Demo, naze darou takusan no hito ni kakoma re te iru toki hodo, kono sekaijuu de hitori kiri na ki ga shite.
But why, even though I was surrounded by so many people, I felt like as if I was the loneliest person on Earth.
UVERworld - Koishikute
The majority of the bodies of those who parished at the sugar factory were identified and collected within a few days. A large quantity of them were so horribly decayed that it was nearly impossible for anyone to identify them, so each one was buried with a number. They were all buried and the sugar factory was burned to the ground. A monument to the fallen victims was erected where the factory once stood.
Ayu was dropped off to her adopted parents only to return to Konoha a few weeks later seeking Miku. Seeing as they were the only known living Tatsuki's, Ayu decided it was best to stick together and get to know one another.
Ayu did promise to write letters every week and visit her parents from time to time.
"It's better this way." Ayu reassured Miku who felt bad about tearing her away from her family so suddenly even though it was Ayu's idea.
It's been about a month since the whole thing happened.
The Hokage issued a search warrant for the so-called "Leader" and the rest of his followers to prevent them from harming any more innocent people. It only took a week for the ANBU to track down the rest of the gang members, however the Leader was nowheres to be found.
Ayu was looking a lot better as well. The colour returned to her face and she gained enough weight to bring her back up to a healthy size.
She had the appetite of ten men, and Miku wasn't sure if it was a result of being starved for so long or if she had always eaten so much.
"You can have this room." Miku told Ayu. It was originally Miku's room, and before that it was the large room that housed all the maids. Miku figured it was best to give Ayu the large room seeing as she was the oldest.
But Ayu declined. "It was your room first." She had said. "You keep it I can take another room."
"But you're the oldest and... I was always taught that... the oldest um... get's the bigger room." Miku had tried arguing back with her but she wasn't one to enjoy arguing with people.
Ayu laughed. "Then we'll share this room together."
Miku's bed was large enough to fit the both of them and maybe two other people if they wanted to, so the both of them could easily have their own side of the bed and never bother the other one. However the girls both chose to sleep side-by-side in the very center of the bed.
I guess it was the reassurance of having someone else there with you.
Sasuke had felt strange ever since the incident at the sugar factory.
Every time he saw Miku he felt happy, scared, sad, nervous and just plain weird. Whenever she went over to talk to him he couldn't help but smile as they chatted among themselves. Whenever she walked off to go talk to someone else or when Naruto butted in and stole her attention he couldn't help but feel angry, and always followed after her.
And he had no idea why.
'You're just friends that's all, Uchiha.' He had told himself when he started believing that what Tenten had said about him liking her was true. 'Don't let that annoying woman's words get to you.'
"Hey Sasuke." That all too-familiar voice chirped. "What... are you doing?"
He looked over at Miku who was staring at him with a "The hell is wrong with you?" kind of look.
"I don't know what you're talking about." He told her, wondering why she was staring at him like that. He turned around to continue with his shuriken practice but only then did he realize what she was talking about.
It started out as simple Shuriken throwing-practice, however sometime during practice his mind began to wander and he began having thoughts about Miku, what Tenten said, Itachi and what happened at the Sugar Factory, and he ended up completely destroying the target, the surrounding trees and he then went over and began breaking off all the tree branches he could reach. Now, he stood in front of two dozen trees with about 5 feet of branchlessness.
"..I was practicing." He blurted out the first excuse he could think of.
Miku raised an eyebrow. "Practicing what? How to break the arms off of people?" She laughed.
"That's exactly what I was doing." He said very manly, trying to get her to change the topic. She gave him another strange look before turning around and skipping over to Kakashi-sensei who was sitting on a stump also staring at Sasuke like he was crazy.
'Watch yourself Uchiha.' He sighed, heading over to dislodge his Shuriken from the targets. 'You can't have Konoha thinking you're crazy.'
The following day Kakashi-sensei spontaneously came down with the flu and gave everyone the day off.
Sasuke had originally planned on spending the day training, until he realized he had no food and headed out to the grocery store. On the way there he saw Miku sitting at the BBQ restaurant that Chouji's family owned. An idea came to him.
