This chapter tells a story of someone else because Naruto is… dead?
CASE TEN
The same night.
Shikamaru sighed, heavily. It had been two hours since he got here, The Zouk Club. Since then, the only activities he ever done were drinking, snacking and a lot of sighing. He was at his fifth glass of wine and he could feel his head started giving him around the world tour. He would prefer beer though so he would not suffer a major hangover in the morning. But he did not have a choice since his client would be paying for all their expenses tonight. He rested his chin onto his left palm while his other hand busy fiddling with his empty glass. He felt the urge to sip more wine but he did not bother to refill his glass.
This is so boring … Again, he sighed for … he not even sure how many times already. He lazily let his eyes wandered around the area and later darted his attention to the crowd on the dance floor. Tonight the club was playing songs from the 80s. He recognized some of the songs as his parents used to play them when he was little. He then glanced over to his watch. It's almost 11:30 pm. But the number of people kept on increasing especially guys. Don't they ever sleep? Oh yeah! It's Monday and it's guys night. Zouk is the only club in Konoha which has a so-called 'Guys Night'. "I'm feeling like a gay right now."
He stole a glance to his right to where his client was sitting next to him. That person was busy sipping on his wine while munching on some peanuts. His head lightly swayed into the music and he looked like a little sober. Correction. A lot sober. Shikamaru glanced at the many bottles of wine and started counting. His eyes widened as he realized they had had their seventh bottle of wine. "What the …"
He brought his attention back to his client. His most important client, that is. Somehow, he suddenly felt pity for this client of his. Poor Gaara. He must be feeling very bad for all this. Worse of all, he must be feeling lonely right now … With the help of the dim light from the dance floor, he quietly studied Gaara's feature.
Gaara was wearing a long sleeve black turtleneck Armani shirt tight to the skin and a pair of black tight Armani jeans. Around his waist was a black three inches crocodile leather belt with an Armani silver buckle. Shikamaru bet if his boots were made of crocodile skin too. He flinched when he suddenly realized that he found the person before him was stunningly beautiful. The feminine feature of the redhead could make not just girls but even guys drool on him. He could not help but to stare at the redhead.
Out of the blue, Gaara leaned closer, slung his left arm over Shikamaru's shoulder. His other hand snagged a wine bottle and started pouring the red liquid into his lawyer's empty glass with a little bit of clumsiness. He did not stop pouring not even when the wine was spilling from the glass and started to wet their table surface.
"Oh! Shit!! Gaara sama!" Shikamaru abruptly straightened up while his hand quickly grabbed the bottle in Gaara's hand to stop him from pouring more. "I think we should leave now Gaara sama. You've had enough…"
Gaara answered his lawyer with a laugh. He then rested his chin onto Shikamaru's shoulder while his hand which was free from the bottle just now took a tight grip on the other's arm as if he was locking the other into his sit. He then brought his mouth closer to the other's ear, took his time inhaled deeply, and blew a certain amount of air at the sensitive area there. Shikamaru shuddered by the warm breath that touches his skin. Nonetheless, he said nothing.
"Maru chan …" Gaara whispered seductively. "The night is still young. I want to hang out a little while longer …"
Great! Shikamaru frowned. Now he's started calling me nickname! He then turned his head and faced the sober redhead. Their lips were only an inch apart. Their gazes locked with each other. He felt a sensual feeling aroused within him. Soon after, he quickly realized something. Nope. Hell! No way! I'm not gay. Shikamaru gently moved his body, created a distance in between them which brought a pout to Gaara's face.
"Alright! It's time to leave, Gaara sama. You've had enough of liquor." Shikamaru stated. He carefully took a last sip of his over poured wine. He was about to stand up when suddenly;
"No! Wait!" Gaara stated. There was an urgency in his tone. "I think … I'm going… to puke!" He quickly brought his hand to cover his mouth.
Panic shot through Shikamaru's head. Oh! Shit! He's not gonna puke here! "Wait, Gaara sama! You'd better go to the men's room quickly! I'll accompany you!"
Gaara made a gesture not wanting his lawyer to follow him. He quickly rose to his feet and was about to leave their table when;
"Are sure you don't me to come with you?" Shikamaru made his certainty.
With hand still covering his mouth, Gaara nodded and then left in a hurry. Shikamaru watched helplessly as the redhead unsteadily walked across the dance floor to get to the other side of where the men's room was located. He then sat back, snagged his glass of wine and waited.
