When I got to the training field, I was panting and Sasuke was waiting. Sanding a glare my way, he grumbled,
"You're late."
"Deal with it, dipshit." I had just been through a long day of training with Rika; non-stop teamwork exercises, most of which had ended terribly, going on until about five minutes before my nightly training.
"I don't have to help you at all."
"Then why are you?" My frustration level had jumped from a minimum to a medium as he kept chastising me for my tardiness. Again.
My relaxing didn't last long as Iruka had us up for target practice. Taking out the weapons in my holster, I scrutinized which one I wanted to practice with. An audible "Hn" came from Uchiha, which only received a glare from me as I picked up the pile of weapons to set beside me. Iruka led us to two targets, both crudely painted onto a wooden board and attached to the tree trunk.
"Once you hit 2/3 of your weapons in the center, you can leave. If you hit less, start over until you get it." Iruka gave us each an encouraging nod as I threw my first weapon, which embedded itself in the tree bark just beside the target.
"Nice aim, Tanaka," Sasuke snorted. With a dull thud, his first kunai dug into the center circle of the target. Just to prove to him I could hit the target just as he could, I threw two shuriken, one landing in the center of my target, one in the center of his.
"You were saying, Uchiha?" He only scowled and concentrated more intently on his target, landing three kunai in the center yet again. "Someone's had a bad day. Anything you want to talk about Sasuke-kun?" I knew that my remarks only fuelled his anger; precisely why it was so much fun. Another of my kunai landed in the center of my target, thudding dully in the wood as my others had.
"How about shutting your damn mouth, Tanaka. And call me Sasuke-kun one more time, I dare you." He words dripped with the venom of his threat, implying more than he would say.
"I see someone had a really bad day. And you know I can't turn down a dare Sasuke-kun." I turned to face Uchiha, emphasizing the annoying nickname as I spoke. His hand froze as it retracted and his eyes glowered crossly at me as I stuck out my tongue in the most mocking way possible. Turning his eyes back to the target, Sasuke released his rage on the target, throwing his shuriken violently enough to run a crack the center of the target. I rolled my eyes at his violent yet silent outburst.
Out of the 25 weapons I had, only 15 of the kunai hitting the center circle. The other ten had landed just outside the circle besides the one that hit the actual trunk of the tree. As I reached the target and began pulling the weapons from the target, a kunai whizzed past my face, thudding into the target aggressively. I whipped my head about, my eyes narrowing and anger bubbling in my chest. Uchiha smirked at me, the type of smirk only an Uchiha can have.
"Hand slipped," He covered, the smirk only growing as I mumbled a string of curses at him under my breath.
"Stupid son of a bitch…" Gathering up my kunai, I returned to my spot and began throwing again, my arm snapping out faster and harsher. I was going to be mature about this. Then an amazing, wonderful yet devilish thought crossed my mind. Suddenly, maturity didn't matter so much.
A bright smile spread across my face and my demeanor instantly cooled before I spun around and approached Uchiha. He stopped throwing, watching me suspiciously as I came towards him. I think my grin was coming off more as a devious smile than a candid one. I looked up at him, my eyes connecting with his as I sweetened my voice so it sounded more like sugar dripping off my tongue.
"I understand completely; we all make mistakes." He was till eyeing me speciously as if he knew what was going on behind my eyes. Then I rammed my hand into his gut, catching him completely off guard. My knuckles collided with strong muscles which tightened under my hand. With a groan, Sasuke fell to his knees in pain. "Whoops, hand slipped." Sasuke's pained onyx glare was even more enraged now, his glare containing sparks of fire in its depths. "Oh and Sasuke-kun," my voice was still like syrup, saturated with sweetness which abruptly turned sour and threatening, "Ever do something like that again and you'll see how well my aim is when I aim lower." Spinning on my heel, I picked up his last kunai and pitched it into the target where it drove into the center. Sasuke was just standing as I collected my things and prepared to leave. "See you tomorrow Iruka."
