Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ From Here to Eternity ❯ The Fight ( Chapter 38 )

Kat: -yawn- Agh. Tired. Please read. And review. But especially review. Short chapter. Can't talk right. Too tired.

 

By the way… poll time. What should I update next?

 

Flipside

 

Today

 

Camp Winthrop

 

From Here to Eternity

 

Please pick one. Your opinion is most helpful. SUGOI! XD

 

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(let me make it oh please please let me make it)

 

“OUTTA THE WAY! OUTTA THE WAY!”

 

Naruto Uzumaki shoved yet another person out of his path as he elbowed his way to the front of the crowd gathering quickly in front of the message board in the commons. “C'MON, PEOPLE! FUTURE BASKETBALL STAR COMING THROUGH!”

 

“Naruto, will you calm down? They'll clear out eventually,” Neji grumbled, avoiding someone's shoulder as he was dragged physically behind the blonde, his wrist clenched tightly in Naruto's hand.

 

“Don't you want to know if you made the team, Neji?” Naruto asked, glancing back at the Hyuga, who shrugged.

 

“I couldn't care less.”

 

“Aw, you're no fun!” Naruto said, showing his teeth in a wide grin. Then, shouldering one last person out of the way, he came face to face with… The List.

 

The following people are to report to the gym at three o'clock sharp for basketball practice.

 

Naruto stuck his finger up onto the paper, and slid it down the rows of names, eagerly searching for his own.

 

(I just want to have fun with everyone not alone I gotta make it please god)

 

“C'mon, c'mon…” His eyes jerked to a halt.

 

Kisame Hoshigaki.

 

Neji Hyuga.

 

Kiba Inuzuka

 

“Hey, Neji, you made the team!” he said excitedly, looking back at his dispassionate boyfriend.

 

“Rapture.” Neji flicked his hair off of his shoulder, and crossed his arms.

 

Naruto continued scanning the list. Looked like Kiba got on…three Uchiha's in a row, Itachi, Shisui, Sasuke-bastard…

 

But…

 

“Hey… where's my name?” he said, pulling his hand away from the list, and frowning. The names went straight from Uchiha to Yomiuri. No Uzumaki to be found.

 

(!!!!NO!!!)

 

“Did… did I not make it?” He blushed, and looked down at the floor. “I guess… not…”

 

(no no no no no no no that can't be right no)

 

Neji put a hand on his shoulder.

 

“Oh, Naruto… I'm sorry…”

 

“Nah, it's okay.” Naruto quickly rubbed his eyes, then forced a grin. “I heard basketball's no fun anyway… You get all sweaty and hot and it's bad for your knees.”

 

Neji saw the hurt forming behind Naruto's wide blue eyes, and sighed. “Naruto… this isn't right… you did so well at try-outs…”

 

“Ruh-really, Neji, it's fine, it's all good. I don't really care.” Naruto shrugged, and scratched the back of his head. “I gotta go take a piss… I'll see you later.” Then he quickly walked off into the dispersing crowd, his shoulders hunched.

 

Neji watched him go, feeling both that he should follow him, and that he should give him his space.

 

“Damn it,” he hissed, squeezing his fingers into a fist. “DAMN it.”

 

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“You know what would be AWESOME? A heavy metal rendition of `Carol of the Bells'!”

 

Ten-Ten promptly choked on her pudding.

 

“Come what?” she said incredulously, wiping the vanilla from around her lips with a napkin. She stared over at Kankuro with a look that suggested that she hadn't gotten up early enough to deal with his witticism.

 

“A heavy metal rendition of `Carol of the Bells',” Kankuro repeated, rolling his eyes, and placing heavy emphasis on his words. Ten-Ten considered this.

 

“Ah. Okay. Sure.” She yawned, and leaned back against the wall that the cafeteria bench was braced against. “Where the crap IS everyone?” she demanded, her eyes scanning the practically empty table. Gaara was there, and Kankuro. So were Sasuke, Naruto, and Neji, and Ten-Ten, obviously, but other than that, no one was to be found. Neji had an arm around Naruto, who was looking quite unhappy for some reason. Ten-Ten wondered vaguely what his deal was, but didn't think to voice a question.

