AN Updated 5/18/16: For those of you new to the story, you can disregard this new AN since you won't know the difference. For the people who have been reading it, I did have to make some changes to make the story flow a lot better. Like when Sasuke returned to Konoha and whatnot. Nothing major, everything pretty much remained the same minus some little stuff. Thanks for reading!
Author's Note: Hey there! Not much to say really. I'm trying to use a stupid and cliche plot to try and make a half-decent story. I hope I succeed, and I hope you guys like it. I don't know how often I will update this, or even how long it is going to be. This little bunny has been jumping around in my head for a while, just begging to be written. I would appreciate it if you could please point out any grammar errors to me. This is not beta'd(?) and even though I do check it to the best of my abilities, I'm pretty sure some mistakes will still show up. Thank you for taking your time to read this and I hope you like it!
Disclaimer: It's painfully obvious I don't own Naruto. So leave me alone and stop rubbing it in my face.
Everyone's Doing It!
Beginnings.
I hadn't been having a good day.
I woke up early on my day off. After tossing and turning for several minutes, I gave up after realizing that the Sandman wouldn't be making a return trip to me anytime soon.
Grumpy and in an overall bad mood, I decided to get up and go take a shower. By the time I finished, my stomach was protesting loudly from the lack of food. I ate a quick breakfast and decided to go out on a walk. It was around eight by the time I was out my front door.
I decided to go to the park and then maybe the library, if I wasn't feeling too lazy by then. I'd already finished reading the books I'd taken out two weeks ago and needed some new ones. And if I was lucky, I'd maybe even get to see Hiroshi!
Now that would be worth waking up early for.
With that thought in mind, I decided to head to the library first.
Hiroshi was the smartest, most sweetest and kind boy I had ever met. Not to mention, most handsome as well. With his short brown hair and charming brown eyes, he had the ability to make any girl melt at his feet with a simple smile. I'd had a crush on him ever since I was eleven and now that I was twenty one, I still had not gotten over his soft boyish looks. Kind of sad really.
I had talked to him a grand total of two times. The first time had been a quick apology; I'd accidentally crashed into him while I hadn't been paying attention, and promptly hauled ass outside of the library so that he couldn't see my flaming face. And the second time had been when he had come to ask information about volunteering in the library. I had been the only one working at the time (the rest were on their lunch break), so while struggling to not stutter, to not breathe too loudly, and trying to keep myself from blushing, I told him to hold on a second and proceeded to get one of my coworkers so that he could explain it to him. I wouldn't have been able to do it without making a fool out of myself.
I know, I know, it's pathetic. You would think that after so many years of crushing on a guy I'd finally make a move. But I never did.
Why?
It's actually very simple. The guy always has a goddamn girlfriend!
Trust me when I say I'm not the only one pinning after his pretty little behind. There are others, many others, who are just dying to sink their claws on him. Whenever he brakes up with his girlfriend, girls swarm to him in an attempt to win his favor and the one who gets there first, usually has first dibs on him. The poor soul is too nice to tell the girl he's not interested, and ends up taking her out just so she won't cry.
-0-0-0-
The main street is already bustling with activity as the shops and various merchant-carts lining the sides of the street are ready to go and busy with work as people, mostly housewife's, come out and purchase their products for the afternoon meal or for dinner. As I walk down the busy street, I see my next door neighbor talking to one of the various shop owners.
I hunch my shoulders and put my chin close to my chest trying to hide within myself to try and pass her without her noticing me. But alas, nothing ever evades that old lady's hawk-like eyes. Especially when there is good gossip to talk about. Akane, that's her name, motions for me to come over and I begrudgingly do so. I smile and say my good mornings to her and the shop owner, Aoi, and do the usual small talk.
Finally, it seems she gets tired of useless chit-chat and gets right down to business.
"Have you heard?" She looks at me expectantly.
"About what?" I respond clearly at a loss.
"Not about what, but about who!" Akane says excitedly.
"umm, who?" I say, still confused.
"Uchiha Sasuke of course!" Responds Aoi.
...Uchiha Sasuke...
I haven't heard that name in a while. Last I heard about him, he had finally gone back to Konoha a couple of years ago, I think. I can't really say I know much about him except for the basics, like his name, how he betrayed Konoha, how he helped Konoha in the war and that he was the last member of the powerful Uchiha Clan, right? I had been too busy trying to survive during those days to pay much attention to gossip. Thankfully, the war had been a little more kind (as far as any war can be kind) to Kimura since we had no shinobi and weren't exactly a grand town either. Not much to gain from us, sadly enough.
"That's the guy from Konoha right? The one that was with Orochimaru for a while?" I asked.
"The one and only!" Said Akane as if I had just told her the answer to life. Which we all know is forty-two.
"What about him?" I asked and looked expectantly from old lady Akane, to the friendly neighborhood shop owner Aoi. Hey, just because I didn't hear much of the gossip from before didn't mean I wasn't interested in whatever little information I did get.
