This is a new story that I'm starting, mostly because my other story 'A Wild Night' is drawing to a close sooner rather than later. This is, as evidenced by the summary, another Sasuke / Female Naruto fiction. It is an AU this time, however, set in a high school. This will be focused entirely on romance and things of that nature, so don't claim you weren't warned.
Enjoy! And if you like it, don't forget to leave a review.
It only lasted a single moment; to Sasuke, however, it seemed to last a millennium.
One glance from her stunning eyes made Sasuke realize one thing. Not only did she not remember him at all, she couldn't even be bothered to give him more than a passing look before returning to her conversation.
He had felt the near opposite. The minute, no, the exact second their gazes had locked from afar… his heart had skipped a beat. He was entranced in a way that seemed almost ethereal. Sasuke surveyed everything about her that he big blue eyes, like sapphires glistening in the darkness of a cave. Her overwhelmingly bright, blonde hair, almost as radiant as the sun that shone in the sky.
No, there was no doubt in Uchiha Sasuke's mind as to who she was. He was startled. Actually, shocked was a better way to describe it. In fact, he had dropped his guard to the point that the cigarette he had been smoking nearly fell from his mouth, almost leaving him with a burnt collar.
He blinked, his mouth agape, his gaze unable to be torn away from her for even a millisecond. His momentary lapse of paying attention to, well, anything was picked up on by his companions.
"Umm… Sasuke… you- you alright, man?" a voice said at his side. "You look kind of-"
"Look out you two," another voice said, soft and yet firm. "There's a teacher coming."
Sasuke shook himself from his stupor. He blinked three times in rapid succession. As fast as he could, he tore the cigarette from his mouth, throwing it to the ground and squashing it beneath his foot.
Just in time as well. Had he been a moment later, the teacher walking down the path would have undoubtedly seen him smoking. Mrs. Yuhi passed without comment, aside from offering the trio a small nod as they kept their heads down and their lips sealed.
Sasuke lifted his gaze, and with his two friend's attention off of him and more focused on looking inconspicuous, he was allowed to observe her in peace.
She was currently engaged in conversation with an extraordinarily tall, white haired man swathed in red and tan colored clothing. They stood just inside the campus gates, both of their gazes fixated on the school campus, where more than a few students were visible, seated on the benches or lost in conversation with their friends. The grass on campus was lush and well kept, the stone paths orderly and swept, the windows on the buildings gleaming in the sunlight.
"Good looking out, Juugo." the boy to Sasuke's right said, as he wiped his brow with the back of his hand. "That was a close one."
"It's not as if you were doing anything particularly bad, Suigetsu-san." Juugo said. "However, if Sasuke had been caught smoking on school grounds again… well, I doubt that Principal Sarutobi's liking for him would have saved Sasuke from being suspended. I hear that he's been cracking down lately - especially after they caught that girl with the buns in a closet with that Hyuga boy."
Sasuke exhaled, his hot breath spreading out into a small, icy cloud. "Thanks for the warning," he murmured, as he lifted up his foot to make sure the cigarette was completely out. "But I'm not exactly worried about getting suspended."
"You have got to be kidding me on that one, Sasuke." Suigetsu said. "I've met your mom before, and she would probably disembowel you if she caught you smoke- wait a second, wait a second, we're getting off topic here. What was that all about a minute ago? You went kind of slack jawed for a minute, and you never go slack jawed like that, Sasuke."
"I didn't go… slack jawed." Sasuke ground out. "But even if I did, it's none of your concern."
"Oh…" Suigetsu said, a knowing lilt to his voice as he glanced vaguely in the direction where Sasuke had been looking. "You were checking out that smokin' new blonde, weren't you?" He pointed a finger at her and the white haired man, who were still at the campus gates. "You forget that I know you, Sasuke. Ha! I knew you'd finally hit puberty sooner or later."
"Which blonde are you talking about, Suigetsu-san?" Juugo asked. "Yamanaka-san or that new girl, Uzumaki-san?" Sasuke stiffened upon the word 'Uzumaki' leaving his orange haired friend's lips, though neither of them seemed to take notice.
"I said smokin' new blonde." Suigetsu said, his voice exasperated. "Jeez, do you even listen to me?"
"... about half of the time." Juugo said. "The other half, I'm thinking about what kind of accessories I'm going to get for my birds. I think the pet store has a new inventory that should have some useful things, though I haven't been in there for a while."
