Thief of Emotions
Chapter 2 - Confidence
Upon reaching the school, he stole just enough of her exhaustion for her to awake. Her eyes fluttered open slowly, and soon realized she was in the arms of who she thought was just about the best guy in the world.
Her face turned cherry red, darker than her hair. He glanced down at her, "We've reached the school" he said casually as he let her get onto the ground.
He fixed his backpack a little on his back, as Sakura's dragging him across the streets of Tokyo had caused it go just a little off.
She stood, still blushing, staring at the Sasuke's back as he walked farther away from her and closer to the gargantuan high school building.
'Maybe we're a little closer' Sakura thought with hope in her jade orbs, her hands folded together against her chest. Her eyes blurred, 'What am I thinking? This happens to him everyday...I'm just another girl'.
She hung her head in disappointment, 'This sucks...'.
"Sakura-chan!!" a certain arrogant blond boy waved wildly to the rosette-haired girl. The blond boy, who went by the name of Uzumaki Naruto, ran over to her, and asked cheerfully "Can you believe it? We're in high school now, dattebayo!!", he laughed out loud with his hands proudly on his hips.
Sakura, who had not lifted her head at all, just mumbled "Mm-hmm..". His smile turned into a curious straight line, "You don't look as happy as I thought you'd be".
Sakura looked up at him slightly with a crooked smile, "I-I'm happy" she lied. He stared at her for a few seconds, and then shouted, "Oh, I see now!! Good to hear!! Let's go see our new lockers, dattebayo!!".
'New lockers? But don't they all look identical?' Sakura asked herself before she felt a strong tug at the back of her collar, and noticed that Naruto was trying to urge her to move.
She gave in, and started walking, "Did you do any shopping for school?" Naruto asked, clearly showing that he was attempting to start a conversation, but with the most boring topic ever.
Sakura's eyes shifted over to him, "Mmm..not really, I thought that the stuff from last year was good enough to last this year" she said, boredom dripping from her voice, something Naruto was blind to.
"Oh, REALLY!? Wow, I bought so much stuff, dattebayo!! I found this awesome tiny instant ramen bowl thing and it held erasers!! And when I opened it, there were little ramen-shaped erasers in it, dattebayo!!" he squealed a happy squeal, remembering the precious moment.
'Wow, I'm shocked he didn't buy it' Sakura thought, imagining the blond boy's eyes sparkling as he slowly and carefully opened a minuscule little instant ramen bowl, and a ray of light coming in through the window, shining right on the ramen-shaped erasers. Then angels in Heaven sang "hallelujah" as Naruto stared in disbelief at this wonderful sight.
"And I had just enough to buy it!!" Naruto said in excitement, hitting Sakura with reality once again. 'Oh, so he bought it' Sakura thought as Naruto searched his bag for his dear treasure, and then pulled it out.
He placed it on his palm as if it was a baby bird, and slowly placed it in front of Sakura's eyes. She examined it to see why Naruto had found it so whimsical.
It resembled a real instant ramen bowl, except it was...really tiny. There was a picture of a bowl of ramen on it, along with words in big print "INSTANT RAMEN". The background was orange-ish red-ish, and it was clearly made of plastic.
"And that's not even the good part, dattebayo!!" Naruto exclaimed excitedly. He placed his free hand on the cover of the bowl and whispered "Wait for it...wait...for...it...".
"BAM!!" he shouted as he opened the instant ramen bowl. Sakura peered inside. There were two little pale yellow erasers that were shaped like chunks of instant ramen. Sakura thought this was beyond boring, but didn't want to hurt her friend's feelings.
She glanced at his happy face that said "See? Isn't it awesome?" all over it, and back to the mini ramen bowl.
"It's...uh...wow, yeah...it's really...something", "I know!! Aren't they just amazing!? It just doesn't get any better than this!!" Naruto shut the ramen bowl and brought it to his cheek, cuddling the ramen bowl as if it were a hamster.
Sakura stared at this strange scenario, and then tried to change the subject, "Well! Er...hey, let's go to class, or we'll be late".
Naruto put on an expression of realization, "Sakura-chan, you're absolutely right, dattebayo!!", he scrambled to carefully place the ramen bowl into his backpack again and then outstretched his arm, pointing to the school, "Let's go, dattebayo!!".
Naruto's free hand grabbed Sakura's, and urged her to move at a faster pace. Sakura laughed lightly. Over the summer, Naruto had grown physically, but his mind was still that of a child's.
Inside the school building, Naruto spotted one of his best friends. The brunette boy with red marks on his face and dog-like eyes, the boy that went by the name Inuzuka Kiba, waved lightly and passed the two, going in the opposite direction.
