The Challenge

In the beginning of the last chapter I said that this chapter would be out faster but I didn’t take holidays into consideration. I also got a bad case of writer’s block and spent the last week in November and all of December training for work.

I do income taxes from January through April. The down side is I will not be posting very often but the upside is that I write a lot. But since this story is so popular and I now have it all figured out I will try to get it up as fast as possible. The next chapter is already half done.

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Chapter Nine: “Revelation”

Hinata dabbed a piece of spray cheese on to the spool which lay on it’s side. The mouse put it’s front legs on the spool and ate the cheese. When the spool rolled away he scampered away. Hinata ran a finger down his body petting and trying to calm him. She smeared a little more fake cheese on the spool to coax him back to it. This time he did the same things to eat the cheese and moved with the spool as it rolled. It rolled a little faster than the mouse could keep up and ended up skidding across the table. The little mouse twitched it’s nose and licked it’s paws.

“He’s getting better.” Sasuke looked up from the blueprint. “The last time I saw him he wouldn’t even go near it.”

“Yeah it really helps when I put the cheese on the spool.” Hinata rubbed at the little creature’s ears with the tip of her finger. It tilted it’s head into her touch. “He seems to learn pretty quickly. I guess I picked a good one.”

They laughed as she put him back in the cage with the spool so he got used to it. She took a step closer to Sasuke and looked down at what he was working on. Laid out on the table was a huge piece of butcher paper with the picture of the maze drawn on it. Most of the inside was worked out concerning obstacle placement. They had already decided on having the mouse push a thread spool, choose a tunnel instead of an open doorway, and then push past a swinging door. What order to put the traps in was their next concern.

The tentative plan called for the tunnel first because it was the weakest in the area of interest. Next would be their favorite, the rolling spool that would drop into a hole in the floor creating a bridge. Last came the swinging door. It would spin around a horizontal axis. This was the most interesting because the door lead to the end chamber that contained the reward food. The swinging door doesn’t rest flush against the floor so the mouse could smell the cheese through the space and take it instead of the open door way to the end chamber marked ‘wrong’.

Hinata pressed up against his side and looked at the almost done diagram. On the sides were separate drawings of the different obstacles with dimensions on size. She had been the one to draw most of them. He took on a lot of the maze drawing because she was training the mouse.

“How did you draw this so well? It looks so professional.” She gushed over his hard work. It looked like the plans for an actual construction site.

“My brother helped some, he’s studying engineering and hopes to do this for a career someday.” Sasuke dropped his pencil and moved the strait edge he was using to expose the blueprint to her gaze. “Do you think it’s good enough for your father to build it?”

“Oh I’m sure and if there’s any misunderstandings I can explain it.” Hinata picked up the pencil and wrote down a note about the removable pieces then set it back down.

“Well then the only thing left is to train the mouse until the maze is finished.” Sasuke said after making one last assessing look at all the diagrams and rereading the explanations. He rolled up the diagram and slid it into a poster holder. Other than some work with the two mice, until the maze was finished, they had finished most of the project.

Hinata watched her friend prepare the diagram for her father and thought about how to bring up something that had been plaguing her mind.

Being smart came from more than reading a lot and paying attention in class; it also came from keen observation. For the most part observation had done her well but it’s the things she wasn’t supposed to see that caused her some sadness. She knew that her father was disappointed of her passion for science and not the business world like Neji. The family business held no real appeal to her and she was glad that she was interested in a different field because Neji deserved a position more than her. Losing a loved one was bad enough but having to live with a living reminder of that loved one had to be torture. Sometimes she could see a slight smile on Neji’s face when her father praised him for his grades and she knew Neji was seeing his own father.

Because of this observational skill she picked up right away the attraction between Naruto and Sasuke. For his part Sasuke probably had no idea the kind of look Naruto gave him when he walked away. About every couple times they met Sasuke came up with a reason to leave them alone. When he gathered his things and walked away she watched the look on Naruto’s face as his eyes trailed all over Sasuke’s retreating form. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that Sasuke’s plan wouldn’t work.

