No, this is not an April Fool's Joke. I am determinted to finish this series even if it kills me!
Disclaimer: Naruto is not mine, neither is anything else mentioned in this story (Mercedes Benz, etc.)
An April Fool
As the sun rose the dark blinds did not put up much resistance to its bright rays; yellow sunshine crept into the room painting the pale face of the black haired youth. A muffled groan echoed throughout the empty room followed by a shuffle and then the crinkle of paper.
"Huh?" Sasuke groaned sleepily having found himself with a face full of paper after trying to get into a more comfortable position. He blinked his eyes open drowsily taking in the white envelope lying innocently on his pillow, the corner damp with drool. Seeing his name printed on the front in Itachi's elegant script, Sasuke was immediately suspicious, but knew from experience that ignoring Itachi's schemes was not the best course of action. He opened it and peered inside. There was the actual letter, naturally, but beyond that the envelope also contained a heavier object. Lifting it carefully out of its wrappings, Sasuke was unable to squash the slight jolt of excitement, though the smart part of his brain was telling him not to get his hopes up.
"Car keys?" he muttered, smoothing his thumb across the Mercedes logo. He hurriedly reached back for the envelope and almost ripped the letter in half in his haste to read it.
Dear Sasuke,
Since I've been back home, I've been teasing you a lot and I'm worried that I may have annoyed you too much with my tricks, so now that I've gone back to University I decided to do something nice for you to make sure there's no hard feelings. Think of it as an apology for missing so many Christmases and birthdays. Call me once you've calmed down.
Your loving big brother,
Itachi
PS. Check the driveway
Sasuke sat back on his bed, stunned. "No way," he muttered, looking over the car keys in his hand. "No way," he said, hopping to his feet, suddenly wide awake.
"No FUCKING way!" he shouted, tearing out of the room and hurtling down the stairs. He nearly gave himself a concussion, but managed to make it out the front door in one piece. Throwing the door open he bounded into the driveway to find it…completely empty.
"What?" He raced to the garage, tapping in the code to open it.
'Maybe he made a mistake and meant check the garage…'
The garage wasn't empty, but other than the usual paraphernalia there was nothing new, most certainly not a Mercedes Benz.
The excitement died and the part of Sasuke's brain that had known better was finally able to be heard.
"NO FUCKING WAY!"
He raced back into the house and grabbed the house phone, banging harshly on the keys. He heard the line pick up, but before he could unleash his rage verbally he was interrupted by his older brother's smug, dulcet tone.
"April Fools, foolish little brother."
"ASSHOLE!" Sasuke screamed into the phone, wishing that his anger could travel over the air waves and take on a physical form to strangle his brother.
"Come now, Sasuke, I'm beginning to think that you have absolutely no sense of humor. You have to admit it was a good trick," Itachi said, completely unfazed by Sasuke's little temper tantrum.
Sasuke might have agreed, if it hadn't been played on him. "So, what? Is the key fake?" he asked angrily instead.
"Oh, I assure you that it is perfectly authentic. So keep it safe, it's a part of a separate trick on a…friend of mine."
Itachi somehow managed to place enough stress on the word 'friend' that is sounded more venomous than Sasuke's cry of 'ASS HOLE!', but that was nothing new: Itachi always managed to outdo Sasuke.
"Whatever," Sasuke muttered before hanging up. He carelessly flung the keys in the general direction of the kitchen table and checked the time on the microwave.
'9:15…I have time before I have to meet everyone.'
He took his time getting ready, an anxious feeling that was becoming more and more familiar settling in his stomach. Every time Sasuke left his house lately he would get this feeling. For a person that was used to being mostly apathetic, this tug-of-war between the joy of getting to his girlfriend and the dread of having to face everyone else was more emotion than he knew how to handle.
School was almost unbearable and Sasuke imagined that the mall would be just as bad. There would definitely be talk of Uchiha Sasuke 'hanging out' at the mall like a 'normal' teenager and Sasuke couldn't blame them because until today he had never been to the mall before. He shopped online and had managed to evade Naruto and Sakura whenever they went. In fact, Sasuke managed to evade Naruto and Sakura on most weekends and this would definitely be the first time he was going out to meet 'friends' willingly.