"I am hungry..." He told himself. "And It's rude of me to leave a woman, especially my friend, sitting alone." Making up any excuse he could think of to go spend some one on one time with her. "But what if people start to think I like her?"
Before he could make up his mind whether he should go over, he noticed that she wasn't alone.
She had Naruto with her.
"What are they doing together?!" He growled through clenched teeth. A few people passing by were staring at him suspiciously as he quickly ducked behind a nearby Cafe sign, and then made his way over to one of the large signs outside the BBQ restaurant.
"Poor Kakashi-sensei. I wonder how he got sick.." He heard Miku say. "I hope he gets better soon."
"Yeah me too. I'm tired of sitting around doing nothing I want a real ninja mission!" Naruto yelled, attracting the attention of, well, everyone in the restaurant.
'That idiot. How can she stand being around him? He's so... annoying.' He thought. 'Are they on a date?'
"So why'dyou decide to come hang out with me anyway?" Naruto asked Miku. "I mean, I planned on eating Ramen all day and maybe popping over to see Kiba or something. I assumed you'd be with His Royal Jackass as usual."
Miku laughed. "You mean Sasuke? Yeah I thought about going over to his house but.. I didn't wanna bother him. I think I spend too much time with him.. And lately every time I'm around he gets all.. weird and then he does something weird. He probably doesn't wanna be around me so much so I decided to come see you."
Sasuke felt his heart skip a beat. 'She wanted to come see me? Then she changed her mind? To hang out with him?!'
He watched them sit together and talk for a few minutes before the waiter came alone and handed them their menu's.
'Should I go over?' He asked himself. 'She originally wanted to be with me right? So.. if I go over, I'm not doing anything wrong.'
There was an empty seat next to Miku, and he couldn't take his eyes off it.
"Have you ever tried roasted squid?" Miku asked Naruto. He gave her a look as if she were crazy.
"Of course I have! Who hasn't?" He yelled, banging his hands on the table startling the waitress walking by and upsetting the salt and pepper.
She felt embarrassed all of a sudden and hid her face in her menu. She looked over at the sign outside the restaurant, where Sasuke had been hiding for the past 15 minutes but he was gone.
'Where did he go to?' She wondered, turning back to her menu. 'Must have grown tired of playing spy-ninja and walked off to brood somewhere.'
The chair beside her moved and she turned to see that a wild Sasuke had appeared.
"Sasuke! Hey what do you want?" Naruto yelled at him across the table. "Who invited you?!"
Sasuke shot him a look. "I was hungry and came here to eat. Saw you two, came over and sat down." He stated bluntly.
Miku laughed. "Don't fight you two we're in a public restaurant. Here, you can share my menu."
Miku had decided on roasted squid, and a side of miso soup while Sasuke ordered roasted squid, tomato soup and about two dozen onigiri. Naruto ordered half the menu plus a 24-piece sushi combo platter for everyone to split.
"I'm definitely not gonna be able to eat all of this..." Miku said, looking wide-eyed at all the food that was brought to them. She had never eaten here before so of course she had no idea how big the portions were.
Naruto laughed. "I don't know about you but I sure will!" and he instantly began shoveling the food into his mouth.
"I don't understand how he does it..." Miku sighed, looking down at her squid. It looked very tasty, but just the very idea of eating squid made her stomach crawl. She had seen one alive, up close before and that's a story she doesn't want to repeat.
"You don't like squid?" Sasuke asked from beside her.
Miku shook her head. "I've never tried it before, but I don't know if I'll like it so..." She began poking at it with her chopsticks once more.
He thought she was the cutest thing since kittens.
She sat beside him with her long, messy blue hair tied up in a bun and held in place by a clip while her bangs and stray curls framed her face. She wore a long-sleeved red dress with a V-neck that exposed her collar bones, and stopped just above her knees. Underneath she had black tights and black boots on.
The way she was poking at her squid with her chopsticks like it could come to life and bite her any second well, it made him smile.
And he couldn't figure out why.
"It's not really that bad." He had told her, taking a bite of his own squid. She looked up at him with those bright blue eyes with confusion.
"I guess it won't hurt to.. try it.." She said, ripping off a piece and quickly popping it into her mouth. After chewing for a few seconds she swallowed it and made a face.
