Disclaimer: I didn't own Naruto last week, and as far as I know, I still don't own Naruto this week. There's always next week, though…
Author's Note: I'm not going to go on a lengthy rant before the chapter. I just want to plug my other stories. First is Konoha High Trysts, a series of HS AU one-shots that are all yaoi. It is now complete. Next up is Life Moves On: Back to Life, the remake of my previous multi-chap fic, which currently has a prologue and three chapters. It would mean so much if you'd check those out and review them.
This chapter was betaed by Merciless Angels Never Cry.
Chapter Thirty-Eight: The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same
Suigetsu looked over the back of the cereal box, engrossed by the cartoony games they had. In the background, he heard Sasuke and Mikoto argue as the raven tried to get his mother to let him drive her to the psychiatrist's office.
"I'm very capable of driving, mother," Sasuke said, trying to keep the contempt out of his voice.
"I'm sure you are, Sasuke," Mikoto assured him. "But I'd just feel better if I drove. You can have shotgun," she added, as if that was going to get him to acquiesce.
"If you're going to drive, then I don't need to go," he reasoned.
"You know I need you to direct me to the office," she told him.
"Then let me drive! It'll make things so much easier!"
Suigetsu couldn't take the arguing anymore. He put the box down on the table and turned to the two bickering Uchihas. "Sasuke's the most careful driver I've ever met," Suigetsu told Mikoto, knowing that Sasuke was right. It was easier for him to drive if he was the only one who knew where they were going. "He drives like my grandmother."
Mikoto didn't seem to like being ganged up on, but she accepted anyway. If Suigetsu was vouching for Sasuke, then she didn't really have a leg to stand on. Besides, how bad could it really be?
Suigetsu was just grateful when they left. As much as he was grateful to Sasuke and Itachi for taking him and his brother in, Suigetsu was uncomfortable with how full the house seemed. Kakashi wasn't here all that often, so he wasn't really a contributing factor to his discomfort, but the fact that his ex-fiancé/baby momma moved in here as well was just a bit too awkward for his tastes.
As if summoned by his thoughts, Hinata chose that moment to enter the room. She was wearing a sky-blue nightgown, and she immediately made her way towards the fridge. She poured herself a glass of orange juice before moving over to the table.
"I thought they'd never leave," she said. Suigetsu figured she was talking more to herself than she was to him. She laid five or six pills on the table as she began to take her medication one at a time. She still had a lot of pre-natal vitamins and other pregnancy-things left over from when Hiashi was taking care of her medical bills. A part of him wondered how that would work when the pills ran out.
Suigetsu turned the page of the newspaper's local section. He'd already finished the depressing section on the world, and he hoped that reading a little more about Konoha would keep his minds off some of his troubles.
"You're up early," she commented. Not many people could call 11:30 am early, but considering Suigetsu had worked the late-night shift last night, he'd only had a few hours of restless sleep.
"I can't sleep well these days," he commented, turning the page. Every time he went to sleep in the comfortable bed in Sasuke's bedroom, he was reminded that he wasn't sleeping in his room in the dorms anymore. And he wasn't sleeping in his room in the dorms anymore because he couldn't afford to go to school anymore. And he couldn't afford to go to school anymore because Hinata broke off his engagement.
He couldn't help but resent her for that. He might not be Prince Charming, but he was the solution to her problems, as she was the solution to his. If she hadn't broken off the engagement, they would have lived in the lap of luxury at the Hyuga Mansion. They'd both be attending school, and they'd both have money. Instead, he was mooching off his best friend, as was she, and his wage at the bar could only pay towards the food shopping.
Part of the conditions he set for himself, knowing that there wasn't an end to his stay at the mansion in the near future, was that he would contribute his fair share of money towards grocery shopping, as well as paying a meager rent. He did what he could, putting in some extra hours at Mangekyo that he didn't record so that Itachi and Sasuke didn't have to pay him overtime. He tried to be the best employee, housemate, and roommate that anyone could ask for, but it was hard. He'd never felt so drained.
He hated almost everyone these days. His brother, who had invested all their money in the stock market and caused the mess. Hiashi, who bought up their house to blackmail them and then kicked them out when Suigetsu couldn't live up to the blackmail. Hinata, who broke off their engagement and thrust them all into the abyss of poverty. Sasuke and Itachi were the only ones who he came out of this ordeal respecting and liking more than he had beforehand.
