"Iruka… I'm going out for a bit."

"What the hell? Kakashi, it's one in the morning. What could you possibly be doin-"

"Naruto has a hickey."

Iruka shot up from under the covers without another word. He picked up his jeans and jumped as he pulled them up quickly. Kakashi threw a clean shirt and some shoes to him, and the two headed out into the night.

"Is this about why you left the room to talk to him?" Iruka asked. "Are we going to get Naruto?"

Kakashi pulled him close as they walked under the streetlamp. He gently kissed Iruka in the nook of his chocolate brown eye and shook his head.

"No…" he said, "we're going to be overprotective thugs."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-..-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"You can't play a heart until it's broken, Neji."

"I lack any other suit. I'm the one breaking it, stupid."

"You know the rules. Hearts can't be broken on the first trick."

"Wait, Neji's right, Kiba. You already led the first trick. This is the second."

Four boys glowered at each other over the desks they had shoved together hastily. Sasuke, Kiba, Neji, and Haku all looked like idiots. Shika shook his head watching them. Sixth period study was the only class they didn't have with Naruto, and all they did was fight over troublesome matters the whole time like five year olds.

Kiba slammed his cards face down on the table in anger and stood up.

"It's not my fault he wandered up there! Besides I found out something useful, so shut up!" he yelled.

The class was quiet, gawking at the suddenly enraged brunette who broke the silence. The teacher glanced up from his book and raised an eyebrow at him. Kiba's face heated up as he realized how stupid he looked but continued to scowl at his friends from where he was standing. The three boys looked at him in amazement. Shika smothered a chuckle and rolled his eyes. He spotted Lee, Shino, and Gaara watching them knowingly. He wondered lazily if they would get in the way of the game. That would be troublesome…

"Kiba…" Sasuke growled quietly, "We're playing a game. A game of Hearts… No one was talking about the bet, so kindly shut up about it."

"Oh…" Kiba responded, sitting back down stupidly. "Well… I figured you all saw it, and when I got to school this morning, I found a bunch of hate mail so… I thought you guys were mad because I went overboar-"

"Wait, what?" Haku interrupted. "You got hate mail?"

"…yeah," Kiba responded shakily, "You mean you guys didn't send it?"

For the first time that morning, Shika took a real interest in the four guys' conversation.

"Who else knows about the hickey?" Shika asked. "Naruto slept over at Sasuke's house yesterday, so his parents don't—"

"He did what?" Neji, Haku, and Kiba interjected simultaneously.

"Oh, pipe down," Shikamaru replied, rolling his eyes again. "Nothing happened. Although he does have the impression that Kiba is a womanizer and mischievous brat thanks to Sasuke…"

Haku and Sasuke bumped fists across the table and Neji snickered before Shika continued.

"Anyways, it wasn't one of us. So, who sent Kiba hate mail?" Shika said. "…Kiba, do you have the letters on you?"

"Yeah, yeah," Kiba responded, pulling his backpack over to him with his foot. He unzipped it and threw a bound stack of envelopes in the middle of the four desks. "But I don't recognize the handwriting…"

Each of the boys grabbed a letter and opened it, reading out loud the threats on the page.

"You messed with the wrong dumb blond kid, you overgrown domesticated animal in heat," Sasuke read, staring at the letter humorously.

"You want to be a little player, Inuzuka? Let's play a game of castration," Haku said, his eyebrow going up instantly.

"Touch him again. I dare you. 405 Yukie Drive. Recognize the address? It's… yours," Neji finished hesitantly.

"See?" Kiba said. "He knows my address and my last name and in one of the letters, he mentioned my dog. I figured it had to be one of you. Who else would know that so fast?"

Neji pulled out his phone and punched in a number, facing Sasuke to pretend he wasn't totally calling someone in the middle of class

"Yes, this is Neji Hyuuga from the main family. I need someone at the school to pick up a letter and run the prints on it."

"Yeah, I think you should get someone to do that after school, too," Sasuke responded, awkwardly pretending Neij had been speaking to him.

