Disclaimer: It's my birthday, and I still didn't get the rights to Naruto...

Oh! Also, *** indicates a time break. It doesn't come up very often, but you should probably be aware of it.

Chapter Two: So Many Superstitions

I groaned when the teme's alarm went off at six in the morning. I hated that thing, I really, really, did. Why he insisted on getting up early on weekends and days off, I would never understand. Really, who gets up at six on New Year's Day when you just partied until three? AND when you had the day off? Of course, whenever I complained about it, he told me to stop whining and ignore the damn alarm. Who can sleep through an alarm clock? Not me.

Glaring at him from under my blanket, I threw it off and stormed over to his bed, smacking the clock until it shut off. Grumbling, I gathered up all my clothes and sprinted to the bathroom, slamming and locking the door before he had a chance to beat me to it. Serves him right, waking me up this early.

I moaned at the feeling of the warm spray hitting my skin, feeling myself wake up. As I worked the shampoo into my hair, my thoughts drifted back to last night, and I grinned. It was an awesome party. By the end of the evening, we had gotten Kiba drunk again, Chouji had spilled his drink all over one of the party crashers, and even Shikamaru had woken up enough that Ino had a chance to force him to dance with her. Lee had gotten himself slapped for kissing Sakura while she wasn't paying attention, and Hinata had blushed like a tomato when Kiba kissed her. Even the teme had loosened up by the end, and actually hung out with everyone instead of leaning up a against a wall and glaring at me.

I frowned a little when I thought of the teme, my mind drifting back to my New Year's resolution. Unconsciously, my fingers drifted up to my lips. Well, Sasuke hadn't mentioned the incident again, and so neither had I. At least things weren't awkward. After all, plenty of guys accidentally kissed their best friend on New Year's Eve...err, day, apparently. Right. But things really weren't awkward, which was good. Maybe Sasuke was trying to banish the incident to back of his mind and never think of it again. Which I would do, too, if I hadn't made my stupid resolution. I really hadn't been thinking about it (probably because of the damn 'kiss') when I made it. But, now that it was made, I had to go through with it, because Uzumaki Naruto never gave up.

Turning the water off, I stepped out of the shower and dressed hurriedly, throwing open the door and bursting into our little kitchen area, smelling waffles. Sasuke, apparently, could cook. I had found that out when we became roommates, and it came in handy. I grinned when I saw a plate sitting on the table with syrup next to it. Slamming into the seat, I poured syrup all over the waffles and shoved them into my mouth. Sasuke, who was standing at the counter, scoffed at me and set his dishes in the sink.

"These are awesome! How did you learn to cook, anyway?"

"You ask me that every day, dobe. Learn to use your brain to remember." I narrowed my eyes at him, but I couldn't respond because my mouth was too full of his waffles. Swallowing, I watched as he left the room.

"Going to shower?"

"Hn." I took that as a yes and went back to shoveling food into my mouth. These waffles weren't ramen, but I had to give it to Sasuke, the teme could cook. He made them from scratch, like he always did when he made them, and as always, they were great.

A knock at the door caught my attention, and, while carrying the plate over to the door and continuing to pop food into my mouth, I let whoever it was in.

Sakura and Ino apparently thought it was cool to get up early, too. Even though it was seven now, I would never be up this early willingly. Stupid teme.

"Effo, Sakuwa, Iwo," I said around my food. Sakura wrinkled her nose.

"Eww, Naruto, swallow before you talk." I swallowed, grinning.

"But they're awesome! The teme may be an asshole, but he can cook!" I punctuated my statement by taking another huge bite. Sakura sighed.

"Well, anyway, we came over, so now you can leave." I gave her a funny look.

"Um, okay. But I was pretty sure I could leave before."

Sakura looked at me. "So you don't know the superstition, then. You're not supposed to leave your house on New Year's Day unless someone already has, or you have a visitor. Although blonds are bad luck," she said, glancing at Ino.

"Yeah, well, so are redheads, are you're close enough! Besides, it's best if it's a guy, so it doesn't matter. And anyway, no one really believes that part of the superstition." I wasn't going to tell them, but I just didn't believe the superstition in general. And I bet she only said that because she was blond. But then, so was I.

"Are you going to eat black-eyes peas today?" Sakura asked.

"I wasn't planning on it."

