Warning: This story is rated M for the following: foul language, shōnen-ai (boy-love) and yaoi related themes, sexual content and sexual molestation. This may not be apparent within the first several chapters however later on expect to see explicit sexual content and other mature themes. Again, this story will contain SLASH among other mature themes, so you've been warned!

Pairing: SasuNaruSasu

A/N: Sorry everyone! That was probably the LONGEST I've gone without an update. So long I think everyone's probably forgotten what happened in the last chapter! Anyways, sorry about that. These last few months have been hectic…far too much has been happening in so short a time. However, now I have a lot more time on my hands so, I should be back to putting out chapters at one to two week intervals.

A/N continued: Oh, and Navi-sama, am I too late to get that personal slave?! Cause I could totally take you up on the offer, my house chores are endless…especially my laundry! Of course, my hubby got a totally different meaning out of that one (wink)…but we'll just leave it at that :P

Criticism: I take all criticisms. Just tell me what you think.

Things Pile On

Chapter 6: Should-be Partners, Mouthpieces (or lack of?), and CPR-Induced feelings!

"Ok brats, I've wiped your fannies enough already," Tsunade-sensei said, slamming her First Aid Instructor's book shut. "Now let's see how much you guys are actually paying attention."

Shit! Naruto cursed inwardly; he hadn't listened at all.

"Alright, brake up into groups of two."

"What?" Ten Ten asked, "I thought we were gonna demonstrate on the manikin; why do we need to get into groups?" She looked uncertain as if she was inwardly asking herself why again she had chosen to take First Aid and not General Health and Awareness like most students took to fill the requirement for a health-related class.

"Oh, I didn't mention," Tsunade-sensei said with a face that looked all too innocent, "You'll be working in pairs today to demonstrate your knowledge of CPR."

Murmurs erupted around the room, as the class expressed (however muffled) their opinion on this manner.

"What a bunch of babies!" Tsunade-sensei taunted, "I want all of you to learn the procedure on a real body instead of a rigid manikin."

Ino was the first one of the class to recover from shock; suddenly her blue eyes found Sasuke.

"Ooo, Sasuke-kun!" she cried, jumping out of her seat, "I'll be in you're group!"

"Don't even think of it, Ino-pig!" Sakura screamed behind her friend.

But while Ino and Sakura tried to shove each other out of the way, another girl with short blonde hair and green eyes had reached Sasuke first. Yumi sat in the table ahead of Sasuke and Naruto's, so it wasn't hard for her to beat the two fangirls distracted fighting each other a couple tables away. She was just about to ask him to be in her group, when Sasuke said: "I'm already in a group with Naruto."

"Huh?" Naruto asked, looking around.

He had looked up from his First Aid book only to notice that all of the girls in class that had flocked over to his friend. Even Ten Ten looked hesitant, her head teetering between Sasuke and Neji, another guy two tables back from where she sat. Neji's face, which was framed on either side by long, light brown hair, wore a similar stoic and uncaring expression as Sasuke's. Yet his eyes were the complete opposite of Sasuke's; looking more like two twin opals with pupils that seemed non existent, Naruto had yet to see stranger looking eyes. Still, Neji was not the only one who had these strange white eyes; Hinata, his cousin, also bore the family's signature trait. It looked like Neji was arching an elegant eyebrow at him, but it was hard to tell because of the gray bandanna Neji typically wore right at the level of his eyebrows.

Two other girls flocking over to his table drew Naruto's attention back to the fact that most of the girls in First Aid were crowding around Sasuke. Naruto noted that Temari seemed to be the only girl still sitting in her seat. Well, Hinata was also still in her seat, but Naruto hadn't really expected her to leave her chair: that would be far too great a feat for the overly shy girl. Naruto noticed that Hinata was looking down at her desk, her index fingers lightly tapping together. Inwardly he sighed; Hinata could be so weird at times.

After a quick glance at Hinata, Naruto looked over to where Temari was sitting. So perhaps it was true then? She and Shikamaru, huh? Naruto thought. Suddenly, she turned her head and gave him a quick smirk, her smile seeming almost flirtatious. Was a girl like Temari actually smiling at him? Naruto looked around checking for anyone behind him that might have drawn her attention. Of course. She had been looking over at his table swarmed with girls and had thrown, not him, but Sasuke a knowing smirk, which either told him derogatorily 'good luck with that,' or else she was complimenting him. Naruto sighed. Of course a girl like Temari wouldn't be smiling at him. Those kinds of girls were reserved for the really sexy guys, like Sasuke, or the really smart guys, like Shikamaru; not someone like him.

It was then that Naruto noticed Temari's attention had left his table and was now on Tsunade-sensei; again that knowing smirk of hers was on her face. Naruto wondered what she was smiling about now.

Suddenly, Naruto remembered that the teacher had told them to break into groups. But as to why he didn't know. It wasn't his fault; it was Tsunade-sensei's! She's the one that totally freaked him out when she told the class they were doing CPR demonstrations today. Could that be what the groups had been for? But weren't they supposed to be working on Nurse Betty, the CPR demonstration manikin. If only he had been paying attention and not flipping through his First Aid book at break neck speed trying desperately to memorize something—anything—that would make today's demonstration's a bit easier.

"Groups, what for?" Naruto decided to ask.

"Idiot," Sasuke answered, "CPR demonstration; I swear dobe, do you ever listen in class?"

It was then that it clicked in. Tsunade had given them permission to work with anyone in class! No, he couldn't have heard that right; they got to choose a partner to perform mouth-to-mouth on! Gods, he loved this teacher. There wasn't a thought in his mind about who he would ask. Well, for a fraction of a second Sasuke's face had flashed in his mind, but then it was overwhelmed by a torrent of thoughts filled with everything Sakura. Suddenly, he registered what Sasuke had just told Yumi earlier: 'I'm already in a group with Naruto.'

"What the hell are you being with me for?" Naruto said, his thoughts still swarmed with Sakura.

"So, Sakura-chan, since Sasuke's already taken,"—here his eyes darted over to Yumi still standing by their table, who seemed to visibly light up at the idea—"I'll be in your group."

"Ewww!" Sakura cried, "Naruto that is the most disgusting thought ever!"

