Note: Hey guys, I know what you're all saying and yes, this is a new story by moi! It's got almost the same set up as Follow You, with slight with a few slight changes. It's an AU with a few OC's but they don't have any major rolls, so you don't have to worry about dumb OC's screwing up the story with all their…non-naruto-ness…

Warnings: This will eventually be a Slash…NaruSasu, to be exact! There's some language issues and possibly some drug/alcohol abuse, self-mutilation…but that comes in later chapters, this one doesn't really have much to worry about…but if these things offend you, you may want to think about leaving.

Summary: Sasuke Uchiha is new to York High School and people are fawning all over him, just as Naruto Uzumaki expected. But what is so wrong with this new kid that he'd turn down popularity? Naruto finds himself wanting to find out and wanting to protect Sasuke from things he never thought he'd ever have to face.

Masochist

By: Jaiden Lockheart

Chapter I: Androgynous

POV: Naruto Uzumaki

Location: York Beach

Day: 1, Friday, October 27

I met Sasuke Uchiha on one of the coldest days I can remember in my seventeen years of life. Having grown up in the northern most part of the United States, I was quite accustomed to the cold wintery breezes and initial snow falls of late October in York, Maine. However, I don't recall there ever being a day as cold as the one on which I met him. I don't remember there ever being quite that much snow cover before or after, or that much blistery wind. It was the kind of day that, when walking outside, one's nose would turn an almost alarming shade of pink and I remember I was able to see my breath come out in puffs that could rival the smoke from my neighbors cigarette. Everyone was bundled in their oversized hoodies and hats, because let's face it, we were too used to the cold to wear anything really protective. I was enjoying the almost completely empty beach--the tourists had stopped coming in at the end of August--with my headphones tucked into my ears and my hands in my pockets. So, I can't really say it was a bad day, just a cold day.

A memorable day.

The ocean was, as per usual, a beautiful display of the feeling of York, Maine that day. It was a little restless, as if something major was about to happen. The ocean knew that, and let us know too. No natives ignored the ominous waves that crashed to the shore today; we never ignored them. A storm was brewing, most likely a last testament from the hurricane season refusing to die out completely just yet.

The color was darker than it should have been, than it had been recently. A sort of darkness seemed to have taken over for the normal gray-green hue of the water. It would have looked black to those not standing right in front of it and even I was slightly deceived by the dark tone. It was too dark too suddenly. The abrupt change in all of my surroundings would have been frightening, had I let them get to me. But the truth was, I was too occupied with other thoughts to really be disturbed by something like darker water and colder temperatures. No, I had my mind on other things.

Particularly with the boy who was standing next to me on this almost empty beach. His own hands shoved into his hoodie pockets and his hair effectively covering his face, I tried to ignore him as well as he was oh-so-easily ignoring me. I hadn't spoken a word to him since we had left his new house down the street from mine to come walking out to a deserted stretch of sand and an angry ocean.

Actually, I wasn't even sure he would know what I was saying if I did speak to him. He had yet to say anything to anyone since I met him, and when his guardian--I wasn't sure if he was related to the man or not--had asked him a question earlier it had been in Japanese. He hadn't answered the man, just gave a curt nod and waited for me to show him the way to the beach.

And now here we were, at a loss of what to do now that we'd reached our destination. It would have been nice to have a swim, but I knew my body would absolutely hate me for plunging it into the frigid water, so I stayed put and tried to train my eyes away from the foreign wonder that had followed me here almost obediently. However, my efforts were in vain and I settled on just staring at him after awhile. I did feel slightly guilty, surely he didn't like me glaring at his back like this, but the thought was too weak to stop me from doing it. Like I said, he was a foreign wonder. Foreign things didn't belong here. He didn't belong here.

I have nothing personally against anyone who's from another country. But damn, he seemed to stick out like a sore thumb and I couldn't help myself. I wasn't going to admit out loud that I thought he was beautiful, but there was honestly no other way to describe him. Everything about him was just so effeminate, it was nearly ridiculous.

