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The Emerald Isle repost (Prologue, Chapter 1 and Chapter 2)
So here's the prologue, chapter 1 and chapter 2 of Emerald Isle revised to my liking.




~~Prologue~~

"You stupid punk! You almost forgot this." The shout came from behind him as he struggled to fit his luggage into the trunk of the taxi.


Naruto Uzumaki turned, startled blue eyes searching out the old man who had yelled at him. His grandfather was waving a small book in the air and wobbling towards Naruto as fast as he could with his bad knee. Naruto walked towards him so the old man wouldn't have to walk all the way to the street. The booklet was shoved into Naruto's hands and he looked down to find it was his passport. He flushed slightly as his grandfather cursed him for being a fool.


"You won't go anywhere without that thing, so don't lose it punk." His mouth, stained from too much chewing tobacco, was stretched into a thin line of disapproval.


Naruto smiled charmingly, his blond hair ruffling at the slight breeze, and tried to ignore the slight pain in his chest. "Don't worry, Mr. Baggs, I'll be out of your hair in less than ten minutes." He was never allowed to show any more familiarity with his mother's parents who had 'raised' him for the past 7 years, after his own parents died in a boating accident.


Mr. Baggs grunted before turning around sharply and wobbling back to his house, slamming the door on his way. Naruto stood there silently, staring off into space until the taxi driver gave a slight cough to indicate they should be on their way. Snapping out of his little pity party Naruto turned towards the man with a sheepish smile and tucked his passport into the back pocket of his laptop case hanging from his shoulder.


"I'd lose my head if it wasn't attached to my neck." he laughed, though it didn't sound as cheerful as his usual laughs.


Showing pity on the young man in front of him, the taxi driver walked to his trunk and helped the blonde shove the rest of his luggage into the trunk before they took off for the airport. While he was in the back seat, Naruto opened up his laptop bag and searched for the folder that contained all his papers he would need to get into the U.K. He had thought he'd put everything into the folder, but apparently he'd still forgotten the most important thing. He sighed. Guess my new responsible attitude is a failure. At least he would be free from that house for the school year. It was stifling to have to deal with all that disapproval day in and day out.


Turning his thoughts to better things, Naruto glanced at his itinerary. In bold letters he saw London Heathrow as his first stop and then he would get on a connecting flight to Belfast before he made his way further north to the city of Coleraine. He sent another 'thank you' to his teacher and advisor, Iruka, at the local community college, for pushing him to apply to study abroad for a year in Northern Ireland. Though he loved New York, he was happy that he would no longer be receiving the cold shoulder from his grandparents for a while. He couldn't complain too much though. After all, they'd allowed him to continue living with them during his college years so he could save a little money, even though they'd been ready to get rid of him long before then. Now he was going to a place where no one knew him and no one would judge him. He planned to make the most of it.


His bright smile returned when he looked out his window and noticed the exit for the airport coming up.



~~Chapter 1~~

Naruto was bored.


He was mind-numbingly bored.


And he was fidgeting. After 7 hours on a plane from Chicago’s O’Hare airport to London, he was felling a bit cagey.


The man seated on his right glanced up from his newspaper to glare at Naruto...again. The woman on his left shifted further away from him, as if his restlessness was a contagious disease. Naruto remained oblivious, still fiddling with the straps on his case or the papers in his folder.


He glanced at his watch for the 26th time and noted that the minute hand had only moved forward 6 minutes from the last time he'd looked. He was waiting for the flight attendants to allow the passengers to board the plane. What's taking so long, dammit! Heathrow Airport was huge, and he'd gotten lost twice and almost panicked before he finally found his correct gate, only to find out that his flight had been delayed by an hour. The lounge was crowded so Naruto had to squeeze in between two people. They hadn't minded, until he started talking, and talking, and talking some more. It took several minutes before Naruto got the hint and shut up, much to the relief of those around him. But without being able to vent his frustrations through his mouth, he was now a ball of nervous, fidgety energy, and it was driving everyone crazy.


Finally, the announcement came for the first class and business class passengers to proceed to the gate to board. Being a poor college student, Naruto figured he'd be one of the last passengers to board. He was relieved when things moved along very fast after that first announcement. This flight would only take an hour and a half to Belfast City Airport. He was almost there. He started grinning widely and noticed one of the flight attendants returned his smile.


The flight was uneventful except when the snack and beverage cart came by. Naruto almost snickered out loud when the flight attendant asked if he would like anything off the trolley. Flashes of Harry Potter on the train and the nice old lady asking 'Anything off the trolley, dears?' flitted through his brain. He asked for a soda, and the flight attendant handed him a can of Pepsi, but it wasn't your normal-sized can. It was a miniature version of the usual 8 oz cans. He held it up and examined it closely. It was so cute! Of course, he'd never say that out loud. He suddenly felt giddy at coming across one of the many differences between the British and the Americans. Then he figured that the U.S. probably had these type of cans as well, even though he’d never seen them sold anywhere near him.


