Please read the Author's notes. It won't take you but a moment.

AN: Before anyone says anything, this is a co-authored fic. RPing this out makes it much easier to finalize and update.

Secondly, this is our brain-child. Actually, it's one of two but the other's not been put down into chapters yet.

Thirdly, I will not be discontinuing any of my other Naruto fictions. They're just coming along slowly. I jump around to different story chapters and in result can't get just one done really quickly.

Err, fourthly, the genre for this fiction is "romance" and "drama" but there's also a good deal of humor, angst and action. Drama normally covers all of the above. Suspense might be in here if we're lucky.

Finally, the wonderful Sekushi Shigure is my co-author, who is a wonderful story-writer and needs some recognition. (She also needs to work on her own fics.)

Before anyone asks, yes, this has yaoi; yes, Sasuke is OOC and very 'uke,' and yes, some characters that have yet to appear in the anime as of right now will appear in this story. We'll try not to really spoil anything for you. And this fic may start out slow, at first. I ask you give it a chance before deeming it boring. We promise action, angst, humor and smut later on.

Pairings: NaruSasu (Yes, NaruSasu); ItaSaku; slight hints of others.

Warnings: The ratings for chapters vary. The general rating will be PG-13…err, I mean "T" (wtf…) but some will be lighter and some will be darker. We'll make a warning at the beginning of each chapter. And any NC-17 chapters will be posted elsewhere.

With that being said, I believe we can continue on. Welcome to the first chapter.

---

Disclaimer: Trust me, we don't own it.

Warnings: Graphic descriptions, mild language, foreshadowing of spandex jumpsuits.

---

Playing Hero

Written by Sekushi Shigure and Phoe-chan

First Strike – The Newcomer

---

Your breath is labored. Your body aches. The crowd is roaring with noise but all you can hear is the pounding in your head. Sweat covers your body, burning your eyes and making your grip falter. That familiar coppery taste resides in your mouth as you lick your lips. Your clothes are covered with blood, some yours, some not. That's if your clothes are even in tact. It's far too late to back down. You're caged. You don't know who's cheering for you and who's not. You don't care. All that matters is the person in front of you. You can't really call them human. You can't call yourself human. In this ring… this… cage, you are monsters. If you don't win, the likelihood of you living is nearly nonexistent. You can smell the blood, the rotting flesh that clings to the wires of the cage's walls as you're thrown against it. You can feel the twisted ends of the metal pierce your flesh as your body clings to it like a wall decoration. You see red. You've been scarred forever. Your innocence ripped away like leaves from a dying tree in the harsh winds. You can't stop now. No, it's a part of you. You can only stop when...

---

Naruto all but leaped out of the car, dashing toward the school, barely acknowledging his aunt yelling a farewell as he skimmed across the lawn. A meat bun stuck out of his mouth, his blue book bag was slung over his shoulder and his schedule was in his free hand. He thanked God he remembered to tie his shoelaces this morning.

He dashed across the walkway and up the stairs, pushing the glass doors open and pulled out his schedule. 207. That would be the second floor. OK. Nodding to himself, he began to hurry up the stairs, knowing he was already a good twenty minutes late.

'Damn Anko. It's her own fault for hitting the snooze four times in a row.'

He skidded to a stop in front of the room and pushed open the door without knocking.

Now, Kakashi was a decent teacher, but he was lazy. Instead of raising his hand to point to the board, he used a meter stick. It was also very useful to smack down on the desks of students who dozed off during class. Unfortunately, there was one student that it had no affect on.

'I swear Nara suffers from Narcolepsy.' (1)

He turned back to the board when the door began to open. He caught a tuff of blond hair and his eyes narrowed. Before Naruto could even get into the room, he thrust his stick toward the boy to hit him.

Naruto put one foot in the room and yelped when a stick flew at him. He caught it between two fingers, blue eyes looking up at Kakashi. "I knew you were still irritated that you lost $200 in poker to me, but I didn't know you were homicidal about it, Kakashi."

Kakashi removed the stick, a cheery smile on his face, or at least, a cheery crinkle in his eye. The rest of his face was covered by a sash around his lower face and neck and over his head like a scarf. He told people he was Islamic. Not many bought it. Probably because he changed his headdress, facial attire and excuse weekly.

"I heard you moved back here. It took you long enough to get back into the school."

Naruto gave a foxy grin, shifting his weight. "Nice to see you, too."

