Argh! The dreaded author's note!! Hopefully you see this. Not supposed to upload A/N's as a new chapter and all that jazz.
Yeah...if you're wondering why this hasn't been updated in a good few weeks, well, it's because I'm working on something that's kinda important to a story...a plot. I was scanning over it, and the first thing out of my mind was: 'wow, this is crap. did i really write this?'. So until I get a decent plot sorted out and completely rewrite the crappy older chapters, no updates.
So sorry if you actually enjoyed reading this rubbish.
Kasanete
Look! Shameless advertising! Feel free to check out the other fic that I'm writing (hopefully it'll last a bit longer than this one).
Once again, I'm sorry.
Yay! Thank you for the reviews!
To answer a question, I would have liked this to be NaruSasu...but an 11 year difference if just a bit too much when one is 14 years old. Meh, there's always next time if I ever decide to write something else.
Kinda short chapter. I suppose I'll just have to wait until it starts to pick up its pace.
A Whiter Shade of Pale
Chapter 3
"What happened to you?" Kakashi asked, looking bewildered, as Sasuke stumbled into the living room while clutching a dripping bag of ice to his eye.
"Attacked by a psychotic, pink thing," he grumbled as he fell onto the couch.
Kakashi arched an eyebrow but said nothing. He already had an idea of what had happened, judging by the scream he had heard from unloading the car. "Really, Sasuke, I would have expected better than peeping from someone like you."
Sasuke glared at the man; though the effect was diminished by the fact that only one eye was visible. He was still annoyed at the man for tossing him aside as if he were some unwanted puppy.
"So…what do you think of him?" the grey-haired man asked, shifting into a more comfortable position in his chair. The Uchiha remained silent, staring at his glass that was left in the coffee table. The ice was still floating in it; he couldn't have been out for long.
He found it hard to form an impression of his short meeting with Naruto considering the fact he had had only a little time to talk with the man before being attacked by the beast upstairs…Sakura…
His face twisted into a thoughtful frown, a slight twinge of pain coursing through his bruised cheek, as he recalled the hushed conversation he had heard just as he had woken up:
"Sakura I already told you that someone was coming over," a masculine voice had murmured. Naruto?
The other person huffed almost childishly. "Well, Tsunade gave me orders to take out anyone who entered this house that I didn't recognise or know was supposed be here." A female, most likely Sakura.
"I repeat: 'a boy is coming over tomorrow, so don't go attacking him or anything'. I seem to recall you agreeing to this, yeah?"
"…You didn't mention it would be him…"
"What?"
"I said you didn't mention it would be his brother!" The sound of skin striking skin was heard as well as heavy footsteps before a door was slammed loudly.
Could she possibly be referring to Itachi? Sasuke's chest lurched at the thought; his brother was never a social person and he had never mentioned any friends, if he had any at all. It was just another thing to add to his list of things that he had never known about the enigma that was Itachi.
And this Tsunade person… Who was she and why was she giving out orders? Maybe Sakura was some sort of body guard hired to protect the house…
The frown turned into a scowl. What was that pink-haired female's problem? He had never seen the woman before, let alone done anything that would warrant a left hook in the face. And she hadn't even apologised to him yet. How rude.
Before he could even begin to round his thoughts into an answer for Kakashi's question, Naruto walked into the room. "Ah…how's the eye, Sasuke?"
Instead of answering verbally, he removed the ice pack while blinking a few times to get the blood flowing properly. At least he could see out of it; that was good.
"That's not so bad," Naruto smiled warmly, bending down to take a closer look. "Looks like you got off with a light blow."
"Light?!" Sasuke spluttered, his composure slipping as he almost dropping the ice.
"Sakura does boxing," Kakashi answered. "I've seen that girl break bones before."
If he could have, the Uchiha would have paled further. He cast a quick glance at the door just as Sakura walked in. The small smile on her face dissolved in an instant as her gaze landed on the teen, replaced by a harsh glare.
Sasuke, not willing to be out-glared, returned to look with equal ferocity. No one could out-glare an Uchiha, particularly some no-name wannabe boxer person.
"Ah…guys?" Naruto began. "Do…you wanna stop glaring at each other, now? Please?"
It wasn't a big surprise that he was ignored.
--------------------
After the first week, Sasuke found himself in a better position to answer Kakashi's question.
Naruto Uzumaki, aged 25, was an aspiring author and had already had his first book or two published. Once Sasuke had heard that Jiraiya Sennin was the editor, he had been loath to read them since hearing a rather erotic excerpt from 'Icha Icha: Paradise'. He found the man to be pleasant, though a little absent minded and childish at times.
Surprisingly, the blonde was a bit of a clean freak. Every other day, he would scrupulously clean the house from top to bottom armed with his vacuum, yellow duster, green cloth and blue spray bottle of whatever cleaning concoction was inside.
He recalled this fourth day after he had returned from a walk around the surrounding countryside. Of course, one would expect there to be mud on one's shoe after returning from a walk through a public footpath and so Sasuke made sure to clean his shoes off on the doormat before stepping inside. He even lowered himself to stooping down and wiping any few tracks of mud on the floor of the entrance hall with a kitchen wipe.
