Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto!
Thank you so much for your kind reviews for the last chapter! They mean a lot! Even the criticizing ones, but well, you can't please everyone, and I'm glad I pleased most of you (that sounded wrong, oh ma ga!). Anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter just like the last one. Things are getting a bit more serious, but there will be some more humorous moments, so don't you worry!
Enjoy!
(Oh wow, this chapter makes "Play My Song" my longest fic! It's so amazing! Lol.)
Play My Song
Chapter Fourteen: Red, Red, Red
Haruno Sakura was blushing, despite herself.
Ivory met emerald and it was all she could do not to smile.
Strange how things change, isn't it?
While she was contemplating this and other things, the bell rang for next period to begin. The pink haired girl walked in silence, the sounds of everything else around her seeming to dull and not even have their full impact on her senses. It was as if someone had covered her ears, and she wasn't hearing anything around her clearly at all. It seemed like the only thing she could think about was Neji's husky voice, singing that tender song...
Idiot! She shook her head rapidly, carnation strands fluttering in her eyes and around her neck.
The monotone sounds continued around her, until, finally, one penetrated her foggy mind.
"Sakura?"
The pink haired girl spun around at the sound of the voice, carnation strands blurring her vision for a moment, but then they swayed out of the way, revealing a rather curious looking Gaara. "Oh, hello, Gaara!" She braved a smile, despite the feeling of butterflies that still rattled her stomach from Neji's...performance. Yes, that was it. She was feeling so odd because his performance was so good.
The red haired boy gave her a slight smile at her flustered expression, "You did good in music class today."
Oh, great! That was the last thing she needed. An even more vivid reminder of what happened in music class - as if it hadn't been replaying over and over in Sakura's mind ever since it happened, which it undoubtedly had. "T-Thank you, Gaara." Sakura said appreciatively, smiling brightly, "You did good as well!"
Gaara gave a grunt as if that wasn't the case as he scuffed his shoe against the tiled floor of the school.
"Uh...ah..." Sakura looked at the Sabaku boy in wonder, contemplating why he had stopped her. "Is something wrong?"
He widened his green eyes marginally, surprised at her question. "No...I was just going to ask you something..."
The slender girl looked at him and immediately a grin spread across her features, "Yes? No problem! Ask away!"
"Would you like to have dinner with me Saturday?"
A loud screeching sound echoed through the hallway as her feet skid to an abrupt stop.
Sakura gulped, clenching her books tighter to her chest. She felt her cheeks start to redden, "Wh-Wha - "
Being someone with no dating record at all - not unless you count the time that Chouji attempted to hold her hand in third grade - Sakura was very flustered at this sudden request by one of her good friends.
It was quiet for a moment, before Gaara came and tapped her on the shoulder, "Sakura...are you okay?"
She nodded slowly, deliberately, in response. "Yes, I-I'm fine...I was just shocked by what you...you did just ask me out, right?"
A streak of scarlet spread across Gaara's cheeks and he also nodded, "Um, yeah."
Sakura found herself blushing the exact same color Gaara did, except maybe a shade darker. She gave a nervous laugh and gulped, "Well...uh...could I...get back to you...on that? I mean, I...I'll have to think about it. I'll..." She paused, not liking the look of sadness that came across the red headed man's features at that moment, "I'll let you know by the end of today, Gaara, alright?"
Gaara gave her a smile. A warm, heartbreakingly earnest smile. "Sure, Sakura. Take all the time you need."
The pink haired girl gave a slight giggle in response and he walked away, leaving her with her now swirling mind.
As soon as Gaara was out of sight, and the tardy bell rang, Sakura ducked into the girls's bathroom. She slung her backpack on the tile floor and leaned against her elbows on one of the fancy, porcelain sinks, one of several hung on the wall in a row, in front of a massive mirror that took up the whole wall. She hung her head in the sink, cotton candy locks falling gracefully into her eyes and covering her entire face.
Her thoughts were a jumbled chorus of disbelief, only three words repeated in her head.
Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh!!
She threw her head back, her hair falling naturally back into place and she looked at herself in the mirror. Her green eyed reflection stared back at her with a wide-eyed, shocked glance. The scarlet of her cheeks was clearly visible against the pale skin of her face. Her pink hair was tousled ever-so-slightly due to her slightly hectic school day. Her lips were parted, inhaling gulps of precious oxygen, which she felt she couldn't get enough of at this moment.
