A/N: Sorry about the wait guys, hope I haven't kept you guys waiting too too long -sweatdrops- gomen nasai. Anyways, Part IX and X will be up very soon...please be patient and thank you guys, so much, for your support -smiles-
Disclaimer: well...the basics and Keichiro Hakuryuu is mine...mine...sorry, lack of sleep oTTTTo
ENJOY!!!
Part VIII
"Naa…Sasuke, I can't think anymore. I've already run out of ideas."
Keichiro was slumped on the desk, her arms cradling her head, her pen was dangling between her fingers above a piece of paper underneath her arms. Surrounding her and the Uchiha, crumpled pieces of paper littered the desk and floor, more so now since the midnight-haired girl came to help. Paying no attention to what she said, Sasuke bit the cap of his pen and continued to write. Seeing this, Keichiro didn't move, instead she made a face at the stoic Uchiha. Grabbing the wad of paper closest to her, she threw it at the boy, hitting the top of his head. She giggled lightly at the sight, obviously amused by the result and slightly surprised that Sasuke hadn't done anything to stop her. Pausing in his writing, he glanced up from his work to glare at the dragon-nin.
"If you want to go, the door's right over there." Sasuke said calmly, before returning once again to his writing.
"That's not what you said two hours ago." Keichiro scowled, her smile leaving her lips.
"What time is it?" The Sharingan user asked without looking up from his work.
"Umm…" the raven took out her cell from her pocket and checked for the time, "It is now 11:56 and way past your bedtime child."
"Shut up."
Nevertheless, Sasuke put down the pen he had been using and surveyed the state of his study. Little piles of paper had started to build up here and there, where both he and Keichiro sat. Having long overloaded the waste baskets, where most of the failed pieces finding a place either there or on the floor, the boy sighed at the sight of the mess he and his friend made. Sasuke was amazed at his own ability to create such a mess within the confines of his own abode.
"Well, I guess we could take a break…" Sasuke said softly.
Glancing down at what he had written down, reading his words written in his curved handwriting. Sasuke frowned, trying to think of something else he could add, to make it sound better and mean even more. Keichiro noticed the frown on the raven, raising her head from the desk, she tried to see what the boy had written to have him looking so pensive.
Reaching over to her friend, she tried to grab the sheet of paper, but the stoic boy stopped her movements. Instead of letting her have his paper, he went and grabbed hers from underneath her arms.
"Hey! No fair." The girl complained.
"I never play fair." Sasuke smirked at Keichiro.
Looking at the small paragraph the girl had written, Sasuke was surprised at the anger behind those words. He read them again, slowly this time, trying to read between the lines as well as finding any hidden meaning in those words. He did this a few more times before looking at his own work. While he read the words that were written, he suddenly felt the need to add those words, those feelings into his own. Immediately, Sasuke began to copy the words, changing a few things here and there, filling in the gaps that were missing in his own piece of writing.
The midnight-haired girl watched in silence as the Uchiha scrutinized her work. Having a sudden urge to yell at the boy for copying her stuff, she thought better of it when she saw the look of determination on his face. Sitting there in silence, she waited for the raven to finish before she questioned him about his actions.
"Perfect…this is perfect." The boy muttered to himself.
"What is perfect?" Keichiro asked.
"This," Sasuke waved the sheet of paper in front of Keichiro's face, "This is going to make some girls cry."
"It's not exactly a hard thing for you to do, you know." The girl said, rubbing the fatigue out of her eyes.
"When is the Ball taking place again?" the Uchiha asked, ignoring her previous comment.
"Sometime next month…I think…I don't remember…"
Keichiro buried her head in her arms again, wanting nothing more than to go curl up in her bed. Raising her head to look at the raven sitting in front of her, Keichiro suddenly realized the question he asked.
"Why do you want to know?" she asked slowly, brows knitted in suspicion.
Sasuke simply looked at her and gave her a small smile. Folding up the sheet of paper, the Uchiha placed it inside one of the many drawers of his desk. Standing up, he nodded towards the door, before leading the way.
"You're not going to tell me are you?"
Sasuke had already slid open the sliding door, ignoring her question, he started walking down one of the many long corridors inside his house, leaving Keichiro behind in his study. Groaning in frustration, the raven pushed herself off of the desk and sprinted after the last Uchiha.
"Sasuke!! Stop being such an asshole and tell me already!"
Keichiro yelled after the boy, but all that came in answer was silence. Clenching her fists in frustration, she ran down the hall in the same direction that Sasule was going. Going down a few different corridors, she finally caught up with him in front of his room. Slightly out of breath, she threw him a glare.
"So…are you going to tell me something?" she asked, panting slightly.
"Yes," Sasuke opened the door to his room, "Good night."
With that, he closed the door quietly behind him, leaving a very outraged Keichiro standing outside his door.
"You owe me, Uchiha!!"
"Good night Keichiro"
oo0oo0oo0oo0oo0oo0oo0oo0oo0oo0oo0oo0oo
"That's…it?"
"Yeah, pretty much."
"So…she just…sang you a…a song?"
Lee nodded with wide eyes, wondering why it was so hard to understand such an easy concept.