It was disappointing but she remembered the smile on Naruto’s face when she arrived late and saw the two of them laughing over something. She stopped and stood in the doorway watching them together. Watching him watch Sasuke, she made up her mind. Even if it wasn’t her putting that smile on his face she would be happy to take any part in bringing him closer to the person that does.

She rechecked the latch on Kurai’s cage then checked her watch. “We still have sometime before your brother pick you up, we could go inside and have something to eat?”

“Sure, this is done so far anyway.” They cleaned up and headed for the kitchen. Her mother made them something small to eat then went into the sitting room to leave then alone.

“Naruto likes you.” Hinata blurted out causing Sasuke to choke on his tea.

Sasuke coughed several times clearing his throat before responding. “That’s wrong. He’s just sorry for me because of Itachi and Gaara.”

She reached over and touched his hand squeezing his fingers. “In the library when you leave he doesn’t take his eyes off of you until you’re out of sight.” She smiled at his slight blush that looked a lot like one of her own. “It takes a couple minutes for his attention to come back after you leave.”

“That can’t be right.” He shook his head and sipped at his tea. “I’m no one and he’s the school’s star pitcher and everyone’s favorite.”

“Trust me I know what I see and he likes you.” Hinata turned in her chair looking him in the eyes. “Like you said to me, ‘You’re you and you’re great’.”

Sighing he put his cup down and blushed more. “You think so? Naruto just came out of nowhere. Now I’m tutoring him and he’ been to my house. This is moving so fast and stupid Gaara is still hanging around.” He thought for a moment struggling with something before finally speaking. “I hate to mention it but Neji tends to give me dirty looks both here and at school.”

“Yeah,” She laughed quietly. “I think he likes his best friend.”

“Talk about popular, Naruto’s got it made.”

“I guess.” After taking a deep breath and finishing laughing he pushed her empty cup away. “I don’t need to help you tutor Naruto anymore.”

“Yeah, I know.” They sat in silence thinking over the new development. Before long a knock at the door drew their attention. Her mother answered the door and called Sasuke to his brother. Hinata stood with him and gave him a hug goodbye.

She watched him put on his shoes and leave behind the house slippers he was borrowing. Itachi immediately started fussing with his brother’s coat and scarf before saying goodbye and leaving. The others at school who liked Naruto were nuisances but Itachi was the real barrier.

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Gaara dug through his locker looking for an empty notebook when someone walked up behind him. In his peripheral vision he could see Kankuro and he didn’t seem worried enough to intercept. It wasn’t often that people approached him unprompted. He caught the reflection of the person in the mirror stuck to the door of his locker. “What can I do for you Neji?”

“Naruto said you attacked Sasuke.”

Gaara sighed and slammed his locker door closed. “Attacked is too strong a word. I may have forced my way into his personal comfort zone.”

Neji looked at him questionably. “How is that different?”

They were getting off topic. Neji obviously approached him for a reason other than his treatment of Sasuke. “What do you want Hyuuga?” Gaara switched to his family name to convey his change from the earlier playfulness to his currant annoyance.

“I’m going to get strait to the point. I know how Naruto’s mind works. It’s mean but he’s somewhat of a slut and if he doesn’t get what he wants from Sasuke then eventually he’ll get bored and move on. Once the lure of the hard-to-get dies away he’ll notice what’s right next to him.”

“I don’t understand how I can help.” He stated trying to speed Neji towards his point.

“Naruto spoke somewhat of the affects from your ‘attach’ on Sasuke. You could help turn the hard-to-get into the impossible-to-get.”

Gaara looked the taller boy over wondering what Neji’s true intentions were. “You want me to ‘attack’ him again?”

“I’ll leave that up to you.” Neji shrugged and turned to walk away.

As the older boy walked away Gaara let his eyes wander down to his tight backside enjoying the way his tight uniform pants tightened further as he walked. It didn’t take long to put together what was going on. Neji wanted his friend, to achieve that he needed the flavor of the month out of the way and he thought Gaara would be able to help.

“I guess white eyes doesn’t know that you don’t have any interest in Sasuke.” Kankuro came over to stand by his side holding a book.

