Sasuke stopped dead in his tracks and reminded himself to keep calm so as not to cause suspicion. But it was too late. Sasuke was so caught up in his worry that he didn't notice Shikamaru walking up to them. "What's wrong?" Asked Shikamaru.
Sasuke quickly turned his head to look at Shikamaru. Reminding himself to keep calm again, he replied. "Nothing." Shikamaru's face looked like he was trying to piece things together. Sasuke hoped that that was an assumption without truth to it.
"Hey, guys. Let's go in. I'm hungry," said Choji who was walking up to the group with Ino. "Stop eating so much! Do you not care about looks?" Choji glared at her. "Maybe I don't want to be a stick who's always worried about her weight."
Ino looked absolutely perplexed but before she made a comeback, Shikamru intercepted. "Lets go in, guys." "Whatever," said Ino in a snarky tone. The group walked in and looked to make sure no one else was there before they got the biggest table in the restaurant for everyone to sit in.
Sasuke sat between Shikamaru and Naruto. He hadn't spotted Kabuto yet so if he was lucky, that wasn't actually Kabuto's car. Everyone else came within 7 minutes later. Sakura sat across from Sasuke and Sasuke acknowledged her.
Sasuke stayed alert and kept looking out for Kabuto. By the time the server had come, he'd gotten lost in the conversations around him and forgot to be on the lookout. "So, Sasuke. Where've you been?" Asked Naruto.
Sakura looked at Sasuke sadly and nodded her head in agreement. "Yeah. You used to hang out with us all the time but now, you rarely talk to us." She looked down. Sasuke wanted to groan at the fact that they were putting him on the spotlight. Now everyone was looking at him.
"What's been going on in your life, Sasuke? Tell me everything," Ino pitched in. Sasuke was now not only annoyed but also overwhelmed. "Nothing." He said and deeply glared at the group of people. "Hey! Don't glare at me, asshole!" Naruto yelled rather loudly.
They didn't argue much anymore so Sasuke reacted in the only way he knew: by arguing back. "Shut up, dumbass. You're lucky if we don't get ourselves kicked out because of your loud mouth."
Naruto looked like he wanted to argue back but something stopped him. Sasuke knew that look on his face. Pity. Naruto didn't want to fight back because he pitied Sasuke and didn't want to make him any more miserable.
Sasuke didn't know how to react to that so he got up to cool off in the bathroom. The rest of the group looked at both Naruto and Sasuke in concern. Sakura's face twisted into one of annoyance. "Why did you have to go and make Sasuke upset, Naruto?"
The conversation faded as Sasuke got closer to the bathroom. Sasuke got to the bathroom and opened therr door. Shock filled his face and he felt absolutely stupid. There was Orochimaru, washing his hands. How had he forgotten to be on the lookout?
"Hello, Sasuke." Sasuke was strongly tempted to turn around and leave the bathroom but his pride got in the way. He wasn't sure how their relationship was yet so he didn't know what would happen if he decided to be defiant with Orochimaru.
"What are you doing here, dear?" Sasuke tried to think of a way out of this that wouldn't ruin his pride but there was none. Orochimaru would read through him no matter what excuse he made. "I'm hanging out with some people." "Oh? Those were your friends, then."
Sasuke felt a strange sense of the need to protect. "They're not really my friends. They basically forced me to hang out with them." Orochimaru laughed teasingly. "There's someone I want you to meet." Sasuke felt anxious but decided to go along with it so he wouldn't look like some weakling.
"Fine." Orochimaru led Sasuke out of the bathroom and Sasuke hoped he wouldn't lead them past the table Naruto and the others were at. Of course, since Sasuke's so lucky, Orochimaru did just that. Shikamaru noticed first.
"Sasuke. Where are you going?" The rest of the group turned their heads towards Sasuke and Orochimaru stopped so Sasuke could answer. Damn him, thought Sasuke. "He just wants to show me something real quick."
"Oh," said Naruto, "Who is he?" Why? Why did they need to know everything? "He's just a friend." Sasukr quickly corrected himself because Orochimaru already looked like a crackhead but the fact he was older than them was even more obvious. "A family friend."
Shikamaru saw through Sasuke's lies just like before but, again, didn't say anything. "Oh," said Naruto. "I've never met him before." Good, thought Sasuke. "I'll be right back." And Orochimaru started walking again. Orochimaru stopped at a booth with both Kabuto and a man with a strange mask on sitting in it.
"Go ahead and sit, child." Sasuke sat across from the man with the mask and got a better look at it. It was obviously orange with swirls like a whirlpool leading to his left eye. Only when Sasuke sat near him did he notice the man was wearing a strange tailcoat with a few red clouds with white outlines.
Sasuke was immediately on guard because what kind of sane person wore a tailcoat with red clouds on it? Not to mention, he was wearing an orange, whirlpool mask. "Hello." The man had a surprisingly deep voice. The man revealed a gloved hand and held it out to Sasuke.
Sasuke took the hand quickly, feeling intimidated. "I am Tobi." "I'm -" "Sasuke. I know." Fuck it, thought Sasuke, and asked how he knew. "I'll tell you when the time comes." Ssasuke was so tired of this. If it wasn't time for him to know answers, then why did they keep making him ask things?
Sasuke glanced at Orochimaru who was watching him amusedly. "I'll be waiting for you, Sasuke." Kabuto and the man got up and left. Sasuke was more confused than ever and wished so badly that he had someone to answer his questions.
"Before you leave, let's have a drink." Orochimaru got up and sat across from Sasuke. "Okay," said Sasuke. He didn't really want anything to do with drugs and alcohol right now because everyone was already suspicious enough.
But at the same time, this may be one of his only chances at free drugs and he was so terribly confused that it stressed him out to his core. A server came around and Orochimaru asked for some wine. The server asked Sasuke what he wanted to drink and he said root beer so as not to sound too suspicious.
The server came back with Orochimaru's wine bottle with a cup and Sasuke's root beer. "Drink some of that and I'll poor the wine in you cup," ordered Orochimaru. Sasuke did as he was told while Orochimaru took out a bag of white powder and poured half of it it into the wine.
Shit, thought Sasuke. I'm gonna get fucked up. Hopefully they won't notice. When Sasuke was halfway done with his drink, Orochimaru poured the drugged wine to the top. The wine didn't taste half bad. Sasuke hoped that that powder wouldn't make him do anything stupid.
"What was that powder anyways?" "Some Hydros. I thought I'd give you something more familiar." Sasuke was grateful. Sasuke quickly finished the wine and headed back to the friend group to tell them he needs to go to the bathroom.
He needed to get the smell of alcohol out of his mouth before sitting down. He turned to head to the bathroom before Shikamaru interrupted. "I need to go too," he said. Sasuke glared at him but walked to the bathroom with him anyway.
When they got in there, Shikamaru put on a serious face. "Sasuke. We need to talk."