At this, Aoi looked around, bent over a bit, raised one of his hands to his mouth, and got closer to us. He shot another nervous glance around to make sure no one was listening in and said, "He's here! in our little village!" at this, my eyes widened in surprise, but he wasn't done yet, "Konoha seems to trust him, but I'm not sure about him. What if he's still working for the Sound? The Fire Country is barely starting to go back to normal after the war. What if they're planning on taking us down while we're still weak?" Aoi finished and straightened himself up. He shot another look around as if afraid that he might be overheard by the Uchiha himself.
Fire Country was the best it had ever been really. Advances in technology, new businesses popping up everywhere, and all of the Shinobi Nations being allies now, meant that the economy was great. I didn't really understand what Aoi was talking about, maybe his business wasn't selling well? Giving him one last puzzled look, I turned to look back at Akane-Obasan.
"Oh, back in my days that would've been unheard of! No young man would've ever betrayed his village; or returned to it with his tail between his legs filled with shame!"
…I was pretty sure he had been an instrumental part in winning the war and Konoha had wanted him back but hey, what do I know?
As my neighbor kept on ranting about 'her days' I thought back to what Aoi had told me, and one question stood above the others in my head.
What the hell was he doing here?
I notice the attention of the two reminiscing adults switch to me and I looked at them as if I had been paying attention to them the whole time. "I'd love to stay and chat, but I have to go somewhere. I'll see you guys later," I tell them before Akane has a chance to pull me back into the conversation (not that I did much talking, but I didn't want to be stuck here listening to them talk about their Golden Age).
"Now you take care of yourself, dear. And don't talk to any strangers, okay?" She tells me in a motherly tone.
"I will, thanks!" I reply with a smile and begin to walk away.
"And no going out at night, and stay away from boys! Strangers or not!" Yells Aoi with a big smile on his face. I can't help but laugh along with him.
As I'm walking, I absentmindedly wave and greet people I know while thinking about this little bit of information I've just learned.
Uchiha Sasuke was here, in my village. The village where nothing interesting ever happens, where every day is just like any other day and where the only drama that ever occurs is a family dispute over the shocking news that their teenager is or has gotten someone pregnant. This is not a ninja village, so what would he be doing here? Of course, there is always the possibility that the rumors are false and it's just some random guy trying to get attention. Yeah, that's probably it. Nothing else. And even if he is here, I probably won't even get to see him.
But still, what the hell is he doing here? That is, if he is here at all.
-0-0-0-
As I walk inside the library, I am pleased to see that it is mostly empty, except for a couple of random people walking around looking for books. After all, it was a weekday and still early, so most people were working or in school.
I turn to the desk and see that Hiroshi is not there. Maybe he's not coming for his volunteer work today. With a depressed sigh I turn around and start hunting down some books. Until eventually I move close to the back of the library.
Unfortunately for me, I wasn't alone. On the other side of the isle, there was Hiroshi. With his girlfriend. In a highly, ermm, how should I put this, compromising position. I stood there shocked and frankly, a bit grossed out. They were completely immersed in each other, so they didn't notice me. Of course, if I'd had Hiroshi's hand up my skirt I probably wouldn't have noticed someone else either. They weren't doing anything more except being very feely-feely touchy-touchy, I think. And I did not want to stick around and find out if I was right.
I hastily turned around and fled the scene.
-0-0-0-
To say I was in shock would be the understatement of the year. I was completely and utterly blown away. My sweet, charming Hiroshi! How?!
Every fantasy I'd ever had about him was now shattered and was blown away by the wind that was now caressing my face as I walked back outside. I thought, I thought… well, I thought he was innocent! I think that was one of the things that attracted me to him. He gave off this air of innocence that was just, enchanting. To find out the truth this way, well, that made me feel shitty.
I walked back to my apartment with a cloud hanging over my head. I woke up early on my day off, I hear some freaking ex-missing-nin is in town, probably plotting our down fall, and I find out that my crush of 10 years, 10 years! Is a freaking octopus, not to mention I didn't even get a fucking book! Instead, I found out how long Hiroshi's tongue was, and that was not the way I wanted to learn that little piece of information.
All of this has happened already and it's not even eleven yet.
AN Updated 5/18/16: So yeah, I changed the ages. Nanami, our OC, is 21 and Sasuke will be 22-23 in this story. It's been a couple of years since the war, about five to six years and everything is good in the Fire Nation, Aoi is just a paranoid old man who's worried about his wife leaving him for his new, hunky neighbor, so don't listen to him! I'll leave the old AN's because, just because. Hopefully and it now reads better and makes a bit more sense! :)
Author's Note:The beginning is pretty slow and boring, but it'll eventually get better. Maybe next chapter. Drop a review and tell me what you think about this story and if I should continue it. It doesn't matter if it's just a "Hi!" or a "Your story sucks" as long as I know someone is reading it, it'll be enough to make my stomach fill with butterflies :D. I also hope my OC wasn't too Mary Sue-ish. I'm trying hard to avoid that. I know there was no Sasuke in this chapter, but be patient, he'll be here soon, first I'd like to establish that my OC did have a life before him and that no, it wasn't filled with angst or rapes. She's just a regular girl who, like many other regular girls, makes stupid mistakes (you'll see what I'm talking about).