She took several more, unsteady breaths before she turned the faucet on, cupped her hands under the cold outpouring of water, and then splashed the liquid on her face. Sakura then shook her head a few times, back and forth, in succession, eyes tightly squinted shut.
Her heart seemed to be pounding in an indeterminable rate, her palms were not only wet with the water, but with sweat. She was utterly shaken. Sabaku Gaara? Gaara! Asking her out on a date. A DATE! The same little boy she had played in the sandbox with when they were younger. The same boy that she had had tea parties with when they were both five - something Gaara threatened Sakura to never, ever tell. That same boy that...that...she'd known all her life. He had asked her out. And it had completely floored her.
"I think I'm gonna have a heart attack." She murmured to herself, taking a paper towel and wiping her dripping face with it.
She ran a hand through her slightly damp locks, mussing them up a bit, before righting herself, elongating her back to her full height once more before giving her arms a good stretch. Hearing the satisfying pop they gave, she sighed, and the silence in the bathroom was almost palpable.
"What am I gonna do..."
Sakura walked into fourth hour Home Ec late with less enthusiasm than she had ever had in her life. She had this class with Gaara as well. Hopefully he wouldn't be busy staring at her and trying to pry a reaction out of her with those piercing green eyes of his.
But, to her surprise - and utter relief - she saw him chatting with Kiba and Kankuro, and when she came in the room, he offered her a lopsided grin and a quirked brow, as if asking her where she was. Sakura gave a brief chuckle in response so he could hear before sitting down at the table beside Hinata, her partner for the year.
"Late, Sakura?" The navy haired girl ventured, ivory orbs shimmering with the innocence that was Hinata. Her eyes widened marginally as she took in Sakura's ragged appearance, "Are you okay? You're flushed."
Dammit! Sakura cursed mentally, I must've started blushing again when Gaara smiled at me. Ugh! Why!?
"No, I'm fine, Hinata." Sakura replied, giving yet another nervous laugh, "Just...uh..." Why beat around the bush? Hinata's one of my best friends... "Well, Gaara..."
"Asked you out?" Hinata chirped brightly, smiling a breathtakingly pretty grin. Sakura's silence seemed to confirm Hinata's inquiry, "Ah, thank goodness! I was hoping he would!"
"...what?"
"Well, he had told me a while back that he was planning on asking you out, and made me pinky swear on our friendship not to tell, and you know I can never break a pinky swear, Sakura, and I didn't want to lose him as a friend, and...well," Hinata put a finger to her chin in thought before laughing, "Congratulations!"
"Wh-What?"
Sakura was dumbfounded, to say the least.
"You said yes, ne?" Hinata pressed gently on the topic.
"Well..." Sakura began, looking sheepishly down at her hands, balled into fists in her lap, "...I told him I'd give him my answer later today."
"That's great!" Hinata clapped her hands together in a bright manner, "I hope you do go out with him. Don't you think it could be something wonderful?"
Sakura looked at the navy haired girl, who was being oddly cheerful towards the prospect of her dating Gaara, "Did you smoke something, Hinata? You're awfully hyper..."
"Chocolate," Hinata closed her eyes and smiled a pretty smile, "It will be the death of me."
The pink haired girl chuckled at her friend's verdict and swiped a strand of cotton candy hair behind her ear, "Well, I'll be sure to tell you what I've decided after I've told Gaara."
"Oh, really? Thanks, Sakura!" Hinata beamed.
"Ha, no problem, Hinata."
With that, the two girls turned to hear Maito Gai preach on the important values of oven mits, since when he was in college he burned all his fingerprints off by grabbing a hot tray after drinking a very unhealthy amount of alcohol with the frat boys. He addressed this casually, "Well, though it means I can never be tracked - I could get away with murder if I wanted! - I still miss my beautiful fingerprints...ah, I am not so unique after all...because fingerprints are the most youthful thing I could ever IMAGINE! And, alas, I LOST mine!" He crumpled on his desk and started sobbing his eyes out.
"Oh, Gai-sensei!" A familiar voice cried out.
"Lee!"
"Gai-sensei!"
"Lee!"
To say the least, Lee embraced Gai and it was beautifully moving.
"Gai-sensei, I will burn off my own fingerprints to prove to you that - !"
"NO!" Gai grasped Lee's shoulders and shook him so hard his eyes were rolling, "You must never, ever lose your fingerprints!"
