Surprise, Surprise. Here's the long awaited update to Perfect Chemistry. It's been way too long and I apologize for keeping so many people waiting!
I would like to give thanks to everyone who stuck with this story, the people who reviewed (Thanks! And trust me, the reason I didn't update in a while had NOTHING to do with reviews) the numbers of favorites and alerts, and all of the support!
I took a break from writing a bit, as well as Fanfiction but I'm back!
Thank you for waiting! And here's a new chappie! And I want to inform you all that I'll be updating a chapter sometime this week. Possibly Wednesday.
Hope your holiday break was good!
Back to school... Bleh!
And this chappie contains DRAMA. It's also a little shorter than usual. Sorry! Next chappie is longer!
Written By: Kumi-Chan/Tobi-Is-Fluffy-Chan
Chapter 11: A Thing Called a Problem
Disclaimers: I do not own the plot of Perfect Chemistry. The credit belongs to Simone Elkeles and the characters belong to Kisimoto-sempai. I only own the thought of doing so, add-ons, you know... Little things. A few big things.
Sakura
I need to get out of here as fast as I can. Things got too real... As soon as I was on the road, I drove above the speed- limit, leaving the South Side.
I let out a heavy sigh as I pull into a McDonald's where I can be anonymous, change into jeans and a purple cardigan, and drive home.
I'm scared because with Sasuke, things feels too raw. When I'm with Sasuke, everything is way more intense... The way my heart beats... The way I think and act. My feelings, my emotions, my desire... It's all too much. I was never addicted to Hidan, never wanted to be with him twenty-four/seven. I crave Sasuke. Oh, God. I think I'm falling in love with him.
But I know loving someone means losing a part of myself... Not to mention the compromise it takes, as well. And tonight, in the car when Sasuke reached under my dress, I was afraid of losing control. My entire life is about staying in control, so this is not good. It scares me.
I turn off my head-lights as I pull into the huge driveway of our house. Hopefully, my parents are asleep, so they don't know I'm home by the bright, luminous light the car emits.
I walk through the front door of my house, ready to sneak up to my room and put the dress in my closet. Unfortunately, my mom is standing in the foyer, waiting for me. From the look on her face, she is not happy...
"Where were you?" My mother asks sternly while holding up my chemistry book and folder. "You said you were working out, then studying with that Sasaki boy."
Busted. Time to either shut up or fess up. "His last name is Uchiha, not Sasaki. And yes, I was with him."
Silence.
My mother's lips are in a tight, thin line. "It's obvious you weren't studying. What do you have in that gym bag?" She demands. "Drugs?" Are you hiding drugs in there?"
I roll my eyes. "I don't do drugs," I respond sharply.
She cocks and eyebrow and points to my bag. "Open it," she orders. I huff and kneel down to unzip it. I feel like a jail inmate. Pulling out my dress, I hold it up.
"A dress?" My mother asks, placing her hands on her hips, obviously confused.
"I went to a wedding with Sasuke. His cousin got married."
"That boy made you lie to me. He's manipulating you, Sakura."
"He didn't make me lie, Mom." I say, exasperated. "Give me a little credit, would you? I did it all on my own."
Her anger is in full swing. I can tell by the way her eyes are blazing and her hands are shaking. "If I ever... EVER find out you were with that boy again, I'll have no problem convincing your father that you should be sent to boarding school the rest of your senior year." That's not a problem... Sasuke would be my knight in shining armor... or delinquiant in shining armor and break me out. My mother places a hand over her chest and let's out an exasperated breath. "Don't you think I have to worry about Yoshiko? Promise me you'll have no contact with him outside of school."
I promise, then run to my room and call Ten-Ten.
"What's up?" She says, as soon as she picks up.
I take a deep breathe.
"Ten-Ten, I need a best friend right now."
"And you chose me? Gee, I'm flattered," she says dryly.
"Okay, I lied to you. I like Sasuke. Big-time."
Silence.
Silence.
"Ten-Ten, are you there? Or are you ignoring me?"
