TiMER
theeflowerchild
ƒchapter 3
The sweltering heat persists to the second week of September. The back of Sakura's thighs stick to her seat; she has to peel them off discreetly with a sickening tear to get to her next class. She brushes her skirt down with sweaty hands, and pulls her carefully curled hair into a ponytail by the beginning of third period. She uses her backpack to hide her sweaty back.
Her first day of high school is sticky, and calescent. She looks outside the classroom window with her chin in the palm of her hand and prays for rain with the best of them; anything to break the lingering, sweaty grasp that this oppressive summer has well into what should be the beginning of a balmy fall.
Sakura keeps her left hand deep inside the pocket of her denim skirt. Every student in all of her classes so far has a timer stapled to their wrist, counting down a time she won't dare ask about. Even her first period teacher still has her timer, and Sakura notices with a frown that it's all zeros.
She knows there will be questions she won't care to answer when people see the damning scar on her wrist. It's not impossible for somebody her age to have found their soulmate, but it is uncommon. Especially given the circumstances of Sasuke's age; another thing she doesn't care to explain. There are so many things Sakura would rather not talk about, all related to the score on her wrist.
By fifth period lunch, somebody notices when she reaches for an apple on the lunch line. "Wow," the girl whispers, and she must be a senior, so much older and more mature looking than Sakura. She's curvy, and has wild red hair, and breasts Sakura could only dream of. She wonders if Sasuke would like somebody more developed like this upperclassmen. Then she frowns, and realizes that even a pretty senior isn't old enough for Sasuke. "You have a soulmate?"
Sakura blushes, hot, and nods.
"That's awesome." She grins, and shoves her hand in Sakura's face. "I'm Karin."
She takes it. "Sakura."
Karin follows her to her table with a million questions, and she minds less than she thought, because Karin has a pretty scar, too. It's shaped like a half moon, right where Sakura's is, a soft, risen white against tan skin. Sakura hopes hers will heal as daintily as Karin's.
She tells Sakura that her soulmate is a junior at an all boy's school two states away, and that they met at a concert when she was fifteen. Karin is seventeen now, and she is maybe one of the most beautiful girls that she has ever seen. Her eyes shine when she talks about her Suigetsu: how handsome, and goofy, and untamed he is, how he can make her laugh even when she thinks she'll never smile again. How they'll get married when he graduates and she already knows she wants pink flowers.
Finally, Karin leans in and says, "Tell me about yours."
Sakura purses her lips. "I don't know what to say."
"Well, what's his name?" she asks.
"Sasuke," she says. "He's my brother's best friend."
Karin raises an eyebrow, her thick, black glasses sliding down her pointy nose, and then snorts. "Small world! Does your brother go to school here, too?"
"No." She shakes her head, ponytail swaying and tickling her feverish neck. "He's in college."
"Oh, so, your soulmate, then…" Karin nods her head. "Gotcha. That's tough."
Sakura nods again. "Yeah."
"My parents are ten years apart," she offers. "Their alarms went off when my mom was twenty, so she didn't have to wait… but still."
Sakura's eyes widen. "Really?"
"Really." Karin takes a long sip of her lemonade. "They never seemed to have any issues."
She smiles, then, with just enough teeth that Karin returns it with another laugh. "I like you, Sakura," she says. "Even if you're a freshman."
Sakura rolls her eyes, but decides she likes Karin, too, and forks over her number when she asks.
By the time Sakura gets home, she's ready to resign herself to her airconditioned room to memorize her syllabi and get a headstart on her reading. Instead, she ends up in her den watching her brother and her soulmate nearly topple over each other trying to get to the finish line of some racing game she's never cared about. Naruto pushes Sasuke, and Sasuke kicks Naruto in the stomach, and Naruto pulls Sasuke's hair, and so on, and so forth. She watches in amusement as her brother wins by a hair, pumping his fists into the air as Sasuke falls flat on his back, sighing as dramatically as she's sure he can.
He sits up rather quickly when he realizes she's in the room. "Oh, Sakura, hey, welcome home."
She smiles. "Hey guys."
"How was your first day of hell?" Naruto asks with a cheeky grin, and Sasuke shoves him, again.
She shrugs. "It wasn't that bad, actually."
"I'm glad," Sasuke says, and his mouth twists into a tiny smile that she's never seen him give anybody else. It's so perfect; no teeth, just his pretty, soft lips and shiny eyes as he stares right at her. It makes her knees shake, just a little. "Good classes?"
"Yeah, I guess." She fiddles with the strap of her backpack over one shoulder, and takes a few steps towards them. "I was hoping to start some of the reading."
"Right." He nods. "If you need any help, let me know."
Naruto sighs loudly next to him and begins complaining, only to receive an elbow to the gut that leaves him howling, blue eyes fiery and a grimace on his face that could scare their own towering father. Sasuke pays him no mind.
"Thanks, I might take you up on that." She sways on the tips of her toes, and hopes she has no sweat on her shirt when she turns around. "Anyway, I'm gonna head up, you guys can go back to doing… whatever that was."
