Disclaimer: Refer to first chapter.
Chapter 1:
NORMAL POV:
Sunlight streamed through a half-opened window, into a certain someone's bedroom. Soft breathing echoed rhythmically throughout the room as the full extent of morning finally came about. Light shining onto a serene, pale face slowly coaxed that individual out of his slumber. Pale, lavender eyes slowly opened to the bright rays of sunshine that seemed to figuratively smile down on him. Said person gave a grimace in return.
'Why is the sun shining at this hour? I hardly got any sleep. Karma, that's what it is. Bad karma.'
Neji got up slowly, not without hissing quite cat-like at the sunlight. Then, inch-by-inch, he slowly slid out of bed. Making it in his lethargic state, it took him longer than usual to fix his bed.
Squinting slightly, Neji glanced at the clock on his bedside table.
"7:39 AM" he spoke aloud, not to anyone in particular of course. Proceeding to the kitchen, Neji switched on the kettle to make some tea, as an attempt to wake him up.
Dressed in nothing but a pair of long pyjama bottoms, he hoped it was enough to warm him up too.
The kettle boiled. Grabbing a sachet of herbal green tea and quite a large teacup, Neji hastily made his tea and then sat down at the table.
He set his tea down and was about to drink it when he stopped abruptly. Neji blinked once, then twice. 'Forgot the milk.' was all he thought as he stood to do just that. As he closed the fridge after using the milk, he realised that a note had been pinned to the fridge. Carefully unlatching it, his eyes darted across the short page, briefly.
It read: "Neji, work called me in earlier than normal today. I've left some money on the table. The fridge is running empty. Love Sasuke."
True to his word, the fridge was indeed running low on food. Filled with nothing but half a block of cheese, eggs, milk and something that looked like a cross-breed between ham and tuna, (1) Neji realised he'd have to go grocery shopping later.
Narrowing his eyes in annoyance, Neji crumpled the note in his hand and chucked it in the bin. Downing his tea in less than 30 seconds flat, Neji placed his cup in the sink and made a mental note to wash it later. Walking into the bathroom, in slow, unhurried steps, Neji turned the tap on for a shower.
As he waited for the water to get warm, Neji entered his bedroom and randomly chose some clothes to wear. Walking back into the bathroom, Neji quickly stripped down to his birthday suit (2) and stepped into the shower.
Sighing in contentment as the warm water cascaded down his back, Neji blindly reached out for his shampoo and then began his daily routine.
Wash thoroughly. Rinse. Repeat. Take soap. Wash body. Rinse. Get out.
Neji turned off the tap and grabbed two towels. Wrapping one around his hair and the other around his waist, he stepped back into the bedroom.
Not more than 10 minutes had past, and Neji was walking out the bedroom, brushing his hair. Walking down the stairs, he made a mental record of what was needed from the store. Tying the end of his hair in a loose ponytail, Neji grabbed his keys and continued to walk out the door.
Halfway down the street, Neji realised he'd forgotten something. Rolling his eyes in frustration he rotated himself towards his apartment to retrieve the money.
"Stupid grocery shopping." Neji mumbled to himself. "I'mnobody's housewife."
Sasuke's POV
' One, two, three…Congratulations!!' is yelled from every corner of the living room Sasuke had just walked into. Eyes only slightly wide in shock (as Uchiha's never wear their emotions on the face excessively) as he is greeted with tons of family members, ranging from his own parents to long-lost cousins who hasn't really kept contact since his birthday party, 5 years ago.
"W-what?" is all that is muttered as a school bag is dropped from a hand of the 11 year old Sasuke.
"We heard that you got accepted into Kohona Academy." One cousin stepped forward. "They say it was the hardest school to actually get put up for. For all we know, there's probably still hundreds of children on the waiting list!" spoke another cousin (who Sasuke had forgotten the name of) who showed such excitement, that uncharacteristic of an Uchiha.
'Pfft. I doubt we're related.' Sasuke thought briefly.A soft, but easily heard, grunt brought Sasuke back to reality.
"Sasuke." Was all that was said but Sasuke immediately realised the owner of the voice.
"Yes, father (3)." Sasuke replied, almost timidly. Almost.
Uchiha Fugaku, Sasuke's father, was a man of few words, well from Sasuke's point of view anyway. Sasuke assumed that working in the Kohona police force could influence this, but wasn't completely sure himself. Nonetheless, this is what Sasuke wished to become when he was of age. Just like his father.
