"Where is God?"

By: Robin Maxwell

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and co.

A/N: Okay, all the boys go to an all boys private school somewhere on the planet. All the girls go to a Catholic all girls' school. Everyone is around 17 and 18. And this may be a bit controversial for some people. I'm not bashing anyone's religion here, or your opinions in gay rights and other such things, so don't be offended. Everything is merely for the purpose of the plot. If I do offend someone, then I'm sorry. But I'm really not trying to. Plus, I know almost close to nothing about catholic schools, so bear with me here please.

This will get a lot better in the 2nd chapter. You'll get some boy on boy action, so don't worry. It's coming… literally. And it goes into Sasuke's past.

And any religions that I mention in here, if I get them wrong, feel free to correct me. Other than that, I'll try my best to get everything right.

Pairings: main Sasuke and Naruto

Others

Warning: language… I think

"Religion is a byproduct of fear. For much of human history, it may have been a necessary evil, but why was it more evil than necessary? Isn't killing people in the name of God a pretty good definition of insanity?"

-Arthur C. Clarke

Chapter One

Never Take Friendship Personal

"Naruto?"

The blond in question just sat there, a stunned look on his face. He had always thought that his best friend was a bit feminine with his long brown-black hair and soft features, but he would have never guessed that he was gay.

"Naruto?" Neji repeated a bit unnerved now that he had just told his best friend his most dreaded secret.

Naruto snapped out of his thoughts and gave his friend a goofy grin.

"Hey, if it makes you happy, then I don't see the problem." He told him.

Neji sighed in relief before taking a rather long drink from a small glass bottle full of clear liquid. Naruto gave him a funny look.

"Isn't that straight up Vodka?"

Neji nodded his head.

"Yeah… well, I guess I'm still a bit nervous. You're the first person I've ever told."

Naruto just laughed at him before taking the offered bottle and taking a swig himself. After he was done, he stuck out his tongue and made a face at the taste.

Naruto's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the bell. He stood from his seat and gathered his bag from the floor before heading towards his next class.

Before long, that bottle was empty, and Naruto and Neji had jumped in the pool… during the middle of winter. Needless to say, they got back out soon after and stripped down and wrapped themselves in towels.

And that's when it happened. Naruto didn't even know why he had started it; he wasn't the one that was gay. But he had initialized the first kiss and the second. Then, things just elevated from there. From kissing to touching, to licking, to sucking and then… Neji passed out on him.

The bell rang again, this time notifying Naruto that he was late for class. He ran down the hall and almost fell into the room as he tripped over the small step up that was there. The class laughed and he gave a small embarrassed grin as he blushed.

"So nice of you to join us, Mr. Uzumaki." His teacher said as he took his seat. He noticed then that a boy with dark hair and even darker eyes was standing behind Iruka.

"Class, this is Sasuke Uchiha. He just moved from…" He looked towards Sasuke, expecting the boy to fill in the blank, but he didn't.

"From somewhere. Anyway, everyone be nice and uh… whatever else it is you're supposed to do."

He turned towards the raven-haired boy and pointed to the empty seat next to Naruto and told him to sit down. Naruto watched him as he moved across the room and sat down next to him. He didn't say anything, or even look at anyone. Of course, that just made him more appealing to the rest of the class. Soon, every boy in the room was staring at him, with the exception of Naruto.

The boy had gotten lost in his thoughts again. They were traveling back to that night last year when he had gotten drunk and had oral sex with his best friend. He and Neji were still good friends, which he was thankful for, but it was still a little weird whenever he saw him with his boyfriend.

He didn't dislike his boyfriend; it was just that after that night, Naruto thought that there was something a bit deeper than friendship between them. But apparently, Neji had thought otherwise. Which was why he was dating the creep known as Gaara. No one else saw him as 'the creep', except for Naruto. But maybe that was because he was still crushing on Neji.

Crushing… that was a funny word to use. It was a bit girly. How about… like? Or have feelings for? Nah. Sounds a little too old fashioned. Like. Yeah, he would go with that word. He still liked him.

Someone cleared their throat right by Naruto's ear. He jumped up slightly and looked to his right. His teacher was standing there, an annoyed look on his face.

"I've been calling your name for the last two minutes. Would you please go up to the board and work out the problem." He told him.

Naruto blushed again. Man, he really needed to pay attention. Especially in Pre-Cal. Since math was not his forte. He stood up and walked to the board and grabbed a dry erase marker. Then, he looked at the problem. And put the marker back down before turning around to tell Iruka that he didn't know the answer.

"Naruto, have you been paying attention at all?"

