A/N: EDIT (23/09/16) - Yeah, here I go updating this little story a bit in order to get myself into writing again! My girlfriend convinced me...
First I want to mention that, so I assume, the prior title has scared off potential readers; which does not surprise me seeing as it sounded very unprofessional, as if I were some random 13 year old trying to punch together weird jazz...well, that is not the case! I am actually a university student in the departments Japanese and English studies, so you can assume that I take this story very seriously! It is multi-faceted, of course, with romance and humour, angst, horror, drama and everything you can imagine, but the idea stemmed from a dream I had during the time of the original publishing date of this ff. It was weird, but intense, so I hope you guys will enjoy this piece and give it a go, despite the randomness within!
Oh and: this WAS based on the SasuSaku Month quest of 2014 - if you search for the prompt titles, you'll find a nice calender entry for July. I was supposed to have finished it years ago, duh, but I lost motivation quickly, which I hope to change of course! So I am trying my best to get this piece done for you, it shan't be too long anyway, and some prompts will be punched into one chapter.
Anywho's: enjoy! And please remember to review at the end of the chapters!
Chapter 1: Phobia
Her heart drummed rapidly, her breath coming out in a jagged rhythm as her wide, malachite eyes scanned the horizon feverishly.
They would be here any minute. Any second.
Her heart throttled her, palpitating so incredulously fast she thought that, if it didn't come jolting out of her mouth, her ribcage would be exploding at any given moment. Locks of rebellious rose-tainted hair flew wildly around her head, sticking vehemently to her cheeks and forehead.
Next to her, on the grime-covered ground lay Sasuke, panting, curled together like a foetus from all the pain he was experiencing.
"Hold on in there Sasuke! Just...hold on!" Her voice was desperate and laced intently with worry and fear.
What if he didn't make it? What if they came first? Another ragged breath escaped her chapped lips.
She could hear them. The growling, the vicious snarls, see the glow of neon rainbow colours...
"Hold on Sasuke..."
A few days or weeks earlier...
This was ridiculous.
Sakura couldn't believe she was undergoing this feeling when her future was supposed to be glorious and heroic. Well okay, a little bit too much make-up on there, but she still saw herself bright and shiny and all adored and admired. The great Haruno Sakura! - they would call her that, in all the newspapers, interviews, documentations, books, hell, maybe even action figurines or plushies!
Okay, maybe those last two items wouldn't have it written all over them. But maybe inscribed somewhere small, in the corner, on a tag, or some place. But it would be on there. Sakura knew every sane person standing in front of her would double over, laughing coherently at her absolutely idiotic idea of a future, but could you really blame this girl? All she had were her dreams, accompanying her at night and making every morning worthwhile.
So what if there were millions and trillions of doctors occupying this earth, saving and, dare she think about it, killing patients in a steady go-beat. Amongst all those so called gods in white, she would be the star. A saviour. Rescuing lives, bringing smiles to the sickly and bringing hope to those who are literally about to knock on death's door.
"Come on, Sakura, you can do it, just a routine vaccination..."
The sixteen year old teen tapped her foot impatiently against the pristine tiled floor, eyes focused vigilantly onto her faded reflection within them.
A vaccination. It was just a vaccination. Once she was superstar Dr. Haruno Sakura, she would be giving them daily, without thinking about it, so professionally that she could do it blind. But god – that cruel, almighty power that apparently resided somewhere up in the unreachable heavens, decided that when Sakura was born, he should not bless her but curse her instead.
With what, you may wonder?
With Trypanophobia.
Or Belonephobia.
Sakura wasn't sure which of those it would really be. She hated knives and scissors as much as any other sharp, glinting object, but she was pretty sure the needle topped it all. That ominous, obscene object that restlessly infiltrated innocent people's arms and bums, pouring fluids inside or stealing their much-needed blood.
Okay wait, that sounded ridiculous too.
Injections and blood tests were life saviours. Sakura knew that more than anyone, wanting to become a doctor since the delicate age of four. She would, against all the odds that stood up before her, have to overcome her earth-shattering fear and learn to accommodate herself with her overly pointy...friends... The thought alone made cold, icy shivers chase across her spine. Goosebumps rose on her skin.
'Oh god...No way out of this. If you want to be a great doc, you have to put vaccinations behind you like they are cheesecakes. Ugly name, but great nonetheless.'
Stupid comparison...
"Haruno Sakura!" A firm, female voice called at the door to the treatment room.
Gulping down the speedily growing lump in her throat, she stood up with as much confidence as she could muster.
"H-Here..." She approached the doctor and entered the room.
"Well then Haruno-san, I am Dr. Nakamura." The tall blond lady threw her a friendly smile, checking something on a clipboard she held in her hands before peeking over at the buzzing laptop.
"If you would please take a seat then." She spoke, going over to a table and grabbing a small bottle and a syringe wrapped in fresh plastic.
Nervously, her hands trembling so bad she could have been declared a rare case of early parkinson's disease, the pinkette sat down in a simple chair, watching attentively as the doctor prepared the vaccination, firstly putting on some latex gloves.
