Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, neither do I own Whitney Houston's song "Same Script, Different Cast".
A lot of people said that they had never seen a more bizarre pair.
(Although I often thought that I had seen weirder. For instance, Tom and Jerry. Or Peter Pan and Tinkerbell. But whatever)
They were like water and fire, light and dark – well, just any polar opposite metaphors imaginable.
(My personal metaphor was the sun and the rain; even though I liked sunny days very much, because I could play outdoors, I always preferred rain, because even though it was wet and cold against the skin, it also was soothing and lovely and just beautiful)
How they became friends – and even more peculiarly, best friends – is beyond me, and everybody else.
(But then again, I became best friends with Ino. Forehead Girl and Miss Popular aren't exactly twins either)
A lot of people said that perhaps, these two strange boys saw a unique quality in each other that nobody else shared, something that they both had in common.
(Well, besides wealth and a family with a good reputation and the fact that they seemed to loathe each other very much)
I know that I could. I saw that quality more clearly than anybody else – loneliness.
(After all, it's easy to identify something you have yourself)
Maybe that's why I felt more attached, more close to them than I ever did with Ino.
(Because no matter how many secrets we shared, no matter how close we were, there was always something missing.)
Maybe that's why we ended up falling in love with each other and become even lonelier than before.
o2.
Konoha High had a, as Ino had discovered the other day, vast variety of randomly numbered classrooms – several of them served as homerooms for the different classes, but as the homeroom for each class varied from year to year, many of them were left deserted and unused until a new class arrived.
One of these seemingly deserted classrooms included classroom number 10, and mainly because of this reason, Nara Shikamaru preferred spending his afternoons during days with foul weather, such as this day, in this specific part of the school building.
So, least to say, he was more than just a little bit surprised when he found the renowned Yamanaka Ino standing, smiling widely, radiating her usual charismatic enthusiasm, in the doorway. He eyed her up and down; judging from her outfit, she was fresh out of cheerleading practice.
Tearing his eyes lazily from what majority of the male population of Konoha High considered a "goddess", he returned to his game of shougi, and heaved a sigh. "Yamanaka Ino, huh. What're you doing here?"
"I'm going to be your tutor," she repeated as she stepped over the threshold, dropping her Gucci bag to the floor with a light thump, and neared him confidently. "And you are…?"
"Nara -," he moved a piece of shougi, not even bothering to heighten his gaze to meet her inquiring baby-blue orbs, "- Shikamaru."
She exhaled in what seemed to be relief, promptly sitting down unto the wooden chair opposite his. "Good, because then you really are the one I'm supposed to be tutoring." Her eyes refocused on him again, and tilting her head in curiosity, she continued asking, "What subjects are you failing?"
Shikamaru chose to ignore her question, and instead questioned, "Where's Sakura?"
She flinched slightly at the question, and also looked a bit disturbed; Ino was not used to people ignoring her – mostly, they gave her 100 percent of their attention – and even less having people asking where Sakura was. Then remembering her position, she lightly responded, "She's got some… stuff to do. So, from now on, I'm going to be your new tutor!"
At these news, he gathered up his belongings, unceremoniously shoved them into his backpack, and proceeded to leave the classroom, only stopping briefly at the threshold to say, "Don't bother. I'm sure that you've more important businesses to attend to than tutoring someone."
"What?" the lead singer of Konoha's Golden Leaf snarled, narrowing his onyx eyes to mere slits in a frightening manner.
However, Sakura did not react; she had anticipated that this would happen. Instead, she forced her artificial smile to not fade as she bravely continued to keep eyecontact, although the mere effect that had on her was powerful; she couldn't feel her knees, and hoped desperately that they weren't shaking. Straightening them as much as she could, she tried to feign self-confidence.
"I've come to ask a favor of you, Sasuke-kun," she repeated, her voice only wavering the slightest as his glare intensified at the word 'favor'. "Concerning… Ino."
He made no move to respond; his gaze remained equally venomous as before, and his entire being seemed to radiate suspiciousness – but knowing his silence to be a gesture for her to continue, she proceeded; "Have you ever heard of The Boyfriend Test?"
"The Boyfriend what?" Sasuke snapped. He eyed the roseate-haired girl as though she was crazy – which, frankly, he didn't doubt that she was.
"The Boyfriend Test. It's a novel written by Jiraiya-sama – part of the former legendary Sannin, the 50's pop group in which Tsunade-sama also was member in – and it's mainly for teenage girls, so I'm not too surprised that you haven't read it. It's strange that you haven't heard of it, though – it has received well-written reviews, and it's even rumored that there's going to be a movie –"
"Get to the point," he interjected, his frown only deepening further. She suppressed a faint smile at the nostalgia of the face expression
(Sasuke-kun, if you keep frowning like that, you'll develop early wrinkles! And then you'll look like an old man by the time you're twenty! And then no girls will like you – your fanclub will perish – and the female population of the entire world – and then you're only left with men, so then you've to return to being gay.
… Sakura, if this is your pathetic attempt at an apology, I beg you to do the world a favor and shut up.)
but knew better than to be fooled. It wasn't like before – it'd never be like before.
Never again.
"Well, shortly put, it's a story about a girl and a boy, who're supposedly this perfect couple," she began, barely able to breathe as she faltered at his piercing stare, "or at least, everybody thinks they are. Actually, they lack passion – because while this girl seems totally crazy about this boy, he doesn't seem the way about her. So, her best friend tries to save the situation by teaching him how to be a good boyfriend."
