Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ From Here to Eternity ❯ Master Keys: Dear Loser ( Chapter 49 )

 

“Aaahhh! I'm so excited!” Haku squeaked, clapping his hands. “First basketball game of the season! Oh, aren't you excited, Zabi?”

 

“I could keel over and die.”

 

“I know! I feel the same way!”

 

It was Wednesday morning, and the commons were draped patriotically with the school colors of red, orange, and green. The colors had originally been orange and green, until red was added ten years ago. The reason? The cheerleaders couldn't find any words that rhymed with “orange.”

 

And so it was. Konohaton High School became the first school in the district to have three colors.

 

Of course, it makes one wonder what kind of an idiot would give a school ORANGE as one of its colors. But that is a story for another day!

 

As Haku stood marveling at the decorations, the first bell just happened to ring.

 

“Oh, snap!” he said, bringing a hand to his head. “Is it 8:30 already?”

 

“Apparently.”

 

Haku sighed, and smiled. “All right, fine. I'll see you later, honey-bunny.” He stood on his tiptoes and gave Zabuza a kiss on the cheek.

 

“Haku, you whore!” said a voice behind him. He spun around, gasped, and laughed.

 

“Ten-Ten, you skank!” he said, his hands on his hips.

 

Ten-Ten giggled, and clapped her hands. “Pep Band is gonna rock the house tonight!”

 

“Hell yes!” Haku said, punching the air. “I should join band.”

 

“You could play flute!” Ten-Ten offered.

 

“Are you profiling me because I'm homosexual?” Haku said, feigning a look of shock. Ten-Ten brought one finger to her chin, contemplating the thought.

 

“Yes. Yes I am,” she said, nodding.

 

“Good,” Haku said, with a laugh. “I wouldn't have it any other way!”

 

“Hey, you three! Get to class!” a teacher yelled from the side of the room, glaring darkly at the teens.

 

“Oh, fine, fine,” Haku grumbled. “See ya later, babycakes!” he tittered, waving to Ten-Ten, before flouncing off. Zabuza nodded to Ten-Ten, before hulking off in the direction of the stairs.

 

Ten-Ten sighed, spun around, and headed towards the Band Room, her spirits high.

 

“I bet I can get Kankuro to do Jungle Boogie tonight,” she said to herself, skittering through the mostly-empty hallways. She hummed the upbeat tune, and began the step to the beat.

 

“Jungle boogie… jungle boogie, get up with the get down!” she sang to herself as she rounded the corner. The words suddenly caught in her throat, and she jolted back a step. Instead of going all the way around, she peeked around the corner, her eyes narrow.

 

She wasn't sure why exactly seeing Kabuto Yakushi caused her to halt in her tracks, but it didn't matter. She did not want to have to deal with the pale-haired junior at the moment, and decided to stay and wait until he left.

 

But as she watched, something strange happened. Kabuto reached into his pocket, and pulled out a huge set of keys.

 

`He helps out the janitor, doesn't he?' she remembered, frowning deeply. `Those… must be the Master Keys, I bet.' Kabuto selected one of the keys, and stuck it into a locker keyhole. He pulled the locker open, and reached into his pocket, withdrawing a folded piece of paper. He stuck it on top of the neat row of books.

 

At that moment, the last bell rang. Kabuto's head jerked up, and he slammed the locker shut again. He jammed the keys in his pocket, and hurried off to the stairs.

 

Ten-Ten waited patiently until she heard the bang of the door closing before emerging from her hiding place. She walked over to the locker, and examined it. Kabuto had done a sloppy job of closing it; it was still hanging halfway open. Ten-Ten glanced the door over.

 

The lockers in that part of the school were newer, so they didn't have vents in them, making it impossible to slide a note into without opening it. Ten-Ten knew she was snooping, that she probably shouldn't, that it was a bad, terrible, horrible idea… But when she opened the locker, she knew that she was doing the right thing. Sort of.

 

There were pictures taped up to the locker door and a miniature white board with a schedule listed on it. The pictures alone depicted immediately whose locker this was.

 

“Itachi's…” she murmured, biting her lip. Kabuto was giving Itachi a note? Well, then, she'd just have to read it!

 

For his own good, of course.

 

She grabbed the paper, and unfolded it quickly. She read it over, and gasped.

 

“Holy shit!” she breathed, glancing around. She stuffed the paper in her pocket, and closed the locker door. Then she hurried off to the Band Room, completely in shock, and wondering what the hell to do next.

 

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Sasuke did not approve of intense feelings. They blotted out all sense of rational thinking, and caused one to go off into their “own little world.”

 

But today, there was not much that Sasuke could do about it. He had never in his entire life been so nervous. No matter what he did, he could not stop replaying over and over again the absolute worst scenarios in his head. The top of his tie was suddenly constricting his breathing… why the hell did they have to dress up for home games? Dammit, as if he didn't have enough on his mind, let alone which tie goes with which shirt…

 

He couldn't even pay attention in his worst class.

 

“Uchiha! Are you even paying attention?” Orochimaru demanded from the front, shocking Sasuke out of his trance.

 

“Ah… s-sorry, sir,” Sasuke stammered, sitting up.

