Chapter 14: Dialogue
(Tuesday)
"Who's this?"
"What? Aren't you happy to hear from me?"
Sasuke infers from the voice. "Suigetsu, then."
"The one and only."
"How'd you get this number?" The Uchiha glances over at the brunette sharing the tree's shade with him. He doesn't seem bothered by the conversation.
"Oh, you know, our team has it's ways." At least he has enough brain cells to be discrete.
"I take it you also acquired my school schedule?"
"Naturally. You can blame Karin for that. She looked up your school records this morning."
Sasuke uses the other hand to pinch the bridge of his nose, closing his eyelids.
"We hadn't heard from you in a few days. She was worried," Suigetsu adds in, as if sensing Sasuke's action.
"Everything's fine. Don't call me on this number again."
"Whoa! Hold up!"
"What?" He hisses, aware of, not only the eyes of Shikamaru and Naruto's friends but most of the students outside.
"No need to be so cold. We're friends, remember?"
"We're not friends," he roughly brings his hand back down.
"Since when?"
"Since the time you tried to kill me," Sasuke reminds his subordinate.
That catches Shikamaru's attention. Shit. Why did he pick up the phone? If they were going to call him for anything important, they would have used the burner.
Sasuke refuses to believe that he answered because maybe, just maybe, he's missed them a little, too.
"Excuse me, I was trying to preserve your dignity."
"You were trying to kill me."
"Whatever, Fuckface. You already had one foot in the grave anyway. I was just trying to help out. With your blood gushing out everywhere, you were leaving a trail. You could have got us caught," Suigetsu refers to their first mission together.
"I'm hanging up now."
"Wait! Hold up!"
"What?!" He cringes as his voice raises a little in his impatience.
"We followed our end of the bargain and just wanted to check on you. See how you've settled in and that sort of stuff. Having you been watching the news? We have, the whole world knows 'the youngest Uchiha' is back now. Also, why the fuck are you going back to school? It's lunchtime for you, isn't it?"
Sasuke doesn't bother to glance at the teen next to him. This is getting dangerous.
"Your concern is unnecessary. I'm fine." He intentionally leaves out any information as to what has been on T.V. and the reason as to why he is in school.
Thankfully, Suigetsu catches on and switches topics. "Do you realize how difficult it is to get along with you?"
This earns a snort from Shikamaru. It's not surprising he can hear both parts of the conversation, considering their proximity. Sasuke needs to wrap this up without appearing too suspicious.
The silver-haired man continues his rant on the other line of the phone in his silence. "I'm not your friend because I want to be, Dickhead. However, after going through all that messed up shit, and spending all that time together, it's hard not to rely on each other. Whether you like it or not, you're one of us and can't go cutting us off so easily. Even if you move to a different country."
"I'll keep that in mind, you Infected Guzzler."
"You'd better, Captain Fuck Stick."
Finally, he hangs up.
"Your friend sounds… interesting."
"Hn, that's just the way they talk in Sound."
"I gathered. Do you want the rest of this?"
Sasuke grunts in agreement as he takes what's left of the cigarette. "Why is Naruto gaping at us like that? The rest aren't bothered."
"He disapproves."
"Of the smoking or of you being here with me?"
"I'm sure you know it's the former. I'm heading back," the other teen stands and brushes off the grass clinging to his fine ass.
Sasuke mentally shakes his head. It's been over a week now since the last time he's had sex. He focuses back to the teen's face.
"A word of advice: don't push Naruto, let him come to you. In the meantime, stay close by. You have more friends than you think."
A little surprised at the words, Sasuke can only watch as Shikamaru leaves.
"What were you guys talking about?" Sasuke hears Choji ask from six trees over.
"Nothing important."
"Who was that on the phone?" Ino tucks a blonde hair behind her ear.
"An acquaintance of his in Sound. If you have more questions, why don't you go ask him yourself?" With that, the lazy boy settles back down for a nap.
Fortunately, they don't come over and pester him with questions. For the rest of the period, anyway.
After lunch, Sasuke has study hall, which gives him time to catch up on homework.
Regrettably, he has it with Sakura, Hinata, and Ino who decide to whisper to him as he takes out his math book.
"What are your friends like in Sound?"
Sasuke ignores Sakura in favor of writing out his name on the math assignment due tomorrow. They don't catch his hint, and Ino asks him a different question.