Sakura managed to catch a glance of Akamaru peeking out of Kiba's backpack, and giggled. In middle school, Kiba was always trying to sneak his little buddy into school, and Sakura predicted that he would try the same antics again in high school.
"Hmm, let's see...the grade 9 lockers..." Sakura put her index finger to her chin, putting on a thinking expression. Her eyes wandered around, and landed on a specific hallway, "Oh, they're there, right?".
"I dunno" was Naruto's dumbfounded answer. Sakura sweatdropped, "U-umm..I'm pretty sure they're there, come on" she said, walking towards said hallway, 'What would become of him if I wasn't here?' she wondered as Naruto followed her, with no choice and half-expecting his smart pink-haired friend would know where she was going.
Sakura stared down the long hallway, walls covered with turquoise-colored lockers. She recognized some faces: Hyuuga Hinata, the shy blue-haired girl that had had a crush on Naruto since elementary school, Yamanaka Ino, her best friend that loved gossip and lipgloss, and Tenten, the athletic brunette girl that always wore her hair in two buns and was friends with that boy with the bushy eyebrows, shiny hair, and participated in all the sports events.
Sakura peeked into the empty classroom. There were new posters, cupboards, and more desks. Then she noticed a specific someone standing amidst the array of empty desks.
She blushed a tad, it was Sasuke. Especially in the white dress shirt outlining his tall skinny body, it wasn't a wonder why so many girls were after him. The sunlight poured in through the wide and gigantic windows, showering him in a beautiful light that made him look like an angel.
Sasuke's focus seemed to be on a specific desk in the center of the classroom. It was probably his. He peered down on it with his usual stoic expression, brushing his slender fingers across it. It seemed like he really cherished this...desk. Sakura thought this to be a little odd, but brushed it off as something cute the boy did.
BBBBBRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGG!!!
Sakura winced as the nine 'o' clock bell rang in her ears. Was it just her, or was it louder than last year's? Before she could gather her thoughts once more, she felt a crowd of people ram into her, and then proceed to trample over her to get into the classroom.
Naruto stood and watched as the trampling of Haruno Sakura took place, unmoving with his eyes as wide as saucers. As a blond, his usual slow reaction kicked in about right after the last student had entered the classroom, stepping on Sakura in the process.
"Woah, Sakura-chan!! Are you 'kay!?" he exclaimed with concern, staring down at Sakura, who was down flat on the tile floor. Arms and feet outstretched limply, with footprints all over her once-white dress shirt.
Sakura glanced up slowly, "Y-yeah, I'm okay", she groaned in slight pain. As Naruto offered a hand, she grabbed it and struggled to stand up. She looked up at the class. Phew, everyone was engaged in conversation (and not staring at her), trying to have a little fun before the teacher came in to shut them all up.
...No, not everyone was engaged in conversation. To be more specific, everone but Uchiha Sasuke was engaged in conversation. He was staring right at Sakura with a little look of amusement. Sakura stared at the ground, embarrassed right to the point that she wanted the ground to swallow her whole.
"Naruto and Sakura, please take your seats" ordered a certain teacher. Naruto and Sakura turned sheepishly to face one of the best-known teachers in the school. The one that wore a mask wherever he went, and of course, we all know who that was...
"Kakashi-sensei!!" Sakura exclaimed, now even more embarrassed. Naruto ignored the fact that the teacher had walked in on them not in their seats, "You're late!!" Naruto accused, pointing his index finger in Kakashi's expressionless, masked face.
Sakura scrambled off to get to her seat, as she left Naruto alone with his finger still pointed at Kakashi to defend for himself. The entire rest of the class watched in an entertained silence.
Kakashi gently used his hand to shove Naruto's hand down, "Please don't point that at me, who knows where it's been" he said, a noticeable smile forming underneath his mask as he spoke.
Naruto lowered his hand, blushing as he heard the giggles of his classmates. He turned and trudged to his seat in the back of the class.
Kakashi sauntered over to his desk and eyed his students, as if inspecting to see if they were worthy enough to teach. "So", he clasped his hands together, "Let's get started with first period".
There was a long pause, as the classroom stayed silent. Kakashi stood unmoving. Sakura shifted her eyes, noticing the awkward moment.
"...What's for first period?" Kakashi's voice rose above the silence.
Some of the students expressed looks that showed they weren't quite fond of this teacher, not even knowing what was for first period on a Monday morning. "H-health class" stuttered a soft voice in the back of the room, which of course belonged to Hinata.
"AH!! Sex ed!!" Kakashi smiled through his translucent mask. The class didn't seem very surprised that this was a subject he enjoyed teaching, considering he walked around with that perverted book all day, hiding it whenever the principal came down the hall so he wouldn't get sacked.
