100 REVIEWS! Well, 103, but that just makes me feel even awesomer. XD -partyyyyyyyyyyy-
I'm sorry this took so long! We don't get our internet back until the 9th and I just started a new school in the city, so it's all been a little hectic. I'm using a computer at my mum's school, and I made a special effort to be home on time to deliver this new and potentially exciting chapter to you all XD.
Things are happening!! WOOT! This chapter and the next are 'setting up chapters', where crucial things happen here that will matter later.
I apologise profusely for the total lack of humour or the really lame attempts – it just wasn't working for me. Blah. I thought Shikamaru was getting a little lost within the story, so here he is, back again! –grins- We missed you, Shika love.
Oh, and I got a review mentioning something about why they're so sexually forward for year ten kids, but it's cos we aaaall know how dirty the teenage mind can be and I'm getting a lot of inspiration from my old school friends when they were drunk... Or not drunk, actually. Man, that makes it sound like they're all whores. Heh.
Previous disclaimers apply.
11. SUICIDAL TENDENCIES ARE A NO-NO
As soon as Gaara turned right and I went left, each going home, I whipped out my mobile and flipped it open. My fingers worked with practiced ease as I sent my pink-haired partner in crime a message.
Your boy was having fun with Gaara in the park today. Are you proud? He said not to tell you so, naturally, I am. (1)
I smirked a little as the 'send' icon came up as confirmation that it was indeed flying in little particles through the air as I walked, making its way towards Sakura's phone. I put it back in my pocket, knowing I wouldn't get a reply until later tonight because she was working. She understood that by 'having fun' I meant 'this close to ripping his clothes off'. I never really used 'having fun' in any other way, actually…
I turned down the little path that led to our front door. Our garden wasn't much, but on his days off Itachi liked to work in it, making our house look a bit more presentable.
Itachi was an actor, believe it or not, and a damn fine one at that. He still refused to do anything on television or film yet, so he was strictly on the stage. It suited him though, being so dramatic and all. I'd never seen him, but I'd heard people say he was pretty good. He had a memory like an elephant when it came to his lines (and only his lines), and being on stage seemed to relax him, lowering the chances of having an episode. Kisame was from the same theatre group as him (Akatsuki Performing Arts Company or something), and everything was organised so that they were in every show together. Someone had to be there in case Itachi went nuts.
Our house was small, but it suited us well. Less to clean, you see. Basically, you stand in the front door, take two steps to the right and you're in the lounge room. Go back to the front door, take two steps left, and you're in the dining room. Walk straight ahead from the front door and just before you reach the hallway there's the kitchen, separated from the dining room by a half-wall type thing. First door on the right in the hallway is my room, first on the left is Itachi's, and second on the right is the bathroom. The spare room is next to my brother's and the laundry's right next to the back door that leads to a small porch and our back garden.
Is our house small? Hell yes.
Both our jobs combined, though his paid considerably more than mine, helped to keep the house relatively well-kept. Our parents sent a considerable amount of money once a month to help us, but Itachi didn't know about that, and it all went into a separate account used only for emergencies. It was pretty much our laziness and general I-couldn't-care-less attitude that meant one thing or the other was always getting cut off.
I opened the door and kicked my shoes off as I hung my jacket up, stopping just short of dropping my bag as well when I saw Itachi staring at me in a mixture of shock and confusion from the entrance to the kitchen.
"Who the hell are you?"
What? I gave him a confused look, then noticed his blank eyes. Oh…
"I said, who the hell are you?"
I reversed a little, swinging my bag back onto my shoulders and heading back out. I stumbled a little on the doorway and he sneered at me. Play it right, Sasuke.
"I'm so sorry! I – I must have zoned out or something and – and come in here by mistake. So stupid of me! It won't happen again, I promise."
I gave a deep bow as he chuckled, advancing on me.
"You're damn right it won't happen again. Get out!"
I turned tail and ran, keeping my scared expression in place until I was out of his sight. As I rounded the corner I slowed to a stop. I didn't feel like going to the park, and it was way to cold to just go for a walk. I shivered a little, regretting leaving my jacket at home.