"… And…?" he inquired further, irritated. Her response had not satisfied him; he still did not know the reason to why she asked a favor of him – or why she had even approached him, on his turf
(– although it had not been his turf for many years –)
to speak to him to begin with.
"And well, basically, that's what I'm asking of you, really. To teach you how to be…" She hesitated slightly, but did not dare to let it show in her cheerful demeanor, "… a good boyfriend to Ino."
"What," he breathed raggedly and heavily, seeming as though he was trying to regain his cool composure without losing his temper, "makes you think you've the right to tell me whether or not I'm a good boyfriend?"
"You can't fool me, Sasuke-kun," she replied quietly, "Ino tells me everything. And I know no matter how much you seem like Prince Charming to the rest of the world, you're nothing like it."
And also, I know you too well to know that you aren't one, she mentally added, but not daring to voice her thoughts out loud, she chose to remain in silence.
"Forget it," the raven-haired teen snapped, and promptly pivoted on his heel, attempting to walk away. Sakura stared at his swiftly retreating back for a while; the broad shoulders, the dark hair, the black leather jacket – then, almost so softly that he could barely hear it – but making it loud enough to ensure that he did – she murmured:
"Do you know about Ino's parents?"
He stopped.
"I'm assuming that you haven't. They're florists, you know – in contrast to Ino, they've lived simple lives. They're high school sweethearts – started off hating each other, ended up married and with a kid."
"And?" Sasuke growled menacingly, still refusing to meet her gaze.
"I always thought they were a happy couple," she continued, trying to pretend not to notice the anger that, had it been a cartoon, almost seemed to emit from every pore of his body, like poisonous gas. She believed that if the anger had been visible, it would've been a deep shade of scarlet – one of his favorite colors, even if he didn't admit it. "They argued at times – after all, they're as lively as Ino – but I never imagined they'd be unhappy."
Silence followed during her brief pause to contemplate his reaction. Still facing his back, but standing stiffly as a statue on the path he was going to take home, she caught the unsaid answer – continue. "It wasn't before I was fifteen, I think, that I really noticed. I had always accused Ino of her fleeting romances, of her short-lived promises of eternal love – but then, I understood everything."
"Get to the point," he snarled again. Sasuke's onyx eyes scanned the area, irritation clearly visible in his orbs. The sun was setting in the horizon, and the air was damp after the rain – the people in this area often worked late and would come home after twilight, and if he was there any longer, thy'd see him. Hopefully, the rain that had been predicted to fall in the evening would mask his appearance, but he hadn't intended to catch a cold just because a certain pink-haired idiot was going to take forever during her storytelling-time.
"I caught Ino's father… with another woman," she exhaled at last, an exasperated face expression taking her previous stony, blank one.
The raven-haired boy froze. He had seen the dark-blonde man a couple of times when he had come to Ino's house; he had been polite and well-behaved – at least more well-behaved than Sasuke had expected – and he seemed like a rather loving father and husband. He couldn't imagine him with a woman other than Ino's mother, who looked like an older copy of her daughter – certainly he wouldn't…?
"I know, I was surprised too," Sakura cut him off in his internal monologue, as though she responded the thoughts he hadn't voiced out loud. "It was awkward after that. At first I didn't tell Ino, but then she told me herself – she knew it as well as I, and her mother too. After that, things became worse. Ino almost lost faith in love completely. I know it sounds melodramatic and kind of cliché, but, please… don't do this to her. You're…"
The pink-haired girl felt her voice falter slightly, and desperately trying to regain her cool, she looked away at the thin, purple clouds decorating the blazing sky, and tried in vain to swallow the endlessly thick lump that was situated in her throat; it was making it hard to breathe.
"You're her Prince Charming. Her first… her first love. You're her only hope left. Please, if you won't do it for me… do it for her."
"How much did you receive on your test?" Hiashi barked suddenly, making the dark-haired Hyuuga heiress jump slightly. She promptly dropped her chopsticks on the table, earning an accusing stare from her father as she bashfully lowered her gaze.
"U-um… n-ninety-five…," she responded, her voice barely audible even in the uncomfortable silence.
"Ninety-five?" Hiashi frowned at this answer, then at her shaking hand attempting to pick up her fallen chopsticks. "Don't drop them like that again, Hinata. That would be utterly embarrassing at an important dinner."
"Y-yes…"
"And Neji? What about you?" he continued to inquire, sipping his miso soup with utmost carefulness without even bothering to look at the aforementioned, who was seated at the end of the table. The former put down his chopsticks and bowed his head in preparation for the response.
"I received ninety-eight, Hiashi-sama."
"Ninety-eight?" The wrinkles on his suntanned forehead deepened considerably. "Do tell me, Hinata, what it is that constantly occupies your mind and distracts you from your studies. Is it perhaps that boy?"
The dangerous, almost mocking emphasis on the last words made her shudder slightly as her face reddened to the color of a beetroot; as she regarded what to answer with silence, he instead turned his piercing eyes – the ivory color belonging to all Hyuugas – to her cousin.
"Do inform me, Neji. It'd be an utmost failure if she had – of what I can recollect, you had strict orders keeping her away from that boy. It'd be a shame that the Branch family would lose face so easily after having acquired such a useful family member as you, Neji – your father always had high hopes for you."
