Ship of Fools
A.N.: Hiya guys!! I'm baaaaaaaaaack! I guess I was kinda fast with that—I just got a rush of pity towards you for the last cliffie. XD So… I tried to make it up to you guys. So…yeah… now…I'm gonna go sleep… .+passes out in front of computer+.
Review's Replies: (Writing here cuz I always have the tendency of forgetting replying to reviews otherwise—gomen. T.T)
AcceptThisConfession: Thank you!! Though I try very hard to fight my mistakes—but there're always one or two escaping my revisions… T.T And if it indeed was nerve-wrenching, then last chapter fulfilled its job. Yeah I know—I'm soooo evil… XD
Serenityofthematrix: Thank you!! :D
ihearttoast09: o.O No please don't hit Sasu-chan!! I ya kill him, then what would Naru-chan do!? .+sees Sai out of the corner of her eyes+. YOU, YOUNG MAN, STAY THERE JUST WHERE YOU ARE!! YOU ARE NOT TO APPROACH NARU-CHAN, GOT IT!? O.o Ajem! As I was saying—you don't wanna give that perv any excuses for him to approach him, ne? Just be patient over Sasu-chan. Maybe you'll get your answers on this chappie… Hahahaha, you got the Spanish word well in the context! :D And thank you—I'm always hunting down my mistakes—though there are always those that manage to escape. T.T I hope I updated soon enough, and I'm really, really glad you like this. Hope you continue reading this till the end, ne? ;P
NaTsUkO-ChAn: Nya…thank YOU for reading. :D And well…there are some things that Naru-chan needs to figure out on his own. There's just not going around that. U.U But hopefully, things will develop, and we'll see into what it ends being. Hope you read this till the end, and thank you for your praising words—I must admit that I'm a sucker for them. XD
Ichihime: Yeah, I admit I'm evil. .+absurdly proud expression+. Hahaha, you'll just have to deal with my evil cliffie. XD But you survived, since I'm already replying your review here…so… You survived! Yep, Naru-chan is confused. But maybe you'll see in this chappie what he decides to do. And you're okay about that last thing you said bout him. Hope you keep reading this story of mine till the end, and you keep liking it, as well. ;P
Mrs Hatake Itachi: Thank you! :D
Disclaimer: Dun own it. Kishimoto-sensei and associates own it. Darn it—he could be just a little nicer and lend 'em to me… I would return 'em better than they were… .+wicked smirk on her face+.
Pairings: .+innocent look+. Who knows? .+whistles innocently+.
Warning: Crude language, cursing…boys on boys theme? Oh, if you don't like at least shounen-ai, or if it makes you uncomfortable, then I invite you to leave. Flames to this cause will be promptly redirected.
So…now onto the fic!
Note: Un-betaed.
Ship of Fools
By Yoru no Tsuyu
Chapter 9: The path to choose—a path chosen
Taisetsu na dareka wo kabau kinkyuu NYUUSU wa
Arinomama houdou sarezu owatta
Nanimokamo uso de marumete kakushitoosu tsumori?
Yogoreta te ni motareru dareka to ikite
The news finished as usual without reporting
The urgent news that could have protected someone special
Are they planning on hiding everything and exaining it away with lies?
Living with someone, being held in their dirty hands
-Same- Amano Tsukiko
"Don't you think it's a little convenient of you to be deciding on my love life like this?" Sasuke all but snarled his words at the blond's face, the brunet's face—his eyes—full of anger. He continued, the grip on that arm painfully stronger, now, "How would you, Naruto, feel if I chose Sakura, right in front of your eyes?"
—Naruto thought his heart stopped, that something within might had broken at the prospect of that—a pale ruthless hand raised to grip the blond's face up, presenting azure blue eyes filled with shock—
"What would you do, eh, Na-ru-to?" The grip on Naruto just got stronger, if at all possible.
What would you do?
