The Chronicles of Aishiteru Academy

-Book 3, Chapter 1-

Pairings: NarutoXSasuke, GaaraXNeji, HakuXZabuza

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters.

A month had passed since the week vacation when Naruto and his friends had stayed in the mansions belonging to the Uchiha, Momochi, and Hyuuga families. It felt like decades ago but a month really wasn't that long. Naruto knew the reason it felt like he'd known Sasuke and his friends forever, was because the six of them had gotten so much closer over the last few weeks. So many things had changed between them and the blonde couldn't help but smile at the thought.

He and Sasuke had been working at Konoha Hospital for three weeks now and Naruto was officially certified to take blood samples and give shots. He'd even become a master at hooking up IV's and cleaning bedpans, not that any of that was pleasant work, but it gave him confidence. He now knew he wasn't just good at mowing lawns, there was actually hope for him in the future which he'd never really thought was there. Naruto would never forget when he'd started his training for drawing blood and giving shots, that was one of his favorite memories with Sasuke and one he'd treasure forever.

"Naruto, I'm pretty sure you do this well enough now that you don't need my help."

"Come on Teme! You need to get your blood tested so the hospital can have your most recent records on file, and I need to practice drawing blood for my test next week. It's a win win situation!"

"Maybe a win for you. You aren't the one who might end up with a snapped artery."

"Have faith in me Sasuke. I'm really not bad! I promise it'll be quick and painless."

Naruto could have sworn he'd have better luck pulling Sasuke's teeth out then actually getting him to agree to a blood draw. He'd been trying for ages, but Sasuke refused every time. At first Naruto had thought it was just that the raven thought he'd kill him on accident, but he began to see the truth the longer Sasuke waited to give the hospital a blood sample. It wasn't just Naruto that he turned down. He'd always find an excuse for any nurse that came to get the sample. He'd always have to be somewhere or do something first. The man was a doctor and had shown countless times that he was amazing at giving shots, but getting them scared him more then he'd ever admit.

"Please Sasuke?"

Naruto had hoped he wouldn't have to do this, especially at work, but desperate times called for the desperate measures of a protruding bottom lip and big watery eyes.

The blonde could see Sasuke breaking down after looking at him, but the man was stubborn and Naruto would still have to push a bit more. He gave a small sympathetic smile and placed both his hands on either side of Sasuke's face. He smoothed them gently over his cheeks before leaning forward and pressing a light kiss to the raven's lips.

"Please?"

Sasuke caved and shoved his arm out in front of him with a groan, turning to face as far away from his arm as he possibly could so he wouldn't have to see anything. He shut his eyes tightly and held his breath. Waiting for the torment to begin made is so tempting to change his mind and pull his arm back, but he knew that'd be more dangerous than being practiced on so he held still.

The doctor could practically hear the smile on Naruto's face as he used a small cotton ball to disinfect the area he'd be stabbing. This was the moment of truth, he was going to die. But all he felt was a small kiss to the spot he'd been focused on.

"I'm done."

"Lies. I haven't felt anything yet."

"You're so funny Teme! Was the distraction that good?"

Sasuke opened his eyes and stared at the blonde having no idea what the boy was talking about.

"What distraction? I felt you kiss my arm but that's it. No kiss could make me not feel a needle!"

"That's where you're wrong Teme! Look."

Sasuke looked down at his arm and just stared at it for the next few minutes. When in the world had Naruto cleaned that part of his arm? The blonde had somehow managed to not only clean one spot on his arm, the one Sasuke had been focused on, but also another one higher up that he'd actually drawn blood from.

That little sneak had Sasuke focusing on the wrong spot the whole time! He'd even kissed the decoy spot just to keep the raven distracted.

The look on Sasuke's face was priceless and he'd stood there frozen long enough for Naruto to pull out his phone and take a picture of him. Something this adorable and funny was going to be framed and put on his nightstand.

