UnknownPlayers II: Reloaded
…LOADING…
The login prompt popped up on her screen and Sakura quickly began typing in her username and password. Her fingers moved rhythmically across the keys. The back light of her keyboard smoothly lightened and darkened as the LED's transitioned through the colors of the rainbow. Purple to deep blue then lightning to yellow and green. She tabbed down and hit enter, the login screen immediately being replaced with the spiraling kunai as the load screen processed and disappeared to display the main menu.
It was like muscle memory. She did not even have to think about it as she moved the cursor to navigate all the gameplay settings and toggled around her stats until she was ready to enter the waiting lobby.
The screen went dark for a moment, then a slideshow of a couple of images rotated on the screen as the loading bar slowly moved to fully loaded. The moment the outline of the katana was completely filled, the screen switched and Sakura was greeted with a very familiar sight.
The backside of her avatar faced the screen as it stood in a large animated grassy field. In front of hers stood another avatar. A tall male dressed in a roguish samurai uniform. Above the wide brimmed helmet hovered his username.
samarai_ronin23
As always she found she was the second one to join. Ronin was always first. Then usually herself then Ramen then finally the old man Scarecrow. The last two were notoriously late, Scarecrow sometimes delaying their planned missions by hours. But Sakura did not mind. She enjoyed the lengthy waits when it was just her and Ronin.
"Hey Ronin!" she said cheerily, doing her best not to make her voice sound too obnoxiously excited, she had long since given up trying to just sound casual.
"Hn."
Sakura smiled at the familiar greeting. But then the connection remained silent.
Ever the talkative one he was, she thought.
Sakura was not exactly sure why each time she saw the user name pop onto her screen her heart did a little skip, but it did. She supposed it had something to do with the sound of his voice. A rough baritone that matched the roguish look of his avatar.
It felt silly to have a crush on someone she had never even met in real life before, but here she was. All alone in her room while her heart raced with a giddy nervousness as she struggled to find a conversational point with a boy she had never laid eyes on.
"How is your new school?"
"Oh…um…"
Sakura struggled to come up with an answer to his question. Not only was she thrown off by the fact that he was the one striking up conversation, but in general Sakura did not know how to explain her week without sounding pathetically depressing. But she also didn't want to lie. So she decided to go with facts and hoped some day she could say more.
"My home room teacher is interesting," she said, thinking about the gray haired instructor with questionable literature tastes. "It is a lot bigger than my old school, the homeroom class is almost twice the size of my old one."
"Hn," she heard Ronin hum. It was fascinating how he could make the sound represent so many different responses. "What are your classmates like? Any interesting new friends?"
This was the question Sakura had dreaded. It was the one her parents asked every day when she came home. Made any new friends? And everytime Sakura just smiled and said she had. But this time the answer failed to rise up.
"Well it's only been a week and I've been busy just trying to catch up…" Gods she sounded lame. "But there are a lot of really cool people in my class," she quickly added. "There's even a really cute guy that sits in front of me. I'm hoping to get to know him better next week."
"…oh…cool."
She could have sworn there was a bitterness in her tone. But that wouldn't have made sense. All the same, his tone certainly did not match. Then again it was Ronin, he oftentimes sounded indifferent. This was just one of those times and Sakura refused to read into it more.
There was a long silence as Sakura waited for Ronin to say something more but only a heavy awkward silence buzzed through her headphones. As she struggled to find something to break the silence a ping finally echoed through her hot pink headset, announcing another player's entrance.
…ram3nL!fe4eva has logged in…
Sakura's audio was suddenly flooded with obnoxious slurping. "Hey"-slup- "gwys" -slurp- "waths up."
"Ramen don't talk with your mouth full," Ronin chastised, his voice sounding more surly than its usual testiness.
…IchaIchascarecrow69 has logged in…
"Are we ready?" came their team captain's lazy monotone.
"Yes," Sakura spoke.
A deep hum and a slurp sounded the other two members' answers.
"Then let us begin. Ramen, make sure you don't jump into the attack plan so quickly. You need to be patient and wait until everyone is in position. And Ronin, we are a team…you need to stop going rogue. I don't care if you spot d ngofedcr0w on the battlefield. You leave us vulnerable everytime and end up dying anyways," he lectured. "Our team isn't ready to take on anyone from team Akatsuki."
"Hn."
Sakura shook her head wondering how exactly she ended up with such a group.