He was still in a state of shock when he heard Sakura's words next, "Would you stop it?" it was almost impossible for him not to hear her, as every word of her was practically screamed, "Would you stop it!? I know—I know full well that you don't love me, Sasuke-kun" Sakura's tears were tracking down her lovely green eyes freely, a mirror to her feelings, "but you don't have to mock my feelings—you don't have any right—" she hiccupped a little, now, and that was when she tried to breath deeply, attempting to calm herself down for the second time of the morning, "You don't know just how much we waited for you—we searched for you. You don't know just how much I thought of you, I longed you—so much my heart seemed like it was going to break inside my chest…" her pale hand subconsciously gripped the fabric of his cloth over her chest, "It's not fair, Sasuke-kun, because I've been always waiting for you, even after—even after—" she broke down then, seemingly unable to continue.
Naruto couldn't find it in himself to go over the girl—at was as if some invisible barrier divided both of them.
The only one that could help the girl with her grief was—
"Just…" —a sigh— "go home, Sakura." Sasuke said, releasing Naruto, "Just—leave me the hell alone. Both of you." and just like that, Sasuke looked all closed again, emotions not showing—but if you knew him well, really well, you would have glimpse that tiny bit of weariness in those eyes and stance before the raven closed himself completely.
"But, Sasuke-kun—"
"But, teme—"
"Now." and both of them (Naruto and Sakura) wondered how (the hell) he managed to sound that threatening without even rising his voice—and it was as if suddenly, the room's temperature dropped quite a few degrees.
Sakura, even when she did got used to Sasuke's foul temper by now, and was indeed stronger in character, was the first to scurry away. She refused to shed anymore of her tears, though.
Naruto—well, he, being Naruto, stayed behind quite a few minutes, just staring at the other with hard blue eyes, saying nothing (quite a unusual feat of his) before he, just as quietly, left the other alone.
Sasuke always managed to be alone, didn't he?
Naruto hadn't been able to say anything.
He had just so many things on head, so many things and reprimands and accusations and confessions and truths and lies at the tip of his tongue—
—but he found himself unable to say anything to the bastard.
What would you do? How would you, Naruto, feel if I chose Sakura, right in front of your eyes?
He sighed as he sat under that familiar tree that was still on the Uchiha grounds, unable to get the bastard's words out of his head.
They were like knives—prodding and prodding and cutting and stabbing his mind, sharp and ruthless. And what was worse for him was that he couldn't just close his eyes and ears and say (or pretend) that they didn't have any meaning, because they had.
He understood them so well, that it was actually frightening.
With his eyes closed he heard the rustle of clothes as what he assumed to be Sakura sitting next to him, under that tree where the both of them used to talk on easier days.
He heard a weary sigh, and this time it wasn't his.
Lately, they been sighing quite a lot, hadn't them?
He opened his eyes, and turned them to the girl's direction—and when he did so, their eyes clashed, and as that happened, something swirled in them.
They began to laugh—
Little giggles at first, and then building and building until they became full, loud chortles, unable to stop themselves, not mattering the hilarity and the insanity of them.
Really…
When the laugh finally receded (as they went on and on for quite a few minutes) they seemed to be more relaxed, and able to talk, too.
"Oh…my…god… I can't believe…I can't believe the bastard…we…" Naruto started, the giggles getting into his words here and there.
"Yes…I can't also quite believe we're in the same situation because of him." the girl said, mirth mixed somewhat with resignation, ignoring (for the time being) the bastard comment.
"Yeah." The blond male conceded, leaning the back of his head against the hard, cold bark.
Sakura was the one giggle back a little, this time—and maybe after this, they would finally recede.
Eyes (once again, for Naruto) closed, both of them let the hilarity and insanity of the situation to settle, and sink in. If one were to say to them that this would have happened—
—the both of them rivals for the affections of one (bastard) Sasuke—
when they were twelve, you would have earned a hard stare from the pinkette, one that clearly questioned if (and affirmed) you were insane, or stupid, or maybe both at the same time, as one (really offended) Naruto, the boy blushing (even if he denied it) with one (excessively) loud yell from him as he questioned just the above, and adding that that would never happen.
