קгєץ 🕷 [ⲛⲁⲅⳙⲏⳕⲛⲁ]

Not Your Average Teen

Chapter Four

Not Your Average Teen

༒༻𝕹𝖆𝖗𝖚𝖙𝖔༺༒

July 2, 2000

Naruto's temper was best described as an active volcano poised to erupt at any given moment, his rage slow churning lava awaiting a catalyst, his irritation an aura of heat fumes scorching nearby inhabitants. It was never a question of if he'd detonate, rather, when.

The answer to that question was right fucking now.

Right in the middle of Iruka Umino's homeroom announcements and lectures.

Some shit about grades and worse in the school, and how 'only a handful of his students had a future with grades like these' and blah, blah, fuckin blah. Naruto listened for less than fifteen seconds, folded his sore arms arms, laid his throbbing head down and dozed off in a concerted effort to sleep off a combination of a long shitty night spent on a fruitless hunt that had nearly gotten his head blasted from his shoulders and early morning withdrawals courtesy of his extended probation.

He woke up today drenched in a cold sweat, skin feeling like a bunch of spiders were making a home beneath his tanned flesh, too nausea to eat breakfast, he skipped his group home meal and walked like a zombie to school with Sasuke. The two teens had passed a pocket sized bottle of vodka Sasuke brought back and forth along the way, Naruto hoping a little buzz would stop his shakes.

He barely felt human after but it did help his trembling.

Far from education ready, Sasuke had one more trick up his sleeve to help the blonde addict through the day.

They ducked behind bleachers bracketing the football field and puffed a cigarette until second bell rang. When it was time to head in, Sasuke slung his slightly less beat-up bag over his should and warned the other teen to 'chill' and 'try not fuck anybody up'. Naruto had turned hostile baby blues to the older boy, silently warning that he was aggravated enough to swing indiscriminately. Sasuke got the message loud and clear, rolling his eyes but clearly not in the mood to throw down just because Naruto was grumpy and didn't want anyone nagging him.

Sasuke knew how he was.

He knew Naruto was...different.

They were blood brothers, a bond not forged from the same womb, but one conceived through shared trauma.

A bond now strengthened by the coordinated slaughter of Itachi.

It may have been unspoken, but Sasuke knew Naruto cared deeply for him, however, Sasuke knew from experience that affection did not grant him immunity from the blonde sociopath's violence. The two still fought, nowhere near as much as they did when they were younger, more broken and damaged. When pummeling each other into the ground was the only way to numb the wretched agony of the world they were born into.

When they dealt with their inside pain by hurting each other.

Their fights were few and far between now. Rather than beating on each other, they pacified their internal conflicts with copious amounts of alcohol and narcotics, leaving them too damn high to fight, but clashes did happen.

Naruto would admit without shame he was usually the instigator; escalating disagreements to full blown arguments, throwing the first punch when Sasuke said something he didn't like. Sometimes Sasuke took the bait, most of the times he'd curb the teen's attempt of inciting bloodshed. Other times, like today, Naruto had the courtesy to warn the brunette that he was itching for a fight, and whether he was angry at Sasuke or something else entirely, it was Sasuke's choice if he wanted to be on the receiving end of his 'tantrum'.