"So, I heard you want to be a doctor when you're older?" It was the most simplistic attempt at comfort: small-talk.
The lady probably smelled her fear and wanted to talk her through it.
"Y-Yeah..." Sakura doubted her trick would work though.
Dr. Nakamura stepped in front of her, bending forward, checking her arm, "It won't hurt darling, it's just a quick prick." There was a tone of encouragement within her voice, and Sakura tried to concentrate on it.
Squeezing her eyes shut, counting to ten, feeling the clammy sweat trickling down the side of her temple, her heart thumping dramatically, Sakura listened intently to the doctor's blabbering.
One, two, three...
Then she made her grand mistake. She opened her eyes too early, too curious and fearful, wanting to know where exactly the overly thin item was, wanting to see when the impact would arrive – only to have her stomach lurch. The needle was millimetres away from touching her soft alabaster skin.
"N-no..." Sakura stuttered, jade orbs large with panic, "I-I can't! Sorry, I can't!" She jolted from her seat, taking a measured step back from the doctor, who threw her a rather irritated glance.
"I'm sorry!" Sakura cried with frustration before she bolted outside of the treatment room and along the hospital's corridor, past some curious onlookers, right towards the entrance and outside into the fresh night air.
"You ran away!?"
Sakura tried to avoid her best friend's incredulous stare; large, cerulean eyes shimmering with shock. Not daring to raise her eyes, she took a bite off the onigiri within her bento.
"Sakura! You want to be a doctor someday! Doctor's aren't scared of injections. It's part of their daily routine!"
"I know, Ino, I know! I'm not proud of myself either. I just..."
"Got cold feet." The blond bit off a piece from her sandwich, shaking her head over and over again Sakura was surprised she wasn't feeling dizzy.
They were sitting underneath a very large cherry-blossom tree – Sakura's namesake, which was the reason they chose this tree type, both enjoying their lunch after having had several hours of straining physics, maths and literature.
"What did your mom say?" Looking into her eyes, the rosette gulped down the piece of fried vegetable bitterly.
Suddenly, yasai tempura simply didn't taste as good anymore. And she was sure as hell that it weren't the green pepper's fault.
"She was pretty mad. Said that I can forget my dreams, I will never make it through to my medical degree like this."
"Well, she's right."
Sakura sighed shakily, "I know, I have to go again the day after tomorrow. Mom's coming along to make sure I don't dash away again..."
"What honour of her accompanying you!" There was a mocking tone in her voice, "Well, good, otherwise I'll join you, Forehead! I've had it done, it's no big deal!"
Sakura rolled her eyes, not wanting to imagine a doctor's visit with Ino at her side. The girl was simply too loud and attention-seeking.
Suddenly, a sonorous chorus of squeals erupted from the park area of their school, as if a boy band had just arrived at their concert.
"What's going on there?" The rosette questioned, placing her bento down and trying to glance over the small hill they sat behind.
"Probably the new kid everyone's talking about." Ino declared rather unenthusiastically, glaring at her sandwich as if it had just committed a crime.
"New kid?"
Sakura hadn't heard anything about a new kid coming to their school. A school for intellectually gifted and talented young spirits, as their headmaster put it. He forgot the part with: and super rich parents who don't know what to do with all the money so we kindly offer assistance.
"And he's got a face like Justin Bieber, or why are they screaming as if there were no tomorrow?" Sakura asked in confusion, hating it when the beautiful peace and silence of her little haven was disrupted.
Yes, she called her spot underneath the grand cherry-blossom tree a safe haven. Because it felt like it everytime she was there.
"Well, no, but the face of an Adonis? Yes."
The rosette glanced over at her friend, who was back to munching down her lunch.
"You saw him?"
"Yup."
"And you say he's super handsome?"
"Yup."
"So...why are you still sitting here and not over there, first row, throwing yourself at him like you do with every good-looking male being?"
Ino gaped at her with a scowl, obviously displeased about the comment, "Excuse me, Forehead, I do not jump random guys who have the looks of a god-"
"Yeah right, continue."
"-before not knowing whom I'm hunting first."
"Aphrodite would be proud of your choice of words." Sakura teased, giving her a fake look of appreciation.
"Whatever. The reason why I'm here and not there, my dear sophisticated friend, is because the new star of Konoha's Academy of Prosperous Students is an Uchiha."
Sakura blinked once, twice, three times before she noticed that nothing, no, absolutely nothing within the cogwheel system of her brain was making any click or ding sounds.
"And that means...?" She gave her friend an expectant glance.
Ino's eyes widened once more that day, "Wait, you are not telling me you don't know who the Uchiha's are!?"
Slightly embarrassed, Sakura shook her head sluggishly, "I fear...not..."
"Oh my God, Forehead! They are just like, the most powerful and famous family in the whole universe. Or rather, they were."
"Uhm...?" A frown began to form on her visage, Sakura scrambling her memory again for any sign of the word Uchiha.
"It was all over the news just a few years back. The elder son of the Uchiha family went crazy, apparently. He was some sort of mad hobby scientist. He did an experiment in his house and killed his entire family in the process. Except for his younger brother."
