.::.Day Zero.::.

"Love is like war: easy to begin but very hard to stop."
- H.L Mencken

Sasuke wasn't a particularly patient person. In fact, he considered himself a rather impatient person. He just didn't deal well with pointless waiting. Those who didn't know him well enough – which was a vast majority of people – weren't able to tell that his lack of vocal protest wasn't out of patience.

Rather, it was because he didn't want to talk and hold the situation up all the more.

Those who knew him could tell by the slight press of his eyebrows as they descended closer to a pair of obsidian black eyes and the way the corners of his mouth curled ever so slightly.

However, those who knew him that well amounted to a small group of three and the rest of the school populace was left in the dark about the supposedly tolerant Uchiha.

This was very inconvenient in times such as right now, which just so happened to be the first day back at school.

Sasuke let out an exasperated sigh as he set his bag on the hook of his desk and took his seat, feeling the familiar creak of the weary wood beneath him.

There was a wave of giggles as the girls in the classroom pointed at him and conversed in not-quite hushed tones, the occasional odd word drifting over into his hearing range.

" – So dreamy, and I hear he's still not seeing anyone."

" – Do you think we'll have a chance?"

" – Go speak to him!"

No, Sasuke thought grimly as he sent the blonde responsible for that last whisper an annoyed glare. Please don't go speak to him.

There was the scrap of metal on the linoleum floor of the classroom as the chair belonging to the desk in front of Sasuke was spun around to join the sulking teen as it was every school morning.

"Good morning."

Sasuke looked up wearily at the cheerful greeting and gave Suigetsu a detesting glare before shifting his gaze back out the window and away from his light haired 'friend'.

No sooner had he looked back out the window then there was the scrap of two more chairs as the last of his friends joined him.

"Popular as always." Neji greeted, ignoring the slight giggle his own appearance had caused in the classroom.

Sai gave what was meant to be a serene smile and lightly asked, "how are you today Sasuke?"

He gave no answer and Sai gave a small sigh. Suigetsu murmured, "Friendly, I see."

"Can you perhaps leave me alone?" Sasuke looked up and gave his specialized sweeping glare to the assembled boys but was ignored. Requests like this from the school prince were common and the small group had long since learned to ignore them.

Sasuke however was truly irritated.

He'd not had a good morning as it was and the last thing he needed was this trio to brighten it up. First days of school were always a bore, but he had a feeling this one would push its way to the top.

There was a slight commotion at the doorway and four sets of tinted eyes flickered over in an instant reaction.

Sprawled out on the floor was the tanned body of Naruto Uzumaki – the only person in the school that copped crap from boys, girls and students both older and younger without discrimination.

Sasuke watched impassively as the blond hauled himself to his feet and steadily ignored the chorus of giggles that had gone through the room with the ease of much experience.

Sasuke couldn't be certain seeing as how he hadn't witnessed it, but he had a strong suspicion that the snickering brunette by the door had something to do with the way Naruto had wound up on the floor.

Naruto awkwardly waved off the incident with a smile and took the desk at the back of the room – the optimum spot for catching a few hours sleep during class.

Not like it really matters to me if the dobe passes or fails, he thought dismissively before returning his eyes to the front.

Naruto was one of those people that precious little was known about in the school. Sasuke himself being another.

The blond was hyper, active, loud, annoying and always in trouble. It was a well known fact that Naruto was involved in one third of the fights that occurred at Konoha Academy and half of the fights that occurred in Konoha in general.

Sasuke hadn't had much interaction with the blond himself but he was well aware of the fact Neji, Sai and Suigetsu were the three top offenders when it come to picking on and beating up the cheerful but isolated blond.

Sure enough, as he watched, Neji casually flicked a rubber band across the room and smirked as it smacked into the already bruised flesh of Uzumaki's cheek. Naruto winced, looked around to find the culprit and when he spotted Neji staring at him immediately looked down at the graffitied surface of his desk.

Sasuke's already drawn eyebrows closed in on each other. While he didn't particularly care that Neji felt the need to torment Uzumaki he did wish he'd do it in a way that was less obstructive to him. He couldn't focus with bands flying everywhere.

"Can you not do that?" He asked of his long haired friend, voice laced with thick annoyance. A brown eyebrow disappeared high into the bangs of his hair as he offered Sasuke a blank sneer.

"Don't want to see Uzumaki picked on Sasuke?"

"Fuck you." He said bluntly. "Do it in your own time."

Neji opened his mouth to retort to this but the classroom door rattled open and Kakashi breezed in, ten minutes late and effectively putting an end to all chatter around the room for the few moments required to greet them.

"Good morning, students. Resume the task we were working on at the end of last semester." Was all he said before taking the cushioned seat reserved for those teaching and pulling out the distinctive orange book that he carried everywhere.

Sasuke snorted and the talking immediately started up. The 'task' they'd been assigned at the end of last semester had been specifically designed – he suspected – just so Kakashi wouldn't have to waste time explaining a new one to them all.

