why couldn't she use some other form of communication? Being a Sasuke stalke--err, fangirl or wife-to-be, she knew the phone number (cell, home, and even older brother's), street address, email address, and every possible connection to the boy. Inner-Sakura sighed in regret, nudging her physical self forward. It was too late to turn around. "I-I was wondering, Sasuke-kun... there's this dance coming up, and--"

"Not interested," Sasuke interrupted immediately, turning around. "If that's all you wanted to say, Sakura that was a big waste of my time."

Dejected, the pink-haired girl could only bask in the silence as her mind blanked. She watched as the teen walked away, footsteps muffled except for the occasional step on those crunchy leaves fallen from the barren trees. She couldn't think. Once again, Sasuke had said no. It wasn't the first time, but it hurt. The pain was as real as the first time...

"W-wait!" She yelled again, rushing forward this time to grab hold of Sasuke's arm. She flinched as he immediately pulled away. "Wh-why? Sasuke..." She said his name as if it would make things better. The hand that touched her prince was now in a tight fist, her other hand covering over it as she brought both of them to her chest. "It's been two years. I've loved you for that long, Sasuke-kun! Why... why can't you respond to my feelings?" She paused, something wet stinging her eyes causing her to close them to hold back the water works. It did her no good to cry in front of Sasuke-kun.

"...I'm not interested in girls, Sakura."

More leaf-crunching was heard, and then silence greeted her once again. The next time Sakura opened her green orbs, Sasuke was gone, not a trace of him lingered.

She frowned. What was that all about? Sasuke-kun wasn't interested in girls? What type of girls? Sakura-type? The smart-type? So... Sasuke-kun actually preferred the stupid, pig-headed Ino-type?! That couldn't be right. Ino-pig was so stupid that she'd probably never get a boyfriend. So maybe it's because...

Realization hit her like a 100-mph hydrogen-filled train with lighters(1). Quickly, she unzipped her bag, pulling out a mirror and inspecting herself closely. That was it! She wasn't wearing any make-up today! Silly Sakura, trying to ask people on a date when she wasn't even wearing lipgloss! No wonder Sasuke-kun rejected her, she was being like an Ino today!

Nevertheless, her super-evil-intelligent-smart-great-I'm-gonna-make-Sasuke-mine-and-no-one-else's: Plan A had failed. She now needed another plan...

"Yosh! Time for plan B!" Talking to no one in particular, she grinned, shooting a fist up into the air. But then, she hesitated. "What is plan B?"

Ten feet... five... almost there...

"Uzumaki Naruto!"

...shit.

"What, Iruka-sensei?"

Naruto got up from the ground, dusting himself slightly as he gave the teacher his best Fox-Grin-TM, sun-kissed golden locks and all. This, however, didn't seem to have an effect on Iruka as he marched down the isles with a pissed-off expression on his face. Really, Naruto wanted to poke the vein on top of his teacher's forehead just to see if it would pop at contact.

"Why are you crawling on the floor?"

"Crawling... on the floor?" Naruto repeated, stalling for time.

"Yes, crawling on the floor. Right now. In my first period class."

"Oh, uhm... I was trying to get back my pencil... sir. It's my... only one. So I had to pick it up."

"I see. Retrieving your pencil..."

"Yeah, it fell onto the floor..."

"...with your backpack on?"

Double shit.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, Uzumaki Naruto reminded himself to get a new alarm clock as fast as possible. This was the third time in a row that he'd been late to Iruka-sensei's morning class, and no doubt the teacher was getting pissed at him, favorite student or not. Problem is, the blonde never found the time to get one, not to mention the money.

Really, why did his foster-parents cut back his allowance for yet another month? It technically wasn't his fault that he'd burnt a priceless oil painting in the house. What was so great about a picture of a vase anyway? That Van Gough guy was dead, so he couldn't care less.

And, famous dead painters aside, he still had a pissed-off history teacher in front of him to deal with.

"Uh, you see," he cleared his throat, trying to make up a legitimate excuse to his tardy. "I was walking to school, perfectly on time when I noticed I forgot my math homework. So I went back home to get it, you see. But when I got home, I saw that y house was on fire. You have no idea, Iruka-sensei! It was really scary! All of my ramen was inside that house! So I had to run to the nearest telephone both, you see, and that was pretty far away--"--apparently, none of the neighbors saw the fire, or was willing to lend the boy their phones--"--and dialed for the fire department. So now, my house is partially safe, and I'm late for school."

There. That seemed good enough.