First there was IchaIchascarcrow69. A grown man that was chronically tardy yet treated their team as if he were leading fate of the world special ops missions and not playing a video game with a few teenagers.
Then there was ram3nL!fe4eva. A boy who had the attention span of a goldfish, had a relationship with ramen that was better than twilight and an optimism brighter than the sun itself.
And finally there was samarai_ronin23. A brooding boy who she had honestly thought was mute for the first three months of them gaming together before she heard him say a single syllable word. And it was that single word that had her heart first flutter and she had found herself embarrassingly infatuated ever since.
"...And Cherry, don't take this the wrong way but I need you to stay back. I know you are more than capable on offense but we need our medic alive, especially if we are going to go against such a large group. This is a group of novice players but their team is six times our size. Your skills are the most important in this scenario."
Sakura's insides warmed. Oftentimes she was intimidated by her teammates. Being the lowest ranking in their group she always felt like she was dragging them behind but they always made her feel valued.
When they first formed a team, Sakura was ranked as a mid level bronze while Ronin and Ramen were both already Gold. But as time went on, they built her up whenever opponents focused on her because of her lower stats. And under their support and guidance she had gotten better at playing and her character quickly moved up in skills.
And when she had decided she wanted her special skills to be as a medic they had all been in support. Despite the fact that it meant her character's attack stats would be slower building as she focused skill points on healing abilities.
Yes, she often wondered how she ended up with such a group. But she never regretted it. They were her boys, her friends. If only she had friends like them in her real life.
Having just moved to the big city from the country, Sakura found herself very lonely. Back at her school in the countryside they had the occasional new student. Being new and interesting, everyone always wanted to get to know the new kid. As a result they would be flooded with friends.
Sakura's experience had not been that.
City people just were not curious about country bumpkins. And while she didn't expect everyone to want to be her friend, she had hoped her desk mate would have been at least friendly enough to invite her to sit with them at lunch. The only problem was that Sakura didn't have a desk mate. And as she was tucked in the corner in the very back, it was as if she was invisible to the entire class. It was just another reason why she looked forward to Friday nights where she could talk with her friends and feel like she was a part of a group.
"Let's do this," came their team leader's voice.
Sakura was brought back from her mental pity party and focused on the game. Besides, maybe it wasn't so bad. She just needed to take her own initiative to meet people. Who knows, maybe she would even be brave enough and talk to the cute boy in front of her.
…LOADING…
As it turned out, the cute boy in front of her was a dick.
He also had a name, Sasuke Uchiha.
Sakura sat at her desk staring at the spiky black hair of the boy in front of her. Mr. Hatake was currently explaining a new math theory to the class but it seemed Sakura's old school was slightly ahead of Konoha High and she had already learned about it before moving. Thus she found herself only giving minimal attention to the lesson as she let her thoughts wander.
It was Monday of her third week at her new school and Sakura had a whole new outlook on her life. With her first week at her new school going depressingly bad, Sakura had been determined to turn her second week around. And she had.
She had started by introducing herself to the blonde girl whose locker was next to hers. Her name was Ino and it landed her an invitation to sit with her and her friends at lunch. All of them had been so welcoming Sakura felt she had known them all for longer than just the duration of the lunch hour.
Sakura was feeling much more optimistic about her new school and confident that she was going to fit in just fine. In fact she was feeling so confident she had even tried talking to the dark haired dream that sat in front of her. However, it turned out the dark haired dream was a dark haired nightmare.
She supposed there had been some red flags last week when she had spoken up to ask him some simple basic questions, like where was the cafeteria, what chapter they were on in social studies, and if she could borrow a pencil sharpener. But she had given the benefit of doubt and assumed he had not heard her. The boy did seem to have headphones in all the time.
However, as the week went on, she discovered that he was purposefully ignoring her when he wouldn't even turn around when she tapped him on the shoulder to ask him what room was the science lab in.
She could have sworn he flipped her the bird when she accidentally bumped into him when she was in a rush to get to class after getting lost. She had muttered an apology but he had just grunted and stalked off.
By the end of the week Sakura had gathered enough rumors and gossip from her peers it turned out he wasn't just a jerk to her, he was an asshole to everyone. Apparently the name Uchiha was a prominent family name in Konoha which made the boy think he was better than everyone. Although this came from Ino and Sakura has a sneaking suspicion that she was just bitter because he rejected her.
Either way, she was over her crush and was perfectly fine if he continued ignoring her for the rest of the school year.
