Sasuke sat in the window sill and looked out over the morning yard of the school. His first period was a free period, and he had absolutely nothing to do. Boredom had crept up his spine and inserted itself into his bones ever since he came to this class. Sasuke was tuning out Naruto, who was rapidly talking to Shikamaru and Kiba very loudly. Early in the morning wasn't Sasuke's speciality as he laid his head on the cool window.
Nine years. It's been nine years since he ran away and got his life back. Sasuke, while stoic and calm, couldn't remember if he'd ever been this happy with his father, not even when his mother was alive. He opened his eyes and looked at Naruto and Shikamaru. The loud one and lazy one who were both his friends. He had Kakashi who was like a father/brother to him. Only one more thing needed to be added to make the story complete. Her.
Sakura. After nine years, he could still picture her bright pink hair and apple colored eyes. She would have made his life perfect. Sasuke had thought about tracking her down, but he didn't know her last name. He had the impression that she moved around a lot so it was doubtful that he'd ever see her again and get the chance to thank her. But sometimes he couldn't help but think that maybe she would show up because she moved a lot and end up at his school. Fantasy was more fun than reality.
"Have you seen her?" Naruto asked Shikamaru. Sasuke, who had been able to tune Naruto out for most of the morning, reached his 'tune-out' limit. He pivoted his head from the window to watch Shikamaru and Naruto talk.
"Do you really need a girlfriend that bad, Naruto?" Shikamaru asked, sarcastically monotone. Naruto stuck out his lower lip and turned his head to the side.
"You can't help but see her. Her hair is pink, for God's sake," Naruto excused. Sasuke finally took his head from the window and gave the conversation his full and total attention. Only Shikamaru seemed to notice that Sasuke was listening in, giving no effort to hide his eavesdropping.
"So she dyes it. The poor girl is probably scared of this place enough without you going up to her and trying to make friends," Shikamaru scolded with one eye closed and the other drooping.
"Whatever. She probably could use a friend. Actually, she reminds me of a friend I had when I was a kid. She had pink hair too," Naruto said, more to himself than to anyone else. He looked back up Shikamaru only to find that the lazy asshole had fallen asleep in his chair while sitting up. Naruto felt his eyebrow twitch in his annoyance.
The bell chose at that moment to ring and Sasuke got up and headed straight for the door without a backwards glance to his friends. He was shaking a little bit now. The excitement that he might actually find Sakura was throwing adrenaline into his veins faster than Naruto to choke down a bowl of ramen.
"Oi, Teme, where are you going?" Naruto called from inside the room.
"Library," he said. Sasuke didn't know if Naruto heard him, but he didn't stop as he weaved in and out of the people in the school. This was lunch period and he intended to find a girl with pink to prove or disprove his theory. However, ten minutes later the whole school was gathered in the cafeteria but there wasn't a pink head in sight, dyed or otherwise.
Sasuke's temporary rush just exhausted and he felt disappointed. He had been so sure that it would be Sakura but nothing could be found to say she was there. Sasuke let out a sigh and shoved his hands in to his uniform pockets and strutted out of the lunch room. Discontent rolled through his body as he walked the clean, empty halls. He stopped at his locker and took out his lunch then proceeded to the roof where he could be alone.
Sasuke was trying to get the disappointment off his back when he rounded a corner and bumped into somebody on the other side. The body was smaller than his and didn't carry as much momentum as he did and the body fell on the floor, landing on her butt. So much for being alone in the halls, Sasuke thought. He looked down at the girl and saw the brightest pink hair he'd ever seen.
Not…happening.
The girl with the pink hair was rubbing her backside at she looked up at him. Her eyes were green, apple green. They were alight with annoyance instead of the last time he had seen them when they had held concern for his well being. This was her. Sasuke couldn't mistake her for whole world. He was snapped out of his shock as he realized she was talking to him.