The twisted compliment seemed to have an odd effect on the teenage boy – his knuckles instantly whitened because of how tightly he clenched his fists, but he kept his calm as he coolly responded, "Certainly not, Hiashi-sama. I've ensured that she stays away from Uzumaki."
The tension seemed to lighten, if only the slightest, as the head of the Hyuuga family gently pushed away the emptied miso soup bowl, gesturing at a nervous maid to collect it. "I'm glad to hear so. Then pray tell me, how come your studies are going so bad, Hinata? You're being defeated by a mere Branch family member. While Neji is – ah, special for his kind, you're bringing shame unto our part of the family, being the heiress and being of less worth than your five-year-old sister."
Hinata's face color only turned darker at this, and she looked slightly nauseous as she still refused to meet his gaze, instead staring down at the wooden table on which her half-eaten food was still placed in front of her. "H-hai… I… I've been tired lately, father. I… I apologize."
"Tired?" he repeated icily. "Is it perhaps a shortened sleeping routine that has slowed down the already painful pace of your studies? Perhaps you should not be allowed to leave the house in the evenings, then…"
"No…!" the dark-haired girl cried out in alarm, but quickly withdrew shamefully at her sudden outburst, at her impolite interjection of her mighty father, the influential politician and the owner of the famed Hyuuga Corp. "I… I'm sorry, father. It is merely… lack of sleep… because of… nightmares."
It was not entirely untruthful, she reminded herself as her father regarded her with an air of disgust. "Nightmares? How pathetic. To let such a minor obstacle stand in the way for your ambitions… I expected more of you, but I guess I was wrong."
Hinata cowered slightly under his loathing stare; she felt as though she had been stripped naked of her clothes, standing outside alone in the cool night, an icy breeze hugging her quivering body tightly; as though she was filthy on the inside, unable to wash it out; as though she was ugly, stupid, a disgrace – everything at once.
"I cannot deny I've thoughts of disowning you. Whilst it is a man's duty to be a loving father, I cannot accept such a disgrace as you as my daughter. It is, with deepest regret, that I say that there truly is Hyuuga blood in your veins. I'd have, without a second thought, thrown you out, had you not received fame the moment you were born to this world."
She wished that he wouldn't speak – or that he'd at least stop looking at her with such hatred, with such disgust, not even disguised with the slightest trace of mercy, or that she'd just somehow magically become deaf… she'd have covered her ears, if she could have. But as it was, it'd only make the situation worse.
"I couldn't care less for you, as I don't see you as my offspring. But as you are to be the next heiress of Hyuuga Corporation, I've no choice but to teach you, despite despising you, despite wishing you were somebody else's child, so that somebody could take my place of being ashamed. In truth, I'd rather appoint Neji to protect your younger sister, Hanabi, as it'd be more likely she'd be targeted than you."
She didn't want to meet neither of the latter two's gazes; she knew they were looking at her, one in pity, the other devoid of emotion; but she was afraid that the tears she was suppressing behind her pale orbs would threaten to surface if she returned their stares.
"You're not even worth being targeted. As a daughter, you're absolutely useless. As an heiress, you don't even deserve the title. You're too simple, of too low caliber, to be a true Hyuuga –"
"Hinata-sama, there's somebody outside who wants to see you," a voice suddenly interrupted as a maid entered the dining room. "It is Inuzuka Kiba-san."
Awkward, heavy silence followed as Hinata unclenched her fists, hidden underneath the table, slowly, and arose to her feet. Her eyes shadowed by the dark fringe covering her entire forehead, she quietly mumbled, "Thanks for the meal", before she headed for the exit, followed by the maid.
"Hey! Hey! Shikamaru-kun… wait up!"
Ino wrapped the purple leather jacket tighter around herself as she followed the calmly striding Shikamaru into the cool autumn afternoon – or the beginning of the evening, whichever you'd prefer to refer it as. The sun had almost set completely; the sky was now a deep azure fading to a lighter baby-blue in the horizon, and in the utmost corners of the darkening sky, stars had started to come to life.
"Shikamaru-kun… Shikamaru-kun!"
She cursed her misfortune for not changing the cheerleading outfit before coming straight to the tutoring session; she had not expected that he wouldn't wait for her, having anticipated that she'd be able to convince him to wait for her while she changed in the girls' bathroom.
Keeping up with Shikamaru's pace didn't prove to be an effort; he walked rather slowly and carelessly, and Ino's stamina was not to be compared with – after all, it wasn't for nothing that she was the captain of the cheerleading squad. Carefully contemplating her options, she chose to strike up a conversation in hopes to convince him to let her tutor him.
"So, what do you and Sakura normally do during tutoring sessions?" she briskly questioned as she caught up with him.
No answer. Ino was starting to lose her precious temper – and although she was often called sweet and well-mannered, Ino secretly harbored a thin patience that quickly ran out when things didn't go her way. She seldom let her anger show in front of strangers, and even less in front of media or celebrities, but as it was, he was an unimportant student who obviously had no influence over higher-ranked people within the school, so she wasn't too scared to drop the façade.
"Shikamaru-kun?"
Countdown to the Eruption of Mount Ino… 10…
"Nara Shikamaru-kun."
9… 8… 7…
"Nara Shikamaru."
6… 5… 4…
"Shikamaru!"
