Konoha High
Happy New Year, everyone!
Quick note: If the POV changes, the name of the character will now be italicized in the center of the page, not the left.
Really sorry it took forever for me to update!
12 - Complications
Sasuke Uchiha
I snatch a bottle of water from the fridge and stick it into my backpack before leaving the house for school. Upon opening the door, I notice Itachi's shoes are already gone. He left ahead of me, as usual. We used to walk to school together as kids, but when Itachi got to Junior High, we stopped because he had to leave earlier. Even now, when we're going to the same school, he insists on leaving early.
How he wakes up as early as he does, I have no idea. I wish I could walk with him, but I'm not a morning person. Without Itachi or anyone else, it's kind of lonely walking to school everyday, but the silence gives me time to think.
I'm not gonna let Kiba, or that Akari kid, or anyone get in the way. I'm going to talk to her. My walking pace quickens. Today, I'm gonna talk to Amaya.
Amaya Shimizu
What the… I walk around a crowd of girls to get to Sakura, seemingly repeating yesterday morning.
"Is Naruto in a fight again?" I sit down on the steps and sigh.
"Nope," Sakura shakes her head.
"Then what's going on? Is it Sasuke? Kiba?"
"Wrong, and wrong. You should go see for yourself," she smirks. "You might be surprised."
"Well okay…" I stand up and walk towards the crowd, where I almost get elbowed in the stomach by some girl. Everybody seems to be whispering instead of shouting. Just what exactly is going on here?
I get shoved and pushed around as I try to make it through. I bump into someone.
"Watch where you're going." She glares at me.
"G-Gomenosai," I apologize and immediately continue onward, through more and more people- all, apparently, are girls. Are they just crowding around Sasuke or something? Naruto always complained about stuff like this…
"Excuse me," I get around one final girl and look up to see who's the center of everyone's attention.
As I'd expected, it's a guy. He has brown hair, and he's sitting on a bench with one headphone in his left ear and a notebook in his hands. He's talking to some girl who's standing in front of him. No, it can't be…
"He's pretty cute, don't you think?"
"Cute? He's hot!"
"What do you think his type is?"
He looks up from his conversation, facing me, and grins. My mouth almost drops open when I realize who it is.
The girl next to me nudges me. "Oh my gosh, is he looking at me?"
"Hey, Amaya!" Akari motions for me to go sit next to him. Why'd he have to call my name out?!
"Who's that?" I hear several people whisper. Luckily, I'm still considered new and not a lot of people really know me yet.
My shocked expression becomes more like an irritated one. I take a deep breath and start walking to him, ignoring all of the people who are staring.
"Amaya?" He says my name again, as if he can't even tell if it's me anymore. He starts to stand and sling one strap of his backpack onto his shoulder. I grab him by the ear and start dragging him through the crowd, into the quiet hallway inside the school building.
"Oww…" He complains as I let go of his ear. "What was that for?"
"You're welcome."
"For what? And why didn't you just sit down and study with me?"
"It didn't annoy you at all that you were being surrounded by basically all of the girls at our school?"
"Well I was just trying to study and before I knew it, a crowd started forming around the bench I was sitting at and people kept trying to talk to me."
"Oh my God…" I sigh and face palm. "Don't you get what that means?"
"People started to notice me since I'm new?…"
"You're so clueless," I sigh once again. "People started to notice you because you're attractive."
Akari cheeks start turning red. "Y-You r-really think so?" He struggles to ask. Do I really have to answer that? Well he definitely looks different…
"Huh? I was just-" The bell rings for students to go to class. Thank God. I loop my arm through his, "W-Well then! We should get to class!" and start pulling him through the hallway.
[…]
"Read the last fifteen pages individually. When everybody's finished, we'll start the focus questions," Kakashi-sensei closes his own book and sets it down on his desk, then he starts sorting through some papers.
I stare at the sentences- the words, the letters in my book, but I can't seem to concentrate enough to read.
'Y-You r-really think so?' Why was it so hard to answer that question? I've known him for a long time- I should be able to answer something like that easily without any hesitation. And it was a question about how he looks. We should've been able to joke around about it.