"Watch where you're going, huh?" she said in a softly scolding tone. Sasuke stared, and he didn't offer to help her up, nor did she ask for his assistance as she stood on her own. She didn't even come up to his chin. When they were eight, they were eye to eye. Now she would be staring at his chest if she didn't look up.
She did look up, and she stared too. Sasuke didn't tell her to quit. His mind was racing with the possibility that she could really be here. The chances were so slim and yet he knew he wouldn't mistake her and she was standing right in front of him. But what if she recognized him? If she could identify him as Sasuke Uchiha, his lies would be out in the open. All his friends would be shocked, Kakashi might even take him back to his father.
His father would probably be pissed. But even if he did go back to his father, Sasuke wouldn't be a defenseless eight year old. On the other hand, he had staged his murder and that was a crime. He could be put in jail. Even if Sasuke told the authorities about his father's abuse, the fact that his father was still prominent in police affairs would hinder formal investigation. He had followed his father in the news and could tell when his money was at work in the police headquarters.
However, if Sakura didn't recognized him he wouldn't be able to thank her without telling her why he was thanking her. Sasuke had been wanted to thank her ever since Kakashi had found him in the woods. Without her, he would have endured, but now he had a life he loved and he wouldn't have had it without her. It seemed selfish not to thank her for that. But thanking her would incriminate himself and he wouldn't do that.
"Do I know you?" a voice asked. Sasuke realized that it was Sakura who was speaking to him. He looked her the eyes.
"What?" he was so lost in thought that he had no idea what she was talking about.
"You look familiar. Do I know you?" she repeated. She stood, looking up at him, waiting for an answer. Sasuke knew he had to say something. Tell her the truth and go back to his father, or lie and never get the chance to thank her for the new life he built with the help of his friends. A better man may have told her the truth, but Sasuke made the split decision to lie.
"No, I'd remember someone with pink hair," he said casually, while inside he felt as far from casual as he could possibly be.
Coward.
She glanced up, probably looking at her hair. "Yeah, sorry, stupid question. Look, I'm new here and I'm sorta lost. Can you point me in the direction of the cafeteria?" she asked. She was staring. Sasuke found it slightly unnerving.
"Yeah, I'll walk you there," Sasuke said. Still shaken, he turned and started walking from where he came. He heard footsteps following him and out of the corner of his eye saw Sakura standing beside him.
"Thanks. You're a life saver. The school's really big and I'm not used to it," Sakura explained away. Sasuke nodded his acknowledgement, peeking glances at her from the corner of his eye.
"It doesn't take long to get used to it. Where'd you come from?" Sasuke asked. He couldn't believe that he was walking side by side with her. He had dreamed about seeing her again for nine years and he felt that this was a dream and any moment he'd wake up.
"Three states over. My dad moves around lot and my mom and I just have to go with the flow. But they promised that this would be the last time until I graduate," Sakura chatted. He was surprised by how flowing the conversation was going. He had a difficult time holding a conversation with people unless they were Naruto, who refused to shut up, or Kakashi, who liked to interrogate him on random days about a random event that happened.
"Army brat?" Sasuke asked, lifting an eyebrow. Sakura grinned.
"No. My dad's an author. Every time he starts a new book we move to the place where he get the best inspiration," Sakura told him. That's one I haven't heard.
"And your mom's okay with that?" Sasuke asked. He couldn't picture a mother being happy every time her husband started a new book.
"She's a nurse, so it's not hard for her to find a job. Hospitals could always use another nurse and it gives her a variety of experience," Sakura explained. Sasuke nodded. As they rounded a corner they were on the threshold of the cafeteria and Sasuke felt that this conversation was being ended to quickly.
"You can sit with me and my friends if you have no where else to sit," Sasuke suggested. Sakura flashed him a smile.
"Thank you, that'd be great," Sakura accepted. He nodded and stepped into the loud cafeteria and found his way into the back corner where his friends sat. Sakura followed and Sasuke felt eyes in the back of his head. He wondered if Sakura was staring at him again. As they approached his table he heard Sakura gasp. Sasuke turned his head to look at her.
