AAAAHHHHH! Thanks to those who reviewed my 7th chapter Here's chapter 8, sorry if it seems a little short, but I figured that I was at a good stopping point I hope you all like it PLEASE PEOPLE! REVIEW! I DON'T KNOW WHAT I NEED TO FIX IF YOU WON'T REVIEWTT
Ch. 8
Once outside of Hokage's office, Sasuke let out a small sigh, sliding down the wall.
"That was stressful…" Aori just stood beside him, not replying. After a few minutes of silence, Sasuke stood back up, his usual self again.
"Well, I guess that we should head for my house then." Aori nodded, but stopped when Sasuke turned to regard her directly.
"Aori, I have to warn you, my house is on the other side of the village, and right now, jumping across rooftops, although preferable, is not acceptable, with me just suddenly appearing… We are going to have to walk through the center of the village." Sasuke watched as Aori's face paled. Her teeth clenched, and her head turned to the floor, thinking. After a few seconds, she slowly, hesitantly nodded.
"Alright then. You don't have to say anything, or even look at anyone if you don't want to, but, and I'm just warning you from experience, people will want to talk to me, ask me questions, annoy me…" At the bitterness in his voice at the last words he said, Aori looked at him. Something resembling irritation had forced its way onto his face. The only thing was, with his nose and eyes crinkled like that, his face was hilariously distorted. Aori giggled slightly. Sasuke looked at her like she had sprouted horns.
"What?"
"Your face just then… It was quite silly."
"Yeah? Well, you see what it's like… Having people fawn over you…" Their voices faded into the distance as they walked down the hall, Sasuke still making a one-sided argument/conversation to the now silent girl. Tsunade gently pushed the crack in her door shut.
"That girl…"
"Sasuke!"
"Uchiha Sasuke!"
"Look! Sasuke's back!"
Aori stuck close to Sasuke's side as he walked with his head held high through the streets. Crowds had begun to form the minute he had stepped out of Hokage's tower, and already people had approached him, welcoming him back. Aori didn't like it at all.
"SASUSKEEEEEEE!" Sasuke stopped dead in his tracks at the high-pitched squeal.
"Oh no…" He muttered, before turning to his left, "Hi Sakura…" Sakura rushed out of the crowd, latching onto his arm.
"Oh Sasuke, you're really back! I have soooooo much to ask you. Where were you this whole time? What happened to Orochimaru? How did you get back here? Goodness you've grown. Do you like my hair?" Sasuke was doing all he could to keep up with the excited girls fast-paced tirade. She had already seen him, but was still all hyper. He swore she must have learned to not breathe, or something…
"Sasuke, who was that girl that was with you yesterday?" This time there was a hint of jealousy in Sakura's voice.
"Oh! Uhm, Sakura, meet Aori…" At this, he detached Sakura's hand from his arm and pushed her towards Aori. He saw Aori stiffen, swallow hard, the only signs of her nervousness, before she began to speak.
"It's a pleasure to mee-
"You stay away from Sasuke y'hear! He's mine, and nobody, NOBODY, will stand in my way. So just keep way from him, or I'll make sure you do!" Sasuke had to work to keep his face smooth at the look on Aori's face. She was amazed at the speed this girl could change from cheerful to jealous to angry, and keep up her fast paced speaking. Aori looked over at him, clearly asking for some support, and he placed a hand on Sakura's shoulder.
"You'd better relax Sakura." His voice had taken a slightly colder tone. "You're going to be seeing a lot more of Aori. She's going to be staying in the Uchiha household…"
The way that Sakura's jaw dropped was almost comical. Sasuke put a hand on Aori's shoulder to steer her past Sakura then removed his hand. Sakura turned to stare and Sasuke waved back at her.
"See you around Sakura…"
A few minutes later, Sasuke noticed a frown on Aori's face.
"What's wrong?"
"That girl…She was very excited to see you…And you were not excited to see her…?" Sasuke let out a small sigh. He wasn't good at explaining things like this…
"Sakura was part of a team of three ninjas. I was one of them, she was the other, and the last was the blond man you attacked a few days ago. See, she has a…" Sasuke trailed off.
"She has a what?"
"She has a crush on me. A very annoying, very unfortunate crush."
"Oh…" They walked in relative silence for a few more minutes (People around them were staring and chattering) before Aori spoke again.
"What's a crush?" Sasuke stopped and almost fell over as Aori walked into him. Her hand whipped out and grabbed the back of his shirt, pulling him back on balance. He turned to stare at her.
"You've never heard of a crush…"
"No." Sasuke rubbed his hand across his face.
"Oh boy…" They began to walk again, approaching the center of the village, and Sasuke began to try and explain a crush.
"Erm… A crush is like, where you think someone is attractive, aaaaand, you kind of, like really, admire them… I think… I've never actually had a crush so I'm probably not the best person to explain." Sasuke's face grew slightly red as he talked. Aori just blinked.
"Okay." They kept walking in silence.
As they neared the center square, a sound began to rise. Sasuke frowned.
"What the…?" They had reached the beginning of the square. It was filled with villagers, all hoping to catch a glimpse of him and see if he was really back.
"You've got to be KIDDING me!" Sasuke growled out. He felt a sudden stillness beside him and turned to Aori. The color had drained from her face completely, and he could see that the muscles in her face were taut. He gently grabbed her forearm, and she snapped her head over to look at him.
