He gets out of bed with a sigh, rubbing at his eyes blearily. A quick glance at the clock on his bedside table tells him it's just after 7am. He's heading into his bathroom to shower when he realises he's out of shower gel. So he steps back out and heads over to the main bathroom down the hall to borrow some of his father's.
The door to his parents' bedroom is closed, as always. He hesitates for a moment as he passes it, wondering if the scene inside is any different to the one it's been for almost two years now. But he knows it isn't, so he keeps walking.
The next thirty minutes are spent in the usual routine: brushing his teeth, showering, shaving, putting on his school uniform and combing his hair. By the time he makes his way downstairs for breakfast he sees that father is already awake and sitting in the living room. He's seated in his armchair by the window, his face is covered by the large newspaper he's reading.
"Good morning," Sasuke says quietly as he heads past him and into the kitchen.
He doesn't bother looking back as he opens the fridge because his father hardly ever returns the greeting. He doesn't even lower his newspaper, just shuffles it around as a way of acknowledging Sasuke's words.
While Sasuke eats his breakfast, his pet cat Tommy slinks up to him. Sasuke's lips curl up in a smile as the kitten meows and bumps his head against Sasuke's calf.
"Let him out," his father says after a while.
Sasuke swallows his spoonful of oatmeal and rises to his feet, heading over to open the backdoor for Tommy. The cat immediately sprints out into the garden and begins leaping around the grass.
Sasuke eyes the overgrown weeds, the unkempt flowerbeds. The sight of it makes something in his chest feel hollow.
The garden was his mother's pride and joy. Sasuke still remembers the happy curve of her smile when she came home one afternoon with her arms full of gardening products, announcing it as her newest endeavour. I'm going to turn it into a wonderland, she'd promised, poking Itachi in the cheek. Unlike her other endeavours, like baking and knitting, this one actually stuck. She cared for the garden with such focus and devotion it was almost scary. She used to joke that it was actually her third child, after Itachi and Sasuke. But then she lost her firstborn, and she shut herself in her room ever since.
The cleaning ladies who arrive every few days have kept the rest of the house in impeccable condition, but the garden turned into a wasteland soon after Itachi died. It was as if his mother forgot about it entirely. Sasuke has tried to keep the garden under control in his her place. At first, that stupid, foolish part of him, the part that still hadn't accepted their new reality, thought that it would make her feel better somehow. He even planted some roses in time for her birthday — red ones, because that's her favourite colour. But his mother had just stared at it all blankly for a long, heavy moment, looking far more tired and older than Sasuke had ever seen her. And then she'd mumbled a quiet thank you, sweetheart before returning to the dark solace of her room.
Now, Sasuke doesn't bother too much. He mows the lawn whenever he remembers — which isn't often — and yanks at the weeds on his spare weekends. But there are no more flowers or exotic plants or vegetables. It's a dull, nondescript landscape, nothing like the beautiful wonderland Mikoto had once tended to.
He eyes the clock. It reads 8.15am, which means he's early, but that's how he likes it. He heads over to the door and puts on his shoes.
"I'm off," he tells his father.
The newspaper shuffles again. But this time, Fugaku speaks. "Have a good day, son."
Sasuke pauses with a hand on the doorknob. There's an odd feeling in his chest at his father's words, but he pushes it down and makes sure his voice is steady when he answers. "You too, Dad."
If Sasuke could somehow vote to abolish schools, he would. But he can't vote, and such a notion would never even be considered by the government because…well, they're not on his level of thinking yet.
Truthfully, school isn't that bad. It's good because even though he's surrounded by countless other people, most of whom are complete morons, he feels like he can finally breathe. He doesn't have to deal with the sight of his father's blank face or the eternally-shut door of his mother's bedroom, or the photos of Itachi everywhere that remind them all of what they've lost.
Or the silence, and the way it threatens to swallow him whole. The way it sometimes feels like if he just sits still for long enough, he could disappear entirely. Sasuke has always liked silence, but at home, it's suffocating.
Still. It does mean he's surrounded by idiots for 8 hours straight.
He's sitting at his desk in Math class, flicking through his textbook and wondering if he got his answers right for his homework. There's still twenty minutes until the morning bell rings, so there's only a few people in the classroom. They're all in varying states of sleepiness. Even his teacher, Miss Park, looks a little dazed as she takes a few sips of her coffee.
Eventually, though, she straightens up and fixes him with a pitying stare. Sasuke resists the urge to scowl at the sight of her working up the courage to talk to him.
"Sasuke," she eventually calls, her voice gentle. "How was your weekend?"
Sasuke shifts in his seat, already feeling the apprehension pool in his stomach at the conversation that awaits him. "It was fine."
Miss Park smiles at him. But it's not a normal smile. It's a sickly-sweet, overly sympathetic, I'm so sorry for your loss smile. The kind everyone's been giving Sasuke for the past two years — teachers especially. He's gotten good at ignoring it. They mean well, after all. But sometimes, it makes him so angry he doesn't know what to do with himself.
"How's your mother?" Miss Park asks.
Sasuke looks down at his book. Advanced practice of Mathematics, fifth edition. "She's fine."
He knows she's thinking of something else to say, probably to ask him some more questions about his own wellbeing or, even worse, to give him what she thinks is meaningful advice. Sasuke turns to look out of the window, determined to ignore her. He's relieved when the school bell suddenly rings before she can speak, announcing the start of the lesson.
The first thirty minutes of class pass uneventfully. They get their recent tests back, with Sasuke receiving full marks and a smiley face from Miss Park. Haruno Sakura asks to see his paper because she had two marks deducted on the penultimate question and seems devastated about it. There's also a brief discussion about university applications and making the most of upcoming open days.
Halfway through the lesson, though, there's a late arrival.
