Graduation
Naruto was eleven years old when he realised that Sasuke was pretty. Really pretty.
She wasn't Sakura pretty, with a warm, girl-next-door smile and the smell of strawberries but something else. Something different. It was around this time that every boy seemed to notice, actually. Naruto was eleven, with a growing crush on Sakura, a comfortably rivalry with Sasuke and sore fingers from kunai training, when the first of their class confessed to Sasuke. He distinctly remembered the class falling silent, everyone staring. He distinctly remembered his heart stopping in his chest for a second, fear? Shock? Naruto didn't know what.
It was gone the moment it came, Sasuke brushing it off and then relief sank in. Sasuke was way too cool for that. Soon, Naruto would snicker childishly at every confession because he knew they embarrassed the Uchiha. At the sounds of his laughter, dark eyes would lock into his and narrow into dangerously thin slits.
Then Naruto would pull an ugly face, poke out his tongue or even gesture to his butt then that was that. It would repeat with every confession. That was it. That was about as far as any interactions between them went.
Naruto would still think about the lonely Uchiha girl and how amazing she was when he trained. He would still feel a rumble of jealousy in his stomach every time she succeeded and would still curse and struggle when Sasuke beat him - and every other boy - in hand to hand combat lessons.
Sasuke Uchiha was beautiful, not as an object of affection, but as a role model. As someone to look up to. As a source of motivation. As an image of what Naruto dreamed to be. If he could become strong long Sasuke...
Naruto didn't know what would come of it, but the feeling in his heart promised something amazing.
The chestnut and cedar trees were bright with summer light the morning of graduation.
Sakura looked up and not a cloud sat in the entire azure sky. If that wasn't a sign of angel's blessing, she didn't know what was. It reassured her, encouraging her, lifted her confidence. Sakura had a special mission today, and that was to follow her heart.
That didn't decrease her nerves as she walked out of her house towards the school.
Her hands rested above the cotton lycra dress on her stomach, which ached with the hunger of not having breakfast. The guilt of not having a stomach as flat as Ino's or toned as Sasuke's aside, Sakura didn't want to risk putting anything into her body with such a high risk of throwing it up later in the day.
Her nerves were high. Not because today was the day they graduated the academy. Not because today was the day she may have to say goodbye to so many of her friends who were heading off in different paths.
The only thing that mattered to Sakura, was that today was the day she'd confess her feelings for Sasuke.
Sakura had known for a long time that her adoration for the Uchiha girl was more than healthy. In her eyes, Sasuke was everything. The girl was so beautiful and so admirable in everything she did. Talking to her, Sakura felt that every word from Sasuke's lips felt like a hug.
She wanted to hug Sasuke. She wanted to kiss Sasuke.
Her cheeks flushed heavily because in the hidden leaf village, dreams of kissing another girl were not normal. What would Ino think, Sakura found herself wondering? Would the girls call her disgusting? Would they go back to ignoring her like the days before the academy, when she was a small, scared child?
In all honesty, Sakura would trade her friendships in a heartbeat if it meant she could stay by Sasuke's side.
Naruto was certain Sakura lit up the room when she entered because her voice was always so confident and loud. Just his type~!
Naruto sank back into his chair dreamily and gave an enthusiastic wave. "Good morning Sakura! Want to sit next to me-"
The girl looked genuinely taken aback by this, eyes wide. It was then with a sinking boat of embarrassment in his stomach, that he realised she'd been talking to her friend on the other side of him... not him. Her close friend in fact, the friend Naruto could never make. Sasuke. With a tilt of his head, he glared at the top of their class.
She'd cut her hair that day. Inches and inches of long navy strands, waved at the ends like the ocean, gone. Naruto didn't give it much consideration. Sasuke was still Sasuke after all but everyone else was making a massive deal about it. Big deal!
There was a crowd of girls already, huddling behind Sasuke, giving their comments and fangirling. The girls were bad but the boys, eesh. Naruto didn't even want to acknowledge that many stare. All of their heart eyes and gentle compliments. Eck! Eck! Eck! Naruto found sappy things like that made him sick. He hated it when they looked at Sasuke like that because she was so cool, way cooler than some romance character.
A soft gasp came from Sakura as she took her seat after shoving Naruto out of the way.
"Sasuke..." she was by her side in a second, fingers reaching out and running through the remains of Sasuke's hair. Her eyes said it all, glistening with an endless sea of emotions. He watched Sasuke tilt her head towards Sakura and nod, he watched slim fingers brush through silky blue with adoration.
