Miss Trouble Magnet
Chapter 16:
"U-Umm… Okay, everyone stay calm!" I said loudly as I pushed through the thickening crowd. "Someone call an ambulance!" I called, finally arriving at the center. I kneeled down beside the woman, and held her hand.
"I-I can't wait any longer, this baby's going to come out!!" She woman screeched, her hand squeezing mine.
I squinted at the noise, and shuddered at her words. I was in no position to help this lady give birth. The first time this had happened was when I was at Hinata's house when we were five and a half years old, and her mother was pregnant with Hinata's little sister, Hanabi. We got to be her stress balls. And mind you, she was stronger than she looked.
Tenten suddenly appeared and kneeled down next to me. "So… what's the plan?" She asked me.
I froze on the spot. "T-The plan… right…" I muttered. I opened my mouth wide in a muted scream as I felt my fingers cripple under her grasp. "Okay. L-Look," I said through clenched teeth, "Call an ambulance for me, get a blanket for her to lie on, and get her some cold water. Oh- Add a s-s-stress ball to that." I squeaked as she tightened her grip even more.
Tenten dashed away, leaving me all alone beside the hyperventilating woman. "I'm going to need you to calm down, alright? Everything's going to be fine. Everything's going to be fine." I said quietly, remembering what they always said in the TV shows. Though it was more to myself than to her.
In a second though, Tenten was back, holding the things I had asked for. She slowly removed my hand and replaced it with the stress ball, and looked up at me, seeming confused. "What's the number for the ambulance, again?" She asked me, looking a little anxious.
I smacked a hand on my forehead, and let it slide down my face. "Tenten-chan, don't blank out on me!" I said. I grumbled as I folded a wet towel and put it on the woman's head. "I'll do it." I said, and took out my cell phone.
Sasuke appeared beside me, spinning my car keys around his finger. He held my wrist, stopping me from dialling the number. "I think if we drive fast enough we can make it to a hospital." He told me, holding my phone and dropping the keys into my hand.
I thought about this for a second, and then frowned. "I am not going to let some stranger give birth in my car, Sasuke." I deadpanned, taking back my cell phone and putting in my pocket. "Why my car anyway?" I asked, completely ignoring the screams coming from behind me.
"Sakura, your car is the biggest one in the parking lot…. Besides the Itachi's huge truck 'that shall only be driven by he himself'. So, unless you want to watch this lady give birth here on the floor, in front of all our customers, we have to go. Now." He told me.
I finally gave in and watched as three of the boys carried the woman to my car, outside. I followed the others all alone in the café. Sasuke tagged along.
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I tapped my foot impatiently as we were exiled into the waiting room. I was with Sasuke, Rock Lee, Neji and Kiba. Rock Lee blabbed on endlessly to me in my bleeding ears, sitting at my left. To my right, Sasuke keep letting out exasperated sighs that were nearly inaudible. Kiba was sitting on the row of chairs facing us watching the TV over our heads, and Neji just sat calmly, waiting.
"Lee." I interrupted the dark haired boy, who flinched as I spoke, stopping his story mid-sentence, and blinked at me curiously. "Can you go sit beside Neji so I can lay out my legs here?" I asked.
A scream was heard from the delivery room.
He didn't even ponder before he spoke. "Sure, Sakura-san!" He said politely, quickly hopping to his feet and sitting down where I had asked him.
I sighed in relief and put my legs on the chair he had just been sitting on, and leaned against Sasuke's arm. I closed my eyes and waited for him to continue his story, but after a few seconds, he didn't.
Sasuke shifted a bit, "Sakura, look." He said quietly, almost in a whisper.
"Huh?" I said as I opened my eyes and immediately noticed what he meant. A nurse had opened the door and inside the room, we could see the woman cradling her baby in her arms, the baby's father stood beside her. I gaped at them. They looked so happy, it looked impossible for anyone to be so joyful, after just one moment. I wanted to cry, I wanted to show them how happy I was too, but the tears wouldn't come, and this, I thought, made it clear that I could never be that happy. I couldn't stop staring dreamily, and Sasuke had to jab my side to throw me back into reality, which consequently made me yelp.