Gaara turned to his brother once Neji was out of sight. “Sasuke was nothing more than an experiment; I wanted to see what was so special about him.”

“How was he?” Kankuro didn’t even look up from his book.

“Scared,” Gaara answered blandly. “He shook in fear and ran the first chance he got.” He had to admit that Sasuke was good looking and his shyness was somewhat of a turn on but he really had no interest in working past his issues. To be absolutely honest with himself he felt some what guilty when he thought about what he felt on the inside of Sasuke’s wrist.

“So what will you do now?” Gaara sighed at his brother’s continued questioning. Kankuro was always concerned with whatever he was planning because he had been charged with watching over him by their sister. When Gaara was expelled from their old school Kankuro volunteered to transfer with him while Temari stayed behind. On one side he resented that his family thought he needed a babysitter but also respected his brother’s willingness to give up his friends and move to a school where he didn’t know anyone.

“I think Neji needs a change of perspective. Instead of forcing the two love birds apart he needs to be distracted by an outside party.” This got Kankuro’s full attention. “I mean Blondie seems to really be into gently Sasuke so allowing Neji to ruin that would be bad for their friendship. I think by showing Neji his options I’m performing a charitable service.”

“I guess you can look at it that way.” His brother must have been satisfied with his intensions because he shouldered his bag and started for class. Gaara didn’t often assimilate for the comfort of others but this switch from Naruto to Neji was just too tempting. Neji peeked his interest and soon all thoughts of the blond and Sasuke left his mind to be replaced with a certain white eyed boy.

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Naruto dropped the empty bento box on the table startling Sasuke away from writing in a notebook. “Sorry about that, what are you writing?”

He dripped his pen looking up at him. “I’m starting an essay on the effects of positive reinforcements on the memory of small rodents in relation to performing simple tasks.”

The blond blinked then rubbed the back of his head before blinking again. Halfway through the sentence his brain blanked out and retreated to recite baseball statistics in order to not over heat. His brain finally came back when he noticed Sasuke’s worried face. “How does your brain fit in your head?”

“Like a glove. How do you keep your skull from caving in without a brain?” Sasuke put his stuff away and picked up his chopsticks.

“Ha, ha very funny.” He turned the chair around and plopped down. “I came over to tell you, that it is all your fault and now you will have to take responsibility.”

“What’s my fault?” His eyebrows scrunched together in a curious look that Naruto decided was very cute.

“Ever since you made me that bento a while ago I keep comparing other food to it and finding it hard to stomach.” He smiled big and pushed the box towards the other boy. “I feel that you need to rectify the situation by bringing me more food.”

Sasuke dropped his chopsticks and laughed. “Itachi chewed me out enough about making the first bento, I wonder how he’ll feel about more.”

“I don’t really care but all I know is that if you don’t make me something soon I might starve.” Naruto exaggerated a loud groan and grabbed his stomach doubling over.

“Well we can’t let that happen.” He picked up a chunk of sticky rice with his chopsticks and held it out. Naruto leaned forward and took the offered bite. The rice was still warm and tasted of vegetable stock instead of plain water like the school made it. Sasuke held out another bite which he declined. An image of his thin wrists and the memory of caring his light frame stuck in his mind leading him to believe that Sasuke needed to eat all of his lunch.

“I was messing with you. If it will cause you trouble with your brother than don’t worry about it.” He moaned and let out a heavy sigh placing a hand over his heart. “I will just suffer through bland tasting school food.”

“Well I suppose.” Sasuke dunked his head letting his bangs fall forward to hide his eyes. “I could manage a bento a week.” Tucking his hair behind his ears he lifted his head. “For every perfect homework assignment you do I’ll make you lunch the next day but there can’t be any spelling or grammar errors. And if you pass a test with a B or better then I’ll bring a desert. Do you eat sweets?”

Naruto leaned forward and motioned for Sasuke to do the same. “I have a pretty big sweet tooth but don’t tell anyone.” Unexpectedly Sasuke began laughing so hard he had to hold his side. “Well what about you, giggles, how do you feel about sweets?”