"Pick it up from the front office in fifteen. Yeah. Mhmm. No, it's for Kiba… yeah, I know. Okay. Thanks. Wait! Run the name 'Naruto Uzumaki' through our data bank. Yeah. All right. Bye," Neji said, hanging up the phone.

"Why are you running Naruto's name through the system?" Shika asked.

"Just… in case we're messing with the wrong guy for real," Neji said, shaking his head.

"I'm not scared," Kiba declared. "But I think it's time to up the ante. $600 was the last change? How about $1,000? Each guy gives $250."

Shika shook his head and stood up, watching as the other four put their hands together in agreement.

"Idiots," he said, opening the door to leave just as the bell rang for seventh period.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-…. -.-…-.o….o.0….0.0….O.0?.../( 0.0)/…. /( 0.0 )/….-.-.-.-

Every muscle in his body was on fire. Naruto's breath came in shallow gasps, and sweat rolled down his bare chest incessantly. It hurt just to breathe.

Clank.

Naruto looked in fear at the man before him when he heard the metallic clink.

"No more, sensei!" he panted. All his energy seemed to seep out with his sweat. "My body can't take it."

"You let them touch," he replied. "You'll never learn if I don't use punishment."

They'd been going for only half an hour but even that felt too long. His lungs burned with every gulp for air and his body was way past exhaustion.

The man reached around him quietly and added more weight to the machine. Naruto's arm shook at the sudden increase of force and let go of the handlebar altogether.

Metal plates crashed down on each other, and the whole gym echoed in response. Naruto collapsed to the floor, breathing hard.

"Come on…" he gasped. "Kakashi's overreacting, Guy-sensei. Let me get a break."

Guy stared down at the blond boy heaving on the floor. He squatted down and threw a towel on top of Naruto's head.

"It's going to be hard at first, but I have to do this, Naruto," he said, patting the boy's sweaty head. "Kakashi and I go way back. He told me about that accident on the roof… Maybe he is overreacting, but considering what happened last time, I think he should. I don't know what's up with those boys, but something's going on. You need to watch yourself now."

He stood up and watched as Naruto slowly rolled onto his back to look up at him. Naruto reached out with one arm and Guy-sensei helped him up. Naruto grabbed Guy to balance himself as he stood, probably dizzy from trying to stand too fast. Sweat was still rolling down his body.

"Amazing…" Guy started. "If Kakashi hadn't told me himself… I'd never have known both your arms were broken two months ago."

Blue eyes glared at him under blond spikes.

"I get that Kakashi wants me to go through the strength training to avoid another incident. I'll go along with. Hell, I should be the one all for it. But do me a favor, sensei," he growled, "Don't fucking mention that again."

Naruto scooped up the towel from the floor and angrily walked down the stairs to the first level of the gym. He had to take a shower before seventh period….

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"Monsieur Uzumaki, ça va?" (Mr. Uzumaki, how is everything ?)

"Ça va bien, Mme. Tsunade. Et vous?" (It's going well, Mrs. Tsunade. And you?)

"Comme-ci, comme-ça. Quoi de neuf ?" (So-so. What's new?)

"Rien de spécial." (Nothing special.)

"Tu parles mieux français, Naruto. Tu rattraperas en peu de temps !" (You're speaking French better, Naruto. You'll catch up in no time.)

"Merci, Mme. Mes tutrices m'aident. Aussi, M. Sasuke et M. Shika m'aident. J'espère que je rattraperai vite." (Thank you, ma'am. My guardians are helping me. And Sasuke and Shika. I hope I can catch up quickly.)

"Bon!" Tsunade said, clasping her hands together just as the minute bell rang. She patted Naruto on the back and pointed to his seat. "Assieds-toi maintenant et commençons-nous la classe." (Sit down now, and let's begin class.)

Naruto took his seat near Shika and nodded to the amazed boy.

"When did your French get that good, Naruto?"

