Chapter 5

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"Now for your next exercise, I want you to write a short descriptive paragraph on anything you like, just make sure it flows and draws in the reader. I'll give you about five minutes."

Inkunata tried desperately to concentrate but all she could bring to her mind was the image of Sasuke.

Sasuke.

Hmm…dark, silky black hair with two bangs framing his smooth, pale face, of which narrow onyx eyes are the main feature…he has a strong, perfectly-shaped nose, and right below are a pair of soft, luscious, untouched lips that make you want to kiss them, take them, hold them in your mouth forever…and then your eyes cruise down to his sharp, defined jaw in which you can sometimes, when he gets nervous or angry, see a muscle jerk…it makes you weak at the knees. And after this artwork of a face, you reach his neck…look carefully and you can see his veins…his neck is strong, powerful, but it's his weak point…you know if you lean forward and kiss it, lick it, suck on it, he'll tremble in your arms…

"Inkunata? Are you done?"

"Ah-"

"May I read it?"

Inkunata glanced at Sasuke who was two desks in front of her. As if she had a choice - he would read it no matter what. "Yeah…"

The teacher unknowingly started reading. "'Dark, silky black hair with two bangs framing his smooth, pale face, of which narrow onyx eyes are the main feature…he has a strong, perfectly-shaped nose, and right below are a pair of soft, luscious, untouched lips that make you want to…kiss them…'"

He looked up and the class giggled at his flushed cheeks, gaping mouth and general flustered appearance. Inkunata did not laugh. Staring straight at her from his desk was Sasuke, his eyes disbelieving and fiery. The class wasn't bright enough to figure out that she was writing about him, but he was.

"Well, Inkunata…uh…th-that was very…passionate…"

Inkunata tried to make herself invisible as Sasuke glared at her.

Oh. My. Gosh. He's going to kill me…

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I shook my head as I put my books into my locker at the end of the day. Dark bangs, pale skin, onyx eyes? That's me for sure. I could see it in her eyes. My own mouth had gone dry when I heard the words Inkunata had written about me. What is with this girl? She doesn't know the first thing about me!

No one knew anything about me. I wasn't stupid. I knew I was popular. And I also knew that the minute anyone found out about me and my past, they would all abandon me.

But then Inkunata wasn't everyone. Yet if she found out, she would be most devastated. She seemed to think I was something really amazing. Every single day she managed to make me feel like my opinions and wants were important in everything she included me in, a big contrast from the typical girls demanding dates and kisses from me when I didn't want them.

I swung my shoulder bag over my shoulder and reluctantly headed home. I had a large range of things I did - not only to earn some money, but also just to put off going home that much longer - playing guitar and piano, soccer, basketball, almost anything, but today I didn't have anything to do, so I had to go home.

I opened the door and found my brother lounging on the couch, staring at the television. The winter had brought early darkness, and since Itachi hadn't bothered to turn the lights on, the blue light from the television was the only light allowing me to see. He turned to look at me, the blue television reflecting eerily in his brown - no, burgundy eyes (they're too red to be brown). But I saw Itachi too often to be scared or even startled by his frightening appearance.

I walked past him. "Take a shower," I mumbled, annoyed as I went into my room and shut the door, hoping, if I was lucky, the next time I would have to face him would be tomorrow after I came back from school.

He yelled something from the main room about there being no more bread.

Because you devoured it all, I thought with a scowl.

I sunk face down into my bed, tired.

"Sasuke…come here."

I froze. The only time when Itachi called me by my name was when something was serious or had gone wrong.

I had a feeling something was horribly wrong.

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Inkunata waited patiently in the gymnasium for Sasuke to start the martial arts lesson, thinking what she would say to atone for yesterday's English class, but after ten minutes she began to wonder. She hadn't seen him all day in her classes, and now he wasn't showing up for the lesson.

Kakashi came in with a net bag of basketballs in one hand and a small book in the other. He stopped and looked at her strangely. "Where is Sasuke?'

Inkunata shrugged. "I don't know. I've been waiting for him."

Kakashi looked thoughtful. "I haven't seen him at all today, actually. I'd assume he was absent."

"Maybe," Inkunata nodded.

"Do you know his address?"

"Yes."

"Do you want to go and check on him? He hasn't called in to say he was absent…and obviously he hasn't let you know he wouldn't be here."

Inkunata nodded again. "Of course," she said, standing up and straightening her jumper. She wouldn't pass a chance to see Sasuke.

She took the train and headed to Central Valley, having memorised Sasuke's address from his planner.

What she found was more than appalling.

The shingles of the roof were cracking, and clumps of something green that Inkunata wasn't keen on analysing were gathering under them. The walls hinted that they had been painted only once and then left for a hundred years or more. And the windows were unwashed and horror movie style - like the 'creepy - murderer - looks - though - at - you' type of windows. The front yard was unkempt, and the fence was basically disintegrating.

This must be a joke, she thought. Maybe Sasuke wrote a fake address in his planner to keep the fan girls away.

No, that couldn't be right. This same address was typed on the score envelopes he received after a major test. Maybe Sasuke just isn't as well off as he seems.

She walked up the broken steps and knocked on the door softly, afraid she'd cause the weak thing to fall off its hinges. No one heard, so she began to bang against the door with her fist in her typical fashion, not realising it was opening. But this time, instead of hitting the person in the face like she had with Mr. Teacher, the person on the other side dodged the knock by a simple tilt of his head before she felt his fingers curl over her fist, stopping her. She looked at him and almost gaped.