Out of all the international students that arrived in Belfast to go to the University of Ulster, Naruto was one of the lucky ones. He had chosen the Coleraine campus, just one of four campuses, since it had the best science department. The international office there was gracious enough to send a bus to Belfast City Airport to take incoming students straight to the Coleraine and Jordanstown campus for free. Those going to the Magee or Belfast campus weren't as lucky and didn’t get a free ride. It was 2pm when the plane arrived in Belfast, giving Naruto just enough time to grab his luggage and catch the bus leaving for the two campuses at 2:30. There had been an earlier bus at 10:30am, and there would be one more bus at 5:30. He didn't know what he'd do if he had to wait for the 5:30 bus. More waiting at that point would not be good for his health. At least he would have been able to walk around the airport since he didn't have to worry about missing his next plane. Belfast International Airport was tiny compared to Heathrow.


The bus ride was two hours to Coleraine, and it was cold. Knowing that it rained a lot Naruto had worn jeans, with his Converse sneakers and a light, button down shirt on top. Even though it was mid-September, New York was still quite warm and Naruto figured it wouldn't be too cold in Ireland. He was wrong. The minute he stepped outside the airport a powerful gust of wind smacked right into him and he had to steady himself before pulling his two huge bags to the rear of the bus. He started shivering immediately, and wished he hadn't packed his jackets at the bottom of one of his suitcases. He wasn't about to rummage through his clothes in front of the girls around him just to keep himself warm. The lady in charge of making sure everyone who had signed up for the bus was on it was busy talking to the bus driver. When she was done she caught Naruto’s eye and hurried over to him.


Motioning towards the suitcase she had rolled behind her, she asked, "Can you make sure this suitcase gets to its owner? He arrived early, but this particular suitcase was put on a later plane, so we decided he would go on ahead and we could bring it on one of the later buses."


Naruto nodded, "Sure, no problem." He took the suitcase from her and rolled it towards the rear of the bus so it could be loaded with all the others. Before handing it over he looked at the name on the tag so he'd know who it went to. It read Sasuke Uchiha. Hoping he'd remember the name, he boarded the bus.


He spent much of the ride looking out his window and shivering. He was tired from his flights, since he’d been too excited to sleep, and the cold was steadily seeping into his bones. He didn't understand why he was so cold; the weather was considered to be mild in the U.K., if a little wet. Thirty minutes into the bus ride, he had to use the bathroom. He then cursed his stupidity for not going at the airport. Doing his best to ignore his discomfort he turned towards the other students on the bus and joined the conversation. Everyone was just as excited as him. They all shared their plans for their time in Northern Ireland. The generic 'Where are you from?' and 'What's your major?' were already asked and Naruto found there to be a lot of English majors. He was the only chemistry major on the bus and when asked why he chose that he grinned and replied that he liked to watch stuff go 'boom', waving his arms and smiling wickedly to demonstrate. The others laughed and they continued to chat until the bus pulled up to the accommodation office in the center of the student dorms.


Everyone piled off the bus and walked quickly into the office to escape the strong winds. The bus driver started unloading their luggage, setting them on the sidewalk while they retrieved their keys to their apartments. Naruto worriedly looked at the different signs taped to the front of the tables where ladies were giving out keys. He saw all sorts of different names, Errigal, Knocklayde, Maple Lodge, Atlantic Court and so on, but there was no Cranagh Village, which is where he was staying.


"Ummm, excuse me?" he approached one of the ladies who was talking to a guy with messy black hair. When she glanced at him he continued, "Do you know where those staying in Cranagh Village get their keys?" He hesitated over the name, not sure if he'd pronounced it correctly. He smiled at the black-haired guy as an apology for interrupting, and was startled when his eyes met eyes so dark they appeared black, set in a face so beautiful Naruto had to blink to make sure he wasn’t seeing things.


"Cranagh?” the woman asked, interrupting Naruto from his daze. “Let me see.” She shuffled through the different folders before shaking her head and asked another woman if she had anymore keys for Cranagh.


The other woman immediately picked up a folder in the chair next to her before turning to the three of them standing there. "I only have one key for a Naruto Uzumaki."


Practically jumping in place, Naruto waved his hand saying loudly, "That's me, that's me!" His bladder wasn't going to hold for much longer.


Both women smiled at his childlike enthusiasm, and the lady handed him the key to his apartment and an information packet. He accepted these and started towards the door to grab his luggage and try to find his apartment when he heard the black-haired guy say his name.


