Bleh^____^ This chapter is shorter than usual but HELLOooo??? It came in like 3 days…. Or 4… or whatever 0_o
Even with the MEASLY amount of reviews I got for the chapter!!! BAH people!! Holiday spirit!!!!
GIVE GIVE GIVE!!!!! REVIEWS!!!!
So there!!!! *grin* Dun worry tho, I still LUV YA ALL!! Even tho some of u are grinches!! *sticks tongue out*
Sasuke walked out of the temple and stepped onto the dirt ground. He paused for a moment and studied his surroundings, there were several bald men lurking around, but Sasuke could sense they were just the peaceful habitants of the temple.
Sasuke continued to look around, remarkably aware of everything around him, from the almost impossibly blue sky, to the slight sweet smelling breeze that teased him gently and caused the hairs to jump on his neck. He was also acutely aware of the warm rays of golden sunshine that poured down onto his bare beck and sent tingles through every neuron of his body. But he didn't care for all this at the moment.
His eyes finally caught sight of the young rose-haired girl he'd been trying to find and walked boldly towards her.
Sasuke folded his arms across his chest as he planted firmly down his two feet in front of Sakura, who was leaning against a shady large tree. He didn't care to cease the anger that was flowing quite smoothly from his burning eyes and glared, knowing that the girl would be intimidated and frightened.
Sakura looked up curiously, her fingers still busily weaving the long strands of grass into a delicately woven rope. She blinked up at Sasuke, her eyes getting accustomed to the glare of the sunlight behind the shadowed boy and smiled as his features came into view.
" Sasuke-kun?!" She exclaimed quietly, without a hint of surprise, her eyes twinkling with an innocence Sasuke found extremely irritating.
Sasuke continued to glower at her angrily, not moving an inch from his position in front of her. He was glad that he was blocking her sunlight, girls and their stupid sun-tanning tendencies. He expected Sakura to cringe and whimper, or even at least shift nervously as every other person he knew would... well other than Naruto. But Sakura continued to gaze at him with large questioning eyes, and a small teasing smile tugging at her lips. Sasuke decided against his scare-the-girl-and-keep-her-away-from-Naruto plan and felt his fists tighten.
" What were you talking about?" Sasuke asked lowly, his voice near a growl. He narrowed his eyes.
Sakura began to smile at him pleasantly.
" What are you talking about??"
Sasuke felt rage building up inside of him, his jealousy from when he saw Naruto and Sakura whispering intimately with each other the seed of his instantaneously blooming animosity. He dropped his arms to his side and clenched his firsts so tightly he felt his nails dig painfully into the skin of his palm.
" You know what I'm talking about. Whatever crap you told him... why the hell is he acting so weird around me now?"
Sakura now seemed genuinely surprised by his anger; she looked downwards with a slight flush on his cheeks. Her hands unconsciously began to tear the pieces of grass in her palms apart. She finally gathered up the courage to stare back at him boldly with white-pursed lips. She felt her heart slowly tighten and loosen in her sudden fear of her teammate. She coughed.
" Um. Whatever I told him is none of your business--"
She gasped in surprise when two arms slammed into the tree on either sides of her face roughly; she shut her eyes, willing the fear away. But her mind kept on replaying the whistle of the wind and the crunch of cracking bark in her ears.
Sasuke found himself suddenly punching the tree viciously behind Sakura, his entire torso bent over so that he was face to face with the girl.
Fury ran through his burning blood throughout his body and for a brief moment... it was as though he was spirited out of his body and watching the scene below him. His shaking body was leaning over Sakura, shadowing her and leaving her trembling. Then he was back and suddenly disgusted with himself. But he didn't put down his arms, uneven harsh pants sounded from his semi-open mouth and his eyes were glazed with disbelief at his actions.
Never... to a teammate....
Sasuke finally staggered back, nearly losing footing and he stared at the girl in front of him. Sakura still had her eyes shut, her lashes fluttering as though she was about to burst to tears any minute.
