Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I still don't own Naruto. If I did, Naruto would have a girlfriend already, and Sasuke would be dead.
So here we are guys, chapter 2. It only took me a few days to write, but I've been UNBELIEVABLY busy with university, so I took what little free time I have been graced with and decided to update what is, most likely, my most popular fic, despite the the fact it's only got one chapter. Well...two now, but you get my drift.
Just something else I want people to understand: The legal age for drinking and consent in this fic is 18 (a la the UK). It makes things a little easier and doesn't make Ino and Sakura's bar-crawling sneakiness all that serious, since they're both under by only a few months.
Previously on 'Face The Music': Ino and Sakura now know something new about the primary idiot of their class. Only two questions now stand: What will happen to the girls' initial opinions of him? And what will happen on the next day of school, when they face him again?
Face The Music
A Naruto Fan Fiction
Chapter 2: Questions
Friday 12th - Sixty-Four Palms Night Club; Backstage Loading Area – 22:27 hrs
Beauty comes in many forms: visual, intellectual, artistic, physical…and yet what could be defined as beauty by one figure is an entity that becomes a disgrace to another. It was a sad thought, that human evolution brought about the birth of opinion and confliction of meaning; and yet it was an ironically sweet curse that many have seen and shouldered the hate of others, all whilst their internal harmony was too overpowering for them to bother with anything occurring outside their personal four walls. The best example of this, in the present day, was in a dimly lit alley behind the gargantuan building that housed the dull racket of rattling strings and the low click of bass drums.
Kamezura Tenten, in the eyes of Hyuuga Neji, was the personification of heaven, earth, the sun and the moon all combined into the most illustrious body and personality he had ever witnessed. Not even those pieces of plastic called 'supermodels', that did nothing but walk backwards and forwards on a platform wearing stupid clothing, could live up to what his girlfriend exhibited. With her hair up in those cute buns, she was dazzling; but once the lacquered chopsticks came out, allowing gravity to pull her chocolate brown strands over her neck, she was…perfect. Neji always liked reminding her of his opinion, and Tenten knew it; that would be why she was backed up against a cold and rough brick wall, pushing her lips further into a kiss of delectable passion with her admirer. Both of them always loved moments like these, in which they were alone to sieve through what the other felt.
But they didn't exactly appreciate it when certain sounds of mocking stomach lurching echoed a few metres down the alley in their direction.
"BLEGH!" That was the oh-so intelligent sounding voice of their blonde-haired school subordinate.
"URGH!" And it didn't make matters any better when the man who had brought their little group together joined in, too. Thus, the example of beauty's perception had hit its climax and quickly dissipated.
They paid no heed, though, keeping their lips joined after having not sampled one another for at least forty-five minutes. They could mock all they wanted, because while it was all in good fun, Neji and Tenten were the only people out of their ragtag group to actually have a significant other...at least as far as they were aware.
The two overhead lamps that shone two small yellow circles inside the alley barely helped the members of RasenShuriken see the inside of the Ford Transit Tourneo parked by the stage exit. They should have been grateful that their drummer hadn't brought his own equipment, packing it in would have taken a good twenty minutes and the majority of the space, otherwise. For this gig, three guitars and a keyboard was all that was necessary. The van was painted in a sky-blue hue with a square arrangement of four thick, wavy lines of navy stuck to the door that was presently retracted to allow access to the interior.
"Next time, I'm bringing my own snare." Naruto's hoarse complaint carried outward from inside the van, the walls of the vehicle giving his voice a tinny hum. He carefully placed a glossy-black Hudson PB4 Bass into a large, briefcase-esque carrier near the rear of the van, the foam filling of which was custom cut to the shape of the guitar in question. Naruto noted the odd design of the forward spire on its body, which he was sure would knock of the weight balance of the instrument. However, he knew better than to mess around with the marvelled feat of musical engineering, because Neji would rip his balls off, otherwise.
Carefully stepping back over a row of forward-folded seats, Naruto sighed as he stepped back out into the night air, feeling his damp skin cooling through his activity-induced sweat.
"That piece of shit they set up sounded like a flat trashcan lid. How the hell can I get a decent sound with just two chains? My Tama set would have rattled that stage like a blender". He looked to his right to find a young woman with rough, sandy-blonde hair holding out an Ibanez RG420EG by its neck.
"Don't be such a nitpicker," Temari began as Naruto supported the guitar with both hands before removing it from her grasp, "at least you've only got to worry about hitting some drums at the right time." Naruto wanted to frown at that, drumming wasn't just about smacking some artificial animal skin with a couple of wooden sticks, after all.
"Speaking of time…" Temari murmured before looking at the recently lip-locked couple walking hand-in-hand back towards them.
"Tenten, you were out during the 'Chances' duet, for a moment there I thought I'd end up finishing a whole second before you." Tenten caught her fellow player's smirk as her technique was criticised. The younger woman nonchalantly huffed through her nose.
"From where I was standing, you were playing too fast. I think you were trying to impress those guys at the barrier." Tenten's equally smug face was met with a look of passiveness.
"Ladies, ladies." Naruto butted in before revealing himself to his band mates once again, an honest smile written across his face. "We're all on the same team here. We're supposed to be supportive, not tear each other a new one right?"
Temari took a moment to stare at Naruto in bewilderment, while Tenten shot a questioning look over at Neji, who stood to her left. Naruto was certainly, as Zabuza had described on stage, the band's resident sugar addict. In their time together, he was the biggest joker, and the one who appeared to take everything a little less serious than the others. Once in a blue moon, he would break tradition and emerge with a wise and relevant quip. Accepting the notion, the two young women wordlessly agreed to drop the subject.
"Besides, I'm the drummer here. In my opinion, both of your timings were bad."
Oh dear…
The tension in the air became deafening; not even the nearby trashcan that appeared to topple over in mere shock of the sentence broke anybody's reveries. Seeing the bland expressions around him, Naruto's happy smile quickly flattened as he looked over the four people around him.
"What?"
Still no response.
With a light smack to his exposed forehead, Zabuza, who was stood by the passenger side front door of the van, looked at Neji. The bassist looked back over his shoulder, the minute and slanted smile on his face said everything: 'Hold on to your balls.'
"Did he just go there?" Neji gave a short 'hm' in response, and closed his eyes.
"I do believe that he has gone there."
If there was one thing that RasenShuriken's male population knew not to do, it was to deliberately incite the wrath of the females. However, Naruto, being as generally ignorant as he was, was still in need of having the fine line between 'acceptable' and 'deliberately inciting wrath' made clear to him. The flat expression he quickly turned up told everyone that he knew that he had just goofed up badly. This, since their band had formed, would be incident number seven for the blonde knucklehead.
The sight that greeted Haku and Gaara as they exited the building was, strangely enough, almost standard for gig nights.
Both Temari and Tenten had their arms crossed and backs turned to Naruto, who lay battered on the ground by the van. Zabuza was laughing in mockery at said downed drummer, trying to get out a comment about 'being a plank head'. Neji, meanwhile, was shaking his head in his disappointment of being associated with such a dense teen.
"Wha…?" A light groan spawned from ground level as an arm reached up towards the sky, fingers quivering from the sudden beating. "Wha…di...I...oo…nah?" The only response came in the form of two harshly ejected 'harrumphs' that were undeniably female in tone.
"Nii-san, did Naruto-kun say something unnecessary again?" Zabuza's gaze shifted over to his younger brother, who approached him with a thin slip of paper in his hand.
"That's all we can expect from Naruto", Zabuza calmly replied. Taking the paper that was offered to him. Looking down at the figures written across the cheque, the bandaged singer's eyes gave away the tiny hints of a smile before pocketing the band's payment.
"You see, Naruto," Neji began, "If there's only one thing you can learn from a relationship, it's that the woman is always right and you should never tell them otherwise." Naruto briefly stumbled like a drunk as he found his feet before scoffing at the advice. He didn't miss the affirming nod that Tenten gave her boyfriend.
"You…are so whipped, Neji." The smirk that crossed the drummer's face was met with an unimpressed glare from Tenten. Neji, for what it was worth, simply held a smug smile.