Kakashi sighed and turned around, droning in a bored voice, "Class, we have a new student today. He's a little stupid so you'll need to speak slowly."

"HEY!"

"Introduce yourself and sit down. You're wasting my class time."

Naruto grumbled some, stepping into the room. "My name is Uzumaki Naruto. I'm originally from Japan but moved away when I was a kid. I traveled Europe some before living in the States for a while, California, mainly. I'm 17 years old, half-Japanese and I like martial arts and video games."

He grinned and several of the girls in the classroom turned red, squealing some. It seemed Naruto just developed a fan club.

Kakashi shook his head. "Nice to know you dropped that irritating 'datte bayo' slang." (2)

"Hey! That was stylistic!"

---

Proust was almost too interesting to look up from when the blond entered. He gave the boy a half-scan and without a single ounce of interest, returned to his book. The French was flowing eloquently from the page, absorbing him. Currently, the class had been studying The Tale of Genji, not something he wanted to listen to. He'd read the thickness twice and the test that was approaching posed no threat to him.

Neither did the blond.

He'd finished the last page of the current chapter and closed the book, slipping it back into his book bag. Shifting his weight, he stared out the window from his perch in the very back of the classroom.

He was never called on it. His test scores were perfect and there was no reason to fix something that wasn't broken.

Pale hand sliding up to cup his chin, he watched as cars drove by on the street below. He lightly tapped a pen on his notebook with his other hand. Without looking at the paper, he wrote, making notes of the people passing by. Who knew? Any passerby could be a wonderful character for a book that he may someday write. Pages before the one he wrote on now were filled with possibilities, character traits and notes. It was what he did every day.

Never participating; always watching.

He paused in his writing when he heard the scrape of a nearby chair. The blond had taken a seat in front of him, leaning back into his personal space. He was close. Too close. He could smell him.

Disgusted and unnerved by the intrusion of his personal space, he counter-leaned, putting the notebook on his lap comfortably.

Ocean.

The newcomer smelled like the ocean.

But, when the blond leaned back further, his arms behind his head, even the space of his desk was no longer sacred. The dark-haired boy nearly broke his pen in his grip. Stuffing the notebook in his bag, he stood, yanking it onto his shoulder. There was a straight shot to the classroom.

That is, before Kakashi pointed him out.

"Sasuke, sit down. I've not given out the homework assignment yet." He spoke this without turning around, still scribbling on the board. He then addressed the class, "You will read the next three chapters, answer questions 1-10 in the back of the book and write your own opinion on what you believe was going on."

Naruto scribbled this down hastily, noting he hadn't received his books yet. He was told he'd get them shortly, though.

"Now, Sasuke-kun, you can leave."

Sasuke didn't even look at him as he yanked open the door and stepped out, disappearing into the hall just as the bell rang. Kakashi watched him leave with a small smirk on his face while the students filed out of the classroom. He had probably just embarrassed the hell out of the quiet boy by drawing attention to him.

His job was so much fun.

As Naruto stood, a young man beside him tapped his shoulder. "Yo, I'm Kiba. Your next class is with me. I saw your schedule. C'mon and I'll show you where it is."

Naruto grinned nodding, "Thanks."

He followed Kiba out of the room, his lips pursed as if he were in deep thought.

---

The next period was homeroom. Sasuke slid into his desk, which was at the back corner again, and frowned. The teacher was writing up some odds and ends on the board, mainly for clubs and class committees to take note of. Sasuke resisted the urge to bury his head in his arms and take a long, well-needed nap.

He gave in when the blond boy entered the room.

"Naruto? Is that you?" The instructor stared at the blond who sauntered into the room as he adjusted his glasses.

The person in question looked up with a bright smile on his face. "Iruka-sensei!" The boy all but jumped over the desk to hug one of his closest friends. "Anko told me I'd see you here! I didn't know you were my home-room teacher! This is just great!"

Iruka laughed as he detangled himself from the blond. "Calm down, calm down. I only got Anko's call this morning. She was in a hurry. Something about a massage and needles…"

"She's a massage therapist with a thing for acupuncture."

"I take it that being a football coach didn't pan out?"

"She was fired for excessive abuse."

"…Ouch."

"Yeah, the poor guy's still in rehab, I think."

Sasuke gave a small sigh as he tilted his head to stare at the wall. His fingers twitched, jarring his glasses and blurred his vision a bit. It was only 11, and lunch was still two hours away.