Suigetsu groaned. "Whatever." he said in a dismissive tone, as he waved his hand. "Anyways… were you checking her out, Sasuke? I mean, I'm not judging you if you were - she is pretty hot - but it seems a little strange for you of all people to be trying to catch some strange. It's not exactly normal for you to even look twice at a girl, I mean… not that I'm trying to imply anything."
Sasuke raised an eyebrow at that last sentence, to which Suigetsu responded with a cheeky grin. He sighed, as he ran a hand through his black hair. "I wasn't… 'checking her out'." Sasuke said after a moment, scowling as Suigetsu snickered. "She's… interesting. That's all I have to say about her."
"Interesting?" Suigetsu said, laughing.
"Not many girls can bypass the school's dress code like her." Juugo said softly. "I doubt they've ever let a girl get past the front doors dressed like that."
"What'dya mean 'dressed like that'?" Suigetsu said, as he glanced at Juugo. "She's wearing the same pants we are, it's not like she walked in naked or anything like that. But anyways… that girl's more than interesting." He nodded in her direction. "I heard from Karin that the school tried to force her to wear the girl's uniform, and she threatened to come to school everyday without any underwear on if they didn't let her wear the boy's uniform." He wiggled his eyebrows lecherously. "That would have been quite the sight, huh? And if was a windy day, too?" Suigetsu whistled suggestively, and Sasuke scowled at him once more.
"Shut up, you idiot." Sasuke growled.
Suigetsu blinked, his hands raised defensively. "Woah, woah, it's a joke, Sasuke." he said. "Calm down… if you want to call dibs on her, that's fine."
"I'm not calling… 'dibs' on her. What on earth does that even mean? Never mind, don't answer that, it's just..." He shook his head. "I … mmm... nevermind. Forget it."
"If you don't want to say what's on your mind, you don't have to." Juugo said. "Come on you two, our free period is almost over. It's probably best for us to get on a move on before the halls are filled up, otherwise we'll be late."
"Sure." Suigetsu said. "Not like we're doing anything anyways." He paused for a minute, as the three of them set off for their respective classes. "So, anyway, do you guys think that I could get Karin to spread her legs again? After that time underneath the bleachers, I can't help myself - I swear, that girl is too feisty for one man to-"
To be completely honest, Sasuke simply tuned Suigetsu out after that.
Sasuke nodded every now and then, and followed along behind them as his two friends continued to banter with each other - well, more like Suigetsu talking on and on while Juugo nodded and responded with simple yes or no answers.
He was far too distracted to pay attention to his friend's petty squabbles about women and school work. His mind was in another place - far, far away from the school grounds...
"Are you okay, Sasu?"
He clambered to his feet, brushing dirt and grass off the front of his shirt and shorts. His face was rather flushed, his appearance unkempt, his hair sweaty with beads of water dripping down his forehead.
Sasuke puffed out his chubby cheeks, pulling together the best haughty look a six year old could make. "I'm fine, Naruko!" he declared.
She grinned. "Are you sure you're alright?" Naruko asked, her eyes drifting down to his scraped knees.
"Like I said, I'm fine." Sasuke said. "Don't you worry, I'm not mad at you for tripping me."
Naruko laughed, high and clear. "Okay… I mean… I didn't mean to trip you like that, Sasu. I thought… I dunno, I thought that you might be mad and that you wouldn't want to be friends anymore, 'ttebayo…"
Sasuke smiled. "Don't worry about that, Naruko." he said, looking into those always familiar blue eyes.
She smiled right back at him, and suddenly, the stinging pain in his knees disappeared.
Sasuke shoved his hands into his pockets, his eyes set in a glare at the ground beneath him as if it had called his mother a harlot.
"Why doesn't she remember me…?" he murmured to himself, Sasuke forced to have to resist the temptation to glance back and try to catch a sight of her.
"Something wrong, Sasuke?" Suigetsu asked, his head turned.
Sasuke scowled. "No," he said, a bite to his voice. "Nothing's wrong… nothing at all."
Dinner at the Uchiha house was as routine as it ever was.
He picked at his food. He jammed his fork into the pork loin his mother had cooked and lifted it up for a moment. Sasuke examined the cooked meat for the slightest instant, before he gave the side of the fork a tap and allowed it to fall back onto the plate.
Sasuke felt his mother's eyes on him. It was as if he was a kid again, refusing to eat the cake that his mother had made for him to eat on his birthday.
