Hello one, hello all! It is I, Catrina, here with an update.
I promise you'll be most likely disappointed with this chapter! T.T
…142 reviews (dies) I love you guys.
Warning: May cause seizures if not used properly. Or…read properly. Don't read it you don't like badly written chapters. Oh yeah, there's a bunch of boixboi action too X3 So read if you enjoy that. SasuNaruSasu, Future ItaNaru, other couplings, if asked!
Disclaimer: I 0wnz cookies. And…I don't own the characters. There's a lot of things I don't own.
Bunraku: A large scale Japanese puppet theatre. The puppets are operated by many people, and about 2/3 life size. The puppeteers are on stage and not hidden during the show
Bunraku
..domineo veniteo
sacramentum (discesm)eodeo
Domineo veniteo sacramentum
(discesm)eodeo
Domineo veniteo sacramentum
(discesm)eodeo..
Athairarneamh dialinn..athairarneamh
dialiom
Omnem crede diem tibi diluxisse supremum.
Omnem crede
diem tibi diluxisse supremum.
(Heavenly father,
God is with us..
Heavenly father, God is with me
Believe that
every day has
Dawned for you as the last.
Believe that every
day has
Dawned for you as the last.)
-Pax Deorum, Enya
OoOoOoOoO…
'Where was that idiot?' Sasuke was back, and he was calm (if not shaken). He'd returned after…2 hours and 15 minutes. He knew it was stupid, but he wasn't in an exactly safe state of mind when he left.
"Where's the idiot?" This time he repeated the question out loud, and looking up to the ceiling, he began to wonder. Maybe Shin was an excellent spy? What if he was…Naruto? What if he was someone in disguise?
Obviously, Sasuke knew that his mind was running away with him. Even if his imagination ran wild, it could be chalked up to good, healthy paranoia. Or not.
He concentrated, slipped into the center of himself so he could hear everything. He could hear people outside. And…
And he could hear the quiet murmurs of someone deep inside the house, just a mutter above the rest, and he hated to hear that the tones differed in pitch. Could there be more then one person…?
Itachi!
Now he was running, not caring how loud he was in doing so, just running aimlessly in a direction. The direction he heard those voices in. All of the sudden, he could hear. Clearly.
"I'm not fucking Naruto, so get your hands off me!" He could hear a fist flying, cutting through small air currents before someone stumbled and was caught halfway down and…
He wrenched the door open, only to find Shin on the floor, folded nearly and half with a pensive look on his face. The mange-sharingan he was suddenly faced with seemed to startle him, and he turned pale at the sight of Sasuke.
"I-I'm sorry. Sorry." He pushed past Sasuke, and staggered in the hall, and was gone a few moments later.
Sasuke stared after him, wondering why his eyes were burning so badly.
OoOoOoOoOo…..
Hours later found Shin and Sasuke sitting on the front steps of the manor, looking surreal in the dim light provided by the roof overhead. They sat in their yukata, until Shin finally decided to speak, his voice quiet.
"Look, Sasuke, I-"
"It's nothing," Sasuke interrupted again, staring straight ahead into the bustling streets, filled with happy, trauma-free people.
People he hated.
"It's just…" Shin was continuing, hesitating before he decided to speak again. "Sasuke, have you ever woke up disoriented, not knowing where you are, or what's happening?" He took Sasuke's cautious nod as encouragement, and plowed on, "Imagine that feeling 24/7. Tenfold. It's…I can't remember anything! I don't know what I like, I don't know what I hate, I don't even know when my birthday is, and I'm supposed to be ecstatic! I'm happy, but…"
There was a lengthy pause, one that probably lasted more then 10 minutes, 20 minutes, even half an hour. It was awhile before Shin spoke again, thought his voice was soft, and normal people would have trouble hearing him.
"It's…I like cards. I don't like Ramen. And insignificant things like discovering what flavor of ice cream 'Shin' likes are huge discoveries for me that I few as huge accomplishments. The only other thing I know I like for sure is Sasuke…"
He chose to ignore this last line, instead focusing on the being beside him. Focus on his breathing, listen to his heartbeat. Listen to him.