"I'd rather be whipped than dead, my friend."
Leaving it at that, Naruto leant back against the van, sharply forcing his hands into his pockets.
"Now, now, Naruto." Said blonde looked over to his right, eyeing the lead guitarist once again and duly noting the weird leer that adorned her partially mucky and sweat-stained skin. Her voice was far from normal, and displayed none of the anger she exhibited not thirty seconds before. As a matter of fact, it sounded more…soft and…alluring. In Temari's case, hearing both of those traits was never a good sign.
"Don't look so down." Temari continued, all the while closing the gap between herself and Naruto; her smile growing as she caught his crooked eyebrows and the way he cautiously tried to inch his body away from hers. His attempted retreat was halted, however, as she gripped his arm with both hands and pulled his ear back towards her lips.
"Do you need some…comforting, perhaps?" The way her breath brushed over his ear was both tantalising and nerve-racking; the latter was mostly because Naruto noticed the brother of the woman clinging to his arm giving him a rather stoic glare.
"Naruto," Gaara calmly droned, "I have already informed you of the implications of attempting to court my sister without prior approval. Need I remind you again with a greater demonstration?" Naruto quickly and violently sputtered at Gaara's words, all the while trying to continually shuffle against the grip on his arm.
"WHAT? Gaara! Just look! She's the one who clung on to me! I didn't do anything!" Naruto pointed the finger of his free left hand at the now laughing Temari, who thankfully broke away. The remaining members joined in with a small chorus of chuckles before taking notice of their largest, and oldest, band mate.
"Alright guys, I've got the pay for the gig. I'll cash it tomorrow and give you your cuts next practice." Zabuza felt like he would never get over the sheer look of respect that the other musicians gave him as he spoke. It was like they all looked to him as a melodic messiah, someone who formed something great out of almost nothing. While that seemed to be the case, he had to be honest to himself in the knowledge that their little rag-tag group had a long way to go if they wanted to take the venture seriously.
"Speaking of which, when are we meeting up next?" Temari asked, hands sitting idly on her hips. Quickly looking at a distant wall to gather his thoughts, he heard the broken muttering of how people were 'free whenever' or 'had stuff to do'.
"How's Sunday sound? I know it's pretty soon, but I'd say that we're close to finishing up 'Transition'. If we can get the sheets and lyrics over and done with, we can have a break before we get down to rehearsing." As Zabuza had noticed, Naruto always seemed to agree through his body language by casually shrugging his shoulders. It was like he had nothing better to do…ever…aside from school, that was.
"I told my parents I'd help out at the store in the morning that day. Could we make it for the afternoon?" Tenten looked at first to Zabuza, then back at Naruto.
"Fine by me. Ero-ji won't mind, he'll probably be too busy writing his book, anyway." Naruto stated matter-of-factly. Just as the brother and sister pair beside him had finished nodding to one another, Temari looked back over to Zabuza.
"We're not doing anything important. Sunday sounds okay to us."
"Neji-kun?" Tenten looked over at her boyfriend, who seemed to be sifting through his memories as he found a very interesting crack in the concrete to start staring towards.
"Hiashi-oji had requested that I help run some errands. However, they should be complete within a number of hours if I start early enough. The afternoon would be more suitable for me as it is for Tenten." Neji noted the respectful nods he received. It was somewhat of an unwritten rule that the band members would respect any prior engagements anybody else had. Since their band venture was only in the amateur stage, they still had larger, more important parts of their life to carry on with.
"Then it's settled." Zabuza concluded before looking back over to Naruto, who had lifted his back from the side of the van and slung a thin, black jacket over his shoulder. "Naruto, we'll aim to be at your place between half-two and three, cool?" Again, Naruto shrugged his shoulders.
"Not a problem."
With the consensus placed, everybody began to gently shuffle inch-by-inch in the direction of the van.
"Alright, let's get you all back home, then." Zabuza said before turning on his heel and walking around the front of the van towards the driver's side. Haku quickly opened the passenger side door and silently jumped in. Just as Temari was about to follow Tenten and Neji into the main seating area, she noticed Naruto absentmindedly flickering his thumb over his iPod Touch near the rear of the vehicle, making no move at all to enter with the rest of the band.
"You coming, Naruto?" Said boy quickly looked up. His eyes displayed a clear sign of unease as they skimmed over the hulking mass of metal and then towards the cloudless, star scattered sky draped above them. Both Temari and Gaara waited patiently for his reply, but they caught the quick sign of disturbance across his features before meagrely smiling.
"Erm…" he uncharacteristically stammered, "N-no. I can walk home from here, it's only about half-an-hour away."
"Are you sure? You'll get there a lot faster if-"
"Temari." The guitarist caught Zabuza's deep tone from inside the van. The moment she found his bandaged face looking back over the seat towards her, he sent her a light frown and reinforced it with a silent shake of his head. She suddenly found the whole scenario very odd. Why would Naruto refuse to ride with them? They were a team, whenever they had the option, they would travel, compose and rehearse together. And why did Zabuza interfere in the way he did? Didn't he want to know what Naruto was up to?
Or…did he already know?
"Alright." She looked back at Naruto, who observed her previous interaction with a curious eye. "Just…be careful, yeah?" Despite Temari's obvious tomfoolery around Naruto, she had as much respect for him as she did her brother, Zabuza and every other member of the band. She enjoyed playing with him, the flirting and mockery being part of it, but it was times likes this that her caring but observant side emerged. She always told herself that a friend of her younger brother was a friend of hers, too.
"Don't sweat it!" Naruto suddenly burst out with a massive grin, a grin that eased neither Gaara nor Temari's scepticism. "Anyway, good job guys! I'll catch you all on Sunday!" A chorus of muffled farewells was the response that hit his back, as he was already walking in the opposite direction the van was facing.
Temari's rear had barely touched her seat next to Tenten before calling out to Zabuza in the driver's seat, "Okay, what was that about? You're just going to let him walk home, on his own, on a night like this? If something's going on, then I think we deserve to know about it."
Zabuza listened attentively to the rant, taking his time in adjusting the rear view mirror. Haku, who had remained his quiet self for the majority of the night, simply looked across at his older brother as if to suggest some method of response. The lead singer brought his hand back from the mirror and down onto the wheel, extending his pregnant pause for a few more seconds.
"It's not my place to say. Naruto will tell you when he feels ready." With that, the engine of the van fired up in a deep growl, drowning out any possible noise that may have formed another question, before idling in neutral. A quick shift into 'Drive', and the vehicle gently moved off, leaving a tiny echo of the engine to hang in the alley before the gentle night breeze carried it away with the abandoned day-old newspaper shards scattered along the ground.
Two Miles West of Konoha City Centre - 22:53 hrs
Such a late hour of a Friday night would surely leave one worried as to their personal safety. Predators seeking drunken victims could easily find a metaphorical kill in the sleuth of outgoing patrons that found themselves staggering in order to find their legs like newborn fawn. The quiet individual with his hands stuffed in his pockets, stance slouched and footing oddly strong, was not one of those supposed victims.
Obviously, Naruto had put his vest back on the moment he left the stage, and now it clung to his body with added creases and blotches of wet fabric caused by the water that he had poured over himself before the final song.
God…why did he do that?
Oh, yeah…it was because his face felt like it was on fire from his blush. He quickly laughed at himself in disbelief as he recalled what he had done. It was the very first time somebody had called out to him specifically, so that in itself was something to be surprised about. However, it was just downright embarrassing that he had actually agreed to strip for an audience. Perhaps the rush of the crowd had gone to his head…
Either way, it was all done and dusted, ready to be shelved away as yet another gig memory. There may not have been many up to that moment, but it was always good to have a library of interesting things to tell future…acquaintances. Pah! Who was he kidding? Like anybody would ever be interested in him in that way. He barely got any attention in school as it was. And any instance in which the attention of his classmates shifted towards him, it was only because somebody had taken a verbal shot at him.
