68A/N: THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!I love you all! I was oober inspired, so I got started on this right away. o3o So cooool… But then I had to stop when I was halfway done to help paint our house. XDD Looool. We're moving to ALASKA.
And Nadramon! I just want to thank you for the wonderful review. It helped immensely! All should be explained soon enough! And as for the 'Mr. Iruka' thing, I don't think of Naruto would bother with such a formality. XD Hehe. All of the other students call Iruka by "Mr. Umino ", but since most people would guess that Naruto is closer to Iruka than most of the other students, he would be more comfortable calling him by his first name.
Not out of disrespect or anything. ;P Just Naruto being Naruto.
Anyway, onto the chapter!
"Sasuke Uchiha, eh? Well then, Sasuke, go ahead and take a seat next to…" His eyes scanned the room, looking for an empty seat. An empty seat that had not been there just moments before.
No one noticed.
"Ah. Naruto. Naruto, can you raise your hand up please?"
Naruto was at an absolute loss.
He remained unmoving on the floor, feeling his blood go cold. He lost all ability to function, temporarily forgetting how to string together even a single sentence.
There was-…
….
He was-…
….
That was-…
…
What the hell…?
His eye twitched, concluding that he would most certainly NOT raise his hand. There was no way. He couldn't figure it out. Everything was going too fast. Nothing was making sense.
It was-…
This was passing dangerously over the line of undeniable madness. Like, the line where you are destined to spend the rest of your life staring at wall in a puddle of your own drool. Drooling your life away, because of the mental trauma of your early life. That was the final straw. He was going crazy for sure.
The one from his dream, the 'angel' was STANDING IN THE FRONT OF HIS CLASSROOM!
Inky black hair that framed his face brilliantly, bored expression, creamy skin, black slacks, and a simple white button-up shirt… He hadn't yet acquired his school uniform. He had an otherworldly type of beauty about him that did not escape the notice of his classmates. He seemed to glow with the light that hit him from overhead. Just like before….
He spared a glance around the classroom, throat tight, eyes unfocused, and holding back the ungodly urge to go straight to the counselors office, and ask them to admit him to the nearest mental hospital.
As he guessed, the whole classroom was holding an intent interest in the boy in front of the classroom.
He felt a desperate need to whimper, but settled on a manly gargle in the back of his throat instead.
Coincidence? He couldn't even comprehend HOW that could be an option.
He spent a few moments of silence trying to form the sentence that was in his mind onto his tongue. He was having the utmost trouble forming syllables.
"Asuma sensei, I have to pee! Right now!" Although it was numb-sounding, he wasted no time waiting for a reply. Forcing himself to regain feeling in his legs, he instinctively dashed out of the room without a single look backwards. Near the doorway, he found himself unconsciously avoiding the air around the black-haired boy as much as he could. As he tried to avoid the boy though, who was watching him with an air of amusement as he left, he couldn't stop his eyes from flickering towards him several times.
Stepping out into the hallway, and sidestepping away from the door, he listened carefully for the voices coming from the classroom. His classmates were now verbalizing their keen interest in the Uchiha boy all at once.
"Class! Class, calm down! We have a lecture to get back to!" Asuma's voice cut through the rest of them, and jumped slightly as he gave a pronounced cough. "Well then, Sasuke… Just take a seat there, anyway…"
Naruto took a deep breath, and started towards the bathroom at a fast pace, not bothering to listen anymore.
Must come to terms with this undeniable madness first.
He sped up as he turned down another hallway leading to said bathroom.
This could not be happening. He desolately thought to himself, face scrunching up in a look of disbelief.
His mind raced with excuses. He had been trying to come up with them for hours, and each one got more unbelievable than the last.
Coincidence! He cried inwardly, sensing the desperate tone, even in his own mind. Pure coincidence! Coincidences happened all the time! Who cares what he thought earlier?! This was the only thing he could cling to. As unconfident as it was…
Besides, he was past all coherent thinking at that point.
He groaned softly as he shoved the door to the men's bathroom open, and practically fell though it.
He felt as though he had just eaten his adoptive father's cooking, his stomach knotting up painfully in tension.
Coincidences happened, but never to this extent….
Coming to terms with reality sucked.
He swallowed, his throat suddenly feeling very dry as he walked over to the sink. He put his hands down on the counter surrounding it, taking several deep, calming breaths, whilst staring at himself in the mirror. There had to be an explanation to something like this. A logical, rational explanation that would solve everything. There was an answer for everything. This little dilemma was no different.
