Even Sakura, Ino and Karin knew that Sasuke was off limits which was saying something because those girls knew nothing about boundaries. Deidara even knew not to challenge Itachi throughout the week because he suddenly...changed.
Tobi had no idea what was going on with his cousins so he could offer no help about the matter. It was as if the Uchiha brothers just grew more standoffish than before and in Hidan's terms, more assholey. Especially Sasuke.
The younger Uchiha normally seemed like the kind of person to wake up every morning screaming 'I hate the universe!' but recently it vividly showed in his attitude. From being rude to teachers to plain flipping off his classmates, Sasuke became more of an asshole.
It got Naruto half sad - half pissed off that Sasuke just broke their friendship like that. Everyone just stayed clear of the brothers now because they were unapproachable.
Kakashi normally was not one to give pep talks but he had a special place in his heart for the Uchihas, which was why Sasuke was in the staff office with him after school hours. Other teachers had either left for home or were doing other things elsewhere so it was only the both of them in the room.
The young raven was sitting across him in the most impatient way possible and a question, Kakashi was sure, on his lips. "Why am I here Kakashi-sensei?" The question finally dropped.
"Mah..." Kakashi leaned back on his chair comfortably and crossed his arms and legs. "Forget that I am a teacher for now Sasuke. I want to know what is up with you." His onyx gaze met Sasuke's piercingly.
"There is nothing wrong with me, I'm fine." Sasuke grunted. Kakashi sighed having known that he would give him a tough time but he hoped that the boy would crack eventually.
"You might say so but everybody knows it's the opposite. I won't tell anybody about what we talked about here if that's what makes you hesitant. I'm doing this of my own will and because I like you and your brother. There is something up with you and Itachi." Kakashi was sincere when he said that he liked the Uchiha brothers. They were like nephews to him so he could not help being worried about them.
"So it all comes down to Itachi." Sasuke growled regretfully.
"Oh oh, I see something there." Kakashi sat up in amusement. "You are jealous of your brother." He announced like one would do when they were throwing a party.
"I am not jealous!" Sasuke hissed at the silver haired man. Kakashi had an unamused look on his face that had the boy cracking. "I am not jealous...it's just that I wish Itachi was...less...perfect or something. Father wants me to be like him but I just can't. He's too far to catch up with and I end up being intimidated. Is it a bad thing to wish he was dumber?" Sasuke questioned and Kakashi chuckled. "What's funny?"
"It's like I'm looking at myself right now." The man mused. "I used to feel like this you know?"
"You have a brother?" Sasuke raised a curious brow.
"No. Have you ever heard of the White Fang of the leaf?" Kakashi asked.
"Yes I have." The White Fang was a musical legend that was well known for his great piano pieces and compositions (something like the Mozart of their world). Every pianist knew about White Fang.
"He was my father." Kakashi revealed.
"Hn." The boy grunted his surprise out. "I see the resemblance." He said sarcastically.
"Mah...I do look a lot like him so I cover my face most of the time." Kakashi shrugged. "When I was born people automatically assumed that I would be a pianist like him and continue his legacy. I was good at it, a child genius, but it was never really what I liked. Then I met Minato-sensei." A wistful smile was hidden beneath the mask he wore. "Sensei showed me dancing and I fell in love with it."
"It was not taken too well." Sasuke predicted.
"Exactly." The teacher nodded. "Everyone had something to say about me dancing when my father was a maestro, I almost didn't take it too well. I felt bitter about how different I was from my father and hated him for being so renowned. I subsequently began to hate myself too."
"What then happened?" Sasuke asked.
"Father committed suicide."
"What?! Why?! Everything was going on perfectly for him wasn't it?!" This time Sasuke could not help his shock. Why did such an influential legend kill himself? He was famous and wealthy and was perfection in a person, what could have possibly pushed him to suicide?
"Even perfect people have their struggles. They are just so good at covering it under their mask of perfection. Till now I don't know why my father suicided but it is clear that there are many things I regret that I did to him. I don't want you to be like me Sasuke."
"But what can I do? Father won't even look at me because I told him that I don't like the piano!" Sasuke complained.
His dance teacher leaned up and tousled his hair. "Not everything goes your way Sasuke. The first step to greatness is being scorned by people around you. Ponder on my story and think about what you want to do. I'll always be up for a talk if you need me." Kakashi gave a closed eye grin.