Great! I had work to do, too. The cafe pretty much took up my Saturdays, and we had exams coming up in just over a week. Sure it was only year ten, but my parents were exam-nazis and would give me a stern writing to if I didn't ace every single one of them.
I scowled at the ground and thought for a moment before I crossed the road and headed over to Shikamaru's, knowing he wouldn't ask questions.
It wasn't unusual for Itachi not to recognise me, and my pineapple-haired friend was usually the person I went to see when I couldn't get into my house. It's funny, most people can't get into their homes because they've left their keys behind or locked them inside. Me? I had an insane brother who didn't recognise me guarding the door. Great.
"Sasuke, what a nice surprise!" Shikamaru's mum opened the door with a wide smile, but it soon changed to a frown. "Come in, come in, you must be freezing! We haven't seen you here for a while, is everything all right at home?"
I gave a tiny smile and shrugged, walking forwards and she gestured for me to go inside. "Yeah, its fine, thanks." Except for the fact that he has no clue who I am at the moment.
She patted me on the shoulder. "You make sure you tell us if anything's wrong, okay?"
"Of course." I forced out a smile and followed her up the stairs towards Shikamaru's room. She glared at the door when we reached it, and turned a frustrated eye on me.
"He's been completely out of it for the past few days, shut up in his room. I don't know if he's studying or moping. Knock some sense into him, will you? He's dangerously testing my patience."
Oh no, that wasn't good. No one was that stupid, not even Naruto.
I nodded, thanked her again (though for what I wasn't entirely sure… not killing me, I suppose) and pushed open the door. I sighed as I took in Shikamaru's sleeping figure sprawled out on his bed.
I unceremoniously sat down on his bed, making sure to bounce it as much as possible. As I'd thought, it was a futile hope that this would wake him up. He was Nara Shikamaru, for Christ's sake, he wouldn't wake up if he was on fire.
I clapped my hands loudly next to his ear. Still nothing. How about yanking the pillow out from under his head? That earned me an uncomfortable grunt out of him, and I took it as a good indicator that he was indeed sleeping and not dead.
"Oi!" I shouted, getting as close to his ear as I could. "Lazy-arse!"
He shuffled a little and mumbled something incoherent under his breath. It was then that I noticed he had his hair out, and… oh my, are they the beginnings of dreads? I looked at him then, really looked at him. His honey coloured skin had a slightly unhealthy tinge to it, and there were faint rings under his eyes. His clothes were rumpled and he looked a little pissed off at whatever dream he was having, but I couldn't help thinking that he still looked… well, pretty good, really. I always knew Shikamaru was attractive, but with his hair down and following my advice of getting dreads, he was even more so. But it didn't matter what he looked like, really. He was my friend and I didn't like that unhealthy skin colour.
We hadn't really spoken in a while, told each other what was happening. Well, he knew all about my dilemmas, but he never seemed to have any input. He looked a little upset, if the tiny frown at the corners of his lips was anything to go by.
I gave myself a sound mental beating for being such a crap friend and effectively ignoring him for the last couple of months. Really, all I'd done when we were together was rant and rant and get angry and complain and rant some more. Always about Naruto and never about him.
Well, today would change that if I had anything to do with it. Which I do, so it will.
I lifted my hand and gave him a beautiful sounding slap on the cheek, grinning evilly as his eyes flew open and a hand went to the abused side of his face to soothe it. He looked downright pissed and I prepared myself for a tirade of abuse with closed eyes and a little smile. He hadn't told me off in a little while… it wasn't right.
When no verbal punches assaulted me, I opened my eyes and stared down at him in confusion.
"Oh, it's you," was all he said.
Yes it's me, and I just slapped you like a girl. No comments? No hurt? Not an ounce of anger? Something was definitely wrong, and I'd been so wrapped up in Naruto and my own issues that I'd totally overlooked it. You really are a bastard, Sasuke. For once Naruto was right.
"Talk," I stated simply.
He grunted. "I prefer to listen."
Fine. If he wanted to listen, he was going to listen and he was going to listen good.
"You, Nara Shikamaru, are a lazy sod. All you've done these past two months is listen to me rant and rave about myself, and you haven't told me a single thing about you. What's happening at school? Anyone pissing you off at the moment – aside from me? Which teacher do you hate most? Why didn't you tell me you were growing your hair and getting dreads? How're things at home? And why oh why are you pissing off your mum?"