I ambled through the branches, making my way towards home, when I heard a rustle of leaves.
"Stop following me. It's getting on my nerves," I snapped at the familiar chakra signature. Sasuke appeared from the tree to my near left.
"I wasn't following you," he insisted. I rolled my eyes; what an ass.
"That's what I would consider it, unless you want to call it stalking," He shoved his hands in his pockets and his eyes were trained on me. He gaze made me uncomfortable in my own skin. "What the hell is wrong with you?" His gaze didn't falter or flinch.
"Although it's been years since we really knew each other, normally when I punch someone in the gut, they at least want to fight or just stay away completely. The fact that you're just following me is plain odd. So what is wrong?" He still didn't react. Maybe he thought I was kidding. Which I was but at the same time, I wasn't. "Whatever. Just go annoy someone else why don't you." Sasuke stopped and slid in front of me, directly in my path. I swiftly moved around him, but he only counter-acted and pinned me to the nearest tree.
"Are you always this livid or is it just me?" I refused to answer his question. Sasuke let me by and I continued walking as if nothing had happened. "Why are you still here?" I asked irately.
"I don't know. Because a loser like you could easily get attacked by some freak."
"At the moment, you're that freak. Besides, I can take care of myself," I spat at him. My house appeared and I found a way to finally get rid of Uchiha. "By the way, Sakura's my neighbor so unless you want to be attacked, I would leave." He suddenly disappeared and I figured he was gone for good.
Haven of my bed awaited me as I skipped up stairs at a time before my door slammed shut behind me. Rubbing my eyes, stinging and dry from exhaustion, I plopped down on my springy bed, drowsiness already taking a hold on my mind.
It wasn't until I heard a chuckle that I realized I wasn't the only one in my room. "You are a persistent bastard…get out of my house, Uchiha." My eyes fluttered open heavily first to view my ceiling, then to turn towards the raven haired shinobi sitting at my desk. Another low chuckle came from Sasuke's lips as if he knew something I didn't. I turned my head over away from the shinobi and closed my eyes again, hoping for this all to be a very awful dream.
"Why did you care what was wrong?" I kept my back to Sasuke, my eyes widening as realization hit me like a chilled splash of water. My stomach dropped.
"Why are you in my room you pervert!" My hiss rose into a fit of anger as the Uchiha smirk played at Sasuke's lips. He decided to try stay there, just to annoy me more because he knew I wouldn't fall asleep if he didn't leave. "Don't make me call Sakura."
"You wouldn't dare." His smirk disappeared instantly at the mentioning of his pinkette fangirl and his eyes narrowed into angry slits.
"Watch me," I stated defiantly, standing and going to the window closest to the Haruno house. As I slid the window open, Sasuke's hand clapped over my mouth. My angered protests were muffled by his hand as Sasuke used his free hand to slam the window shut again. Sasuke took his hand off, glaring at me.
"You never answered me." His smirk tugged back at his lips as he saw me baffled by the change of subject.
"Get out!" Knowing he had won the battle, Sasuke threw himself out the other window frame that was furthest from the Haruno household, dissipating and mixing in with the darkness of the trees. He didn't need to say one more word to push me over the edge, he had caught me and he knew it. My anger swelled until I reached for my radio and turned the volume on max. My music overflowed the room and most likely woke the neighbors but I really didn't care at all; it may have been childish but I started throwing a small tantrum.
I eventually calmed and flopped down on my bed, pulling out a wooden box. I shuffled through it: a picture of Oka and I at a house I didn't recognize, a picture of a nin I only somewhat remembered, and a map with some of my scrawled handwriting on it. A hitai-ate with a strange symbol was on the bottom. Why didn't I remember this? My fingers traced over the symbol on the hitai-ate.
This was normal anymore. Whenever I was upset, I would pull this out and shuffle through the things I didn't remember.