"Hn." Sasuke grunted and left the office. Now all Kakashi needed to do was to talk to Itachi. Hopefully the brothers would listen to him and not go down the same path he did now that he knew the true scope of the story.
Itachi's gaze was directed intently on the floor in an uncharacteristic way for him to do but the teen couldn't face his favourite teacher boldly right now.
"Itachi, you know you can talk to me when you have something on your mind, don't you?" Kakashi assured him countless times that he was always there but opening up was more difficult than it seemed.
Itachi didn't even know how to place his feelings into words. He felt so constipated and overwhelmed with everything that has been going on lately that they could not be expressed. His only outlet and safe place, Izumi, was stripped off of him moreover Sasuke clearly hated his guts so he was just empty.
His mind darted back to the conversation between his brother and Kakashi earlier. He didn't mean to eavesdrop but he somehow ended up listening in on the conversation.
• Moments before now •
Itachi was on the way to the staffroom to answer Kakashi-sensei's beckoning. The silver haired teacher had told him to meet after school hours and they (the seniors) were released early from afternoon prep so Itachi thought he could see his teacher early.
He was about to knock when Sasuke's voice reached his ears. "So it all comes down to Itachi." Itachi's hand fell at the growl. It was obvious that Sasuke really dislike him. Why though? He loved his brother so much so hearing that Sasuke hated him broke him. Why does Sasuke hate him?
"Oh oh, I see something there." Kakashi's amused voice had him curious. "You are jealous of your brother." He announced like one would do when they were throwing a party.
Jealous? Itachi puzzled at the deduction. Sasuke was jealous of him?!
"I am not jealous!" Sasuke's hissing voice lashed. Itachi recognised this tone of voice to be his brother's denial voice and it seemed like Kakashi knew it too because there was silence before his brother acquiesced with a grunt. "I am not jealous...it's just that I wish Itachi was...less...perfect or something. Father wants me to be like him but I just can't. He's too far to catch up with and I end up being intimidated. Is it a bad thing to wish he was dumber?"
Itachi backed away from the door as if he had been burnt. So that was what the problem was! Their father compared him to Sasuke so much that he had dismissed it as something trivial. He could never have imagined that Sasuke actually felt pressure for every accomplishment he failed at and was compared to him.
He was such a bad brother. How could he not notice Sasuke's pain? How could their father not notice that he was putting a lot of pressure on Sasuke? That needed to change. Itachi would protect his brother no matter what.
Xxx symphony xxX
In an empty daycare stood two figures, a boy and a man. The boy had hair the colour of the golden rays of the sun and eyes like the summer sky. He would look exactly like his father if not for the peculiar birthmarks on each of his cheeks; three pencil thin whiskers that made him look vulpine.
He was trying to teach his sensei how to dance but it was hopeless. The man, his sensei, sighed exasperatedly as his pseudo brother forced him to move his hips because they were too stiff. "Naruto I sing, not dance!" He complained for the nth time that hour.
"Of course you can dance!" Naruto, the boy, retorted moving his own hips and arms in a wave like motion like a snake. "ABCD; any body can dance! You're just lazy, Iruka-sensei."
Iruka bopped the young boy's nose at that comment. "No, you're just a better dancer. Come on, Kakashi-san is here to pick you up." At that the blond turned around to see his other favorite uncle? Brother? He didn't care what these two were to him but he liked them a lot. They were the only ones other than his parents that didn't assess him based on his father's skills.
"Kakashi-nii!" Naruto squealed and ran towards the masked silver haired man.
"Yo-umph!" Kakashi didn't get any warning before the hyper blond jumped into his hands. It was a good thing he had fast reflexes and a good center of balance or they would both be on the ground sporting bumps right now. "Careful kiddo, you almost fell there." He ruffled the blond locks.
"But I knew you wouldn't let me." Naruto assured. Iruka passed his orange bag pack and lunch box to Kakashi who accepted them with an eye smile.
"Thank you for taking care of him, Iruka-san." The ballerina appreciated.
"It is no problem. My regards to Kushina-san and Minato-san. Bye Naruto, see you tomorrow." Iruka waved the boy bye.
"Bye bye!" Naruto waved back enthusiastically. Kakashi made sure to hide his face because of the possible paparazzi that might be lurking around his daycare. The journey to the car was safe and reporters free, fortunately.
Once they were safely inside the car Naruto began his usual tale bearing, telling Kakashi every single detail about his day and what he did and who annoyed him and who he was friends with. It was cute the way the kid babbled as he sipped Capri sun so long as he did not spill it on the seats.