The front strands were still long, framing her pretty features while the back came up in short, effortless spikes. Sitting above her brow to bring the new haircut together was a glistening metal band with the symbol of the leaf etched in.
Naruto's chest felt full with pride. Sakura's chest felt full with something else, her cheeks dying the colour of her dress as she quickly took her seat and tried to resist rubbing her hands all over her aloof classmate's hair.
"I'm sure you've heard this already but you look really pretty Sasuke!" Dozens of voices joined in to agree with that. The girls started up a conversation.
Naruto couldn't look. Sasuke was always the centre of attention, even when she didn't say a word. She'd casually walked in looking like a magazine model as much as a ninja, she'd graduated on top of the class and wore her headband on her head but the girl didn't even look proud! She didn't grin, she didn't laugh. She didn't celebrate of chuckle and this made Naruto's blood boil. It was as if the whole graduation was too easy for her.
He hopped up onto the table and glared, dark ocean eyes meeting his. There was a moment of shock, a moment of realisation where Sasuke's expression was unreadable before he spoke.
"What's the big deal! Everyone's always talking about 'Sasuke this,' 'Sasuke that!' I don't see what's so good about you-"
That was when it happened. Their first kiss was when they were twelve years old, one of many and one moment that changed the course of Naruto's life. One moment Naruto was scowling in that bitter way he did with Sasuke, not ever dreaming of letting the fact that he was fond of these interactions out-
The next his lips were pressed against hers and Sasuke tasted softer than a summer rose. Sasuke's expression turning to absolute horror and humiliation hit Naruto hard. Panic soared up, reminding him of where they were, who they were, why he couldn't get carried away.
"Bleurgh!" Both teens jerked back but the damage had been done. Everyone was looking and those who weren't laughing were cursing Naruto to death.
Sasuke started to sputter up and from the sheer shock of it, Naruto did too.
"Eh- Sasuke! What did you! Ugh my mouth is rotting" He sobbed.
Everyone already hated him, now they'd resent him even more.
Naruto's had lied though. Sasuke's mouth had a unique feeling. It was a feeling that spread down his spine and slid to the very tips of his fingers. He'd kissed Sasuke, the person he looked up to the most. The person who glared at him every time their eyes accidentally met in the talk.
Yikes. More than anything else, humiliation took the reins. Naruto shrank back, praying and praying that whoever he ended up with in his squad, it wasn't Sasuke.
Of course, fate had other plans.
"Now team seven, Naruto Uzumaki. Sakura Haruno and Sasuke Uchiha."
The second he heard the name their eyes locked. Sasuke was already been looking at him, Naruto not expecting it and flinching just a little, feeling a tug of electricity and energy release like static between them. Her eyes a blank slate, impossible to read as always yet Naruto's mind tried to get inside the girl's brain.
It was no use.
"Tch, just don't get in my way dead last."
Naruto's knew there was no real venom in the words. He knew venom better than anyone else. He knew that Sasuke's words were as playfully hostile as they'd always been. He turned to face her with determination in his eyes and hissed.
"Hey, I'm not some weakling that's going to get in your way and don't call me that."
"What are you going to do, kiss me to death?"
The voice was bitter and mocking. It made Sakura choke on the air and left Naruto's mouth open, unable to form a response with the memory on his lips resurfacing again. The class interrupted into chaos because Sasuke didn't talk very often. Saying something like that only excited everyone.
The wind blew, cold from this high up as Naruto sat alone on the tallest roof top he could find that lunch. The other classmates were off in groups celebrating far from where they'd be able to see him. Naruto didn't want to see them. He didn't need the reminder that nobody would invite him to the celebrations. He didn't need anymore rain on his parade after Sasuke already soured his day.
"Stupid Sasuke... who does she think she is!" He complained to no one in particular, still thinking about her- about their first kiss. He hated how she thought she was so perfect, how she said those words with such confidence that she was he most beautiful and most skilled and most ninja!
While Naruto was just...
Nothing.
Movement in one of the shadows before him caught his attention. The tormentor of his mind was right there, standing before him like a well wrapped gift. Naruto's heart skipping a beat for a second for feat that he'd been caught. As he held his breath, leaning forward to stare without even realising it, air slowly seeped back into his lungs. The rest of the world faded as Sasuke brushed back a lock of her new, shorter sweeps of hair behind her ear.
