CHAPTER 5: Losing to You

A/N: So... thanks a lot for making time to read another chapter of this book ( 〃▽〃)I hope you enjoy it 🤗

There lay Sasuke with his eyes closed and his head resting on the tree trunk. He had earpods plugged into his ears, and he was almost subconsciously humming the tune of the song. His black locks were flowing along with the wind. He looked beautiful, like an angel to Naruto. He could have looked at him all day if it wasn't for the lesson he had to go back to.

Naruto slowly walked up to Sasuke and sat beside him, crumbling a few dried leaves on the ground under his weight. Naruto watched him in silence, and before he knew it, he was smiling.

'He looks so peaceful.'

Naruto admired the face of the raven who now had a name.

'Sasuke...huh'

Naruto reached out and moved his hands to grab Sasuke's earpods. He removed one of them from Sasuke's ears and placed it in his own. At first, Naruto was surprised at how similar their taste in music was. The song "Hurricane" by Prevail was nearing its chorus as Naruto recovered from the slight shock and began vibing to the song.

Sasuke's eyes shot open as he felt something warm touching his ears. He lifted his head and turned it sideways to be greeted by the sight of the most handsome man, the blond whose name Sasuke had gotten to know a while ago.

'Naruto?'

Sasuke thought to himself as he feasted on the gorgeous view before him. Naruto was leaning against the bark of the same tree as Sasuke, his eyes shut and a slight smirk on his face. His head swayed a little to the tune. He looked so relaxed, as if he hadn't just invaded Sasuke's personal space, disturbed him by taking his earpod off, and was currently listening to a song from Sasuke's playlist (which was a very personal thing for him). Sasuke pushed his thoughts to the back of his mind and decided to question the blonde's actions.

"Oi, dobe! What do you think you're doing?"

Naruto opened his eyes and looked Sasuke in the eye. He shifted a little in his place before hunching his back slightly to bring his face to Sasuke's level.

"Teme... you do know that I am technically your sensei, right?"

Naruto spoke in a tone that Sasuke thought carried hints of mischief, but he spoke facts. However, seeing how unfazed Naruto was by Sasuke's attempt to annoy him, Sasuke decided to continue it further. He found the interaction a little amusing in some way.

"Says the one who asked his students to call him by his name without any honorifics. You asked for this, remember?"

"So you were paying attention to me all along?"

Naruto was now smiling in the cockiest way Sasuke had ever seen anyone do it. He could feel his cheeks flush with blood from the embarrassment of getting caught. He needed to end it quickly. He could feel his walls crumbling, and he couldn't let that happen with a complete stranger. He had to leave that place and go away from Naruto, now.

"You said you were my sensei, right? So, Naruto Sensei, please act like a sensei and don't invade the personal space of your students."

Sasuke spoke in his usual cold voice as he roughly took out his earpod from Naruto's ear and shoved it away along with the other one. He quickly got up to his feet and dusted away the mud from his uniform. While doing so, he could see Naruto's face turn to a frown before the blond spoke again, sounding more annoyed than before.

"Oi! Why are you being so mean? I was trying to talk to you nicely, dattebayo. What is your problem?"

"You,"

Sasuke replied in his low voice. He turned away and was about to start walking when Naruto grabbed him by his arm and shoved him against the tree. Sasuke's eyes flinched a little with pain as his back came into contact with the hard wood. Naruto closed the gap between them and leaned down to look Sasuke in the eye.

"Since I am your sensei, I've caught you bunking my class, you bastard. You're taking 100 extra laps today."

Naruto's voice was dangerously low. Sasuke could swear that he saw Naruto's bright blue eyes turn fiery red with anger. Naruto had had enough, and Sasuke knew what he had done was wrong. But he felt vulnerable when he was in front of the blond. So, Sasuke, being Sasuke, had decided not to let him anywhere near himself because he did not want to expose himself to anyone, at least not that easily.

Hence, keeping up his act of being all prideful, Sasuke refused to apologize and decided to take Naruto's punishment, or rather Naruto's challenge, head-on.

"Hn, whatever,"

Sasuke muttered and walked out of the forest after Naruto had stepped away from him. Naruto followed him out of the dense periphery to the field.

Sasuke knew that he would probably faint by the end due to a lack of energy because he hadn't eaten breakfast, but he was too determined to keep Naruto away from him.

'I won't lose to you, usuratonkachi!'

As soon as Sasuke reached the field, he put his phone and earpods in the pockets of his shorts, which could be zipped. He then began taking rounds of the field. Naruto kept staring at his back as he went further and further away from him. He muttered a quiet "Tch" before walking towards the center of the field with his hands in his pockets.

