Sunday, July 7th, 2013.
Happy Tanabata! (Japanese holiday; I don't know very much about it, though...)
This is a pretty important, holiday though. So big, it's incoporated into big anime names. If you've read/seen The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya and/or Fairy Tail, you should know this date. It's big in those anime.
Today is Kiba, Akamaru's, and Colonello's (KHR) birthdays. They'll be doing the disclaimer.
But since Neji's was the 3rd (with M.M. [KHR]), he'll be doing it with them.
Also, the 2nd was Mammon/Viper's (KHR), the 4th was Baki's, and the 6th was Kin's.
Answer to last QotW: I'm stupid so forgot to do one last week.
Anime Reccomendations: Movie, actually. The Girl Who Leaped Through Time - it's a good one. One of my faves of all time, actually. It was directed by the same guy who directed Summer Wars (I saw it yesterday; loved it) so it was bound to be good. Guess what? Has anyone seen Digimon? The guy who directed the original Digimon movie directed the aformentioned movies. I knew the moment I saw the portal-thing in TGWLTT, and suspected it in the Summer Wars trailers. I was right. Guess what? They were all good movies. Watch 'em.
Book Recommedations: The Ascension Trilogy by Jennifer A. Nielson. So far, the first two are out - The False Prince, and the Runaway King. Finished them this week. They were really good. I can't say much without spoiling it, but it's for everyone. Period. Go read it. They're already in my Top Series List.
The Birthday chapter ended up becoming 3 birthday chapters, with the middle one being the longest. SasuSaku coming up. Family bonding. Everyone bonding.
I'll be going to NY the week after next, so it's good that I have the chapter done already - I may miss that Sunday.
I need to watch the second Gurren Lagann movie and Ano Hana soon to make up for my lack of anime this week and last... I watched Summer Wars yesterday.
Disclaimer:
Kiba, Akamaru in Dog Speech, Colonello, and Neji: EOC doesn't own Naruto, One Piece, or anything else mentioned here besides the plot and her OCs.
Me: Good. Now, Colonello you may go back to your precious Lal. I'm sure she's pissed at you. As usual.
Colonello: She's just tsundere, is all. Bye!
Me: That she is. Now, Kiba and Akamaru, get in your places and get ready for the next chapter.
Kiba & Akamaru: Yes, Ma'am!/Woof!
Me: Neji, go to Tenten. You need to make up for Kishi's wrongdoing for killing you. Give us the NejiTen we crave!
Neji: ... Alright, then...
Go read, my lovelies!
75th REVIEWER GETS A ONE-SHOT!
I really need to write something for SasuSaku month... do I have time?
Chapter 15: Surprises & Hanging Out
Sasuke POV, July 23rd.
Stupid Usuratonkachi…
For some reason, the blonde idiot that calls himself my best friend dragged me to the training grounds the moment he saw me this morning. Was he looking for me?
He claimed we haven't hung out in a while, and refused to let me go.
So I was stuck with him.
For four. Freaking. Hours.
It's 12:30 now. It was surprising enough that Naruto was awake and around town at 8:30 on a day that we had off, but for some reason he decided he needed to spend it with me. For God knows why.
So for those 4 hours, we walked around town for a little bit, then trained and sparred. I was fine with the arrangement because it was an opportunity to beat the shit out of him for bringing me here in the first place.
And release frustration.
And well, train.
Surprisingly, I hadn't seen Sakura nor Kakashi all day. Not even Sai.
Okay, Sai wasn't all that surprising. But still.
Naruto claimed that Sakura was at Ino's house, but when I saw said Yamanaka in the flower shop and questioned his answer, he led us away from there and sputtered some lame excuse that Sakura "only said that she was out with some of the girls, and [I] assumed Ino's place was where it was happening and that Ino was there with her". Or something like that.
He's lying.
It was quite obvious.
