Hey guys! Sorry for the late chapter and for it being short at that. I just recently got a job and have been busy with some things so bare with me! :D This chapter is short but I hope y'all enjoy it anyway! I'll try to write the next chapter soon. Thanks for reading!
Sasuke wakes up with a jolt, his sleep interrupted by nightmares.
When he gathers his barrings, he takes a deep breath and lays his head back on his pillow.
He rubs the sweat from his brow before he leans over and takes a sip of water from his bottle next to his bed.
As he is drinking, he looks towards his clock and almost spills his drink.
"Shoot!" Sasuke jumps up, hurriedly gathering his clothes and books.
"I forgot to set the alarm, stupid Naruto." He curses Naruto as he gets ready, before he quickly rushes out the door to his favorite class.
But, today, Sasuke doesn't feel like he could enjoy anything.
He runs to class, his hazy mind following the route he always takes.
Sasuke pays no attention to the emtpying hallways, desperate to not be late, especially this early in the semester.
His eyes blur a little from sleep and he huffs, rubbing his eyes causing him to slam into someone, they both fall to the ground.
"Ouch.." Sasuke rubs his face.
"Sorry, I didn't see you." He looks down to a see a wide-eyed Naruto.
"Uh, sorry, Sasuke." Naruto looks off to the side to avoid eye contact.
His expression troubled.
"Sasuke.. I..uh.. I still wanna be friends again and I'll try to give you space but, honestly, I don't know if I can." Naruto makes eye contact now, his expression still pained.
"I.. uh.. I'm late for class." Sasuke jumps up and takes off.
He runs as fast as he can, his lungs begging for air, his body begging to stop, but his mind and soul begging to run faster.
He makes it to his class right as the bell rings, he makes his way to his seat after apologizing to the teacher.
He tries to catch his breath.
"Okay, let's start class then, shall we?"
Doc leans against his desk as he looks around the room.
"What is your deepest, darkest secret?" He pauses for a small moment, "One you've never told a soul."
"Did you betray a friend's confidence or, shoplift from the campus store?" He says humorously as he walks to the front of the classroom.
"Maybe you're dying to sleep with the girl sitting in front of you?" Doc says standing in front of this young women in his class.
She looks back and the guy blushes and waves before looking down awkwardly.
"Oh, sorry. I just.. lucky guess." Doc smiles as he apologizies.
The class errupts in giggles.
Doc walks to another lady, "How about you? You got a secret?"
The young lady shakes he head while smiling shyly.
Doc then quickly turns to his assitant to ask, " Lewicki? You got.. never mind.. I don't want to know."
The class laughs, Sasuke gives a small smile but he isn't really in the mood to laugh.
"Right now, there is a war going on in your brain." Doc starts to pace across the classroom, looking at everyone as he explains his lesson.
Sasuke scoffs in irony, his mind is actually going through war.
"Our best guess is that your Cingulate Cortex desperately wants to tell the truth. But your Orbital Prefrontal Cortex, is simulating how bad things will be if you actually spill the beans."
"If your Prefrontal Cortex wins, your level of stress hormones goes up. If the Cingulate Cortex wins, your stress level drops."
"So, if it's biologically healthier to confess our secrets, what is it about human nature that makes us, fight so hard to keep them hidden?"
"Think about that over the week. Class dismissed." Doc walks back to his desk.
Everyone walks out the door but Sasuke stays behind.
Doc looks up, "Is there something you need?"
"I don't know.. It's just, I had a secret once and I kept it for years and when I told my best friend, he abadoned me. My stress levels didn't go down but they went up." Sasuke hardly makes eye contact while he talks to his teacher.
"The brain is a funny thing, you know. You would have been relieved from the stress of the secret you kept, but yet, a new problem arises and you obtain more stress because of reveiling it. But think on it a little bit, when you told your secret, despite what you had lost, did you feel better than before, in the end?"
Sasuke can't think of an answer.
Sasuke walks down the hallway more slowly than before.
"Hmm, he may be right. Once I told Naruto, that weight did fall, and telling him helped me move on.. somewhat." Sasuke sighs and rubs his face.
"But what am I even suppose to do with that? Now Naruto is back and wanting to be friends again. But now, I have no secrets but his presence is freaking annoying."
Sasuke looks up and sees Naruto walking right towards him, his eyes focused on him.
His eyes widen before he turns and starts to walk back the other way.
"Sasuke!"
Sasuke ignores Naruto's calls and walks faster.
"Sasuke! Hey!"
Naruto then takes off into a run.
When Sasuke hears Naruto running behind him, gaining on him quickly, he takes off running but by then it's too late and Naruto grabs him.
Sasuke's fury takes over and he quickly turns around and throws a punch into Naruto's face, knocking him down.
His sudden violence surprises him so he takes a glance towards Naruto, who is holding his face on the ground, looking up to him before he takes off to his dorm room.
Sasuke closes his door behind him quickly, gasping for air.
"I hit Naruto." He says in surprise.
"What the heck happened? It's like I couldn't control my actions." Sasuke rubs his face as he sinks down into the floor.
"Why is this happening to me?" Sasuke lays his head against the door and sighs.
Naruto holds his cheek in shock as he watches Sasuke run down the hall.
He stands up and turns the opposite direction.
"I've never seen Sasuke be violent before..." Naruto looks down in shame, "Am I hurting him that bad?" Naruto pulls on his hair in frustration.
Naruto walks to his room and falls on his bed, sighing.
"Maybe I really should just leave him alone. I really don't wanna hurt him anymore than I already have." Naruto rubs his face as a few tears slip from his face.
"This whole thing is my fault anyway."
He picks up his phone and types in a message.
Sasuke grabs his bag when he hears his phone ping from inside.
He pulls out his phone and clicks onto his messages.
"I'm sorry, Sasuke. This is all my fault and I'm just hurting you all over again. I'll leave you alone from now on, I can't see you be in pain anymore. Please forgive my selfishness, I just had my own weird hopes of rekindling our friendship but you won't need to worry anymore. Truly, I'm sorry, teme."
Sasuke tosses his phone to the other side of the room.
"Stupid dobe." Sasuke grits his teeth.
Sasuke walks down the hallway the next few days, tense, waiting for the dobe to come bother him again, but nothing happens.
He doesn't see Naruto for the rest of the week.
Each day, Sasuke relaxes a little more but his mind still wonders what Naruto is doing.
How does he bother Sasuke so much and then just up and leave again like it's nothing?
Sasuke huffs and just walks to his class.
"Freud once said "No mortal can keep a secret"." Doc says as he leans against his desk.
""If his lips are silent, he chatters with his fingertips"."
""Betrayal oozes out of every pore"."
"I think old Sigmund might have been onto something." He looks around the class.
"Although we may be desperate to keep our secrets, the harder we try to bury them, the more they rise to the surface."
"We are neurologically compelled to confess..." Doc walks to the front of the class, "...and that's a good thing."
"Because confession is good for the body. It's good for the brain. Might even be good for the soul. If you believe in that sort of thing."
I hope y'all are enjoying the story so far. I hope I can continue to make it better and better. I'll try not to keep y'all waiting too long for the next chapters. Thanks again for reading.