Sasuke woke up the next day feeling an anticipation that was so deep, it made him wake up early. He avoided the nervousness he felt. Sasuke liked to pretend he didn't have the ability to be nervous or to care. Although the nervousness was there, this was the best he'd felt in so long. He felt incredibly awake.
It was a feeling that was almost incomparable to anything but drugs themselves.
Lexapro, Sasuke thought. It was almost shocking to him that in just a week, he went from a delinquent in appearence to a delinquent in every sense of the word. He was no longer someone who hung out with druggies but was now someone who was, arguably, a druggie himself.
Even though he'd made all of these decisions himself, Sasuke felt as if he wanted to blame someone for the shit he was putting himself through. He wanted to say that Suigetsu, Karin, and Jugo peer pressured him into it. That if it weren't for Orochimaru's menacing presence, he would have felt like he had a choice to say no to the Hydro.
But the truth was that Sasuke was ruining himself. From the inside out, he was hurting himself to death. Something that could someday be taken literally if he fell too deep into depression and drugs. Sasuke wasn't trying to make optimism out of something pessimistic but he knew that dying from drugs would be dying happy.
Enough thinking, Sasuke ordered himself mentally. Sasuke didn't feel like taking a shower so he didn't. Instead, he went straight to the livingroom and sat on the couch. He tried to be quiet so he wouldn't wake Kakashi up. After a few minutes of pondering what to do,he unlocked his phone and decided to listen to music for a while.
Sasuke ended up imagining different outcomes of how today could go while listening to the music. He hated doing that but he also hated not having a plan for if things didn't turn out the way they were supposed to.
Like if Suigetsu, Karin, and Jugo didn't actually show up. Or if Orochimaru did end up doing something like pulling out a gun. Or if he tried tricking them. Sasuke listened to music for just over an hour before getting distracted. He turned his phone vertically and went on Facebook.
Sasuke didn't go on Facebook much at all. He went on Facebook three times a week at most. He noticed there were several new friend requests. He clicked to see who requested. Sasuke wasn't the type to have many friends on Facebook. In fact, he only had 57 friends on there including relatives and Itachi's friends.
So, when he saw Suigetsu, Karin, and Jugo requesting to be friended, he had to think about whether he was fine with friending people he'd only known for a week. But he couldn't deny that he felt a sense of trust towards them. They had plenty oppurtunities to hurt him and they hadn't hurt him as of yet. Sighing, Sasuke pressed 'Accept' to the three of them.
Sasuke scrolled down more and declined the friend requests from people he didn't know and people he didn't trust. Then, he saw two friend requests that hit him in the face: Orochimaru and Kabuto. Neither had last names. He didn't know why it was such a shock that those two would send him friend requests but it was.
Now Sasuke had to make a choice. If he accepted Orochimaru's friend request, would that confirm their dealer-client relationship? Sasuke wasn't sure he wanted to confirm Orochimaru as being his dealer yet. He was scared that if he decided to quit drugs somedays, Orochimaru would snap and kill him.
But would Orochimaru snap and try to kill him anyway if he declined? Maybe he was being paranoid. Maybe he was giving Orochimaru too much power. But the fear was real. Sasuke didn't know whether Orochimaru was capable of murder or not. Until he knew, he would tread carefully around him.
Sasuke pressed 'Accept.'
He accept Kabuto's too and declined all the others from the rest of the people he didn't know. He wasn't sure what time it was but he was getting tired again so he turned his phone's screen off and lied down on the couch.
Sasuke quickly fell asleep. When he awoke an hour later, he felt more well rested than before. "Why'd you fall asleep on the couch?" Kakashi asked curiously. Sasuke shrugged. "I dunno; just got tired." Sasuke explained vaguely because he was too lazy to explain exactly why.
This time, he felt like taking a shower. So, he did. When he finished, he put on a black long sleeved shirt and black pants. Then, he went to the dining table and ate some cereal.
When he was finally ready, he checked Facebook again. If Orochimaru was as threatening as he thought, then he wouldn't take too kindly to Sasuke ignoring a text message. Luckily, Sasuke had no new text messages when he checked Facebook.
"You wanted to go to school early again, right?" Kakashi asked. Sasuke nodded. "Okay. Then we should leave soon." 'Soon' is a vague word so Sasuke asked how long specifically. "A few minutes," Kakashi answered, smiling.
Sasuke wanted to complain about Kakashi teasing him but decided that, that would be giving into him. Instead, Sasuke groaned and sat down with his arms crossed. "Is Sasuke pouting?" Kakashi continued teasing.
Sasuke rolled his eyes and got up. "I'll be in the car." Apparently, Kakashi was also planning on leaving that second because he followed Sasuke out the door.
When they got to the school, Sasuke walked in with Kakashi so he wouldn't look suspicious. After going into the cafeteria, Sasuke waited for Kakashi to leave and then went outside to find the three annoyances.
He had a mini panic when he couldn't find them at the front of the school but told himself to shut up and to look where he hadn't looked yet. Of course, they happened to be behind the school making Sasuke panic for nothing.