"Sasuke?" Naruto questioned, and then started when the person in question turned towards him. He hadn't known he'd said that out loud.


The person in question raised his eyebrows at Naruto.


Naruto swallowed a nervous laugh. Those eyes were unnerving. "You're Sasuke Uchiha?" he asked.


Sasuke nodded briefly, like a king bestowing a favor on a peasant. Naruto gritted his teeth briefly at his arrogant attitude. He'd seen enough of that with his relatives.


"Your bag that was on a later plane is on the bus. I was asked to look after it."


Before Naruto could say anything else, Sasuke was in front of him, waiting for him to exit the building.


“Are you going to stand there blocking the door all afternoon, or are you going to take me to my bag?” Sasuke’s low voice came out almost as a growl.


Naruto’s eyes narrowed at his tone. Then he waved his hand behind him and said, “It’s on the bus. Do you need a map to find the back of it?”


Naruto expected a retort, but Sasuke merely reached past him and pushed the door open with his right hand. This put the two of them in close proximity. Naruto stumbled and would have fallen on his ass if he hadn’t caught himself on the door handle just in time. He grit his teeth and muttered “Bastard,” as Sasuke shoved past him. Naruto noted that Sasuke’s mouth had tilted up in a smirk at his near-fall and after that, Naruto was forced to change his earlier impression of the black-haired man. He was no longer a mildly attractive guy, he was demonic. Naruto glared for all he was worth as Sasuke walked by. Thank God I don't have to live with the weird bastard.


"Naruto!" a voice suddenly shouted behind him.


Naruto jumped and turned towards the voice. It was Kate, one of the English majors on the bus, from Texas.


"Where are you staying?" she asked as she reached his side.


He glanced at the green tag his key was hanging from. "I 4.2, whatever that means," he smiled at her and she laughed. He felt his stomach clench as she smiled at him. She was really pretty, with light brown hair that was whipping about her face from the strong wind, and vivid green eyes, not to mention breasts you could bury your face between for snuggling. He forgot Sasuke and his bad attitude instantly.


Kate pulled out a pen from her purse and grabbed his hand, writing a number on his palm. "This is my apartment number or flat as they say here. Be sure to visit me and I'll visit you when we know where you're staying." she smiled into his eyes before walking away, her hips swaying gracefully.


He sighed happily. He could really get used to living here if he kept meeting people like her. Naruto turned towards the back of the bus to grab his suitcase and saw Sasuke staring at him strangely, and almost horrified look on his perfectly arrogant face.


"What?" Naruto demanded harshly.


"Did you say I 4?"


"I 4.2 actually. What of it?"


He sighed, "It means block I, flat 4, room 2,” then he paused before continuing in a pained voice, “and I happen to be in I 4.3."


“What do I care where you're staying?” It took a minute, but when things clicked, his eyes widened comically, “...wait, you mean we're roommates?”


Sasuke nodded, looking as put out as Naruto.


"Shit." Naruto cursed. He thought about what it would mean to be around this guy everyday, then shook his head mentally and decided to make the best of it. "Well, could you at least show me where block I is?" He hoped it was still possible to salvage their acquaintance. Yeah, right.


Without saying a word, Sasuke grabbed the handle of his black suitcase, and started walking in the opposite direction Kate had taken. Naruto took this as a 'Sure thing buddy, just follow me' and hurried to catch up with the black-haired man, pulling his two huge suitcases behind him. Block I turned out to be closer than he'd expected. Each of the buildings surrounding the accommodation office was a part of Cranagh Village and all had a sign with a letter on them. Sasuke used his key to let them in and Naruto had to catch the door with his shoulder before it smacked him in the face since Sasuke kept walking ahead of him. Lousy, arrogant prick. 'Thanks for holding the door for me. I know you must have your hands full with your 2 pound bag. I'm not carrying that much anyways. Just two 60 pound bags!' He glared at the lean back strolling through the foyer and up the stairs. Then Naruto frowned when he realized he'd have to lug all his suitcases up the stairs since flat 4 was on the second floor. Cursing his luck, he decided to bring one up at a time.


He was surprised though when he got to the top and saw Sasuke standing there holding the door open with his foot, giving Naruto an impatient look. Quickly depositing his first suitcase in the hallway, Naruto ran down the stairs to get his other one. Sasuke was still standing there holding the door open for him. Naruto glared at him warily. Their brief introduction at the accommodation office had not been favorable, so he was waiting for the other shoe to drop. Sasuke pointed to the door behind him.


"That's the kitchen. Your room is that one in the middle of the hallway on the right."


"Where are you?" Know your enemy's whereabouts.


"The last one on the right. Of course you could just read the numbers on the doors."


Naruto glared, and stuck his tongue out at Sasuke, who immediately walked down the hall to his room. The distinct sound of a lock turning echoed in the short hallway. Guess he's through talking to me. Good riddance.


