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Three Chances
By: Kikushi
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One and two and three―
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The first time he noticed her watching him was on a rainy day, back in the Academy. It was lunch time, and every girl in his grade was flocking around him as usual. He was steadily losing his appetite with every coo of "Sasuke-kun, can I sit here?" and "Sasuke-kun would you like to try some of my lunch?" and "Sasuke-kun, I made this for you!" It was a tiresome routine that had begun almost immediately after his first day of school. The unwanted attention had overwhelmed him at first, but he was becoming more and more adept at tuning out his admirers' high-pitched voices and ignoring their persistent questions and presence all together. He was sourly poking at his self-made onigiri, barely hearing the squeals and giggles that seemed to constantly surround him, when his eyes drifted over to a far-away corner of the lunchroom. He felt his insides grow cold. For two whole seconds, Sasuke Uchiha let himself be intimidated by a girl.
He knew immediately that she was not in his grade. She was older, most likely, and was probably graduating soon. She was sitting alone, titling her chair backwards in a tomboyish manner and twirling a kunai between deft fingers. In her other hand she held an open carton of milk, the only trace of her lunch. The table before her was empty and spotless.
She was looking at him with unabashed and transparent dislike. The amber brown tints of her eyes were shining with a pre-determined judgment and there was disgust written on every plane of her young, childish face. It was a face not made for such a severe and clouded expression. She was also eyeing the girls with something akin to disdain and jealousy, as if she wanted to be the one made for their affections… as if she thought she was the one more deserving. It was obvious by her expression that she also thought the girls were stupid, if not mentally defected, for wasting away their time and efforts by trying to get to know him when it was apparent that he didn't even want to be known in the first place.
When she realized that his gaze was upon her, she scowled darkly and rolled her eyes at him. She brought the milk carton to her lips and took a most unladylike swig of its contents before crushing the container and tossing it carelessly into a nearby garbage can. Wiping her lips with the back of her hand, she left, making a show of throwing back her chair and pointedly ignoring his general direction.
He frowned after her, thinking that her anger with him was gravely misplaced. He also looked for her the next day, but he never saw her eating in the cafeteria again.
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The second time he noticed her watching him was on a cloudy day, in the Academy's library. It was lunch time, and he had finally managed to find blessed solace away from the noisy, crowded lunchroom by hiding away under a window inside the dingy library. He was sitting cross-legged on the floor, his usual lunch balanced carefully on his lap, his mind tranquilly blank. He was savoring the silent peace of the moment when a loud 'ahem' made him look up to his right.
She was sitting in one of the study tables, about twenty feet away, glaring at him. He realized with a frown that he had finally found the answer for her absence in the cafeteria and that he had probably just disturbed her new private sanctuary… It was too bad, Sasuke thought grimly, matching the girl's ferocious stare with one of his own, she would just have to share.
He noticed that she was in a position that was an exact replica of how he had seen her a few weeks ago― tilted chair, kunai, milk and all. She was almost wearing the same look of disgust, but there was another emotion swirling in her brown orbs that wiped away every other thought in the Uchiha's mind. Loneliness. Her loneliness was palpable; he swore he could feel it and almost mistake it as his own… It was a familiar kind of loneliness, one that knew the hardships of being ostracized and the burden of growing up as one's own caretaker. He had a passing thought, then, that maybe he should try and make friends with her, that maybe he should try and make her see that he was an ally and not an enemy… that they were in the same boat.
He stood, ready to put his thoughts into actions when a blur of pink and purple and yellow blocked his view, and suddenly the three colors were all he could see―
"Oh, Sasuke-kun here you are! I've been looking everywhere―"
"Oh no, Sasuke-kun! You dropped your lunch! Here, let me―"
"Move it billboard-brow! I'll do it―"
"Get away Ino-pig! I had it first―!"
His eyes peered past the unwelcome visitors, looking for the one he now considered his only ally… She was getting to her feet with a heavy scowl on her face, looking at him with every trace of loneliness gone in her eyes. Her gaze was sharp, cold steel as she looked into his weary obsidian orbs, silently pleading her for help; take me to your world… far away from these people… where I can be left alone, in peace…
Her smile was pure evil, a small twist in the upper corners of those pale pink lips. You deserve this…!
She departed quickly and silently, the only trace of her presence being the milk carton she left on the table.