"But…yeah. It's like that. I can't think without being confronted with my retarded mind." Shin laughed, rubbing the back of his head and grinning sheepishly. "I'm sure Sasuke probably doesn't want to spend the day with me anymore, so I'll just…"
Again, Shin was cut off, though this time it wasn't with Sasuke's words. It was the action that came before the spoken part.
"Come on. It's almost 6, and we haven't done anything worth mentioning today." Sasuke held out his hand impatiently, ready to withdraw it at any given moment. A tan hand was placed in his pale palm, and wordlessly, they walked out, hands still linked between them.
OoOoOoOoO…..
"Argh, come on you stupid ball! Get on the damn hook!" The enraged cries of a very angry boy rang out threw the festival, and people were looking over and giggling behind their hand, secretly enjoying the boys difficulty. (1)
Sasuke was standing with annoyance behind him, holding Shin's right hand with a lazy grip. "Come on, ahou, you're being slow!" People were also taking note of how the two boys held hands. Their famed ANBU leader, holding hands with another male? It was definitely weird!
"Shut up, you stupid kid! This game is rigged!" The owner of said booth was reassuring Shin that the stand was far from rigged, but the pig-headed boy was refusing to listen.
"Look, ahou, shut up." The Uchiha leaned over, placing his hand free hand over Shin's. "If you're not a complete idiot, you would know how to do such a simple task!" As if to prove his point, he jerked his hand up, two of the water-filled balls on one hook.
"What…huh! That's not possible! You cheated, you bastard!" He proceeded to make a face at the boy beside him, much to the amusement of the small crowd of spectators. "How'd you do such a thing!" He pointed at Sasuke, indignant face still in place. "Cheat!"
Sasuke huffed in exasperation, thanking the owner and dragging Shin out of the crowd. "It takes co-ordination, skill, and a non-idiot to do such a thing." He threw one of the small prizes at Shin, who barely caught the blue and red ornament.
"I'm not an idiot!" There was a silence, and he grinned. "I'm just hungry!" It was Sasuke's turn to pull a face when Shin ran into the nearest diner, Sasuke in tow.
"We'll have a dozen maki-mono, a dozen kappa-maki, and 6 ebi!" (2) This was the cheerful order Shin gave to the server, much to Sasuke's annoyance.
"You're paying," this is what Shin informed him as soon as the waiter was gone. Idiot.
"Did it ever occur to you that I might not like sushi?" Sasuke crossed his arms, hand now free from Shin's. He couldn't say he was glad.
"Sasuke doesn't like anything." Shin was looking over his shoulder at the bustling street, completely ignoring the glare the dark-eyed boy was sending him.
"I'm willing you to turn into a pile of sizzling flesh." For some reason, Sasuke had a need to inform the object of his current 'affections' of what he was thinking.
"That's nice, Sasuke. Now move your head a liiiiiittle to the left…Hey, Ow!" Shin was now leaning back, rubbing his cheek and looking at Sasuke moodily. "Bastard." Before Sasuke could argue with him, the food arrived. Thankfully.
"Itadakimasu!" He cheerfully dug in, quickly polishing off many of the maki-mono. Only after he ate half of the ebi did Shin seem to realize that Sasuke hadn't even started on his portion of meal. "Wa an't yew weatin'?" Sasuke jerked back in disgust at the small pieces of food that escaped from the other's mouth, grimacing.
"…." Actually, Sasuke was reluctant to answer. Why should he answer? In fact, he was about to voice his thoughts when a piece of fish was shoved in front of his face. He could feel the damn piece of food staring at him!
"Come on, you bastard. I'm not waiting all day!"
Sasuke swore the fish was staring at him. "It's staring at me."
Shin shifted the chopsticks so that he himself was examining the fish. He stared at it for a long time before he came to his decision. "No it's not."
"Is to." Shin and the fish were staring at him now.