"But they're supposed to bring you prosperity!" I shook my head, moving to grab the trash. It really needed to be taken out. I should have done it yesterday, but I forgot. Seems I forgot a lot of things yesterday. Ino stopped me before I got far.

"What are you doing?!"

"Taking out the trash?"

"No! Nothing can leave your house on New Year's Day!" I stared at them.

"Oookaaayyy."

"Seriously Naruto, do you not know any of the superstitions?"

"Apparently not." They sighed, looking at each other and shaking their heads.

"Well, I guess we have to tell you about them, then."

Sakura smiled and looked at Ino. "Well, there's the one about making a lot of noise, but he does that everyday, so that one's covered."

"Hey!"

"Oh, what about the one about doing a little work so you'll be successful?" I perked up at this.

"What's that one about?"

"If you do something successfully today, you'll be successful in the area all year."

"Oh! I should paint something today! Actually, Sasuke and I have an art project due after break. Maybe I'll ask him if we can do it today."

"Taking initiative? He'll be surprised."

"Sakura!" I whined. "Stop picking on me!" She smiled and glanced over my shoulder. Suddenly, something bumped my shoulder, and my reflexes came back. Apparently my reflex was to shriek like a little girl and grab whatever was behind me, which was Sasuke's hair. Ino and Sakura started having laughing attacks behind me, and the teme simply arched an eyebrow at me, smirking.

Glaring at my hand, I shouted "I hate you!" See, I told you I'd tell them when they came back. Especially when they decided to come back in that manner.

"Naruto, why do you hate Sasuke? He didn't do anything..." Sakura helpfully stated.

"I was talking to my reflexes." I began to sulk, until the teme's voice caught my attention.

"Can I have my hair back, or will you be keeping it?" I jerked my hand back, glaring at it accusingly. Stupid traitorous hand, liking Sasuke's hair. Although I didn't blame it, Sasuke's hair was really soft...okay, stopping myself here. What the hell was wrong with me? First the kiss, and now this? I felt my face heat up.

"Naruto, don't blush. It was an accident." Thanks, Sakura. Just...thanks. "Anyway, we didn't tell you about the best superstition! They say if you kiss someone at midnight on New Year's Eve, you'll have love and happiness with that person all year!" Now I was thankful for the blush I already had, because I was sure that I would have been blushing now. Shit, the teme and I had kissed at midnight, hadn't we? Damn.

"What are you talking about?"

"How did you not know that one? Everyone does!"

"You're talking about the idiot, remember." I shot Sasuke a dirty look for his comment. I turned away from him fast. Too fast, apparently, because Sakura was suddenly so close to me that movement of her arm sent my plate flying. Easily my hand shot up and snatched it out of the air. Ha, reflexes finally back! Sakura sighed in relief.

"Thanks sooo much, Naruto! If that had broken, I would have had a year of bad luck!"

"How do you know all these superstitions?!"

***

I loved this part of my day. Well, I loved it when it came up. I didn't do it everyday. Anyway, this part being getting set up to paint. Across from me, Sasuke was doing the same thing. The particular project we had to do was painting someone else, so we had all paired up, and, as always, Sasuke and I had decided to be partners. It made things a lot easier when trying to get together, because, well, we lived together.

Awesomely, we could use whatever materials we wanted, so I chose oil on canvas. Setting up my easel, I set to work gathering up the necessary stuff. Glancing over at Sasuke, I saw he was going to use oils, too. I preferred to use the direct method, just painting from the start. Even though the method was kind of hit and miss, I liked it. Actually, oil on canvas was my favorite in general.

After everything was set up, I got to work. Apparently, Sasuke was letting me go first, because he waited for me to pose him as desired. This part was really fun, because I got to tell the teme what to do, and he had to listen. Although, I suppose he would get to tell me what to do later, which kind of ruined my moment.

I shook myself out of my thoughts and had Sasuke pose leaned up against the wall. It was a was a sight I saw often, because that was the pose he took when he was picking on me or about to make me do my homework. It seemed to suit him, and he seemed to agree, because he would have commented had he thought I posed him wrong. And yes, I knew this for sure, because he had done it before. And yes, I had made him be in my paintings and drawings before, and he never complained. Probably I should thank him for that, but I didn't. Besides, he put me in his, too, and he could have any girl he wanted in his...where was I going with this? Oh! That meant I wasn't really obligated, and he could have gotten someone else to do it, easy, and I still did it. So I guess we were even.