The raven haired boy took a couple deep breaths to control his laughter. “Sorry.” he wiped tears out of his eyes and sat strait. “I don’t like sweet things.”

From his haughty attitude Naruto had the urge to throw something at his head. “Oh shut up.” He stuck his tongue out at the smug laughing boy. “Anyway, I agree to your terms and if food is my reward then prepare to spend a lot of time in the kitchen.”

Sasuke smirked, “We’ll see.”

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When the bell rang Naruto left in his own direction to Iruka’s classroom while he went the opposite way to his next class.

On the outside he seemed his normal attentive student self but inside his mind was in turmoil. Hinata’s words replayed in his head along with Naruto’s embarrassment at admitting his love of sweets. Since coming up with the plan to help Hinata land Naruto he tried to keep his mind on the project or the upcoming inspection from Ebisu-san instead of how good Naruto looked standing in his kitchen. With Gaara’s hurtful words and Neji’s hateful glares he knew that every moment spent with Naruto made his life just a little more complicated but still he agreed to make him bento. It would anger Itachi but the smile on Naruto’s face forced the worries out of his mind.

The teacher distracted him for a moment by having him solve a problem in-front of the class. It was simple enough that he solved it correctly without devoting his whole mind to it. In his mind he tried different scenarios in how to tell Itachi about his promise to Naruto. Itachi gave him some grief when he asked him to cook double for a bento as a ‘thank you’ to the blond. Making food for Naruto wouldn’t get him in trouble. Itachi was under the assumption that Naruto being there when he fainted was a coincidence. So now he had to tell Itachi that he had been tutoring the boy that his brother thought was a bad influence.

After being congratulated an the correct answer he made his way back to his seat. Another student was asked to the front to answer a simpler problem but forgot to carry a number somewhere ending up with the wrong answer. The class snickered as the teacher corrected it and he frowned; the jerks.

Taking a deep breath Sasuke opened his book to the page indicated by the teacher. The chances of Naruto getting 100s on any assignments were limited and he was tired of caring what Itachi would or wouldn’t like. Naruto was his friend and he didn’t have many; he was going to do this. From what he could tell from tutoring, Naruto could do the reading and understand it, he was just lazy and would rather do anything else. Motivation was what he needed. Sasuke closed his eyes for a moment remembering the look of bliss on Naruto’s face when he ate a bite of the rice.

It would be nice to see that again.

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Notes:

Typing this was very frustrating because the S button on by notebook is messing up so half the time Sasuke comes out like Sauke.

Next chapter: First Kiss!!!

Hinata’s keen sense of observation. Byakugan. See the connection.

Sweets joke: I read it in a manga. It is like the visual expression of arousal by a nosebleed. The joke is that liking sweets is an indicator of being uke.

The mouse in the maze project is COMPLETELY artistic license. I have never trained a mouse to run through a maze and I am only doing a little bit of research on mouse behavior. It is meant purely to be entertaining.

Pairing so far: Naruto/Sasuke Kiba/Shino Kakashi/Iruka Gaara/Neji. Hinata will be paired with someone that I have already picked out but it will not be a big part.

A reviewer asked me a while ago if Gaara, Kankuro, and Temari were related in this story since Temari went to a different school. I don’t know if that person is still reading but this chapter explains why they go to different school. I do not have a reason for Gaara’s expulsion because it is not important.

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Review Responses:

Anko in chapter 3 has been replace with Tsubaki. Thank you akai amaterasu

Kyra and lane: thank you for all the reviews and mix ups and the scaring me with UPERCASE words.

angel boy: Wow. Thank you for the reviews and I have a few points.
--I’m very happy that you like Sasuke’s characterizing.
--Having Itachi poke Sasuke in the forehead completely slipped my mind. I will try to put that in somewhere else.
--Yeah I know that Ebisu should make Sasuke reveal Gaara’s attack and have him arrested or whatever but it isn’t going to happen because I need Gaara around.
--The point of Naruto taking off Sasuke’s watch actually came with my theory that Sasuke is left handed. Every time he makes the Chidori he makes it with his left hand.

T.T. and Shii-chan: I’m glad the therapist scene came out okay. Thank you.