As the final term exam of July approached, Sasuke became stricter. He wanted to see his pupil succeed and so he gave Naruto more work to do at home added to the homework already given by the teachers.

The smacks at the back of the head were back but since Naruto's level went up, he got less of them.

After their lesson, as they were tidying up the classroom, Sasuke said:

"By the way, good luck for the exams, Uzumaki."

Naruto looked at him, surprised. "Um, thanks. You too."

The next day, the term final exam began and lasted for 3 days, and it apparently went well for Naruto. The results would come only a week afterwards, and to everyone's surprise, Naruto passed all his subjects (with at least 50% at all of them) and didn't have to go to remedial courses during the vacations.

Iruka-sensei called Naruto and Sasuke to the teachers' room after the results came out.

"So what did I tell you at the beginning of the year, Uzumaki? You can do really well if you want to!"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever!"

"So Uchiha, how did it go with him?" Iruka inquired.

"Not bad, sensei. I think he just pretends to be stupid." Sasuke answered, in a matter of fact manner.

"Oi! Stop saying stuff like that Uchiha! I'm not pretending!" Naruto ranted.

"No? Then how do you explain your good grades?"

"I...It's probably because Uchiha is a good teacher, and lessons are more interesting with him, I guess!" Naruto confessed, blushing.

Sasuke's eyed widened, blushing a little in return.

Iruka-sensei giggled, "I see you are going along just fine! How about we keep these tutoring sessions for the rest of the year?"

The 2 boys said "okay" in an unmotivated voice and went out of the teachers' room.

As he closed the door, Sasuke said; "Hey, thanks for what you said in there."

"Don't imagine things, okay? I just told him the truth!" Naruto snapped in an awkward way.

"I know...That's why I said 'thanks'."

"N-No problem!" Naruto said. "Well, uh, see ya!"

He suddenly bolted toward the stairs leading to the exit of the school and went on his way home. Sasuke just stood there, a large smile on his face.

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The day before the summer vacations, Naruto was exhausted by the summer heat and often dozed off at the open window of the tutoring classroom during the evenings when it was the coolest.

Sasuke entered the room and came upon a sleeping Uzumaki, who was sitting on their desk and leaning against the open window frame. He approached silently and stood right there in front of him.

In the sunset light, Sasuke watched Naruto's sleeping face and noticed how handsome he actually was. He stepped closer and put one of his hands on the window frame, right above Naruto's head. He leant forward and said:

"Hey! You plan on sleeping here all night?"

Naruto's eyes flew wide open and bore right into Sasuke's deep black eyes. He tried to steady himself up but came even closer to Sasuke by doing so. The intensity of his friend's stare was unbearable so he lowered his eyes; he was now looking at Sasuke's lips and was reminded of the 'false' kiss. He blushed wildly and turned his face away. He still could feel Sasuke's warm breath in his hair and he whimpered.

"What's wrong, Uzumaki?" Sasuke asked in a hoarse voice.

Not facing him, Naruto put his hands on Sasuke's chest and pushed him away.

He got to his feet and went to sit on his chair in silence, his head turned towards the window.

Sasuke sat too and they studied, Sasuke doing most of the talking.

"What are you going to do during summer?" Sasuke inquired.

"I'm probably going to spend some time at some friends' house. You?" Naruto asked in return.

"Not sure yet...With my parents I guess."

"So see you after the holidays then?" Naruto said, holding out his hand.

It took Sasuke a few seconds to realize what the blond boy wanted.

"Ah, yeah." He returned, shaking Naruto's sweaty hand.

The shake lasted one good minute before they decided to go home. And for the first time, they went home together, even though they didn't have anything to tell each other. They said goodbye again and each of them went on their summer vacation with knots in their stomach.