She and Ino had just came over to Naruto's table, having finally stopped shoving into each other long enough to realize that the competition for Sasuke's partner was going on without them.

"Sasuke-kun," Ino said throwing a smirk in Naruto's direction and shoving a startled Yumi aside. Quickly she grabbed Sasuke's arm and pulling him from his seat said, "Since Naruto's already with Sakura, you can be in my group!"

Yumi just turned and was about to head for to her seat. But before she could leave, Karin appeared at her shoulder and stopped her. Yumi seemed to be the only girl friend that Karin hung around, that wasn't in Snake that is. Apparently the redhead wasn't about to let Sakura and Ino claim her man, nor she was going to let her friend give up that easily either.

Sakura meanwhile was just about to charge Ino when suddenly Rock Lee stepped right in front of her, blocking her path towards Ino and Sasuke.

"Sakura-san!" Lee called in a boisterous voice, only a slight tingeing of his cheeks giving away any signs of discomfort. "I would be honored if you would be my demonstration partner for today's—!" But Sakura cut him off.

"What is it loser day?" She muttered, before shoving him out of her way. Ino was still hugging on to Sasuke's arm.

"First off," Sakura screamed, stepping in between Sasuke and Ino and pushing them apart, "I am not in a group with Naruto of all people!" She didn't even mention Lee at all. "So back off Ino-pig! Sasuke-kun is MINE!"

Sasuke was starting to feel claustrophobic. Even though he had managed to mask his outward appearance, inside felt a bit ill. It was those thoughts from earlier. As much as he hated to admit it, he always felt weaker after reliving the experience of them, weaker and a bit indisposed. And right now the girls' closeness didn't help any.

"You see?" Sakura said, "Sasuke-kun's frowning at you, which means he wants to be in MY group!"

Lee had turned to go back to his table, his head slightly downcast. Then he saw Ten Ten and his face went aglow with excitement, his already bulgy eyes looking even bigger.

Ten Ten, it seemed, had a Lee radar. For at that moment, she seemed to sense that not only was Lee coming over to her but he was about to ask her to be his partner. Not wanting to hurt his feelings, Ten Ten pointedly avoided eye contact and quickened her pace over to where Neji was sitting. Yet despite the fact that she was now only several feet away, Neji still hadn't seemed to notice her. Instead Ten Ten saw his eyes alternating between Sasuke's table and something in back of the room.

This was awkward; fortunately Ten Ten didn't get the chance to embarrass herself.

"Girls, girls!" Tsunade-sensei's booming voice caused the whole class to pause.

Still standing at the front of the classroom, Tsunade was beginning to look a bit pissed. "Silence already! Good lord! I've already got a headache as it is, I can only image how Sasuke must feel!"

"Besides, you already chose your groups." She said. The corners of her lips seemed to want to form into a smile.

"We did?" Both Ino and Sakura said at the same time.

"You didn't say that!" Karin said in her typical sassy voice. Yumi too was looking a bit puzzled.

"I shouldn't have had to." Tsunade replied, "I told you all when the semester started to find a seat next to someone you wouldn't mind seeing for the rest of the semester."

For once in his life, Sasuke felt extremely appreciative of his teacher.

"And how are we supposed to know that would mean we'd always have to group with that person?!" whined Sakura.

"Well, listen more carefully next time," Was their teacher's only reply. Temari only smirked; Shikamaru just gave his usual bored look. Apparently they had remembered.

Everyone began to go back to their respective tables. Naruto however was getting the worst looks he had gotten in awhile. Damn and I thought Orochimaru-sensei was scary, Naruto thought with a grimace as Ino shot him an icy glare.

Sakura stood there for a moment longer, then she turned and gave him the most disappointed look he had ever seen her make. Slowly she started to walk back to her seat.

Naruto couldn't help himself and before he even realized what he was saying yelled: "Oiy, Sakura-chan! You can take my place by Sasuke if you want!"

Sakura ignored him. Sasuke, however, gave him a look that clearly said: do you want to die?

Naruto quickly looked away only to see the angry faces of Karin, Yumi and smaller-looking boy with black hair and glasses. The boy, upon noticing that Naruto was looking at him suddenly glared back.

"Hey, why the hell do you care, Toga?" Naruto shouted at the boy, "It's not like you're a girl?!"

Toga didn't respond, just quickly went back to his seat.

Sasuke meanwhile was inwardly rolling his eyes as he watched Toga leave. As if the women weren't bad enough. Then, as if to confirm this thought, Karin threw herself on him wrapping her long arms around his shoulders. Sasuke stumbled back a little; he wished she would warn him next time before throwing all of her weight on him. At least then, he would be prepared.

Karin didn't even have to look up at him as she looked into his dark onyx eyes. She titled her face slightly to the side as if she was preparing to kiss him. A somewhat crooked, but still sexy smile appearing on her face as she began to move her rather nice breasts slowly up and down against his chest, her rose-colored eyes flashing with excitement.

"Sure you wanna group with someone like Naruto when you could be with me?"

Sasuke stared at her dumbfounded. Then before he could say anything, her long fingers went down and lightly squeezed him in the groin. Sasuke's breath drew in, his eyes widening uncontrollably.

"G-get off," Sasuke half-whispered and gave his shoulders a quick shake to try to break loose from her. Now that he thought of it, he really didn't invest much energy into shoving these annoying fangirls off of him. Not that he understood why? They were so annoying. On the other hand, he really couldn't remember the last time someone had actually hugged him, other than them of course.

"WHAAAT?!" Suddenly, the high-pitched screams of two very angry fangirls echoed throughout the room. Sasuke didn't have to wait long before Karin was roughly pushed off of him. Sakura and Ino were fuming.

"Stay off MY man, bitch!" Both Ino and Sakura yelled almost in sync.

"Since when is Sasuke-kun your man?" Karin fumed back. No one knew if she was talking to Ino or Sakura. Suddenly, she pushed the girl nearest to her, which happened to be Ino.

"GIRLS!" Tsunade roared, "Cool it!"

The class went silent. Tsunade-sensei now looked thoroughly pissed, and a pissed off Tsunade equaled a night of tedious and time-consuming homework.

