Revenge is Best Served Cold
Chapter One
Revenge. It's such a word. Rrreee-venge. Something I wouldn't have even though about a few months ago. Then again, that was when I was all nice and happy with my boyfriend. That was when I was steady and ignorant.
Uchiha Sasuke was the heart-throb of high school. My god, he was perfect. It was also perfect that we were childhood friends and the chances of him asking me out would be a lot greater than him asking Ino, or, gods forbid, Ami.
Then, that perfect day happened. Sasuke asked me out. Not Ino, not Ami, not anyone. Not anyone but me. We stayed steady for a few weeks. Well, I mean, as steady as it could be. He had told me we were going out, occasionally buying flowers or chocolates, but my long-awaited kiss never came.
Last week, I was at his house. I had a box of home-made bento that I wanted to deliver to him personally. I heard him talking with his friends so I hid behind the door. It wasn't really like I wanted to eavesdrop, but I just wanted to surprise Sasuke.
"I can't believe you're actually doing it," Suigetsu Hozuki chuckled. "I guess I have to pay up. Juugo?" As he said it, the pale-haired guy tossed a few twenties on the counter. My eyes got wide. I knew Sasuke was a dangerous guy, but messing with a gang member of the Sound?!
Then I heard his angelic voice again. His words turned my blood ice-cold. "Can I just break up with her now? Sakura is so annoying. Why can't she just take a hint I don't really like her? This bet was the worst dare you ever made, Suigetsu." Sasuke pocketed the twenties and rolled his eyes.
I could feel tears. It had seemed too good to be true. Turns out, it was too good to be true. Sasuke had only asked me out because Suigetsu bribed him to. Whether it was to hurt me or just for the Sound's cruel amusement, it stung. I dropped the box and ran away, not wanting to face him. I knew Sasuke would just laugh at my tears.
So, now it's the last week of Summer Vacation before my junior year. I'm sitting on my bed, a box of tissues by my side, and a pile of crumpled up, soggy tissues everywhere.
A new feeling bubbled up in me. I wasn't just hurt. I was angry. I was… rebellious.
Bitch, give that jerk what he deserves!
I wanted to make Sasuke feel the same way I had. I wanted to hurt him. I wanted to get my revenge.
Immediately I phoned up Temari, expert on guys, and she was at my house in no time. She "tsk"ed at my dead looking hair. In anger, I had cut it. Not just a little cut, either. My bathroom trashcan was full of my pink locks. I sacrificed my long hair for short, choppy ones, remembering in disgust that the only reason I had grown it long was for him. She helped me straighten out the devil and I have to say, short hair made me feel better than longer hair.
My dad was more than happy than to let me go with Temari to the mall. I had locked myself in my room for a solid five days and he was eager for me to get some sunlight. Temari steered me straight away from my usual candy pink stores to the ones more her taste.
Ooh, girl, get that one! Something in my mind screeched. My head turned to a blood-red tank top with black graffiti letters saying "DEATH TO LOVE", and that was exactly what I was feeling. Temari nodded in agreement at my choice. We purchased the top along with some comfortable skinny jeans and red laced boots. My guy consultant instructed me to ditch my pink sweater and skirt.
As I changed in the girls' bathroom, I couldn't help but be disgusted at the shirt I had been wearing.
Seriously? Furry pink sweater and short pink skirt? What the hell is wrong with me?
I don't know. Mental concussion. Stupidity. Retardance. Uchiha Sasuke.
I ignored my inner, more aggressive mind and threw the clothes away. I wasn't sure about using Temari's dad's credit card, but her family was loaded with money and she practically shoved it in my face. We spent the rest of the day throwing out clothes, jewelry, and make-up.
I felt a lot better after watching a hideous pile of pink glitter get discarded in a huge trash bag.
"Wow, I feel like a new person," I exclaimed to Temari, who was smirking in all of her knowingness.
"I know," she said smirkily. "The power of clothing and make-up. Now, let's discuss our strategy."
"Strategy?" I asked, knowing perfectly well what she was talking about.
"Oh, come one, Sakura," Temari said, wrinkling her nose. "That Uchiha bastard lied to you, played with you, and broke your heart. If I didn't know better, I think you would want revenge."
