Author's note: Taa-daa! Like magic, in a kind of "now you see it, now you don't" way. Read on, have fun, and leave a review (pretty please?)
Disclaimer: Emi-chan (that's me) doesn't own Naruto, nor any of its characters. This story is purely fan made and I get no profit from it… (Leave a review and I'll get some.)
Now and Then : Here and There
By: Emitique
Chapter III- "Open your eyes. Everything won't be the same again."
Sasuke felt more or less like… to put it bluntly… like crap
His body ached all over and the pounding he was starting to feel in his head didn't help one bit. All his muscles screamed in pain as if he was running a marathon, climbing a very tall mountain, and swimming a hundred yards before he fell asleep… and from the way he could feel his skin release unwelcome heat out, he figured he might also be suffering from a fever.
Well, at least the bed he was on was a soft one…
Wait? Why was he on a bed anyway? What happened to him?
His sense of hearing also perked up the same way his sense of feeling did. He could now hear voices chatting. Man, the people inside the room with him are pretty noisy. Can't they see he's feeling awful? It's common sense to leave a person feeling ill alone, or if you ever want to stay with them, you might at least want to keep the noise down so the person could rest quietly. Apparently, the people he's around with are not much into common sense…
And being as he was already awake thanks to the incessant talking of others, he figured it would be the best thing to open his eyes and talk to them, it wasn't like there was anything else for him to do anyway.
What surprised Sasuke the most was the amount of difficulty he had with stirring around and opening his eyes. Each centimeter he shifted, made his body ached more than it already did. Each of his eyelids felt as heavy as an anvil, almost as if they have a mind of their own and they don't want Sasuke to open up his eyes and wake up. But as we all know, Sasuke is a fighter, so he won't give up and lose to his eyelids. So he forced them open with a bit of a groan coming out of his mouth as his sudden change from darkness to actually seeing came over him...
"Hey Sakura, I think he's coming to…"
He heard a voice of a girl talk. He opened his eyes and squinted them a bit to be able to get his fuzzy vision to focus. His head was still lying on the pillow and he didn't dare to lift it up from there, for he knew it would only result in intensifying his headache. He let his eyes scan his surroundings from his pain limited position on the bed… after a moment, he realized one thing…
"W-where am I?" he voiced out more to himself than to the other people inside the room. He wasn't that surprised when he found out that he also had difficulty in talking, pretty much all he did since a moment ago seemed to be uncomfortable so it was nothing new by now.
He can't recognize anything from that room. It was so foreign to him. Even the smell of the air seemed non-familiar to him. He let his eyes scan the faces of those he was with. Two girls and a boy, all of them look about the same age. The girl nearest to him had pink colored hair that reached her back and her green eyes seemed laced with worry. The other girl looked at him with a desiring look on her face as if thinking how cute he was. Her long blonde hair was tied up in a tight ponytail and her blue eyes were fixated on him. The Blonde boy had brighter blue eyes than the girl and he was watching him curiously.
"You're in my place…"
Sasuke's musings were cut off when the first girl he saw talked. He shifted his gaze to her so she would now he was listening, it would be more bother to say that he was actually listening so that gesture would just have to do. The girl seemed to get the message for she continued on…
"My name is Sakura, and these are my friends, Ino and Naruto." then she pointed to the girl and then the boy.
"I found you two days ago by the local riverbank. You seemed to have had needed some help, so I decided to lend a hand…" she finished off with a slight smile.
Unfortunately, nothing past the lines of "by the local riverbank" registered in Sasuke's mind. He was currently busy contemplating on thinking about HOW he got to the said riverbank…
'What happened to me two days ago?' he asked himself.
He racked his brain upside-down and inside-out but no answer came to him… It was all blank; his mind was all blank…
'This can't be! Why? Why can't I recall anything?!'