"Hot!" She exclaimed, reaching across the table and downing her glass of water. "Delicious.. but why is it so spicy?" She asked, dabbing her mouth with a napkin.
"Yours is spicy? That's strange because mine isn't.." Sasuke had told her.
"Yah! Mine ishnt spashy eider!" Naruto yelled from the other side of the table with a mouth full of ramen, rice and sushi.
"Here take mine." Sasuke suggested, handing her his plate and taking hers from her. She had taken a bigger piece off of hers but he didn't mind.
"Are you sure... I mean, I can handle it I guess.." Miku asked, hesitantly accepting the plate.
He chuckled. "I like spicy things. I don't mind."
For the rest of the meal they both had to avoid eye contact with Naruto because the sight of him eating the way he was, was killing their appetites.
Naruto had ended up eating so much he made himself sick, while Sasuke ate almost as much as him but held back his nausea to avoid looking uncool.
Miku ate her squid, half her bowl of miso soup and 3 or 4 rice balls that Sasuke had given her. She wasn't a fan of raw-fish so she didn't have any sushi. That little amount alone was enough to make her full.
They ended up with a ton of left overs, even after Sasuke and Naruto had devoured most of it, so she wrapped them up and brought them home to Ayu who was in the process of trying to figure out how to cook rice.
"I never had to cook it myself.." She explained when she saw two confused faces and the Naruto's backside as he threw up in their sink.
"I'm not very good either..." Miku confessed, inching away from the blonde who was violently being sick beside her,
Sasuke showed both girls how to cook rice while Naruto cleaned out his mess in the sink. He started to make a fuss about how bad it smelled and Sasuke almost beat him to death for being so rude but after the girls broke the fight they were ordered to stay away from one another.
Miku couldn't help but feel jealous while watching her cousin and her crush so close to one another.
Sasuke was standing directly behind her, instructing her on how to cook rice so it didn't end up too soupy or too dry.
"Did I add enough rice?" She asked, looking over her shoulder with a look of panic on her face. "I added too much didn't I..."
Sasuke let out a small chuckle "No you didn't add enough. Here let me..."
'I also said I was no good at cooking rice...' Miku thought to herself. 'Why isn't he helping me?'
The answer was obvious. She wasn't the one trying to cook rice, Ayu was.
'It's only rice, it's not like they're making out.'
"Oh thank you Sasuke!" Ayu cried out, pulling him into a tight embrace. Sasuke looked very uncomfortable, and he looked over at Miku with a look of pure terror.
"You're welcome." He said nervously, patting her on the back with one hand.
Miku had to turn her head to avoid strangling her cousin.
"It's so nice out." Miku said, stretching her arms into the air. "I miss it when the weather's like this."
"Same here." Naruto said, climbing a huge boulder nearby. "Hey look I'm the king!" He yelled, and began doing some sort of tribal dance on top of the boulder he had just conquered.
"He' so lively." Miku laughed.
Sasuke frowned. "More like annoying..."
"Hey what'd you say?!" Naruto yelled. "I'd like to see you climb an awesome boulder like this one!"
Sasuke felt his eye twitch. 'Is he seriously challenging me to climb rocks..?'
"Unless you're too scared!"
"That's it you're dead!" And the young Uchiha was off in search of a larger rock to climb leaving Miku standing there questioning her teammates sanity.
When she had finally found her team mates, they were almost two miles away on top of some cliffs of equal height.
"Mine's taller!" Naruto yelled, stomping his feet. "Admit it you lost!"
"As if loser mine's taller by a whole centimeter!" Sasuke retorted, keeping his cool. Miku stood at the base of the cliff looking upwards. She couldn't see either of them, but she sure as hell could hear them.
"You guys are idiots! Come down here now!" She yelled up, but she had no idea if her words had reached them or not.
Sasuke heard her yelling, but he couldn't make out what she was saying. He walked over to the edge of the cliff he was standing on and looked down, barely making out the faint blue dot that would be Miku.
"What did she say?" He asked himself, ignoring the blonde throwing a tantrum behind him
"YOU'RE JUST JEALOUS BECAUSE I WON!" He yelled, throwing a rock as Sasuke. The rock hit him on the back, catching him off guard and causing him to lose his balance and tumble over the edge of the cliff.