Naruto rushed to his room, leaving his luggage in the hall for a moment so he could get to the bathroom. After that was done he brought his luggage into his room a started to unpack them, pulling on a jacket in the process to try to warm up. He grimaced at the lack of heat in the room, but he brightened at the thought that he was out of that god-awful wind. He would go on a search later for the thermostat. When he was done putting his clothes on the different shelves, he lay down on his newly made bed and sighed. It had been an exhausting journey. I hope the other roommates are girls. I don't think I could stand living with any other bastards like Sasuke. He frowned as he thought of the other man. Despite the obvious and immediate animosity between them, Naruto hoped things didn't remain the same between the two of them. He wouldn't mind having Sasuke as a friend. They were Americans in a foreign country, so they should stick together. Although, Naruto planned to make the most of his time here with the local Irish girls. At that thought, Naruto grinned like a maniac, quickly forgetting about Sasuke. Welcome to the Emerald Isle, Naruto Uzumaki. This is going to be a blast!



~~Chapter 2~~


At 5pm, Naruto found himself strolling around outside one of the many buildings that he'd seen so far of the campus. He shivered, and wondered why he hadn't decided to wear an even heavier jacket. As he walked up to a set of glass doors he saw the word 'international' on a flyer taped next to automatic glass doors and immediately zoomed in on it. He was in luck. It told all international students to go to the Senior Common Room for an informal meet-and-greet. Now where the hell is this Senior Common Room? As he passed through the doors and went up the stairs in front of him, he noticed another sign giving him directions. Guess they thought of everything.


By the time he made his way to the Senior Common Room, he was a little worried about finding his way back out. The building was huge with many twists and turns and no apparent organization. The double doors were held open so he could hear the chatter of many people, well before he saw anyone. Much of the chatter was in other languages. Right away he recognized Japanese, Spanish, French and German. He had studied Spanish in high school for the required two years and could only remember a few of the basics. That didn't stop him from walking up to the trio of girls speaking rapidly in Spanish.


"Hola!" he practically shouted, grinning at them.


They smiled back, seemingly startled by his excitement, and returned the sentiment. The smallest woman of the group was the first one to speak. Her dark blond hair was a jumble of dreadlocks, just like some of the African Americans he saw around campus back in New York. She had a very curvy figure and a stud beneath her lip with a great smile.


In a thickly accented voice she asked, "You are American?"


He nodded enthusiastically, "Pretty obvious, right?"


They all nodded and laughed at his rueful expression. Then, holding his hand out, he introduced himself. He learned that the small woman who had first spoken to him was called Noy, while the other two were Maria and Alex. They all talked for a little bit, asking each other about their majors and why they had come to Ireland, before Naruto said his goodbyes and moved off to go 'meet and greet' the other international students. He was surprised that the group of French students didn't sneer at him when he walked up and introduced himself. He'd heard so many stories from other people that the French hate Americans, but he figured those that chose to study abroad would have to be open minded if they wanted to gain anything from the experience.


He found the Japanese and Chinese to be the most enthusiastic about meeting other people. Their heads bobbed excitedly as they talked to him. It wasn't until a group of Americans entered that Naruto knew why the Spanish girls had known he was American even when his speech had probably given him away. After all, he could have been Canadian, but Noy asked if he was American first. There seemed to be something about Americans that just made them stick out. Maybe they were just louder than others or more confidant. Whatever it was, Naruto knew instantly that the 3 guys walking into the room were Americans.


"Americans!" Naruto shouted, waving madly.


The guy in the middle with dark brown hair pulled back into a ponytail looked at Naruto and promptly rolled his small black eyes. The guy right behind him with spiky hair snorted into his hand before waving back, a little less enthusiastically. The last guy had long shiny black hair and gray eyes so light Naruto thought they looked white and no discernable expression. He reached the trio before they'd even taken 5 steps into the room. Throwing his arms behind his head Naruto grinned at them.


"I knew you were American,” he said excitedly. “I'm Naruto Uzumaki."


The ponytail guy introduced himself as Shikamaru Nara, the spiky-haired guy was called Kiba Inuzuka and the last guy was Neji Hyuuga.


Kiba grinned at Naruto, showing two sharp teeth that stuck out a little further than his others and reminded Naruto of fangs. "Yeah, we knew you were American too; especially when you waved like an idiot and yelled all the way across the room."


Shikamaru sighed, "You just insulted all Americans Kiba. And it's not funny; he's going to make us look stupid. How annoying."


"Hey! I was just glad to no longer be in the minority here." Naruto put on a mock affronted face, feeling to giddy at meeting new people to take any real offense.


"Who's in the minority now?" asked Neji.


