After much revision here is a better-ish version of the start of my story "Definitely, Definitely Crazy". I am eternally grateful to the people that have helped me with editing 'my jumbled thoughts' into understandable sentences. My writing style is just writing it out to get the thoughts out of my and then thats where my lovely editors come in and help me go over everything so that it all makes sense or makes even more sense.
They are what makes my ideas really take light and give it life. I really hope that you enjoy the story.
Lifting heavy eyelids I stare hazily up at blurry surroundings. As I wait for the grogginess to wear off, the ceiling slowly comes into focus. This is the problem with a modern designed condo's, I guess. Everything is too simplistic; there isn't that warmth. That homey feeling you're supposed to feel when living alone. I need to redecorate this place, possibly hire an interior decorator or something. Arching my back in a long morning stretch, I steadily sit up and sway my legs off the side of the bed. The cool air hits my skin immediately. A tired groan escapes me as I rub my eyes, to then run my hands through my disheveled blond hair. Running my short nails along my scalp that sent a shiver down my spine.
"Forgot to put the heat on last night again, I see." Lifting my head to look over, my eyes settle on the woman leaning in my bedroom doorway sipping on her cup of Earl Grey tea. Her waist-long, pin-straight brunette hair is pulled to rest over her right shoulder. She crossed one arm across the waist of her white button up work shirt that was paired with a black pencil skirt that ended mid-thigh. She wore black tights, and as my eyes traveled they led to 3-inch, black heels. "I've told you before, but you don't listen. Big surprise there," she says as she takes another sip of her tea.
"Well good morning to you too," I grumble out as I stand up heading toward the kitchen.
"Maybe, if you wore more than your boxers to bed during the winter, you'd be warmer," she says to me as I make my way past her into the kitchen where the beeping of the coffee maker reminds me that, yes, there is a faint scent of heaven. After pouring myself a mug-adding enough cream and probably one too many sugars-I walk along the icy tiled hallway and plop down on the inviting couch. Settling myself in place, I bring the cup up to my lips to take a sip of the warm beverage. The sweet coffee fills my mouth and the hot beverage begins to warm up my body from the cold January weather.
"I wish we could get some fog or at least some rain, this cloudless weather and icy wind is such a bother," I mumble to myself as I turn to look out the large glass window that shows a breathtaking view of the park from my balcony. It's been a cloudless sky for the last month or so. While taking intermittent sips of my coffee I continue to let my mind wander. With the sun not blocked behind thick clouds, it's warm, but the icy breeze is incredibly unpleasant. Gazing out I get lost in the peacefulness of the view.
"You're 24, you really oughta do something productive on your days off. You're not going to accomplish anything by slumping about the house." I turn my attention from the view to send a glare to the person lounging in the chair across the wide living room, "that glare doesn't scare me whatsoever, you of all people should know that." she says with a smirk as she takes another sip of her tea.
"Jesus, at least let the coffee get in my system Kyu, I don't have the energy to deal with your lovingly pessimistic attitude right now, not when it's so early," I groan as I run my hand through my unruly blonde bedhead.
"It's 7:30," she says, as if that should be a reason in itself. Setting my coffee mug on the dark mahogany table I let my head fall back and I stare at the soft grey ceiling.
"I swear," I grumble as I get my coffee of the table and put my head in my hands, "so, whats the week looking like?"
"It's already Friday, but you're free until Sunday. All of next week is piled up for you at the corp. Monday there are final plans that need your signing off on. Plus your father needs you in on a meeting on Friday for company negotiations with a merger, then Saturday for the fundraiser."
"Suit or Tux."
"Tux. I have you in for a fitting Thursday afternoon after your 5:30 meeting with the developers. "
"Roger that. Thank you Kyu." Sitting up from the couch, I pick up my mug and head back into my bedroom to get ready for the day. Setting my coffee on one of the tables I open my walk in closet to throw together an outfit to brace the cold. The sound of the front door opening and shutting echos from the hallway.