Naruto realized what was going on and rushed over to grab him but was seconds too late, missing Sasuke completely and slipping over the edge himself.
Miku watched in horror as both her team mates began plummeting towards the ground.
"Are you sure you're alright?"
"Yes... I'm fine."
Miku looked at Sasuke questionably. He had managed to catch himself, and Naruto, before they fell to their death but in the process he ended up with a large gash down his left leg while Naruto had a cut on his head, a swollen wrist and various cuts and scratches all over. Sasuke had "accidentally" let Naruto roll down the cliff a couple dozen times before saving him.
"If you say so..."
"I did say so!" He said, shoving his hands in his pockets. "Why do you got to keep pestering me?"
"Because you're bleeding to death." Miku stated bluntly, watching the blood stream down his leg at amazing speeds.
"I'm starving..." Naruto walked up beside them holding his stomach. "I ate so good at the restaurant... then it all game back up. I need more food."
Miku couldn't help but laugh, this was her first time actually hanging out with Naruto. He was much more entertaining outside of their usual shinobi-routines.
Sasuke couldn't stand him, he usually does succeed in irritating the living hell out of him but today he was driving Sasuke absolutely crazy! What's worse is that Miku finds him funny. She's been giggling at him all day, just now she's laughing at how much of a.. a dobe he was being!
"Too bad for you Naruto." Sasuke snapped. "Looks like you're gonna have to starve."
"Sasuke you jackass come over here and say that to my face!"
"I don't have to I'm standing beside you, dolt!"
"How about I beat some sense into you?!"
"You couldn't beat your way out of a wet paper bag!"
"Oh yeah? Find one big enough and I'll beat my way out of it ten times!"
"That doesn't even make any sense! Come back with some better insults you loser."
"Me?! All you know how to say is "loser"! You loser!"
"Wow we sure have walked a long time, how about we sit down my feet hurt, water anyone? I have chips in my purse Naruto..."
Miku tried her hardest to intervene and stop Shinobi War 4 from breaking out but she wasn't sure either of them heard a word she was saying.
Sasuke had heard her say she had chips in her purse while Naruto heard her say that her feet hurt.
She pulled the chips out of her purse and was prepared to hand them to Naruto when all hell broke loose once more.
"Hey Miku, how about I carry you for a bit so you can rest your feet?" Naruto suggested, giving both her and Sasuke a sly grin. Sasuke couldn't believe what he was hearing, Naruto wanted to carry Miku? Was he trying to prove that he was a better person, a better friend than he was? Or maybe he was trying to make her like him more? Whatever the case, the young Uchiha wasn't about let this one slide.
"No, allow me to carry you Miku. This loser couldn't handle it."
"Are you calling her fat?"
"No I'm calling you weak there's a difference."
"Oh yeah why don't you come say that to my face?"
"Again, I'm standing right in front of you!"
"Oh boy..." Miku took a step backwards to avoid being his in the crossfire between the two hot-headed teenage boys. Just when she thought they were about to start fist-fighting one another, Sasuke reached over and snatched the bag of chips out of her hand.
"Think fast!" He yelled tossing them over to Naruto. His face lit up and he dove after the chips, missing by a few inches, recovering and then scrambling after them.
"Wow I guess that's one way to break up a f-oah my goodness!" She felt herself being lifted up into the air. "S-S-Sasuke what..what are you doing?"
"You don't have to carry me anymore..." Miku had told Sasuke after 30 minutes of walking. "I mean... my legs are fine now..."
He ignored her. Again.
She has been trying to convince Sasuke to let her down since he picked her up but he won't listen to a word she says! This was the second time that he had to carry her somewheres and she had to admit, she felt really warm being so close to him.
"Hey guys I can see my house from here!" A voice yelled from above them. Naruto had made it his goal to climb every single tall tree that he can find, and this one was the tallest yet. "I'm not kidding either!"
"Naruto come down you're going to hurt yourself again!" Miku called, but all she recieved in response was a laugh and then she watched as he began swinging from tree to tree on low-hanging branches.
"That idiot is going to end up killing himself one of these days..."
Naruto was having an awesome time hanging out with His Royal Jackass and Miku.
