Instant Message
By Keelah

Far in the distance...a cloud...hovered in the skies warningly. It was diminutive, easy to discount... but when there came one, there came more.

A storm was coming... [It was] faraway, distant

But it was coming.

Chapter TWENTY FOUR
Two Different People

"We're here." Something in his words tore my attention away from the picturesque panorama.

"We?" I echoed.

"Yeah. We." He replied his voice suddenly doubling as it came strangely from two different directions; one emitting from the phone I had held up to one ear, and another from behind me. Swiftly, I spun around, only to be met by Uchiha Sasuke's smirking expression, poised haughtily against a tree trunk about three yards away. Then, gracefully, he pushed himself up and strode over to my direction until he stood directly before me.

"Surprise." He said with an apathetical tone, but his eyes visibly danced with enjoyment.

"You're here."

"Yes, I am."

"But—how?"

"I was with you the whole time."

"Oh." I blurted stupidly, "Really."

"You were too busy complaining to notice."

"You followed me?" I indicted.

"I made sure you didn't get yourself lost." He explained, more or less solely rewording what I'd already said.

"That's very..." Sweet? Thoughtful? "...creepy." I said finally.

"You want me to leave?"

"No, it's fine."

"Good, 'cause I wasn't planning to."

My heart thudded. "Sasuke?"

"Yes?"

"We should hang up." I suggested, remembering the fact that I still had a cellular phone stuck against my right ear.

A contemplative look passed over his face, and a second later he uttered, "Why?"

I let a moment of silence pass between us before replying, "Because you're right in front of me. We look stupid."

"So?" he countered, "No one's here to see."

"This is ridiculous."

"I don't know," he said smirking, "I think it's kind of fun."

"You're wasting my minutes."

"Fine." Sighing exasperatedly (exasperated at me, no doubt) he closed his phone, and the call ended. Slowly, I too shut my phone under the Sasuke's close watch, waiting, I assumed, for me to speak.

"So, this is... great." I said after a long while, referring to the landscape that was painted before us. My eyes swept over the scenery once more. "It's amazing here."

"I know." He whispered beside me. I looked back at him and found his gaze never dared to break contact from mine, as though the scene right in front of us did not even exist at the moment. His stare, as intense as always, wasn't flooded with loathing like the usual. He looked pensive, almost as if he was looking into me, trying to figure me out.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" I asked just above a whisper, afraid to break whatever trance he was in at the moment.

But my attempt was ineffective, and my question had unfortunately brought him back to his senses. He blinked and tore his eyes away from mine, before laying them upon the scenery that was more worthy of his attention than I will ever be. He never answered my question. And as though I hadn't spoken at all, he offered, "Want to walk?"

My eyebrows went up. "Along the beach?" I taunted in disbelief, "Like in movies?"

He rolled his eyes at my sarcastic incredulity "Whatever. If that's what you'll call it." I fought back a smile. "Well?" he turned to me and asked with evident impatience. "Do you want to or not?"

"Sure." I replied, grinning, "Why not?

Some say hate is love.

And being here, walking along a secluded shoreline alongside the boy I've grown to hate all throughout my childhood, reminded me of those words precisely. Let me get this straight, Sasuke and I weren't in love (I strongly doubted that) but clearly, we weren't "in hate" either—at least not at that very moment, not as extreme as before.

A thoughtful kind of quietude floated in the atmosphere around us. No one spoke, neither one of us wanting to break this rare peace and wordlessness. Sasuke had always been a man of a few words (if not no words at all); and I, well, I feared that once I opened my mouth to speak, I'd say something incredibly stupid and ruin our momentary concord. I didn't want that to happen. Thus, I remained silent, and listened to the sound of the water gently toppling over itself before hurtling onto the shore.

Only a moment ago had I been standing at the rim of the woods' entrance, staring out at the scene that was before me. Now, it felt as though I were a part of this picture; sauntering down the coastline as sands softly squished beneath my bare feet, listening to the soft hum of waves crashing together, watching the newly risen sun in a bright early Saturday morning. Nothing in here was out of place. It all matched and belonged together, perfectly. Even the feel of Sasuke's presence by my side—that belonged, too.

Looking distantly at the horizon, seeing how perfectly aligned everything was, it occurred to me that maybe things were beginning to look up. Maybe the Rogue would disappear entirely, and maybe the cops would figure out what really happened that afternoon in that shadowed alley, so I wouldn't have to feel helplessly guilty anymore. Maybe my parents would come home so I wouldn't be so vulnerable. Maybe I could even make a friend out of this old enemy. Maybe, just maybe, everything would work itself out without me having to deal with them.