Bad ramen, not enough sleep, hit in the head so hard that it made him completely delusional, an extra serving of cafeteria food, the possibility of dreaming, the inhalation of a toxin emitting from the 4-month-old food that lay forgotten under his bed, and was pretty sure by this point has sprouted a mind of its own, aliens… just thinking too damn much…
His stomach twisted oddly, realizing how unlikely they actually were.
Just-… just got to… gotta' think… The desperate tone was still there, as he stared at himself in the mirror.
He wracked his brain, going over the events of the past few days, pushing the serious thought of aliens from his mind.
Coherent thoughts! He reminded himself agitatedly
So…
3 days before, he had woken up, and gone to school like usual. He came home, went upstairs to write a last-minute essay for Science, and came back down for food a few hours after half-completed his half-assed essay. As he was getting out a bowl for ramen, he dropped it, and it broke. His father had gotten mad, obviously after drinking a few too many beers, and promptly gave him a few swift kicks... to like… put him in his place or something… Zabuza fell asleep. Probably in a drunken haze. Though that isn't what the angel had said.
He dragged himself upstairs to get on with his nightly routine. There was absolutely nothing out of the ordinary, until he got to his door. There was someone in his room. He had claimed to be an angel. Naruto had told him to his face that he didn't believe in him, and wanted to go to bed. The boy walked over, supposedly 'healed' him, and he fell asleep. Of course, he could have been absolutely delusional, and it had all be a figment of his imagination.
He woke up that morning feeling… good. Before he had gone to school, his dad had actually asked if he was all right. That in itself was totally weird, and unnatural. He thought it to be impossible, until that point. Everything had gone good for him since then. Nothing bad happened. His homework that had not been finished, and forgotten on his table that morning appeared by his foot in the middle of Biology class. Finished. Somehow… And then to top it all off, he got home to find his room clean.
It had proceeded like that for nearly 3 days. And now..
The angel was in his class…
He let out a soft, breathy laugh of disbelief.
The angel was in his class, now. The same one that he had seen.
Out of nowhere. Just a few day later. He looked JUST like him… He had the same NAME…
Coincidence or not, it was just too damn freaky.
Weither the boy was an angel, a stalker of some sort, or really was just a creepy coincidence, it had him… curious, much to his surprise. The more he thought about it, the more it seemed to sink in, though the idea still seemed numb to him.
He pushed away the uneasy feeling brewing inside of him, letting out a deep, calming breath. He reluctantly agreed with himself that if this was really, honestly happening, that he would just have to get to the bottom of it… Even after just a day of the odd happenings, it was enough to haunt him for the rest of his life if he didn't figure out what exactly the hell was going on.
So he would go back to class… and…
He blinked thoughtfully, feeling his chest start to tingle unpleasantly in unease.
Sit down, watch the boy suspiciously, and… go home and eat? That sounded about right… in all actuality, nothing would probably happen. It really was just a new student… More likely than not, no matter how he looked at it, it was all probably just a big fluke. Even if not, if he was an angel, there really wasn't anything to worry about, right? They were good. They were supposed to help. He had nothing to be afraid of if that ended up being the case.
But… if he WAS actually a stalker, or an angel or whatever, he would…
Eh…
He would get to it when the time came.
Sasuke sat in the desk he was 'assigned' to, gripping his pencil loosely in his hand. His elegant lips were tilted in an amused smile, sending an occasional glance at the door that Naruto had run out of. He must have really scared the poor boy, to have him run out of the room like that.
His approach had probably not been NEARLY as tactful as it should have been. In fact, he would probably get in a bit of trouble for playing with the blonde's emotions as such. But they wouldn't fail him for something like this. He was a good guardian angel, and the elders knew it. He just concluded after the full day of watching him that this would certainly be the best approach, although he had no doubt that his assignment was questioning his sanity at that moment.
His small smirk twitched, gently tilting his head to hide it in his clasped fingers.
He found that every time he did something to help the boy out, Naruto had always had a certain reaction that he would give. It was a shocked, wide-eyed look, along with some nervous fidgeting, and a laugh of discomfort. Occasionally it was followed by a few select words of confusion, or a curse or two. It made Sasuke laugh every single time, despite himself.
The reaction, and trivial satisfaction he got out of poking gentle fun at his assignment made him realize that he was just slightly abusing his angelic abilities for the few short days he observed, and analyzed Naruto's lifestyle. But it was harmless. His motives were absolutely harmless. So it was okay. Besides, he gathered what he needed to know, and he would only be teasing the blonde a bit longer. Naruto would catch on soon enough. Just as soon as he got over his primary denial.