So I tried calling Sakura, but she didn't answer. Kakashi –no surprise there– didn't either. As a last resort, I tried Sai, but he didn't answer either.
I couldn't leave Naruto for a minute and ask Ino because I had a sneaking suspicion that she was in on whatever-this-was,(1) and wouldn't tell me.
Not to mention, Naruto wouldn't. Leave. Me. Alone.
Now that I think about it, today's my birthday. Maybe they set up a surprise party and had Naruto distract me until it was time. And Sakura is God-knows-where because she's setting up my party. It's a pretty cliche tactic, but usually effective to some extent.
I took a look at Naruto.
Yeah. That's probably right.
But for the sake of their surprise, I will pretend to remain oblivious.
Not because you're secretly excited and appreciative of it, of course.
Stupid Inner. Of course not.
My Inner sighed. You really insist on being tsundere, don't you?
I'm not tsundere.
Of course not.
I rolled my eyes at my Inner's sarcastic tone.
Just then, Naruto's phone rang.
"Y'ello.(2) Really? Uh-huh. Yeah. Right now? Yeah, all right. I don't think so. 'Kay. We-, I'll be there." The way Naruto glanced at me when he said "I don't think so" makes me think that whoever's on the other side of the line was asking whether I had caught on about the surprise. And he caught himself from saying "we'll be there" and said "I'll be there" because I'm not supposed to know about the party, much less that he's bringing me there.
Either you're really perceptive, or just ridiculously paranoid. I'm gonna go with "paranoid".
I'm gonna go with "really perceptive".
"Alright, let's get going, Sasuke-teme! There's one more place I want to take you." He said.
He walked toward me, taking out a black cloth. "But it's a secret, so I have to blindfold you." I'd have to be an idiot to not figure out what was going on by now. I mean, come on! It's my birthday, he's distracted me for hours, our teammate is in some mysterious location, no one will tell me anything, and now he's taking me blind-folded to another mystery location (very possibly the same one our teammate's at) after answering a phone call from some mystery person.
I sighed. "Fine."
I held my hand out. "But I put the blindfold on. I don't trust you with something like that around my eyes and head."
"… Okay, another small stair and… yeah! Okay, we're here!" Naruto said, but not removing my blindfold.
I was taking guesses about where we were. It may be the Uchiha Manor, if the revenue is somewhere I knew.
Naruto's, Sai's, and Sakura's places all have a lot of stairs or elevators because they all live in apartments.(3) Same goes for me.
The manor has a couple small steps in front of the door, though, like wherever-this-place-is does.
Also, at one point, we'd be shaded from sunlight if where we were going was an apartment because it's part of a large building, whether the entrance of your specific apartment is visible from the outside or not – something that barely happened on the way here.
The walk here felt very familiar, so I think it's the manor. I've walked there from the training grounds enough times.
I heard Naruto open a door. "Okay, walk in."
I felt his hands rise behind my head and I slapped them away. "I'll do it."
I removed the headband, and when my eyes finally adjusted to the light change I heard a shout of multiple voices. "Surprise!"
Called it.
I was in the living room of the Uchiha manor, where blood red and white decorations were on the walls and hung from the ceiling.
There weren't too many, but not so little that it looked pathetic. I didn't like extravagant things, so I was glad those who decorated remembered that.
Above the entryway to the dining room was a banner that said "Happy Birthday, Sasuke!"
Mother, Sakura, Kakashi, Sai, Shisui, Mura, Tsume-san, Hana… Father and Kiba and Akamaru (?) were placed around the living room, apparently having been hiding until I got here.
"So, what do you think?" Naruto asked.
I smirked. A… happy-ish smirk. "Thanks, guys."
I met eyes with Father and he nodded, saying, "happy birthday, son," before walking up the stairs. It surprised me, but it felt… nice to know that he did care.
Mother ran up to me and squeezed me tightly. "Oh, my little boy's growing older! 14 already!"
I hugged her back before pulling away. "Thank you, Mother."
