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Chapter 4! Yay!
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Chapter 4.
Absinthe.
Monsters aren't myths or legends, they don't nest in nightmares or bide safely in fiction. Monsters are real; they aren't fanged, poly-eyed, scaly skinned, or thong tailed. They live inside us. Nibbling away at the pneuma until finally, there is no essence of self left, only the monster…
Ninety-seven…Ninety-eight…Ninety-nine…One-hundred…
Sasuke dropped down on his bedroom floor upon his hundredth push up. He nuzzled the malt carpet, letting the acrylic fibres absorb the sheets of sweat pouring off him. It was getting harder and harder to catch his breath; his body was rejecting his intense regime. He lay completely still on the floor, listening to his heart thrash erratically in his chest. He couldn't move for at least ten minutes, in which time he spent relishing the searing pain in his muscles; every ache and stab of screaming agony was just a reminder of his hard work. All of his efforts were paying off too, in barely more than a month, Sasuke had shed a stone and a half.
Struggling to his feet, Sasuke made his way to his sterile kitchen, pulling open one of the topmost pine veneer cupboards. He withdrew a small bag of almonds and began to weigh them out on the scales. Twenty-five grams, that equated to one hundred and forty-four calories, which would leave him with five hundred and fifty six calories for the rest of the day. Sometimes, if Sasuke really strained himself, he didn't need to meet his maximum of seven hundred calories a day.
He chewed slowly on one of the almonds, savouring the nut fat, whilst he made his way to the shower. He had work in one hour, and if he wanted to walk to Naka Shrine Tattoo Studio, he'd have to leave twenty minutes early.
Just as he made to step in the shower his phone began to trill. Drawing back slightly, Sasuke answered and left the caller on speaker.
"Yo," Shikamaru drawled and then, "are you in a rainforest or am I just getting terrible static?"
"I'm in the shower," Sasuke explained, stepping under the deluge of soft Oxford water.
"Nice," Shikamaru commented, "I was just wondering, you in work today?"
"Yeah, why? Are you popping in for a set of arse antlers?" Sasuke grinned, basking in the sensation of salt running off his skin.
"Not today, man. Nah, I just thought I'd meet you and we could head to Naruto's together." Shikamaru yawned. "Shikadai no! Leave the goldfish alone!"
"Is Shikadai trying to kill Stan the 4th?" Sasuke smirked.
"Stan the 5th after Temari dropped a jar of paprika in Stan the 4th's tank." Shikamaru muttered, "anyway, what d'you think, wanna meet up?" Shikamaru quizzed.
"Your girlfriend is absolutely savage…Yeah sure, I clock off at four, come meet me in the shop." Shikamaru agreed and bid Sasuke farewell before hanging up, leaving only the hissing sound of the shower.
The tattoo parlour was slow that day. Sasuke leant with his elbows on the front desk, thumbing through the design wallets, listening to the buzzing of tattoo guns working on skin in the back rooms.
"Urgh," he pressed a hand over his eyes and used his thumb to massage his temple.
"Everything alright?" The shop-floor cleaner Karin appeared looking shrewd. Karin always stood too close, she had no conception of personal space – corporeal or otherwise. "What's going on?" She nosed and Sasuke squinted at her.
"Headache," he muttered.
He got a lot of headaches around midday, when his food cravings were at their peak.
"Have you not got painkillers?" She inquired, leaning so close that Sasuke could smell the out of date cherry perfume on her neck.
"If I did, I would've taken them," he pointed out. Far from looking annoyed, Karin simpered girlishly and Sasuke sighed. When he pushed away from the desk, his head spun alarmingly and he threw a hand out, grasping onto the aluminium counter for support.
"Wow – you sick or something?" Karin frowned, "want me to see if Orochimaru will let you leave early?" Sasuke considered asking his gaunt faced boss for an early leave of absence.
"I'll survive," He grunted as the door chimed and a customer came over the threshold. "You take this one," he muttered, pushing the books towards Karin who looked startled.
"But Sasuke I'm not…"
"Just do it, Karin, please?" Sasuke implored as he stumbled away to the backroom.
It was all worth it, the hunger and the headaches, it was all worth it to fix his body…
"Is Temari not coming then?" Sasuke asked, watching Shikamaru spin his keys around one finger.
"Yeah, she's meeting us later when she can drop Shikadai off at her work mates," he explained cheerily, stepping out the way of an oncoming pedestrian.
"Nice," Sasuke smiled.
"I wouldn't say nice – you've seen Temari drunk before, she's a menace," Shikamaru chuckled. "But it'll be nice for me and her, to have some time away," he grinned.
They lapsed into easy conversation, navigating the city streets as they ticked over into the evening lull. Workers began to make their way home and the class divide ran through the metropolis like a rainbow: men and women in dark power suits, buffeting those in barista aprons and supermarket uniforms out of the way with their briefcases.
"So, I saw something interesting in Sakura's flat," Sasuke brought up.
"Oh yeah?" Shikamaru said in a low tone that suggested Sakura was a subject he was uneasy touching upon.
"Yeah – she's taken out a student bank account, how weird is that?" Sasuke eyed Shikamaru, whose brow creased for a moment, and then a wave of annoyed realisation washed over his face.
"Student bank accounts are tax free," he groaned, "what is that girl up to?" He looked torn.
"Nothing good," Sasuke murmured and Shikamaru shook his head.