"Alright," Mr. Hatake said, grabbing a stack of papers from his desk. He started counting out sheets and handed them to the students sitting in the front of each row. "For the rest of the hour I want you all to work on this practice exercise. You can work in groups with the people around you but no moving seats."
The hopefull glint in his students eyes when he had said they could work in groups all dimmed at his order to not switch seats. Sakura let out a sigh that was drowned out by the rustle of papers as each student took a sheet from a stack and passed it back to the next person.
In front of her, Sasuke took his then without even turning around, handed the last paper back to her. Sakura reached for it but before her fingers could take it from his hand he let go and the sheet fluttered down to the ground.
"Thanks a lot," Sakura muttered, only to find that he was already deaf to her as he shoved his earbuds into his ear.
Rolling her eyes, Sakura leaned over from her desk and after stretching her foot to pull the paper close enough, she picked it up and laid it out on her desk. She looked down at the various math problems to be solved then let out a sigh. Already she heard the majority of the class forming groups but Sakura knew it was no use even hoping to work in a group. Sasuke wouldn't even turn around to hand her the paper let alone work with her. And his desk mate sat behind two girls who loved to flirt. Sakura was still getting to know her classmates, she had quickly learned that Kiba was a major flirt. So when given the choice between two girls and one, she knew the outcome.
Taking up her pencil she began with putting her name at the top of the page. Just as she was about to start working out the first problem, she felt a tap on her shoulder. She looked up and found Kiba turned around facing her.
"Hey new girl, want to work together?"
Sakura stared for a moment, slightly taken aback. Her eyes flashed to the two girls in the row ahead of his and found them giving a jealous pout before turning to work on their exercise sheets. She looked back to Kiba, who, with his big brown eyes, reminded her of a puppy dog begging for a treat.
She smiled. "Yeah sure!"
"Sweet!" he said, resituating himself to sit in his chair backwards as he put his paper on the empty desk next to her. "This is going to be so easy."
.
.
.
Kiba wasn't exactly the brightest partner but he was sweet and fun to talk to. Even now, when the period had ended and they were on break they continued talking while they waited for the bell to announce the start of their next hour. She had just mentioned playing NUBG when Kiba excitedly announced he played it too.
"We should play sometime. What's your username so I can look you up?"
"Oh yeah, that would be really fun!" Sakura said, although it had been a long time since she played with anyone other than her three boys. "It's Cherry Blossom," she said, writing it down in the corner of her worksheet and tearing it off to hand it to him. "No spaces and the O's are zeros."
"Cool." Kiba said excitedly then gave her a guilty look. "What was your name again? I mean...your real name?"
"Sakura, Haruno Sakー"
Next to Kiba, Sasuke who was now currently folded over his desk with his hood pulled over his head suddenly jerked up and whirled around. Taken aback Sakura blinked at him as he looked at her with a hard expression. In fact, with his scrunched face and the intensity of his penetrating stare she would say he was glaring at her.
Kiba said a few more things which Sakura gave him some distracted answers but was no longer able to focus. Sasuke was still staring daggers at her then at Kiba.
"What's your problem, Uchiha?" Kiba said, finally catching on to Sakura's distracted behavior and the reason behind it.
Sakura looked between the two trying to figure out what she had done to earn such a look from the dark haired boy. Had she accidentally kicked his chair? And why was he now giving Kiba the death glare?
Whatever the reason or what the outcome was going to be was interrupted by the bell. Leaving a very confused Sakura to struggle concentrating on the English lecture as she tried to ignore the dark eyes that kept looking back at her each time Sasuke turned his head.
What was his problem?
…LOADING…
"On your right! Your other right Sakura!"
"Sakura, I need a medic!"
"Sakura, I said flank not pull ahead!"
Sakura scrambled to maneuver her player out of the line of fire but she was surrounded and every time she tried a move she was hit. Her finger began frantically pressing buttons on her controller as she watched her health quickly deplete until her avatar fell to the ground, defeated.
She fell back in her chair with a frustrated sigh as she pulled her head set off, not wanting to hear her teammates struggle to take down the other team short handed.
Sakura felt like it was two years ago when she first started playing and had no clue what to do. She was distracted, her mind busy with the past week's oddities centered around a specific someone. Just the fact that she was wasting her time preoccupying her thoughts with him was enough to frazzle her.
Sasuke Uchiha that is who undeservingly preoccupied her thoughts tonight. Him and his strange behaviors over the past week.