Instead of broad, like myself, he was slight, slender. Skinny to the point where I thought I could break him. He stood just a little under my nose; I'd had to look down at him when our parental figures had made us shake hands. He was pale, paler than anyone coming out of Asia ever should be, and a lot paler than me. But then there was the stark contrast of black against his completely white skin. His hair was so dark it was almost blue, and his eyes--what little I'd seen of them--had been so deep a gray I'd had trouble deciphering where his pupils started and his irises ended. And he wore black too, it was everywhere, from his slim-fitted t-shirt to his wrist-to-elbow arm guards to his oversized tennis shoes. He looked depressed, standing there ignoring me in all his black-filled, tight-clothed glory.

That was fine, he could ignore me. But I wasn't going to be the only one who would stare at his model-quality beauty for long. He would have to meet other people, right? Eventually, yes he would have to associate with other people here in York, and they would be just as taken with his looks. Gods knew it wouldn't be his dazzling personality that sparked anyone's interest.

I glanced down at my watch, five past six o'clock. This evening was going by quicker than I'd expected it would. The unnerving silence that had settled over Sasuke and me had effectively convinced me that this was going to be the longest night of my entire life. Fortunately, I'd told Iruka that I would be home for dinner, and dinner was always at promptly six-thirty.

"We'd better start heading back," I told Sasuke, unsure if he understood me, "I have to be home soon and it takes a little longer walking back home than walking here."

"Why?" Sasuke asked, turning his deep-gray orbs to me and piercing me with a gaze I found I couldn't look away from. Hadn't I already answered the question he was asking. It was common knowledge that it was always a longer walk home than to the beach.

"What?" I answered him with my own confusion. I felt like an idiot, standing there, in front of this complete stranger whose eyes I couldn't look away from and unsure of what he was saying. I thought I'd established he was the foreign one, wasn't I supposed to have all the answers.

"Why does it take longer to get back home than it does to walk here?" He clarified slowly, as if I was stupid or something. He didn't emphasize any of his words like I'd thought he would--he seemed like that kind of guy--but spoke with an even tone, a calm tone. He was only making me feel more and more ridiculous. However, I did have information he didn't and that gave me the advantage I needed to not feel at a total loss.

"Well," I started and almost smacked myself for sounding so pathetic, "we'll be walking uphill all the way home."

As if to convince himself of my words he glanced behind me, to the entrance in which we came. A delicate brow raised in what I believed to be recognition and started walking towards me.

Only he wasn't walking towards me, but around me and up the path to the wooden gate entrance. I didn't move, just watched as he brushed past me and started up the stairs. He got up five steps before he turned back to me, a slightly confused look marring his former impassive features.

"Are you coming?" He asked, shifting his weight to one side.

"Err…yeah…of course." I said quickly and ran to catch up with him. I didn't miss the slight smirk that graced his lips--thin pink lips curling wickedly--as I moved past him.

We fell into silence once more as we walked home.

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"So, Naruto, what did you think of Sasuke?" Iruka asked me once I was home and sitting and looking at him from across the table. He shoveled some Spanish rice onto his plate next to his fajita and guacamole. He'd recently gone on this foreign craze and now we had meals that were from all over the world every night. It was a little weird, especially when he got the idea to do some third world countries where they ate cooked insects and things. I could deal with things like Mexican food though, and I dug right into my chicken.

"He was alright," I lied, not really wanting to get into a conversation about the ice princess because I already knew where it would end up. He would want to know what it was about Sasuke that I didn't really like, and frankly, I didn't feel like getting into it with him.

"He seems really nice, you two are going to be good friends." he said and pinned me with his dark brown eyes. I should have smiled, I should have said that yes, I did think we would become good friends, but I didn't do that.

"If he's able to have friends…" I mumbled to myself and frowned at my glass of coke.

"What?" Iruka asked, his brow wrinkling in confusion.

"Nothing, don't worry about it." I told him, scooping more rice onto my fork before shoveling it into my mouth. It really did taste good, Iruka's cooking always was. He'd taught me a lot about cooking since I'd moved in with him. It was probably our most treasured pastimes together.

"Listen, Naruto, I know Sasuke seemed a little…quiet…" Iruka started to explain. I wrinkled my brow in disgust and confusion.

