Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
A/N: I'm not entirely sure why i'm posting this...it has a female Naruto, who is annoying and OOC, and then there's Sasuke, who also horrible, disgustingly OOC...And its completely different from everything else i wrote. It was a killer plot bunny, and it wouldnt go away. At any rate, it's a short story, with three parts already written, just in need of posting. (my Beta doesn't like this story much- so its pretty much uneditted to). So, um...yeah. Leave a review if you want, especially if its to say the story is unbearable and should be taken down immediately- it will.
Warnings: Female Naruto, one sided SasuTem, Sainaru, and some swearing and insinuations. And vomit inducing OOC. Enjoy!
It was a grey day, ironic that it would be what gave him light during the upcoming years, no matter how misplaced it may have been.
After all, did it really matter if it were real or not? He thought it was. And that was by far enough for a child who neither knew what he truly wanted or could properly distinguish reality from fantasy.
But that day, hindsight would have no influence over the events that would unfold.
Sasuke had spent the entire day feeling wet. And cold. He had been forced to walk to school because his brother had refused to give him a lift, and an umbrella would have proved useless, considering the strong winds would have blown it away in seconds.
He had been extremely happy by the end of the day to discover that the storm had only chosen to get worse during school hours. Now, just when he had been drying off from the school radiators, he was about to get drenched again. He hadn't bothered to fight the scowl and had irritably made sure all his books were covered in his satchel before heading out.
There was usually another reason why he didn't like walking around by himself. At the age of ten years, he was generally at least a good two feet below normal eye level, and the packed streets of Tokyo were brimming with those who didn't particularly care if they steeped in small children.
What with the atrociously wet and windy weather, which had broken fence slats and dislodged roof tiles, the way home was even more hazardous than usual. It wasn't long before he became frustrated pushing his way through the crowds and got continuously splashed by the puddles as cars drove through them at high speed.
It was slightly unsurprising then when in the grey light, and already confined visibility that eventually Sasuke found himself out of the main crowds and on a street he had never seen before in his life. Dark eyes widening he had spun around, rain plastering his black hair to the sides of his face.
One way was unknown high fenced road, a steaming vent misting in the freezing air, while the other he could make out the passing horde of commuters, the tide of human beings too fast for him to desire to go back.
Another glance around provided the knowledge that he wasn't as alone as he had thought. This wasn't as comforting as he wanted it to be, considering they seemed awfully a lot like the 'trash' that he had heard his father talking angrily about at family meals.
All in all, they didn't look too friendly.
Some of the water trailing down his face in small rivulets seemed to be suspiciously warm. It was just that-his parents were away at the moment on a business trip, having left last night, without saying goodbye. Which also left Itachi in charge, and he had been in a bad mood for some reason or another last night…. and this morning too, considering he had refused to drive him to school through the storming weather.
And now he had no idea where he was!
With cold water continuously dousing his entire frame, making him shiver, it seemed that today would never end.
Just as he was inching back to the main street, keeping reddening eyes on the tramp that was leering at him from the awning of one of the buildings, he suddenly felt the rainfall suddenly cut off.
Freezing, he slowly turned around; only to see the most beautiful woman he had ever seen in his life. He couldn't help but blush slightly.
The girl was older than him, obvious from the high school uniform she was wearing, her waisted school shirt slightly damp as it clung to her. Due to her tall stature she was leaning over him, exposing the smooth skin around her collarbone. Her soft blonde hair was tied up at they back of her head, the slight spikes wilted due to the humid air of the wet weather.
She was holding a large umbrella over them, and Sasuke didn't think he would ever see anyone so perfect in his life.
"Hey, are you alright, you look a little lost?"
His blush deepened a little as he heard her voice; it was lower than he had expected, but it suited her just as perfectly as the rest of her.
Embarrassed he couldn't seem to form any words all of a sudden he only managed a hesitant nod.
The girl merely smiled at him, an action that caused him to feel his heartbeat pounding in his ears.
"Well, that certainly won't do will it? I know I'd be terrified if one of my brothers didn't come home when they were supposed to…what's your name?"
Summoning some of his missing Uchiha pride, he managed to answer without stuttering.
"Uchiha Sasuke."
The girl blinked in surprise.
"Uchiha? Why, you only live just around from my house! We moved there a little while ago!"