The door opens suddenly, and Uzumaki Naruto stumbles inside. She looks windswept. "I'm here!"
"Miss Uzumaki," Miss Park says, raising an eyebrow at the sight of her. "So kind of you to remember you're a student at this school."
A few students chuckle, but Naruto just offers a lopsided grin and tugs on the edge of her too-big blazer.
"Sorry, Miss," she says, rubbing at her cheek.
Sasuke hasn't really seen Uzumaki Naruto since first year, back when she actually attended classes. Most people refer to her as the school's charity case because she received a scholarship for being a poor orphan who lives close to the school, as a result of the administration's efforts to combat accusations of elitism. But so many parents were furious about the notion of "opening up" the school, and the backlash was so severe that Naruto's presence remained a one-off.
Naruto stopped regularly coming to school sometime during second year, and now Sasuke only sees her every now and then. She's either hanging around the school's back gates listening to music, or she's waltzing playfully out of the detention room.
Now, Naruto has the grace to look a little sheepish. "I have an excuse, though," she says as she strolls into the classroom. "I was in detention."
"You're always in detention," Miss Park sighs, and a few students titter at that. "Find an empty seat and down. And please tell me you brought your workbook today."
Sasuke realises with a sense of horror that the empty seat Naruto is approaching is on the same table as him. There's still a seat separating them, but it's still far too close for his liking. Naruto seems unaware of his internal meltdown, however, because she's too busy rummaging around her backpack with an earnest smile.
"I did!" she announces, and pulls out a tattered book with a flourish. "I'm totally ready to learn about advanced Mathematics." She pauses to gaze down at the contents of her backpack. "I…forgot my textbook, though."
Some students laugh again, but a few — like Sakura and her friends — roll their eyes and look unamused by Naruto's antics. "Once a dead-last, always a dead-last," someone mutters, and Naruto smiles good-naturedly.
Miss Park presses her lips together, looking as though she wants to tear her own hair out. "Share with Sasuke," she snaps finally. She offers Sasuke a sympathetic look, but he ignores it and glares out of the window as Naruto slides into the empty seat between them with a smile.
"Hi," she tells him cheerfully as she settles down. She's unfazed when Sasuke doesn't return the greeting, and instead opens her book and begins writing down the date and lesson objectives. Her handwriting is messy and scrawling, and there are deep reddish-brown scrapes on the back of her knuckles.
Sasuke returns his attention to his own work, cursing his bad luck. When Miss Park tells them to turn to page 62, Naruto leans over to peer at the textbook as Sasuke flips it open. She smells faintly of cigarette smoke.
It makes him recoil a little and pull the textbook closer to his side of the table. Naruto remains silent as the teacher runs them through the notes from their previous lesson, but when it's time to start copying the questions, she reaches for the edge of the book.
"Quit hogging it, will you," she whispers, not unkindly.
Sasuke scowls, moving the book out of her grasp. He loses his patience when she tugs on it again and snaps, "You can see it just fine."
It's childish and petty, but he can't help himself. But Naruto simply smiles as she leans in even closer. "He speaks," she remarks, sounding utterly delighted.
Sasuke shifts back as she leans in once more to look at the textbook. He manages to hold his tongue for a full minute before he snaps. "You couldn't have waited until after school to smoke?" he hisses.
Naruto blinks at him, her eyes wide. They're a stunning shade of crystal blue, contrasting heavily with the deep tan of her skin and golden-bronze colour of her hair.
"I don't smoke," she says defensively.
Sasuke rolls his eyes, tugging on the textbook. "Whatever."
But Naruto doesn't let go of her grip on the book. "I don't smoke," she repeats, firmly this time.
"Okay," snaps Sasuke. "Just stop hogging my textbook. It's not like you can even read this stuff."
He immediately hates himself for saying the words. But Naruto does let go of the book, her expression a mixture of disdain and faint amusement. When Sasuke returns his attention to the page, determined to ignore her, she lets out a heavy sigh and begins writing in her workbook.
The class gets underway, and they work through various exercises as a continuation from last week's lesson. They've been on the same topic for almost a month now, but Miss Park insists it'll make up a good chunk of the final exam and wants them all to master it.
"Alright, let's try question 14," she announces. "Any guesses?"
It's almost the end of the lesson, and most people's enthusiasm has already fizzled out. Only Haruno Sakura has her hand up, but Miss Park gives her a kind smile and politely asks her to let someone else try.
"Someone who hasn't spoken yet, maybe," she says. She eyes the students for a moment before she smiles. "Naruto?"
Naruto sits up straight. She's spent most of the lesson staring out of the window and doodling on the back of her hand, hissing whenever she accidentally touches one of her scars.
At the sound of her name, a few boys from the back of the class whistle lowly and nudge each other. Naruto stares at the question for a moment before returning her gaze to the teacher.
"I'm not sure," she says.
Miss Park's lips twist in a frown. She looks unimpressed. "If you bothered to pay attention, you'd know. What about question 15?"
Naruto looks at the question on the board, biting her bottom lip. Most of the class is giggling now, but Sasuke doesn't find it funny. He glances at her book and notices she hasn't answered a single question.
"She doesn't know," someone says, impatient.
"Can we move on, Miss?" Sakura demands.
Miss Park looks like she's about to turn away, but then Sasuke rubs at his nose. "It's 42," he says under his breath.
Naruto hesitates just a little bit, but she makes no other indication that she's heard him. "42?" she guesses.
Miss Park pauses before nodding. "Correct." She eyes Naruto warily for a moment, clearly displeased with how openly the girl is meeting her gaze. It looks like she's about to say something else, but then the bell suddenly rings.
Most students rise to their feet and begin putting their things away. Sasuke, like a few others, has his next class in the same room, so he stays put. He hears Naruto mutter thank god under her breath as she gets up and begins shoving her things into her bag haphazardly.