I take a quick look to my right. His head is down while he reads the book. His messy brown hair covers his eyes. He almost looks like he did in Kiriga…
"Amaya? Do you need anything?" Kakashi-sensei asks, causing everyone to stare at me, including Akari.
My cheeks feel warm and I immediately look down. "N-No, sorry."
Concentrate. Concentrate. Concentrate…
[…]
"Are you okay? You look a little down." Ino bends down to so we can face each other while I'm sitting on the bench, changing my shoes.
"I'm okay. Don't worry, I get that a lot." I finish tying both shoes and stand up. "Let's go."
Right now we have P.E. We usually run a bit, do some warm-up exercises, and then start a sport or activity. When we get outside to meet most of the other students, the P.E. teacher, Guy-sensei, tells us what we're doing today.
"Before we begin, I have a short announcement to make: Tomorrow will be the start of a health and fitness unit. It'll be easy- we're just gonna take some basic measurements, so be prepared. If anyone would like to volunteer to assist the nurses, then please see me after class.
"Now, today we're going to concentrate more on some cardio! So let's start with ten minutes running or jogging around the track. Try your best to keep at a good pace- I don't wanna see any of you walking out there!"
Most of the boys start running, with the girls jogging behind them. I can see Naruto and Kiba racing, passing everyone else until they're at the front of the group. Kiba's winning, while Naruto shouts something I can't hear.
"This is normal." Ino's jogging next to me. "Naruto's always trying to beat Kiba in a race, but he's never done it yet. Come to think of it…, nobody has. Kiba's basically our school's track star."
"Oh, I didn't know Kiba was in track."
Hinata catches up to us. "He isn't," she says. "I've tried convincing him to join before, though. He loves running…"
"Yeah…, I think he's too lazy to commit to being a member of the track team."
"Wow…"
"I'm going on ahead, okay?" Hinata tells us. She starts to jog, then eventually run a little faster, passing more and more people until she finally catches up to Naruto.
"She runs with Kiba a lot." Ino must've seen the surprised expression on my face. "For exercise and to help her with her training."
"Training?" I ask.
"Yeah, her parents want her to take up Taijutsu. She's pretty determined catch up to Neji."
"Oh…" We continue running in silence.
[…]
My feet keep at a constant, steady rhythm. At some point, I passed Ino. Now I'm running alone. I don't mind it, though. It gives me time to think about things.
Akari… I don't see him. He's not in the group of boys in front of me, which is weird, because I remember him being faster than me.
'Y-You r-really think so?' He stuttered and even started to blush. Oh God, I hope he didn't think I meant it. But I'm not saying he ugly, either…
Stop thinking about that! Think about something else. Come on…
What was up with all those girls crowding him earlier? Is he really that popular at our school already? What if-
I let out a short scream and extend my arms to catch me as I fall. When I try to get up, I feel a sharp pain in my ankle and fall back down, grasping it and wincing.
"Amaya!" I hear someone shout. Soon enough, Akari is standing beside me, trying to help me up. When he realizes it's futile to try to help me stand, he puts one arm under my back, the other under my legs, and then lifts me.
[…]
"I don't think it's anything serious," says Shizune, who's apparently also the school nurse. "Probably just a sprained ankle, but you should still go get it checked by your doctor."
"Thank you," Akari tells her as she pushes aside the curtain to leave us alone.
I'm sitting on the small bed in the school's infirmary, and Akari sits on a chair next to it. After telling Guy-sensei what happened, he carried me all the way here. I got dirty looks from the other girls the whole time.
"I should go get Aiko for you," he stands up.
"I don't think her class should be disrupted because of me.."
"Well you can't stay here all day now, can you? And I'm pretty sure you can't get around by yourself. I mean, I'd carry you around everywhere if I could, but that probably isn't a good idea."
"Yeah, I know… You should go find Aiko, then. But you have to go back to class right after that, okay?"
"Got it." He pushes aside the curtain, and a second later I hear the door to the infirmary shut.
[…]
"You're such a klutz," Aiko jokes around as we exit the hospital. I'm on crutches now, and according to the doctor, I will be for the next few weeks.