"Yeah…it was a simple action, but the meaning held behind the song still brings tears to my eyes. I can still remember her –"
"OKAY!! We got it, we got it!" Kiba stopped Lee before he started to talk again, "You don't have to explain yourself. It's cool. Really."
"But Kiba-kun, I must tell you how she presented herself when she decided to profess her love for me. It was—"
"NO!"
All four boys immediately stopped Lee before he started rambling on again. Lee stared at them, unmoving, with his mouth in the form of an 'O', surprised at their sudden outburst. Shikamaru, Neji, Naruto and Kiba all had their hand outstretched in front of them, emphasizing the need for the thick eye-browed boy to cease his talking. They all let go of the breath they didn't know they were holding when they saw Lee stand there, frozen, not sure what to do with himself. Said boy looked at each of his friends faces, looking for a clue as what to do next, but the only expression he could see was the look of relief. Finally, Neji looked at the motionless Lee, standing there like a statue.
"Thank you, Lee, for the enlightening story about you and Sakura's…relationship." Neji glanced at the others before continuing with a strained face, " But I think we have the information we need, so…you can save the rest of your…life experiences for another time."
"Yeah, we totally get it. And we figured out what we're gonna do. So, it's cool…really." Kiba added in a rush.
"Are you sure? I don't mind telling you guys, cause we're friends and that's what friends are—"
"No! We understood, completely. It's fine!"
"Oh…okay then…" Lee looked down at the floor for a few seconds, "Are you guys really sure?"
"Positive, Fuzzy-brows. It's all good."
"Lee, just shut up." Neji said coolly.
Lowering his head, the bowl hair cut boy bit his bottom lip and sat quietly on his stool, while the others started to talk amongst themselves about what they planned on doing at the ball.
"All right, so…besides Naruto, has anyone ever written something…romantic before?" Shikamaru asked, not really knowing how to word his question properly.
Naruto threw awkward glances at his friends, already knowing the answer to the question the lazy-nin asked. Not paying any real attention to the conversation happening around him, Naruto looked up at the ink black sky, he smiled, the memory of someone close to his heart started floating through his mind. The blond breathed a sigh, seeing as how the midnight darkness of the evening reminded him of the dark locks that adorned the head of his special someone and how the inky blackness also brought forth memories of ink black lipid pools that seemed to see right through him.
"Naruto…"
A hand was being waved in front of said blond's face, but the dreamy look didn't leave, instead a goofy smile started to form. Kiba, Shikamaru and Neji looked the blond as if he had gone crazy; without thinking, Kiba kicked the stool out from under Naruto, causing the boy to fall flat on his ass.
"OW!! ITAI!! WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT FOR?!"
"You were day-dreaming…well, in this case, night-dreaming." Kiba answered as a matter-of-factly.
"Couldn't you have…waved your hand in front of my face or…something?" the blond retorted angrily.
"He did, but you were still on the moon." Neji answered.
The boy grumbled as he righted his stool and took his place seating between Shikamaru and Kiba. The others watched with mild interest as Naruto plunked himself back down on his stool, their minds occupied with the proceedings of the small concert they were to perform in.
Shikamaru's frown deepened with the lack of an answer to his previous question, even though he knew that that would most likely be the answer, he hoped otherwise. It was blatantly obvious that no one has ever actually put down their feelings on paper before…let alone sing it out loud for the entire world to hear. He chanced a glance at the grumbling blond sitting next to him, wondering if they would be able to pull it off.
"I guess the answer's obvious…isn't it?" Shikamaru sighed, his dark eyes focused on an invisible spot on the wall in front of him.
"Yeah…don't really know how to write stuff like Naruto…" the dog-nin admitted, turning his head to side.
"Hn."
Naruto listened to their statements in silence, in the same manner as Lee, who hadn't said a word since everyone told him to stay quiet. The blond knew that what he wrote, the lyrics, the music, the beat…were all things that he felt within his own heart. Thinking back, he never knew how to write songs where he could belt out his anger or his affection for the one he loved. In fact he knew nothing about how to rhyme or the difference between a bridge and chorus. He smiled sadly when he remembered that the only reason why he got so good at it, was because the one he harbored feelings for, would never return them.
"You know…" Naruto began, "you guys could write down how you feel about whoever it is and I could write something for you…"
"That would be great…if we knew how to do that…"Kiba said in a defeated tone.
"What?" Naruto looked at the dog-nin with raised eyebrows, "are you trying to tell me…you don't know how to write down your feelings…or you just don't know how you feel?"
"Both." Neji said, deadpanned.
Naruto's blinks were almost audible as he stared wide eyed at his friends, finding it hard to believe what they were saying.
"You're…kidding…right?"
The silence gave Naruto the answered he feared. Taking a deep breath, the blond ran his hands through his unruly hair before smoothing it back down.
"That's going to be a bit of a problem." The blond sighed
"Is there anything we can do?"
"How about we talk about this tomorrow?" Lee yawned, stretching his arms above his head.
"That's not a bad idea." Kiba said through a yawn, accompanied by a small whimper from Akamaru.
"Aa, let's meet at the dojo first thing in the morning." Shikamaru said, eyes already beginning to droop with sleep.
"Hn."
They paid for their food and left, Naruto waving goodbye to the old man before following his friends. They walked in silence until they reached an intersection, with a nod and wave they left, going separate ways.