"Quiet? The boy didn't say two words to you and he only spoke to me that one time…and that was when he absolutely had to." I protested. I didn't want to get into it with Iruka, but sometimes the man didn't see reality. "He was rude, not quiet."

"Naruto," Iruka repremended, "The poor boy just moved here, halfway around the world, he's shy. It'll take some time for him to feel at home here. How would you feel if you had had to move last summer to Japan? Huh?"

I sighed, put down. I knew that Iruka was right, Sasuke was probably just having a hard time adjusting to his new home. He was going to be a junior in high school this year, only a year younger than me, and I knew I wouldn't want to have to move in the middle of my high school career. I should have cut him some slack, this was only his first day here.

"No," I answered Iruka quietly and listened to him sigh heavily before standing up and clearing off the table. I didn't mention the fact that I wasn't done eating, it wasn't good to provoke an emotional Iruka, and I could tell he was emotional. He'd always taken a liking to new kids, it came with his job of school principal.

When my plate was taken from in front of me and carried over to the sink, I stood. Throwing my orange hoodie over my head--the world concealed from view for a few seconds,--I decided it was best I went upstairs and started on my homework and left Iruka to his worrying. I almost made it to the doorway that lead to the front hall before his words stopped me.

"Naruto?" I turned back to see him watching me with wary eyes. He sighed again, before motioning me over to him. I didn't hesitate to walk back to him and wrap my arms around his waist in an affectionate hug. "I'm sorry I yelled at you. I know you were just frustrated." He practically whispered and I nodded while pulling away from him again.

"It's alright, you didn't really yell." I told him, because it was true. He hadn't yelled at me, was just a little stern, and I knew I deserved that.

He nodded and glanced over at the window sill where he kept pictures of the family. I noticed his eyes traveled to one picture in particular. One of a young boy with dark hair and eyes standing next to an older woman, the two of them were smiling and waving to whoever was taking the picture, I assumed it was Iruka. They looked so happy in the picture and I knew Iruka was happy with them.

"Hey, Listen, I'm gonna go do some homework." I said and took a step back to lean against the counter. It seemed my words brought him out of his trance and he looked at me as if he hadn't realized I was there. I felt a slight pang of guilt at disrupting his memories of whatever had been happening the day that picture had been taken.

At his nod, I headed back to the hall and up the stairs to my room at the end of the hallway. My room--hidden behind a door littered with band flyers and pictures of my friends--was beyond messy. I had a pile of clothes in front of my closet, and I wasn't sure of which were clean and which were dirty, my computer desk held much more than a monitor and keyboard, but cups full of soda and plates with half eaten pieces of pizza on them. My bed wasn't made and half of it was covered with my school books, notebooks, pens and magazines with cut out pictures. My bookshelf was only half-filled, more of a place to keep more trash than a necessity.

The only place that was remotely cleared off was the area around my guitar stand. The sleek black instrument was sitting right where I had left it when I had left for school this morning. It was a nice reminder of the work it had taken to pay for it last year.

I crossed the room with practiced ease and snatched the guitar up by it's neck, pulling the pick out from between the strings and flipping on my amp. I sat down on my bed and played a chord, arranging my fingers almost effortlessly. I smiled at the sound, loving the voice of the guitar and switched my fingers to play another chord, this one coming out as beautifully as the first.

I played for awhile, getting lost in the new song I had written last night. I sang the lyrics, knowing my voice wasn't the best but not really caring because no one was around to laugh at me. Eventually the song ended and I found I liked it even more today than I had last night, it really stuck and I was happy that I finally found something that worked, I had been working on it for a long time.

After pushing the pick back between the strings to keep from loosing it, I set the guitar back in it's stand. I looked back over at my bed, where my homework was strewn across the mattress and the thought of trigonometry made my insides churn to the point where I decided it was better if I just waited until tomorrow and got the answers from one of my friends. Someone will have it done tomorrow morning, I knew quite a few people I could cheat from.

With that decision made I turned and walked to my computer desk, stepping over the many objects that could hurt me along the way, and dropped into my swivel chair while signing into my favorite chat room. I found Shikamaru, Chouji, and Neji were already on.