"But Gai-sensei!"
"LEE!" Gai cried, sobbing onto Lee's chest, "Fingerprints are like your virginity! You must never lose it due to stupidity!"
"So you're a virgin, Gai-sensei?"
How in the HELL did we get on this? Sakura thought with an amused grin, trying not to burst into laughter.
"Well, ah, um," Gai began, obviously uncomfortable. "Aren't you supposed to ask Kakashi these kinds of questions...about sex?" He whispered the word like it was dirty.
"Did you do it with Kakashi-sensei!" Lee looked mortified. "Oh, Gai-sensei, I will support your homosexuality no matter what! But, I am sorry, this is something that I cannot emulate at all!"
Gai loosened his grip on Lee's shoulders and stared into his eyes, "I am not gay, Lee. I have experiences all the time. I am quite the stud!"
"So can I burn off my fingerprints now?"
"NO!"
"But - "
"No and end of discussion, Lee!"
"I understand! You just want what is best for me, Gai-sensei! And since burning off my fingerprints hurts, then I will do the opposite! I will have experiences like Gai-sensei! Experiences with the ladies!"
Everyone stared incredulously.
"Can we pick up some ladies, Gai-sensei?"
"Of course, Lee."
"Oh, Gai-sensei!"
"LEE!"
"GAI-SENSEI!!"
Again, they embraced.
This happened several times, Gai not being allowed to teach due to Lee's questions about how to "youthfully bang chicks" while everyone listened - girls were stunned, and guys took notes.
Not soon enough for Sakura, the bell rang. She stumbled out of her chair, breathing nervously, looking from left to right, trying to avoid Gaara's searching, hopeful gaze as well as Lee's pick up lines.
She walked out of the classroom and straight into the chest of one, Hyuuga Neji.
Sakura began to stumble backward, about to fall on her butt, when Neji grasped her wrist and pulled her to him, "Hey," He said, his voice soft, tender, "Don't go falling like that, Pinky."
Her eyes flashed to his face, "Pinky?" She tugged her wrist away from his strong grip, "What the hell - ?"
"You need a nickname. You call me Neko, you get to be called Pinky. For your oh-so-vibrant hair color." Neji smirked and Sakura felt her heart do a flip-flop once more inside her chest.
What the hell was that, you moron! Sakura growled at herself, clenching a fist, nails digging into the soft flesh of her palm. She ignored the way her wrist tingled where he had touched her and stared into his ivory depths, "Well, I was going to congratulate you on a good performance in Anko-sensei's class, but now I see that - "
"Thank you."
"Huh?" Sakura's eyebrows knit together in confusion.
"Well, you basically just told me good job, so, thank you."
"Yeah..." Sakura blushed, her tone rueful, "You're welcome."
Neji smiled at her again, and her world seemed to be more colorful, "Want to walk to Baki-sensei's class with me?"
The pink haired girl scoffed, "Why would you want me to do that?"
"Well, we're friends," Neji rolled his eyes, starting to walk ahead of her, "Why wouldn't you want to walk with a friend?"
Oh.
Right.
"I guess it wouldn't hurt," Sakura complied, walking a bit faster to catch up with the attractive singer, "Just protect me from your fangirls, okay?"
"Ah, no need to worry." Neji said, smiling.
"I hope not."
Baki's History class seemed to zoom by as well. Sakura's whole mind was entrapped with thoughts of Gaara, Neji, and the ever confusing Sasuke. Should she go out with Gaara? But what about Neji? What about the way she couldn't seem to breathe now when she was around him? What about Sasuke...
She shook her head, strawberry scented locks making everything smell sweeter around her. Sakura stopped, her hair settling back into place around her pretty features, and laid her head down on her arms, closing her eyes, and sighing, desperately wishing some kind of unconsciousness would claim her. It did, and she dozed off for the majority of Baki's class.
Sakura was awoken by the hammering of a fist on her desk.
"Yo, Sakura! C'mon, the bell for lunch rang like twenty minutes ago."
"Oi," Sakura's eyes opened slowly, revealing thoughtful, troubled, and tired emerald orbs, "Ino, you think you could be a bit more considerate..."
Ino registered the look in her best friend's eyes right away, "What happened, Sakura?"
"...nothing." Sakura replied, but then backtracked when she saw the defiant glance in Ino's eyes that told her she would not take that for an answer, "I'll tell you at lunch."
