Sic Itur ad Astra
Dos: Adsum
Standard disclaimers apply.
---
He went and created no impact on his first day, as he predicted. He sat at the corner table, and made himself small and inconspicuous as much as he can. He pulled out his materials when the teacher asked them to and he finished his work within the time allotted. He tried to do all his work perfectly. He wanted the seminarians and the priests proud of him so he did no move to cause trouble or whatsoever. The day went by insignificantly and soon the time to eat lunch was already there. He gathered his books and neatly placed it under his table. He, then, took his brown bag of food and proceeded to the cafeteria.
This was what he observed first. The students rarely went to the cafeteria to eat. They always just went in there to buy their food then they went straight to the gardens to eat and talk and mingle with their friends. That was just perfect. It was what he wanted.
He figured out that he was wrong though. He entered the cafeteria silently and saw that there were as much people as there were outside. And apparently, according to his intuition, those people exuded the aura of the 'popular kids'.
He sighed internally and went to the corner most tables and tried to be invisible once again. He was eating silently and peacefully. He was calm. He was alone. No one was going to bother him.
"Watch where you're going freak!"
His blue eyes snapped suddenly and he looked for the owner of the loud and angry voice.
At the other side of the room, he saw the angry owner holding another helpless student by the collar and lifted him up. His eyes flashed in annoyance. The boy was muttering a continuous apology but the tyrant just wouldn't let the issue go. Naruto scanned his blue eyes over the area and saw that a tray of food was cluttered at the floor. He assumed that the boy accidentally bumped and caused the food to spill over.
The helpless student was thrown away and he ended up in front of Naruto. Almost immediately, the blonde helped the student up and he saw in the boy's eyes with gratitude and at the same time, fear. He heard him whisper. "Don't do anything to help me or you'll just provoke him to hurt you too," blue eyes widened in shock.
Happy are those who work for peace; God will call them his children.
Happy are those who are persecuted because they do what God requires; the Kingdom of God is theirs.
He remembered the things that Father Marquez taught him and he shook his head. "No. You don't have to do this by yourself. Someone needs to stand up to them,"
The boy panicked. "No. They'll just hurt you too," he insisted and he shook his head vehemently to persuade him as he felt that bully move closer to them.
Naruto pushed the boy behind him and with determined eyes, he faced the bully.
"Protecting the freak now, aren't we? Well, you made the wrong choice," he said with his superior voice.
"No," Naruto's voice was soft but firm. "I made the right choice,"
The bully laughed out loud. "Do you think that? Well, I'll just have to prove to everyone else that you're wrong," he made a big gesture and other students were now circling the two of them. The student he was protecting was holding his arm and whispering to stop it.
Naruto pretended not to hear. God would want me to protect his children. God wanted me not to ignore this wretched child. God wants me to turn him away from his evil deeds. He told himself and his determination strengthened.
---
"What do you want, Kakashi?" Sasuke's irritated tone echoed throughout the now empty classroom. It was already lunch time, but he can't go and use this time to be left alone.
Hatake Kakashi was his Economics teacher and also a close family friend. They met each other when Sasuke was still a child and the latter had known him ever since. He supposed that this teacher was there to look after him whenever he wasn't at home.
Not that he needed any chaperone.
"Well?" he asked again and the man looked at Sasuke seriously.
"I heard that you had another fight with your father, Sasuke," direct and straight to the point. That always had been Kakashi's style.
Sasuke gave a casual gesture. "Of course. It happens a lot," he merely said and turned his back from his mentor. "Not that you'd have to care. I don't want you to," he added and went out the door.
Kakashi heaved a sigh. The fights between Sasuke and his father was getting more and more frequent and he is worried that one day, Sasuke or his father would just snap and try to kill each other off.
Oh well, if that time comes, I'll just have to stop it. He decided and quickly snatched from his pocket an orange book. He glanced around to make sure that there were no students loitering around before he read.
---
"Oh? You sound sure? Don't think I can prove just how wrong you are?" he threatened and dared Naruto to be aggravated by his words. It meant nothing to the blue eyed boy.
