R e d W a t e r

C h a p t e r VII

I woke up by the front door the next morning. Crawling to my feet, I groaned, feeling a stinging pain below my right eye and…well, the entire right half of my face hurt to sum it up. Stumbling into the bathroom, I soon found out why I was in so much pain. Below my eye was a large darkening bruise and I was bleeding all down the side of my cheek. I looked like shit. Really, I did.

Glancing at the clock, I realized I was already late for school.

Shit.

We had a really big test that day and I didn't want to have to make it up. It was a drag to have to stay after school. And I didn't want to use that time for a test when I could be with Itachi. I rushed, getting a towel wet and dabbing the dried blood off of my face.

Then I went on a search for really dark sunglasses. Hopefully I'd be able to avoid questions at school. Stupid Ino. Stupid girls. Now the guys, I could live with. No questions, no squealing or annoying giggles.

'Ah ha.' I finally found some sunglasses in a random pile of things I had been planning to throw out. Luckily I hadn't and decided I'd have to go through that pile later to see if any other items would be of use to me.

I scrambled around the empty house for my school things, trying to make it to school by second period. Mom was gone. She probably left for work three hours ago, leaving me on the hard wood floor. 'Thanks mom.' I was thinking sarcastically.

I left my house quickly and hurriedly headed for school. I had an agonizing headache as I entered the large building that was my school. Checking myself into the office, I headed toward second period, relieved I had made it.

Second period. Hatake Kakashi's Language Arts class. He was probably the best teacher I had in school. For the most part, he seemed to know what he was doing and could handle his classes well. Itachi had him as a teacher some time ago and Kakashi used to be friends with my mom and dad. But, that was before the 'accident' happened to my dad. And when he tried to keep my mom company after my dad's death, she screamed at him to get out of her house. He doesn't come around anymore.

He had certain class rules that we all had to follow and before all the recent events in my life happened, I had thought these rules to be pretty reasonable.

As I entered the classroom, I handed Kakashi a pink late slip and headed for my seat. Then that bitch, Ino blurted out, "Kakashi-sensei? Aren't sunglasses not allowed in class?" I wanted to rip out her throat. My hate for her grew even more so as she said this.

"Yeah, yeah, Ino. Would you sit down? Class has started." Kakashi told her. And at first, I thought I was safe. But then, "Sasuke, she's right. Sunglasses are not permitted in class. Would you take them off?"

"But Kakshi-"

The silver haired teacher looked tiredly my way and shook his head. "Come on, we've already wasted five minutes of class." Reluctantly, I obeyed and set the shades on my desk, exposing the blackish purple bruise. I looked down, hoping no one would see it, but obviously someone did.

I heard a gasp and the girl sitting in the nearest desk from me cried, "Sasuke! How did you get that?!" It was Sakura who had said this. Damn pink haired girl.

And of course, heads turned toward me and soon the whole classroom knew I had a goddamn bruise on my face. Oh joy.

With a splitting headache and annoying students whispering about me, I rested my head on the desk, hoping Kakashi would do something to make them shut up. "Everyone, quiet. Now you all are going to watch the damn movie and you are all going to stay quiet the whole time. Do I make myself clear?" Kakashi told the class in a bored tone. He darkened the room and the movie started.

I was about to fall asleep, seeing as everyone had stopped talking, the lights were off, and I didn't care about the movie, but Kakashi came up to my desk and told me to come with him to the hall. Again, I obeyed him and got up from my desk. I could feel worried eyes following my movement. Escaping into the hall, I asked Kakashi what he wanted.

"How did you get that bruise, Sasuke?" the man asked me.

Not willing to give him an answer, I responded with, "Sensei, what do you think happened?" Everyone suspected my injuries were from my mom but I knew they wouldn't actually say it. And I didn't want them to. I guess I still blamed myself just as much as I blamed Itachi for my dad's death. I never asked Itachi exactly what had happened when he pushed Dad into the glass cabinet, not that I planned to.

Kakashi looked down at me as I asked him this and I knew. I knew that he had made the connection between the bruise and my mom. "What do you want me to do, Sasuke?" He finally asked me. "It's your call. If you want me to report your mo-"

"No. No, don't do it." I shook my head. "I can deal…I can deal with it."

"Sasuke, I don't think you can." Kakashi grabbed my arm to stop me from leaving. "I've kept quiet for some time now. And you keep coming to school with more and more injuries. Now, I have no idea what the hell is in your mom's thinking, taking it all out on you, but it has to stop."

"Kakashi, please!" I was getting desperate. I didn't want my mom to be reported. "Please…it's okay now. Really."

He paused for a moment to think. And then the man sighed, "Alright…alright, I won't do it, but you need to call me if anything else happens. Do you have my num-"

"I don't need it." I interrupted him. "I have someone to go to when this type of thing happens. So it's okay now." I gave him a quick smile before heading toward the classroom door.

"By the way, Sasuke." Kakashi stopped me. "Who picks you up from school sometimes?"