"Now that you're back, have you thought about dating?"
"He's only been back for a little bit. I'm-I'm sure he hasn't been thinking of-of his love life."
At least Hinata has a little sense. Even if she's only partially correct. More like he's been thinking about his sex life. He misses the freedom of taking a partner whenever he felt the urge. And that was quite often. But now, unless he has some sort of rendezvous in the storage closet, anything else isn't really an option. Sasuke can't exactly take anyone home without notice, now can he?
"Shion* told me that you have some pretty wicked scars on your back because you got attacked by a bear," Sakura decides to change the topic. Honestly, it's not much better than the previous.
"Ro-Rock climbing is what I heard."
"Motorcycle accident."
He stalls on his response for a minute until he finishes up the third question. "If I wanted to talk about them, I would. I'd appreciate it if you and your friends would stop asking questions I don't want to answer."
Besides, the real story of his scars is much more unbelievable than the rumors floating around. If he told them the truth? 'Oh, about those, a crazy man wanted to see human flight. So, he attached these wings in my back, but they didn't exactly work. Then, he sent me away to be killed, only I didn't die, and the deformities got cut off because of their burden. After which, a teammate cauterized the area to try to preserve my life. Did I mention, it hurt like hell?'
Yes, that would not go over well.
"Oh. I'm sorry, I-I didn't mean to upset you."
"I'm not upset," he moves on to the next question on his paper.
Sasuke is grateful when they focus the rest of their conversation about a new store that's opening in the mall.
This is why he hates high school so much. The drama, rumors, gossip, curiosity, fake friends and everything else in between.
Sure, it is only his second day actually attending, but he learned what to expect from his brother, television, books, and stories he heard from a few new soldiers in Sound.
He felt a headache approaching, and the afternoon sun reflecting off the metal chair by the window into his eyes did not help. Not that his sensitive sight came as a surprise, anymore. After the abuse his retinas went through, it's a wonder he still could see.
Lightly, he rubs his fingers on his temple as he works through different assignments until the bell signals the end of the period.
He and the girls get up to go their different ways after he waves off an offer for them to show him to his next class. Sasuke doesn't need them transitioning the minor pain into a migraine. At least he only has to sit through art before he can go home.
The large classroom appears just as one would expect. Murals, paintings, and artwork decorate the walls. There is a sink and an art supply station to the left, serval pottery wheels and stools towards the back and even a black room off to the right side if the door is labeled correctly.
In the middle, three long tables with seating for at least eight students take up space. Surprisingly, Sai waves him down. "There's room for one more here."
He thinks about it. Eventually, they should talk. Just not in such an open space. And then there are the others sitting at the table. Does he really want to subject himself to more questions?
"C'mon. We need someone to distract us. I'm tired of having to listen to Naruto and Sakura flirt all the time," Choji adds in.
That means he definitely doesn't want to join the group.
"Well, I think Sakura deserves to be happy," Lee chimes in. Isn't he in a grade above? Why is he even in this class? Didn't he have a free slot to take it his freshman year?
"Naruto, your golden eyelashes are soooo long," Kiba mocks from the seat near the end.
"Why, thank you. It's natural," Naruto grins, but the smile doesn't quite reach his eyes, seemingly still unsure of Sasuke's presence.
A part of him is finding this whole thing strange. For a few reasons. First, it's odd to see Naruto as one of the school's heartthrobs now. While Sasuke can see Naruto is still obnoxious as he's ever been, the blond has more people than ever flocking around him. Mainly females. Not that Sasuke can blame them, but it still doesn't make it any less irritating.
Secondly, why are they welcoming him today, when yesterday at lunch, they all but rejected him? What's changed? The rumors going around? If this is about them feeling sorry for him, then they can just forget it.
He starts to turn, but Shikamaru stops him in his tracks with an apology. "We decided yesterday that we were a bunch of assholes. It's not your fault you've been gone, and it didn't help that we didn't exactly know how to react. We'd like the chance to get to know you again. If you'll let us."
"Yes! Welcome back!" Lee adds in with his usual exuberance.
He stills feel the sting of humiliation. Would they be acting like this if they hadn't seen his back yesterday in Gym? He'd like to think so. However, Sound has taught him that people are not so simple. At the same time, they all seem so happy and genuinely pleased to see him. Time will tell of their intentions.