That was why Naruto loved the atmosphere of the cheering crowd. There were no names, no personalities to scrutinise, only elated faces and supportive screams, he was a stranger to everybody down in the mosh pit and beyond; and even if he wasn't, the music was what they were meant to be focussing on, not him as a single entity.
Even through his earphones, Naruto could hear the utter silence around him. The distant rustle of a swaying tree branch would occasionally brush across him, but the whole scene was such a drastic contrast to the stage environment that he felt like he was suddenly on another planet. Sometimes, though, that was a good thing. He could only put up with high-wattage stage amplifiers for so long before he felt like he was contracting tinnitus.
Funnily enough, the outro of the song currently playing on his iPod almost reflected the scenery around him:
'When I'm walking the dark road, I am a man who walks alone.'
That was a sure thing…
He briefly looked up to see nothing but more expansive concrete belonging to the sidewalk; it seemed to go on as far as the horizon, as if to punish him for not choosing to take the option of the van. He must have been at least another twenty minutes from home, he had deduced.
Just as the final guitar note of the song died away, opening his ears back up to the percussive nothingness around him, Naruto heard a set of loud and relatively high-pitched vocal ejections just above and immediately left of him. Curious, he looked up at the two-floor detached house with a raised eyebrow. Because the area he was currently trudging through was all part of a major construction plan during its development, the house had nothing structurally unique to discern it from the houses next to it, nor a house one hundred metres away.
The front door was connected to a two-metre protrusion of decking that spanned to both the left and right before ending at the extruded walls that made up the flanking wings of the building. If anything, the house would look like an extremely blocky and square-like 'U' shape from above, where the front door would form the central dip, and the rear was simply a flat wall.
The top-right room from his perspective was illuminated by what he assumed to be a ceiling light. A set of light red, almost-pink curtains were pulled across to block any view from outside, but the fabric was thin enough to easily highlight the shadows of the room's occupants. Based on the two slim figures stood across from each other, and the drowned sound of laughter seeping through a small opening in one of the windows, he could easily tell they were girls. That was all the more reason for why he quickly set off back in the direction of his intended destination. If he had been caught staring absentmindedly towards a girl's bedroom, he'd surely be called a pervert.
It was actually quite a shame, because if he had stuck around a few seconds longer…he would have heard them say his name.
On the other side of the metaphorical wall of obliviousness, a cheerful aura lurked inside the medium sized bedroom at the front of the Haruno household. Much like her childhood friend, Sakura's room was peppered with tints and hues of the pink variety: the painted, knobbly plaster clinging to the walls, the unbelievably girlish, blush-like colour of the bedding…
Even the hanging shade of the light above their heads was pink, adding to the utterly feminine tinge of the room.
The aforementioned bed gently creaked as its owner let her weight be taken from her feet, crossing her legs for decency purposes despite being in her own private sanctum with her most trusted friend. Not even Sakura could fully understand how she and Ino could constantly get so hostile over a guy, and yet keep the patience of a messiah in order to 'kiss and make up', so to speak. It had always remained the same since middle school: both of them had always declared themselves the 'true' admirers of Uchiha Sasuke, and they would never waver in their attempts to undermine one another. Be it by calling one another nicknames, taking pot shots at each other's looks etc. Ino had even gone so far as to April Fool Sakura in seventh grade.
Believing a (later-to-be-revealed) doctored love letter dropped in her locker to have been written by Sasuke, she had practically skipped to the back of the gymnasium…only to be met by a small water balloon to the face. Ino never let Sakura live that one down.
Back in the present day, both teens were recoiling from Ino's best impersonation of Naruto's stage etiquette. Hearing a young woman say 'I can't fucking hear you' in her best 'manly gigantor' impersonation was certainly something that would tickle. Only just as their laughter trailed off did Sakura start the ball rolling on some relatively constructive conversation.
"I can't believe he'd try to act all high and mighty like that!" She said with vigour.
"I know!" Ino eagerly agreed, before both of them quickly cracked with laughter once again, although a little more reserved than before. As they trailed off into mindless sighs, Sakura had no problem jumping into the inevitable comparison stage as she wiped an imaginary tear of humour from beneath her left eye.
"It's no surprise he's in a band like that. All that vulgarity fits well with the stereotype. Not like Sasuke-kun." Her eyes all too naturally turned dreamy, "His band has such an awesome flame of passion. His voice is so…powerful and magnetising." In a sudden bipolar-like twist, Sakura frowned with distaste.
"It's so much better than all that screaming. That's not music, it's murder on my ears!" She looked across from her to find Ino looking at the carpet under feet with a small smile that held more innocence than mockery. "And don't think I didn't see what you were doing either." Ino looked up, eyes displaying her confusion.
"Wha'?" For what it was worth, Ino couldn't help but shoot her memory back to when she was stood above the band. Although she was all for taking playful shots at what she and Sakura had witnessed, some of her initial disbelief was still failing to settle down.
"You were bobbing your head to that last song! I saw you!" Sakura emphasised the subject of her scorn by pointing right at her friend's chest. Ino, under pressure, nervously (more like 'guiltily') chuckled, letting her eyes waver off towards the window.
"I…I just thought the beat was catchy, that's all." Whatever confidence Ino had gone out with was steadfastly ejected from her body. She wasn't going to deny the fact since she knew she had consciously performed the action, but it was still similar to being caught with one's hand in the cookie jar. Sakura leered at her with a lopsided and lazy grin.
"A beat created by a blonde drummer?" The speed at which Ino's head snapped back would have surely rattled the room with the sound of cracking joints.
"No way!" She shot back without hesitation, adding a scoff for the sake of her defence, "It was just…you know…" Sakura obviously didn't know, but she had said it anyway.
"I just found the tune…appealing…for some reason." Sakura saw the honesty in Ino's eyes. However, that didn't mean she had to understand the answer. That sorry excuse for music was just awful in her opinion, so what on earth could have been remotely 'appealing' about it? As far as she was concerned, it was a collaboration of the wild and ungraceful smacking of some drums, the random strumming of strings (for the most part, at least), and somebody who screamed as if they had something permanently lodged down their throat. Sakura briefly shrugged off her hypercritical mindset, and so pushed the conversation in a – sort of – new direction.
"Seriously, though…who would have thought that Naruto could do that?" She said in a much calmer manner, "It's no wonder he looked at us like a serial killer at school this morning." Ino certainly didn't forget that heart-stopping glare he had sent their way after Sasuke had taken that pot shot at him. At least she could maintain some form of comfort in the knowledge that he had pulled that gesture for a reason.
A highly pregnant pause suddenly overcame the duo, both of whom were stuck in their own thoughts about their classmates. It was a very big revelation, to suddenly find out that a boy who attracted mockery and, at an earlier age, bullying, was a talented drummer and…undeniably well built under his somewhat baggy clothing; while a second, who sought no real attention and generally kept to himself, was just as gifted on a keyboard. It suddenly brought forth one single question in both of their minds: Why hadn't they let anybody know they had such skills?
Naruto had never so much as hinted as to having any sort of extra-curricular or out of school activity. The apparent lacklustre life he seemed to portray was one of the reasons he wasn't all that cared for amongst his peers. Even Ino had to admit, from what she had heard at the club, that he had talent. Of course, he'd never be as good as Sasuke, but to keep his ability hidden was just silly, in her opinion.
"It makes me wonder…we don't really know anything about him, do we?" Ino calmly asked to the block of air in front of her. In her peripheral vision, she saw the waving of pink strands as Sakura silently shook her head.
"I guess not", came Sakura's quiet reply.
"I'm sure his parents must at least be disappointed in his idiocy at school." Saying that aloud suddenly made Ino realise she didn't have any idea as to Naruto's family stance. "Come to think of it, what about that? Does Naruto actually have family?" Sakura jointly shook her head and shrugged her shoulders.
"The closest thing I heard was that he's an only child and lives with his parents. I haven't seen or heard anything to say otherwise. They must be really laid back, you know? To let their son go out so late and act so…rebellious." To her surprise, Sakura heard a scoff from across the room.