Ever.
And maybe he would have been right, and maybe that would have never happened back then, but now—
Now
(thought that back then they also wouldn't have believed Sasuke would betray them and leave the village the way he did, nor that they would become the best of friends because of that)
they both had to deal with the fact that this was actually happening, and it wasn't just one heady delusion from eating way too much ramen (in Naruto's case, of course).
In any case, as this was the reality, and since they were both kicked out (almost literally, too) from the object of their affections—the teme—they were forced to bask in their mutual sentiment of being rejected, and then maybe comfort each other.
At least, Sakura didn't seem to be glaring toward his direction, Naruto thought as he stared at the girl out of the corner of his blue eyes.
"Sorry."
"Uh?" Naruto stared at her, not sure if he had heard the girl right. Maybe this one was an illusion—
The girl took a profound intake of breath of breath, before saying again, "I'm sorry, Naruto, for not being exactly nice as of late, without even a hint of explanation—because you actually need a hint for you to understand anything." Sakura smirked, managing to turn what would have been an apology into a jeering.
—Though she was apologizing—
Maybe she was under the influence of Sasuke-kun way too much.
"You're mean, Sakura-chan." He said, but his eyes were full of mirth. And relief, as well.
At least, their friendship wasn't completely lost.
"But Sasuke-kun was the meanest." The girl said, frowning a little, her eyes not that hurt as she recalled what had just happened moments before. "But then again, that was to be expected—the object of his affection hadn't exactly been nice to him, neither." She added, cryptically.
"…The object of his affection…?" The blond repeated, not quite getting the meaning of Sakura's words.
Or not quite believing, to be more precise.
But either way, that just seemed to have irritated the med-nin, for she promptly said, her frowning deepening, "You, you moron!"
"Me…?" he once again repeated, dumbly.
Which had the girl next to him slap one exasperated pale and manicured (and quite strong, when aimed properly at her target) hand against her forehead and face, rolling her eyes.
Really, when the idiot wanted to play dumb…
"Yes, you, baka."
"M—"
"Oh Naruto, just stop playing dumb already." She said, irritated, exasperated, but not that (much) angry at him, knowing that as that (exasperating and annoying) reaction of him was, it served much of a defense act towards something extremely unpleasant, or in this case, confusing.
The male dropped his eyes to the ground, this one time he feeling guilty.
She thought she heard him mumble a "Sorry, Sakura-chan", though she couldn't exactly be sure.
"Listen, Naruto," she started, placing a hand on his shoulder, gently but firm, knowing that she would have to play the part of counselor or advisor for him, "None of this is really your fault. I don't believe that, even if you wanted it, you would have been able to change the way he feels—or whom he loves." Her green eyes were gentle, and her words, soft.
They were truthful, but regretting, as well—even if just a tiny bit.
"Just as we can't change who we love, ne?" she added, smiling a little, because even if life had them fighting for the affection of the same person, at least their feelings were true. Sincere.
The breeze blew gently, their hair ruffling in its wake.
Extricating her hand away from the boy's shoulder, she tucked one lost strand of hair back in its place behind her ear, the smile still there.
It was nice—putting the cards on the table.
"Then," he began, rising his eyes from the ground, and locking those impossibly blue eyes with her,
—No wonder Sasuke-kun had fallen for them—
"I guess I should at least apologize—for playing dumb, for pretending it wasn't there. For not wanting to admit my feelings for the teme were real, and I guess that was what ended hurting you the more, wasn't it?"
That put her off a little—the earnest quality of his words.
"Well, yeah—that might be true." And almost unheard, she whispered, "You understood."
"I wonder if I hadn't just hit my head while on my training with Ero-sennin," he continued, frowning, as if recalling past times, "that messed with my head and made me fall with the bastard."
"I do agree with you the hitting and messing with your head part," she conceded, eyes closing, using that 'as-a-matter-of-fact' tone of hers, as well as mocking and playful. "Though…your head was already messed up, to begin with."
