This was supposed to be up months ago. It was up, but then...

FANFICTION TOOK IT DOWN.

The arseholes.

Enjoy.

The bell rang. Naruto didn't mind it. The teachers wouldn't pay any attention to his absence anyway. His pen stopped scratching over the paper, and he put his supplies away. It was pleasantly cool out today, so he could sleep here if he wanted to. He wouldn't get a cold, either. His body was naturally warmer than others, so summers killed him, and fall was the best. Naruto sighed as he watched his hand flex on the table in front of him.

This was going to be one long fall. October tenth was fast approaching, and he wasn't prepared at all. His summer had been brighter than all the rest, blindingly so, though not much less alone. His lips twitched in a smile as he remembered all the people he had helped. They didn't look at him like the people in this school had. Malice and pain painted everything they did an ugly color that Naruto couldn't ignore.

With a sigh, he accepted that he didn't want to ignore them. The truth was much better than lies, he thought. Naruto closed his eyes and payed attention to the breeze, the whisper of the leaves, the warm hand grasping his...

Wait...

What?

Naruto's eyes snapped open as he was yanked off the bench he was sitting on. Automatically, he grabbed for his backpack. Bullies pulled him off his stone seat everyday, dragging him down, and throwing his things around. He supposed skipping class wouldn't make this any different.

"Don't sit there, dumb ass," a deep voice chastised him in monotone, "You'll be late."

Naruto twisted around, and stumbled into the forced walk before righting himself. He knew that voice.

"Sabaku? Why are you pulling me? I mean I know you do it usually, but not to class."

"Shut up," the red head replied. Naruto's brow twitched and he opened his mouth to talk back, but before he had even realized it, they were inside school, and close to the class, and letting people watch them. He did as he was told and let the red head drag him to their class together. There were only two classes left, both of which he had with the red head. Hopefully, by then he could figure out what the hell was going on.

Gaara opened the door to the classroom, and immediately, they were attacked by the angry stares of their classmates. The whispers began at once, making Naruto look down at the floor. Gaara turned his hard teal eyes on all of them, commanding silence, and then dragged Naruto to the front. He sat down and pulled the blonde into the seat next to him.

"Um, excuse me," a girl snorted at Naruto, "You're sitting in my seat, freak."

"Sorry," Naruto mumbled, getting ready to stand up and move to the back of the classroom. Gaara pulled him back down and then glared at the girl.

"Get a new seat," the red head growled, glared her away, and then folded his arms in anger. Naruto blinked in confusion. The teacher came in after that, setting his papers and keys down on the table huffily. Naruto blinked at the clock above the door and sighed. This was going to be a long class. He took his binder out and followed adamantly after the teacher's lesson.

"What's this we have here," the teacher paused in his lesson to sneer in Naruto's direction. The blonde continued to scribble in his notebook, with Gaara looking over his shoulder at his notes.

"The fox had opened it's sneaky eyes to try and get a lesson or two into that unintelligent brain, has it," the teacher asked, making the class chuckle. Naruto didn't stop writing until he was done his final sentence. When he was done, he looked up at the teacher with dark and tumultuous eyes.

"Well, don't be afraid to act like you know something, Uzumaki," the teacher snorted, earning a collective 'oh' from the class and a few laughs.

"Okay. You're a dumb sh-"

"Uzuamki!Don't you say it or I will have you suspended," Ebisu said. Naruto leaned back and crossed his arms.

"You've made an ass of yourself quite a few times now."

There was a plausible silence. Then, with a demonic, satanic grin, Naruto asked," You have to be smart to be sneaky, right? So, a sneaky fox has to have some intelligence to do what it does best. I thought English teachers were supposed to know these things."

"Uzumaki-"

"Isn't it convenient," Naruto spoke over him, "That you choose the perfect opportunity, when I'm not taking notes, to sneak a glance at me, Ebisu-sensei? Isn't that bad observational skills?"