The blond just grinned and scratched the back of his neck nervously.

"Ah… no."

XXXXX

After making Naruto work on the problem with help from the class, he informed him that he would be showing Sasuke around the school after class. Naruto grumbled a bit, but listened to him anyway.

The bell signaled the end of class, and Naruto packed his stuff up. He had completely forgotten about Sasuke, until said boy made an annoyed clucking noise with his tongue as he waited.

"Um… hi. I'm Naruto, and I guess I'll be your tour guide today."

Sasuke just stared at him as if he were a bug he wanted to squash.

"Anyway…. where's your next class?"

The dark haired boy unfolded a piece of paper in his hands and gave it to Naruto. After looking over it for a few seconds, he grabbed the other boy's hand and made his way towards the next building.

"Hmm, let's see here. Next is English with Mrs. Cartner. Man, I feel sorry for you. She's a real bitch. Then you've got Chemistry with Dr. Myers. I don't have him, but I heard he falls asleep in class sometimes. After that, you've got lunch. Um… I don't know where the other classes on here are. But you're last class is P.E. with Miss Evans. Oh cool, I'm in that class with you." He smiled at the other boy, who had already pulled his hand back to his side.

Sasuke just glared down at him.

"What's with you?" Naruto asked, his mood going foul after trying to get the brooding teenager next to him to talk. He was like a statue. He hadn't seen him smile or even frown yet, let alone hear him talk.

"Nothing." He answered him.

"Then why are you acting like a girl when she's on the rag?" He questioned him, wanting to hear him talk again. He had expected his voice to be just as emotionless as his face, and it almost was. But it was covered up with the deepness of it. It was kind of sexy, if you liked that kind of voice with a murderous tone to it.

For some reason, Naruto did.

"I'm not. I just don't want to waste my time talking to an idiot like you."

Naruto bristled at the insult.

"Oh? And it's so great having a conversation with you?"

"I never said you had too."

Naruto reddened in the face with anger. Who the hell did this guy think he was? He was being a complete asshole, and for no good reason.

"Why are you being such a dick?" Naruto demanded as he came to a stop, making people in the hallway have to go around him, but he didn't pay them any attention.

Sasuke stopped as well and just stared at him. He didn't have to explain himself, but he felt the need to. The other boy wouldn't understand otherwise, and might just keep on perusing him. Which would be a bad thing, if he had anything to go by from his last school. Which he did.

"Don't get involved with me." He stated.

The blond just looked at him quizzically before tilting his head to the side.

"Why not? You wanted for murder or something?" Naruto half joked.

"Something like that." He answered the blonde.

Naruto just stared at him. Sasuke took a step closer to him and he felt his breath quicken. A hand brushed up against his own, and the piece of paper he had been holding slipped from his fingers and into Sasuke's.

He didn't need to know where his next class was. They were standing right in front of it. Sasuke turned around and walked in, leaving a confused Naruto standing there with a spaced out look on his face.

XXXXX

After Sister Mary Ellen left, Sakura fixed her uniform the way she liked it. She pulled at the ribbon that was tied around her collar. It was an unattractive, thin red thing that her school expected her to wear with the rest of the required uniform. The ribbon went back into her knapsack, and she untucked her short-sleeved white button down shirt. The ugly blue sweater that had the school's insignia on it was left at home, as usual.

She walked towards the library, seeing as she was early to school. Sakura fell gracelessly into a big comfy chair in one of the more secluded areas of the library and yawned widely. She curled up in the chair, pulled down on her gray skirt, and waited.

After a good ten minutes, when she was about to fall asleep, a hand came down on her shoulder. Her eyes opened and gazed tiredly up at one of her friends.

"Hi, Hinata." Sakura said in a sleepy daze as she rubbed at her eyes, trying her best not to smear her eyeliner. The girl was wearing her uniform, all of it correctly, Sakura noticed

"Hi." The short purple haired girl said shyly. Sakura smiled at her before pulling her down onto the chair. Hinata blushed and tried to get up, but the other girl just wrapped her arms around her like she was a teddy bear.

"I'm sooo sleepy. I don't wanna move." She told her, as if this were an excuse as to why they were both crammed into the big chair. It was large, but it didn't have nearly enough space for the two girls.

"Sakura? We need to finish the project." Hinata whispered loudly. The librarian was giving them an odd look, and she didn't want them to get kicked out before they even got started.

The pink haired girl smiled into the other girl's shoulder. She always liked hugging Hinata… probably more than she should, but she didn't care. These moments were probably the best in her life, though she wouldn't admit that to anyone else.

