Title: Used to You
Author: JaD
Email: jad(at)yondaime(dot)net
Website: baka(dot)yondaime(dot)net
Rating: R
Pairings: SasuNaru, SasuNaruSaku
Disclaimer: Narutoverse belongs to Kishimoto Masashi.
Synop: AU Highschool – Naruto, now 17, is the best soccer player his school has to offer… until someone named Uchiha Sasuke moves into the neighborhood. All characters properly assigned to their appropriate cliché.
Fore notes: This fic is dedicated to ochiba and Saori-Hime. Ochiba for inspiring it, and saori because every word I write reminds me of her :3
Title taken from a song by Ani DiFranco, "Used to You," see Chapter One for lyrics.
Kikei is another form for "older brother;" when I asked about it, I was told it was used more like "hey YOU, my older brother" sort of thing, and I think it was more appropriate for Sasuke to use at the time rather than the typical aniki and oniisan. And yes, I will write this fic using Japlish (Jap Eng) because shouting "Brother!" and "Idiot" all the time just seems so… weird. Deal.
- - - -
Chapter Two: the Opinion of the Uchiha
Even more exasperating than the guy who thinks he knows it all,
is the one who really does.
–Unknown
"My behavior is addictive functioning in a disease process of toxic codependency!
I need holistic healing and wellness before I'll accept any responsibilities for my actions!"
- Bill Watterson, Calvin and Hobbes
- - - -
Lunch had become a convention of freshman to senior girls forming a meeting that could have been entitled "The Opinion of the Uchiha" around the circular table that was frequently the outside eating area of the more popular students. Personal status seemed to have been forgotten temporarily as the hoard of females ranging from geek to Goth to beauty queen all agreed on one thing.
Sasuke was hot.
"He's mine is what he is," Sakura said affirmatively.
Ino pursed her lips. Sakura knew she wanted to challenge that but, unfortunately for Ino, Shikamaru had actually come to sit with them for lunch and she knew the girl wouldn't openly declare her intentions for Sasuke while he was around. They weren't really dating – very few people in high school actually did – but Shikamaru had become somewhat of an off-and-on boyfriend to Sakura's best-friend/worst-competitor. Shikamaru wasn't exactly the hottest guy in school, but he was a genius – and according to Ino's reports, in many more ways than one.
"He's the only student they sent here."
"Huh. Wonder why."
"Who cares?"
"Well if the Uchiha boys are all that hot…"
"Was it a private school?"
"Think so."
"What happened?"
"Dunno."
"Somebody should ask him."
"Don't look at me; my hair is a mess today. I'll talk to him tomorrow."
"Are you kidding? Paul would kill me if he saw me over there…"
"I'll go."
Sakura stood up, smirked purposely at Ino, and walked off. She made her trail look careless, but it was oddly directed at the pale boy sitting alone under a willow tree at the end of the grounds. Inhaling quickly and tucking her pink strands behind her ear, Sakura took the last few steps and sat in the grass beside him.
Sasuke merely glanced at her out of the corner of his eye before focusing back on the horizon. Sakura smiled angelically at him.
"Hello."
Sasuke responded with a grunt.
"Haruno Sakura," she held out a hand, which he eyed but did not take, "I'm in the same class."
"Uchiha--"
"Sasuke, yes, I know."
Sasuke looked a little agitated when cut off, but didn't say anything else.
"So… um," Sakura cleared her throat politely and retracted her hand, "My friends and I were wondering, what happened at your old school? That they had to send you here, I mean?"
Sasuke was quiet a long moment.
"…it's not that we don't want you here, we were just curious…"
"They were killed."
Sakura blinked.
"What?"
Sasuke turned his face halfway to look at her.
He didn't look upset, or remorseful, or… anything.
"I said they were killed. They're all dead."
Sakura just stared as Sasuke stood up and walked away.
Returning to the table, a shaken Sakura was immediately bombarded.
"What did he say?"
"Did you see the way he looked at you?! Oh my god!"
"Did he tell you what happened?"
"Let the girl breathe!"
"Thank you, Ino…" Sakura whispered, "No, he didn't say."
A few girls pouted. Ten-Ten shrugged.
"Who cares why, so long as he's here?"
Sakura sighed and stared at the table as the giggling began all over again.
- - - -
Naruto had refused to sit with Shikamaru. He was close to Sakura, but that also made him close to her and every other girl fawning over Sasuke. Ino wouldn't say a word if Shika was there, maybe, but Naruto knew better. Sakura wouldn't give half a shit if he was there or not.
"I don't know why you're worried about it. The guy's obviously an asshole. They'll learn."
Kiba had gladly accompanied Naruto to a bench on the rim of the grounds, tossing Akamaru scraps from lunch as the dog ran back and forth outside the fence surrounding the school. Naruto appreciated the company, and the obvious effort to cheer him up; it just wasn't working.