Naruto turned and pointed to a girl standing at the refreshment table with long, pin-straight, blond hair and huge, grandma glasses. "That's Ashley, the lone Australian. She told me she came here from down under just to study optometry. I hope she finds a better style of glasses, though. I mean, I didn't know anyone our age would deliberately choose those ugly things. Oh but you've just got to hear her accent." he babbled, and the others just nodded when they felt it appropriate.


After talking for a couple minutes, Naruto found out that Shikamaru was from Iowa. Kiba and Neji were from Ohio, though they hadn't known each other before coming over. It wasn't until Naruto's stomach growled loudly that they made their way to the refreshment table. There was an assortment of little pastries, sausages and biscuit things that Neji said were called scones, but nothing real substantial. Naruto forlornly rubbed his stomach. He was still hungry and couldn't very well eat everything off the table, although he really liked the little pastries with strawberries on top. They hit his sweet spot nicely. The others agreed that they’d need more than pastries and scones to fill them up, and went to ask one of the international officers if she knew where they could get food. Unfortunately, since everything on campus was closed on the weekends, she said that the nearest place would be the convenience store, Spar, which was a 20 minute walk from the campus. Naruto and Kiba groaned, while Neji and Shikamaru settled for just frowning, but in the end they decided to go ahead and walk there later to get some food. Naruto was intent on greeting everybody there and spent much of the time dragging the other 3 men around to chat with other people. He noticed some of the people from the airport bus were there, but he was disappointed to find that Kate wasn't among them.


At 6:30 the international officers, Siobhan and Clare, gave a little welcome speech and told everybody about the orientation program going on all week. The first information session would start tomorrow morning at 10. Shikamaru groaned out loud at the time, complaining that it was too early. Naruto mouthed “lazy” at him and he merely rolled his eyes. Kiba snorted and even silent Neji cracked a small grin at Shikamaru's attitude. The four of them left together after the speech, with Naruto waving to everyone he'd talked to, which was practically everyone. It wasn't until they were back outside and on their way to Spar that Naruto asked to return to his flat to get another jacket since it was still “fucking cold” outside.


They walked part of the way to his flat, but stopped at the top of the hill where all the Errigal and Knocklayde flats were, while Naruto ran back to his flat. After retrieving his winter coat he walked back towards the door when he noticed a light on under the kitchen door. Curious, he opened the door and found Sasuke sitting on the couch flipping through the channels on TV. He had changed into black sweatpants and had drawn his legs up so he could wrap his arms around them. Huh, he must think this place is fucking cold too. Sasuke had glanced up sharply when Naruto pushed open the door. It made so much noise, even Naruto had to flinch. Sasuke just stared at him, face inscrutable.


”Hey," Naruto paused, wondering if this was a good idea. "Some guys and I are going to walk into town to try and find some food. You wanna come?"


Sasuke opened his mouth to refuse, and then his stomach reminded him he was hungry and he changed his mind. "Sure. Just let me change."


Naruto nodded and stepped back as Sasuke walked by, making sure they wouldn't touch. He let out a breath he hadn't known he'd been holding when Sasuke disappeared into his room. He figured he felt the same way bomb squad people felt after deactivating a bomb; it's very dangerous work, playing with a bomb, but the relief you felt when it didn't blow up in your face was so rewarding. It looked like Sasuke’s earlier pissiness had passed. Naruto looked up as Sasuke came of his room and walked towards him, still dressed in his sweatpants, but with shoes and a jacket. Naruto figured the sweatpants were warmer than jeans. He vaguely wondered which would do better in the rain, and then he hoped he hadn’t just jinxed everyone with his thought. Without a word, they exited the flat and made their way to the others waiting for them.


As they got closer, Kiba called out, "Who have you brought us, Naruto?"


Naruto yelled back, "Sasuke Uchiha. He's my roommate."


"It's flatmate now Naruto. Get it right."


"Bite me, fang boy." From the start, Naruto and Kiba liked to communicate through insults.


The others introduced themselves to Sasuke while they walked. The all followed Neji since he was the only one to remember the directions Siobhan had given them. Naruto was surprised when Sasuke answered them back. He was quiet, polite, but aloof. He hadn't seemed like that with Naruto. Naruto narrowed his eyes at Sasuke as he talked with Neji. They were discussing the merits of having a train system throughout Europe and how well it would be received in the U.S. Ack! How nauseating. He fell back and walked alongside Kiba and Shikamaru. Kiba was talking about his dog, Akamaru, and how much he already missed him and who knew if Shikamaru listened.


"Aww," Naruto crooned. "Kiba misses his puppy."


Kiba flushed slightly in the growing darkness. "Naruto," he growled.