"Miss Uzumaki," the teacher calls suddenly. "If you don't do your homework tomorrow, you'll get a detention."
Naruto freezes. After a moment she gives the teacher a scowl, but Miss Park has already turned away, engrossed in a conversation with Sakura about college applications.
Instead of leaving, Naruto turns to Sasuke. She taps her finger against the edge of the table for a few moments before she speaks.
"Thanks for telling me the answer," she tells him.
Sasuke looks at her blankly, but he doesn't respond.
Naruto shuffles a little awkwardly. "And for letting me use your textbook."
He still doesn't answer, so Naruto presses her lips together. "Quiet one, aren't you?" she mutters.
"Is there something you want?" Sasuke asks finally.
Naruto's eyes flash angrily at his words. She scoffs in disbelief when he turns away to look out of the window. Sasuke hopes she'll get the hint and just get lost already, but Naruto stays standing there for a moment, glaring daggers into the side of his head.
And then she reaches over and grabs something from the table quickly before spinning on her heels and walking away.
Sasuke blinks and turns to look at Naruto. His eyes widen when he sees her shoving his textbook into her bag. No-one else seems to have noticed, but Sasuke rises to his feet, anger and irritation pricking at his skin. He's about to go after her when his Chemistry teacher, an elderly man with a cane, walks into the room.
"Alright, sorry I'm late," he says. "Let's get started."
Sasuke slowly sits down, gritting his teeth angrily. He spends the entire lesson glaring at the door and cursing the stupid, petty, thieving piece of shit that is Uzumaki Naruto.
He walks home alone as always, having managed to evade Haruno Sakura and yet another one of her invitations to have dinner at her house. He's said no every single time she's asked so far, but she still hasn't gotten the hint, even though he doesn't bother to give an excuse anymore.
He spots Naruto by the school back gates, perched on top of her bike. She's talking to a man Sasuke has never seen before, a man who's clearly far too old to be hanging around a high school, puffing on a cigarette and talking to her playfully.
Sasuke has half a mind to go over there and demand she gives him his textbook back, but he doesn't want to start anything with such a shady guy hanging around. Uzumaki Naruto has a reputation for spending time with unpleasant characters, and he'd rather not end up getting killed by some lowlife criminal over a fucking textbook. Naruto herself is an unpleasant character according to most of the student body, and the stories of the things she gets allegedly involved in has single-handedly kept the rumour mill at their school going for years. So Sasuke grits his teeth and heads the other way to walk home.
The house is quiet when he enters and shuts the door behind him. His father is working in his office, and his mother is still in her room. Tommy is also nowhere to be seen. The cat has taken to leaving the house during the day, no doubt bored without anyone to chase after and play with.
There are plenty of ingredients in the pantry, so Sasuke starts making a simple lunch of rice and vegetable curry. He finds these moments some of the most relaxing, as he shuts his brain off and works through the simple, repetitive motions of cutting, slicing, stirring and seasoning. The curry is simmering in the pot when he leaves the kitchen and heads upstairs, hands dripping wet after being washed.
He knocks on the bedroom door softly. "Mom?"
There's no response, so Sasuke slowly opens the door and steps inside. The room is dark, with the curtains having been shut tight. The only light is streaming in through the now-open door.
His mother is in bed and buried beneath the sheets, but she stirs and blinks at him tiredly. The bed is already huge, even bigger than king-sized, but now she's lost so much weight it dwarfs her.
"Sasuke?" she says, lifting her head a little.
Sasuke holds the door open a bit more. "I made curry. Do you want to come downstairs to eat?"
His mother is silent for a long moment. She stares at him blankly, and the hollow angles of her gaunt, too-thin face makes Sasuke want to turn and walk out of the room. But he stands his ground and waits.
Eventually, Mikoto offers him a small smile. "I'm too tired, sweetheart."
Sasuke pauses, running his fingers along the doorknob. Usually, his mother tells him she's not hungry, because his father brings her food at noon and the few bites she eats then is all she can stomach. But now, she told him she's tired. And the way she's smiling at Sasuke now makes him want to stay by her side for as long as she'll let him.
"I can bring it up," he says.
She hesitates, but then she nods. "Alright."
Sasuke brings up the food on a tray: a bowl of curry, a plate of rice, and a big glass of water. Mikoto chews on her food in silence, staring at the wall with a completely blank expression, looking exhausted by the mere act of eating.
"How's school, sweetheart?" she asks after a while. Her voice is scratchy from disuse, so Sasuke picks up the glass of water and helps her take a sip.
"Good," he tells her after he's put the glass back down. "It's good."
Mikoto hums, and returns her attention to her food. When she's had a few more bites, she takes another big sip of water and settles back down in bed.
"That's enough for now, Sasuke. Thank you."
Sasuke tidies up the food. He's putting the last bowl back on the tray when his mother reaches for his hand. Her grip is weak, so Sasuke immediately links their fingers together.
"You've gotten taller," she murmurs. "And more handsome."
Sasuke smiles, but his mother has already closed her eyes and settled into bed. He takes in the sight of her, burns it into his memory as fiercely as he can, because he has missed her far more than he thought. Even after everything that has happened to her, even after being torn apart by her own grief, she is still so beautiful.
After a moment, he leans down to kiss the back of her hand softly. He stays like that for a while, his lips pressed against her hand. He closes his eyes and wonders if there's anything he can do to make her feel better, wishes desperately that when he opens his eyes she'll be whole again.
When he straightens up, his mother is asleep.
Sasuke returns to his room and spends the afternoon at his desk, doing his homework for his other subjects. The only saving grace is that he already did his Math homework over the weekend. When he completes his other tasks, he settles for doodling in his sketchbook for a few hours, finishing up old sketches from months prior.
