Close Your Eyes, The World's Still There
chapter one
by a quirky little tune
A young man on the hospital bed shifted in his light sleep, pale features twisting slightly in pain. His brown eyes slowly blinked as he woke, a slim hand reaching up to brush his long hair off his face. He tried to sit up and moaned softly as his ribs harshly protested against the movement. He smiled a derisive smile and wondered absently, "Perhaps this is what it feels like to be run over by a bus…"
He turned to the right and found himself looking outside, the sun heavy and low in the reddish sky. The man tried to remember how he had ended up in a hospital bed, but felt no particular rush to figure things out. He sat contentedly until a smooth voice broke into his thoughts.
"Not quite. It was more along the lines of a flashy red Audi going 30 over the speed limit."
The injured young man perked slightly at the wry words and his eyes widened with surprise as they landed on a dark form in the opposite corner of his room.
"Sasuke-kun?" he asked with a tone of slight disbelief.
Uchiha Sasuke sighed as he stood, packing away the textbooks he had been skimming. He rubbed the bridge of his nose and moved closer to his friend's bedside, pinning the young man with a dark, annoyed glare. He paused, as if considering his next words.
"You… are a moron, Haku."
The long-haired brunet smiled gently at this, glancing behind the aggravated Uchiha at a clear vase filled with various flowers. Each bloom boasted a different pastel shade, the petals blending in together to make a calm, colorful collage.
"Did you bring me flowers, Sasuke-kun?" Haku asked, pleased. "Thank you, they're very lovely!"
Sasuke merely scowled and ignored Haku's attempt to change the subject. "Do you know how worried I felt, receiving a call from the hospital in school? All I could get from the person on the phone was that you were involved in a car accident and had yet to regain consciousness."
"I'm sorry," Haku said sincerely, actually quite touched by the angry concern.
The apology only served to deepen Sasuke's frown. "You're sorry?" He sighed tiredly, but his dark eyes glittered something fierce. "Do you remember, Haku? The last time we ended up in the hospital due to a similar situation, I recall you apologizing then as well. I find it hard to take your "I'm sorry's" seriously anymore because, if you were truly sorry, you would not be jumping in front of gaudy sports cars on your way to school, would you?"
"Mm," the brunet sounded, his lips still curved in a soft smile at Sasuke's mini rant. The accident came back to him easily now and, as the details filled his mind, Haku asked, "How is the little boy?"
"I'm serious, Haku, no more acts of martyrdom. One day, you're not going to bounce back miraculously; I wish you would stop throwing your life away so easily." Sasuke's eye twitched slightly as his words seemed to be basically ignored. He bit out, "And the kid is fine; the doctor says he got away with some minor scrapes on his hands and knees."
"Well, that's a relief," Haku said, relaxing fully. "I'm glad he wasn't seriously injured."
"This," Sasuke ground out, "is exactly what I'm talking about. It's a fantastic thing for you to save a little boy from getting run over, but not at the risk of your own life. You have to stop acting so impulsively – are you listening to me, Haku?"
Haku had turned to face the window again during Sasuke's mini rant. He pointed at something in the sky with a thin finger. "Oh, look, there's a sparrow!"
"Haku!"
The brunet faced his friend, amused. "Yes, Sasuke-kun?"
Feeling as though all his anger had simply vanished, Sasuke pulled over the chair he had used previously and fell into it in defeat. Haku could be incredibly stubborn when he wanted to be and the Uchiha knew he would never be able to win against his best friend in this sort of argument. "Just… try to be more careful, alright?"
Haku felt warmth blossom in his chest from Sasuke's worry. Having been best friends with the Uchiha since middle school, he had long since learned to take Sasuke's standoffish persona in stride and could easily read what the man truly felt and meant from his curt words. Still, it was always nice when Sasuke showed his real emotions on his own.
"I'll try," Haku promised. He tilted his head slightly, evaluating the other man with a curious expression on his face. "But I do wonder, Sasuke-kun… if there isn't any one out there that you would risk your life for."
Sasuke snorted. "Well, I'm definitely not going to go out there to risk my neck to save an imbecilic little boy from his own overwhelming stupidity."
