Aerin's POV
When I returned to school the next day, I returned wearing a bandana around my neck. The cut from my encounter with the dumbass gang (yes, that's what I had dubbed them)hadn't healed, even if my emotional state had, and I really didn't want anyone to ask how I'd managed to slice my neck…I'd probably get sent to the counselors office or something…
So yes, my return was swift and expected. Immediately upon stepping in Kakashi's classroom that morning I was asked if I was feeling better, and I told them that I was. Sasuke, of course, ended up staring at me with narrowed eyes for about five minutes as I was talking to everyone else. Once I had finally noticed him and the look he was giving me I walked over and poked his forehead.
"I'm fine, stop with that look," I said, and after giving me a calculating look for another few seconds he dropped it with a sigh. He and I both knew that at this point in our friendship we couldn't really hide things from each other anyway—if we did, the other would figure it out through deductive reasoning.
It was weird.
Anyway, Kakashi resumed his teachings in English, and when the hour was over I left and with Shikamaru started towards Asuma's class. We walked in a comfortable silence, turning into the front hall of the school, but just as we were going to pass the main office Tsunade suddenly burst out. She glanced around hurriedly, and then at spotting us ran over and grabbed us both by the shoulders.
"I need your help," she said seriously, and Shikamaru and I shared a look of utter shock and confusion as she started to drag us back towards her office. Tsunade hauled us into through receptionist area and then continued until we were standing in the middle of her large office.
"Take these flyers," she said and placed a huge stack of flyers into Shikamaru and my arms. "I need you to go and hang them on any bulletin board you find—it's incredibly important."
"But…we have to go to class," I said, still bewildered by what was going on.
"Bah! I'll call you both out and you can go there when you're done!" Tsunade scoffed in reply, waving her hand nonchalantly. "Now hurry up!"
Rearing back in shock, the two of us turned and exited her office. As we snuck back through the receptionist area the bell rang and kids started running for their classes.
"How the hell did we get dragged into this?" I said as I stepped out into the hall. The flyers in my arms weighed nearly twenty pounds, and with my backpack still on I felt like I was going to fall over any minute.
"I don't know," Shikamaru sighed. "But it sure is troublesome…"
"Agreed," I said and then looked to the right. "I'll go this way, alright? I'll get the English, Math and Science halls. You get the History hall and the second floor. I'll get the first floor when I'm done."
"Alright," Shikamaru confirmed and then the two of us turned opposite ways. Within 30 seconds I found a bulletin board and walked up, setting the stack of flyers on the ground in front of my feet. I picked one off the top and stood to place it on the board…but then realized I had nothing to stick it to the board with.
Grumbling, and now slightly pissed, I abandoned the flyers on the floor and stomped into the English hall. Within a couple seconds I was entered Kakashi's classroom. Without a word I walked over to his desk, stole his stapler and then left the room again. The silver haired teacher had looked shocked the whole time, but hadn't made a move to stop me so I didn't turn back to give him a reason as to why I'd just stolen his supplies.
Now with a stapler, I returned to the flyers and stuck one to the board before moving on to the next one I could find. Soon, the entire English hall was covered in flyers advertising discounts for the school store, and I moved onto the math hall. Once the math hall was decorated in the colorful flyers, I turned and strut towards the science hall. On my way, I glanced at a clock on the wall.
9:10.
That was good—I'd only missed about ten minutes of class so far.
Sighing, I continued to paste flyers on all the bulletin boards I could find until there were no more. Once the third floor was covered thoroughly, I headed to the nearest stairwell and skipped down to the first floor. However, the moment I pushed the door open and emerged in the hall a couple feet in front of Jiraiya's class, I paused.
Up the corridor a little ways, a group of people that I had never seen before stood blocking the path. There was one female with hot pink hair and glasses, and two guys—one with white hair and a toothy grin similar to Kisame's, and the other with bright orange hair and orange eyes. There was a calm demeanor about him…but his height and build made him look threatening either way…
The other two with him didn't seem calm at all though. The white haired dude and pink haired girl seemed to be in the middle of some petty argument, both looking fairly pissed at each other.