"Sakura-chaaaan! You're really mean!" he whined.
"I'm not. I'm just stating the truth." She said.
He pouted, crossing his arms.
Which in turn, made her giggle.
And just like that, their familiarity was back once more, as if not lost at all.
Seconds passed like that, in comfortable silence, when the girl began once more, "Do you really think…you liked him…back then, already?"
"Back then…? I don't know. Maybe. I can't be sure. Though I can say that I hadn't had exactly thought of Sasuke like that—until he kissed me, the bastard." The boy was blushing at the last part.
"So he did kiss you!" Sakura exclaimed, propping herself from her relaxed stance under the tree, "When was that?" and then she muttered, "And you still claimed not to know anything…"
"Well—I thought the teme was just messing around with me," he defended himself.
"Naruto," the girl began, her voice clearly dripping exasperation towards the one in front of her, now, "can you honestly say Sasuke to be one who would just 'mess around'," she emphasized the words, "with something as serious as his feelings? He barely shows them to anyone anymore, and even less now, so can you really say he would just do that?"
"Well—what can I say? It was just so sudden—and just how you wanted me to react!?" The kunoichi wasn't sure if that last question was directed to her, to Sasuke-kun, or to both of them.
Sakura pinched the bridge of her nose.
Naruto just seemed to love annoying her—and her heart was still broken and aching, damnit!
"Naruto, look—" she started, "you can at least tell now that that he's serious, right?"
"Yeah…"
"So, now that that's clear and out of the way," she continued, wondering what made her been so nice, making her being this nice and helpful towards her rival, "and now that we both agree that you at least like him as well—"
She threw him a look, daring him to say otherwise,
"you must decide what you'll do next." She finished.
Really—being helpful was an understatement. He better appreciate it.
"And you must decide that on your own, because I…" she continued, this time cracking a little.
And this time, it was Naruto that placed a (warm and gentle) hand on her shoulder.
"I'll do. Thanks, Sakura-chan." His eyes full of gratitude, so much it was moving.
She found herself smiling, again.
"But you owe me."
"Yes, I owe you."
Yes, he owned her, because she had completely lost to her—like that.
After the pinkette med-nin went home after that, and after a long day of work (in which she had immersed in it so much to avoid thinking), she felt—lighter, somewhat.
Relieved.
Relief over something that, even when you were fighting so hard to not lose and you still did, filled you with a sense of finality—of something finally ending, knowing that you didn't have to fight anymore.
Not that she felt she didn't have to fight anymore—Naruto had to still come to a decision, after all.
But (at least, she thought with certain amount of relief) it was something that was not in her hands.
It was entirely in his.
Just as she collapsed in her bed, exhausted, her room filled in darkness except for the twilight that announced the night was soon to come, she thought she would just wait till baka Naruto did something, anything at all, before deciding she would give up, or not.
She then let dreamless sleep take over her.
Next morning, even thought that when Naruto had decided that 'thinking time' was over, that didn't mean he could just go over Sasuke, and out of the blue ask, "Hello, teme. By the way, was it true that you really like me and it wasn't just some kind of warped, nasty joke? Because if you really like me, I might like you, too."
As straight-forward as Naruto was, even he considered that wasn't the best approach to take.
If he wanted to do this, really do this, he needed to take things seriously. Because he owned it to Sakura, to Sasuke, and—most importantly—to himself.
He was a little cautious—read a little wary and scared (just don't tell him that)—over Sasuke-bastard. It was just that last episode with Sakura and himself and the teme hadn't gone so well, and to say the brunet seemed a 'little' pissed that day would be an underestimation.
So, that in mind, the blond decided to take things smoothly—as smoothly as things regarding both of them could get.
Besides, how hard could it get to just get along without fighting?
Piece of cake.
Currently, the teme—ahem, Sasuke, just seemed to have woken up.
"'Morning, teme!" he greeted enthusiastically, remembering that once Sakura-chan told him his light good mood was contagious—
—but it seemed the Uchiha was immune to it, as a mere glare was sent towards his direction, without even the customary "Nn."