"Sasuke, that hurt!" I whined, rubbing my injury while I pouted at him.
He rolled his eyes and grabbed my hand, dragging me into the room, where Kiba, Neji and Lee had already arrived. He led me right to the bed's edge, where I stared into the baby's eyes, not realizing as I squeezed his hand tightly with my own.
"It's a girl," She announced proudly, kissing her baby's forehead affectionately.
I found myself smiling without my notice, and felt Sasuke's hand squeeze mine in return. "What's her name?" I asked, leaning it to notice that the baby's eyes were a beautiful sky blue.
The woman looked surprised at the question and looked down to her cute little girl again. "Well…" She looked up to the man standing beside her, most likely her husband, before turning to me again, "We haven't decided. We thought we'd be able to figure it out the moment we saw her, but… I just can't think of a good name."
I looked at the girl, and furrowed my brows. "Skye." I said, smiling as I leaned back.
The woman looked at me strangely, "… Sky?" She asked.
Everyone turned to me, giving me curious stares. "Skye, with an 'e' at the end." I said.
"…But, what…?" She asked, still confused.
"Her name," I said, "Her name should be Skye." I said, glancing to the husband and wife before I looked at the baby once more.
She pondered for a moment. "Skye," She repeated, "Her name should be Skye." She said again.
I nodded my head quickly.
Finally, they glanced at each other and smiled. "Skye," She said again, "Skye will be her name." She concluded.
I felt myself beaming.
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We drove in silence back to the Café, which was probably in mid-disaster mode by now. "I've got to say, you've got some skills, Sakura-chan." Kiba congratulated me.
I looked up to my mirror, seeing his reflection in it. "Huh?" I asked.
"You just came up with a name like," He snapped his fingers, "that." He said. "Skye. That's a perfect name. I would have never thought of it."
I smiled at his words of praise, I couldn't help it. "Thanks," I said.
Sasuke, who had insisted on driving the way back, spun the wheel as we got into our parking spot. We hopped out of the car, and as we walked inside from the back entrance, I noticed Itachi organising paperwork on his desk. "Aren't you supposed to be out front?" Sasuke asked, raising an eyebrow.
Itachi looked up in surprise, having just realized our quiet entry. "Ah, I left Ino in charge, everything should be fine." He said, looking back down as he quickly slipped some papers in the farthest folder to his right. "I'll be out there in a second; I just have some important work to do." He finished.
I looked down at his desk as Kiba, Neji and Lee walked out to the kitchen to start working. I frowned at a few scattered red and pink cards in his recycle bin. "What's all this?" I asked inquisitively, Sasuke following my gaze and staring now as well.
Itachi looked up curiously to see us digging into his useless paper. He scowled at us, "Just what do you think you're doing?" He asked flatly.
"Oh my," I said, "Are these all Valentine Cards?" I asked. Opening one up and reading the words in perfect cursive letters.
"There aren't that much." He said, "It's just about the same as last year." He informed us.
I shook my head at this news. "I knew there was something going on lately." I said. "Oh, right! Matchmaking was pretty fun this year…" I said with a finger on my chin as I pondered this for a moment.
Sasuke and Itachi both looked at me. "… Matchmaking?" They asked curiously.
I smiled, "Yep, that's right. Hinata and I do it together every year. It's just about the only after-school activity we've done." I told them.
"You mean, there's a matchmaking club?" Itachi asked, frowning.
"Yes, there is, actually. And thank god that, this year, they didn't try their little experiments on me." I said, muttering the last part.
Some rectangular papers Itachi was arranging fell onto the ground. When I leaned down to pick them up, and reached for one, Sasuke grabbed my hand. "Here, I'll take it." He said, quickly picking them up and handing them to Itachi.
It was then that I knew the two were hiding something.