Mama's Boy.
That would make you one, too.
I know. I like being a Mama's Boy. You're just too proud to admit that you are one.
I ignored him.
Hana, Mura, Kakashi, Tsume, Sai and Shisui all told me "happy birthday" as well. Kiba muttered it reluctantly. I wonder what it must have taken to force Kiba over here.
But he didn't seem as reluctant as I would normally expect, as far as demeanor goes. He seemed more… obstinate, rather than looking like he'd rather die than stay here.
He looked like he wanted to be here but didn't want to look like he did. Like that.
I wonder why he of all people would want to be here. He hates my guts.
But remember how you guys used to be friends? Maybe he wants to rekindle that friendship.
Doubt it.
But what if he does?
We'll wait for that to happen and deal with it then.
Sakura came up to me. "Happy birthday, Sasuke-kun," she said with a smile.
We both took a seat on the couch, and turned to each other.
The others seemed to have something to do and disappeared from the living room, excluding the rest of the team. They all took seats on the couch and its armrests as well.
It appeared that Kiba and Akamaru were kicked out of whatever the others were doing, and instead leaned against the wall, watching us.
"Who came up with this?" I asked. You're happy someone cared so much to do this for you.
No, I'm not! Shut up, damn you!
Sakura blushed and scratched her head. "I did, actually."
I rose a brow. Really? Wow...
"Well, I figured 'why not?' right? So I came to Mikoto-san and asked for her help with this surprise party a week ago, and here we are! I figured a small party would be fine, since you don't like crowds and all, so-, yeah… is it… okay?" She babbled. When she finished, she looked at me as if she was seeking embarrassed approval.
Okay… I'll admit it… she almost looks kinda… cute.
You mean really cute. Adorable! Not that you'd ever say such words. Blasphemy it is, Outer. Blasphemy.
I don't appreciate your tone.
It's the same as yours majority of the time you speak.
I know.
I sighed and nodded. She broke out into a smile.
She hugged me, but quickly pulled away, remembering we weren't alone and that I wasn't a big fan of such things.
Her face red, she turned away and laughed awkwardly.
Sensing the tension in the air, Kakashi spoke for the second time since I got here. "Didn't you arrange something, Sakura?"
I was confused about what that meant, but she brightened up immediately, turning to me excitedly.
"Oh, right! Sasuke-kun, I know you were interested in Man of Steel,(4) so I got all of us tickets –yes, you too, Kiba; just make sure Akamaru stays a human clone until we get into the viewing room– to the movies and watch it today! None of us have seen it yet, so that works out great! Mikoto-san and Fugaku-san used their connections to get that specific theater room empty except for us, so just for that showing, the whole room's ours! What do you think?"
If I was expressive, my jaw would've been dropped in shock. Instead, my eyes simply widened. She did all that… just for me?
Did you forget? She likes us. A lot, I think. It's normal for a girl who likes a guy to go to lengths to make him like her. Or in this case, to make you happy.
I resisted the strange urge to grin.
"Whoa, Sakura-chan! That's so awesome!" Naruto cheered.
Kiba was wide-eyed and I'm sure it was taking a lot in him not to say anything.
Akamaru, however, was barking and howling in happiness. Who knew a dog would be excited to watch a movie...
"Great job, Ugly." Sai commented.
Kakashi nodded.
"Well, Sasuke-kun?" She asked again.
I smirked. "When do we leave?"
She grinned widely and stood up, pulling me with her easily. I forgot how strong she was.
I think she did, too.
"Right now, actually! The movie starts at 2 and it's-… Oh, man! 1:45! Let's get going!" She pulled me along with her, and the rest of the team and Kiba and Akamaru trailed out after us. Good thing there's always 15 minutes or so of stupid commercials…
I heard my mother call, "Have fun!" after us.
I thought about that statement for a moment.
I think I will. It's my birthday, after all.
