Chapter 6
"So Kiba, couldn't your mom lend you some money so you could get by while you were travelling?" Sasuke asked. He was laying on a bed, next to Kiba's. Neji's bed was on the other side, but he was doing healings. The owner of the inn had allowed them to rent the room in return of Neji spending time healing their customers. Sasuke wasn't fond of that idea, but he didn't wanna go in against Neji anymore.
"We don't even have money, we build all of our food ourselves." Kiba said, shrugging, as he rolled over to look at Sasuke. "Most of the time we're in our wolf forms, so we don't need a lot."
"So what do you do then, hunt?" Sasuke asked. "Because I am starving, I figured this room would come with some food."
"I thought it was, but I didn't need any." Kiba said. "Perhaps Neji will bring some. And yeah, we hunt, and like I said, we build all of our food ourselves."
"Right." Sasuke said nodding. "What do you think of Neji?"
"What do you mean?" Kiba asked, looking at Sasuke.
"Just how I said it, what do you think of Neji." Sasuke repeated.
"...Well it's a good guy, he's working now to give us some safety, but he creeps me out sometimes." Kiba said. "It's like the guy has no emotions. You can barely find them on his face, to not even start about his dead looking eyes."
"He doesn't have dead looking eyes." Sasuke said. "And he has emotions, he just doesn't show them." Why was he defending Neji?
"Perhaps, I don't know him." Kiba said, shrugging. "But come on Sasuke. His eyes are white. White. That's not really bursting with life."
"Well my eyes are black." Sasuke said. "They're like death, way more than Neji's."
Kiba pulled his eyebrow up a little amused now.
"Are we getting defensive and protective?" He asked Sasuke with a grin on his face.
"What? No." Sasuke said, not looking at Kiba. "I was just saying..." At that moment, the door opened and Neji walked in. Sasuke chose to keep his mouth shut.
Neji didn't look at them as he walked into the room and walked directly to his bed. He undressed until he was only wearing his underwear and then got into the bed. He didn't admit to them he was tired, but both Sasuke as Kiba could spot the bangs under Neji's eyes.
"Did it go well?" Sasuke carefully asked. He wasn't sure how Neji felt about him right now.
"Yeah.. it were a lot." Neji said, as he put the covers over himself. "I hope both of you don't mind, but I'm going to sleep already."
"That's fine, I need to sleep as well. Nothing happened though right?" Sasuke asked Neji.
"No, it was fine." Neji's almost immediate response came.
".. Ok then. Goodnight." Sasuke said as he pulled off his clothes and got into bed. He looked at Neji though.
Neji turned onto his side and then closed his eyes.
"Goodnight." He said. Kiba mumbled something about sweet dreams as well, before it got quiet in the room. Until the guys started snoring softly.
The next morning, Sasuke woke up from another deep sleep. It took a while before he remembered that he was actually sleeping in a bed. He sat up, expecting to see Kiba and Neji sleeping in their beds as well. Instead, Neji's bed was already made and Kiba's was... just empty. Sasuke frowned and quickly pulled on his clothes, before going downstairs. There, he saw Neji and Kiba eating. Sasuke walked to the table and sat down as well.
"Well good morning, you could have woken me up." He said.
"We thought you were dead man, I even punched you and you didn't flinch." Kiba said, giving Sasuke a smirk. "Mister prick even yelled in your ear to wake up, but obviously you liked being in dream world a little too much. Had a good sleep?"
"You punched me?" Sasuke asked frowning. He should have woken up from that right? "No wonder my cheek feels numb."
"Yeah, it was a miracle you didn't wake up." Kiba said as he pushed his empty plate away, while Neji wasn't even halfway with the bowl of rice he was eating. "I decided to go look for a job so we got some money for if we start travelling again, so I guess I'll be taking my leave now. I'll ask the guy for some breakfast for you on my way there. You wanna drink milk or water?"
"Milk." Sasuke said nodding. He then looked at Neji, who hadn't said a word yet. "Did you sleep well?" He asked.
Neji nodded as he took another bite. After he had swallowed, he looked at Sasuke.
"Did you?" He then asked, while Kiba left the table.
"Well obviously, since you couldn't wake me up. That's the second time that happened." Sasuke said. To be honest, he only slept two times and both of those times he wasn't woken up by 'anything'.
"You don't feel sick right?" Neji asked. He took his cup of tea now and took a sip, coming across more calm than ever.
