Puzzle Pieces
Chapter 1: Scrambled
Author: Innocent Attraction
Narrator: Itachi Uchiha
Characters used in this story do not belong to me.
It's Monday; a typical day in which I could concur that nothing seems to happen on this day. I know Sundays start the week, but Monday proves why people would rather stay in bed and sleep the day away. The deadly sin "sloth" comes to mind on Monday. I guess Monday, in my life, has never really been interesting for me. In fact, Monday is kind of dull. Especially when you live in a city where some things happen unexpectedly but most of the time, it remains rather boring and bland. For a person such as myself, I need to have something to do during the week. But for me, some Mondays do surprise me and become the most unexpected days in my entire life. I'll explain.
It was Monday morning when my 17-year-old body decided to wake itself from it's slumber. I look at the clock on the side of my bed. 6:02. "Ugh. Can I just avoid today please," I groan loudly to the emptiness of my room.
I stare at the room for a bit before attempting to stand up. I swing my body to the side, slump my feet to the floor, attempt to push myself off the floor, stand up for a couple seconds, then fall back down. I try again…and again…and again. Once I'm finally on my feet, I walk around the room and look for my clothes. I go through my closet and drawers, grabbing my straight leg black jeans, my red shirt, my Converse sneakers, socks, my underwear if I can call it that, and my straightner. It's a routine thing for me. I walk over to the bathroom, my shoulders feel as though my puppeteer was being lazy and letting me slack a bit. I walk in, shutting the door and locking it. I look in the mirror, disgusted by the reflection staring back at me. "Lord, someone clean this guy up," I exclaim to myself. I jump into the shower, feeling more alive and awake. Once out, I felt as though the puppeteer had a shot of caffeine and woke up, pulling my strings so I could stand upright. I dry myself, dress myself, brush my teeth, and attempt to fix my hair the way I like it. Some mornings, that's not always accomplished.
I step out of the bathroom to be surprised by my younger brother. "Took you long enough," he says.
"I just woke up. Don't start."
"You didn't just wake up there, bro. You've been up for a bit. Did you seriously have to use all the hot water?"
I roll my eyes and walk away, ignoring him. I hear him complain about the make-up strewn across the sink and the fact that the water was colder than usual. I smile, satisfied with my mini-revenge for his poor attitude.
I make my way downstairs, checking the clock again. 6:47. Ok so I did take longer than I thought I did. I pour myself a glass of milk, finish it, and wait in the living room for my brother to get done. He comes downstairs, wearing sweats and a t-shirt and sneakers. I'd never seen him so…sloppy. "Are you ok," I ask, finding the car keys on the table next to me.
He looks at me, huffs, then grabs his book bag and walks to car. I follow behind him, grabbing my things and locking the house before retreating to the car. I start the car and we drive to high school. He falls asleep in the back, an obvious sign he didn't get much sleep. "Is something the matter?"
"I'm just tired," he responds.
"Did something happen?"
"No, Itachi, I'm just tired. Can that not be my answer or something?"
"No need to snap," I say. "I just assumed that something was the matter." I could tell there was. I just wasn't going to prod it any further.
Reaching the high school, which is actually more like an academy because there are dorm rooms for students that paid the fee to live there. We decided not to for one main reason; it's over-populated with females. Don't get me wrong; I don't mind the female race, but when you're always questioned about your sexual preference because you dress a certain way or act a certain way, you tend to get tired of being around them. Plus most of the females here are kind of annoying to be perfectly honest. I drag myself out of the car, Sasuke slowly stepping out. Immediately, every female turns to his direction. My brother is the basketball/football/soccer star of the entire school. He could be described as the literal stereotype "jock". Me, on the other hand, I'm the music person who surrounds themselves with anything music besides band and am in love with rock music. In short, I'm the "emo kid" or whatever. I've also been called "fag" but that's a topic that will have to wait.
Sasuke walks up the stairs, ignoring the girls that glided on their wings behind them like some love-struck puppies. I lock the car and walk in myself, immediately finding Deidara and Kisame waiting for me. "So how was parental central this weekend," Kisame asks me.
"Rather quiet. The parental units were out of town for their 3rd honeymoon. Sasuke and I are just watching the house."
"Sounds like party central to me," Deidara says.
