I stared at my phone as I leaned against the stone side of the bridge. I was looking at the picture of Sasuke that I had taken on our first date. I smiled at the memory. That's all it was now, a memory. It had been a long time since me and Sasuke had even seen each other. All because of Haruno Sakura and her stupid high school crush.
She had wanted Sasuke for herself, and when she found out me and Sasuke had started dating she had gone on a wild rampage. Sasuke ended up saving her from Orochimaru, and in the process Sakura fell even harder for the black haired boy, and convinced him that he was better off without me. She showed him what a monster was really like, said she was much better than me. Stupid Uchiha believed her too.
A chilly wind blew, making me shiver. It was winter in Konoha, and the place was covered in snow. It was this time, so many years ago; that I and Sasuke had gone on our first date. The memory had taken a sour edge in my head.
I was walking downtown with Sai and Gaara. We were meeting up with Kiba, Neji, Hinata Shino, Shikamaru and Ino. I saw the mall loom ahead of us. It had been nearly two years now since I was last here. I had normally gone with Gaara and Sai to the mall in Suna, because it was bigger. Sai was convinced I was avoiding Sakura and Sasuke. He was so right, but I was never going to tell him that.
The others were already outside the mall. They had convinced me to come to the mall with them today, because it was nicer to hang out together, rather than only meeting up now and again to go see a movie, at school or hang in the park.
"So where did you say we were going?" I asked Kiba in greeting. He just smiled, Akamaru barking happily at our arrival.
"Our annual paintball match with our favourite organisation," he replied with a grin. I smiled back at Kiba. We hung around with this group in school that called themselves organization 13. We were all pretty good friends, but we rarely met outside of school. We might've met once a month for a movie night, but in the last couple of months we started having paintball matches, normally every fortnight. Different members of organisation 13 would pair up with us every week to keep the number of people in each team fair. This week it was Saix, Xemnas, Larxene, Xigbar, Luxord, Luxeaus, Xion, Vexen, Marluxia and Zexion on one team, with Me, Talia, Demyx, Roxas, Axel, Gaara, Sai, Hinata, Neji and Kiba on the other team. Shino, Shikamaru and Ino never played. Ino always complained of breaking a nail, Shikamaru was too lazy, and Shino didn't like paintball.
We all headed into the paintball foyer. I greeted the other team, and we headed off to get our gear and team colours on. This week we were team Mortality, and the other members of Organisation 13 were team Eternity. We had to wear a green jumper underneath the gear, while the other team had bright blue.
Kiba had chosen for us to play one in the chamber. We basically had to take out the other team. We were given one shot, and you kept it if you hit a person successfully. If you didn't, you were automatically out, unless the other team gets out beforehand. This was my favourite version. I didn't like Capture the flag because it was too hard to capture the other team's flag and Last Man Standing went on for too long.
We got into our respective places and turned on our microphones. We had to wear contact devices so we could talk to the other members in our team about what was happening wherever they were hiding. A countdown started.
5... 4... 3... 2... 1... HERP!
We set off. I was awesome, blending in with my surroundings to hide from the enemy. I saw Larxene and shot at her, a direct hit. I whooped quietly to myself, already having taken someone out. That meant she was out for this round.
I watched as she looked around, trying to discover who had shot her. I smiled when she frowned, happy that she couldn't see me. I continued on my way, looking for more people to hit.
Gaara was just up ahead of me, aiming to hit someone. He missed, and the person he was trying to hit turned around and saw him. It was Saix. I quickly aimed and fired at him, almost missing, but I got Saix. Gaara turned around and gave me thumbs up. He would have to stick with me for the rest of the round because he had no ammo, and it would be awkward for him to not get himself out.
"Thanks for that," he said. I smiled.
"No problem! It's a shame though that you've no ammo left," I said. Gaara nodded and we continued on our way.
We were on the fifth round now. It was a draw between the two teams, and I was hoping that we would win the next round. I was pretty competitive when it came to games, and so far I had managed to not get out. It was me, Demyx, Axel and Sai against Marluxia, Vexen, Larxene and Xigbar. I had been surprised when Larxene had managed to take Talia out, because she was by far the best one at this. I was even more surprised that she was still in this round at all. She had been out pretty quickly in the other rounds, so it came as quite a shock to the rest of our team who were still in.
I shot and managed to get Marly out. The pink haired boy gave me a wink before heading to the base where the players that were out went. I was glad that he hadn't gone mad. Anytime we had gotten Saix or Zexion out, they had blown a casket at the person who shot them.
I was at home. We had lost to organisation thirteen, but we didn't mind. It was an awesome game, and then we had all went for something to eat together. It was hard trying to find a place that had a table big enough for our group, but we had somehow managed it. Gaara had even suggested we hang out in school, because a lot of us were in the same year as each other. They had all agreed, and Xemnas had said we could join the organisation, so that we could meet up a lot more often with each other.
A knock at my front door snapped me out of my day dream. I walked over to the door and opened it. A man I didn't recognise stood before me. He wore a suit, and had a briefcase.
"Can I help you?" I asked the man. He looked me up and down.
"I'm looking for an Uzumaki Naruto. Do you know where I can find him?" the man asked. I nodded.
"I'm said person. What can I do for you?" I asked him.
"It's about your parents," the man said. I indicated for the man to come in, and I brought him into the kitchen.
"What about my parents? I thought they were dead?" I asked. I remembered all too well the day that I had been told that my parents were killed in a car crash. I had to live with a distant cousin that I have never heard of before, then I had moved out the minute it was legal.
"We have reason to believe that they were murdered," he said. My eyes widened.
"Murdered? But they died in a car crash..." I was dumbfounded. That was the last thing I had ever expected to hear.
