Part IV
Sasuke was apprehensive about diving into the crowd again, but thankfully, it seemed these people were not so oblivious as to miss his 'touch-me-and-I-will-make-sure-you-no-longer-have-hands-to-touch-anything-again' glare, and were sure to keep their appendages to themselves. After wading through the compact sea of bodies, and feeling rather claustrophobic from it, he finally neared the edge of the circle surrounding his target.
He was correct in that she had very long hair, pulled into two high pigtails and even then, it reached her lower back. From a distance, he had thought she was tall, and that was one thing that had thrown him off when he first saw her. But now up close, she appeared to actually be shorter than him. That could count towards her being Naruto. But then, height could also be easily faked.
Dropping that thought as it led him nowhere, Sasuke refocused on his task. While her face, despite lacking a pair of familiar scars, looked similar to that of his teammate, her fashion seemed to be completely different. Naruto had always worn his orange jumpsuit, and if not that, very loose t-shirts that were easy for movement. Blue, however, was fitted in a tight orange tank top edged in white lace, with a strip of white netting running up both sides, showing off her golden skin. A pair of tight blue jeans accented her hips, and a pair of strap sandals finished it off.
If that was Naruto, he did not want to know where or how the blond attained his wardrobe.
"Fuck, she's hot!"
"Didn't I tell ya?"
Sasuke frowned as a pair of young men, probably just hitting the legal age, bumped past him and stepped into his view. He could feel his face twist in distaste from the smell of their obvious intoxication, but being as there were so many people already in the club, he was forced to stay in place and try to ignore their drunken conversation.
"Man, wha I wouldn't give fer a piece a' tha' ass!"
"Yea? I've been comin' fer two months ta see 'er, an' I've never seen 'er wit no one. Alls she ever does is dance."
"Free game, yea? Wonder iff I can get 'er to dance…in my BED!"
Dirty laughter erupted from the pair, and he couldn't take it anymore. Being subjected all night to the ear splitting noise, the lustful eyes, the lewd comments; it made him sick. He just wanted to get this mission over with and go home, back to Konoha, which suddenly seemed so much more welcoming.
And for the second time, he found himself very angry. Angry at Naruto for making him come out here blindly. Angry at the boy's strange behavior that left him a shadow of his former self. And angry at the fact that the idiot, because no one else could be that stupid, had left himself open for two months among sleazy company for anyone to target.
This was not his rival.
This was not the happy, annoying boy that barged into his life every day, impossible to ignore because he was so damn bright. This was not the brash teammate who claimed almost daily that he would be the next Hokage. This was not the dobe who persistently challenged him on a regular basis, pushing them both to their limits and more.
This was not the opponent he wanted to fight.
There was something unexplainable inside him, building with each step he took towards the fake Naruto, until he was only a foot away from her within the guarded circle, and the something inside was ready to spill over. Everyone else seemed to have disappeared; there was only he and this girl. She seemed to not have noticed him, continuing her tight twirl that sent her hair flying around her, and he couldn't help think that if it had been the blond—the real blond—he would never have let him get so close. And suddenly, he wondered what it was that had captivated him, enthralled him enough to doubt himself, when he first laid eyes on this nymph, who with all her grace—
/ blue skies /
—was not the one he wished to see.
"Naruto."
There was a gradual slow in her movement until she stopped altogether, and eyes of the wrong shade turned to look at him questioningly.
"Excuse me?"
"I want to talk to Naruto."
An unexplainable coldness ran through her body when she met those dark eyes, and she suddenly wanted to run far far away, because the intense way those eyes were looking at her, through her—
him him him it's him
—it was too much to take.
him him him why him?
And she realized she had been quiet too long, stared too long, and that an answer was silently being demanded of her. She cleared her throat, trying to rid any sign of wavering.
"…uh, who?"
A yelp caught in her throat when the eyes that had been boring into her from a distance were suddenly an inch away from her face, and the hand that she had unconsciously brought up to put some kind of barrier between them, was gripped tightly by the wrist and gods, his touch was like fire.
Eyes frantically darting around, she saw face after face, still in a circle, stunned. None dared to move, dared to speak, as if this boy had frozen them in place. She was alone.
always alone
And when she thought she couldn't be any more trapped, his eyes pinned hers and he leaned closer, until his body was almost pressed against hers and she could feel his breath upon her cheek. And he spoke softly, almost intimately, like the edge of a blade barely skirting against her skin.
"Why are you hiding, dobe?"
dobe
It was as if someone had poured ice water down her shirt, and everything stopped, falling away, to leave that one word—
dobe dobe dobe
—that hated word—
DOBE
—echoing in her ears. And the something inside that always cried out when she danced, the little lost voice that sounded suspiciously like a boy's…was silenced.
