HEY EVERYONE, NEW REVEIWS! I'M SO PSYKED. YEYNESS!
HERE'S THE NEXT CHAPTER
AND FOR THE RECORD, I'm ONLY GOING TO SAY THIS ONCE BECAUSE EI WILL MOST LIKELY FORGET, SO FOR THE REST OF THE STORY TOO, I DON'T OWN NARUTO!
CHAPTER THREE
I say can you believe it?
As we're lying on the couch
This moment I can see it
Yeah, yeah, I can see it now.
Sakura sighed as she took a deep gulp of her tea and snuggled in closer to the couch. It was one of those rare times where she was alone at home. Her father had gone out with some of his friends to the pub. She flicked the channels back and forth on the small colour television in the living room, trying to find something to watch that was halfway decent, and she was failing miserably.
In the end she switched it onto a music station and reached over for her Shakespeare book and picked up reading where she had left off.
She tried thinking about it the way Sasuke had pointed put, not taking everything he says literally and at the same time not reading too deeply into it. But she still couldn't make heads or tails of anything the man was trying to say.
She gathered the actual plot. Two families that were bitter enemies. One girl loved the guy and when everyone was against them, they killed themselves by accident. End of story. Unfortunately, she wasn't sure if her teacher would accept that.
Why had she actually taken English lit? Was she an idiot or something, she hated Shakespeare and English literature always included Shakespeare.
But Sakura decided that English lit would look good on a application form to any medical institute, it showed dedication.
Thoughts of Shakespeare had her thinking of the person she had met earlier today.
Uchiha Sasuke huh?
He had the looks of a Japanese person. Because Sakura was only half Japanese, she ended up taking more after her father then her mother, giving her a westerner look instead of a Japanese one. It was interesting meeting him, she hadn't seen a lot of Japanese people around these parts other than her mother.
She was going on a date with him tomorrow.
Her first date in what? Years?
And why? Because she had been so stupid as to actually allow Ino's mind manipulation work on her.
She put the book down and sighed as she finished off her tea and sat with her knees drawn up to her chest.
Unfortunately for her, he was completely her type. Short black hair, dark eyes, and seemingly easygoing personality, the whole enchilada. Perhaps that was why it had been so easy to say yes that time. Now she was going to lunch with him.
Her father was not going to be happy about that.
It wasn't that he was protective, or possessive. No, Sakura wasn't important enough for that. It was just that her mother leaving him had made a major dent to his pride; he figured that by making sure his daughter never left him it would make matters better. But it was difficult for Sakura, because she did not want to comply with that plan. One day she was going to save up enough, she was going to find the strength to leave him behind and move on with her own life.
Someday.
Suddenly the sound of the door slamming echoed through the house and Sakura looked up to see her father walking in. He was home early!
"Your back" she said in an emotionless monotone voice.
He only grunted and went to the kitchen to make some tea. Sakura had a feeling he would put some alcohol into it, and take it to bed with him like he usually did.
This was her chance "Luke..." Sakura began.
He tuned and grunted "What!"
She flinched, but held her ground "I...I'm going to be out most of the day at the library...and I might even stay late at Ino's...since we're studying for the big test coming up." she lied smoothly.
"Huh?" Luke grunted "going out you say?" he didn't say anything at first, he only watched her with a intense gaze as Sakura cast her eyes downwards so she wouldn't meet his stare. Sakura wanted to breathe, but in a strange sense of logic she felt that if she did then it would make him change his mind and do something she didn't want, so like was some sort of charm she breathed silently and stayed absolutely still.
Finally "Alright" Luke said, scratching his head "but don't cause trouble or say anything that will humiliate me, stupid swine child that you are." And with that he stomped up the stairs.
Sakura tried to ignore the hurt she felt at his words.
It shouldn't hurt like this, Sakura truly hated Luke and when you hated someone then whenever they said something painful you usually took no noticed or at least became riled up. But all Sakura felt was hatred, sadness and pain. A lot of pain. Because even though she hated Luke, he was technically the only person she had left in the world. Since her mother abandoned her. So in a way, he mattered a little since he didn't abandon her but he still hated her. Somehow it always hurt more when the person you wanted to respect and love hated everything about you.