"Qui multum probat nihil probat," he incited and the bully stepped back.
"What the hell are you saying, freak?" the boy demanded and his hands moved forward to clutch Naruto by the collar. Warm blue eyes turned to artic and those hands that threatened to hurt stopped before he reached him. Naruto continued. "Cave ne cadas," his voice, unexpectedly, dropped in tone and he didn't realize that his voice seemed to emit a dark aura around him—one that he thought he left behind long ago, when he was still living in the streets to survive.
Naruto didn't want to frighten the bully, but exasperation and irritation got the better of him and rapidly, the dead language came out of his mouth before he could help himself. To him, it sounded natural, but who knew what the other students thought? For all they knew, he might be reciting an incantation that will curse the bully.
It was like this or black off. And he'd rather stay awake than lie on the clinic bed on his first day.
There was no use to think about it. It has passed. The bully gave him one last threatening look and said, "Don't think that you'll be able to get rid of me just because of your fucking words," then he left.
He sighed and thanked the Lord that he didn't get into a fist fight. Violence is never the answer, the Fathers once taught him. We have to learn to defend our faith and our actions by words, they said.
Yet, he didn't know whether they would be proud of him or not. His words earlier on were not of wisdom. They were of philosophy and annoyance. His impatience made his words sharp and not reprimanding. His intentions were solely to scare the bully off to leave them alone.
He had sinned.
As soon as he realized what he had done, he removed the hand that was holding his arm and without even bothering to say goodbye, he left the room and went to a place no one dared to go to publicly. But he didn't care.
And he knew no one would.
It's time to ask for forgiveness.
---
When Sasuke entered the cafeteria, he became aware that something eventful happened in it recently. It was written all over the place.
The students were talking amongst themselves and a table was turned over, indicating that there was a fight that occurred. He assumed that it was some of the jocks that took pride and joy in hurting other students that did it. He walked to the counter and got his food and went to his usual table.
His friends were already seated, with their respective foods and also talking. He saw that Shikamaru—one of the most talented students that school had, who was also owned the laziest ass he knew, was looking at the area where the table that was brought down was situated.
His curiosity sparked. If the lazy boy was getting interested, it must mean something. "What happened?" he asked, and his friends one by one started story telling.
"It was because this clumsy oaf here," Ino started, pointing at Kiba. "Managed to bumped against the most insufferable prat there is and spilled his food on him," Sasuke understood that the prat Ino was talking about was Eiji, the captain of the football team with the largest ego.
"I said I was sorry. It wasn't as if I wanted to piss that fucker of, you know. If that had been anybody else, I would've pounded them to dust," he said and frowned as Ino slapped him on the head.
"If Shino didn't tell you to not make a move before you get suspended, then you would've took him on even though you know you wouldn't win," Ino pointed out again, and Shino remained quiet. Ino sighed. "How many detentions and suspensions must you have before you watch your actions, dog boy? If Shino wasn't around these days, you would've been expelled already,"
"Shino Shino Shino," Kiba repeatedly said the boy's name, mocking Ino's mannerism of intonation. "It's not my fault that it's my nature not to bow down against any force aside myself," he said trailing off before adding quietly. "..Or my sister,"
The table laughed and Sasuke smirked. "So what happened next?"
Shikamaru took over. "Some new kid stepped in and pushed Kiba behind and handled the idiot himself," Sasuke's interest peaked.
"Oh?"
"Yeah, then the kid was about to be pummeled to hell and back but his eyes transformed,"
"Transformed?"
Shikamaru sighed. "It's troublesome to really comprehend, but his eyes suddenly turned to solid ice and hid body language just told everyone that he could hurt if he wanted to, when before it was only indifferent. Hell, it seemed like winter in here when he did that, and it as if he could kill someone by just looking. Then he started sprouting off words,"
Kiba interrupted. "It was nonsense, if you asked me. Couldn't understand a word he said. Creepy," Kiba shuddered in recollection.
A lazy look from Shikamaru earned him another slap from Ino. "I-it… it was Latin," another new voice emerged and Sasuke finally saw Hyuuga Hinata arrive on their table. The shy girl bowed her head and sat down next to Ino, starting to eat her lunch.