Sasuke quickly calmed himself and stood still.
" Sakura..." He called gently.
Sakura opened her eyes a little and found Sasuke in front of her, looking adorably sorry for what he had done. She sighed and opened and closed her mouth several times as though she was torn between the choice of speaking or not speaking. She finally gazed at him seriously.
" He's… afraid of you…"
Sasuke stared at her for a moment, unable to believe her. Sakura held back a giggle, seeing how similar his reaction was with Naruto's.
" D-did he tell you?" Sasuke asked timidly, a thin brow rising.
Sakura ignored what he said and looked to her side, at the sky as her fidgeting fingers and hands began to tug at the grass.
" Do you know I used to like you?"
Sasuke widened his eyes, a little taken back by her comment.
" Err... no. Ahh..."
Sakura smiled contently.
" I still do..." Sakura looked up confidently at Sasuke's shocked face. " But I know that you will never share my feelings, because you hold them for someone else." Sakura sighed, her fingers dropping the grass she pulled up and tugging at another patch again. " That's why... I'll help you... Because Naruto is special to me too..."
" Sakura..." Sasuke whispered, tenderness in his heart had taken the place of his previous dislike for the girl. He walked forward to place his hands gently on the other girl's, stopping them from pulling the grass that had already gathered in piles around her.
" Don't do that... the grass will die."
Sakura looked up at his handsome face, that face she had fallen in love with so long ago... and felt tears well up in her eyes.
" I'll stop... and the grass will move on, healthy and strong." The eyes were dry once again and a genuine smile pulled at her face.
Sasuke smiled as well, the smile contorting his features brilliantly to unfamiliar beautiful ones that were hidden before. This time, Sakura felt tears roll down her cheeks hotly onto her heavenward curved lips.
" I know."
Naruto lay on his bed, looking at the peeling white of the ceiling. He lifted his head and dropped it back down onto the stiff pillow.
" I'm am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO bored..." Naruto called out tonelessly.
He lifted one arm to stretch it slowly above his head, his last finger curling then stretching out as far as possible as if to reach some invisible goal. He lay like that for a while, one arm reaching out with some strange expression on his face that resembled yearning.
Naruto sighed after a few minutes, and dropped his arm back down heavily beside him with a thump that was muffled by the sheets. He turned over to his side and faced the wall.
" What do you want?" A low voice came behind him. Naruto widened his eyes as he recognized the voice, shutting his eyes tightly all of a sudden. His entire body tensed as he miserably lifted an arm up to wave away Sasuke.
" Go away… I'm sick." Naruto snapped. Hearing a silence behind him, he managed a couple of fake coughs.
" You're lying." Came the cool reply.
Naruto twitched; he could almost see that damn smirk on Sasuke's face. Feeling a boost of confidence as his usual anger and annoyance towards his rival returned in all its familiarity, he flipped himself over to face the doorway. Naruto felt the fluster of excitement that tingled through is body when he saw Sasuke standing there, one hip raised jauntily and hands stuffed into the pockets of his shorts.
He tried to sneer at the other boy, but only managed a slight movement of lips before it fell to a frown.
Naruto quickly looked away from the boy again.
" No! I'm not." Naruto quickly coughed up several fake coughs again for good measurement, but even to himself it didn't sound convincing.
Sasuke stared at him, his expression hidden and impossible to read. Naruto watched mesmerized as he watched Sasuke slowly bring his tongue out to wet his dry lips. He shook himself as if to awaken himself from the entranced daze and glanced up to the ceiling.
" Go away!" Naruto moaned again as he raised an arm to his forehead. He waved his free hand feebly again at his teammate. " Go find Sakura or someone to annoy."
" I already talked to her." Sasuke answered, his voice was hoarse, as though he had been yelling a lot. Naruto finally threw his arm off his face and lifted himself up so that he was sitting upright on his bed.
" Are you leaving or not?" Naruto asked lowly, he glared at Sasuke.