Sasuke was beginning to panic up inside. He tried to not focus on just two days ago… He tried to see if he can remember anything about himself. He tried to think of his home, his parents, his favorite color, the name of his pet, or if he ever had a pet for that matter…
…still nothing…
Sakura was worried at the look on the boy's face. He seemed to be awfully bothered about something. She hesitantly raised her hand and gently placed it on the boy's shoulder, in attempt to calm and reassure him. But it seemed like the wanted effect backfired, for the boy jolted when he felt her hand touch him. And thus she retracted her back by reflex as well…
"I'm sorry… I didn't mean to scare you." Sakura added apologetically after she let her hand away due to the boy's jerk.
Those words had an interesting effect on her newest guest. He didn't think much about what the pink head said but hearing her say that he was scared triggered something within him… and he didn't like that certain something.
Sasuke seemed to not mind all the pain he was in at the moment, as he suddenly lifted his head and back up from the bed and turned sharply to face Sakura. He glared hard at her and snapped to the shocked girl.
"I AM NOT SCARED!" Sasuke said with anger in his voice. "Why would I be scared of a stupidly weak girl like you anyway?!"
Sakura was taken back by that reaction from the raven haired boy, she stood there with her eyes wide open and a somewhat hurt look painted on them, she was unable to neither move nor talk.
Naruto and Ino were also shocked and wasn't able to go mobile for a while. Did the new guy just called Sakura stupid? Sasuke was also not saying anything, as if thinking what happened wrongly.
The silence was broken by the sound of an open palm colliding with an unprotected cheek
"SLAP!"
\O///o\O///o\O///o\O///o\O///o\O///o\O///
Neji was currently walking through the big hallways of the Hyuuga main house. Normally he won't be trudging this part of the Hyuuga compound, he is afterall, just a branch member of the family.
But this time, he's made an exemption. After the awful tragedy that befell their close friends, the Uchihas, constant searches and investigations were held in order to try and shed some light to their unanswered questions. And because of that, many of the personnel on their clan have went out of the compound, so the ones left behind get the privilege of doing the compound responsibilities of those who are outside. Right now, he is filling in for the clan's message deliverer.
'Stupid elders… Why do they have to make up such a weird job as "Message deliverer" anyway?' Neji thought irritably
'This compound may be big, but not that big as to get someone to walk around for you to find the person you want to ask what he wants for dinner! …That's just a sign of being lazy.'
"Either that or they just want another use for the branch members…" Neji whispered to himself as he continued on walking.
His inner musings were cut short as he heard some noises coming from the dojo hall. It seems that there's someone training inside the dojo.
"Haa! Tyaa! Umf! HYAA!!!"
And judging from the sounds the person was making, she was training pretty hard… Wait a minute, he knows that voice. He let his feet wander on to the dojo's door and carefully slide it open.
He wasn't at all surprised, when he found his cousin inside the room. She seemed to be so absorbed in what she's doing, that she didn't notice that Neji have already made his way inside the training hall.
Hinata was sparring with a dummy that was stuffed, in order to serve useful for those who wants to train giving hard blows to enemies. The pretty girl kept punching and kicking the dummy, one kick and punch after the other. The dummy is made of a sturdy log that allowed it to withstand the blow given off by the young lady, but soon enough, with one roundhouse kick, it finally gave in and it got smashed in two. The upper part flew a decent distance, before landing hard at the other end of the room.
Her white eyes watched as the dummy's detached half flew and landed with a thud on the direction opposite of her. She was breathing heavily. She was starting to feel the stress of the training she just engaged herself into. She didn't know how long she had been punching and kicking that dummy before she got it smashed. Her body suddenly felt so heavy and her legs gave in…
She started to fall, but a pair of stronger arms caught her from behind, just before she hit the floor. She looked behind her and found her cousin was the one who was holding her up. Neji gently sat Hinata on the floor and sat beside her.