They finally pulled into the Namikaze-Uzumaki building where Naruto found his father's car parked at. The boy perked at the prospect of his father being home early and jumped outside Kakashi's car once the silver haired ballerina had removed the child lock on it.
"Daddy!" Naruto squealed as he ran inside the house only to freeze at the lobby at the sight of a stranger in their home. The man had long black hair and scary golden eyes. It didn't help Naruto's budding fear that the man had fangs which were revealed when he smirked and held his chubby cheeks.
"Minato's child, uh?" The golden eyed man's voice sounded similar to a snake's hiss in a way that had shivers wracking down Naruto's spine. Fortunately Kakashi was there to pull him away from the creepy hold. "Kakashi-kun." The man's voice turned steely at the sight of the ballerina.
"Orochimaru-san." Kakashi mirrored the steel tone directed towards him. It was clear that those two didn't like each other one bit. Orochimaru left soon after that brief encounter which was relieving because Naruto was really scared.
"Daddy!" Naruto squealed when Minato showed up puzzled at the lobby. The older blond's face brightened up at the sight of his son and outstretched his arms to carry the chibi.
"Fishcake!"
Naruto giggled at the nickname. "Ne ne daddy, I taught Iruka-sensei how to dance today! He's a lazy baby! And then Kakashi-nii gave me Capri sun and then we got home and then we met a scary man." The kid babbled to his father.
"Scary man?" Minato asked in puzzlement.
"Orochimaru-san." Kakashi clarified. "Why was he here?"
"Oh. He is starting an art school and he wants to requite Naruto." Minato informed.
"I don't want to go to his school, he is scary." Naruto buried his head in the junction of his father's neck and shoulder.
"I also don't like him." Kakashi added.
Minato chuckled. "He's nice if you get past all that." The award winner led them inside the house. "Obito and Rin would be here any time soon. Let me reheat some lunch Kushina made while you prepare the dance room, Kakashi."
"Aye aye captain." Kakashi saluted and went away to the dance room.
"Is lunch ramen?" Naruto asked.
"I do not understand your fascination with ramen, Naruto." Minato sighed fondly. "Jiraiya warned me about this when I chose the name." He murmured the last part to himself but Naruto heard it.
"Is grampa Jiraiya around?!" The boy asked excitedly.
"No buddy, you'd have to wait until he come back from his tour." Minato informed. He ruffled the blond's locks when he deflated a bit. "When mum comes back we'd convince her to let us have ramen for dinner, okay?" He promised.
"Yeah!"
Xxx symphony xxX
Some set of eyes watched the dark haired Uchiha playing gracefully on one of the school's grand pianos. It was still baffling just how much Sasuke had changed in a span of mere days. What happened to their friend?!
"How can anybody be so..." Karin trailed off for lack of words to use.
"...assholey?" Suigetsu provided.
"Sasuke-kun is not an asshole!" Karin defended her prince charming. "He's just..." Once again she was lost for words. "...less friendlier?" She managed.
"Perhaps something happened to him that he can't say out loud." Juugo presumed. While Sasuke's attitude was normally nasty, he wasn't this unfriendly so something had to have happened to him, right?
The off sounding key of the piano piece their friend (¿) was playing returned their attention to the dark haired boy who was now transferring his aggression to the black and white keys of the poor piano.
"The piano must hurt." Juugo said absentmindedly.
"His fingers must hurt." Karin said whinefully.
"Never seen him lose his shit this much before." Suigetsu said amusedly.
Meanwhile, oblivious to team Taka, as they liked to be called, Sasuke kept pounding the piano keys in frustration. The loud off sounding notes echoed throughout the music room but since he was the only one there nobody complained.
"Why. Can't. I. Just. Get. This. Piece. RIGHT?!" Every frustrated word was punctuated by a pounding key.
"He looks depressed." Juugo commented again.
"Hmm, so this is how Sasuke looks like when he's shitting. Amazing." Now Suigetsu couldn't get the mental image out of his head. Unfortunately so could Karin who grabbed him by his shirt and practically strangled him.
"Ew! Why must you be so gross?! You're so disgusting!" The girl raved.
"What is going on here?" The new voice inclusion had Karin releasing Suigetsu's tie and turning around.
"Asuma-sensei!" The girl gasped.
The teacher looked over at Sasuke who was still releasing steam on the poor piano that had to suffer his aggression. "Sasuke?" He mused. "What class do you have now?" He asked the trio.