The blond shrugged his shoulders lazily and brushed off Shika's question. He rested his head in his arm and stared up at the teacher. She turned off the lights and the filtered light from the projector could be seen well in the semidarkness. Naruto watched the PowerPoint presentation on avoir idioms through a daze, still thinking about what Guy-sensei had said back at the gym.

His eyes scanned the room idly as he pushed the memories out of his mind. Mentally, he tried to remember everyone's name and what they looked like. He recognized the pink hair as Sakura from the first day, and the long blond haired girl next to her was her best friend, Ino. Naruto watched as the blond girl passed a note to Sakura before looking at the next person.

Short black hair and opaque eyes. Eyes that were like… pearls, maybe? Naruto knew those eyes were familiar, and it only took him a second to realize who else had similar eyes. She had to be Neji's sister. Wait, he didn't have a sister… Maybe she was a cousin. She was diligently taking notes as Tsunade talked. She must have felt Naruto watching her because she looked over at him and blushed, turning back to the PowerPoint quickly.

Naruto scratched his face sluggishly.

'She's kinda cute like that…' he thought.

Next to her, a girl with brown buns in her hair was also taking notes. Ten-ten. He knew her because she was always hanging around Neji. She probably liked him. He wondered if Neji knew…

Blood red hair and piercing green eyes caught his attention next. His pale skin contrasted against the dark rings around his eyes and the black character on his face. He didn't blink the whole time Naruto was watching him.

'Bara…. Grara?...No…' Naruto thought, still staring at the boy. He sighed heavily and racked his brain for the name. Suddenly, his eye began to sting as if something had gotten in it, and he rubbed it, annoyed. His eyes began to water and whatever was in his eye seemed to have gone away. He ground his teeth slightly in displeasure only to feel something like grit crunch between them.

Naruto's nose curled in disgust as he quietly scraped whatever it was out of his mouth when no one was looking. Small particles of what looked like wet sand were on his finger.

"What the hell?" he whispered quietly, looking up to see if anyone had noticed him.

When Naruto looked back down, the sand was gone as well as the feeling in his mouth. He swallowed slowly, but all of it was gone. He shook his head and tried to brush it off as being tired from the workout.

He put his head back down on the table. Naruto glanced at the bell. Five minutes left in class. He went back to looking at the other students only to nearly jump out of his seat.

Green eyes were watching him in the dark. He saw a flash of white teeth and felt the hairs on his neck stand up. The boy was leering at him in the darkness, green eyes and white teeth smiling at him chillingly from across the room.

Naruto gripped his desk slightly and took a shaky breath. He closed his eyes and opened them just as the teacher flicked the lights back on.

The class groaned in unison at the sudden change in brightness of the room, but Naruto waited for his eyes to adjust as he stared at the red haired boy.

'Gaara…' he thought, finally remember the red head's name as he stared at the top of his head. Gaara was looking down at his notes. When he looked up and saw Naruto staring, he tilted his head in confusion and nodded his head in greeting. The bell rang, and Naruto watched as Gaara packed up his stuff and left. The boy didn't do anything else strange. If anything, he looked uncomfortable about Naruto staring at him.

"Naruto, you all right?" Shika asked from beside him.

"Yeah..." Naruto said hesitantly, slowly picking up his bag from the floor before standing.

"What are you doing today after school?" Shika asked as Sasuke walked over to them.

"Uh… nothing really. I gotta go home though. Got chores to do. Besides, Kakashi doesn't want me out every day after school with people they don't know," Naruto said, slinging one backpack strap around his shoulder.

"Well…" Sasuke said, "We could help."

Shika raised an eyebrow and shook his head behind Naruto.

"What?" Naruto asked.

"The guys wouldn't mind. Besides, you'd get your work done quicker with all of us helping and your par…guardians," Sasuke corrected, remembering what Naruto had said, "could meet us. It's a win-win situation."

Naruto looked at Sasuke a bit skeptically, wondering if it really would be a "win-win" situation after Kakashi meets Kiba.

"I'll ask if you guys can come over," he responded, pulling out his cellphone.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

:p