Naruto grinned slightly, hopefully, back up at his teacher. The lie was absolutely flawless, even the police chief would believe it!

Unfortunately, Iruka either was an intellectual far above the one of a police chief, or he had a super-awesome lie-detector. Looking down at the boy, he raised a skeptical eyebrow, telling Naruto that he had a week of detention to add on to the list of two months (Naruto swore, he was going to have detention until the end of senior year!) and made him sit down in his assigned seat.

With an angry mutter, Naruto did as told, swinging his bookbag off of his shoulders before slumping into his chair. He stuck his tongue out at the back of Iruka-sensei's head. Doing so, he noticed the smirk of a certain boy sitting near the front. From the back of the room, Naruto scowled back, only to notice the boy's expression widening in amusement before turning around to face Iruka-sensei once again. The blonde flipped up his middle finger, muttering a quiet, "asshole, what's his problem?" before pulling out his binder and flipping to the history section.

"We'll start with our homework from yesterday," he heard Iruka say in the faint distance. And, instead of doing as told, he just looked outside the window.

Five... four... three... two... c'mon, this clock couldn't be slow... two and a half... one... almost... zero!

Ding, ding, ding!

Though later than usual, the dismissal bell rang for fourth period, and it was music to Naruto's ears. He was getting tired of Kakashi's rambles about cosines and algorithms--what were they for, anyway? It wasn't as if they had any real uses in life. Tossing all that to the back of his head, he got up, swinging his bookbag over his shoulder before making his way down the corridor.

"Hey, Naruto!"

Over the loud voices of the swarming morning student-traffic came Shikamaru's yell. At the sound of his name being called, said blonde scanned the mass for the pineapple-hair of his friend. The boy was standing in the corner with a vending machine with Chouji on the right. The pudgy boy was already opening a bag of chips.

Before Naruto came to Konoha, it was just Shikamaru and Chouji, best friends. They had met one fateful day in elementary school, both being too 'uncool' to play basketball with the other kids. Instead, Shikamaru settled with watching clouds in a field nearby. A discontent Chouji found him, wondering what the other was doing. Being the observant kid that he was, eight-years-old Shikamaru taught Chouji a valuable lesson: "Screw the other kids, who cares what they thought when you can just enjoy clouds?"; though not in those exact words.

"Shikamaru!" Naruto replied, squeezing through the crowds. With a frown, he noted that Kiba wasn't with them. Not wanting to be a third wheel, he continued, "Where's Kiba?"

Ever since then, the two of them had been best friends in the reject group. That, however, changed in high school, when Naruto moved in with his foster parents. The blonde became a temporary third-wheel, a newcomer that didn't quite fit in any groups, but rather just stuck with the group that fitted the most. After that, came Kiba, who was Naruto's bickering-buddy and partner-in-crime.

"The hell you mean, 'where's Kiba'?!" A voice rang behind Naruto, a hand reaching out to smack his head.

"Ow! What was that for, idiot?!"

"Yeah, yeah. Shut up, I'm starving!"

With continued insults being tossed back and forth and Chouji and Shikamaru trailing behind, the group arrived in the cafeteria, making straight for the lunch lines. Chouji, who brought lunch, opened a bag of chips and followed. Before Naruto even had a chance to grab that cup of instant ramen from its stand, however, he felt something tug at the sleeve of his orange sweatshirt. Instantly, he whirled around, expecting it to be Kiba trying a new trick or something.

Instead of meeting face-to-face with the dog-lover, however, he was suddenly blinded by a blur of pink and a blast of flower fragrance. Naruto blinked--since when had Kiba ever started to wear pink and put on perfume?

"Naruto!"

...and that feminine voice. He was pretty sure that Kiba wasn't castrated before puberty leaving the boy's body with lack of testosterone. He tilted his head to the side, only to meet the light-green gaze of one Haruno Sakura.

"O-oh! Hey, S-Sakura-chan!" He stuttered, caught unaware. Inwardly, he cursed himself for stuttering like a certain weird Hyuuga that he knew. "Uhm... what's up? Ha... I thought you were Kiba for a second."

He recieved silence for an answer, and the blonde winced inwardly as he realized that he had made a wrong move. The girl looked at him strangely, letting go of her hold on his arm.

Naruto wished he could crawl up a hole, shrivel-up and die.