 

Kankuro shrugged, and said, “Got me. No dedication, that's what this is.” He nodded, and sniffed. Ten-Ten sighed.

 

“I know where Lee is… Mr. Maito said he needed some copies made of the five-minute scripts, and Lee RUSHED to help,” she said, rolling her eyes, but smiling just the same. “I'm the only girl at this table, though. It's starting to creep me out a little.”

 

As if on cue, Tayuya stormed over, her face bright red, and a crumbled paper clutched in her fist.

 

“You know what that bastard gave me?” she asked no one in particular, swinging a leg over the bench, and dropping her bag on the ground. Then, without waiting for a reply, she snapped, “An `F'! A fucking `F'! Argh! I can't STAND him! God damn it!” She pounded a fist against the table, and sighed darkly. “I'm gonna fucking FAIL English! AGAIN!”

 

Ten-Ten blinked, quite shell-shocked by her friend's outburst. Then she said, “What did you fail on?”

 

“A test! A goddamn, motherfucking TEST!” She tossed the paper ball in Ten-Ten's general direction, and it smacked the brunette in the middle of the forehead, before falling to the table. She gingerly flattened it out, and read over the smudged writing, littered with red checks. Indeed, there was a score at the top of the page, reading `34%'. An `F' was slashed across it in red ink. She made a face.

 

“…Damn.”

 

“No shit.” Tayuya pulled off her hat, then let her head drop down into her hands. “I'm dead. I'm FUCKING DEAD.”

 

Ten-Ten passed the paper over to Kankuro.

 

“Now, now, I'm sure Umino will let you retake it.”

 

“I don't HAVE Umino. I have Mr. Zore.”

 

Ten-Ten paused. “…Damn.”

 

“And I quote. `No shit.'”

 

Mr. Zore was a tall man with a receding hairline and a bulging stomach, topped off with an almost permanent scowl. He walked around with a red pen in his shirt pocket, and sneered whenever the other teachers tried to be nice to him.

 

Kankuro gave the paper to Gaara, who had been reaching for it. The redhead looked the answers over, then said, “You know… all your mistakes were just with stuff that had to be memorized. You got most of the sentence structure stuff right. It's just… like… here; you missed almost all of the prepositions, right? Well, that's just because you didn't have them memorized. I mean, it looks like you KNOW the stuff, but… why are you all looking at me?”

 

Kankuro, Neji, Naruto, Ten-Ten, and Sasuke quickly glanced away.

 

“You don't usually speak so much at one time, Red,” Ten-Ten said, shrugging. “Kind of caught us off guard.”

 

“Oh.” Gaara frowned. “I'm… very sorry. I'll try not to do it so often.”

 

“My thanks.”

 

Gaara looked over at Tayuya. “You know, I could help you, if you want. I mean,” he said, frowning. “You probably don't want a freshman's help, right?”

 

“Hey, hey, you should let Gaara help you, Tayuya!” Naruto crowed, tossing in his two cents, and suddenly seeming much happier. “He's getting an A+ in Iruka's class!”

 

Tayuya offered Gaara a weary smile. “Thanks, but no thanks, Gaara. I'll just have to study once in a while, and BEG that bastard to let me retake that fucking test.”

 

Gaara shrugged.

 

“Whatever,” he said, before going back to poking at his Mystery Meat. “Why did I even bother getting lunch today? I mean… is this even EDIBLE?”

 

“I think mine is moving,” Neji informed the group, frowning over his interlaced fingers. His pea-green slab of meat did indeed appear to be twitching. Or perhaps that was just a trick of the light.

 

Kankuro sipped his milk, then made a face.

 

“Oh my God…” He coughed, and pressed a hand to his mouth. “What the hell? I think this stuff's gone bad!”