His father calls him down for dinner a little after 6pm. It's the same rice and curry Sasuke made in the afternoon, but this time there's added side dish of baked sweet potatoes and seaweed soup his father prepared.
"Your mother eats these," Fugaku mutters by way of explanation. So Sasuke makes sure to only take a little bit of each.
"Is it alright if I go somewhere this weekend?" he asks after a while. It's a stupid question — he could fall off the face of the Earth and his parents wouldn't notice. But he knows asking for permission is the polite thing to do.
Fugaku looks up at him. "Where?"
"Western Valley," Sasuke says. "The university open day."
"University," Fugaku repeats, looking stunned. But then he smiles and nods. "Of course. You're almost eighteen. You'll be applying soon."
His reaction doesn't faze Sasuke. He knows, in a weird way, that time stopped for his parents when Itachi died. His mother surrendered to her grief and shut down, and has locked herself in her room for the entire two years that have passed since then. His father fared a bit better, no doubt due to his role as the provider of the family, and because someone had to take care of Mikoto and make sure she didn't give up on life completely. But even he stopped keeping up with him as his priorities shifted.
They must both still think of Sasuke as a fifteen year old kid, the baby of the family, awkward and shy and far too comfortable living in his older brother's shadow. But he hasn't been that in a long time.
"What are you applying for?" Fugaku asks.
"Architecture," Sasuke responds.
His father hums thoughtfully. "That's good. We've never had an architect in the family before." He pauses a moment before adding, "Your mother will be pleased."
Sasuke moves a piece of eggplant around on his plate. He doesn't think Mikoto will even register the fact that he's going to university, let alone express any interest in what he plans to study. She would have, a few years ago, when she was still asking Sasuke about what he learned at school and gushing over every single one of his drawings like they were worthy of being displayed in the Louvre. But he can't say any of that to his father, so he remains silent.
"Do you think you'll get in?" Fugaku presses. "It's a prestigious school."
Sasuke shrugs. His grades are good, but Western Valley is a highly prestigious school - the best school in the country and one of the best in the world, located more than three hours away from the city on a sprawling campus. It's notoriously difficult to get an offer from them.
Itachi was the captain of the basketball team, a black belt in karate, and a brilliant violin player in addition to being a straight-A student. He applied and got in with an unconditional offer, but he turned it down in favour of attending a smaller medical school in the city centre which he said provided better final-year placements. Sasuke still remembers how delighted his mother had been when she realised Itachi wouldn't be moving away.
They'd eat dinner together every evening, up until Itachi's fourth year, when he became too sick and weak to leave his room. But even then, Sasuke would sneak upstairs to Itachi's room and they'd spend the evening together. Sometimes, on good days, Itachi would help him with his homework or watch a movie or play a video game with him. On bad days, Itachi would lay on his back, staring up at the ceiling, eyes shut tight and breathing shallowly as Sasuke held his hand through the pain.
Sasuke forces himself to ignore the way his stomach twists at those memories. "We'll see," he tells his father.
They eat in silence for a few more minutes, until Fugaku rises from the table and puts together a meal for Mikoto. He carefully places a bowl of sweet potato and seaweed soup on a small tray, along with a glass of water.
"I'm going up to the room now," he says. "Lock the doors before you go to bed."
Sasuke nods, taking another bite of his rice. He knows that his father will spend the rest of the evening by his mother's side, trying to coax her into eating and drinking something, and maybe into speaking as well. It's been two years, but he has kept up the routine every single night without fail.
Sasuke keeps his eyes fixed on the table as his father quietly makes his way upstairs. It's only when the bedroom door shuts that he finally exhales.
Sasuke's irritation gets the better of him a little after 9pm, when his pencil snaps half-way through his artistic rendition of Tommy's cat playhouse.
He doesn't have Uzumaki Naruto's number, so calling or texting her is hopeless. After a few moments of gritting his teeth and swallowing his pride, he opens up his laptop and does the unthinkable: he logs onto his Facebook page.
Sasuke hasn't used it in almost two years because he doesn't see the point — the few minutes he spent scrolling through his news feed after first making the account had been enough to tell him it wasn't something he'd ever find interesting. Even now, he has no interest in reading about what movies his classmates have been watching or how they spent the weekend, or in seeing their stupid selfies. He doesn't even understand how he ended up with 30 of them as contacts.
He clicks on Haruno Sakura's profile and immediately heads towards her friends list. She doesn't have Naruto as a friend either, which is unsurprising: Sakura would probably pass out at the thought of adding someone like her on such a public platform. So Sasuke spends the next few minutes clicking around some of their mutual friends' pages before he finally finds someone who has Naruto as a contact. As soon as he does, he clicks on her profile, and then he pauses.
She's online.
Sasuke immediately scrolls down to the message box and types up a simple demand. Give me my textbook back.
While he waits for a response, he browses her page a little bit. Sasuke's profile page is sparse, without even a profile picture, but Naruto's is cluttered. There are countless status updates and shared posts ranging from funny memes to popular television and movie posts to artwork and photography. Each post has only a few likes, and all of them are from names that Sasuke can't recognise. Naruto's display picture is a selfie taken in front of a mirror, with the flash on so her blonde hair and blue eyes look brighter than ever. Her profile bio reads, A day without ramen is a day wasted. — William Shakespeare.
It's so stupid Sasuke can't help but huff a little laugh, forgetting his earlier annoyance for a brief moment. But then the screen pings, alerting him of a new message from Naruto:
Wtf are you talking about?
Sasuke presses his lips together and begins to type. My Math textbook. I know you took it, and I need it back.
Naruto immediately responds with a laughing emoji, followed by the words, If I wanted to steal something of yours it'd be that fancy wristwatch, not a stupid Math textbook! LOL. She follows it up with another laughing emoji and a gif of a man with dollar signs in his eyes.