As much as he resented Hinata, however, a big part of him was still hung up on her. He'd spent so much time envisioning a future together, growing close out of mutual dislike of her father, and allowed himself to get attached. He'd pictured their family together – not just one kid born out of a drunken mistake, but many kids, born out of love. He allowed himself to grow attached, and she spent months stringing him along when in the end, she stopped his visions from coming true.
"Suigetsu, we need to talk," Hinata finally said after a few minutes of silence.
"Unless it's about the baby, I don't have anything to say," Suigetsu said dismissively as he continued to scan the page. He sometimes looked at the classifieds, hoping against hope there would be an affordable apartment to move into and not have to deal with all the drama anymore.
"It is about the baby," Hinata replied, earning his full attention. He set the paper aside. "I know you're trying really hard to earn a living, but I need money too. If we're going to make sure that our child is healthy, I need to see a good ob/gyn. I'm not making any income, and you have an equal responsibility to the child as I do."
"I don't have any money to give you, or I would," Suigetsu said defensively. "You know I would. But after I pay what I can for room and board here, I really don't have anything left except gas money to get to work."
"Sasuke and Itachi never asked for room and board," Hinata told him.
"I'm not a freeloader," he said, sounding offended. "I'll give what I can to them for what they're doing for me. And for our child."
"Then I don't know what to do," Hinata admitted. "I don't have the money to take care of our child, and if you insist on paying them back when they don't ask, then you won't have anything left to support the baby either."
"You should look into welfare," Suigetsu suggested, immediately taking note of her horrified look. Going from filthy rich to welfare in a few months must be a hard adjustment, but if neither of them could provide for the baby, then it was a necessary one. Suigetsu was about to talk more when the doorbell rang. Hinata moved to open the door, but Suigetsu held a hand out. "I'll get it. Sit down and eat breakfast."
She complied, and he left the room to see who was knocking on their door. When the threw open the door expecting to see a UPS man or something, he was surprised to be looking at a rather dapper member of the Hyuga Corp. "Hello," he said amiably. He'd remembered his face from the New Year's Eve function, but couldn't for the life of him remember the man's name.
"Takashi Moguki," the man introduced himself, for which Suigetsu was grateful. "We spoke–"
"At the New Year's party, I remember," Suigetsu said with a nod. Suddenly, Suigetsu remembered exactly what they spoke about at the party – taking Hyuga Hiashi down. The conversation they had about their particular motives for taking him down flew through Suigetsu's mind as Moguki stood on the steps outside the mansion. Suddenly, as if he'd finally returned to the present, Suigetsu stepped aside. "Please come in."
Moguki followed him inside the house, and they idly spoke of what had changed in recent months. It mostly involved Suigetsu telling him about Sasuke taking him and Hinata in. Suigetsu didn't bring him back inside the kitchen, but instead brought him up to the study on the second floor. It was almost never used except by Kakashi when he wanted to read, but it was empty for now. Suigetsu closed the double doors behind them, and offered Moguki a seat.
Suigetsu walked over to the large desk in the other side which belonged to absolutely no one anymore, and sat down in the nice chair. It made him feel like a big shot, but he only really did it because he had some gin hidden in the empty desk. He pulled the bottle and some glasses out.
"Would you like some?" he asked Moguki as he poured himself some liquid courage. If they were going to continue their discussion about Hiashi, Suigetsu would definitely need it. Moguki nodded, so Suigetsu poured the other glass and handed it to the man who was sitting across the desk. "I assume this visit isn't just social?"
"You'd assume correctly," Moguki said, putting a manila folder on the desk. It was filled with papers, and Suigetsu wondered how he never saw that in his hands before. He pulled the folder to him and opened it up, seeing a bunch of financial records for Hyuga Corp. between the years 1992 and 1999.
"How did you get these?" he asked as he looked over the first few sheets. The only things that stood out to him were various transactions between Hyuga Corp. and another company, Mangekyo Industries. Suigetsu remembered the name from their talk a few months ago, but it stood out more to him now that he worked at Sasuke and Itachi's bar, Mangekyo.
"I have a friend inside Hyuga," Moguki told the other man. "I am mostly here as a courtesy. I was able to use the information you gave me about your relationship with Hiashi's daughter to end his immediate takeover plans, but he still has ambitions that must be stopped. I'm sure you agree." Suigetsu nodded hesitantly.