I folded my legs underneath me and rested my chin on my hands, waiting for a response. I was painfully reminded that he was the only one who saw me for pretty much who I really was. Sakura was starting to see more of me, but it was mainly the cold manipulative side (that most people saw) with a bit of the romantic and I-care-about-my-friends side. No one else saw as much of my personality as Shikamaru. Said lazy-arse had closed his eyes and leant back against the pillow (damnit, he slept with two?), back in the same position as before.
"And don't pretend to be asleep, I know you too well to fall for that again."
He cracked open an eye then, sighing like a drama queen.
"I'm troublesome, tiresome, a total drag, a waste of time, annoying, and bothersome, I know. So don't waste energy telling me and just get on with it."
He rolled onto his back and laced his fingers behind his head as he so often did, and stared at the roof, still silent. Something really must've been wrong for him to look so uncomfortable. Usually being uncomfortable was too much effort for him. Most people didn't know how insanely smart he was because he could never be bothered opening his mouth and voicing his opinion. Yep, that's how lazy he can get.
Once again – you bastard, Sasuke. Crap Friend Award? Here you go. Thanks.
"Okay, but first things first. I would never intentionally piss Mum off; I'm not suicidal."
I nodded in agreement. "So why is she angry?"
He shrugged. "Dunno. Didn't bother to find out."
"Why not? Wait, I already know the answer, forget about it."
He smiled over at me and resumed his scan of the roof. I waited a little while for him to keep speaking (I mean come on, I'd just fired off a list of questions for him and he only answered one? Pfft), but when he didn't decided to prompt him.
"So when'd you start growing your hair?"
He shrugged again, thinking for a moment before replying, "I just sort of decided to."
"And the dreads?"
"You said they'd look good, and I trust your judgement."
"Oh I'm flattered."
We lapsed into silence again. Me impatiently fidgeting while I waited for him to spill, and him staring at the roof clearly very bored. I tapped his knee to get his attention, but he didn't look at me, knowing what I was asking.
"There's nothing wrong, Sasuke… We haven't really spoken since Naruto's, have we?"
"We haven't?"
"Nope, and you didn't tell me what your brother did, either."
I blinked stupidly. I always thought he was academically smart, not people-smart. "How'd you know?"
"You always get that dead look about you after he goes all crazy-eyes."
Oh… "Sorry, it – it honestly slipped my mind. Naruto can do that to a person, you know?"
He laughed a little. "Yeah, I know."
Another silence, this one slightly uncomfortable. I shifted a bit on the bed and restrained myself from chewing my nail nervously. I had a feeling something big was on his mind that he'd been thinking over for a while, and I really had to listen to him. If it was why he looked so… so gaunt, then I had to help him out. I was a crap friend, but I wasn't that crap. At least now, anyway. Finally he broke the silence.
"I've just been thinking a lot lately and you've been caught up in Naruto, Choji's still obsessing over Ino, and Naruto… yes."
Bastard bastard bastard!
I sighed a little and leaned back, supporting myself with my arms. I was never very good at helping people, but I had to say the right thing now or – what? Ooh no, why'd he drift off? No, Sasuke! Shikamaru first, Naruto later. He needs to talk and you need to listen, you self-centred twat.
"Thinking about what?"
There was a tiny pause, then, "I like Temari."
…What?! Whoa, Temari? That's crazy! I mean, she's way old for starters, not to mention she's Gaara's sister. This is the crazy woman who beats everyone up for the most menial things, who is seriously overprotective and scares the absolute crap out of everyone. Sure, I beat her in an argument once and we'd worked past the initial 'oh my god please don't eat me' stage so that we got along pretty well, but that didn't make her any less terrifying. And Shikamaru liked her? That was just too weird for words. And all this time I thought he was gay…
"It's annoying, but you asked."
"Well, yeah, but – but I didn't think it'd be that. Are you sure you haven't gone suicidal? I mean, pissing your mum off and all, and now Temari?"
He snorted. "Crazy, I know."
"How did… how did that even happen?"
"We got talking at Kiba's party way back, and we catch up every now and then or see each other down the street. Mum's always asking me to get stuff from her shop so I see her a fair bit."