It had all started first thing Tuesday morning. The entire class had gone to the computer lab to work on their book reports. Sakura had just sat down in the back corner and was about to wave Ino over to join her when someone pulled the chair out next to her and sat down.
It was Sasuke.
Sakura stared at him for a full minute and he didn't so much as say a word to her. Just logged into the computer and started typing. She had wanted to say something, to speak up and tell him the spot was saved but by the time she had even processed what had happened, the rest of the class was seated, Ino in the middle front. Accepting that she would be stuck as always in the back corner of a room with no one to talk to, Sakura sagged in her chair and faced her computer.
From then on Sakura felt as if Sasuke Uchiha was haunting her. And as the week went on, he became even more strange. He was talking to her.
Each time Mr. Hatake let them work on their math assignments, he would turn around to face her and tell her to work with him. With his indifferent tone it always sounded more like an order than a request. And trapped in her little corner of the classroom, Sakura did not really have much of a choice.
Occasionally Naruto would join them when he annoyed Sasuke enough to let him join them. But not without insulting the hyper energetic boy constantly. The more name calling she heard the more she started to believe what people said about him and his family status. And each day they went to the computer lab no matter where she sat, there was Sasuke taking the empty seat next to her.
He would read over her shoulder and comment on her analysis. If Sakura didn't already know his callous side, she would almost think he was flirtatiously teasing her. But this was Saskue Uchiha. Mr. Broody who couldn't be bothered to pass a piece of paper like a decent human being.
He was not teasing her, he was mocking her.
She wasn't sure what his motive was but after a week of dealing with his off putting demanding tones and mocking words. Sakura found she much preferred it when he just ignored. It was better than the confusing psychological torment he was putting her through now.
Breaking from her thoughts, Sakura noticed that the round was ending and she quickly grabbed her head set and put it around her ears.
"Alright, let's take thirty," she heard Scarecrow saying as she slipped her headset back on. "Let's meet up at 7:30 and run the course again. Ronin and Cherry, I don't know what's going on but you both seem unfocused. I want to set up a tournament next week but not with the way you two are playing tonight. When we get back it will be you three versus me."
…IchaIchascarecrow69 has logged off…
"Damn, you two just got roasted," Ramen said. Suddenly there was some background noise coming from his feed. "Oh gotta go, my mom made ramen for dinner. She is the best! Believe it!"
…ram3nL!fe4eva has logged off…
There was a heavy silence after Ramen left. Sakura was just moving her cursor to log out to go grab something to eat when she heard Ronin's steady voice come through her headphones.
"You okay?"
Sakura let out a sigh. "It's just been a long week. School has been…confusing. You?"
There was a long pause as Sakura waited for him to respond.
"There's this girl."
Sakura's stomach tightened as the foreign feeling of jealousy slithered in her.
"Oh?" she said, trying to sound more curious than disappointed. "What about her?
"I didn't exactly make the best first impression. I've been trying to talk to her, to get to know her, but everything I say comes out wrong. She seems to always be offended every time I say something to her."
"Hmm. Well to be honest you do come off a little abrasive at times."
She heard him sigh, then there was another long pause.
"Hey Cherry…"
"Yeah?"
"Would you like to meet?"
Sakura froze in her chair. Meet? It was something she had often thought of and even dreamed of.
"Like in real life?"
"Well since we are both in Konoha so why not?"
Sakura's mind paused for a moment as she processed this information. Ronin lived in Konoha? But how did he know where she lived? Reruns of the Dateline show her mother was always watching began to run through her mind. And the many warnings and dangers of meeting people online her father always ranted about echoed in her ears. Did Ronin somehow hack her and find out who she was? Was he some kind of stalker?
"How did you know I lived in Konoha?" she asked warily.
There was a pause as Sakura's heart beat wildly within her heart.
"Ramen mentioned Ichiraku the other week. You seemed familiar with it. Since it's a hole in the wall only locals know about, I just assumed."
"Oh," Sakura felt a small wave of relief. So he wasn't a murderous stalker that hacked her private life. "Yeah I guess it is. A friend brought me there for the first time…I guess that means Ramen lives in Konoha too. Crazy how small the world is. For all we know we could be next door neighbors," she laughed.
She heard Ronin let out a sound of amusement.
"Listen. I know the group has an unwritten no personal specifics policy. But…tomorrow at noon I'll be at the memorial fountain at the city center."
…ram3nL!fe4eva has logged on…
"I'll be there," Sakura quickly said.
