Miss Trouble Magnet
Chapter 14:
Hinata and I found Naruto at the vending machine, trying to fool it with fake coins again. "Naruto, it's not gong to work…" Hinata mumbled as he kicked the vending machine one more time.
He finally stopped and put his hands in his pockets, "I was sure it would this time…" He muttered.
Hinata and I laughed, and he crossed his arms, pouting. "Hey look, Gaara and Sai are waiting for us!" Hinata suddenly said, and pointed in their direction.
I followed her lead, and saw them arguing about something. "Hi guys, what's wrong?" I asked quietly.
They weren't slow in noticing my tired look and bored tone, but replied anyway. "Tsunade-sensei just announced that we have to head back to the dorms because something dangerous was wandering around the school. That's unfair! It's Christmas!" Sai whined.
I felt a shiver go up my spine, and had to clench my jaw hard to keep it from clattering.
Something dangerous?
The principal, Tsunade, couldn't possibly mean a person. Sai said something. But didn't that mean that we didn't know what it was?
Something.
Something.
Wouldn't that be an object? Like a mouse trap that someone could step on…?
Something is any indefinite or unidentified thing, and can refer to an object, topic, quality, action, event or circumstance….
Not a person. Right?
But if-
"Sakura!" Gaara said loudly.
I quickly snapped out of my daze and glanced at each of their faces.
"You look terrified." Naruto pointed out.
"O-Oh… I was just wondering what it could be." I told them, laughing nervously.
I could see Hinata watching me closely from the corner of my eye, and the others kept eyeing me suspiciously.
"W-Well, I guess we better get to our dorms!" Hinata said, breaking the silence. She quickly grabbed my arm and dragged me back up the stairs before anyone could say anything more.
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Hinata and I arrived back in our room on record time. "I can keep saving you like this, Sakura. You're going to have to tell me what's going on in the end." Hinata said, trying to be firm with me.
It wasn't working though, and I almost burst into an unbeatable fit of giggles.
She frowned. "I'm serious!" She said in her innocent voice.
I smiled and walked to our mini fridge.
She rolled her eyes and was about to follow me there, when she tripped over a familiar big box. "Eep!" he squeaked right before making contact with the ground.
I peeked at her limp body from the fridge door and slowly closed it. "You okay?" I asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine." She mumbled, finally turning onto her back and picking up the box. "I'm going to go throw this out." She told me, getting up.
I glanced at the box's lid on the ground and realized what box it was. "That's Sasuke's present!" I said, grabbing her shoulder and turning her small body around.
"What…?" She mumbled, showing me the box. "There's nothing inside." She told me, showing me the box.
My eyes must've been as round as saucers, because Hinata was started to look a little frightened.
"Uh… What's wrong?" She asked me.
I was about to run right out of the room, but remembered what Sasuke had told me.
Next time, try to run somewhere where it's safe.
I guessed I would be safe with Hinata. Not to mention someone was trying to kill me. She already saved my life once, right?
I grabbed Hinata's arm and ran.
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"Sakura! We'll get in trouble if someone sees us!" Hinata cried, being pulled down the stairs too quickly for her short legs to keep up.
"But they're going to kill Sasuke's present!" I told her once he got to the main floor. I let go of her arm and turned to face her.
She frowned. "Sakura… What was in that box…?" She asked me.
I blushed, feeling quite stupid. "Well… I bought Sasuke a pet." I said.
"W-What kind of pet…?" She asked.
I laughed nervously and pressed my fingers together. "Um… The scaly kind…" I mumbled.
Hinata stared at me, immobile.
"B-But, it was the only thing they had left! I swear I would've bought him a nice little furry thing!" I added quickly. I studied her face; she looked like she really wanted to smack me in the head.
Good thing she was Hinata, she was too nice to do such a thing.
She sighed and shook her head. "Alright, let's go find it, then." She said dejectedly.
I smiled as we started our thorough search for Mr. Scales.
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Hinata followed closely behind me as we sneaked past the teacher's office. I spotted Tsunade down the hall and quickly stopped, causing Hinata to bump into me. I turned around to her, "Shhh…" I whispered.
She quickly nodded her head. We both turned back around to watch Tsunade. She was looking around the floor very cautiously, and was holding a knife, ready to kill Mr. Scales.
I gasped. "No! She's going to kill him!" I told Hinata.
"Isn't that a good thing?" She asked.
"Of course not! What could I give Sasuke if I lost him?" I told her.
"Sorry." She apologized.
I turned my head again, "Shoot! She's heading this way!" I hissed.
We both looked around. "Where do we hide? It's just a long hallway!" Hinata panicked.
The only places to hide were the classrooms, but the doors were locked. I pointed to a familiar door only a few steps away. "Let's go in there!" I whispered urgently.