"I don't like to eat anything that can stare at me." This was actually an honest statement. He usually ate alone, so he didn't have to repeat this declaration more then once. Usually.
"Eat the goddamn fish! It's kappi-maki too, so there's barely any stupid fish in it. Eat it." Tentatively, Sasuke opened his mouth, aware of the stares and disapproving glares of those around them. Shin obliged, depositing the small piece on Sasuke's tongue and watching him carefully as Sasuke chewed it.
"…Sick." Sasuke glared at him. "Just sick."
OoOoOoOoO….
"Attention, civilians. Hokage-sama is to make an announcement. Meet at the square by 7:30." The dull voice droned from the speakers, and only thanks to Sasuke's sensitive hearing was he able to catch the announcement over the noise of the crowd.
"Come on, ahou. Let's get going." He tugged the boys hand, who was bending over to examine the merchandise that was on sale in one of the merchants blankets, and they were talking amiably, like good friends.
Sasuke was reasoning with himself. Shin would not be interested in an old man. Of course he wouldn't be!
"Yeah, yeah…" Shin let himself be pulled away, no reluctance obvious, though he held a new key chain of a fox in his hand.
Sasuke twitched.
Minutes later they were lost in the crowd of people in front of the podium set up for this occasion, listening to the whispers and hushed voices around them. This speech was on of the most empowering and thoughtful of the year in Konoha, and when the Hokage spoke, everyone listened.
"Hello, Konoha." Everyone could see the Tsunade's tired eyes, and small but noticeable weight lose. Time of war was weighing down on them. "As you know, 16 years ago to this day, a monster had been ravaging the land for weeks." Immediately, all whispers stopped. They held their breath, waiting.
"16 years ago, we were saved by a bright and brilliant young man. The Yondaime sacrificed his life, and the life of a newborn, to save us all. As soon as we had time to assess the damage, we had discovered that extreme damage had been done, though it was nothing compared to the lose of life. We lost some valuable clans, totally wiped out by this beast."
"Kyuubi. That is what we know the fiend as. We do not know why he attacked, and there was no warning. If it hadn't been for that brave man, and innocent child, we would not be here today. They are both heroes, and they are both gone," Murmurs arose, only from the adults, the ones who considered one of these heroes a monster in himself.
"Now, Konoha, we are here today, celebrating the passing of one of these heroes, and celebrating the new beginning. Looking around now, we have become one of the greatest civilizations known to our history! We could not have done this without you, and the help of our comrades. We are thankful to be alive today, and all through your hard work and effort have we been able to get here! We are here because of you, Konoha, and we will keep fighting for our village!" People were cheering, and they were proud to be part of this particular village, because this was what they were fighting for. And would continue fighting for.
Secretly, Sasuke kept these thoughts to himself. He hated Konoha. It trapped him. It kept him from the power he longed for. It kept him from Itachi.
A sidelong look at Shin's face showed that he was having conflicted thoughts also. His eyes were dark, and he was staring ahead at the women on the podium with utmost contempt.
Moments after Shin had directed the stare, there was a kunai to his throat. "This could count as plotting to kill, or treason, ahou. Don't be so open about emotions like this." These were the words hissed into the boys' ear, and of course, he understood.
"Let's go get something to eat!" Luckily, nobody had noticed the exchange between the two. Luckily.
OoOoOoOoO….
"Hey, Neji!" The Hyuuga noticed the hand waving wildly from above the crowd, and he soon found himself staring in amusement at the pair before him.
The supposedly capable ANBU captain was soaked from head to toe, as was Shin. While the green-eyed boy looked happy, the Uchiha looked pissed. Neji noted that Sasuke was looking at Shin with a 'I wish looks could kill' type of stare.
It was amusing, considering the body language they were putting out. And they were holding hands.
"Hello, Uchiha-sama, Shin." He had a dry tone to his voice, a smirk playing on his face because he didn't laugh. He smirked. "You look a little wet." It went without saying he was waiting for an explanation. It went without saying that Sasuke had turned his look to Neji.