It makes Sasuke grit his teeth. He remembers seeing her shove it into her backpack as she rushed out of the classroom, and he tells her as much.
Nope. I think you just misplaced it, buddy, Naruto responds. You should be more careful in the future.
She goes offline a moment later, which leaves Sasuke staring at the screen angrily. He pushes away from his laptop and busies himself with reading an extra chapter of his new architecture book, trying to keep his anger at bay.
An hour later, as he goes to switch off his laptop, he sees that his screen is still on Naruto's page.
She's posted a new photo. It's a a blurry page from what's clearly Sasuke's Math textbook. He can even see the questions he worked on a few days ago.
Doing homework, the caption reads. Feeling productive!
Sasuke's eye begins to twitch.
Sasuke is a late to Math the next day, even though he'd spent the previous lesson in the same room. He'd gone to the bathroom as the teachers changed over, only to find the entire bathroom locked for construction purposes. The closest available bathroom was on the other side of the school, which took him a ten minute walk. The fact that he was walking rather slowly probably hadn't helped, either.
By the time Sasuke walks into the classroom, Miss Park is already writing the lesson objectives on the board, and Uzumaki Naruto is sitting at his table.
Sasuke glares at her, annoyed by her audacity, but she ignores him entirely. But he doesn't want to make a scene in front of his classmates, so he holds his tongue and sits down.
"Okay, I'm going to come round and check your homework," Miss Park announces after a moment. She ignores the sound of students groaning in response, as well as the pitiful excuses already coming her way.
Sasuke is relieved he already did the homework a few days ago, before Naruto had the chance to snatch his textbook. He slides his workbook over the desk towards Miss Park when she reaches his desk, and she ticks all of the answers with a smile. "Good work, Sasuke."
She turns her attention to Naruto, who offers her own workbook. She opens it and begins studying the answers carefully, her frown deepening by the moment.
After a while, Miss Park looks up at her. "Did you copy this from Sasuke?"
"What?" exclaims Naruto. "No way!"
The teacher looks unconvinced. She slides Sasuke's workbook over to Naruto and points towards their answers. "They're the same. Even the way you worked it out is exactly identical to his."
Sasuke glances at her work. It's true — Naruto has copied the answers from his textbook word for word.
"So what?" Naruto demands. "I figured it out. It's Math."
"This one doesn't show the working, though," the teacher says coldly, pointing towards another question. "Just the answer."
Sasuke hadn't been bothered to show his working in the textbook, because there wasn't enough space on the page. He saved that, and the actual answer, for his workbook. But Naruto, being the idiot she is, had just copied it down glibly.
Naruto shrugs at their teacher, looking a little sheepish. "I was in a rush, that's all."
Miss Park crosses her arms and smiles. "Of course. So why don't you come to the board and show us how you got the final answer?"
Naruto scowls at her, but the teacher is already walking over to the whiteboard. She writes the question up in her neat handwriting before turning and offering the pen to Naruto, who is still glued to her seat. "Come on," she says.
A few students giggle as Naruto pushes away from her seat and makes her way over to the front of class. She gingerly takes the pen from Miss Park and stares at the board for a long moment, eyebrows knitted together. It's a simple enough task, but Naruto looks absolutely baffled.
"Don't keep us waiting," Miss Park says after a few minutes have passed.
Naruto presses her lips together. She stares at the board some more, as though trying to conjure an answer out of thin air. By now, several students have begun to laugh. Even Haruno Sakura looks amused as one of her friends nudges her in the side.
Sasuke doesn't find the situation funny. He should feel glad about it all, but he doesn't.
Naruto sighs. She stares at the floor, lifting her shoulders in a resigned shrug. "I don't know."
"Of course you don't," snaps Miss Park, finally losing her temper. "Maybe you can figure it out in detention. Go."
Naruto clenches her fists, but she marches over towards Sasuke's desk and snatches up her things. She's muttering under her breath, so infuriated that she doesn't even look at Sasuke as she shoves her book and pencil in her bag and storms out of the classroom. A few people jeer her name as she slams the door behind her.
Miss Park turns her attention back to the class. "Settle down. I'm sure we're all used to Miss Uzumaki's antics by now. Let's work on some geometry today."
Sasuke sighs, wondering if she has a spare textbook she'll lend him for the day, or if he'll be forced to share with someone. But when he reaches into his bag for his geometry set, he feels a familiar weight between his other books.
He stares down into his bag, opening it up further and pausing at the sight of his own textbook. Sasuke pulls it out and, after staring at it in confused disbelief for a long moment, opens it up to the first page. Sure enough, his name is written in neat capital letters.
He flicks through the other pages, recognising his handwriting and his answers and his highlighted sections. But he doesn't understand. He knows Naruto took it. He saw her take it. But it's also right here, in his hands, in its usual pristine condition.
"Sasuke?" Miss Park calls. "Are you alright?"
Sasuke nods and quickly opens his textbook up to the chapter on geometry.
He runs into Naruto during lunch, when he's walking out of the bathroom near the art classrooms. She's munching on a bag of chips and humming to herself whilst admiring some of the artwork on the walls. She eyes him warily as he approaches.
"Why did you give it back?" he asks.
Naruto scowls, taking a few steps back as though she's ready to bolt. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"I'm not going to tell anyone you took it," Sasuke says quickly. "I just want to know why."
Naruto looks at him carefully, as though considering whether or not to answer him honestly. Eventually, she shrugs. "I was always going to give it back," she tells him. "I just needed to copy it first until I get a new one."
"Why? Where's your textbook?" Sasuke demands.
Naruto scrunches up the bag of chips and tosses it in the trash. "I don't have one," she mutters. "And I need one to do my homework. If I don't, I'll get detention. If I get any more detention, I'll get suspended. If I get suspended, I can't come back and take my finals. And I need to graduate."