"Not this time. I'm actually given the trust to watch, not destroy it like the last time you planned a 'get-together'." Deidara smiles. "Anyways, I don't think Sasuke would be up for it. He's been acting…like a total bump on a log. He hasn't talked to me all weekend and is being completely anti-social."
"Puberty?"
"I don't think puberty has anything to do with this one."
"Sexual orientation?"
"Let's not even drag that conversation," I reply. "Sasuke is straight as a pencil. He's been with girls before."
"As far as you know," Deidara exclaims. "I've heard other things but I don't want to be a complete gossiper." I look over at him. He can't hold it in any longer. "Fine. You know that guy on the baseball team? Naruto? There's a rumor that they kissed in the locker room. And it isn't the first time."
I think he's bullshitting this now. Why would Sasuke do that? It seemed out of character for him. But then the more I thought about it, the more I realized how he'd been spending more time away from home and hanging with a mysterious "friend". I had to investigate this more. Until I could, it was off to Physics and off to another boring day of high school.
That whole morning, even through lunch, that thought kept coming up. I didn't understand why it was bothering me so much. I mean, Sasuke always seemed to be the one that wouldn't even think of being anything other than "straight". He was the stereotype jock; a true ladies man, every girl wanted to be with him, he loved playing sports, he had ok grades, and he seemed to be more involved with his team mates than with life itself. But how could that fit the mold? Then again, most "gay people" don't have a mold so it could be plausible. I stare at the table my brother sits at. Deidara notices my glare. "Earth to Uchiha Itachi, are you even responding?"
I glance back at him, shaking myself back to reality. "I'm just a little paranoid is all."
"About your brothers newfound sexuality," he asks, taking his hands off Sasori for just a moment. (Note: Sasori and Deidara ARE dating. They ARE BOTH gay and are proud to be. I've never really understood them, but they do seem happy, so I have no intention of judging them. They've been my friends for way too long for me to even consider judging them.)
"I don't think he's gay or bi. I just think it's a rumor."
"Then why are you so bothered by it?"
I didn't answer that question. The lunch bell saved me from that encounter. The truth being said now, I didn't know my sexual orientation either. When you wake up in the middle of the night, shaking and having a wet spot in your jean and realizing you had a lustful dream about another male, you tend to become a bit confused. I leave the table, realizing I hadn't even touched the pepperoni pizza that sat on my tray. I threw it out. I made a decision. I was going to confront Sasuke about this little problem and clear things over. I planned to do that on the car ride home.
After school and basketball practice, Sasuke met me in the parking lot. I was texting on my cell phone. It was all I could think to do. "You didn't have to wait for me. The house isn't too far to walk to you know?"
I ignore that arrogance and get in the car. He rolls his eyes and gets in. We drive out of the parking lot towards the road. "I need to go buy groceries if you don't mind me running a quick errand."
"Whatever," he says flatly.
I pull off the road to a small alley way. "What's your deal? You've been acting weird for the past couple weeks!"
"Can we just go?"
"Just tell me what's wrong?"
He refuses to respond so I jump in with what I want to ask him. "Are you gay?"
He stares at me. He doesn't have anything to say; he just looks at me. His waiting made me suspicious. The way his eyes looked, the way he didn't want to look in my direction, and the way he nervously fiddled with his fingers made me come to an immediate conclusion. "Are you?"
"It's none of your business! Like you have any room to ask me that. You're the one that writes about it!"
"You read my journal!"
"Are you gay, Itachi?"
"I don't know," I shout. I have nothing more to say to him. I just look away and stare at the small street my car is parked on. I feel tears form. "I don't know. I haven't been able to fully determine if I am or not."
Sasuke doesn't have a thing to say either. He looks at me. I turn my line of sight back to him. "I don't know. You want the truth, you got it. Happy now? But why would you care anyways? You've been shutting me off for three weeks! I just want to know what's wrong. Hard as it is to believe, I do actually care about you."
What happened next only happens on television. Sasuke stares at me for a bit, then leans in, grabs my face, and kisses me on the lips. Just like that. I want to pull away, but I feel this charge holding me there. It was the most incredible feeling on my lips. The bitter taste of sweat mixed with the taste of chap stick. It never felt so good. When we pulled apart, I simply glare at him. "Does that answer your question," he asks.
I hope you like. I plan to make this a complete series. But yes, if you haven't guess, this story will get more interesting. And probably take a turn where I'll have to change the rating from T to M XD!