"They're girls, Kiba. You could beat them and starve them and chain them to the bed, so long as you're the hottest guy in the world they won't care."
Kiba winced. "I don't think he's that much of an asshole."
Naruto 'humph-ed' and threw himself down on the grass. He didn't want to watch Sakura and the other girls drool over the new kid. Kiba sighed and arranged himself next to Naruto.
"Look, it's the new-guy syndrome. Once it wears off no one will care who he is or where he's from--"
"Or how fucking 'HOT' he is, I suppose?"
"Well," Kiba said, "That really can't be helped, can it?"
"Sure it can. I can help it by beating his face in with a brick."
"He can't help the way he looks, Naruto."
Naruto did not like logic. "I hate him for existing."
"Do you have any idea how childish you sound?"
"Yep. Watch me not care."
Kiba sighed again and laid his head in his arms. "Going to practice?"
"Of course," Naruto rolled over, lying on his back and staring up at the clouds, "I'm hoping I can hit him hard enough in the temple with the ball to kill him and make it look like an accident."
- - - -
"He's late."
"Again."
Their coach had a long history of tardiness, even when they had major games, so his lateness came of little surprise. Sasuke may have been the only one expecting him on-time, but he didn't seem bothered by the fact that his new coach had yet to show up.
"Screw this, gimme the ball," Naruto (who was sitting on the opposite side of the bench from Sasuke) jumped down onto the grass and caught the ball Kiba tossed him. Turning around and walking backwards, Naruto fixed his gaze on their new member. "Come on, Uchiha; let's see what you've got."
Sasuke, who had his arms balanced on his knees and was holding his head up with crossed hands, eyed Naruto without moving.
Naruto twirled the ball on his index finger, balancing it perfectly, and raised an eyebrow. "Scared?"
That seemed like enough prodding; Sasuke stood up and stretched briefly before walking slowly onto the field, the rest of the soccer team watching apprehensively.
Naruto grinned. "Neji, take the net."
"Naruto, is this really--"
"If you won't do it, then Kiba will. Someone take the goddamn net."
Rolling his eyes, Neji got up and trotted over to the goal. Bright sapphire stayed locked onto dark coal the entire time. Naruto came to a halt in the middle of the field, finally ceasing the ball from its spin. Sasuke stopped a few feet in front of him and regarded him coolly.
"Ready to get your ass kicked?"
Sasuke blinked at him.
"Uzumaki, right?"
Naruto blinked back.
"What of it?"
A smirk.
"I've seen you play before."
"Then you know what you've got coming to you."
A scoff.
"I could play you with my eyes closed."
Naruto narrowed his eyes. "I'd like to see you try."
"Then what are you waiting for?"
Naruto threw the ball in the air with a strong upward motion of his arm. Both boys watched each other's eyes as gravity took its toll on the ball, bringing it back down to the earth between them.
Naruto almost thought—almost—that Sasuke let him get to the ball first. Nah, he thought, he's just full of shit, can't even play me one-on-one. Large, feral smirk in place, the blonde maneuvered the ball toward the net with effortless ease. It was a movement he was used to; he was faster then most of the people on his team, and it was common knowledge that once Naruto had the ball, no one was going to get it off him until he tried (and usually succeeded) to make a goal.
Thus, it was quite a surprise for many (Naruto included) when the ball disappeared from under his feet in an unnaturally strong swoosh of air.
What the fuck?
Naruto's head snapped to his left; there was Sasuke, dashing towards the net with his ball. His ball.
How the hell?! No way anybody is that fast!
Gritting his teeth and the sudden uproar of shouts from the rest of his team, Naruto sped up his pace and homed in on the dark figure ahead. He managed to get ahead by just a few feet, and Naruto dropped to the ground, balancing on his hands, bringing his body almost parallel to the ground and kicking the ball sideways as it went past. Sasuke jumped over his kick, saving being tripped and changed direction. Naruto was up on his feet and after him in half a second; opposite legs kicked at the flying ball, smacking it between their calves and causing a jolt of pain to shoot up both their legs due to the force of the kick.
"Asshole," Naruto spat.
"Loser," Sasuke smirked back at him, and before Naruto could retort, the Uchiha had vanished beneath him, off with the ball again.
His ball.
"Goddammit," Naruto hissed, taking off again.
- - - - -
"Where the hell do they practice again?"
"Um… behind the school, isn't it?"
"How should I know? I've never gone to practice before."
Oh for crying out loud, Hinata sighed, shaking her head, "It's this way."