"Be where?" Ramen asked
"Nevermind it Ramen," Ronin snapped.
"Geez, what's crawled up your butt. Didn't the team leader say for you to get zen or whatever?"
"No, he told us to focus."
"Isn't that zen!?"
…IchaIchascarecrow69 has logged on…
"Ramen, Ronin, stop fighting. We have training to do."
Sakura wasn't sure how she could focus now. She was going to meet him. She was going to finally meet Ronin.
…LOADING…
Sakura ran her sweaty hands down the skirt of her dress in an attempt to smooth out the wrinkles that were not there.
Calm down Sakura, her inner monologue yelled at her. Get it together he will be here any moment!
Leaving her dress alone Sakura clasped her hands behind her back as she scanned the crowd of people walking around the courtyard of the park. She stood next to the fountain, where they planned to meet but the longer she stood the more she was beginning to feel foolish.
The first reason being that she had worn a pair of wedge heels. It paired with the dress perfectly but after standing here for ten minutes she was beginning to regret it as her feet throbbed just from the walk from the train station. Plus, she was now beginning to wonder if it was too much.
Ino had been the one to suggest she get dolled up but now Sakura was regretting following her new found friends advice. She wasn't even sure what this meet up was. Was it a date? Ronin hadn't specified what this was, she wasn't even sure if he liked her that way. He had just suggested a meet up.
Quickly Sakura tied her hair up in a ponytail hoping it would give her a more casual look. As she tried to arrange her bangs back into place, she cast her eyes around. Searching for…well that was another problem, she didn't even know who she was looking for. She had no idea what Ronin looked like.
The ache in her feet had Sakura moving to the edge of the fountain as she sat down on a cement bench. For a few minutes she watched the water trickle down the faces that the fountain was sculpted to resemble. The laughter of children of the young families that walked by mixed with the gentle trickles and splashes of the water. All the while the sweet smell of dango and cotton candy filled her nose as she took in a deep breath to calm herself.
She checked her watch to find it was exactly noon. Sakura looked up eagerly as if Ronin would suddenly conjure himself before her. But when she saw no one before her, Sakura began looking around searchingly but again only found the same flow of tourists taking pictures and shoppers walking around with their bags.
She let out a sigh and leaned forward, propping her elbows on her knees as she watched a pigeon peck at a mochi donut that a child had dropped. When the bird flew away Sakura found herself looking down at her feet. She was just about to glance at her watch again when a pair of black sneakers moved into her peripheral.
"Hey."
Sakura's head shot up at the sound of the familiar voice. For a moment all she saw was his silhouette as the bright sun haloed around him. But then he shifted, shading her face with his body and Sakura was filled with a flood of disappointment as she took him in.
She had been correct in thinking the voice was familiar. However, it was not the person she had thought. Although, now that she thought about it, their voices were uncannily similar.
"What are you doing here?" she asked, taking in Sasuke as he stood with his hands in his pockets and a smoldering smirk on his face.
For a moment she thought her tone had been too harsh as his smirk slightly faltered, making him look almost hurt. But it was gone in a blink of an eye and that arrogant smirk came to his face again making her think she had just imagined it.
"What? A guy can't enjoy the park on a nice late summer day?"
Sakura rolled her eyes before proceeding to ignore him as she gazed around the courtyard, eyes searching. Then to her horror, she found Sasuke sitting down next to her.
"What do you think you are doing? You can't sit here!"
"Why not?" His eyes traveled up and down her. "What? Waiting for a date?"
"You can't stay here."
Ignoring her protest as he leaned back on the bench. "I'll just wait here with you until your friend gets here."
"No you won't," Sakura said sternly.
Sasuke looked at his watch. "Gee, is he late?" Then he seemed to finally notice her glaring at him. "What is it, really a date? Think he's going to be jealous if he sees you with me?"
Sakura straightened herself a bit. "As a matter of a fact I am," she said, hoping he would take the hint and leave. Only this bit of information seemed to make him smile even more.
"You work fast," he commented. "Didn't you just move her like last week?"
Sakura's face flattened into a look of unamusement. "It's been nearly a month since I moved here, not that you would have noticed.
Suddenly Sasuke leaned in close to her, his dark eyes glinting with something Sakura could not quite place. "Oh, I noticed."
Sakura leaned away from him, then scooted herself a safe distance. Looking out at the crowd, Sakura tried to look for someone who might also be looking for someone. But she couldn't concentrate with Sasuke staring at her with that arrogant smirk on his lips.