She was standing under a roof shade, leaning against the windowsill of a small room, alone. She took a bite of rice and licked her lips clean, Naruto's mind supplying a little too much detail on how her lips must feel pressed against that rice.
He didn't know why his heart was beating, why his ears were ringing with her cruel taunts and her harsh name for him. Just like that, a devious idea formed.
Before he knew it, he sprinted into action with a fox like grin on his whiskered face. If she thought he'd be a burden, he'd have to show her just how strong he could be!
Sasuke's cheeks were puffed out cutely as she chewed, elbows resting on the ledge behind when rope tightened around her and she was grabbed, pulled backwards into darkness so fast she barely had time to fight. For a split second Sasuke knew terror.
Itachi. The massacre. The horror of being grabbed from behind and stolen away by some foreign stranger who wanted her dead flashed before her eyes.
Then she was on her back and looking up to two gleaming eyes of blue. Naruto looked back, entirely innocuous and immature in his intentions, a wicked grin on his face.
"Dead last?" She grimaced, her own orbs widening as he crouched above her, upside down. Their eyes were locked, his blond hair cradling above her. His hands pulling at the ropes around her arms, binding her tight as he released a cocky giggle.
"Believe it!" He chimed in that annoying, awful way.
No way. All of Sasuke's fear faded to irritation as she kicked up with ease, loosening the rope so it fell off her waist in strings. Naruto's laugh became a screech as his prisoner escaped - what followed next was a struggle.A panic! Naruto dropped his weight on her and bear hugged her to the floor but Sasuke was sharper, quicker in elbowing him and using his weight against them. She wasn't expecting it when a puff of smoke released and suddenly, his clones were grabbing her from all sides. Sasuke may be strong, but so many Naruto's would take anyone by surprise. The kunoichi was already off guard and uncomfortable with rice smeared on her cheek and the rest of her lunch no where to be seen - probably dashed out the window or in a fallen clump on the floor by now.
Her eyes had barely adjusted to the sharp change of light and her kicks were weak with Naruto's rope rapidly tangling around her legs. Even still she managed to pop a clone with a sharp spinning kick up off the ground against gravity. Two, three, four clones in one move. Damn. Soon enough she was jumping for the window, leaving the other ninja no option but to jump on her, hugging her from behind like a bear and knocking them both in a tumble across the floor.
"Stop- trying to touch me up idiot!"
"Touch you!" Naruto shrieked, genuinely horrified by the accusation. "EW! I-I'm just doing what I have to as a ninja to restrain you!" he sputtered.
"You're the one who kissed me-"
"I thought we agreed that was an accident!" The blond screamed, swatting his hands at the girl and grabbing her wrists in one place so he could tie her up how he wanted.
"So you don't have a crush on me?" Sasuke stopped, tilting up her head. It gave Naruto just the right opportunity to straddle the stronger ninja, pressing down his weight firmly and pulling the edge of the rope tight with his teeth.
"No! Ughh why do you act like every boy is in love with you! You think you're so cool."
With a childish grin on his face, Naruto tied the girl up in a way that was surprisingly innocent. Sasuke was looking up at him, the pace of her world slowing to a calm, the fear of her eyes transitioning to her studying him. Her hands were by her sides, her body stiff but without fear.
"So I'm gonna teach you not to be so arrogant!" Naruto poked out his tongue and only then did Sasuke consider that the dead last of his class just wanted to prove that he wasn't weak. For someone so dumb, it wasn't so hard to accept that Naruto didn't see what was wrong with grabbing a girl in a dark room and tying her up. They were both in a dark room, bodies pressed together and Naruto still panting from the fight to keep Sasuke down. His breath reached the pale cheeks of the Uchiha girl as she simply looked up at him and waited.
The childishness of his actions was strangely refreshing.
Naruto didn't look at her with blinding love or lust in his eyes. Naruto didn't see Sasuke as an object. Naruto was looking at the inside.
"Nothing to say? Heh how about now?"
With a puff, the ninja sitting above him was no longer Naruto but a copy of herself.
Sasuke's eyes became lethal.
"What's your game?"
"Well, I'm planning a whole list of things," He giggled, "damage some property, swear at our sensei, ruin your good reputation!"
The blond looked absolutely triumphant, expecting the raven to panic and swat at him until he forced her to concede that he wasn't weak.
Against his plans, Sasuke's guard was down, relieved and relaxed with the blond's obvious innocence.
"You're so stupid you think they won't notice?" She breathed with a touch of humour, one eyebrow raised. Naruto's eyes scanned over her face and he pouted.