He was purposefully acting like an idiot just to piss him off, and in the process of irritating the living hell out of him he caught on to something.
Something that Sasuke is trying to keep a secret.
A secret about Sasuke that Sasuke himself doesn't even know.
"Sasuke likes Miku, Sasuke likes Miku. He just won't admit it, he just won't admit it." He was singing to himself, leaping from branch to branch. "Hehehe now I get to mess with him a bit."
He slid down a branchless tree and landed beside Sasuke who was still carrying Miku.
"Hey guys I see a lake not far from here, who wants to go swimming?" He asked, a large grin spread aross his face.
He was definitely up to something.
The three of them made their way towards the lake that Naruto was talking about. It was large enough to be a small ocean.
"It's nice out but It's still too cold to go swimming.." Miku said, taking off her boots and pulling up her leggings. "I guess I can walk in the water though.'
She had always loved water, ever since she was a little girl. Her favourite types of jutsu's were water jutsu's, however she wasn't very good at them.
Somehow she can use her chakra to manipulate fire, and wind with no problem and even earth if she focuses enough. However whenever she tried to channel her chakra through the water to use it to her advantage, it refuses to obey her.
"Maybe I'm forever cursed to be a wind and fire user..." she sighed reaching down into the icy-cold water for a shiny rock she spotted. "Ooh pretty.."
"What are you a bird now?"
She didn't even have to turn around to know who she was speaking with. The smell of apples and the aura of cool-ness gave it away.
"No I just like shiny rocks." She said, spinning around and showing him. "See?"
He took the rock from her small hands and studied it. It was about the size of a baseball and very shiny, almost like it were covered in tin-foil. It was a strange rock, but he had to seem unexcited.
"It's just a rock." He stated, tossing it behind him. Miku puffed her cheeks out like a blowfish, something she was in the habit of doing when she became frustrated. He had to force back the smile that was threatening to creep its way acrossed his face. She was adorable.
"Hey guys there's fish in this lake!" An overly excited blonde yelled from further down. "I almost caught one but damn they're fast!"
They watched as Naruto got worked up over something in the water. He yelled a lot of gibberish before splashing around, grabbing at something.
"Man what's he going on about?" Sasuke scowled. "Honestly he can't sit still for five minutes.."
Miku elbowed him in the ribs. "Oh lighten up Uchiha." She laughed. "And would it kill you to have some fun?"
He watched as she ran through the water to join their strange blonde friend in his hunt for fish. On the way over she tripped and stumbled a little, and then caught herself before she face-planted the water. She looked behind her to see if Sasuke had seen, and after realizing both her team mates noticed her act of clumsiness she smoothed out her dress, even though there wasn't a single wrinkle to be seen, and turned her head as if nothing happened.
"I need to... learn how to have fun?" He scoffed. He watched her point at something in the water before Naruto dove head first at whatever Miku was pointing at. "Who needs fun."
Naruto came bursting out of the water with a fish in his mouth.
"Shee ook at I gat!" He grinned. "Fhish!"
"Spit it out spit it out!" Miku laughed smacking him on the head. The two of them continued chasing fish together for what seemed like forever. Sasuke sat on the edge of the lake and glared at them, then the ground at his feet, a toad that hopped on the shores beside him, Naruto, the rock he sat beside and then finally Miku. When he focused his signature glare at her however, she looked in his direction and flashed him a smile.
She was standing just a few feet away from him, knee-deep in the water. She had lost her clip sometime during a wrestling match that her and Naruto waged against one another. Her blue mess of hair fell along her shoulders and back in various curls and waves. The sun was beginning to set behind her casting a golden glow along the surface of the lake while bathing Miku in a warm glow. When her face lit up in a smile well, Sasuke's breath caught in his throat.
'How can someone so plain... so ordinary, and so... meek be so beautiful?' He asked himself.
Just a few months ago when he looked at the youngest surviving Tatsuki he simply saw a short, 12 year old kunoichi with a very blue almost-afro and who seemed to want nothing more than to shrink into the background and watch the world go by.
