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Chapter 12
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The Start of Autumn
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I wanted to state something, but was too dazed to say anything intelligible. Naruto noticed the silent surprise on the others' faces and simply tried to make a small joke to ease back the mood.
"Aw. You know, well, guys can pull some romantic stunts when they're really happy! Hehe. This concert is really a blast!" he chuckled, scratching the back of his ruffled head and giving one slap on Sasuke's shoulder.
The group of girls waiting outside the dressing rooms looked at me sourly. The two thin gays with them had started whispering to each other and were soon sniggering at me. I wanted to shout at Sasuke but held my tongue after seeing the gladness in his face.
"You look like an ugly statue." he mused.
I would normally lash back at him. Instead, all I could do was contemplate on his actions a moment ago.
The winner of the competition was soon declared before the night was over. It was no surprise that Naruto's favorite group, White Shibuya, took home the grand prize: a cash prize and a new recording deal with one of the biggest international recording company. Dattebayo, on the other hand, was the runner up. They also won a cash check and a small, silver guitar memento.
My classmates didn't look disappointed though. They didn't seem to be after the prizes but more of the experience and the enjoyment. Naruto and Lee were even roaring with applause when the other group was hailed as the winner. Both of them practically had them signed the back of their shirts at the end of the concert.
It was midnight when the pub was clearing out of attendees. I was past my curfew. We were waiting for the pick-up truck at the opposite side of the pub which my classmates rented to carry the instruments they used. Dozens of fans stood around them, asking for autographs, pictures and perhaps their contact numbers, I guessed.
Sasuke appeared approachable that night. He agreed to sign some autographs and had this laid-back smile on his face the whole time even if he was not really talking to them. I was about to bid them goodbye when Naruto asked for a small celebration drink at his place.
"What d'you say we crash at our house and get something to drink? Just a small after-party?" he invited us as Rock Lee pulled over the black pick-up truck at the side of the street.
Ino quickly agreed in a jump. "That'll be great!"
"Sorry, but I think I'll be calling this a night. It's late and I need to get home." I smiled apologetically.
"Me, too." Hinata agreed.
Ino and Naruto both moaned in protest.
"Well, what good can I be if I'm going and you two are not." Ino grumbled, crossing her arms.
Sasuke dropped his packed-up guitar at the back of the truck and approached.
"I'll take you home." he simply said to me, and walked off to get his motorbike without a second word.
Lee was honking at us. Shikamaru, Chouji and Kiba were at the back of the truck and were already waiting for us, hugging the huge check they just won. Their instruments were packed up beside them.
"All right. We'll drop you two home, then." Naruto said to Hinata and Ino as they helped them climb up the truck. He followed suit, still carrying his guitar and waved good bye at me. "Hope you had fun tonight, Sakura-chan! G'nite!"
"See you on Monday, Sakura-chan!" Hinata waved. Ino, on the other hand, was eyeing me and Sasuke. It was that look she gives me whenever she felt like I was hiding something from her.
Naruto had gotten up at the back of the vehicle when he turned around to Sasuke, who was starting his motorbike.
"Hey, bastard! Follow us to my place after you drop her off, alright? We'll see you there!" he called.
The dim light in our living room was still open when we arrived in front of our house. The neighborhood was deserted and the air was now chilly. Sasuke turned off the engine as I moved off and gave him his headgear again. I still felt a little embarrassed whenever I ride with him. It all just felt new. And I couldn't still understand how I got a gorgeous guy like him to drop me off to our place a few times already.
"Thanks for the ride. Congratulations again." I said to him, pulling my light jacket tighter due to the colder air. Somehow, I pretended that the swift kiss he gave me earlier that night was just a friendly greeting. I wasn't sure how to bring that sort of subject since I hadn't been this close to a guy before.
He left the motorcycle and walked me to the gate. He was wearing his jet black jacket. The painted fox mask he wore earlier dangled on one of the handlebars.
"I knew you'd go. I've never invited anyone to our play before. You're one dumb, lucky girl."