Finally Tsunade spoke again, this time not so loudly: "This is why, ladies, and gentleman,"—here she gave a quick glance over at Toga, who from his seat also seemed to be fuming at what Karin had done to Sasuke—"I assigned groups so I wouldn't have to deal with this headache."

"Now, all of you go sit at your own tables and stop fussing over Sasuke; good lord, you girls are worse than sharks on a fish!"

Ino, Sakura and Karin, still dragging Yumi by the elbow, all headed for their seats.

Ino murmured something to Sakura which sounded distinctly like 'fugly lil' slut, who does she think she is!" Naruto didn't think they were talking about the teacher. Karin made an equally ugly face at Ino's and Sakura's backs. For some odd reason though, Naruto's mind went to the Mount Olympus of men's fantasies: women's mud wrestling. Gods, he would pay big money to see the three of them going at it covered in mud and wearing nothing but skimpily-clad bikinis.

Just then, Sasuke sat back down next to him. Naruto felt his mood beginning to return to his melancholy from earlier. He silently glanced over at his friend. He couldn't help but think of Sakura; and then couldn't help but feel a little bummed that she had turned him down. But, then again, what had he expected? Quickly, he looked back at her table. It looked like she was staring right at him! Naruto felt his heart jump up into his throat. Suddenly, he heard Sasuke clear his throat. It was then he noticed that Sakura's green eyes were really staring a little more to the right in Sasuke's direction. Naruto sighed, his heart slowly descending back into his chest.

Of course! Everyone wanted Sasuke. He had so many girls wanting to be with him—fighting for his attention. For a moment, Naruto wondered what that would be like. But other than Sasuke no one even talked to him. Oh, who was he kidding? Who would ever like him like that anyway?! He wasn't like Sasuke; he couldn't even get one girl, let alone any girl he wanted.

Unbeknownst to Naruto, large eyes that looked more like soft white opals, continued to watch him from a table at the back of the room. Hinata had wanted to go over to Naruto and ask if he would be her partner. But just as she thought she got the nerve up, her feet suddenly refused to obey her. Instead, she remained in her seat, her body leaning ever-so-slightly out of her chair.

She had to look across Kiba, her First Aid partner, since Naruto's table was on the opposite side of the room and Kiba sat on the end chair of her table. Every so often her eyes would dart in Kiba's direction just to make sure he wasn't looking at her. For some reason, Hinata felt even more embarrassed and uncomfortable when people looked at her. As if at any second they would start laughing at her. That, or start picking on her.

She wanted to kick herself for continuing this habit: Kiba was her best friend. He would never laugh at her no matter how silly she looked. Oddly, he had been the first guy that hadn't teased her when they were in middle school together. And after he started being her friend, the boys who used to have fun picking on the shy little girl in the corner suddenly found better things to do.

Still Hinata seemed to be unable to drop the habit of not wanting to draw people's attention, even though she was in high school now and the boys had long stopped teasing. Also, it wasn't just being afraid that the boys would pick on her; she didn't even feel comfortable joining the conversations the other girls were having. She wanted to, but she was afraid that she would say something foolish and suddenly everyone would start laughing at her. She seemed to never say the right words, especially when she needed to. She even had trouble getting a simple sentence to come out of her mouth without ending up stuttering. She never understood it. She didn't have a problem speaking her mind at home, but at school it was a completely different story.

Most days she wished she would just blend into the wall. Other days, today being one of them, she wished she was Sakura. With longing eyes, she had watched as Naruto asked the pink-haired girl to be in a group with him. Hinata sighed. What she wouldn't give if Naruto would just notice that she was in the room, let alone actually talk to her!

Suddenly, she thought she caught Kiba's eyes looking in her direction. Quickly, she looked down at her desk, her fingers tapping together rapidly. Her face felt like it was on fire. Had Kiba caught her spying?! She noticed that he too was staring over at Naruto's table. Hinata held her breath. She could only imagine just how ruby-red her normally pale skin must have looked.

"Damn Uchiha, taking all the fucking girls," Kiba muttered under his breath.

Hinata released a breath. Kiba hadn't been looking at her at all.

Hinata quickly glanced over at Kiba. It was then she noticed that he was scowling, his catlike pupils looking even more slit-like. Kiba was a bit scary when he got angry. Nervously, Hinata glanced around the room. And noticed that Kiba wasn't the only guy throwing jealous glares at Uchiha Sasuke's back; in fact, most guys in the class had scowls on their faces. Even her cousin looked frustrated.

Of course to anyone else Neji simply looked like he was concentrating hard on something. His eyes had narrowed slightly and his face looked deadly serious. To Hinata though, who was more familiar with her cousin's stoic demeanor, it seemed like something was troubling him. She followed the path of his eyes: it led to Sasuke's table. So Neji-kun is also jealous of Sasuke-kun?

Suddenly, Neji's eyes found hers. Hinata gasped uncontrollably. She had never seen so much emotion trapped within her cousin's eyes. His white orbs looked furious, more like a violent squall clashing against an icy lake. Hinata swiftly looked down at her table.

After waiting a moment, she seemed to get her breath back.

She had not been expecting that.

The look he had given her made her feel uncomfortable. If she wasn't his cousin she would have thought that he hated her or something. He must really be angry at Sasuke-kun?!

Hinata continued to focus on the dark maple surface of the table. Slowly she leaned her head forward in hopes that the cold surface would cool down her heated face. She was still trying to calm her quivering breath. It didn't seem right. She had seen all of those guys—her cousin included—acting like they were Sasuke's friends. Hinata couldn't help but feel for Sasuke, he'd never know their true opinion of him. Still, she couldn't judge Kiba or even Neji too harshly. She understood how they felt. Slowly, she raised her head up, her eyes drifting back over to look at the back of Naruto's head.

Naruto-kun.

Neji had continued to watch Hinata for some time after she had looked away. Hinata was looking intently down at her desk. Where her full and slightly puffy lips hovered above the table surface, he could see breath vapor rapidly appearing and disappearing on the table wood. Neji knew she would never look up again, especially not after that awkward moment they had just shared.