Oh. My. Gosh.

This man was the type that would never get laugh lines - for obvious reasons.

His brown - no burgundy eyes (they were too red to be brown) were piercing and seemed to be ghostly, almost paranormal, and there were two strange cheek lines curved right under his eyes.

His hair was ebony, long and tied back loosely - but it wasn't the typical oily, gross man ponytail. His hair was like Sasuke's - smooth and looked like it had been newly washed and blow-dried.

This man didn't look like he lived in a rundown old house. He looked like a freaking Calvin Klein model - just with dirty clothes instead of a dress shirt and gorgeous jeans.

Inkunata stared. He said nothing. So that was her cue.

"Uh…hi, does Sasuke live here?"

"Who are you," he said tonelessly.

"A friend from school."

"No, I said, who are you."

"I just told you-"

"Who are you."

"H-Hyuuga Inkunata," she said.

The man stared at her for a second before turning around and calling, "Brother! There's some Hyuuga girl here asking for you."

Inkunata heard his reply, "Tell her to go away."

The man turned and looked at her as if to say, 'you heard him'.

"Wait," she said before he shut the door. "I need to talk to him. Really."

"Brother," he said again. "Come and get rid of this girl before I do it myself."

Inkunata felt a shiver run down her spine as he looked at her with a cold, strange gaze. Finally Sasuke appeared.

"Don't be stupid, Itachi," he hissed. His brother - Itachi - turned and disappeared into the dark house. Inkunata looked at Sasuke and almost gasped. His eyes were tired. His skin was ten times more pale than usual. And his hair was messy instead of his everyday neat hairstyle.

"What the hell are you doing here?" he demanded.

"I came to check on you."

He let out a harsh, sardonic laugh and Inkunata frowned, flinching slightly.

"Really? Well that's very sweet of you. As you can see, I'm here and living. Now leave."

"Sasuke, tell me what's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong."

She lifted an eyebrow. He sighed.

"Well, now you see how I live. I'm not so infallible, am I? I'm not the Uchiha Sasuke you thought I was, huh?"

Inkunata stared. "What are you talking about?"

"Not again. Everyone asks me that! 'What are you talking about?' 'What do you mean?' I'm sick if it! Stop it!"

"You stop it!" Inkunata said, getting scared and angry at the same time. "What's wrong with you?"

"Everything's wrong with me. You wouldn't understand - no one would."

"Understand what?"

"What it's like to lie for the best and still feel like you've gotten the worse!"

"What?"

"How would you know. You have a loving family, you don't need to earn your enrolment at school - you have everything you need to be as happy as you are. How could I expect you to get it?"

"Sasuke! Stop talking like that! Tell me what's wrong. I'll understand!"

"No, you won't! I can't tell you, that's the problem. If I did, you'd never give me a second look!"

"Sasuke." Her soft tone surprised even her as she reached over and gently cupped his cheek in her hand, her thumb stroking his smooth velvet skin. His eyes closed, his frown ceased to crease his brow, and he looked almost peaceful. "I'd never abandon you."

She began to lean forward, her lips parting ever so slightly, an invisible throbbing in them as her pulse raced and her mouth longed to touch his, lock with his, dance with his.

Suddenly in the blink of an eye, just before Inkunata could kiss him, Sasuke pulled back, a deep, furious scowl on his face.

"Leave. My brother hates people on our land…and I hate lies being spoken in my face."

Inkunata blinked rapidly, trying not to cry. "Sasuke, I wasn't ly-"

"LEAVE NOW!"

Spinning around in fright and incredible pain, Inkunata flew down the steps and ran away, understanding finally what it was like to be alone and unloved.

It was like having your heart torn out from your body.

(A/N: I was going to end it here, but I figured I'd add a little more.)

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Sasuke watched her run from his house - from him. Tears made her eyes sparkle, confusion made her only that more beautiful. And the disappointment on her face had confirmed it - he had failed her expectation of him. Typical.

He walked back in and almost crashed into Itachi.

"Watch it!" he growled as he headed for the couch and switched the television on.

"Agitated, are we," Itachi said in monotone, following him and standing a short distance from the him.

Sasuke scowled in response.

"Who was that person."

"A girl."

"Don't be a smart ass. Who was she."

"Nobody."

"You must think I'm stupid. If she was nobody you wouldn't have been fiddling your hands behind your back like you had Parkinson's or something. What, you like her or something?"

Sasuke glared at him. "No."

"Well, good," Itachi said. "You shouldn't get close to anyone."

"Yeah, you know why that is, don't you brother?"

Itachi showed no change in expression. "Don't blame me. You did it. Now deal with the consequences. I never asked for your help. How do you know you're so safe, anyway?"

Sasuke shook his head. "Because you need someone just as much as I do, so you wouldn't."

Itachi stared. "Maybe you're right. Now stop acting like a hormonal teenager in front of that girl and focus."

"She'll get suspicious if I act too weird. Look what happened now that these people got suspicious."

"Forget them. They'll never trace it back to me. Let her get suspicious."

Sasuke sighed and focused on the television, trying to convince himself that everything was okay, everything would be fine. Everything he had done, was for himself, not for Itachi.

The worst part was that he wanted to get closer to Inkunata. He was intrigued by her happiness, her smile, her…(A/N: I was about to use the word 'youth' right here!) immaturity. Her bright, childish view on things. Innocent…guiltless…what he wanted to be. But he couldn't have her…his world would come crashing down if he did.

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