"And your parents aren't the same? Letting you go out until late while you snuck into clubs and drank, even whilst underage? At least I had to lie to my mom and dad; otherwise they wouldn't have let me set one foot out the house. They thought I was coming straight here." Sakura had no real retort to Ino's sudden attack, but deep down, she knew her friend was right. Her parents must have had a lot of trust in their daughter in order to let her out on such a busy night. Because she had no decent reply, silence once again reigned over the atmosphere of the pink-saturated bedroom. Ino hated awkward silences, it was one of the few things that could get her very uncomfortable very fast. Knowing just the thing to lighten the mood, she slapped her hands together before walking across the room and sitting on the bed next to her friend.
"Still, he's nowhere near as good as Sasuke-kun. Granted, he'd probably beat out that drummer in the band already, erm…what was his name?" Ino had a finger up by her lip as she thought of Will of Fire's drummer.
"Jūgo", Sakura didn't even have to think about her reply. She had already undertaken the self-imposed duty of remembering all the names of the band members, just in case Sasuke would, one day, bring it up in conversation. Therefore, she would know whom he was talking about, and hopefully gain some metaphorical brownie points.
"Yeah, him. But just hitting some drums is nothing compared to Sasuke-kun's voice." Ino's face brightened as she thought of her brooding classmate.
"I'll say", Sakura quickly said, having no problem in agreeing with the statement. "Monday's going to be kind of weird, isn't it?"
"Maybe, but I think we can have some fun, as well." Sakura noted the grin crossing Ino's face; that usually wasn't a good sign. "He doesn't know we were there, does he?" Sakura paused to briefly think back. Although the crowd at the Sixty-Four Palms may have been dense, with no real, discernable faces emerging from the swathe of patrons, she wanted to make sure that he hadn't looked up towards the balcony in their direction. Satisfied with the knowledge of his ignorance to their presence, Sakura shook her head to confirm Ino's suspicion, a sign that said blonde was able to proceed.
"I was thinking we could…tease him about it a bit." Ino's oddly blasé and innocent tone only sought to increase its mischievous rating in Sakura's eyes.
"Why don't we just tell Sasuke-kun instead?" Sakura suddenly replied, her voice edging towards impatience. She was getting steadfastly annoyed by Ino's subliminal insistence on keeping Naruto as the subject. Yes, they had found out such a new and strange thing about their classmate(s), but it wasn't a subject she wanted to bother clinging to for much longer. In her opinion, Sasuke – and, via connection, his band - was better, and that was all that mattered to her at that moment.
"We could…" Ino quickly contemplated the notion by looking at the ceiling, "…but where's the fun in letting the cat out of the bag so soon?"
"If you insist", Sakura deadpanned, refusing to gather the energy to argue so late at night. "Are you working tomorrow?" Finally, she found the pause that would allow her to change the direction of the conversation. Ino quickly fell onto her back with a sigh, the springs in the mattress lightly bouncing her body upwards before gravity once again forced itself upon her.
"Yeah, I think I'll just head straight there in the morning. You don't mind if I have breakfast here, do you?" She swivelled her head across, trying to find Sakura's eyes since the rosette's body was now perpendicular to her vision. From her orientation, she believed she saw a small smile in Sakura's face.
"I wouldn't be a good friend and host if I said 'no', would I?" Ino returned the smile, letting her eyes cutely droop as she stretched her arms outward to express her tiredness. Noting this, Sakura stood up and made for the door in the corner of the room to her right. "I'll get that futon for you." Ino replied with a small, encased yawn.
"Thanks." As Sakura closed the door behind her, Ino stared towards the ceiling for what must have been the third time that night, thinking back to that one moment up on the deck as she looked upon the stage. His hair seemed so wild when he didn't hold it behind that bandana of his, and his eyes shone greater than any time she had ever witnessed; but it only gave him a greater appeal of, dare she think it, manliness.
As Sakura had confirmed only minutes ago, neither of the friends had any proper clue as to Naruto himself; they had been ones to follow the flow of popular trends, melding with the attitudes of their peers in order to fit in with a more comfortable crowd. Naruto was shunned, the actual reason for why was lost to her, but she had joined in regardless. Now it suddenly made her wonder…how did Naruto feel about it all? It suddenly made Ino realise that she had it wrong. Her fellow blonde seemed so moronic in school, giving hardly any care to work, constantly making mischief, sometimes disregarding authority; it was this Naruto that she had judged so harshly. Now, because of what she had laid witness to that night, she found herself asking a question that would likely take a considerable amount of time to figure out, a question whose answer would eventually change how she interpreted others:
'Who is Uzumaki Naruto?'
Little did she know, however, that she'd have the opportunity to answer that question much sooner than she could anticipate.
South-Eastern Konoha – 23:03 hrs
The upper-class housing estate sat on a raised patch of land that gave an undeniably beautiful view of the city a few miles away, the array of street and building lights illuminating the darkness like still fireflies. Despite the view, it was only met with Neji's back as he walked towards his current living establishment. The van housing the growling engine sound in the distance had since carried his girlfriend away from him, but he had no reason to fret, for he would see her again on Sunday.
Despite his highly gruff and uncouth appearance, Neji had since restrained his hair behind his back with a low band that, while maintaining a voluminous visage, kept it kemp and tidy. The main reason for doing so was because of the household etiquette his uncle liked to maintain: no unnecessary scruffiness whatsoever. There was only so much cleanliness he could exuberate before he got into a shower, thus ridding himself of the gig-induced sweat that had dried and stuck to his skin.
As he entered the three-floor house, he was met with a beautiful floor of varnished wood that ran the length of the hallway to the kitchen in the rear, with two square-arched openings on the right for the living and dining rooms respectively. The first opening on the left led to the first staircase, while a second oak door concealed the under-stair cloakroom.
"I'm home", Neji announced before placing the large guitar container against the wall, taking time to slip his shoes off and feel the cooled wood underneath his feet. Just as he leaned down to rotate his footwear so that they faced the door, he heard the deeper voice of his uncle behind him.
"Ah, Neji, there you are," he spoke rather stoically, "I trust your…event…proceeded without any issues?"
Hyuuga Hiashi was a man of poise and high stature, one who believed that to carry oneself to either notoriety or wealth was the path to a fulfilling life. Being the local branch manager for Byakugan Imaging, a company that manufactured and sold MRI scanners to medical institutions across the world, supported his reasoning in a way only he could understand.
However, that did not mean that he did not care for others. After his brother, Hizashi, lost his life to a cardiac arrest due to a pulmonary embolism, Hiashi willingly took up the mantle of caring for his brother's legacy. Neji, who was only six years old at the time, moved in to his uncle's home. Fortunately, despite the loss of both of his parents (his mother had died during childbirth), Neji came to find a good family atmosphere with his cousins and uncle.
Regardless, Hiashi was still sceptical as to Neji's hobby, which he had taken up soon after moving in. Then again, the young man was making money from his musical ventures, so it was also a step in the right direction. The old geezer was a man who did not see the positives in trying to relate with the activities of the modern youth, lest it have an effect on his maturity, which was why he would never refer to a gig as such, he would always call it an 'event'.
"It was very satisfactory, oji-san." Neji said respectfully, "I would have to say that the crowd was beyond pleased with our performance, based on the noise that was thrown our way." Neji was simply met with a nod that dripped with absolutely no enthusiasm at all.
"That's…delectable to hear. Hinata prepared some supper in the case that you returned with an appetite." Hiashi finished before turning about and heading back towards the living room, where Neji noticed a newspaper lying open by a wooden stand that sat next to a large leather chair. Neji decided to move his guitar once he had at least sustained himself, and so headed straight for the kitchen at the end of the hallway.
The lukewarm wood under his feet quickly transformed to cold tiling as they crossed into the white and marble combination. The kitchen was divided between a large surface that covered three walls, ranging from overhead cupboards to a large liquor cabinet and even a rack that held necked glasses inverted, much like a common bar did.
In the centre of the room was an island that held the majority of the hardware necessary to cook: a hob, oven…even a grilling pad. The surrounding cupboards and draws contained the pans and various utensils, some of which that no ordinary teenager would have need for. Stood at said island was the eldest of his two younger cousins.
Hyuuga Hinata stood in some baggy nightwear with her back to the door, her silky lavender hair was roughly tied back, revealing the apron strap that wrapped around her thin frame and converged at a knot in the centre of her lower back. Neji was fully aware of his cousin's crush on his fellow band mate, and he himself had no problem in silently chastising said band mate for not noticing such a pretty young woman. Being her family, he knew he was expected to at least support her in her - unfortunately one-sided - chase for his affection; but being around Naruto a lot more had let Neji know that the blonde wasn't looking for a relationship at that moment in his life. Shooing the thoughts away, Neji quietly cleared his throat.
Hearing the noise, Hinata turned with a quiet squeak of surprise, her wide eyes quickly relaxing as she saw Neji standing across from her. And since Neji had returned, that meant only one thing: gossip about Naruto.
"Welcome home, Neji-nii-san." She spoke with a demure tone. Hinata had known Neji for the majority of her life to that day. He had been a source of assistance and wisdom to her for years, and that was why she considered their bond to be closer than that of cousins, hence why she referred to him as 'brother'.
"How was the performance?" She continued, keeping a hopeful eye on Neji as he walked around her and headed for a distant overhead cupboard. Pulling out a glass tumbler, he spoke as he walked back across the kitchen towards the sink.
"It was very entertaining, if I say so myself. Quite the energetic turnout as well." Hinata waited until Neji had finished filling the tumbler in his hand with water and rested against the counter before progressing.
"Any…moments of interest?" The supposed innocence of Hinata's voice made Neji want to laugh, but he knew that he was made of sterner stuff. Subliminally, he was fully aware that the question basically meant, 'Did Naruto do anything notable?'
Boy, was she in for a surprise…
"Honestly, it was no different from some of our other outings." He saw his cousin's face fall slightly, but he held back his fast approaching smile as he walked back towards the door, passing Hinata without a look.
"However…now that I think about it…one woman in the crowd somehow persuaded Naruto to remove his vest." Just as he heard the sudden gasp behind him, he let the smug smile take full force.
Without another word, he exited the room, leaving a red-faced Hinata to stand like a statue, she would surely be trying to conjure that mental image soon enough.
North-Western Konoha – 23:23 hrs
Sat in a large black recliner was a man whose eyes gave away the tiredness of his body and the worry that lay in his heart, even as they continually danced left to right over sentence and sentence of his own hand-written notes. The paper occasionally glimmered from the intrusive beams of light that broke through the windows, thanks to the cars that had to slow down and turn the corner upon which the large but empty house sat permanently guarding.
On the flat stand by his relaxed right arm sat a small glass one-third full of a thick brown liqueur, something somebody could mistake for toffee, should it have been acting as the topping of a cake. Sparing a glance at the clock on the cream coloured wall across from him for what must have been the tenth time in the last three minutes, he sighed with concern.
The house was too big for just him. Even though the front door immediately opened up into the large living area on the right, with the kitchen and table cut off from the rest by a tiny divider that protruded from a wall, there were still three other utility rooms downstairs, a basement, and three bedrooms upstairs with two separate bathrooms. It was too expansive for one man, that's why he was anxiously awaiting the return of his fellow occupant.
The house was just too uncomfortable without his godson there to liven it up.
The bulky man could no longer look at the endless sea of his own handwriting that seemed to drown his eyes, and so dropped the pages in his hand over the left armrest. As if destiny had felt his loneliness, the attention that had once been directed to his papers, was quickly directed to the creaking front door on his left.
"Ero-ji, I'm back!"
A breath that the man seemed to be suppressing for hours finally blew forth from his lips in relief. Slowly moving himself from the recliner, he felt his long and somewhat heavy trail of spiky, whitened hair connect with his back. Even from a distance, he could see he had just over half a foot in height over the new arrival.
'Another few years and he'll be a living, spitting image of his old man.' He thought, feeling a small sense of pride as the teenager started walking towards him with a smile on his face. Seeing that smile always helped liven him up again, it also reminded him of the friends he had once cherished.
"So, did it all go well? Did you rock their worlds?" He leaned in with a leer that Naruto had become all too familiar with, and it was easily reflected in what the man said next, "Did any chicks throw their bras at you?" His response was a playful, open-handed shove to the chest, which only made him laugh.
"Dream on you big perv", Naruto said, trying to keep his eyes focussed on something other than his godfather's, who thankfully let the subject drop with another laugh. Only once he felt the gaze move away from him did Naruto look up.
His godfather, Jiraiya, was an undeniably large man even for his age. Standing at 6'2'', Naruto had a feeling that the day would never come in which he would be able to look down at Jiraiya. On top of that, the man in his early fifties was quite bulky as well. Apparently, he had been a skilled martial artist in his prime, but he sought a career in writing that eventually took him away from any kind of training. Naruto steadfastly refused to ever let his homeroom teacher know that his own godfather had physically written the story inside the smutty books that the masked teacher enjoyed reading. He'd never hear the end of it, otherwise.
Jiraiya wore a white, long-sleeved shirt that he had unbuttoned down to his chest; the shirt itself was tucked into a neat pair of dark brown pants that made up one half of a suit.
"Did you walk again?" Naruto heard the sombre tone as he turned around and headed in the direction of the kitchen across the massive lower floor area.
"Yeah." Naruto didn't have to explain himself any further, but as a way of demonstrating his point, he stopped and looked back at his guardian, who was gazing out the window and taking stock of the late-night sky.
Jiraiya slowly looked back at Naruto, but found that he wasn't the focal point of the blonde's sight anymore. He already knew where Naruto was looking, but he looked back over his shoulder anyway, to look at a single framed picture sitting atop the mantelpiece that hung over a wide fireplace.
"You can't keep saying 'no', Naruto. There'll come a day when-"
"I know, Jiraiya-ji." 'Jiraiya-ji', Naruto never referred to him that way unless he was trying to say something seriously. "But that doesn't mean I'll do it when I don't have to. Besides, I don't feel ready yet." Naruto deemed the topic dead by continuing his trek towards the kitchen, an ignorant action that only made Jiraiya sigh in resignation.
"Alright, I won't push…for a while. Anyway, how about the pay? Anything decent?" Jiraiya followed his charge, stopping at the marble divider that marked the entrance/exit of the kitchen. He wasn't asking for the sake of any ulterior motives, the large man was simply curious as to how his godson's hobby was doing him good. It was one way of showing his support. Naruto pulled a cola bottle from one of the many stacked shelves that sat inside the fridge door. The thing was taller than he was, and then there was the freezer of identical height right next to it, as well.
"Zabuza's got the cheque, he said he'd cash it and give out the cuts next practice. Speaking of which, is it okay for everybody to come over on Sunday?" Jiraiya briefly delayed his answer with a hum as he thought about his schedule.
"I was hoping to keep working on my new book, but it should be alright since the basement's soundproofed." Looking down, Jiraiya saw the slight nervousness in Naruto's eyes. Before he could ask, he was already getting his answer.
"Cool, cool…" Naruto said a little too casually, before rapidly adding in a low volume, "'cause I kind of already told them you wouldn't mind." Jiraiya's voice caught in his throat before raising his hands in slight annoyance.
"Gaki", he said before lightly slapping his hand on top of Naruto's head.
"Hey, you never had a problem with it before. So, I figured, why would you have one now?" Naruto asked with a cheeky grin. Jiraiya hated it when Naruto pulled that Cheshire grin, the 'whiskers' on face only made him seem more cat-like than anybody else. But that wasn't why he hated it, it was because he knew deep down that it was one of the few gestures that pulled at the soft spot he had for the boy. He was closest thing the old guy had to a family, and that made him special. To distract himself, Jiraiya gave Naruto a hearty slap on the shoulder…just as the teen was trying to down half of the contents of the bottle in his hand.
Naruto stumbled, but fortunately caught his balance…even though he ended up feeling the nasty burning of carbon dioxide somewhere in his nasal passage. With a brief coughing fit after swallowing what he was desperately trying to keep in his mouth, the young drummer looked back up at Jiraiya with a pout of disapproval that looked more comical than anything else. With a hearty laugh, Jiraiya headed back to the seat he had previously occupied.