 

 

Orochimaru shook his head, and continued with his lecture as though nothing had happened. Sasuke let out a breath of relief; anyone else would have had to write lines for that. He wondered why he had gotten off lucky, but didn't dwell on it.

 

`What if it's the end of the third quarter and the center had the ball and we're down by two points and-` his mind began to scream. Sasuke crushed these thoughts down with thoughts such as, `DNA always pairs up A's and T's, and C's and G's, but if it's RNA the T's become U's and why is that, Sasuke? Why is that? Do you even care? No! Now you're down by three at the end of the second quarter with Neji down by the basket and-`

 

And so on and so forth.

 

Naruto Uzumaki was having a similar dilemma, merely two empty desks away.

 

`I wonder if maybe I said something to him that pissed him off…?' he thought, chewing on his thumbnail, blatantly ignoring the fact that it was already gnawed down to the point of no return. `I mean… he was fine until a few days ago… Damn it all, why the hell is Neji being such a… such a… such an asshole?' He sighed, and leaned back in the chair. `I probably shouldn't think stuff like that… I wonder what happened to Gaara? He hasn't been here for three days, man, that's a long time to be sick, even if it's bad…'

 

Then he realized that Orochimaru was looking in his general direction. He made a failed attempt to look interested, but Orochimaru didn't seem to see him. Excellent.

 

Then, Naruto got an idea.

 

It was not the perfect idea, but an idea it was, nonetheless. He whipped out his messy binder, and flipped it open to the middle. He pulled out his only pencil (it was the size of a peanuts and chewed on) and began to write.

 

Sasuke-bastard,

 

I now you and Gaara are going out and I was wondering if youd seen him in along time.

 

Naruto whos better then you!

 

Naruto sat back, admiring his handiwork. Simply marvelous! He looked over to Sasuke, who was staring up at the whiteboard with a less-than-enthused look. The blonde glanced over at Orochimaru, who was still blathering on about molecules and Deoxyribosenucleicsomething. Naruto took his chance, and scooted over to the next table, so that he was closer to Sasuke.

 

He tossed the crumbled piece of paper over to the Uchiha, then folded his hands and stared up at the board like nothing had happened.

 

A moment later, he received the same paper on his desk with a message.

 

Dear Loser,

 

Your grammar is atrocious. Isn't your dad an English teacher?

 

Fuck you Uchiha! Wheres Gaara? And hes not my dad hes my foster dad.

 

My mistake. I don't know where Gaara is. I haven't seen him since Friday. I was going to ask you where he was, as a matter of fact.

 

Thats the last time I saw him two! I called his house last nite and Kankuro said hes sick but wouldnt let me talk to him but I dunno why.

 

How odd. Pay attention the next time Mr. Umino is talking about sentence structure, for all our sakes.

 

Bite me.

 

I have a boyfriend.

 

Ha ha very funny. Are you nervous about tonite?

 

Sasuke was caught with surprise at Naruto's question. He wrote back quickly.

 

Yes. Why do you care?

 

I was just curious. You seem kind of out of it right now… I was just wondering.

 

Well, yes, I'm nervous. Roots is one of the nest teams in our league. They've had a history of having an excellent team, so… Yes. I'm very nervous.

 

Yeah well its good to be. I mean you are on varsity right? Those guys are sposed to be good.

 

Yes. Yes we are.

 

Do I smell a swelled head? By the way do you now whats rong with Neji? Hes been a jerk for a while and since your on his team I wonder if you now?

 

Hyuga is always a pompous asshole. Don't let it bother you.

 

I dont think so.

 

Whatever.

 

Naruto rolled his eyes at the last message, and stuffed the paper into his backpack.

 

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“Here we go Foxes, here we go!”

 

CLAP, CLAP.

 

“Here we go Foxes, here we go!”

 

CLAP, CLAP.

 

Ten-Ten nervously fiddled with the valves on her trumpet as she watched the end of the junior varsity game. She could feel the note, still burning a hole in her black jeans' pocket. She reached down and almost pulled it out, but thought better of it at the last second. She didn't want anyone to see it.

 

Suddenly, something jabbed her in the leg.

 

“Oy, Ten-Ten, you okay?” Tayuya asked, withdrawing her flute, and staring up at her girlfriend with concern.

 

“Oh, yeah, I'm fine. Just…” Ten-Ten smiled. “First game jitters.”

 

“Oh… does the Love Doctor need to make it better for ya?” Tayuya laughed. Ten-Ten nodded.

 

“Yes. Yes she does. Ah… but not in public. We don't want to make the cheerleaders cry.”

 

Tayuya laughed, and resumed her conversation with the other flute players. Ten-Ten sighed, and tugged at the neck of her orange pep band shirt. Why had she worn under-armor, God almighty, why? It had to be at least ninety degrees in the gym!

 

She leaned back against the next bleacher, shaking her head.

 

“Mony Mony!” Kankuro called from the floor, cupping his bandaged hand around his mouth in an attempt to amplify the sound. “Come on, people, let's go! Game's almost over! Mony Mony!”

 

“Fuck yes,” Ten-Ten hissed, sitting up, and digging through her music folder.