Sasuke swallowed, inwardly musing that they couldn't have been there long, as surely he would have noticed her walking around their neighbourhood before.
"Really?"
The girl nodded peaceably.
"Uhuh, well that makes things a lot easier doesn't it? We can just go home together then?"
Sasuke hadn't heard of a better idea in his life, for more than just wanting to get out of the rain.
"Ano…what's your name?"
The girl blinked teal eye's in surprise.
"Oh, didn't I say?"
Sasuke reverted back to unspoken answers with a shake of his head, feeling it was much safer that way that he wasn't going to suddenly blurt something out.
Just as she opened her mouth, presumably to answer, a much lower voice cut in from outside the water-free confines of the umbrella.
"Hey, can I buy you a drink, or do you just want the cash, princess?"
A man, crinkled business suit untucked, had wandered over, and was currently looking over the girl's long legs as if there were on at half price.
The blonde in question wrinkled in disgust and put a hand on Sasuke's shoulder, prepared to drag him back with her.
"No you creep, now fuck off!" she yelled crassly, startling Sasuke slightly, wondering where such a nice looking girl went to learn language like that. Not that he thought too much about it, rather wanting to get home, or at the very least, have this…man get away from them and back to whatever hole he had obviously crawled out of; suit or not. This was another sort of people his father had strong thoughts on. He would be most displeased to find that Sasuke had met one when he got back from Osaka.
"Oh, come on baby, why don't we ditch the kid and go have some fun, eh?"
He stepped closer, bringing the recognisable smell of sake with him. Sasuke was starting to not only feel hear, but as the girl growled and jumped back, yanking him back with her as the man tried to grab at her elbow, he felt frustratingly useless. Girls such as her shouldn't have to deal with bastards like these, he should be able to do something, anything.
Yet he didn't, mindful of the string grip the girl had on his shoulder and the much bigger size of the man opposite; he may take several martial arts lessons, but he knew what was suicidal, and what wasn't.
Fear returned as they both hit the brick wall of the street, umbrella crinkling up against the wet grill above their heads.
The girl was scowling fiercely and for a one moment Sasuke almost thought that she would actually lash out and punch the man right in the face.
Thankfully a voice came calling.
"Are you alright there, miss?"
Sighing gratefully, the girl turned to a man standing nearby the corner where the road connected to the main one.
The girl nodded with a slight bow, before striding down to join the main street, one eyes over her shoulder to make sure the drunken man wasn't following them. He wasn't, merely grumbling at the pavement.
"Now, before we were interrupted what was I going to say?" she asked slightly breathlessly, gaze turning down on him as they shuffled their way down to the station, rain pelting the umbrella to block out the noise of passer-by's.
"Oh yes, I was going to introduce myself, well Sasuke-chan I'm Sabaku Temari, nice to meet you!"
She smiled again, and Sasuke was sure he had never heard of a sweeter name than Temari.
"Pleased to meet you to Temari-san."
She grabbed his hand and led his down the steps to the station, making his palm feel warm.
As she shook the umbrella closed as they went underground, he was sure that today was perhaps the best of his life. For that day, he met Temari.
He silently promised himself in the way home, that he would never let anyone get away with treating her like that ever again. And, that when he was older, she wouldn't be calling him 'Sasuke-chan'.
She bit her lip nervously and clenched the small package in her hands so much that her knuckles went white. She stood fretfully outside the classroom door, the rest of her classmates bouncing around, making the most of the break between classes. If she didn't hurry, she wouldn't have the chance to do it until tomorrow, just like it had been for the past two weeks.
No! She wouldn't back out, not this time.
She would give it to him.
She shifted slightly, and absentmindedly tightened the ribbons that held up her hair, placed there livingly by her guardian, who had been quite surprised when she requested the blue ones instead of her usual favourite orange. He didn't like bright colours, or so she didn't think, and she wanted to seem as perfect as possible.
She desperately tried not to fidget, in the end compromising by straightening the creases out of her skirt.
She didn't like the fact that lots of the other girls did this; and it was disheartening to see the results often garnered form the attempt. But she wasn't like those other girls.
She had been thinking about, at times more than others, ever since she had first seen him enter school with her, at age four. One of her earliest memories was of that boy; dark hair and even darker eyes, just crying out for her to go talk to him. Her initial attempts hadn't gone so well.