Gtrfreak has entered

Flywithwings: hey man

Gtrfreak: Hey Chou, what's going on today, anything interesting?

Flywithwings: Shika and Hyuuga are fighting about their AP History project

Wasteoftime: We're not fighting…

Fateisdefinite: I'm not fighting

Wasteoftime: STFU

Fateisdefinite: only if you do it for me, Nara

Gtrfreak: didn't know you swang that way, Neji

Fateisdefinite: only for Nara

Wasteoftime: can we please stop talking about Neji and me as if we were a couple?

Flywithwings: Oh, why Shika? You're going to hurt poor Hyuuga's feelings with talk like that

Wasteoftime: I can hurt you Chou, if you'd rather

Gtrfreak: lol…okay boys, settle down

Fateisdefinite: where'd you learn to talk like that, Uzumaki, Iruka-sensei?

Gtrfreak: -shrug- gotta learn to keep you boys in line somehow, right?

Wasteoftime: Hey, Naruto, you were supposed to be checking out the new kid today weren't you? How'd that go?

Gtrfreak: guy's a freak! He wears all black and shit, and he's got to be the palest guy I've ever seen. Like there's no sun in Japan, or something…

Fateisdefinite: What's wrong with wearing all black?

Gtrfreak: nothing, if you don't scare everyone to pieces when you do

Wasteoftime: Are you suggesting Hyuuga doesn't scare everyone to pieces when he does?

Fateisdefinite: Do I scare you, Nara?

Flywithwings: you all are really starting to sound like a married couple now, it's weird…

Wasteoftime: talk to him, not me, I'm not the one doing it

Fateisdefinite: but you wish you were

Wasteoftime: -rolls eyes- all of you are annoying…anyway, what about the new kid

Gtrfreak: -laughter- Neji, you're great…yeah, anyway, his name is Sasuke…Uchiha, I think his last name is…he just moved here from Japan like a day ago, he'll be starting school next Monday, but he's only a junior…

Flywithwings: Fresh meat for my year…good, we'll have someone to gawk at for a few moments, that ought to have Kotetsu or Izumo glaring daggers at us for not paying attention…

Gtrfreak: If they aren't gawking at him too…

Wasteoftime??…do tell…

Gtrfreak: the guy's not exactly…hard on the eyes…if you know what I mean

Fateisdefinite: hmmm

Flywithwings: I agree with you Neji, I think someone's got a crush…

Gtrfreak: NO! I'm just saying that, from a guys stand point, he's not that bad to look at…

Wasteoftime: some competition, then?

Gtrfreak: Oh, definitely…I have a feeling we're going to have to put reigns on some of the girls…watch out for Tenten, Neji, we all know how much she puts out for dark and handsome boys.

Flywithwings: -laughter-

Fateisdefinite: Whatever, you guys are a waste of my time…I'll talk to you tomorrow, Uzumaki

Wasteoftime: Hey! That's my line!

Fateisdefinite has left.

Wasteoftime: So, is this new kid available, or does he have a girlfriend back home?

Gtrfreak: I don't know Shika, but I'll ask him if you're really interested

Wasteoftime: I was more thinking along the lines of what his girlfriend is going to feel like when she finds out that he's being bombarded with girls here…

Gtrfreak: I don't know…I'd feel bad for her though, he really is gorgeous

Wasteoftime: I think I'm with Chou here, you sound like you're in love with the boy

Gtrfreak: how? That boy only said two full sentences to me in the entire hour we were together…

Wasteoftime: counting words…yep he's definitely in love, Chou

Flywithwings: I knew it

Gtrfreak: very funny guys

Flywithwings: Eh, you know we're just teasing

Wasteoftime: We don't really think you're in love with the new guy

Flywithwings: unless there's something you'd like to share with us

Gtrfreak: you all are freaks

Wasteoftime: says the freak

Gtrfreak: whatever, you all have some issues…and I've got homework I've got to finish…so I'm gonna go…if any of you losers need me before tomorrow morning, call my cell, I may or may not pick up