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"I've got popcorn!" Naruto announced. It was movie night again, but this time I had decided to gather up people in our dorm room, instead of Sasuke's house (actually, he had flatly refused to let anyone but me in there, his loss). Naruto dumped numerous bags of popcorn in the numerous bowls, earning numerous smiles from the numerous people.
On the contrary, we had only managed to group up Hinata, Naruto, Sasuke, Ino, and Tenten. Temari has absent again, Gaara had boxing to go to, and Sai had gone out on a date that night (gasp!).
Ino quickly put the DVD in the player and return to sit between Tenten and I, at my left. Sasuke, who sat on my right, pressed the play button on the remote before setting it aside. We had all agreed to watch an action movie, since we had watched a horror movie previously. As Tenten turned off the lights and everyone got comfortable, I leaned onto Sasuke's arm again. I felt his arm wrap instinctively around my waist, and in the darkness of the room, I felt myself blush.
Throughout the first 5 minutes of the movie, it was hard to concentrate, and my eyes kept wandering to his warm hands. During one scene, where a character had whispered something, he had asked me, "What did she say?"
I felt alarmed by his question, and kind of shrugged, "Um. I dunno." I admitted. He chuckled and kissed my forehead affectionately, reminding me of the way Skye had been kissed by her mother. I suddenly felt relief swim through my body, and put my head down on his shoulder and my hand on his chest.
Sitting against the wall to the right, I saw Naruto grinning sheepishly at us as he held hands with Hinata, who was absorbed into the movie. Sasuke shot him a funny look and, before long, Naruto was focused on watching the movie again.
After 30 minutes, we were all absorbed, watching the action scene with utmost interest. The main character, a man named Davis, jump kicked his enemy unrealistically, pausing in the air as the camera spun around the two before Davis knocked his opponent off of the train they had been battling on.
The defeated man flew far before landing on the train tracks with a sickening crunch. "Ooh…" Hinata squinted and cowered a little when she saw the man's knee bending the wrong way, and looked away when the camera zoomed into his head wound, which bled grossly. I smiled as Naruto turned to look at her, telling her when the camera had moved away. Hinata was never one to stand gory scenes.
Soon though, the movie was over, and it was just a few minutes before curfew. Ino yawned and Tenten stretched as they stood up. "It's a long walk back to our dorms, so we're going to leave now. See you guys tomorrow?" Ino asked.
I nodded my head, and with that, they left. I sat straight as Naruto went to turn on the light, and stretched as well. "What'd you guys think of the movie?" I asked as I stifled a yawn.
Hinata smiled, though she looked a little pale after having watched the violent ending. "It was pretty good, actually." She said, "I'm disappointed, though. The blond should've ended up with Davis, not the brunette." She said, shaking her head.
I giggled, and Naruto got back to his seat next to Hinata. "Yeah, you're right. The brunette looked like a hawk." I said.
Naruto cupped his mouth and went, "Kaw!" like a crow. Hinata and I laughed, Sasuke chuckled. Naruto suddenly put on a surprised look, and turned to Hinata. "Oh! I wanted to show you my new rock, Hinata!" He said. Naruto collected minerals, something unexpected of him. "It's like… peelable!" He said. He never knew the names, so he made them up himself. There were some named bizarre names like "Thing", "Crackly" and now "Peelable".
"That's not a word, Naruto." Sasuke pointed out.
Naruto rolled his eyes dramatically. "It is now!" He said.
Sasuke scoffed.
"Anyway, I'll bring Hinata right back, so don't worry," he told me, "Come on, let's go." He said to Hinata before dragging her out of the room.
I blinked at how fast they had left, obviously in a hurry to get back before curfew. I looked at my watch, they had eight minutes. I was about to open my mouth to tell Sasuke I wanted to sleep, and I found his face much closer to mine than it had been a few seconds ago. I knew better than to speak now, he'd just interrupt me like he always did.
Instead he just waited. He wanted to interrupt me. He lurved it. He smirked, as though reading my thoughts, and I scowled back at him. I opened my mouth, to experiment. He flinched. "HA!" I said, pointing to him acutely, and he looked surprised for a second. "I knew it! You just wanted to in-" I was interrupted once more by his lips.