Hiashi's daughter was just downstairs, contemplating going on welfare. If they destroyed Hiashi, would he be more or less likely to accept his daughter's return? He hoped the former, because this was their only chance at changing the status quo.
"I told you about the funding Hyuga Corp. was giving to Mangekyo Industries for a certain drug that was being tested, correct?" he asked Suigetsu, who nodded. Moguki continued. "I continued digging, and found that Hyuga had started its funding when the drug began being developed, and it ended very abruptly."
He stood and reached over the desk so he could flip through papers. "The funding increased by small incriments over the years, but in December 1999, funding halted. I was able to dig up more on the drug, and found this." He flipped more pages until he was looking at a blank sheet with an eye in the middle. Instead of a normal pupil, there were three black tomoe on a red background, with words creating a ring around the eye. 'The Sharingan Project,' it said.
"The Sharingan Project," Moguki said it aloud. He flipped the page, and Suigetsu saw a lot of chemistry and biology jargon explaining the drug. "It's primary function is repairing cells that otherwise can't be repaired, such as nerve cells. It could cure paralysis, for instance, and save many lives. Unfortunately, in December 1999, right when the funding stopped, the Sharingan Project began human testing." Suigetsu furrowed his brows. Why did the month of December 1999 seem significant? "Illegal human trials."
Suigetsu's eyes went wide as he recounted countless conversations between he and Sasuke about his mother and her captivity. About what had kept her away from her family for over a decade. The pieces all fit together in Suigetsu's mind, as he remembered that Mikoto and Fugaku Uchiha supposedly died in December 1999, and it was the same month that they began treatment with the illegal drug, courtesy of Madara and Senju Hashirama.
"Living with who you're living with, I'm sure you understand where I'm going with this," Moguki said with a smirk, as a dumbfounded Suigetsu just nodded. He looked at his gin and downed an entire shot before pouring more. It was going to be a long day. "The best part is that the connection between Hyuga Corp. and Mangekyo Industries isn't just illegal due to the illegality of the drug, but because of other things Mangekyo Industries has financed." He flipped a few more pages.
"This is Uchiha Madara's company," Suigetsu observed, understanding now why it had the same name as Madara's bar. Moguki nodded.
"Its current CEO, who goes by the name Tobi, has taken over the day-to-day operations of Madara illicit dealings." He could see that Suigetsu didn't fully understand. "Mangekyo Industries is a front for Madara's old organization. The mob," he added as an afterthought, smirking even more at Suigetsu's understanding.
"He's going to go to prison," Suigetsu realized.
"For a long time," Moguki said. "Or he might just cop a plea and make a bargain to help the authorities trap Tobi and take down the organization. Either way, as soon as I give this to the authorities, Hyuga Corp. is over."
"No!" Suigetsu exclaimed quickly, earning a weird look from Moguki. "I'm sorry, but this company is my son's future. I can't just let you take it down." He closed the folder and pulled it towards him. If push came to shove, he needed to keep the evidence from Moguki so it wouldn't see the light of day. "I'm all for taking Hiashi down, but not at the expense of the company."
"Keep that if you want," Moguki said with an angry look on his face. "I have another copy of all of it. I'm calling a press conference for tomorrow, and I will announce to the world what is going on. I will take Hiashi down, even if it means taking the entire company down with him." He stood to leave, but Suigetsu jumped and grabbed his arm.
"Wait!" he said frantically. "What if there's another way."
"There's no other way," Moguki told him sternly.
"Give me a chance," Suigetsu pleaded. "I will make sure that Hiashi steps down as CEO of Hyuga Corp. and puts someone who is a friend to both of us in the position. We'll leave your company alone, and we'll still have our company."
After a moment's hesitation, Moguki responded. "What is your plan?"
"Just trust me," Suigetsu said. "If I can't get Hiashi to roll over within a week, you can go to the authorities, to the press, to anyone you want. Just give me a week."
He waited with bated breath for the answer.
"One week," Takashi Moguki said sternly before leaving Suigetsu alone with his thoughts.
"It's good to see you again, Sasuke," Dr. Kishimoto told the raven. Sasuke and Mikoto were sitting in the waiting room, waiting for one of the psychiatrist's patients from the hospital to leave. Mikoto found it a little disconcerting that she was seeing someone who worked at a mental hospital, but Sasuke explained things as well to her as possible without mentioning Naruto's brief stint in the hospital.