But now.. Sasuke sees her as a very strong, kind and warm-hearted person who's no longer afraid to laugh, get angry or have fun. When he looks at her, she appears beautiful, even her hair, that looks as if it might bite the arm off a person, is another feature to Miku Tatsuki that makes her just so darn attractive.
"What's wrong with me?" He muttered, unable to take his eyes off of her. "What am I going through?"
Puberty? It has to be puberty. What else could it possibly be?
She began walking over to him. "H-hey wh-wh-what's wrong?" She stammered. Her lips were the same colour as her hair was, and she was shaking uncontrollably. "Kinda cold... can..can we l-leave?" She laughed, wrapping her arms around herself.
"Hey I'm not cold! But I am hungry. Yeah yeah let's leave!" Naruto yelled, running out of the water. "Race you both back to town!" He said taking off through the forest leaving them behind, questioning his sanity.
"Ah.. so cold. Why did..did I.. I get wet?"
Sasuke shook his head. He was only wearing a T-shirt today or else he would offer her, scratch that he would force her to wear his sweater.
'The one day you forget a sweater and this happens. Way to go Uchiha..' He mentally scolded himself.
"I won-wonder how.. Ka-ka-kashi-sensei got...got sick.." she wondered. "He was fine..yesterday."
He nodded. "I was wondering the same thing. It was probably just some excuse to have a day off. Lazy Jounin.."
Miku didn't say anything after that. Her lips were frozen and so was she. Her and Sasuke were walking very close to one another and she could feel the warmth from his body radiating off of him as if he were currently on fire. She wanted nothing more than to latch onto him like a leech, or maybe climb inside his clothing with him but.. that would be creepy on many levels.
Before she knew it, they had arrived at Sasuke's apartment complex.
"Okay.. I-I'll see you... to-tomorrow." Miku spat out, unfolding her arms a little to give a small wave. Without thinking however, she reached out and pulled Sasuke into a very tight and a very warm embrace. As soon as her arms snaked around his back she started to feel a lot more warm. It really did feel like he was on fire, not that she was complaining or anything.
Sasuke was caught off guard when Miku had hugged him. At first he didn't know what to do, should he push her away? Hug her back? Stand there like a tree? After a few seconds he slowly melted into the embrace. It wasn't like the hug that Ayu had given him earlier and it definitely wasn't like the hug that Sakura forced on him on his birthday last year. This one was different. He had no idea why, but it was.
'Hugging her is nice.' He thought as he returned the hug and rested his chin on her shoulder. 'I mean.. It's alright I guess. Wow she's cold, It feels as if I'm holding onto a block of ice.'
"Hey come inside for a second." He blurted out.
When Miku arrived home, she was still cold but happy. Not only did she hug Sasuke but he hugged her back! And he invited her inside. But not to cuddle or anything fun like that..
"His clothes.. are so big." She said, holding up her arms. She had lost her hands in the sweater he gave her, but she was happily wore it anyways. She tossed the bag containing her wet clothes into the laundry room for tomorrow and climbed into bed, still in Sasuke's shorts and shirt.
"Smells like him..." she mumbled.
"How was your date?" A sleepy voice whispered from beside her. "I won't remember a thing you tell me by morning but... tell me, did you kiss him?"
"Ayu!
Meanwhile back at Sasuke's apartment he was having a serious debate with himself.
"Do I like Miku?" He asked his ceiling. "I mean.. Ten..whatever her name is said that I liked her, but then again what does she know about me?" He rolled over onto his side, facing a photo of him and his brother he kept on his bedside table.
"Ever since she accused me of.. liking Miku, I can't seem to stop.. thinking weird things about her." The image of himself as a 6 year old academy student on the back of his then12 year old brother, his idol, his inspiration and the reason why he hates life were both staring at him, or rather his mother who was taking the photo at the time. Sasuke closed his eyes to force back the tears that were trying to break free.
He reached over and flicked off the lamp, turning his back to the photo on his table.
"Is it okay... for me to like someone? Can I do that?"
*Dear readers: Sorry for the late update. Most of the keys on my laptop broke so I couldn't write anymore chapters -.- The reason why the spacing goes all funky halfway through is because I started on my laptop and finished using my Samsung Galaxy 3.. Until I get a new laptop I'll be updating on my phone from now on so I apologize for any problems you might have reading this story.