Glancing at him, I nodded in admiration of my posing skills and got to work. I looked first at his face, noticing, as I always did, how pale he was, and how much it contrasted with his black hair and eyes. And for all you out there wondering, yes, his hair was that black naturally, and the style was natural too. It really did do that weird thing in the back by itself. I had never figured out how. I started to blush when I realized that I was staring, then got mad when I realized I was supposed to stare. What the hell was up with me lately?

Shaking my head, I skimmed down the rest of his body, noting the navy blue shirt and jeans. I was surprised he didn't have the Uchiha symbol somewhere on his clothes – he usually did. See, Sasuke was rich, and when I say rich, I mean it. His family owned Uchiha Inc. and he usually had the logo somewhere on him. Not today, apparently. Shrugging, I focused back on his face. He had a far-away look in his eyes, indicating he was elsewhere right now. Better than that, his stoic mask was gone, which was rare. Quickly, I began to paint, wanting to capture the look on his face. I grinned to myself when I thought how all the girls in the art class would swoon when they saw it. And then they would compliment me, which was great. I loved it when people liked my art.

Time seemed to drift away as my brush moved across the canvas, and all I focused on was the teme. I focused particularly on his eyes, which were what had caught my attention in the first place, being sure to capture the look of peace in them. His hair was easier for me to do than usual. The earlier incident, although embarrassing, helped me out, because now I knew the exact texture. Slowly, the painting came together, and, after what seemed like no time, but, in reality, was quite a while, I finished. Stepping back, I admired the painting and grinned. I had managed to do it just the way I had pictured. Later, I planned to finish it with a varnish, and it would be perfect.

Sasuke, sensing my movement, came back from wherever he was and came over to see the painting. He seemed satisfied with it. Earlier in our lives, we had both made scathing comments about each other's art, no matter how good, because we were competitive. Later, after learning it hurt both of us and our confidence as artists, we had stopped. Now, we only commented on a work if we really thought it needed some kind of improvement, and we were as nice about it as possible. If we thought a work was good as it was, we left it alone and said nothing. Just because we were no longer mean didn't mean we had to compliment each other.

Actually, the look on Sasuke's face the first time I complimented his food was priceless. Seriously though, food was my weak spot, and I couldn't help it, especially not being able to cook myself. He hadn't been expecting even a simple, "It's good," and so when I had yelled, at the top of my lungs, "This is AWESOME! Holy shit Sasuke, you can cook! I mean cook!" he looked like I had turned into an alien. Best of all, I swear I saw him blush ever so slightly. Now, he expected my comments, and I couldn't throw him off as much, which sucked.

Sasuke cleared his throat, pulling me out of my thoughts.

"It's my turn, dobe."

"I know that, teme! So tell me what to do!"

"Fine. Come over here." These were some of the only times the teme seemed to actually talk. "Here, look out the window, like this." Slowly, he guided me into the desired pose. I did spend a lot of time looking out this particular window, so it made sense. I settled my arms in front of me, waiting for him to back away and start painting. "No, dobe, like this." So when he suddenly touched me instead, I was startled. I was glad he had me looking out the window when his chest brushed against my back, because I blushed, leaving me wondering just what was going on with me. It felt like heat sprang up between us, which was...odd. Maybe it was a good thing I had made my resolution, because I really wanted to know what the hell was going on. I almost shivered when his hands ran down my arms, pulling them out a bit and positioning him as he wanted them. I felt a little touch to the back of my head, and obediently looked up, giving myself a good look of the clouds outside. Yes, I will admit that I liked to watch them, but I was no Shikamaru! I just found them relaxing, unlike the lazy genius, who sneaked off to watch them whenever he could.

I felt Sasuke move away, and let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. Well, that was odd. Still, I was careful not to move as Sasuke returned to his easel to paint. I could hear his rhythmic brush strokes, and I found the sound relaxing. Slowly, all tension left my body, and I settled into my usual habit of cloud watching. Actually, this window was perfect for looking at the stars, which I also liked to do. I only relaxed like this every once in a while, because I didn't usually have the time to really stand here and watch. I could only sneak a few minutes at a time, between my demanding friends and my homework, which I grudgingly did when Sasuke was around.