"Huh. What an honor." I hissed.
"You seemed to have enjoyed it, anyway."
I couldn't help but look at his soft lips when he said those words. It looked really smooth and tender from the illumination of the street post near us. I was mesmerized by him. He noticed where my eyes had drifted and his stare was soon locked at mine. His dark gaze was hard to ignore. He even seemed to know what was going on inside my head at that very moment. I knew I was about to give myself away.
"Well, your band's waiting for at Naruto's place. You should be going. Thanks again. Goodnight!"
I hastily turned around to our house without even waiting for a reply. I was only able to take a few steps when his arm suddenly gripped my elbow and pulled me back, making me face him straight. He was way closer than I expected him to be. His perfect face was just a few inches from mine and my hands found his sturdy upper body as he gripped one of my wrists tightly. He was now staring at my lips as if he was being lured by it. His eyes were sentimental but I could see the spark of intensity there. He knew what was going inside my head.
His grayish orbs found mine, and I could feel the faint vibration from his chest when he spoke.
"I don't have to go back." he murmured softly, and his eyes trailed back down to my lower lip, closing the gap between us. "I don't. Not if we'll resume what we've done earlier."
At that moment, he took my lips in a forceful manner, one of his arms pulling the back of my waist, drawing me closer.
His lips was so soft, just like the first time I felt it, but his way this time was more steadfast. He didn't let go of my wrist as he held me there. He breathed out against me as he held me firmly against him. He was aggressive… and intoxicating. He was so warm against me. It felt good from the coldness. He was like a fire, spreading around me, burning. He was like one of the things a human should never get too near of, for his aura was like a raging blaze.
He knew how to get what he wanted. His hands clutched my clothes as if wanting to split them apart. I felt his hot tongue brushed against my lips, kissing every corners of it. I had wondered how he felt like, and this was more than I thought he would be. His body was just right. It seemed built to do these sorts of things. I would've wanted to melt with him there, but something just didn't seem right. I didn't want to spoil our front yard with things like this, too.
I pulled away from him, breaking his lips away from me.
"Why are you doing this?" I exclaimed as I freed myself from his arms. The warmth of his lips was fresh on mine and I knew they were slightly reddening now, just like his.
He cautiously held his arms down. He steadied his breathing. He looked really intimidating with his features, especially that dark spiky hair.
"Don't say you didn't like it." he said coolly.
I knew my face was flushing even at the shadowy light. "What… Why do you keep on doing this? What made you think you could just come up and—"
"We both know you want me." he said in that cocky way of his. "If you don't like doing this here, we could go some place else. Just name it and I'll take you there."
"You really do think every girl is in love with you, don't you."
He took a step forward.
"What, you're going to pulverize me just like what you do on your training?" he said. "You don't have to pretend, nerd. I can see right through you. You liked that kiss as much as I liked it."
And he was right. I hated the fact that I liked it. I wanted to slap him. But what kind of a thing would that be if I'd do that?
"Don't tell me you still don't know why I'm acting like this." he said. I didn't say anything. He held his head up as he spoke confidently. "You're mine."
I could never understand him. Why would a popular, smart guy like him want to be with someone like me? He hated me before, didn't he? And that couldn't possibly blossom into love. Guys like him don't fall in love this way. I was the one who was falling for him. But admitting to that doesn't seem to be a good idea in my state.
"Why?" I uttered out.
For a moment, he looked confused with the question. "You tell me. I don't know why."
"You said to me you like me before… But I don't understand why. You can pick any girl who's way better around you, yet you stand here with me."
His stare at me turned into a glare. "Huh. You're supposed to be a dork who'll just try out for Mortis Org, and who'll leave us after she failed. You're supposed to be out of my life right now." He turned his head to the side, looking at nothing in particular. His eyebrows were still drawn together in a scowl. His hair swayed gently when the breeze drifted around us. "Do you know that you're messing with my head? You're like a disease that just came out of nowhere. It really irritates me."