"It's my mother's appointment," Sasuke said. He had no desire to see this man anymore. He still couldn't forget the man's advice to talk to his uncle, which directly resulted in Madara's suicide and further depression for Sasuke. He couldn't see a man whose advice caused so many problems, even if Naruto was adamant that he was a great doctor.
"If you ever want to see me again, I'm sure Naruto will give you my number," Dr. Kishimoto told him. Sasuke nodded, not wanting to get into all the reasons that would never happen. He motioned for Mikoto to enter the office, and she did. Sasuke returned to his phone and began to play a game. He had to wait there for his mother, since the hospital was too out of the way for him to leave, do something, and come back.
About fifteen minutes later, the door opened, and Dr. Kishimoto stood in the door way looking at Sasuke.
"If it wouldn't be too much to ask, would you join us?" he asked. Not wanting to be rude, Sasuke stopped playing his game and stood up, following the psychiatrist into the room. He sat on the chair next to the sofa that his mother occupied. "Since the main issue in her return seems to be her relationship with you, I am of the opinion that you need some relationship therapy together as opposed to separate therapy. Are you opposed to that?"
In truth, of course Sasuke was. He didn't really trust Dr. Kishimoto to give him good advice or to be helpful in any way. But if he could possibly help him and his mother gain a decent relationship, then it was worth a try, wasn't it? He shrugged in response, and Dr. Kishimoto smiled.
"Excellent," he said. "Let's begin with the understanding that we have to be wholly truthful and honest in this room and outside, alright?" he asked the two Uchihas. Sasuke nodded and Mikoto followed. "There must also be an understanding that if the other person tells you the honest truth about how they feel, you must accept their feelings, even if you don't like them. Everyone's feelings are valid." Sasuke and Mikoto both nodded again.
"Good," he said. "Let's begin this session talking about the argument you had earlier. Sasuke, I heard your mother's side of the story. Do you mind telling me your side?"
"This has been a recurring issue," he told the doctor coolly. "Her doctors had said that she wasn't well enough to drive, and won't be until she's fully rehabbed her muscles. That means that either Kakashi, Itachi, or myself end up driving her places. She has no problem when they drive, but as soon as I get behind the wheel, she freaks out."
"I don't freak out," Mikoto said dismissively.
"Please, Mikoto," Dr. Kishimoto said. "Don't interrupt Sasuke. What did we say about feelings being valid?" Mikoto took the cue to shut up. "Continue," he urged Sasuke.
"Like today, Kakashi and Itachi weren't able to drive her here," he continued. "She insisted on driving, despite not being given the okay from her doctors and not knowing where you are, just because she doesn't think I'm a good driver." Dr. Kishimoto nodded.
"Mikoto, do you think Sasuke is a bad driver?" he asked her.
"I never said he was a bad driver," Mikoto defended. "He just doesn't have much experience driving, so it would be easier if I drove."
"I've been driving for years!" Sasuke yelled at her. He turned to the doctor. "She just has a hard time accepting that I'm an adult and I have experience in driving, among other things."
"What other things?" Dr. Kishimoto asked before Mikoto could interrupt. Sasuke gave his mother a look, and his cheeks tinted slightly.
"Sexual things," he admitted, not particularly wanting to talk about his sex life in front of his mother. Dr. Kishimoto nodded, and Sasuke assumed that Naruto had told him about their consummation in one of his recent visits. "She gives me a hard time every time I sleep over at Naruto's, and every time Naruto comes over to the mansion, she is constantly hovering. She doesn't want us to be alone together."
"Is this true?" he asked Mikoto, who looked offended.
"You can't tell me you think it's a good idea for Sasuke to have sex with his boyfriend!" Mikoto exclaimed. "They're far too young. He should only have sex when he falls in love with someone."
"I am in love with him, Mom!" Sasuke yelled at her.
"I know you think that's love, but it's not a lasting love," she told him. "You're just a kid. You don't know what love is yet." Her condescending attitude completely enraged Sasuke. Who was she to tell him that he couldn't feel love because he was too young.
"Mikoto–" Dr. Kishimoto said, but Sasuke interrupted.
"You have no idea what my relationship with Naruto is like!" he screamed. "Who are you to judge how we feel."
"I'm your mother," she told him coolly. "I know what's best for you. You're only nineteen for Christ's sake! You're not mature enough to have a mature love like that."