3… 2… 1…
"OI! PINEAPPLE HEAD!" she frustratingly yelled as she clenched her fists, stomping onto the ground in an angered manner.
At this, he swiveled around, revealing black orbs filled with boredom – although there was a tiny glint of amusement in them that quickly disappeared out of sight when their eyes locked unto each other. "Troublesome woman. Will you shut up if I let you tutor me?"
She smiled angelically, regaining her sugary façade once more as her baby-blue eyes shone with glee. "Maybe."
Heaving a deep sigh as he rubbed one side of his head in apparent disgruntlement, he muttered, "How troublesome…" But at least he was now glancing at her in an "interested, yet uninterested" kind of manner while she babbled on about her (non-existent) experience of being a tutor.
Kiba had never liked the suburbs of Konoha.
What made Konoha's suburbs different from normal suburbs was that these suburbs were like tiny villages; everybody knew each other, and in each suburb was a "leader" representing that suburb among the higher-ranked politicians of the city; while Kiba's family, the renowned dog-breeding Inuzuka, also lived in a suburb, the place in which Kiba had spent the majority of his childhood, he still preferred the city.
In his eyes, the city was big; there was a vast variety of items to choose from while shopping, everybody who was "somebody" hung out there, there were more people to know, more parties to attend, more things (girls) to see. And also, if you made a fool out of yourself, not everybody had to know.
In Kiba's case, they'd know anyway. Ever since he had joined Konoha's Golden Leaf, it was practically impossible to go anywhere without being recognized. Being a ladies' man, he had never seen it as a problem. Getting to know crazy fangirls had become one of his favorite pastimes, especially if they were blessed with big curves, a slim waist and a pretty face.
But he had never quite understood Naruto and Sasuke, who didn't exactly lack the money nor the freedom to move into the center of Konoha as he, but had remained in one of the (most) boring suburbs of Konoha, namely where the "Hokage Tower" was situated.
"Oi, Naruto! Open up!" he shouted as he contemplated all of this, banging loudly on the door of the two's apartment.
No answer. The brown-haired dog-boy ran a hand through his messy hair with an annoyed sigh, and glanced sideways at the windows. The light was off; but he highly doubted they were out somewhere. Sasuke, perhaps – with Ino, most probably. Or just out walking. But Naruto…
"Oi, Naruto! I know you're in there! Open up!"
He can't be at Ichiraku, Kiba thought as he considered the possibility. I'd have seen him at the bus stop opposite mine; besides, I already checked that before I came here.
He glanced sideways at the emotionless Hyuuga heiress, worry obvious in his eyes as he analyzed her tightly clamped together lips, the way her eyes were lowered at the ground, hidden beneath her dark fringe; her tense, uneasy silence ever since they had greeted each other. Even then, Kiba had known something was wrong – the soft, innocent way she spoke in was gone, replaced by a forcedly polite manner, her teeth gritted together in a strange sense as though she was holding back the urge to scream or lose her temper.
It only meant one thing: Hyuuga Hiashi.
Personally, the man didn't have a grudge with Kiba; he knew well of Kiba's background and family, and while he didn't exactly approve of it, he didn't have anything against it either – therefore, Kiba also had the permission to enter and exit the Hyuuga grounds, demanding Hinata's immediate presence without having to ask him before he did.
But he knew only too well about Hinata's problems at home, without her voicing her thoughts or troubles out loud. He had once, a couple of years ago, encountered one of Hiashi's merciless rants about how useless Hinata was – she had refused to speak to him for weeks afterwards, but it had eventually faded away. She wasn't strong enough to ignore somebody for a longer period of time, or be mean in any sort of way, even if he knew she wanted to be, just so he could perhaps just forget that specific moment that had brought her such shame and pain.
Kiba was often called stupid or even "blonde" (somewhat of a pun because he was often called Naruto's "secret twin" because of their similar personalities), but he was a close observer in comparison to Naruto, whose attention span was close to non-existent.
That was exactly why he had also intended to search for Naruto in the first place, although he had at first sought to find Naruto for different reasons; to question Sakura's state of mind as of lately – but as of now, there were some more urgent things that needed to be taken care of.
Namely Hinata's happiness – which, in his opinion, was of great importance.
"Aw, man," he exhaled in a kind of melodramatic manner, "I swear, that idiot is probably lost again. You remember, don't you, Hinata? Our first concert, I mean."
He chuckled at the memory of the screaming blonde loudmouth, who had been mistaken for a crazy fan and had been thrown out from his own concert when he had gotten into a brawl with one of the on-stage workers, then not being able to come back in, he had instead gotten lost in the crowd, his cell-phone out of money.
But not even that memory spawned any reaction from the pale-skinned girl. Reaching out, his left hand cupped her chin as she looked up in surprise as he slowly rolled her face upwards so that she was facing him.
"Hinata? Are you okay?"
He knew that she wasn't, but at a loss of words, he hadn't thought of anything better.
"Aah? Uh – yes – yeah, Kiba-kun. D-don't worry about me. I… I'm fine." She hesitated for the fraction of a second as he dropped his hold of her chin, and she stared at Naruto's door with an undecipherable face expression. "N-Naruto-kun… he's probably at the peak of the Hokage Tower again."
"Aa." He diverted his gaze away from her and turned towards the direction of the aforementioned. "That idiot. We were supposed to meet to discuss the coming concert… and Sasuke hasn't come home yet, either. But if we go to look for Naruto, and Sasuke comes back, and none of us are here, he's gonna get pissed. He hates waiting for people, that hypocrite."