 

Naruto grabbed the milk carton out of his hand, and looked it over. He rolled his eyes.

 

“Ah, come on, you pansy! It's only a week past its expiration date!” He sniffed it daintily, then, despite everyone's vehement protests, (Sasuke: “Naruto, you dumbass!” Gaara: “Blondie, what the hell are you doing?” Kankuro: “… Did you just call me a pansy?” Ten-Ten: “GO! GO! GO!) took a deep drink of the milk.

 

Neji made a face.

 

“And you think I'm going to KISS that mouth?” he said, rolling his pale eyes.

 

Naruto squeaked in protest, and swallowed his second mouthful of milk.

 

“You could've warned me before I chugged this shit!” he snarled. Ten-Ten rolled her eyes.

 

“Oh, nice language, Naruto. We should start calling you the OTHER sexy one,” she said with a grin. Kankuro coughed.

 

“Who are you to talk?” he said with a grin. “And who's the sexy one?”

 

“Hey, a girl's gotta have SOME secrets.”

 

“Oh, that's cruel.”

 

“It's my way of the ninja.”

 

Kankuro blinked. “…What?”

 

Ten-Ten widened her eyes are the oldest Kaze sibling.

 

“Helloooo? We're doing a skit from ancient Japan in drama today? Remember? Drama? Gai screaming at the top of his lungs about `Youth' and the lack thereof? Oh, never mind. I can see that none of this is getting through to you.” Of course, Ten-Ten said this in the span of approximately nine seconds, leaving no room for Kankuro to comment.

 

So in the end, the puppet user settled for a simple reply of, “… I knew that,” before continuing on with prodding at his half-eaten tray of food.

 

Naruto grinned, and let his head rest on his hands.

 

“Feeling better?” Neji asked, leaning down close to Naruto's face so that no one else could hear.

 

“About what?” Naruto said, shrugging.

 

It was at precisely that moment that the fire alarm began to ring.

 

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BUZZ! BUZZ! BUZZ!

 

“Shit!” Itachi breathed, jumping about a foot in the air, and looking up in search of the source of the noise. He was currently in the library, doing that Calculus assignment he had forgotten about last night. It took him several moments before he realized that it was the fire alarm, not the end of the world. He rolled his eyes at the inconvenience, gathered his books, and left the library.

 

`What in the world is the point of having a fire drill during lunch?' he thought morosely, realizing then that he would never finish his homework. `Isn't there anyone I can complain to about this?'

 

“Hey, Itachi.”

 

Itachi paused, and turned. “Oh, hey, Haku. Why aren't you at lunch?”

 

Haku glanced over at the wall, then met Itachi's gaze.

 

“Not hungry,” he said simply. Itachi frowned.

 

“Oh. Is, uh, something bothering you?” he asked, shifting his books to his other arm, the one that didn't ache as badly.

 

Haku shrugged.

 

“Not really,” he said, before walking off in the direction of the exit. Itachi followed closely.

 

“Are you sure? You're acting kind of… off.”

 

“Off how?”

 

“Well…” Itachi struggled for the right words. “You're… wearing… black.”

 

Haku glanced down at the black button-down shirt he was wearing. “Oh, this? I think it looks nice,” he said, with another shrug.

 

“Well, it's not just that…” Itachi shook his head. “Know what? Never mind. Forget I said anything.”

 

“Mm-kay.” Haku's voice hardly seemed to change tone. And it wasn't sarcastic-sounding, but oddly repressed and submissive. Haku NEVER sounded like that.

 

“Okay, what's wrong?” Itachi said, stepping in front of Haku. “You're acting really WEIRD, and it's starting to freak me out a little.”

 

Haku studied him for a moment.

 

“Why is it any of your business how I'm acting?” he demanded sharply, his eyes flashing. Then, before Itachi could say anything, he said, “Why do you CARE, hm? Can you answer me that?” Then he angrily brushed past Itachi, who turned, but didn't follow.