"A dead language?" black eyes closed shortly for a moment of thought. Latin was no longer taught in schools, except in seminaries. Where did that kid learn it from?
Could it be?
"Yeah," agreed Shikamaru. "It was Latin. I understood the first sentence he said, probably because it was a famous quote from someone during those days that it got recorded,"
"Really? Who said that? What did it mean?" Ino placed her elbow on the table and propped her head on her hand.
"It meant 'he who proves much proves nothing'. And remembering who said that it just troublesome,"
"But you know it anyway," muttered Ino.
Shikamaru yawned, not affected.
Sasuke opened his bottle of mineral water. "A fitting statement for someone like Eiji," he said and the others nodded. "You said that the kid was new. Do you know who he is?"
Kiba shook his head as did the others. "Nope. Never saw him before. He wasn't in any of our classes,"
Sasuke nodded in understanding.
"What kind of freak would like to learn and speak a dead language anyway? It's not as if he could take to someone using it,"
At the start of Kiba's usual ranting, Sasuke's interest waned and he tuned everyone out again.
Like he always did.
---
He held his red crucifix against his chest and knelt down in front of the cross of the crucified Jesus Christ. He had been running for almost ten minutes wandering around the school in search of a chapel and when he couldn't find any, he recalled that he was going in a public school and not necessarily a Catholic school.
He, therefore, went inside the music room, where he knew there was a crucifix hanging and knelt in front of it.
I'm sorry, my God. I have once again violated one of your important laws. I shouldn't have made an impulsive action, and let my patience wear out. I should've, instead, tried to talk more rationally and carefully, and not let the actions of my past haunt me once again.
I am trying so hard to bury in my past, the mannerisms I had and leave it there. But it seems that living outside pushes me to my limits and testing my patience.
I also have been selfish, O Lord. I used the things that the Fathers taught me for selfish reasons and I am sorry for that. It wasn't the words that really made the difference, but the fact that my intentions are tainted… this is my wrong doing. If only I could convince Father Marquez that I no longer need to be around these people, that I only need you to complete my life, then I wouldn't be facing my fears.
But that also makes me selfish, I know. If this is your will, then it will be done.
Naruto made the sign of the cross and kissed his rosary before putting it back into his pocket. He glanced at his wrist watch and seeing as he was about to have his next class, he gathered the things he got from his locker before he went to the cafeteria and advanced forward. He had history next.
And the moment he stepped out the back door of the room, the front door opened and a series of melded voices reach his ears. He hadn't got the chance to stop and observe, not that he wanted to, so he continued on walking to his next destination.
His heart, heavy and weary, made him sick. He was so close to ruining the image of a good child he took years to form before the Fathers. He didn't want to be cast away yet again. He wanted to keep the home he lived in for almost nine years—or more. Even if it meant giving everything to the Almighty to stay there.
And that was what he wanted, right? It had been his dream to give back everything that God blessed him with.
Ridding himself of thoughts that inevitably led to doubts, he entered his next class.
---
Ino opened the door to the music and room and the whole group entered the room. At the corner of Sasuke's eye, he saw a mass of golden blonde hair, which almost blinded him, leave and close the back door.
He closed his eyes for a moment before opening it again; trying to make sure he hadn't seen an illusion.
The back door was closed when he neared it. He held the knob and felt lingering warmth in it.
The blonde hair was not hard to miss, but never did he encounter one that almost shone as brightly as the sun.
Yet, the presence that lingered in that certain door knob held a familiar feeling, that someone was trying to reach out and find him. In it held the trace of a long forgotten past that was slowly easing its way out.
Like him.
They were alike.
Both he and that person that left this heat.
The door knob now felt cold under his skin and he let go, but his thoughts wouldn't. He sat down on his usual seat beside the window and with one last enduring look at the door knob; he made up his mind to find the person that held in him the same yearning he had.
Home.
-Continued-
Cave ne cadas means 'be careful, lest you fall'
Adsum means 'I am present'
Review?