"A disease?" I blinked at him.
"Yet when I saw your stupid face in those crowds of people tonight… I couldn't help staring at you." he spoke softly, looking back at me. He was pondering on something, I could tell by the way he was gazing at me. "There's just something about you that reminds me of my childhood… When I couldn't manage to do anything right for my father… When I couldn't do anything right to let him be proud of me and let me join the org." his voice trailed off.
It was the first time I heard him talked about his family.
"Sasuke." my voice was so low it was hardly a whisper.
He ran a hand from his face to his hair, ruffling it before putting his arm down. It was his mannerism, I came to be used to it by now.
"Just go to sleep and I'll go." he commanded.
I blinked rapidly. "What? Aren't you even going to apologize?"
He already turned around and was walking to his motorbike. "For what? Hell, it wasn't something I'm sorry for."
I only watched him started his engine again. I didn't want to argue further. He turned back to me before putting his headgear on.
"I want to ask you one last thing." he said. "Do you want to be with me?"
He didn't move a thing until I answer. I thought carefully with my words.
"Just… give me some time, alright?" I mumbled. As much as I was falling for him, I was still adjusting myself to this new world. He was a huge distraction in everything that I was struggling to do. And his words weren't sinking in my head properly at this point.
He shook his head and put on his headgear. I couldn't see his eyes anymore.
"You're such an idiot. Morons are the ones who needs time to think." he grumbled under his breath.
"Just go home, Uchiha!" I yelled.
He didn't even say farewell. He just made a U-turn and sped away fast in the night without even a second glance.I stood there alone for a minute, in the dark, staring at the horizon of the street were he disappeared. I slowly touched my lips with my fingers.
I've never been kissed before, until that night.
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The weather grew colder in the days and weeks that came. The leaves, once green, had gradually turned orange and brown. Fall approached.
Mid-term exams were harder in Konoha Academy than my former school. I set aside some of my personal issues in order to concentrate on my studies. A lot of the students were studying hard to maintain their top spots, I was studying hard in order to just even pass.
I was getting more used to my surroundings. I could sense the change of the people and things around me. Ino couldn't stop asking me about my stupid love life. More of my classmates got accepted in the Mortis Org after some accomplished missions they'd done. And Sasuke maintained his bullying persona whenever I was around. He didn't speak anymore about his feelings in the weeks that came. He just liked to mock me most of the time. I guessed he understood my awkward reply after all.
Konoha Academy was like both hell and heaven combined. Seemed like wherever I go in this freaking world, I'd always be hounded by some stupid misfortune… and bullies. Once, I was opening my locker only to find a very sticky compound on the handle. I ended up having my hand glued on it for a couple of minutes before Hinata found me and helped me get it off. The other day someone put a stupid gum on my hair while I was walking down the hall. I didn't see the culprit, but I felt someone shoved it on my hair. I ended up having three inches of my hair cut off by the end of the day. Not to mention some groups of students laughing at me.
And now, I looked like a boy in a girl's uniform.
Someone (either one person or a lot of them) was clearly pulling dirty pranks on me. I couldn't exactly tell who it was, but I had a feeling that it might be someone I know. It was either Sasuke's idiotic fan girls, Sasuke himself, or someone else who really wanted me out of the place.
I heard the sniggers of several of my classmates when I entered the classroom the day after I had my hair cut off. I didn't want to look at any of their faces and only maintained a stoic expression when I sat on my seat.
"What happened to your hair?" Hinata asked, staring at my new haircut.
Ino tried not to laugh for a second but failed, anyway. She snorted beside Hinata. "You look like a goddamn boy, Sakura!"
"I know that. You try putting gum in your hair and you'll end up like one." I muttered as I pulled my notebook irritably out of my bag.
"Why would I want to put gum in my hair?" Ino stated smugly.
"Someone shoved one in mine."
"Ohh." Ino and Hinata wheezed out.
"You should be more watchful, Sakura. A lot of the people here are not as nice as me. They're just like conniving, back-stabbing snakes." Ino said, her eyes darting around us.