"Uzumaki, Naruto, don't you dare criticize my teaching," the glasses wearing male fumed. The blonde leaned over his desk, smile still on his face.

"Oh but you see, sensei, I can. If, by some remarkable chance, a student you liked started sleeping in here, you would overlook it in a heart beat. Favoritism is a 'no' against teachers, isn't it? It's a shame they gave you a teaching license."

"Uzumaki Naruto, get out of my classroom, right now," the teacher screamed in frustration, looking on the verge of a possible nosebleed and tears. Naruto's smile faded and he gave the slight shake of his head, as if he was waking up.

"Okay," he said, standing up and gathering his things. The class was silent still, and Gaara was staring at him like he had swallowed two heads. Naruto threw his backpack over his shoulder and walked quickly out of the room, not looking back once. His trip down the hall was uneventful, just like it was when there were hundreds of students buzzing around. Without so much as a peep, Naruto went down the hall to the principle's office. He wouldn't underestimate the teacher enough to think that he wouldn't call down. He stepped into the office and slid into the chair in front of the secretary's desk. The woman with the brown bob looked up and then smiled at him.

"Oh, Naruto, how are you today," she asked pleasantly. Not all of the people in this school hated him, and for that he was completely and utterly grateful.

"Not good, Suzume-san," he sighed, "I made Ebisu mad at me."

"Oh, Naruto, I'm sorry. He can be a hard ass sometimes," she said. Naruto snorted and smiled at her. She winked back at him, and Naruto's spirits lifted a little. Sometimes it got tiring to be the underdog all the time. It would be different if he had one friend, but he didn't. It was just... him. The thought made his heart clench, and his eyes began to water and ache with the need to cry. He lowered his head and took deep breaths to calm himself. There was no need for this. He was fine... He was always fine.

"Naruto," an old, frail voice called to him. Even though it sounded like that, the blonde knew better than anyone else that the person behind it was strong. He stood up and walked into the room from which the voice came. He closed the door behind himself and sat in the seat in front of the man's desk. Sarutobi looked at Naruto over the hands crossed in front of his mouth. The blonde at least had the dignity to look ashamed of what had occurred. The principle sighed.

"You can't keep doing things like this," he finally said. Naruto twiddled his thumbs.

"He was being rude and unfair."

"That doesn't give you just cause to disrespect him in turn," Sarutobi shouted at him, making him flinch. The old man stared at him for half a second longer before sighing and relenting.

"I know its getting hard for you, Naruto... Especially around this time. Just hold out a little longer," he asked. Naruto nodded.

"You can stay here until it is time to go to your next class."

*~*~{U}~*~*

Ding Dong!

Naruto looked up from his conversation with Suzume as the end bell chimed. With a sigh he stood.

"Well, I'll talk to you later, Su-chan," Naruto said as he opened the door to the office. He jumped slightly when he saw Sabaku standing there, hands in his pockets and leaning against the wall. Naruto blinked at him in surprise, but the red head just grabbed his hand and pulled him away. They walked in a quick silence, letting people stare at the oddity of their presence together.

"You have neat hand writing," Sabaku finally said after a while. Naruto paused then scowled. Giving the hallway a quick look around, the blonde pulled Sabaku into an empty corridor. The red head's teal eyes widened in surprise as Naruto pushed him against a wall and snatched his hand. He moved away, and leaned his back against the opposite wall. They stared at each other for a while, silence raining around them.

"How much did they bet you," Naruto asked, his dark eyes searching Sabaku's face. The red head stared back at him before he put his hands back into his pockets.

"Hyuuga bet a thousand dollars. Uchiha put up his ride."

Naruto bit his lip and nodded. He uncrossed his arms and ran his hands over his face and through his hair.

"M'kay... No more pulling me, then," he said, holding out his hand for the red head to take. Sabaku blinked at it like it was a foreign object. Naruto snorted, then pulled his hand into his own, and interlocked their fingers.