Naruto smiled, looking at the picture beside his bed. It was his favorite thing to wake up to in the morning and today was no different. The picture had captured the raven's face in a mix of surprise, confusion, and embarrassment. He'd even had tears in his eyes, having made himself nearly panic over nothing. His arm had even been left sticking straight out in the most awkward way.

The blonde would give his savings to see Sasuke's reaction if he ever found out he'd taken that picture. The raven still had no idea.

The two of them had shared many precious moments since they started working together and there would be many more to come. Naruto was determined to make it so. He'd spent the better part of a month eating with Sasuke during their breaks and rushing from class to work nearly every afternoon in Sasuke's car. Not to mention how often the two of them texted back and forth when they weren't together.

He'd been with Sasuke so much lately that he should have felt guilty about spending so little time with his friends. But he couldn't feel bad when Gaara and Haku were gone just as often and having just as much fun as he was.

Zabuza had taken to teaching Haku different forms of self-defense that required speed and flexibility rather than strength. The two of them would also spend time in the school kitchens where Haku made new recipes for Zabuza to try. If they weren't in the martial arts room or the kitchens, they were in the uke boys' apartment, cuddled up on the couch together. Naruto had walked in on them one time and even though they were cute, the blonde had nearly broken down laughing at the sight. Haku had fallen asleep on Zabuza's chest and the bigger man looked like he'd punch whoever woke him, he'd become that possessive of the long haired boy. The problem was, Zabuza had to lie on the couch for Haku to be comfortable and he just did not fit. His head rested on one arm of the couch and his knees rested on the other while everything below that hung off the end. His shoulders were also so broad he was only half on the couch and looked a little off balance. The couch in their living room had never looked so small.

Gaara was no exception to the new changes taking place either. He'd spent his days going to class, then to work or to see his brother on his days off, to coming back to campus only to spend the rest of his night in the ballroom with Neji. They would dance every kind of dance they knew together and practice others. But when Gaara wasn't spending time on the weekends with his friends, his brother, or Neji, he was spending his time with Hanabi. She'd thrown such a fit during and after Gaara's leaving that Neji's uncle Hiashi had enrolled her in the school half way through the year and told her to make up what she had missed. The man had never seen his daughter so adamant about anything and his decision was made as much out of love for her as it was to get her to be quiet and keep her busy. She wasn't old enough to be in the upper level school with them, but that didn't stop her from sneaking onto their campus and into their dorm room where she did her homework and demanded Gaara's help.

Things had been so crazy for all of them lately that Naruto just couldn't imagine what he and his friends were going to do when the next school event came around. They were two thirds of the way through the year and the teachers were definitely getting excited for something.

X

"Gaara, that's the third time you've gotten distracted and stepped on my foot."

"What? Oh, I'm sorry Neji!"

"What's on your mind?"

Gaara stopped even pretending he was trying to dance the waltz and looked back at the door in time to see another teacher scurry by. He'd seen so many of them since he'd gotten here an hour ago that it had him confused. There usually weren't any professors around this time of night. Not that it was late, but the teachers liked time to themselves away from the hoards of snotty rich kids they dealt with all day.

"I'm just confused. What's up with the teachers tonight? They've been running back and forth for the last hour and it's getting creepy. They're planning something."

Neji chuckled a little and let go of Gaara's hand and waist, taking a seat on the floor.

"Don't worry too much. They're just excited. This is the first festival of the year and it's a favorite for many of them."

"Another event? When?"

"Every year the school hosts a sports festival with themed attractions for the students of this school and others to come and compete in or enjoy. I'm guessing they'll tell you about it tomorrow during club activities, but I suspect it'll be taking place sometime next month like it normally does."

"A sports festival huh? Wait, so if I'm only going to hear about this during club activities does that mean we'll be working as a group for this?"

Gaara was confused. Up until this point he'd only ever done things with his class of first years. The fact that he'd have to wait until club activities meant he'd probably be doing this next festival with a group of people he still didn't like. For as much as he loved Choir, he hated having Ino and Sakura in the same room with him. He was certain they only stuck around to annoy him, lord knows neither of them could sing.