"All right." Sakura said as she let go of Hinata, and stood up. They both made their way over to the computers and started finishing up their English project.

XXXXX

Over the next few days, Naruto found himself becoming obsessed with the new kid. He stared at him during math class, watched him during lunch, and even found himself gazing across the locker room as he changed for P.E.

He knew he was attracted to the other boy, but he didn't know what he wanted from him. If he just craved friendship… or more. Naruto shook his head at that thought. He couldn't like him. He liked Neji. Yeah, he liked Neji. No one else. So, he had to be looking for friendship.

With that in mind, he grinned to himself and closed his locker. He looked over at Sasuke, who was slipping his shirt over his head. He was still staring at him when the other boy turned towards him and glared.

Naruto turned beet red in the face and turned around, heading towards the gym. With all the noise of sixty teenage boys talking, running around, and being stupid, it wasn't hard for Naruto to lose himself and forget what had just happened in the locker room.

He found a group of his friends and ran over to them, jumping onto the back of whom he thought was Neji.

Both of them fell over. The boy under him turned his head to the side and stared up at the blonde. A very flushed Naruto was on top of one of the prettiest boys he had ever seen, who was not Neji.

"Naruto, stop attacking random people." Shikamaru said.

The blonde got off of the stunned boy, and helped him up.

"I'm sorry. I thought you were someone else."

"It's no problem." The teen said as he wiped at his shirt and pants.

"I've never seen you around here before. Are you new?" Naruto asked.

"No. I went here a few years ago before I moved."

"You visiting or something? Don't know why'd you want to visit this cruddy school." Naruto told him distractedly as he watched Sasuke come out of the locker room.

"Uh… something else. I moved back last year and wanted to see a few old friends."

"Ohh, okay. I'm Naruto, by the way. The sexiest guy at this school." He told him as he wiggled his eyebrows.

The brunette laughed at him.

"I'm Haku."

A whistle was blown and Naruto turned around to see everyone lining up into their spots.

"I'll see you around then." Haku told him as he turned around. Naruto waved bye at him as he ran to get in his place.

"Later, Shikamaru."

The lazy boy just waved half-heartedly behind him as he walked after Naruto. Haku made his way out of the gym and into the main building, taking a staircase up to his old teacher's room.

When he came up to the room, he knocked on the open door and peered in. The room was empty. No students or teacher. He walked in and sat down at his old desk, looking towards the clock. He smiled to himself as he remembered what it felt like to sit here everyday in his senior year, waiting for the time to pass by.

Now that he had graduated and was starting his second year of college, he kind of missed it. At least, he missed this class. But only because of the teacher. He could care less about American history.

After a few minutes of reminiscing about the past, a man entered the room with a cup of coffee in his hand. He walked over to his desk before realizing that someone else was in the room.

"Haku?" He said, the cup falling out of his hand.

The coffee spilled all over the carpet, making him curse loudly.

"Zabuza, sir." The boy said with another smile, getting up to retrieve some paper towels from the desk. He squatted down on the floor and helped soak up the liquid, while Zabuza finally remembered that he had towels on his desk for his free period, and also kneeled down to clean up.

"What are you doing here?"

"You sound like you don't want me here." The boy said as he stood up to throw the wet towels away.

"It's not that… it's just that I haven't seen you in a few of years. I thought you moved."

"I did. And I moved back. Aren't you happy to see me?"

Zabuza stood up also and looked down at the boy, their eyes meeting. The older man couldn't exactly say he was thrilled to see the teen, but he also knew that he was happy to have him here again. Though the reason was less than admirable.

"Yes. I am." He said quietly, not bothering to elaborate the reason why.

"I knew you would be." Haku said, taking a step forward.

"Haku!" Zabuza said in warning. He did not need a repeat of the last time the boy was here.

"You're not my teacher anymore, Zabuza. And I'm not your student anymore, so stop thinking of me in those terms." He said seriously as he stopped a few inches in front of him.

"Haku… you're still-"

"I'm nineteen now. So, you can't use those excuses anymore."

He put his hands on the older man's hips and brought them closer together. Zabuza's hands came to rest on his shoulders instinctively as they had years ago in an attempt to push him away.

"Don't push me away this time." His voice whispered over the man's lips as he kissed him lightly. Zabuza stiffened at the contact and shoved Haku away with his hands.

"I-I can't. Please stop." He lowered his head, his eyes closing.

Haku sighed.

"Why?"

"Because… it's wrong. You were my student. You're younger than I am and you could have anyone else. You should be with some one who's the same age."