"No I don't." Sasuke answered. "... About feeling sick, what happened to you yesterday?"
Neji was silent for some time, as if he was thinking about the question. He took another sip, and just when Sasuke wanted to ask again, he got the answer. "...I guess I had some issues with myself." Neji then replied.
"... What kind of issues?" Sasuke asked, frowning a little. That was a weird answer. Sure, everyone had issues with themselves sometimes, but to almost get a heart attack from it was taking it to a whole new level.
"Expressing emotions has never been my strongest point." Neji answered, as he shrugged.
"Well that's not something new, what kind of answer is that?" Sasuke asked, confused now.
"Don't tell me you didn't see what was happening." Neji said, as he pulled up an eyebrow.
"Well you were crying, but that didn't mean you had to stop breathing." Sasuke said.
Neji shrugged.
"Let's talk about something else." He then said.
"Why? Was it something I did? If so, you have to tell me." Sasuke said stubborn as always.
"Like I said, I have issues with myself, nothing to worry about." Neji said with a slight sigh.
"... Fine." Sasuke said as his food was served and nodded to the waitress. "So how long are you planning on staying here?" He asked Neji, once the waitress was gone.
"I don't know, until I spared some money I think." Neji said. "Do you already know where you are going?"
"I'm not going anywhere until you and Kiba are done." Sasuke answered as he started eating. Man he was hungry.
"I thought you said you were not going to stay here longer then a night." Neji said, pulling up an eyebrow.
"Yeah well that was my plan, but then both of you decided you wanted to work here for a while." Sasuke said shrugging.
"Why do you want to keep on travelling so badly?" Neji asked.
"Because I wanna know who I am, and I'm pretty sure I'm not going to find that out here." Sasuke said.
"You don't know that by running into a village, sleep there and running out again." Neji said. "Remember that we met the guy with the glasses in an inn you originally didn't even want to go to?"
"Yeah but I don't see him here. And the second time we saw him in a forest. I just think I need to find the right city. I'm sure that guy isn't the only one who knows who I am." Sasuke said.
Neji looked at Sasuke with a frown now.
"...Are you this stupid?" He then asked. Was Sasuke really this slow that he didn't get the point at all?
".. Excuse me?" Sasuke asked, frowning slightly as well.
"You don't get what I'm saying at all Sasuke." Neji said. "I mean to say that we met someone who knows stuff about you or can help you in your life, even in places you didn't want to go to. If it hadn't been for me, you would have never met the guy. Perhaps someone will show up in here. Plus, there are more people than just that guy that know things about you. I assume."
"Yeah but I am not going to wait around for someone to travel by here." Sasuke said. "So I need to find that guy with the glasses, because there might be a chance that I won't find any other person who knows me."
"You have no idea where those people live and where they travel to." Neji said. "The chance is just as big that you will meet someone here as that you meet someone a little further away. We're walking further and further from the city we met someone who knows you. It's a wonder you didn't ask around if someone knew this guy."
"Well I'm not that smart apparently." Sasuke said, slightly annoyed. "If you wanna live here the rest of your life, then tell me."
"I don't, I just want to make some money and rest from our journey and the happenings from before." Neji said. "It's not like I absorbed the death of all of my friends and family members yet."
"Well fine, I already said that I was ok with that. But you sounded like you didn't want to travel at all anymore." Sasuke said.
"Perhaps that's what you assumed out of your worry." Neji said, shrugging. "We will find out more about you, ok. But for now, I want to stay here for some time."
"Fine. And I wasn't worried." Sasuke said as he took his last bite of his breakfast. "So am I supposed to find a job as well?"
"If you want." Neji said. "It would be best I think."
"Fine." Sasuke said. "I might as well make some money now that I'm stuck here."
"You're not stuck here Sasuke." Neji corrected Sasuke.
"Whatever. Better go and find a job then. See you later." Sasuke said and got up. He felt like he was stuck here, even though all he had to do was leave if he wanted to. He just couldn't leave without Neji. And that was so irritating.
"Oh my god, is that you, Sasuke?" Sasuke had been walking around for some time, in search of a job, when he was suddenly disturbed from his thoughts by the shriek of a woman. When he turned around, curious because he had heard his name, he saw a thin woman standing in front of him with red spiky hair that reached her waist, glasses and a look of adoration in her eyes. Whoever this was, she knew Sasuke.