Perhaps it was love at first sight. After all, Sakura was the first person that had interacted with Naruto when he arrived at the school, never mind the end result. (He had lain on the floor in a bloody pulp as she stalked away. Really, girls were so violent.) But whenever the girl was close, Naruto said the dorkiest things--even for a third-wheeler in the wrong crowd. Luckily, Kiba, albeit unknowingly, came to his rescue.

"Have you lost it, man?" An arm swung around Naruto's shoulder. "You thought she was me?"

"Suuuure, Kiba," Naruto replied, glad to get his mind off of the girl for a second. "You're just as sexy and charming."

"Pshh, Naruto. Sorry to turn you down, but I don't swing that way."

And there it was again. Another round of silence minus the chattering of the other people in the lunch line. Naruto shifted unconsciously next to Sakura, glad that the line was actually moving forward. In silence, he grabbed a cup noodle and swiped his ID card at the end of the line, a glaring Asian lunch lady pressing a few buttons before allowing him to leave.

"Thanks... I guess," Sakura finally broke the silence. "Um... Naruto. I was wondering... if you can sit with me at lunch today."

Naruto widened his eyes. Kiba smirked. Chouji and Shikamaru were nowhere to be seen; perhaps they already found a table somewhere. Before the boy could protest and before his rude friend could make a crude comment, Sakura dragged him off, hot water tipping over from the ramen cup's edge and scalding his skin.

"...itai, itai, itai!" Naruto shouted as Sakura firmly pushed him into a seat. "Sakura-chan, that hurt!"

Sakura fought the urge to roll her eyes as she took the seat next to the boy. Great, the girls next to her were already giving her weird looks. She sighed. Ah, Sasuke-kun. The things I do for you...

"I'm sorry," she said as sincerely as she could. "Are you okay?"

Naruto seemed to freeze in place. Of course he would, when had Sakura ever cared about the wellbeing of the other? Impatiently, she took his hand in hers, examining his skin. They were red, but they seemed alright. Naruto had recieved worse from her before.

"I-It's okay, Sakura-chan," came the reply at last. "So, er. What's so different about today? Why'd you invite me to sit with you?"

"I have something to ask you," Sakura said immediately.

Of course, she normally wouldn't sit with such a person. Really, Sakura, sitting with the social outcast of the school? Those two subjects shouldn’t even be mentioned in the same sentence! But it was a special part of her super-evil-intelligent-smart-great-I'm-gonna-make-Sasuke-mine-and-no-one-else's: Plan B; mission Get-Sasuke-Jealous, so it was possible to endure the talk that would ensue afterwards.

"What is it?" was the curious reply.

She pretended to blush and giggle, looking the other way. From the corner of her vision, she could spy Sasuke, and her heart leapt when she realized that he had been looking their way. No doubt the plan was working already.

"Um, well... I was wondering. Who do you... like...?" She hoped he would take the hint.

"Oh, who do I like?" Naruto repeated. "I like you of course, Sakura-chan! No, wait, scratch that. I think I l-lo-l-lov--"

Sakura giggled again, scooting closer to Naruto. Hoping Sasuke was still looking their way, she smirked, resting her head on Naruto's shoulder. The repulsing smell of anything but perfume--was it the ramen?-- reached her nose as she fought the urge to wrinkle her nose and pull back. No, she was doing this to get Sasuke, and nothing as small as this can stop her! After all, she couldn't let Ino-pig win.

"I think I like you too," Sakura said. "Will you go to the dance with me?"

She glanced towards Sasuke's direction again. And to her great delight, the Uchiha was scowling furiously.

More than anything that moment, Sasuke wanted to go up to the table and slap the bitch right there. A strong wave of--what was that feeling, hatred? No, it couldn't be jealousy. He couldn't be jealous of Sakura. With his current family situation, there was just no way he could be jealous. Itachi would never let him see the living light of day ever again...

Naruto's face was a cute shade of light-pink. Sasuke felt his fists tighten, nails digging into the palm of his hands. How many times did he dream of being the one able to do that to the other boy? How many times did he think of kissing those lips, those whisker-like indents on his cheeks? How many times did he wake up in the middle of the night, feeling the bulge ever-southwards because of him?

That Sakura-bitch thought she could make him jealous, huh? Well, the plan certainly worked. In fact, it worked so well, that it was pissing the Uchiha off. Everyone within a sixteenth of a mile had to get up and move, in fear of the unconsciously-emitted death-waves-of-d00m, TM.