"Hey. You ready?" Greeted Suigetsu. Sasuke nodded. They walked until Orochimaru's house was in view. "I know I should've said this before but you don't want to piss Orochimaru off." Surprisingly, Suigetsu was the one who said that.
The three of them looked at Sasuke seriously and Sasuke nodded, taking them seriously. He would heed their warning. He felt grateful that they told him to be careful because now he knew Orochimaru was truly someone he didn't want to fuck with.
Sasuke took this as his chance to get more details about Orochimaru. "What does he do? Like, does he come after you if you don't pay up?" The three of them glanced at each other and then quickly glanced back at him.
"Yeah," said Karin. "Yeah, and so much worse," said Suigetsu. "Like what?" Asked Sasuke. They shifted nervously and Karing finally answered. "I don't think we should say. I mean it's nothing against you. Truly. Were just, like, scared."
Suigetsu frowned at the fact Karin said he was scared but agreed with everything else. "Okay. Let's go," he said. The four of them walked to the front door of the house and knocked.
Kabuto answered the door. "Ah," began Kabuto in an amused voice. "It's Karin, Jugo, Suigetsu, and that Uchiha boy," he yelled to Orochimaru. "Let the children in," came Orochimaru's reply.
Kabuto opened the door wide and gestured for them to come in. When they got through the door, Kabuto said, "follow me." He led them to the livingroom and once again, Orochimaru told Sasuke to sit by him.
Suigetsu, Karin, and Jugo sat down after him. "What have you come for?" Asked Orochimaru. "We need some Lexapro," said Suigetsu, "Sasuke's gonna try it." Orochimaru glanced at Sasuke with a hint of mischief in his eyes. "Oh? I see"
"Kabuto. Go get us a bottle of Lexapro." "Yes, sir," Kabuto replied. Sasuke felt a bit nervous about the fact that he asked for an entire bottle of the stuff. The feeling was quickly pushed away and replaced with him feeling down.
Whatever, he thought, I don't care anymore. I feel like shit so much. I don't care if I die from this.
Sasuke figured that if he didn't care about death then why would he care about anything else? He had nothing to lose. Even if Lexapro had terrible effects.
Kabuto came back quickly and handed a prescription bottle to Orochimaru. "How much money do you have?" Orochimaru asked the four teenagers. "20 dollars," said Sasuke. "Same with the three of us," said Suigetsu.
"That's plenty." Orochimaru directed his attention to Sasuke. "Lexapro doesn't cost much because not many people buy it. I'll give you 5 for twenty." Karin nodded and Jugo nodded.
Suigetsu looked as if he just wanted his drugs so he could get away from the place. Sasuke felt the same. Orochimaru opened the medication bottle and poured the pills out onto the counter. "Money first," he told them.
They each took out their money and Kabuto collected it. Sasuke didn't like that Kabuto collected it but said nothing. Orochimaru counted the pills out and gave each of them five. The pills were small, white, and round.
Orochimaru took the leftover pills and handed them to Kabuto. Sasuke wasn't sure whether Kabuto was going to take them or if he was going to preserve them for Orochimaru. He never found out because Kabuto left the room with the pills.
Orochimaru turned to Sasuke. "So. Tell me, Sasuke; how's your brother?" A cold wave of shock and slight fear hit Sasuke. How did this man know his brother? A plethora of questions came at Sasuke.
Did his brother do drugs? Did Kakashi know this man too? Did his parents know this man before they died? Had Itachi done business with this man? Would it be okay to ask Itachi, or even Kakashi, about this man or would it make Itachi and/or Kakashi upset?
The question that ran a chill down Sasuke's spine, though, was: Did this man know Sasuke even though Sasuke didn't know him?
It was strange enough that they already knew he was an Uchiha but the fact that Orochimaru directly knew his brother was extremely suspicious. Now Sasuke really felt tempted to ask his brother if he knew a man named Orochimaru or Kabuto.
"And don't think about asking your brother," Orochimaru said, reading Sasuke's thoughts. Sasuke took that line as a threat and looked at him intensely, feeling alarmed. "Why not?"
"Because he'll find out you've been doing drugs. He knows I'm a dealer. With a simple mention of my name, Itachi will get suspicious." Sasuke felt trapped now. This man could blackmail him into anything now. He knew Sasuke's weakness: a disappointed Itachi.
"Don't worry about it. I am not a snitch," Orochimaru reassured him. Sasuke felt incredibly relieved at that. But even stranger was the fact that Orochimaru was reassuring him in the first place. Why would he do such a thing? Orochimaru was most definitely not the caring type.
Sasuke felt relieved enough over the fact that Orochimaru wasn't a snitch that he was able to let it go for now. But that didn't mean he wouldn't continue to be careful around him.
Suigetsu, Jugo, and Karin seemed to be a bit alarmed as well but they made a silent agreement to also let it go for now. Karin checked her phone. "We should probably go, if that's okay with you?" She asked for Orochimaru's permission.