Unless he was as stupid as he seemed.
He was a loud boy. Loud, obnoxious, easily flustered, hotheaded, and hardly bright… but there was an undeniable intensity about the blonde that Sasuke had subconsciously learned to enjoy within the short time he had watched him. He smiled and laughed a lot, and Sasuke found that he enjoyed Naruto's smile. His presence was enjoyable too when he wasn't doing something stupid and irrelevant to life in general… which wasn't often.
Despite all that, his fun was almost up. He had to stop playing around and take his assignment seriously. His pride was definitely at stake, and really had to start doing more to actually protect the boy instead of making him pee himself every time something odd happened. The odd happenings created by Sasuke's hands, of course. He would need to come up with a plan of some sort… He needed to observe the boy just a little bit longer, and then decide his plan of action.
He clasped his fingers together, resting his chin on them.
He would have to confront Naruto again for sure. It was the best way. Plus there was no doubt that Naruto was confused beyond reason. He deserved to know…
Maybe…
Maybe later.
Until then, he could keep slipping his forgotten homework underneath his chair, cleaning his horrendously filthy room, and… Working with his father.
He wasn't doing anything against the rules with Naruto's father. On the contrary, he was simply bringing some deliberate awareness to the man. It was obviously the easiest thing to do, and the man was decently open to it all. It was already beginning to show.
But it was too easy.
The assignment he was given was to do the best thing for Naruto in his current situation. Besides his father, and some obvious childhood trauma that he kept carefully hidden away, there was nothing else that he could see wrong… This was an all too common type of problem. Broken homes… It was also possible that it was a simple life-improvement mission where he corrected one thing, and like a domino effect, everything else in life fell into place. But those were also much too common… He had expected something more difficult this far in…
The elders would surely have assigned him something more difficult… This couldn't have been all there was to it.
Yes…
It seemed much too easy.
There had to be something else to it…
He would continue to watch closely, and gather as much valuable information that he could. Being in a human form would help immensely, whereas he could gather the rest in his glorified form… or angel form, if you will. When he found out his real reason for being sent, he would decide his plan of action then. It was all in the strategy. If you played your cards just right, everything would go smoothly, and according to plan.
And he would earn his right as an official guardian angel.
He was the top trainee, and would pass this test with flying colors; there was no doubt about it. He had complete confidence in himself.
As long as Naruto did what he wanted…
No doubt that it was a fragile position… completing a mission had everything to do with preciseness, and planning.
Oh, and making sure that the one he was watching get out of the ordeal relatively unscathed.
He was interrupted from his thoughts as he heard the classroom door click open, and his assignment walk in, mumble something to the teacher, and (Very slowly, he noticed with amusement) walk towards the desk he was sitting next to.
He could hardly hide his smile as Naruto paused in front of their desks, before sidling between them, keeping towards his own desk as much as he could, almost as if Sasuke would burn him if he touched him.
Was Naruto scared of him?
He snorted softly, and was almost too late to swallow his laugh as he saw Naruto jump at the noise from the corner of his eye.
He was scared, of all things!
He shook the thought from his mind, reminding himself that he hadn't been exactly merciful with his sudden appearance. The blonde probably didn't even believe in angels. He must have been completely confused and frightened.
All the better, he guessed.
But it was time for some social interaction.
He reached down leisurely to his shoe so not to grab anyone's unwanted attention, though noticed Naruto's accusing eyes flicking towards him every couple of seconds. He paused, and glanced around, suddenly aware that he held the attention of 3/4th of the whole class. Girls… guys... All watching him. Some looked bored, while others were smiling at him, and the majority of girls practically… drooling. Asuma sensei remained completely unaware. He had been so caught up in his own thoughts, he didn't even realize that he was attracting so much attention.
Kakashi always joked that he was pretty enough to be a girl, but exceptional beauty was definitely not uncommon among male angels…
He twitched, suddenly feeling a little more than a little exposed. Humans were so odd, really…
He covertly unzipped the side of his left boot, not yet having acquired his school uniform. Stealthily, he grabbed a feather from deep inside of the boot, pulled from his one of his (Now carefully concealed) wings earlier that day. He had put in his boot just in case. Chances were that he would need it, and he was now more than happy that he did.
He clenched the feather in his hand, feeling it turn into a fine dust, making sure not to let any escape. The dust from an angel's wing was one of its most powerful allies. It had amazing abilities. Countless abilities. Sasuke was sure that even the elders didn't know all of the uses.
If a human was to ever come across an angel feather, there was no doubt that they would have good fortune for life. Though it wasn't often that such a careless angel would leave one where a human could find it…
He drew in a quiet, deep breath, opened his closed hand, and promptly blew the dust with a single sharp blow. He watched fixedly as the dust flew through the air in a single elegant wisp, and surrounded Asuma Sesnei's head. Right on target…
In just moments, the dust disappeared, having been inhaled by the rambling Asuma. The whole class was unaware of what he had just done.
Humans never saw anything…
"Oh."
Sasuke watched as Asuma all of a sudden stopped talking, and turned around to face the class, eyes wide as if something had just caught his attention.
"I had almost forgotten... Naruto, I want you to show our new student, Sasuke, around the school." His voice sounded surprised, as if he had forgotten the most obvious thing ever.
He watched Naruto jump up from his seat, with a cry of distress. The rest of the class obviously disagreed too, as a few members of the female population also shared their view of unfairness on the matter.
"W-what!? Sensei, you can't do that! I don't want to show him around!"
Asuma frowned.
"You heard me. I think it would only be polite if you showed Sasuke where the most important areas of the school are, as well as to where his next classes are. I'm sure it would be nice to know that he had a friend in this school." He said meaningfully.
"Why don't you ask one of THEM?" Naruto asked loudly, motioning to class around him. "They actually want to be his friend!"
"Because I asked you, Naruto."
"Oh come ON!"
"Please stop being rude to our new student, and do as I say. If you can do that, then you are excused from the rest of the class."
Naruto opened his mouth to retort, but hesitated.
"… Next class too?" he asked hopefully.
"You should cover more than enough ground with the time you're getting out of this class, now you had better hurry."
Naruto made a face. "Yes sensei…"
Sasuke watched with a small smirk, wiping his dusty hand on his pant leg. Finally some alone time with the blonde…
Naruto stood up, slinging his backpack over his shoulder. He took a step away from his desk, sending a weary glance towards Sasuke. Inhaling heavily, he opened his mouth as if he were about to say something to the black-haired boy, but immediately decided it against it, striding towards the door at a quick pace.
Sasuke stood, hands in pockets, ignoring the longing sets of eyes scanning over him as he made his way after the blonde, pace slower than the other boy's.
Silly humans.
They were walking in relative silence, the quiet only broken from Naruto's soft mumbles of 'This is the bathroom.' Or 'this is the way to the office.' Or 'this is the lunchroom. I wouldn't recommend the pudding….'
Sasuke couldn't bring himself to care about all that though. He was more intent on observing the blond. The way he walked, the way he moved, the way he talked, and even the way he breathed. Every aspect was crucial.
Naruto was nervous, but didn't dare bring up the fact that they had met before.
A last minute attempt to make sure he wasn't really going crazy, perhaps. Ignore it, and it will go away.
The blonde was still standing too far away from him, and as a master of body language, Sasuke recognized it significantly. It was blatantly obvious the he was nervous.
"Thank you for taking the time to show me around, Naruto." Sasuke said softly, making Naruto stop in mid-step. Collect information, push some button, and see for himself what Naruto was made of.
There was silence, before Naruto cleared his throat.
"U-uh… yeah… I hope that you like… enjoy it here… or something."
"You seem very nervous about something." Sasuke pressed it farther, hands casually finding their way into his pockets.
Naruto played idly with a thread on the hem of his shirt.
"I'm not nervous! Why the hell would I be nervous?" he said a little too quickly, not meeting Sasuke's dark eyes.
"Is there something wrong?"
"No! Just… just… not enough sleep. Up late finishing some homework, and stuff."
"I see…" What a horrible liar. He noted dryly, knowing very well than Naruto had went home, ate, and went straight to sleep, only waking up in time to get to school. Naruto only let out a loud huff of air in reply.
They walked down the long hallway in discomfited silence, the air around them heavy with silence. It left them both to their own pondering. Naruto coughed, adjusting the strap of his backpack.
"So where… uh… did you come from, Uchiha…? I mean are you from around here?" Naruto spoke carefully, eyes set warily on the dark-eyed boy, guarded and suspicious. Sasuke was almost surprised at the sudden boldness.
"Does it matter?"
Naruto furrowed his brow. "I guess not…"
It was all completely awkward. Naruto actually wanted to get back to class just so he could escape this uncomfortable job. Out of anyone in the whole class, it had to be him…
"I thought so."
"Would it really hurt to tell me, though? It was just a question."
Sasuke's dark eyes stayed fixed ahead.
"I guess it wouldn't, but I'm not going to tell you anyway."