"She's going to get herself in trouble, and I can't bail her out, even if I want to," Shikamaru muttered casting his gaze down to the pavement. "I can't risk doing anything that might set alarm bells ringing for social services."
Sasuke considered Shikamaru's tight countenance and felt a stab of pity for his friend, and a second stab of annoyance for Sakura. He wondered if she knew just how much damage she did…
Sasuke watched Kiba and Temari push the hulking subwoofers into position as Sai fiddled with the speakers.
"Let there be music," Naruto grinned, already misty eyed with alcohol as he beamed at the sound system squashed into his tiny basement apartment. "Enjoying yourself?" He fell down beside Sasuke on the floor, throwing half of Sasuke's vodka and tonic down him.
"Moderately," Sasuke smirked, catching the spilled diamond drupelets with his tongue.
"Let's up the game then," Naruto grinned wickedly and grasped Sasuke's upper arm tightly.
"Naruto, wait…" Sasuke laughed as Naruto dragged him up the stairs.
"Shush, look here," Naruto grinned, his fingers trailing along Sasuke's bare wrist as he released him and moved towards the kitchen. He reached over to a cellarette and pulled the doors wide, revealing a collection of dusty and unmatched bottles of alcohol.
"Here," Naruto pressed half a flute filled with a poisonous looking green brew.
"What is it?" Sasuke quizzed, curiously fingering the delicate neck of the glass.
"Absinthe," Naruto winked, pressing his own glass to his lips. "Drink up."
Sasuke was drunk. Green fairies and helium smiles drunk. He watched as his friends split off into groups, playing drinking games or huddled in intense drunken conversations.
"Hey," Ino settled on the mattress beside Sasuke. "Temari and Sakura are deep in conversation about Sakura's new boyfriend," Ino scrunched her face up in displeasure. "Sakura won't tell anyone his name – she doesn't think I haven't already looked in her phone. His name's Sasori." She divulged, picking at a hole in her tights.
"Can't say I've heard the name," Sasuke admitted, swirling the last dregs of his vodka about in the bottom of his glass.
"Well you wouldn't, I facebooked him; he's not from around here, he's from down Reading way. He's twenty-eight, and his friends look a bit…" She pulled a face looking shifty. "They look proper dodgy, they're in some kind of firm."
"Like a company?" Sasuke quizzed and Ino shook her head.
"No, like and illegal syndicate; they've named themselves the Akatsuki, but that's all I could find." She frowned in Sakura's direction and then took a deep breath. "Anyway, you okay? You look like you've lost weight." She grinned, reaching over and pinching Sasuke's waist.
"A bit, yeah," he acknowledged with a swell of pride.
Her pale eyes combed him, making him feel self-conscious.
"Hey you two, looking very snug down here," Naruto dropped down in between them, buffeting Sasuke and Ino apart.
"We were until you parked your arse on me," Sasuke smirked, expecting Naruto to laugh. Instead, an unreadable shadow swept over Naruto's face and he pushed himself to his feet. Sasuke watched, feeling stunned, as Naruto stalked away.
"What?" He said slowly, turning to look at Ino, who looked equally as baffled.
"Drunk, I guess," she shrugged and Sasuke frowned.
Getting to his feet he made to follow Naruto, who had made his way up the stairs and out onto the back patio. Sasuke stood in the doorway, admiring the fine swoops and declines of Naruto's back illuminated in the night. The moonlight caught in his blonde tresses and created an opaline halo all around his head, like a saint frozen in a stained-glass window.
"Oi," Sasuke spoke into the night, stepping onto the patio; the air smelt spicy with the scotch bonnets that grew in terracotta pots beneath the window. "What's up with you?"
There was a pause before Naruto turned to face him, and his face was changed from its usual warm and kind self. There was something strangely vulnerable and wounded about his well sculpted face as he took Sasuke in.
"Go back," he said, his voice hoarse.
"I don't get it – what's going on?" Sasuke asked feeling inexplicably nervous as he edged towards Naruto.
"Go back, go back to Ino," Naruto shrugged and Sasuke blinked in surprise.
"I will after you tell me what the hell's going on with you!" He retorted frostily. "You're being…" Sasuke was silenced however, when Naruto brushed his fingers beneath his chin, stemming any words Sasuke had been ready to hurl with a feeble choke. They locked eyes and steadily Naruto ran his hand up over Sasuke's fragile temple, raking his fingers through his wind-knotted locks. Sasuke let out an involuntary gasp and felt as it pooled in the tiny space that separated his and Naruto's face. Why hadn't Sasuke noticed before, that Naruto's eyes were so bright and open that they caught every constellation in the sky like a planet-bound mirror? Why hadn't he noticed before the complexities in hues of Naruto's skin, like an artist's pallet?
"Don't go back," Naruto whispered and it was a plea, a tiny, hopeless plea.
Sasuke stayed still for a moment before shaking his head, his body wanting to oblige, compelled to work with Naruto's voice. Naruto inhaled sharply and ducked his head, brushing his lips against Sasuke's so tenderly and lovingly, that Sasuke felt himself coming apart beneath the touch. It was such a simple connection, so light and delicate; no heated drive behind the kiss, and yet Sasuke had never come up against something so overpowering. He was going to unravel to the core…
"No!" Sasuke choked, shoving Naruto away with both hands.
No, he wouldn't lose control, not to anybody…
Ooooh! Drama...Please review! Loves x