"I know."
"You're lucky Akari was there."
"I know."
"And I thought I could take it easy now that he's here…"
"What's that supposed to mean?" We're standing by the car. Aiko takes my crutches as I open the door and get in. She throws them in the back seat of the car and then gets into the driver's seat.
"Akari takes really good care of you, I hope you know that."
I don't say anything, but I know it's true. He was always looking out for me back in Kirigakure.
I take out my phone and call Hinata.
"Amaya-chan? Are you okay? Akari-kun told me you left to go to the hospital with your sister."
"Yeah, I'm fine. Can you please talk to Guy-sensei and tell him I'll volunteer for the thing tomorrow?"
"Yeah, school just got out. I'll try to find him."
"Okay. Thanks, Hinata-chan. Bye."
"Bye." Click. She hung up. I put my phone into the car's cup holder and lean back into the chair for the rest of the way home.
[…]
Knock, knock! "Anybody home?" Somebody's at the door. I can already guess…
But when I open the door, it isn't one person. "Hey, guys."
"Konnichiwa~"
"Hey."
"Hi."
"Oi, Amaya-chan."
Kiba, Akari, Hinata, and Naruto. I motion for them to come inside, but Hinata shakes her head. "We're just here to check up on you real quick. You're alright?"
I nod. "Yeah, I'm just stuck on crutches for a couple of weeks."
"Wow, that sucks," Kiba comments.
"So you aren't doing P.E.?" Naruto asks.
"No! Of course she'll be doing P.E.," Kiba says sarcastically.
Kiba and Naruto start bickering. Hinata smiles at me apologetically because of them and then starts to speak:
"I talked to Guy-sensei," she tells me.
"He said you have permission to help with the measurements tomorrow," Akari finishes.
"Thanks for talking to him for me."
"Well…" Hinata's looking at Kiba and Naruto. "We should probably go. See you tomorrow, Amaya-chan."
"Bye," I wave at them as they walk away. Akari looks back at me and waves, too.
[…]
"You know…" Aiko begins as she takes a seat at the dinner table. "Akari-kun's grown a lot in such a short amount of time."
"Does he seem that different? Maybe it's just because you haven't seen him in a long time."
"You're saying that he looks exactly the same as he did in Kirigakure?"
No… In Kiriga, Akari's face was never…complete. His hair used to be longer, so his eyes were almost never visible since they were hidden by his bangs. That's probably the biggest difference- he cut his hair shorter and his "bangs" just barely reach past his eyebrows. You can see most of his face now.
Which is actually pretty attractive.
"So you just finally got to thinking about it," Aiko is smirking. Does my face give it away? Am I blushing or something? "So what do you think?" She asks.
"About what?"
"What Akari looks like."
"…I think he looks pretty much the same," I lie. I don't want Aiko bugging me about this. She's gonna assume I like him if I admit that he is attractive- even though that doesn't mean anything.
"Really?" She takes a sip of water. "I think he looks a lot better." There's a bit of a pause and she stares at me, waiting for me to say something, but I don't. "And I mean. A. Lot. Better." She emphasizes.
I stand up and put my dishes away in the sink. What is she trying to prove here?
"I think I'm gonna get ready for bed," I tell her.
"It's only 7:30."
"So?" I close my bedroom door behind me.
The next day…
"I think everyone is here…, Alright, let's go to the gym!" Guy-sensei shouts.
The gym has been sectioned off into small "rooms" by curtains. I go to speak to Shizune.
"Right, thanks for volunteering, Amaya-chan." She smiles. "So you can stay here and take this room. This is where they'll be taking height and weight after their abdominal measurements have been taken. You'll take half of the students because someone else volunteered to do this, too."
She shows me how to use the scales to get very accurate measurements and record them, then leaves to start doing her own job.
The first student to enter for their height and weight is Sakura.
"I hate abdominal exams," she mutters as she takes a step on the scale. "I mean, I don't get why we can't just take them with our shirts on. We dressed lightly to avoid doing that, right?"
"Yeah… it's awkward," I say. "And… 47.6 kilograms (105 pounds)." I find Sakura's name on the paper attached to the clipboard and write it down.