But as I scanned my hypothetically seamless surroundings more thoroughly, I was thwarted to find one little flaw. Far in the distance, impairing the perfect-bright-morning image, a cloud –gray and opaque– hovered in the skies warningly. It was diminutive, easy to discount, but it was there and existent, steadily making its way to Konoha. It may only be a single cloud, but when there came one, there came more. A storm was coming; it was faraway, distant, but it was coming.

My face began to darken with suspicion, until I caught myself and realized the stupidity of my own thoughts. It was a cloud, a visible mass of water in the sky; what sane person worries over a single cloud? I was overreacting a little too much for my own good.

"Question." I said suddenly, dismissing the solitary cloud from my brain. Uchiha glanced at me, waiting. Wordlessly, I took out the phone in my jacket, went to its call history, and flaunted it towards Sasuke for him to see. "Hatake K?" I asked him, sincerely curious- the matter had nagged my subconscious brain ever since Kakashi's last name and initial appeared on my screen earlier on today, but at that time I had other things in mind. "Don't tell me stole Kakashi's phone."

"Nah." At the question, a look of laughter instantly lightened up his face, and for a little while a good feeling settled in me at the thought that I was the cause for that. "He gave it to me. It's his old phone."

"That's... nice of him." I replied, quite astounded. Sasuke stealing a phone would've been more expected and much easier to believe than him owning one second-hand.

"The old guy's pretty cool." He reflected. Then lowering his eyes to the ground, with a softer look on his face he added quietly, more to himself than me, "He's almost like an older brother in a way."

"You have an older brother, don't you?" At the simple yes-or-no query his expression clouded with something unpleasant, and the distant look he'd given to the ground now turned to brooding glares.

He responded darkly, "Yes."

"Where is he?"

"Not here." There was something about the way he spat out the words that told me this matter was taboo. His following directive only further confirmed my thoughts. "Sakura?"

"Yes?"

"Let's talk about something else."

"Right." I said quickly, flushing at how thoughtless I'd been. Think before talking, I told myself, think before talking. "Why is it so empty here?" I asked him, utterly changing the subject.

In the corner of my eye, I caught him smirk, the edge of his lips turning upwards ever-so-slightly, and the brooding look that passed over his face earlier dispersed simultaneously. "This place is... difficult to get to." he explained, "There's a cliff on the west side, a strong current that never lets any jet-skiers and surfers get close to the beach, and the overgrown woods that everyone forgot about. No one ever really bothered to go through all those to see what was waiting on the other side."

I glanced back at the woods we had come from, and then back at him with a raised brow, "You made me walk through a forsaken forest that no one wanted to go into?"

"Relax. I was behind you the whole time, remember?"

"Sasuke!" I cried, "What if I got attacked by an animal or something? Tripped, hit my head, and bled to death?"

"Right, you're clumsiness battles that of a two-year-old's. I almost forgot." My eyes narrowed fiercely—the fiercest look a five-feet-three girl could give to a dude who's evidently a head taller. However instead of rolling his eyes at my pathetic attempt to stare him down, he simply turned away. "Besides," he added, "You're with me, aren't you? You're safe."

His words, though silent and had been barely audible, shocked me. I wondered whether my hearing senses hadn't worked properly, or if Sasuke actually just more or less indirectly told me I was safe as long as he was around. Okay, so he didn't exactly say that, and the way he said it couldn't have been any more nonchalant, so it was possible –or most likely—that his statement hadn't meant a thing. Still, his words stuck to the back of my brain like duct tape does on skin, adhesive and unrelenting.

He did not say any more after that, and continued walking as though nothing happened—maybe nothing did, and like always maybe I'd overanalyzed things than seeing them for what they really were. It was only after a long, awkward while that I realized the silence wasn't his, but mine. I was the one who knew not the right words to say. Looking at him, I could see he was well comfortable with the silence's return, though I wasn't, because wordlessness wouldn't help me forget the words he'd unknowingly embossed in my brain. So, tactlessly, I broke the silence.

"Do you go here a lot?"

He merely shrugged, "Sometimes. To think."

"What do you think about?" Once again, thoughtless words came out of my mouth without any kind of assessment from my brain; I was talking without thinking.

"Stuff." He replied evasively.