"You can't tell me how mature I am! You don't even know me!" he yelled at her. He could see he struck a nerve, but he kept going, ignoring Dr. Kishimoto's insistence that they stop yelling. "You have no idea who I am or what I've had to go through!"
"SASUKE!" The raven was surprised that the psychiatrist was able to cut through his screaming, and he immediately backed down. Dr. Kishimoto's voice returned to normal. "Don't shout in this room, if you don't mind. We're not here to yell at each other; we're here to understand each other. If you can't speak without yelling, I'm going to have to ask you to leave." Sasuke nodded.
"Now, Sasuke, your mother seems to be under the impression that you're not mature enough to have sex and the feelings attached to that," Dr. Kishimoto said. 'Thanks, Captain Obvious,' Sasuke thought to himself. 'I think I figured that one out months ago. And we're actually paying you by the hour.' "In a calm tone, please explain why you don't think she's right."
"Because, mother," he said, with bite in his tone. "I have gone through things in the last few years that made me mature faster. I might only be nineteen, but I know that what I feel for Naruto is real."
"Mikoto?" Dr. Kishimoto asked. "Your response?"
"I know you think that your feelings for him are the real deal, but they're not," Mikoto told him. "You haven't seen enough of the world to know. Until you feel that real love, you shouldn't be sexually active."
Dr. Kishimoto saw that Sasuke was gearing up to explode again, so he changed his direction. "Sasuke, why don't you tell Mikoto some of what you – and Naruto – have gone through to make you feel like you're mature enough to have real, deep feelings for him." Sasuke was hesitant to tell her their story, because he wanted to talk to Naruto about how much he was comfortable with sharing, but decided that it was best she knew it all. Maybe Dr. Kishimoto was right and it would make her understand.
He looked at his mother as he began to speak, their eyes locking. "Naruto was raped," he started off. He could see the horror in her eyes, and knew there would soon be more. "By his father," he added, and he was right. Her expression grew even more horrified. "And then I killed him. His father," he specified, although it was pretty obvious who he meant. He closed his eyes, not wanting to see her reaction to what he was about to tell her.
"He had some mental problems," Sasuke continued. "At first, he had something called Dissociative Gender Disorder because of the rape, where he believed himself to be a girl and me to be his boyfriend. Since he was only in the position to get raped because of something I did to him, I pretended to be his boyfriend for months, and I started to feel something for him.
"After a while, he had another breakdown, and he couldn't see me without seeing his father for some reason," he went on. "I switched schools and stayed away, but he saw me pick up some of his friends to hang out with them, and thought that I, as his father, was going to do something bad to them. He followed me to the mansion where he shot me." He opened his eyes and saw Mikoto's expression had completely shifted. She was no longer horrified, but instead a mixture of sad, guilty, and concerned. "He ended up in this hospital for a few months because of all his issues, but was released and became my roommate.
"By this time, I already knew I had feelings for him," Sasuke continued. "I was already in a–" he paused, trying to find a good way to phrase it "– no strings attached relationship with someone else." He didn't want her to know that his current roommate at the mansion was once his fuck buddy. Somehow, he figured that wouldn't work out well. "That relationship ended, and Naruto eventually realized he was gay. That was months ago.
"Since then, I caused Uncle Madara to kill himself, went into a deep depression, was almost killed in the compound that you were being kept in by one of the goons there – Naruto ended up saving me by killing him. Oh, and this entire time, for years, I've been an alcoholic who has spent months at a time doing nothing but drinking." He opened his eyes again and saw horror back in her eyes. "We're not kids anymore, Mom."
She didn't speak; she just picked herself up and ran out of the room as well as she could. She still had a few problems walking, and she'd left her cane at home. Sasuke stood to follow her, but Dr. Kishimoto stopped him.
"She needs time to let that sink in," he said, so Sasuke stayed, and they talked more. About Mikoto, about Naruto. They spoke about Itachi and Madara, and Suigetsu and Hinata. And before Sasuke knew it, the hour was up. He was actually feeling much better now than he had before the appointment. He found Mikoto sitting by his car.
"Let's go," he told her, and she nodded. They wordlessly entered the car, and Sasuke was soon zooming down the highway. They were still silent. They were silent when they got to the house, and they silently parted ways after she gave him a long, lingering hug and a kiss on the forehead.