"W-Wait, what? You might have made a mistake…haha…ha…" She looks worried. I let her get on the scale again and her head hangs in disappointment as the numbers remain as they were the first time.
"I-I couldn't have… I tried so hard to…" She stands against the wall so I can get her height.
"S-Sakura, you should probably keep your head up so I don't put you down as 152 centimeters (5 feet)…"
She slowly raises her head. I set my crutches to the side and put a ruler above her head, then lower it until it won't go down anymore. She steps aside.
"162.5 centimeters (5'4)." I write it next to her weight.
"Good luck with testing," she says, still clearly unhappy about her results. She leaves and I wait for the next person to come in.
[…]
After 20 minutes, I've found most of the girls entering, just putting their arms through the sleeves of their shirts, while the guys just come in without a shirt on at all, holding onto them instead.
"Next," I call calmly. Most girls would probably be very excited to get this job and see all of the guys like this, but I remain unperturbed.
Akari walks in.
I take that back.
In Kiriga, Akari used to wear mostly concealing clothing- long-sleeved shirts, jackets, sweatshirts… It feels so weird now, seeing his upper-body so exposed. But he's definitely in good shape.
"A-Amaya! I didn't know you were volunteering for this part of the test…" He scratches the back of his head and averts his eyes.
"I didn't really choose it," I pretend to stay calm. "Shizune-san assigned it to me."
"Oh…"
"Well then… step on the scale." I wait for the numbers to stop changing and write down 54.4 kilograms (120 pounds).
"And now stand right here," I gesture to the wall marked by centimeters, almost like a tape-measure was taped to it. I pick up the ruler (Oh God…) start to get closer to him because I can't reach the top of his head from where I'm standing. I feel something pounding in my chest. Why's my heart beating all weird?
I hold the ruler in place above his head and he moves out of the way.
"God, Akari," I say jokingly, (more nervously, actually.) "180.3 centimeters (5'11)." I write it down. He's so much taller than I remember…
"You're just short," he teases. But I can tell we both know how awkward this feels.
"W-Well…" He quickly throws on his shirt. "Thanks." And he leaves.
[…]
"I'm pretty sure that should be a five. Negative five, actually."
"No, because…" My voice trails off as I look back through my work. I'm grateful but hate that he always catches my simple mistakes. I erase my original answer and correct it.
"Akari," Kakashi-sensei calls him. "Guy-sensei needs you to redo some of the tests in the gym."
"Okay?…" Akari stands up. "I'll be back in a few minutes," he tells me, then leaves the classroom.
"Hello~" Sakura sits down in Akari's desk.
"Need help?" She doesn't reply.
"…Good-looking, caring, sociable, nice, hot, and smart- You're so lucky, Amaya."
"Wait, what?"
"Akari, duh!"
"Oh, yeah I- Wait, what the hell? Isn't good-looking and hot the same thing? And, more importantly, you think he's hot?!"
"You're kidding me! Did you not see him today during P.E.?"
"I did. Why does that matter?"
"Don't lie," she smirks. Dammit.
"Yeah, I don't buy that," Ino joins in. She kneels down in front of my desk.
"What?" I'm confused…
"He obviously treats you differently."
"And?"
They both sigh. "Never mind," Ino and Sakura walk back to their desks. The hell…
The door slides open and Akari walks in. "Sorry," he says, panting before sitting down. "Guy-sensei said I needed to retake the abdominal measurement… Apparently the girl who took it earlier messed up and wrote the wrong numbers."
"Why are you apologizing to me?" I ask.
"Because," he grins, "You need me." His smile fades immediately. "N-No, I mean you need my help- Y-You need help in math- I-I'll- J-Just forget I said anything."
"Y-Yeah." I blush and quickly look down at my paper to hide it. We both awkwardly go back to studying for the math portion of the exam.
[…]
I lay in bed, trying to recall the events of the day.
After school, Akari and I started out walking home together then eventually began separating into different directions. We didn't talk much. Maybe he realized how weird I seemed today…
These past two days, Akari seems to be the main thing occupying my thoughts. Why?