Naruto laughed and dodged a well-deserved smack to the back of his head. He skipped to the front of their little procession and turned around to stick his tongue out at Kiba. Neji had stopped talking to Sasuke and was smiling at Naruto.


"Where do you get your energy, Naruto? I've never seen someone with as much energy as you, especially after coming off a transcontinental flight," he said.


Naruto grinned at Neji, "What can I say? I was born with a lot of stamina." Then waggling his eyebrows he added, "Makes the ladies happy."


Everyone snorted at that, even Sasuke, although his was probably in disbelief, not amusement. Naruto continued to walk backwards in front of Neji and Sasuke, talking to them both. He couldn't help but notice how alike the two boys looked as they walked next to each other. They were both so dark with their hair and their clothes, but their skin was pale. Naruto shook his head ruefully, thinking of how much competition they could give him with all the girls on campus. His unexpected nod earned him twin looks of confusion from the two men in front of him. Naruto decided to divert their attention from him.


"So Sasuke, what state are you from?" he asked.


"New Jersey."


Naruto stopped completely. "What? Really? You’re not too far from me!”


Sasuke sighed. "Will wonders never cease?” He pushed Naruto into motion again.


“New Jersey, huh?” Naruto mused aloud. “That explains the attitude.”


Sasuke smirked at his comment. “What can I say? Stupid people get on my nerves.”


“Hey,” Naruto yelled, causing them all to wince. “Are you calling me stupid?”


“Not at all, dumbass.”


“Well…you’re an asshole!”


“Moron.”


“Bastard.”


“Idiot.”


“Prima Donna.”


Sasuke’s eyes widened at that particular insult, but before he could say anything, Kiba spoke up from behind them.


“Are you two seriously having a name-calling match?” he asked, amused.


“I think they are,” Neji answered.


“How juvenile,” Shikamaru muttered.


Naruto laughed like a loon, seeing how ridiculous he and Sasuke must have looked. Then he held out his hand to Sasuke. “Truce?”


Sasuke lips curved briefly. He looked a little embarrassed at his actions. Then he clasped his hand around Naruto’s firmly. “For now,” he answered.


Neji heard Shikamaru mutter something about strange people and their bonding habits, while Kiba shut his mouth which had been hanging open ever since Sasuke smiled. Though none of them knew each other well enough yet, they had all pegged Sasuke as being an iceberg who wouldn't smile.


It took them only 15 minutes to reach Spar, but they all opted to go into the other convenience store right next to Spar called Shop-For-U, since it was 10 steps closer. Naruto was grateful. His jacket and his argument with Sasuke had kept him warm for the most part, but the strong winds made his eyes water. The five of them split as soon as they entered and sauntered all around the small store, trying to find something to tide them over until they had a chance to go to the grocery store.


Naruto paused at the aisle of candy but was pushed down another aisle by Sasuke, who had been right behind Naruto when the blonde had decided to stop suddenly to look at the different types of candy. He’d almost run into him. Sasuke pointed him towards a small fruit stand with apples, oranges and bananas. Naruto gave Sasuke a dirty look, but was completely ignored as he looked for the best apples. Naruto watched Sasuke pick up apple after apple, testing their quality when an idea came to him.


"Hey Sasuke, since we're roommates---"


"Flatmates!" Kiba yelled from a different aisle.


"Whatever! Shut up!" Naruto yelled back, making the others wince at the noise. "Do you want to share things? Like, I buy bananas, you buy apples. I buy bread, you buy cereal. Things like that and we share them between us, share resources."


Sasuke's face became thoughtful. Then he nodded. "Fine, as long as you don't eat everything."


Naruto threw his hands up, exasperated. "When have I given the impression that I eat a lot? You wouldn't know."


Sasuke ran his dark eyes up and down Naruto's body before quirking an eyebrow. Naruto flushed, feeling tingly, and then he frowned because he shouldn't be feeling tingly. "So I'm not a bean pole like you. That still doesn't mean I eat a lot," he said defensively, crossing his arms over his stomach to try to hide his sudden discomfort.


Shikamaru walked past them holding a loaf of bread in his arms. "He does eat a lot. You should have seen him at the meet-and-greet today. He almost ate the entire platter of strawberry pastries," he muttered to Sasuke, effectively replacing Naruto's discomfort with ire.


Sasuke smirked and Naruto glared at Shikamaru's back. Before he could retaliate though, Sasuke interrupted him.


"Let's hurry up and find some stuff to buy so we can get back to the flat."


They all bought what they considered the essentials and hurried back to the campus so they could eat them. A light rain had begun to fall by the time they reached the outskirts of the campus, so they were almost running back to their flats. Kiba and Shikamaru parted from them first to go to their flat in Errigal and Neji lived in block E of Cranagh. Naruto and Sasuke both had Cocoa Puffs that night since they weren't in the mood to cook anything. They were happy to note that the university provided them with frying pans and knives. Both men had brought their own plates, bowls, silverware and cups. They ate in silence; Naruto was finally feeling tired, and started to wonder if the flat would ever warm up.