"You're not mad," Sabaku stated as they walked together down the hall. Instead of one dragging the other, it looked like they were walking in mutual agreement.

"Not as long as you tell me how long we'll be pretending for," Naruto muttered to himself, his eyes on the floor in front of him. Sabaku sauntered along, glaring down people who dared to look at them.

"I don't know."

Naruto sucked his teeth and said, "Okay."

Sabaku raised his eyebrows and asked, "You're okay with this."

"I didn't say that. I just don't blame you, with the stakes... Besides that, I don't mind."

"You don't mind," the red head repeated, as if tasting the words in his mouth. The blonde nodded as they approached their next and last class together.

"Nope. I don't have friends anyway."

Sabaku looked surprised for half a millisecond before his face melted back into a mask of indifference as he thought. Class was spent in silence, with Naruto deciding to take another nap to avoid problems with the teacher.

Nightmare

Naruto was supposed to be excited. This scene had been replayed in his head again and again. Today was his birthday. He had yet to see his father that day. His mother had woken him up that morning with the promise of excitement on her breath.

"We're going to go to the pottery place you love so much, Naruto," she said, making the blonde haired boy giggle with excitement. His movements and actions were all preset. That was why this was the scariest dream of all.

"Really, Mama! I'm going to make a great big bowl for Daddy, and a pretty cup for you."

"Of course, my love," she said, laughing a little, "and then maybe we can go to the park."

"The big one, with all the animals," he asked excitedly,"I'm gonna get that fox to like me. I read about it, and I think if I feed it, we'll be friends."

"Naruto, don't you do that and try to scare the life out of me," Kushina said, and from there the conversation continued. He and his mother always had comfortable, joking conversations like that one. His father wasn't the same, because his main focus was for Naruto's education. They had intellectual talks, however, which Naruto enjoyed on a great scale when his father wasn't angry. Time blurred together after that. Suddenly it was dark, and what Naruto feared the most was going to come. His mother took out her keys and opened the door. She had her hands over his eyes, and was walking him into what he knew was a death trap. There was the band and shuffle of a man struggling.

"Get out!"

It was his father. His mothers hands disappeared. His eyes widened in unbridled fear. There was a shot.

And down.

And another.

And down.

And once more.

When the ending bell finally chimed, Naruto popped up and gathered all of his things. He didn't look as sleep worn as he should have, but then again, he never did when he was in school. Naruto threw his bag over his shoulder and trekked out of the room, not web thing of waiting for Sabaku. On the other hand, the red head walked in a relaxed state. Being around someone as bright as Naruto wasn't good for his health. He needed his darker, more shady atmosphere to feel like himself. Before he could leave the classroom, he was stopped by Uchiha.

"You have to walk him home," he said, smirking. Sabaku almost growled, instead pulling his bag and pushing past the raven. Naruto was at the front of the school, just about to turn down his block when a hand caught his. He stopped at once, almost groaning in frustration.

"I have to walk you home," the voice, most undeniably Sabaku's said. Naruto almost banged his head against the wall.

"Fine," he said, and then took his hand from the red head's. He reached up and pulled a necklace from inside his shirt.

"Put this on," Naruto said. Sabaku stared at the pretty green blue stone for a second before turning his questioning gaze on the blonde.

"If you want to be able to walk through my neighborhood, then put it on."

The red head did as he was told, and they began walking together. They weren't in school, so neither bothered to take the others hand. It was a shockingly quiet walk, with Sabaku stealing glances at the blonde. In school, it was rumored that no one liked him because he talked too much. As of today, he had proved that wrong. So what was the reason? As they continued to walk, the town got shadier and shadier. Sabaku was watching both Naruto's back and his own. There were catcalls from far away, which Naruto ignored.

"You got yourself a boyfriend, fagot," a boy from a group of thugs called to them, but Naruto ignored them. Sabaku was on his toes, however, because they were fast approaching. It seemed they didn't like being ignored. Naruto didn't stop walking until there was a gun in his face. Sabaku was tense, but he was pretty sure there was nothing that could be done in this situation. They were surrounded.