"Great." Suigetsu said as he rubbed his palms together. "We've already finished that. Do we get to do what we want now?"

Sasuke shrugged apathetically and spared a glance over his shoulder to see Naruto already snoring on his desk. Really, the blonde was just too pathetic.

"Interested?" Sai asked with a smirk. Sasuke stared at him lazily.

"Curious." He corrected.

Naruto Uzumaki was a name well know and despised around the school and Sasuke had seen him often enough, but this was his first time sharing a class with him and he wanted to know if the reputation was well deserved.

Looking at him Sasuke could immediately see how this blond might piss people off. All was fair game at high school.

He returned his gaze to the front only to see Neji staring at him.

"What?" He asked irritably.

The Hyuuga's usually stoic expression didn't change but Sasuke had know him long enough to recognize that faint flicker in his eyes did not promise good things. In fact they promised bad things. Very bad. And for him, no less.

Resolute, he turned back to the front.

OoOoO_oOo_oOoOo

After school Sasuke found himself bundled off to a club by his traitorous friends and he vowed that as soon as he graduated he was moving very, very, very far away where none of them would ever find him.

Despite the fact they were underage the group had no problem entering the club where Sai, Suigetsu and Neji were regular patrons. Sasuke had been in once and never wanted to come back. He wasn't overly fond of alcohol, nor the affect it had on the human body – or should he say mind.

Despite his loud protests, Sasuke found himself sitting around a small, circular table while an alcoholic drink was set down in front of him by a flustered waitress as she blushed brightly. He sent her his most annoyed glare he could muster – which caused her to flinch – before pushing his drink away.

"Don't be such a spoil sport." Suigetsu pouted as he knocked back his third one in so many minutes. Sai gave a creepy smile and swirled his toothpick serenely around his glass.

"Doesn't Uzumaki piss you off?" Neji sighed as he took a small sip of his drink. Sasuke raised an eyebrow and gave an indifferent shrug.

"I suppose." He said nonchalantly. He himself didn't very much like the boy's bubbly attitude. In fact, his entire personality irritated him.

"I know, right?" Suigetsu wrinkled his lip to show his disgust, but this didn't stop him gulping down another serving of some vodka drink.

Sai's own expression was that is a man who had stepped in dog shit while wearing expensive leather shoes. "I can't stand him." Sai murmured.

"You beat him up often enough." Sasuke reminded them before waving off the nauseating hostess who kept asking if there was something wrong with his drink.

"Yes," Neji agreed, "But no matter what we do he doesn't seem to be too affected."

Sasuke remembered a time where they'd forced him into a skirt in front of half the school and the kid hadn't shown up for the rest of the week.

He thought of pointing this out but decided he didn't want to sound like he was on Uzumaki's side. Not that being on a side with these three fuck ups was much better, but he would take what choices he did have. And regardless of how much they pissed him off, they were the only three people who he considered friends.

"We need something more permanent than beating him up." Suigetsu agreed, using what little brainpower he had – that which hadn't been attacked by the drink – to reason out what he was saying. "Something so humiliating and horrible he won't ever live it down."

Neji's gaze slid slyly over to Sasuke and the raven haired boy knew without a doubt that what was about to be said was the whole reason for his being dragged along on this ridiculous outing.

"I have an idea." He said smoothly and the other two boys fixed him with curious eyes.

Neji finished off his drink in one elegant sip before he spoke.

"Make him fall in love with you Sasuke, and then dump him in front of the entire school."

There was silence for a moment before Suigetsu let out a low whistle.

"That is the best idea I've ever heard." He said. "Consider me impressed."

"Ingenious." Sai agreed. "I could not have – how do you say it? – thought up such sheer brilliance by myself."

Sasuke just fixed his eyes on Neji. "Time limit?" He asked.

A small smirk slipped across Neji's features.

Sasuke actually liked this idea. It was a test. A challenge, almost. And if there was anything the Uchiha welcomed, it was a challenge.

As far as evil plans went, this one was on a level with which Sasuke could work. He was sure it was much better the multitude of other ideas that his dark haired friend could have thought up.

"A month." Sai said softly. "Thirty-one days."

Suigetsu grinned widely, showing off sharp, pointed teeth. "Trying to make it harder for yourself? Or are you that confident?"

"Both." Sasuke said smoothly and Neji gave an appreciative nod.

"Thirty-one days it is." He said and the group basked in to silence. The kind of smug silence a group might share after thinking up an exceptionally evil plan. Suigetsu was first to speak again.

"To ruining people's lives just because they annoy us." He said seriously a he held his refilled glass up for a toast.

"To the emotion of shame and humility and the hold they have on us." Sai smiled as his glass joined Suigetsu's with a faint chink.

Neji threw Sasuke a sideways smirk. "To Sasuke and his ability he has to win peoples hearts." He raised his glace that contained the barest traces of amber liquid.

Sasuke thought for a moment before raising his own glass.

"To Naruto Uzumaki."