"I'm afraid that new evidence has come to light, and it seems that the meeting they had been on the way to was never on in the first place. We have reason to suspect an old friend of your father's. He has been brought in for questioning, and we are currently setting a court date for his trial. We need to know if you knew about any of this, because it is vital if you do. The man has admitted to doing other crimes, but we can't get him a proper prison sentence, so if he admits to murder, or is found guilty of it, then we won't be seeing him for a long while." I listened to the man as he explained. I was sad that I could not contribute to the investigation. I honestly had thought it was a car accident.
"I don't have anything to tell you," I said, "as far as I was aware they had died in an accident, not murder." The man didn't look surprised.
"I expected as much," he said. He was then quick to leave. I said goodbye and watched as he made his way down the short garden path.
I was in my room. Gaara had come over the minute I had rang him, and explained about my parents. I was lying down on the bed, and Gaara was talking idly about school. I was glad that I had phoned him first. Everyone thought that Gaara was quiet and shy, but that was not the case. He was one of the most talkative people I knew. He had this cool guy persona that he wore around everyone, but when it was just us, he was a whole different guy.
Gaara's phone buzzed in his pocket. "Hello?" he asked. I listened as he talked, though I couldn't hear what the other person was saying.
"Thanks. I'll tell him. Bye." That had to be the quickest phone conversation I had ever heard.
"Who the hell was that?" I asked with bored interest. I heard Gaara put his phone back in his pocket.
"Neji, he wanted me to tell you that Sakura was making a scene downtown. He thought it might interest you." I glared at the ceiling.
"Why would I care what she does?" I asked. I hid my anger well, but Gaara saw through my facade.
"Sasuke dumped her," Gaara said with a smirk. I bolted upright on the bed.
"He did what now?" I repeated. I hadn't taken it in.
"Sasuke – dumped – Sakura," said Gaara. He put an emphasised space between his words.
"Why would he do that?" I asked, still confused. Gaara sighed and rolled his eyes.
"She's not what he's looking for. It seems he's realised he had a fetish for blonde's," said Gaara. My cheeks reddened.
All of a sudden, my phone buzzed in my pocket. I took it out and checked the caller I.D. Sasuke. My heart skipped a beat.
"H - Hello?" I asked. I had frozen with shock.
"I broke up with her," said Sasuke.
"Why?" I asked him.
"Silly little dobe. I never really loved her. I found out she had Itachi put me under hypnotism and it wore off... apparently. That's what she says. She slipped up when she started talking about not being able to hang out with Ino 'cause Ino refuses to talk to her." I frowned. I had known Sakura was crazy about Sasuke, but to actually have him hypnotised was beyond insane.
"So why'd you call me?" I asked him. I could hear him face palming himself.
"Can I come over?" he asked. I looked to Gaara, who nodded and winked. I felt myself blush again. Stupid, stupid Gaara.
"Sure," I said grinning. I said goodbye to Sasuke and hung up.
"So he does have a fetish for blondes!" said Gaara. I gave him the finger. He could be so rude sometimes.
"Shut up," I muttered. He just smirked.
"I guess I'll leave then," he said. I smiled. Gaara was here so much it felt like he lived here with me.
"You don't have to go," I said.
"I wouldn't want to be a bother... Plus you two will need the space." Gaara was grinning evilly, and I was about to hit him.
I was pacing in the front hall. I was so nervous. The old pain from Sasuke leaving me for Sakura was back with a vengeance. I was so worried about what would happen, what he would say, what I would say. Whether or not what happened with Sakura was the truth, or if this was a sick game to get at me for something I did. I sighed. It had never done me any good to worry.
The doorbell rang and I froze. I stiffly walked to the front door and opened it. There, standing was Sasuke in all his angel glory. I could feel myself going weak at the knees. I imagined myself melting into a puddle on the floor.
"Hey," he said. I smiled.
"Uh ... Do you want to come in?" Sasuke nodded and I stepped back to let him in.
We went into the living room and I sat opposite Sasuke. My hands were sweating and I was struggling to not jump the boy in front of me.
"I'm sorry," started Sasuke, "for the way that I treated you. I should never have let Sakura get to me the way she did, and for that I am deeply sorry." I stared at Sasuke.
"So it's true?" I asked in a low voice. Sasuke just stared at me.
"You think I would lie?" he asked me. I blushed and looked at the floor. I knew that he wouldn't lie to me about something that was this big, but the old fears I had kept locked away were surfacing, and I didn't think I could cope with the pain.
"No... I just don't want to get hurt again." Sasuke stood up and hugged me. I wasn't expecting him to do this and we fell back, landing on the floor. I could feel the coffee table leg dig into me, but I didn't care.
My face was bright red. This was a compromising position, and I didn't want to admit it but it felt good.
"Sorry," said Sasuke. I chuckled.
"You ok?" I asked him. I could feel him nod his head.
"What about you?" he asked me.
"Nothing I can't handle!" I said, grinning. Sasuke got up off me, and held out his hand. I took it and he lifted me up.
"Would you like anything?" I asked him. He smiled maniacally at me and grabbed my hand. He swung me around till my back was against the wall and he was in front of me.
"...You..." he whispered into my ear.
"S-Sasuke, what are you-?" Sasuke put one arm on one side of my head, and then kissed me. My eyes widened, and I pushed him back. "Please, don't."
"Why the hell not? I love you, Dobe. I don't want to be with anyone other than you!" I just stared at Sasuke. I could feel my face heat up.
I grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him to me, till our lips met. If I was being honest with myself, I knew that I had fallen for him even harder. The fact that he came back was making me light headed with happiness.
"I love you too, Teme!" Sasuke smiled, and we rocked back and forth to the beat of our hearts...