"Are you alright?" he asked
Hinata was looking at the floor with a disappointed look in her eyes. She then answered "Hai…"
With that answer from his cousin, Neji didn't bother to ask further questions. He had a ton of question he wanted to ask, like why she was training so hard all of a sudden, or if she was over the death of her best friend, but he kept it to himself. He felt that Hinata wasn't in the mood to be answering his questions.
He just sat there, silently keeping his cousin company. Just when he thought that the silence they were in would last till the sun sets, he suddenly heard the girl beside her mumble something.
"I… I-I'm sorry you found me i-in that kind of state…" she said weakly while looking away from him, purposely avoiding eye contact.
"Well I'm not, if I hadn't found you a while ago, you would have probably gotten yourself hurt." He said evenly.
The girl beside him heaved a sigh and said. "I know… T-thank you, Neji-niisan."
"You're welcome…" he answered with a slight smile, a smile reserved for only those whom he truly cared about.
Hinata answered with a shy smile of her own. She was starting to feel better both inside and out. Sometimes, it's nice to have your cherished family with you…
Just then Sasuke flashed through her mind. She suddenly remembered that she promised herself that she would get stronger for him.
'But still, there are times that you need to do things on your own….'
Hinata looked at her cousin beside her. She waited for him to look at her too before she asked him.
"Neji-niisan, you're not usually in these parts of the compound. Was there something you had to do? Or were you looking for someone?"
Neji mentally slapped himself. He almost forgot about the "job" he was asked to do. If he didn't get moving now, he might get scolded for taking too long to get it done. But can he leave Hinata alone now?
"I'm supposed to deliver a message to someone… But if you can't manage on your own, I can always just stay with you and walk you to your room where you can get some rest." Neji said to his cousin with concern.
Hinata smiled at him and said "Thanks Nii-san, but I will be alright on my own." And tried her best to sound convincing.
Neji just kept looking at her with his eyes clearly portraying the doubt he had for the words that passed his cousin's lips. Hinata noticed this, and so she stood up and went to the door of the hall, to prove that she really is alright. She was still feeling pretty sluggish, but she had to convince him that she's fine, or else he won't leave her by herself.
"See? I can walk properly. I won't fall again…" She said with a smile. Neji got up and walked towards her.
Hinata opened the door and stepped out of the dojo. She waited for Neji to follow her, and when he did she gave him another reassuring smile.
"Go on, you must get back to your work and deliver that message." Hinata encouraged.
"You know, you should also get back to your room so you can rest up properly." He replied with a worried look.
"Of course… I'll rest as soon as I close up the training hall. You should get going now Nii-san. I've kept you here for long enough. I'll be heading to my room too as soon as I close up the dojo." Hinata said with a straight face.
Eventually, Hinata managed to convince her cousin that she was about to rest up. He proceeded on to finding the person he's supposed to find and deliver the message to. Hinata gently waved goodbye to him with a smile on her face… But as soon as he turned on the corner, the smile on her face faded.
"Sorry Neji-niichan. But I have to do this." She whispered to herself.
She went inside the dojo and closed the door behind her. She took out another dummy and started her training over again. Even as the stress became tangible to her rapidly, she continued to hit the dummy as long as it takes for it to be worn out and snap like the other one.
'Stronger… I must get stronger… This is for you Sasuke-chan.'
Tears started to slide down her pretty face as she gave off a shout and punched a hole right through the dummy.
"Sniff, sniff…"
She wiped her teary eyes and went on to get a new dummy to determinedly continue on her training…
Nothing will ever be the same now that she's alone.
\O///o\O///o\O///o\O///o\O///o\O///o\O///
Everyone fell silent, none of them moved. Even the very air seemed to have been stilled be the heavy pressure around the room.
Suddenly, emerald eyes blinked… Sakura seemed to have only realized what she had done, and because of the manner she was raised in, she automatically blurted apologies to the young man she just slapped across the face.