I think about how close we were when I took his height, and what he said earlier when he got back to class: 'Because you need me.' I almost admitted to it right then. My heart starts racing thinking about it.
I do need Akari. It's hard to think I made it almost a month without him. He's always helping me, looking out for me, teaching me…
And now he's even good-looking. Not that it really matters to me… But all of the girls crowding around him earlier, talking to him just because of how he looks. They didn't know him before like I did. Why am I getting mad?… No… It's not just anger- this is jealousy. Why?
I think I know the answer, but I'm not sure if I can bring myself to fully accept it.
Sasuke Uchiha
Today, for sure. I've been telling that to myself for the past two days, and I'm doing it again today as I walk to school.
I didn't get to talk to Amaya. I was going to during lunch or math yesterday, but Akari took her away before P.E. ended. She didn't come back. I wonder what happened…
I'll talk to her before class starts today. This time, I'm really going to.
[…]
Where is she?… I don't see her anywhere in front of the school. I check inside. She isn't in the hallway, either… Is she in the classroom already?
"Sasuke-kun?" I turn around. Sakura is looking up at me.
"What's wrong, Sasuke-kun?"
"Nothing. Have you seen-" No. She can't know I'm looking for Amaya.
"Yeah? Who?"
"Never mind." I wave my hand dismissively and start walking to the classroom. I hear her footsteps behind me. I slide the door open and as I thought, Amaya is already here, talking to Hinata and Kiba. Her elbows stick out and she's balancing on one foot. She's on crutches. So I guess that's why she left early the other day…
Naruto joins them, putting an arm around Hinata. I can't believe he has a girlfriend now. And she's Hinata, too. Didn't seem his type. I mean, I know that Naruto's liked Sakura for years now. Did he finally give up?
Someone bumps into me from behind. "Excuse me, sorry."
I move to the side and Akari slips around me to get to Amaya. When Amaya sees him, she smiles and starts walking toward him, too. Akari gives her a brief hug, and when they separate, Amaya's face is red.
She smiles nervously as they continue talking. Why is she shy all of a sudden?
[…]
I'm sitting on my bed, constantly glancing at my phone. Once again, I've ended up not talking to her today. Why couldn't I just say something?
I think today, it was because of Akari again. It seems like they're really close, and that it would be awkward if I just joined in on their conversation. That is, actually, the only option I seem to have: joining them, because now Amaya is never alone since he's with her all the time.
Why do they have to be so inseparable now, when I finally decided to talk to her?
Someone knocks twice then opens the door just a crack.
"Lights out, Sasuke." It's Itachi.
"K. 'Night."
"'Night." He shuts the door. I turn off the lights and lay back in bed.
I'll talk to Amaya tomorrow. Just go to sleep.
But what if I'm just saying that, and I back out again because Akari is there? Just go to sleep.
Why does it matter that he's there, anyway? I can still talk to her. Just sleep already.
It's definitely because they're close. But the way she was acting around him today… Sleep.
Just. Go. To. Sleep.
Hinata Hyuga
I enter the school and start walking through the first hallway to get to the stairs. I'm a little later than usual, but knowing Kakashi-sensei, four or five minutes won't really make a difference.
"S-Sorry," I say as someone bumps into me. He doesn't respond. I turn around to see who it is.
His head is down, so I can't see his face, but I can tell (because of the spiky black hair) that it's Sasuke. He seems moodier than usual. Even he would say something after running into someone like that.
"S-Sa-"
"Excuse me!" I'm interrupted by another person running to slide past me. Her pink hair immediately tells me who she is.
"S-Sakura-chan!…?" I try to call after her instead, but she's already too far to hear me. I sigh and continue walking to the classroom.
[…]
"Ohayou," I greet my friends as I walk in.
"Ohayou~" Ino says back.
"Good morning," Amaya-chan and Akari-kun are almost in sync.
"'Morning." Naruto finally mumbles. He looks up and grins, but he doesn't walk to stand next to me like he usually would.
Instead, Kiba does. "Oi, Hinata, you're later than usual."