"A-Alright..." Ino was genuinely taken aback by Sakura's stand-offish statement, and she placed a hand on her shoulder, "It'll be okay."
"I know."
The two walked to lunch in silence, Ino humming softly, happy with her encounter with Naruto, no doubt, but Sakura was more reserved, her thoughts venturing between three blindingly beautiful colors, each amazing in their own way - emerald, obsidian, and ivory, all swirling around and melding in her head, reminding her of her predicament, reminding her of the eyes that those sets of colors represented. Reminding her of her own confusion at her state right now.
Gaara. The best friend. The warm, familiar, rocker guy. Hard core, yet strangely sweet. She loved him like a brother, but wondered if they could be something more. Don't hurt him. A little voice told her.
Sasuke. The crush. The brooding, gorgeous, dark eyed wonder. The prodigy. She had him in her thoughts always. Wishing him the best. But, somehow, he had been replaced, only slightly. You will always care for him, you know that. The little voice repeated.
Her thoughts seemed to always drifted to him...
Neji. The enigma. The mysterious, talented, handsome music star. Who just happened to pay attention to her when she treated him like crap. Who also happened to take her breath away recently. New, exciting...you want to know why he takes your breath away? Why he makes your pulse thud a million times faster? It's simple... The voice started to explain, but Sakura cut it off.
I didn't know I was schitzophrenic... Sakura thought sharply.
Just your conscience. Duh. Everyone has one.
"Right." Sakura muttered, not in the mood for arguing with herself of all people.
"What was that, Sakura?" Ino ventured, looking intently at her friend.
"Nothing." Sakura laughed a little too loudly, "I just coughed."
"All right then..." Ino looked at her skeptically, but filled her tray with food without pushing the subject.
Sakura gave a yawn as she grasped an empty tray and pushed along in the lunch line, which only consisted of her and Ino. She was more tired than she thought she was. Sakura had slept through the beginning of lunch, and she and the blonde were the only two in the cafeteria, except for a few of the "emo" labeled kids who sat dejectedly at a random table. Sighing, she took a basket of chicken strips, mashed potatoes, an orange, and a chocolate milk and headed to the checkout counter. After paying the woman, she waited for Ino to catch up so they could find an empty table together.
They picked an empty table just beside the wall, slanted against it so it could look out the large window beside it. Ino sat with her back to the wall, while Sakura sat across from her, emerald eyes staring dreamily out of the window, watching several birds fly against the slight breeze that ruffled the autumn colored leaves in the trees, a few fell off and swirled around in many different patterns.
She picked up a chicken strip and nibbled on it, her stomach just as unstable as her thoughts.
Emerald orbs watched the empty area in front of her. The students that had finished their lunch early usually went out to the front of the cafeteria to hang out and talk until the bell rang for sixth hour. Several students were already there; she could hear their voices as they chattered. The space she looked out at was empty, being on the side of the cafeteria, away from the students' usual hang out spot.
But, then, there was someone.
Neji.
Sakura's heart skipped a beat for some unknown reason as she saw his familiar brunette mane come into view. He walked backwards, as if being pushed in front of the window by someone. She only got a glimpse of his profile, and she knew he didn't see her at all. Why would he?
Then...Karin.
She came into view. All red hair and glasses, grasping the collar of his button-up shirt with needy fingers. Her crimson colored eyes stared into his with an unmistakable emotion. Lust...want. Her hands moved from his collar to the back of his neck, one sliding down his back, the other moving up to rest in his hair. She clenched the strands of chocolate colored hair in a fist and pulled his face down to hers...
Their lips met, and Sakura saw red.
Red.
Red.
Red.
Fucking red, everywhere. The red of his blush, the red of her hair. The red of her lips working so feverishly against his. And his own mouth responding, reacting. The red of her tongue, sliding into the cavern of his mouth. The red of her nails clawing against his back.
The red of Sakura's own anger bubbling over like a cauldron.
"Sakura!" Ino gasped in shock at the expression on the pink haired girl's face. Sakura could only imagine what it would look like. Boiling mad, no doubt. Maybe even murderous. "What's wrong?"
She said nothing, only looked out of the window with angry eyes.
Ino got the gist and turned, her crystal blue eyes widening with horror and surprise, "What the hello?!"
In one jerky movement, Sakura lifted her tray, sloshing some of her milk onto the table in the process. Ino turned back to face her friend, "Where are you going?"