Turth be told, Sasuke just wanted to see Hinata, but she had already made plans at the mall with her friends. His plan to guilt her into ditching them had backfired and instead she had invited him along and he had been unable to turn her down.
After messing with his hair for twenty minutes too long, he sighed, grabbing his cell phone.
'Man up, Uchiha. Time to quit stalling and get a move on.'
"Sasori! I need your help, hm!"
Akasuna no Sasori sighed, turning to face the hysterical blond. "What is it, Deidara?" he asked reluctantly, not an ounce of sympathy or worry in his dry voice.
"That Uchiha prick stole the keys, hm! He stole the keys to Pein's Mercedes Benz! The same Mercedez Benz that I need to return. Today."
"Ah," Sasori tilted his head to the side, "I still don't understand how you convinced him to allow you to borrow it."
"It cost both arms, an eye and my first born child – but that's not the point! What am I going to do, hm?"
Sasori shrugged, "Shouldn't Pein have a spare key?"
"Oh yea, so I'll just tell him 'Hey Pein, I lost your car keys, but since you've got another set, it's totally fine, right?' He'll kill me, hm!" Deidara hissed, scared out of his mind. Pein was not a man to be messed with.
"Then just go to the dealership and buy a new set," Sasori said, already bored with the conversation.
"Who knows how long that would take? Besides, I don't have that kind of money, hm! The whole point of borrowing that car was to impress that chick from last night and I ended up spending what little money I did have on impressing her so she would put out."
Sasori raised his brows, marginally interested, "Did she?"
"No, hm" Deidara whined, turning his face away in embarrassment, "No nookie and now I'm gonna be murdered!"
"Do you at least know where he put the keys?" Sasori asked.
"Yeah, the bastard at least told me that, hm. They're in fucking Konoha with his kid brother!"
"Quite frankly, that's more information than you deserve considering the prank you pulled on him last week," Sasori said, his emotionless voice falling short of sounding scolding. "In any case, you're in luck. I happen to be going to Konoha to pick up a certain…package-"
"-For your freaky puppet hobby, hm?"
Sasori ignored him, "So you could come down with me to find the younger Uchiha and get the keys back."
Deidara pumped his fist in the air and whooped happily, "Thank you, Sasori! You're the best, hm!"
"I'm trying this new thing where I try to sympathize with people and be…nice to them."
"That new shrink of yours is a godsend, hm."
Sasuke shifted under the weight of many judgmental eyes and pulled out his cell phone to check the last message.
::We're in the food court::
He surveyed the food court, but it seemed that his entire school was there, so every face looked vaguely familiar. Before he could type out a message asking for more specific directions, he heard a loud bark.
Sasuke rolled his eyes at Inuzuka Kiba's inability to go anywhere without his dog. 'Dog Boy indeed.' He followed the barking to table in the very centre of the court. It was clearly meant for four people, but at least five other chairs had been dragged up to it. It looked uncomfortable and completely unappealing to Sasuke, who appreciated his personal space, but the sight of Hinata's cute face pouting at a laughing Kiba was enough to cancel out that feeling.
As he approached, Lee noticed him and started waving overenthusiastically catching the attention of the rest of the table, who sent him waves, smiles and nods of acknowledgement respectively. On the other hand, he felt that the closer he got to the table the quieter the surrounding tables became, their occupants lowering their voices to hushed whispers as they gossiped about him. When he reached the group, he leaned down to kiss Hinata's cheek in greeting, but faltered at the last moment, glancing around anxiously. Instead, he smirked weakly and took the empty seat beside her that she had undoubtedly saved for him.
She was sweet like that; the perfect girlfriend.
'I really want to kiss her right now. Or even hold her hand. But…I…I can't bring myself to…'
He was a shitty boyfriend.
At least Hinata didn't seem to notice his romantic failings. She beamed at him, a happy flush lighting up her cheeks. "H-How was your m-morning?" she asked brightly.
Sasuke frowned, thinking about the April Fool's joke Itachi had played on him. His anger at the incident was still there, but it lingered under the surface rather than encompassing him as it usually would due to the influence of Hinata's presence. "Horrible," he said, "I'll tell you about it later."