Outwardly I raised an eyebrow at the group, as my feet finally started to move again—heading right towards them. Were they like the Akatsuki in anyway? After all, the Akatsuki were the only ones I knew of so far that skipped class a lot…
"Ugh! You just don't know because you haven't seen it Suigetsu!" the chick suddenly exclaimed as I walked closer, apparently still unnoticed. She sniffed and pushed her glasses up higher onto the bridge of her nose. "You haven't seen how she acts around him! She's totally a whore just trying to get to my—"
"Not yours," the white haired male—apparently named Suigetsu—corrected, stopping her. His grin widened, showing more of his sharp teeth. "And how can you of all people call her a whore? After all, you're just a thirsty bitch too, Karin! Right Juugo?"
"How dare you—!" she screamed, raising her hand as if to smack him. I decided it was time to intervene.
"Um, excuse me," I said blandly, not too impressed by the conversation they were having. I really just wanted to get these damn posters up and go to history class. "I need to get through."
For a moment, the three simply turned and looked at me. Suigetsu and Karin both seemed to lose their anger and blinked in shock. Thankfully, the orange haired male stepped forward and nudged the two to the side, creating a path for me.
"We apologize for blocking the hall," he said, dipping his head sincerely. I was immediately shocked by his demeanor and kindness in comparison to the other two.
Flashing a quick smile at the male, I said, "Thanks," and then slid through the opening and continued down the hall. However, as I walked I couldn't help but feel as if someone was glaring daggers at my back. Pausing momentarily, I glanced over my shoulder and was only slightly surprised to find Karin glaring at me heatedly.
"Stay away from my man, bitch!" she yelled before Juugo clasped a hand over her mouth and started to drag her away. Suigetsu followed after them, clenching his gut in pain as his laughter filled the hallway. I stared after them until they were gone, feeling utterly bewildered.
'Her man'? What the fuck!? What man was she talking about! I hadn't even seen her before until now and I'd already somehow got her man?!
Scoffing, I turned around and started back down the hall away from where the group had been. She was pretty damn insane to think that I even had the guts to steal a man from anyone—I'd never even been in a relationship before.
Suddenly my eyes caught a clock on the wall and I cursed. How the hell was class half over?!
Now jogging down the hall in search of the next bulletin board, the only thing I could do was curse Tsunade. What a damn crazy woman…
The next day I'd nearly forgotten about Karin, Suigetsu, and Juugo…until I'd needed to go to the bathroom during 3rd hour. Raising my hand, I was quickly excused by Kabuto—who at this point I was convinced was an angel sent from heaven (compared to Orochimaru at least)—and exited the science classroom.
Walking towards the restroom, I soon took care of my business, but the minute I exited the stall I froze in my tracks. Karin was standing at the mirror, fixing her make-up. However, the moment she noticed me there she quickly forgot about her work and bolted around to face me.
"You!" she hissed dangerously, pointing a finger at me. I furrowed my brow, frowning at her.
"Me…?"
"How dare you!" she said, sounding exasperated. I remained utterly confused.
"What am I daring…?"
Karin released an angry sigh and shifted her pink eyes to me, glaring harshly.
"You stole my Sasuke-kun!"
I blinked, her words puzzling me still. Her…Sasuke…-kun?
"What…?"
"Sasuke! Sasuke Uchiha!" she yelled, posing a hand on her hip and looking to me as if I was a fiend who had just robbed ice-cream from a little kid. "Don't play stupid with me! I see what you did to him!"
Once again, I became befuddled. What did I do to him? I had no idea! If anything, Sasuke did more shit to me than I did to him! Just what the hell was she even saying?!
"Um…?"
"You got here and immediately tried to become his friend just so you could take him all for yourself!" she growled, swaying back and forth as if she was going to pounce at me any minute.
"U-um…"
Had someone ill informed her? I, when I'd first met Sasuke, had never even intended to become his friend. I had thought he was, well, kind of cold and maybe a little heartless. I'd only met him by chance thanks to Naruto…
"Uhh…sorry?" I said, unsurely not sure what to do. Karin narrowed her eyes and then suddenly stepped forward, fisting her hand full of the collar of my shirt.
"Yeah right," she hissed threateningly, her angry face nearly inches away from mine. Karin was trying to hoist me up or shove me against the wall, I could tell, but she was shorter and smaller than me, so it wasn't exactly going her way…
"You're not sorry at all!" she accused and I continued to stare at her with wide eyes full of confusion. "And you know what?" she suddenly released her grasp on me and took a step back. Her eyes turned hard with determination. "I'm gonna take him back from you."