Kyu has been my personal assistant since I first started working at my father's company. Full name, Kyūbi Ōtsutsuki. She's from Japan and worked for one of the companies that we merged with. My father assigned her to me when I was 19 and she was 21. There was quite a rough path the first few months, but after a while we became really close, kind of like the older sister I never had. And she's been with me since then and at my request, not with me everywhere. I pull out a pair of loose-ish black jeans, white short sleeve and a soft grey sweater with beige elbow patches. I might look for a scarf that matches when I get out of my shower. With all of the clothes thrown onto my bed, I walk over into my attached bathroom. Leaving the door open is never an issue, being I live alone and don't have friends that visit. I moved out when I was 18 and my dad got me this place. I started to work for the company at 19. It gets lonely from time to time but, all in all, I've gotten used to it. My father always worked when I was younger. So it was just my mother I, who is currently away. My dad started a company with his friend from college, Kakashi Hatake, and became quite successful with it. Climbing to the top of the charts of most successful companies. I have money in a trust for me to live on my own with, plus money from the company that continues to refill it. Long story short, I'm pretty loaded. But that doesn't stop me from from working hard. Not letting the money and fame get to my head. Helps when I have such amazing parents. I still see my dad every once in a while. But working the company puts a strain on his schedule, so I don't get to see him quite so often, same with mom.
After taking a nice, long, hot shower to wash away the tiredness of the morning, I brush my teeth, blow dry my hair, and get dressed. I finish off my coffee and sit on the end of my bed. I gaze out the huge plate glass window that overviews the park and part of the city.
'I'm going to take a walk. Haven't properly explored the area.' I decide as I get up from the bed, and walk back through the living room, drop the empty coffee mug in the kitchen sink and head over to the hallway before the frontdoor. I slip on some dark brown leather laceup boots and shrug on a thick forest green jacket before picking up my brown messenger bag and slinging it over my shoulder. I pick my keys up from the hook by the door, check to make sure my phone and wallet are on me, 'check', I head out, lock up, and walk down the pathway alongside my garage. Pulling out my earphones, I plug them into my phone and play some music to distract myself from my thoughts as I make my way into crowded downtown. Putting my playlist on shuffle 'Creep in a T-Shirt' by Portugal. The Man pumps into my ears.
Tucking my blue crystal necklace under my sweater I make my way down the crowded sidewalk. When you live in a crowded area of a city you pass a variety of people. From people in business suits heading to their big board meetings to errand employees speeding in and out of the dense crowd with messenger bags jammed full of files and paper work, poor kids. Students running to catch buses and trains, joggers, dog walkers. The city is buzzing with life and movement.
The music drowns out the cars, commotion, constructions, and conversations. Noise pollution.
The extreme number of people in such close proximity to me is starting to make me uneasy. Why did I choose to live in a highly populated city? It's where I grew up with my parents.
To evade the masses of people pummeling me as I try to walk, I cut down a small street and just walk and walk.
'Hmm, never been down here before' I pass by small shops. Some antique shops, some clothing shops, etc. 'strange how you can live in a city for all your life and have not been everywhere in it. This just shows I should walk around a bit more', after passing a few places I come across a book store. From the look of it it's been here a long time. Walking inside, there is a new additions shelf along with the most popular sales. Recognizing a few titles, but non of interest I continue my way in. It's an ornate little book store, the genres are in different corners of the shop with aisles holding them alphabetically. Striding my way from section to section, nothing so far catches my interest. Too preoccupied with looking through the fictional books, I do not register the person making their way down the aisle in my direction.
"Can I help you find anything today sir?" The figure says, successfully catching my attention. Turning around I register that it is a kid. He looks a bit younger than myself. He stares at me with a bored like expression that suddenly changes into surprise. He's cute.
"No, thank you though. I'm just browsing through," I say as I give him a sincere smile. He fidgets a bit with the sleeves of his dark blue sweater and brushes his hand through his bangs that are covering most of his eyes. They're very dark.
"Ok," he looks back up to meet my eyes, with the help of the lights in the aisle I'm able to tell that they are a shade of very dark brown. "If you need anything, I'll..um..be at the counter up front or walking around putting things away."