She presumed it was for the same reasons no one else in school was friends with her. But, it wasn't in her nature to give up, and she certainly wasn't going to do it now. Biting her lip, she steeled herself and pushed the door open a little, just so she could slip in, hoping she wouldn't be seen. She had no desire to give Kiba even more teasing material.
Sasuke sat at his desk, hunched up like usual, hands folded in front of his face; it was a classic pose for him to strike while thinking, presumably about much higher things than the rest of what their schoolmates did. Sasuke was cool like that.
He didn't even blink as he felt a shadow hover over his desk uncertainly.
"A-ano…Sasuke-kun, I-I brought something for you."
He refused to look up, or even give a sign he recognised the voice that had spoken. A small package was placed on the corner of his desk, and the small piece, delicately tied with ribbon, was pushed towards him. Annoyed at being disturbed, particularly as he was thinking about Temari from the night before, he raised his head to glare at the girl standing nervously in front if him.
Though he didn't let it show, he was somewhat surprised at who it was, not having bothered to listen to what was said earlier. Of course, he really shouldn't be that surprised, this girl; she was probably the stupidest of the lot.
"So, the dobe was last in this too," he muttered, feeling nothing more than apathy as the blonde in front of him turned red. She wasn't pretty, he decided critically, not even that cute either- she was far too tanned, with a round face, strange whisker-like scars marring her cheeks. Not to mention, she was the point of ridicule for the rest of the class.
Sasuke, feeling more vindictive than usual, poked at the little box on his desk offensively, watching intently as a crowd began to gather. The blonde girl in the middle of it looked as if she would rather be dunked in the school's pond, than be here.
"Che, what's this supposed to be, usuratonkachi?"
Some of the students around them giggled, mostly the girls. Everyone always jumped at the chance to laugh at Uzumaki Nartuo, the loser of the entire year.
Naruto, surrounded on all sides, found herself going red again, though this time in anger.
"It's a gift, Sasuke-kun," he said form between gritted teeth, wincing when all said boy did was raise an eyebrow, taking another lazy glance to the little box.
"I don't like sweet things," he said drolly, used to repeating this sentence often during his school years so far.
Naruto huffed, as she heard some more giggles from behind her. Snapping around to glare at them, to only have them stop with serious looks on their face's, she angrily spun back around to Sasuke.
"That's not the point!"
"Oh?" he asked dryly, "and what is the point then?"
Naruto pursed her lips together, unaware of the how comic it looked, and why it inspired a howl of laughter from the side.
"It doesn't matter whether you like it or not, it's the appreciation of the thought that matters!" she said firmly.
Sasuke barely deigned to answer her, looking down indifferently at her gift.
"And why would you think that I would ever appreciate anything from you?"
She couldn't help it. She squeaked, and bit her tongue to keep her mouth shut. The others around her broke down into full-fledged hilarity, some holding onto desks, while some of the girls cooed about how right Sasuke-kun was. Naruto, with mounting horror could begin to feel hot, stinging tears well up, her throat feeling suspiciously dry. She had…she had wanted to at least be friends with Sasuke for such a long time. And now, he had just trampled on her as if she was nothing, nothing at all. Her classmates said it to her all the time; but this time, she just couldn't stop the hurt. Funny, she thought it had scarred over a long time ago. Trust Sasuke to open it all up again, using her feelings for him to do so.
"You bastard!" she screamed at him, doing what she always did; be loud to cover up the hurt.
But Sasuke didn't even turn to face her, having gone back to quietly stare out the window.
"Oi! Oi! Naruto! And here I thought you weren't even a girl! Ha! I guess even a baka like you thinks she has a chance with precious Sasuke huh?"
"Shut up Kiba!" she yelled back in return, "I least Sasuke is actually a person! In my opinion I'm rather worried about how much you love your dog!"
That shut the boy up, fierce brown eye's glaring at her deeply. Naruto could only summon a small amount of pride though, before she ran out the classroom, rushing to lock herself in one of the toilets. She refused to let anyone see how upset she was- the only person she let see her cry was Iruka, and that wouldn't be changing any time soon.
If anyone heard sobs from the third floor's girls' bathroom that day, they ignored it.