Hinata looked up at him, lavender eyes full of concern, but nodded in agreement. He felt a sudden burst of affection for her understanding nature and reached out to take her hand in his.
"Sasuke-kun, how could you ignore the rest of the table like that without even a hello? Are all my childhood friends rude jerks?" Sakura called teasingly from across the table, Naruto nodding in agreement until he realized her statement applied to him as well.
Moment broken, Sasuke dropped his hand to the table and rolled his eyes at her. "Whatever," he grunted, scanning his eyes across the rest of the group, consisting of Neji, Lee, Kiba, Tenten, Sakura, Naruto, Temari and Shikamaru.
Sasuke lingered on the last two, brows furrowing in slightly confusion.
'I wonder why they're here. They don't usually hang out with this group…especially not Sabaku no Temari'
Shikamaru had at least grown up with them and, like most people, was friends with Naruto. Temari, however, was an exchange student from Suna as a part of a program to sooth the tensions raised between Konoha and Suna the last year when a basketball game became violent. In fact, Temari's brothers had been two of the main instigators of the incident and Sasuke himself had gone against them with Naruto, so it seemed a little strange for her to be sharing a table with them.
'Maybe she's friends with the dobe too? Wouldn't put it past him, he'll befriend anything with two legs.'
He turned to Hinata and shot her a questioning gaze, gesturing at the Suna girl.
Hinata leaned in to whisper in his ear, her flowery fragrance making him feel pleasantly heady as it washed over him. "D-Did you forget that the H-H-Hyuuga are acting as the h-host family for the S-Sabaku? Their f-f-father is friendly with m-mine, I think I mentioned h-him being at my b-birthday party…"
Sasuke nodded, remembering the conversation from what seemed like so long ago. Back before he and Hinata had even gotten together. He looked at the girl in question with soft eyes; everything before Hinata seemed so distant and unimportant.
Meeting his eyes, Hinata smiled shyly before standing up. "E-Excuse me, I-I have to use the r-restroom," she said politely. Sasuke noticed Sakura move to undoubtedly invite herself, and probably Temari, along as well in that weird girls-go-to-the-bathroom-in-groups thing and quickly intercepted, knowing that with Sakura there a simple bathroom trip would take ten times longer than if it was Hinata alone.
"I'll walk with you," he said quickly before he could realize how it sounded.
'Whipped'
Sasuke's eyes darted around, looking for the culprit, but only found innocent faces. He honestly couldn't tell if the snide whisper had been real or a product of his imagination.
Inexplicably embarrassed now, he reluctantly got to his feet. As he followed slightly behind Hinata, he couldn't help but stare at her soft, pale hand. A hand that he would normally be holding and he didn't quite know why he wasn't holding it.
"I'll j-just be a s-second," Hinata promised as she slipped into the women's washroom. Sasuke leaned on the adjacent wall trying not to look as awkward as he felt.
'What's happening to me? I never had to try to look cool before…it just came naturally. Could it be..her?'
"Oh look who we have here?" an arrogant sounding voice called out.
Sasuke turned, a frown already lining his pale face. He blinked in surprise, "Sabaku."
Both Kankuro and Gaara were standing before him, the younger a little further back looking completely disinterested.
"What are you doing hanging out outside the ladies room, huh Uchiha? That's a little creepy even for you," Kankuro laughed. "Wait, don't tell me. Could it be you're waiting for your Hinata-chan? You really are whipped aren't you?"
Sasuke nearly flinched back in shock.
'Even these two?'
Scowling, he tried to get back some of his cool. "Fuck off," he growled, not feeling at all as intimidating as he was trying to come across.
Kankuro smirked, "Or what? You're not going to do anything." There was a strange bitterness in the curl of his lips, but Sasuke wasn't in the right mind to notice it.
Sasuke felt his hand curl into a fist automatically and he stepped away from the wall. Kankuro took a few steps forward as well and Gaara was actually paying attention at this point.
"Kankuro," Gaara said lowly, a warning. The redhead looked angry, but then again he usually did. Still, Kankuro took a half-step back.