Students began to settle in, entering the room boisterously while chatting and laughing with their friends. Sasuke curled a little tighter in his self-embrace, shrinking. He hated homeroom the most out of his classes. Iruka never made them all be quiet, so the noise level was always at a deafening notch.

Iruka chuckled, ruffling Naruto's hair. "Has Anko taught you anything new?"

"She taught me how to run like hell when I actually manage to get a hit in."

"A very helpful tactic…"

"Like you've ever been on the receiving end of her punches. I have a crooked nose thanks to that bi-" "Naruto, don't you finish that sentence." "…mbo."

---

After a few more friendly exchanges, Naruto left Iruka to find himself a seat. As soon as he was near the desks, he was bombarded by an array of questions by tons of people, mostly girls.

"You're really from the states?"

"Are they all loud?"

"Are your whiskers real?"

"Are you single?"

Naruto laughed, answering the questions with ease. "Yeah, they're loud; it never quiets down. Yup, the whiskers are real; I was born with them. And geesh! I've only been around for a day and I'm being inquired about my love-life? Wow."

He discreetly chose his seat beside the dark-haired boy in the back, sliding into the chair with ease. As he did, a shrill chime of a cell phone floated above the conversations. Of course, the sterile, continental ring could belong to only one person, since everyone else loved to personalize and use their phones more for photos and videos rather than actual conversation.

Naruto looked over at the boy, seeing he was making no effort to answer his phone. He waved his hand near the boy's face. "Hey, tall, dark 'n handsome, your cell phone's ringing. Might wanna pick that up," He gave a cheeky grin at the boy, his blond hair falling in his face.

Sasuke didn't move. The phone rang insistently once more and then fell hushed. A boy a few seats over rolled his eyes and made a soft "tch" noise against his teeth. "Don't bother Sasuke-sama. He's getting his beauty rest," The boy sniggered, which caused a few peppered giggles throughout that side of the room. "Much needed."

Naruto frowned, cutting the boy a look but said nothing else.

Class went on as normal and Sasuke stared at the wall. He really, really wanted to go home.

---

Finally, lunch had rolled around. It was uneventful, needless to say. Naruto met two boys whom he enjoyed conversing with. They introduced themselves as Chouji and Shikamaru. They sat outside during lunch period, one chatting, one eating and one staring at the clouds.

Sasuke, himself, had been confronted by a classmate before he could get out of the hall.

Sakura had lightly tapped him on the shoulder and smiled softly. "Just ignore those idiots, Sasuke-san. They're probably jealous because of your grades. Even I envy your talent." She gave a small smile before waving and running off to join her friends.

Sasuke stared after her. She was always dropping little comments to him. Like she knew… He tightened his grip on his bag, frowning. His head ducked and he headed outside, intent on finishing his book.

Although he was hungry, he wasn't about to step into the cafeteria. It was too loud. His stomach grumbled slightly at him for forgetting breakfast. Well, more like skipping it all together. Who wouldn't with Kisame making blender smoothies? Who knew what was in them…

Sitting on a bench out in the courtyard, he opened Proust again and started a new chapter.

He didn't notice across the courtyard a pair of blue eyes gazing at him curiously from under shaggy blond bangs.

---

Lunch was over all too soon and Sasuke gave a small scowl as the warning bell rang. Gym was next. He hated gym.

Naruto was giddy. Naruto loved gym.

OK, Naruto was giddy until he saw the instructor. His jaw dropped. "Oh, Dear God…"

He knew he would never look at the color green the same way ever again.

To be continued, yeah…

---

AN: Kinda boring so far, huh? We promise it'll get better. It's not your average school fic. Not when there's going to be body-modifiers, arsonists, young love, fist fights, insults, angst and more!

And come on. You know you wanna see a blushing Sasuke in the next chapter. Right?

(smirk) That's what I thought.

Narcolepsy. That sleeping disorder that means you fall asleep at any given time or place. Like, even on the road. I speak from personal experience. (cough)

'datte bayo' slang. Those of you who don't know, the speech pattern that Naruto uses is childish slang. An adult would never use 'datte bayo' but sometime a bit more formal like 'de gozaimasu'.

Just so you know Sakura doesn't have a crush on Sasuke. He's basically a social invert so she just tries to be nice to him because she's like that. And why does Naruto seem to know all the teachers? Hee. Wouldn't you like to know?

So uh, feedback's appreciated. Yeah…

Phoe-chan & Sekushi Shigure