When Gaara entered the men's room, nobody was around. He then chose a cell at far end of the room and entered. He did not even bother to close the cell door when he quickly dropped onto his knees and started to empty his stomach into the toilet bowl. He spent about five minutes vomiting. His eyes blurred and dizziness invaded his head. He felt as though his energy was being drained out of his body while doing it.
After a while, with such difficulties, he rose to his feet by leaning his body against the cell door for support. He walked unsteadily towards the toilet sink and with slow motion started to wash his face. He did not know why but suddenly he started to weep softly. His blurry vision was darted to the running water while his mind was rapidly thinking.
"What have I done wrong?!" He murmured to himself. "Why did he left me?! All I want is to make him happy …"
Gaara continued weeping. His shoulder was shaking convulsively. He cried even louder when his mind leapt back to the time where he and Naruto had had their happy moments together.
Gaara flinched when he heard someone was entering the men's room. He abruptly froze from his weeping. He did not move a muscle as he did not want anybody to have caught him in this embarrassing situation. From the corner of his eyes, he could sense someone was standing a meter to his right side, watching him still. Nevertheless, he did nothing and waited for the 'guy' to step away.
However, the figure did not move an inch, instead he asked. "Hey! Is everything okay? Are you alright?"
To his surprise, Gaara felt a sudden relief upon hearing that voice. It contained wariness and concern in this guy's tone. He then lifted his head and shot his gaze into the mirror in front. However, he could not see clearly of the other's face because of his blurry vision. All he noticed was the person was wearing a long sleeve white-collared shirt with a pair of black khakis long pants. He wears black long straight hair that passed below his shoulder.
"Do you need any help?" The guy had offered.
Gaara kept his silent. Instead, he haphazardly blinked his eyes to chase the blur away so he could get a better view of the guy's face. A moment later, his vision became clearer and he started to stare at the guy's face through the mirror. The guy returned his stare with a light smile on his oval shape face.
Those eyes! Those beautiful eyes! Gaara was stunned for a moment. That was the most beautiful eyes he had ever seen. The color was light grey almost white and people would mistaken them as blind. He then cut his stare at the guy and brought his gaze straight in front to have a look at his own face. Oh my god! I look terrible! He can't continue seeing me like this! Despite of being an arrogant person he is, he could not help felt embarrass over his state right now. He then lowered his head, brought his gaze down to his feet not wanting to face the guy and turned, intending to walk away. His attempt was put to stop by a soft grip on his left arm.
"Hey! Are you okay?" The guy had asked while trying his hard to have a closer look at the redhead's face. "Didn't you just cry?"
"I-I'm okay! J-just let me go." With that statement, Gaara freed himself from that guy's grip and hurriedly headed to the door.
Upon stepping out of the men's room, Gaara paused. He realized that he had to walk through the crowd on the dance floor in order to get to his table. This time they were dancing a little slower than the time when Gaara went through them a while ago. That song! He remembered listen to that song when he was little because his uncle used to play them over and over again. It's Careless Whisper by George Michael.
I feel so unsure,
As I take your hand and lead you to the dance floor,
As the music dies,
Something in your eyes,
Calls to mind the silver screen and all its sad good-byes,
With little strength left plus the dizziness that still clinging to his head, Gaara persisted on entering the dance floor. Unsteadily, he walked slowly into the crowd. Once or twice at a time, people who were busy dancing bumped onto him that almost made him topple over but he managed to get hold of his stand and continued walking further.
I'm never gonna dance again,
Guilty feet have got no rhythm,
Though it's easy to pretend,
I know you're not a fool,
Should've known better than to cheat a friend
and waste the chance that I've been given
so I'm never gonna dance again
the way I danced with you
When Gaara reached the middle of the dance floor, again he paused. That was because he could not tell of which direction he should be headed to. With all the people dancing around plus the dark environment before him except for the dance floor, he could not find Shikamaru anywhere.
Time can never mend.
The careless whispers of a good friend,
To the heart and mind,
Ignorance is kind,
There's no comfort in the truth,
Pain is all you'll find,
Without warning, someone had bumped onto him from behind. This time Gaara could not hold his balance. Hence, he toppled over. He stared helplessly towards the floor waiting for his body to fall onto it. But that never happened when two strong arms were wrapped around his waist from behind preventing him from falling over completely. Those hands quickly twirled his body around in 180 degrees to face a guy he had met in the men's room just now. Gaara was seized into a tight embrace. Their gazes locked with each other.
