Disclaimer: Here's how it goes. I don't own Naruto. I don't own Japan. Ask me again and I'll kill you.
A/N: Check out the poll on my profile/ "Which one of my OCs do you like the best?"
Escaping My Reality
Chapter Two: Truths and Lies
For the rest of the day, she couldn't get her mind off the strange student, Uchiha Itachi.
For one, he sat all the way up front where the whole world could see his gorgeous, angular face, his kind, almost gentle eyes and his nimble, flexible limbs that reacted as swiftly as an animal.
The way he looked at people gave them the feeling of drowsy happiness, like downing in a tub of wine or sleeping in a horde of sheep fleece. It was heaven.
It just...disturbed her. He could charm almost everyone he made eye contact to; he could break through people's barriers as if they were made of Styrofoam. It scared her. What if he tried to do that to her?
She didn't want anyone to know her secrets. Not even Aya. And definitely not the new boy.
"Class, please welcome our new transfer student, Uchiha Itachi-kun. Itachi-kun, please introduce herself," 'ordered' Naoto's teacher, alias 'Ex-Flirt' Kazizaki Katsura-sensei.
Itachi looked unusually comfortable standing in front, looking at every single student straight in the eye as if they were his friends, smiling, moving and speaking like a mature adult, not an obnoxious teenager.
"Please excuse my late coming due to my supposed illness, my name is Uchiha Itachi, please call me Itachi, if you may," was Itachi's polite yet gentlemanly introduction.
From the middle of the classroom, Naoto could hear the lustful sighs and swoons from the many hormone-crazed girls who were more than enough obsessed with guys. Not to mention the growls and murderous glares coming from the two football captains and basically all the football players in the room.
Sora stood up, apparently the only one who was alright with Itachi and smiled halfheartedly at him, "As my duty as class chairman, I am obliged to help you around our lovely, industrious school. By the way, please call me Sora."
Itachi nodded expectantly and replied, "That will be an honor, but unfortunately, I already have an invitation this afternoon."
A jolt went up Sora's spine. He could easily guess who Itachi got the invitation from.
"I understand," Sora said with a now forced smile, his gaze now angry as he – with some mental persuasion from Izumi – sat down with bad grace
"Thank you, Itachi-kun, you may sit down," after Itachi took his place, Katsura-sensei started off the class.
Shaking off love-related thoughts, she - for the first time - paid attention to her teacher.
He couldn't take it.
He couldn't take the loving glances Asato was sending to the new boy. He couldn't take how she was doodling pictures of the Uchiha when she was supposed to be listening.
Fury practically boiled in his blood, a sensation that was forbidden to him in every way.
His clan, the Haruka Clan, were successful, calm and collected politicians; they were people who were forced never to show powerful emotions, especially in political situations. And he was supposed to be the successor of his family.
Being emotional was like a sin to his clan, but as much as he obeyed every single rule being hit at him, he always squirmed through to find loopholes that would only partially get him into trouble. Unfortunately 'no showing emotions' literally had no loophole.
So basically, any showing of lust, love, anger etc. was ABSOLUTELY 120% BANNED in every single form by the head of the clan, his own father and even the rest of his family! What would he do to get a normal life...
He didn't realize how much time he spent daydreaming as the loud school bell rang into his ears, almost forcing him to leap out of his chair. "Holy shit," he gasped under his breath, as - luckily - everyone filed out of the room except for Izumi, who was staring at his best friend in amusement, trying not to laugh.
"Come on, we've got stuff to do," Izumi ordered, regaining his composure as he latched on Sora's arm and dragged him out of his chair, "Really, really important stuff."
Izumi, who really, really didn't want to know, but couldn't help wondering, questioned, "What kind of 'stuff'?"
"Oh," Izumi smiled a highly not reassuring smile as he and Sora finally made it out of the classroom, followed by constant swoons and squeals from their fangirls, "Nothing much. Just having a highly civilized conversation with Uchiha Itachi."