Sasuke stays for dinner, again, ignoring Naruto when he flicks a grain or two of rice at him as he tries to ask Sakura about her first day of high school. She knows why her brother is jealous, but she can't seem to feel that bad when Sasuke gives her his undivided attention, eyes dark and curious and watching her intently.
Maybe she felt bad in the beginning. Watching his attention shift from Naruto to her was obvious and even a little embarrassing. Feeling included has been exciting; getting to do things Naruto had to wait much longer to do is as exhilarating as it is hilarious when her brother's response is a kind of exasperation only a little sister can enjoy. If Sasuke notices, he doesn't even pretend to care. He includes Sakura in hikes, and movies, and car rides, and hockey tournaments without a second thought. Without consulting with her brother, first.
This will continue to be confusing and she has no doubts about that, but in the meantime it's nice, to feel wanted.
"It'll get easier," he promises, eventually, after they've cleaned up the table and Naruto has disappeared somewhere to play some video game and decidedly ignore them. "Trigonometry isn't that bad, and principle Sarutobi might be old, but he's not strict."
"God, he's old," Sakura agrees, and Sasuke chuckles, a nice and warm laugh that makes her heart race. He doesn't laugh often, but he laughs for her.
They sit in silence for a long moment, and Sasuke stares at her from across the kitchen table. She bites her lip, and finally asks, "what do you say?"
His brow furrows. "What?"
"When they ask about me," she adds. "What do you say?"
"I don't know what you mean," he says. He shakes his head. "I tell them I have a soulmate."
"But…" she trails off, and suddenly her hands in her lap are more fascinating than anything else could ever be. "I'm fourteen. That's awkward. What do you say?"
She's met with silence. She picks her tiny nails, and her mother would be snapping at her right now, telling her how unhygienic it is and how she'd let her get her nails done if she didn't eat them within the week. Instead, she fiddles with her hair, slightly matted from the heat, curls lost to a ponytail. When she thinks he's not going to respond, she looks up, but he just looks confused.
His dark eyebrows are knitted together, brown eyes concerned and conflicted. His answer surprises her. "I'm not embarrassed by you, Sakura."
Her eyes widen. "What?"
"If that's what you're asking," he adds. "You don't embarrass me. You're my soulmate. Nothing else matters."
Her lower lip trembles, just a little. "Oh."
Suddenly he's sighing, and rounding the table to put his arm around her. "Please don't cry. Did I say something wrong? Don't cry, Sakura, please—"
"No, no, I'm not, it's fine," she brushes the tears out of her eyes, "it's not bad crying, I just, I don't know—"
"Relax," he says, and he presses her hair down with his large hand. "Did somebody say something about it today?"
She nods her head, and when he begins to look angry, she quickly tells him, "nothing bad! I met another girl. With a soulmate. An older girl. She felt bad."
"I don't," he says.
"You don't?"
He snorts. "No. You're my soulmate. I'm proud of that. We can just… deal with everything else."
"You always say that." She laughs. "I don't want to be a burden."
He snorts. "You're so annoying." He ruffles her hair, then, and Sakura immediately knows he meant it in the most affectionate way. "You aren't a burden."
"I don't want to be," she says, and sniffles. He brushes a stray tear off her cheek. "This is so hard."
He shakes his head. "I know, but it will get easier. If you feel more comfortable lying—"
"I'm not embarrassed by you, either!" she shouts, interrupting him, and suddenly he's smiling, that smile for her, no teeth and nearly too sweet. "I'm proud of you, too, Sasuke. I don't want to lie."
"Then don't." He stands, and pats down his jeans. "We are certainly not the first couple to be in a situation like this, and won't be the last."
Sakura feels a hot blush creep up her cheeks. "Couple?"
Sasuke shakes his head, and he might be just as pink as her hair. "That—that's not what I meant, Sakura."
She frowns, cheeks still warm. "Oh."
"Not yet," he corrects, with a tiny smile. He looks too pretty, flushed and all. Sasuke is so handsome, she can't help but think, with high cheekbones and dark hair, a thin nose and soft lips. She knows she'll get to kiss them one day. He reminds her when he says things like this. "You can always talk to me about these things."
"You too," she says, though she's not sure how much she offers as a fourteen-year-old that's barely ever had a crush. She sighs softly, prettily. "I care about you."
His lips quirk into a tiny smirk. "I care about you, Sakura. You are… very precious to me."
She wonders if she'll ever be able to say such things without blushing like he does.
"Thank you," she says, softly, reaching to squeeze his hand. He squeezes back. "I should go finish my reading."
He sighs. "And I should find your dumb brother."
Sakura giggles. "He's just jealous you're not his soulmate."
"Sometimes I really believe that," he mumbles, and smiles softly. "Everything will be okay. I promise."
She nods her head and smiles back. "I believe you."
The next day at school, Sakura wears a pretty sundress, with no pockets at all.