Broken.
CRACK.
An angry flash of blue was his only warning, and Sasuke still could not stop the surprise that rose in him when his face was suddenly struck with a stinging sensation. Even though he had anticipated it, that didn't make the punch hurt any less.
"You BASTARD!!"
The plan had been simple. Get close enough to the girl to be intimidating, provoking, and the blond boy would reveal himself. And after a hidden challenge like that, from his rival no less, there was no way Naruto would stand by idly.
Or so Sasuke thought.
"Who the HELL do you think you ARE?!!!"
She was shaking from what he deduced as rage, face flushed under the club lights, and Sasuke could only remember the number of times the blond boy had given him the same look. But the shade of her eyes…
"Don't you EVER call me that!!!"
Her eyes…
Suddenly, he sprinted, fist raised, moving like water to come at the blonde's side, already calculating his next move as her arm came up to block. A sweep of his leg against the back of her knees, and the two of them went down, Sasuke quickly pinning her wrists with his hands and her legs with his knees.
"Or what, Naruto? What will you do?"
He stared coolly into her duller eyes, only inches from her face so that he could speak without yelling.
"You can't beat me."
"SHUT UP!!" Something flashed behind the shade of pale blue, before he was suddenly knocked back by the blonde's forehead butting his, and in his shock, his grip loosened, enough for the girl to throw him off and roll to the side.
"Shut up shut up SHUT UP!!!!" While rising from his spot on the ground, he watched her clutch her head, as if pained more by his words than her own attack, and a flicker of concern crossed his face before he reminded himself that his mission was not complete. Wincing, he touched his forehead tenderly, the area already raw and bruising.
His body remembers, but his mind…
"I'M NOT NARUTO!!!"
Everything seemed to stop, even the music in the background, and the only sound that could be heard was the blonde's harsh breathing as she stayed on the ground with her head almost touching her knees.
"…No, you're not." Slowly, he walked towards her until his shadow was cast upon her curled form. "Not even the dobe was this pathetic."
A flinch, but nothing more. Sasuke was running out of ideas. Everything that used to provoke Naruto before…challenging him, fighting him…was not working. He was at a loss for what to do. As a rival, he did not know any other way to interact with the blonde. As a rival, what was there left for him to do?
Is that what I am now? A rival?
A frown settled upon his face.
Rivals do not care about each other.
Sasuke found that he had crouched before the blonde, before her curled form. For the first time, he noticed how small the other was, arms tucked around slender legs in a tight ball, strands of gold pooled on the ground. So fragile.
This is…Naruto?
Slowly, showing a rare case of uncertainty, Sasuke reached out to touch a golden lock, letting the strands slide along his fingers. It was like holding sunlight, the constant shifting of hues, warm to touch against his pale hand.
Even defeated, he could never figure out how the dobe glowed.
This is…this is Naruto…
But…
/ "There's more to me than the troublemaking screw-up the old man thinks I am!" /
…this was not his Naruto.
/ "With this kunai knife, I promise you, I will protect the old man." /
"What happened to your ninja way, Naruto?"
/ "My dream is to be the next Hokage!" /
"Nobody wants…Naruto."
Rivals do not care about each other.
"I do."
Rivals…
"I want my rival back."
…but also…
There was no reply and the dark-haired boy began to wonder if he hadn't made a mistake. Perhaps he had…failed. Perhaps he had lost the blond. Somehow, the thought of never seeing those blue eyes and that fool's grin again, of never coming up with new tactics to use against the always unpredictable boy again, of never feeling the soreness and weariness as they dragged each other back home from the training grounds again…brought an unexplainable emptiness to his gut.
He had lost his rival.
Suddenly, there was low chuckle.
"…damn you, Uchiha."
Slowly, the girl's head lifted, and the first thing he noticed was the smile on her face, so wide that her eyes were upturned crescents. It was a real smile, one created after countless pain, only to shine brighter once the dark clouds were gone. It would have taken his breath away, but…
Slowly, the thick lashes parted, and in the colored darkness of the club…
/blue skies /
…he knew he'd never see such blue eyes again.
Well, that's it, people. The end of Blue Skies.
Maybe.
You see, I actually have more after this point, but as I was writing it, I realized the mood of it all completely clashed with everything previously, so I stopped writing. But I also realize that ending the story here, I may leave a few loose ends. So I decided I'd ask what you guys wanted.
So, should I write one more chapter or not?
Again, thank you to all the reviewers for your comments. And if you still have questions, feel free to ask, because regardless of if you guys want another chapter or not, I will probably write one more author's note to at least announce the results and to properly thank those who reviewed.