Interesting, the sexy brunette thought as his fingers tapped on his plain, forest green locker, her growth is very unexpected, I must hand it to Nami and Souryu, she's turned out very interestingly.
"Oi, Uchiha!"
Oh dear, those two boys again, Itachi sighed to himself as he arched his back to catch the view of a spiky, blonde-haired, amber-eyed class chairman and the green-haired, hazelnut-eyed sports co-captain running towards him. He would've facepalmed, but he was too tired to do something so energy-wasting.
"Yes?" Itachi tried to make his tone sound very, very cool. Shinobi conduct: a true ninja must never show their emotions, the mission always comes first.
The green-haired boy, who seemed like he wanted to shout at him, got cut off instinctively by the chairman, Sora, was it? "Gomenasai, Uchiha-kun, but as my duty as class reporter, I simply must inquire about your current...lifestyle," Sora explained carefully, careful enough not to sound rude or demanding. Sometimes etiquette could be quite helpful.
Itachi took in their eager, innocent eyes and indignant faces, the way he looked before experiencing all that...meaningless war.
I shall simply humor them, Itachi decided, as he smiled and replied with an, "Of course, go right ahead."
Sora shot Izumi a triumphant look as he began taking out a notepad and a ballpoint pen, "Alright, where are you from?"
"Japan," Itachi stated simply.
"What do you think of our school?"
"I think it's a very illustrious school for willing, passionate students," Izumi nearly snorted at Itachi's goody-goody answer. Karma paid back and his reply was a stab on the foot.
"Alright then, what kind of electives are you interested in joining?"
"There are quite a variety that I can't possibly choose, but I am interested in joining this football team of yours."
"What others are you interested in joining?" Izumi piqued.
"Mainly competitive sports."
"So we shall all assume that you are an athlete, then?" Itachi's eyebrow raised up to his hairline. Sora wasn't actually being sarcastic, but that single comment hit Itachi like a ton of bricks. If it wasn't for the Uchiha's Personally Trained Iron Mask Technique (shortened to UPTIMT), he would've sweated buckets at any moment. His mission was 1. Not to reveal his secret 2. Not to talk about anything personal. He nearly blew it, even if that single fact was merely insignificant.
"I train," was Itachi's curt reply.
"Training to become the next Olympic Gold Medal Winner?" Izumi joked.
Itachi, uncharacteristically, shot the boy a blood-curdling glare, "No."
A shady cloud loomed over the two co-captains' heads, somehow that glare actually made them nervous. Holy shit, was this guy some kind of hot-headed psycho or something?
"Is this interview over?" Itachi asked, a little impatiently.
"Uh, sorry, not yet," Sora muttered quickly, turning his gaze away from the Uchiha as fast as possible, "just a little while more, then we won't bother you."
Itachi grunted, bringing up Izumi's suspicions even higher.
"Another question, the girls have been asking if you're interested in any of them."
Itachi, now extremely anxious but hiding it perfectly, demanded, "Isn't this supposed to be for a class newspaper?"
"Personal question, you don't mind, no?" Izumi sing-songed.
Itachi hesitated, then answered, "No."
"So anyone you're interested in?" Sora asked curiously.
The wait was deafening, and Sora could almost feel the time ticking away, one second after another, "Yes," was Itachi's answer.
"Tell us!" Izumi burst out impatiently.
Itachi, under his dark bangs, leaned closer towards the two boys, who could hear Itachi's hot breath lacing through their ears. Their hearts started racing, what was Itachi going to do?
"The person who I am interested in..." the two captains waited in stifling silence before Itachi answered.
What they discovered changed their lives forever.
"NAOTO!"
The shrill voice broke all sound barriers in Naoto's eardrums as she 'accidentally' banged her head against her locker. "Ow!" she grumbled under her breath, as two, slim yet strong arms took her shoulders and started shaking her repeatedly, the person squealing and jumping up and down like a crazy maniac.
"Jesus, Aya, STOP IT!" Naoto yelled, glaring at her best redheaded friend - who was already used to her being glared at - who was grinning like an idiot and her eyes glittering hearts.