"Like?" I bit my lip and mentally slapped myself. Will I ever learn? Automatically, I assumed he'd be mad with all of my unwarranted inquisitiveness—not that I could help it; with my dad as a former officer and my mother a lawyer, I supposed the nosiness and interrogation were part of my inborn talents somehow. However, instead annoyance, a look of amusement flashed in Sasuke's dark orbs, as he glanced at me with a raised brow. "What?" I asked, a little self-conscious.

"Too much curiosity will get you in trouble, you know." He pointed out with good humour, but the warning was clear in the undertone of his statement.

"I can take care of myself." I retorted pretentiously, and to that his eyes rolled naturally.

"I doubt that." I hit him, lightly, playfully, on his arm. "Stop that." he snapped, but laughter glowed as bright as the sun in his eyes, contradicting its blackness and making them even more enthralling than they already were. I laughed. And for a moment, we were two different people; an archetypal boy and girl fooling around in a lonesome beach. There was no hatred here; in that very second, we became friends—real ones, no matter how unaware of it we were at that time.

But like every other second in a world where the clock went by so much faster when good times took place, that instant came and went, and a second later it became history. My phone began to ring, and whatever it was that materialized between me and Sasuke a moment ago was shattered completely.

Hurriedly, I dug through my purse. "Hello?"

"God, where are you?"

I sighed, "What is it, Ino?" Up ahead, Sasuke ambled away without waiting for me, but I knew he was listening.

"I thought we were hanging out!" my best friend's voice shrilled from the speakers, "I'm at the Café already. Meet me here."

"I can't right now—" Ino hung up. Growling, I shoved the phone carelessly into a pocket of my sweater. "Hey, Sasuke—"

"You have to go?" What is it with people and interrupting me?

I nodded, "Yeah, sorry."

"Hn." I flinched at his cold response—although it wasn't much of a response. When he stood motionless and silent, I assumed he wasn't going to speak to me anymore, much less escort me back through the forest he'd made me go through in the first place.

"I guess..." I began uncertainly, "I'll go back now, alone..."

"Come on." I exhaled with relief, thankful that I wasn't going back alone. But when he made his way towards the opposite direction, farther away from where we'd started, I realized he wasn't heading for the woods—at least not the same one I'd gone into earlier.

"You're going the wrong way." He kept on walking. "Where are we going?" No response. "Sasuke?"

"Shut up."

And I did. For the second time that day I followed him dependently like a child. He led me through a thick patch of greeneries, the same forest, I assumed, from earlier, only this was another. Though there was no trail, the area itself in general was more kempt, less overgrown, compared to the one earlier. Less than five minutes later, we made it out of the forest, and I was, at the very least, stunned at the sight of civilization.

Stretched out before me was a public park, crammed with people of all ages and standings, from toddlers to seniors, and elites to hobos, each and every one of them gathered outside for the sole reason of basking in the uncommon sunlight. However, what surprised me the most was the square's familiarity, and it took me a second or two to realize we were back in my neighbourhood.

"Shortcut." Sasuke explained plainly. "That beach was only three and a half blocks from your house."

"But... it felt so far..."

"We went through the long way. Around the whole town."

Slowly, menacingly, I turned to him, "Why," I spat, "would you make me walk around the whole freaking town in the cold when the beach was right here all along?"

"I don't know." He replied innocently. "I just... thought it was funny?" The devil.

"You jerk."

"You gullible girl." I glared at him; he smirked back.

"I'm leaving."

"Like I care." So we were back to that. I guess whatever happened in that beach stays there. Fine, if that was how he wanted it. Sharply, I whirled around; in the same second, something large and hasty slammed against me, and I was knocked off balance.

"What, you blind or something?" shouted a skater, who swiftly brushed past me before I could retort anything back. Sasuke was at my side in a second.

"Jesus," He muttered, hauling me off the ground by the arm. "You're humiliating me. Take care of yourself, will you?"

"I can take care of myself just fine." I snapped at him.

"I doubt that."

It was déjà vu of this morning, except this time was slightly different. His eyes were solid and serious. This time, he wasn't joking around.

"Thanks..." I said slowly once I was up. He nodded. "Not just for that. For taking me there too, you know, to the beach." He nodded once more. I fidgeted. "Alright, well, I'll go. Bye." Hesitantly, I turned and walked off.

"Maybe one day." He called out.

I halted.

"One day what?"