I give a small chuckle "Ok, thank you," I say with another smile and a nod. He looks at me again for a minute. As he looks away, a small blush appears on his cheeks. He walks back to the counter, taking one last look over his shoulder as he continues on his way out of sight. I chuckle a bit to myself, as I mull over what happened whilst looking for anything that catches my eye. Nothing so far. I make my way down a few more aisles, trying to get a closer range of vision on the occupant at the counter. He looks to be around the age of 18 or 19, maybe working here as a part time to pay for school or just for some extra cash.
'So, it's come to ogling teenagers now', Christ. 'He's cute, you haven't given anyone a second glance in long time'. Sighing, I turn my attention back to the the books in front of me. While looking about through the aisles of novels, biographies, autobiographies, and mystery novels, every once in a while I would sense a presence. Looking over my shoulder every once in a while, I'd catch a glimpse of swift movement at the end of the walkway. Chuckling and brushing it off, I continue on with my business. Nothing today I guess, not too much of loss. Making my way up to the front of the store to the exit, out of the corner of my eye, I can see the kid stumble to hide the fact that he wasn't just watching me.
"Did you find anything today, sir?" he says politely as I make my way to the front.
"Nothing of interest," he gives me a smile that shows a little disappointment. He probably won't run into me again. People probably come in and out of this place all the time. "Maybe next time I'll find something," I say with a bright smile. He is a bit taken aback at the thought of another possible meeting. I give him a quick look over and decide that he's quite attractive. He has jet black hair that pairs well with his porcelain skin, and not a blemish to be seen, at least from my distance. He's wearing a denim button up under a dark blue sweater with small horizontal red lines. It fits his form but doesn't hug it too tightly and paired with black skinny jeans from what I can see.
"See ya," I say as I leave the store with a smile and a wave. I hear a pleasant 'goodbye, come again!' from inside the store and chuckle again to myself. I smirk and continue to make my way down the sidewalk as the wind blows a particularly icy breeze.
Walking through the park is short but nice. It's good to know the shortcuts in the park, with it being so huge and all. With the leaves of the trees gone there is a clear view of the sky, 'I might take a walk through here tonight. Maybe I'll even see a few stars, if I'm lucky.'
It's highly doubtful though, with all this light pollution it's a miracle you can see any stars at night at all. But, it's always nice to hope. Parents and nannies run by with children. A mom in particular has her poor four year old looking like he's ready to brace the arctic circle. I chuckle as the little guy waddles like a penguin, trying to divert his mother's attention to a squirrel he sees running up one of the park trees. Staring longingly at the kid I keep walking, pushing the thought to the back of my mind as I can see the exit of the park ahead. The thought resurfaces for a brief moment, I pull my phone out of my jacket pocket, scroll through the contacts and press talk pulling it up to my ear. It rings and the voice answers.
"Yes Naruto?"
"Kyu, what are my plans for Sunday?" I say as I see the mother looking over to where her son is pointing enthusiastically. I hear the clicking of a computer keyboard over the phone.
"Your weekend is free, remember. Why?"
"Oh right, I'm putting in an appointment." I say into the phone
"Sure thing," with more clicking in the background she comes back on, "should I set up for a car to take you there?"
"Yes. Have it pick me up and 10:30am."
"Ok, will that be all?"
"Yes, thank you very much Kyu." I say into the phone, I can sense that she's smiling into the phone as she replies.
"You are very welcome Naruto." After that the connection cuts and I return my phone to its place in my pocket.
'God it's getting cold out here,' I mumble as I pull my jacket closer to my body.
I pass by shop after shop, but there's not much to do. Standing at a crosswalk and waiting for the light to change, I look up to see small café on the corner of an alley on the other side of the street. It's small, maybe won't be too crowded. At this time of day, that quite unlikely. A hot cup of coffee does sound great right now. Could get something to eat too. The crosswalk sign beeps to cross and I make my way over to the cafe. 'Looks to have been here for a while. Could have been here for god knows how long'. I hardly walk in this area of the city. There are a lot more interesting shops that I have found. I might actually just start coming by here more often.
The bell of the door jingles as I open it. I am immediately surrounded by the warmth from the heating inside and it starts to melt away the cold from walking around. Most of which was just walking aimlessly about shops and through the park. Its a cozy place not too small but not big enough to house the morning rush at a Starbucks.
