Like a Star
08
A/N: Finally!
Standard Disclaiming Properties Apply
The shower drizzles hot streams, emanating puffs of warm steam from the wooden floor. Sakura stood under the gushing water and felt the sun caressed her face in comfort. The bathroom was somewhat located outdoors, where the only thing shielding her from public's eye was the opaque white curtain around her. The icy coldness she felt last night was no longer there, only the smiling sun beaming down at her. The only problem with the bathroom was the discomforting thought of people budging in, uncalled for.
But really, that was just her way of being paranoid.
The water runs down her face, down her neck, and she feels her pastel pink hair being stuck to her back as she smiled. She could stay in here forever—
(A spider made its way down the wall in front of her)
Sakura froze; she had always hated insects with a fiery passion. Now she looked at the hairy critter, with its long thin wobbly legs making its way to her foot. Crawling, like a predator for the prey.
Sasuke tapped his pen without rhythm on the wooden table, sunglasses shielding his eyes from the sun. Naruto sat in front of him, gobbling down his chicken-flavored ramen. He sighed and looked at his contented blonde friend, contemplating once more if it was even worth it to backhand him for splattering ramen soup on his jeans.
Naruto looked up, cheeks puffed with soup. "You-mmf-sure-oof-you don't want any?" he swallowed in a huge gulp.
Sasuke rolled his eyes and shook his head when he suddenly heard something and dropped his pen. If Naruto hadn't imagined it, he was sure the look in his friend's eyes was a petrified shock.
"Did you—"
Sasuke was about to say 'hear that' when Naruto cut him off. "What the hell was that?" Naruto said, somewhat out of breath.
That scream, that high-pitched scream could have only belonged to a female member. No one could have done a more blood-curdling scream than that they've just heard. And then, Sasuke got up ready, because he knew whom that voice was from—
Sakura.
Sasuke darted a sharp look to Naruto. "I'm checking on her."
Naruto nodded, the look of panic faint in his blue eyes.
"Okay."
He ran, through the meandering halls and wooden cabins, screaming out her name as he went. Then he felt the ghostly warmth of mist coming from her room, and knew that she was in there. He barged in, looked around at the decently cleaned room—save the clothes strewn on the floor—and without thinking, pushed the small door that lead him outside.
"Sakura!" he shouted, the mist around him warm and damp, pushing the thick white plastic curtain aside—
And saw Sakura's large sea green eyes staring at him in great horror.
Uchiha Sasuke, you are screwed.
His black eyes then widened so wide that it was humanely possible for his eyes to ball out.
She. Was. Naked.
"AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Sakura screamed at the top of her lungs, throwing mini shampoo bottles at him as a way of defense, or attack, in Sasuke's case. She started to screech like a banshee, a supersonic high-pitched scream that made almost Sasuke's ears bleed. "YOU PERVERT! GET OUT OF HERE!"
Sasuke guarded his face with his arms, shielding his eyes from the explicit view. "I—I heard you screamed. Crap. Holy shit. I'll—ouch. Okay Sakura, I'll get out now—stop throwing stuff at me! Holy mother of—!" he stammered and made his way backwards to the door.
Her arms kept flinging bottles at him, like an unswerving machine with insane amounts of demonic energy.
"I'm out, I'm out—"
The last of the bottle managed to hit his forehead. "OUT!"
Sasuke rubbed the bruised forehead with his hand, face still slightly flushed from earlier. Sakura stuttered and looked down in embarrassment. "Serves you right for peeking in on me." She glanced sideways at him and saw him fidget a fraction.
His face tinted pink. "I—I was not peeking in on you! I heard you scream and thought something happened." Sasuke growled in defense.
"Well…" Sakura looked away, fully clothed now. "…you knew I was in the shower. So," her fingers tapped lightly at her temples, "common sense." She muttered indignantly, crossing her arms before looking away from him. She could no longer hide the embarrassment swelling on her face.
She was right; he knew she was in the shower. Why didn't he think twice before heroically stumbling into the private space? That's right. He thought she was in danger. God, women never appreciates the guts it took to go through all this.
Annoying.
After a while of rubbing on his sore spot on his forehead, he looked up at Sakura with that question flickering in his eyes since the beginning. "So, what was with the scream?" he asked neutrally, despite the thumping pain all over his arm and head. Sakura squirmed, and Sasuke saw the blush that crept all over her face.
He got a little impatient. "So?"
"I saw a spider. But I whacked it away with the bar of soap." She muttered, still in that defiant matter.
A spider was so not worth the mini bruises on his arm. "A spider…" he glared competitively at her, "—really?" he smirked.
She snorted and blew the stray strand of pink at the corner of her eyes. "Yes, really. I'm afraid of spiders—they're disgusting. And not to mention completely dangerous when bitten by one, you know, poisonous fangs and icky cobwebs…." She shivered at the thought of ever being wrapped up in one, and imagined those spine-chilling multiple beady eyes looking at her, ready to attack at any second, drools of slick poison dripping down her skin—
"Sakura." Sasuke voice was slightly sharp.