"I do," I admitted.
"You mentioned he was in alliance with the Sound?" Temari questioned. I nodded. "I know exactly how to get back at him."
"How?" I asked.
"Date his brother's friends. The Akatsuki. They're the Sound's worst enemy, and Sasuke hates them. Two birds with one angry stone," she shrugged.
"Temari, are you crazy?!" I screamed. "The Akatsuki?! They're only, like , the most popular guys at school! You think they're going to fall for… this?" I pointed to my forehead, my most insecure part of my body. It was so… big.
Temari ignored me. "You should probably date Akasuna Sasori. I think Sasuke hates him the most."
"Why?" I asked, my curiosity getting the better of myself.
"I don't know. I guess he just pisses Sasuke off. Try and go out with him."
"I don't know if I can…"
"Just give it a try, babe," Temari encouraged. "And I guarantee you, Sasuke will be wishing he never played with you."
I walked into homeroom feeling like a new person. I noticed Sasuke was watching me carefully, but I walked right past him. I didn't have time to look at him. I seated myself next to a gorgeous redhead with honey-brown eyes.
Okay, so maybe people would be a little surprised at my change. Instead of wearing pink, sparkle, and glitter, I was wearing red, black, and stripes. Fishnet gloves ran up my arms and combat boots replaced my previous shoes—pink slippers with small pompoms on the toes.
"Everyone, look at the person next to you. That person will be your partner for the rest of the semester, so I hope you found good seats." Kakashi stated. I grinned at my seat partner, who, surprisingly, gave a half-smile before returning drawing in a sketchbook. Sasuke seemed a little annoyed at that.
Oh. My. God. Look at that sexy beast! He probably works out! And can you see those gorgeous eyes?! They're like melted chocolate. I could stare at him all day.
As a matter of fact, I was staring. He noticed and smirked at me. "Interested?"
I returned with a playful smile, hoping my "cool girl" act wasn't blown by the blush spreading on my cheeks. Sasuke seemed deeply troubled at the two of us smiling and smirking and talking to each other, flirting shamelessly. I didn't care. Honestly, I had had enough of Uchiha for the rest of my life.
"I see you've changed," he noticed.
"Yup," I nodded. "Bastards can really change the way you think about your life. Don't tell me you're an asshole like a certain Uchiha. It'd be such a waste…" I let my eyes free to roam his body.
"A lot of people think so, but maybe I can change your mind," he returned. "Mind if I ask which Uchiha?"
"Oh, not very far from here," I said vaguely. "He's probably listening to our conversation right now." Sasuke, sitting in front of me, gave a sharp jolt before pretending to be interested in what Kakashi, the teacher, was saying. "I'm Haruno Sakura."
"Akasuna Sasori," he told me. "Are you free this Friday? Some of my friends and I are throwing a party. Maybe you'd like to join me?" He passed me a slip of paper showing his phone number.
Oh my god, he is Sasori? He's so sexy!
Girl, I know what you're thinking, and…
And?
You're sixteen now, I think state law says you're allowed to lose your virginity.
Inner! Get these mental images out of my head!
I practically had a nosebleed as explicit images of him and I filled my head. Sasori tilted his head in confusion. "So… are you coming?"
"Sure," I said, grinning. He made the "call me" motion with his fingers. I gave him a thumbs up confirmation, then leaned forward to Sasuke.
"Dear Sasuke, I heard the Sound got beat up by the Akatsuki a few days ago," I informed him. His pencil stopped for a second. "The Akatsuki are, like, so cool. Sound sucks. Oh, do you have a twenty? I need to pay up a friend for a dare." The first two, true. The second, not so true, but would it really be bad to have a little white lie on your conscience?
Hell no it wouldn't! Go get that bastard!
What the hell are you, anyways?
I'm a part of you that you created to vent out your anger and frustration for being cheated on by Sasuke. You created me for the sole purpose of keeping in your anger management problems and now you're bipolar. Congrats.
Okay…
Sasori raised his eyebrow at my declaration that sound was way suckier than Akatsuki. It's true, I mouthed to him.
I know, he mouthed back, with an air of self-confidence.