He replied, with a voice soft and mellow, "Maybe one day I'll tell you what I think about. In that beach."

I turned to look at him, only to find him staring right back. He gave me a steady, evocative gaze, a kind of look that made me wish I was a mind reader at that very moment. What was he thinking about? Was he remembering our ruinous past? No, he couldn't be. He wasn't thinking of something unpleasant, not when he had the most innocent, demonstrative face. Perhaps he was recalling something else, something nice—something, perhaps, that happened just today. Our moment of amity. Maybe he was reminiscing that. I knew I was.

Wordlessly, I nodded at him. He didn't need verbalized words to know I'd be waiting for that day. Then, without another delay, I turned around and left.

I hoped, silently, that our armistice would last. Sasuke: I had always thought of him as a horrible person, but in all that time I'd looked at him as an enemy. Now, seeing him as a friend, no matter how short-lived that perspective had lasted, it felt right. It belonged.

But as I looked around, scanning my surroundings, my eyes landed on none other than the single, grey cloud I'd spotted previously, and right away I remembered about the upcoming storm. Though it was only a hunch, it was a strong hunch; and instantly it occurred to me just what all this tranquility really was. I was wrong to hope for something improbable. The ceasefire between Sasuke and me came all too easily to keep going. This morning's peace wouldn't last.

Nothing was near concluding.

It was merely calm before the storm.

"I've been calling you!" screeched Ino the moment I went in through the Cafe's glass doors, drawing much attention from the mostly senior customers dispersed in ones or twos throughout the urbane, library-quiet bistro. It was our (mine, Ino's and occasionally Naruto's) very own fancy, though elderly, chill-and-spill hang out place. The fact that it was mostly old people, who languished their time in here, and from time to time the archetypal man in a suit, made it a perfect spot for us; it was where we wasted hours and hours gossiping and girl-talking and arguing. The elders were either too deaf to hear us, or too old to comprehend our modern-day teenage language; and the archetypal men in suits? They were always too absorbed in their work to pay any attention to two chitchatting girls. Moreover, no one from our school ever went here, and here was where all our secrets were poured out.

"Really?" I said, plopping down upon the brown couch across from her, thankful for the soothing coffee scented warmth it provided. "I never heard a ring."

"Did you put it on silent?" she asked. On the table before us were an espresso and a caramel frapp, accompanied by waffles (for Ino) and a cheesecake (mine). Though to any third person ordering my usual food beforehand so that it's ready by the time I came seemed thoughtful, in this case, it wasn't; I knew by the end of this afternoon Ino would decisively hand over the cheque, leaving me to pay for every penny.

"Nope." I chirped, trying to act as natural as possible, when really, was still quite in disbelief from this morning's episode. "So, updates." I inquired the gossip-queen, as I normally did whenever we were here.

"Well, Naruto's being a love-struck idiot over Hinata. Again. He wouldn't shut up. And Asuma and Kurenai are totally sleeping together, like I can tell."

"I find it weird that we're talking about our teachers' sex life."

"I find it weird that they even have a sex life. Or any life at all!" Ino exclaimed, and I felt the automatic reaction to roll my eyes—but on the other hand, I agreed with her. When I was eight, I used to think teachers never left the school district and slept under their desks.

"Right. Anything else?"

"Nara and his girlfriend broke up."

"And you know this for sure?"

"Oh, I'll make it sure." She asserted. I sighed, and in the same second her phone began to ring. I left her to answer it, and seized my mug.

"Ino here. What's up?"

I gulped down the chocolate beverage, gratified as it burned my throat and my rest of my body warm.

"Hello?"

Setting down the cup, I grabbed the plate of cheesecake.

"Like hello, loser, say something." I munched.

"Excuse me?" Ino's face scrunched with annoyance and perplexity. "No, this is Ino."

I was halfway into slicing a second bite when I felt Ino's stare on me. Slowly, a little freaked, I looked up. "What?" She shoved her Black Diamond to my face. Once again, I uttered, "What?"

"He's asking for you."

"Who?"

"I don't know."

"Then ask."

"Who's speaking?" Ino said into the phone. "She's right here. Who is this?" She extended the phone to me for the second time, her expression downright irritated. "The guy doesn't know any other word but Sakura. That's all he's saying: Sakura...Sakura....Sakura... It's not even a full sentence." My skin began to prickle. "Can you just get the phone please?"

Reluctantly, I reached out for the small and sleek device. "...yes?"

"Sakura."