"You're right. I'd have to be more in character- walk like you, talk like you-"
"Naruto-"
Blue eyes rushed to Sasuke's quickly. His heart skipping a beat because the way Sasuke said his name was so unique. No one ever said his name like that. He leaned to the girl as she beckoned and listened to what she had to say.
"You're... you're the boy from the park right?"
At the memory, one of Naruto's fondest he was silent. All he could manage was a nod, though deep down part of him was thrilled that Sasuke remembered it too. At this, the girl relaxed. As if she trusted Naruto, as if she saw him for what he was. He was like her.
"That's right, believe it."
"You could only make a pathetic illusion clone before... now you can make four actual clones?"
His face flushed, somehow interpreting the words as more of a compliment. His heart was racing, eyes glistening as he shifted his weight on her and grinned from ear to ear. The voice that found Sasuke's ears was genuinely happy.
"That's right!" He laughed. This boy was so cheery. It kind of made Sasuke sick. That was the last of Sasuke's words, Naruto realised reluctantly, not wanting to admit that he was disappointed when more words didn't come out.
Sitting up, Naruto realised that he was in the body of Sasuke. A girl.
"Woooah~" A lazy look of intrigue came on his face, eyes falling to his own chest. He felt the real girl under him tense up beneath his hips.
"Girls really are completely different." If Sasuke's arms were out, she'd slap the blond over the head. He locked eyes with her, not his blue innocent orbs but her own, framed with dark lashes and a look of mischief that didn't suit her usually stoic face. Holding this contact, Naruto's hands clenched around the imitations of Sasuke's breasts on his own transformed chest.
Sasuke winced in horror, jerking up in her restraints and headbutting him hard.
"Hey what are you doing dobe!"
"Ah ah ah-" He pulled back despite the clang of metal on metal as their heads met. Sasuke was pushed back down with ease as Naruto continued to taunt the girl.
"Down here as well.." he hummed, lifting his hips to pull open the waistband of his shorts and peer down at what girls hid beneath their clothes.
Sasuke kicked him back to his original form suddenly.
"Cut that out!"
Gritting his teeth, he turned back to the Uchiha with a menacing look, taking advantage of their position and holding her down. Naruto was done playing. He'd been planning on backing her into a corner until she apologised, but since that hadn't worked out, guess it was plan B. He took out two strips of tape, laying them in a cross over her lips as she thrashed and struggled and made it difficult.
Naruto chuckled as they finally covered her up and Sasuke Uchiha was beneath him, hands bound and eyes looking up almost cutely, she appeared so helpless.
"Who would've thought the number one in the class could be beaten down by the dead last!"
With that, he rolled her over, transformed again and disappeared before the smoke of the transformation had even cleared.
Naruto's heart beat twice as hard when he was 'Sasuke.' She was nothing like his sexy jutsu. Naruto tried to carry himself differently, not a girl of cute, playfulness but a kunoichi of stealth and grace and style. He walks passed their Sensei and recieved an actual smile.
He sauntered past a group of boys the way Sasuke did and ignored the way they cheered and looked at him like he was heaven on earth. Naruto could get used to this! He was basically a celebrity, heart lifted by how different it felt to be Sasuke. To have people look at him as a genius and not a burden. To be able to walk freely without adults rushing out of his path as if were a black cat.
His feet were a little smaller in his shoes, his arms smooth and baby soft under the summer wind. When Naruto licked his lips they were as plush as he distinctly remembered Sasuke's feeing against his-
Naruto stopped when a cheery voice sang Sasuke's name, pure happiness floating in the air as female hands wrapped around his arms in a loose, friendly hug. Naruto turned, coming face to face with the lime green eyes of the prettiest girl in the world, Sakura. The love and care in her gaze was so different from the usual indifference, it stared into him, almost enough to knock him onto the ground. Somehow he managed, though his heart skipped a beat, the thrill of being in Sasuke's form forgotten as Sakura started to talk.
Of course. The girl was close friends with Sasuke, they were probably supposed to meet up or- or do any other girl thing Naruto had no idea about.
"So Naruto, that dead last loser is going to be on a team with us." He cleared his throat, not used to the low pur of Sasuke's voice as it came out.
"What do you think of him?"
He- he might as well use the opportunity to get information. To put in a good word for himself. Yeah, that was a good idea!
Her eyes cloud with confusion before shrugging the question off with a quick and simple answer.