This, though, was great. I loved it when I had the time to actually wind down. The teme was the only one who ever saw me like this, and when I was chilling out, he usually clued in on the mellow mood and let me be, or, very occasionally, he'd nudge me over and we'd share the window, being calm together.

Yes, I could be calm! It didn't happen often, but I could be! However, even at this instant, my clothes were disagreeing with me. I was wearing a very hyper orange shirt and jeans. Hey, if you can pull off orange, you rock. And I could pull off orange. And so what if it was bright? Bright colors were awesome. They were definitely better than the teme's boring dark tones!

And just like that, I had nowhere to go with this train of thought. That was the problem with modeling for a painting or drawing: you got bored fast. And after you got bored, you where almost guaranteed more hours of boredom. Sighing, I settled in for a long haul of nothing to do, while trying to make sure I didn't move in the least. Never let it be said that I sabotaged a painting by moving. Closing my eyes, I let myself lose touch with the outside world, focusing on breathing and just being relaxed.

Which is probably why I jumped a little at the sound of the teme's voice.

"Dobe."

"W-what!? Teme," I added quickly. He'd never get away with insulting me without me insulting him back.

"It's done." Well, that's all the invitation to see it I'd ever get, so I moved to look at it. I had to admit, the teme had talent. Every detail was precise and clean, and he captured my mood of relaxation perfectly, even showing the clouds outside the window. My orange shirt stood out, and I grinned. Well, nobody ever said I didn't attract attention.

Thinking about it, we had both captured something pretty rare. I had caught him with his guard down, and he had caught me in a quiet moment. I wondered what the kids in our class would think about it. Maybe they'd pass it off as just being the pose, but I doubted it. By now, it was clear that Sasuke and I did everything in our art on purpose, and a random pose would be out of character. Plus, nobody ever got the teme to drop his mask by asking. It happened on accident, and rarely.

Sighing happily, I stretched out, a little stiff from standing in the same pose for so long. Glancing at the clock, I realized we had been painting for roughly seven hours, because it was now three o'clock. Quickly, I stole a brush from the teme and mixed some of his red and yellow paint together to create orange, and walked over to where my painting was. It was just dry enough to add my mark in the bottom right corner – my initials N. U., and right below them the small mark that the people in my art class jokingly called the "Uzumaki Swirl." Whatever, it was distinct and set me apart from everyone else, something plain initials didn't do.

When he signed his artwork, Sasuke just wrote "Uchiha" and left it at that. Well, it did set him apart, and almost everyone knew about his parents' company, so I guess it got him easy recognition. His painting wouldn't be dry enough for a while, so he'd have to wait.

Well, apparently we had the entire afternoon to kill off, and I bet I knew where to find Shikamaru – in his bed, looking out his window. He had gotten an awesome set-up where his room slanted off at one end, and there was a window in the ceiling. Of course, he had set up his bed underneath it to watch the clouds, because it was too "troublesome" to get all dressed up for the cold to watch clouds, and he figured if he could do it from his bed in the winter, why bother?

So, literally dragging one unimpressed teme by his sleeve, I made my way to the dorm Kiba and Shikamaru shared, throwing open the door without knocking. Kiba shot me a glare, and I heard Shikamaru mutter his favorite phrase from his bed. See, I was right. He was in his bed gazing at clouds. Dragging Sasuke behind me, I flopped into Kiba's bed and grinned at him. The teme settled against a wall (big surprise) and waited for me to do...whatever it was I planned on doing.

"You need something?" Kiba asked.

"What are you guys doing?"

"Well, obviously, Shikamaru is being his lazy self. And I'm just chilling out. Why, you want to do something?"

"Sure. What are Sakura and Ino doing?" I was sure that I saw Shikamaru glance my way at the mention of Ino.

"Nothing that I know of. Text Sakura and find out what she's doing." Grabbing my phone, I did just that, and the reply followed less than a minute later.

"They're free. What do you want to do?"

"Movie?"

"Sure." Just like that, we were all off to see a movie. Somehow, Lee got dragged into the plans, and so did Hinata, although that wasn't as mysterious to me. And of course, Lee finagled it so that Neji was coming, and he brought Tenten along. I was shocked that our entire group made it to the theatre without incident. Of course, Kiba and I couldn't resist pranking the people who were on the bus with us. He did a dramatic death scene involving hitting his head and fake blood, and I played the hysterical friend having a freak out. We got a few people, too, until they realized that no one else in out group was reacting. Well, they could be spoilsports if they wanted, but we could sure as hell have fun.