Sasuke, on the other hand, didn't pay him any mind, continuing to move forward.
Suddenly the washroom door swung open and Hinata stepped out right into the middle of the altercation.
She glanced between the two sides nervously, "A-Ano, is e-everything o-okay, Sasuke-kun?"
Sasuke moved to answer but was interrupted by the arrival of the last Sabaku.
"What going on here?" Temari asked, a dangerous edge to her voice as she focused a glare on Kankuro alone, who looked nervous under her gaze.
Sasuke didn't stay to see the little family drama play out. He started walking away briskly.
"Come on," he called over his shoulder to Hinata who looked unsure if she should follow or stay and help her exchange students, "We need to talk."
Sasuke sat on the uncomfortable mall bench, head in his hands, feeling as if he might be dying inside. There was still a bit of a crowd wandering around him, but he felt like the only person in the world right now; completely alone.
"Sasuke-kun!"
He jerked his head up, seeing Sakura running over to him a little unsteady in her heels.
"Sasuke-kun," she repeated, stopping in front of him, "Do you know – what's wrong?" She looked at him worriedly and he suspected that he must look as awful as he felt.
"What do you want?" he asked, voice completely devoid of life.
Sakura worried her bottom lip between her teeth. "I," she started then stopped, knowing that he wouldn't tell her what was wrong without a lot of wheedling. "Do you know if anything happened with Hinata-chan? She came back to say goodbye and then ran out looking really upset." she said instead.
He looked away.
Sakura got the hint. "Did…did something happen?" she asked carefully, putting a comforting hand on his shoulder. Sasuke shrugged it off.
"We broke up," he said, each word feeling like it was being ripped from his throat.
"What!"
He looked at the floor, unwilling to repeat it.
"Why would you break up?" Sakura asked shrilly, completely blindsided by this development, "You two are obviously crazy about each other and you're perfect together! You make her braver and she makes you softer and-"
"That's the problem!" he snapped without realizing.
"What?" Sakura asked with genuine confusion.
Sasuke frowned and remained silent. Then, quieter, "She makes me soft."
"I…I don't understand."
"What's so hard to understand?" Sasuke growled, "Because of Hinata I've become a total wimp and no one respects me anymore! I'm a laughing stock! My reputation's completely down the drain and Kankuro was the last straw - it just wasn't worth it anymore!"
Sakura stared at Sasuke as he panted harshly, breathless from his rant. Slowly, she raised her right hand and then slapped him straight across the face.
"Wha-!"
Sasuke turned a glare so deadly it could kill with one shot on Sakura, but she didn't even flinch. Surprised, Sasuke studied for a moment and was shocked at what he saw. Sakura had a really bad temper, she was always snapping at Naruto for every little thing he said and she got violent really easily, but for this was probably only the second time Sasuke had ever seen her truly enraged.
"You selfish prick!" Sakura screamed. "Do you even hear yourself? Whining about how hard things are for you by dating Hinata – maybe that's why no one respects you, you're such a brat! What about Hinata, huh?"
"Huh?" Sasuke repeated dumbly.
"You think it's easy for her?" Sakura scoffed, "Please! Every day at school she's constantly harassed by your fangirls and even by the boys you've made enemies with – which is pretty much all of them! Ninety percent of the school is against her and she never complains, not even when they broke into her locker to steal her gym clothes or when they threw her bag off the roof! While you're complaining about a loss of respect – which is probably all in your head – Hinata has to deal with the actual drawbacks. But she never says anything and she just keep smiling because, for her, you're worth it, you're worth all the trouble that comes with dating you!"
Sakura's chest heaved as she paused to catch her breath. Sasuke couldn't move.
"I admired her, you know," she said, her tone softening when she thought of the other girl, "She's such a shy and gentle person, but she was so strong to deal with all of that just for you. It was the reason I didn't mind you two going out, because I thought if there's one girl I can say deserves you over me then it's Hinata-chan. But now…" she glanced at him with blatant disgust, "Now I think that I was wrong. It's you that doesn't deserve her. If you don't think she's worth the trouble then I'm glad you broke up. Hinata-chan deserves better."