"I… I can stay here, Kiba-kun," Hinata offered. He averted his eyes back towards her, incredulously.
"Are you sure? I mean… it's getting dark, and it's getting unsafe here as of lately and –"
"Kiba-kun," she interjected, to his astonishment. "I can take care of myself."
Kiba stared at her in slight surprise; she normally let him finish before she spoke, but there was something bizarre this time; she was oddly determined, and there was definitely something that was reminiscent of strength of will as she looked up at him with milk-colored eyes.
And then, his lips quirked upwards into a handsome smirk. "I know. I believe you."
"It's not… I mean, it's only temporary," Sakura continued as she fidgeted somewhat uncomfortably, "It's just, you know, kind of like a… rehab session. No, wait, never mind – tutoring session. See it as tutoring, or just… advice in general."
Speaking to Sasuke had always been like speaking to a wall, she concluded. However, it felt more like it than ever – the silence dripping with tension lingering in the air made it so awkward to speak that she felt like she was somehow running out of time.
"… I mean, uh, I'm not asking, you know, for you to change your entire personality," she blubbered on as her unsteady gaze darted about in the deserted neighborhood. "At least do it in front of the media. Or just… or just make her happy, okay? You know you can. Because right now, you'll have to admit, she isn't the happiest she can be. I know you can make her the happiest girl in the world."
Because that was what you would have made me years ago, had I been in the same place as Ino is in right now back then, were the unspoken words haunting at the back of her mind. She quickly pushed the thought away, and anxiously anticipating an answer, she didn't even pause to let him contemplate his options.
"I know you're untrusting of me, and that you hate my guts, but seriously, I promise I'll be as little annoying as I can and not do anything weird like steal your phone number and give it to your crazy fangirls – although if I had wanted to do that, I could have long ago, since obviously Ino has your phone number, and I could always take it from her. But –"
"Thursday," Sasuke cut her off as she looked at him with widened jade eyes; he had turned his head momentarily, his face clearly radiating irritation, to look her way; his hands were in his pockets, and he was already starting to walk away, once again looking straight forward. "5 p.m., Classroom 7. Don't be late."
Sakura could only (mentally) gape in awe as he swiftly pivoted around a corner and disappeared out of sight. She couldn't believe it. A strange, bubbly feeling arose to her chest; it was something akin to a mixture of odd happiness, relief and a twisted sort of nervousness. With a well-hidden smile that she didn't quite let unto her lips, she happily walked the opposite way back to the bus stop.
"I knew you'd be up here!"
The blonde flinched as he abruptly turned around where he sat, but instantly relaxed at the sight of the broadly grinning dog-boy. His elbows resting on his L-bent knees, he had cupped his chin in the palm of his left hand. The other arm hung somewhat lifelessly from where it was steadied by the knee.
"Kiba," he simply uttered, acknowledging the other teen's presence.
"Yo." The latter seated himself next to Naruto, following his gaze to the now clearly glimmering stars ahead of them. "It's Sakura, isn't it?"
He didn't need to ask again. Naruto's hands immediately balled to tightly clenching fists, and he made a disgruntled sound that sounded like something between a grunt and a snort as he leaned back, throwing his head upwards so that he could stargaze even better with a better view of the dark night sky.
"Aa," he muttered in response, voice barely audible, even in the harmonic silence.
"I figured as much." Sighing, he leaned back so that he lay on his back, his hands supporting the back of his head/neck as he stretched back with a half-yawn. "What do you like so much about this place, anyway?"
Naruto hesitated – for only a minimum part of a second, but Kiba noticed it anyway. Then he turned away in obvious disapproval of the apparently taboo question. "It's… beautiful. And also, you have a view of the entire Konoha, but nobody down there can see you."
Kiba didn't answer at first. Then, he calmly, and almost with careful carelessness, he remarked, "Hey, do you remember a time when you said you wanted to be 'Hokage'?"
The shorter loudmouth scowled as he murmured, "That was before everything."
"Yeah. That's right. Back when your pops was still the Hokage – and Sasuke still lived with you guys. And nobody believed you were ever going to make it as a Hokage."
Still no answer. Naruto only stared straight forward with a far-off gaze, for once more silent and serious. Kiba took the opportunity to continue speaking. "You know, they're talking about renaming the position of the leader in Konoha – by calling it "mayor" or "leader", or something like that. They say that 'Hokage' is outdated, that it has been used for centuries and that now is a time for rebellion and new stuff or something…"
"New stuff, huh…," the blonde murmured quietly. "What're you doing here, anyway?"
Sighing with a shrug that indicated defeat, Kiba replied, "I knew you'd forget. We were supposed to meet to talk about the concert, remember? It's in two months. We need to get started on some new songs – people will get tired of hearing the same old shit several times and then we're going to lose the fans and, dude, I don't know about you, what with you having a chick and all, but I'm not in the mood of losing our crazy fangirls just yet."
"Aa. Right."
"Dude, what's with you? I think you're too much with Sasuke for your own good. His emo-ness is rubbing off on you. I swear, it's not gonna take you too long before you start saying 'hn'."