Temari owned a craft shop in the arcade that sold handmade fans and jewellery. It was actually good quality stuff and she made a lot of money out of it. Enough to support her and her two brothers along with Gaara's income, anyway, considering Kankuro was too busy doing… Kankuro-ish things to pay for anything.
"So are you gonna tell her?"
"You're calling me suicidal?"
I gave a nervous laugh, agreeing with him. Temari had an… interesting reaction to things that surprised her, annoyed her, or downright pissed her off. It usually involved a lot of pain. I scratched the back of my head nervously, then instantly pulled my hand away as I realised that was what Naruto did. Damnit!
"But I always thought you were gay." As blunt as Gaara, nice.
"I don't let gender get in the way of me connecting with someone."
"Which is a fancy way of saying you're bi." Smartarse.
He shrugged.
"And I suppose it makes sense…" It explained all that 'girls are so troublesome' stuff, at least.
More silence and conversation scrounging… I winced a little. I didn't want to bring it up – okay, that's a lie – but I just had to ask. "Why'd you drift off before when you mentioned Naruto?"
"A few reasons."
"Like…?"
He sighed, and I got the impression that he was either really uncomfortable or he just couldn't be bothered talking to me. I chose to go with the first one, not sitting well with the thought that he didn't want to spend time with me. If I didn't have Shikamaru as a friend, I would turn out like my brother. He was who I vented everything out to, and he always listened and helped me out. I'd have no one to talk to properly if he didn't want to see me. But then there had to be a reason for him being uncomfortable…
"Well for one he's pretty much all I hear about, he's been coming to me a lot recently and I've found out a lot of things, and damnit he can kiss."
… Silence…
Now now, Sasuke, decapitating your friend is not a wise option. You have no right to be angry. Naruto is experimenting and you already knew this would happen. Shikamaru is obviously not trying to take him away from you because he's just said that he likes Temari. And no, you and Shikamaru have been friends for years; you can't get replaced that easily. Just because Naruto's been talking to him doesn't mean that he's found someone else to spill to, Naruto just needed someone and you weren't there for Shikamaru so he seemed the likely candidate. Under no circumstances are you to murder your best friend for kissing the guy you like… No, Sasuke.
I took a deep breath, closed my eyes for a moment, then said in a perfectly calm and reasonable voice, "What'd you find out?"
There, not so hard, is it? Take the attention away from the kiss and absorb your mind in something else, no worries.
Shikamaru shrugged for the hundredth time and moved his hands to rest on his stomach, which I saw was looking a little thin for my liking. How could I not have noticed any of this?
"Lots of stuff, really. He told me who he likes, what's happening at home, what he's scared of in terms of what he's finding out about himself, what's happening at school. You know, stuff you tell me."
My mind was in overdrive. He knows who he likes? What? I have to know! Calm voice, no need to get too enthusiastic or he won't tell you. Oh, he could go rot in hell, along with his ridiculously high IQ – I don't care, I want to know!
"You know who he likes?" Maybe a little too enthusiastic there.
He rolled his eyes and shifted a bit so he could 'glare' are me. Though it wasn't a glare, it was clearly a stern sort of I-don't-tattle-on-my-friends-and-there's-no-way-you're-going-to-change-that look. No threats like the ones mine always held, just a slight warning. A warning that I took heed to.
I raised both my palms in surrender and shook my head. "Whatever, man, whatever."
A satisfied grunt. Yeah, yeah, you win.
"He said he'd tell you soon, anyway. He still has no idea how you feel, but he sees you as a friend who's helped him and has a right to know."
And mental dance starts… now. Woo! Finally he'd dump Sakura on her arse and come to me like he's been wanting to for ages. Well, like I've been wanting him to for ages, but oh well. I was interrupted in my rejoicing by my phone singing at me from my pocket, delightfully telling the world that they were all vampires and their stories were stale. It's true.
"Ugh, hang on a sec. Hello?"
"Sasuke? Where are you? Are you staying back? Are you at the park? What's happening? I called Sakura but her phone was off. Are you working tonight? Why didn't you tell me? I saw your jacket by the door and I thought maybe you'd gone for a walk, but then I thought 'why would he go for a walk without his jacket?' because you know, its cold outside. Then –"
"Whoa, calm down. I'm at the Nara's, I'll be home soon."
