Chapter 2 – The second brief encounter
Manabu kept running until he could hear the rustle of people in the woods up ahead of him. He knew he was approaching his family. He saw faces draw nearer. But as soon as he realized what was happening, he stopped abruptly. He clenched his teeth nervously and quietly turned around to leave, but it was too late.
"AHH! What are you doing?" questioned a man sporting an orange jumpsuit and a hidden village in the leaves headband. Manabu realized he had been grabbed by the man in less than a second and was hanging in mid-air by his jacket. He decided to respond to this rude interaction with a face of pure annoyance.
"Let me go." Manabu announced coolly.
"What is your name?" asked the man again urgently.
"Uchiha Manabu, right?" exclaimed another voice from behind the man.
Manabu peered behind himself as well as he could from his awkward angle, hanging in mid-air. It was the boy from the Hidden leaf that he met earlier that day.
The man in the jumpsuit abruptly dropped Manabu onto the beaten grass in front of himself. "Uchiha..?" he exclaimed in confusion, with a dropped jaw and a face of pure shock.
"My name is Uzumaki Takeo." squealed the blonde haired boy in delight as his bounced in front of his speechless father. "I hope we can be friends!"
Manabu stared intently at Takeo with cold, expressionless eyes.
Takeo smiled and held out his hand to help Manabu get up where his father had dropped him.
Manabu grinned and slowly raised a clenched hand.
Takeo felt his cold touch. He smiled. He could feel his pulse speed up as a sense of belonging sunk into his touched skin and spread into his veins. It was nice to finally be recognized, even by a simple handshake. He felt as though none of his teammates or elders seemed to care for him. In fact, they almost seemed afraid of him, although he was not sure why. He sensed that this boy in front of him would be a great lifelong friend.
Suddenly, however, he felt a cool, familiar metal drop into his palm. He watched Manabu dash away and would never forget the face he saw then. Manabu gave him a dark, satanic grin as he rushed off into the woods. His expression revealed something Takeo knew well. Loneliness.
Then, the explosion of the paper bomb in Takeo's palm flashed.
The next chapter will be out soon.. Please tell me what you think.