With that declaration, Karin swiftly turned on her heel and exited the bathroom. I watched her go.
She was…
Fucking insane.
Snorting a laugh, I stepped up to the sink and started to wash my hands. I didn't know what Karin had in mind or any scheme that she had planned…but…if she wanted Sasuke she could try her damn best to get him. Who was I to stop her?
However…
"If she keeps assaulting me a might have to tell Sasuke about this," I mumbled to myself, sadly looking down at my stretched-out collar.
Who was I to stop her—but who was she to ruin my shirts?!
…And…another shirt down.
"Stay away from him!" Karin hissed, teeth bared as if fangs. I stared at her, still not too impressed to be honest…it seemed like she was all bark and no bite. All she did was threaten me again and again…and ruin my t-shirts.
"I don't know how to stay away from him when we have classes together!" I replied somewhat exasperatedly. She'd managed to catch me on my way to lunch when I'd paused to tie my shoe…
Her hand was once again grasping the collar of my shirt and my back was against the lockers…but still I didn't feel threatened. I was bigger than her and, frankly, after dealing with a real gang and a knife to my neck just a few days ago…Karin was pretty petty compared to them.
"Just…!," she bit, seeming to struggle for a comeback. She released her grip on me once again and I leaned forward, pushing myself off the lockers. Karin almost seemed threatened by me if anything…
"Just stay away from Sasuke!" she yelled and then ran down the hall away from me. Once she was gone I blinked and rolled my shoulders, releasing a sigh. I'd have to start buying more shirts at this point…or…I wondered if I washed them in cold water they'd un-stretch…? Hmmm…
"Woah, what happened to you, yeah?"
Raising an eyebrow, I glanced over and found Sasori and Deidara exiting one of the art classrooms. They both were looking at me questionably as they walked up.
"Ah, well, there's this girl…," I started, a little unsure about how to explain the situation. However, before I got the chance to continue, Deidara interrupted with a grin.
"Oh? Are you cheating on Sasuke with her?" he asked teasingly and I instantly rolled my eyes.
"More like she thinks I've stolen Sasuke, who is her 'man', and now she's plotting to take him back from me or something?" I said, messaging my temples. "It's kind of troublesome…"
"Ah, so you're finally becoming acquainted with one of Sasuke's many fangirls?" Sasori questioned boredly, adjusting the strap of his backpack. I raised my eyebrow in question.
"Fangirls? Sasuke has fangirls…?"
"Oh yeah!" Deidara continued, waving his hand in the hair flippantly. "According to Itachi since he was in elementary school he's always had girls chasing after him! But, Itachi also said that Sasuke lost most of them when he went through his bad stage, yeah…"
"Bad stage?" I questioned, honestly surprised. Sasori raised his eyebrow at me.
"Doesn't everybody have one?" he said, and I couldn't help but agree with him. Usually everyone had a bad stage…but I guess I'd never considered Sasuke having one…
"Well, either way!" Deidara said and placed his hands on Sasori and my backs, pushing us towards the stairwell. "It seems a fangirl is out to get you, yeah! Good luck with that!"
"Whatever," I scoffed, placing a hand on my stomach when it growled loudly, yearning food that I had yet to eat. I doubted that Karin would be too big of a problem…
…However, the next day when I once again found myself corned by the magenta haired female, another shirt in her grasp, I'd decided that I'd had enough.
When lunch rolled around, I quickly strut into the cafeteria, located Sasuke, and proceeded to drag him into the mostly empty hallway.
"What's this about?" he questioned; eyebrow raised as I finally released his wrist and turned around to face him.
"Your crazy fangirls," I said, somewhat annoyed and lips jutted out into a pout. Sasuke's other eyebrow raised as surprise morphed into his expression.
"My fangirls?" he said, and then made a quiet scoffing noise. "I lost all of those years ago."
"When you were in your 'bad stage'?" I questioned, crossing my arms. Sasuke, once again, looked honestly surprised at what I was saying. His lips parted, as if he was going to try and refute what I was saying, but the glare I sent stopped him. We both knew there was no point in lying.