"He pushed me in the fountain." He jerked his head in the general direction of their shared assignment, who was currently losing a rock-paper-scissors match with a small girl. For a piece of candy. "And since we were doing this," He motioned to the linked hands, which he knew Shin would blame for the losing of the match, "I pulled him in."
Anybody who looked on them would surely deserve an explanation was the reasoning Sasuke put behind elucidation he had given Neji.
"I'll take him off your hands for awhile." Was this a peace offering? Was Neji being nice? Or was it a dirty trap designed to make Sasuke look like an idiot?
"Sure." He didn't care if it was a trap. A few hours at a joyous occasion without Shin? No contest. He'd go sit in his house in seclusion his few moments of peace. Maybe he was even thankful to Neji. Or Maybe he wasn't. He didn't care either way.
Shin had apparently heard, and had clasped onto Neji's hand, who still looked amused. The bastard. "Well then, I'll play with Neji for a couple hours. Where ya wanna meet, Sasuke?" He was grinning from ear to ear. Apparently, he had won the candy.
"Entrance road to the festival. It's 8:00, I'll meet you at….10:30. See you then." He turned, started to walk, looked back to see Shin laughing at something Neji had said.
Never mind that his hand felt empty.
OoOoOoOoOoO…..
"You brought him back drunk!" Sasuke exploded, lunging at the ANBU who was currently holding a veryflushed Shin. Who was laughing, because Neji had said something. An hour ago. "You asshole."
Neji shrugged, steadying Shin so he could stand on his own. Shin was still laughing. "He asked me. I never said no. We bought sake. I have a high alcohol tolerance. He obviously does not." This was supposedly the excuse for bringing a drunk retard to him.
"M'not drunk!" It seemed Shin had finally tuned into the conversation before him. The words were slurred, and it was obvious that his statement was false. How could this idiot not even know if he was drunk?
"…" Sasuke, and Neji, wisely, remained silent.
"…" Shin stared at them, back and forth, before he started laughing, hard enough to cause him to double over, which in turn caused him to stumble into Sasuke.
Sasuke would never touch alcohol in his life.
"Ja Ne, Uchiha-sama." Neji bowed, and disappeared, leaving him with a snickering, drunk, stupid, dumb, slurred-speeched boy.
"Sasuke, take me up to a roof! I want to count the stars." Sasuke sighed. Might as well let Shin have what he wanted. He was drunk already, how could this hurt?
Sasuke wondered if he could take back his oath to never get drunk.
OoOoOoOoO…
It was 11:13.
Why was he on a roof with a drunk boy on a dark night in the outskirts of the village at 11:13 at night?
That was like asking why rain fell. There was a long-winded and confusing story behind it, and Sasuke did not like to tell such stories. So he didn't. And this idiot was literally trying to count the stars.
Should he be letting a drunk, uncoordinated boy be standing on the edge of the house like that?
No. He didn't think so either.
"Hey, idiot, come on, get off the edge." Sasuke was sitting farther back, leaning on his hands to support his weight. He was watching Shin balance on the edge, counting stars. The green-eyed boy looked like he was concentrating. Hard.
"You made me lose my count, bastard!" The indignant voice rang out through the silence, and he snorted, because it was impossible to count all stars. Entirely impossible.
It seemed like Shin had lost his interest in the stars when he looked at Sasuke, twisting his head so he was still facing the ledge. "Think it would be pretty to see my explode Sasuke?" What the hell was this idiot talking about? He was gesturing for him to come nearer, and he did want to know what he was talking about…
"Let's explode, kay?" Shin was grinning at him, and he was reminded painfully of his former best friend…What the…?
"Shit! You idiot!" Shin had disappeared over the edge of the building. How could he let him on the ledge drunk? What was he thinking! Did he want to die?
This is what Sasuke was thinking as he followed in suit, soon finding himself in mid-air, literally flying down the side of the building. There was no time, Shin would be done for in a few seconds…
Sasuke had thrown a kunai so it was ahead of Shin, performing the seals and hoping his plan would work. "Kawarimi no Jutsu!" There was a poof, and Sasuke found himself staring up at Shin, who had the gull to look carefree.
