A/N: Inspired by a true story, but manipulated to fit the characters' personalities and the way I want the story to go.

You can imagine that this takes place in some unknown city, or in the AU Konoha.

Where I come from, primary schools teach English, Music and PE after the obligatory classes. This is called Extra Curricular Activities (ECA), and it can be taught by certificate teachers or simply by someone who proves that they have the skills to teach these subjects, which is why you can find lots of college students teaching ECAs.

Not betaed for the time being.

This is NaruSasu/SasuNaru.

Disclaimer: The characters I use belong to Kishimoto Masashi-sama, the God of manga, drama and of hot characters that refuse to believe they are meant to get in each other's pants.

It's Not Fair

Chapter One: Work Sucks

A week had passed since he first started working as a teacher at a primary school, and if there was one thing he was one hundred and twenty percent sure about at this point was: he still hated kids with a passion.

People around him always said he would make a great teacher for some reason he couldn't really fathom no matter how hard he tried. Just because he was good at languages and had occasionally tutored a few people here and there didn't make him good at teaching, at all, and he knew it.

Fresh out of college, Uchiha Sasuke was still looking for his dream job at some editing company where he could be constantly surrounded by the two complementary things he loved the most – books and words; but since he still hadn't been lucky enough, he was stuck with teaching English to kids during their after school Extra Curricular Activities (ECA).

If it didn't pay so well, considering the few hours he worked a day (always the longest ever), he definitely would've quit long ago. His mother had encouraged him to at least give it a try at teaching to see how he'd do, so he had applied to several job offers of the kind just to indulge her and prove himself, and everybody else, that he wasn't suited for the job.

The school was considerably small compared to others; colorful, clean and very organized. After a few days, he became familiar with the hallways fairly easily, which was a plus, because he hadn't been particularly happy in asking this blond guy (a teacher, maybe, or a relative of one of the kids? It didn't really matter anyway) where the freaking bathroom was on his first day, considering things hadn't exactly been going well to begging with.

Sasuke had been literally thrown to the wolves. He hadn't been trained to deal with kids, and the coordinator of the ECA, Anko, hadn't given him any tips, simply telling him to find his own way of working with them and he'd be fine.

Sure he would. Sure.

He had been assigned three different classes, first, second and fourth years, and neither of them knew they were going to have a new teacher, and a young one at that. During those three hours, he was taken to meet his students, simply being dumped unceremoniously on the respective classrooms and introduced as the new English teacher before Anko closed the door behind him and left him to deal with the bomb that had just been dropped. The kids were shocked and immediately overdramatized. Sasuke had never seen so much snot and tears in such a short amount of time, and they asked so many questions he had no idea how to answer them. Those kids somehow seemed aware that he was a novice and were decided on making his life a living hell. He was completely lost and knew, simply knew that, on his first day, he had completely blown his chances of being respected as a teacher.

Over the next few days he had tried everything: from being nice, to being evil – which didn't work half as well considering they supposed he was a good guy playing bad – to blackmailing and bribing. Bribing, it seemed, was what did the trick with the kids, so he used it as much as he could, even if he knew he wasn't supposed to solve things like that. He just wanted to teach what he was supposed to teach and get it over with. He didn't plan on sticking around for long, anyway, since he was still looking for another job and would be out of there in a heartbeat.

He supposed that, sometimes – very rarely – the kids were kind of funny and cute. Sometimes they hugged him during breaks or jumped him. They sometimes drew things for him that made his eyebrow twitch at the poor art. When these things happened, he almost liked working as teacher. Almost.

His co-workers were difficult people to deal with. There were four teachers for each ECA, namely, Music, English and PE. He usually saw a few of them at the teacher's lounge once in a while, but he could barely remember their names or faces, because he rarely lingered long enough to socialize unless it was strictly necessary. The other teachers were mainly as young as he was, some younger. He particularly disliked the PE teachers (Anko being one of them) because they acted arrogantly and tended to exude this over-energetic aura that demanded everyone's attention; attention Sasuke didn't want to pay. He suspected they didn't really like him very much for that. They tried to make conversation with him, but the topics rarely interested him, so it was hard for him to really offer some kind of polite and encouraging comeback.

He didn't really care about what other people thought of him – he was there to work, not to make friends. They all knew each other already, he was just a gloomy extra they had come to not pay much attention to. Good.