Brooding bastard.
Trying with all his might to not lose that smile (even when it was twitching in the edges, and his fists were just 'itching' to hit something), he still prodded around, going in the general direction of the kitchen.
"So, t—Sasuke, would you like some breakfast?" At least he received a reaction out the (obviously) forced call of the teme's name, with even a brief arch of one fine dark brow—because other than that, all he received was…
…completely ignorance.
"Okay, breakfast it is." His fists were itching just a 'little' more now.
Hopefully, things would look better later that day.
Which turned out to be only wishful thinking, as things definitely weren't looking any better that noon,
(where Naruto naively thought would get better later),
nor that evening. If anything, things turned out looking worse.
Naruto just didn't understand what that bad (make it terrible, please) mood was all about. Sure, the whiskered blond might had just acted a little stupid that last morning before when Sakura-chan appeared (who, by the way, didn't appear that morning) and maybe a little before that, but that didn't mean he deserved to be glared to death!
He swore Sasuke was acting just like a brooding chick—
Which just 'might' have had slipped out of his mouth, as the glare towards his general direction seemed to grow tenfold, and the forearm which he used to protect himself from the seemingly sudden punch still ached.
He strongly thought the teme needed to check on his temper.
A little part of his mind (that was maybe Kyuubi related) asked who was him to talk, deliberately calling back to memory the times when Naruto hadn't exactly 'checked on' his temper, either.
—which was funny, as most of those times had to do with Sasuke, in a direct or indirect way.
And as said blond disposed himself to sleep, he hoped things would get (if at least, a tiny bit) better in the morning.
Now, a new ritual seemed to be born between him and the teme.
Despite all the blond's efforts to act all nice and all to the other, it had yet to show any kind of result. Because, or the blond received ignorance filled with silence, or an arch of the bastard's dark eyebrow, or, if he was lucky enough, a glare from him.
And more than two weeks had passed in that fashion where the Uchiha just showed how persistent (-ly stubborn) he could be. But Naruto was also known to be quite stubborn, if the persistently way and numbers of times in which he tried to get the brunet back to Konoha was any indication.
And, just so to add, what little patience he had to begin with was slowly slipping away, like grains of sand slipping through (even tightly) closed fingers.
So, it was that one morning when the blond shinobi found himself run out of all patience, and had the bastard pinned to the wall with his hands and arms as well as with his eyes—blue, sky blue eyes brimming with seriousness.
"Teme. We need to talk."
.+続く・・・+.
.+To Be Continued…+.
Vocabulary:
Shinobi: literally, silent. Secret spies in the feudal era—just the same as ninja.
-chan: ending that reveals a treatment extremely intimate, affectionate and even childish, reserved mostly to cute girls, kids, or to make nick-names.
-kun: respectful treatment, equivalent to the '-san', though, proper for boys. It can indicate hierarchy, when a man of authority uses talking to a subordinate woman.
-nin: referring to 'person', and also referring to ninja.
Dobe: Dead-last
kunoichi: female ninja, a ninja woman
Teme: 2nd person singular, with degrading meaning. The closest translation would be 'bastard'.
Usuratonkachi: loud dead-last—ultimately dead-last-loser
Tatami: rice-straw floor Japanese carpet-thingie that covers the floor—got any better explanation…? O.O
A.N.: Another cliffy! I did it again! I'm sooooo evil…!! .+cracks, evil smile on her face+. Sowwy…I just couldn't helped—the story seemed at a good place to stop. But worry not—I'm already writing next chappie, so hopefully it won't take that long.
So…as always, questions, comments, constructive criticism are always welcome. :D
So…until I up-load…
Ja na!!
-Tsuyu-
P.S.: Just a question... on the eventuality of Sasu-chan and Naru-chan getting together (:3 kukukuku!) how would you like a lemon? Or without it would be better? Or you wouldn't like it at all? Just a wonder, though... you're not obliged to answer, but if you want, you can do so through your reviews.