Sasuke entered the office silently, not wanting to interrupt the woman at the desk. He was currently at the administrative offices of Konoha University, in the First Year Experience area. All the first-year students had to come here to register for the next semester of classes, so that the advisors could walk them through it.
His advisor, Gekko Hayate, was currently advising two girls who had some need to have the exact same classes. Because of the way the advising worked, he had to do them one at a time and then let them compare schedules and fix what needed to be fixed. Sasuke got ready for a long wait.
When the girls were finally finished, Sasuke moved from the sofa in Professor Gekko's office to the chair in front of his desk. The older man looked at his appointment schedule before turning back. "Hello, Sasuke. How are you today?"
"Fine," Sasuke said shortly.
"Good," Professor Gekko told him. He looked over at the computer. "Can I have your student ID number?" he asked. Sasuke told him it and watched as he entered the numbers in. "It looks like you've fulfilled all your general education requirements. From now on, every course you take will be towards your major or minor." He frowned at the monitor. "It says here that you haven't declared a major yet. Before we go any further, why don't we decide on a major for you?" he turned away from the computer to face Sasuke. "Any ideas?"
Sasuke shrugged his shoulders. He'd never even thought about what he wanted to do. He had no idea what major he should declare for. "I don't know what I wanna do," he admitted.
"Well, all second-year students and up need a major," Professor Gekko told him. "We can always change it later if you decide to change your mind." Sasuke nodded. "So what do you like to do?"
Sasuke almost said "have sex," but he stopped himself at the last minute. That wasn't a profession one would need a college education for. Instead, he just shrugged his shoulders. Hayate rolled his eyes.
"Come on, Sasuke. Work with me. What do you do in your free time?"
"Hang out with friends," he told the advisor. 'Argue with my mother, fuck my boyfriend, try not to drink.' None of those were hobbies, though, so Sasuke didn't add them.
"You don't write?" Professor Gekko asked. Sasuke shook his head. "Draw?" Sasuke shook his head. "Have you ever had a job?" Sasuke shook his head. He could see Professor Gekko starting to get a little frustrated. "What subject do you like?"
"Math," Sasuke said with a shrug. Professor Gekko's eyes lit up. "Good. How about engineering?"
"Ew," was Sasuke's only comment. Hayate's eye twitched.
"How about accounting?" Sasuke shook his head. "Teaching?" Another shake of his head. "Doctor?" Sasuke shook his head. "Lawyer?" Sasuke shook his head. "Don't make this hard," he told the raven. "What are you good at?"
"History," Sasuke said. Hayate opened his mouth to speak, but Sasuke cut through. "I hate history." Hayate frowned.
"There has to have been some job you'd thought of having," Hayate asserted.
"I wanted to be President for a while," Sasuke said with a shrug.
"Politics!" Hayate yelled excitedly. He turned to his computer and put 'political science' into the search bar before Sasuke interrupted him.
"That was when I was five." He could see a vein stick out above Hayate's eyes.
"I can't help you then," he said with a shrug. He turned to his computer. "Until you figure out what you want to declare, I'll just call you a Math major, alright? You can change that later on if you decide on something else. As for your classes, I'll give you two math classes in case you want to stick with math, and two history classes so that you don't lower your GPA. Is that alright?"
"Yeah," Sasuke said absent-mindedly. As he left the office with his fall schedule in hand, he began to wonder about his future. He'd never really thought about the future at all. It's not like he particularly needed a job. He was rich enough that he could live his life comfortably without earning another penny in his life, and still have a decent amount left over at the end. But he needed something to do all day. He needed a job that he loved.
So why couldn't he think of anything?
It was kind of unnerving how absolutely no career seemed to be the right choice for him. Everything he thought of on the ride back to the mansion was somehow undesirable. Either the hours were too long or the work too tedious. Then there were jobs that just sounded boring.
The thoughts were recurring throughout the rest of the day. Back at home, dinner was a lot less tense than it usually was. Mikoto didn't speak a word, probably still thinking about all the things Sasuke had told her today. Sasuke, meanwhile, was still quiet contemplating what he'd spoken with Hayate about.
'I wonder what Naruto declared,' he wondered. He knew what most of his friends wanted. Neji and Sakura were both going into business; Gaara wanted to be a doctor; Hinata and Suigetsu weren't in school anymore; Kiba wanted to be a vet; Shikamaru wanted to be a geologist, and Ino was trying to decide whether she wanted to become a beautician or become an entrepreneur and start up a party-planning business. Just in case, she had declared business as her major.