Naruto scrunched up his nose at the answer and crossed his arms.
"Because you're a prat?"
"Because you wouldn't believe me if I told you."
Naruto gave him an odd look, before turning his attention completely away.
Sasuke was beginning to notice more and more how expressive the blonde was. Everything on the outside reflected what he was feeling on the inside. It was intriguing. It was as if he had no control over his emotions at all. Every time Naruto flinched, and looked over at him with an open mouth, before looking away and closing it, Sasuke knew that he wanted to ask him if he knew him. He was dying to get the question out. How he walked farther away than even a person who walked with a stranger walked from each other. Almost as if he felt Sasuke had a disease.
He was fidgeting more than normal, too.
This was the fourth time in the past 2 minutes that he readjusted his bag strap.
His eyes were looking everywhere but the area around Sasuke… the boy was a wreck, and itching to ask…
Sasuke waited for it, expecting it to come anytime. He couldn't resist for long. He was dying to get it out… he was such a loudmouth. He was sure of that.
"You look familiar, you know."
"Do I?" Sasuke betrayed nothing with his voice. Unlike Naruto, who was an open book, he had been trained in the art of concealing his emotions with the utmost efficiency. He was a blank page. Naruto was on his own.
Naruto was now playing with a lock of his golden hair, phrasing his words carefully.
"I've seen you before…"
"And If I said that wasn't possible?" He was giving Naruto absolutely no slack. He didn't feel a single drop of remorse. Naruto seemed to deflate even more at the sudden question that almost seemed more like a statement.
"Then…" His confidence was wavering dangerously. "Why would it be impossible? Nothing's impossible."
"There are tons of things that are impossible, dobe."
Naruto paused.
"What did you call me…?" He sounded almost genuinely confused.
"Dobe. You are a dobe. You are dead last. I have no doubt about that right now."
Naruto stared unashamedly. There was no way he was an angel. If he was an angel, would he be able to say that? And to be so negative… that didn't seem like a trait for an angel to have…
He just called me a dobe!
He felt a surge of anger flood through him, as he straightened up, and narrowed his eyes.
"Don't call me a dobe, you asshole!"
"If I were to call you something else, I would be lying. I do not lie."
"Then call me by my name!"
"I will call you what I see fit."
Naruto spluttered on his words, forgetting his earlier apprehensiveness, knowing only that the boy standing next to him was most definitely NOT an angel of any type.
What was he playing at, anyway? He didn't even know him! To come to that conclusion so soon! Just what type of p-
"Spit it out."
Naruto's anger was forgotten momentarily as he was shaken from his thoughts. "What…?"
"If you have something you really need to ask me, spit it out." He was reeling out slack for the blonde to grab on to. He was almost positive that the blonde would be demanding the information out of him by now. He must have been tearing himself up on the inside.
Naruto had almost forgotten what he had really needed to ask…
"Aw hell!" Said Naruto, the annoyance from moments before still looming over him. He HATED beating around the bush. "Do I know you?"
"Know you?"
"Uh-huh, yeah. I know you, don't I? You were in my room a few nights ago!"
"I was…?"
"And you had wings!" Naruto made a frantic movement with his arms, as if to get the point across. "Big, floofy, white bird wings! Out of your back!"
"Out of my back."
"Yes! And your hand turned blue… and you… You've been cleaning my room, haven't you!?" He was completely unaware as to how odd that must have sounded. Ignorance was really bliss.
Sasuke stared at him.
Naruto faltered.
Sasuke turned away, effectively hiding a smile that threatened his lips.
"Big floofy bird wings." Sasuke repeated in amusement.
"Yes! They were… would you just answer my question?"
"You are an odd one, Uzumaki."
Naruto felt his confidence waning. Maybe he really wasn't… maybe it really was a dream… Sasuke really didn't seem to know what he was talking about. Of course, he hadn't answered his question yet. The bell that signaled the end of class sounded just on time.
"I want an answer!"
Naruto frowned as Sasuke ignored him, instead scanning his eyes over him. Watching his every move. Students were beginning to flood out of the classrooms, chattering amongst themselves.
"Come on. We've got to get to class." He didn't leave room for Naruto to answer. Without a backwards glance, he quickly disappeared into the crowd of students flooding the narrow hallway, lost from Naruto's sight.
"Wait-!" The blond scowled and wasted no time in shoving through the mass of people after him.
He wanted answers, dammit!
A/N: U'nnn… Things will pick up now. X3 yeeaah. ;D Please leave a review and tell me what you think! They mean the world to an author! Can't make a story any better unless you have the reader's opinions right?