"I'm not ignoring you, Saku. I'm just wondering why you chose to tell me now."
"Because I need to talk about it. With you. Do you hate me?" I question$
She's silent for another moment.
"You're my best friend," she says.
"And you're mine."
"Best friends are still best friends even though one decides to abandon all reason and date a gangbanger who is from a dangerous clan and befriend his hooligan friends from other dangerous clans... And then come to school as a completely different person... And-"
"Ten-Ten..." I sigh.
"Well... You get the point... But, right?"
"I hope so." I say.
"Saku, don't lie to me ever again."
"I won't. And you can share info with Neiji as long as he promises to keep it to himself."
"Thanks for trusting me, Saku. You may not think it means a lot but it does."
After I finish the entire story and I hang up with Ten-Ten feeling really good that things are back to normal with her, my phone rings. It's Hinata.
"I have to talk to you," Hinata says when I answer.
"What is it?"
"Did you see Naruto today?"
Umm... so much for secrets. "Yeah."
"D-Did you mention me?"
"No. Why? Did you want me to?"
"No. Yes..."
Hinata let out a sigh. "Oh, I don't know... I-I'm so confused."
"Hinata, just tell him how you feel. It worked for me with Sasuke."
"Yeah. But you're Sakura Haruno."
"You want to know what it's like being Sakura Haruno? I'll tell you. I'm insecure, just like everyone else. And have more pressure on me to put on an act, so people's image of me isn't shattered and they don't see that I'm really just like anyone else. And that makes me more vulnerable, and more scrutinized, and more suscepitble to gossip..."
Silence.
"Yep. That's Sakura Haruno, alright..." I grimly say.
"S-So I guess you probably won't be happy about the rumors spreading about you and Sasuke within my group of friends. Do you want to know what they are?"
"No."
"You sure?"
"Yeah, If you consider yourself my friend, don't tell me."
Because if I know the rumors, I feel like I have to confront them. And right this second, I want to live in ignorant bliss.
Sasuke
After having Sakura speed out of the body shop to get away from me, I'm not feeling like talking and hope to avoid my mother when I get home. But one glance at the living room sofa puts that wish to rest.
The television is off, the lights are low, and my brothers have probably been sent to our bedroom.
"Sasuke," she starts. "I didn't want this life for us." She lets out a sigh, let's her head hang down; her black locks of hair covering her face.
"I know."
"I hope Sakura doesn't put ideas in your head that shouldn't be there..." She trails off.
I shrug. "Like what? That she hates I'm in a gang? You may not have chosen this life for me, but you sure as hell didn't protest when I got jumped in."
"Don't talk like that, Sasuke."
My eyes narrow. "Because the truth is too painful? I'm in a gang to protect you and my brothers, mother. You know that, even though we don't talk about it," I say, my voice getting louder to match my frustration. "It's a choice I made a long time agao. You can pretend you didn't encourage me, but," I pull off my shirt, revealing my Uchiha tattoos, "look at me real good. I'm a gangbanger, just like father. You want me to deal drugs, too?"
Mother's head snaps up and she looks at me with cold eyes. Tears stream down her face. "If I thought there was another way-"
"You were too scared to leave this shithole, and now we're stuck. Don't put your guilt on me, or my girl."
"That's not fair," she sighs, rising.
"What's not fair is you livin' like a widow in perpetual mourning since dad died. Why don't we move back to the villiage? Tell uncle he wasted his life's savings sending us here. Or are you afraid to go back to the village and tell your famil that you failed here?"
"We're not haviing this discussion." She says, through gritted teeth.
"Open your eyes." I stretch my arms out wide. "What do you have here worth stayin' for? Your sons? 'Cause that's a copout. Is this the image of livng the Dream to you?" I point to the shrine of my father. "He was a gangbanger, not a saint."
"He had no choice," she cries. "He protected us."
"And now I'm protecting us. You're gonna have a shrine of me when I get whacked? And Itachi? Because he's next in line, you know. And Ichigo after him."