Being Kiba's 'sorta' girlfriend and her secret adoration of Naruto had led to Hinata to spending a lot of time at the soccer practices. In fact, that's how she'd met Kiba. She had been trying to look innocent while watching Naruto play one day about a year ago when Kiba passed him the ball and sprained his ankle badly. He was out in the far end of the field and no one immediately noticed he'd been hurt. Hinata had climbed over the fence and helped him to his feet and supported him while he limped over to the bench. She had been thrilled at first – as soon as Naruto noticed Kiba'd been hurt he came running over and made sure he hadn't broke anything, and then thanked Hinata for helping him out. She remember it clearly; it was the first time Naruto had ever said anything to her, much less looked at her purposely.
As time went on, however, Hinata noticed more details about Naruto. He had grown so used to being used and disliked that it seemed he was unable to comprehend that someone might actually want to be more than just his friend. She'd tried; as shy as she was, she'd even gone as far as to ask him out. He'd accepted, somewhat apprehensively, and the date had gone rather well. Naruto had paid for everything, bought her ice cream afterwards and been an angel the whole time. She'd never been so happy. The next day, though, was as if nothing between them had changed. Once Kiba had started hitting on her, even if Naruto may have decided she might actually like him, the blonde seemed to deduce that he'd been used once again. Naruto hardly talked to her anymore.
She led the small posse of girls (consisting of Sakura, Ino, and two seniors, Ten-Ten and Ami) to the fields put aside for soccer uses. As they trotted up to the border of the green grass, they noticed two figures out on the field already.
"Is that--?"
"Oh, Naruto, you idiot."
"He's such a show off."
Sakura squinted at the play between the two boys and smirked.
"I wouldn't say that. Sasuke has the ball."
Suddenly, all eyes were drawn to the two boys and the girls were effectively silenced. Naruto always had the ball. Sakura watched carefully as Naruto continued to catch up with Sasuke, intercept, but somehow Sasuke always managed to get out of it with the ball at his feet. Naruto was doing a good job keeping him out of range of the net, but Sasuke was the one leading the dance. Naruto looked like he was having trouble keeping up with the rapid movements Sasuke was making, dancing in and out of Naruto's attempts to folly him again and again like he was made of wind.
"Wow," Ino said appreciatively. "He's really good."
"Yeah," Sakura said breathlessly. He was really good, to keep Naruto on his feet like that. But Sakura had watched with worried eyes. Her conversation with him from earlier still hung in her mind.
They're all dead.
That had to be some sort of cruel joke. Even if it was a small, private, family-oriented school… such an accident would have certainly become public knowledge. An entire school population could not just disappear like that.
It was just a cruel joke. It had to be.
The way Sasuke had looked at her… could he have been lying?
"Oh my god, he's gonna score!"
Sakura's eyes snapped back to the soccer field. Sasuke had just got in a lucky kick when he had managed to get within range of the net. Several girls groaned as Neji easily blocked the shot and the ball sped back towards the open field to be picked up by Naruto.
- - - -
Not half a second later, the blonde sent the ball flying back towards the net. Neji cringed as the ball flew towards him. Sasuke's ball was easy enough to block… but Naruto kicked like a kangaroo and were well known for being the breaker of many bones. If he was smart, he wouldn't even try to block it…
He soon realized he wouldn't have to. Sasuke, who had been much closer to the net, got between the ball's projectile and the goal, turned up into a handstand and kicked the ball straight up as it came, flipped back onto one foot as the ball returned to earth and gave it a solid kick in the same direction Naruto had sent it.
It happened so fast Neji didn't even have time to think about block. The ball hit the back of the net with a flop and bounced lifelessly to the ground.
Naruto looked like he was going to spontaneously combust on the spot.
"What the fuck was that?!"
Neji groaned. This was somehow going to be his fault. He was sure of it.
"Neji!! You asshole, you didn't even try to block that!"
Sasuke sneered from where he stood, panting and sweating like a dog, but otherwise composed. "What's a matter, loser, can't take the heat?"
"Fuck you! That was my goal!"
"Funny, it looked a lot like mine."
"ARG!" Naruto had trotted up to Sasuke and had a good means to sock him in the jaw, but a loud whistle pulled him to a halt. Angry, tousled blonde locks swayed as his head turned towards the noise. A tall, grey-haired man had appeared by the rest of the team back at the bench.
"Naruto, stop being so loud and get your ass in here. You know the rules. No field play without a coach."
"Kakashi-sensei!! You were LATE!"
"You say that like you have a point."
Naruto was about to tell his sensei where he planned to shove his point when Kiba cut him off with a quick shake of his head and a strong hand on his shoulder. Naruto ground his teeth together and bit back on his pride… Kiba was right, it wasn't worth it. Challenging Kakashi usually only led to two things; embarrassment and pain – lots of it.
Once the team had assembled into what was almost a group, Kakashi looked them over quietly, studying them with his one visible eye. He wore a shaded spectacle over the other one, and the lens was so dark it was impossible to tell what lay behind it. He was tall, built strong, a natural athlete; word had it that Kakashi had played pro for several sports for quite some time before retiring despite his young age. Naruto had never bothered to find out why.