Sasuke was silent for a while as he let the sense of feeling this woman was familiar wash over him and then he walked back to this woman.
"Who are you? Do you know me?" Sasuke asked, his brow furrowed slightly.
The woman now had a look of shock on her face, as she stared at Sasuke.
"I'm Karin, I can't believe you forgot about me!" She said. "You suddenly disappeared, what happened? And what are you doing in this town?"
"Karin..." Sasuke said, narrowing his eyes slightly. That did sound familiar. Like he had said it before. But what was that about suddenly disappearing? "How do you know me?"
"Well you used to come to my village during your training, and we were hanging out some time." Karin said, as she twirled some hair around her fingers. "Why won't you come home with me? You could ask me questions there." She gave Sasuke a flirty look now while letting out a seductive giggle.
Sasuke frowned a little. Was this girl hitting on him? He would just ignore that for now.
"Just tell me what you know about me." Sasuke said.
"..Did you lose your memory?" Karin now asked, a look of worry on her face.
".. Yes I did. So tell me everything you know." Sasuke said, this time sounding sterner. He needed to know what this girl knew about him.
"Well around three years ago you first appeared in the village, searching for new clothes." Karin said. "You told me you were training somewhere near but never told me anything about your master or your past. We were hanging out some time and I found out that you are very strong and have a lot of magical powers, and they became even stronger throughout the years. Not even two months ago you suddenly disappeared."
"Who was I training with? And where did you live, here?" Sasuke asked. "What kind of powers did I have?" So he did have powers. He knew he couldn't be as hopeless as he had been the past few weeks.
"I said you never told me who your trainer was." Karin said, sighing. "I lived in a village two days walking from here. And you have many different powers Sasuke. Your biggest power was the ability to call up and control fire."
"... I can do that?" Sasuke asked, frowning. "What is the name of that city? Did I live there or did I just pass by?"
"You just came there every once in a while." Karin replied, tucking some hair back behind her ear. "The city is called Ira."
"Why are you here then?" Sasuke asked. "And what other powers do I have? You need to tell me."
"I just moved." Karin said. "Sasuke, I have no idea how many powers you have. You barely used them. I only saw you lit a candle once, but you kept on telling me you were really strong."
"Well that sucks, you should have asked me to show you." Sasuke said annoyed. "So do you know where I came from?"
"I asked you but you never told me." Karin said. She then sighed. "Why don't we have a nicer talk? You're only repeating questions." She said in a whiney voice.
"Well sorry for wanting to know who I am. You can just tell me everything you know, then I wouldn't have to ask." Sasuke said annoyed.
"Actually, that's all you ever told me." Karin said, slightly blushing as she looked at the handsome man in front of her.
"So all I told you was that I was training and that I had powers? You must not have been someone I cared about." Sasuke said.
Karin was silent for some time as she kept on looking at Sasuke.
"...You also told me you cared about nobody." She then said. "That you could love nobody, except for one person. Your brother."
Sasuke was silent now as well as he looked at Karin. So he had a brother? And apparently that had been the only one he had trusted.
".. So who is my brother then?" He asked.
"You refused to talk about your brother too." Karin said.
Sasuke looked at Karin a little longer. God was he really that annoying?
"... Well then I guess I asked you everything you know." He said and turned around to walk away.
"Wait!" Karin said as she followed Sasuke and grabbed his hand. "Stay with me please! I promise I will be good company!"
Sasuke gave Karin a slight glare as he pulled his hand loose.
"Why would I want to stay with you?" He asked. She was such a... girl.
"I can cook for you, you can stay in my house, and I know jobs for you!" Karin said, attempting to grab Sasuke's hand again. "Please Sasuke, give me a chance! You have no idea how much I have missed you!"
"Missed me? You said we just occasionally hung out." Sasuke said, quickly pulling his hand away again. "But I guess your offer does sound interesting."
"Are you looking for a place to stay." Karin asked hopefully.
"Well I'm staying at the inn now, but I guess if you have a private room, I'm looking for a place again. One where there's food on the table." Sasuke said. He remembered how hungry he had been the other night.
"Well... I do have some free rooms, but to feed another person, I don't have enough money for that.. but if you pay me some, I would love to cook for you." Karin said.
"Well you said you could get me a job." Sasuke said shrugging.
"Yes, I'm befriended with a butcher and he needs some people to work in the shop." Karin said, nodding. "He sells good quality so he pays well."