"Is something wrong with the food I cooked, Sasuke?" Mikoto asked, and though her voice was quiet, it flowed easily across the dining table.
He glanced at her, frowning. "No, the food's fine, Mom. I'm just… a little distracted, that's all." Sasuke said.
Mikoto wiped her lips with a folded napkin. "Did something happen at school?"
Now, he felt both his brother and his mother's eyes on him, though his father, Fugaku, still ate as if the dinner table was silent as it had been a minute ago. Itachi's attention was rapt, and the slightest hint that Sasuke's day hadn't been perfect had lead Itachi to put his fork and knife down, and listen in an attentive manner to what Sasuke had to say.
Sasuke chewed the inside of his cheek. "I saw Naruko today... Uzumaki Naruko." he murmured, after a moment of careful deliberation.
He had expected a lot of things - and yet, Sasuke hadn't expected his mother to squeal as if she had seen a particularly cute puppy wag its tail.
"Oh, do you mean that little cutie that lived down the street?" Mikoto said, a fond look in her dark eyes. She turned to her husband. "Naruko and Sasuke… they were as thick as thieves. I remember those two doing everything together - sure, I had to wash all of those stains off of her shorts after you got done playing in the mud, but I've never seen you happier. Do you remember her, Fugaku?"
Fugaku frowned. "... who?" he said, after a moment.
Mikoto glared at him. Itachi cleared his throat, frowning as he glanced between his parents. "Father, Naruko was that blonde girl that Sasuke was friends with for two years or so, back when he was a kid." Itachi said.
"Oh." Fugaku said, blinking. "That irritating little girl who called me a…" He frowned.
"A grumpy pants?" Mikoto teased.
Fugaku's lip curled. "Those were the words she used, yes." he said. "If I recall, she and her parents moved out of town, and that was the end of that. You haven't heard from them her, have you, Sasuke?"
"No, I had not. Apparently, though, they've moved back into town." Sasuke said. "I saw her at school today."
"Isn't that a good thing?" MIkoto said after a moment, her voice brimmed with tinges of worry.. "Did you- did you not go and say hi to her, Sasuke? Or… oh no - she's got to be all grown up now. I bet she grew up to be a real cutie, and you were afraid to go up to her."
"No." Sasuke said quickly. "She didn't recognize me at all." He glared down at his plate.
"Well, it has been ten years or so, Sasuke." Mikoto said. "It's only understandable that she might not remember you… it still might be worth it to-"
"If she doesn't remember me, she doesn't remember me." Sasuke growled, his fingers wrapped around his fork tight enough that the metal rattled against his plate. "I'm not going to waste my time trying to make friends with some stupid blonde."
"Sasuke…" Itachi admonished.
"You two were closer than I've seen you be with anyone outside of the family." Mikoto said . "I don't know… it might be worth it-"
"Just drop it, Mom." Sasuke snarled.
"Don't talk to your mother like that." Fugaku said sternly. "And stop interrupting her - she's only trying to help you, Sasuke."
"I don't want help." Sasuke said, his voice low. "So just drop it."
Mikoto opened her mouth to say something, but Fugaku placed a hand on her shoulder in order to stop her. She glanced at him, and Fugaku shook his head in return. Mikoto sighed.
"Fine." she said.
Itachi's eyes remained fixated on Sasuke a moment longer. Sasuke met his brother's gaze, and refused to yield until his brother looked away.
He exhaled slightly, feeling a slight pressure lift off of his gut once his family's attention was finally averted from him. 'That stupid blonde.' he thought bitterly, as he impaled a piece of pork loin and shoved it into his mouth. 'She has to come back here now of all the times to come back… and she can't even do the courtesy of remembering me of all people.'
It would have been better if she had never returned. He knew that the Naruko of the past or of the present wouldn't like the Sasuke of today. Back then, he had been free, unhampered by any stress or worries. That was before he had realized that he would always be number two, no matter what he did. That was before he realized that he would always remain the 'mistake' of the Uchiha family. That was before he had become so angry, so distant, so unwilling to adhere to the views that his mother and brother had tried to push onto him… that was before she had left, and before a part of him had gone with her.
His hands still shook as Sasuke ate the rest of dinner,. He treated every bite as if that blonde's ugly (beautiful) face hovered right in front of him, as if physically taunted him not to eat the food his mother had slaved over an oven to cook for him and his family.