Mother slaps me hard, then backs away. Oh my God, I hate that I upset her. I reach out to her, my fingers wrapping around her arm to hug her and apologize, but she winces. "Mother?" I question, wondering what's wrong. I wasn't rough with her, but she's acting like I was.
She wretches herself out of my grasp and turns away, but I can't let it go. I step forward and lift up the sleeve of her dress. To my horror I find a nasty bruise on her upper arm. It's purple, black and the blue hues stare at me, and my mind rushes back to the wedding when I saw mom and Tobi in a private discussion.
"Tobi did this to you?" I question softly.
"You have to stop asking questions about your father," she tells me, quickly pulling down her sleeeve to cover the bruise.
Rage rumbles in my gut and spreads as I realize mom got bruised as a warning to me. "Who is Tobi trying to protect?" Is he protecting someone in the clan, or another gang member affiliated with the clan? Is wish I could just ask Tobi. Even more, I'd like to retaliate and kick his ass for hurting my mom, but Tobi is untouchable. We all know if I challenege Tobi, it'll be as if I'm turning on the clan.
She glares at me. "Don't question me on this. There are things you don't know, Sasuke. Things you should never know. Just let it go."
"You think living in ignorance is a good thing? Father was a gang member who dealt drugs. I'm not afraid of the truth, dammit. Why is everyone around me covering up the truth?"
My hands feel clammy as I hold them stiffly at my sides. A sound from the hallway catches my attention. I turn to see my two brothers, Itachi as stoic as ever and Ichigo's eyes wide in confusion.
Fuck.
As soon as she sees Ichigo and Itachi, she sucks in a breath. I'd do anything to take away the furt from her. I step toward her and put my hand gently on her shoulder. "Pardon, mother."
She swipes my hand away as she surpresses a sob and runs to her room, slamming the door behind her.
"So... it is true...?" Itachi asks, his voice as tight as a noose.
I nod. "Yeah."
"Father nor Mother wanted you to know these things... 'Wanted you to do your studies and everythin'." I tell my older brother.
"Which is why he chose you to be the man of the house, Little brother?" He questions, raising an eyebrow.
I nod.
Ichigo shakes his head and furrows his brows in confusion. "What are you two saying? I don't understand. I thought father was a good man. Mother always said he was a good man."
I walk over to my little brother and pull his head into my chest. Itachi comes over, extends his arms out and hugs us both... even though he looks awkward doing it.
"It's all lies!" Ichigo blurts out. "You, him. It's all lies."
"Ichigo...," I say, releasing Itachi and grabbing Ichigo's arm.
Ichigo looks at my hand in disgust and breaks our hug, his temper seething. "And all along I thought you joined the Uchiha gang to protect us. But you're just following in father's footsteps. Screw being a hero. You like being a gangmember, but you forbid me to join. Isn't that a bit hypocritical, brother?"
"Maybe"
"You're a disgrace to this family, you know that, don't you?"
Itachi let's out a heavy sigh, opens the back door and steps out.
Tears are rolling down Ichigo's face. He's quiet for a moment.
Ichigo's quiet voice breaks the silence. "Sometimes good men need to do things that aren't good, right?"
I ruffle his hair. His cold eyes soften a bit and he hugs me again.
"You know, I think you and Itachi is gonna be the smartest Uchiha yet, little bro. Now go to bed and let me talk to Itachi."
I find Itachi sitting on our back stoop, which faces our neighbor's yard.
"Is that how he died?" He asks as I sit beside him. "In a drug deal?"
"Yeah."
"He took you along... I remember it clearly. I always sort of despised father for taking you and not me... I was the older one." Itachi chuckles a bit, then he narrows his eyes. "You were only six years old, the bastard." Itachi cynically blows out a breath. "You know, I saw Tobi today at the basketball courts on Main Street."
"Stay away from him. As a little brother, take the little guy's advice." I point to myself and shrug my shoulders. "Truth is, I had no choice after father died, and now I'm stuck. He really cared for us. But he chose me. He knew I could handle it. If you think I'm in the gang 'cause, like Ichigo said, I like it, guess again. I don't want you jumped in."