Naruto kept on motivating his students along the way, shouting things like "run as if you're chasing your dreams" or "it's too late to give up now." He was trying to give everyone his equal attention, but a certain raven was stealing it more than any other. Naruto's gaze constantly shifted back and forth from Sasuke.

'Is it because they are similar?'

Naruto sighed, somehow successfully convincing himself that he was right about it.

Almost five minutes before the bell rang for the third lesson, everyone had finished taking rounds, except for Sasuke. His pace had been average and constant, as observed by Naruto. He dismissed his other students and asked Kiba to inform the teacher who would be taking their third lesson that Sasuke would be delayed for a while. He had planned to send Sasuke back after he had completed a little more than 100 rounds. As they all left, Naruto turned his gaze back to Sasuke, who was jogging continuously at a steady pace.

"How many have you taken?"

Naruto asked when Sasuke had neared the spot where Naruto was standing.

"75,"

Sasuke spoke without stopping and kept jogging as he passed Naruto. He didn't make eye contact with the blond, which somehow made Naruto feel uneasy.

'Why am I feeling so weird? He deserves what he is getting...'

Naruto tried to convince himself once again, but his conscience refused to accept his explanations. Naruto went and sat on a chair near the security guard's office near the entrance as he continued to watch Sasuke, who was now on his 83rd lap. He didn't even realize when he started counting.

'I'll let him continue for five more'

Naruto thought when Sasuke began running his 100th lap.

Sasuke was soon done with five more rounds when Naruto got up and yelled as Sasuke approached him.

"Oi! You can go now. You've got a lesson to attend..."

Naruto trailed off at the end as he saw Sasuke jog past him, ignoring Naruto and his yells. Naruto frowned as he saw Sasuke acting rude yet again.

'How stubborn... hmph!'

Naruto, now thoroughly pissed off by Sasuke's stubbornness, decided to let Sasuke do as he wished since he wasn't listening to Naruto anyway. Naruto sat back in his chair and began scrolling through his phone, not bothering to count anymore.

'He'll run out of energy soon enough. Let's see for how long he is able to keep up his cool act.'

*TIME SKIP* HALF AN HOUR LATER~

'Damn it... I can't take it anymore, dattebayo! He's going to faint like this!'

Naruto was at his limit. Sasuke had been running nonstop, and Naruto had no idea how many rounds he had run so far. But he could see the amount of sweat covering Sasuke. He also noticed that Sasuke's speed was slower than before, but he hadn't stopped once.

"Sasuke, stop! Your punishment is over! Go to your next class now!"

Sasuke ignored him once again as he continued jogging.

'This is madness, Sasuke.'

Naruto was fed up with Sasuke's stubbornness. He stood up, agitated, and stomped towards Sasuke. As Sasuke was about to pass him, Naruto harshly grabbed him by the arm and yanked him to the side. Sasuke almost fell from the sudden force, as his legs were too tired to support him against the pull.

"Look at you! Just stop already! What are you trying to do?"

Naruto asked in frustration as he watched Sasuke hunched forward. His other hand was on his knee for support as he was trying to catch his breath.

"Let *huff* go of *huff* me"

Sasuke said between pants. His looked tired, but his eyes were showing a different emotion. Naruto couldn't place a finger on what his expression meant.

"No. How many laps have you run? Stop running, dattebayo..."

"I will *huff* after 28 more," Sasuke said, catching Naruto off guard.

'When did he take so many rounds?' Naruto wondered.

His grip on Sasuke's arm loosened for a second, and Sasuke took advantage of it. He swiftly removed his arm from Naruto's loose grip and began his jogging spree again.

Naruto snapped back from his thoughts as he felt Sasuke slip away from him. He scoffed as he realized Sasuke wouldn't stop no matter how hard Naruto tried. Naruto decided not to stop Sasuke again because if he stopped in between, it could be extremely painful for him to complete the remaining laps.

'It's better to complete it while his legs feel numb.'

Fifteen minutes later, as the bell rang once again, Sasuke stopped and dropped to his knees in front of Naruto. Naruto quickly reached out to Sasuke to help him stand up, but Sasuke smacked his hand away.

"I've taken *huff* 200 rounds, sensei, *huff* so I'll excuse myself."

With that, Sasuke tried to stand up, failing a few times before successfully getting back on his feet without any support. He bowed to Naruto and slowly walked away, leaving Naruto speechlessly staring at him. Sasuke smirked as he felt Naruto's eyes on him.

'I won't lose to you, Naruto!'

A/N: And that was it! I had a lot of difficulty in choosing the name for this chapter. It was like another mission in itself😮‍💨 .Anyways, thank you for reading once again♡See you all next time d=(^o^)=bAuthor sound out ~ ✌🏻