Beautiful People

Chapter 13: So Let Me Make You

Beta: beta'd by strawberries and napkins

...

I didn't sleep well and had a bad dream. Well, not exactly a bad dream, but I had envision that I was being tied down in a chair and forced to watch Naruto and Sasuke fool around on the same bed, in the same room that I recognized too well. The dream was so startlingly real that when I woke up and found that our fingers were still entwined with each other, my body jerked instinctively, and then I woke him up.

"Sorry, I just didn't—"

Sasuke snatched his hand away as he sat up, but I didn't miss the warmth. I sat up, yawned, and then stretched out my sore limbs, watching Sasuke gather his clothing and supplies and leave the room, probably to use the bathhouse. That was fine, because I wanted to write in my journal for a minute. I waited until I couldn't hear his footsteps, and then I leaned over and grabbed my bag, searching for the tiny leathery book. It felt cold between my fingers and the smell of old paper tickled my nose, but I was glad to be writing again.

Dear Sakura,

This may or may not be our fourth day that we've been traveling together and recently things between Sasuke and I have become more…manageable. Granted, we did have to pound some sense into each other, but I believe that through Naruto we'll just have to learn to live with each other. Of course, we're not holding hands and picking flowers but he's not too mean to my anymore, and that much I can deal with. I'm not even all that comfortable with him yet, because I can still feel the questions coming. He'll ask me about Naruto when he wasn't here, the other people involved, the things he did back and forth, and probably what I had to do with them. People always seem to overreact, but I don't. It's just something that happened, and it's in the past. What's so wrong with that?

And besides that, I'm still feeling my inferiority complex when it comes to Sasuke. Even while dreaming, I was having these crazy images of him bent over and Naruto--


The door swung open suddenly, and a half naked and dripping wet Sasuke paraded inside, not even giving me enough time to shut my journal close and shield it with the sleeves of my sleeping gown. It didn't get past him though, because he raised his eyebrow at my suspicious behavior, but thankfully he didn't say anything about it.

Instead, I waited until he came inside and was bent over his bag looking for his clothing so I could stash the journal away again. Then I turned to him.

"Should I leave the room?"

"Doesn't matter."

He had already stripped himself of his bathrobe, and I found myself averting my gaze because I didn't want to look anyway. But while him not being bothered with me watching him be naked did bother me, because, I was still a girl wasn't I? Still, he was right because I wasn't interested in any part of Sasuke, and for once I'm sure that feeling was mutual.

"I overheard some information. The thieves are planning to sell the scroll for money." I couldn't see whether he was finished already, I could only hear the sound of Velcro strapping various hidden weapons to his body.

I frowned. "They went through all that trouble to steal it and they weren't going to use it themselves?"

There was more shuffling behind me and waited until it stopped before I deemed it safe to turn around again. It was. He was already rolling up our futons.

"It doesn't matter. Today is one of their busiest market days, and it ends by sundown. That's how much time we have to find them before we lose it for good."

I could feel my heart race at the challenge, and recognized the mischievous glint in Sasuke's onyx eyes. For the first time, I actually think we were able to bond over something. I smiled and gathered my things.

"Give me ten minutes and then we'll get moving."

Busy was an understatement to how crowded the market streets were and it wasn't even midday. But it was extremely interesting and saddening at the same time. This whole town was in shambles, and the people's clothing were very old and worn-looking. Everyone was tan, on every inch of their bodies and I could tell it was affecting Sasuke when I caught him gazing too long at a small tan, blonde child.

I had to admit it too, I was thinking about Naruto a lot. But it was really funny to watch all the girls stop and stare at Sasuke's pale, alabaster white skin and perfect face while he was walking beside me. I did start to get self-conscious of the looks the girls were throwing me so I suddenly felt the need to start talking.

"So…have you, sent word of your condition to Naruto?" I mentally kicked myself for including Naruto in the sentence.

He shot me an annoyed look that almost said he was going to retort with something rhetorical like 'Have you?' but then he get sighed loudly. "I don't send reports until the mission is done. He knows that."

I nodded numbly as we continued to walk on; all the while I kept my eyes peeled for anyone who looked shady or mysterious, and more specifically, the chakra we had run into in the forest. But there was nothing, nothing but monotone civilians and the everlasting call of different items to buy.

Sasuke was sneaking glances at me as we walked. "…You don't have to avoid talking about Naruto like you're afraid."

"I'm not afraid…of you." I rolled my eyes when he nudged me with his elbow in the arm.

"Then don't act like it."