Hinata leaned closer to the table, as if trying to hide in it. As she looked down, two medium-length strands of hair fell forward from either side of her face, the tips just barely brushing against the table surface. Neji could see a faint blush coloring the bridge of her nose and fanning out in a smooth line across her cheeks. At first she held her arms up against her chest tightly. Then, she let her arms drop to the table; slowly, she rested her weight on her forearms. As she was leaning forward, gravity made her blouse part a bit in the middle. Neji couldn't help noticing her pale breasts as they pressed heavily against the navy-colored fabric of her shirt. It was then that he noticed her skin down there was beginning to blush a rosy pink. Slowly, Neji released a breath. Hinata.

Somehow he had forced himself to turn around and face the front of the room. Absently his eyes found some random spot on the wall. He knew it was probably unnatural and extremely unhealthy for him to be thinking such thoughts about his own cousin. But still…

Suddenly, the thought that had infuriated him earlier returned.

Hinata had been watching him again.

Neji's eyes narrowed in disgust as cold anger rose up in his gut. Quickly he focused his energy into not scowling; Neji never liked the idea of wearing his emotions on his face where everyone could see them. Emotions were a private matter. Only within the privacy of his own mind would he allow himself to express them. And inside his mind a bitter storm ragged, so intense it was almost blinding.

Fucking, little Nine-tailed spawn! Underneath the table, Neji clutched his hand into a fist. At first, Neji thought he only had to worry about Kiba, given that the guy always seemed to want to hang around Hinata. But that was before Neji noticed Hinata's behavior around Naruto. He wanted to go over there and punch the little bastard into the floor. Still, what irked Neji all the more was that Naruto somehow had the gull to not even notice Hinata's feelings. As much as the image of Naruto and Hinata dating caused a fury of jealous to rise up within him, the idea of anyone ignoring Hinata made his blood run cold.

Inwardly, he took a deep and steadying breath. Cursing Naruto wouldn't make Hinata stop liking him. Nor would it make his cousin suddenly notice him as anything other than family. He knew he probably should be thankful that Hinata would never look at him that way; it wasn't like his father and uncle would ever approve.

The class around him had finally settled down. Still, most student—and by most students meaning most girls in the classroom—were still grumbling over Tsunade's last minute announcement about them having already chosen a partner for CPR demonstrations. Neji took this moment to glance at his own partner from out of the corner of his eye. Akimichi Choji was sitting next to him; the boy had chubby cheeks, a large waist and an even larger appetite.

Inwardly Neji groaned; this sucked. He should never have signed up for this class to begin with. And he probably wouldn't have, had he not seen Hinata's schedule one Saturday afternoon when his uncle and cousins had come over for a barbeque. He just happened to glance over his dad's shoulder when he saw Hinata handing a paper over to him enthusiastically. When Neji saw that she had signed up for First Aid, he couldn't have been more pleased. He still needed to take a health class to fulfill the high school requirement. Finally, he'd get to be in a class with Hinata. Since his cousin was a grade younger than him in school it made things like taking the same classes impossible.

Unfortunately on the first day of classes, his father needed him to open the store before he left for school so he ended up coming ten minutes late. When he got there Hinata was already sitting next to Kiba. So grudgingly, he went and took the only empty seat available and that was next to Choji.

Neji cursed inwardly. Of all people why did it have to be chip-eater Choji?! If only Shikamaru and Temari hadn't started dating in the last few weeks of the previous semester, then perhaps Choji would have shared a table with Shikamaru. He heard they were friends. Honestly, anyone was looking better at this moment.

"Tsunade-sensei," said Neji, glad his voice still sounded controlled and stoic, "We are going to be using mouthpieces, right?" Choji was still munching away wildly on some chips sending salt and vinegar fragments everywhere.

"For sanitation sake?" he added. It still amazed him that Choji had ended up getting permission to eat in class. Though, having a doctor who is also your father apparently helps. Because after Choji had brought in his doctor's note, the teachers had to stop complaining about the chips and the mess Choji normally made eating them. Neji wished for a moment he could tear up that note.

"If we don't use mouthpieces," Ino cut in, "Then maybe we should switch groups, you know, so we can be with people we know are sanitary." Here her eyes came to rest on Sasuke.

"Sounds fitting coming from a pig," Sakura snapped back at Ino.

"I want you to all be prepared for any situation." Tsunade replied, her face suddenly serious. "Think of it this way: what happens if you find a person that needs CPR and you do not have a mouthpiece present? What would you do then, just let him or her die?"

One glance at Choji's oily lips scattered here and there with the occasional piece of chip, gave Neji his answer.

Over on the other side of the room, Naruto was also grimacing at the thought of not using a mouthpiece. He had sort of been counting on that fact. Well, he originally thought he would be practicing on the class dummy. And then he got his hopes up (and dashed down) about being in a group with Sakura. Now the idea of performing CPR on Sasuke without using a mouthpiece sounded even more daunting. Of course, he could have received a lot worse of a partner. Even from where he was sitting, he could hear Choji still munching away on his chips; no wonder why Neji was putting up so much of a fight (much of a fight, at least, for his usual quiet persona, that is).

Part of him, a part that Naruto was not comfortable even admitting to himself, actually was kind of interested in seeing how Sasuke's lips felt like. That part suddenly started to hope that Tsunade would not have them use mouthpieces. Naruto quickly pushed it away. Why the fuck would I even think something like that? I said I'm not gay!

Naruto was now starting to dread this. He was really hoping that Tsunade would force them to use the mouthpiece. What if she makes it optional? For a moment he was afraid of having a choice when it came to using the mouthpiece. What if my body moves on its own account and performs CPR on Sasuke anyway without the mouthpiece? He imagined himself performing CPR on Sasuke, but instead his body seemed to go out of his control and begin to forcibly kiss Sasuke. Suddenly, Sasuke's face jumped into his mental view, as he pushed Naruto off of him. Naruto had never seen Sasuke looking so repulsed.

But I'm not gay, he thought helplessly, I like Sakura-chan!

It was then that he remembered last night, and the weird look Sasuke had given him when he had pinned him to the floor during their play wrestling. In that one horrifying moment, Naruto had thought that Sasuke was going to kiss him. Suddenly the thought hit him:

What if Sasuke's gay?

Again, he saw himself performing mouth-to-mouth on Sasuke; only this time Sasuke's hand caught him and held him there for a strong and what looked to be painful kiss.