"Sorry, you never told me your name," Sakura said as they walked. Sasuke suddenly had an eight year old flashback. When they were under the tree, she had said the same thing.
"Sasuke," he told her. They stopped in front of his table.
"Hi, Sasuke," she said with a smile. Sasuke felt his throat constrict. They were nearly having the same conversation. Suddenly her smile faded and she got a hazed look over her eyes.
"Are you sure that I don't know you?" she asked. He nodded. Suddenly there was a scrape of a chair on the floor and Naruto stood up.
"Sakura?" he gasped. Shikamaru, Neji, Shino, Choji, Lee, and Kiba turned their gazed from Sasuke and Sakura to Naruto. Sakura looked over at said boy and gasped as well. A sudden smile falling on her mouth.
"Naruto?" she said eagerly. Naruto rushed toward Sakura and encased her in a huge bear hug while twirling her around. Sasuke felt a stab of annoyance.
How the hell do they know each other?
Or perhaps the annoyance was jealousy.
"Sakura, I can't believe you're really here. I haven't seen you in years. What have you been up to? Where do you live now? How's your mom and dad?" Naruto shot off question after question as he was twirling her. Sakura laughed as he put on back on her feet.
"It's good to see you too, Naruto. I've been up to the same old stuff. I live next to a ramen shop and think of you every time I pass it. My parents are fine. How's Jiraiya? What brought you here? You haven't been fighting, have you?" Sakura answered and asked at the same time.
"Jiraiya's still a perv. I got kicked out my old school when twelve for fighting and Jiraiya moved us here. Haven't been fighting all the much lately," Naruto grinned. With each passing second Sasuke seemed to get more aggravated. They were so comfortable with each other. It was like they were old friends or friendly ex's. Sasuke felt his teeth grinding.
"Wow, you and not fighting. It must be really hard," Sakura laughed. Naruto shrugged and punched Sasuke's shoulder.
"Not hard when I got him to fight with," Naruto said, wrapping an arm around Sasuke. Sasuke proceeded to remove Naruto's arm from his person.
"Don't touch me, Dobe," Sasuke said, flinging Naruto's arm away from him. Sakura looked between the two. Sasuke found that he didn't like it. It felt as if he was being compared to Naruto. He hated being compared to anybody.
"Get over it, Teme," Naruto returned. "So how long are you here for this time, Sakura?"
Sakura tore her gaze away from Sasuke to look at Naruto's grinning face. She smiled. "Until I graduation from high school."
Naruto blinked. Then his eyes widened comically to the size of plates. A contagious grin spread on Naruto's lip, as if he couldn't contain it or hold it back. He grabbed a hold of Sakura again and twirled her around again, while laughing. If Sasuke hadn't been so mild mannered he would have ripped them apart. However, he contented himself to watching them with his jaw locked until Naruto put Sakura on her feet again.
"Hey, Naruto! Aren't you going to introduce us to your lady friend!" Kiba asked in his normally loud and obnoxious voice. Naruto turned to the table after letting Sakura down and grinned sheepishly while scratching his head.
"Sorry. This is my friend, Sakura. I met her six years ago," Naruto started. Sakura stepped up and smiled at the table.
"I'm Sakura Haruno," she said. Everyone stared at her. Sasuke knew they were staring. Her face had just lit up in a certain way when she smiled that made her look like an angel. Damn it. Sasuke wasn't the only one unable to reflect her charms.
-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-
Naruto and Sasuke leisurely strolled by the park on their way home after school. Naruto was gabbing about something school related, probably something to do with the English teacher. Sasuke was only half paying attention as he recalled the rest of the day after lunch. He found out that Sakura had two classes with him in the afternoon. They had math and English together. Two of the most demanding subjects where he had to half pay attention and was now distracted full time.
All afternoon Sasuke had been trying to come up with a way to thank her that didn't make him look like a moron. Randomly saying 'Thank you' when she hadn't done anything was slightly weird, so that idea was out. He had been trying to come up with a way to say it but his mind kept drawling a blank, much to his annoyance.