And Sakura did want his respect. She wanted to love her father. Back when she was a child and her parents were still together, when he wasn't rude or fighting with his wife her father had been a wonderful man. And even though he was cruel to her now, she would always remember those times and it would make it impossible for her to completely hate him. Which only left an opening for more pain and rejection.
Thinking about her mother put a scowl on her face. She shouldn't hate her mother, she didn't do anything. But if anything Sakura hated her just as much as her father, possible more. She had abandoned Sakura. Oh sure she would call once a year on her birthday and on a rare blue moon occasion she would pop over for a visit, but that didn't mean she cared about her. Her mother said she was proud of her daughter and said she loved her, but if she loved truly loved Sakura then where was she? Why did she forget about her?
She didn't care, no one cared. Sakura was alone.
Not that she needed anyone else. People, and their stupid beliefs about love. Love is just an attachment, a useless attachment that can be broken easily. It was of no use to anyone. Bonds between parents, they're just going to abandon you in the end, the only good parents are is for bringing you into the world. after that they also become of no use.
Friends are the sae. Sakura surrounds herself with friends, but TenTen and Neji both knew that there will always be a barrier between them. Even lee sees it, Ino's the only one who chooses to be oblivious. Sakura didn't really see them as friends, more like acquaintances. It wasn't that she didn't like TenTen, Neji, Lee and Ino. Oh no! That wasn't the case, if she didn't like them then she wouldn't have bothered to stay with them this long, she would have brushed them away like she did everyone else. It was because she liked them she considered them acquaintance. But not friends, just acquaintances People she knew and was friendly with but didn't see as friends. She had no friends and needed none.
Friends were useless because they always betrayed you in the end. Sakura had had friends in her old town, they all turned on her after her mother left, calling her a useless child because her father was now single. They bullied her because of her shy personality and caring actions. That was why she was so snarky and unaffected now. She put up a wall because she wanted to be alone, she didn't need only one on her side of the wall. The wall set her apart from everyone else till it was her against them and that was how Sakura chose to live her life.
She sighed.
That's right. It was her against them all. She didn't need the drama her mother brought into her father's life. To heck with relationships.
And it wasn't even her who ruined them. Those boys back then that she had dated had all come to her because they were attracted to her reputation as the cool ice-princess who was perfect in every way, but once they started dating her they became disappointed. Sakura hated selfish people like that; if they weren't serious then she didn't want anything to do with them. Go save their childish fantasies for other girls.
She didn't even do much, she only ever acted as herself, but apparently that wasn't enough for them, they all expected something else. In the end, it always became easy to drive them away. And soon, Sakura developed a personality she put on for everyone else, there were very few people who had ever been persistent enough to see the real her.
Which was what she would do to this Sasuke. when tomorrow came, she was going to drive him away just like all the others. Because just like everyone else, he wasn't allowed on her side of the wall.
Sasuke dumped his spanish text book on the ground and groaned. Right now he was about ready to commit arson to his textbook! Honestly, why the heck had he ever put his name down for Spanish? Oh yeah, to be an editor it was always good to know many languages.
People always thought it weird whenever he told them he wanted to be an editor. His older brother was in business and his father ran half his home town, then he went about telling everyone he wanted to do such a normal job.
But Sasuke didn't care; let them think what they wanted.
When he and Naruto were kids, Naruto always liked to write fiction short stories, he said he wanted to be like his grandfather who was a novelist, only he wanted to write action rather than perverted romances. And as kids Sasuke always read his stories first before anyone else because they were best friends.
The problem was, Naruto had terrible grammar and spelling that Sasuke spent the majority of the time he spent reading it, trying to figure out exactly what he was reading, and it was such a shame, because Naruto was actually a brilliant writer. His stories were so realistic and animated and with the boys vivid imagination he had a talent for creating plots that kept the reader hooked and since Sasuke liked reading he was that reader a lot if the time. And Naruto's descriptions were great also, he had a talent for it from a young age but no one would have realised it if not for Sasuke.