"He's not just someone I met. I've known him for a long time," she found herself saying.
"Really?" Sasuke remarked. "So you guys must be really serious."
Sakura bit her lip then looked at him sheepishly. "Well…actually…we've never met…" she admitted.
She wasn't sure why she was telling him this, or even talking to him. If she knew better she should just ignore him and give him a taste of his own medicine. But either because she didn't want him to make assumptions or because his heavy gaze made her so uneasy, she let herself tell the truth.
"So is this some kind of Tinder date? Never pegged you as one for hooking up with strangers."
"It's not a tinder date!" she said exasperatedly. Gods this boy was infuriating. Again she questioned why she was talking to him or why he deserved any explanations. At the very least it would hopefully stop him from spreading rumors of her. So she told him about how she had met Ronin and his invitation to meet.
"NUPG? Tch, I just bet you love that game. Let me guess, your specialization is medicine."
"Being a medic is one of the greatest and complex roles to play as. Not that you would know."
"As a matter of fact I play with a medic."
"Oh…well…good for you."
"I think you would discover a lot of things if you knew me."
"I know plenty about you. You come from a rich family that gets you whatever you want and your self entitlement. You think yourself so much higher than others that you can't even be bothered to show a girl to the cafeteria on her first day at a school four days times the size of her last one."
Sakura froze then put a hand over her mouth before she spewed out anything more.
Sasuke's brow slowly raised. "Well don't hold back for my sake," he said with a dark sarcastic tone. "So I'm an asshole and this guy is what? A saint?"
Sakura straightened haughty. "The boy that I'm meeting is completely unlike you. He is supportive and listens. Takes the time to help his friendsー"
"But…he's not here."
"…" Sakura was struck dumb by Sasuke's words. For a moment she struggled to respond.
"I'm sure he has his reason," she finally managed to say looking down at her hands. "Because if there is one thing he is, is loyal and punctual to his commitments."
There was a long awkwardness between them. Sakura felt a rogue drop of water from the fountain hit her hand but then she felt a cool wetness on her cheek when the wind picked up for a short gust and she realized she was crying. Horrified and embarrassed to be crying in front of the school's biggest jerk. She wiped the tear away only to find it being replaced. And through the blurry peripheral she could see Sasuke watching her silently.
"Please just leave."
Sasuke was quiet for a long time then finally, he got up. No longer suffocating by his presence, Sakura felt she could finally breathe. Taking in several breaths, she took a few minutes to calm herself down.
Just as her teary eyes were clearing up, her vision was suddenly taken over with the image of an ice cream cone being shoved into her face.
Sakura stared at the ice cream. Then she followed the hand and arm up to the face of the person who was offering it to her.
It was Sasuke.
"My mom says ice cream makes girls feel better," he said looking awkward as he averted his eyes from her red and swollen ones.
Sakura looked between him and the ice cream until an impatient expression took over his features.
"Hurry up and take it. It's melting and I don't want a big mess all over my hands."
"What about you?" She asked as she took the cone from his hand, noticing there was only one treat.
Sasuke shoved his empty hands into his pockets. "I don't like sweet things," he replied, then retook the seat next to her again.
Sakura felt like his comment was baited. Sasuke was up to something. Jerks like him didn't just go around giving ice cream cones to crying girls for no reason. But as she looked at him, staring out and watching people, she found herself examining his features.
She was reminded again why she had a crush on him. The stoic expression, his ebony hair that had that flawlessly messy look. His eyes were what really captured her. Richly dark that seemed to promise so many things when you looked into them. Whether or not those promises were good or bad she wasn't sure. But she found herself certainly tempted to find out. They really did lure people in. And it was that temptation that had Sakura taking the bait.
"What do you like then?"
"I prefer salty to sweet."
Sakura nodded, then licked at her ice cream when she found herself clueless as to what to say. It seemed Sasuke was perfectly content with not talking as he relaxed and stared out at the fountain. Oddly enough, Sakura felt quite comfortable with the silence as she ate her ice cream and watched the fountain as well.
"Do you want to go to the arcade?" he suddenly asked after a while.
Sakura took a moment as she finished chewing the last bite of her ice cream cone. "What? Like right now?"
"Ah."
Sakura looked him up and down for a moment. Well she had gone through all the trouble to get ready and travel all the way here. Besides, Ronin did say to give Sauske a chance. And he had been decent enough to try and make her feel better.