Sasuke couldn't help but feel that her irritation with him was highly misplaced. He looked for her again in the library the next day, this time surrounded by all of his well-informed female classmates. She was nowhere to be found.
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The third time he noticed her watching him was on a snowy day, in the Academy's upstairs hallway. It was lunch time, and he was on his way downstairs to the lunchroom when a large group of giggling girls assaulted him with their silly handmade holiday gifts. They were all fighting and shoving and pulling each other for the honor of presenting their gift to him first, all the while shouting things like, "Sasuke-kun, open mine first!" and "Sasuke-kun, happy holidays!"
He was debating the effort and consequence of shouting at them all to leave him alone when his eyes drifted to the staircase. There stood a lone figure, frozen, having just ascended the stairs to witness the entire scene. It was her. There was no kunai or milk carton in her hands this time. No; this time, she was holding a small box, wrapped beautifully with shimmery gold paper and red ribbons. For a second he thought that she had also brought him a gift, and for the first time he found himself yearning to accept it, to open it…
But then, as if she had read his mind, she scoffed, her previous blank expression crumpling into the special disdain she seemed to have reserved for him. He watched as she walked past his prison of admirers and― his eyes widened with surprise― dropped the beautiful gift into the garbage bin next to the teachers' lounge before disappearing around the corner. He let his curiosity get the better of him by walking straight to the garbage and digging out the present, expertly ignoring the cries and questions of the girls still surrounding him. Tucking the gift under his arm, he pushed his way down the stairs and swiftly entered the boys' bathroom where he was finally able to examine the packaging with open interest. There was a white label tied to the bow of the ribbon, and he silently read the inscription.
To Tenten,
Happy Holidays!
From sponsors of the Konoha Village Orphanage
There it was; all he ever needed to know about her. She was called Tenten, and it was as he had expected. She was an orphan. She was a lonely orphan brimming with pride and bitterness and self-preservation. She had, after all, hauled the sympathy gift with her all the way to school just to dispose of it. Secretly spiting those who cared for you; she really was no more different than he… He, with his female fans, she, with her faceless sponsors. They were the same. They were allies. How could she not see it?
He remembered the lonely jealousy burning in her eyes and felt that her envy was terribly misplaced. He was no better off than she was, and he was more determined than ever to redeem himself in her eyes… to finally seal their alliance. But he never saw her again within the Academy's walls.
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One strike, two strikes, three strikes, out!
It was a bright, sunny day in springtime and he was more focused on gazing out the window than on the lecture droning out of Iruka-sensei's mouth. There had been a ceremony outside for graduating students just before lunchtime and judging by the way people were milling about on the Academy's grounds, Sasuke Uchiha concluded that it was already over. He was impatient to get his schooling over with and felt a twinge of regret that he was not one of the fortunate inmates being set free from the prison walls of the Academy. He was regarding each newly formed trio of just-promoted genins with dislike when he caught a glimpse of familiar liquid chocolate hair shining brightly in the sun. His gaze was drawn to her automatically and he froze.
She was laughing.
If it weren't for her telltale hairstyle and attire and twirling kunai, he would have never guessed that it was really her. Her face was cherubically playful and genuinely amused as she regarded the green-clad man, most assuredly her new sensei, standing before her. A slight panic seized him, but he could not move. No, no, no, no, no… Look, look over here… look at me…
Don't―
He watched as she surveyed her new teammates with slight interest; one shabbily-dressed black-haired boy with thick eyebrows and a Hyuuga― he could tell, even from a distance― with long, dark brown hair and folded arms. He seemed displeased with his new team. The haughtiness and superiority etched on his face was painstakingly apparent.
Her ever expressive amber brown orbs immediately noticed this from the Hyuuga, and her face fell slightly as a familiar dark scowl took over her once-gentle features. He almost stood from his seat, his grip on his pencil tightening hard enough to snap the thin wood in two.
Don't―!
How could she look at someone else like that? How? It was he, Sasuke, who was her sole ally! They were allies, were they not? How could she not see it? How? How, how, how, how―
One step, two steps, three steps, gone.
She was moving farther and farther away from him now, making the distance between them wider and longer and infinite until he could not see her, his only ally… could not see the other side any longer. She was leaving him, her only ally, and she didn't know what she had; she never knew, will never knew, because she never saw what she had.
And he never told her.
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One and two and three―
He was given three chances and missed them all.
She never looked his way again.
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End. Sort of random... review?