Air hitched in my throat and I suddenly found it hard to breathe.

"Sakura..."

I could neither inhale nor exhale.

It was as though my heart had jumped up my throat and blocked the air passages.

Agape, my lower lip bobbed up and down like a fish caught out of the water.

"...you can't get away." The voice rasped. "I'm with you right now, Sakura."

Stop saying my name, I thought in my head; I hated it when he said my name. It all the more confirmed he knew me. I hated that, knowing the fact that had no idea who he was in return.

"Look around,"

Suddenly I was claustrophobic, and the miniaturization of the espresso bar was no longer calming, but smothering. Nonetheless, I scanned my surroundings. Old people. Man in a suit. Two or three college student employees. And outside, the crowds of pedestrians walking back and forth along the sidewalk.

"I can see you," The voice whispered, almost gently, yet deadly.

"I'm right here."

Uchiha Sasuke

There was something different this time.

He felt it, though he fought the feeling.

It was a whole new foreign sentiment, something he'd never felt towards Sakura, something he'd never imagined he'd feel towards Sakura, and something that made him uneasy. He knew the word, but couldn't get himself to think of it, because of how implausible it was. But something was definitely different.

They had talked.

He and Sakura. They had an actual conversation. They had joked around. They had laughed. It was an all too typical boy-and-girl interaction, it just wasn't...them, it was all too... unlikely; yet it happened. As he stood and watched her retreating back, flashes of this morning's occurrences played in his head. It happened only a few minutes ago, yet to him it felt as distant as a dream—unreal and overwhelming, in a good way. In a great way, in fact.

As much as he hated to admit, he had a great time.

With her.

He had a great time with her. He couldn't believe his thoughts, but there he was, watching her walk away and gradually disappear into the crowd, thinking of how he had a great time with her. He was going crazy, because he couldn't possibly be thinking such thoughts with a straight head. He had to be crazy.

But she wasn't that bad, he deemed in the back of his mind. She was annoying, most of the time; a brat, most of the time; and intolerable, most of the time. But sometimes, every now and then, she was sweet. Innocent and funny and vulnerable and alluring. And he should stop right there. Stop all together before he got carried away and thought things he'd later on regret.

This was stupid, really. He hated the little brat. Always did and always will—except for this morning on the beach. For that, he'd make an exception, because at one point during their stroll, their hatred for each other had dissolved. Without hatred, they couldn't possibly be enemies, so they became something else. Something different. At one point during their stroll, in the midst of all the joking, uncertain words and the thoughtful silences, at the heart of all that, enmity had developed into amity.

And he hated it. No, he liked it, but he hated that he liked it. He wasn't making any sense. Sakura always had this kind of effect on him; she drove him senseless.

By now she had vanished from his sight, too far gone into the horde of the sun-tanning populace. He scanned the crowd, but in vain he saw no pink-haired girl. Then suddenly, some kind of a ringing reached his ears. He felt his pocket for his phone, the cell phone Hatake had given him; but it wasn't vibrating. He looked around in search for the sound, until ultimately his eyes landed on the small, black mobile device chiming and vibrating on the ground, a yard away from where he stood.

Unthinkingly, he strode forward and picked up the ringing object. He stared at it, turning it over and about with his fingers in observation. It was sleek and glossy, small, black and on the whole femininely chic. It was an expensive phone, he could tell; it was touch screen, it was fancy, but moreover, it was Sakura's.

He had Sakura's phone.

She must've dropped it, that clumsy girl.

He thought of running after her, but halfway through his first stride forward he stopped himself and reconsidered. An idea immediately dawned to him, and in an instant he made his decision. Firmly, he planted his feet on the ground, with no intention of pursuing Sakura.

His hand wrapped around the small cellular phone in a secure manner, before shoving it safely in his pocket.

He wouldn't give it back. At least not right now.

Silently, he smirked, toying with the sleek device between his fingers.

It would give him another reason to see her again.

Author's Note: Confession: I didn't expect to hit 700 today. Suddenly, I get the 5 remaining reviews that I needed (I have a feeling it was from only one person... hmmm... lol thank you for that.) and I was like: oh crap, update! This is... carelessly and hastily proof-read, so if you find any errors, just tell me.

To be honest, I was surprised you guys liked the last chapter. I was kinda scared when I uploaded it. lol But I'm really glad you guys liked it.

Read, review and Thank You! As always, your feedbacks are greatly appreciated.

Back to watching the Olympics,
Keelah