"It's no doubt that they're proud of you, Naruto." Jiraiya said aloud.
'I know I am', he kept that opinion to himself. Naruto simply watched his godfather's back in slight surprise. But once he knew what the subject of the remark was, his eyes became deeper, and, with a sigh, looked back over to that one picture sat on the mantelpiece. The reflection of the ceiling light blocked the majority of its contents, but Naruto could just make out his own childish smile sat between a waterfall of bright yellow on one side, and a curtain of red on the other.
"I hope so."
Saturday 13th - Konoha City Centre - 13:46 hrs
For a busy day like today, the consumer traffic was oddly low. It could have been for numerous reasons: maybe nobody had gifts of gratitude or apology to purchase for their loved one, perhaps there were no mourners for those with loves lost, could it be that there weren't any people seeking tokens of affection that they can give to their prospective love?
Love, love, love…and sometimes gardening.
Those were just about the only reasons for why somebody would buy flowers. They were either for a loved one, or because somebody had the desire to pretty up their front yard, back garden, windowsill flowerbed, vase, and whatever other means there were of holding flowers in a decorative manner.
For once on a usual working Saturday, in which the crowds were supposed to be bustling and the people wore fresh, smiling faces…Ino had become bored. Not that she minded, though. No, she was still too busy racking her mind over last night's events.
It was funny, Sakura had almost threatened to toss Ino out during breakfast because the blonde constantly fired off 'what ifs' regarding Naruto. She couldn't help it! She adamantly refused to believe that he would simply keep his 'second life', as she had called it, secret from the majority of his peers.
It birthed so many questions. Why? Why was he willingly keeping it silent? Naruto was a knucklehead through and through, she thought, how was he resisting the urge to shout out that he was in a band and performing at paid gigs?
When? When did he take up the instrument? When did he join the band? Did he create it with help, or did he join one that had put up an ad in the local paper? If it was the latter, it must have surely been a coincidence that four of the members were students at Konoha High.
How? How did he become so skilful at such a young age? Did his drumming take precedence over his academic studies? If so, why? Again with the 'why'!
What? What happened that would urge him to take up the drums in the first place? Was he a troublemaker by nature, full of energy in his youth? Was it an activity that suited the hyperactivity he constantly demonstrated at school?
Where? Where did he practice? If it were at school, everybody would notice, therefore breaking his cover, so that was out of the question. Perhaps there was an independent studio nearby?
Who? Who put him up to it? Was somebody his inspiration for taking up the pastime? Maybe his parents wanted him to do something constructive with his out-of-school time.
So many questions!
Ino couldn't understand it. It had only been just longer than twelve hours, and yet she found her curiosity controlling her thought process, overriding her body's ability to move. The fact that the knucklehead was plaguing her contemplative mind was incredibly frustrating, let alone mind-boggling. Was this what all journalists became as they researched for articles? If so, she knew that she had better get used to the chronic nosiness…fast.
Not to mention his body…
The guy may not have been much for sports at school, but he certainly wasn't packing any second stomach, that much was certain. Playing that instrument (But how long for? Gah, again with the questions!) certainly required some physical prowess. With the rate he was moving his legs on the bass pedals, his thighs and calves must have been worked pretty hard. And the speed he was moving the sticks would have most definitely been hard on his arms.
'Get out of my head you stupid jackass! You're not as special as Sasuke-kun!' She cried inside her mind, even while her exterior self was simply leaning forward against the shop counter with chin in hand, gazing as if bewildered by a speck of soil on the floor, 'Now I really wish I'd agreed with forehead and just left.'
It was now that Ino went through one of those rare moments in which she hated her own brain for being so curious.
She wasn't, by any means, interested for romantic reasons. It was, more or less, because of sheer disbelief. The disbelief that he was more than he seemed to be was what had her wanting to discover exactly what she wasn't seeing about him.
The same could all be said for Gaara, their other classmate. But the big difference that had Ino not caring was the simple fact that nobody bothered Gaara. He kept to himself, and as such, people let him be. Naruto, on the other hand, repeatedly garnered some form of attention. He certainly got it, but not in a very good way.
"Excuse me." Ino shook herself free of her daze when the sharp, yet polite voice called out barely a metre from her face. She looked up and saw a red haired woman looking at her with a mix of impatience and inquisitiveness. Briefly flabbergasted, Ino quickly apologised as she straightened out her purple apron.
"Oh, I'm so sorry!" She exclaimed with a nervous cheer, trying to lighten the mood before she risked getting an earful. "It's been a slow day so far, I guess I just fell into my own little world. Anyway, how can I help you?"
As she listened with an attentive ear to her customer's enquiry, Ino suddenly thought about the orange shirt she was wearing underneath the apron.
She remembered that Naruto was wearing an orange shirt at school yesterday, too…
'DAMN IT!'
She couldn't wait until Monday. The first reason was because she wanted to catch the seat next to Sasuke in the morning, and the second was to start getting back at the moron that insisted on passively turning her insane through curiosity.
Let the teasing commence…
Monday 15th – Konoha High School – 08:44hrs
Not single cloud hung in the azure sky, leaving the entire school ground to be covered by an amazing yellow sheet that could only be blocked by the solid red brickwork of the main building and matte grey of the gymnasium. Already the ambient air was filled with the sound of nattering between reunited friends, asking the usual conversation drivel: how they were, what they did over the weekend etc. Sadly, Ino could not engage in such conversation, for there was nobody nearby that she knew well enough with which to have a decent conversation. Ergo, all she could do was put up with yet more glances thrown her way by the school's populous of male students.
Despite the beautiful weather, the young woman was slightly downtrodden; it had to be amazingly hot on a day she had worn jeans, didn't it? Curse her father for being so picky about wearing skirts.
She couldn't blame him though, being an only child herself - much like she currently assumed Naruto to be – as well as popular amongst her peers, her father was naturally very protective of her. He may not have done much in his youth to build up or demonstrate strength, but it seemed that physical genealogy was responsible for Yamanaka males ending up broad shouldered with intimidating, square-jawed faces. Just looking at him made people think twice. To top it all off, he was a psychologist; so the possibility of him weeding out your hidden motives just from looking at how you acted and spoke wasn't far-fetched.
Parents and their vigilance aside, Ino made her way up the shallow path of stone stairs that led into the school. Veering right as she passed one of the two sets of double doors, she passed down a long corridor chock full of lockers on the walls either side of her. She spared a quick glance at her own locker that, while bland like the rest, was secured by a single-dial padlock with a simple flower design painted in the centre. She didn't keep much in that locker anyway; most of the textbooks she used in class she took to and from home, rather than leaving everything stuffed in there like a cartoon's impression of a child's closet, where the world and his wife would tumble out, creating an avalanche of clutter that would take hours to stuff back in.
Turning left around the corner in order to avoid the staircase the led to the first and second floors, she saw the marker for Class 4 protruding from the wall at a point just above the door. She might be early, but at least she'd definitely beat that pink-headed billboard brow in acquiring the spot next to her crush.
Ten metres from the room, she stopped as she heard a grainy but familiar voice pass through the doorway she was about to pass. The red door itself was open just enough for sound to easily escape.
"You saw that, too?" His voice was full of surprise and genuine shock, so much so that she could imagine his wide-eyed, slack-jawed face. Only then did she hear the second voice. It was high in pitch, but it definitely sounded almost like a cackle.
"Damn right, I did. I never thought you had it in ya." The woman confidently said with cheer. All Ino could hear afterward was a loud sigh with an interlaced moan.
"Man…I thought taking it off was bad enough, now I find out my own Biology teacher saw it." Ino froze, eyes shooting open as she heard the revelation. Ino immediately knew whom he was talking to, mostly because she and Naruto had the same Biology timetable slot. She was there, too? Oh, crap…not good. What if she had seen Ino and Sakura? Not only was Ino prolonging her curiosity at the conversation at hand, but now she was freaking out over the possibility that a school teacher, one of the wackiest ones at that, had seen two under aged school students at a night club. The woman was-
"Now, now, drummer boy. Outside of this place, I'm not a teacher, remember? I get to enjoy all the sights a Friday night allows, even if that includes seeing bare-topped students." Was that woman seriously talking to Naruto in such an unprofessional manner, whilst in school?