Looking at the box of Cocoa Puffs Naruto said, "I wonder why they changed the name to Cocoa Puffs instead of keeping it as Cocoa Pops. I know this is the same kind, they even have the same monkey dude on the box."


"Maybe for the same reason they changed the word 'philosopher' to 'sorcerer' in the Harry Potter books."


"Oh? Why is that?"


"It's all advertising. With Harry Potter, the American publishers believed Americans would see 'philosopher' written in the title and think the story was too deep and it wouldn’t sell, so they changed it. Philosopher means something different to the British and Americans."


"Yeah, but Pops vs. Puffs?"


Sasuke shrugged, "It's a thought." He got up and took his bowl to the sink, just then noticing that they should have bought some washing liquid. He washed it thoroughly with the water and left it to dry next to the sink.


Naruto got up soon after and did the same. Sasuke was busy shaking his hands dry since he'd just noticed they needed a kitchen towel. Giving up he wiped his hands dry on his sweatpants. Naruto snickered at him, but copied his actions. They had a lot to buy, but making a list could wait. It was time for bed.


Naruto paused at his door. "Goodnight Sasuke."


" 'Night Naruto," Sasuke responded as he disappeared into his room.


It wasn't until Naruto was laying in bed a couple minutes later that he realized something. That was the first time he said my name.


----------------------------------------


Orientation week flew by fast. The highlights were the tour around campus on Tuesday and the tour through the town center of Coleraine on Thursday. Naruto learned that the Coleraine campus of the University of Ulster was huge, some 500 acres huge. Half of the walk to Spar that first night had been across the campus. Their tour guide, Lacy, explained to the international students that the Coleraine campus was basically split into two sections: Central and South building. Central building was comprised of 4 separate buildings connected by various skywalks. Lacy explained what was in the various parts of the buildings. Naruto was happy to find out that they had a 24 hour lab open all year round. The lab was located in the science building so Naruto knew he'd become familiar with it. They found out that there was also a Spar located on campus, as well as a coffee shop and the requisite university store which sold stuff like hoodies, mugs and key chains with the University of Ulster logo printed on them. The Spar on campus had a post office in it, which would save them trips into town to mail stuff home. Though Naruto didn't think he'd be mailing much home, unless it was to Iruka.


There were even two libraries on campus, one in each building. South building had the Students' Union there, which Naruto found out is their version of Student Government. What stunned Naruto the most was the fact that there was bar, or pub, located in the Students' Union. Naruto started to feel giddy. Since the drinking age in America is 21, Naruto had never been able to drink outside in the open. He only drank the beer he could get at frat parties. The drinking age here was 18 though and he planned to party. Also attached to South building was the Sports Center, and Lacy said that they had free use of the facilities once they joined the Sports Union. They would all get their chance to do this and join any clubs/societies that they wanted during Freshers Fayre, which would be held during the first week of the fall term. Naruto couldn't wait, and neither could the other guys with him. There was a ton of stuff they could do.


The tour of Coleraine was interesting. Their tour guide, a man that worked for the City Borough Council, showed them around and gave them some history on the town center. Then he let them loose to explore the town on their own. Naruto and Sasuke took this chance to buy all the stuff they needed back in their flat, so they split from the other guys. They spent the entire afternoon together, saying it was out of necessity since they were sharing food and stuff and didn't want to buy the same thing. But they found themselves enjoying each others' company more than expected they stayed together. They found the Coleraine train and bus station and decided to take the train home instead of walking back like they had come. The walk to Coleraine was a good 30 minutes if you power walked, which most Irish do naturally. For Naruto and Sasuke, it would have taken them 45 minutes. They were glad that the university had its own halt so they wouldn't have far to walk once they got off.


It was a new experience for the both of them, riding a train. However, there was a problem, when they tried to get off. Naruto was the first to the door and couldn't find the door handle to get off. He and Sasuke were still arguing over how to get off when the train started moving again.


"Shit!" Naruto banged his hand along the door as if by doing that a door handle would magically appear. "How the fuck do you get off?"


Just then the ticket man came by, asking to see everyone's tickets. Naruto looked at him, face flushed from embarrassment. Sasuke didn't help much, since he was shaking in his seat with suppressed laughter.