Why did I try?
I let myself get hypnotized by him once more, and didn't even notice Temari standing at the door until she made a loud noise. Temari had cleared her throat loudly, and I was surprised to see that Sasuke hadn't even jumped up in surprise, as though he had known she was there the whole time. He slowly pulled away from me and looked at Temari curiously, waiting as if she was ready to ask him a question.
She sighed and shook her head. We watched as she walked to her drawer, her back facing us, and took out some clean clothes. "I'll be out of the shower in about 10 minutes. Take your time." She snickered, and walked into the bathroom, locking the door behind her.
I just stared at Sasuke curiously, and he returned the stare. He didn't move an inch. Ah, right. I had to say something, right? "Are you -" I started, and was interrupted again.
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I hummed one of my favourite tunes as I walked towards the cafeteria with Gaara. Classes had picked up again, and everyone was still a little exhausted from having to wake up early that morning. Yet, Gaara looked the same as usual, always carrying that same expression that scared just about everyone in his range of sight.
I had never thought about it much before, but Gaara was a very handsome boy. I just wondered who I could pare him up with for Valentine's Day, which was fast approaching. Sai had already gone around, trying to pick out someone before it was too late. But, as usual, Gaara would always avoid the subject, saying it wasn't important.
I sighed in exasperation, I knew Gaara didn't want anyone to think of him as a softie, it would ruin his reputation. He turned to me, cocking an eyebrow. "What evil plans are failing now?" He asked me.
I stuck my tongue out at him, and he just shook his head in disapproval. "How come every Valentine's Day you're like that?" I asked, rubbing my temples in irritation.
He seemed a little surprised by my question, but answered none the less. "I already told you, I don't have time for this stuff." He said, putting his hands in his pockets.
"But… But Teddy!" I whined, grabbing his arm and shaking it a little.
He sighed. "People are staring at you, you know." He said, glancing to his right, then his left.
I frowned. "No, they're staring at you." I countered, looking around as well.
He rolled his eyes. "Same difference." He muttered.
"What?" I asked. We were interrupted when Sai bashed us both from behind, Gaara had taken one step forward, but I was pushed forward by a few feet, nearly falling over when I tried to stop. "What the hell?!" I said as I spun around.
"Sorry about that, had trouble stopping." He lied, putting on a fake smile.
I rolled my eyes, and rubbed my butt. "Your stupid pencil poked me." I said, looking down at his fountain pen.
"Oh, this?" He said, holding it up, fake smile disappearing now. "I was doing Sudoku with it. Have you ever played Sudoku?" He asked me.
I shook my head. "No, but I see Hinata doing it all the time. Is it really that addictive?" I asked, walking back to him, earning even more quizzical stares.
"Yeah, it is, but some are really hard so I never finish them." He said, handing me a little book with some puzzles in them; he had probably gotten it at the dollar store. I took it in my hands as we entered the cafeteria and flipped through the book, which was already half filled up. Some were unfinished, as he'd told me.
As I shuffled through the pages I bumped into someone who had been standing in front of me, dropping Sai's Sudoku book on the ground as I tattered backwards. Sai picked it up for me. "Oh, sorry!" I said, and noticed it was Hinata.
She turned around and smiled at us. "Hi," she greeted us. She then looked behind me and gasped, noticing Sai's book in his hands and quickly grabbing for it.
"No." He said firmly, holding it up.
Hinata tried numerous attempts to get it, but she was just too short.
Sai glared at her. "Last time I let you see my Sudoku puzzles you gave it back the next day, and it was completely filled up." He said monotonously, frowning at her.
She sighed and pouted as we slipped, one by one, between two over-populated tables. I sat down at our round table first, and was then followed by Hinata, then Gaara and Sai. I took off my bag and put on the ground in front of my feet. After a few seconds of searching into my bag, I noticed that Sai was staring at me. "What?" I asked, frowning, just a little.
He blinked a few times, and then slowly formed a smile. "Oh, nothing." He finally said.