"It's nothing new." i muttered.
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Naruto was teaching me defense one afternoon in our training. We were fighting fist to fist. I knew I had improved because I had dodged all his attacks. I was faster now.
In some unusual way, I'd managed to wrestle him down and he ended up with his back hitting the ground.
"Ow!" he moaned. He lied there for a while, panting. He had changed into a plain shirt for the training. It was the first time I had put him down in a fight. He frowned, and then grinned up to me. "You're gettin' good."
I smiled, panting as well. I helped him got up. I was starting to doubt my grand father's suspicion about me having a bloodline. I didn't feel any different and it had been a couple of months since I got here.
Kakashi was talking to Sasuke at the side of the field, under a tree. I could tell they were aware of what we were doing even if they weren't looking at us. They just stood there with both their arms crossed over their chests, engaged in a conversation.
Sasuke chortled when he first saw me with my hair cut-off that afternoon and added that I complemented Rock Lee with it since we look alike now. I could tell by the way he was acting that he had nothing to do with my mishaps, although he looked amused by it.
"Hey, Sakura! Come here for a moment!" Kakashi called.
I wiped my face with a towel as I approached. He handed me a white envelope. I looked up at him before taking it.
"A parental consent." he clarified with a smirk. "I think it's about time you get involve in the assignments outside of the academy, like the tasks the rogue students are assigned to. You've advanced nicely but we need your parents' or your guardian's approval to take you with us. We need them to sign this first."
"Oh." I said, excitement instantly rising inside me. "Whoa. Really?" I flipped the envelope open and pulled the paper from inside. It was a contract. Rules and terms were written formally on it, and there were blank lines at the end where the guardian's name and I would sign. I already knew whom to give it to: Sarutobi.
"And here." Kakashi handed me a pair of black rubber hand gloves. "It's especially from the org. They're very helpful with releasing chakra from the body. You're good at releasing them from your fists. I think this'll be the nice weapon for you. Be careful not to lose it. You'll need it."
I took the gloves and examined it from my hand. They barely looked like a weapon compared to the blades that my teammates usually use. They were smoother than rubber but they're not cloth either. It was a different texture that I'd never seen before. I tried it on one of my hands. It felt so light and cool.
"Go on. Give it a try."
I punched the ground beneath me and sent off a gust of dust on the air, nearly covering all three of us. The earth shook at our spot and I automatically understood why it was a weapon. It could crush solids like a bulldozer. I felt my chakra surged more forcefully than before and my knuckles hardly felt the impact.
Naruto coughed at my side, clearing the air out. "Dang!"
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One late afternoon, I was walking down a hall. I passed by one of the restricted room in the building, the Private History Section, where they kept files of the antique and forbidden utensils, uses of chakra, and hundreds of ancient weaponries.
There was a group of girls at the end of the hall, who had noticed me and started gossiping at once. I didn't pay any attention as I walked by. One of them stepped up and blocked my way. I stopped on my tracks. She was pretty and her blue eyes scanned my face like a predator. Then she sneered to her friends.
"Look at that forehead. She looks like an alien." she scorned, putting her hands against her mouth as she sniggered. The other four with her were looking at me and talking to each other in whispers and sneers.
"Get out of my way." I ordered.
The girl didn't move and only addressed me with ridiculing eyes.
"Ooooh. I'm scared. What're you gonna do?"
"I said get out of my way." I said more forcefully. I wanted to hit her with my bag. I was on my way out of the school to study in the city library where I could get much more peace than here.
She just laughed loudly. "What a pathetic girl!"
I was ready to smack her out of my way when a booming noise erupted from the hall behind us. A cloud of dark purple smoke bursted out of the door from the Private History Room, shattering the thick door into pieces. Debris flew everywhere. The marble floor shook under my feet from the explosion.
"AAAAH!"
The girls before me hurriedly sprinted away, screaming in high tones. I was left standing there looking at the wrecked room. I took a step back, searching for anyone nearby. There was no one.