He sighed with relief. "Oh good 'cause I was getting really worried over here – I had no idea where you were or if something happened to you. You gotta keep in touch with me, okay? Okay?"
I rolled my eyes. "Sure, will do. I won't be long."
I cut off another frantic response as I snapped the phone shut, shrugging at Shikamaru apologetically. He gave me a lazy knowing smile and said, "Itachi?"
I nodded, picking at the hem of my shirt a little awkwardly. I knew I should have talked to Shikamaru about what happened before I got to Naruto's, but I didn't want to ruin the mood. I was actually feeling good about life for a while there, and to bring it up would have destroyed it all. It wasn't like anything different happened anyway, it was only ever worth talking about when his after-mood was crazy angry and he got violent. It happened more often than not, too.
"Yeah, he didn't recognise me before."
"What's his mood change?"
"Incredibly overprotective and paranoid as all hell."
He laughed and I relaxed a little, standing up from the bed and straightening out my shorts. I looked down at my friend and saw that his cheek was still a bit red, and gave a guilty half-smile.
"Sorry about that," I gestured to the mark, "but you sleep like the dead."
"And don't I know it."
I laughed soundlessly and headed towards the door, swinging my bag onto my shoulder. I put my hand on the door handle and turned back to my friend, his eyes already closed and half asleep.
"Eat more, would you? Temari's not that scary. And… and talk to me when something's up."
He gave a noncommittal grunt that I took as a 'yes sir' and rolled onto his side, burying his head into the pillow. He really did look better with his hair down.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Of course I'm proud! We're having lunch at your café tomorrow, so I'll see you then. He has something important to tell me… Ooo! Maybe he's dumping me! XD! Xo.
I smirked down at the screen, slightly put off by the fact that Sakura was pleased her boyfriend was going to dump her. I felt a little bad, though. She still liked him, despite what she said about only being in it to help him, and I could see it hurt her a little.
Ah well, what can you do?
But… that made it today that they were coming into work (Itachi lost my phone charger for a while, so it died last night and I didn't get the message until this morning), which meant the butterflies were having a field day in my stomach. They were giant butterflies, like huge overgrown mutant butterflies, all going crazy in a make-Sasuke-as-uncomfortable-as-possible kind of way. Needless to say, I was feeling a little queasy.
If Naruto did break up with Sakura, then that could mean that he was either a) gay, or b) finally realising that interesting hair did not mean she was an interesting person. If he was gay then he might like me, but even if he didn't I was definitely in for a chance (he'd jumped me twice now). I was constantly reminding myself of what he'd said to Kiba, though.
"I don't even know if I want him in that way yet."
So… maybe not me, but someone. And I'd bet anything that someone was a guy. And if it was some guy, I'd be able to win over Naruto… I had to.
I slipped my phone into my backpack and headed out the door, grabbing my jacket on the way out.
"Itekimasu!" I called over my shoulder. There was a muffled response that I didn't bother paying much attention to because it probably wouldn't have made much sense, and closed the door with a sharp snap behind me. I set off out down our street at a brisk pace, pulling my black coat tight to protect myself against the wind. Shit its cold!
Nothing particularly eventful happened on the way up, unless you count spotting Gaara climbing a tree. When I saw him he'd given me this look that just oozed imminent death, so I wisely ignored him and went on my way.
The bell above the café door dinged and coffee-girl, better known as Satsuki, grinned at me and waved me over with a tea-towel as I was engulfed by café warmth.
"What?" The picture of politeness, as always.
She just kept on grinning, though. "A cute blonde boy came in asking for you before." Her voice was that sickly sweet whining that grated on your nerves. "Come on, gay boy, who is he? Your new boyfr- oh!" Her eyes widened and darted to look at something over my shoulder. Already knowing what it was, I turned slowly.
Sure enough, there was Naruto, all orange and blonde, and Sakura, all pink and… was it red? Or magenta? I shook my head – it didn't matter. Whatever it was clashed horribly with her hair. Both had scarves and gloves and Sakura had a beanie of the same whatever-colour that looked awful with her hair. I might have to give her some advice on that one.