I let out a breath that I hadn't even known I'd been holding in and rolled my eyes. "Whatever." There was no point in arguing with the boy.
Gaara got up and walked off, to buy his lunch. I sighed and kept searching for what I was looking for. I let out another aggravated sigh and turned to Hinata. "Did I leave my cafeteria pass back at our room?" I asked her.
She got in her thinking pose; thumb and fingers on chin, eyes looking up to the ceiling. It was too cute. "Oh," She suddenly said, pointing her thumb behind her, "Gaara took it with him." She told me.
I nodded my head and leaned back in my chair. Another question sailed through my mind. Where was Sasuke? I leaned back forward and looked around to try and spot him. The cafeteria was absolutely gargantuan in size, so I gave up fast. I let out another sigh. I didn't know why I was feeling so irritable today; I decided to blame it on my lack of sleep.
Gaara was back soon, and with my lunch too. I accepted the slice of pepperoni pizza on the plain white plate, but suddenly I felt bubbly inside- Everyone was staring at me with funny looks. Why were they all smiling at me so…. intensely? The next second Hinata was pulling something out of her pocket. I narrowed my eyes suspiciously, waiting for her to reveal her little surprise. She quickly flashed a rectangular paper in front of me, and it took a while for it to sink in.
"Plane tickets?" I asked, it wasn't until a few seconds later that I noticed that my voice was faint.
Hinata beamed and nodded her head quickly in excitement. "Yes. That's right." She said.
I blinked and few times and took them in my hands. "These are first class." I said, though I knew I shouldn't have been surprised.
"Of course. Anything for the best of friends." Hinata said, still beaming like mad.
Two tickets. First class. To where, exactly?
Hinata answered my question before I had even opened my mouth. "You always said you wanted to go to Europe someday. These are plane tickets to Switzerland, the land of chocolate." She announced, looking like she'd start drooling any moment just at the thought.
I nearly fell off my chair. "S-Switzerland…? Chocolate?!" I stuttered, regained my balance on my chair. Through all my excitement, another question was formed in my mind. And I paused. "Wait…. Why?" I asked.
Hinata's beam turned into a soft smile, and she sat back down, as though she knew I'd ask sooner or later. "Sakura, I know you've been on the edge for a while. I feel as though a vacation is necessary." She answered honestly. "We'll be going during March break, so you'll only miss a few days of work." She told me. The look on my face must have startled her, because she quickly added, "Don't worry, though- Itachi's already been informed."
I let out a deep breath. The questions weren't over though. "Who exactly is 'we'?" I asked. Before Hinata could answer a let out an ear splitting scream- something was on my shoulder. The amount of noise in the cafeteria was cut down by half. I immediately stopped and covered my mouth with my hands. The teachers, who had their own long, rectangular table, shot me scolding looks.
The silence was beginning to get a little eerie.
Finally, someone broke it. "… Holy… shit." Sai said, looking both surprised and irritated as he held a fry in his frozen hand.
I just stared at the table, my hand still covering my gaping mouth. I flinched, but didn't scream again, when I heard a familiar voice. "Sakura." Sasuke said softly in my ear.
I felt a shill go down my spine. "Sorry." I said, uncovering my mouth and breaking a smile. The noise slowly rose again and everyone turned back to their lunches. I felt Sasuke's hand move away and turned to look at him, pulling back a chair.
"Boo." Sasuke chuckled sitting down beside me.
I frowned. "Late. Way too late." I said.
He smirked amusingly. "Tell me if I'm wrong but, I believe Hinata was informing you of our trip." He said, stealing a slice of pepperoni from my pizza.
I blinked as realization slapped me across the face. This was what he and Itachi had been hiding, when he had dropped the tickets and Sasuke had insisted on picking them up. "You're coming too?" I asked, clear hopefulness in my voice.
He smiled. "Of course I am. What would I do here all by myself?" He said.
"Get mobbed by hopeless girls." I said, trying to hold in my laugh.
He frowned.
"No, seriously. You'd get mobbed." I said, breaking out in laughter now.