"Saaasssuuuuukkkeeeeee!"
Sasuke sighed as he slammed the metal door to his locker shut, not even bothering to try to get out the way as a blonde blur skidded round the corner, several indignant shouts of "Hey!" following, before he was practically tackled to the ground.
Irritated at having another person touching him, he roughly pushed her off, scowling fiercely. Said blonde simply backed away, grinning widely as she gazed up at him. Two years, and she was still the shortest in the class.
"Usuratonkachi," he mumbled.
It didn't have the effect he wanted though, only making the girl next to him chuckle, flicking her long blonde hair over her shoulder.
"Aww, hello to you to Sasuke-yarou! You're a rather crappy friend to be calling me names all the time, you know that?"
"Speak for yourself," muttered Sasuke annoyed, "And you're not my friend."
Naruto let the comment roll off her back and onto the floor, too used to the Uchiha's prickly demeanour by now to get too offended- if he really wanted to hurt her, he had plenty of other material to use.
"But what would you call me then?"
"An annoyance."
"Bastard…" grumbled Naruto, before hitching her bag onto her hip, riffling through the contents in a valiant search for her Japanese books. This new arrangement, of Sasuke actually responding to her, was a new development, and one that had puzzled many, not limited to the others girls in their class either.
Sasuke had never been sociable any sense of the word, and especially never with Naruto of all people. But yet, no matter how much they seemed to fight, you would more often than not see them in each other's company.
When prodded, Sasuke had irritably snapped that she wasn't nearly as bad as those who hounded him all the time. Further investigation yielded that apparently after the 'incident' two years ago, Naruto had completely given up on Sasuke that way, - "Who'd ever want to date a bastard like that anyway?" There was some speculation that Naruto was always around Sasuke just so she could annoy him all the more. And the reason why Sasuke put up with it was simply because he had learned early on just to tune out her incessant chatter.
It was the only reasonable conclusion anyone could come up with.
The reality of course, was a little different. Of course, Naruto did like to annoy Sasuke as much as possible and Sasuke did tune her out a lot of the time. But there was more to it than that.
Naruto had been the most depressed than she'd ever been after Sasuke's cold rejection. The one person's opinion that really mattered to her, and he'd ripped her to pieces. Though she really couldn't have expected anything less; Sasuke didn't like any of the girls, why would he have any interest in her, the class idiot that always got picked on, and had no real parents. Not to mention she didn't have any of the classically beautiful looks of usual Japanese women.
She'd almost given up all hope, when, purely by chance, she had stumbled across a lone Uchiha on the top floor after class one day. He had been staring out the window silently, like he often did, looking out over the dark rain clouds outside. She was thankful he hadn't noticed her as she hid around the corner.
It had been though the reflection caused by the glass, that she had seen it.
Eye's filled with loneliness.
For in the end, she had realised, her and Sasuke were one and the same; whose eye's held the same feeling and intent.
From that day on, she had sworn to herself not to be alone anymore, and also, not to let Sasuke be alone either. He had hurt her, but then again, everyone did.
And if at first you don't succeed, try, try again.
Which was exactly what Naruto did. She didn't try to catch his attentions in any sort of romantic way, that wasn't what was needed. It had taken her a while to come up a flawless plan to become friends with Sasuke- she had spent hour's hole dup in her bare bedroom, thinking it over, and wondering about all she knew of Sasuke. Iruka had given her very worried looks, obviously anxious about her abrupt change in behaviour. She could still remember her questioning her over ramen at the dinner table.
In the end, she had gone with simplicity. And really, that was probably genius. She merely ensured that she was…there. She would talk to him, uncaring if he didn't reply, or if he did, irately telling her to go away, she would- only to turn up again a few minutes later. The sight of his ever-increasing twitch in his left eye was gleefully considered payback for embarrassing her in front of the class.
She had briefly wondered if the time would come when he would eventually snap and actually hit or shout at her. She had even mentally prepared herself for it, determined not to let Sasuke get away. She had been pleasantly surprised when no such event occurred, and he simply seemed to get used to her presence.
Seemed like Sasuke needed a friend just as much as she did.
They even had certain lines that they unspoken, mutually agreed not to cross.
It was…wonderful
Not that she would ever admit that out loud to Sasuke- he had developed the nasty habit of finding it amusing to get her as angry as possible.