She's rubbing her finger back and forth along the wall, looking miserable. It's a complete contrast from the wild, rambunctious, no-fucks-given Uzumaki Naruto everyone in the school knows her as, and it makes Sasuke hesitate.
"You'll stand a better chance if you actually know what you're copying," he tells her eventually.
Naruto blinks at him in surprise before offering him a sly grin. "Well, I'm only getting started! I'll pass all those stupid finals, don't you worry."
He's about to tell her that he's not worried when she suddenly points at his crotch, her blue eyes wide. "Oh, by the way, your fly's down."
Sasuke stares down at his zipper, a flush creeping up his neck when he realises she was just teasing him. He looks up with a glare, but she's already walking away, her loud laughter echoing through the entire corridor.
Naruto messages him on Facebook later that evening, when he's in the middle of watching highlights of a recent basketball game. Her message consists of only one word: Help.
Sasuke ignores the message and turns his attention back to the game. But then he receives another notification.
I know you're online!
He rolls his eyes and types a response. I don't care if you know.
Naruto responds with a laughing emoji. A moment later, she sends him a blurry photo of what appears to be her workbook.
Please tell me you've done these questions! I'm sooo confused and this shit is due tomorrow!
Sasuke sighs. He presses his lips together, wondering if he should ignore her completely. But then he remembers the way she'd looked that afternoon whilst explaining herself to him.
What are you confused about? he asks, sincerely hoping she can sense his annoyance just from the text.
Naruto immediately sends a clearer image of the questions, as well as her attempts to answer them. Sasuke identifies her mistakes at once and points them out to her as clearly as he can.
So you add the two numbers together and then multiply? Naruto asks, and he's slightly relieved to see she's keeping up.
Yes, he responds. Always multiply last.
Naruto is silent for a while, but then she sends him another image of the solved problem. Like this?
That's right, Sasuke tells her, before adding a little unnecessarily, I'm going now.
He exits the page before she can respond and returns his attention to the basketball game, determined to forget about all of his previous conversations with Uzumaki Naruto. But she approaches him by the gates after school the following afternoon, looking both earnest and unsure of herself.
"Uchiha," she calls. "Thanks for helping me out last night."
"It's fine," Sasuke says with a shrug, feeling a little uncomfortable now that some other students are staring at them curiously. They look at each other for a long, awkward moment, neither of them speaking. He's about to turn and walk away when Naruto suddenly speaks again.
"Do you really listen to Blue Lake?" she blurts out.
Sasuke blinks at her in surprise. "What?"
Naruto shrugs, adjusting the straps of her backpack. "On your Facebook profile, it says Blue Lake is one of your favourite bands."
Sasuke remembers now. Itachi set his profile up for him, all the while teasing his little brother about all the friends (and fangirls) he was going to make in high school. Sasuke had been determined not to include any personal information, but his brother had managed to list Blue Lake under the "favourite music" section of his page. That sad little band you like so much, Itachi had joked.
He clears his throat and nods. "Yeah," he tells her.
Naruto's lips curve up in a wide smile. She looks delighted, and all of her previous apprehension fades away. "They're so good, right? Have you heard their latest album? What's your favourite song off it?" she asks excitedly.
Sasuke is still so surprised that someone like Uzumaki Naruto listens to Blue Lake that it takes him a while to process her questions. "Yeah," he says again. "Uh. I liked Night-Time Frenzy."
Naruto's smile widens even more. "Me too!"
She pulls her phone out of her pocket and shows him her wallpaper. It's the lyrics from the song's chorus: Stuck in this night-time frenzy / I'm waiting for the sun to come up / I'm waiting for you to see me through.
Naruto even sings the lyrics a little, tapping her foot to the beat. She's a good singer. Sasuke can do nothing but stare at her.
"So you're not a total loser," Naruto declares, unfazed by his bewilderment. "Well, well. Wonders will never cease."
She gives him another grin before turning around and walking away, humming the tune of the song to herself. Sasuke spends the entire afternoon with the song stuck in his head, but he can't bring himself to feel too annoyed about it.
He's working on his English essay that night when he receives a message from Naruto.
Heyyyy, what did you get for q12 in the Math homework? Is the answer 142.6?
Before he can even seriously consider ignoring her, he receives a follow-up message: BTW I can see ur online and if u don't respond I will beat you up tomorrow!
Sasuke scoffs at that. Naruto is short and scrawny despite her larger-than-life attitude, and the mental image of her trying to beat him up is laughable. Still, he opens his Math book and finds the answer, wondering why he's still entertaining her shenanigans.
Yes, he says.
Naruto replies a split-second later. YEEEESSSSSS. I am really getting the hang of this Math thing.
Sasuke scoffs again. He returns his attention to his essay, but then Naruto messages him once more.
Why are you awake so late tho? she demands. Isn't it past your bedtime?
Sasuke almost says, Why do you care?, but he doesn't. Instead, for some reason, he decides to answer her. Working on my English essay.
Naruto pauses. Shit lol I forgot about that -_- looks like I'm not getting any sleep tonight….ughhh!
Sasuke doesn't say that Naruto looks like she never gets a good night's sleep. She always shows up to school with dark circles under her eyes, making her look haunted and slightly deranged.
Naruto sends him another message. It's a screenshot of her Spotify playing a song from the latest Blue Lake record. She's added a few heart stickers around the band's name.
At least I have these guys to keep me company! :D the caption reads.
Sasuke stares at the image for a moment. He doesn't know what pushes him to do it. It's stupid. He's only a few months away from graduating, and the last thing he wants or needs is to start putting up with someone like Uzumaki Naruto. Maybe it's late and he's just too tired to think properly anymore. Or maybe it's the fact that he hasn't had a proper conversation with someone in so long, and he's sick and tired of the quiet of this house and his mind.