I smiled and opened my mouth to say something but the rumble of my belly cut me off. I blushed when Sasuke smirked and avoided his gaze, marching myself to the nearest stand covered with ruby-glowing apples.

"How many?" The older woman smiled at me, but I could barely see her over the apples. I glanced back at Sasuke who was impatiently waiting for me.

"Two." I dug around in my pocket for some change. Then it hit me. "These apples, where do they come from?"

She gave me a confused look so I tried again. "I mean, where are they grown, are they grown here locally?" She nodded and pointed to the west. "There's an apple tree grove on the outskirts, we get good discounts here." I nodded vigorously and snatched two apples from the top, tossing some coins her way in thanks.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at my overexcited behavior when I skipped back towards him. "What are you doing?"

I tossed the apple into his hands, and he bit into it gently. "The apple grove, we're going to the apple grove. That's where we'll find them, I know it."

"How?" His voice was muffled.

"Because these apples are fresh, meaning they've just been delivered here, so those people have gone back to the grove! They wouldn't sell our secrets out in the open like this, they'd have to do it where no one would be around."

Sasuke didn't look the least bit convinced. "And how would you know about this?"

I flinched and had to bite down into my apple hard just to avoid the rampant flashbacks, but hopefully he didn't ask any other questions as I chewed and swallowed.

"Just trust me, Sasuke. I have a good feeling about this."

"You better," he growled at me, showing me aside as we started weaving through the mass of people." I don't have any more time to waste on your dumb ideas."

Moving quickly, we soon reached a plane covered with apple trees that were as tall as Sasuke and I. We couldn't find any no other people around, so we camped up in their tool shed, waiting for someone to come by. I knew that they were come though; before the sun went down I knew that someone would be here, so I just kept reassuring Sasuke of my plan.

He fell asleep quickly once we switched shifts, but I was so afraid that he'd wake up that I must've been listening for signs for at least twenty minutes. But when I was sure, I grabbed his hand to relax him and began writing again.

--Oh, sorry about the delay. The last sentence was ridiculous anyway; I was just being paranoid again. I'll admit it; I'm still incredibly jealous of Sasuke and even a bit star-stuck by him. I dunno Sakura, I'm just so thankful that he's not my enemy anymore that it's making me a bit hopeful about coming back to Konoha. It's one less thing to worry about,(semi-colon) of couse, I'll have to face Naruto and once and for all clear all of our hardships, but I don't think I can do that if I'm still in love with him. I doubt I'll ever not be in love with him, but even if it's a bit less I'll be able to do it. Then there's Sakura, who I still want to keep as a best friend. She's the only one I can depend on, that shouldn't change because she has feelings for me. I…feel like there are too many things going on at once sometimes. There's still Ino who hates me, and Neji who I can't even bear to look at. Why is it always me!?

And thinking about this along with waiting for a bunch of amateur thieves to show up while waiting around in this dirty shed isn't helping. Neither is Sasuke's sleeping habit of holding hands. It's cute; really, I just don't think he knows that he does it. But I know why he does it. He does it because I remind him of Naruto, and not in the physical sense, but because he and I understand each other through our feelings for Naruto, I think he confuses me for him sometimes.

I have a bad feeling about that, Sakura. I'm waiting for him to confront me for information so badly it's making my skin crawl. I once remembered a saying that when you're waiting for something bad to happen the way I am, it means that you want it to happen. I just want this mission to end, I don't want that to happen.

I don't want to explain why I know that these thieves are apple farmers, and why I know they're gonna make the trade in the most barren area when its still light out.

I really don't wanna do that.

Hinata

I shut the book at the exact moment Sasuke's eyes fluttered open.

"Tired?" I teased gently, but his eyes were focused on my journal that I was clenching in my free hand.

"What's that?" The tone of his voice didn't sound right, and my heart dropped to my stomach at the thought that he may not have been sleeping like I thought he was.
"Nothing." I said quickly and then raised our entwined hands for him to see. "You wanna explain this?"

He blushed and shoved my hand away, rolling over so he wouldn't have to face me. I sighed happily, glad that for a second at least the attention had been diverted long enough for me to stock it away. The orange sun was setting a beautiful orange glow, and my stomach twisted.

Because I had a feeling that Sasuke would avoid me for only a little while longer.

Now the mission has taken a new turn, putting Hinata all by herself to complete the rest of it alone! And now, Beautiful People has now become a weekly update thanks to my completed story 7 Deadly Sins. All of my free time is dedicated to you, my lovely readers!

Thanks for reading and please review!