Then out of the smoke from the ruined door frame, figures stepped out, coughing wildly. Sasuke, Naruto, Kiba and Chouji stepped out, their heads bent down as they coughed. All of them covered in dark purple stains from the smoke. Akamaru, the dog, was completely covered in violet. He shook his furs violently after jumping out of the room. He was barking at them.
What a bunch of menaces.
"I told you that was stupid!" Chouji shouted, his eyes watering. "Now we're in big trouble!"
"How should I know they go exploding like that?" Naruto cried out, wiping his the tint off his face.
"You didn't listen, you buffoon!"
"Hey, we won the bet! Pay up!" Kiba called as they trudged out, shaking his gray coat off with dusts.
"You won? You got it wrong, too! It didn't dig into the ground just like you said it would! It freaking explode!" Naruto bit back.
Sasuke was the first one who noticed me there, standing several meters away with my hands covering my nose.
His purple face twisted into a grin. "Well, hi there, nerd."
The other three were too busy arguing to notice anything.
"You pay up! You got us into this mess!"
"Oh boy, we're dead." Chouji cried, looking sideways.
"We gotta go." Sasuke mumbled. He swiftly broke into a run to my direction after looking at the other side of the hall. The others hurriedly followed suit.
Sasuke grabbed my arm and tugged me along in their fleeing as they passed by me. I could scarcely catch up with their brisk movements.
"Hey—wait! I'm not part of this!" I shouted as we sped along the exit at the back of the building. A lot of the classes were over at this time of the day so there weren't any students lurking outside the back door of that building. "What were you doing sneaking in there, anyway? You know it's off limits!"
Naruto laughed, his white teeth had some purple stains too. "You should visit and see what they have there! It's a bunch of rare items!"
"They won't think you're too innocent if they find you loitering there on the hall." Sasuke said as I yanked my arm free from his grasp when we finally halted at a deserted corner outside the back exit.
"Alright. Then, I'm going!" I said, turning the other way to the entrance gates while they walked toward the other corner where the autumn trees were lined together at the side of the open field, covering their appearances with the shadows they were casting. I didn't want to get into another trouble with them.
"Hmf. Fine. Go, then!" he simply turned his head away airily.
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It was nearly six-thirty in the evening when I arrived at the city library. My textbooks tucked under my right arm. The smell of old paper and wood hit my nostrils as I marched across the entrance hall. The vast room was finely furnished and the brown walls and marble floor shone remarkably. I was about to go inside where the book shelves were when I noticed the huge bulletin board on the wall.
There were posters and advertisements of different literary organizations and environmental causes all over it. There was a schedule of writing seminars next week and a script-writing contest next month. My eyes fell on the cream-colored paper at the left corner of the bulletin. Written in bold, calligraphic black letters were:
The National Tokyo Library would like to congratulate:
Akasuna Sasori
For winning the 1st Prize in Political Writing in the "17th Political Literary Contest"
It took a few seconds before the name completely sank in my head. Sasori? The Sasori? I didn't know that guy even had the wits to write about something. Especially about politics.
I walked inside and sat at the very corner of the wooden desk at the back. It was hard to see me back here from all the gigantic bookshelves were lined together.
It was quarter to eight o'clock when I had finally taken my eyes off my last textbook and looked at the clock hanging near the doorframe. My head was throbbing and I was already feeling a bit drowsy. It was only then that I noticed the red-head at the long table next to mine. He was at the far corner of the table opposite mine, peering down at a thick book, like an encyclopedia, propped on the shiny surface. He appeared to be engrossed in it, unaware that I was gawking at his face.
Sasori was one of the least people whom I suspected of being a bookworm.
And here I thought the city library was one of the places where I could find peace. There were only a few of us present in that part of the area.
Sasori held his head up and stretched his arms upward, flexing his muscles from his stiff stance. I heard them cracking from his stretch. He must had been there for some time now. He was wearing a sandy-brown jacket with a hood hanging at the back. And then he noticed me there, staring at him. He blinked once, then twice. I quickly turned away.