Naruto lowered his head to the point that Kiba couldn't see his face because of the blonde bangs getting in the way; the previous seemed to be deep in thought as he obviously contemplated an important matter, while the latter tried to think of something to say. Asking what it was would be no help, he concluded; Naruto would just brush it off. But then, judging by his strange mood, there always was a slight chance he was going to tell –
However, before Kiba could further interrogate his friend, a vibrating cell-phone in his pocket urged him to pick it up.
New Text Message From: Sasuke
The Hyuuga girl told me you're at the Hokage Tower. Get your ass back here in five minutes and bring the dobe with you.
"Oi, Naruto," he spoke up as he placed the phone back into one of the pockets of his black, baggy pants, "Sasuke tells us to get back to your place so we can get together to discuss the concert. Neji can't come with us, though – you know, his usual martial arts training with Hinata's dad."
"Oh, yeah," Naruto responded absent-mindedly, without looking up.
Kiba stared at him for a couple of seconds, before shrugging with a sneer, "Dude, forget what I said before – you are Sasuke II. You damn emo."
"Who are you calling an emo, huh?!" The blonde jumped up with a sudden enthusiasm. "You want me to KICK YOUR ASS, punk!?"
"I'd like to see you try, you loser!"
"Hey! Who you callin' a loser, loser?!"
It was after much nagging, two close-to-tantrums and one frustrated shriek that Ino managed to find out the truth behind Shikamaru's and Sakura's tutoring sessions; Shikamaru failed practically every subject except Crafts, Home Ed. and P.E – but as he obviously didn't need tutoring (she failed to find out the reason), they spent their tutoring sessions playing shougi or watching clouds, often while eating anything edible supplied by Shikamaru's friend, Chouji (which she was slightly ashamed to admit, had no clue who it was when she often bragged that she knew the entire school).
As it now was, Shikamaru was seemingly aimlessly wandering the streets of Konoha in search of – well, something. Ino, who was still exhausted from doing research on why he was being tutored in the first place when he obviously didn't want to and why Sakura, who hated wasting her time, still insisted on tutoring him, gave up trying to find out exactly what they were looking for.
This guy certainly knows how to get on my nerves, was the irritated thought that crossed her mind as she kept up with him with ease; she didn't quite know if his slow pace was due to his apparent laziness, or because he really had nothing against her company – either way doesn't matter, Ino concluded as she finally regained the stamina to pose her question.
"Hey, Shikamaru," she uttered tiredly – she had dropped the polite suffixes long ago, although Ino's definition of long did only consist of a couple of hours – as she came to a halt abruptly. "Where're we going?"
Shikamaru only turned his head slightly, angling it enough to see her. "Someplace."
"What do you mean, 'someplace'? Is it far from here?" she demanded to know, vexed.
"If you're tired, go home," he merely answered with a careless shrug. "It's none of your business, anyway."
"I'm going to tutor you the way Sakura does, if it's the last thing I do," Ino responded through gritted teeth, "so just show me the frickin' way already."
"How troublesome."
"You're late, dead-last," Sasuke replied, obviously infuriated as he caught sight of the swiftly approaching bickering loudmouths.
"Shut up, you human ice cube, so are you."
"Hn," he grunted in response. He was least to say in a bad mood after the unexpected encounter during his usual walk to the house that no longer was his home; coming back to what was now considered his new home, he hadn't been surprised to see the Hyuuga heiress – it had relieved him that she had merely greeted him and remained in silence; it had at least given him space to rewind and analyze what had just happened, which certainly wasn't going to happen now with Kiba and Naruto around.
In some strange way, he felt oddly relieved because of that. Thinking too much not only supplied him with a great deal of headache – not that he could escape the aforementioned when his company included Kiba and Naruto – but it also made plenty of unwanted feelings, such as confusion and angst and hatred
(yes, especially the hatred, the hatred he had so obediently and carefully kept within, the hatred that he harbored against that man)
and sadness and anger and regret
(although he wished he never felt it, that he could contain his pride with such strength that the feeling wouldn't cross his path and destroy the shield he had built, but then her eyes would flash past, those eyes filled with hurt and sorrow, but then again, what did she know about hurt and sorrow?)
and longing and pain and weakness and –
"… ke. Oi! Listen to me when I'm talking, bastard! Earth to alien-Sasuke!"
Snapping back to reality, the Uchiha cursed his misfortune for spacing out and thinking too much again. "You're not worth listening to, idiot."
"… Bastard…!"
"Hey, hey, calm it," Kiba intervened hurriedly as he stepped between the two determinedly. "Don't go berserk on each other – I don't wanna pay for any destroyed stuff again. I'm not that rich, you know. And seriously, Sasuke, even if this idiot isn't worth listening to –"
"Hey!"
" – we're still talking about important stuff. The concert and all. You really should listen, even if it's a pain in the ass to listen to him."
"Exactly! – Wait, what?... YOU DAMN DOG-FACE, YOU'RE GOING TO DOOOOWN – WHAT THE FUCK, BASTARD, LET GO OF MY EAR!"
"If you shut up," the latter snapped in response. He mentally reminded himself to slip into the apartment and take a headache pill later; although something else swiftly occupied his mind as he registered what Kiba had just said. "And what about the concert, anyway?"
"Well, our manager just told me some news," Kiba informed the group with an almost bored voice as he watched Sasuke let go of Naruto's now blazingly red ear as the aforementioned glared at the Uchiha in anger as he rubbed his sore ear. "He wants us to write love songs."