"Away," Sakura said curtly, and Ino started to rise, "I just have to talk to someone. By myself."
Ino dropped her eyes, feeling dejected. "All...right..."
"I'll talk to you in seventh hour."
"Y-Yeah..."
Sakura walked brusquely to the trash cans and cleared her tray of the uneaten food. She sat the tray with a resounding clang where all the used trays were stacked, and shoved open the door.
The way the lunchroom was set up, the exit door was at the back, and she had to walk around the cafeteria to get to the front again, right in front of the "secret" making out couple in front of the window. She stormed by, eyes focused straight ahead, fists balled, nails puncturing the flesh. Her eyebrows were narrowed over her beautifully angry green orbs, but she could feel the prick of something all too familiar in the back of them. She pushed the would-be tears away from her eyes and kept marching forward.
Before she completely passed them, she saw a single ivory orb open and gaze at her in wonder. He pulled away, to try to call out to her, but she was already past them, and Karin pulled him back to her, closing the distance once more with her plump mouth, pressing her breasts tightly against his chest as if she couldn't bear to be more than a centimeter from his body.
Sakura! He pleaded from the back of his mind, wanting to be free of her, but already knowing it was too late. And what Karin was doing was just so...
She ground into his waist, eliciting a moan from his lips, and pushed him away from the window and against the wall.
All the while, he was imagining the fierce gaze of Sakura...feeling guilty. But why should he? She didn't like him like that anyway...
He exhaled throatily and opened his eyes, feeling a blush form on his cheeks. Karin looked with hunger into his ivory depths as she trailed a finger down his chest and hooked it into the band of his pants, her icy fingers touching his bottom set of abdominal muscles. "Now..." She said, smirking, "That wasn't so bad, was it?"
"I..." Neji was speechless, "I - "
Karin pressed herself against him once more, her hips tight against his, the pressure feeling oh-so good on waist. "I'll take that as a no."
She pressed a piece of paper with her name and number scribbled onto it in feminine handwriting. "Text me tonight."
Neji couldn't find words, so he just looked at her numbly.
The red haired vixen stretched on her tiptoes and planted a light kiss on his slightly bruised lips. "I'll be waiting."
And then she was gone.
Neji fell back against the hard brick of the cafeteria wall and slid to the cement covered ground underneath him. His head leaned upward, eyes focused on the overhanging of roof over him and the sound of high heels walking away from him. He closed his eyes in despair, his eyebrows knitting together in a mixture of rage and embarrassment, as well as regret as he balled his hand into a fist and slammed the side of it into the brick wall.
"Dammit!" He whispered, his tone every bit as heart-wrenching as Sakura's face was when she had walked by.
Sakura...
She found who she was looking for.
"Sakura! Are you alright?"
"Yes."
"Are you sure? You look...sad..."
"I'm fine..."
"..."
"Yes."
"What?"
She smiled at him at that moment, her heart feeling lighter just by looking at his sweetly concerned face.
"To your question earlier, my answer is yes."
He embraced her.
Ironically enough, she realized, his hair was red as well.
End Chapter Fourteen.
There you have it! After a very, very, VERY long wait, here's chapter fourteen! But hopefully this chapter was worth the wait. I made it pretty long and drama-filled for all your...needs? I guess needs is the right word for it. But anyway, I am sooooo incredibly grateful for all the review I have received for the last chapter...for this whole fic! The response has just been amazing, for real!
And, yeah, this was drama city! The chapter, that is. I really don't want you to hate Karin, but I think that's how most of you will react. I'm not bashing her, this is just how her character is in my story...
And okay, for Neji's reaction to Karin's kissing him, guys - especially teenage guys - are hormone driven, walking BONERS. So anyway, Neji's feeling the regret, as you can see. So he's not one of "those" guys. He has a heart. He just doesn't know it beats for Sakura yet! (ohmyga I am soooo good with romance quotes! lol just kidding.)
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I have been pretty distracted the past couple of months. Seniors are busy, busy people, you see. Lol. Gosh, graduating in May. It's crazay!
Please review! It would mean a lot to me to get feedback for this chapter! Haha, I just hope y'all enjoyed it. Lol.
And for anyone who didn't catch the end, Sakura said yes to Gaara's request for dinner on Saturday night.
Okay, wow, long author's note. I think I've pretty much covered everything...so yeah. Please review!
Arigato!