"Don't forget, where my partner plays, I go to watch. I thought you knew that already."
WHAT?
Did she just say what Ino thought she just said? The blonde sure as hell hoped she had misunderstood the remark. Because otherwise there would be hell to pay if anybody found out.
"Zabuza never mentioned you coming to gigs at all", she heard Naruto say dejectedly.
Phew. For a moment, Ino thought the woman was referring to Naruto. Her worry dashed, she was able to relax before listening in again.
"Well, you know now don't you? So you'd better do your best whenever you perform, ne?" Despite the downer Naruto sounded like he was approaching, the woman constantly sounded chipper. Such was the attitude of…
"Anko-sensei…" The downtrodden young man groaned to display how uncomfortable he was.
…Mitarashi Anko. A fiery but dashing woman in her mid-twenties, a very intimidating figure to anybody who should cross her, and – in the opinion of most students – somebody just a few cents short of a dime. She had a thing for snakes, and she often claimed that they were the reason she got into biology; she thought the skin-shedding feature that any legless reptile possessed was a truly remarkable ability.
"Anyway, get going. And at least try to work next time you're in my class." Hearing the teacher's ejection of her classmate and his subsequent laugh of mischief, Ino immediately broke out into a human version of a canter, crossing the threshold of Class 4 just as Naruto exposed himself to the corridor.
Even as Ino made her way to her usual seating area by the windows across the room, she unremittingly stared at the floor that swam beneath her. Now Naruto had an out of school connection with Mitarashi-sensei? She said something about a partner. Oh yeah, the guy with the bandages said his name was Zabuza…was he the teacher's partner? How so? Friend? Girlfriend? Fiancée? Wife? Well, she had said 'partner', so it was likely that they were in a long-term relationship, such was the meaning of the term.
Just how deep did the roots of RasenShuriken burrow into the school? Yet more questions that only sought to dig at Ino's impatience and eagerness to obtain gossip material.
Temporarily shaking her mind of the concerns, the blonde looked up and saw the two things she really felt like she needed in order to brighten her day. The first was Sasuke, sat as stoic as ever by the window, gazing towards to troposphere. The second was the empty seating area next to the singer. Seeing this, Ino's face brightened considerably. Finally seeing her crush once again was enough to make her briefly forget about Naruto, much to her delight.
"Good morning, Sasuke-kun", she chirped, declaring her presence to the brooding teen by laying her books down near his left elbow, which was propping up his chin. All she heard in response was a hum out the side of his neck, it may not have been much, but Ino could savour the fact that he had at least acknowledged her.
"Did you have a good weekend?" Just as she sat down in her seat, a quick flick of her head moved her soft and shiny train of hair behind her back, opening up the front of her body to be freely viewed. To go with her jeans, she had worn a simple t-shirt with a low v-neck. Because of the outside temperature, she had decided to go with something baggier, so that her skin could easily breath. The turquoise fabric almost matched the tint of her eyes, but it did a better job in exaggerating her bright locks.
"Fine." Short and to the point, Sasuke's answer was said in as much a boring tone as everything else he ever said. Nevertheless, Ino always figured it was to rest his singing voice; after all, it wouldn't do well for him to say everything loud and hearty – like somebody she knew – and risk straining his vocal chords. Just as Ino opened her mouth to start explaining how interesting her Friday night was, a bunch of grunting noises emanating from the door interrupted her. When she turned around, she pulled a face that easily displayed how unimpressed she was.
Naruto was bent over at the waist, focussing all of his concentration on a head of mussed up brown hair that he had locked in a loop formed by his left arm. His free right hand was balled up and running his knuckles over the scalp of the aforementioned head. All the while, the second body was struggling like a fish out of water, arms grabbing wherever they could get a purchase on Naruto's body.
"Think you got me, huh?" Naruto managed to get out with a heavy breath, "Think again, Toto!" The name only brought a louder growl from the body he had restrained.
"Let…go!" The growl turned into something that a human would understand. Feeling compassionate upon his friend for once, Naruto loosened his grip. The second body quickly righted himself before stepping away, only to pull a face of irritation as his assailant laughed at him again. Ino saw the utter state in which the drummer had left Kiba's hair, and had to admit that the guy had been roughed up to a humorous extent. Just as Ino thought a tiny chuckle would emerge, she was interrupted yet again. This time, it came in form of the obvious sound of throat clearance.
The two previously scuffling boys looked back to the door and found their teacher looking at them with lidded, unimpressed eyes. They couldn't tell much else, since that damn medical mask covered his nose and mouth. On the other hand, Naruto had the advantage. What with having known Zabuza for a while, Naruto had started to learn about reading emotions through the eyes. He could tell that Kakashi wasn't exactly thrilled.
"Erm…yeah, well…" Naruto started scratching the back of his head while looking at a very impressive speck on the dry board across from him.
"I mean…um, you know…" Kiba furiously tried to pat his hair down again, ironing out the biggest tufts before aimlessly scratching as his face.
"Find your seats…gentlemen." Kakashi's sarcasm leaked from the mask, it almost looked like the white material had been stained with it. Before he knew it, the teacher found his path miraculously unblocked and slowly made his way to the desk.
"Jackass", Kiba mumbled as he followed Naruto into one of the higher seating rows.
"Stalker", Naruto quickly shot back. What Ino didn't understand was that the pair of miscreants quickly tapped their fists against one another's before flopping into their respective seats. Weren't they scuffling like rivalling idiots a moment ago? How, in the name of all things normal, could they just make up like that?
Keeping her eyes on Naruto, she briefly took in his appearance. It wasn't all that different from Friday. He still had that black shirt on – she hoped to God it had at least been washed – but this time, the underlying t-shirt was an olive green. He had the same box frame-buckled belt, but his pants were navy, and rather baggy at that. Just as her eyes passed his bandana, quickly taking in his bright sapphire irises and weird whisker marks on his cheeks, she quickly took a look at his arms.
How had she not noticed it before? His forearms were bigger than average, that is if a comparison with Kiba's was a realistic assumption. Not only that, she also knew just what was hiding under that t-shirt…
'I hate my mind', she quickly thought, 'Stupid thing keeps putting that…that…' She wanted to think 'idiot' like so many other times, but was the word good enough to describe him anymore, now that she knew what he was skilled at?
'He's still immature through and through, so I don't see why not.'
"Still thinking about Mister Beat?" A gentle voice flowed into her ear, but the effect was the opposite. Ino jumped with fright, having been caught off guard. Quickly turning her head to face the girl stood behind her at a greater height, she noted the pink hair and red spaghetti-strapped top…not to mention the evil Cheshire grin being fired her way. It was almost an exact replica of what had happened on Friday morning, only this time the girls' positions had been reversed.
"Shut up, billboard!" Ino quietly urged.
Sakura's distraction only allowed Ino to catch the end of a punishment that Kakashi had bestowed upon Kiba and Naruto. All she caught from the teacher was, "A childish punishment for childish students, I say." Both teens huffed at Kakashi's back, but eventually found a pen and started to write down on the sheets of paper that had been presented to them.
'Yep, definitely an idiot', Ino confirmed.
Twenty minutes later, after the morning register had been finalised, the students were already beginning to funnel out of the room…all except Naruto. He was busy finishing up the lines Kakashi had told him and Kiba to write as punishment for their immature antics. Being on the far side of the room, Ino, Sakura and Sasuke were closer to the back of the queue. Kakashi saw no need in looking over his students, for he already knew it was their responsibility to get to class; his job here was already done, so he decided to lose himself in the latest chapter of his 'Come Come' book. Naruto briefly looked up and saw the familiar cover, remembering how it was something he had said a year before that inspired Jiraiya's idea for the art. Kakashi's interest – nee, obsession – with the book made Naruto frown; God help him, should the silver-haired teacher find out he was the godson of the series' author.