"Obviously not," Satsuki murmured into my ear. Whatever, coffee-girl.
I ignored her and stalked towards the back room, thankful that neither of my friends noticed me. I pulled off my t-shirt and changed it for the standard black button-up shirt that we all wore, and took a deep breath. When I opened the door that lead back out to the café, I saw that coffee-girl was smirking at me from behind the machine, and Sakura had noticed me. Thank God Naruto had his back to me.
I shook my head firmly at Sakura and turned to Satsuki, very wary.
"You're on tables as usual, but from two o'clock you're going dish-pig. Fatty's got some family thing and you're covering for him."
'Fatty'. Nice. But there was more, I could tell, and I knew I wasn't going to like it as her smirk got even more sinister.
"You've got tables eleven to twenty, but you're also taking their one. Aki and Hiro will leave that one alone for you. Okay? Now go."
I was dismissed, as easy as that, and it got me in a bad mood. No prizes for guessing which table 'their's was. I stomped over to Sakura and Naruto, smirking a little as Naruto jumped when I spoke.
"What do you want?" Don't look at Naruto, don't look at Naruto. It doesn't matter that he looks downright edible in a tight black top and the same jeans he wore to Kiba's, you cannot under any circumstances ravish him while you're at work. Oh, and while his girlfriend is right in front of you. That might be considered 'rude'.
"Now now, Sasuke, that's no way to treat customers."
I glared at Sakura. Cow. "You're right, I apologise." I love sarcasm. "Would you like some coffee to start off with?" Don't look at Naruto, don't look at Naruto.
While I was trying desperately to keep my eyes off him, Naruto was quite openly staring at me. I knew I looked good in my work clothes, and yes I do love to be looked at, but really, it was a little disconcerting.
Sakura seemed to think so, too, because she cleared her throat and said, "What do you want, Naruto?"
He blinked a couple of times and tore his eyes off me to look at the menu that either Aki or Hiro must have brought them. He kept glancing back at me, though, so I played with the collar of my shirt and rested most of my weight on the one leg, sticking my hip out a little. Now, didn't that work wonders? Don't look at me like that, Sakura, I know what you're thinking and I really don't care.
"I just want water, but I'll have a – oh no."
Sakura glanced up at him from her own menu. "What's the matter?"
He stared blankly down at the menu. "You… you don't have ramen."
Oh gosh, what's the dobe gonna do without his ramen? Baha. "No, we don't. You might actually have to use your tastebuds for a change, how does that sound?"
He grunted at me and asked for whatever I thought was good. I hate it when people do that! Just because I like it doesn't mean you will, people.
Sakura asked for the same, I cursed inwardly, wrote it down, took their menus, chucked them back on the counter, gave the order out back, and went around to my designated tables. The whole time I tried my hardest to ignore that seemingly glowing boy in the far corner by the window, and was just waiting for the crunch time.
I only had to wait half an hour, and while I was taking the order of an extremely deaf old man who looked like death had come to his door several times but he couldn't hear the doorbell to come running and so just missed him, a somewhat muffled squeal came from Sakura and Naruto's table.
Luckily I was only three tables away, and so heard everything they were saying.
"You're what?"
Naruto was franticly trying to calm her down, reaching out for her hand. "Please, not so loud. Baby, you know you're gorgeous, but I can't help it. I'm really sorry, honestly I am."
I had to hand it to her; Sakura was a good actress when she needed to be. She even had the waterworks going... Though maybe they weren't entirely fake. But I could tell she really wanted to give him the kind of hug that threatened to force your intestines out your mouth and squeal into his ear that she was so proud of him.
"I – I can't believe this! You… you're breaking up with me?"
Hell yes he is!
Several loud curse words, a truly embarrassed Naruto, an entire café watching Sakura storm out with her now ex-boyfriend following, a very pleased Uchiha Sasuke and a couple of hundred dishes later, I was walking through the park with a smirk fixed in place.
Finally they'd broken up. Finally the dobe accepted he was gay. Finally I was getting closer to making him mine. Although I didn't see why Sakura had to get mad at him – why couldn't she have just had a perfectly normal reaction (for her, at least) and done the squeezy-death-hug thing? I suppose that wouldn't be what Naruto was expecting though, and so chucking a tantrum seemed like the predicted response. Better not confuse the boy; he might have a brain meltdown.