Indeed, Sakura needed to realize what she was doing to him. Sakura needed to be taught the lesson that she should never mess with an Uchiha. By the end of Sasuke's ultra-brilliant-super-evil-intelligent-brilliant-smart-great-I'm-gonna-make-Naruto-mine-and-no-one-else's: Plan A, Sakura wouldn't even know what hit her.

...after all, she had a very big and ugly forehead.

Plan B: Plan B

Sasuke glared at the back of the teacher's head. He was in ninth grade, a freshman at Konoha High... yet still in Honor's History! It was a disgrace upon the Uchiha name that he wasn't in the highest class offered for students of his grade level. He cursed his silver-haired teacher for not recommending him to take the Advanced Placement course. What kind of idiot was he? After half a semester of sitting in class, shouldn't the man notice that the kid in his class was scoring perfect in everything? Instead, Sasuke was still in the class, listening to Kakashi-sensei drone on about Civil War. When Sasuke confronted the masked teacher about it, he simply smiled--indicated by the half-moon of the only eye not covered by that weird mask--and told Sasuke that he would someday thank him for not moving him up.

Pfft. As if.

Said teacher was now scribbling on the board in a messy scrawl that Sasuke didn't even bother to decipher, let alone copy down. They were all straight from chapter summaries of the textbook.

Suddenly, the rather loud opening and closing of a door snapped Sasuke out of his one-sided glaring contest. From his window seat by the back of the room, he tilted his head to see through the gaps between students' heads.

A scrawny blonde boy walked up to Kakashi, studying the floor with a blush. His clothes were several sizes bigger than him, making him look smaller than he already was. Without looking up, he handed Kakashi-sensei a piece of paper, which the teacher studied for a second before arching a curious eyebrow at the boy.

"I... um... went to the wrong school," the boy said quietly, but loud enough so that even Sasuke from the back of the room could catch the phrase. "I... just got dropped off here twenty minutes ago."

"So you've been to the wrong high school for two days?" Kakashi asked.

"Y-yeah. Suna High, before one of the teachers realized I didn't belong there."

The student body giggled at this confession, and Kakashi had to wave them off to silence them. The boy, at this point, looked like he wished the ground would swallow him whole and save him from his embarrassment.

"Class, this is Uzumaki Naruto," Kakashi said, writing his name on the board. "Let's see. It says here that he recently moved here from Hokkaido... eh, that's pretty far away, isn't it? Anyway, I expect you o be nice and show him around the school—or whatever you kids do with each other—nothing above PG-13. For now, Uzumaki-san, we need to find you a seat."

Sasuke glared at the empty seat next to him, which happened to be the only one in the room. He preferred the seat next to him to be empty, thank you very much, to keep him away from the rest of the students. They distracted him from what was important, his one true goal, and he couldn't afford it. He owed his aniki too much for that.

As the boy made his way down the rows, hands fondling nervously with his book bag straps, Sasuke had a chance to study his face more closely. He wore an almost empty hollow expression, with strange, whisker-like scars on his cheeks. When he found the stare of the other, however, he offered a timid, guarded smile. But his sky-blue eyes remained expressionless.

Sasuke looked away. He hated it. He hated how the eyes were strangely empty, unfitting of this boy whose blonde hair and bright clothing stood him apart from everyone else's shades of blue and grey. He hated the eyes that were empty, insecure, that reflected his very own eyes. The boy could have been a mere opposite of himself, but in every way, he was the same as Sasuke.

And Sasuke hated himself.

"No way!" Ino's loud voice rang down the hall. "He was so totally not jealous, big-forehead!"

"I swear, he was glaring at him. He was jealous, he was!"

"In your dreams! I bet you're just imagining it. Anyway, everyone knows that he likes me better."

Sasuke sighed. Even after school, he was still the topic of gossip on every girl's tongue. Apparently, Sakura had thought that he, of all people, wanted to take Naruto's spot. No, it was more the other way around. As weird and un-Uchiha-like it seemed, he wanted to take the place of one of his fan girls. It pissed him off that she was the one able to make Naruto smile, that the boy would consider the cheating bitch his most important person.

At first, he had thought that just watching Naruto was enough. He could be his friend while still maintaining a considerable distance, just to ensure that both of them wouldn’t get emotionally wounded in the end. However, now that this had happened, there was no way he could simply sit still. By being with Sakura, chances are, Naruto would go back to how he was when he had first transferred to Konoha High…

"You're reading pages 125 to 134 and answering all the questions on the worksheet," Kakashi's voice rang across the quiet classroom. "Get to it, there's about twenty minutes left."