"Yes it does. Each club picks an event to be in charge of or participate in. Not every student gets a job running the event so sometimes they act as participants to get other people to join in. It really is fun, though I sometimes wonder who picks the themes because last year we had to run space and alien themed games and events. They had a tournament for Crater Ball if you can imagine that."

Gaara had to refrain from rolling his eyes. He wanted to ask what Crater Ball even was, but decided his other questions were a bit more important than a made up sci-fi game.

"So does that mean that each club has to run an event that's related to the club? Because I have no idea what sort of sport involves singing and I'm not sure my ears can take hearing hundreds of people sing off key just for some game."

Neji stood up and pulled Gaara back into position for dancing the waltz as the music started again, before he decided to answer.

"No, Your club will pick one or two events or games to run from a list the teachers have been putting together. Now enough of me spoiling the surprise, you can ask Professor Anko all the questions you want tomorrow when she tells you what's going on okay?"

"Fine, but only two more dances. As much as I'd like to stay longer I have a certain cousin of yours to go kick out of my bed again."

X

Gaara told Neji he'd wait until tomorrow, but after getting home and sending Hanabi on her way back to her own dorms, he really couldn't wait that long for more answers. The redhead was rather impatient when it came to things he wanted to know.

He grabbed his, by now well used, student handbook and flipped back to the section that explained the events of the year. Why he waited until the actual event arrived before reading about it was beyond him. He'd read the rest of the book multiple times but always left the events pages unread.

Scrolling to the middle of the page he found the heading he was looking for and flipped to the correct page number.

The Annual Sports Festival

Every year Aishiteru Academy hosts a sports festival for all students, faculty, family, and friends wishing to come and watch or participate. Food stalls and games are provided for short entertainment while the main events are set up or in progress. Each year the teachers pick a theme for the festival that all the games and events relate to and all the students are expected to dress for the parts they are given to add to the feel of the festival. For this festival each school club will pick an event or stall games to run as a group. Each student in the club is expected to either have a job to help run their chosen event, or they are expected to participate in the event with the volunteers. Students that are not part of a club will be assigned a job by their homeroom teacher.

Gaara wasn't sure how he felt about the whole dressing to match the part thing, but he knew Haku would probably love it and he could definitely see Naruto getting into it too. The part he most wanted to know about hadn't really been answered though. What was this year's theme? He hoped it wasn't something weird.

Another thought came to mind, however, that made him laugh before he realized he needed to be quiet so he wouldn't wake Naruto who was asleep in the bed across the room.

Neji and Sasuke weren't part of any clubs. They'd opted out so they could take extra time to train for their careers. If their homeroom teacher, Professor Kakashi, was going to give them jobs for the festival, he could only imagine what the man would make them do.

X

Unlike his friends Haku hadn't really noticed the teachers getting excited about anything. He'd been a little distracted by the man he'd begun calling his boyfriend. So when he made it to his cooking club he was surprised to see that Professor Kurenai didn't have any ingredients out or any recipes written up on the board. Usually they went straight into talking about the recipe she'd picked before moving to the kitchen units.

Today it looked like it was going to be a lecture, which was something that hadn't happened since he'd become a part of the club. Haku took his seat near the front of the classroom farthest from the door and waited for the teacher to begin explaining what they were doing today.

"I'm sorry about this class, but today we will not be cooking anything."

"Is it because of the festival coming up?"

Someone from the other side of the class spoke up and Ms. Kurenai nodded. Haku hadn't realized that another school event was coming, though he should have realized it considering how many this academy actually had.

"I'd like to tell all of you more about the event itself before we start what we need to get done today."

Ms. Kurenai signed onto the computer and pulled up the teacher's version of the school site. She signed in and opened up a page that had 'Please read the following and fill out the information below' written in big red letters across the top. She turned on the projector and shined the page against the white board in the room so everyone could read it.