"Well that sounds nice enough. Where can I find him?" Sasuke asked.
"At the end of the street, on the corner." Karin said. "It's the only house made of stone."
"Ok thanks. I think I will go there then. Where do you live?" Sasuke asked.
Karin just pointed to the house behind her.
"Here." She then said, smiling at him, once more giving him a seductive look. "Do you want to see it?"
"I think I will go get that job first. I'll see you later." Sasuke said and already walked away. He didn't need a tour from a flirty girl.
"Alright, I'll wait for you!" Karin said and waved to him, before almost running back into her house out of excitement.
Neji was massaging a man while he was listening to Kiba's blabbering. Kiba was talking about the new job he had found and that he could get a lot of money from it. He was also telling something about the people he met. Neji was listening, but on the other hand he was barely paying attention. It was not his best day, that was something that was sure. He was bothered by the feelings that he had lately. He would get tense when Sasuke was close, when he saw families walking down the street together he felt this stabbing pain in his stomach and he only felt like being alone. But for some reason, this last feeling didn't count when Sasuke out of all people was close. He didn't know why, it was a complete mystery to him. It made him confused and it made him panic from time to time.
At that moment, the door to the room opened and Sasuke walked into the room. He looked at Neji, or rather, he looked at how Neji's hands were on a man. Sasuke felt his stomach turn. Somehow he didn't like that sight. But he ignored it.
"Hey, I found a new place to stay." He said.
Both Kiba and Neji looked up now.
"Why?" Kiba asked, pulling up an eyebrow. "And where?"
"Well..." Sasuke said. He didn't want to admit to Neji that he had been right, but he had to. "I met a girl who knows me. A little. She lives here now and asked me to stay there for a while. She also got me a job."
"So it's just for you then?" Kiba asked, pulling up an eyebrow. "What's wrong with this place?" Neji let out a slight chuckle now.
"I would almost laugh, Sasuke." He then said.
"Shut up Neji." Sasuke snapped. "I don't know, I figured you two would be fine with staying here. And Neji and I need some time apart."
Kiba pulled up his other eyebrow as well, as he saw Neji shooting Sasuke a look.
"Why is that?" He then asked.
"Because I've been getting on his nerves." Sasuke answered, shrugging. "But she did invite the two of you to come eat at her place tonight."
"Who is she?" Neji asked, as he massaged the man in front of him a little more intense, working some knots away.
"Her name is Karin." Sasuke said. "I don't know a whole lot about her, but apparently, she has a crush on me."
Kiba snorted.
"Is it safe to live in one house with her then?" He asked. "Perhaps she wants you to pay rent in nature." He burst out laughing because of his own joke, and to everyone's surprise the man that Neji was massaging let out a chuckle as well. Neji let a slight smile come up to his lips now.
"Perhaps Sasuke wants to get harassed." He then said.
Sasuke looked at Neji a little startled. Where did that come from?
"I don't want to be harassed by 'her'." He said, not realising what this would sound like to the others.
"Would you like me to harass you then, love?" Kiba said, giving Sasuke an overly seductive look, which made even Neji laugh a little.
"Shut up Kiba. Do you guys wanna eat at her place or not?" Sasuke asked annoyed.
Kiba ignored Sasuke for a second to stare at Neji.
"Oh my god." He then said. "Neji, don't tell me you just laughed. You 'laughed'. Sasuke, pinch me, I think I'm having nightmares." Neji snorted. Kiba was insane, that was one thing that was clear.
Sasuke looked at Neji now. That smile on his face just looked... beautiful. But Sasuke quickly shoved that thought away and glared at Kiba.
"Stop making jokes and answer my question. Both of you." He said.
"Sure, free food is always appreciated." Kiba said. "The chick'd better be hot." Neji bit his lip to hide another smile that came up his face. Kiba just kept on making jokes and those stupid comments. They were so ridiculous that they were funny, something Neji welcomed after all the drama from past days.
"I'll come as well." Neji answered.
Sasuke looked at Neji now and then at Kiba and then looked away.
"Fine, I'll go tell her." He said. He didn't like Kiba being able to make Neji laugh and all Neji had ever done around him was snap or be emotionless.
"Won't you sit with us for some time?" Kiba asked. "Don't tell me we will only see you with breakfast or something from now on."
"Well I don't think you guys will miss me that much." Sasuke said shrugging.