Naruto was the only wild-card in there, which was weird, because he was the one Sasuke was closest to. He wondered if Naruto had the same indecisive problem that Sasuke had. Most of the people who went to Konoha University ended up in the Business School because it was one of its best programs. He wondered if Naruto would go for business or do something else.
Sasuke thought of all the jobs he'd ever considered in his life, but none were the right fit for him. Maybe he should hop on the bandwagon and become a business major like his brother and half of his friends. He did have a stake in Madara's bar, and if he felt confident enough that he wouldn't relapse, maybe he could have a more hands-on role. By the time he graduated, alcohol might not even be a problem for him.
Even if it was, there was a lot one could do with a business degree. Sasuke was almost guaranteed a job at Hyuga Corp. if Neji did turn out to be Hiashi's successor. Hell, he had enough money to start his own business if he wanted. But still, being a CEO or a business owner wasn't what he wanted from life.
Come to think of it, what did he want from life? Sasuke posed the question to himself, but he didn't have an answer.
'I have Naruto. He's all I wanted for so long.' But still, his relationship can't be the only thing he has going for him in his life. He needed something else. But he didn't know what it was.
He went to sleep that night with the same questions ringing through his head.
What do you want to do? What do you want from life? What is your future?
"I don't know," he whispered so softly that even Suigetsu couldn't hear him from a few feet away.
Neji's phone buzzed on the table again, interrupting his train of thought. He picked it up and saw the same name on the screen as he had the last three times his phone rang. He pressed 'Ignore' and continued writing his paper. About ten seconds later, the phone beeped, indicating that Suigetsu had left him a voicemail message. Another one.
He went back to his paper, again. He stared at the blank page, wondering when he would actually get around to writing it. He looked back over at his notes and growled. His gaze returned to the empty Word document once more, and he slammed his laptop down in frustration. He wasn't getting any work done tonight.
The phone began to buzz again. "What do you want from me!" he yelled at the vibrating phone, but when he looked at it, he saw that it wasn't Suigetsu calling. Embracing the distraction from his paper, he pressed 'accept' on the phone and pressed it to his hear. "Sakura?" he asked.
"Hey Neji!" the pinkette said happily from the other line. "Are you doing anything?"
He gave his closed computer the briefest of looks before returning to the call. "Not at all," he said. "Wanna do something?"
"Sure," she said happily. "How about you come pick me up and we'll go see a movie or something."
"Sure," he said, a small smile growing on his face. "I'll see you in a bit."
A scant half-hour later, his car appeared in front of Sakura's dorm. He was about to call her when he saw her throw the front door open and run out towards the car, the door slamming behind her. She was dressed nicely – much nicer than Neji was. She was wearing a black skirt and white blouse. She opened the door and stepped inside the car.
"If I have to spend another minute doing absolutely nothing, I might just lose my mind," she told him. She flipped her hair and pulled down the visor, flipping open the mirror and beginning to apply makeup. "So is there anything you want to see?" Neji just shrugged. "How about a comedy? I could use a good laugh."
They ended up seeing the new movie about a university a capella group which was much funnier than Neji would have expected. It helped him get his mind off everything he'd been thinking about all day. His father, his cousin, his schoolwork. It was as if everything in Neji's life was meant to stress him out as much as possible.
But it was nice to just sit there in the cool movie theater, laughing at mindless fat jokes and some well-timed vomit. He could have done without the music, but he didn't complain. He could see that Sakura was really enjoying the movie as well. When the credits started rolling, they were the last two out of the theater.
"How about some dinner?" Sakura asked him. "I don't want to go back to the room yet. Ino's probably fucking Shikamaru right about now."
"That must be a great sight to walk into," Neji said sarcastically. They were able to find a fine little pizzeria near the movies to have some dinner. When Neji offered to pay for her pizza, Sakura just rolled her eyes and said she'd take care of it.
"So how are things going?" she asked him when they finally sat down. "I feel like we haven't talked in forever." She grew more serious. "Is your uncle still mad at you?"
"When isn't he?" Neji asked bitterly. "If he wasn't afraid of losing an heir, I would be begging on the streets or piling into the Uchiha mansion by now."
"It's not that bad, is it?" Sakura asked, concern evident in her face. Neji took a bite of his pizza before responding.