He sends Naruto a photo he snapped a year ago during summer vacation. It's of Blue Lake live in concert, when they stopped in the city during their self-titled tour. He went to the show after booking a ticket on a whim, a few days after the anniversary of Itachi's death, when the house seemed quieter and colder than usual.
Sasuke had hated the crowds, the loud sounds, the feel of bodies pressing up against him — but the music had been good enough for him to just be in that moment and forget about everything else for a while.
OMFG you're so lucky! Naruto replies immediately, and she spams him with several crying and dancing emojis.
She asks him what songs they played, and in response, Sasuke sends her a photo of a piece of paper he picked up from near the stage with the entire setlist written on it. Naruto immediately spams him with some more crying emojis.
Six songs from their self-titled album tho?! she says. That's amazing! That's my favourite record!
Me too, Sasuke says, and he's surprised by how quickly he types the words. He hesitates a moment before adding, I don't have the vinyl. Can't find it anywhere.
Naruto sends him a gif of a little boy crying. How many shows have you been to?
Only one, Sasuke tells her. I don't like concerts. They're too loud.
Naruto sends a laughing emoji. That's the point, dummy!
He feels his own lips curve up in a smile at her words, because she's right. His fingers hover over the keyboard for a moment as he thinks of what to say. He settles for a measured response. Go and finish your homework, Uzumaki.
Naruto sends him a winking face in response. Aye-aye, captain.
Naruto skips Math class for the rest of the week, and her absence makes Sasuke feel both relieved and a little unsettled. But she returns on Monday, on time, and with a shiny new textbook. It catches the attention of the entire class, including Miss Park.
"Where'd you steal that from, Uzumaki?" a boy jeers.
Naruto smiles mischievously as she steps further inside. "Wouldn't you like to know."
Miss Park, however, seems unimpressed. "If you stole it—"
"I bought it, Miss Park," Naruto interrupts calmly. "With my own money. Just because some moron accuses me of being a thief doesn't mean I actually am one."
Miss Park looks taken aback by her response, and she holds her tongue as Naruto walks past her.
To everyone's surprise, she heads over to Sasuke's table. There's only one other chair today, but it's occupied by Sasuke's backpack. Sasuke eyes her warily as she stands there and raises an eyebrow at him, as though she's challenging him.
After a while of glaring at each other, he rolls his eyes and tugs his bag off the chair. Naruto settles into the seat with a wide smile. "Good morning," she announces pleasantly.
A boy grips Sasuke's shoulder good-naturedly and leans in close. "Keep a close eye on your valuables, Uchiha."
Sasuke shrugs him off, annoyed by both his over-familiarity and his words. Naruto, however, simply winks at him.
"And your textbook," she adds.
Sasuke looks at her new book pointedly. "Looks like I don't have to worry about that anymore."
Naruto grins at his words. She opens her mouth to say something else, but then the lesson begins.
Miss Park doesn't seem interested in picking on Naruto today, but the girl still tries her best to focus. Sasuke notices her looking out of the window every now and then a little wistfully, but she catches herself each time and returns her attention to her book. Whenever someone answers a question, she stares at the numbers on the textbook page and then at her own notes, looking lost.
"How the hell did he get 13.35?" she mutters to herself at one point.
Before he can stop himself, Sasuke wordlessly points at the formula in the textbook.
"Oh," Naruto says, blinking a little. "I thought that was an example."
Sasuke resists the urge to laugh. "No, you idiot, it's a formula. You have to use it to get the answer. Just replace x and y with the numbers in the question."
"Oh," Naruto says again, her mouth making an 'O' shape. "That makes sense. Thanks."
Sasuke hums in response.
The remainder of the lesson passes uneventfully. As the hour comes close to an end, Naruto discreetly slides a little note over to Sasuke. It's a doodle of Miss Park, accompanied with devil horns.
Sasuke fights down a smile. He also dislikes Miss Park, but for other reasons entirely. Before he can stop himself, he reaches for the paper and adds a pitchfork to the doodle. Naruto sniggers so loudly it makes Sasuke smile, but it also draws the attention of the entire class, forcing her to spend the next ten minutes convincing their teacher that that she was just coughing.
For the rest of the week, Sasuke helps Naruto out with her classwork when he can. She shows up late to almost every single lesson, citing various excuses (she slept through all five of her alarms; there was a lot of traffic; she went to McDonalds for breakfast and the queue was too long), but she still shows up, so the school can't complain too much.
Sasuke is initially baffled by how poor her understanding of the subject is. But then he realises she's probably only attended a handful of classes since second year, and since her background isn't a secret, he knows she's in no position to be receiving private tutoring like most of their peers. What's important is that Naruto actually tries to pay attention to him when he's quickly explaining something to her under his breath. She says thank you each and every time he helps her out, and seems sincere in her desire to learn.
On Friday they don't have Math, so he doesn't see Naruto. Sasuke concludes his week with a dull History lesson. His grumpy teacher decides to saddle them all with so much homework Sasuke's not entirely sure how he'll get it done alongside his plans to visit the Western Valley campus.
He's walking towards the school gates a little moodily when he spots Naruto. She's accompanied by the same guy who was hanging around the gates with her last week. The man is smoking again, leaning against the gate and smiling lazily at Naruto as he talks to her.
Naruto turns around as Sasuke approaches. She's not wearing her uniform, which means she didn't show up to school today, and she's carrying an old grey tote bag.
"Hey! Uchiha!" she says, quickly rushing up to him. "Have a good day in hell?"
"It was tolerable," he says, and is surprised when Naruto laughs. "You didn't show up."