"What?" Sasuke spat, angered.
"Dude," the dog-boy answered, alarmed as he wiped his face with the sleeve of his black jacket, "I get that you're upset, but you don't have to spray me with your saliva, you know."
"What is wrong with the songs we have?" he continued, ignoring Kiba's statement.
"He said something about chicks and increasing our audience, yadda yadda. You know, broaden our horizons and whatnot, that Sound is catching up with us, blah blah."
"Bullshit. When I was in Sound, they barely knew how to play chords right."
"Well, that was a couple of years ago, wasn't it? You don't know a shit about Sound anymore, they can change as much as you can. If you've changed at all, that is," Kiba answered, deadly calm. An intense silence followed as the two male adolescents stared at each other, the first one with narrowed coal eyes in displeasure, the other with a blank gaze, only showing the slightest trace of iciness. The other two, that were left out of the discussion, merely watched this unfold.
However, it lifted as the latter continued as though the silence had never occurred, "Anyway, what're you guys going to do about the party next week?"
"What party?" Sasuke wanted to know, somewhat defensively, as the question had been a direct attack to his, as Naruto sometimes referred to it as, full-blown ego; the aftermath of the previous silence.
"The party of the royal Sand siblings," Hinata piped up suddenly, making the boys jump slightly at her sudden statement; they had completely forgotten that she was there. "The young Kazekage, his older brother and older sister are coming to Konoha – they'll hold the party at the villa father gave them as a gift for Kazekage-sama when he was proclaimed as such."
"Right… I keep forgetting Gaara is royalty," Naruto retorted, scratching his head thoughtfully. "The guy doesn't seem like a prince, if you ask me. I mean, seriously? The guy doesn't have eyebrows."
"Yes, because that's what doesn't make him a prince," Kiba commented dryly, rolling his eyes. "I can't believe they're still 'royalty', though. Technically, they can't even be royalty, because Sand stopped being a country during the 17th century, or whatever. Right, Hinata?"
The dark-haired girl nodded solemnly, still not quite lively after what had happened previously. "But it's still a tradition to call them royalty, although their ancestors were robbed from the title long ago. Also, what with Kazekage-sama also being Kazekage, the title is strengthened, if only for a bit."
"I can't believe that Gaara is Kazekage, though. He's the same age as us – it's so unfair, if you ask me. I mean, while we're stuck in school doing maths, he can just chill all day in his office, watching TV shows, and nobody would even notice as long as he shuts off the TV as soon as someone comes into the room. I've seen Granny Tsunade do it several times."
"Yeah, life must be easy for him. But I bet he has his duties, too, you know – like attending boring meetings with old geezers, that kind of shit," said Kiba. "Besides, he probably has no time for girls, even if they're drooling all over him."
"Right!" Naruto suddenly exclaimed, startling the rest of the group, "I was supposed to call Sakura-chan! Ah, wait for me just a bit before we go to Ichiraku, won't ya?"
As he pulled out his cell-phone, hurriedly dialing her number while Kiba teased him for being so forgetful and asking how he even managed to get a girl in the first place, neither except Hinata saw how Uchiha Sasuke's fist clenched tightly to the point it almost whitened at the mention of the girl's name.
Sakura,
We're off to Tokyo this weekend. We'll probably be back by next. We're sorry that we'll be late again, but we trust you to take care of yourself and the house. There's food in the fridge, and if you run out of food, we've left you money for grocery shopping.
-- Mom & Dad
Haruno Sakura stared at the piece of paper – the edges are getting crumpled, she noticed, maybe I should be more careful? – as she stared at the familiar note for the umpteenth time. The text was already getting smudged, and a couple of stains – tears, was the uncomfortable thought that came to mind – could be seen here and there, despite her effort to wipe them off.
"You never come home, you bastards," she mumbled, a little bit for herself, a little bit for the ones she was speaking of that couldn't hear her; either way, it didn't matter. With or without them present, it was the same; life went on, just without the infrequent questions of how her studies were going, or how her volunteer work at the hospital was doing.
It isn't like anything else exists in their world, she thought bitterly, but decided to shake it off as she stretched out her legs on the cold kitchen floor, surveying her surroundings with exhaustion, as though she had never seen the place before.
There was a wooden table in the center – she vaguely remembered that her father had crafted it himself – surrounded by four empty chairs made out of the same wood with crimson, soft seats; there was the good old fridge, almost as empty as the room; the stove, the sink and the kitchen counter – all in dire need of cleaning – and a platter of fruit on the floor that she remembered Ino forcing her to eat.
As she felt her stomach growl at the thought of food, she crawled like a baby – as though she was unable to walk – towards the fruit and promptly seated herself on her knees in front of it, staring at her options. Most of the fruit was already ruined, some even covered in mould; finally she found a fresh apple with barely any damage the same color as her eyes, got up and turned on the faucets, rolling the hard fruit between the palms of her hands slowly.
As she turned off the faucets, she could still hear them drip in the silence as she once again sat down onto the floor, taking a bite out of the sour, yet sweet, apple. The bittersweet flavor reminded her of something…
Closing her eyes in deep thought, a familiar face came to mind. An onyx-eyed, raven-haired boy – yes, boy, not the soon-to-be-man like he was now – who sulked while a roseate-haired girl poked him with a wide, bright smile. A blonde boy behind them, with whisker-like features, was screaming for attention until said roseate-haired girl punched him. She smiled, watching them play in her memories until a familiar cell phone signal awoke her to life.