'Maybe he'll finally acknowledge me. The fact that I got in the same school as Itachi without any problems. Maybe…maybe he'll finally see I'm just as good. If not better.'
Sasuke thought with a newfound determination, a smile gradually gracing his lips.
Fugaku hesitated before responding, slightly. "I trust you'll follow in Itachi's example." Sasuke's previous smile faltered faintly. 'I-it's not exactly what I was hoping for,' Sasuke thought with a grim expression adorning his face 'But it's better than nothing! I'm sure that I'll be able to prove to father my worth. Not Itachi's!'
Sasuke regained his smile as the celebration went back into motion while said brother watched from a darkly lit corner.
"Sasuke. Sasuke!" a faint yelling of his name could be heard. Sasuke's eyes furrowed, in slight confusion. 'Is that, mother?'
"Sasuke! Sasuke!" The yelling got louder. Sasuke tried to answer but his voice died in his throat. The scene changed.
The sky was dark. Menacing, ominous clouds filtered the sky heavily, threatening to drown the world with rain. The atmosphere was bleak and cold. It was the perfect setting for some sort of horror film. Close enough.
Screams could be heard. Bouncing off the walls and into the unexpected ears of Uchiha Sasuke.
"M-mother? Mother! I hear you! Where are you?" Sasuke yelled while running in a not-so-straight line.
"Sasuke!" another cry out. Sasuke rotated himself a perfect 90 degrees and continued running. "Father! Is that you?!"
Screeching to a halt, Sasuke finally surveyed his surroundings. Blood, blood, blood. Everywhere. Sasuke's heart throbbed wildly in his ears. "No." was all that was whispered from the young boy's lips.
"Sasuke! Sasuke….Sasuke! Sasuke!"
" –suke! Sasuke!"
Almost flying out of his chair, Sasuke bolted straight up, much like an arrow, from his original seating position.
A deep chuckling was heard. "Sleeping on the job, are we?" the other person in the office taunted playfully.
Sasuke took a second to restore himself back to the world of the awake and living.
"No. Just resting my eyes, Kabuto." He replied coolly. Said boy casually pushed his rounded glasses higher on his nose as he placed a stack of papers onto Sasuke's desk.
"Well, I think your eyes need a wake-up call cause these papers are not going to read themselves." He muttered as he sat down in his favourite swivel chair.
"Yeah, yeah. I know." Sasuke said while half-heartedly looking for his pen. " Bloody four-eyed, boss kiss-up," Sasuke grumpily muttered under his breath. "What was that?" Kabuto asked plainly. "I said, did you hear about the four-eyed dog, costume get-up?" Sasuke replied pitifully. He inwardly winced. 'What am I talking about?' Kabuto looked at Sasuke with a strange expression. "What are you talking about?" Sasuke just waved him off in response. "Two words: Sleep deprivation." As Kabuto passed by Sasuke's desk to sit back down, the slate-haired boy thought he heard something come from Sasuke. "Costume shop. Think you should buy one." Kabuto looked up again. "What'd you say?"
"I said, could you hand me those flyers." Sasuke stated. Kabuto rolled his eyes in annoyance but passed it to Sasuke anyway. "Pfft. Idiot." He grumbled under his breath.
Kabuto looked up sharply. "What?" Sasuke said with a schooled expression of innocence on his face. Kabuto's eyebrow twitched, slightly. "Nothing."
As Kabuto sat back down, Sasuke finally located his lost pen. Unwillingly, he took the first sheet of paper work from the pile and placed it in front of him. Sighing indiscreetly, he set to work.
'What I want to know is, what in the world of all that is civilized, provoked me to becoming involved in the police force. It's a damn waste of time!'
Neji's POV
Wearing a blue and white striped hoodie with jeans dark blue converses (4) Neji finally reaches the grocery shop and enters with the amount of enthusiasm as a cat on a rainy day.
'Stupid grocery shopping.' Neji thought angrily in his head. 'This just isn't my day. What made it worst was my prior run-in with Lee.' Neji outwardly shuddered. 'That boy has too much enthusiasm for his own good.'
FLASHBACK:
Having found his keys (not without turning over a table or two) Neji continued his trip to the supermarket. Hoping to not encounter anything or anyone that he didn't particular like today, so far everything seemed to be going his way.
