CHAPTER SIX
Sociable Sai
"Wake up Emily, wake up..."
"Uh...no..." I mumbled, trying to get back to my wonderful dream, where I was five years old and ice-skating with my family. There were a lot of other people at the rink, including a kid a year older then me and his older brother. The kid was...gothic, I think. And...really smart but he often said what he thought. He called me Mr. Ugly, for some reason...I cried.
But, Matsuri was shaking my shoulder, attempting to wake me up, and I had no choice but to comply. I opened my eyes, and rubbed the grit out of them as I sat up. I saw Matsuri standing on the ladder to my top bunk, and Hinata and Tenten hovering by the door, already dressed to go. It was hardly light outside.
"Wh-what time is it?" I asked, trying to locate a clock.
"Five-thirty." Anko appeared at the door.
"What!?" I cried. Five-thirty!?
"We have to get to the stables, for muck-out duty." Tenten reminded me.
"Mu...wh...for...?" I was out of bed in about a second, and getting dressed in record time. There was no time to waste!
oOo
In no time at all, my cabin mates and I were walking the short distance to the stables, marveling at the beauty of the camp in the morning, the pink sky, the sun rising and seeing it on the waters of the lake.
The deer.
"Not as nice as the deer the Naras raise." Tenten commented.
"The Naras? You mean Shika's family?" I asked, as one of the 'not as nice' deer bounded away into the forest.
"Yeah," Hinata said. "The Nara deers are really beautiful."
"Hmm..." I replied, not sure what else to say.
We arrived at the stables and found the boys, plus Naruto, Kiba and Kankurou, waiting for us.
"There you are!" Kankurou said, grinning. "I was afraid I'd have to come and get you!"
"It's my fault," I admitted. "I didn't wake up on time..." I blushed.
"Aww," Kankurou teased me. "Getting your beauty sleep?" He suddenly yelped, as Garaa stomped down on his foot - hard.
The rest of us laughed, just as Ino, Karin and Sakura showed up, yawning as they did and being shepherded by Kakashi.
"I had to get Shizune to wake them up." Kakashi informed us, taking out his book and leaning against a wall. "Okay kids, get to work."
We all exchanged a glance, and then walked into the stables and got to work.
On the way in, Tenten handed out Mentos, since we didn't know how long we'd be working for, and most of us were slightly hungry. (Chouji took two Mentoses).
oOo
We had been working for about half an hour, when Karin suddenly threw down her pitchfork and cried: "I can't do this is too hard!"
"Oh stop complaining Karin!" Sakura snapped. She glared at the other pink-haired girl. "You do much harder work as a cadet!"
"Like you'd know Miss. Medic! Anyway," Karin leaned against a stall door. "I came to summer camp to get away from all of that hard work!"
"Oh whine whine whine, complain complain complain!" Ino said in a high voice. "Is that all you ever do, Karin?"
"Shut up Ino pig!" Karin cried.
"Hey!" Sakura yelled. "I'm the only one who can call her that!"
"I don't need you defending me, billboard brow!" Ino snapped.
"Fine with me!" Sakura retorted.
By now, everyone else had stopped work and was staring at them. Shika, Chouji, Tenten, Hinata, Neji, Lee and Naruto were finishing mucking out stalls. Matsuri, Garaa, Kiba and Kankurou were sweeping the floors. And Sasuke and I were trying to deal with this horse who had a sore leg, and needed its bandages changed. I would hold the horse's lead rope, and Sasuke would retie the bandage, except the poor horse kept on jumping around like a Mexican jumping bean. Sasuke stood up, frustrated, and stood beside me, arms crossed. We didn't have much of a chance to watch the three girls argue, because when Sakura said her retort, she threw her pitchfork onto the floor, which landed near the injured horse. The horse reared (which was going to be really bad for his leg) and ripped the lead rope out of my hands.
"Aurgh!" I cried, feeling the rope cutting into my hands.
"Move!" Sasuke cried, grabbing me and moving me out of the way of the horse's hooves. We fell into a pile of straw that had just been moved out of a stall, and watched as someone rushed up and grabbed the horse's halter, talking soothingly to him and patting his neck until the horse calmed down. He had dark hair and dark eyes, and very pale skin. He looked familiar...
People began moving then, walking forward to see if everyone was okay and congratulate this stranger who'd calmed down the terrified horse.
"Are you okay?" Sasuke asked me. I looked at him, and realised that his face was inches away from mine. His onyx eyes were concerned (even though his face remained expressionless) and his breath smelled nice because of the Mentos. He took my hands in his, and examined the grazes on them.
"I'm okay." I assured him, as we sat up, and then stood up. We were sort of covered in straw and you-know-what, but I didn't pay any attention to that, because the guy holding the horse's halter turned around.
"So, we meet again, Mr. Ugly." He said to me.
My heart stopped. This was the kid I had met ten years ago at the skating rink! Who was he...this now Konoha cadet...his name was...
"Sai?" Naruto said. "What the heck are you doing here so early?"
I noticed Sakura, Ino and Karin all staring at me, and I realised it was because Sasuke was still holding my hand. His hand felt warm around my own, stopping the pain somehow, but I wasn't paying attention to that at the moment. My mind was fixed on Sai, who was staring at me. How dare he, a complete stranger, call me Mr. Ugly!? I don't really care about my looks, but that didn't give him any right to call me that!
Just then, a man wearing dark sunglasses, a shirt, jeans and a Konoha bandana appeared from the tack room, and took stock of the situation. He pushed his glasses up with his middle finger, and said: "Sai? Is there a problem here?"
"No Ebisu." Sai replied, tying the horse (whose name was Bob) to a peg on the wall, and then he turned and walked away. "Oh, by the way that look really suits you, Mr. Ugly." He called over his shoulder to me.