"I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to. I should've controlled my temper, I'm sorry… A-are you okay?" She was stuttering because of the speed which her words were coming out of her mouth. She looked expectantly at the boy sitting on the bed.
The boy blinked his obsidian hued eyes. He was still confused about things. He didn't really now what to answer or how to react. He ended up doing what his instincts told him to do: GLARE hard at the girl who slapped him.
As Sakura saw the boy's eyes look hard at her, she felt her heart sink… And here, she was hoping to befriend the new guy, guess she made the wrong first impression on him.
"Hey watch it pal! Don't go glowering eyes on Sakura-chan like that!" Naruto exclaimed advancing to close the distance between him and the bed.
"She's the one who acted violently!" was the retort of the other boy.
"WHA-! You snobby jerk! How mean can you get? Just admit your fault and apologize!" Naruto shouted
From the looks of the raven haired boy's face, he doesn't plan on doing anything Naruto said. He stayed seated there, with a hard stubborn and an "it's not my fault and I don't care even if you say it is" look on his face.
"Naruto it's okay… I shouldn't have slapped him. I lost control; I am the one who's wrong." Sakura said, trying to defend the boy from Naruto's accusations.
Naruto gaped at Sakura. But what did he expect anyway? Sakura is very polite and considerate of others, no matter how rude or conceited others are. That's what her mother taught her. She's made it second nature to think before she says anything or act. After all, she's the heir of the diplomatic name "Haruno" She should be able to do things as smooth as the spring breeze, and always face people with the freshness of the newly sprouted leaves… or so her father used to say. She looked at her raven new guest, smiled before bowing her head slightly and politely saying.
"I'm sorry about slapping you… I guess I got a bit too impulsive earlier. We'll leave you to yourself to rest up Mr. um… excuse me, but may I know your name?" she asked suddenly remembering she doesn't know the name of the person she's currently talking to.
Upon hearing the question of the pink haired girl, the boy visibly stiffened. What was he supposed to answer? He still can't get his head to work properly, he started to dig and sear for any information in his head, but all he could bring out was the dream he had before he woke up.
It was hot, very hot, burning…
His senses were starting to work one by one…
Pretty soon his eyes could make out the colors of orange and red, and suffocating smoke forced itself down his nasal passage, blocking his throat and taking its toll on his lungs…
He saw her… The lady that willed him to run and live on. She was far from him, he can't see well in the midst of the ashes, smoke, and haze because of the fire, but somehow he knew she was trapped and couldn't get up to him.
He didn't move, he made up half of his mind to just stand there and wait for his time to be over, but suddenly he heard her call out…
"Go Sasuke! Leave this place! You must LIVE!"
And so he did as he was told eventually…
He can't remember the dream properly, but it seemed so vivid a while ago when he had just woken up. He tried very hard to remember something, anything else, no dice… His head ached from all the thinking that he didn't notice the girl beside him lightly put her hand on his shoulder to make sure he's all right.
"What's wrong? Are you okay?"
He opened his eyes and focused his attention to the girl asking his well being. His headache slowly vanished as his mind was no longer forced to remember things he can't. Those green eyes softened his pain and for a moment, he was thankful she shook him out of his musings. But then, a nagging feeling told him that he shouldn't have this girl be too close and familiar with him. It felt weird, like he's betraying someone… He placed his own hand over the girl's and gently removed it from his shoulder. He didn't miss the brief flash of hurt on those soothing green eyes.
"Yeah, I… I think so…"
"Well that's good news. And what's your name again? I'm afraid I don't know what to call you."
"My name is Sasuke." he simply said, and he offered nothing more. He said nothing more about himself because he can't, he hoped that his memories would turn up soon, it would be very, very inconvenient not knowing anything besides you name. And to his surprise, Sakura asked him no further question.
"I see… Well Sasuke-san, you just go ahead and rest up, the three of us will be leaving now."
"Eh?" Naruto voiced out loudly, why are they going to leave? There were certainly a lot more things he wanted to say, retort, and ask to Sasuke.