Dammit! Damn old hag. Naruto cursed. Though it was the farthest insult he could use to describe the youthful looking, and almost porn star quality, Tsunade-sama. Still Naruto liked to tease his First Aid teacher saying that she looked old, simply because he knew he could get under her skin.

It was then that Naruto noticed Sasuke shifting his notebook to a different position on the table. Quickly he glanced at Sasuke. Sasuke hadn't so much as made a sound; he just stared emotionlessly at the teacher. How the hell can he be so cool about this anyway? Naruto thought angrily.

Sasuke however, underneath his indifferent exterior, was starting to freak out. He was going to have to perform CPR on Naruto, actual mouth to mouth. No, he couldn't. What if his stupid hormones came out? There was no way he would be caught blushing like a moron with his lips to Naruto's in the middle of class, of all places!

However, there wasn't much option; hopefully Tsunade-sensei wasn't that much of a bitch as to make them perform the procedure without a mouthpiece. Somehow though Sasuke felt a bit relieved; at least it was Naruto and not one of his annoying fangirls. Sasuke had no doubt that they would do more than just touch their lips to his. At least Naruto would be practical and leave him his space.

It was then that last night's events began to haunt his thoughts. Suddenly, Sasuke started to have second thoughts. Last night Naruto had acted so clingy; he had been pretty much all over him. He didn't seem to be able to keep his fucking distance! Then Naruto had almost seemed oblivious to his actions, as if he had been totally unaware that he was making Sasuke uncomfortable (and starting to feel crazy things, but Sasuke didn't let his thoughts remind him of that). Sasuke couldn't help worrying about how Naruto would act today now that he was actually being forced to evade Sasuke's space?

"Ok, if we can have no more interruptions." Tsunade-sensei said, "I want one member of your group to come get a mat, while the other come and pick up two sets of mouthpieces. Hurry up, we don't have all day!"

When Tsunade-sensei spoke the word mouthpieces, Naruto wasn't the only one in the class to let out a sigh of relief. Neji also looked pretty relieved, and even Ten Ten looked like she could go through with the demonstration regardless if she got stuck with Lee as her CPR partner.

Naruto's let out a deep breath of relief, his shoulders visibly sagging. Perhaps this wouldn't be that bad, after all.

The students left their seats. Naruto going for the object closest to him, Sasuke going for the opposite one. In the end, Naruto picked up the mat and Sasuke got the mouthpieces.

"Alright," Tsunade-sensei said, before muttering under her breath, "I'm gonna need a partner for this."

Turning to the partly opened door at the back of the classroom she yelled:

"Shizune!" The ear-piercing scream making Hinata jump from her table all the way in the back of the classroom. "A little help here!"

A dark-haired woman poked her head out from the door. Shizune was the school nurse and Tsunade-sensei's personal assistant. So, it was not on accident then that the classroom used to house all health-related classes was adjacent to the school clinic, with Tsunade's office acting as a gateway between the two rooms.

Shizune swung the door open widely. Naruto could see a sliver of the room on the other side of Tsunade's office. A red-haired student was sitting on the edge of one of the four dull, blue-color beds that made up the school clinic. It looked like he was holding a clear icepack against the back of his elbow.

As she closed the door, Naruto heard Shizune say into the office behind her: "Just continue to put ice on it, okay Gaara-kun?" Before she pulled the door firmly shut behind her.

"Tsunade-sama?" She asked, "What do you need?" Though she addressed the teacher respectfully, her tone wasn't very respectful at all. She sighed as her eyes found the mat that Tsunade was patting her hand against.

"I was kind of in the middle of something, so make it quick."

"As always, Shizune," Tsunade said dryly, "Thank you for your wonderful assistance."

"Whatever," Shizune said as she lied down upon the mat.

"Ok class, I will demonstrate," Tsunade-sensei said, "However, after this, if anyone still messes up, it's cause you're a lost cause."

"The first thing we need to do before we ever begin CPR on a patient is to check his vitals to see if CPR needs to be applied."

Shizune's eyes snapped opened. "Him? Don't you mean, her, Tsunade-sama?!"

Tsunade cleared her throat. Shizune rolled her eyes, before shutting them again.

Then Tsunade knelt beside the woman. "Remember the ABCs."

"Airway," Tsunade-sensei said, tipping Shizune's head back. The assistant flinched a little but otherwise allowed the movement. "Tip the head back and lift the chin until the teeth are almost touching; this will allow the proper airway needed for your patient's breathing."

"Then," Tsunade leaned closer to the other woman, and continued speaking; perhaps it was her angle but her voice sounded softer. "Check to see if the patient is breathing." Shizune shivered slightly, her eyes fluttering open, before she quickly shut them again.

Tsunade leaned her ear over Shizune's mouth. She paused, listening to the sound of Shizune's breathing. For a moment, she seemed to hesitate above her assistant's mouth before she took her ear away.

Sitting up Tsunade put her hand on Shizune's wrist, "Since he is not breathing"—("bitch," Shizune muttered)—"next we need to check for a pulse."

"Upon finding none, or a very faint one," Tsunade-sensei continued, "We now begin CPR."

Still addressing the class she bent over Shizune, "You will alternate between chest compressions and breaths."

"Clearly human beings need their heart to beat over their breathing any day, so more chest compressions are to be given than breaths." She seemed to smirk at this before continuing, "We're gonna go with the ratio 2/30. That is for every two breaths the patient will then get thirty heart compressions."

From his seat in the front row table, Lee nodded affirmatively.

"Ok, 2/30! Right, Tsunade-sensei!" he shouted. Ten Ten just rolled her eyes as if thinking how on earth she had managed to sit next to Lee on the first day.

"Now, let's take a look at the mouthpiece," Tsunade-sensei said, taking the mouthpiece in her left hand she held it up to the class.

Naruto looked at the mouthpiece. It was an elliptical piece of plastic that contained what looked like circles on the back of it. It didn't look to Naruto that the circles did anything practical; they just seemed to be there for looks. In the middle of the mouthpiece it looked like the lid of a pipe had been screwed on. Inside the pipe was a small valve-like skin that had a slight separation in the middle; this presumably was how the air was allowed to flow from the resuscitator to the patient.