Sasuke wordlessly pulled out the heavy textbook from his book bag, flipping to assigned pages and began reading. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the boy twitch. Not used to having an animate object as his neighbor, Sasuke looked up from mid-paragraph to recognize his distraction, curious as to what was going on.

Blue eyes caught his stare, but was immediately lowered as Naruto ducked his head back down and blushed. Still, the boy fidgeted, biting his thumb. Not knowing why, Sasuke glared, now at the locks of blonde hair. Though he didn't know why, he couldn't help but be angry at the new boy. He was always anxious, emitting an unhappy aura. Of course, akin to himself, the Uchiha emitted death-wave auras as well. But for this boy...

...it seemed a little off. It didn't fit him to be so sad and shy. His smile wasn't his own, rather a forced and painful upside-down frown. Sasuke vaguely wondered why the boy behaved in such away.

"Naruto, why are you not working?" Kakashi's voice jolted Sasuke out of his thoughts

"Um..." Naruto looked down, avoiding eye-contact. "I didn't get assigned a history textbook yet."

"I don't think we have any books left in this classroom. For now, you can just share with someone."

The blonde fidgeted some more, glancing the Uchiha's direction briefly before looking back down. Sasuke looked back down, acting disinterested. A part of him wished that he would simply ask his other neighbor to share books. After all, why would he want to share a book with some sad, scrawny-looking boy that has nil social skills?

His conscience just wouldn’t let him go. After five minutes, he realized that he was reading the same line over and over again. Class was almost over, and the worksheet was due at the end of the period. With a sigh, he shifted his desk over and slid the book in between them. For the good of his perfect A, he would have to share.

Startled, Naruto glanced up. In this moment of unguarded emotion, his dull dark-blue eyes were suddenly a vibrant ligh-blue, dancing quizzically in an emotion other than sadness and uncertainty. In a moment, it was gone.

“Here, idiot. All you had to do was ask.”

Sasuke watched as Naruto's lips curved upward into an uncertain smile.

"Yeah right, Sakura. It wasn't your make up, you look ugly even if you had any—Sasuke-kun! What're you doing here?"

Both girls stopped their argument as he approached them. Two pairs of eyes immediately looked at him, eyeing him like their dessert. He had to suppress the urge to turn around and leave. Never mind his plan and Naruto. Currently, he felt just like an accessory, even without those leather outfits that his aniki designs for the Uchiha fashion company.

"Can I talk to Ino for a second?" he asked.

"Sure," Sakura replied. She made no attempt to move.

"…alone?"

Sakura opened her mouth as if to object, but instead thought better of it and walked away, giving Ino a glare.

Ino chose to ignore her friend's look, instead glancing over at Sasuke. Though Ino considered herself Sasuke's biggest fan, the teen had never really talked to him before. Instead, she chose to be the mysterious type--maybe Sasuke-kun liked them better than the girls surrounding him all day, coughSakuracough. Speaking of the girl, she was now nowhere in sight.

"Ne, Sasuke..." Ino began. "What do you want to talk to me about?

She was no fool not to recognize the special occasion. After all, Sasuke-kun never approached her by himself.

"Homecoming is next week, isn't it?" came the sudden question.

Her eyes widened. Why was Sasuke-kun asking about... the dance? The same Sasuke that almost never attended dances, was talking to her about the dance? Heck, even Sakura-big-forehead asked just the day before... Her voice failing her in reply, Ino simply nodded.

"I was wondering if you had a date, Ino."

If Ino's eyes were wide before, they were practically saucers at the suggestive statement. Luckily, her voice had found itself to her throat again.

"Y-e-es. Of course, Sasuke-kun!"

"Oh, really?" Sasuke raised an unbelieving eyebrow. Damn, how did she get a date?

“O-oh, I mean,” Ino blushed. She had gotten ahead of herself, already agreeing to Sasuke’s unasked question. “I don’t have a date, so…”

"Great. What time should I pick you up?"

Hah. Take that, Sakura-big-forehead. Hard work paid off after all.

"Eh?! You've never had ramen before?!" The voice of Uzumaki Naruto rang throughout the lunchroom, causing Sasuke to wince. It seemed to have hit record high; not even a fat opera lady could top the note.

"No, I haven't." Sasuke looked away from the incredulous gaze. So what? The stuff wasn't healthy for you anyway. He just couldn't understand why the stupid dead-last would eat it for lunch everyday for the past three days since his arrival.

"Well you shouldn't insult it before you've even tried it, idiot!"

"It's bad for you. Why should I even try it?"