Ino matched his tone of disbelief with her own "Why?" she would've very much wanted to stay with the new cute guy a few more minutes.
"Well, Sasuke-san obviously has been through a lot and I think we should let him be with himself for the time being." Sakura stated as an answer to her friends' whines.
She proceeded in pushing both of the out the door, and before she got out of the room herself, she peeked at Sasuke and smiled politely before saying
"Just rest up and don't worry about a thing. I'll deliver something for you to eat in a little bit okay? Don't strain yourself Sasuke-san."
He just blinked at her and the door slid close.
"Sakura-chan, that wasn't right. You shouldn't have thrown us out of the room. I wasn't finished talking to him."
Even as they were walking to the front door of the Haruno house, Naruto was still complaining to Sakura. And of course her other friend won't be left behind in the complaining part.
"Yeah, it's not fair to have him all to yourself Sakura!"
Sakura rolled her eyes. No matter what she say, it won't keep her only friends quiet, so she decided to let them rant until they're safely out of her house.
"He's tired and he can't deal with much right now. You guys know that." she tried to reason out, but of course, there were counters to her reason as her friends are currently reciting.
She didn't recognize half of what they're babbling, and she doubted it would've made sense anyway. They reached the front door and she sent them off with a small wave and a tired smile. After the were far from her sight she turned and marked her destination to be the kitchen, but after she rounded a corner she was forced to stop her tracks at the sight of her mother.
"When were you planning to tell me about your new pet exactly?"
Her voice was smooth and held no sort of ill feeling what so ever. Only her daughter would recognize the annoyance in her voice. And Sakura stood there with eyes wide and full of worry and even fear.
"I-I'm sorry okaa-sama… I wasn't planning to keep him from you. I-I just didn't got the chance to tell you…" she said looking down, and when she dared to lift her gaze, she saw her mother's eyes and she quickly looked back down again.
"…" Kikuno said nothing, an indication that she was waiting for something more from her little girl.
"He was suffering from a fever, so I had to attend to him. I found him drenched in the river and I didn't know where else to take him…" 'Also I lost my necklace that day and I just can't tell you that, you would've been more annoyed okaa-sama' but Sakura left that last part to herself
She heard a sigh and assumed that her mother's annoyance was replaced by exasperation, a very big improvement. At least she won't worry about her mother being mad anymore. She won't be able to handle it if her mother gets angry at her.
"You know you can't keep picking up strays Sakura" her mother said, and Sakura was reminded of Ino's words.
"I had no other choice… I couldn't leave him, I had to help."
"Naruto's case was one thing, another poor, lost, soul is another. You know what the people said when you first found Naruto and took him in… When you helped him, you can't risk another scandal-"
"HE WOULD'VE DIED IF I DIDN'T!"
Sakura exclaimed having lost her control once again; she's slipping in that department more and more recently. When she realized what she just did, she covered her mouth with her hands and her shaking knees gave underneath her and she couldn't help the tears that started flowing from her eyes.
Kikuno rushed to her daughter's side, she was trying to avoid another outburst like this, but she guessed it was inevitable. All she could do is try to calm her little Sakura down and hope that the public won't make a greater issue of her daughter taking in another unknown person without batting an eye, than they did with the first time.
Sakura sobbed and let all those bottled up feelings in her heart pour out. Why would the people say all sorts of bad things about her, and worse her family, when all she wanted was to help a person in need? Did she have to endure all those floating gossips about her when her intentions are pure? It was never determined who she meant when she said her last words before she broke down. Maybe it applied to both of the young men whose lives she will eventually change forever.
\O///o\O///o\O///o End of Chapter o\O///o\O///o\O///
Author's notes: Thanks for reading, hope you liked it! Comments? Suggestions? Questions? Just drop a review… And sorry for the LONG wait. Forgive me?
…Emi-chan…