 

“Are you and Zabuza fighting, or something?” he asked, frowning. “Because that's the only time you ever act like this.”

 

Haku froze, visibly disturbed by Itachi's words, but didn't say anything.

 

“You know, yelling at me isn't going to solve anything you've got going on with him. You should talk to him." Itachi bit his lip, waiting for Haku's enraged rebound. But it never came. It took Itachi a moment to realize that Haku had started shaking. “Ah, Christ, what is it, Haku?” he asked, walking over to the boy, and dropping his books on the ground.

 

Haku flipped around, his face red, and his eyes filled. “You don't think I've tried?” he hissed, his voice low, a mix between a whisper and a scream. “Whenever I try to talk to him, he just walks away and doesn't say anything. How do you TALK to someone like that, Itachi? How? It'd be nice if you could tell me because I'm sure as hell at a LOSS!”

 

Then he turned away from Itachi, and started toward the double doors again. Itachi followed him.

 

“Haku, hang on! What happened with you two?” he asked, grabbing Haku's shoulder. The sophomore flinched away from his touch.

 

“Don't. Touch. Me,” he breathed, putting two hands in front of him, and stepping away from the Uchiha. Itachi blinked, quite confused by the turn of events. “Who the HELL do you people think you are, prying into our private business? So Zabuza and I had a fight. So what? We fight all the time!”

 

“But they're never this serious!” Itachi pressed. “Haku, I HATE seeing you like this!”

 

“Why?” Haku asked, dropping his arms. “Because your life has to be PERFECT all the time, doesn't it? Doesn't it?”

 

Itachi paused. “What the hell does that mean?” he demanded, clenching a fist.

 

“Exactly what it SOUNDS like it means!” Haku snapped. “Not everyone has a perfect life, Itachi! So Zabuza and I FIGHT. It's NORMAL for us! You may be used to everything being oh-so-picturesque, but I'm NOT! So I'd appreciate it if you'd just let me handle my own problems, and keep your flawlessness and superiority to yourself!”

 

“Shut the FUCK UP, Haku!” Itachi snapped. Haku silenced immediately, surprised. “Just SHUT THE FUCK UP! You have NO IDEA what my life is like, damn it! You have NO IDEA! You may think my life is perfect, but it's not! And I'D appreciate it if you didn't talk about things you didn't understand!”

 

Then, tears now brimming his own eyes, Itachi picked up his books, and stormed past Haku, out of the school. Haku waited a moment, then leaned against the lockers, running both hands through his hair.

 

“Shit!” he breathed, sinking down, and sitting, bracing his head against his knees.

 

He was reduced to sobbing until the bell finally rang.

 

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“Naruto, why didn't you tell me you didn't make the team?”

 

“Huh?”

 

Naruto turned off the band saw, lifted his goggles, and blinked. They were in Shop Class at the moment. Gaara had his goggles resting up on his forehead, and there was… oh, God… was that SYMPATHY in his eyes?

 

“I said, `Why didn't you tell me you didn't make the team'?” Gaara repeated, keeping his eyes locked with Naruto's. The blonde shrugged, and replaced his goggles.

 

“'Cuz it's no big deal.” He switched the saw back on, and continued pulverizing his wooden block. Gaara reached up and flipped the switch to red, the saw quickly silencing.

 

“Yes it is! You were so excited about basketball, Naruto, you've said so on NUMEROUS occasions.”

 

Naruto shrugged again. “I already told you. It's really no big deal.” He turned the saw on again, but Gaara flipped it off.

 

“Yes it is. You're lousy at hiding your feelings.”

 

“Gaara… damn it, I don't give a flying fuck that I didn't make the team!” Naruto said, a little too loudly. He glanced around, and turned the saw back on. This time Gaara let him saw, shaking his head, and turning away.

 

“Whatever,” he said with a shrug, before walking back over to his table. “I hate shop.”

 

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Kat: Guh. Short chapter, sorry. Longer chapter next time. Promise. Review, please. Many hugs.