She turned around to walk away and Sasuke found himself struggling for something to say. He couldn't wrap his mind around the things she had just said.
'There's no way! It's impossible! Hinata had been going through all that all along…?'
If he had felt miserable before, now he felt like the scum of the earth.
"I…she…but Kankuro," he muttered feebly.
Sakura turned to look at him, completely unsympathetic. "I ran into Temari before I came here. She told me what happened with Kankuro. She also told me that he was just jealous of you."
"W-What? Jealous?" he asked, astonished.
Sakura nodded, "Jealous. First you kicked his ass last year, proving you were stronger. Then you got a girlfriend and started looking so happily when he's having trouble with some girl he loves who's more interested in you. He couldn't stand it if you were both tougher than him and at the same time had the kind of relationship he really wants with his own girl, so he's been mouthing off about you being weak and he wanted to try and win a fight with you to heal his pride or something stupid like that." She turned her back to him again, "I guess he has no reason to be jealous anymore though. You lost the girl and it turns out that you really are a wimp. Hinata-chan is a million times stronger than you."
And then she walked away and Sasuke let her. He didn't even have the energy to defend himself.
'There's nothing to defend..'
He ran his fingers through his hair and then yanked at it until his scalp stung. 'I…I need to find her! Before it's too late!'
Jumping up he began to run, praying that Hinata hadn't left yet. Somehow he felt that once she was back home, nothing he said would matter and he would have lost her forever. He burst through the mall exit and paused, searching the parking lot.
'There!'
He saw her standing by the bus stop, the bus in question slowly approaching her. He felt yet another stab of guilt.
'She wanted to get away from me so badly she couldn't even wait to catch a ride from her cousin…'
He started to cross over to her, but was stopped by a car screeching to a halt in front of him.
"Watch where you're going!" he yelled at the blond person leaning out of the window.
"Finally, hm! You took forever, getting your supplies," Deidara whined, hopping eagerly into the passenger seat of Sasori's car.
Sasori slammed the trunk shut on his purchases and slipped into the driver's seat, "Just be grateful I brought you here at all."
Deidara leaned out the window uncaringly as Sasori started to drive, "Yeah, yeah – hey! Wait a second! Does that look like a mini-Itachi to you?"
Deidara stuck his head out of the window dangerously, "It totally looks like a mini-Itachi, hm! Think it's him? Pull over, pull over!" With this demand, Deidara waved his arm in front of Sasori, blinding the driver.
"Watch it you idiot!" Sasori hissed, hitting the breaks quickly causing the car to come to a screeching halt right in front of the Itachi look-a-like.
"Watch where you're going!" mini-Itachi yelled.
"He's a lot more emotional," Deidara muttered to Sasori before turning to the boy, "Hey kid, are you Uchiha Itachi's kid brother?"
"What? Yeah, why does it matter?" the boy asked angrily before changing his mind, "Doesn't matter. Move out of my way!"
Mini-Itachi tried to scurry away, but Deidara caught him firmly by the arm, laughing as the boy struggled uselessly.
"What the fuck is your problem?" the boy spat, "I need to get over there – fuck!" The boy had been pointing past Deidara before cutting off with a curse, so Deidara followed his arm to find a bus driving away.
"What? All this fuss for a bus, hm? No problem, kiddo, we'll give you a ride home, I need something from you anyway."
"Fuck!" Sasuke yelled, trying to yank his arm out of the blond stranger's resilient grip. The bus was gone and so was Hinata. He'd lost his chance.
'It's really over'
Sasuke expected to be angry – it was kind of his default setting.
Instead, he just felt empty.
He deflated into himself, going slack against the stranger.
"What? All this fuss for a bus, hm? No problem, kiddo, we'll give you a ride home, I need something from you anyway," the blond said.
Sasuke didn't respond.
"Hey, are you listening to me?" the blond said loudly, "You're older brother gave you my car keys and I need them back!"
Sasuke vaguely recalled something about car keys, but at the moment he couldn't really think straight. He just nodded and allowed himself to be pushed into the back seat. He stared listlessly out the window as the car started and began driving. The man driving the car asked him for directions to his house and he rattled them off unthinkingly, more interested in watching the blur of trees go by as they drove.