"Yeah…" I stand next to my seat by the window. "I forgot to prepare a bento last night, so I had to do it this morning…" I look outside, down at the front yard of the school. I spot Sakura-chan. It seems like she's trying to talk to Sasuke.
"Is Sakura actually talking to Sasuke?" Amaya asks. She must see them, too.
"Oh, yeah, she said she'd try to get him to calm down or something," Ino tells us, but she doesn't look out the window.
Sakura's frantically gesturing with her hands, but it doesn't matter because Sasuke isn't even facing her. Now Naruto's at the window, too, watching.
Sasuke finally says something and walks away from her, back inside. She looks down and lets her shoulders slump down, too. She doesn't move for a few seconds, but then she starts walking inside. Sakura probably doesn't want to be so close to Sasuke after their conversation. What did he say, though?
Sasuke appears at the door. He glares at Amaya for some reason and then sits down at his desk. Does he have something against her, now, too?
Naruto slides the door open and leaves the classroom. I hear his footsteps go down the hall, then stop before they get very far. I open the door and look out to check on him. I'm about to go out when I see Sakura there, with him.
Naruto looks down at her, but she doesn't face him.
"Sakura, what did that bastard say to you?" Naruto asks. But I know he shouldn't have; he just made her feel worse. She doesn't say anything and tries to walk around him, but he doesn't let her.
"Sakura-chan…?"
"Just leave me alone, Naruto. You should worry about Hinata, not me." She tries to go around him again, and this time, he lets her. I pull my head back into the classroom before they can notice me. I can't let them know I was eavesdropping- I didn't even realize I was doing it until Naruto turned around and almost saw me.
[…]
"It took place over a thousand years ago, Sensei," I answer. Kakashi asks Akari the next question.
I lean back in my seat.
Naruto didn't say anything back to Sakura. At that moment…what was he thinking?
[…]
"Hinata?" I almost jump when I hear Naruto say my name.What is he going to tell me?
"Y-Yeah?" I stutter. I don't think I'm ready for what he's about to tell me.
"Are you okay?" He asks.
"Yeah, why?"
"Because something seemed wrong in class."
"You know,…" I trail off before I can continue. I don't think I can bring myself to tell him. And what would I have told him? "I overheard you talking with Sakura and thought…" What, exactly?
"I know… what?" He stops walking.
"N-Nothing, it was something stupid."
"Are you sure it was nothing?"
"Yeah. I was just going to say something about the exams and stuff." I lie.
"Well that isn't stupid," he smiles to reassure me. "I mean, I'm pretty stressed, too, but since you've been helping me I'm pretty sure I'll be alright. You'll be fine!"
I smile back at him and nod. "Thanks." I guess this means he didn't really have anything to say to me about Sakura.
Amaya Shimizu
"Do you wanna come over again?" I ask Akari.
He shrugs. "Why not?"
We're walking home, but we haven't passed the place where Akari's staying at yet.
"Amaya."
"What?" I continue walking. He taps me on the shoulder and I turn around.
"Would it hurt to make another quick stop today, too?" He points to a café by the park. We're still pretty far from my house, but…
"Fine," I pretend to complain.
Akari holds the door open for me and I line up to order. There's only one person in front of me.
"You're not even gonna ask me what I wanna order?" Akari asks teasingly.
"You think I don't remember?" The person in front of me finishes and walks off to the side. I take their place at the front of the line and give my order to the person at the register: "Two cups of hot chocolate, please."
[…]
"Miss Akari? Your order is ready." I go up to the counter and pick up two really warm cups of hot chocolate. I hand one to Akari.
"Why did you have to use my name? I'm sure they thought that really was your name," he complains, but he laughs anyway.
I smirk at him. I always did that whenever we went to cafés or restaurants, much to his embarrassment. We exit the café.
"Anyways… What now?"
"You know what." I turn around and look at the park. When I turn back, Akari is nodding.
With Akari, winters in Kiriga were spent at the park with either hot chocolate (because we just can't take coffee) or some other type of warm food. We'd sit at one of the benches or at the swings. We would talk about anything, or not talk at all just to observe our surroundings and enjoy our drinks.