"Yes," he sighed, running a hand through his hair. "When I was a Freshman I…got into a fight with Naruto and for a while I split off from the group. I got involved with another group for a while until Sakura and Naruto talked me into coming back…"
"Did there happen to be a girl in that group?" I asked, not too concerned about his past mistakes considering that nowadays he seemed to be doing just fine.
Sasuke met my stare, and I could see the gears in his brain starting to turn.
"Yes…"
"And was her name Karin?"
Groaning quietly, Sasuke ran a hand down the side of his face. All of his anger and confusion instantly melted away, and instead they were replaced by an unimpressed stare.
"Has she been harassing you?" he asked, and I was tempted to laugh. At least he knew what Karin was about…
"For three days now," I confirmed, nodding my head. "All she's been doing is grabbing me, telling me to 'stay away from her man'—aka you—and then running away."
Sasuke sighed. "Sorry…"
"Nah, don't worry about it," I said, waving my hand to dismiss his worries. "But did you really date her?"
"Actually, I never did," he responded, crossing his arms. I furrowed my brow, shocked.
"What?"
"I never dated her," he confirmed again. "She was just…I don't know—she liked me and apparently never figured out that I wasn't interested in a relationship of any sort."
"But you are now?" I asked somewhat jokingly. Sasuke sent me an annoyed look and I quickly held my hands up defensively.
"Got it," I said, and then sighed quietly. "So, what should I do about it? Karin, I mean."
"You don't have to do anything," he replied, face becoming hard and serious. He brushed past me, about to head back into the cafeteria.
"I'll take care of it."
"Oooh no!" I said and grabbed him, halting his movement before he could get too far out of my reach. Pausing, Sasuke glanced back at me. "It's me she's been messing with for the last few days," I said. "So you're free to take care of it—but I'll be there with you."
Smirking slightly, Sasuke shrugged out of my grasp and turned his back to me again.
"Fine," he said, walking back into the cafeteria. "Then meet me in the hall in front of the gym after school."
"Ossu," I replied and strut after him back towards our lunch table. He didn't deserve to have all the fun, after all! I wanted to see Karin's face when he turned her down too!
When the bell rung, announcing the end of the school day, I quickly grabbed my backpack, yelled a goodbye to Sasori, Konan, and Sakura over my shoulder, and then ran towards the nearest stairwell. I weaved through the hoards of teens heading for their cars or the buses, and exited in front of the gym. Sasuke wasn't there yet, so I stood in front of the many trophy cases and decided to wait.
"Oi, what the fuck are you doing here?!"
Not happy to hear the now familiar female voice, I turned to look at her, but instead of frowning smiled sweetly.
"Hi!" I said in return, and she seemed almost puzzled by my attitude. However, it was quickly forgotten when the door to the stairwell behind me creaked open.
"Sasuke-kun!" Karin called, her anger instantly melting away at the sight of Uchiha. Stoic faced, Sasuke walked up beside me.
"Hi there, Sasuke-kun~," I said jokingly, smile still in place, and he raised an eyebrow.
"Aren't you having too much fun?" he said.
"There's never such a thing as too much fun," I replied seriously and he blew a laugh, shaking his head slightly. The way we were acting, though, seemed to piss off Karin.
"See!" she said and suddenly pointed a finger at me accusingly, her bad attitude returning. "Don't you see what's she's done to you, Sasuke-kun!"
Sasuke's face remained neutral. "I don't," he said, "explain."
"Well, she's ensnared you in her lies!" Karin yelled.
"Ensnared? What lies?" I whispered aloud, disbelieving of her words. She was accusing me of lying when she was the liar! "I—"
Sasuke nudged me slightly, making me stop. Luckily, Karin didn't see that he had touched me or she would've flipped a shit…
"She's tricked you into befriending her just so she can get close to you and keep her for yourself!" Karin continued passionately. Sasuke shifted his eyes down towards me.
"You want me for yourself?" he said, and I could see a smirk threatening to form on his lips. Holding back a blush, I responded;
"You make it sound so dirty…"
However, on the other hand, I was glad to see that Sasuke was taking Karin's accusations just about as serious as I was.
"Well, Karin," Sasuke finally responded, sternly looking forward at the pink haired girl who was a couple feet down the hall from us. "Do you have any evidence to prove it?"