Looking up at the neatly written order of drinks, pastries, food options, and such, I ramble off my order of medium coffee and a berry scone. As she types up my order and moves over to the display to pull out my pastry and put it in a brown wax paper bag she then goes over to the brewer, I take this time to shrug off my jacket and shove it in my bag.
"Would you like room for cream?" she asks me before dispensing the coffee.
Looking up, "Oh, yes please. Thank you very much," I reply with a smile. She returns the smile and fills my cup of coffee with room at the top so when I add cream it won't stream everywhere. I've done that far too many times. Putting my coffee alongside my pastries on the counter as she rings it up.
"That will be $4.57, sir," she says with another kind smile. Handing her a five and getting my change back, I thank her again. "Have a good day!" she says as I make my way over to the condiment station, pour cream in, and add one too many sugars. Turning around I look around for a spot to sit and relax. Was this place this crowded when I first came in? Looking around from the front to the back tables there doesn't seem to be a spot. Sighing, I make my way down the walkway in search of a place to sit.
This is the problem with cafes, small ones in particular. People have their bags occupying all the chairs at a table that could fit four while the only occupant is sipping their coffee and swiping away at his phone or typing away on their laptop. As I'm about to turn back around I see someone a few booths from the back. Walking closer, I realize it's the kid from the book store. He has his earphones in, focusing on a paper probably. Judging by the many business books stacked to the left of his laptop and the one he currently had open with highlighter marks and post-its stuck to the pages. He's completely oblivious to anyone around him. I make my way over till I'm not quite standing in front of him, not to freak him out, but close enough for him to see me. The entire other side of the booth is free and it's the only other free one in the whole cafe. Clearing my throat in an attempt to make my presence known goes unnoticed.
"Hello?" I say, still nothing. I lean my head over to the side to hopefully catch his gaze, "Hello?" I say with a small wave of my hand to get his attention. Successfully he notices and glances up. It takes him a few seconds to register what is going on. He stutters a little and pulls out his earphones.
"I-I'm sorry," he has a small blush creeping onto his cheeks, faint but still there, "Oh, h-hi again, you're from the bookstore this morning," he says as he puts his earphones on his open textbook and looks back up to me.
"Sorry to bother you," I say as I scratch the back of my head, "I wanted to ask if you wouldn't mind me sitting here. See everywhere else is taken so," letting the sentence drag and fade there because I believe I got my point across. He looks a little taken aback by my request but with a slow nod he lets me sit.
"Thank you very much. Sorry again to bother you, I'm Naruto," I smile as I slowly take my seat opposite him. "If for any reason you want me to leave then, by all means-"
"N-No, it's no bother, I'm Sasuke," He slightly squirms in his seat, "Sorry for not noticing you standing there. Been working on this paper for one of my lectures." he says lightly, scratching his cheek as if to rub his blush away.
"No, it's not a problem. School work is important. By all means don't let me distract you," I take a sip of my coffee as I see what he'll do. He smiles, putting an earbud back in as to hear me if i should need his attention and continues to type away whilst occasionally glancing at his textbook for reference.
"If you don't mind me asking," I ask. He raises his head to me, "what degree are you going in for?" I take another couple of sips of my coffee and put it back down when he's about to answer.
"Business," he sort of states with a sigh, not taking his eyes or hands off his laptop.
"Yeah, those courses are pretty brutal. Hardest three years of my life. But, it's all worth it in the end," I say, taking another sip of my coffee. My comment seems to get him interested.
"You're in business as well?" He says, as he takes his earphone out of his ear again, giving me his full attention.
"Yeah. Taking over the family business so I got my MBA." I say, as I start working on my scone. He chuckles a little and sighs.
"That makes two of us then," he says with a crooked smile, fidgeting with one of the pencils that he was using to take notes, "my brother is more cut out for it than I am but, have to be prepared."
"Business not what you want to do?" I say with curiosity. Seeming a little taken aback by the question, he seems to be mulling over his thoughts of whether he should say at all or not.
"Well, not really," looking down at his lap, "But, it's what I'm expected to do." He says with a sigh.