Akari starts running toward the park. I start running, too, but stop before I can even get onto the grass. I didn't bring my crutches today because, well, I didn't really feel like it. Besides, the doctor said I'd be fine as long as I took it easy. I'm just surprised nobody's questioned me about it today.
"You're gonna spill your hot chocolate!" I shout at him. He slows down a little, but doesn't stop until he gets to a swing. I walk fast to get to the one next to him.
"And you said I was gonna spill it~" He takes a sip from his perfectly dry coffee cup.
"Whatever." I drink my hot chocolate, too. It's great- not too hot; not too cold. I take out my phone.
"What are you doing?" Akari asks.
"Texting Aiko," I tell him as begin to type. "Just telling her I might not be home for a while."
Naruto Namikaze
The first thing I do when I get home from school is flop onto my bed. I should probably be studying, but I never do homework right when I get home from school- and I don't think I'm gonna start now, either.
I hear a soft knock on the door.
"Naruto?" It's my mom.
"Yeah?" I actually respond to my mom. Unlike my dad, she checks up on me, talks to me, and listens to what I have to say, despite being just as busy.
The door knob turns and my mom comes through the door holding a basket full of laundry.
"Here." She sets it down by my closet and then stretches, straightening out her back. "That was heavy!" She exclaims as she takes a seat next to me on my bed.
"How often do you wash your clothes? Do you even wash them?!"
"Mom!" We're quiet for a second, but then we both start laughing. It might sound lame, but I really do like the small moments like this.
I sit up so I can face her properly. We've both stopped laughing, but she continues to wear a smile on her face. She scoots closer to me and puts a hand on my shoulder.
"So how was school?" She asks, as if I'm still in primary school.
I sigh, but reply anyway. "It was alright."
"Do you understand everything okay?"
"Yeah."
"If you don't, you can always ask your fa-"
"I said yeah," I cut her off, maybe a little more harshly than I intended to. But I know what she was going to say. She was about to go on about my dad, and how he was a really good student and grew up to become Hokage and so on… I don't feel like hearing about that right now.
"I-I mean…, I already have someone to help me," I say.
"Who?" She looks at me curiously.
"Just a friend from school."
"Mm…" She takes a look around the room before getting up. "Your room is a mess!"
"You just noticed?" I fall back onto my pillow.
"You better clean this weekend," she starts walking back to the door. "But can you do something else for me, first?"
"Uh… What is it?"
"I'll cook dinner tonight. For the three of us- well, four, since Jiraiya is here."
"And?"
"So I need eggs and some vegetables. Can you please go pick some up at the grocery store?"
"You want me to walk all the way there?…" I groan.
"But Naruto…"
"No way!"
[…]
I'm walking home, carrying a plastic bag containing the ingredients I bought in my right hand. As I walk by the park, I decide to sit down in one of the benches for a while.
I take a look at the grocery bags and laugh a little. My mom is one of the very few people who can actually get me to do stuff like this even after I've refused. She and possibly Sa-
No. My smile fades. Even though the thought didn't mean I like Sakura like that, it feels wrong to think that while dating Hinata.
My thoughts are interrupted when I feel my phone vibrating in my pocket. It's my mom. I hit "accept".
"Hello?"
"Naruto? Are you okay?"
"Yeah, sorry, I'm almost home. I just uh, ran into someone from school."
"Mm… Well hurry, I need to finish before your dad gets home."
"K, bye." I hang up. I almost forgot that hewas going to be with us for dinner, too. I don't know if I'm happy or mad, because there are two ways I can see it: 1) A nice family reunion type of thing because the three of us are finally together, or 2) One of those long, awkward moments where my dad really has to "catch up" on what's been going on with me since he hasn't had time for me in the past few months.
I know I can't really blame him- he's busy all the time and comes home late and he's probably a lot more stressed than I am…, but hey, I'm a teenager- I get selfish sometimes.
I stand up and continue my walk back home.
[…]
"Mom! Tadaima!" I yell as I walk through the door.
"Okairi, Naruto. You have what I asked for?"
"Yeah." I set them down on the table. She looks through it and smiles at me, but I know she's just making sure because she can't quite trust me. I don't blame her because I wouldn't, either.