"Easy. They won't hurt you. They're all here for me… We just have to make it through this crowd and then we'll be almost there." He knew she was nervous, although she didn't look any different from normal. She nodded stiffly, and Sasuke turned back to the crowd, beginning to forge his way through. A path opened up, making it a little easier, but Aori was stuck to his side like glue on tape.
It was slow going through the crowd. Every few seconds, someone would step forward, welcoming him back, giving him gifts, a little touch on his shoulder to make sure it was actually him, or asking questions about Aori. Sasuke took it all with curt nods and the shortest answers that he could manage. Aori just kept close to him, staring wide eyed at all of the people, and the colors. This was the first really big village she had been in. Her distrust and fear of strangers had made her stick to small, poorer villages.
They kept walking, Sasuke bearing all of the greetings, Aori just taking everything in. The sounds were amazing, and intimidating to her. There were so many different sounds, men and women's voices, screaming babies, laughing children, all pressing in on her in a deafening wave of noise. Sasuke and Aori were about three-quarters of the way through the crowded square when Aori picked out a sound from the others. She turned her head towards the noise.
"Give her back Yukio! Gimme back Ami!" A little girl who looked about eight was pleading with an older boy who appeared to be her older brother. He was laughing meanly, holding the ragged doll in his hand just out of the girl's reach.
"Ami! Akuta would be a better name for this dirty rag." He laughed again, making the girl jump for the doll. Aori growled slightly, stepping away from Sasuke. Sasuke felt her leave and turned, watching her head for the bickering children.
Aori came up behind the fourteen year old boy, tapping his shoulder. He turned to look at her with something like derision on his face.
"Yeah, whaddayou want?" The boy was tall. Aori, a few years older than him, didn't have to bend down to look him in the eye at all.
"I want you to give your sister back her doll." The boy snorted.
"Go to hell!" He turned back to teasing his sister, and before he knew it, he was upside down. A wave of quiet washed over the square, people wondering what the new girl was going to do to the boy she had dangling by his ankles from vines. She just crossed her arms.
"You want to rethink your answer?" The boy hesitated, and the vines grew a bit higher.
"HERE! Here's your stupid doll back! NOW GET THESE VINES OFFA ME!" He pushed the doll into Aori's hands, but Aori just looked at him.
"Say sorry first."
"You gotta be-
"Say it!"
"Alright, alright, jeezus! Sorry already! Can you put me DOWN now?" Aori cracked a small smile, then made a small circling motion with her finger. The plants dropped the boy, who landed on his back. Once he had regained his breath, he leapt up, running as fast as he could through the crowd.
Aori bent down to the little girl, who looked at her fearfully. The older girl smiled kindly.
"Here you go." She held the doll out to the small girl, who took the doll hesitantly, before smiling back at Aori.
"W-what's your name lady?"
"You can call me Aori…" The little girl smiled a bit bigger.
"Thank you Aori-san. My name is Kioko."
"Well Kioko, I think that Ami needs a pretty necklace, don't you?" Looking puzzled, Kioko nodded. Smiling, Aori held up one finger, and it began to glow gold. Kioko gasped, taking a few small steps backwards, but Aori just placed the finger on the dirt. After a few seconds, a small vine burst up, and then a flower opened. Kioko, and anyone who could see it, gasped. The petals were as pale and silver as a full moon.
Gently, Aori broke the flower and stem off, then took the flower and pressed it hard between her hands. When she opened them again, the flower was perfectly dried, the petals shining silver. Aori beckoned for Kioko to come closer, and she took the doll gently. The stem proceeded to wrap itself around the ragged dolls neck.
"There now. Isn't that pretty?" Kioko nodded with shining eyes. Aori beckoned her close, and whispered into her ear.
"I think, that with a hug and a kiss, Ami will feel all better." Kioko did as Aori instructed.
"Thank you Aori-san." She then ran back to her mother, and Aori got up, brushing dirt from her russet dress and not noticing the stares as she walked back to Sasuke. She reached Sasuke's side and realized that he was staring at her as they began to walk again.
"What?"
"It's just that…You don't like people…" Aori turned her head so that she could look at Sasuke directly. There was a puzzled look on his face, the kind that one gets when they think they know someone, but then find out they don't. She sighed slightly.
"I don't like bullies." That was all of an answer that she gave him before turning back to stare at the crowds. Sasuke shrugged a little, but figured he would ask her later, when they weren't in the middle of a crowd.
A minute later, the two of them had left the square for the stillness of a less-traveled back road. Sasuke figured she could use the quiet after the square. A shadow fell over the two of them, and Sasuke let out a sigh. They had reached the Uchiha house.
As I said at the beginning, tell me what you think
Sasuke: God I hate crowds...
Yeah, well, I needed one in this chapter...
Sasuke: But still, all those people! You know I hate crowds!
Exactly evil laugh
Sasuke: Angry growl No more crowds, or I'm not in the story anymore...
Unfortunately, you have no control over whether or not you are in my story evil laugh again
Sasuke: Why you little-
Talking over obscene words Anyways ladies and gents! Comeback for the next chapter! Before I go, I need to ask an opinion... I will eventually have one or more pairings in this story (I hope) and so I need to know... Sasuke X Aori, or should I do a trio of Sasuke, Aori and Naruto? (The second one idea came to me curtesy of a slightly perverted friendXP) Tell me your opinion, because the readers ALWAYS come first