We As Kings
Welcome Home, Stranger
The sun was beginning to make its way down the horizon. The sky was changing from its usual color into a pastel blend of sky blue and light orange. The light streamed against a large, modern house, reflecting off of the, many glass windows.
Light cascaded into a large room, casting shadows along the floor and the walls. The man whose hand allowed the light to shed into the room turned to a sleeping form that was beneath the blankets of the bed that was across the window. Dark eyes scanned the room, from the pile of dirty laundry on the floor to the stack of scattered papers on a desk. The man shook his head and picked up a pillow that had fallen onto the floor. Clutching the pillow in one hand, he walked to the side of the bed and with force, slammed the pillow down onto the unfortunate individual on the bed.
Outside of the house, a scream could be heard that resonated throughout the vicinity.
"Why did you do that?" A boy with messy, dark hair yelled as he emerged from beneath the covers of the bed.
"I wanted to wake you up." The man blatantly replied. The boy picked up the pillow and threw it at the man who, with one quick step to the side, avoided the boy's angry retaliation.
"That's why I have an alarm clock, Itachi," The boy growled through gritted teeth, "and why exactly do you have to wake me up? It's the weekend."
"Ah but Sasuke, my dear younger brother... you don't remember, do you?" The man questioned with slight amusement in his voice.
"Remember what?" Sasuke furrowed his brows.
With an almost unnoticeable, evil grin, the man answered, "Isn't someone special coming home today?"
The younger boy's eyes grew wide and his jaw dropped. "What time is it?"
The man gestured towards the digital clock that was settled on the edge of the nightstand next to the boy's bed. Its fluorescent green digits flashed at 3:41PM.
"It's this late already!" Sasuke exclaimed. He rushed off of his bed and out of his room followed by his older brother. He dashed into the bathroom that was in the hall and slammed the door shut.
"Your friend, Hinata, would be so upset when she realizes that you forgot about her welcome-home party. And how long has she been gone? Nine years." The older brother drawled with mockery as he passed by the bathroom.
Sasuke stood before the sink in the bathroom and frowned at his reflection as he listened to his brother's footsteps fade down the hall. It was true. Hinata probably would be upset, except she wouldn't show it. She would keep it to herself and just smile at you so that there would be no worry.
He had been so excited that she was finally coming back after moving away nine years ago. It may have been a long time since he last saw her, but the image of her cute little face, her short, black hair, and those soft, gray eyes remained a vivid picture in his memory. She always she had a bad habit of stuttering and playing around with her fingers, which sometimes got on his nerves. Even with those silly habits of hers though, they still remained great friends in their childhood. She was also tom-boyish. She always dressed in baggy pants and large t-shirts. He liked all those things about her anyway.
They had become friends because their fathers were business partners, and their moms were close friends. When Hinata and Sasuke were born, their moms always took the two out to play together. All those little play dates eventually built up into a friendship.
They always had so much fun and, they were inseparable. At least, that was the case until Hinata's dad was offered a big promotion that required him to relocate far away. The two friends were devastated when they had heard the news of this.
Sasuke chuckled to himself when he remembered how they had concocted ridiculous plans that they thought would help prevent Hinata from moving away. In the end though, their efforts did not prevail and Hinata had to move anyway. So, in a final attempt to maintain their friendship, they did what all little kids do. They made a pinky promise. The promised each other that no matter how long they would be apart, they would always stay the best of friends.
Now, she was coming back.
Sasuke rushed down the stairs after he finished getting ready and found Itachi sitting at the kitchen table drinking a cup of coffee.
Shaking his keys in front of Itachi's face, he said, "I'll drive there myself."
"You're not going to have anything to eat?" his brother asked without looking at him.
"No, I'll be fine." Sasuke answered. Itachi nodded and with that, Sasuke left.
As Sasuke got into his car, he took a glance at his watch. He frowned when he saw that it was already past four. He pulled out of the driveway and as he was doing so, he felt his cell phone vibrate in his pocket. He pulled it out of his pocket and saw that his friend, Sakura, was calling him. Sasuke rolled his eyes and answered the phone. "What?"
"Where the hell are you?" His friend's voice yelled from the phone.
"I'm on my way now." Sasuke replied.
"Hinata's party started an hour ago!" Sakura shouted.
"I know." Sasuke said, "Don't get so worked up."
"Don't get so worked up!" Sakura wasn't getting any calmer. "She is one of our best friends! Why do you think you can just ignore the fact that she's back home after so long! Didn't you miss her at all?"
"Sakura—" Sasuke was about to say.
"Do you even know where the party is?" Sakura asked.
"Yeah I—" Sasuke tried again.
"It's at her new house." She said.
"Listen—" Sasuke began.
"Did you get her a present?" Sakura continued. Sasuke remained silent. He had forgotten to do that. He rubbed his temples and groaned and combed his hair with his fingers. This day wasn't going off to a good start.
"Hurry up." Sakura told him.
"I'll be there. I was just… busy." Sasuke lied.
When Sakura didn't answer, he figured that she probably hung up on him. He sighed and put his hand to his ear. He was almost sure that Sakura damaged it in some way. Adjusting the car mirror, he backed out of the driveway. He forgot to buy a gift too. Nice. He didn't have much time to ransack the mall, so he decided to go somewhere that he knew well enough to get the job done.
Inside a tiny antique shop, a silver-haired man stared up from the novel that he was reading when he heard the bells of the front door of the shop chime. A raven-haired male stumbled inside. The man watched as the boy approached him at the counter.
"Kakashi." Sasuke came up to him.
"What are you doing here? You're not supposed to be working until tomorrow." The silver-haired male questioned. As he interrogated the dark-haired male, a blond-haired boy entered the store and threw on a dusty apron. His hair appeared to be slightly damp and he looked as if he was out in the sun for a while.
"And you are late, Naruto." Kakashi sighed at the other new arrival. He shook his head in disappointment.
"I'm not late." The blond muttered. When he noticed Sasuke, his blue eyes brightened, and he said, "Hey, Sasuke! What are you doing here?"
"I need to buy something." Sasuke began to shuffle around the small store.
"Oh, really? Need some—"
"Get to work Naruto. I need you to take inventory on our new shipment of merchandise in the back." The man ordered the blond. He handed the boy a sheet of paper and a pen. The boy frowned and snatched the two items before disappearing into the backroom.
The older male put his book down and walked over to Sasuke. The boy had shifted to a new shelf. On this shelf he found an array of stuffed animals. He examined a pink bunny that had a button for one eye. He gave it a squeeze and turned it over. Noticing that the tail was ripped off, he put the plush back on the shelf, and selected a new one for examination.
The older man arched a brow. "Sasuke, I didn't know you played with stuffed animals."
After finishing his examination of the new plush, Sasuke put it back on the shelf and looked at Kakashi. "I'm not shopping for myself."
Kakashi took a glance at the rejected toy and turned back to Sasuke. "Oh? Then, for whom?" The man asked curiously.
"A friend." Sasuke moved on to the next row of shelves. This time he was presented with cases of rings and earrings. He frowned at the outrageous pieces. He was certain that they wouldn't suit Hinata. He pushed some off of the shelf to see if their was anything better further back.
"Well that's different from the usual. You actually care about someone? What happened to that emotionless girl-magnet that brought in my profits?" Kakashi asked as he replaced the items that Sasuke knocked over. He took pity on the boy's haste.
Sasuke took a pause from his search. "Is that why you bothered hiring me?"
Freezing for a moment, the older man laughed nervously. "No. No. It's because of your great work effort. I especially need you because that Naruto is such a clumsy wreck around here."
Sasuke shook his head, returning the man's pity, and returned to shuffling through the contents of a new shelf.
"You know," Kakashi dusted off a figurine that had fallen from the shelf, "if you break anything, it's coming out of your paycheck."
"I can handle that." Sasuke shrugged. "I'm going to inherit a fortune anyway."
He continued his rummaging. He reached a section that was filled with tiny little boxes. "What's in these?"
"Why don't you check?" Kakashi patted the boy's shoulder.
He opened a box and found that it had a blank picture frame inside of it. Sasuke took another moment to pause as it finally dawned on him. He had know idea of what he was going to get. He turned to face Kakashi and asked, "What do women like?"
This caught Kakashi's attention. "Why?"
"Just answer me." Sasuke stated.
"Sugar and spice." Sasuke looked behind him and saw Naruto coming out of the backroom with a wide grin on his face.
"Be serious." Sasuke mumbled, turning away from the mess that he was making.
"Naruto, you should be taking inventory." Kakashi said, walking back to the counter.
"Done." Naruto slapped a sheet the paper onto the counter, and the pen followed suit. He turned to Sasuke with a curious face and asked, "So, Sasuke, who's this girl you're shopping for?"
"An old friend of mine." Sasuke replied as he and the blond approached each other.
Naruto blinked a few times. "You mean that Hinata girl you were talking about the other day?"
Sasuke nodded as he threw the lid off of one of the boxes that he carried over. Seeing that it was empty, he tossed it to the side.
"So, why are you buying her a gift?" Naruto asked.
"She moved back a few days ago. I haven't seen her all week yet and, I have to buy her a gift for the party that Sakura planned for her." He answered as he tossed another box to the side.
"So that's what she's been doing. Oh, if you can't find anything, I've got something you can use." Naruto offered.
"And what would that be?"
"A bracelet. I have it right now if you want it." Naruto reached into his pants pocket and pulled out a tiny box and handed it to Sasuke. Sasuke looked at it and decided to accept it to avoid being any more late to the party.
"Thanks." Sasuke slipped the box into his pocket. "I'll see you tomorrow." Naruto flashed a wide grin and waved as Sasuke left.
When Sasuke arrived at the party, he was greeted by by a pink-haired girl with glossed lips. She glared at him with her emerald-green eyes. Her hands were set firmly on her hips and it seemed that she had been waiting for him in that pose for a while now. The music was blasting and there were a lot more people present than he had expected. He saw people dancing in one room and others just hanging out in clumps in the hallways.
"I'm here." Sasuke stated plainly to the girl as he observed his surroundings.
"What's wrong with you?" She asked, whipping her head to the side so as not to look at him. Her shoulder-length hair swayed with the motion.
Sasuke grunted at this. "Where is she, Sakura?"
Sakura turned her head back to face him. Her glossy lips pouted at him. "I'm not done with you yet."
"Can you be done later?" Sasuke requested impatiently. Sakura dropped her hands to her sides, granting his request.
She then crossed her arms. "She's out by the pool."
"Oh, so there's a pool." Sasuke said out loud as he patted the girl's shoulder and walked past her. He had to shove through a lot of people. The boys cursed at him or shook their fists at him while the girls only blushed and giggled with their friends.
When he got out to the pool area, he couldn't spot his friend. The sun was still beating down and other teenagers were hanging around the pool. Girls who were wearing rather revealing swimsuits were sprawled out on beach chairs. Other people were enjoying themselves in the water. Through all of them, he couldn't recognize Hinata. He looked around to see if he could find any of his other friends so he could ask them if they saw her, but everyone was a stranger to him. He noticed a group of people having a loud conversation at table close by. One girl's face was caked with make-up that she ended up looking like a clown. A few guys were drinking out of paper cups and, another girl with obnoxiously large sunglasses was laughing at a joke that one of them made. He took a few minutes to scan the area but he couldn't recognize anyone who could possibly be his friend.
He turned around to go back inside when, suddenly, someone bumped into him. He turned back around and saw that it was the 'obnoxious sunglasses girl.'
Feeling a little irritated, he opened his mouth and said rather coldly, "Excuse me, miss, but could you—"
"Sasuke?"
Sasuke arched his brow.
"You know me?" He was quite confused.
"It's me, silly." The girl took the sunglasses off of her face, revealing pale, gray eyes.
"Hinata…" Sasuke found himself shocked. He stared at the girl—woman rather—who was standing before him. Her black hair fell down to the middle of her back and her bangs framed her face nicely. All of her baby fat was gone and her skin was flawless. The light from the setting sun gave her skin a glow. The baggy clothes were gone as well. Instead, she was wearing a white summer dress that fell just a bit above her knee. She also had… curves. He couldn't keep himself from staring.
"It's so nice to finally see you again!" And there wasn't a stutter anymore. She smiled a sweet, radiant smile. Then she wrapped her arms around him.
"Oh…" Sasuke managed. "You've… changed."
[Roll Credits]
Written by Faun Elle
Whew! Finally got in the first installment.
I hope you guys enjoyed it! :)))
Feedback much appreciated! ;)