Bastard, she thought, almost fondly.
"Ne, Sasuke, have you seen any of my books for Japanese around? I could have sworn I packed them this morning…"
Sasuke merely leaned against the back of the lockers, arms folded as he glared at a couple of girls across the hall giggling behind their hands.
"Hn, you should come with nametags, maybe then you wouldn't lose everything all the time."
Naruto snapped her head up from rummaging in her bag.
"Teme, I do name everything, people just don't give them back."
Sasuke gave a half-shrugged and didn't reply. Naruto had learnt that this was a half-apology for bringing a subject up, the closest one she would probably ever get from the Uchiha. She knew what it meant, however, so she couldn't care less.
She growled once more and she shifted her bag over her shoulder and was about to drag Sasuke off to their next lesson when a voice stopped her. It was Sasuke- and he didn't sound like his usual bastard-self.
"Te-Temari?"
"Sasuke-chan?"
Naruto's head snapped around faster than the speed of light. Who on earth got away with calling Sasuke-I'm-such-a-big-bastard-you-could-choke-Uchiha chan?
Looking around, she noticed a young women, probably in the later years of High school, if her uniform was any indication, looking at Sasuke with a fair amount of surprise. Glancing over, she was shocked to find that Sasuke looked somewhat…flustered. It was hard to tell, but for one who had studied the mysterious language that was Uchiha-ese, it was clear as day. If she squinted, she was sure she could make out a faint blush.
What the hell was going on?
"Temari, what are you doing here?" asked Sasuke, voice sounding a little higher than usual.
'Temari' laughed lightly, "Oh, no need to sound so accusing Sasuke-chan, I was just her to check up on my brother Gaara, he's a year below you I think."
Sasuke nodded, while Naruto narrowed her eyes slightly at the figure of the older blonde.
Said woman, seemed to have just noticed the younger girl standing next to the Uchiha.
"Ahh, Sasuke-chan, who is this? You never told me about having a girlfriend," teased Temari, eye's glinting with mirth.
She was the only one who seemed to think anything about that statement was amusing.
"She's not my girlfriend!"
"I'm not his girlfriend!"
They both yelled out hotly, simultaneously, before glaring at the other. Naruto's however, was hiding her shock as she did so. She had never heard Sasuke talk like that- like a normal human being. She glanced over to Temari, just who was she?
Temari seemed to notice her curios gaze and gave a faint smile.
"You're probably wondering how I know Sasuke right?" she didn't wait for Naruto's hesitant nod, "Well, we've known each other since a moved round the corner a few years ago, I'm friends with his brother, so I'm round quite often, so we get to talk a lot, don't we Sasuke-chan?"
Naruto was sincerely relieved to see some 'normal' Sasuke behaviour as the dark haired boy scowled at being repeatedly called 'Sasuke-chan'.
"And you!" accused Temari, pointing an reproving finger in the Uchiha's direction, "you never told me about actually having a friend, I'm sure Itachi would be overjoyed to hear you're not so bad tempered not to have any friends at all!"
For reasons unknown, Naruto saw Sasuke seem to pale at the mention of Itachi, his already pale skin bleaching to paper white.
"Th-that's all right Temari, no need to do that," he muttered hoarsely.
Temari glanced at him curiously, before seeming to dismiss his odd behaviour, fiddling with the clasp bag in her hands.
"Well, I'm afraid that I have to get going, Gaara's waiting for me in the Nurse's office."
She started walking down the hall.
"Adiosu, Sasuke-chan!" She waved and turned the corner, vanishing from sight.
She glanced to Sasuke, noticing how his eyes followed her, and the way his eyes seemed a little darker when she disappeared.
Naruto felt her heart sink down to somewhere near her shoes. Sasuke…Sasuke was in love with somebody. For the first time in a while, her throat felt dry again.
Sasuke turned to her, black eye's questioning as he saw her glazed eyes. He frowned slightly. It was just like the dobe to suddenly space out like that.
"Come on baka," he said harshly, "we're late for class."
He stalked off, leaving Naruto to catch up as she hurried after him, morbidly wondering how that woman could make Sasuke's eye's light up like that.
A/N: Tomorrow, i'll either post another chapter, or take it down, so review and tell me what you want, ja!