After the movie, still Sasuke POV
"That. Was. AWESOME!" Kiba cheered as we re-entered the house.
I silently agreed with him. That was a good movie.
"Ooh… anyone smell that?" Naruto asked.
I took a whiff of the air in the house.
My eyes widened, recognizing the smell.
My mother entered the living room with a tray in her hands. Hana and Mura came in after her carrying more trays.
"I figured you wouldn't be all that hungry after eating popcorn and drinking soda and stuff from the movies, so we made these for you guys to snack on for the rest of the evening," Mother said.
In my mother's tray were my favorite – omusubi with okaka, as well as sliced tomatoes on a plate and cherry tomatoes.(5) Heck YES!
In Hana's tray were American-style crackers with sliced cheese, ham, as well as a mini vegetable tray. There was also a can of spray cheese.
There's mom and her healthy alternatives.
On Mura's tray were some sweets and some meat and tofu, one of which I knew as Sakura favorite. Naruto told me, alright?
Anmitsu (Sakura's favorite) had its own plate, as well as tofu. (6)The largest plate on the tray had meat – beef strips, pork chops, and baby back ribs.
All of this would normally sound like a lot, but I'm pretty sure you forget that Naruto, Kiba, and Akamaru have bottomless pits as stomachs. Despite already eating popcorn and soda. And ICEEs.
Not to mention, everyone always has room for their favorites. Always.
They gave us the trays, and my mother told me that she wanted "you kids to have fun in your [my] room while the adults did boring stuff downstairs and left you alone".
Kakashi even pulled out his book and sat on the couch, saying "have fun".
So we obeyed, and walked upstairs.
I was glad that they opted to leave me alone, remembering I didn't like a lot of company. These guys are enough.
So I led the others up to my room where I found a certain something on my bed.
I placed a tray in Naruto's hands –telling him that if he ate all of it I'd burn his apartment to ashes, starting with the all of the ramen– and picked it up.
I looked at Sakura. "Is this…?" She looked sheepish, nodding.
"No way!" Kiba exclaimed.
"That's the new One Piece movie! I didn't know that was on CD yet!" Naruto exclaimed.
"It's not." Sakura said, shaking her head. "This time it was Shisui-san who used his connections to get this. It also has the TorikoXDragon BallXOne Piece special(7) on it. The CD's actually not supposed to come out until August 1st, but Shisui-san was able to get it yesterday. Read the note."
Only now did I notice there was a note on the CD case.
"Happy birthday, Little Cousin." I began, reading the letter.
"This is Mura and I's present for you (Mura also cooked some of your omusubi, so be grateful). You better appreciate this because it was pain in the ass to get this for you. So do us (me) a favor and-" I cut myself off, glaring at the note.
"-and get yourself a girlfriend, would you? Hopefully a certain little pink kitten.(8) ;D *winkwink* *nudgenudge* *pokepoke*.
-Shisui and Mura.
PS: I tried to make him write something that wouldn't annoy you, I swear, but as you can see, it didn't work. Well, what he originally wrote was a little more… obscene (?) so this is better. Happy birthday, Sasuke-kun!"
I finished the letter in my head.
The last part in cursive, as opposed to Shisui's normal printed scrawl. (For some reason, they decided to write it in English instead of Japanese,(9) but whatever) It was very obvious that the last part was from Mura. Duh.
"Why did you stop yourself from finishing?" Sai asked, taken a piece of the tofu.
"No reason," I responded. "But it's definitely from Shisui."
Everyone gathered around or on my bed.
Sakura and I sat next to each other against the headboard –I pushed Naruto off from the spot– Kiba sat on a bean bag next to the end of the bed, Akamaru laid on Sakura's lap, Sai sat in a seat next to the bed, and Naruto took a pillow and leaned against the front end of the bed.
(The bed was facing the TV in my room.)
"Special or movie first?" Naruto asked, taking the CD case.
"Special." I answered. Save the best for last, right?
Naruto popped in the CD and turned off the lights in the room, letting the glow of the 42" flat screen fill the room.
I know. I'm a lucky bastard, aren't I? And I don't even live here anymore. I come here nearly once a week, if not once every two weeks, and only sleep here like once or twice a month because my mom calls me over.
Anyway.
We spent the next almost 3 hours enjoying the movie and the shounen anime special.
"I loved it," Mura commented.
The movie had ended just a few minutes ago, and sometime after we started the special, Mura, Hana, and Shisui snuck into the room and watched them with us.
The food and snacks Mother and Mura and Hana made were finished.
"All I can say is…" Kiba started. "Robin looked hotter than ever, younger or not."(10)
Naruto and Shisui nodded furiously. Shisui hesitated at first, looking to his girlfriend for approval who rolled her eyes and nodded.
"I really liked it. Did you, Sasuke-kun? Sai-kun?" Sakura asked, turning to us.
"I enjoyed it, Ugly." Luckily for him, Sakura was in a good mood so she didn't even bother to pretend to get off the bed to hurt him.
"Aa," was my response to her question.
She smiled.
Suddenly, something seemed to occur to Naruto right then. (When the movie was over, Naruto moved to sit on the front end of the bed, facing us.)
Naruto turned to Sakura. "Hey, Sakura-chan?"
"Yeah?" She said from beside me.
"Normally, you would've hit me for being perverted and making comments over the girls during and after all this, but you barely did anything. Why?"
It was a good question. I actually hit Naruto just as much as she did, which wasn't very much. Sakura only hit Kiba once, but no more.
"Actually, I have the same question for Mura-koi(11) and Hana-chan." Shisui said.
Mura would've hit Shisui much more often in a normal circumstance, but she didn't. And Hana hardly did anything to Kiba, Akamaru, AND Shisui. Why?
Sakura blushed, scratching her head again. She's definitely picked that up from Naruto.
I was a little miffed for some reason at realizing she picked up a habit from Naruto of all people, but I didn't dare stop to think about why.
Because you're tsundere and don't want to realize you're jealous.
I'm going to ignore you.
You usually do.
"Well, uh… it would've been almost a bit hypocritical…" Sakura said, clearly embarrassed.
… Okay, what is that supposed to mean?!
"I kinda thought that Zoro was pretty damn hot throughout this whole movie, so… Sanji, too, but mostly Zoro… and with such fantastic animation, I thought it only natural that everyone would look better so I cut you guys some slack. If I thought Zoro and Sanji looked… incredible, why couldn't you guys comment about the same thing about the girls?" By the end of this, she was completely red, and looking into her lap.
… I'm actually kind of jealous of those two [Zoro and Sanji] right now…
We turned to Mura. "Well?" Naruto asked.
She shrugged, her face a bit pink. "Same thing I guess. But can you blame us – Sanji and Zoro were downright sexy!"(12) Shisui rose a brow, teasingly.
Hana also said she agreed with what they said.
Sai took notes of this development, that weirdo.
Suddenly, Naruto, Kiba, and Shisui burst out laughing. "I *pant* can't believe *laugh* it! That's why!? Hahahaha!" Said Shisui.
"I'm gonna remember this!" Naruto laughed out.
"Oh, man, Sis! This is priceless!" Kiba said between his laughs. Even Akamaru was laughing.
Sai's next comment shut the rest of the guys up to hear the answer. "So would that mean you're into ZoroxSanji yaoi?(13) The two have a very strong hate-hate relationship and Beautiful –Ino– says that usually makes for a good yaoi couple.(14) And many girls like yaoi. I know Sakura likes it(15) but-"
Sakura tackled him, jumping off the bed and knocking him off his chair, putting her hand over his mouth. "Wh-what are y-you talking about, Sai-kun?"
It was obvious she was lying. If the fact that she tackled his so he wouldn't say anything didn't tell you that already.
So she likes yaoi, huh?
"You do?" Naruto asked.
"A little, maybe." She laughed.
"A little? You seemed to enjoy it a lot when-" Sai spoke again before Sakura put her hand over his mouth again.
"What. Are. You. Talking. About. Sai-kun?" She said menacingly.
Then she whispered something in his ear.
I could only imagine what she said to him as he somehow got paler, then blue, and then purple. I sweat dropped. She's… pretty scary sometimes.
Yeah…
Shisui, however, grinned as Sakura let go of Sai.
"So do 'ya? Mura-koi, Hana-chan? Do you guys love your ZoroXSanji yaoi? Do 'ya? Huh? Or do you prefer-"
"Guys! Come downstairs!" Mother called.
The girls sighed in relief. Saved by the bell, huh?
We all hurried downstairs, taking the now-empty food trays with us.
(1): She knows, remember? She helped Sai pick out a present. I didn't show it, but after that, Ino grilled Sakura for info on the party. You know Ino.
(2): That's how I answer the phone or say "hello" majority of the time. It's like a cross of "yellow" and "'ello". Sorta. It was meant to be "'ello" but I say it fast, so it ends up being "y'ello."
(3): Sai's place seemed like an apartment. It was, likely. Sakura, in canon, DOES live in an apartment. Same goes for Sasuke - he hasn't lived in the Manor since the Massacre. I don't understand why people often write him as living there when he didn't - we saw both apartments. Sakura's more than once. Also, the Manor's a traditional Japanese home (though I write it as a western-Japanese cross) - the shot of Sasuke's bedroom in canon didn't look traditionally Japanese. In canon, Sakura lived on her own, (it seems) but for Road to Ninja, she lived with her parents for plot convenience. (I think)
(4): The Superman DC Movie, if you didn't know. I haven't seen it yet, though...
(5): His actual favorites. Minus the cherry tomatoes - I'm sure he likes them, though, since he likes tomatoes.
(6): Sai's fave is a type of tofu, Sakura's favorite is amnitsu, and I'm too lazy to look up Kiba's. But I looked up everybody's faves for this chapter.
(7): Episode 590 of One Piece I think. That's the second special I've seen - the first was TorikoxOP. And no, I doubt that special is on CD, much less with Movie Z when it comes out on DVD. I made most of the stuff up, except for the part of the special and movie. They exist.
(8): AKA Sakura. Sasuke knows of Shisui's habit of calling people "kitten", so he knows who Shisui's talking about.
(9): I felt like having them write in English. 'Kay? Let's just say they're fluent in both English and Japanese. Whatever.
(10): This isn't really a spoiler but I'll tell you: in Movie Z, (and one of the filler eps for the movie) there's a girl who has the ability to turn someone 12 years younger, and can do so until that person ceases to exist. Example - say you're 11. If she uses that technique on you, you cease to exist because you've only been alive for 11 years, not 12. She used that technique on Brooke, Chopper, Nami, and Robin. If you don't follow OP or aren't that far yet, it doesn't matter if you read this.
(11): "-koi" is a suffix used between couples. Equivalent of calling someone "love", but cuter.
(12): They were. Especially Zoro. That animation made them look so much hotter than usual... *drool* And the girls looked prettier, too. And Chopper more adorable... he was as cute as he's ever been in that movie... like pretended that milk bottle was a gauntlet and making cute sounds while Z and Luffy talked... X3
(13): Possibly the biggest couple in OP. OP has very little romance, and a lot of male characters, so yaoi's bound to happen. I'm not much of a yaoi fan, though, personally.
(14): It's true. That's one of the reasons NaruSasu/SasuNaru is so huge. Hate-hate relationships make for interesting interactions... if you know what I'm sayin'. ;D (I've always wanted to do that, forgive me XD )
(15): Just read chapter 347. It wasn't in the anime. That's what Sai's talking about.