She rattled it off so casually Sakura thought she might as well be reading some boring novel she had thumbed through countless times.
"Excuse me!? His brother- what!? Why!?"
"Why what?"
"Ino!"
"Okay, calm down!" The azure-eyed teenager sighed, rolling her eyes in annoyance, "I don't quite know, apparently he stood under the influence of an elder Uchiha member, was somehow driven crazy. He seemed totally normal on the outside. In the news at least. Yet he intended to kill his entire family, but he loved his brother too much so he left him alive."
"H-How did he kill them...?" Sakura feared the answer already.
"Not sure, I forgot that little detail...I think through some poison or something."
Her malachite eyes were wider than they had been the day prior, when she was nearly vaccinated.
"That's horrible!"
"Yeah, I know. Everyone thinks his little brother, Sasuke, could become a psychopath too one day. He grew up in complete solitude. They said he didn't have any foster parents and nothing, even though he was a kid when it happened. He's really weird and, well, cold."
"So remind me...why are all the girls of our school screaming like they just received a marriage proposal?" Sakura wasn't sure she wanted to know that answer, either.
"Well, ignoring all the crap with his family and stuff, he is chocking hot, and rich. It's a double win really. Girls tend to ignore the pesky little dark facts when it's about guys like Sasuke."
"But you don't."
"Obviously."
"Obviously."
"Hey, I'm not that loony! And besides, I'm more hooked on that sweet little artist from room 15 than to have time giving Sasuke any attention."
"Sai, you mean." Sakura squinted her eyes as she recalled the name.
"Yeah..." Ino gave her some serious dreamy eyes, which the pinkette ignored, looking over the hill again, wondering what this Sasuke must be like...
Little did she know that she would be finding out more than she could have ever hoped for.
Sakura entered the room number A-7, books stacked in her arms to an absurd height as she waltzed her way towards the table, placing them down with a loud thud. An abrupt knock caught her attention instantly, the pink-haired girl swinging her head towards the door.
There stood, all tall and dark and mysterious, a boy with the most appealing features she could have ever imagined. An edged jaw, lined smoothly, with an aristocratic nose and onyx orbs that pulled you under their spell almost immediately. Wild, defiant strands of obsidian hair sprouted in every direction from his head, giving him the total bad boy appearance. That, topped off with his black jeans, large boots with metal chains and cleats, the rebellious AC/DC shirt he wore together with an ashen coloured leather jacket.
'Uchiha Sasuke, I guess...'
"I take it you are not the biology teacher." It was rather a statement than a question.
'Wonderful', Sakura thought with an inner sigh, 'He's got the voice of a prince.'
"You're right. I'm not."
A sheer expression of vexation adorned his features, his night-like eyes glancing to the side.
"Any way, I might be able to help you?" Sakura asked, somehow sympathetic of his situation now that she recalled her conversation with Ino earlier.
Interestingly enough, the rosette also felt a hint of regret upon wording that question.
She wasn't sure why.
He flung a stack of stapled papers onto the table in front of her, giving her a rather nonchalant look, "I was told to seek out these various teachers and ask them for my course books. They recommended I do some catch-up reading."
Sakura nodded in understanding, "Ah." She peeked down onto the paper and saw their biology teacher's name scrawled on there, together with "A-7".
"Well, seeing as I've been at this school for far longer than necessary," And now she walked around the table, trudging to the back of the room where a cupboard stood, opening it and protruding a thick lecture book, "I know where all the material is. Here you go." She approached him, halting a good metre in front of the boy as she reached out her hand with the desired object.
He grabbed it reluctantly, frowning at her. At least she thought he was frowning, "Thanks..."
"My pleasure." she smiled quickly before returning to her own stack of books.
"Say..." he spoke, eyeing the book in his hands, "You wouldn't mind telling me-"
"Teme!"
Both teenagers whipped their faces towards the entrance, where a third person now stood; tall, blond, tanned, and eyes so bright the sky would be jealous.
'Uzumaki Naruto'.
"What do you want, Dobe?"
"I've been looking for you, bastard! I found the psychology teacher!"
"Great..." the lack of enthusiasm in Sasuke's voice seemed to drain the entire room of its cheerfulness.
If there were any of that in here in first place.
"C'mon, let's go!" Naruto darted from the entrance as quickly as he had come, just to jump back again with an exploding grin, "Oh! Hey Sakura-chan!" And gone he was.
Sasuke sighed, obviously displeased.
"What were you gonna ask?" Sakura questioned just as Sasuke made his way towards the exit.
He turned one last time, throwing her an impassive glance, "Nothing, forget it."
The pinkette shrugged, watching as the mysterious Uchiha left the room, glad she hadn't broken out in cold sweat as the constant memory of his past haunted the back of her consciousness.
A/N: So here is chapter 1! Lengths will vary depending on...well the prompts I guess! Tomorrow, chapter 2 will bring QUITE some action and twists...
So if you want to read chapter 2 and find out how the apocalypse starts, REVIEW!
You will get wonderfully hot, steaming cookies with cocoa and a Sasuke plushie!