"Of course we will, you're our buddy!" Kiba said, patting Sasuke on the shoulder. "Neji even said that he missed you around today." Within a second Neji was red and gave Kiba a death glare, obviously telling him to shut up with that look.
Sasuke looked at Neji now, surprised.
"You did?" He asked. The day before Neji had told him to fuck off because he couldn't stand him anymore. Neji was really confusing.
"Well we have been around each other for some time now." Neji said, shrugging. "No matter how grumpy and angry you always are, I did get used to it."
Sasuke looked at Neji a little longer and then stared at the ground. Now that was something new. He really thought Neji was just gonna be angry with him all the time from now on.
"I'm not always grumpy or angry." He said.
"What you wish." Neji said, slightly shrugging as he finished the massage.
"Riiight." Kiba said, sensing the tension. "So when will we meet up? Or are we going now?"
"I dunno, if Neji's done we could go now as well." Sasuke said shrugging.
"He's done, it was great, thank you." The man said and nodded gratefully to Neji, who nodded back.
"I'm going to wash my hands and tell the boss that we're not there tonight and then we can go." Neji said, as he departed to the kitchen of the inn.
"... Did he really say he missed me?" Sasuke immediately asked once Neji was gone. He looked at Kiba intensely.
"Yeah." Kiba said, nodding. "Why? Is it such a big deal?"
".. I just didn't expect it after all the yelling he did yesterday." Sasuke said.
"Did you have a big fight?" Kiba asked, frowning.
"Yeah. He told me all kinds of stuff, which came down to that I was just a plain evil person and that he wanted me out of his life. For some reason he.. just stayed." Sasuke answered.
"Hmm.. that's kind of weird." Kiba said. "Do you think that perhaps he just has the hots for you?"
Sasuke stared at Kiba as if he was going out of his mind now.
"What? No. Why would you say such a thing?" He asked.
"Oh come on Sasuke, you know you are gay, and he definitely is as well." Kiba said, snorting to the other.
"That doesn't mean anything? Not every gay guy falls for every other gay guy he meets." Sasuke said offended.
"You said it like you thought being gay was horrible." Kiba said, shrugging. "Heard that reaction more often. Why the surprise then?"
"Because he's Neji. He doesn't exactly like me you know." Sasuke said.
"That's what you think." Kiba said with a wink. "I saw the way he looked to your ass Sasu. And don't think I haven't seen you doing the same to him. I see everything."
"Well him looking at my butt is just because I have a nice one. That doesn't mean he likes me or has the hots for me." Sasuke said.
Kiba snorted.
"When I look at someone's butt it means I have the hots for that person." He then said. "But fine, believe what you want to believe. I think he has the hots for you and hates himself for it."
"No one goes from yelling at someone from suddenly having the hots for the other person." Sasuke said. "Do you have 'the hots' for someone?"
"Neji is a difficult person." Kiba said, shrugging. He then gave Sasuke a smirk. "I guess I kind of have the hots for Neji. I'm sure he could be an animal in bed."
"... You have the hots for Neji? And don't say things like that about him." Sasuke hissed a little. He didn't like this one bit.
Kiba pulled up an eyebrow as he looked at Sasuke.
"Why not?" Kiba asked. "Neji is damn hot, he's as beautiful as a girl, but has the behaviour of a guy. I'd love to get between the sheets with him once."
"Well don't say that. You can't do that." Sasuke hissed, but almost whispered. He didn't want anyone to talk about Neji like that.
"Why not?" Kiba asked again. He was smirking from the inside. He knew there was a little more going on between Sasuke and Neji. It seemed he was right.
"Because that's just not.. not appropriate." Sasuke said, using a word he would normally never say.
"Oh don't be so simple minded." Kiba said. "Don't tell me you never longed for a man's body before."
"Well I can't exactly remember if I did, now can I?" Sasuke said. He was not going to tell Kiba about that lake a few days before.
"You're a guy Sasuke, you must have felt something those last weeks." Kiba said. He then decided to shut up, because Neji came walking back to them.
"We can go." Neji then said.
Sasuke gave Kiba a final look and then walked to Neji. And he noticed himself that he might have walked a little too close. But he just pretended he didn't pay attention to the fact that their arms brushed and he could feel Neji's breath just slightly.
Neji looked at Sasuke as he passed him. He frowned for a second, before looking at Kiba and asking him to come as well. After a quick nod of Kiba, they left towards Karin's house.