"Oh him? I don't want to talk about him! Though if I really had to, he's too annoying for words to express," when she looked at Sasuke in humour, expecting his agreement it hurt Naruto. There was something so personal about the way she said it. It made him wonder what he'd ever done wrong?
"I hate how he's always in the way. Whenever I have something important to do he's always in the way!" The hate behind her words was real. Naruto had never been hated for his actions before. For existing sure, but this... this was different.
Slowly, his mood fell to darkness.
"He just- he always makes things difficult. I swear he does it sometimes just because he enjoys seeing my struggle."
That wasn't true! Naruto screamed in his head.
He didn't want to make things harder for Sakura, he just couldn't fight his own bad luck. He couldn't help being nervous around her, he couldn't help that whenever they interacted something always went awfully wrong. Suddenly Sakura's expression changed and she looked worried, approaching who she perceived as Sasuke with caution.
"Why you don't... you don't like him do you?"
"No." Naruto blurted quickly. "No I don't. Definitely not."
He shook his head so much the longer strands of Sasuke's hair hit Sakura's cheeks and he froze. His eyes averted to the side. He couldn't have her thinking Sasuke had a thing for him, that could ruin his chances completely. Besides, this was getting too uncomfortable wait- Sakura's cheeks.
Suddenly he realised how close the girl stood to him. She was only coming close, her conversation becoming way too personal, her words too intimate and the soft tone of her voice too personal. Regret poked at Naruto.
"I'm glad." Sakura realised how her words sounded and tried to recover before stopping herself. What was the point in making up lies? She'd said she'd confess today so even if they were on the same team that didn't change anything. Sakura would get it over and done with.
She stepped close to him, a shy flush dotted over her pink face.
Her eyes look at him with so much more than simple friendship. They stared at him as if he was a night sky full of stars. It was too much for Naruto to be on the receiving end of, even under the mask of this form. He took a step back with haste.
"Actually I have something else I want to talk about. It's you Sasuke," her smile warmed Naruto's heart. When he took a step back she took another forward. Her voice became soft and her eyes blurred with fondness.
"I feel something when I'm with you that I don't get from anyone else. This harmony, like being with you makes everything warm. When I'm with you I'm... just like those boys who stare at you," she laughed gently at herself, a touch of guilt and insecurity stepping in.
"The truth is, I can't take my eyes off you. Off your dark blue hair and your big eyes," her voice was so dreamy it made Naruto's body freeze up.
"I like you Sasuke. I like you so much that you're all I can think about, making you smile, being there for you, protecting you, looking up to you and admiring you. For so long, all I've wanted is for you to acknowledge me."
Naruto swallowed hard, paralysed by how familiar Sakura's words were. How much they reminded him of himself. Now he was starting to understand why he was so drawn to Sakura.
Then her expression changed and the other girl's lips lifted to his. To Sasuke's.
"I like you and I'd do anything to make you happy."
Oh no. Sakura was going to kiss him - to kiss Sasuke - to kiss another girl!
Naruto really shouldn't be here. His stomach lurched.
When he came back, Sakura was gone.
Chest deflated but also relieved, Naruto ran into Sasuke. He stopped, on guard and prepared for a fight but the girl's lips just tilted ever so slightly into an almost smirk.
"You really think ninja's can't escape," She paused, looking him in the eye, making him realise how dumb he was for not seeing it, "rope?"
Fine. Next time, Naruto restrained the girl, he'd resort to wire.
Naruto would love to say he forgot about the events of the day. He'd love to say he thought of Sakura that night, lying alone on his bed and looking out the window at the blue stars. When the world was quiet and his mind was black, though, all his mind could conjure was Sasuke.
The memory of her words resurfaced, the tone of her voice and expression of her eyes, her slim face, long lashes and round lips crept up on him. The heart racing pleasure of conversing with her, of being seen by her, the one person he admired most. It was almost like acknowledgement, as Sakura had said. He'd interacted with the girl he'd been trying to talk to for years. Not once, not twice but three times.
He'd found out he'd be in a team with her.
Would more conversations come? Would they become friends?
Naruto chuckled and rested his tired cheek on his arm. When he closed his eyes, he saw her sharp eyes and knowing smirk, he saw her new short her laying messy under him. He felt her warm breath on his cheek, her voice saying "Naruto" - the way nobody else in the world said it - in his ear.
As hard as he tried not to, he thought of the bliss of her lips. It wasn't a bad feeling at all.
Secretly, Naruto liked it.