"The School sports festival is due to take place near the end of next month which gives us a little over five weeks to get everything done. Usually we give you guys more time, but it took the teacher forever to agree on a theme and list of events so we have to do things a little faster than I'd like."

Kurenai paused and moved to sit on the table at the front of the room usually used for cooking ingredients.

"This year the clubs of Aishiteru Academy are going to run a sports festival with a medieval theme. Each club will pick one major event or two smaller stalls to run. You will each be expected to perform some sort of job in the event but you will also get time on your own to explore the other stalls and watch some of the big events that will take place during the festival."

Kurenai moved back to the computer and scrolled down so the students could see the list of events to choose from. Haku couldn't help smiling and giggling to himself when he read some of the stall games and events they had planned. They actually had Jester Auditions as an event. Which turned out to be where anyone could sign up to try and make the king and queen of the festival laugh. And this was an event he could actually go watch. There seemed to be prizes for winning some of the events and he expected they'd definitely be worth making a fool of yourself for.

"Some of these events sound fun I know, but I suggest we stick to what we know. Since we are a cooking club it'd be best if we focused on choosing between the food stalls listed here at the bottom."

She scrolled down to a list of about six different food stall ideas.

"The only reason I'm suggesting this is because if you pick an event, you have to be able to perform the tasks yourself or you'll have to learn before the festival. Each of you will take turns running and performing the tasks if you pick a game or event to run. I'm not sure how many of you would survive participating in the jousting tournament so lets leave things like that to the more athletic clubs."

Haku couldn't agree more with that, though he really wanted to be there to watch those events even if he couldn't really participate. He would happily cheer from the stands. It seemed the rest of the class was of the same mind and he couldn't blame them. They were nearly all ukes and all rather on the small side at that.

"These are our options for the food stalls. We have the pub for drinks, turkey legs, meat pies, pretzel carts, caramel apples, and desserts. I've been told the pub is going to also include the turkey legs and other such food so people have a place to eat a full meal and sit down instead of standing by all the stalls."

Once the voting started, Haku raised his hand for the turkey leg meals and meat pies. He liked cooking and felt like those would be the most intense when it came to actually making the food.

There were equal amounts of students in the class who wanted to do every stall so eventually Kurenai gave up and clicked all the food stalls ideas as ones the club would be willing to do.

"Well whatever we get in the end are what our jobs will be I suppose. Now over the next few weeks we are going to start cooking the items we'll be using for the festival. We aren't cooking everything now so don't worry. I just want all of us to practice what we'll be making. Oh and I'll be seeing a lot more of all of you during the next few weeks as elective classes are being replaced with club prep time."

Kurenai submitted their choices to the student council who would be picking the events for each club once everyone had a say in what they wanted. She then opened a new screen that had lists of what food would be included in each stall.

"I don't know that they will let us take over all the food stalls, but I should know by tomorrow and I'll make sure your homeroom teachers get you the information. However I would like to talk about the food items next. The stalls have fewer items and are less difficult to operate. They are also smaller however so two or three of you will be at each one. It's the pub that's going to be difficult. The pub will be serving homemade root beer, smoothies, cider, tea, and coffee along with the food items I mentioned before. The food will be turkey legs, steak on a stake, pork chops, cob corn, and toad in a hole which is a chicken and pork sausage wrapped in a pastry dough."

Kurenai handed out copies of the list they were looking at on the board.

"The reason I'm telling you this is because I want you guys to volunteer for the jobs that sound most exciting to you, but we'll also need a lot of help in the pub so don't be afraid of just requesting to help with drinks or serving if you want. I'd like you to take this list with you back to the dorms and think about what you'd like to do. Once I have the stall list tomorrow or the next day I'll let you guys know and we'll decide whose working where next time we meet."

Haku picked up his list as he left the class and decided to volunteer to work in the kitchens at the pub. He wasn't sure how many other people would help, but he had a feeling most of them didn't want to.

He couldn't wait to tell Zabuza all about it tomorrow.

Sorry it took so long, but the new story and first chapter are finally up! Hope you like it!

-Himitsu