Despite the fact that he had started eating last, Sasuke was the first to finish. "I'm going to bed." he declared.. He stood, and shoved his plate and silverware into the sink. Sasuke strode out of the room with his head held high, well aware that his mother's gaze was once again trained on him.
He stopped outside of the dining room, pressing a hand against the wall. His face was red and flushed, his breathing was harsh - he felt like someone had taken a hockey stick and jammed it into his stomach. It had been a while since he had been so… angry, so irrationally angry. The worst part was that Sasuke knew that he had no proper reason to be angry.
Sasuke took a deep breath.
"You're moving?" he said, and his voice sounded alike to a scandalized kitten. "Why?"
Naruko wilted. "I'm sorry, Sasu…" she murmured. She hung her head, and her pigtails swung from side to side. "Grandma is getting sicker and sicker, and Mom wants us to be able to spend as much time around her before she… uh… well, Dad told me before she 'goes to a better place'."
Sasuke frowned. "But…. I thought-" He drifted off.
Naruko grasped one of his hands in hers, a sweet and yet sad smile present on her face. "Don't worry, Sasu." she said, and he was overcome by the warmth that flowed through his body as he gazed at her. "We'll always be friends, dattebayo! No matter how far apart we are!"
"... always…" Sasuke murmured.
He exhaled. He cast one last look back at the dining room, where he could hear Mikoto, Itachi, and Fugaku as they talke. He sighed, before he made his way up the stairs and to his room.
Sasuke was not innovative when it came to being a social person. He was not a smooth talker like Suigetsu - and neither was he the kind of person who could merely blend into the background like Juugo. He was his own brand - both social and antisocial, always in the spotlight though always yearning to be out of it.
Needless to say, that kind of tendency to attract unwanted scrutiny had thrusted Sasuke into some uncomfortable situations. Sitting in the middle of his class, surrounded on one side by a girl staring at him with hearts in her eyes, and on the other side by a boy not-so-subtly glaring at him, Sasuke could say for the first time that he missed being in a class with Suigetsu and Juugo. Not that he would ever say that to their faces… or out loud at all, actually.
It wasn't long before Sasuke came to realize that he was in the same homeroom class as Naruko.
She looked tomboyish, clad in the boy's school uniform, and yet no one in their right mind would stupid enough to claim that she didn't look like a girl - an extraordinarily beautiful one at that. Her blonde hair was twisted into a ponytail. Her radiant blue eyes stared into the class's very soul. It was apparent that Naruko made more than a significant impact straight from the start He could see the boy who glared at him earlier giving her a transfixed stare, and Sasuke made a point of shooting a scowl his general direction.
Sasuke's first block teacher, Iruka, called on Naruko to introduce herself to the class; and like everything Naruko did, well… she could speak for herself.
"Hi, everyone!" she said, her voice bright and chirpy like a bird in the morning. "My name's Uzumaki Naruko, and I just moved here! It's nice to meet you all!"
The class was caught off guard. While there were bright and peppy blondes in the school before Naruko's arrival, no one to date had managed to capture her eccentric blend of energy and passion - she, like Sasuke, was her own brand of person… and that hadn't changed even after a decade, Sasuke thought.
She was assigned to a seat that was near exactly the opposite of where Sasuke sat, and he was fine with that. He stared at the teacher, as he gripped the desk so tightly that his knuckles turned white. He resisted that alluring temptation to glance in her direction.
And the status quo remained that way… at least, until the classes got up in order to go to their secondary classes, which for Sasuke was Home Economics - which, along with Physical Education, was the only subject where he went outside of his home room.
He sat in his customary seat there, an ever present scowl on his face. He wasn't all too happy about having to take a subject like Home Economics of all things, but he knew it was likely to be necessary if he was to learn how to cook something more complicated than a bowl of cereal. He could shelve his pride for a moment if it meant he wouldn't have to rely on American fast food or take out for sustenance whenever he moved out of the house.
Now, something important to note is that the seat next to him was empty.
What Sasuke didn't realize was that Naruko, coincidentally, also took Home Economics. And, again coincidentally, it seemed that the only open chair in the room was right next to him.
So when she bound over to his desk, bent over the desk and jammed her head in front of his, and said- "Hey! Do you mind if I sit next to ya?" Sasuke nearly fell out of his chair in surprise.
His mouth, his inhumanely cruel mouth decided to betray him. "No," Sasuke found himself saying, even as his brain screamed for his lips to stop moving. "I don't mind."
"Awesome!" Naruko exclaimed, and she slid into the seat beside him.