I scuffed at the ground with my shoe and slung my backpack onto the ground, sitting down heavily on the bench. I watched the little children squealing as they swung and jumped and climbed and fell, either crying and screeching for their mothers or laughing and jumping straight back up to do it again. Kids were weird like that.
I was stewing in my own thoughts until the sun began to set and I was getting mighty cold, when I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket. I checked the screen, frowning. I hate silent numbers. I pressed the hang up button, figuring that if they didn't want me to know who they were then they can't have wanted to talk to me that much.
Less than a minute later it rang again, and I hung up again. After the third time, I got a message.
Answer ya damn phone, teme!
Crap! It was Naruto? I took a deep breath and calmed my racing heart, waiting for him to call me back. I wasn't going to call him – I couldn't afford it. Whereas Naruto lived in a giant house with rich relatives, so he could definitely afford it.
When my phone vibrated for the fourth time, I paused a second before answering, telling myself to stop being a coward and just answer the damn thing.
"Dobe."
"Hey, teme, what's up?"
"Is there a point to this call?"
"Sheesh, so cold. What are you doing tomorrow?"
"Seeing you, by the sound of things."
"That you are. Park at, say… well, I don't usually come to life until around noon, so two-ish?"
"Fine."
"Oh, and sorry for the – uh… yeah, sorry for today. At the café. I didn't know she was gonna blow up like that."
"It doesn't matter. Free entertainment."
He gave a short laugh. "Yeah, I guess. Well I'll see you tomorrow then?"
"Yeah."
"And teme?"
"Hm?"
"Lighten up."
The dial tone rung in my ear before I could answer. Baka.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I walked into the kitchen warily, not having seen Itachi all day and therefore not knowing what mood he would be in. Perhaps he would be normal – well, normal for him, anyway. I hoped so.
He was standing at the sink, staring out the window. His hair was tied back like normal, and the way he was standing told me instantly that he was indeed in his usual mood – grouchy, cold, angry and superior.
It was how he always was before he went nuts, except back then he'd have his moments of brotherly love and give me a piggy-back in the park or something. I was too old for that now, but it seemed that part of him had been shot off anyway.
He heard me walk into the kitchen and turned to face me, glass of water in hand. He regarded me with his cold look, and I got a little uncomfortable. I stared back at him though, unwilling to show fear in front of him.
But he said nothing, just breezing past me with a cold 'hn'. He was almost the perfect Uchiha, my brother. He was working his way up in his theatre company, getting more and more main roles, performing at bigger theatres, doing sell-out shows. And I was still in school, living in my insane brother's shadow. If he hadn't gone crazy then he would definitely be the ideal Uchiha son. I was kind of thankful sometimes that the personality part of his brain had deteriorated, but most of the time I felt sorry for him.
Then I'd feel stupid for feeling sorry for him, and I'd be cold and indifferent, just like him when he was normal. Uchiha's never wanted people pitying them. It was a dent in our pride.
I got myself a glass of water with a frown, hearing Itachi's door snap closed, and flicked on the light as I wandered into my room. I sat at my desk, tapping my fingers on the dark wood absently, thinking about nothing in particular.
I felt vaguely empty. I was nervous about tomorrow and seeing Naruto, I was excited that he and Sakura had finally broken up, I was anxiously awaiting the call that I knew would come from my pink-haired friend and I was worried about how long Itachi's 'normal' mood would last, but over all of that was this general feeling of unease in my stomach that I couldn't quite pinpoint the cause of.
I searched in my desk drawer for a pen, wanting to draw until I calmed down and sorted out my thoughts. But instead of my fingers clasping a pen, they came across a dark blue envelope.
I'd forgotten about that letter.
I scowled at it, hoping to burn it with my eyes. Oh, if only.
Just get it over with, I told myself.
Dear Sasuke,
How's school? How are you coping?
Of course, straight to my education. Don't they ever want to know how I'm coping with an insane brother to look after? Don't they think that'd have more of an impact on my life?
