'Deal Breaker' by Ennui-chan
Everything written on this story excluding the characters is a product of the writer's imagination. If you find the places or some names identical to something or someone, that's purely coincidence.
Special Mention: Ennui-chan wants to say hi to mole-girl and doggy-girl!!
..Uhm... this is my first fic... I hope you enjoy...
Chapter 1:
"Neji-kun…" Her gentle voice filled the four corners of the private hospital room as her gaze drifted to the stationary figure, waiting for him to respond to her call.
Incessant silence
"I brought you tangerines. I know you like them." She ceased the excruciating silence and tried to mask the frustration she felt with a cordial smile and laid the basket of fruits on the bedside table.
Should she blame herself for anticipating still? Four years of disappointment had gone through both of them with everything constantly changing yet on the cold hospital bed, since the day the sudden incident took place, he was marooned and totally relied on a heart and lung machine.
"I'm a nursing student now. I aced the entrance exam and got full scholarship. I know you're proud of me, aren't you Neji-kun?" The feel of the cold metal of the stool gave an electric-like shock that almost stirred her from the slight drowsiness as she situated it on the bedside and subsequently placed herself on it.
Had she given up for expecting for him to wake up, then she hadn't taken up the course. The very rationale that got her into becoming a nursemaid was to have him under her custody and take care of him. To yield would cut the agony short and she was not oblivious to that actuality but if waiting was the case, she had done it before –so why not do it again?
"Neji-kun, I-I always believe we're gonna go to Tokyo University together" Her hand reached for his static one and held it; her grip incrementally becoming firm. "cause that's what you promised when we're younger."
Her head tilted a little lower as she pressed his palm against her cold cheek, perhaps because of the air conditioning unit, to feel his warmth. She tried to shun the poignant thoughts but she failed to contain her tears again as they surged from her sea green orbs to her pastel skin and wet his hand.
"You're a liar, Neji-kun."
"Hey, you there! That place is off-limits!" A school professor, the person in-charge of the rounds that day, spotted a student on the isolated greenhouse where the school principal used to plant a variety of flowers.
Her admonition was utterly ignored by the man sluggishly leaning his back on a cherry blossom tree in full thrive but at least it made him stir from his damned sleep. For the next minutes he could hear her blaring, just like an armalite –never running out of shells. His gaze meandered around the room of glass, streaked by tawny shafts of light that scattered on all sort of foliage, and paused on the lady with thick glasses that stood by the courtyard adjacent to the greenhouse.
"Get out of there before I'll kick your ass out myself!" Virtually losing her cool, she scurried into the four corners made of glass and found a lad in a pilot undergraduate uniform at the only cherry blossom tree looking at her, pokerfaced. He brushed his fingers in his raven tresses to keep some strands from his onyx eyes and kept his damned deadpan façade.
"Did I hear you saying you'll kick my ass out, Prof?" His eyes narrowed a little, with an unfathomable intent look.
"Sa-sasuke-san?!"
Pathetic. He shunned her face's sudden alteration from a feral, seething beast to a meek, holier-than-thou expression to get rid of another object of exasperation.
"Sasuke, thi-this place is secluded and I can immediately report you. You know that, right?" She tucked her amber locks on her ear and felt the flush of speaking to the popular college student.
The vexation of hearing just another flirty fan girl call him without any honorific, as though they had intimacy or what was made worse with her tug on his shoulder while saying "But I'll forgive you after one date".
Flirty Trickster
It was another day and break period had just begun and students were gradually dispersing from their classes, mostly to the cafeteria like Haruno Sakura, to gratify their grousing stomachs from the pressure of college life. They just had their first practical activity in her Anatomy class and the picture of the young cadaver perturbed her thoughts, especially after she cut it open to see its innards. She felt the loss of her appetite within the nauseating and uncanny recollection and headed to the hallway instead.
It had not been long since she first entered the prestigious university and she had anticipated the hassle that was encumbering her now; crony-making dilemma for commoners. Just like in any other universities, making friends with the affluent and popular was the best way of survival. The pony-tailed lass in pure white uniform stopped at the locker area to get her book on Calculus.
"Look, they're hanging out at the popular lawn!" It looked like a giggling girl said it out loud.
Popular lawn?Now she remembered. That was the grassy area adjacent to the vestibule where the trendiest aeronautics and military undergraduates gather during their free time and of all place in the campus, she hated it the most. After getting her book, she fled and rather not to look.
At the Popular Lawn…
Sasuke sat under the shade of the old tree, one knee resting on the soft grass and the other supporting his arm where he leaned his chin, and listlessly watched the fleeting stay of students in the corridor.
"Now tell us what happened?" His golden head chum, Uzumaki Naruto and the group's jester, badgered with a scornful grin about Sasuke's date with their tedious professor in Calculus.
"Rather not ask." Kiba, the brawny cadet executive, said softly but loud enough to be heard and nudged Naruto's stomach to shut his mouth up for the sake that Sasuke won't get pissed off.
Sasuke ignored both of them and went on with his business and eyed the hallway impassively.
"Hey. Prom night's coming." Chouji, in his slender figure, sat beside the Nara genius slumped on the nearby bench.
"I know." Shikamaru took the manga away from his front and moved his lethargic gaze to his best friend.
"Not going to have a date?" Chouji raised a brow and took out a pack of potato chips and opened it.
"Yup. Women are just troublesome." He took glances on the other three males then focused on Chouji's imperceptible eyes under his eye lids.
"Just as I thought." Chouji laughed a little, completely veiling his orbs.
The golden head eavesdropped on the banter of the two and went in a thinking position, one hand clenching the chin. It was been a while since his closest friend, Sasuke, had his last connection to any female. Since the day he was rejected at high school, he had spurned the attention to any girl. And he pitied him for having the least number of ex-girlfriends. Was it seven?
"Sasuke, let's make a deal." Naruto stood up and sat beside the onyx eyed lad to get his full attention out of the hall.
"I don't feel like playing with your crap, Naruto." Sasuke said in his even voice, without even taking a quick look at Naruto.
"That's not you! Come on!" He nudged him on his arm and was adamant, not taking no for an answer. That was usual of him, though.
His eyes ultimately drifted to his side to meet Naruto's gaze, he knew his persistence very well and he was left with no option. Anyway, life had been dreary as soon as college began; it wasn't bad if he had some fun.
"It's about the prom." A beam crawled Naruto's façade as he watched Sasuke's sudden interest.
"Go on." He avoided Naruto's infuriating grin and straightened his back, quite throbbing for leaning for almost an hour on the rigid bark.
"Make the legendary dumper your date…" Sasuke's eyes widened, giving a slight expression to his usual impassive face, subsequent to the mention of the word.
Sorry for the boring, short chapter... I'll make them meet at the second chapter..
Thanks for reading! .
>>Ennui-chan