During the transition from first period to second, Sasuke cornered me at my locker. "What the hell are you doing?" he hissed at me.
"What?" I asked innocently.
"That," he pointed to Sasori's retreating figure. "Stop flirting with him. You and I are going out."
"Not anymore, Sasu-bear," I told him, using the most embarrassing nickname I could think of. "We are over. I know all about how Suigetsu betted you to go out with me. What makes me disgusted isn't the fact that that happened. I could've accepted it, and maybe forgiven you. What makes me sick is the fact that you hid it from me. Lied to my back and manipulated my feelings for you."
"What are you going to do about it?" Sasuke laughed in a self-arrogant tone.
"Oh, just wait, Duck-ass," I smiled at him, but there wasn't any warmth in it. "I'm going to make you pay. You just need to wait. Let it refrigerate. Revenge, after all, is best served cold." He was so shocked he just watched me as I went to art. Part of me was angry, the other part was proud.
That's my girl! Beat his ass!
I sashayed away, tossing my new, short hair back. I enjoyed the sounds that my boots made—loud, but not small like shiny pink high heels. They sounded loud and ominous. I liked that. It seemed to match my new personality.
I stormed/sashayed to art class, catching surprised glances. No doubt people were wondering about my new clothes. Maybe it was a lot to take in, but did they really have to stare? Some dude wolf-whistled and a few girls hissed at my choice of tomboyish rebellious clothes. I couldn't care less for what they thought.
"W-Wow, Sakura, you s-sure look… different," Hinata stammered. I grinned at her.
"I hope so," I said seriously. "I'd be so angry if people still saw Sakura Haruno, ditzy pink sophomore, in these clothes."
"W-Well, I th-think it's g-g-great that y-you've decided to change y-your personality," Hinata said slowly. "D-Do you have a-art next? I do."
"Yep." I looked at my schedule. "Apparently, with Ms. Mitarashi. I wonder what type of teacher she is."
As it turns out, Ms. Mitarashi was quite the scary teacher. She screamed at a student for opening the windows too much. I think she was drunk. However, she was a pretty good teacher.
"Alright," she muttered, rubbing her eyes. "I'm Ms. Mitarashi, yada yada yada. Split into two groups right now. Lefties for beginners and righties for people who actually know how to draw." She pointed to two separate sides of the room. I had a feeling if the teacher was anybody but Ms. Mitarashi, there would be a lot more people on the right side of the room.
I pulled Hinata along with me to the right side. I was average at drawing, but Hinata was the best. You'd think that she was good only for reading, but Hinata was an artist. A life-sized portrait that she had drawn for me on my thirteenth birthday was still on my wall. I noticed Sasori was also in this class. I waved at him and he smirked, before turning to a blonde person next to him.
I squinted my eyes at him. I couldn't tell if it was a guy or a girl. I tried to find an Adam's apple, but couldn't because I was so dang short, so I had to give up and pay attention to our drunk teacher.
She had finished instructing the left people and they started shading the best they could. I noticed that there were some really bad people who looked like they were in the class because their parents forced them. I felt sorry for those people. I saw Naruto Uzumaki struggling with shading in a cylinder. I smiled at him and he returned with a big grin.
"Okay, you guys," Ms. Mitarashi turned to us. "Since you all are more advanced, I'm giving you options. You can paint or sketch, just make sure to clean up after you're done. I'll be going around class to give you pointers, okay?" We all nodded and separated to the supplies cabinet.
I saw Hinata struggling with some watercolor. I carried them for her to a painting easel, and in return she got an extra watercolor palette and a really good paintbrush for me.
Hinata's movements on the paper were long and free. Her pale eyes were unusually serious and her face was blank instead of the usual blush. Soon she had a simple blue outline of a graceful bird.
I turned to my depressingly blank paper. What could I do?
Looking for inspiration, I aimlessly colored the paper until the bottom was covered in blue. I added some pink and purple streaks on top and worked on my ocean. I mean, it was an ocean, right?
Not.
"Hm, that's very pretty, un," someone said. "Maybe, though, you should try making it actually look real." I turned around angrily to see the guy Sasori had been talking to. Up close, I could see he was actually pretty hot, but the fact his hair was silkier than mine and he had insulted me got my inner running her mouth out.