Still, he absolutely hated teaching, and those three hours he had to spend at school were the most excruciating ones of his day. Sasuke wanted to find another job, and he wanted to find it fast.

000

On the previous night, he had received an e-mail from Anko announcing a meeting with all the ECA staff concerning the upcoming preparations for Father's Day, reason why he was currently sitting at a corner at the large rectangular table in the teacher's lounge, quietly and attentively watching as his co-workers arrived and sat down around him, chatting good-naturedly among themselves. Sasuke took notice of some familiar faces he had seen here and there passing the hallways, as well as some that he had never seen before – or probably had but hadn't bothered to memorize them.

Vaguely, he noticed that the blond guy he had asked for directions on his first day was there as well, talking to two of their most eccentric looking colleagues who Sasuke knew were Music teachers. As soon as said guy entered the room, though, his eyes – which were probably the biggest and bluest Sasuke had ever seen – seemed to look for something until they landed on him. When the guy offered him a simple, friendly smile, Sasuke felt a little confused but bowed his head slightly in acknowledgment. The blond ended up sitting across from him and kept flashing tiny smiles at him and stealing glances his way for some reason. It was a little awkward, but it also made Sasuke have the distinct feeling that someone, apparently, had taken a liking to him. It made him feel strangely lighter all of a sudden, and that meeting didn't feel like such an uncomfortable event anymore.

By the time everybody had sat down, he was already used to the feeling of empathy coming from his blond companion.

"As I explained on the e-mail I sent you yesterday, the PE teachers are going to organize various sport-related activities for Father's Day," Anko began from Sasuke's right, once the group had settled down. "As it is, ECA classes will be suspended for the day in favor of some good father-child bonding. The headmaster has already approved, so all we have to do is getting everything ready for the day."

Murmurs of approval could be heard from all around, and even Sasuke allowed himself a small smirk of relief. One day of work without having to teach moody brats seemed like heaven to him.

"However, we have created a map of activities that will have to be followed with precision so things don't get messy," Anko proceeded. "Every class and respective parents will have their turns in participating in said activities, but we need to work together to keep things rolling smoothly and according to plan. For this purpose, I have paired you guys up and assigned three classes for each pair. I will now distribute the map of activities and the sheet with the respective pairs and classes assigned to them."

Well, working in pairs was just another bonus, Sasuke thought, feeling his mood brighten up even more. Less responsibility on his shoulders and all that. Unless the person he was going to work with was an ass.

Anko got up and started distributing the sheets of paper.

When the map and charts were given to him, he quickly read through everything and noticed that he would have his fourth years as well as two third year classes he didn't know. He also noticed that his partner would be someone called Uzumaki Naruto, but the name didn't ring a bell at all.

His colleagues were already exchanging waves and exclamations of joy with their assigned partners, but Sasuke had absolutely no idea who was his.

"Please, pair up with your partner for the day and organize yourselves as best as you can," Anko finished, before leaning in to talk to her fellow PE teachers.

Sasuke looked around curiously, not really knowing how to approach someone he didn't know. He wondered if the guy knew who he was. Well, even if he didn't, Sasuke would just wait until everyone had paired up until only one, confused individual remained – then he'd approach the person.

He felt someone slumping heavily on the chair Anko had previously occupied and looked to the side to see who it was, only to find the blond guy smiling goofily at him. Sasuke quirked an eyebrow at him before noticing the extended hand.

"Sasuke, right?" the blond inquired easily. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto, nice to meet you!"

Feeling a little surprised at the odd coincidence, Sasuke stretched out his hand and shook the one offered to him, saying a simple "Yeah, nice to meet you, too."

"It seems impossible that we haven't spoken to each other, yet!" Naruto said jovially, showing a row of pretty white teeth that were absurdly straight. "I mean, how long have you been working here?"

"A month and a half," Sasuke answered plainly, noticing that Naruto's suddenly radiant energy made him feel all sorts of confused feelings and he didn't know if he appreciated the friendly manner or if it made him want to tense up in annoyance. "And we have met once when I started working here. I asked you for directions."

Naruto's smile faltered ever so slightly. "Really? I don't remember at all. I do know that I see you often."

Ah, yes, it definitely made him feel tense, Sasuke thought.

"You do?" he inquired suspiciously.

"Yes, your second year classroom is straight across from where I teach my third years," Naruto explained. When Sasuke's eyebrows rose in disbelief, he let out a small cackle. "You never noticed? Well, I think it's normal, you're always the last one to arrive at work and the first one to leave. I could never catch up to you."