I can be irresponsible and inattentive a lot, and sometimes it's on purpose. Sometimes, I just feel like tuning everyone out.
But I won't be doing that today. I've decided that I won't let it be one of those awkward moments with my dad. I'm just gonna talk to him normally and make it easy on him.
[…]
"Okay… Yeah. Arigato, Hinata. See you tomorrow." I put my phone down and shut my notebook. I've been studying with Hinata while waiting for my mom to finish cooking and my dad to come home. Based on the smell coming from the kitchen, I'm guessing my mom's almost done.
"Naruto,'' my mom calls, "Can you please set the table?"
"Alright." I stand up from my desk and start jogging downstairs. I take out four placemats, four plates, and four pairs of chopsticks, then start setting them on the dinner table.
"Your father should be home any minute now," she says cheerfully.
I sit down at the table and wait.
[…]
"Where's Minato?" Jiraiya demands as he sits down next to me.
"He'll be here soon," my mom says, now sounding optimistic but doubtful.
We're all sitting down now, just waiting for my dad. My mom hasn't even placed the food on the table yet.
Please, dad, don't let us down now, I think. If he backs out now…
"Naruto," my mom's forcing a smile. "Could you give me a hand? I don't think I can carry all of the food here myself."
"But aren't we waiting—"
"Wouldn't want the food to get cold, right?" She stands up and starts lifting a large plate of still-steaming fried rice. I sigh and start helping her, my head beginning to lower slightly in disappointment. Dad…
All of the stuff is spread out on the table now. My mom forces a wide smile.
"We'll wait just a little longer, okay? We should have more faith in your father."
[…]
My mom sighs. "Itadakimasu," she mutters and starts putting some things on her plate. Jiraiya gives me a look that tells me I should probably just go along with it.
I clap twice, "Itadakimasu." I repeat instead. I don't want to make her feel any worse.
As I fill my plate, I can't help but think about my dad again; did he forget about us? Bail on us? Or is there an emergency over where he's working?This might sound bad, but I really hope it's that last one.
Amaya Shimizu
"And don't you remember that one time when Yakumo fell asleep on the roof after lunch?"
"The teachers got so mad! God, the expression on Yakumo's face when she woke up… Man I still have no idea why they blamed us for that!"
"Yeah. Kurosawa-sensei still bugged me about that even after you left."
I didn't even realize how long we've been here. We've both been too distracted reminiscing to pay attention to how much time's passing. There's a lot that's happened back at Kiriga in the month that I was gone.
"Man… I'm sorry you had to deal with that alone," I joke around. But Akari doesn't smile.
"It was hard dealing with a lot of things alone." I look at him. His eyes gleam as they reflect the setting sun.
"I'm really sorry…" Silence. He doesn't respond.
"You know… it wasn't easy for me, either." I tell him.
He shakes his head. "You mean it was really that hard to just come and talk to me before leaving?"
"Akari—"
"You should've just told me that you were going to leave! Do you have any idea how it felt, knocking on the door of a house I didn't know was empty, and hearing from a neighbor that you and your sister moved off to, what—Konoha?!"
"It's not that simple!" I snap. That shuts us both up.
After a minute of awkward silence, Akari looks back at the sun, which has almost set completely.
"I should go," he says coldly. I don't say anything back.
Author's Note:
It took forever, but Chapter 12's finally been published! Thanks to those who've been patient and stuck with me in the time that I was writing this.
I got stuck on a few parts of writing, re-writing, revising (etc.) this chapter, AND I was really busy (I kid you not) over Winter Break. I wasn't slacking off! ^o^"
I really hope you guys see an improvement in my writing, from Chapter 1 up to now. I've read over this many times, but if you do happen to find any typos, misspellings, grammar errors, etc., please tell me and I'll fix it ASAP.
Any questions? Is there something I didn't clarify enough in "Konoha High"? Just ask through PM or e-mail (address in profile)! Oh, and I update my profile quite frequently when I'm in the process of creating a new chapter, just so you know I haven't forgotten about you all (:
Thanks for reading!
DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO/NARUTO: SHIPPUDEN!