Deidara stared at the kid in the back through the side mirror. "There's something weird about him," he told Sasori, not even bothering to lower his voice because the kid obviously wasn't paying attention, "D-ya think he's high, hm?"
Sasori grunted noncommittally, "I am a little worried about how careless he seems. You would think Itachi-san would teach his little brother to be a little more vigilant and to not get into cars with strangers."
"Eh, it's easier if he's compliant, hm, "Deidara said, though he agreed.
When they pulled up to the Uchiha mansion – "Of course that bastard grew up in a fuckin' mansion, hm" – mini-Itachi unlocked the door and then stepped inside, leaving it wide open. Exchanging a glance with Sasori, Deidara decided to take it as an invitation and followed the boy in. He was hoping he could snoop a little in Itachi's childhood home. Unfortunately as soon as he'd stepped inside, he felt something smack him in the face.
"Ow, hm!" Deidara muttered, glaring at the retreating back of the Uchiha kid, "Brat…" At least he had Pein's keys now, even if they had been 'given' to him in an unnecessarily rude manner.
"Forget snooping," he told Sasori as he backed out of the house, "There's suddenly a really depressing atmosphere around here. Let's just go, hm, I got what I needed."
Later when they were making the drive back to Akatsuki U, Sasori made a belated comment.
"He seemed…upset," Sasori said casually as if it was perfectly normal to bring up something that had happened more than an hour ago.
"Do you actually care, hm?" Deidara asked, honestly interested.
Sasori shrugged.
"Wow, your shrink really is a miracle-worker, hm!"
Itachi quirked a brow at the name on his caller ID: his little brother rarely called him.
"Sasuke?" he asked, a little worried.
For a long moment there was only the sound of ragged breathing on the other end.
Then: "I fucked up."
Itachi sighed, he had a strong feeling on where this conversation was heading. Lately there was only one thing, or rather one person, that affected his little brother so strongly. "Oh, Sasuke…what did you do?"
Sasuke lay strewn across his bed staring unblinkingly at the ceiling. He recalled his brother's words from earlier:
"Sasuke, it was really wrong of you to put the blame of your own personality change on this girl. While it's true that you have changed, it's not her fault. Caring about someone changes you…for the better usually. And I can't help but feel that I may have been a bit responsible for your behavior too, since I suddenly disrupted your life like this…"
it had been the first time in a long time that Sasuke had opened up to his brother. Or to anyone, really. Well, there was one person that he had allowed himself to be vulnerable around recently…
'Hinata'
He rolled over halfheartedly, spotting the envelope from this morning. It felt like years had passed since that joke.
"In any case, though I'm sure a few people noticed, I think you greatly exaggerated things in your head. Those two boys were the only people that truly said anything in regards to your reputation. Other than that, you only mentioned the way people look at your or the way they whisper, but I'm sure if you really think about it you're realize that people have always looked at you and whispered about you like that. Your mindset was simply warping everything."
He picked up the letter and noticed for the first time that there was writing on the back : 'April Fool's foolish little brother'.
"I know that you don't want to hear it, but I think that Sakura-san was correct. If you care about your reputation more than you care about Hinata-san, then it would have been cruel to continue the relationship. Perhaps you still need to grow up a little before you can have a girlfriend."
Sasuke frowned, rolling over again and cradling his head in his hands.
Those words kept haunting him.
He didn't deserve her.
'April Fool's foolish little brother'
He whispered it out, regretful, condemning and pleading all at once.
"The only fool here…is me."
Ugh, this is so awful and rushed and my words won't get out of my brain right and I didn't even read it over to check for mistakes so sorry if there are any. I just kind of want to post it and get it out there before I delay it even more.
Please review, knowing that people are still reading this would definitely encourage me to work faster on finishing it. I could also use some feedback because it's been so long that I feel there might be a disconnect between my writing before and my writing now, which is a very bad thing when they're part of the same series. If you can tell me if/how my style has changed, that would be really helpful! Lastly: Sasori and Deidara, two completely new characters for me, so can I get some feedback on their characterization? That's kind of my weak point.
Love,
Midnight's Violet Haze
HS