"Umm, we were supposed to get off at the university stop, but I couldn't figure out how to open the door," he smiled weakly at the ticket man who then explained that the handle is on the outside of the train and that you needed to roll down the window and pull the handle to open the door. He let Naruto and Sasuke go without having to pay extra for the ride to Portrush. Luckily the line only had 3 stops and was short. As soon as they reached Portrush, the train would turn around and go back. When the train approached the stop in Portrush Naruto was looked out his window and saw the ocean. Portrush was right on the coastline. Then he saw black figures riding the crashing waves.


"Are those seals?" he asked, standing up to get a better look.


Sasuke stood as well and walked over to Naruto. After a minute of watching the black things, he snorted, "Those are surfers, you idiot."


"Who'd be surfing in this weather. It's freezing."


"Yes you've said that many times now," Sasuke replied. Then he shrugged, "They must have winter wet suits."


Naruto gaped, "But what about their feet? And ears? Aren't they cold?"


Sasuke shrugged, not interested in fools who go surfing in the freezing cold Atlantic.


It took them less than 20 minutes to make it back to the university. Naruto made Sasuke open the door so he could be blamed if they couldn't get off in time. They had no problems the second time around. Naruto briefly wondered if he had bad karma, maybe it was from wishing all his relatives to go to hell at various family gatherings.


On Friday everyone registered for classes. Naruto had been ecstatic to find out that most students here only took 3 classes, or modules as the Irish called them, per semester. He was used to taking 4 or 5 a semester and was happy to have such a light load. By the time he was done registering, he had 3 new cards to keep up with: his student id card, his residential pass in case he was locked out of his flat and lastly, a car with his pin number on it. This pin number was used to identify him when accessing his info online. They sure like to load you down with a lot of stuff. His wallet was wider now with the combined cards from back home and the new ones here that seemed to keep multiplying.


That weekend, they all decided to take it easy. Neji, while looking at a campus map, suggested they all take a walk in the Daffodil Gardens behind South building, but it started raining and lasted all day, forcing them to remain indoors. Sasuke and Naruto found themselves spending most of their time at Shikamaru's and Kiba's place, mostly because it was warmer there. Saturday evening, after Naruto and Sasuke returned to Shikamaru’s place with food, they met a new guy who had just arrived from California. He was a slightly pudgy guy by the name of Chouji Akimichi and would be staying next door to Shikamaru and Kiba. He'd decided to skip orientation week, but that meant he hadn't registered yet.


"I wish the international office here had told me. They just sent out emails asking when everybody would be arriving and they said nothing about my arrival date. Now what am I going to do?" he asked morosely.


"You'll just have to go see Siobhan on Monday in the international office. I wouldn't worry over it too much, they're pretty laid back here from what I've seen," Shikamaru said, munching on an apple.


That night they watched Jurassic Park 3 on TV and stayed up until 2am just hanging out, cracking jokes at each others' expense. Naruto couldn't believe he was having so much fun already. As he and Sasuke walked back to their flat, he wondered about their other roommates who had yet to appear. He was so busy contemplating that he didn't notice the sidewalk in front of him until it was too late. Tripping, he threw his arms up to catch himself on the pavement, but was abruptly stopped when his arm was caught in a firm grip.


"Can't you even walk properly, dumbass?" He jerked Naruto up until the blonde had his feet under him, and then he abruptly let go and marched to their building.


Naruto shook his hand to get some feeling to return and ran after Sasuke. He was a little miffed over Sasuke’s words. When he was right behind Sasuke, he hissed, “Well, thanks for the help, bastard.” He shook his hand again and muttered, mostly to himself, “Geez, one has to wonder if we’re really friends sometimes.”


Sasuke stopped abruptly at his words, causing Naruto to ram right into his shoulder.


"Owww!” Naruto hollered. “My nose! Why'd you stop so suddenly?" He swiped a finger under his nose, checking for blood, but found none. He then held it between his thumb and index finger, and glared at Sasuke from under his hand.


Sasuke was looking at him strangely. His dark eyes searched Naruto’s for a minute before he looked away. “Sorry,” he mumbled. Then he turned and hurried back to their flat, leaving Naruto standing on the sidewalk with his mouth agape.


Did he just say ‘sorry’? The blonde man continued on to their flat, at a more leisurely pace than Sasuke since he was deep in thought. It was fairly obvious that Sasuke didn’t apologize often, if ever, judging from his reaction. But he apologized to me! Naruto didn’t know what that meant, but he did know he had a friend and that made him happier than he’d ever felt before.



Changes: Nothing too major in these first two pieces. Mostly, I just changed Naruto and Sasuke's first impression of each other. There is no slight attraction along with the animosity between them in the beginning. I think this version is much more believable. My problem was that I was pushing too hard for them to like each other that I did it very sloppily. They're just too OOC if you make them like each other from the beginning, because they are first and foremost rivals before they are anything else.

Sasuke is now from New Jersey, not Georgia. There is a reason for this, and should be fairly obvious when you think about it.