The lone silver orb found what it was looking for. "You," Sasuke raised his head at the voice as if he knew it was directed at him, "Come here."
Winding through the group of boys, Sasuke came to stand before his new coach with a bored look on his face.
"Uchiha Sasuke?"
Sasuke merely looked at him.
"I was going to find out if you were really as good as they say you are, but Naruto took care of that for me already--" Naruto's glare seared through Kakashi's skull at his words, "—so I think I know what to do with you. Kitakawa's out on injury, you'll make an ideal replacement. However…"
Kakashi looked at Naruto, then back at Sasuke, and smirked.
"If anything should happen to Naruto, I'm replacing Kiba with you as his backup. Kiba, you will take Sasuke's place if Naruto's unable to play."
Kiba and Naruto both assaulted him with identical shouts, "WHAT?!"
- - - - -
Kakashi may have not been punctual, but he was damn hard to persuade and positively impossible to argue with. When he decided to do something, very few things could alter that decision. At the end of the hour and a half practice, Naruto was a very sore, very bitter, very dirty little junior.
"I hate him," he seethed, wiping the sweat and dirt off his forehead with the back of his hand, smearing it in his sun lighted bangs, "Who the hell does he think he is, just barging in on us like this… he's got no fucking right to be on this team…"
Kiba was already panting from exhaustion, and Naruto's attitude wasn't helping any.
"Why don't you just give the guy a break? He's being an asshole but fuck, Naruto, so are you. Why not try being civil with him? He can't possibly be that bad…"
A sharp beep of a horn broke the silence. Heads turned to see where the noise had come from and all talking and shuffling immediately ceased as about two dozen teenaged boys felt the crushing of their egos. The car wasn't obnoxiously flashy; any idiot may have dismissed it for some old hotrod. But anyone with any sort of interest in vehicles (mainly, high school-aged boys) knew what it was immediately.
It was an older model, and that only added to the hotness that was the GTO rumbling outside the fence next to the field. The body paint consisted mostly of black, with tasteful lining of chrome and fire-engine red, which matched the red leather interior Naruto could see through the passenger side window. The tires were about twice the size they should have been, with silver hubcaps so polished that the sun was blinding off them. Looking closer, Naruto noticed something else that made the car even cooler: it was a soft top – a freaking' convertible.
Naruto felt his heart sink into his stomach when the driver – who everyone had ignored up to this point – stepped out of the still-running automobile.
"Yo, Sasuke, I don't have all goddamned day. It's five already, move your ass."
The voice was soft but the words were anything but. Same hair, same skin, same sharp chin… only this boy—no, man—was taller than Sasuke, and his hair was longer as well. Although they shared the same spiky bangs, this taller version of Sasuke had his hair drawn back into a low ponytail that hung over the collar of his black jacket. Naruto guessed they had the same eyes as well, but he could hardly tell; dark sunglasses hid the man's gaze from view.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming. Coach was late," Sasuke trotted over and jumped the fence, somehow considerably less dirty than the rest of them (Naruto doubted anyone would let someone as dirty as him into such a car).
"Who's that?" Naruto asked cynically to no one in particular.
Sasuke ignored him, but his chauffeur cocked his head in the blonde's direction. Sunglasses slid down a porcelain nose and stopped just short of letting anyone see his eyes. Before Naruto could ask him directly, Sasuke stuck his head out the passenger-side window.
"Kikei! I thought you were late?"
Kikei?
Naruto saw the eyebrows narrow before the taller man shoved his glasses back into place with his hand and dropped back inside the vehicle. Sasuke, noticing Naruto's obvious jealousy, smirked knowingly before the car roared to life as a foot pressed on the gas pedal and rumbled out of the parking lot.
If Naruto thought Sasuke had made the girls swoon, he hadn't seen anything yet. They had piled into the bleachers not too long ago to watch the practice (or more precisely, Sasuke) and seemed to have all acquired a new thing in common: Sasuke was hot, but his older brother was sex god Even Hinata was gaping.
"Okay, I take it back," Kiba said, laying a hand on Naruto's shoulder, "Fuck him. He really is that bad."
A/N: … and cue the end of chapter two. Brought to you with double the words of chapter one! Now I know everybody's first thought is "WTF is the deal with Itachi picking Sasuke up?" yah yah yah, I have their relationship planned out, it's not nearly as innocent as it seems. Itachi is still the evil, cold, psychopathic bastard he is in cannon. He's just cooler about it now, mostly because he has a GTO. You know he would have a GTO. And now I go to update Memory Yields before I even think about beginning chapter three for this baby or I'll have sasunaru-fangirl mobs out for my blood --;