Flywithwings: we were just teasing you Naruto…I'll talk to you later

Wasteoftime: he may have been just teasing you, but I'm not convinced you don't have something for this kid

Gtrfreak: says the guy who asked if he was available…I'll see you later guys

Wasteoftime: See you

Gtrfreak has left

I sat back in my chair and thought over our conversation. Was it really possible that I did have a thing for this new kid? He had called him beautiful, but that had been because there was no other word in the English language that could describe him. Besides which, I had a girlfriend right now and I was very happy with her. I couldn't be falling for some guy I just met when I had a girlfriend. I was attracted to her, so didn't that mean I was straight.

"Sasuke looked like a girl, that's why you said he was beautiful. There's nothing wrong with thinking a guy is beautiful if he looks like a fucking woman." I said to myself in almost a whisper. I decided I was right, there was nothing wrong with me, there was something wrong with him. I mean, what sane high school guy went around looking like a girl? He'd had on tight clothing, which I was pretty sure had come from the girls side of the department stores anyway, and he was definitely as small as a girl. And that spike to his hair had definitely been womanly.

So no, there was nothing wrong with me. This Sasuke Uchiha kid would just have to stop confusing people of his gender. I wouldn't be the only one to find him attractive when he went to school on Monday.

The ringing of my cell phone brought me out of my thoughts and I practically jumped out of my chair at the sound. I swirled around in my chair to see the damnable thing lying innocently on my bed next to my book bag. I watched as it mocked me with it's ringing for a few more seconds before getting up and going to answer it. Checking the caller-ID first, I smiled when I realized who it was.

"Hey, babe, what's going on." I answered and flopped down onto the clean side of my bed.

"Nothing, I just realized you hadn't called yet, so I called you." Hinata said sweetly in her high-pitched voice.

"Oh, well…sorry I didn't call earlier, I had to do something for Iruka." I explained quickly.

"Oh, it's alright, I was actually just calling to say goodnight." At her words, I glanced over at my alarm clock.

11: 23 it read. It was later than I had thought, I hadn't realized I spent so much time online tonight.

"Okay, babe, I'll talk to you in the morning. You don't have to be at school early do you?" I asked and crossed my fingers in hope. If she had to be at school early, then that meant I had to go pick her up early.

"Nope, the project's all done, Shino, Kiba and I got it done earlier today." I stopped holding my breath.

"That's great, well, I'll be there at the regular time then." I said and listened to her say that was fine and tell me she loved me. "I love you too. Goodnight."

I hung up the phone and set it on my nightstand just as someone came knocking on my door. I waited a few seconds for Iruka to just come in. He was big on privacy, but even bigger on catching kids doing things they weren't supposed to be doing. There had been plenty of occasions he had walked in on Hinata and me making out on my bed, something that was strictly forbidden because we weren't where he could see us.

He had this method of knocking and waiting a few seconds so we could get the shit scared out of us for almost being caught and then actually catching us by opening the door before we were really able to stop what we were doing.

"Hey, I was coming in to tell you that it's getting kind of late, so you may want to think about getting to sleep soon." He said, poking his into my room instead of actually coming all the way inside.

"Okay, I was just thinking the same thing, actually, I'm pretty tired tonight." I replied truthfully. I yawned to put emphasis on my words.

"Alright, well, I'll see you in the morning, then." He nodded before ducking out of my room and walking down the hall to his own bedroom. I could tell he was still feeling bad about earlier, about what we'd argued about.

I laid back on my bed, not even bothering to get undressed. If I got uncomfortable later I'd just take off my jeans and throw them over the bed. I was too tired now to really worry about it. I glanced at my alarm clock again to discover it was eleven-thirty. I was usually already snoring away on nights after I had school. School had always tired me out, and I was glad that my friends felt the same way. We'd long since agreed it was a bad idea to do anything on Friday nights, due to the fact that over half of us were falling asleep in the middle of what we were doing.

So I let my mind wander as I laid on my bed that night. My thoughts were never very profound before I went to sleep, but that night it seemed they only wanted to focus on one thing.

And that one thing would never leave my mind again.

--Jaide