"Oi, Sasuke. I'm talking to you," Naruto said, practically glaring at him. Sasuke took his head from the clouds and focused on Naruto and his angry face.
"What do you want, Dobe?" Sasuke asked. Sasuke was neither in the mood to listen to Naruto ramble on or have him sticking his nose where it didn't belong.
"You've been acting kinda strange all afternoon. What's up with you?" Naruto asked, both his hands behind his head. The sun was getting lower in the sky and was reflecting so much off of Naruto's blond hair that Sasuke couldn't look at him without feeling his retina's wanting to explode.
"Nothing," he said shortly. The Dobe was too observant for his own good. And he obviously wanted to stick his nose where it didn't belong. Just like normal.
"Liar. You've been acting weird ever since you ran into Sakura. It's like you've seen a ghost or something," Naruto said. Or something, Sasuke thought. But Naruto didn't stop there. He kept going. Persistent little Dobe. "Did you know her when you were a kid?"
Sasuke felt a shift in his heartbeat. Naruto was right on the money. He should be a private detective when they graduated from high school. Sasuke wondered how much to tell Naruto. On the one hand, Sasuke didn't want Naruto to know about his past. He didn't want to see the shock or the pity, for that matter. Though he doubted Naruto would give him pity, there was always the chance. He liked to keep the past in the past and assumed Naruto did too, as Sasuke had no idea where Naruto and Jiraiya had come from. He didn't ask, but Naruto also hadn't given information voluntarily.
But on the flip side, Sasuke hated lying to Naruto. He would either get caught in the lie by Naruto because he was just so nosy and persistent or one lie would start and then he'd need another one to cover it up. It was the story of his damn life. Sasuke had enough lies to last him a life time and he was still sometimes spinning a few to keep Kakashi from realizing that he lied about his family. Well half lied because his mother and brother are both dead.
Sasuke realized that Naruto was looking at him expecting an answer. He swallowed and tried to look at Naruto in the eye, but his hair was shining so much that his eyes hurt. Sasuke looked in front of him and decided to answer that way. Damn it, stop rushing me.
"Yeah, I knew her when I was around eight. She visited my school," Sasuke said. Lying for nine years was getting kinda old. Maybe he'd feel better if Naruto knew the truth. "But I don't think she remembers me."
"Who the hell could forget you?" Naruto grinned.
"I was different when I was eight," Sasuke said shortly. Naruto looked over at him.
"Is that why you're a little off? Because she didn't remember you and it hurt your feelings?" Naruto mocked. The playful, fox grin on his face should have made Sasuke realize that Naruto was going to take this as a joke. Well, it was better than taking it seriously. For the mocking, Sasuke punched Naruto in the arm, saying 'Dobe' under his breath.
Naruto chuckled. "Chill out, Teme. I'm sure she'll remember you soon." Naruto continued to laugh as they arrived at their respective apartments. Naruto turned the key in the lock and went in. Sasuke stayed outside, looking at Naruto's door. That's what I'm afraid of.
With that, Sasuke unlocked the apartment door and walked into the empty living room. Kakashi and him tried to keep the apartment as clean as possible. The living room was clean as Sasuke walked in and put his keys in the glass dish beside the door. He walked into the kitchen where dishes where filling up the sink and he thought with a sinking feeling that someone was going to have to do them. And it was his turn. He hated dishes, Sasuke thought as he walked to the table and put his stuff down.
Sasuke gritted his teeth as he started pulling out dishes and organizing them. At least it would give him time to think. Once the dishes were organized he started running the water and filling it up with steaming water. Sasuke wet a rag and set to work. The hot water was turning his hands red as his mind kept wondering. To Sakura and his situation.
Even if Sakura did remember him, she didn't have his last name. Sasuke had gone over their conversation so many times in his head and he never told her his last name. She couldn't pin him to any of his lies, he realized. He could just tell her his fake last name and that his family died. The same lie that he told everyone else and she would have no reason not to believe it. People where so gullible that they'd believe anything he said.