I began shaking, quivering in rage, and I would have starting screaming bloody murder at our poor friend Sai, except Sasuke was still holding my hand, and he said: "Calm down."
I did.
But, I was still angry.
oOo
It was terrible. It was horrible. It was inhumane, cruel and unusual.
But, it was.
All day, no matter where I went, it seemed that Sai always showed up there too. I just could not escape him.
He was in the infirmary when I was getting my hands cleaned and wrapped in medic tape stuff.
He was sitting near our table at breakfast, which was omelette today.
He was in the arts and crafts cabin when I was, as we all made lanyards for whistles (mine was blue, black and purple, evil colours).
His cabin went swimming when my cabin did, and we all watched as Chouji Akamichi jumped in and promptly sank and had to be rescued by someone.
He was standing behind me in the lunch line (and, I could feel his eyes boring holes into my back as I accepted the chicken macaroni from the lunch lady, whose name was Konan - she's also a CIT).
It was so unfair.
"Aurgh!" I cried, coming out of the mess hall after lunch, and standing on the grass with Hinata, Tenten and Matsuri. "Why won't he leave me alone!? If he really thinks I'm Mr. Ugly, why does he keep showing up everywhere I am!!??" I hadn't meant to say it that loudly, but everyone stopped walking and stared at me. I blushed, and turned around, and my cabin mates and I walked back to our cabin.
"You have free time now, remember?" Ayame said, on her way out as we reached our cabin.
"Cool." Tenten said, turning on her heel again. "I'm gonna go play footy with the others." She turned and loped off towards the playing field.
"I'm gonna have a little kitty cat nap, I think." Matsuri said, climbing onto her bunk and lying down. "Who'll wake me when it gets dark?"
"I will." Hinata said, sitting down on her bed and taking out a piece of paper and a pen. "I'm gonna write home to my Father." She added.
I sighed. "I'll take a walk." I said, and turned to go.
"Okay." Matsuri and Hinata said, a little bit worriedly.
oOo
I don't know why, but I ended up in the stables, by some chance. There was nobody in the aisle, so I walked along it, taking my time and breathing in deeply every so often, because a stable is one fo the greatest places in the world (in my opinion). I said hi to Bob, Lunar, Sandy, Blackbird and Charon, who were munching on hay in their stalls.
I was just patting Charon on the neck, when I heard voices coming from the tack room (where the saddles and bridles are kept) and voices.
The voices of Sasuke and Sai, to be exact.
I gulped, and then quickly unlatched the door of Charon's stall, sliding the latch back into place as I sank down onto the straw, out of sight. Charon gave me this look that said 'what the hell are you doing down there'? I put my finger to my lips and said: "Ssh." And he went back to eating as the tack room door opened and Sai and Sasuke came out.
They appeared to be arguing about something, and I overheard this:
"I'm just saying I don't know what the hell you're doing," Sasuke said, and I pictured his expressionless face and flashing eyes. "And I don't want to know, but just stay away from her, okay?"
"And why would I do that?" Sai asked.
I wondered who they were talking about. Not me, that's for sure. Maybe Sakura, or Ino, or Karin...
"Look, you call her ugly," Sasuke stopped walking right outside of Charon's stall, and so did Sai. "And yet you won't leave her alone. You're an idiot if you think she'll fall for you Sai, no matter what you say."
Sai sighed (lol). "Listen Sasuke, you need to get more manly about this situation if you..."
"Manly!?" Sasuke exclaimed. "This coming from a person who thinks women don't like to be told exactly how they look! Don't talk to me about manly you little pansy ass! Fuck off Sai, haven't you got somewhere else to be?"
"Anywhere but here." Sai agreed, and started to walk off.
"Just don't go chasing after her again!" Sasuke called after him.
I heard Sai cough, and then he said: "I've got more chance then you Sasuke, and you know it!"
"And why's that Sai?" Sasuke wanted to know.
"Because mine's bigger then yours." Sai replied, as he left.
I blinked. What?
I heard Sasuke splutter. "W-what!? That...he...what a fucking lunatic!" Suddenly, he swung Charon's saddle over the stall door. The stirrup flipped over and hit me squarely on the nose. Despite myself I cried: "Owch!"
"Who's there!?" Sasuke asked sharply. I'm surprised he didn't draw a sword and cry: Stand and unfold yourself, Capulet!
Sighing, I got to my feet and faced Sasuke.
He looked surprised to see me there for a second, before he said: "Sorry Emily, I didn't know you were there. How long have you been there for?"
"Since you came out of the tack room." I didn't feel like explaining it all to him. My nose felt out of place, and numb. I didn't want to touch it. It might have fallen off.
"Oh, so..." He looked at me closely and, for just a fraction of a second, I thought his eyes looked worried. "You heard that, did you?"
"The conversation between you and Sai?" I asked. "Yeah, sure."
It was Sasuke's turned to sigh.
"Who were you talking about exactly?" I asked, confused.
Sasuke's head snapped up. He looked at me, and the worry in his eyes turned from surprise and back to worry. "Emily! Your nose is bleeding!"
I felt the red hot sticky blood dripping over my lips. Charon whinnied nervously. "Oh, so it is..." I said, blinking back tears that seemed to come along all by themselves.
Sasuke opened the door and let me out. After shutting the door, he took my already bandaged up hands and said: "Infirmary." And he took me all the way there and sat with me whilst Kabuto instructed me to lean my head forward and just let the blood drip out on its own. Sasuke held the ice pack wrapped in a tea towel to my nose and, by the time Hinata, Hanabi and my sister Penny found me, I had figured something important out.
Sasuke was a loyal friend.
To me, at least.
I was yet to learn the story everyone else would tell me...