"Yeah alright…the first round is on me," she said. "Repay you for the ice cream."
A relaxed smile formed on his lips that made Sakura's stomach twist and flutter.
.
.
.
That night when she logged on she hoped to get some sort of answer or reason as to why Ronin had never shown up. However he wasn't online nor was there a private message explaining where he had been.
I'm sure you had a good reason. I hope you are okay, she wrote in a PM. She waited a moment, watching as his profile turned active and the message turned to read. Three little dots popped up as he began writing a response then they disappeared and his online activity turned off. Sakura's shoulders sagged. She knew it had been too good to be true. This is why their team had rules.
…LOADING…
"You will choose any subject from the chapter and research it. A five page written essay will be due by the end of next week and the following week you will give an eight minute presentation to the class. I will allow you to make your own groups but remember, you will be graded both individually and as a group so choose your partners wisely," Mr. Hatake warned.
Sasuke turned sideways at his desk and looked back at her. "Sakura, your in my group," he said.
"But I was going to be with Ino."
Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Common, you can't leave me alone with the Dobe."
Sakura gave his shoulder a smack. "Be nice, you're the only friend he has."
She watched as a dark brow raised over his inky black eyes. "Why am I the only one that gets stuck as a friend? What about you?"
"Of course I am."
"Hn, so it sounds like you're in our group then."
Sakura would have put on a show of pouting however there was something about that monosyllabic sound he had just made that made her freeze. She had heard that sound before. Dozens of times. But not from him.
"What's wrong?"
Sakura broke out of her stupor. "Nothing. It's just…" She looked at him closely, then suddenly shook her head. No, it couldn't be. It was just a coincidence. she thought to herself. "Nothing, forget it."
Sasuke watched her for a lone moment then shrugged and smacked Naruto upside the head. "Hey Dobe, you're in our group."
…LOADING…
"So have you heard from Mr. Online?" Sasuke asked.
Sakura looked up from the book she was reading. They were in the public library down the road from the school. Having been unable to decide whose house to meet at, Sakura decided the library was better. She and Sasuke were seated across from each other while the chair next to Sasuke held Naruto's things. Him having mysteriously disappeared claiming he was going to find some books to use for their research.
"No," Sakura replied.
"Hn."
There it was again. Sakura was still fathomed that a person could communicate so easily and so much with the simple sound of hn's, hm's, and ah's. And yet she knew two people who could do it. Ronin and Sauske.
"He's probably too embarrassed to show his wrinkly face."
"For the last time he's NOT a sixty year old man!" Sakura said, although she let a small smile play on her lips.
Sasuke smiled easily as he watched her before going back to his reading. After a short while of looking down at the page of his book, Sasuke looked back up at her.
"Would you forgive him?"
Sakura looked up from her own book. "Huh."
"Would you forgive him for standing you up?"
Sakura thought for a while then let out a slow sigh as she rested her chin on her hand. "If he has a good enough reason. Although he would have to be in a coma to be forgiven after ghosting me for this long."
"Maybe his wife found out."
Sakura glared at him. "He's not married, he's in the same grade as us."
"You sure? Ever heard of cat fishing. Although this case sounds more like a pedofileー"
"He's not a pedofile," Sakura snapped. "Why are you so obsessed with him anyways. If I didn't know you any better I would think you are jealous."
He gave her a pointed look. "Well I guess it's a good thing you don't know me any better."
Sakura's stomach flipped slightly, unsure of what exactly he was insinuating. And whether or not he was being serious or teasing her. Then suddenly he smirked and Sakura found herself getting frustrated with herself for even considering such a thing. Sasuke was just a friend.
"Besides you hate me anyway so I wouldn't stand a chance," Sasuke added.
"I don't hate you," she defended. "You just make really bad first impressions."
Sasuke smirked.
"Hn."
…LOADING…
Sasuke ran a hand through his hair.
How the hell had he gotten into this mess?
He had meant to tell her who he was that first day they met at the fountain. He had meant to tell her the moment he approached her. But it had been her reaction that made him second guess himself.
She had looked up at him with so much excitement and joy, only for it to be washed away the moment she saw who he was. She had been…disappointed. She liked Ronin, not Sasuke. And while he was both, there was something about that fact that made him stop himself from telling her. He needed her to like him, the real him. Not the one who was hidden by a screen.