"Hmm," thinking of a way to turn the conversation around, "If you could take anything right now what would it be?" Lifting his head, he looks at me with a bit of confusion and curiosity, like he knows what I'm asking but still wants to ask.
"What do you mean?" now giving me his full attention.
"Like," I lean back and think of how to elaborate, "if you could choose any career, anything. What would you want to choose?" I finish off my coffee and my scone and wait for him to answer. He seems to be putting a lot of thought into his answer, looking back down at his lap and fidgeting with his hands. After a minute or two he looks out the window.
"Umm, to be honest, I've always enjoyed art," for a moment he sets his gaze back to his hands, "In exchange for taking all of the classes necessary for my business degree I get one art class," he says with a true smile as he continues to look at his hands, "It may be one but it has to be my favorite class of the week."
"Looks like it really makes you happy", he looks back up at me, trying to see if it was a mocking statement, but finding nothing that would suggest so. "It's good to have something you're passionate about, something you enjoy greatly." I take a look out at the tree branches waving in the strong breeze that has kicked up since I got here.
"What about you?" I turn my head back to the voice the question came from. "Oh, umm, I-I was going to ask you the same thing. Is there some kind of dream career that you want?" He lowers his head a bit, as if he may have asked the wrong question. I give him a kind smile to reassure him that it's all right.
"I don't think it's much of a career, but I like to be a person to motivate people. Friends of my parents say that I'm a born leader, like my father is, and that I have the loud encouraging personality of my mother," I smile at him, "friends of hers and my father's tell me how much I remind them of her. Aside from the hair," I chuckle as I twist a few strands between my fingers, "she had long pin straight red hair. I get this unruly blonde from my dad. Though his always seems to look better than mine," I smile while ruffling my head.
"It looks good. It suits your bright personality," he says shyly, but then his blush comes back full fledged. Seems like he didn't mean for that to come out. He stutters for a moment and looks back down at his hands on his lap.
"Thank you," I chuckle to him, genuinely flattered by the compliment. He looks back up to meet my eyes, the blush still on his cheeks. We settled into a comfortable conversation, talking about this and that. More so myself talking for long periods of time and him responding when he found it appropriate. Once he became more comfortable, he started to share more about himself. From his studies in high school to his current courses in college. He talked about how his dad is the strict and stoic type that you don't typically want to defy, but when he grows fond of you, can be quite kind. How his mother is the sweetest person ever and always supported and continues to support him and his personal interests. She always bought him sketchbooks, paints, charcoals, etc. How his father made him go for a business degree so that he would know how to run the family business successfully when his brother and him inherited it. How his father believes that art is a pointless profession, without meaning or profit. But that his mother and elder brother have continued to supported his art endeavors. They even convinced his father into letting him take one art class of his choosing as long as he took all of the other classes that his father required him to take. After a long week of business, finances, economics, profits and such, it was a wondrous stress reliever to go into the art studio and throw all of his pent up energy into his art pieces.
"What art do you take? If you don't mind me asking," my coffee and scone long gone at this point.
"Advanced Drawing and Painting" he says.
"Wow, you ought to be extremely talented!" I say with true excitement, "you wouldn't by any means have anything you could show me?" He looks at me tentatively, then begins to shuffle through his backpack for a green spiral book. The edges are tattered, showing its constant use. Pulling it out and he flips through the pages 'till he settles on one and hands it over.
"Don't worry about smudging it, I've already sprayed it so it's ok." Looking at him and then back to the book being handed to me, I reach for it and begin to examine the art before me. It's beautiful. It's of the huge fountain in the center of the park that I can see from my house. Everything is in perfect detail. The charcoal is smudged perfectly to illustrate the shadow. It's as if someone took a black and white photograph and pasted it on the very page I'm admiring. "This one is kind of new. Mostly landscape sketches from the park," he says shyly, "you can look through if you want," he says more to the table than me with a sense of worry and nervousness.