"Oh my god, oh my god, Naoto, I can't wait for our date - I mean! - invitation, do I look good? Do you think Itachi-kun likes miniskirts? Or wait, do you think he likes me!" Aya blabbed incoherently. Naoto sweatdropped, "I don't know, Aya. And since when did you fall for guys your own age?"
That detail surprised Aya too. She liked older guys, not same-age guys...but who cared! That boy was SMOKIN' HOT!
"You can have him," Naoto sighed, taking out her gym clothes and piling them over her arm, "I'm not interested in him, anyway."
"How can you not be?" Aya questioned incredulously, "I mean...look at him! He's the real deal in here!"
"To me, he's just weird (A/N: No offence to Itachi fans here!)," Naoto muttered, flicking Aya's forehead affectionately before taking off to the changing room, Aya following her obediently like a puppy.
Aya felt shocked at Naoto's answer, was it even possible for one to say that they didn't fancy Uchiha Itachi?
Not saying a word, they entered the girls' changing room, which was packed with...girls. There was a buzzing of inconsistent chatter, towels being wrapped around some of the girls who had just finished their session, giggling and many, many other things Naoto didn't care much about.
She went to her locker, Aya's beside hers, and started stripping off her dark blue blazer and skirt and started on her tie when -
"Ara, ara, Miyazaki-san, you're still as undeveloped as usual, ne?"
Trying not to rip off her tie, Naoto turned to face the slim, tall and inhumanely gorgeous Asouji Koyomi (who was half-French and half-Japanese), the most desired human girl in the Middle School Section. Hell, even her seniors lusted after her.
Well, who wouldn't want a long, curly-haired blonde with gorgeous green eyes, not to mention a full bust that was envied by the other girls and Curves-In-All-The-Right-Places? Oh wait, NO-ONE.
Asouji (many people call her that) smirked and pointed her manicured, long finger at Naoto's obviously flat chest, "You'll never get a guy that way if you don't take your nutrients, Miyazaki-san." That particular comment made Naoto's normally calm eyes glint at the blonde whore.
Standing away from the glare-off, Aya flinched, and so did many onlookers who knew it was absolutely taboo to discriminate Naoto's growth, of all things.
"I'm not in a good mood, Asouji, so if you want to taunt me some more, I suggest you get ready to book an appointment with your surgeon," Naoto replied, venom dripping in her tone.
"A-Asouji-san! Stay down!" squeaked normally shy-girl Fujioka Hatsune, already stressed enough with the tension in the air.
"Mind your own business, Hatsune!" snapped Asouji. Hatsune flinched at Asouji's out-of-character tone.
Naoto backed up as Asouji neared closer to her, her green eyes emanating a cool, evil fury. One step closer and Naoto would've crashed into her locker.
Their glares met as Asouji slammed a fist through Naoto's locker, almost breaking it off its hinges.
Naoto glanced in mild horror at Asouji's brutal strength. "Why," she sneered, squeezing a piece of broken green metal in her hand, "is Itachi-sama so interested in you? Kindly enlighten me, Miyazaki-san." Asouji raised her hand securing the metal, as Naoto watched her hot, sweet blood drip from her palm, "Why did Itachi-sama ask your name first, instead of moi? Has everyone forgotten who Asouji Koyomi is?"
"World's Bitchiest Whore?" Aya mocked.
Naoto caught Asouji's eyes flash and the swift movement of her feet as Naoto's hand shot out and grabbed Asouji's arm before the girl could do any serious injury to Aya. With a hard, quick thrust, she swung her arm as Asouji crashed into another locker, dropping her weapon in the process.
"Naoto! Are you okay?" Aya cried, terrified beyond words.
"Aya I'm - SHIT! AYA, DUCK!"
A cry escaped Aya's throat as a enraged, wild-eyed Asouji lunged forward, scratched and bruised, but claw-like fingernails still intact . She growled, a blood-curdling aura rising up from her delicate skin, "YOU BITCH!"