Chuckling, Haku had to agree. "No, I'd imagine not. But random little children aside, isn't there any special person that you would die for?"
Pausing to think for one brief second, Sasuke shook his head. "Not really." He cast a vaguely uncomfortable look in Haku's direction. "No offense."
"None taken," Haku assured, smiling. "That's just how you are. Still, I can't help but think it's rather sad that you don't have a precious person in your life yet."
"Do you?"
"Well… no, I suppose I don't," Haku replied truthfully, adding an amused, "No offense." Sasuke waved it off easily and his lips quirked upwards in what could be called a smile. Haku laughed softly, his earnest brown eyes traveling back to the window as he continued, "But I am searching and I'm sure I'll find them someday. I'm in no rush."
"And if you die before you find them because you decide to pull another moronic, self-sacrificing stunt like you did today?" Sasuke pressed darkly. Flashes of his initial panic and worry when he first received the call appeared in his mind and he vaguely felt the urge to hit something. He had hoped, however vainly, that his friend would see the danger and promise to stay out of other peoples' business.
Unfortunately, true to form, no such promises were made; instead, Haku very pointedly waved to his vase of flowers, innocently commenting, "Those are very beautiful, Sasuke-kun, what kind of flower did you say they were again?"
"You," Sasuke growled unhappily, "are one of the most infuriating idiots I have ever met."
"And you've met quite a few," Haku mused, agreeing, his smile growing.
Sasuke sighed with defeat, resisting the urge to throw his hands up in the air and scream. He brushed his ink-black hair off his pale face and rubbed his eyes carefully as he fully slumped in his seat.
Haku watched his best friend affectionately, enjoying their onesided banter. His ribs throbbed painfully and his small hand moved to rest gently on his side; his left knee also felt hot and swollen and Haku flinched the tiniest bit as he tried to stretch his legs out.
Sasuke's eyes were sharply observing his movements. "You have a small concussion, a twisted knee, two broken ribs, and bruises all over. They're going to want to keep you here for a few more days at the very least."
Haku nodded absently and seemed pleased with the diagnosis. "I was very lucky."
Biting his tongue, Sasuke said nothing, turning his head so as not to glare. Haku muffled a soft chuckle. The silence between them was familiar and comforting, neither feeling the awkward urge to break it.
For the first time, Haku's eyes traveled to the plain clock on his nightstand. "It's rather late, Sasuke, and I'm sure you've been here for quite a while—" the Uchiha snorted quietly at this, but Haku knew he hadn't left Haku's bedside since his arrival, "—perhaps you should head home?"
Sasuke read the clock himself and rose from his chair. His lips pursed together thinly and he nodded in agreement. "I can't wait to get home and sleep," he admitted quietly, grabbing his schoolbag.
"Why are you so tired today?" Haku asked curiously, feeling rather sleepy himself.
"History and English exams today," the Uchiha heir explained shortly, eyes narrowing in sheer aggravation.
"Mmm," Haku worried his bottom lip and brushed some of his long hair from his mouth. "I had completely forgotten all about those. I'm assuming then, from your exhaustion, that they were extremely difficult?"
Sasuke twirled around sharply on his heel, effectively hiding the fierce frown Haku knew would be on his pale face. "The tests were fine. Two of the easiest tests I've taken all year."
"But…?" his best friend encouraged gently.
"But," Sasuke snarled, "our classmates are the most idiotic, worthless people to exist. All day, the whole senior class would not leave me alone. Asking for last minute advice. Pestering me for answers, study tips, the exact questions from the exams. They even found me at lunch so now I'll have to find a different spot to eat!"
Haku kept himself from laughing aloud. "Oh dear," he said as sympathetically as he could. Lunch period was Sasuke's personal time during the school day where he retreated to an abandoned classroom on the higher levels to escape their classmates. Even Haku rarely knew where Sasuke was eating (or brooding, or perhaps both at the same time – Sasuke really was a fantastic multi-tasker).
"Is it honestly so hard to just study and work on your own?" the Uchiha muttered unhappily to himself as he pulled open the door.
"Sasuke."