"Really?!" I say in an enthusiastic manner. He looks taken aback by my positive response. He just stares at me and nods slowly. I flip to the next page to see the same location but it's of an elderly couple sitting at a park bench, holding hands while feeding the pigeons as they flock to them for bird seed. A smile makes its way onto my lips while I scan my eyes over each part of the intricate drawings. "Wow, these are beautiful. They really are. You're incredibly talented Sasuke," I say to him with a genuinely kind smile on my face as I go back to looking tentatively at each work of art. "I glance up through my bangs to see Sasuke fidgeting with his hands again but with the most genuine smile of happiness you could see on one's face. "Have you shown your parents or brother these?" I say as I carefully hand him back his sketchbook. His eyes move back up to meet mine, smile still in place.
"Just my mother and brother. They really love them and encourage me to continue," for a moment his smile falters, "my father thinks it's time that could be used on more important things. He tried to take me out of my art class with the argument 'that it was putting a strain on my work in the classes that he deems more important'," with a sigh, putting his elbow on the table and resting his cheek with his eyes on his hand playing with the pencil, he continued, "I focused completely on both, so that neither would suffer. My grades in all of his classes were perfect and I was still participating fully in my art class," he leaned into his hand, sighing and giving a small chuckle, as his smile came back, "his face when I showed him my grades," he chuckles again, "it was priceless. He never thought I had it in me. But I proved him wrong. And if I keep it up, I can keep an art class until I graduate, with the exception of continuing to take his classes," he says this with not much enthusiasm.
I'm mesmerized by this kid. This kid with a business tycoon of a dad steps up for what he's passionate about. "That must have taken a lot of guts. Your dad doesn't seem like the kind of guy you would want to piss off."
"No, no he's not," he says humorously.
"Well, it's good you did that," he meets my eyes, waiting for me to elaborate. "People lose track of the things that make them, well, them. Instead, most follow the careers that will give them the most success, the most fame or respect, but end up even less happy than they were before. But some are able to be successful and be truly happy. Everyone is different. My dad always says 'have a job that you enjoy going to every time you have to go to it'. That's what I want to do, do something that makes me feel happy that I'm doing it. Like I'm actually doing some good that will help others," glancing outside as the wind starts to settle down, "you know?" I look back at him and he looks at me with this look of deep understanding.
"Yeah, no I get that. Not make your mark necessarily, but make this life you're living worth all the time you put into it."
Smiling a happy smile towards him, "yeah, exactly," at this point a silence came into the conversation, but not an awkward one, "So, you work in a bookstore," I state. For a second he gets a confused look on his face, as if wondering how I know this. But then he quickly recovers with the memory of this morning.
"Yeah, I needed money to pay for my art supplies outside of class, to practice, and I guess I just grew fond of the working there. There's not much that I do there," he says with a shrug.
"What do you do?" I ask out of curiosity.
"Open, set the displays up, help customers find and purchase things, basic stuff. Running the morning shift is really peaceful. No one really comes into a bookstore in the morning"
"Except me," I smirk at my interjection. He chuckles.
"Yes, except for you. Other than that, it's pretty slow, I just get to sit around and read books. Plus it's just a few blocks from the park that I love to sketch. It's the only place beside the schools art studio that can feel at ease"
"I know what you mean. It's good that you have places that you can call your own, without the worry of others. A place you can stop and breath a clear breath of air."
"Do you have one?" confused for a second before, "a place to call yours?", saying this shyly. I lean back because it doesn't take me much time at all.
"I don't actually have one, yet. But, when I find it, I'll know it." I finish with a smile, he looks and smiles then down to his lap.
As we exit the cafe it's the start of the afternoon, too early to head back home. "You busy right now?" I ask, he pauses wrapping his scarf around his neck and stares at me. "I'm mean if you're busy that's ok. I just, thought I'd ask" I say while finding an interest in the cracks in the sidewalk.
"U-Umm," he stammers for a second then looks at his watch, "well it's almost 11:40 right now. My art class starts in an hour. You can come along with me if you want"
"Really!" coughing to settle down my excitement, "I mean, if that's alright with you?" he seems to be in a small state of shock and his blush is coming back while he opens his mouth and manages to stumble out a yes. "Awesome, which way is it to your school? You lead the way," his blush reaches the entirety of his cheeks, he rubs at them with his hand as if to erase their existence.