We both hope you're keeping up with your studies. You have to start thinking about your subjects for years 11 and 12. Your father and I think you should do history, legal studies, business management, English and keep your advanced maths. As well as your compulsory Japanese, of course. It will give you a well-rounded education, and there is no point wasting time on useless subjects such as art and physical education. But you know what works best for you, dear, we just hope that you will take our advice into account.
Pfft, more like orders. The fact that they thought I should do those subjects pretty much meant that I would do them no matter what, no matter how much I hated them. And as if that was a well-rounded education! I scowled at the thin, crisp paper and read on.
When will you come to visit? You can tell your brother that it's a school trip if you like, and we will pay for the airfare of course.
Always 'your brother', never 'Itachi' or 'our son'.
We miss you, Sasuke, and your father would like you to see our new branch here. It is successful, of course - how couldn't it be with Fugaku running it?
I could just imagine her fake smile and laugh here, while on the inside she was thinking how much she would love to be home, back with her old friends. I don't know why she doesn't just leave.
He hopes you will take over him one day. Of course, you brother was going to, but since his illness-
Nice way of putting it.
- we have both decided that you will do to continue the business. But you have to keep your grades up and think hard about your subjects. Are you still doing your private karate lessons? You have to keep it up, or your father will be disappointed, it is very important to him. We will pay, of course.
Hn, quit that ages ago. I could still hold my own in a fight, definitely, and I usually took my sports classes seriously, but there wasn't much money to throw around between Itachi and I, so karate classes were a luxury and not worth dipping into the savings our parents sent our way.
You must visit us soon, and bring the lovely girl that we're sure you've found. If you haven't, then time is running out, dear! Your father and I are looking forward to welcoming a beautiful girl into the family. But make sure she has the right background first.
Meaning 'if she isn't rich, forget it'. I could see straight through my parents. No matter how many times I told them I was gay, they'd just flatly ignore it and tell me to bring a girl home. My scowl deepened.
Well, we must go; we have a dinner to attend. We both love you so much, and hope that you are doing well and staying on top of your school work. Keep in touch and let us know when you're coming to visit.
Best wishes,
Mother and Father.
I stared down at their kanji-written names in disgust. Everything they said was posed as a question, but I'd be stupid to think of it as such. They would be incredibly disappointed if I didn't do the subjects they wanted, and, as much as I hated to admit it, what I craved the most was for my father to be proud of me.
It had always been Itachi. He was always the top of his class, always got the awards, skipped a level, could speak fluent English before he finished school and was all set to take over our family business (we were pretty much the only bodyguard agency out there, having bought everyone else out) until he'd decided to gain several extra personalities and screw around with his memory.
So they really had no choice but to use me. I used to want to follow in Dad's footsteps (Dad was the head-honcho of Sharingan Protection) but that was prior to Itachi 'murdering' him, and now I wasn't so sure. It would bring in a lot of money, that's for certain, but… it wasn't me. I didn't want to follow in my family's footsteps. I wanted to be the one to do something different.
I dropped the letter on the ground and put my head on the desk, banishing the rebellious thoughts immediately. Itachi was dubbed the family failure because he had done exactly that. He had brought down the family's name and followed his heart with his acting. What if I wanted to do something in art, something that I was actually good at?
Well, whatever. They had my life mapped out for me whether I liked it or not, and even if I did want to break away from the Uchihan line, Itachi had already done it before me. It was nothing new. He'd beaten me without intending to. Again.
(1) I write all my texts using full words unless I'm scrounging for space, and Sasuke's too proper and stuck-up to shorten words, so that's why this isn't written all crap. Text-talk makes it hard to read, anyway.
--
Sorry for the crappiness, or the shortness, or the shoddy ending, or the not-so-good writing, or something. The letters sort of come in and out of the story, there's not as much point to them as I originally thought, it's just showing more of Sasuke and whatnot. Yeah…
And wow, that last part was almost completely devoid of humour. Blergh. Eeeeeeeeee, next chapter's exciting!
I don't know how regular updates will be, or even if I'll manage one a week, but I promise to do my best. The next one should be up by next Saturday because I'll be at my dad's, but after that I have no idea. Dude, I'm up at 6 and get home at 4.30 every day. Aargh, so not used to it. But I will survive!
Review!
WY