Sasuke stopped, door knob in hand, and turned his head the slightest bit to glance at his best friend.
Haku smiled gently, his hands folded neatly in his lap. "Thank you," he said, his eyes emanating a happy warmth that expressed more gratitude than his usual patented smile.
Sasuke snorted, as if it were ridiculous that Haku should thank him, but Haku caught a glimpse of a fleeting similar softness in the Uchiha's eyes in return.
A few minutes after his best friend had left, as Haku was slowly trying to slip back into a lying position without aggravating his beaten up body, the door cracked open again. Sasuke crossed his arms, standing in the doorway with his foot acting as a stopper. "By the way," he spoke sternly, "I don't care what your wishes are this time, but I will be pressing charges against the asshole who put you in that bed."
Haku made a face, as if tasting something bad in his mouth, before smoothing over the look with a rather neutral expression. "We'll see," he replied softly, smiling as if indulging in a child's ridiculous whim.
Snarling slightly, Sasuke nodded curtly, knowing that this was an argument best fought another day. Both of them were exhausted, it was starting to get dark out, Sasuke had a brother to get home to…
"Goodnight, Haku," he finally offered before leaving the room. At the soft click of the door falling back into place, Haku laughed peacefully, congratulating himself -- not for the first time -- for finding such a wonderful friend.
"Goodnight, Sasuke."
Sasuke entered his house with mixed feelings of utter dread and sheer relief. He removed his shoes with a quiet sigh, leaving them neatly by the door, before shuffling into the massive kitchen that seemed to mock him with its echoing emptiness.
Images of two small boys cooking breakfast together, one measuring out the flour precisely and the other carefully breaking an egg with small hands, tickled his mind but he tiredly brushed them back into the corner of his mind. A quick examination of the (lack of) possible dinner options had Sasuke picking up a huge green apple, the noisiest of all fruits. He took a few bites and, as the crunching noises filled the room, the kitchen suddenly did not seem as haunted.
He lounged around the counter for a good ten minutes, savoring his 'dinner' slowly, relishing the slightly bitter taste that only the green apples could offer, before finally facing the inevitable. He threw away the core, grabbed his school bag, and reluctantly climbed the stairs. When he reached the second floor landing, Sasuke paused, eyes straying subconsciously to the plain double doors situated at the very end of the East Wing. They seemed suspiciously ordinary and innocent, but Sasuke unfortunately knew better. Behind those simple oak doors rested the greatest kept secret of Uchiha manor. Behind those old bare doors lived the very bane of Uchiha Sasuke's existence.
Behind those smooth wooden doors lay the Past in human form, shattered and broken and bloodied and so very, very convoluted.
And it was all Sasuke's fault.
Shaking his head to get rid of such debilitating and frankly overly dramatic thoughts, Sasuke sighed deeply, irritated with himself for his uncharacteristically morbid attitude this evening. The whole accident with Haku must have shaken him up much worse than he had originally thought. Scoffing aloud, the raven-haired boy resolutely walked in the opposite direction of the East Wing, putting it and all thoughts concerning it out of his mind.
He entered his own large bedroom, tossing his school bag off to the corner and quickly removing the school uniform jacket. Glancing quickly at his clock, Sasuke reasoned that if he took a small nap now, he could wake up again at eleven or so to complete the little homework he had been assigned – those two exams had been good for something, apparently. The Uchiha had never before felt so compelled to just sleep before and this compulsion, coupled with his horrible day and the lack of substantial assignments due tomorrow, made his body practically sing as he pulled back his dark blue duvet cover and readied himself for nap time.
It was like this, sitting on the edge of his bed, eyes nearly closing on their own accord, mind practically begging for sleep, fingers nimbly unknotting his uniform's tie, that Uchiha Sasuke finally heard the screams.
He would never forget this night.
I hope this provides to be an interesting beginning to Close Your Eyes. I understand that I have other stories left unfinished, and I may seem to be making a lot of excuses, but they are all on break for very good reasons... mostly.
Please provide feedback and comments; I love hearing from you all and I've been dreaming about this story for months. Months, I tell you.
Thanks for tuning in!
a quirky little tune