Fuck his shit up, bitch! Don't let that dumbass get you down! Inner then proceeded to do a little conga dance in my head while shouting profanity.
"Oh, I'm sorry ma'am," I said in a high-pitched voice. The only reason my voice was high pitched was because I was fighting down laughter. "Mind showing me some tips?" I let my eyes linger around his chest and made a disbelieving face.
His face scrunched up and turned the same shade as cranberry juice. The teeniest giggle escaped my lips.
"I am not a girl!" he bellowed angrily. I sighed and shook my head.
"I mean, I know some girls don't like to admit their gender, like, they like other females, but you don't have to feel bad about it!" His face, if believable, got even redder and he looked like he was going to burst with anger.
"Deidara, calm down," Sasori cut into our glare-fest. He put a hand on his shoulder and made him back off from me. In frustration, the blonde tried to smack my redheaded hottie, who ducked, and he accidentally spilled paint on himself.
Serves him right!
"Sasori, you know this chick, un?" Deidara asked, angrily pointing a finger at me. I shoved his hand away from my face, slightly aware that Hinata had stopped painting. Ms. Mitarashi was helping someone on the other side of the room, but if she found out about this…
"She's the girl I was talking to you about. Sakura, Deidara. Deidara, Sakura." I nodded curtly to him. Apparently, Deidara wasn't impressed.
"Are you sure you can come to a party from Akatsuki?" he asked, looking down at me. I bristled. I hate it when people look down on me! "You don't look like much, un."
"Wanna see how much I am, hmm?" I asked, cocking my hips. "I wouldn't be saying that if I were you, somebody who can be confused as a female." Sasori hid a smile and Deidara looked at me, irritated. I smiled cheerfully at him before returning to my painting.
I noticed him stalking off, defeated.
Cha!
You get him, girl!
Though, when I looked at my painting again, it did look sort of faded. Unreal. It didn't pop out to me. "Hey Hinata, can you help me?"
Just because I had stopped my pink doesn't mean I don't like finding peaceful ways to stop things. At least, as peaceful as picking a fight with someone from the Akatsuki is.
My fingers were trembling as I tapped in the number on the little slip of paper. During school, I had acted strong and fearless. I liked that. But now this was the real test. Calling a guy.
I can't remember the last time I called a guy. I never got the guts to call Sasuke. I was so mean to Naruto before that I had ignored him. No other male held any interest in my mind. I gulped and pressed the call button, and then held the phone to my ear.
Rrring.
Rrring.
Rrring.
After the third ring, a familiar, rich voice sounded out on the other end. "Hello?"
"Uh, hey, Sasori, it's me," I stammered like an idiot. "You wanted me to call you?"
He chuckled from the other line. "I see you're more nervous at home than at school." I didn't know how to respond to that. "Wanna hang out?"
"Today?" I was surprised.
"Yes, today," he said. "Do you have any homework?"
"Uhm, let me check…" I cursed myself. It was the beginning of the school year; of course I wouldn't have homework! Now I'd have to pretend to rummage through my backpack. Dang it.
I counted to five seconds. Looong seconds.
"Yeah, I don't have any homework," I said into the phone. "Where do you wanna meet?"
"There's a new coffee shop down the road near school," he suggested. I envied how easily he could talk to girls. "I'll be waiting for you." Then he dropped the phone.
Ohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygod! I had a small seizure for a moment before picking myself up from the ground. I'm hanging out with the cutest guy in the world!
Damn, girl, don't gotta frazzle!
Frazzle?
Just… Just shut up, okay?
I then remembered I had a time limit. Sasori was probably already waiting for me! I went to the bathroom and after a few seconds of consideration, put on a little bit more mascara and tied my already short hair up into a high ponytail.
"Bye, dad, I'm going out!" I called. Dad hardly looked up, but he muttered something in a somewhat-agreeable tone. I ran out the door and made my way to school, thinking that the coffee shop would be somewhere near there.
I was in such a rush, I wasn't really looking, just running to that direction.
And straight into the group I least wanted to see, the Sound.
