When Sasuke Met Naruto (SasuNaru)

- Chapter 18 -

Kakashi sat in the living room of his apartment the next evening, laying his head on the armrest of his red sofa. On the nearby coffee table were two stacks of papers: the taller pile had papers smothered in red ink, while the shorter pile remained untouched. In fact, this shorter stack of papers contained only two particular essays, and Kakashi had been putting them off for a few hours now.

I just hope our plan worked. I mean, Shikamaru and I – we spent quite some time putting this all in motion. We both recognized Naruto and Sasuke's feelings for each other, and we jumped at the opportunity to play Cupid. What if it doesn't work, though? I know Sasuke was suspicious of the whole thing – maybe he was just playing along? What if we actually ruined his one chance of finding true love?

No, that's ridiculous. Sasuke seemed genuinely concerned for Naruto when I talked to him the other day. He wanted to know what to do about this assignment – it wasn't just an act for me. What would he have to gain by it, anyway? He'd never put that much effort into something unless there was some benefit for him. No, if I'm right, this essay should reveal his true feelings for Naruto – so why can't I just read the damn thing?

The silver-haired teacher glanced over at the two papers, sitting neatly on the coffee table, and sighed. There was no sense in delaying any longer. It was already nine o'clock, after all, and he still had to read the next chapter in Make Out Paradise. Thus, with a slight groan, Kakashi stretched out his arm for the first paper and pulled it up to his face to get a better look at it.

"All right, then... here goes nothing."

xxxxx

Sasuke Uchiha

By Naruto Uzumaki

Hi! My name is Sasuke Uchiha. I was born on July 23, and I'm currently 16 years old. My favorite color is blue, and I like shio ramen. I'm really good at math, because my family is head of the Konoha based Uchiha Corporation, now part of the Akatsuki conglomerate.

Conglomerate... what's he doing, anyway? It's like he's reading off a list... and not the kind of list Sasuke would write at all.

My best friend is Shikamaru Nara, and my other friends include local musician Orochimaru (I call him O) and my teacher, Kakashi Hatake. You'd probably think that makes me a nerd, since one of my best friends is a teacher, but he's actually been friends with my family for years.

Okay, so he actually talked about me. I guess I'll count that as a good thing.

I'm quite popular at school. I have my own fanclub, though I don't really like it. All these girls do is follow me around and act all clingy, and it's really annoying. Oh, and I also end up stealing the girls from other guys, and they don't like that. It's not my fault that the girls think I'm a stud muffin –

Stud muffin?

– but they get mad at me anyway. There's this one guy in particular named Gaara Subakuno who wanted to kill me – or at least hurt me – but we're cool now. He's actually friends with one of my good friends, so I'm starting to think he's not such a bad guy.

Really? Sounds like Naruto's putting words in Sasuke's mouth. Still, I'll take it that Gaara's mellowed out a bit since that fight.

So, I should probably tell you about my life, huh? Well, like I said, my parents owned the Uchiha Corporation, so we were rich growing up. I had this big mansion – it had its own swimming pool and everything – so that was nice. I also have a big brother named Itachi – we got along pretty good growing up.

Pretty well, but that's a minor detail. The tone on the other hand... it couldn't be any further from Sasuke if he tried.

Me and Itachi used to hang out – he'd help me with homework and stuff, which was cool – but then he changed. It was right around the time he turned eighteen, and he just started ignoring me. He was always busy with his studies or something, and when I'd ask him for help, he'd poke me in the head and say "Sorry, Sasuke. Maybe next time." I hated that, the way he always ignored me, like I was a burden all of a sudden.