"On the other side of town. It's on the opposite side of the park. If we take our time we can make it there." nodding his head in the direction for me to follow. As we come up to wait for the light to cross over, a crowd of people start to form, also waiting to cross. As the crowd builds, people begin to move to stand in front of us, trying to get closer to the street. That's the problem with living in a populated city. Myself being 6 foot makes it easy for me to see my way through. Sasuke, on the other hand, is a few inches shorter than myself. He's maybe 5'9", at most 5'10". As we get ready to cross, I reach over and grab Sasuke's hand just as the crossing light starts to beep for us to walk. I feel him freeze for a moment but follow me through the crowd. With people pushing and shoving back and forth trying to make their way through the crowd, Sasuke and I are pushed close together. Sasuke's hand tightens around mine. I sense he's gone a bit rigid and his palms are starting to sweat. I can feel his pulse racing through his hand. Oh no, I hope he isn't claustrophobic. With force I plow our way through. Just one more streetlight to wait at and we will be at the park. Looking down, his cheeks are bright red and his breath is coming out in small puffs visible from the top of his scarf with his eyes just a tad bit wide. Finally, the crosswalk sign starts to beep to signal we can cross and I pull Sasuke close to me to maneuver our way through the crowd. When we reach the other side I make our way out of the crowd coming up from behind us.
"God, it can get really crowded," I say as I take a few breaths. Looking down at him he has his eyes trained on our still joined hands. "Sasuke? Sasuke, are you ok?" nothing, leaning forward and waving my hand in front of his view he responds immediately gripping my hand and looking straight back up at me.
"I-I I'm sorry, did you say something?" he says, his cheeks still flushed.
"Are you ok? You went rigid back there. I didn't know if you're claustrophobic and you were having a panic attack so I just got you out of the crowd as fast as I could. You feeling better?" I ask genuinely curious to see what freaked him out before. He just stares at me with a confused look, "you were acting really nervous when all the people were around us so I thought maybe you might be claustrophobic." His confusion quickly turns into flustered embarrassment.
"Oh! No, it's fine! Really!" he says waving his free hand in front of himself.
"Oh good, you scared me a tad back there," I release a sigh of relief. "So, where to now?"
"Hm? Oh, umm this way," he says as he pulls our still linked hands, seeming to have completely forgotten about it. Making our way into the forested park the cut off from the sun and the continued chilling breeze starts to take a toll. Releasing Sasuke's hand I look into my bag to pull out a thicker jacket.
"You mind holding this for a second?" I say handing over my messenger bag to him. Giving a small nod he takes it and I'm able to shrug on my jacket with a few moments of fixing the sweater and shirt underneath. After fixing the collar I stretch my hand back out to him "Thanks, it's gotten so cold lately I've taken to just carrying a winter jacket just incase," I sling my bag back over my neck to my other shoulder and have the bag rest on my back.
As we walk through the path of the park, with the direction of Sasuke, we fall back into comfortable conversation. "So you've lived here your whole life?"
"Yeah, and today was the first time I have been in the bookstore you work at. Shows there's still a lot of exploring I have to do," I say as I look up at the branches above us as we walk. "What about you? You live here too?"
"My family moved here for business about a year ago. Plus it was near the college my father has me going to. At first I was really against it. Leaving my friends back home. Right when I thought I was just going to be miserable here, on the first day I passed a bulletin board in one of the hallways. I saw that they had a free spot in a drawing and painting class at my college. At first I ignored it. But when it was still there after a couple of days I decided to just go up and see if the spot for a student was still free," the same genuine smile from when I complimented his art was back, "I never thought that the teacher would think I had the potential to be in her class. But she greatly enjoyed my work and signed me into the class. Since then, it's been my favorite place to be."
"It really makes you that genuinely happy huh," I smile at him, turning with the same smile in place.
"Really, how so?" he asks.