Preoccupied with running over his list of 'To buy:' in his head, he didn't realise that a person was headed straight his way. A person with quite a weird haircut and a person who has an unhealthy obsession with the colour green.
"Neji-kun!" a yell jolted Neji from his thoughts. 'Is that…No, it can't be?' Neji thought quite dramatically. "Neji!" The yell became louder. Taking in the green outfit (is that spandex?), strange awfully rounded bowl-cut and those same thickly shaped eyebrows that haunted Neji for weeks in the beginning, he realised that it couldn't be none other than….
"Hello, Lee." Neji deadpanned. As this was said, Lee screeched to a halting stop directly in front of Neji's original destination to the grocery store. Neji sighed. 'Now the supermarket doesn't seem so bad.'
"How are you Neji-kun? I haven't seen you in quite a while. Is it because you have been enjoying these joyous days of youth?!" Lee exclaimed. Neji looked about him. Trees dead. Sky bleak. Leaves gone. He raised an eyebrow. 'We're in the beginning of winter. What's joyous about that?'
"Um, sure Lee." Neji replied. "Ah, both me and Gai-sensei are awaiting your return to the dojo, Neji. I have greatly improved my fighting techniques. Gai-sensei said so himself!" Lee said with enough energy to fly an aeroplane to Australia and back. Neji inwardly winced. 'I've forgotten how loud he can be.' Neji thought. "That's good Lee." In response, Lee gave Neji a "nice-guy pose" and 'rewarded' him with one of his most blinding (oops…I meant joyous) smiles. Neji's own eyes widened a fraction. 'That's so bright! Damn! My eyes!'
"I look forward to our reunion (Reunion? It's only been 2 days…) in the future Neji." Lee said as he gave a sort of half-bow and began to lightly jog in the opposite direction. "And remember: Don't work too hard! Save that for teaching the youthful children of today!"
Neji twitched a little bit as he saw Lee depart the rest of the way. Letting out a breath he didn't know he was holding, Neji made a mental note to himself:
'Note to self: remember to bring sunglasses the next time I go back to work.'
END FLASHBACK:
Shaking his head to get that memory out of his mind, Neji entered the store and somewhat reluctantly, picked up a basket.
"Now, what do we need?"Neji muttered to himself quietly. ' Bread, cheese, rice and...Is there any pasta?' Neji furrowed his eyes, trying to remember. 'I'll get some anyway. I think some fruit and vegetables are in order, as well as some chicken.' Neji continued walking down the aisle while quickly skimming his eyes over the products in that section. 'Was there enough milk to last us? Will I need to buy more? There's something else…. Potatoes? Was it potatoes?'
Neji placed his basket down and huffed in annoyance. Glancing at the basket deserted on the floor he had a rather irritating thought. 'I think I'm gonna need a bigger basket.'
----Time Skip----
Walking out with 5 shopping bags altogether, Neji stomped (gracefully) down the street, but the weight of the bags caused it to look more like a half-limp or something.
"Damn shopping bags. They should at least use better material. The stupid plastic is cutting into my skin." Walking some more, he abruptly turned and stopped at the traffic light. "They could've at least let me use some more bags."
FLASHBACK:
"That'll be 3,000.00 please."(5) The girl at the checkout said to Neji. Reaching into his wallet, Neji took out the requested money and handed it to her. While she was checking it, Neji grabbed some plastic bags in order to put his shopping into. Not noticing she'd finished what she was doing in his rush to get out of there, the girl cleared her throat in order to be heard. "Your change." Taking the money with a rushed thank-you, Neji planned to walk out of the store but was stopped.
"Excuse me but you cannot use that many bags." The checkout girl said. Neji raised an eyebrow. "I'm sorry, I don't understand." She then pointed to a sign, which had escaped Neji's view, until now. It read: "All customers are intended to use a set amount of bags for his/her amount of shopping. The maximum bags to be used for 15 items, for example, would be 5 bags. Thank you."
Neji looked down. About 15 items is what he had. In his hands were 7 bags. 'You've got to be kidding me.' Neji groaned in frustration. Just when he thought he could get out, they pulled him back in.