 

The JV game ended within the next ten minutes; Foxes-32, Roots-68.

 

“Ouch,” Tayuya muttered, setting her music on the stand, despite the fact that she, along with most of the band, had memorized the song long ago.

 

“We've been hammered!”

 

“We're dead, man.”

 

“Hey, people, stay positive!” Ten-Ten called from the top row. “We can still kick the Varsity's ass, right?”

 

“…RIGHT!” Tayuya screamed.

 

“HELL YES!” Ten-Ten shot back.

 

“You guys are crazy,” Haku said, climbing up to the bleachers, just a few feet from the bandstand.

 

“Well look who decided to show up,” Ten-Ten said, her left hand on her hip.

 

“Hello… skank,” Haku said, narrowing his eyes, then smiling.

 

“Where's the big man this evening?” Ten-Ten asked.

 

“Poor Zabi-poo wasn't feeling well,” Haku sighed, shaking his head.

 

“Oh, how sad.”

 

“Yes, well. He isn't much of a basketball fan. He prefers his wrestling and such,” Haku said, waving a hand dismissively. “He thinks they've got a good chance of taking state this year! That would be so delightful!”

 

“Wow…” Ten-Ten said, staring bewilderedly at the boy. “You talk like a fifty-year-old English dude.”

 

“Why thank you.”

 

At that moment, the Varsity teams came streaming out of the locker rooms, and began their warm up routines.

 

“Okay people, let's go!” Kankuro commanded, clapping his hands together twice, before giving the count off. “One! Two! One, two, three, four!”

 

The band began to play, doing their crazy choreography, and Haku watched, feeling very amused.

 

“Hey, Haku!” a voice said beside him. He turned, surprised.

 

“Oh, hey, Naruto,” he said, nodding. “Here to cheer on Neji…?” he said, leaning forward, and giggling.

 

Naruto nodded, smiling. Was that a blush…?

 

“Dance with me,” Haku said, standing suddenly.

 

“What?”

 

“Come on!” Haku said, dragging Naruto to his feet. He began swinging his arms and hips in a fashion that could almost be described as dancing, and Naruto joined him, laughing.

 

When the music came to an abrupt halt, Naruto attempted to stop dancing, but almost fell over in the process. He grabbed onto Haku's arm to steady himself.

 

“Woah, buddy, I'm spoken for!” Haku said with a giggle.

 

“Oh, ha-ha,” Naruto said, sitting down. He watched the team warm up for a while, listening to the band. Then he noticed Neji, and considered trying to get his attention.

 

`If he looks over here, I'll wave,' he decided, with a nod. It just so happened that Neji glanced over in Naruto's direction at that moment.

 

“Heeeeey!” Naruto called, waving spastically. Neji offered nothing but a raised eyebrow, and a quickly turned head. Naruto dropped his arms, and his head.

 

“My God, what an asshole,” Haku said shrilly. “Why do you put up with that stuff, Ru-Ru?”

 

“'Ru-Ru?'” Naruto said with a half-hearted laugh. Head put his head in his hands and sighed. “I don't know what's… wrong with him. It's like he hates me all of the sudden or something.”

 

“Oh, you poor thing,” Haku said, putting an arm around the blonde's shoulders. “You shouldn't have to take that.”

 

“Yeah… I do.”

 

“Wh… What?”

 

Haku looked up, and attempted to glare coldly at Neji. But instead of the Hyuga, his eyes locked with Shisui Uchiha. The older boy mouthed something that looked suspiciously like `faggot.' Haku brought up his middle finger, then gently slid it down his tongue, before going back to comforting Naruto.

 

Shisui shook his head in disgust.

 

Meanwhile, Itachi was feeling that he must have done something terrible at some point in his life, because if this was karma, he was dead. Everything was achy and sore, and he was exhausted.

 

But he was not going to let it show. No way, no how. His parents were there; he wasn't going to act like a wimp. He had an example to set… he wondered how Sasuke was doing.

 

`Lucky bastard… they never watch him,' he thought darkly, snapping the ball halfway down the court.

 

At the same time, he thought of the hospital. It only took five days to get the results of an… of a test like that. That meant that Friday… or maybe Saturday… Oh God. No. Not now. He was NOT going to think about that now.

 

He wasn't even going to look at Kankuro. Stupid… drum major…

 

Nope. Not even going to think about him.

 

He ran a hand across the skin under his nose, and glanced at it quickly. Thank God… his nosebleed had finally stopped. It had started ten minutes ago in the locker room, much to his surprise and distaste.

 

But it was done now.

 

Now he had a game to play.

 

 

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Kat: Phoo! Done! -dead- Chapter fifty… I have no idea how long it'll take… hopefully I'll have it up soon. I have THREE fastpitch games next week, and the blood from the bruise on my forehead has given me two black eyes. -sigh-

 

ALL THE SECRETS ARE BEING REVEALED! Omg.

 

Oh! We have a winner… Review number one-thousand goes to Pi! She requested a Sai x Sasuke fic… AND SHE SHALL GET IT.

 

Sai: Penis?

 

Sasuke: WHAT?

 

Kat: -laughs like a crazy person-