And after the past couple of weeks, when he was able to get his head straight and stopped making an ass of himself. He felt like she truly knew who the real him was. And from their last conversation in the library, it seemed she liked him.
It was progress, but if Sasuke wanted their relationship to ever go further, he needed her to know who Ronin was. He needed to be honest. He just hoped she would accept and understand.
…LOADING…
Meet me tomorrow. Noon. The fountain. I will explain everything.
Sakura stared at the text in her DM box. The invitation was so…so Ronin. Short and to the point. It had been over a month since he had initially proposed they met.
She would have said he had ghosted her but he was still present for their Friday night gaming. However he was mute on his end in the group audio and was the last to log in and first to log out each time.
She had spotted him active every once in a while when she was online throughout the week. But she never received a response from her original message.
Until now.
A part of her was tempted to not even consider going. Who was he to give her instruction to meet when he stood her up the first time and not even give an excuse as to why. Just radio silence. And she felt she deserved more than ten words. Then again he said he would explain everything.
Another part of her told her she had to go. She wanted to know his reason and most of all. She still wanted to meet him. Although her feelings for him had shifted and it wasn't the reason most would assume.
Yes, being stood up had certainly been off putting. But that wasn't entirely why she no longer harbored such strong feelings for him. In more recent weeks, she had found her feelings leaning toward another. And that was why she felt so conflicted.
Sasuke or Ronin, Ronin or Sasuke. At times it felt like comparing apples to apples.
Since Sasuke's horrible first impression when she tried to get to know him things had changed. They talked, he listened, and they joked. And if she wasn't mistaken, he had feelings for her too.
But even so, she felt before she could truly move on from Ronin, she needed to meet him. She needed closer to what perhaps some would call a first love.
Which led her to typing out a response.
Okay.
…LOADING…
Sakura stood by the fountain, the slight mist that wafted with the breeze cooling her under the hot sun. Strangely she felt completely relaxed than the last time she had been here. Perhaps it was because she was wearing comfortable shoes instead of heels. Or maybe it was because the pressure of meeting Ronin had changed. Whichever it was. Sakura found herself calmly watching the water trail down the sculpted profile of the fountain instead of frantically searching the faces of each passerby.
However, as the clock tower on the opposite side of the courtyard began to sound midday, there was one face that caught her eye from the opposite side of the fountain.
Any other person she would not have noticed. But those eyes. Those charcoal black eyes had such a weighted look it was as if they had the force of a blackhole drawing her in.
The moment she locked eyes with him, he began to move. Slowly he circled around the fountain, never once looking away from her. With each step he took, Sakura's heart pounded in her chest. Eventually her mind began to turn, thoughts flooded her mind, connecting the dots until he was standing in front of her. And suddenly she felt herself struggling to think at all.
"Ronin?" she whispered.
An apprehensive look came across his face. "Hn."
His eyes flickered back and forth as if searching her face for insight of her inner thoughts. But Sakura herself didn't even know how she was feeling. It all seemed so obvious now. Her suspicious thoughts not seeming so preposterous now.
"Why?" she finally managed to say.
"Why didn't I tell you?" She nodded and he let out a sigh, casting his dark eyes away from her. They focused on gazing at the fountain. "Because I messed up. When you looked at me that day it was as if I was the last person you wanted to see on earth. So I figured if I kept it a secret at least you would like me sometimes. But after that I didn't know how to explain my absence and then everything changed." He looked back at her. "And now you know."
"And now I know," she parroted, still looking at him with disbelief.
There was a long pause before Sasuke spoke again. "Disappointed?"
There was a moment where everything seemed to stop and all Sakura could see was Sasuke's apprehensive face and hear his staggered breaths as he tried to keep himself calm. Finally, Sakura stepped forward and Sasuke's head tilted as he followed her with his eyes.
When she was standing nearly toe to toe with him, she looked down at his hand. She studied it for a moment before reaching out and grabbing it. Automatically his fingers fixed themselves into hers.
"No," she said.
As she looked at their entwined hands she found a smile coming to her face and she looked up at him.
"I hoped it would be you."
...LOGGING OUT…
Just a little follow up for to give a little conclusion. I am super rusty but I am trying to get back into my writing grove and practicing before continuing on my larger and deeper stories. All the same I hope you enjoy! FYI Sasuke is probably a little OOC but I tried to stay to his character while keeping the plot short. For anyone who reads my other stories my plan is to get Isle of flightless birds updated next then most likely hate me hate me or another It began with a kidknapping.