"Policy rules." Was all the girl said. Neji sighed heavily. "You mean to tell me that even though I have a big sack of potatoes and two whole chickens along with a ridiculous bag of rice, I still have to reduce myself to a maximum of 5 bags?" The girl just nodded. Neji's right fist clenched slightly in irritation. "This policy doesn't make sense. The amount of bags should depend on the weight of the items, not the amount." The girl simply shrugged her shoulders. "Don't talk to me about it. It's not my shop." Grumbling crossly, Neji merely took his bags, along with his sack of potatoes, and left.
END FASHBACK:
'Bloody checkout girls and retarded policies.' Neji thought to himself with a sense of anger. Having crossed the road, he was only a minimum of 10 meters away from his house. But fate being somewhat testy today decided it'll get a couple of laughs out of deciding to make Neji's shopping bags burst. Which is exactly what happened.
A block of cheese thudded heavily on the ground as stray fruits and vegetables rolled to either side. If Neji was any less civilized than he was, he would of screamed out into the road a few phrases that would make even the most vulgar pirate blush. A harmless tin of sweet corn dropped onto Neji's foot, which received a violent kick in return. Dropping to his knees, Neji began to pick up the remains of his grocery shopping when a shadow entered his line of sight.
Cringing slightly Neji just hoped it wasn't Lee again. 'If it is, I will purposely jump off the nearest bridge. Sorry Sasuke.'
"Hey, you look like you could use some help with that."
Looking up, Neji was pleased to find that it wasn't Lee. But he was also confused as to find that he didn't actually know the person. Even with Neji's sense of pride (and boy was it big!), he wasn't so ignorant as to ignore help when he clearly needed it. As he realized, it's not as if he knew the person anyway. Who was going to tell?
"Uh, sure. I suppose if it's not too much trouble." Neji finally responded. "Well," the guy started as he kneeled down beside Neji. "If it was I wouldn't offer to help." It wasn't said in a patronizing way, but Neji took offense nonetheless (pride has come back!). " I suppose."
Picking up the items in a comfortable silence, Neji managed to get a good look at this guy. Tanned complexion, quite tall (from this perspective anyway), blue eyes and blonde hair. There were also 3 strange markings on either side of face, which made Neji a little bit curious as to how he got them. 'Hmmm, strange.' Neji thought to himself.
Picking up the last of the food, both Neji and this considerate stranger continued walking where Neji left off.
Not conversing much while walking, it would seem awkward to some, but there seemed to be an easy air between the two.
"This is it." Neji broke the silence. Glancing up and down briefly at the house, the stranger nodded in acceptance as he placed the items he held on the doorstep.
" Thanks for your help." Neji said to him as he fished in his pocket for his key and then opened the door. "No problem." The guy smiled and much unlike Lee's, it wasn't blinding, but it still gave this feel of overblown excitement. Neji shook his head. He was reading into people too much.
Opening the door, Neji began to put all the bits and pieces inside. Stepping back a little the guy turned to head off. "Guess I'll…see you around?" the guy said a bit hesitantly. Neji gave a brief smile in response, but it didn't reach his eyes. "Doubt it." Was all he said before he closed the door smoothly.
Leaning against the door, Neji closed his eyes and let out a deep breath of relief. Opening them again he began to move all the food to the kitchen. While doing so, he couldn't get the image of that strange guy out of his mind. Shaking his head forcefully, Neji carefully put the rest of the things away. "What a weird guy."
Author's Note: Thanks for reading this chapter!! I am quite proud if I do say so myself!! XD Who wants to know who the mystery guy is? Well, you've probably already guessed anyway….
I tried to keep them in character but I think that I was unsuccessful with that. I'll try harder next chapter! Scout's honour!
(1) …and something that looked like a cross-breed between ham and tuna, :That was a crappy attempt at humour. I think I failed.
(2) …birthday suit…: For those who don't know, that means 'naked'. I just didn't want to use the word!
(3) I'm not too sure about the Japanese terms, so to refrain myself from messing the up, I'll just use English terms, which everybody (including myself) understands.
(4) …Wearing a blue and white striped hoodie with jeans dark blue converses…: As you can see, I wasn't prepared to go all out with the clothes description. It is very bland as you can tell and not very characteristic but whatever. There's always next time!
(5) …3,000.00…: I'm not overly confident about the Japanese currency but I think that's about £20 in English money. Should there be 5 0's on there?….I'm not sure. If I am wrong, please feel free to correct me.
Anyway! Until next time! Please, read and review!! XD