Regardless, he needs this. The whole reason he is even here is to get in Naruto's circle and act as a guard.
Eventually, he swallows his useless emotions and takes a seat.
"By the way, Naruto, pride comes before a downfall," Shikamaru continues the previous conversation. Still, sounds like his words had a double meaning.
Oblivious, or ignoring the hidden message, which more likely, Naruto waves him off. "Sure, I'm confident in my body, but I'm not perfect, I'm working on getting better."
"Are you talking about your penis? Because that is certainly lacking and I doubt you can do much to 'make it better,'" Sai shocks everyone into silence.
Sakura is the first to recover and punches his look-alike in the arm with a blush still on her face. "I've told you to stop talking about that. I don't want to hear anymore your penis talk!"
"Ah, sorry about him." Choji looks at Sasuke and rubs the back of his head. "He's socially stunted. Hey, at least Naruto can count on Sai to keep his ego in check?"
His attempt to make to make Sasuke lighten up with a joke does not work.
...This is the person Minato pays to watch his son? No wonder he was desperate for another option. Sasuke should not leave these two alone. Being 'socially stunted' is not a valid reason for the pale teen's behavior.
He almost says so, but the teacher chooses that moment to walk in and start class. Apparently, they have been working on an assignment since last week, and Sasuke does his best to catch up.
The teacher, an overweight man in his thirties, doesn't seem mind as the students chatter while they work on their projects.
The assignment is to draw a fantasy landscape. Most of his tablemates are about halfway through. Unsurprisingly, Choji has some sort of food-land, Kiba, a wolf den. Sakura is working on a large, flowery forest next to Naruto, who, surprise surprise, is planning on a ramen lake? Or at least he thinks. Either that, or it's just a bunch of squiggly lines.
Rock Lee furiously shades a workout bench. Sasuke doesn't even want to know. Shikamaru is napping, finished with his cloud landscape. Sai has, by far, the best picture, a sci-fi world. Art must be a hobby for the odd teen.
Staring at his own blank paper, Sasuke decides to go with something simple that he can finish in a good amount of time and starts on a castle, using a ruler to keep the lines straight.
Five minutes till, Sasuke has made some good progress when the teacher calls for them to clean other students put their supplies away until the bell rings and a few practically sprint for the door.
Catching a look Sai throws him, he slows down his pace until they are a few feet behind the others.
"You have something to say to me?"
"Yes, I think we should talk." Sai starts.
"About our situation?"
"Actually, something a little different."
"Oh?" Sasuke turns to look at the artist, raising a dark eyebrow.
"We are in the same gym class."
"I'm aware of all the classes we share."
"Yes, but I saw it."
Sasuke's heart skips a beat. Saw what? His back? The pale teen was across the room.
"Excuse me?"
"Your stomach."
Sasuke stops, causing the sea of students behind him to part around. Sai follows his lead as a larger gap is created from Naruto's circle of friends.
His eyebrows pull down. "What about my stomach?"
"Your abs. Such a work of art, I know I've seen them before. The problem is, I just can't remember when."
A knot starts to form in Sasuke's gut, and his palms start to sweat. True, the first time they met, he was in his Taka disguise, but his jacket was open, leaving his muscles for display.
There's no way Sai could have pinpointed his identity after a look, right? Right?
A/N:
*Shion is from one of the Naruto movies. SPOILER ALERT: The one who wants to have his babies. :P
Let's see, so, about this chapter. Sadly, it didn't quite turn out how I wanted it. I wished I could have conveyed everyone's feelings a little more. It's difficult from a set POV.
Everyone in Sound has a "potty mouth". It's more apparent when they talk to each other.
Naruto is still acting funny but other people are coming around. A little progress there.
Maybe a few grammar errors here and there but I am lazy and just wanted to get the chapter up while I had the time.
Like the title said, lots of dialogue in this one. More action in the next chapter, though.
One more quick thing. I really appreciate all the support. I might not be the best at responding on this site, mostly because I find it awkward to have to create a PM to do so. But seriously if I don't say it on one of those, thanks guys!
And could Sai be any more creepy?
Next time: Yes, Sai is not finished yet! Sasuke learns Itachi has a secret. And another dream/flashback shows itself.
Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto.