A/N: Heya guys. Been a real looooong while. Ahehehe. Sorry. Life's just been getting more and more hectic (Sometimes I seriously ask myself why I chose premed -.-"). And add a heartbreak to that and you have yourself a very unmotivated writer. :p Yeah. Unsolicited info. Just needed to rant a little.
Okay! Enough of my life's woes and on to more serious matters! Like SasuNaru for example. :3 Yes. I take my SasuNaru seriously.
So my proposed game wasn't such a success. D: Oh woe is the embarrassed writer (doom and gloom) But hey. I guess it happens. I've decided to grant CloudNine the win! Yay! My random number was 7. You got the closest number up. :) I added my own personal twist to your suggested theme if you don't mind. :) I hope you like it! Plus, I've decided to add another prize. When the time comes, I plan on letting you read the chapter on how Sasuke and Naruto "go wrong" before I post it on the site. Another yay!
One more thing. To OpenPervert-Chan, as a sign of my gratitude for playing my game, I will be writing your suggested theme as the next chapter. :D
Little shout out to all the Sherlock fans out there! Woot woot!
Do any of you guys know Luke Luck and Oliver Strange? If you don't, OH MY GOD! Check them out. The BEST SasuNaru cosplay ever. Haha! Ovaries exploded, reformed, and imploded.
NOTE: I never took violin lessons so I'm just pulling this out of my bum. Ahehe. But in my defence, Canon in D was one of the first few pieces I learned on the piano. I'm assuming Sasuke can pull the same feat off if he were real. ... Maybe.
FAST CAR: Ahehe. I swear I'm still writing this! Just really really reaaaaally slowly (mostly due to a slight writer's block). Please be patient with me. :) and I'm really sorry about the great delay. The next part still has a long way to go. Having a really hard time getting into the groove of writing it. (bows head multiple times in apology) I'M SO SORRY!
*DISCLAIMER APPLIES* - I would also like to cite the work of Arthur Conan Doyle "Sherlock Holmes"
BEFORE THE WORST
S.A.?
"It's so annoying! No matter how much I dodge him, he keeps getting me with that darn 'Sin Harvest'!" Naruto threw her arms in the air as she expressed her great frustration over the game she had yet to finish. The two nine-year-old kids were taking their sweet time walking through the halls of the local Community Centre just beside the Konoha Public Library. Through the suggestion of Sasuke's father, Mikoto enrolled their youngest son into one of the programs the centre provided. The young mother then passed the suggestion to Jiraiya which, subsequently, the old gentleman followed through. Naruto, much to her utter disgust, was in the Basic Cheerleading program that occurred twice a week; but she had to admit that the little stunts the instructor was teaching were pretty cool. What she really loathed about the class was the cheering itself. She hated the excessive nodding, smiling and the perky way they had to shout 'Go team!'. Now, it was also advised to wear shirts or skirts designed for cheerleading to execute their movements with more ease. Naruto drew the line at that; she could stomach cheesy cheers but not skirts or short shorts. No. Nuh-uh. No way. So she decided to wear her usual black sweatpants and a loose orange 'Eat my shorts' shirt.
Sasuke gradually slowed his pacing as he approached his designated locker. The boy crouched in order to acquire his belongings. Naruto leaned against the row of lockers and groaned. "Every time! He gets me with that attack every single time! It's all..." The blonde mustered the most impassive face she could and squared her shoulders. With the deepest voice she could conjure, she attempted to imitate the current bane of her existence. "Sin Harvest.", she said and the flurry of movements that followed, Sasuke assumed, was her trying to do her version of the attack. Overall, it looked like she was having a seizure.
Once all his items were in his possession, Sasuke closed the locker and stood up from his crouching position. Naruto finally was finished with her pathetic display of fighting and she was now panting like an overheated pup.
"I told you a thousand times that before he even finishes the words 'Sin Harvest', you have to hit him with Strike Raid. THEN and only then do you dodge his next move." Sasuke secured his backpack on his back and continued with Naruto down the hall.
"Pshh! Easier said than done." The blonde pouted as she defended her nth loss against the silver-haired boss in her game. The raven-haired lad, only half-listening by this point in the conversation, merely grunted in response. In sudden remembrance, the boy swung his back pack to his front and fished for his music sheets. Quickly finding what he needed, he swiftly pulled the pieces of paper out of his bag and silently read on.
Naruto leaned over to her best friend to take a peek at the little boy's notes. "Is this the song you were complaining about the other day?"
"Hn." That was enough of an answer for Naruto to understand that yes, that was the song he was grumbling about two days prior. See, Uchiha Sasuke, like what every child did to appease their stereotypical rich family, was taking piano lessons thrice a week. But wait! Not only that! Apparently, he was also enrolled into the biweekly violin lessons by his dear sweet mother. Uchiha Mikoto was always more artsy fartsy than academic.
Needless to say, Sasuke had a full schedule on his hands because of that.
"Canon in D?" Naruto snorted out the piece's plain title. "What kind of title is that? I was expecting something more creative."
Sasuke shrugged, silently agreeing with his blond companion. In his opinion, any work of art deserved a title; in the same way a person deserved a name. Tch. Canon in D. That's like naming Naruto 'blondie' instead of 'Naruto'.
Sasuke strayed from his line of thought as he studied his sheet music once more. He internally sighed at the succession of black dots and lines printed on the paper. That really was a hard piece considering that he had only started with his violin lessons seven weeks ago. Thankfully, piano lessons were going without a hitch for him.
"Hey. I thought you said excelling was embedded in your Uchiha genes or something?" Naruto teasingly grinned at the older child. She then pointed her right index finger towards the boy by her side.
"Huh, Sasuke?" Poke.
" ... "
"Hey, Sasuke? What'd you say to that, huh?" Poke. Poke.
A twitch of the mouth.
"Excelling eh? Sasuke?" Poke. Poke. Jab.
A tick formed on his forehead.
"Sasukeeee?"
The young Uchiha smacked the pesky blonde upside the head which earned a yelp of pain from the latter. One had to wonder how these two still got along. What had Sasuke been thinking when he thought Naruto wasn't loud or annoying the day they met? He must have been crazy or something.
"Sasuke's so mean to me!" The blonde rubbed the spot her best friend just hit as a gesture of self-comfort. Likewise, she didn't know what she saw in Sasuke in the first place; but it was all too late now. They were stuck with each other whether they liked it or not.
"Stop being annoying, stupid."
"Hmph! See if I let you borrow my comic books again, you grump! And stop saying bad words!"
Sasuke simply sniggered at Naruto's scolding. She never did get over the 'Stupid' issue.
"Hi Sasuke!" The clear voice of a little girl chirped by the duo's side. A cute little lass with light brown hair and hazel eyes tilted her head playfully. She flippantly swayed her body side to side, causing her baby blue dress to flutter across the air.
Sasuke arched an eyebrow at the way the girl was trying to make herself look endearing. Quite frankly, he thought she looked ridiculous as she twirled a portion of her shoulder-length hair with her finger.
"Sasuke, I was wondering if you could let me borrow some of your sheets so I could have them copied. My little brother decided it would be a good idea to draw on my notes." The girl scowled as she recalled how her little brother showed her his picture of a dog which was drawn on said notes she left out the day before. She pouted and winked as she simultaneously placed her hands together in a pleading gesture. "Please? Sasuke?"
This only served to irritate Sasuke even more. He didn't even know her! How dare she address him so familiarly? And to ask for his notes no less! The nerve!
"Hi! My name's Naruto? What's yours?" Just when Sasuke thought it couldn't get any worse, Naruto went ahead and introduced herself to the girl whose identity was yet to be known.
"Eh?" The brown-haired girl turned her attention to the blonde by Sasuke's side. She placed her hands on her hips as she gave Naruto a once over. Once she deemed Naruto to be of no threat, she gave the most absurd introduction.
"I'm one of Sasuke's friends!"
If it weren't such an unflattering sound, Sasuke would have definitely snorted right then and there. How could she be one of his friends when he didn't even know who she was?!
"Oh, I see." Naruto gave the girl a wary smile before turning her attention to her best friend. "Hey S'uke? Who is she? How come you haven't introduced me to her?" She whispered to her companion, making the other girl unable to hear the query.
"Che. She's lying." That was by no means a whisper. Sasuke made sure that the brown-haired girl could hear what he thought about the prospect of them being 'friends'. The little girl flinched at Sasuke's words. Judging from her looks, she was about a few seconds away from crying. Naruto shot the girl a sympathetic look.
The dress-adorning child took a deep breath to compose herself. She had gotten this far. No way would she back down now when she had tried so hard to gather enough courage to even speak to the Uchiha boy in her presence. "Aw Sasuke! I'm Tsubaki! You know? Ono Tsubaki?"
Naruto silently sighed in relief. She was glad that Sasuke's nasty tendencies didn't get to Tsubaki. The blonde looked to see Sasuke's reaction. Maybe since Tsubaki gave her name, Sasuke would recognize where he had met the girl.
"Hn. I still don't know who you are." The young Uchiha glared at the girl who was claiming to be his friend. Friend my butt! She was probably just another girl trying to get his attention. The lass only kept silent after Sasuke declared his apparent unfamiliarity with her. Great! It was enough that she was delusional; now, she was mute too? Tch. "If that's all, I would like it if you stopped wasting my time." This caused another flinch to erupt from the child who was now scrunching up the bottom of her dress with her hands. She was wincing, evidently from distress.
"Come on, knucklehead." Sasuke firmly gripped Naruto's wrist and made motions of pulling the blonde away.
Naruto scowled at her best friend, definitely not liking the way he was treating the other girl. "Sasuke, be nice." The whisker-cheeked girl pulled her arm away and crossed her upper limbs across her chest; not too pleased with Sasuke as of the moment.
Noticing Naruto's refusal to move, Sasuke growled in defeat. His gal pal wouldn't be moving any time soon unless he apologized to this Tsubaki girl. The things he did for Naruto...
Sasuke approached Tsubaki and cleared his throat. "My bad." The boy mumbled. It was a God-awful attempt at an apology but that was all Tsubaki would be getting from Sasuke. Nothing more, nothing less. Now that that apology was out of the way, he and Naruto could actually leave.
"So how do you know Sasuke, Tsubaki?" Naruto popped up from behind Sasuke.
Whelp.
Guess Sasuke would have to interact with the Ono girl for a bit more.
Tch.
"Uhm. He's in the same violin class as I am." Tsubaki scratched her button nose so as to hide the light blush on her cheeks. Now that she mentioned it, Sasuke could actually recognize her as one of the many obscure female faces in his class. Hn. So she actually did know Sasuke and not just know of him.
"Cool." The blonde beamed at the other girl. She then put her arm around Sasuke's shoulders and pulled the boy close to her person. "Sorry that this guy's being such a jerk. He hasn't had his nap yet." Naruto's apology on Sasuke's behalf earned a small chuckle from the brown-haired girl. The Uchiha was so glad that his discomfort was source of amusement for the two girls.
Tsubaki nodded her head in acceptance of Naruto's words of empathy. "So hey, I actually really did need to borrow Sasuke's music sheets so..."
Naruto smirked at Tsubaki's uncompleted request for the blonde's assistance to attain Sasuke's notes. The fair-haired child roughly prodded Sasuke's side with her free hand. This resulted to Sasuke stifling a giggle that threatened to escape. The charcoal-eyed boy deemed Tsubaki not worthy enough to know that he, Uchiha Sasuke, was ticklish to an extent.
Disguising a chuckle that passed through his lips as a growl, Sasuke relented and pulled away from Naruto's hold. "So what song did you need?" He gruffly inquired his classmate.
"Ode To Joy."
"Hn."
Sasuke took less than ten seconds to search and give the girl the piece she needed. When the notes were in Tsubaki's possession, Sasuke couldn't help but hear a myriad of cheering a few paces away. Before Sasuke could pinpoint where exactly the noise was coming from, Tsubaki took hold of his sleeve to get his attention.
"Thank you, Sasuke! Thanks, Naruto!" The utter joy in her tone was hardly concealed. Even her eyes brightened at the fact that she had The Uchiha Sasuke's notes in her hands. She was just extremely happy right now!
Tsubaki focussed her gaze beyond Sasuke and Naruto forms and gave an ear-splitting grin that made even her plain eyes twinkle. She squealed and ran past the two friends, all the while waving the sheets of paper in the air.
Sasuke and Naruto looked back only to find a group of children who were just about their age clapping Tsubaki in the back and congratulating her as if she had just won a free trip to the amusement park. A pewter-haired girl who looked to be Tsubaki's closest friend embraced the latter tightly as a show of joy for the female violinist.
After Tsubaki had calmed down from her fangirling high, her group of friends fondly eyed the two friends. Truthfully, Naruto was expecting the group to be hounding Sasuke after his show of tolerance for Tsubaki. What she wasn't expecting however was the attention she was getting from Tsubaki's only male friend in the group.
"Thanks for helping Baki out, blondie!" A boy who looked to be about a year older than Naruto shouted his gratitude. The blonde took a few moments to study the boy's features. She tilted her head to the side as she eyed the navy blue bandana the boy adorned around his forehead. Weird. It's not as if the boy had any stray hair to keep out of his face. He had a buzz cut for Pete's sake. Hmm. Maybe it was just his fashion sense or something? At least the rest of the boy's clothing seemed fairly normal. Jeans and a t-shirt? Yup. You couldn't get any normal than that.
"Yeah! No problem!" Naruto grinned in response. This caused the boy to smile at her in the same manner.
Somehow, Sasuke didn't like the way that kid was grinning at his best friend.
The girl that was previously clinging to Tsubaki pulled at bandana boy's shirt. Much to Sasuke's great pleasure, the kid wasn't focussed onto Naruto anymore. Instead, he was looking at Tsubaki's pewter-haired friend. Whispered exchanges were made and Sasuke glared at the fact that the boy with the buzz-cut was now blushing. Not soon after the brief exchange did the boy shyly approach Naruto.
And that was enough for Sasuke to pull Naruto away. Far, far away.
"Hey!" Buzzy (as Sasuke so kindly named the boy) shouted for them to halt their departure.
"Sasuke! What's with you? The guy wanted to say something!" Naruto tried to fight the way Sasuke was nearly hauling her away from Tsubaki's peers. She had absolutely no idea what had come over her best friend. That, truthfully, was the very first time she saw Sasuke acting up in this manner and she didn't know what to make of it.
"Sasuke!"
"We're going to your place. I'm gonna show you how to beat your game."
And just like that, Sasuke dodged Naruto's questioning.
Poor naive little Sasuke. Thinking that pulling his best friend away would keep a certain child from pursuing the blonde.
llllllllllllllllllll
It had been four days since the Tsubaki incident and Sasuke was pleased to say that Buzzy wasn't bothering him or Naruto in any way. The two were, once again, casually pacing through the halls of the Community Centre having just finished with their lessons.
"I'm telling you, S'uke. You gotta watch this series. One of the characters was so cute! He was a five-year-old with an afro do and he was wearing a cow-print onesie!" Naruto visualized the little hitman in the series she was currently watching. Not that she was being smug or anything but she could actually imitate the character's voice actor perfectly. Their voices were so alike that it was even creeping her out.
Sasuke leaned against the locker beside Naruto's and ignored the little bout of nonsensical blabbing the blonde was doing. In his opinion, a series about mafia babies and wimpy mafia bosses didn't sound so appealing to him.
"It's just weird that every time the main character goes into this Super Saiyan mode, he ends up in his boxers." She snorted at the memory. "Actually pretty funny now that I think about it some more. His clothes burn off and then ... eh?"
Sasuke, despite not fully listening, caught the sudden pause in the story and checked to see what had bothered with his best friend's recap. Apparently, Naruto had opened her locker during her yapping session and out came a piece of paper that came fluttering down to the floor.
"What's this?" She bent down and picked the paper up. Sasuke silently watched the way Naruto's blue eyes raked over the words written on the note. Curiously enough, a hint of red was steadily getting darker in hue on Naruto's adorable cheeks. A few minutes passed and Naruto had yet to utter a single sound.
"So? What's it say?" The little Uchiha's impatience got the better of him and he peeked over Naruto's shoulder to see what had the girl blushing like a loon. As soon as the little girl felt Sasuke's presence looking over her shoulder, she immediately tried to hide the contents of the piece of paper by placing the note flat on her chest. "Nothing important! Nothing at all!", she hastily supplied to placate.
Sasuke did a downward tilt of his lips as a clear sign of his aggravation.
Nothing?
That clearly didn't sound like nothing.
"A-a-anyways, let's get out of here." Naruto abruptly turned and quickly paced away towards the Centre lobby. Sasuke followed suit and matched the girl's strides. The lad inconspicuously glanced sideways to his companion, only to find that she was still blushing and clinging to the note like her life depended on it.
Now, Sasuke, being the genius that he was, could have thought of a million and a half ways to make Naruto slip up and show the writings on her note; but nooo, Sasuke would have none of it. Why bother complicating life when the simplest method was openly ready to be used?
So use the simplest method he did.
With so much fluidity, Sasuke placed his right leg in front of Naruto's path.
One didn't need a Mensa certificate to know what happened next.
"AYIEEE!"
An unlady like screech to be followed by a cringingly loud thud.
There, Naruto lay flat on the ground with her face planted to the floor. It was actually quite comical to see how the girl was sprawled unmoving on the ground. Poor child. Having such a sadistic best friend was never a good idea.
"Hn. Blockhead." Sasuke smirked at the muffled groans of pain that erupted from the blonde. The raven-haired lad eyed the piece of paper that came fluttering down to the ground. Once the paper settled beside Naruto's still faceplanted head, Sasuke picked the note up and quickly read its contents.
Saying that Sasuke was enraged at the previously hidden words was the understatement of the century.
The young Uchiha, after satiating his curiosity, pocketed the note just in time before Naruto lifted her head from the ground to start screaming murder at her so-called best friend.
"Argh! You're such a jerk!" She haphazardly sat herself on the floor and glared up to the boy. "Freaking random acts of violence! Remind me again why I choose to hang out with you?"
Sasuke simple shrugged and walked away.
Oh yeah. A total jerk for a best friend.
"Sasuke! Wait!" The girl scrambled off the floor before catching up with her companion.
She had a total jerk for a best friend ...
She caught up with him and lightly shoved the boy on the arm.
Heh. But she wouldn't have Sasuke any other way.
The two continued on out of the three-story building. Naruto resumed her happy chattering, completely oblivious to the fact that Sasuke irritably crumpled a particular piece of paper in his pockets.
Naruto,
You have the most beautiful smile I've ever seen. You're perfect for me! I hope we can be closer!
S.A
That cheesy love message was proof enough that, obviously, S.A. stood for Secret Admirer; but to Sasuke, S.A. meant something completely different.
Search and Annihilate.
llllllllllllllllllll
For the next few days, Naruto kept getting these little love notes and trinkets in her locker. The gifts the girl received each day was steadily increasing in grandeur. Just yesterday, Naruto received the most ridiculous present from her secret admirer.
Really. Sasuke hardly believed a new pair of sneakers was necessary.
Who gave away sneakers?!
Sheesh!
"So what is it today? A brand new Playstation to keep the one you have company?" Sasuke bitterly mumbled as he watched his best friend try to open her locker which would finally reveal the love offering for the day.
"Oh shush you!" Naruto pouted while concentrating to get her locker door open. The girl fumbled with her combination lock due to embarrassment. This was her third go at unlocking her locker! What was up with that?! She couldn't possibly be frazzled by the small issue of a secret admirer, could she?
She released a grumble which was soon followed by a sigh.
Okay.
Fourth attempt.
She carefully aligned the small line of the lock knob to the marked zero before starting.
Ten - Seven - Twenty-thr-
"Hi Naruto!"
... Fifth attempt.
The blonde sighed and decided to put her endeavours of locker opening on hold. It would only serve to frustrate her if she pursued the task. She turned around and was surprised to see the beaming face of Tsubaki. After greeting the blonde child, Tsubaki fixed her stare to Sasuke whom was looking quite a bit irate. "Hi Sasuke!" The girl adoringly chirped.
"Hey Tsubaki." Naruto smiled back. She didn't want to be rude to the girl after all.
"What do you want?" ... Unlike some people.
"Sorry, Sasuke, but it's not you who I have business with today." Tsubaki apologetically eyed the Uchiha before reaching into her pocket. "Naruto, for you." Meticulously placed in the palm of the Ono girl's hand was a heart-shaped trinket. The kind of trinket that screamed 'I love you. Will you marry me?'.
... It made Naruto cringe.
"Uhh. Thanks?" Naruto graciously (well, as graciously as she could) accepted the gift.
"Who's it from?" Sasuke, in a very uncivilized manner, lowly growled out. For some strange reason, he was very (exceedingly) opposed to the idea of someone trying to gain his best friend's affection.
Tsubaki placed her arms behind her back and lightly swayed herself to and fro using her heels. "From Ibara." She said the name with a wink.
"Ibara?" Sasuke and Naruto asked at the same time. Although one was said in a more ... seething tone.
The brown-haired lass enthusiastically nodded her head. It would seem that she was oblivious to the way Sasuke was looking quite constipated at that moment.
"Tsubaki, who's Ib-" Naruto's question was left unfinished as the girl the blonde was addressing quickly turned around and skipped away.
. . .
. .
.
Yes, ladies and gentlemen.
As funny as it sounds, the girl just left without even an announcement of her departure.
" . . . That was"
"Weird."
"Yeah."
"You attract all the whackjobs, Elle."
A blue eye twitched. "Me?! You do remember that Tsubaki is your fangirl, right?"
"Hn." Touché.
Naruto sighed and brought to little trinket to eye-level. The heart attached to a silver chain was laden with blue, green, and red gems. Judging from the nature of the chain the charm was attached to, the gift was meant to be fastened to bag zippers. The little blond child eyed the item with a little more scrutiny before noticing that the small object could be opened.
"What's with the face, Naruto?" Sasuke wondered once he saw the blonde's calculating expression.
She didn't bother to answer the question and continued to make motions of opening the trinket. With the flick of a finger and a snap, the heart-shaped accessory came undone and revealed a small note within it.
Please meet me at the swings after lessons. – Ibara
The girl stared dumbfounded at the note. Was this for real? This felt like a bad TV show just waiting to happen. Heh. So Ibara huh? Common sense would dictate that this Ibara was the S.A. the best friends had been wondering about.
"Hey Blondie!" Much to Sasuke's immense pleasure, Buzzy appeared out of nowhere and put an arm around Naruto's shoulder.
". . . Err. Hi." Naruto aimed a visibly conscious smile at their new addition.
"Baki told me you were here. How've you been? Maybe we can hang out after lessons with Baki and the others?" The wink sent to the blonde's way was enough to make Sasuke finally snap. The young Uchiha gruffly approached the two and forcibly removed the arm around Naruto's small shoulders.
"Hey!" The older boy shouted in protest, clearly not pleased with the way his arm was shoved aside.
"Sasuke! What's your deal?!" The raven-haired lad ignored the blonde's scolding. He, instead, chose to focus all his attention on the older boy just across from him. If looks could kill, Buzzy would be six feet underground by now. Sasuke received the desired reaction from the buzz-cut child. The older boy took a step back although retaliated with a glare (albeit weakly) that was meant for the blonde's best friend.
This marked the day Sasuke perfected the would-be famous Uchiha glare.
"Leave Naruto alone." Sasuke placed himself in between Naruto and the older child, and stood his ground. He wouldn't be pulling away Naruto like last time. This time he was going to intimidate the other until the latter left.
Buzzy attempted to out-dominate the younger boy but failed miserably not a few seconds later. And so with a "tsk" and a wave, the boy left the duo's presence; but not before saying a quick goodbye to the blonde.
"I'll see you around, Naruto."
". . . Yeah. See you." Naruto looked sympathetically at the retreating boy's back. She then proceeded to gaze in distaste at Sasuke. "What's with you? Why are you being so nasty?!"
Quite frankly, Sasuke didn't know the reason himself. He simply had the primal urge to scorn the previously present lad.
"Let's go. We'll be late." Like any normal person, when faced with matters that astounded oneself, dismissal of the issue occurred; because really, how could he answer Naruto when he himself didn't where the need to be possessive was coming from. Sasuke was nine for Pete's sake! Although he was considered to be a genius of sorts, matters such as these were still way over his spiky duckbutt head.
"Sasuke!"
"Drop it, Elle!"
The reaction Sasuke got from the girl was a funny cross between angry and dejected. It was an expression akin to a child who didn't know whether to cry or laugh at something. Had the circumstances been different, Sasuke would have found the look amusing. To avoid any further bashing that was sure to come from the blonde, Sasuke opted to make a speedy getaway to his violin class. Maybe a little time away from his blonde would cure him from that strange bubbling in his chest.
Weirdly enough, he would only feel the bubbles of doom whenever he saw or thought about Buzzy. Hn. He knew the kid was bad news!
And so for the next hour or so, Sasuke kept twitching in his seat, anxiously awaiting the prompt that would signal their dismissal. Apparently, his idea of being away from Naruto brought more worry than peace of mind.
llllllllllllllllllll
"Sorry, Sasuke. Naruto left already."
"Hn. That so..." Sasuke furrowed his brows at Sakura's words. It wasn't very Naruto-like of her to just up and go without Sasuke. One could expect that from the young Uchiha (because one had to admit that Sasuke was as selectively mean as they come) but not from Naruto. It just wasn't her.
"Yup. Once coach said we were dismissed, she just ran out. It didn't look like there was an emergency though." The pink-haired cheerleader-in-training admitted while she consciously stretched out her skirt creases. But as everyone could predict, Sasuke took no heed of the girl's preening. Instead, the boy simply just nodded his acknowledgement for the information and left the small gym.
Sasuke wasn't called a genius for nothing. In a matter of seconds, he managed to conjure up reasons why Naruto didn't wait for him. After efficiently deliberating and cancelling out the implausible reasons, Sasuke turned tail and walked with purpose to the school exit. In Sherlock Holmes' famous words, 'Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable must be the truth.'
So lo and behold, there Naruto was ...
By the swings ...
With none other than little buzz cut boy himself.
. . .
. . .
. . .
Oh, Buzzy was toast.
Sasuke, whose endearing boyish features were red in anger, went from zero to sixty in a heartbeat. It's funny how the scenery looked pleasant and peaceful one second, then chaotic and loud in the next.
"Uchiha! What are you doing?!" Naruto screeched at her best friend whom had pounced on and was currently rolling around the ground with a certain older boy. Rolling around the dirty ground in an obvious spat with another child... one of the very rare times Sasuke would be seen, well, un-Uchiha like.
"Let go of me, crazy!" Buzzy struggled against Sasuke's hold. The younger of the two only responded with a growl, not letting up on his grip.
"Sasuke! Stop!" From out of nowhere, Tsubaki and her group were in the sidelines, all looking very worried for their friend's well being.
"Sasuke! If you don't stop right now, I swear, I won't hang out with you for a month!" Naruto's (not very threatening) threat immediately had Sasuke ceasing all motion. With one last glare Sasuke clicked his tongue at Buzz and proceeded to untangle himself from the older child. The young Uchiha dusted himself off the dirt in a very dignified fashion (as if he hadn't just rolled around the dirt like some barbarian) and placed himself beside a seething blonde.
Before Naruto could reprimand her dear best friend, Buzzy cut in with his own little rant. "What the heck is wrong with you?!" The older boy who was being helped up by his friends heatedly glared at the young Uchiha; the latter, in turn, returning the favour. Sasuke opened his mouth to say his rebuttal but Naruto interjected before another fight broke out. "Don't worry about Sasuke." Blue eyes squinted at the Uchiha's form. "I'll deal with him later." Naruto took a few steps forward to serve as a barrier between Sasuke and Buzzy.
"So before we were interrupted?" The blonde left the sentence open-ended, signalling for her companion to continue where he left off before the attack.
"Ah! You see..." Buzzy began to blush. This had Sasuke growling to himself.
"The letter in your locker..." The boy continued, and so realization dawned upon Naruto. "Oh, was that your letter?" She shyly shifted her eyes downward as she asked.
"Uhm. You see.. I just wanted to say that ..."
"No."
And, once again, Sasuke stepped in to interrupt what seemed to be a confession on Buzzcut's part.
"Sasuke." The warning was evident in the way Naruto whispered his name.
Sasuke paid no heed to his blond friend and simply continued with what he wanted to say. "Whatever you're about to ask, the answer is No. If you want to steal her away, then you'll have to go through me first. I'm her best friend. No one else's." It was cute really. How Sasuke decided the main issue lay within the fact that someone was trying to take his best friend away.
"Urgh! You're making this so much harder than it should be!" Buzz shouted in exasperation. "Just give me a few minutes to talk to her without you interrupting! I won't take her away from you if that's what you're worried about!"
"Hn. Lies. You've been giving her stuff for the past few weeks now. You're clearly trying something, Ibara." Sasuke glowered as he took a step closer to Naruto in very protective manner.
"Ibara?" The look on Buzz boy's face evidently screamed WTF(udge). From just behind the older boy, a small 'eep' was heard. "You think I'm Ibara?"
"Aren't you?" This time it was Naruto's turn to ask, her initial annoyance with Sasuke forgotten. "You were talking about the letter just now weren't you?" She furrowed her yellow brows in sheer confusion.
"That's what I've been trying to explain from the very start." The boy sighed. "My name is Gennai and I was only trying to help a friend out."
"What?" Sasuke and Naruto blurted out simultaneously.
"You see..."
"Gennai, that's enough." The pewter-haired girl from their group came forward and revealed herself. "I'll take it from here." Although the words were brave, her physical disposition screamed otherwise. She was blushing like mad and was shaking like a leaf. She crumpled the ends of her pale green dress to blow off some anxiety.
"You sure?" Gennai, in his concern, inquired his friend. The little girl nodded to respond to the question. In understanding Gennai stepped back and let the pewter-haired child take over.
Sasuke arched an eyebrow at the girl who refused to make eye contact. If it was one thing Sasuke hated, it was girl's who acted in this manner. Geez. It couldn't get more annoying than that!
"So? Spill it out." Uchiha Sasuke ordered as he was finally at the end of his rope. This earned him a light elbow hit to his rib by the blonde by his side. "Hey? What's the matter?" Naruto tried to ease the tension by using a gentle tone.
"Naruto..." The girl started. Finally! Some progress! Sasuke inwardly cheered.
"Hm?" Naruto cocked her head to side as a show of her unwavering attention to what the girl had to say.
With a great inhale of breath, the unnamed girl prepared herself. It was now or never.
She bowed to the blonde and, in one breath, proclaimed "Naruto, you're a very kind person. I like you very much and I'd like to be your girlfriend."
One second.
Two seconds.
Three ...
"EH?!" Naruto shrieked. Sasuke, regaining his class, only let his eyes bulge out slightly rather than screeching like a harpy.
"I'm Ibara, Naruto."
Blubbering. Only the sound of blubbering could be heard from the blonde. Then suddenly a snort of glee came but not from Naruto. Oh no. Far from it.
"Ahahaha! She thinks you're a he, Elle!" Sasuke, out of his character, bawled over. Naruto covered her face in her embarrassment. Did Sasuke really have to laugh THAT loud? "Shut up, S'uke! You thought so too!" Sasuke continued on with his bout of chuckling. "Yeah! When I was six! Guess you just really do look like a guy, Ellie!"
"What's going on?" Ibara worriedly asked as she was still kept in the dark.
"Look, kid. Naruto's a girl." Sasuke explained as he wiped mock tears from his face.
Silence.
It was pitiful how Ibara looked like someone had just stolen and eaten her last Pocky stick. Her pretty brown eyes seemed to shake and glisten with tears. "What?" The unsteady tone of her voice was just heartbreaking.
"You deaf? I said Naruto's a girl." Well, heartbreaking to everyone else at least; but not to Sasuke who seemed to be enjoying the whole scenario.
"EHHH?!" Tsubaki, Gennai , and the rest of their crew could have woken the dead with the absolute loudness of their holler.
"You're lying! You're just being mean, Sasuke!" Ibara, in a last attempt to fight fate, argued with the sadistic lad.
"No, he's not, Ibara." The blonde answered before Sasuke could riposte another insensitive remark. "I'm really sorry." Naruto lowered her head in apology. Frankly, there was nothing else she could do about the matter. Small hiccups escaped from Ibara's mouth signalling that said girl had let the tears fall and had started crying. Naruto looked up just in time to see the other lass run off past her friends in an effort to hide from the crowd.
"Ibara! Wait!" The blond-haired girl made moves to chase after the grieving child but was stopped by a certain Uchiha. "Let her be. She'll be fine."
"There you go again being such a cruel—"
"Let her cry it out, Naruto. She needs it. We'll talk to her when she's not as emotional."
"... Are you sure, Sasuke?" Naruto shot a worried glance to the area Ibara had disappeared to.
"Take it from me. I know what I'm talking about." Sasuke reassured her, obviously having much experience on these kinds of situations. The young Uchiha then noticed Tsubaki glance at Naruto and him warily, and proceeded to try and follow their upset friend with Gennai and others following suit.
"Hn. Come on, Elle. This is getting annoying."
Smack!
"Tch! What was that for?!" The raven-haired boy rubbed his left forearm in a soothing manner. Geez! Naruto wasn't a guy but she for sure hit like one!
"You're such a jerk! Makes me doubt about our friendship sometimes!" Naruto pouted while crossing her arms. She was obviously still bothered about Ibara but opted to let it go for now and listen to Sasuke's advice.
"How so?" An elegant onyx brow arched in confusion.
"Just... urgh! I don't know! You can be such a jerk sometimes! Even to me!" The blonde flailed her arms and decided to walk back home. She needed to blow off some steam. Maybe she could finally use Strike Raid to cancel out Sin Harvest. Yes. She still hadn't beaten the game.
Sasuke snorted and caught up to his best friend. "I'm only a jerk to other people. I'm a special kind of jerk with you." The smile sent her way actually lessened her overall distress somewhat and she smiled back.
"Thanks. I think?"
"Don't mention it."
"...You're still a jerk though. No way you can sugar-coat that."
"Can it, lady boy."
And with that, Sasuke slung an arm around Naruto's shoulders and decided to spend the rest of the remaining day with his (and only his) best friend.
...
"Do I really look that much of a guy?"