"Hinata refused his arranged marriage, and I'm still not entertaining his idea of marrying that Takashi girl just so that he can take a company. It's the twenty-first century, for crying out loud. We don't need to seal business arrangements with marriages anymore." He shook his head and took a deep breath.
He hadn't told Sakura the other cause of the growing tension between him and his uncle. Ever since he brought Sakura to the New Year's party, Hiashi insisted that Neji cut off all ties with her. She was a gold digger, was what Hiashi kept saying. It's not like they ever really had a romantic moment before, so Neji knew it was ridiculous.
As Hiashi kept urging him to accept this arranged engagement and cut off ties with Sakura simultaneously, Neji started thinking more and more of the pinkette in a romantic light. She was easy on the eyes, even if her dyed hair unnerved his uncle. If there was anything Hiashi hated more than Sakura's nose piercing, it was Sakura's pink hair. If it wasn't "normal," then it wasn't alright.
But Sakura wasn't normal. Which was okay, because Neji had a bellyful of normal, living in the Hyuga mansion all his life.
He let Sakura talk about how infuriating of a roommate Ino was, though. He didn't want to tell Sakura just how much Hiashi hated her, and he had even less intention of relaying Hiashi's fears of her "ambitions" to her. That was the last thing he wanted to do.
Still, he was wondering more and more often how Hiashi would react to him dating Sakura. It was bad enough going as friends to a business function. Hiashi would probably blow a fit. And the last thing he wanted to do was upset his uncle further. Their relationship was rocky enough as it was, and Hiashi had grown colder and colder since Hinata moved out.
Sakura was pretty, though, and she was a great person. She could get annoying sometimes, but in a much more tolerable way than Tenten had. He kept unconsciously comparing Sakura to his old girlfriend. She wasn't as acceptable to his uncle, and she was admittedly a lot better looking. He wondered how it took this many years into his friendship with her to start to realize that.
He knew it was incredibly rude to compare a friend to his ex – especially considering he and Tenten ended their relationship on amiable terms – but he couldn't stop himself. It wasn't that Tenten was a bad girlfriend, and it wasn't that she didn't have her own charms and quirks. But her lips weren't as full as Sakura's were.
'Stop,' he told himself. Even if he was willing to further incur Hiashi's wrath, there was no guarantee that Sakura was into him. The only person she'd ever shown romantic interest in was Sasuke, and that ended a while ago. As Sakura talked, Neji heard less and less noise, and ended up just looking at her lips. They were really full.
He sort of blacked out or something, because he didn't remember standing up or leaning across the table. The only thing he remembered was his mouth touching Sakura's for that brief moment before pulling back briefly.
Sakura looked positively stunned. She just sat there with her mouth hanging open and a slightly confused look in her eyes. The second time, Neji did feel himself lean over to capture her lips, and he felt the subsequent spit-swap that followed. When she regained her composure, Sakura was one hell of a kisser, but he refused to compare her to Tenten in that regard. This was totally different.
As quickly as the kiss began, it ended, and Neji was as shocked at his own actions as Sakura was.
"Neji–" she began, but Neji stopped her. He saw the look in her eyes and knew it was a failed attempt.
"Don't," he told her, closing his eyes tightly before opening them again. She was still standing there. "That was a mistake, you don't have to say anything." She nodded, and they finished their meal in silence.
The ride back to the dorms was awkward and silent, and the entire ride from the dorms to the mansion, only two words repeated themselves in Neji's mind.
'Oh fuck.'
Author's Note: I just want to address the amount of side stories going on at this point. The story started off solely about Sasuke and Naruto, and slowly added more stories every ten chapters or so with different characters. Right now, there are a lot of side stories going on, but they will all be resolved pretty quickly, and there will still be a few chapters in the end that deal almost solely with Naruto and Sasuke. The story is starting to wind down, and all the side stories are almost over. Please just bear with them.
Lastly, I'm happy that everyone's so excited about the sequel. I think I'm going to take a break after this story is finished to get a lot of the chapters pre-written (I hate taking weeks to update just as much as you guys hate waiting weeks for updates) before I start it up. I'm also going to be working on my other ongoing story at the same time. If I had to guess, I'd say I'll take about a month or so between this and the sequel, but if you want more information, just check out my blog.
As usual, my blog is at fanfics-sm . blogspot . com, and you can follow me on Twitter at SMFanfics. Please take a moment to review and tell me how you liked this chapter.