" No." Sasuke said blankly.
Naruto made a face at him, pulling his lips back and sticking his tongue out.
" Whatever! You can watch me sleep then if you—" His voice fell to a breathless gasp when Sasuke suddenly slid over beside the bed with a speed that came from years of training.
" I don't want to watch you sleep… But we can find some other use with your bed." Sasuke growled, a dangerous glint in his dark eyes.
Naruto gulped as he leaned back away from his rival.
" Whaaa…?" He trailed off. Naruto suddenly glowered back defiantly. " Bleh! I don't want your dirty body in my bed."
Sasuke raised a brow and smirked at him, Naruto flinched.
" What made you think what I was talking about involved me being in your bed?" Sasuke asked coolly. Naruto continued to edge away little by little, unsure of the actions that this new Sasuke would take.
" Uh… uh…" Naruto stammered uneasily.
Sasuke smiled at him, a large smile that showed his gleaming white teeth. It was almost predatory in away and Naruto suddenly felt a new kind of fear that blossomed at the pit of his stomach.
Sasuke bent over towards Naruto so that his face was mere inches away from the other boy's.
" Why don't you stick out your tongue again? I dare you to…" Sasuke whispered roughly, his mouth hovering near Naruto's ear. Naruto shivered involuntarily at the warm breath that blew at his ear lobe and sent jolts of a combination of excitement and distress down his spine. Sasuke leaned in even more closely; eyes narrowed dangerously and the tips of his lips twitched upwards.
Naruto suddenly shoved Sasuke away, his face flushed as though he had painted his face a bright red. Sasuke stumbled back a bit with a slightly bewildered expression on his face.
Naruto tried to will his blush away as he threw a book that happened to be sitting on the table beside him towards Sasuke. A book that Sasuke caught expertly with a quick swipe of a hand straight before it hit him squarely on the nose.
" What's your problem Sasuke!???" Naruto cried out loudly. He threw an angry glare at Sasuke before he threw off his covers that gathered around his hips and stomped out of the room.
Naruto kicked at the grass as he circled a safe distance around the temple.
" Damn Sasuke… always thinking he can take control of me… Thinks he's so powerful and great and perfect and wonderful and… I HATE HIM!!!! I hate him I hate him I HATE HIM!!!" Naruto repeated angrily, kicking even more furiously at the ground.
Naruto found a nice shady spot under a tree that would be good shelter under the harsh rays of the sun. He fell down heavily onto the ground and lay on his back. He stared at the leaves swaying in the wind over the thick branches above him. Small peeks of white sunlight shone brightly through the cracks of space between the thousands of leaves and fell in thin strands pouring in an almost liquid form on the places it touched.
Naruto took a deep breath and exhaled loudly, blowing up wisps of blond hair that fell onto his face and gently fluttered back down.
Naruto could barely control the tremor of excitement that run through his body to the very tips of his fingers. When he remembered the intense concentrated gaze of Sasuke's burning bottomless pits of eyes that seemed to penetrate his very soul… It had bore into him, inspecting and taking in everything Naruto wanted to keep hidden. Naruto clenched his fists, his fingers digging into his skin so tightly that it broke and blood began to seep out. Naruto wiped the wetness off his hands and sat on them.
" What was wrong with him???" Naruto asked himself quietly. " He was so different and direct…" Naruto stared at the blades of grass that ripped like a wave as the breeze swept through. His eyes hardened again, growing as sharp as knives.
" I HATE him!! I had no right to confuse me like that!" Naruto felt like slamming down his fists and was grateful that he still sat on his hands. " Horrible bastard… can't do anything to me… thinks himself all high and mighty just because he helped me…"
" Well Naruto… is speaking to yourself a favourite past time of yours? Or did you just go delirious in your sickness?" A cheerful voice suddenly came out of nowhere.
Naruto stiffened up, as he looked around to see who was talking to him.
" Up here." Naruto realized that the voice had come from above and glanced up to find Kakashi crouching on one of the branches of the tree and waving carelessly at him.