Only a few seconds…!
He enclosed his arms around Shin, tucking the boy to his chest, waiting for the inevitable impact. He had no time to move, and sometimes it was better to just hit the ground.
He shut his eyes, grinding his teeth when his back hit the ground with a sickening, unidentifiable noise. They lay their a few moments, Sasuke trying to regain his breath from when the wind had been knocked out of him. They were both breathing shallowly.
Shin looked up at him and smiled. "Knew you would catch me."
Sasuke was still catching his breathe, but he sat up anyways. Shin sat in his lap, still tucked to his chest with his eyes half-closed. Sasuke froze at the confession that came out of the boys mouth. "You risked both of our lives to prove a theory?"
"Mhm. I proved it too. Now carry me home. I want to sleep." He had the nerve…? He'd just used Sasuke as a landing cushion, and he had the nerve to say Carry Me!
"By the way, say happy birthday, you ungrateful bastard, because I picked today to be it. I'm 16!" He stuck his tongue out at Sasuke, who was still staring at him with a disbelieving look. "Now hurry up and carry me home. Consider it my present."
Needless to say, Sasuke had obliged.
OoOoOoOo….
He groaned. He protest. He complained. He whined.
Even with all these precautions taken, Sasuke had still made him take out the garbage. You did not take out the garbage if you were nursing a hangover! It was against the rules!
Obviously, that ass in the house had not known the rules, and when Shin had tried to explain them to him from under the safety of his covers, Sasuke had done everything in his power to get him out of bed. It had worked.
"I hate him." Shin was grumbling this mantra all the way to the disposal on the corner, squinting. Why was today so sunny! Why were people so loud! Why did today have to be so nice when he felt like throwing up?
Someone was conspiring against him.
"I hate Sasuke, yes I do!" He said this a little to loudly for his taste, and he grimaced, opening the lid so he could get this chore over and done with.
"Hel-lo?" He set the heavy bad beside the can, curling his hands around the edge and leaning down. "Almost there…" He was reaching for a package at the bottom of the damn garbage, and it was just out of his reach…!
He felt his fingers brush is before everything came crashing down on him.
"I hate today." He was of course speaking to the pieces of debris scattered around him, and he scowled. Soon, his scowl turned into a grin of delight, for the object he had been reaching for was sitting between his legs.
He recognized this as the object that Sasuke had had in front of him yesterday morning. The brightly colored paper stood out amongst the garbage, still perfectly wrapped despite having been thrown in the garbage for disposal.
Personally, he was wondering why Sasuke would throw a present away. Well, that, and he wanted to know what was in the thing…
Carefully, he unwrapped the small box, confused when a small piece of paper floated out, landing next to his outstretched foot. He picked it up, face confused before clearing into a bright grin when he read the contents of the small note.
Minutes later, he had already cleaned up, and was running back to the house, avoiding the carefully set traps that had already claimed him as their victim many times before.
The note was still on the ground. There was still a single sentence on it, but it wouldn't matter to anybody who happened to see it. It only mattered to two people, who would probably never again read the words written.
"I'm Sorry."
OoOoOoOoO….
Done! Without a moment to spare, too X3 I'm going on a 2 week vacation!
It's very low quality, if you hadn't noticed. (is suffering a writer's block). I wanted to finish writing it though X3 I promise the next one will be better! PROMISE!
I'll try anyways T.T I'll…um…break my keyboard if it's not better quality next time XD
On with the notes!
(1) You know those little water-filled balls on string, usually looking like their tie-dyed? Yeah. Those ones X3
(2) Maki-mono is vinegared rice and fish (or other ingredients) rolled in nori seaweed, kappa-maki is cucumber-filled sushi rolls, and ebi is boiled shrimp sushi X3 I probably got most of this wrong, since I'm a cutesy Japanese-user XD
(Author can't say anything right now. The review button has eaten her. Maybe it will be less hungry for lazy author if you review? X3)