It was in a rush of a moment, nobody saw her, or could perceive her actions, as the brunette dashed forward in front of the terrified redhead like a lightning bolt, arms ready for blocking. "Naoto - don't!"
Asouji's catlike claws slashed across the other girl's arms furiously. The whole room gasped as blood dripped down Naoto's arm and seeped through her shirt. Naoto blinked away tears as the wounds on her arms stung even harder. "Ouch," she said blankly, not taking in the disbelieved looks of her peers at her...boring reaction.
"Naoto!" Aya cried in shock as she grabbed her arm and stared in horror at the deep, gory wounds that made her stomach do back flips. The sight of it already made her feel nauseous. "Oh god, Naoto I'm so sorry - "
"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS!"
The girls stiffened when the voice entered their ears, the voice of the person who they wished had minded her own business. Satan's Bitch Tsuyomi Michiru.
"M-Michiru-sensei," Hatsune stuttered, her knees knocking against each other's at the sight of the tall but mildly muscular female sensei who brought fear to many of the other senseis' knees - including the male teachers. The brown-haired, onyx-eyed, unattractive 'troll' gave every girl a hard, unforgiving glare, until her gaze settled upon the blank, cerulean blue eyes of Miyazaki Naoto. Much to say, Naoto had never been her favorite.
"Miyazaki! You caused this, didn't you?" Michiru-sensei demanded, her voice loud and earth-shaking, her pudgy finger pointing at the unhinged locker with an Asouji fist-sized dent on it, not even bothering to ask her if she was alright. She didn't even glance once at Asouji's dumb-struck face.
"No, sensei," Naoto said calmly, not letting her pending rage take over.
"Don't lie to me, Miyazaki!" Michiru-sensei's grew louder and more predatory, "You...have always been the troublemaker since you came to this school! All this blood on the ground, you willingly picked a fight with another helpless girl didn't you? You little, wretched - "
Outraged at Michiru-sensei's unreasonable accusation, Aya stepped forward, her light-green eyes blazing like sparks, "How could you say Naoto did it when she knows that it's against the rules! Naoto has never - "
"Stay down, Aya," Naoto calmed the furious girl.
"But, Naoto - "
"Please, Aya, don't make it worse for yourself."
Aya, glancing at Naoto's absolutely deathly calm, stepped down but eyes still glaring at her teacher.
Seeing victory, Michiru-sensei's mouth twitched into an unmistakable smirk and pointed to the direction of the door, but before she could say anything, Asouji summoned the courage to exclaim, "Michiru-sensei! Miyazaki-san didn't do it! It was all my fault, I started it and I'm very - "
"Save it, Asouji," Michiru-sensei growled, as - like Aya - Asouji stepped down, shivering in fear. Silence dawned in the changing room again as the speechless girls glanced at each other, especially at Naoto with concern and guilt.
"Go get your wounds treated then come to me!" Michiru-sensei ordered. Seeing there was no choice, Naoto pulled up her skirt and brushed past Michiru-sensei without a word, emotions bubbling inside her, eyes glazed with silent fury. All eyes watched her as she left the room, slamming the door on her way out.
She was sure that if she hadn't used the Iron Mask so many times, she would've killed Michiru-sensei on the spot with her bare hands. With. No. Regrets.
"Hey, Sora?"
"Shut up, Izumi."
In any other situation, Izumi would have ignored his friend's deathly answers and continue annoying the shit out of him. Not this time though.
Sora's face was so dark that it made black look white, his amber eyes flashing a dangerous, malevolent bloody-red, blue veins protruding noticeably from his clenched fists.
"Look man, aren't we supposed to train the brats - " Izumi was yet again cut off by his friend's glare.
"Go ahead if you're up to it," was all he said, restraining the urge to punch the living shit out of Sora, who really was quite persistent at times.
Well, he definitely wasn't going to take up that offer. Attempting to train a bunch of weedy, obnoxious elementary school boys were like trying to babysit the children of Satan.