Naruto made a rude finger gesture at him and grumpily slumped back on the tree.
" Nyah!! Kakashi!! Are you stalking me or something? Why are you always there at the worst times!?!" Naruto whined loudly without looking at the man. Kakashi stared at him with his one eye, and ruffled his own fair spiked hair with his hand.
" Are you having problems?"
Naruto turned his head to look up displeased, pausing for a second; he shrugged and began to fiddle with his fingers.
" Did you notice how Sasuke has been acting weird since we came back?" Naruto asked timidly. Kakashi raised his one visible eyebrow in interest.
" What do you mean?"
Naruto rolled his eyes and didn't reply.
" I'm sure he didn't mean what he did to you/" Kakashi sighed.
Naruto jumped and looked up angrily.
" Were you spying at me?" Naruto spat, feeling a furious blush run through his face. Kakashi watched at him expectantly.
" In case you didn't know, you were speaking quite loudly to yourself." Kakashi retorted with a snort.
" Oh." Naruto said lamely.
" What 'did' he do to you?" Kakashi asked curiously.
" I don't know… coming into my room without warning and throwing suggestive comments at me… nothing much…" Naruto muttered angrily. He refused to look at the other man before he heard deep chuckles and lifted his head. "Are you laughing at me?"
" Sasuke seemed extremely worried about you… when you got lost."
" I know that, I've had him and Sakura tell me that already." Naruto huffed. Kakashi was surprised as he swung his dangling legs up to the branch and crossed them.
" He actually 'told' you that he was worried about you?"
Naruto blushed at his slip of words.
" Not exactly… I think he just kind of meant it."
" Well he surprised all of us." Kakashi nodded as he said that. " You're right though, Sasuke WAS rather worried about you… but not only when you got lost. But I've noticed in the past couple of months that he's been keeping a pretty close eye on you."
Naruto stared at him.
" Are you trying to say in some weird distorted way that he LIKES me?!" Naruto said, his voice several pitches higher than usual. Kakashi shook his head.
" No. I'm not in position to say that and I'm not exactly sure yet myself. But I have reason to believe he doesn't have as much… we could say… dislike towards you as when he first met you."
Naruto snorted as he pulled his legs to his chest and wrapped his arms around them tightly in a secure way.
" Dislike?! Understatement of the century!" Naruto exclaimed.
" What I mean is… give him a chance, maybe make an effort to be his friend. He won't be one to take the first step in offering his hand in friendship, he's too careful of being rejected. His fear from his past has kept him away from trusting anyone much."
" His past?" Naruto was interested.
" I can't say anything about that either." Kakashi's eye twinkled. Naruto looked towards the temple thoughtfully before he turned back to Kakashi.
" Is it just me or are all of you trying to get me together with Sasuke?" Naruto rubbed his head against the rough bark of the tree.
Kakashi only laughed.
TBC…………..
Geh??? 0____________o
Yeah… I really don't know where this story is going…….. I can't exactly explain why Sasuke was acting so weird all of a sudden either… because I don't even know yet^_____^
But I'll find the answer soon enough and somehow put it in the story:P
Yaaaaaaaaaaaa…. So this chapter came REALLY quickly because I wanted to finish it before I left for winter vacation!!!
WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!! Florida!!!!
Isn't it a coincidence that my beta Koganei lives there too????????
…. Well no…
but it's too bad I'm going to an entirely different part of Florida ^_^; Wouldn't it be kool if we like passed each other on the street without even knowing????? 0_o
Woaaaaaah….
Anyways!! The FORTH chapter might come either in 2 days… in two weeks… one of those two^___^ Depends if I can finish it before Sunday… which is unlikely_ But it maaaaaay be possible if I get enough REVIEWS!!!!!
Yeeeeep!! Reviews are good motivation!!!! *smile*
REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!!!!!!!!!
Bah Humbug…… whatever….
CIAO!!!!!