"First, place the mouthpiece over the patient's mouth." Tsunade-sensei said. Shizune's eyes opened at this.

"Cover the patient's mouth fully—" Here the teacher covered Shizune's mouth, cheeks and chin with the mouthpiece. "—Using the suction cups on the back to keep it firmly in place." She began pressing the mouthpiece down firmly, the small circles on the back of the mouthpiece spreading to capture the patient's skin beneath. So the circles on the back are not just there for looks, Naruto thought as he noticed the circles acting like suction cups to hold the mouthpiece into place against Shizune's face.

Shizune closed her eyes giving a bored look; perhaps this wasn't the first time Tsunade had used her in a demonstration. Either that or the assistant had great trust in the teacher.

"If the person is not breathing we hold the nose shut, but in either case, we will breathe two, full breaths into the mouthpiece," Tsunade said, "In here, I want you to practice when the patient is not breathing."

Then she squeezed her fingers over Shizune's nose. With that she covered the lid of the mouthpiece with her lips and breathed into it. Two, somewhat lengthy breaths later, she pulled back and went over to Shizune's chest.

"Next, put your hands in the center of the patient's chest." Shizune visibly blushed as Tsunade placed her palms into the valley between her breasts.

"After placing one hand on top of the other, like this," Tsunade seemed to press her cupped palms a little deeper between Shizune's breasts as she got into position. Shizune looked uncomfortable, as if she was holding her breath. "Now make thirty terse compressions," Tsunade continued.

"However, since in our case the patient is very much alive, I want you to press lightly." She told the class, "And patients breathe out of your nose while the resuscitator is applying chest compressions if you find it difficult to breath through the mouthpiece."

Tsunade-sensei performed several more chest compressions before she stopped and leaned down to breathe two more full breathes into her assistant's mouth. Naruto felt his eyes bulge out of his skull has he watched; he was amazed he wasn't salivating.

Holy shit, that's hot! He wondered if any of the other guys in class were also enjoying it as much as he was.

Casually he looked over at Sasuke. As always though, Sasuke's face was the epitome of stoicism. Oh well, he could always imagine that Sasuke was getting turned on by the scene. For some reason, the thought of Sasuke getting off from the scene in front of them, made the entire thing only seem hotter.

Finally Tsunade stood up. Shizune remained on the mat for a few moments afterwards before she got up and went back into Tsunade's office again.

"Ok brats, you're turn!" Tsunade-sensei said, and then she smirked, "Oh there is just one more thing I forgot to mention."

Some of the class began muttering underneath their breaths.

"Since this is practice for real life we will be using the program mentioned in the book to monitor your patient's progress."

"If you can't get your patient to be in a suitable condition by the time the paramedics arrive, both of you will get a zero. Have fun!" And with that Tsunade turned and went into her office, closing the door behind her.

"What program?" Naruto asked shocked.

Sasuke just rolled his eyes. "If you would have read the book, dobe, you would have known."

"Well, you complaining at how I should have read the book don't make me automatically read it; so tell me what it said!"

Sasuke again rolled his eyes, before he grabbed the mouse of the nearby computer. From inside the Windows XP desktop, Sasuke double-clicked a program called "Virtual Patient." Naruto went to look over Sasuke's shoulder curiously. He had to get pretty close to see the text on the screen due to its high resolution. He leaned an elbow on Sasuke's shoulder so as to keep his balance. Sasuke could hear the sounds of Naruto's light breathing. This close to Naruto, he could feel the heat radiating off of his body, making Naruto's orange shirt feel pleasantly warm. Yet, Sasuke ignored it and tried to focus on the program.

"Here's the short version of this," Sasuke said tersely. Naruto nodded. "The program comes with a sensatory device that will listen to the sound of your breathing while you apply the breaths; this device will be used to fill a meter on the screen; the weaker you breathe, the slower the meter will fill up."

"Ok, sounds strange, but doable I guess." Naruto said.

"Next," Sasuke continued, "There will be a timer that will start the moment you begin the CPR; if you do not get the meter to reach a certain threshold before the timer runs out, then your patient dies."

"Oh, that's what she meant by getting your patient in a suitable condition." Naruto said.

"Clearly." Sasuke said, still setting up the program, then he continued, "Each person has three tries to save their patient, in case you can't do it the first attempt; I'll go first."

"What?" Naruto asked, "Why you?"

"Cause I know what I'm doing, while you should probably wait and see how it's done."

"I just watched Tsunade-sensei give a live demo,"—though here the only thoughts in Naruto's head about the CPR demonstration were of how hot it had been to see Tsunade and Shizune nearing kissing at the front of the class, still he kept on talking—"I know what to do; I'm not that dense, you know?"

"If you say so," Sasuke said, "but I'm still going first, so lie down."

"But teme?" Naruto said, eyeing the mat, "What did she mean by the whole before the paramedics arrive thing?"

"It's just the stupid jargon used in the book that means one person has used up all three tries," Sasuke said, taking hold of the mouthpiece, "Just lie down."

Naruto grimaced as he lied down on the mat. Sasuke knelt beside him, placing the sensatory device on the opposite side of Naruto's head. Naruto eyed it wearily.

"Just don't blow so hard that you explode a lung, ok bastard?"

Sasuke smirked at that.

"That wasn't a joke, teme!"

"Just shut up so I can put this mouthpiece on you."

Naruto closed his mouth. Sasuke covered it with the plastic mouthpiece.

"Ok, ready?" Sasuke asked. Naruto nodded. But as soon as Sasuke went down to blow into the mouthpiece, Naruto burst out laughing.

"What idiot?"

"I'm sorry," Naruto said between laughs, his voice muffled by the plastic. "It's just that it tickles."

"Well, hold it in."

"I can't hold it in."

Sasuke got in a better position and squeezed Naruto's nose shut. Then he leaned down and breathed into Naruto's mouth. Naruto's eyes widened; Sasuke's breath felt forceful enough to blow up a balloon. For a moment, Naruto felt weird. It was like his only source of oxygen was coming through Sasuke. Plus the mouthpiece wasn't very thick, so there was only a thin line between Sasuke's lips and his own. It sort of felt like he was kissing Sasuke without actually feeling his lips. Naruto's face was starting to feel a bit hot. Not to mention, he felt like his eyes were about to pop out of his head. Still he couldn't make himself relax.