I turned around, smiling again. "Oh…that's the 'someone' I go to."

"Hm…so how is Itachi, anyways?" I froze in shock. How did he figure it out? And so quickly?

Finally finding my voice, I took a step closer to Kakashi and said, "What do you mean? I haven't seen Itachi in years, Kakashi." I was surprised I could keep my voice so calm.

The silver haired man nodded slowly saying, "But then who is this mystery 'someone' you speak of?"

"A…a friend." Shit. Loosing my nerve.

"Right. Because everyone knows you make friends so easily, am I correct, Sasuke?" I could tell Kakashi was enjoying this. A lot. "Don't worry. If I am right about him, I won't tell anyone."

Shit. I might as well just come out with the truth. In a quieter voice, so no one could hear us, I said, "Kakashi…he…Itachi's doing fine." And then in a slightly louder voice, "But you cannot tell a single living being. Don't even mention him to your dog!"

The man gave me a look. "Um…alright?"

"..." I realized how stupid I must have sounded and shook my head, "Sorry…it's just…Mom can't know about Itachi. She'll freak out."

"I swear. I won't tell anyone." Kakashi gave me a reassuring smile. "Not even my dog." He joked. I rolled my eyes and opened the classroom door.

…

I wanted to avoid Itachi for some time. He knew Mom would occasionally do things like this to me…according to me, that is. So I hadn't told him the complete truth. I just didn't want him to have to worry about me any more than was necessary. But it was kind of hard to avoid him when he was waiting for me right outside the school.

It would be stupid to try and lie to Itachi, the one person who knew me best. And there was the fact that I was a horrible liar a lot of the time. So I approached the car, hoping he wouldn't over react about my bruise. Nervously, I greeted him, keeping the other half of my face hidden. But that didn't go so well. Normally, I'd always give him a hug or a kiss when I saw him, so it was already obvious to Itachi that something wasn't right. He didn't start the car and just stared at me.

Shit. "W-what?" my visible eye was looking at anything but Itachi. Before he or I could say anything else, someone poked their head in Itachi's window.

"Yo!" It was Kakashi. Asshole. "What's up, Itachi?"

I could tell Itachi was a little surprised from seeing his old teacher. He glanced at me before responding. "Hello, Kakashi. It's been a while."

"It has. Take care of Sasuke." Well that was short. I watched Kakashi wave and walk away. Then Itachi turned back to me.

"Is there something you'd like to tell me, Sasuke?" Itachi raised an eyebrow.

"Um…no?" Itachi wasn't satisfied.

"Look at me." His voice wasn't playful this time. I didn't move. "Sasuke, look at me." Slowly I turned to face him. Itachi's expression kind of scared me. I hadn't seen him looking so angry since…well, since dad's death. "Sasuke…"

"Itachi, please don't-"

"She did this, didn't she? Mom." he tried to control his voice. He looked away for a moment, trying to calm down slightly. "Why didn't you tell me she was doing this earlier?"

"Because -"

"I could have-" Itachi started.

"Oh yeah? You could have? Like what, Itachi? To mom, dad is dead and so are you." I blurted out before I saw the pain in Itachi's eyes and realized my mistake. I felt a pang of guilt inside. "…I'm sorry…" I whispered. "I didn't mean to say that."

It was silent for a while and we stayed parked in front of the school. "How long?" Itachi finally asked. "How long has it been going on?"

"Since you left." I answered. There was silence again. And then I asked, "Can we go somewhere?"

"Where?"

"Anywhere…I just…want to get away from everything." Itachi nodded, starting the car.

…

"Hey, Itachi." I rolled over in the grass to face my brother. We were in the middle of a large field a hell of a long ways from anyone who knew us or recognize the name Uchiha. It was my idea to go on our little trip to the middle of nowhere. I guess I just liked knowing that we could be safe there. No one to find us out or hurt me. Just the two of us. I had explained the whole Kakashi incident to him through out the car ride. I could tell he was still angry about my injuries, but wouldn't mention anything about it to me anymore.

"Hn."

"…now that Deidara and Kakashi know about us, we need to be a bit more careful. In public, I mean. And…at random parties Deidara decides to throw at your place." I told Itachi, observing his figure that was surrounded by the long blades of grass around us. It was the perfect day to do this. The sky was a bright blue, with barely any clouds that I could see.

"Hn."

"And I think I should try and find an excuse for me to stay at your apartment for longer periods of time sometimes." I scooted closer to him. "Maybe Kakashi could give me an excuse…like some kind of project I have to do with another student at their house."

"Hn."

"Were you even listening to anything I was saying?" I asked in an annoyed tone. I heard him chuckle and his eyes opened as he turned to look at me.

"Yes, Sasuke. I heard everything you said. It would be nice to have you around longer. All to myself…so I can do this." Itachi leaned forward, pressing his lips to mine.

T o B e C o n t i n u e d . . .

P l e a s e R e v i e w.

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