He sat there for a moment, then stood up and strode toward me.
"Hi." he gave a coy smile, standing next to my table.
"You." I said, keeping the textbook open in front of me.
"Didn't recognize you at first. Nice haircut." he chuckled silently.
"Go away." I said.
He straightened up and tried to put a serious face. "You usually go here?"
"Sometimes."
"I do, but this is the first time I spotted you here." he turned to the vacant chair next to me. "Mind if I sit down with you?"
"I do."
"Oh. Okay."
He didn't move. He just stood there.
After a moment, I exhaled.
"Well—just don't get any dirty ideas or something." I said irately.
He laughed. "I won't, I promise."
I took a glance at the book he was holding. Its title was Philosophical Theories in the Nineteenth Century. Geez, I expected him to be reading something more like the non-sense types.
He was very much careful not to frighten me in any sort of way since he left a good gap of space between us.
"We're in peace, aren't we?" he said.
"Well, you can say that, I guess." I muttered, trying to ignore him.
He just smiled and turned a page of his book. He looked at ease today.
Several minutes passed before I broke the silence.
"I…uh… saw your name at the bulletin outside. I didn't know you write." I said, trying to strike a small conversation since I couldn't ignore him there sitting beside me, anyway.
"Oh. Yeah… It's just some hobby I've developed since high school. A guy should be aware of what's happening in the government and the world. I was sort of an activist back then." he shrugged. "You like reading and writing stuff?"
"Sometimes I do, other times not." I remained facing my book as I talked to him.
He just smiled and nodded, turning back to the pages of his huge book. There was a minute of silence again.
"So, what are you fond of reading?" I said in a quiet voice, a little curious now.
"Hm. Mostly those that are informative—you know, the ones that you know that its author really knows what he or she is talking about." he said, then chuckled. "I read a large variety of topics. Technology. Science. Music. Sometimes history. Art and photography books are cool too."
"You like the arts?" I asked.
"They're quite entertaining." he said, turning to me. His face didn't seem problematic at all. He looked very casual that evening. "I take pictures sometimes." he admitted in a self-conscious sort of way.
"Really." I stated, a bit astonished. "What kind of pictures?"
It must be some kind of pornography.
"Mostly landscape photos. Nature shots."
He didn't look like the type of guy who did sorts of things. My first impression of him was a trouble-maker with some drinking problems. "You don't… look like it."
He smiled and scratched the side of his face self-consciously. "Not everyone knows about it." he murmured. "You like visual arts?"
I nodded. "Yeah. I'm into designing and drawing. I've taken photography lessons before."
"Really. That's nice. You should visit some of the shrines and hill sides outside the city. They're amazing. They have great views."
"Perhaps during vacation. You take shots there?"
"Yeah. Some magazine editors buy them." he said, pointing at the shelves near us. There was a long line of travel magazines stacked there. "I also present them to some advocacies. You should come along sometimes. I promise to bring you back safe and sound." he made a joke.
He talked about this computer program that was good for designing print materials, and I soon found myself exchanging ideas with him. He was a lot smarter than I thought. He didn't seem to be the type of guy who liked and knew different things from the way I met him. He even seemed smarter than me at some point when we discussed about the likes we had in common.
His actions and the way he spoke were far from the bitter one I met before. It was actually the first time I saw him, well, educated. He looked trouble-free that evening. He didn't even mention anything about his rivalry with my classmates. And I came to understand why he was a rogue student in that new Mortis Org in Ame Institute: He got the brains, skills and had some attitude problems.x
Just like that airhead in our school.
It felt strange and engaging at the same time. He was the very first person in that city whom I could discuss my interests and hobbies with. I even forgot some of my troubles at that point.
And starting from that one odd moment, Sasori became my friend.
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Note: I don't think Sasori really has a surname in the Naruto series. I know the surname I placed there was more like his title. But anyway, thank you again for the reviews.