"What?! That's the boys' bathroom!" Hinata squeaked.
Tsunade's footsteps were getting louder and clearer.
We both glanced at each other, "Oh, what the hell!" I said and ran with her inside. As soon as we entered, we were greeted by a disgusting smell and dirty looking… everything.
"Ew." Hinata whispered quietly.
I giggled opened the door just a bit, so I could peek outside. Tsunade had just passed by the door.
Phew, safe!
"AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!" Hinata screeched.
… or not.
I jumped and quickly turned around. When I spotted Hinata, she was pointing at a yellow slithering creature on the ground. "You found him!" I said excitedly. I ran to the snake and picked it up.
"T-That was w-what you were looking f-for?!" Hinata stuttered loudly.
I nodded my head, and was about to speak, when someone burst through the door.
"WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?!" Tsunade yelled, looking around.
She spotted us, staring up at her. "U-Umm… We found it." I mumbled.
She immediately calmed down. "Oh, Okay." She said and walked towards me. "Uh… Isn't that thing poisonous?" She asked me.
"Of course not!" I told her, rubbing Mr. Scales affectionately.
She stared at me blankly. She put her hand on her forehead and let out a huge sigh. "Hand it over." She ordered, holding out her hand.
"B-But it's a Christmas present!" I insisted.
"Pets aren't allowed here, Sakura-chan. You should know that." She told me calmly.
I sighed dejectedly and let Mr. Scales go. "You can return him to the shop." I said miserably.
"Huh? Why would I do that? I'm bringing him home!" She snickered and walked out of the bathroom.
I stood there. Stuck on the spot. I fell to my knees and put my hands in the air, as if reaching towards the grey ceiling.
"MISTER SCAAAAALLLEEESSSSSSS!!!!!!"
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Oh yeah. I didn't have a present for Sasuke. And it was present opening time.
Dang it.
I walked to our storage closet, and stared at the piles of cardboard boxes. I pulled a random one out of the closet and threw it on the ground. There were a bunch of photos of my old dog, Bella, in it. We had to give her away after my dad got into a coma. I rummaged through it, but all I found were leashes and old dog toys. "Darn it…" I groaned. I suddenly heard Hinata enter the room.
"Sakura, everyone's waiting for you outside." I heard Hinata say.
I quickly threw something into the present box and put everything else back into the closet before Hinata could realize what I had been doing. "I'm done!" I announced and picked up the red box wrapped in a pink satin tie.
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We arrived at the school yard and sat down at a bench, where Sasuke, Gaara, Naruto and Sai were waiting. "Sorry for the wait!" I said, putting down the multiple boxes I had under the table. I gave everyone a hug and Sasuke a quick kiss, before sitting down.
"So, how was your day, Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked me.
"It was fine," I said quickly, "And, there's no need to call me Sakura- chan, you know! How many times have I asked you to just call me Sakura?" I laughed.
He smiled. "Sorry, I'm just so used to it, I forget."
I turned to Sasuke. "You too, I don't see why you need me to tell you!" I said and smiled.
He smirked and rolled his eyes.
"I want to see Sasuke-teme's present!" Naruto said, grabbing the box and slowly opening it up.
"W-Wait! I don't know what's in there!" I gasped and tried to get the box back from him.
It was too late; he was holding something and was staring at it blankly.
Sasuke blinked. "Is that a dog collar?" He asked.
I gulped. "To tell you the truth-"
I was interrupted by Naruto's hysterical laughter. "Look! It has spikes on it!" He choked through his laughter. He eventually fell off his seat and began rolling on the ground.
I glanced at Sasuke; he was staring at Naruto, speechless.
"S-Sasuke, you know when the first floor went on a mini lockdown?" I quickly asked him.
He turned to me, listening.
"Well, that dangerous thing was your present. I had bought you a pet…" I muttered.
Naruto suddenly stopped laughing and sat up, curious. "A pet?" He asked.
"Yes, that's right." I hissed, "And it got away! I spent a lot of money on it too…" I mumbled the last part.
"I'm so sorry, Sakura!" Hinata blurted out. "I shouldn't have screamed… It's because of me that Tsunade caught us in the boys' bathroom…" She mumbled quietly.
"No!" I said, "It's not your fault, I should have told you what it was and what it looked like first." I insisted.
She still looked a little guilty as she twiddled with her fingers.
"Well, I have to give you your gift." Sasuke said, smirking.
I smiled as he passed me the purple box. I put it up to my ear and was about to shake it when he grabbed my arm.
"Err… Yeah. It'd be better if you didn't shake it."
Ooh… Now I'm really curious…
I slowly unwrapped the package and peeked inside. I pulled out a little black box and stared at it. "… Um… What is it?" I asked as I rubbed the soft fabric on the box.
Sasuke chuckled. "You have to open it." He told me, and pointed to the small black box.
