A Promise to Keep Until I Die

I walked into the room, yawning widely. I made my way over to Naruto and sat down in the empty seat beside him.

"You look cheerful," I said grumpily. Needless to say, I was in a rather bad mood. I had hardly slept last night and I didn't do well without sleep.

"Not enough sleep?" Naruto asked, grinning. I scowled at him but nodded.

"Nightmares?" he questioned. I flinched but nodded. I knew the nightmares came from my connection with Sasuke but I wasn't about to tell him that. Right after his family was killed I started getting the nightmares. I could have made them stop but that would have given them back to Sasuke and I didn't want him to live through that every night. Of course, as the years went on they didn't happen every night but I still had at least three a week and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't cope without a good night's sleep.

"Huh? Naruto? What are you doing here? Only people who passed the exam are supposed to be here."

"Can't you see the forehead protector?" Naruto asked, slightly irritated. I snickered.

"Hey, will you let me through?"

I sighed and rolled my eyes as Naruto's cheeks turned pink. Sakura Hanuro was his crush. I wasn't fond of her mostly because of her obsession with Sasuke. I didn't hate her as much as I hated Ino though.

"Move your ass Hazuki! I want your seat!"

I glanced to my left and sure enough, Sasuke Uchiha was sitting next to me. Naruto glared at him from my other side, obviously irritated by his popularity.

"What?" Sasuke asked.

"What do you mean what?" Naruto snapped. I leaned back as Sakura shoved Naruto away to get a view of Sasuke.

"Can I sit next to you Sasuke-kun?" she asked eagerly, blushing furiously.

I rolled my eyes as she climbed over us and took the spot i between me and Sasuke. Naruto glared at nothing and I assumed he was irritated by Sakura's obsession with Sasuke. I sighed miserably, annoyed by her stalkerish behavior. She needed to accept the fact that Sasuke was consumed by hate and get on with her life.

Suddenly Naruto jumped onto the desk and crouched in front of Sasuke, glaring at him.

"Naruto! Leave Sasuke-kun alone!" Sakura shouted.

"Move it," Sasuke growled.

The person sitting in front of Sasuke suddenly leaned back, bumping into Naruto and knocking him forward.

I gasped in shock and then started laughing. The slight bump had caused Naruto to fall forward and lock lips with Sasuke. They both broke apart, gagging and cursing, while I laughed until I was crying. I put my head in my arms to muffle my giggles and laughed until I couldn't laugh anymore. Sakura shouted curses at him and backed them up with smacks. I would have stopped her but the image of them kissing had my in hysterical giggles.

"It's not funny!" Naruto snapped.

"Was- to!" I gasped.

I barely noticed anything until I heard the names called for team seven.

"Team seven will be Sakura Hanuro, Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha, and Hazuki Minati."

I sighed miserably. I had Naruto on my team but I also had Sakura. Funny, we were the only team with four people. I guess they decided our strengths evened each other out and there was no way to have all the teams with only three people on them. We did have twenty eight graduates after all.

"Iruka sensei! Why does an outstanding shinobi like me have to be on the same team as that jerk over there?" Naruto complained. I sighed, but I hadn't expected anything less. He sort of hated and admired Sasuke although he would never admit to admiring him.

"Sasuke's grades were the top of the class while yours were dead last. We had to balance the teams so..."

"Just don't get in my way...dead last," Sasuke said dismissively.

"What did you call me?" Naruto shouted. I sighed and yanked him down.

"Drop it Naruto," I said. "It's not worth a fight in the class room. If you want to kick his ass do it outside of class! But I don't suggest doing that because we're supposed to be a team and teams require teamwork."

"Hmph."

I sighed, sensing a lot of trouble ahead.

******************************************

A few hours later I had lost track of Naruto. I wound up going to Sasuke's, knowing Naruto would try to cause trouble. What I found had me in another fit of laughter.

Sasuke was tied up and gagged on the floor. "Naruto?" I asked. He nodded and jerked his head at the ropes, gesturing for me to untie him.

I knelt down beside him and undid the knots. He shook the ropes off and then pulled the tape off.

"He transformed into me. Dammit! What is he doing?"

I could only think of one reason why Naruto would transform into Sasuke.

"He's probably with Sakura. The only way she'd ever have a real conversation with him is if he looked like you. He probably went to ask her what she thought of him."

Sasuke ran out and I hurriedly followed after him. I really didn't want him pounding Naruto to a pulp and he probably could if he tried.

"Sasuke-kun! You're so shy-"

"I have to go. Where's Naruto?" he asked.

"Don't change the subject. Who cares about Naruto anyways?" Obviously she hadn't noticed me yet. "All he does is start fights with you. Well, he doesn't have a normal childhood so.... He doesn't have parents! He can do whatever he wants. If I acted like that my parents would ground me for months. He's so lucky, all alone, no parents to say what to do and what not to do. That's why he always makes trouble."

I felt my temper spark at her words but Sasuke beat me to telling her off.

"All alone... The feeling of a parent yelling at you is nowhere near what he feels..."

Sakura looked worried. "What's wrong Sasuke-kun?"

"You're annoying," he said coldly.

I ran past Sakura, after Sasuke. "Thank-you," I said, catching up to him.

"For what?" he asked.

"For understanding. Most people think he's lucky. You're probably the only person our age who understands exactly how he feels."

"What I said was the truth. She's annoying."

I snickered. "I wish you'd tell Ino that. I'd love to see the look on her face."

I didn't miss the small smile in Sasuke's face at my words although it was there and gone in an instant. Sasuke hardly ever smiled a real smile anymore so it meant quite a bit that I could bring that small smile forward.

Maybe he wasn't completely lost in himself yet...