"Stop using the student thing. And you're only twenty-five, so stop making excuses. What's the real reason?" He asked him, his hands tightening around the other man's waist.

This time, Zabuza sighed. One of his hands came up to run through his messy hair as he exhaled again. He pulled out of Haku's grasp and took a step back, making sure he was out of the other man's reach as he sat on top of his desk.

"I-I've never… done this before." He said quietly.

"What? Been with another guy?"

Zabuza nodded his head.

"You know I was married before and that it failed. But you don't know why."

"Then tell me." Haku told him.

"Dammit, Haku. It's not that simple. Why can't you just forget about me and let me move on with my life!" He almost shouted, his eyes narrowing at the other boy.

Haku's brown eyes glowered at him as he took a step forward.

"I've tried that before and it didn't work. And it's you who can't move on with your life. You're still living in the past, or letting something from it hold you back from what you really want. I know it. I can see it in your eyes every time you push me away…" He whispered loudly, his voice calm and steady.

Zabuza's eyes widened at his words. He had never known that someone could read him so easily. He thought that he hid his problems well. He did it all the time with his family. So why couldn't he do it to some stupid kid that had a harmful crush on him?

"Figure out what you want in life and then tell me. I'll leave you alone until then, Zabuza." Haku said before leaving the room, his old teacher still staring in disbelief at the wall.

XXXXX

After the eventful day at school, Naruto walked back to his apartment building slowly. He didn't feel like doing two hours worth of homework tonight, but knew he had no choice. His parents were always strict about him doing his schoolwork. (Yeah, that's right. You just read that. He has parents in this story, so just go with it!)

They were strict about a lot of things, actually. Like making sure his room was clean before he went out on the weekends, or going to church on Sunday morning and Wednesday night. The blonde didn't hate church, but he strongly disliked it. Just because he always felt guilty about something he did or didn't do. He didn't see anything wrong with the way he lived his life, so why was it that every time he went the preacher always had to say something about gay marriages and rights being an abomination to the church.

His parents always told him that God loved his children, no matter what. That he would forgive any of your sins if you just asked.

He had asked. But he didn't feel any less unwanted in that oversized building with paintings and statues of Christ. The lights hanging from the ceiling were always too bright, as if Jesus were searching his soul as he sat and listened to the prattle of the preacher.

Naruto thought about the last sermon as he grabbed the mail from the hallway and shifted through it, not paying attention to where he was going. He ran into someone and stumbled back, almost falling. After regaining his balance, he looked at the cursing person on the ground.

"I'm sorry." He told the pink haired girl as he offered his hand to her. She seized it and pulled herself up.

"It's okay." She told him as she tugged her skirt down. Sakura looked up at him and furrowed her eyebrows.

"Hey, don't you live on the same floor as me?" She asked him as the thought of where she had seen him before came to mind.

He nodded his head as they walked towards the elevator.

"Yeah. In 3C."

"Ah, I knew I'd seen you before. I'm Sakura." She told him. The pink haired girl and her father had just moved into the building before the second semester of school had started a few weeks ago.

"Naruto. Naruto Uzumaki. What school do you go to?"

The doors to the elevators closed as the pink haired girl pressed the button for the third floor.

"St. Paul's. It's a bore, and the uniform is crap, as you can tell." She told him in a disgusted voice as she pulled at her shirt.

Naruto laughed at her. He couldn't really say anything. His uniform wasn't much better.

"Ah, it's not that bad. Mine's pretty lame too. I mean, what kind of boy wears maroon?"

Sakura looked at the dark blue pants, white button down shirt, and maroon vest that was worn over it. She did feel kind of sad for any guy that had to wear that.

The doors opened and they walked down the hall towards their apartments.

"Which school?"

"R. J. Reynolds. (Sorry if anyone that goes there has a problem with me turning it into an all boy homoerotic school… but you'll get over it. It's my school too!) It's all boys, which isn't too bad, at least not for me." He said with a quirk of one of his eyebrows. He didn't care if she was all-religious and thought that he was going to hell because of his preferences, but he sure as hell wasn't the shy type when it came to telling people about his sexuality. Excluding his family, of course.

Sakura gave him a strange look before laughing at him, a smile covering her confused look.

"Glad you like it then. Most girls at my school would kill to be in your place. They're deprived of the male population, which doesn't bother me too much." She admitted to him. It was Naruto's turn to turn down his eyebrows in question before grinning at her.

"I'll see ya around, Sakura." He said as he slid into his apartment. The girl waved at him before going down a few more doors and stopping at hers. She pulled out a key and went inside.