"I'll pass," Izumi muttered feebly.
Izumi watched as Taku and normally shy Kaoru wrestled on the ground, laughing and yelling, their uniforms collecting dirt and grime, but faces still cheery and carefree. He glanced at their teammates cheering and placing bets.
"100 yen to Taku!"
"1 ramen ticket to Kaoru!"
"2 pictures of Aya-neechan to Taku and Kaoru!"
Izumi could almost hear himself chuckling. Ever since Aya walked past the field with her hair down one semester, the boys had been innocently infatuated with her and admired her beautiful red hair and 'pweety' green eyes. Much to say, they were instantly taken by her childishly cute appearance. Even famous photographer's son Reo accepted the request as the team's official photographer. He was fit for the job, small and swift, and frequently set up auctions, and the main item on the list was always 'Aya-neechan's pictures.
Hell, even Sora bid for them.
The thought of Aya struck him again. It had been an inevitable situation, and Izumi was as guilty as hell for leading Sora into the truth that should have never been revealed to him.
Flashback~
"The person whom I am interested in is..."
Their hearts hammered against their chests as the suspense grew to torturous levels.
"...Asato Aya-san."
The captains froze and Itachi drew back, smirking slightly, turning his back on them and walking out, feeling content and satisfied with the boys' reactions.
But no-one was more shocked than Sora. His face was pale, body trembling slightly, gaping like a fish out of water.
Izumi tentatively placed a comforting hand on the boy's shoulders but he merely shrugged it off.
"Come on, we're going to be late for the next class."
Izumi would rather not ask him anything for the time being.
Flashback End ~
At the climax, Taku flung Kaoru to the ground, the other boy squealing in agony. Cheers erupted from those who bet on Taku and groans from the others who thought Kaoru might have a good chance at winning.
"At least the kids aren't trying to kill each other," Sora admitted absentmindedly.
"Yeah!" Izumi mentally sighed in relief as it seemed that Sora had cooled down, "At least we know they aren't going to murder one another."
Sora stared at him, "You just rephrased my phrase and just made the words slightly different, did you know?"
Izumi scowled, "Shut it."
Taku, cheery and bright-eyed, easily helped up his teammate before retrieving his awards. Izumi had to grin, Taku had pretty high potential at being a decent captain, but only if the goddamn kid could just sit down for 1 freaking minute and listen to what they instructed him to do...
Taku frowned and his eyebrows furrowed, "Oi, Reo! Give me another one! This isn't even focused on Aya-neechan!"
This caused an uproar as the team drew closer and took a look at the photo.
"Hey! Who's that guy?"
"Look! It's focused on Nao-neechan!"
"Eh, she's kawaii..."
"Baka! We can't follow Aya-neechan and Nao-neechan too!"
"Eh, this guy's looking at Nao-neechan really closely..."
Izumi and Sora exchanged glances. They were really curious about this now...
"Oi, what's going on?" Sora asked coldly, causing the kids to flinch at his icy tone. As compared to the normally laid-back Izumi, Sora could be a really dominating asshole when he wanted to be.
"Ah, gomen, Taku-kun, it seems like I messed the photo up a bit when some guy almost hit me with a chair..." Reo apologized blandly.
Sora raised an eyebrow as he snatched the photo from Taku's grasp and inspected it.
The photo was taken in the classroom, where three familiar people were sitting around a table, chatting quietly. As expected, Uchiha Itachi was not looking at Aya, in fact, he was more or less staring at Naoto. Intently. Lustfully.
"What the fuck..." Izumi and Sora growled.
"Oh, Naoto-san?"
Itachi was highly grateful that the teaching staff were all so easily manipulated and gullible. Getting a free bathroom pass from class during curriculum time was as easy as taking candy from a baby.
All his classes were as boring as shit, since he memorized the standard syllabus before attending Haruka Gakuen, and all the teachers either wanted to flirt with him, seduce him, or glare at him from the distance. As if he didn't have enough of that with the idiotic girls in the school.