A few moments later, Sasuke found the blonde hunched over the floor, meticulously scrubbing at the floor with a soapy brush while muttering something along the lines of '...dirty dirty people and their dirty dirty muddy footprints...'
Sasuke added 'freak' to his opinion of Naruto.
Sakura Haruno, also aged 25, was a doctor as well as a boxing champion in some women's division that he didn't really care about. He couldn't help but snort – a doctor and a boxer; though they rhymed he would never have associated the two in any way, shape or form. The two had known each other since play group when Sakura had accidentally pushed Naruto off of the swing. Apparently, that was the start of a beautiful relationship consisting of almost twenty years of constant arguing (Sakura, being the more mature one would end their little squabbles with a punch).
Sasuke couldn't see how the two could possibly be best friends, though he had never really had any of his own so he couldn't really comment. Then again, judging from his previous school, he had watched groups of girls yelling and screeching one second and the next hugging and playing as if they never had any sort of dispute...
He had still to confront Sakura on her little remark about the brother, but it seemed as though the female despised him. Every time he would go near her, she would either blank him (not that he ever spoke to her, she just stared right through him) or glared at him.
"So, it's not so bad after all?" Kakashi asked with a knowing smirk as Sasuke finished voicing his analysis on the blonde and the pink. The two were sat on the porch at the back of the house, enjoying the calmness of the Sunday evening. It had been a week since Sasuke had entered Naruto's house.
"...It could be worse, I suppose..." Sasuke muttered, staring over at the grassy expanse though he couldn't see far with the limited light that streamed from the open double doors leading to the rarely-used dining room.
"Well, that's good because you'll be here for a while," the silver-haired man said, sipping at a steaming mug of coffee.
"You still haven't told me why I have to stay here..." Sasuke muttered.
"I've told you that in order to run your future company efficiently, I have to travel around and I can't just leave you by yourself-"
"You didn't seem to care much before."
"-And so I decided it would be in your best interest if I left you with someone who I could trust," he finished, completely disregarding the interruption.
Before Sasuke could reply, Naruto stepped out through the doors. "Evening," he greeted, sinking into the last available chair before turning to Kakashi. "Did you buy it for me?"
The silver-haired man nodded. "It's in my car." He cast an eye in Sasuke's direction who stiffened. "It should fit."
"What are you talking about?" Sasuke asked.
"Your uniform," came the vague reply.
"For what?" he blinked.
"Oh yeah!" Naruto suddenly gasped. "School starts on Wednesday."
"S-School?" the Uchiha stammered, whirling around to glare at the blonde. "Why was I not told about this earlier?"
"I forgot," the blonde grinned sheepishly, shying away from the glare sent his way. "...Sorry..."
"Yes, because me starting school isn't a big deal at all," he drawled sarcastically. His hand twitched; he had only been here a week but he had already started to pick up habits from Sakura.
"I said I was sorry!" Naruto growled before huffing childishly. "Damn ingrates; I bring him under my roof and look at how he acts."
"Che," Sasuke snorted before turning to Kakashi. "What school am I going to?"
"Konoha," he answered. Sasuke nodded; he had heard of Konoha and it was supposed to be a decent school. Not as good as his old, but there wasn't much he could do about that. "It'll be a good chance for you to turn over a new leaf, Sasuke, pun intended. Join a club, or something."
"Like what?"
"Chess?" Naruto suggested with a shrug as he stood up, plucking Kakashi's empty mug from the ground where the man had set it after he finished it. "What?" he continued at Sasuke's withering glare. "I know someone who joined the chess club and he's awesome!"
The Uchiha merely rolled his eyes as the blonde disappeared through the doors and leaving the two in silence for a moment.
"Sasuke," Kakashi said softly, breaking the quiet between the two. "I just want you to be happy this time, okay? This is going to be a new start for you, and you should make the most of it."
Sasuke frowned; it was rare for the man to be so serious. The man stared at him for a moment before chuckling lightly, patting him affectionately on the head. "You're a good kid, Sasuke. I just wish you'd be a bit nice; after all, not everyone's an idiot."
"Che," he snorted. "Judging from what I've seen..."
Kakashi picked up his coat that was hanging on the back of the chair and slipped it on. "I'll come check up on you soon, okay? See how you're doing in school and everything."
"If that's what you want..."
"Just be careful, okay?" Before Sasuke could reply, Kakashi turned and walked away into the darkness around the side of the house which left the teen alone to mull over his words.
He heard the sound of the engine starting and the gravel crunching under the wheels as the car pulled away.
"Is he gone?" Naruto asked, poking his head out of the door.
"Yeah..."
Yes, in my world, Sakura hates Sasuke. It makes it a little different to the whole 'OMG!! SASKAY-KUUUN!!' thing. But why does she? Hmm...
About him going to school (no, this is not a high school fic but I can't let him laze around at home like a bum can I?), if there's anything you want to know, just ask.