I'm never gonna dance again,
Guilty feet have got no rhythm,
Though it's easy to pretend,
I know you're not a fool,
Should've known better than to cheat a friend,
And waste this chance that I've been given,
So I'm never gonna dance again,
The way I danced with you,
After a moment, that guy leaned closer and whispered near to Gaara's ear. He was couple of inches taller than the redhead. "I knew you're not alright. Do you need my company?"
Gaara could not help but shuddered by the touch of the other's warm breath and that soft seductive whisper. Nonetheless, he said nothing. He could feel his face was blushing. Thanks to the dim light, the other could not notice it. Suddenly, his arms moved on its own, slung over that guy's shoulder and rested comfortably there. He then let his dizzy head fell onto the other's shoulder, closed his eyes and inhaled deeply into the other's scent as if he would want to remember it forever. He did not received any rejection so he continued to relax. He wished this moment would never end. Soon after, they were slowly dancing into the music.
Never without your love
Tonight the music seems so loud,
I wish that we could lose this crowd,
Maybe it's better this way,
We'd hurt each other with the things we'd want to say,
We could have been so good together,
We could have lived this dance forever,
But noone's gonna dance with me,
Please stay…
And I'm never gonna dance again,
Guilty feet have got no rhythm,
Though it's easy to pretend,
I know you're not a fool,
Should've known better than to cheat a friend,
And waste the chance that I've been given,
So I'm never gonna dance again,
the way I danced with you,
(Now that you're gone) Now that you're gone,
(Now that you're gone) What I did's so wrong,
That you had to leave me alone.
Shikamaru was at his last drop of wine. With little help of the dim light from the dance floor, he stared hard at his watch in order to read the time. It's almost 12.00 am! Where the hell is Gaara anyway? He wondered. He should be here by now. Don't tell me he passes out in the men's room. This is so troublesome. I should have gone with him. He then straightened up, turned his head to his left and then to his right, strayed his eyes wildly into the crowd searching for his precious client.
Abruptly, he froze. His eyes were fixed to the middle of the dance floor. Even under his blurry vision because of the effect of the alcohol, he still could tell of whom or which person he was looking at. But this was beyond belief. He blinked his eyes incredulously and again he stared. Unsatisfied, he rubbed his eyes with his both hands and later continued focusing at the scene that had caught him by surprise.
Shikamaru scratched the back of his head. "Oh! Crap! This is not good." He muttered. "This is so not good. What the hell is he doing in the arms of Hyuuga Neji?!"
Suddenly, he felt a continuous vibration in his pocket. His mobile phone was ringing.
"Moshi-moshi! Shikamaru here!" He answered aloud without taking his gaze away from the two so-called lovebirds. His eyes widened upon hearing the news. "He what??"
"Come on! Will you just hurry up?!" Tsunade urged. "You're acting like an old man already!!" She scurried out of the bedroom headed towards the stairs.
Jiraiya, who was half-asleep, slowly trailing behind her. "Huh! Speak for yourself! You're no younger than me … Huuaaarrggghhh…" He yawned aloud.
Tsunade stopped halfway at the stairs and turned to face the sleepy Jiraiya. "HURRY UP!! Or we're gonna be late!" She then continued stepping down.
Jiraiya scratched his tummy in his laziest way. He carefully stepped forward one at a time afraid he might fall due to his sleepy condition. "Hey… relax! He's already at the hospital. He has everybody taking care of him … You're just being paranoid."
"I won't if you just hurry!" Tsunade scowled. She was already at the front door waiting for her husband to reach her. "You're acting like your grandson is nothing to you!"
"Hey! I loved him as much as you do. Perhaps even more." Jiraiya frowned. "Besides, what can you do then? You're not a doctor."
"At least we're there when he wakes up!" I can't believe this. He's such an ignorant. "Come on old man! We haven't got all night!"
Jiraiya had finally reached his wife. "Alright! Alright! I'm hurrying! You'll be driving."
A while later they left with their Mercedes Benz towards Konoha Hospital to where their beloved grandson was being held patient.
TBC
Hmmm ... Naruto isn't dead after all ...