"'Kay, first I'll pass out this pamphlet, read it carefully, and use it in your everyday life!!" Kakashi said, fanning himself with one of the pamphlets. Sakura couldn't help but think 'Wow, use it in your everyday life? Like using it to fan yourself?'.
As Kakashi went up and down the rows, handing a pamphlet to each and every student, he hummed out loud a random little tune. As Kakashi went down Sakura's row, he laid one down on her desk. She eyed it carefully, as she glanced around the classroom and saw Kiba snickering at the illustrations, she rolled her eyes.
She then scanned the classroom for Sasuke. 'What? I don't see him? But I just saw him like 5 minutes ago, right?' Sakura thought as she didn't see her emotionless crush anywhere.
She felt a light tap on her shoulder and whipped around to see who it was. Her face became the shade of a strawberry. Sasuke...was sitting behind her!! And he would be until the end of first semester!!
She tried to keep her mind straight and asked "Why'd you tap me?" in the most normal voice she could muster up, which wasn't very normal-sounding. Of course, she was blushing like crazy, so she started fanning herself with the pamphlet like her sensei.
"Good luck" he said with his unreadable poker face. She felt like flying!! He wished her good luck!! She stared into space with a blissful expression for a few seconds, and then suddenly reality hit her, "Wait---good luck for what?".
Before Sasuke could respond, Kakashi had finished giving out the pamphlets and had made his way back to the front of the classroom. "Alright, everyone, if you've ever been in my sex ed. class in previous years, you'll know that I don't just accept students right off the bat!! I give out a test!! If you fail, you're not attending my sex ed. class this year!!" he said. Sakura swore she could see the shape of a smile through his navy mask.
Mumbles and whispers of "That's not fair" and "What a mean teacher" could be heard as Kakashi waved a stack of papers, presumably the test, in front of the class to show he was serious, and began passing them out.
As a test was put down on Sakura's desk, she started sweating. She knew nothing about sex ed.!! It was Kakashi's job to teach her about it, then test her. Not test her, then teach her about it.
She clutched the HB pencil in her right hand shakily, feeling sweat collect in her fist. She started scribbling down answers that sounded like they made sense, but obviously she didn't even know what made sense in sex ed.
She glanced around to see if anyone was having the same problem as her. Not really. They all seemed like they would have trouble passing, but none of them had the same problem as her.
Kiba would read a question, and then struggle to hold in his laughter. Sakura rolled her eyes. As expected from a pervert.
Hinata's face was the shade of a cherry as she sat motionless in her seat, her bangs covering her eyes. Sakura watched as Hinata's pencil fell from her still hand, landing on the floor with a gentle wooden sound that was drowned out by Kiba's muffled giggles.
She glanced at Naruto, who was looking around him desperately as if searching for something. Oh, he lost his pencil. Poor guy.
She looked over at Lee, who's eyes had fire in them as his pencil moved like a hummingbird's wings. Okay, he probably wasn't having trouble.
She sighed and looked back at her test. She penciled in the last answers by instinct like she had with all her others. She looked over her answers, spotting about twenty that were probably wrong, but she couldn't think of anything better.
After a few minutes, Kakashi came around to collect the tests. Sakura turned to face Sasuke, with her saddened expression she asked drearily, "How do you think you did?".
He blinked, "Bad". She was slightly suspicious why he could say that and not be bothered. No, he probably did good. Sasuke was an A+ student. His definition of "bad" was probably A.
"I think I did awful. I was so nervous the whole time. I didn't know anything. It was like I totally lost all my confidence" she said and sighed. Then suddenly her eyes became wide.
Lost all my confidence.
She stared at Sasuke with her eyes unbelievably wide, not wanting to believe what she thought, "You...!!" was all she could say, she was too shocked. Sasuke had a questioning look on his face, obviously meaning he didn't know what she was saying.
"You...did something" she said said, pointing an accusing finger. He did something? Wow, great job, Sakura. But his expression made her reconsider, maybe she just had low self-esteem to begin with. Also, if he'd stolen any of her confidence, when did he?
"Yeah, I did do something" Sasuke said in an indifferent voice. Aha!! Sakura knew she was right, she just wasn't sure for a split second, that's all.
Turned around in her seat to face him, she leaned in closer as if she was about to slap him and wanted to cause more pain by moving closer. "When?" she demanded boldly, as if she was a police interrogating a criminal.
He didn't move an inch, just blinked, "When I tapped you on your shoulder to wish you good luck". Sakura's jaw dropped open. Of course. When he did that, it wasn't because he wanted her to do a good job, it was because he wanted her to do a bad job, since that's clearly what he was trying to do by stealing every last drop of her confidence!!