"Go on. Do well in school." Orochimaru waved them off and they walked out the door. Tension that they didn't realise was there was relieved when the door to Orochimaru's house was closed behind them.
The relief was so strong that it threw them into a good mood. "I have water," said Suigetsu. "You guys wanna take the Lexapro right now?" Everyone agreed and took the pills while passing the water around.
They started walking back to school while waiting for the pills to kick in. Karin and Suigetsu talked about how they "couldn't wait to be fucked up in class" on the way there. Sasuke just wanted the pills to kick in already.
When they got to the school, there was no one outside. "Shit. Where'd everyone go?" Asked Suigetsu. Karin looked at Suigetsu, clearly judging him. "In class, you idiot. We're late." Sasuke hoped Kakashi wouldn't know about how he was tardy.
Since Kakashi dropped him off early, it would be hard to give an excuse for being late. "Let's go," Sasuke said, interrupting Karin and Suigetsu. They got to class five minutes late. Kakashi unfortunately noticed.
"Sasuke. Why were you late?" Kiba seemed to be enjoying himself and Sasuke expected Naruto to be as well but, instead, he looked worried. A worried Naruto was a bad Naruto because that meant he would ask Sasuke questions until he was satisfied.
Sasuke sighed very loudly. At least he'd be on drugs when he'd have to deal with everyone. "Shouldn't I be the one sighing?" Kakashi asked Sasuke. Sasuke was going to glare at Kakashi but figured he'd reply with "Shouldn't I be the one glaring?" so he let it go.
"I'm still looking for an answer, Sasuke," said Kakashi. Sasuke thought of an excuse and swallowed his pride. "I was hanging out with my friends." Kakashi looked at Suigetsu, Karin, and Jugo.
"Why did you find hanging out with friends to be more important than coming to class on time?" Sasuke's pride was really starting to hurt. "I don't know; I just did." Kakashi sighed and Sasuke relaxed because that meant he was letting it go. "Sit down."
Sasuke sat by Jugo. 30 minutes into class and the drug still hadn't kicked in. Like before, Sasuke was scared that it wouldn't work. Scared that he was ripped off.
But come 37 minutes later and in English, he started feeling sick and shakey. The effects were small at first. But then they hit him. Sasuke felt completely awake and completely relaxed at the same time. He felt as if he was so shakey that people would think he was on meth.
It felt good. He felt nice. He would definitely need to do this again. Sasuke needed to be on drugs tomorrow because he had no idea how he'd make it through the day without them. But he needed money.
A vague thought entered his head: what if he became a drug dealer? It was vague but then again, when you give something vague details, it is no longer vague. Sasuke let the thought pass through his mind and stared off into space.
He really needed to do drugs again tomorrow. If he did them, he wouldn't feel like killing himself. Before he knew it, it was lunch time. He wasn't actually hungry and felt sick. He got his food out of habit rather than need.
After grabbing his tray and getting his food, he was planning on going to the abandoned house per usual.
But Naruto decided to stop him. "Hey, Sasuke. You been okay? You've been acting strange lately." Sasuke nodded.
"Come sit with us. Everyone misses you." Sasuke snorted at that statement. Naruto's eyes softened. "It's true. We were talking about going out and getting pizza. I thought you should come along and everyone -even Kiba- agreed."
Sasuke sighed. "Come sit with us," Naruto repeated himself. Sasuke frowned but saw no sensical way out of it. "Fine." Naruto's face brightened up. The two of them walked to the table and sat down.
"Hey, Sasuke," said Sakura and Ino at the same time. "We were planning on getting pizza after school. Wanna come?" Asked Shikamaru. Sasuke figured it would be a good way out of talking to Kakashi. "Fine."
Shikamaru gave a half smile. "You're eyes are crazy dilated," commented Kiba. Sasuke glared at him. How dare he ruin shit? Of all the times Kiba decides to be smart...
"Hey. He's right," said Naruto. "Why are they so dilated? You can barely see any of the color in your actual eyes because the black has covered so much." Shikamaru looked at his eyes and now Sasuke was really getting nervous.
Shikamaru was smart enough to see through his lies. "I don't know why," said Sasuke. "I mean, I had coffee this morning." Shikamaru sighed. "What a drag." He clearly saw through Sasuke's lies but if he was lucky, he'd be too lazy to call him out.
Naruto narrowed his eyes. "I thought you liked tea. Not coffee." Sasuke shook his head. I mainly like tea but when I don't sleep well, I drink coffee." Sasuke was just hoping Naruto would drop it. "Oh," said Naruto.
Relief filled Sasuke for the umpteenth time that day. Lunch was over and Sasuke went to the next class. By the time school was over, he'd fallen asleep. The drugs made him tired for some reason.
Naruto made Sasuke ride with him to Louis's pizzeria. Naruto was clearly very excited while Sasuke was just chilled out. When the car stopped. Sasuke saw a car he thought he'd recognized. He thought back to silver cars he'd seen recently.
And then: Shit! That was Kabuto's car!