As he looked back down at the paper to write the last few repetitions of 'If I want to wrestle with my friends, I'll do it in the ring, not in school', he inadvertently latched on to the conversation of two passing students.
"So, Sakura", Ino started, grabbing the rosette's arm and stopping her at the front row of the seating area Naruto occupied, "Did you enjoy Friday night?" Sakura initially looked at Ino in confusion, but a lithe finger pointing at the supposedly ignorant blonde nearby made her realise just what the gossiper was getting at. She hung her mouth open as a silent message of getting the hint before smiling.
"Oh yeah!" Sakura chimed a little too artificially for Ino's tastes, but the conversation wasn't meant to be all that real anyway, "I had a really fun time. What about you, was there anything you liked?" Ino bit her lower lip, trying to hold back an impending giggle. She stole a glance back at Naruto, but he was still writing on his lonesome, seemingly ignorant to what was around him.
"Well, there was this band. I've never heard of them before, it was full of weirdoes, but they were funny to watch." Committing to her verbal prank and preparing for the kicker, Ino failed to notice that the miniscule, but not unnoticeable, sound of pen scratching on paper had ceased.
"Really?" Sakura asked, "What was the name of this band?" Her eyes turned in the direction that she knew Naruto was sitting, but didn't risk looking over at him specifically. Ino innocently swivelled her body from side to side, accompanying it with a hum as to pretend to rack her thoughts over the 'mystery band'.
"I think it was called, erm…Rasen…Shuriken?"
SNAP!
Both girls quickly looked over to the believed source of the sound. Naruto's head was hung low; the restrained hair of his fringe could no longer fight back against gravity, and blocked the top half of his face from view. His mouth was a flat line, but the way his lips seemed tight against each other was a clear sign of tension. And that was when they looked at his writing hand.
His grip had completely snapped the pen.
Naruto sat as still as the dead, seeing the ink from the pen seep out beneath his fist in the corner of his eye. The pen, he realised, had become just like the secret he was trying to keep: broken and leaking for everybody to see. A small pond of black grew and grew on the surface of the desk, spreading and staining everything it could touch. Only when he noticed the blackening of his hand did he slowly open it, easily feeling the stinging across his palm. Black had mixed with red in his hand as the latter seeped from numerous small puncture wounds created by the remains of the pen.
He hadn't just snapped the pen…he had shattered it.
Keeping his injured hand still, he slowly raised his left in the manner a student would to ask or answer a question.
"Kakashi-sensei", his voice was unbelievably hollow and cold, like the energy he had when entering the room with Kiba had been drained like the ink and blood mixture falling from his hand, "Can I go, please?" The teacher didn't even look up from his book as he answered.
"Have you finished the lines?" Ino and Sakura were shocked into silence by Naruto for the second time in four days. The fact he was so still and sounded so emotionless was a scary enough thought, but what made the duo even more concerned was the simple fact they were the ones that had pushed him into becoming so.
"No." Naruto answered honestly, still looking at the slowly degrading paper beneath his head.
"No lines, no leave, Naruto." Simply hearing Kakashi's ignorant tone tugged at Naruto's growing anger. Without another word, he violently grabbed the paper, caring not for its condition, and marched down the stairs, still paying not a single ounce of attention to the source of the eyes that were pasted upon him. He forced the paper upon the surface as he reached the desk, the noise of which made Kakashi look up. Just as he was about to open his mouth and chastise the young man, a palm was thrust towards his face, stopping only inches away from the mysophobe's nose. The teacher's pupils quickly constricted upon seeing the blood-and-ink-stained hand.
"Look, Kakashi-sensei, is that blood?" Naruto asked with force, none too lightly placing a finger at one of the needle-like punctures in his palm. Kakashi didn't even respond, he just leant back into his chair to try and escape the Petri dish that Naruto's hand had become, but the teen's words also had an effect on him, "I'd hate for it to get infected in any way." Almost as soon as he'd finished verbally probing at his teacher, the older man was pointing at the door.
"Go and wash your hands, Naruto." He said shakily, and a lot louder than necessary, "And get the physician to wrap it up or…something!" Naruto didn't show any sign of gratitude as he made for the door. He would have gotten out without any more problems, but he made one small mistake.
He had locked eyes with Ino.
It had only been a passing glance, but he had looked right into the eyes of the girl that had just willingly chosen, in his opinion, to try and break his spirit. He found himself immediately regretting the action as he turned right out of the classroom and in the direction of the nearest bathroom. It was because he had looked at her that he knew he had just given himself away.
Ino had turned to let her eyes follow Naruto's exit, but the second he had left, she was committing his eyes to memory.
He had only looked at her for less than a second as he moved, but she saw it all: anger, hurt, fear, admission…hate. In that small window, he looked like he wanted to rip her spine out and burn her to something less than ashes; it was the incident on Friday multiplied by one thousand. But amongst the malice she witnessed, she could also see one thing…
He was scared.
The sound of rushing water bounced off the tile walls, but never entered Naruto's ears. His mind was suddenly working overtime, even at this point in the morning. He was already asking himself so many questions.
How in the name of all holy hell did they find out? When did they find out? What was he going to do? What would the others say?
Why did they have to be the ones to find out?
Even as his furious scrubbing wrote off tissue after tissue, Naruto couldn't stop the questions from bombarding him. In a fit of frustration, he threw the most recent ball of wet paper in his hand at the wall on his right. The moisture and speed of the object caused it to splat against the tiles, holding it against the vertical surface like a natural adhesive. But Naruto didn't care, he was summing up the situation in the best way he knew how.
"Shit!"
A/N: First of all, thank you so much to everybody who reviewed chapter one. 35 reviews for an opening chapter of a niche pairing is quite something for a noob author such as myself, I have to admit. Much to my surprise, the response was overwhelmingly positive. You hardly had a bad thing to say about it. I've got a feeling that this chapter will garner some critique, mostly because of how I handled the characters. I tried to add some comedy as well, but I have a feeling that I failed miserably.
It seems that almost all of those who reviewed liked the whole 'listening whilst reading' thing. At least it had the effect I was hoping to produce.
If anyone's curious, the song whose outro is mentioned when Naruto's walking home is 'Fear of the Dark' by Iron Maiden. I don't own anything regarding that song, mkay?
On a more serious note: I do not, nor have I ever had a relative that is or has been diagnosed with a pulmonary embolism. I simply researched for medical conditions that could unexpectedly become lethal, in relation to Hizashi. If you, or anybody you know does, or has had a pulmonary embolism, fatal or not, please accept my apologies if I have caused any upset.
I left out the Sunday practice for two reasons: 1. I was already hitting my general word count quota, and I couldn't be bothered to write any more. 2. I was thinking it would be better to add as a flashback later on.
For those who put music suggestions in reviews, I'm grateful, but the stuff you put up wasn't what I had in mind. I'll narrow it down for you. If you know of any bands that have: vocals of the growling and clean variety, a lead and rhythm guitarist, a bassist, a drummer and a keyboard of some sort, be it synth sounding or whatever, then please don't be afraid to send suggestions. On the other hand, I'm looking for songs that 'Will of Fire' will use. So providing a band has a clean singer, two guitarists, a bassist and a drummer, then don't be afraid to mention it.
Bands I plan on using for RasenShuriken: Scar Symmetry (both pro and post-Christian Älvestam), Solution .45, Raintime, D Creation, Universum, Mercenary, Lunarsea (maybe), Insomnium (maybe at a later date), Dead by April (maybe), Sylosis (maybe), Sybreed (maybe)...and others when I find them.
I would list my ideas for Will of Fire, but I'll leave some of that up to you guys.
Reviews of all kind welcome except anonymous etc etc. If you like it, put it on your alerts, if you love it, put it on your favourites. Chapter one got 86 faves, try and surprise me now! Thanks everybody, and I'll see what I can do about updating quickly
IF YOU HAVE READ MY THREE-SHOT, 'JUST REWARD', THEN PLEASE VOTE IN THE POLL ON MY PROFILE.
Ja ne.