"I was talking to you fagot."

"Are you the only one with a gun? I mean, if you weren't, your other monkeys would have it put up too, right? Monkey see, monkey do," he said in a bored tone. Sabaku wanted to hit him for digging them in deeper. But no one else moved to pull out a gun. No one else had a gun. Sabaku realized that Naruto knew that they didn't.

"I don't think you should be talkin' right about now. You wanna get cha' head blown in," the male said. Naruto snorted.

"You couldn't blow bubbles with that gun if you wanted to with the way you're holding it. I've been shot before. I know you can't do it," Naruto said, almost looking on the verge of yawning. The male cocked his gun. Sabaku was sure that the blonde was digging his own grave.

"You want to go to jail, for me? I'm honored. But you guys know that if he shoots me, you'll all get thrown in jail for just being here right," Naruto asked, looking a bit delighted. There was a pause of uncertainty in the group, from which Naruto took the opportunity to take the gun from the other man. Everyone was now frozen with the prospect of Naruto holding a gun. The blonde locked it, and then used the back to hit the man across his face. He fell limply to the floor.

"Okay. So, we can fight right now. Just letting you know that I will be sending all of you to the hospital with me. If you can't heal faster than me, which I know you can't, then you will be subjected to another beating, worse than the first. Or... We can all go home, and never repeat this," Naruto said as he took the gun apart, even going so far as to unload the bullets on their unconscious leader. When he dropped the remains and looked up, there was no hesitation, or lie behind his eyes. They took off. Naruto sighed and continued walking, with Sabaku following closely behind. There wasn't another word passed between them as they entered Naruto's apartment, went up to his floor, and opened his door.

"Can you get someone to pick you up," the blonde finally said, his voice blank.

"Are your parents not home," Sabaku asked, since he was kind of hoping they would drive him out of here. For the first time since they had been in that hallway, Naruto looked directly into his eyes.

"Yeah... They're over there, " he said, pointing to a room with a closed door. The red head opened it and was surprised to find a small room with a shrine against the wall on the other side. Unlike the rest of the house, it was inconspicuously clean. The rest of the house wasn't bad, but expected from a teenager. On the shrine was a picture of a man and woman, both smiling toward the camera. Sabaku got on his knees and bowed. Thinking he was invading on some sort of special privacy, he got to his feet quickly and left. When he returned to the main room, everything was a bit cleaner, with Naruto picking things up that he had seemed to have forgotten. The blonde moved around, cleaning as if he were alone. When he was done he stretched, and acknowledged he red head leaning by the door.

"Well? Are you gonna call somebody?"

Sabaku shook his head and sat on the couch in front of the TV. Naruto sucked his teeth and disappeared down the hall as the red head turned the television. It wasn't until some time later that the patter of footsteps signaled Naruto's return. Sabaku turned his head and froze. Naruto wasn't wearing anything but a pair of basketball shorts, and was dripping wet. What was really getting to the red head was his stomach. Instead of having a belly button, a large, splattered scar covered his stomach. He had a tattoo over it, circling where his belly button should have been. The red head blinked at him a few times.

"I get it, I'm a freak."

Sabaku didn't look away, though he didn't agree with that statement. Even with the scar, Naruto's body looked well toned, like he enjoyed a good bit of exercise. He turned back to the television in front of him.

"Why are you walking around half naked?"

Naruto snorted and replied, "This is my house. Not only that, but if you want to be my pretend boyfriend, get used to it."

Sabaku looked up sharply to find Naruto leaning over the couch and staring at him. He turned away.

"Do you mind if I sleep here," he asked. Naruto raised an eyebrow and then stretched.

"Since I don't have work today, you can. I hope you don't mind wearing my clothes."

Gaara snorted and said, "I think we've come far enough over boundaries for that."

These chapters are fairly short & I'm just trying to get it out of my queue. See you tomorrow.