"Free period." They echoed.
"Go and use it for other purposes than watching Sasuke." Asuma dismissed. When they left, the man entered the music room. Sasuke had stopped hitting the piano so violently and was panting instead. His hands were trembling but there was nothing he could do to stop them.
He felt a presence next to him and was about to lash out when he recognized his music teacher's bearded face. "What?!" He asked rather rudely but he couldn't bring himself to care now.
Asuma didn't mind. He traced the brown instrument's lid instead and allowed Sasuke to calm down before he spoke. "Why do you play?" The question only served to fuel Sasuke's irritation if the nasty scowl his face took on was anything to go by.
"Hah?!" The Uchiha voiced his massive irritation at the question. Asuma only pegged him with a look that demanded an answer though, so he answered. "Why else?! To win the cursed competition." He grunted.
"I was asking about you. Why do you play the piano?" Asuma questioned again and decided to expatiate. "You know of the white fang, Hatake Sakumo, right?" He asked.
Kakashi's father? "Yes I do."
"I remember a particular piece he played before he died. The man looked like he was in heaven while playing the piano. Getting lost in the melody of the notes, he was so happy playing it that he had asphyxia and collapsed." Asuma looked at his student. "He was that happy playing the piano. You? You look constipated." He deadpanned.
"Well excuse me if piano is not one of my talents." Sasuke griped.
"I wasn't talking about talent, Sasuke. I was talking about essence. That was the basis of last term's midterm test. Music is about what you want people to know through your song, not how well you can play. Of course playing well matters but without essence, it's empty. You have to find another driving force other than winning the competition, Sasuke, or you might not just get it."
Asuma left the boy to himself to think over his words. Sasuke looked at the keys of the piano in thought. The teacher sure made it sound easy to look for a driving force. Why else should he play if it was not to best Itachi? For his father's acknowledgment? To win?
-
"What?!" Tenten held Hinata's shoulders and shook the shorter girl desperately. "Tell me I heard you wrong."
"You're quitting the EsDee?! Why?!" Naruto yelled.
"Is something the matter?" Shino asked worriedly because Hinata was not the kind to up and quit randomly.
"You're leaving??" Kiba asked sadly.
Gaara was silent.
"I'm sorry, I can't do this anymore!" Hinata's lips trembled as she brushed Tenten's hands away. "Father found me out." She managed before breaking down in tears. It wasn't her that got punished for sneaking out and running away. It was Neji.
The ravenette could handle what her father brought upon her but doing that to Neji was just horrible! No matter how much she begged father kept on until Neji... Hinata cried harder. It was her fault. Hanabi was also punished for hiding things for Hiashi because of her. It was her fault!
"Well shit." Kiba groaned. He knew just how Hyuga Hiashi could be when he blew a fuse, just like Neji but worse.
Tenten understood the depth of the problem immediately and moved to console the weeping girl instead. "It's okay, I'm not blaming you for quitting. I understand. We're still technically five so the EsDee would not be eliminated."
"Yeah, don't worry about us Hinata. We'd take care of it, believe it!" Naruto seconded.
Some consoling words later, Hinata was finally stable enough to leave. Soon as she did all eyes turned to their deejay expectantly.
"What?" Gaara asked when he noticed all eyes on him then he realized. "No."
"Gaara please? You're our only hope now as we can't add new members at this stage of the competition." Tenten pleaded.
"I can dance as good as a stack of plywood, no!" Gaara shook his head vehemently.
"It don't matter. I'd treat you to salted tongue and gizzard soup after, hmm?" Tenten resorted to bribery.
"How do you know I like that food?" Gaara's eyes found Naruto who expertly dodged his eyes and looked everywhere other than at the redhead. "Fine. Five servings."
Tenten was on her way of rejoicing when Gaara said that last part. "No man!" She argued.
"Take it or leave it."
"Ugh fine, two servings." She bargained.
"Four."
"Three. Three's all I can afford."
"Deal."
They nodded in agreement.
"I honestly didn't think you ate that much, Gaara." Shino voiced the major opinion of everyone that just witnessed the redhead's gripe for his favorite food.
"Yeah, where does it all go?" Kiba asked, pointing to the flat stomach and slim figure he possessed.
"Shut up." Gaara commanded and they instantly zipped their mouths shut about it.
"Aye sir."
Don't be fooled by how fast I'm updating chapters!