"Well, junk food's bad for you too, but it still tastes good."

"Never had that, either."

"What?! Uchiha, you're crazy."

"I’m just not suicidal like you, dobe.”

"I’ll make you take that back!"

With that, Naruto bolted from his side of the table, bowl of ramen left uneaten. Sasuke, unfazed, poked at the onigiri from his packed lunch. Even though his aniki was awesome and everything, his packed lunches were anything but.

A few moments later, he looked up as Naruto emerged from the lunch line, carrying another bowl of ramen. Around him, girls (and a few guys) turned their heads and glared. Oblivious to the negative tension, the idiot made his way back to Sasuke's table, setting the second bowl down next to the first one.

"Are you eating two bowls this time?" Sasuke stared. The idiot had room for more in his stomach?

"No!" Naruto replied, pushing the new bowl in front of Sasuke. "You're gonna try ramen today, whether you like it or not!"

Sasuke didn't reply. He definitely was not eating that thing. Heck, even aniki's onigiri would take less years from his life than that stuff.

“Fine, do you need me to feed it to you? Say ahhhh…”

Something warm and wet touched his lips. Startled, he pulled back, spilling his packed lunch all over the bench which he was sitting on. From the other side of the table, Naruto was holding up a chopstick-full of ramen. Sasuke glared, at both Naruto and his noodles.

"Look at what you did, idiot!"

"...I'm sorry," Naruto's face was once again blank, staring at a clean spot on the table in front of him. “I’ll go clean up this mess.”

Sasuke glanced at the back of Naruto’s head before getting up to follow. Chances are, if that idiot was in charge of cleaning up, he would make the situation worse than before.

He made a grab for some napkins and hurried back to his seat, without meeting Naruto’s eyes. He didn’t have to look to know what expression the dobe had; it was one that he was first greeted by, the one that he hated. The one that he had tried to change in the first place by being his friend.

“Sasuke, you don’t have to clean up. It’s my fault in the first place.”

“It’s okay,” he muttered, scrubbing the same spot on the floor. “It didn’t taste that good anyway.”

Naruto didn’t reply. The chatter of the students naturally filled in the silence, and they cleaned in peace. (At least, Naruto tried to. He kept dropping the grains of rice.) With Sasuke’s skilled rice-picking ability, the floor and table was quickly cleaned. They sat back at the table, with Naruto glancing down awkwardly at his noodles.

“…dobe, aren’t you going to eat that? It’s getting cold.”

“It’s okay. After that, I don’t think I’m hungry…”

Sasuke looked at him incredulously. “I thought ramen was the best.”

“It is, but…”

“…but what?”

“It’s… it’s not hot, that’s what!” Naruto glanced up through his bangs and shot Sasuke a glare.

“Oh, is that really what it is?”

“Yes!”

“In that case,” Sasuke said, getting up, “since you’ve ruined both of our lunches, I have no choice but to buy you a new bowl.”

Naruto pushed his cold, soggy noodles to the side. “How does that logic even work? I ruined your food, so you buy lunch for me?”

“Well, it’s okay if you don’t want it,” Sasuke smirked, walking away. “I’ll eat it by myself.”

“O-oi,” blue eyes opened wide. Not being the one to miss free food, Naruto got up and followed. “I thought you didn’t eat instant ramen! Wait!”

Sasuke swiped a sideways glance at Naruto and smiled slightly. That expression was gone from his face.

"Hello, Ino-pig."

"Hello, Sakura-big-forehead."

In front of the school's long-deserted gates, two girls stood face to face. A strong gust of wind blew around them, lifting the dust from the ground. Like a western showdown, tumbleweeds (generously provided by Mini Wings Stage Props Inc.) rolled across the ground.

Quick as lightning, the pink-haired girl struck out.

"So, tell me, Ino!--” --This name was spat out with a loathing tone-- “--What did Sasuke-kun want to talk to you about?"

Though caught off guard, the other girl maintained her composure. "Take a good guess, Sakura!"

"I bet it was about how ugly and annoying you are! Hmph."

"You wish!" Ino scoffed. "He asked me out to the dance!"

Sakura stiffened. No, Ino was lying. How could Sasuke-kun chose some... some airheaded girl over her? She glared at Ino. A sudden urge to hit the girl overcame her as she looked at her smirking face.

"Aren't you just jealous? If you didn't ask that stupid Naruto out, maybe you would have had a chance... wait no, I take that back. Sasuke-kun would never like someone like you!”

TBC