"Uh, um, well," she stuttered her determination decreasing substantially. "No, but…"
"Then Aerin is clearly innocent, right?" Sasuke continued. I was trying my best to hold back a smile. Take that bitch! Sasuke's on my side!
However, Karin didn't seem willing to give up yet. Stomping her foot on the ground, she clenched her fists at her sides and declared—
"So does this mean you like her back?!"
I froze, and for once, Sasuke façade seemed to slip out of place. His eyes widened and his body stiffened. He was caught off guard by her question.
"I'm sorry?" he finally said. Karin's face was turning red with frustration. This whole thing wasn't going her way at all…
"You two like each other…," she suddenly gasped, somehow coming to that conclusion. Sasuke and I blinked in shocked and glanced over at each other.
"I…think you've got the wrong idea here…," I finally decided to put in, stunned. "We…"
"…we don't like each other," Sasuke continued for me when my words faded off. Sadly, Karin still didn't seem convinced, and she was getting angry once again.
"Oh really?! Well, if you two don't like each other than prove it!"
I stared at her, bewildered. "How?"
Karin racked her brain for a couple seconds before she seemed to come up with an answer.
"Kiss each other!"
Immediately, I felt like the world had frozen over. If I had been in an anime, I would've already face planted on the floor. And by the looks of it, Sasuke would've too.
"Excuse me?!" I yelled back at her. What kind of plan was that!? Have the two people who don't like each other kiss?! Doing something like that would only pair us together, idiot!
"You heard me," Karin responded strongly, apparently not seeing the flaws in her plan. "Kiss each other to prove you don't have any feelings!"
Doubtful, I glanced over to Sasuke. The Uchiha looked down to me at the same time, and I could see that there was a calculating look in his eyes. At first I was puzzled by it, but then realized something…
Karin wanted us to kiss…a plan formed in my head—and I wasn't sure if Sasuke had read my mind and caught onto it, but I knew it would work.
"Oh, you want us to kiss?" I said teasingly, looking back to Karin. The pink haired female held a look of shock as I grabbed Sasuke's hand and placed it on my waist. He looked stunned as well as I moved in front of him and wrapped my arms around his neck, pressing our bodies together.
"But just remember Karin," I said with a grin, glancing over my shoulder at her. "It'll be me he's kissing…not you."
And then I leaned up towards Sasuke's face and I could see that he was still stunned. Not dropping my grin, I winked at him, and he immediately seemed catch onto what I was doing. However, before he could play along his eyes shifted past me up the hall, widening, and before I could react I was ripped from him. My butt hit the ground hard, and I cursed.
When I finally gained my bearings I looked up to find Karin grabbing onto Sasuke's arm tightly, and Sasuke shifting his eyes between glaring at Karin and looking to me to see if I was alright.
"You can't kiss him!" Karin suddenly exclaimed loudly, and I swear there were tears in her eyes. Sasuke was looking down at her in slight distaste, but she wasn't paying attention. "He's mine!"
Sighing, I nodded. My butt hurt and I really didn't want to put up a fight anymore…I just wanted Karin to be gone.
"That proves we don't like each other then, right?" I said to her, and Karin bobbed her head furiously.
"Clearly! Couldn't you see how disgusted Sasuke was that you were grabbing onto him?!"
Snorting a laugh, I stopped myself from rolling my eyes. If only Karin could see the look Sasuke was giving her right now…if looks could kill, Sasuke's would've engulfed her in flames.
And then I was forgotten about. Karin was preoccupied with rubbing her face against Sasuke's shoulder and the Uchiha was too busy glaring at her to remember me.
…but then another idea popped into the head. I figured the first one had worked—so this one might as well, right? Sasuke would probably be angry at me for what I was about to say though…
Oh well, he'd get over it.
"Oh Karin," I sighed loudly, attracting both her and Sasuke's attention once again. I shook my head at her, looking sorry. "Can't you tell that Sasuke's uncomfortable with you right now?"
"What!" she immediately gasped. "Sasuke isn't—"
"And it's not just you!" I interrupted. "It's me and other girls in general."
For once, Karin paused to listen to what I had to say.
"Karin," I said, pausing for dramatic effect. I had to keep myself from grinning. "…Sasuke is gay."
For a good five seconds the hallway remained deathly silent. Sasuke's mouth was wide open, and he looked as offended as I'd ever seen him. Karin, however, looked as if she was going to cry once again.