When I was about to try to launch another prank, Ino smacked me in the back of the head. "Sasuke, would you keep and eye on him? He's being a moron."

"Hn."

"Ino! I am not! And what is he, my keeper?" Huffing, I leaned back in my seat and glared at her, a gesture usually reserved for the person sitting next to me. Ino rolled her eyes and Sakura laughed.

"Naruto, you have to admit, you're acting more like a freshman in high school than a sophomore in college. And yes, if you had a keeper, it would be Sasuke." I resorted to pouting and turned my head away, causing more laughter.

When the bus finally pulled up to our stop, we all piled out and poured into the theatre. We pooled our money to buy tickets to some movie, the name of which I didn't catch, and made our way to our room. Getting seated was a debacle, and when we finally settled, I was next to Sasuke, and Shikamaru was on his other side, Ino next to him. On my other side, Sakura sat next to Lee, who had ended up on her other side, and Kiba was next to her, followed by Hinata, Neji, and Tenten. Grinning, I realized everyone was pairing up, or attempting too, except...except the teme and I. Well, really, I got why he wasn't dating anyone. He was, like, asexual or something. Seriously, he never liked anyone, ever. I felt bad for Sakura, having a crush on him. She was better off turning her attention to the boy next to her. Despite his crazy eyebrows, he was a good guy.

The opening credits caught my attention, and I focused on the movie. About halfway through, the main female role decided to get naked for no reason and flounce about the room. Seriously, was it necessary to get naked to walk? Apparently, movie makers thought so. Yawning, I glanced at our group. Most of the guys seemed to be drooling over the girl on-screen.

"Look at this beautiful flower! She is not afraid to bare it all and prove her youth!" A certain someone shouted suddenly. Someone else in the theatre shouted at him to shut up, and Sakura elbowed him in the ribs. Sighing, I shook my head. The only other guy not drolling over the girl was Sasuke, and for once I was in agreement with him. What was the big deal about a naked girl?

After the movie, we all left the theatre and piled back on a bus. Getting back to the college was less eventful than leaving, mostly because we had all mellowed out a bit after sitting in a dark room for an hour and a half. Getting back into the dorm, somehow I got dragged off with Sakura and Ino, and I ended up in there dorm.

"Any particular reason you guys dragged me off?"

"We needed someone to keep us from getting bored."

I shook my head. "Well, what are we going to do?"

Sakura paused and glanced around the room. I did the same, noticing happily that Sakura's painting was framed and on the wall. "How about a movie?"

"We just watched a movie!"

"I'll make popcorn and ramen." If it involved ramen, I was there. That was how I ended up watching the Titanic with the girls. It was the version with Leonardo DiCaprio, and I settled in with my ramen on Sakura's bed between her and Ino.

It was a seriously sad story. All those people whose lives were lost. And of course, when Jack died I heard the two girls sniffling. It struck hard with me, mainly because he was an artist too. He never got a chance to really be with the person he loved, which was just depressing.

By the time the movie was over, the two girls had cried, and I had felt pretty down too. Why they chose such a sad movie, I had no idea. Anyway, once the movie was over, it was definitely time for me to head back to my room. I had been running all day on three hours' sleep, and I feeling ready to crash. After hugging the girls goodbye, I made my way back to my dorm and quietly crept to my bed, in case Sasuke was sleeping. It turns out he was, and, knowing that the damn alarm clock would go off and six tomorrow, I knew it would be a good idea to follow his example.

Slipping into my bed, I waited for sleep, but found it wasn't coming. Something was nagging at me, and I turned my thoughts over to it. Unsurprising, it was routed in that damn kiss. Except, now, apparently, my subconscious had more to build on it, and that was annoying.

I was mulling over how I had realized that I wasn't attempting to pair off, like the rest of my friends,and how I hadn't really paid attention to the naked girl today. Thinking about it, girls had never really held much appeal to me, as evidenced by the fact I had never dated any. Add to that the weird stuff that had been going on with Sasuke, and I was left with one major question that needed answering.

Was it possible that I was gay?

A/N: Yep, it really is my birthday! Reviews would make a nice gift -hint hint-. Away, tell me what you think, and let me know if you catch any errors!