Somewhere between the age of nine and ten, Sasuke got bored with trying to make out Naruto's story, and even though through years of practice he was actually really good with understanding Naruto's chicken scratch, what was the point f no one else could read it. Naruto was conscious of how bad his grammar was, that's why the only person who read his storied was Sasuke since he was sure his friend wouldn't laugh.
One day, Sasuke opened up his own computer and rewrote Naruto's story, editing out all the grammar mistakes and fixing all the selling. It was a bloody good thing for Naruto that Sasuke always got straight marks in English from reading so many books. But as Sasuke was editing it, he found he rather enjoyed doing so, and he took great pleasure when he finally printed out a finished, perfected copy.
Then without Naruto knowing he entered that story in a competition.
Naruto won first place.
Not that Sasuke was surprised. He was happy for his friend. Really, all Sasuke had actually done was fix the mistakes. Naruto was the one who actually wrote the story.
But after that the boys got into a routine, Naruto would write something, Sasuke would edit it. They became pretty famous for it actually. And somewhere along those lines was when Sasuke realised he wanted to be an editor.
So that's why he was taking Spanish. When Sasuke said he wanted to be an editor, he didn't mean a normal one. No Uchiha ever did anything mediocre. He could translate stuff too. He could translate and edit whole books into French, English, Italian, German, Chinese and he was learning Spanish.
When he was done with Spanish he was planning on learning Hungarian, just because the language looked interesting. It was also a good thing that Sasuke had such a good memory. It was another quality his family had, once something got into their memory...it never came out! That was why he was always so careful what he put into his mind, and why to this day he had never once even glanced at one of Naruto's grandfathers novels.
He sighed and picked up the text book.
Perhaps he had studied enough for that day. Sasuke put it aside and stretched, feeling his neck crack with the friction and his muscles unwind from sitting in that once position for so long. He sighed with contentment "Kimochii" he said in Japanese as he slumped back into the chair to catch himself. Sometimes it was nice to simple sit in silence, nothing but your thoughts to accompany you. Perhaps he might pick up on where he left off in that interesting novel he purchased yesterday, he had wanted to before. But he had studies.
But then again, when living with Naruto, you could never hope on silence for long.
"Oi Teme!" Naruto called from the kitchen, it was his turn to make dinner this week. "Quit vegetating on the couch already, turn on the TV or something, this silence is driving me crazy!"
Sasuke sighed and reached for the remote. As the soft hum of multiple voices filled the room and chased the silence away Sasuke was sad to see it go. He scratched the back of his neck and sighed again "So Dobe, what's for dinner?"
"RAMAN!" Naruto called gleefully.
If Sasuke were an anime character, he would have fallen over with multiple sweat-drops by now. "Baka!" he shouted "We had Raman yesterday and the day before that and the day before that! In fact, the only time we ever seem to have a decent meal is when I'm doing the cooking. Is this what you spend our grocery money on all the time? And where the heck did you find a shop that sells Japanese Instant Raman...IN THE MIDDLE OF AMERICA!" This was Tennessee too, this was the kind of place where all food was stuff you grew yourself.
"Don't be stupid, idiot" Naruto said , coming to the kitchen doorway holding two cups of instant Raman noodles "The old man sends them to me via air mail and I sent him some of those weird Mills and Boons books, it's a fair deal,"
"What the heck does he want them for" Sasuke asked despite himself as he took the Raman cup, grateful that the money from his part time job wasn't wasted on this idiotic meal.
Naruto shrugged "Don't ask me to try to understand his pervy mind, as long as I get my Raman I don't care what kind of weird looks I get from buying those books."
Sasuke stopped in mid picking up of his noodles "Naruto..." he said in a dangerously low voice, Naruto took a step back. "Tell me you did not spend the money I gave you for food, on perverted books for Raman?"
"Ehhh" Naruto grinned "is that a trick question?"
Sasuke lost it.