From this angle, Sasuke's face looked magnified. He had just started focusing on Sasuke's eyebrows—he never noticed the fairer strands that looked almost blond coming down towards the bridge of his nose?—when suddenly a thick clump of Sasuke's hair fell forward and left Naruto in darkness.

Sasuke pulled back, shifting his bodyweight on to his knees as he leaned over Naruto's chest. Naruto felt Sasuke's hands rest on his chest, one of Sasuke's palms over the other.

"Now, don't kill me, Sasuke-teme." Naruto said from beneath the plastic. This had been a bad idea. Before when Sasuke had blown into it, he must have pressed the mouthpiece so tight against Naruto's mouth that the air couldn't escape out of the sides, this coupled with the fact that the valve inside the mouthpiece caused most of his breath to stay inside the mask instead of exiting out through the hole. Naruto chocked and started to breathe through his nose.

Sasuke just smirked when he saw the dilemma Naruto had got himself into. He continued to make light compressions against his chest. His facial features were perfectly neutral; however inside he couldn't help but feel stupid. He must have looked retarded doing this! He glanced quickly over to the meter. His last two breaths had raised it only about two percent; still ninety-eight percent more to go.

Thirty rapid compressions later, Sasuke went back over to Naruto's face.

"Did you move this by talking?" He asked. Naruto was about to open his mouth, when Sasuke cut him off.

"Don't respond."

Lifting the mouthpiece off of Naruto's face to get the air out from under it, Sasuke then pressed it back over Naruto's mouth.

Naruto was desperately trying not to laugh again as the suction cups from inside the mouthpiece began tickling his face. When the next thing he knew Sasuke's fingers were plugging his nose, before Sasuke's mouth again covered the mouthpiece.

Again, Naruto could only breathe Sasuke's breath. He was starting to feel a funny, fluttering feeling down in his gut; for an instant, he wanted to grab hold of Sasuke's shirt just to feel like he had some control. Sasuke breathed again into him, Naruto kept staring at his friend. Sasuke wore such a serious look of concentration on his face that Naruto again wanted to laugh, but Sasuke was still holding his nose and he didn't want to choke again.

Sasuke covered the valve with his mouth. The plastic tasted awful, a bitter almost metallic taste. But, Sasuke ignored it. Taking a deep breath, Sasuke exhaled into Naruto's mouth. Fuck, did he feel self-conscious! He hoped his breath didn't smell. Thankfully though he had a habit of chewing a tic-tac every hour or so, so perhaps it would be okay. Still, Naruto's wide, almost bug-eyed look did nothing to decrease Sasuke's discomfort.

To shut out Naruto's uncomfortably-staring eyes, Sasuke focused as hard as he could on the CPR procedure, which he kept repeating over and over in his mind. Thankfully, only two breaths were needed. So after the first awkward breath, he only had to force one more out before he could jump up and start the compressions. Or rather, pound stupidly against Naruto's chest for 30 times straight. Sasuke thought he would surely die from embarrassment.

Naruto felt Sasuke's fingers let go of his nose. He could breathe again. Sasuke was leaning over his chest and making light compressions; his movements were terse, no amount of energy wasted. Before he knew it, Sasuke's mouth was pressed against the mouthpiece again. Naruto didn't feel like laughing anymore, if fact he couldn't even feel the suction cups tickling his cheeks at all. Instead he felt Sasuke's hair covering his forehead. It was thick and felt a bit heavy, but Naruto didn't really mind it.

One of Sasuke's hands had tipped Naruto's chin upwards, Sasuke's fingers lightly urging Naruto's face closer as he bent down and covered his lips over the lid of the mouthpiece again. Naruto's brain was starting to turn into a mushy haze; he closed his eyes as he felt Sasuke's breath enter him. It felt strange breathing Sasuke's air, and yet it felt liberating at the same time. Naruto felt as if Sasuke owned his life; as if Sasuke's breath was filling his lungs and Sasuke's hands were beating his heart. Sasuke, Naruto's whispered in his mind. Slowly, he surrendered his control over to his friend. When Sasuke breathed, Naruto breathed. He never felt safer in his entire life; Sasuke wouldn't let him die.

Sasuke was starting to get the hang of this. Oddly, though he felt more uncomfortable now than when he first started. It was Naruto's strange stillness that seemed to rile up Sasuke's nerves. Once Naruto had started laughing at the beginning, Sasuke had been expecting him to keep doing that the entire time through. Though, the idea of Naruto making the whole process a hell of a lot harder by laughing the entire time had pissed Sasuke off. But after that one outbrust Naruto had remained silent. And now that Naruto was silent, Sasuke secretly wanted to him start laughing or talking, or just doing something again. Even Naruto's uncomfortable, bug-eyed stare was better than this! Instead Sasuke was left with nothing to distract his mind. Now, each time he blew into the pipe of the mouthpiece, he could feel the plastic around it further taking the shape of Naruto's mouth. And every time his hand brushed past Naruto's chin or his fingers fumbled over Naruto's cheek as he went to plug his nose, Sasuke's mind seemed to linger on the warmth radiating from his friend's tanned skin. Yeah, Sasuke would have much rather had a distraction.

The meter on the screen was about half full. Still Naruto remained silent. In the ghostly silence that had engulfed them, Sasuke began to notice subtle changes in his friend's demeanor. Like the light fluttering of Naruto's golden eyelashes every time Sasuke breathed into his mouth. Or the rapid pounding of Naruto's heart beneath Sasuke's fingers has he performed light compressions against his friend's chest.

--

Sasuke was leaning over Naruto performing his twenty-third compression out of thirty, when it seemed like for the first time he actually got a good at Naruto. Without his usual thoughts of denial, frustration and anger, he actually had time to take in his friend's appearance. What shocked Sasuke was how subtly beautiful Naruto's face did in fact look.