Sasuke cleared his throat in embarrassment. He was never late for work, but it wasn't as if he made an effort to arrive early and chat with his co-workers. Also…yes, it was true that, as soon as the last bell rang, he made his way towards the exit as fast as he could, chasing the sweet freedom of the world outside, kids free and an impending nicotine craving 'mode: ON'.

However, he never would've guessed that someone had noticed it.

Naruto laughed again at Sasuke's lack of response, slapping his arm amicably. "Chill, man, I'm not attacking you," he let his voice drop a little, in a conspicuous way. "I know some of our co-workers are kind of stuck up and all ass-hole-ish, but there's cool people around here, too. Namely, me, of course. And Shikamaru and TenTen over there, too."

Sasuke almost snorted at the arrogance, but instead ended up smirking. "Yeah, sure," he noticed that his blue-eyed colleague was eyeing him intently, if not a little curiously. "So… what is it that you're teaching?"

"Music," Naruto replied, beaming happily at him. "Just like Shika, TenTen and Genma. You're doing English, right?"

"Right," Sasuke muttered.

"You're the first male English teacher that we've had in a while," Naruto informed, matter-of-factly, supporting his elbow on the table. "It's a good thing, though, there are too many women here. Apart from the two of us, there are only three more guys and the rest is all females. Not that TenTen counts, really, 'cause she's… you know… not really into guys."

"I'm not sure that you should be providing this kind of information to a complete stranger," Sasuke said, frowning.

"Ah, whatever, it's not like she keeps it a secret, anyway," Naruto dismissed, with a gesture of his hand. "She has a thing for one of the PE teachers, Temari, but Temari is so into Shika it's ridiculous."

"Okay…"

Why was this conversation becoming more awkward by the second? Not only that, why was this person – a clearly moronic stranger – talking to him like they had known each other since forever?

Sasuke wasn't exactly a people person, which meant that, probably (or not) he was missing the point of Naruto's interaction. Maybe the blond just wanted to make him feel at ease… or something. Still, talking about other people's lives seemed like a stupid way to do it. Not that Sasuke knew anything about it, anyway.

"So, shall we get started then?" Naruto suggested energetically and, without waiting for Sasuke's reply, began arranging the small sheaf of papers he had brought with him, setting it in front of them so they could take a look at it. "Okay, so third year, Class B is mine, and the fourth year, Class A, is yours, right? I think that the other third years are Yugito's or something. We should probably talk to her and see if the kids are well behaved and if there're things we should take in consideration. Some kids can really be troublesome when handed to a different teacher, you know?"

As they worked together, Naruto did most of the talking, which was fine by Sasuke, since the other seemed to have a mouth big enough to talk for a mob of people. As he babbled on and on and pointed at the maps, Sasuke looked at him sideways in a dissimulate way, noticing just then that, in spite of how weird and naïvely open the guy was, his bright, easy-going nature allowed him to slowly, but consistently, relax around him.

Maybe it was just his imagination, but there definitely was some kind of mutual empathy there, and it was something that kind of freaked Sasuke out, because he was picky about people, and never in his life had he actually felt connected to another person he had just met so quickly.

It also fascinated him a bit, even if it was hard for him to admit.

It was the strangest of feelings, Sasuke mused. Naruto wasn't exactly the kind of person he'd usually like to hang out with, and yet, something about him made Sasuke empathize in a weird way. Maybe it was just because, unlike his other co-workers, Naruto had actually bothered to be nice instead of trying to start a forced conversation. He had the distinct feeling that Naruto was the kind of person who was capable of embarrassing the people around him with his personality, and Sasuke totally hated people like that. But he felt, deep down, that the blond was… kind of a nice guy. And it felt good to actually socialize with someone from work for a while, at least, even if, after Father's Day, they'd go back to being complete strangers. Hopefully not. It'd be nice to have some kind of an accomplice in that kids' battleground that was that school.

TBC…

This was me trying to write differently than usual. I'm trying to cut back on the unnecessary descriptions and writing shorter chapters and all that. Hopefully it's okay?

I've been dying to start something new, seriously. I hope you guys like it!

This is dedicated to my readers, who put up with me and my weird writing. I love you all!

Let me know what you think, 'kay? ;) And Happy 2014!