She broke out of her reverie, shaking her head and made a pitying blekh sound. "What?"
He shook his head, almost like he contemplated whether to say something or not, and decided that he better save himself the trouble for later. "Nothing, just go get your stuff ready—we're leaving at noon."
Sakura just nodded and smiled empathetically. "I'm sorry." She muttered softly.
He cocked a skeptical eyebrow. "For what?"
"For…" she squirmed, "throwing those shampoo bottles at you."
Sasuke stared emotionlessly. "They didn't hurt." He sort of lied but the bruises hadn't affected him much anyway, he thought, it was just the shock.
So he walked out of her room, door knob in hand as he proceed to close it behind him, but before he was completely out of view, he muttered the softest, barely there apology to her that it caught Sakura by surprise. When she turned around to ask, he had already beaten her to it;
"I didn't see anything anyways." He smirked, and the door closed, leaving Sakura to blush the brightest shade of rouge ever known to man.
When Naruto saw his friend walking down the quiet corridors, he immediately got up in the slightest frantic.
"Is everything alright?" he asked in obvious worry.
Sasuke did nothing but dismissed him with the sharpest wave. "False alarm." He summarized.
Naruto blinked, still confused and curious as to why she had screamed so loud, but thought of dismissing the urge to pester him more.
"Oh well. Kakashi-sensei wants to talk to you—something about family matters." Naruto told him.
The ravenette froze but his face remained unmoving. After a while, the silence was broken. "Where is he?" Sasuke asked, the tone of his voice darker than Naruto would have imagined.
"By the wooden balcony, but I think he's waiting for you at the cliff." By then, Sasuke was already gone, and Naruto was left alone in the lounge room again.
Kakashi was about to get on an interesting part of the book when Sasuke interrupted him in his usual stern manner. He looked at his manager with dark brooding eyes. "What is it?" he demanded, almost rudely.
Kakashi tsk-ed and closed the book reluctantly, looking at Sasuke indifferently as he spoke.
"You ruin the joyful moments of my life." He referred to a chapter of the book, which he was interrupted at. "Now I'll have to finish this book tomorrow."
Sasuke hissed, "Kakashi. The dobe told me you had something to say." His mind seethed, but he didn't mean to come across so menacing, the thought of news from his ostentatiously powerful family gave him the urge to be unnecessarily violent.
The grey-haired man had the lazy smile plastered on his face. "It's something we need to take into consideration somewhere else. But I guess it's only fair if I tell you now."
"Get straight to the point, Hatake or I'll—"
Kakashi sighed. "They've got you in an arranged marriage, kiddo, they want you back by tomorrow morning to settle the engagement."
Sasuke froze. Everything froze; even time had paused for him to settle the news in his chaotic mind.
Arranged marriage.
"What?" he managed to croak, but Kakashi had already waved him off, in his usual languid manner.
He smiled, almost sympathetically, as if he knew what was on the boy's mind. "Sorry kiddo. Fugaku was very persistent in this, I could have reasoned." He yawned, and looked up at the graying sky, thinking about how unfortunate it was if it rained. "But this one—it's up to you."
The blood within Sasuke's flesh seethed at the mention of his father, the over-demanding prick of the century, next to his brother Itachi, who he had yet to despise more.
Sasuke smirked, almost sarcastically. "I thought that bastard wanted me out of the family—I'm too much of a wuss to run the damn enterprise."
Kakashi looked at him, the same fatherly look Sasuke had gotten so used to when he was protecting Sasuke all these years. "I can't do anything this time—I'm sorry."
So he left the dark haired boy alone, walking away as the rain pelted down on them both in icy droplets, pasting black strands of hair in a wet bunch against his skin. A mockery of his agony, the world suddenly seemed hardly fair. Then a voice shouted at him from afar in rippling echoes, muffled by the dense rain.
"Sasuke!" It was Sakura.
He turned to look at her, only to realize he was soak head to toe, and she was running at him with an umbrella, regardless that she was slightly wet as well.
She smiled that goofy grin, candied pink hair sticking to the side of her face like wet petals. "You'll get cold! Get inside!" she shielded his head with the surface of the umbrella above him. "Oh wow, I wonder how cold you are—you're soaked! God, Sasuke, you'll get sick! I think you already are, look how pale you've gotten—Hurry! lets get inside." She linked her arm through his, and dragged him along. Suddenly, his colorless lips curved to a smile.
Now he knew why he had felt the agony at the thought of spending the rest of his life with another woman.
A/N: Sorry guys, about the late wait and all. You know, it really is my fault—I'm horrible at updating frequently, and I think I didn't do you justice by this chapter. Sorry! Gomenasai! Oh god, this is a bit depressing. Yeah, I'll try harder next time. I wonder who the lady Sasuke should be forced to marry?
ANYWAY!
Reviews to tell me how horrible of a writer I am (: Love you guys!
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