Instead of an empty apartment, like she was used to seeing, a man with an agitated look on his face sat in the chair in the living room. Sakura put down her things and locked the door behind her.

A pair of dark gray eyes looked up at her as she entered the living room.

"What do you want?" He asked her.

"What are you doing home so early?" She asked her dad, looking at him expectantly as he took another sip of his beer. This was apparently the wrong question to ask him as his hand tightened around the bottle, and he chugged the contents hurriedly, spilling some onto his chin and neck.

"Get me another drink." He told her as he wiped his mouth.

She took his empty bottle and went into the kitchen to get another one. But the fridge was almost completely bare. She sighed as she told him there was no more left.

He grumbled to himself as he stood up and grabbed his wallet off the table.

"What do you want for dinner?" She asked him quietly, trying to lift his mood.

He didn't answer her, just walked out the door, and slammed it behind him.

Sakura sighed to herself again as she looked around the kitchen, finding close to nothing to cook for them. After searching through the cabinets for a few minutes she found some pasta, sauce and mushrooms in the fridge. They didn't have any hamburger meat, so it was going to be nothing but pasta, sauce, and mushrooms.

She smelled the mushrooms and almost gagged.

Okay, make that just pasta and sauce. As she cooked the angel haired noodles, she thought back to some of the conversations she had had with her purple haired friend. The two of them had never really talked about liking any boys or having boyfriends, but they had been going to the same school since sixth grade. So it was kind of hard finding a guy when there was nothing but girls around, even around their neighborhoods.

Sakura had tried once, back in her old apartment complex. The guy had been a year older and a high school dropout as well. Needless to say, it didn't work out. She didn't feel attracted to him in any way. And she had had plenty of other girls around her say how dreamy he was, and that they wished he could be their boyfriends.

She had almost said out loud that they could have him, but stopped herself when she saw Hinata's face. The girl looked almost torn. What for, Sakura still didn't know. The girl had never told her, no matter how many times she asked. But she did break up with him soon after.

After that though, she knew she didn't want to get married, have kids and become a house mom. It just wasn't appealing to her. Whether it had to do with being with a guy for the rest of her life or her not fulfilling her dreams, she didn't know. Maybe it was both.

Sakura snapped out of her thoughts as the water started to boil over, making her swear loudly as she turned down the temperature.

XXXXX

Naruto stretched, the sound of his joints and back popping filled the room. He yawned as he put down his pencil and went into the living room. His mom was in the kitchen, a look of thought etched onto her face.

He grabbed a water bottle from the fridge and walked over to the counter to wave his hand in front of her face. Crystal blue eyes blinked a few times as the blonde woman turned towards her son.

"Naruto? Did you need something?"

"Um… when's dinner gonna be ready?" He asked, his stomach already making strange noises.

"Oh, it's gonna be awhile. I wanted to wait until your dad got home, but if you can't wait-"

He shook his head.

"No, it's fine. Where is he, anyway?"

A crease formed on his mother's forehead as she studied him.

"Didn't he tell you? He went with a few other church members to protest earlier this morning and try to round up more people to sign the petition."

"Protest? To protest what?"

His mother sighed with impatience.

"Haven't you been paying attention at all to your youth minister? I know he talked about it last Wednesday."

Naruto just shrugged sheepishly, making his mother even more annoyed.

"Their trying to pass a law here that lets gays and lesbians adopt children. To think that they would let them do such a thing is disgusting. (Not to me!) So, your father has been going around all day getting people to sign the church's petition."

At the horrified look on his face, his mother put a hand on his shoulder.

"I knew you would probably want to join, but you wouldn't have been able to miss school today. Plus you have to be eighteen to sign, but don't worry. We'll win. We have to. God on our side." She told him in a positive voice, her smile growing warmer.

That smile only made it worse. Naruto dashed out of the kitchen and into the bathroom, his stomach already set on getting rid of whatever was in it. Which was nothing.

He dry heaved for a few minutes, nothing coming out but some spit and choking sounds. A knock at the door alerted him that his mom had come to check up on him, but he ignored her. Naruto stood up from his bent over position over the toilet and flushed. After a few minutes of staring at the water spin away and then settle back down to a placid surface, he went to the sink and splashed some water on his face.

He left the bathroom awhile later, still feeling sick to his stomach. The feeling didn't go away when his mother asked questions and his father came home, a passionate look on his face. The kind that he got when he achieved something of importance to him.

The feeling just grew worse.

XXXXX

This will get a lot better in the 2nd chapter. You'll get some boy on boy action, so don't worry. It's coming… literally. And it goes into Sasuke's past. So, review if you want more.

love ya guys,

robin