"I know."
I give my older brother a stern look like our mother used to give me when I put paint on the walls, or when me and Itachi would chase cats around, but mostly when I put tennis balls in her panty hose and flung them to see how fly they'd fly. "Listen to me, Itachi, and listen good. You're on the right path. Concentrate on school so you can go to college. Make something of yourself." Unlike me.
There's a long silence.
"There's this girl I met... And she doesn't want me to join, either. She wants to go to some university and get a medical degree." He chuckles. "She said it would be great if we went to the same university." I listen, because he needs me to stop giving advice and let him figure out the rest on his own.
"I like Sakura, you know." He says.
"Me, too." I think earlier, when we were in the car. I got carried away, big-time. I hope I haven't screwed everything up with her, too.
"I saw Sakura talking to mother at the wedding. She held her own."
"To tell you the truth, she kind of had a meltdown in the bathroom."
"For someone so smart, you're crazy if you think you can handle everything."
"I'm tough," I tell Itachi. "And always prepared for danger."
Itachi pats my back. "Somehow, Little brother, I think dating a girl from the north side and outside of the clan is tougher than being in a gang.
It's the perfect opening to tell my brother the truth. "Itachu, you see guys in the clan who talk about brotherhood and honor and loyality and it sounds great. But they're not family, you know. And the brotherhood last only as long as you're willing to do what they want you to do."
My mom opens the door and looks down at us. She looks so sad and she's paler than her natural skin tone. I wish I could change life and take the hurt away, but I know I can't.
"Itachi, let me talk to Sasuke alone."
When Itachi is inside the house, out of hearing range, my mom sits beside me. She has a cigarette in her hand, the one I've seen her smoke in an eon.
I'm waiting for her to talk first. I've said enough tonight.
"I've made a lot of mistakes in my life, Sasuke." She saus as she blows cigarette smoke up at the moon. "And some of them can't be undone no matter how I pray to the Lord above." She reaches out and tucks my hair behind my ears. "You're a teenager who has the responsiblilites of a man. I know it's not fair to you."
"It's okay..."
"No, it's not. I grew up too fast, too. I didn't even graduate college because I got pregnant with you." She looks at me, as if seeing herself as a teenager not that long ago. "Oh, I wanted a baby so bad. Your father wanted to wait until after college, but I was going to make it happen sooner. All I wanted in this world was to be a mom."
"You regret it?" I ask.
"Being a mom? Never. Seducing your father and making sure he didn't use a condom, yes."
"I don't want to hear this." I wince at how this conversation is playing out.
"Well, I'm going to tell it to you whether you like it or not. Be careful, Sasuke."
"I am."
She shakes her head. "No, you don't get it. You might be careful, but girls won't be. Girls are manipulative. I should know, I'm one of them."
I'm thinking of my mother. Mikoto. Pale skin. Onyx-colored, soft eyes. A sweet smile. Her... Manipulative?
"Sakura is -"
"The kind of girl who can make you do things you don't want to do."
"Believe me, Mom. She doesn't want a kid."
"No, but she'll want other things. Things you can never give her."
I look up at the stars, the moon, the universe that I know doesn't end. "But what if I want to give them to her?"
She let's out a slow breath. "At the age of thirty-five, I'm old enough to have seen people die thinking they can change the ways of the world. No matter what you think, your father died trying to fix his life. Your facts are distorted, Sasuke. You were just a little boy, too young to understand."
"I'm old enough now."
A tear escapes from her eye and she wipes it away quickly. "Yes, well, now it's too late."
*whistles*
Well, drama-bomb!
Lol, yes this chapter is shorter than the others because next chappie, the extreme romance begins. So will more things and more romance to come!
Please comment and leave a review whether or not you all would like this to change to an M rated story and also your opinions on things.
Again, I apologize for the later update. Things will soon start to change!
Thanks for Reading!
See you all next chappie!
Kumi-Chan/Tobi-Is-Fluffy-Chan
Stay tooned!
Next Update: some time of this week!