"Sasuke," she said and looked up to him. The Uchiha immediately regained his bearings, not wanting to ruin the plan that seemed to be working.
Her grip on his arm loosened and she stepped back.
"Is…is it true?"
"Uh, yeah," he said glancing off to the side. His cheeks turned pink and his voice was quiet. I soon realized that he was embarrassed to admit it…even if it was a complete lie.
"S-Sasuke," Karin stuttered and stumbled back, releasing his arm completely. She searched his dark eyes for a few seconds and then turned on her heal, running down the hallway. Once she was gone I heaved myself up off the floor. Sasuke looked over to me, the tips of his ears flushed.
"I'm gay?!" he said, bewildered. I shrugged.
"What else was I supposed to do?! You wanted her gone and now she's gone!"
"But I'm not gay!" he said, throwing his hands up into the air. I blinked. This was the most defensive I had ever seen him I think…
"I know you're not gay…," I said slowly and placed a hand on his shoulder. Sasuke sighed and hung his head.
"Are you okay?" I finally said, wondering if his pride had been dented that bad. The Uchiha shook his head, seeming to pull himself back together.
"Actually, I think Karin cut of the circulation in my arm," he mumbled, messaging the area that she'd been grasping onto tightly. I laughed and patted him.
"Whatever, dude. What do you say that we both head home now?"
Nodding, Sasuke turned and together we both exited the school building. As we walked across the parking lot towards our cars, Sasuke suddenly paused.
"What's up?" I said, looking over at him. He blinked, apparently not realizing that he had stopped.
"Oh, I just wanted you not to think that I don't like you, because I do," he said. I blinked and cocked my head to the side.
"What?"
Did he even know what he was saying?
"Earlier," he said. "We said we didn't like each other to get Karin away, but I like you…," Sasuke suddenly paused, seeming to realize the connotation of his words. "You're one of my good friends!" he added in quickly, his ears reddening once again
Immediately I released a sigh of relief and disappointment. For a moment I thought Sasuke had been trying to admit something…I mean, I had known that he'd meant like a friend beforehand, but if he'd meant it in another way it certainly wouldn't have been unwelcomed…
"Well, if it means anything," I said with a grin. "I like you too."
Breathing a laugh, Sasuke stepped up next to me and together the two of us started towards are cars once again.
"Hey," Sasuke called just as we were splitting off. I paused to look back at him. "It's Friday, so you wanna go out and eat Chinese food or something?"
Smiling, I nodded at him happily. "Sure!"
At least at the end of the day I was in possession of one thing Karin wasn't—Sasuke's friendship.
…In other words—I never watched to see that pink haired fangirl again…
Yo! It's been a week so I figure it's about time I owe you guys another update! After all, I start school in a little over a week, 9/2, and depending on my schedule I don't know how fast I'll be updating during the school year...I promise I'll update once more (maybe twice but probably only once because I'm busy af next week) before school starts for me. Hopefully, I'll know my schedule by then too, so I can let you guys know how things are probably gonna play out...
Also, it took me so long to update because I was working on writing on the epilogue...ehehee? I'm kind of out of order, aren't I? But I can't help it! I'm looking forward to the end of this story, and I think you guys should like it too! Maybe...? We'll see.
In other news, I'm going up north tomorrow! :D It'll be a nice, short break, and hopefully it'll be a lot of fun. Usually it is, because we go up with all our family friends...but you know...
Either way, I'm sure I'll make the best of it!
In other news, apparently my mom has a boyfriend...I was kind of shocked (but not really cause I'd figured out that she was starting to date again a while ago...) but who am I to stop her from moving on, you know? It's been almost a year since my dad passed away, so maybe it's time for her to start moving on, you know? Actually, the biggest thing I'm upset about is that she's got a boyfriend before I have...it's kinda frustrating. I feel like she's beating me lol.
But, anyway, Haikyuu! is my new favorite thing. They're all perfect. I can't even tell you. Haikyuu! is my new muse. It never fails to make me happy. Also, just started watching an anime called Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun! It's freaking great, and I suggest you check it out.
Now I'm watching 8 anime a week. Oh boy...
But yeah, I think that's all I've got to say! Have a good weekend! Enjoy life.
And...
Please Review!