I blushed in embarrassment and softly opened it. "Oh, Sasuke…" I whispered and pulled out a diamond heart necklace. I just gaped at it for a few minutes, being brought back to reality by Sai waving hand. "Huh? Oh! Thank you so much Sasuke!" I said and wrapped my arms around him so fast he nearly fell over.
Hinata giggled and poke my side. "You know, you can open it." She told me, taking the necklace from the table and pressing a button. The heart shaped diamond flew open, revealing a pictures of Sasuke and I.
She passed it to me, and I felt as though I would cry again. "T-Thank you… so much, Sasuke." I told him, smiling.
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I went to Sasuke's house for diner that night. It was probably around 8 o'clock when we finished eating and settled down on the couch to watch a movie. I looked through the stack of DVDs while Sasuke prepared the popcorn and fetched some soda. "How about we watch this tonight?" I asked, holding up one of Sasuke's favourite movies.
He approached the television and looked at the title from the back of the couch, slurping his cola. "You sure?" He asked, smirking, "I think it's a little too spooky for you." He teased me.
I pouted. "No way! I can take it; I've gone through much worse!" I insisted.
He rolled his eyes. "So you've seen people walking down the street, nearly decapitated; their neck's cut halfway with blood splurging out and-"
"Okay, Okay!" I quickly said, waving my arms in the air, "No scary movies!" I huffed and crossed my arms.
He grinned and jumped onto the couch; I bounced up high into the air. "Good." He said, convinced.
I landed back on the couch and sighed. "But all your favourites are the scary ones…" I mumbled.
"Pick out something you like, tonight is my treat." He said, crossing his legs and putting my drink on the coffee table.
I beamed and hugged him. "Thanks Sasuke!" I said cheerfully.
He smirked and kissed my cheek.
"Ooh, looks like my plan worked."
We immediately let go of each other and spun around.
"YOU!" Sasuke yelled, pointing directly at his brother.
"Me!" Itachi said in delight.
I sweat dropped.
"… How long have you been watching us?" Sasuke demanded.
"Well, well, well... Foolish little brother won't even give me a warm welcome? That's disappointing. How about you, Saky-chan?" He asked.
I quickly hopped off the couch and ran to the man, hugging him. "We definitely missed you!" I squealed excitedly.
Sasuke frowned. "I didn't." He said, but couldn't hold back his smirk. He walked towards his brother, just as Sakura let go of him.
"Great. I feel loved. Now let me check around the house, to make sure Mister Foolish didn't break anything." He suddenly muttered, walking away.
Sasuke watched him disappear into the study before returning his gaze to me. "Jeez, he never changes, does he?" He asked me.
I smiled. "You did miss him, didn't you Sasuke?" I asked.
Sasuke scoffed and walked back to the couch. "Yeah. Right." He muttered.
But I didn't miss that smirk he tried to hide.
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I squealed and fidgeted in my seat. "Oh! This is the part when he-" I started, and found my hands empty.
"Confesses his love, right?" Itachi finished, munching on my popcorn.
I rolled my eyes.
"Typical." Sasuke said, yawning.
"These things are way too predictable. How do you stand this stuff…?" Itachi asked.
"It's called romance!" I told them, stealing back the popcorn bowl from Itachi. "But, I guess I can't expect you two to know what that is." I teased.
They both frowned.
"Of course we know what it means, we just find it unbearable." Sasuke told me.
"Unlike the simple-minded ones who are interested in this stuff…" Itachi mumbled, stealing back the popcorn bowl.
I elbowed him in the arm. "I am not simple-minded!" I told him.
He chuckled and kept eating.
I turned my head to my left, staring deeply into Sasuke's eyes. "Besides, you've been pretty romantic sometimes, Sasuke." I barely said.
Itachi's eyebrows quirked up immediately and he eyed Sasuke and I suspiciously. "I've missed a lot when I was away, I see." He noted, frowning at us.
I beamed innocently. "I don't ever plan on telling you the details, but I'm sure you'll hear all about it at the Café." I giggled.
He pressed his lips together, concentrating. "Actually," he began, "Neji informed about a few little things…"
I felt Sasuke stiffen slightly, but otherwise didn't make a single movement or sound. I sighed as I recalled something from long ago. "Well… I guess I beat that girl." I said, smiling again.
"Hm? What girl?" Itachi asked.
I giggled. "Oh, you know." I said, waving my hand.
He frowned. "N-No, tell me. I seriously have no idea what you're-"
"The girl you were trying to set Sasuke up with!" I hissed, tapping his shoulder.
He suddenly looked as though he could break into a fit of laughter, and struggled to say, "You're so slow, Sakura-chan," he said in a muffled voice, his mouth covered by his hand.
I cocked my head to the side. "Huh?" I asked.
"That girl was you!"