This is a retake of my life, I was his star for many nights
But now the roles have changed, and you're the leading lady of his life…
Her eyelids slowly fluttered open. The kitchen was enveloped in darkness, the only light supplied by the moonshine coming from outside. It had been nice, dwelling in the past, if only for just a second.
Lights, camera, now you're on
Just remember you've been warned
Enjoy it now, 'cause it won't last
She slowly reached for the cell-phone on the kitchen table. The sharp neon pink light emitting from the object lit up her face, making it look like the same color as her hair; she registered the name in a daze – Naruto – and once again the blonde boy's smiling face came to mind… only to be replaced by bitterness, sadness, disappointment, all negative emotions so vivid in his face, distorting his handsome features…
Same script, different cast…
Shaking her head abruptly, she flipped open the cell-phone, readying the fake smile mentally before it surfaced on her lips.
"Geez, Naruto, that only took you a couple of hundred years! You shouldn't make a girl wait for you! That's rude, you know?... That's not an excuse! You know Tsunade-sama never makes me work late at the hospital on Saturdays! Baka!"
Similarly to how deserted her pink-haired best friend was feeling the very same moment, Yamanaka Ino was feeling strangely alone in the huge, darkened building in which she was currently walking about. She could only thank God Shikamaru was with her – although without him, she wouldn't have gone there in the first place.
"What is this place?" she questioned as she wrinkled her petite nose; the damp smell of something rotting inside these walls made her uncomfortable – the entire place did. The old paper factory situated in the outskirts of Konoha
(she couldn't even believe that she had walked this far from the school; even with her stamina, it was tiring)
had been deserted for years, as the owner had gone bankrupt; it had been the victim of anonymous graffiti painters ever since, but nobody had ever thought of going inside. Ino shivered as she pulled her jacket closer around herself. She could understand why.
"What're we doing here?" she repeated as Shikamaru refused to answer her question.
The latter scanned the area, somewhat more alert than previously, and he shoved his hands into the pockets of his dark jeans as he softly called out, "You can come out now."
"Nara," a low, baritone voice hissed into the darkness, making Ino jump slightly; two hidden silhouettes stepped out from the shadows, one dragging his both arms lazily on each side of his more crouching body, the other standing straight up with a cocky sneer on his face. "What a pleasant surprise. You should've told us you were going to come earlier, then Kin wouldn't have gone out."
"We're better off without her, anyway," the second one – the cocky one, as Ino mentally referred to him as – said as his face was distorted into an ugly grimace, running his calloused fingers through his messy black hair, "She's disgustingly sweet whenever he's around. Gives me the creeps."
"I figured you'd be here," Shikamaru instead replied, ignoring their comments about whoever Kin was – Ino decided that she was definitely going to ask him about all this later – crossing his arms defiantly. "How much longer are you going to stay?"
"Three days, at most," the first one growled darkly, "It isn't the safest place to practice, and with Zaku around, it'll be a difficulty to remain hidden."
"Hey, your drums are loud too," the guy named Zaku argued with a frown, "Don't put all the blame on me, Dosu."
Dosu merely waved off his complaints as he suddenly turned towards Ino; she felt her breath hitched in her throat as she unsurely stepped backwards. "What's with the chick, Nara?"
"Never mind her," Shikamaru answered with an exasperated sigh. "Just tell me already."
"Who is she?" Zaku wanted to know, his smirk widening as he eyed her up and down – she felt slightly annoyed as his eyes rested a bit longer than they should have on the cleavage of her cheerleader uniform – moisturizing his lips with the tip of his tongue.
"Never mind, alright, she's just a…" He paused momentarily to rethink what he was going to say next, and finished briefly with, "…classmate."
"Does she know?" Dosu continued interrogating.
Know what? Ino wanted to say, but unable to utter anything in the breathlessness of the anticipation, she merely watched their discussion in a way reminiscent of how you watch a tennis match. "Yes," he responded without a second thought. "Now tell me already."
"There's no need to be such in a hurry, Nara. We need to ask you some more about your little lady friend there – we've to eliminate any possible risk. After all, you're our only spy in Konoha."
Aaah, sorry for the many dialogues! But I promise, all these dialogues are of importance, so they're not just random shit to lengthen the chapters, they actually matter to the plot, so PAY ATTENTION!
On an entirely off-topic matter, I'd like to say that GOD, this fic is so hard to write. You know, when I was writing This Is Not My First Time, everything just came to me easily and I just wrote it down, and Fear of the Light (I'll have to think about continuing that fic due to Itachi's character change) had this complex plot, but once my Writer's Block lifted after some time, what was going to happen became clear as crystal. This fic on the other hand... God, the plot summary is taking me ages, and I'm not even done with HALF of the chapters! I know how it's going to end though, but it's all the stuff in-between... (sighs)
I'm sorry for the delay (it's been exactly a month!), but well, real life's busy. I can't promise any fast updates anytime soon - I'm almost out everyday now that the weather is so nice (although it's become chillier as of lately), and also, there're helluva lot of events during the end of 9th grade, what with junior high prom coming up and all. Then during the summer I'm going away on vacation, and the few weeks I'm at home, I'll most probably hang out with my friends. But there will probably be an update every month or so.
Thanks so much for the reviews, and keep on reviewing!