He had been peacefully strolling around the hallways when he coincidentally encountered - of course - the injured and disgruntled Miyazaki Naoto.
Naoto looked up and stared blankly at him, "Don't ask."
"I won't," Itachi smiled at her.
She was clutching her bloody arm, looking away from meeting Itachi's eyes. Itachi glanced at her injury, "Allow me to carry you to the infirmary."
Naoto recoiled, "I'd rather not."
"Please, it will be my pleasure," Itachi smiled kindly at her again. Naoto hesitated, "No."
"Then let me walk you there."
Seeing there was no choice in persisting, Naoto gave in and walked alongside the triumphant brunette who was standing a little too close to her liking. She instantly moved away from him by a few inches, Itachi raised an eyebrow at her, "Is there anything wrong?"
Naoto shook her head, which made the pain on her arm burn even more, "I don't like being in close contact with people."
"Oh, my apologies."
Naoto didn't bother to continue the conversation as the two walked down the endless hallways that seemed to stretch forever as time ticked by, Naoto mentally begging her legs to hurry the hell up.
"Asato-san seems like a good friend to you," Itachi suddenly said.
Naoto flinched slightly but agreed in a soft tone, "She is."
"Good enough to stand up for you?"
"Yes," Naoto scowled, not used to being interrogated like this, "Aya stood up for me in the locker room just now."
"Oh?" Itachi asked in a lighter tone, "What happened?"
Naoto didn't know why, but she started blabbing out near-nonsense to this mysterious student, starting from her fight with Asouji to the accusations started by Michiru-sensei.
Itachi was deep in thought, his mouth forming a deep frown and his eyes emanating a silent fury, "You have very interesting friends, Naoto-san."
"Asouji is not my friend, neither is Michiru-sensei," she scowled.
"'Keep your friends close but keep your enemies closer'," Itachi advised.
Naoto had nothing to say to that.
"That asshole was lying to us," Sora growled, crumpling up the photograph as he stuffed it inside his pants pocket.
Sora had quickly led Izumi into the boys' changing room to discuss some plans, irresponsibly leaving twenty kids outside the field doing god-knows-what.
"Sora, this isn't something to get worked up about..." Izumi said calmly.
Sora shot him a petrifying glare as his fist slammed against the wall, causing it to shake, Izumi flinched at the noise and jerked forward unsteadily.
"I - hate - liars!" Sora yelled at his scared-half-to-death-friend, who was trying particularly hard not to hyperventilate at such a crucial moment.
Normally after seeing the Uchiha lusting after his crush, Izumi would definitely have gone mad and stampede into wherever Itachi was and kill him on the spot with his bare hands. Strangely enough, he wasn't acting like a kid like he would, and seemed to be taking care of the other child who seemed to be crazy about lying.
"Freaking, asshole!" Sora thundered, smashing his fist against the wall again, leaving a considerable-sized dent on it.
Izumi wanted to sigh, but that would definitely rouse the anger of his temperamental friend.
Sora grunted and slumped against the floor, his head bent, shaking in anger, "Izumi...you know what this means right?"
Thank god, he had calmed down, Izumi thought in relief.
"Yeah, I know."
Sora turned to him, his amber eyes now dull and intense, "There's something going on with Miyazaki and Uchiha."
Hi, sorry for the long wait! School work! -_-"
God, I had to rewrite this fanfic so many times! At first I considered Itachi trying to seduce Naoto, then maybe Izumi go nuts instead of Sora, who I planned to be a character who is always calm in public. Seems more or less he's the more temperamental dude -_-".
Oh by the way! There's a poll on my profile: Which of my OCs do you like the best?
I just really want to know which characters I should be improving so they don't become too boring or too Sue-ish, save for the characters from The Tale of Tsuki Ren. Though probably most people would vote for Haiku than the other three -_-". I already have a vote for Haiku and Sawako! :)
Heck, I didn't know Sawako would be liked, seriously, since from the start I made her a little bit too Yamato Nadeshiko-ish.
Kudos,
HinakoNamikaze99