"So what ever happened to that Rimi girl?"
"Why do you want to know?"
"She seemed pretty cool, despite being deaf of course."
"Just for that answer, I'm not going to glorify you with a response."
"No need to be all defensive man. I was just asking."
"Yeah, you were asking for the wrong reasons."
Kiba grumbled at my response but shut up by shoving a cheeseburger down his throat. I personally didn't care if he was mad or not. It's been weeks since that stupid party and now of all times he decides to randomly bring it up out of the blue.
"Rimi was really nice," Hinata said chiming in. "I hope we didn't scare her away."
"You didn't," I responded, glaring at the pinkette next to her. "Sakura on the other hand did."
She huffed. "I was only stating the truth. How was I supposed to know she'd understand me anyway?"
Shikamaru spoke up. "It wasn't the truth; you were just showing your true ignorance to all of us."
"Rimi's a nice girl. You shouldn't harshly judge people just because they're not like you," Neji put in.
I glanced at him. "Speaking from the man who's the most judgmental out of all of us. May I remind you of how you thought of the idiot?"
"And I've seen the error of my ways because of said idiot."
"Hey, I'm right here you know!"
Kiba chuckled. "You just admitted you're an idiot Naruto."
That caused Naruto to turn red in embarrassment, but he said nothing more. The more we talked about Rimi, however, the more I wish I could see her. Granted, I see her almost every day lately, but that's because I truly enjoy her company. It's like every day I learn something new about her that I never would've guessed. First was that her favorite color was green because she loves nature. She also likes spicy food, which really surprised me because she looked like a girl who would love sweet things more. Before her accident she used to do gymnastics, and now she practices once in a while in her spare time. She's definitely taught me not to judge a book by its cover.
Finishing my food, I threw my trash away and just listened to the rest of the group babble on about what they were going to study in college, and it made me think about what I wanted to do. Nothing has really grabbed my interest yet, and I'm definitely not going to go into business like my father wants me to do. Itachi already got sucked into that, and he assured me that I should do whatever I should aspire to do, not something that will please someone else.
"What do you wanna study Sasuke?" Kiba said, turning all the attention to me.
"I haven't figured it out yet," I responded in a bored tone.
Neji shook his head. "That's surprising coming from someone who seems to always have a plan."
"Not this time."
"What about a business like Itachi?"
"I'm not doing what my father expects me to do. Maybe before I would have just done it so he wouldn't constantly be on my ass, but now I could care less."
Naruto raised an eyebrow at me. "What brought on this change?"
I smiled a little. "Itachi, but only because of an awkward situation that involved Rimi and a family dinner."
"I wouldn't blame your family for not approving of her," Sakura said scoffing.
"And I wouldn't blame Rimi for punching you in the face one day."
Before Sakura could say something back, I felt a pair of lips kiss my cheek softly. Everyone's gazes widened a bit as I smiled, turning around and kissing Rimi back. She giggled, and then turned her violet gaze to Sakura.
"Just so you know, I don't talk because I don't like to unless I know people aren't as ignorant and pigheaded as you have shown. And the reason deaf people sound "weird" as you say is because either they were deaf at such a young age that they don't know how to form proper words and say them or because of the fact that they can't hear themselves speak. Just because I'm deaf doesn't mean I can't understand a word you say because, as you've noticed, I can read lips very well."
I smirked at her response, and Hinata signed to Rimi, making her laugh. Sakura looked back and forth between the two and pouted. "And you said I'm rude? You two are talking about me when I'm right here!"
"And this is my opinion of your opinion," she responded, extending a delicate middle finger. Naruto couldn't hold it in any longer and burst out laughing, followed by a loud Kiba, Neji chuckling, and Shikamaru shaking his head.
Did I mention that the more Rimi spends time with me, the more confident she becomes? She's still very sweet, but she won't take crap from anyone. I have such an awesome girlfriend.