He felt like dying, right there and then, he really did. She still didn't recognize him! Even after she had looked straight at him, capturing every one of his pores with those captivating eyes of hers, she still didn't remember him, not even in the slightest. It infuriated him in a way that made him see red. He almost wanted to hit her, but he knew that his mother would quite literally kill him if he was found assaulting a girl on school grounds… or in general, actually.
Sasuke frowned, and again his body betrayed him, because he was unable to stop himself from glancing in her direction once again. There was something about her that seemed to steal the attention from everything in the room - she'd had that effect at seven years old, and she still had that same power over him after a decade separated.
Not to mention puberty had hit her like a train. Even draped in the boy's uniform, her curves looked so delicious - and that cute way she would bite her lip and tuck her hair into her ear made him want to jump her there and then.
'I'm not going to make it the rest of the year.' Sasuke realized. 'Not if it keeps up like this.'
He couldn't avert his eyes, though thankfully he was subtle enough to not attract any attention from her. Which was a good thing, because if he hadn't been looking at that particular moment, he would never had found out the truth.
Naruko reached up, and scratched her head. It was such a casual movement, at least it would have been if her sleeve hadn't rolled up slightly. Sasuke's eyes widened.
"What's that?" he blurted, pointing at the back of her arm.
Naruko blinked in obvious confusion. "Huh?"
"That… that scar on your arm." Sasuke said.
"Oh, this?" Naruko said. With a sort of nonchalance that an Uchiha would be proud of, Naruko rolled up her sleeve - and Sasuke's eyes only continued to widen, as the scar that ran up her arm kept going, and going, all the way to her elbow. It was ugly and jagged, yet clearly very old, definitely from when she was a kid. "I got this from a car accident." Naruko said.
"A… car accident?" Sasuke breathed.
Naruko nodded. "Yeah. Some idiot ran a red light and ended up ramming right into the side of the car." she said. "My parents died… the driver of the other car died… and I was in a coma for weeks. It was not a pleasant time, I'm sure, at least I would be sure if I could remember it…" The last part came out as a murmur that Sasuke barely caught.
His heart leapt into his throat. "Your parents… they're- they're dead?" Sasuke said, his mouth agape.
"Yup." Naruko said. She nodded once more.
He blinked. "You don't seem broken up about it…" Sasuke murmured. He looked at her intently.
"Well, I guess it's sad and all." Naruko said. "But I don't really remember them; actually, I don't much from before the car accident, or after it for that matter. The doctors… they said my head got knocked around good in the crash. They said that I'll probably have memory problems for the rest of my life - it's gotten better, but I still don't remember anything from before the crash, not even a lick."
His hands twitched. "I… see." Sasuke said.
"Aww, don't feel sorry for me." Naruto said. She brushed something off of her shirt as if she had brushed off his concerns. "I've learned to deal with it. I mean, I've still got pictures of my parents and stuff, so it's not like I forgot them." She tapped a finger on her chin. "Say… I don't think I caught your name; what was it, anyway?"
Sasuke swallowed. "Uchiha Sasuke." he said, thankful that his voice remained firm.
She extended a hand out to him, her face still curled up in that same smile that had stolen his heart from the age of six. "It's nice to meet you, Sasuke." she said.A decade before, when she had moved to town in the first place and they had first met each other at the playground, she had said those exact same words.
His eyes drifted down, to the scar hardly visible now that she had tugged her sleeve back down.
Sasuke swallowed.
He accepted her hand. "... you too." Sasuke said after a moment, his brain still persistent as it screamed at him. He willed down the flush that had creeped up his neck.
Her smile merely grew, and after she had relinquished the handshake, she turned forward in her chair and looked at the front of the classroom.
Sasuke, however, looked at the front of the classroom with a blank gaze.
A dark voice in the shadows of his mind chuckled. 'So that's why she doesn't remember me.' it said. 'Well… that's a pretty good excuse if I've ever heard one.'
Sasuke agreed wholeheartedly.
If you liked it, don't forget to leave a review. Reviews are like food to hungry authors like me, and though they might sate my appetite for acknowledge, they definitely help me get the inspiration to write more, ;). I'll still write whether I get a hundred reviews or one, but the principle of it is what matters, imo. Guest or not, I'll appreciate it. And I'll try to reply to each and every review left.
I'm starting to ramble, so I'll cut this A/N off here. Thanks for reading, and as always have an awesome day.