Naruto shrugs. "I had better things to do, and I didn't have any core subjects today. But then I remembered something." She searches around in the tote bag for a moment before slowly pulling out a blue vinyl record. She offers it to him with both hands and a smile. "This is for you."
Sasuke hesitates for a moment before he takes it from her. It's the self-titled Blue Lake record, the only one he doesn't have on vinyl. He searched online and in every store the city had to offer, but couldn't get his hands on it. And now, Naruto is giving him one.
"Don't worry," she says after a few moments of silence. "It's legit."
He looks up with a frown, still not entirely sure what her intentions are. "Are you selling this to me?" he asks. He glances at the man by the gates, who's lazily smoking hoops while staring up at the sky, and briefly wonders if this is some kind of shady activity she's trying to get him involved in.
Naruto laughs. "What? No! This is mine. I'm giving it to you."
Sasuke just stares at her. "Why?"
"My ex got it for me," Naruto explains. "For my birthday. But I don't have a record player, so it's just on my shelf gathering dust. You'd probably make better use of it."
When Sasuke continues to stare at her silently, she shrugs, a flush creeping up her neck.
"Besides," she adds, quieter this time. "I owe you."
Sasuke doesn't think a bit of help with math is worth a Blue Lake vinyl, but Naruto seems to think it is. He doesn't know what to say, doesn't know what to do with the funny feeling blooming in his chest. Thank you seems like a good start, but then the man by the gate whistles impatiently.
"Hurry up, kid," he calls out, taking another puff of his cigarette.
Naruto glances at him, frowning a little at the interruption. "I'm coming," she mutters, before returning her attention to Sasuke. "Anyway. See you around, Uchiha."
She offers him another smile before she turns and quickly walks off to join the man. He smirks as Naruto approaches, wrapping an arm around her shoulder and pulling her close so he can press a kiss against her forehead.
Sasuke doesn't wait to watch them walk away. He carefully puts the vinyl in his bag before he turns and heads home.
On Saturday, Sasuke wakes up early to take the train to the Western Valley campus. He pays extra for a window seat because it's been a long time since he last left the city. He watches the bustling city landscape shift away at the end of the first hour, becoming replaced by green fields, idyllic hills, and the breathtaking valley the school was named after.
The campus is a large, sprawling site with over seventeen buildings. The tour guide leads them through every single one, explaining the rich history of the campus and the successful alumni each school has produced so far.
Most of the other prospective students are accompanied by their parents or older siblings. Some of them are travelling in groups of friends. They're all smiling and chatting excitedly as they make their way around the campus. Some are even taking photos, as though it's a tourist destination. Sasuke isn't the only person alone, but the other unaccompanied people are all older than him.
The School of Architecture is set on top of a hill overlooking the slow-moving river in the centre of the valley. It's an old tower that looks like something out of a gothic novel. Sasuke spends thirty full minutes at the top of the tower before his assigned talk just peering out into the valley, his heart pounding in his chest at the sight of the lush green hills and crystal-blue water.
"The School of Architecture is ranked number one in the world for a reason," drawls a third-year student during the talk. They're all seated inside one of the lecture theatres, a large hall that can seat a little over 100 students. "We provide students with a rigorous understanding of the discipline, and we offer them the best placements and work experience opportunities to boost their employment prospects. Only the best get accepted, so think carefully before you bother applying."
A few people laugh at his words, but some students look around rather nervously.
Sasuke bumps into Haruno Sakura at the end of the afternoon. She's walking out of the School of Medicine with an armful of pamphlets, accompanied her mother and father. "Sasuke!" she exclaims when she sees him.
She introduces him to her parents, who both give Sasuke warm smiles, and draws him into a conversation about how fantastic the university is, how friendly the students are and how gorgeous the campus is — but did they expect anything less from such a prestigious school?
Sasuke feels uncomfortable the entire time, but he forces himself to nod and speak at the correct moments. He's no good with small talk — or talk in general — but it seems like Sakura is incapable of understanding that.
"Architecture?" Sakura repeats with a frown when he tells her what course he's applying for. "I thought you would've gone for medicine."
Sasuke shrugs. He doesn't know why she assumed that about him. "My brother was a medical student," he says, for lack of something better to say.
Sakura's expression immediately shifts into one of pity. But that's not what Sasuke meant. He doesn't need her pity, because it's not like Itachi's death traumatised him into changing his degree. Itachi was the medic who wanted to save lives and cure people. Sasuke never wanted anything but to draw and to be left alone.
He excuses himself a moment later, saying he has to get home before his train ticket expires. He spends the train journey his sketchbook in his lap, trying to recreate the landscape of the valley as best as he can. He's barely aware of his surroundings as he sketches each detail with excruciating care, wondering if he'll ever get the chance to see it again.
He listens to seven of the eight Blue Lake records for the entire train ride. For some reason, he finds himself avoiding the self-titled album.
The house is dark and quiet when he returns. His father has no doubt retired to the bedroom for the night, so Sasuke locks the doors and makes sure Tommy has enough food in his bowl until morning. He eats a quick meal of toast and a cup of green tea before heading over to the shower, feeling oddly tired.
He's running a towel through his damp hair when his curiosity gets the better of him. He takes the Blue Lake record off his shelf, where he'd placed it since Naruto offered it to him. It's still in its packaging.
He runs his fingers across the warm blue cover of the record. It's the first gift he's received in a long time. His parents don't bother celebrating his birthday anymore, and he's never liked the attention that comes with it anyway.
He opens up the vinyl and heads over to his record player, taking great care as he unwraps it from the packaging. He places the record in place and watches as it begins to spin. A moment later, his room fills with the quiet music of the first track from the record.
Something warm settles in his chest. Sasuke crawls into his bed, arms behind his head, as he lets the familiar tunes wash over him. He falls asleep a little after midnight, and dreams of of piercing blue eyes and cheerful laughter.