"Just by how you talk about it and how it makes you feel. And," I say while reaching my hand over and tapping my index finger to the corner of his smile, "because you give a smile that shows so," his blush ignites on his cheeks as he quickly turns his face away. Laughing it off we continue walking. Out of the corner of my eyes I see him rubbing where I poked him. He has an embarrassed look on his face but then, as his hand stills in place, a small heart warming smile makes its way onto his face. For a while we just walk in a comfortable silence through the rest of the park. I look over at Sasuke every once in a while and he seems deep in thought. After he almost walks into a crowd of people I reach over and grab his hand to lead him out of the way. With nothing showing he wants me to remove my hand I keep our hands joined. It helps, with how spaced out he seems to be. Casting my gaze from him to up in front of me I see the exit. On our getting closer to it a large school looking building comes into view. Nudging Sasuke with my shoulder I get his attention back.
"Hmm?" he asks
"We're here I think."
At that Sasuke looks forward at the school that's coming closer and closer. A look of disappointment comes across his face. We walk out of the park and come to a halt standing at the open area.
Sasuke looks down and shuffles his feet finding the floor more interesting. "Umm, thank you for walking me here."
"Not a problem! It was really nice, thank you for letting me accompany you." I give an eye closing smile. He pulls his eyes away from me as his cheeks flush again when I let his hand go.
"Well, yeah. Umm.. t-thank you again for..uh..walking me here." He gazes up at me, his bangs covering some of his eyes.
Chuckling again, I say, "You're welcome." I watch Sasuke start to walk towards the crosswalk leading to the college, turning back once more to give a small wave back to me.
When Naruto is out of sight the crosswalk beeps for me to walk and wakes me from my stupor. Crossing the street I make my way onto the campus. The whole journey to art class my mind is elsewhere. 'Did that really happen?', while on autopilot I find my way inside the art building on campus, up to the second floor and into the classroom. When I get seated there are only a few students inside. They are still setting all of their supplies up, 'good I'm early' I think to myself. After setting down on a stool behind an easel I start unpacking my supplies. I pull out one of my larger sketchbooks and some charcoals for class. My day goes as it always does.
With small light strokes of my pencil an outline starts to take shape on the large canvas leaning against the wall of the spacious studio. When it came to drawing and painting my mind would seem to switch into this ultimate state of auto-pilot. My full attention being on the large white blank emptiness in front of me, patiently waiting to be created into whatever my mind deemed fit. Starting from the center left side and branching out from there the painting starts to take shape. My hand seems to move of its own accord, my mind wanders to a certain individual that had been on my mind for most, if not all, of the afternoon. Finished with outlining, I start bringing out the acrylics, taking my time to mix each color to the desired greys and browns to fit the winter park. After that I start to work on Naruto's attire, saving his face for last. Starting with the warm shade of his skin. I then move onto his eyes, bringing out all of the lighter blues in the iris by contrasting them with a darker color. After mixing blue after blue I come to the closest shade that resembled them. They started out slightly darker around the edges of the iris and then became a light crystal blue around the pupil.
The teacher made her way along the classroom, eyeing everyone's work. She would stop for no more than a few moments at each student and then move on to the next. She reached my painting as I'm adding a couple of final touches to the face before going into more detail on the background. She marvels in the creation thus far.
"Beautiful work as always Sasuke," broken from my day dreaming, I was startled to find out that I had started drawing Naruto, "will we be seeing this in the studio's open house?"
"Oh," taken aback quite a bit by the suggestion I quickly mull it over, "do you really think it has potential ma'am?"
With a smile she replies, "Indeed I do. Whoever this young man is, he's certainly had a lasting impression on you. As you were." The teacher goes back to making her way about the room, I takes another look at my work. My heart flutters as I remember. It's of a moment when Naruto had stopped on our walk to look at the huge leafless trees. He had been looking up with the most blissful smile spread across his face, and a cloud of vapor had escaped from his mouth when he'd exhaled his warm breath into the chilly air. At first glance of the drawing, your eyes would immediately focus on Naruto's soft, sun-blonde hair, it shone brightly in contrast to the dark sky surrounding his head. But that wasn't even his most captivating feature. That title fell to his eyes. Anyone who would spend more than a couple of minutes with him would become mesmerized by them. They're the kind of eyes that demand your attention. The light blue crystal necklace hidden in his soft grey sweater accentuated them perfectly, almost demanding you to stare into them. Sasuke was fascinated by them.
"I've got it bad," I mutter, wiping the sweat off my brow as I shake my head and sigh. I lift my gaze to give my artwork another glance.