"NARUTO!" HE CRIED "IM GONNA KILL YOU!"
Normally Naruto would match Sasuke in any fight since he loved a good brawl, except when it came to money. Whenever money was involved, Naruto knew it was never a good idea to aggravate his friend. "Ne Sasuke, calm down! I..."
"CALM DOWN? CALM DOWN! YOU SPENT ALL OUR MONEY ON BOOKS AND RAMAN! THIS IS WHY I TELL YOU TO GET A JOB, SO YOU CAN SPEND YOUR OWN MONEY ON THIS RUBISH AND NOT MINE!" Sasuke had gone way beyond calm, he was fuming. That idiot, did he have any idea what he went though for that money. "HOW THE HECK ARE WE SUPOSE TO PAY OUT RENT! YOU IDIOT!"
"That's what I was trying to tell you before you blew up on me!" Naruto shouted back angrily "I got a job!"
To this Sasuke calmed down a little "what?"
Naruto sighed with some relief "Hinata-chan found me a really good part-time job working on her father's ranch, tending to horses and stuff. The pay's great and the hours work for me because Hinata works there after school too. So I'll pay you back, promise!"
Sasuke began to calm down as he took in a deep breath "Fine" he said "but this means that from now on no more borrowing money from me, and you have to pay me back for the money you've already wasted."
As this Naruto groaned "Oh come on Teme, I haven't even been paid yet and you're already bleeding me dry."
Sasuke settled himself back on the couch, picking up where he left off with his noodles. This was a good thing, now that Naruto had a job he could start using his spare money for things that he wanted. Like that interesting novel he saw in the book shop, or...
Then he thought about his date tomorrow. With their college out-of-league girl.
"Hey Dobe" Sasuke called out, stopping Naruto in his mumbling about how stingy Sasuke way "yeah what?"
"Instead of paying me back in money, how about you loan me your truck for the entire day tomorrow?"
Naruto raised a brow "Uhhh, sure. If it'll get me off the hook, but why?"
Sasuke shrugged "I have a date tomorrow; it might be good if I have a car." And with that he finished his noodles and lay down on the couch to vegetate in front of the TV for a bit. But Naruto wasn't having it.
"Eh! It's only been you're second day and you've already got a date, as expected of Teme, you always had girls all over you back home. Ne, ne, who is she? Someone in any of our classes?"
Well technically Sakura was in their English class, but only in English. Sasuke realised then that other than the fact that she had a cold, slightly arrogant and unemotional personality, she was one of the most popular girls in the collage and the fact that she was in his English class, he really didn't know anything about her. Yet for some reason, he really wanted to know.
What was it about her that had him hooked from the moment he saw her, that made it so that she was impossible to get out of his head? She was pretty, but he had seen prettier girls before. She was smart, but there were lots of smart girls. And yet out of all the other pretty, smart girls he had met in his time here, she was the girl that he couldn't forget.
Those eyes, that strange hair, that uncaring expression. In a way she kinda reminded him a little of himself before he met Naruto. But she wasn't all alone like he had been, she had friends and she was so popular. Perhaps she was just a spoilt girl who felt herself above everyone else like his classmates told him.
But try as he might, Sasuke just couldn't convince himself of that. He didn't understand it but he was really hoping that their date tomorrow might tell him a little more.
"So Dobe, we got a deal or what? I get the truck for a full day and you get off the hook from the money. And when I say truck, I mean gas included."
Naruto groaned at the gas part, but sighed "sure Teme, it's a deal." As the two shook hands, Sasuke smirked.
Tomorrow he was determined not to let her chase him away like she did everyone else.
KIMOCHI MEANS 'FEELS GOOD'
WOW, I'VE BEEN GONE A REALLY LONG TIME, IM SORRY EVERYONE, ITS JUST THAT I'VE HAD A LOT OF STUDYING TO DO, COUPLED WITH MAJOR WRITERS BLOCK!
BUT I THINK IM BACK NOW, SO PLEASE SEND LOTS OF REVEIS TO MOTIVATE ME. NECT CHAPTER THEIR DATE!