Sasuke rarely looked at his friend. Whenever he did Naruto's face was normally covered by that wide, shit-eating grin that made Sasuke want to punch him hard. But not now. Now it was like Naruto's calm demeanor allowed the light time to actually touch his features. Sasuke watched with strange fascination as the light filtering through the side window seemed to highlight the curve of Naruto's cheekbone as it dipped down to his smooth jaw. Oddly, even the scars that haphazardly adored both of his cheeks seemed to only make Naruto looked more perfect, and almost precious in Sasuke's eyes. For one moment, Sasuke found that he wanted to stroke his hand through the turfs of Naruto's vivid blond hair.

Naruto no longer opened his eyes. He just lied there enjoying the feeling of being in Sasuke's care. The world around him seemed to both slow down and quicken at the same time. Just when Naruto was getting used to feeling Sasuke's hands on his chest, Sasuke would be over him again, breathing into his mouth. Sasuke's lips felt so firm and secure against the mouthpiece. Naruto felt a low, almost inaudible moan rumble in the back of his throat. He felt like he couldn't remember a time when Sasuke's mouth hadn't covered his, as if Sasuke's breaths had become his own. Then, as if no time had occurred at all, Sasuke's lips would leave his, and then Sasuke's hands would be on his chest again. Naruto wasn't certain how long this went on; he was completely lost in the euphoria of the moment.

Suddenly, the mouthpiece was plied off of his lips. Cold air hit his skin as the moist air trapped within the mouthpiece quickly evaporated.

Naruto blinked open his eyes, almost groggily.

For a moment he was a bit confused as to where he was. Suddenly the scrapping of a chair against the floor awaken Naruto's mind to the fact that he was still in his First Aid class. The murmur of voices around him seemed to bring about the first signs of shame. Just what the hell was he doing?

He had been lying there, almost moaning, while Sasuke had been performing mouth-to-mouth on him. Shit! Naruto inwardly cursed as he realized just how bad that sounded. Suddenly, he was angry. Why the hell had his fucking teacher made them do something stupid like that anyway? It would have been easier to just use the fucking manikin?!

Dammit! Stupid hag! Dangerously he looked about the room looking for anyone that might be laughing at him. But no one seemed to be looking at him at all, every one no doubt busy with his or her own CPR demonstrations.

Just then, he saw Sasuke from the edge of his periphery. Suddenly cold fear struck his gut. What if Sasuke heard him moan?! Naruto's stomach felt knotted with shame; any moment now he expected Sasuke to burst out laughing at him.

But Sasuke didn't laugh. Nor was he making fun of him yet. Perhaps he hadn't heard Naruto's little slip up?

Naruto turned his head slightly so as to observe his friend. Sasuke was still kneeling on the ground next to him examining the sensatory device. The next minute, Sasuke had pushed himself off of the ground, his fingertips lightly grazing the floor in the process.

For a moment Naruto's eyes lingered on Sasuke's hands. His mind went back to how strong Sasuke's hands had felt, and yet how gentle they seemed too. They didn't crush my chest.

Sasuke's hands ran through his hair quickly. Naruto's eyes followed the movement, traveling down Sasuke's face until they came to rest on his lips. For one moment, he was back lying on the mat, underneath his friend, as Sasuke's lips were breathing air through the mouthpiece and into his lungs. He had been breathing Sasuke's air...

He didn't even suffocate me. It actually was pretty okay. Perhaps his mind was just stating the obvious, either that or just babbling, but he didn't stop his thoughts. Perhaps being that close to Sasuke isn't so bad after all. Naruto felt the knot in his stomach loosen a bit. Slowly, the left side of his lip began to tug into a smile; for some reason the world seemed a bit more peaceful than it did at the beginning of the class.

Naruto continued to watch his friend. Sasuke gingerly rolled his shoulders back as if to free up some tension. Then he went over to his chair at their table. Before he sat down, he tilted his neck slightly to the right in a light stretch. Naruto felt his smile deepen as he mentally traced the nice curve Sasuke's neck made with his broad shoulders. Then Sasuke sunk down into his seat, which was nearest to the computer.

"Well, you survived," Sasuke said his eyes on the computer screen. From his angle on the floor, Naruto could see that the meter on the screen was completely filled up.

Naruto felt a lazy yawn coming on. Closing his eyes a moment to give into the yawn, he then went back to watching his friend. For some reason Sasuke looked different. Though as to why he did, or what exactly was different about him, Naruto didn't know.

Sasuke still wasn't looking at him; instead, his eyes were scanning the screen as his mouse hand moved slightly. Naruto couldn't see what exactly he was clicking on the screen; it was too far away and the resolution made the contents appears too tiny. Then Sasuke looked away from the monitor and down to the paper sitting on the table right next to the keyboard. Dark, somewhat lengthy bangs fell forward and hid his eyes as Sasuke leaned forward to fill out the paper in front of him. Naruto just continued to watch him.

"Now it's your turn." Sasuke said, sitting up, his hair falling out of his eyes with a slight jerk of his head.

"And Tsunade-sensei gave us another fifteen minutes, so we have lots of time." Sasuke continued, putting down his pencil. Then he picked up his own mouthpiece from on top of his black notebook.

"She did, when?" Naruto asked: had it really taken Sasuke that long? Or rather had Naruto just been out of it? "How long did it take you?"

"Five minutes; maybe less," Sasuke answered, "She just told us that a minute ago, weren't you listening?"

"Guess not," Naruto muttered. He pulled himself off of the mat, before quickly sitting back down again. Embarrassment instantly coloring his cheeks a light pink, Naruto was really glad that he was wearing his orange, baggy pants today, otherwise he would have to explain to Sasuke why he had a hard on after the CPR session. Perhaps it was the hard on in his pants and the fact that he needed to bring it down in a hurry, but Naruto's short-lived euphoria ended. It was then an even more terrifying thought entered his head: now he had to perform CPR on Sasuke!

A/N: This was a bit of a lengthy chapter. Let me know if that bothers anyone!

Anyways, sorry again for the LOOONG wait; I think I said I've have one by April, was it?! Oh, and if anyone was bothered by the yuri-hints between Tsunade and Shizune, sorry... guess I should have thrown a warning in about that. But, don't worry if that bothered you, cause the story is mainly about Naruto and Sasuke, so you won't see a lot of that (and nothing in detail definitely). This goes for the other potential pairings that were introduced in this chapter. But, it wouldn't be a full story without other people and their dramas, right :P

Anyways tell me what you think :)