She turned back to face the front and sighed, 'I thought Sasuke was a nice guy, now I know that he uses his powers for evil like...like...making people fail sex ed. tests. Sheesh, now my parents are gonna get mad' Sakura thought, rubbing her temples as if she had a headache. She probably did.
Sakura made up her mind, 'That's it. Sasuke's a jerk. I'm never speaking to him again!!' she thought angrily, crossing her arms with a slightly audible 'hmpf'.
Sakura's mind was redirected back to Kakashi as he glanced at his watch and said "Wow, look at the time, a test really is time-consuming" he said, making a mental note to make his students take more tests so he'd have more quality time with Icha Icha, "Well, class dismissed, and all you guys come back for the next class 'cause I'm announcing who passed and who failed. Oh, and cherish that next class, 'cause it could be your last. Muahahaha" he threw in the menacing laugh for effect, not really scaring much students, but definitely weirding out a good number of them.
Sakura got up from her desk in an instant, as if she didn't want to be so close to Sasuke the (presumed) jerk. Her arms still folded, she sauntered out the door. Sasuke, being the thief of emotions, obviously sensed how she felt, and who wouldn't? Considering all of her confidence had just been stolen (by her crush, but Sasuke didn't know that) and made her crash and burn on the sex ed. "entrance exam".
Sasuke knew she was angry, and the best treatment for anger was to leave them alone to cool off, but he couldn't do that. He had told her a major secret (for reasons that will be revealed later) and who knows what angry Sakura could spill when she was on the prowl.
He got up and left the classroom, eyes swerving around in attempts to find Sakura, which wasn't supposed to be hard at all, considering she was a bubblegum-head.
He walked down the hallways at a slightly faster pace, peeking inside classrooms for a flash of pink. He glanced at his watch, 'Next period is in 5 minutes' he thought, estimating how long it would take to scout the whole school, find Sakura, get her to calm down before she said something she'd regret, and get to his next class.
'Meh, 5 minutes will do' he thought as he continued looking for Sakura.
Less than 5 minutes later...
He had basically turned the school upside-down looking for her. He'd gone from the rat-infested basement to the dusty rooftop. Now on the rooftop, he was wondering 'Where else is there?'.
Then he heard the voice of Maito Gai, the "spirited" gym teacher counting out loud. His eyes widened slightly 'The outdoors gym class, of course' he stood over the edge of the roof and looked down.
Sure enough, there was Sakura, doing push-ups with some other students. As Gai shouted out "FIFTY!!" in triumph and Sakura stood up slowly, sweating noticeable. He gave her a pat on the back, "Good job!! You did better than usual today!! Something really got your blood boiling!!" he laughed.
Sasuke smirked, yeah, she was angry. He had just decided to make his way down to the ground floor and calm Sakura down when Gai spotted him. His expression became shocked. Sasuke questioned in his mind why he looked so shocked. Was it so rare that someone stood on a roof?
Gai whipped out a walky-talky and said, "We've got a code 187 on the roof". Sakura heard him. She looked up and saw him. She blushed, but then remembered she was angry at him. But even if she was angry, she had to wonder why he was on the roof---looking at her.
She blushed deeper, mentally slapping herself, 'Get a hold of yourself!! You're angry at him!!'. Sasuke just stood on the roof and watched, apparently he hadn't seen Gai pull out the walky-talky. Sakura also wondered what a "code 187" was.
Just as she wondered this, the two teachers Sarutobi Asuma and Yuuhi Kurenai appeared a close distance behind Sasuke on the roof. Sakura's eyes widened. Sasuke didn't seem to realize they were there.
"Uchiha Sasuke!!" Kurenai shouted. He whipped around in surprise. "Sasuke, back away from the edge of the roof, I repeat, back away" Asuma said in a cautious tone. His expression read "WTF Is going on?" and didn't budge, he wouldn't do anything unless he knew the reason for it.
"BACK AWAY" Kurenai demanded more loudly this time. Sasuke was irritated now, "Why?". They didn't answer him, instead Asuma shouted, "DO NOT JUMP!! I REPEAT, DO NOT JUMP!!".
Sakura gasped, 'Sasuke's going to suicide!?'.
-
Haha XD. Misunderstandings are fun. Anyways, I'm in Washington DC right now, on vacay. Yes, I'm in a hotel room writing fanfics like back when I wrote "My Hotel Roommate".
The ramen bowl thing was a true experience. I once DID buy one of those and lent it to my friend (who lost it XP).
I hope it wasn't obvious that Sasuke stole her confidence when he tapped her on the shoulder. In the future I'll try to make it seem less obvious when he touches her (wow, that didn't come out right).
Once again, please don't expect frequent updates :D.
Ciao for now,
Ku