Sasuke breathed a little easier. Now he wouldn't have to push her away after he thanked her. Even though he was still thinking of ways to thank her that didn't look suspicious, he could still have her company and not worry about her realizing that he ran away from an abusive father and is lying about his identity. Sakura would be left in the dark, just like everyone else. Sasuke swallowed. It was a depressing thought.
No one knew where he came from. Not even Kakashi, who had practically raised him. Guilt rose in Sasuke again. It was eating at him from the inside. Sasuke felt the urge, not for the first time, to tell Kakashi about his lies and finally come clean. But Sasuke would be sent back, as Kakashi never adopted him and wasn't really his legal guardian. Sasuke wasn't eighteen yet and could be sent back to that hell hole that he had lived for the first eight years of his life. Sasuke felt the dread pile his stomach as he thought back on the memories.
Stop it. It's not going to help.
Sasuke took a deep breath, trying to remove the dread that weighed down his stomach. Sasuke wasn't going back there. If he did, he would run away again. Sasuke had spent nine years building this new life and he wasn't going to throw it away on the off chance that he could lose it. It was too important for him to lose. Sasuke took a deep breath. The hot water wasn't stinging his hands anymore and it wasn't the steam from the sink that was making Sasuke sweat.
When he was eighteen, Sasuke had reasoned with himself. Sasuke would tell Kakashi that he lied on his eighteenth birthday. He might be mad or even pissed, but this way, he would be a legal adult and couldn't be thrown back to his father. There was security in that. Sasuke only felt like a coward when he knew that he didn't have enough courage to tell Kakashi the truth without some kind of legal security. He would confess to Kakashi first, as he had the right to know first out of everyone. Maybe later, when the moment was right, would he tell his friends his real last name. He'd tell Naruto though, soon after his eighteenth birthday.
Sasuke was jolted out of his thoughts as the front door opened. He looked up to the clock that was hanging over the doorway that led the hall. It was half past four; the normal time for Kakashi to be home. He heard Kakashi put his keys in the glass dish and footsteps the got closer. Sasuke turned half his body around to see Kakashi. He pushed the guilt away and kept his face blank.
"Now I don't have to remind you that it's your turn," Kakashi said.
"Just as long as when it's your turn, don't wait until we don't have any clean plates before you decided to do the dishes," Sasuke told him. The last time it was Kakashi's turn for the dishes, there had barely any plates to eat on. He heard Kakashi chuckle as he set stuff down on the table, just like Sasuke did.
"Consider it a punishment for your last math test," Kakashi said, sitting at the table and starting to organize papers. Sasuke continued with the dishes. He was almost done, but he could feel the dish-pan hands that he knew were going to annoy the hell out of him until they returned to normal.
"I got an A minus on that test," Sasuke argued, putting the last dish in the drainer.
"You slacked off," Kakashi scolded lightly. Sasuke could feel the burn of having Kakashi stare at his back with one eye. Sasuke picked up a dry towel and walked over to Kakashi who was done shuffling papers back and forth.
"What's it matter as long I have the grade. Have fun drying," Sasuke said, dropping the dry towel on the table in front of Kakashi. He picked up his book bag, which had been in his normal seat, and headed into the hallway to go to his room.
-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-
Sakura laid on her bed, staring at the ceiling. Smells from dinner and the ramen shop beside her house were at odds with each other in her little space of a room. She had been staring at the ceiling for who knows how long, but not really seeing the ceiling. Instead she saw Naruto. Happy, carefree Naruto. She had missed him since she was eleven. They had spend six months as friends before they were ripped apart by her father's job.
There had been a lot of crying that day, when she told Naruto that she was leaving. She hadn't been able to tell him her address because, at the time, she didn't know it. Once her family had finally setting down in their new home, she wrote to Naruto. But the letter had come, saying that he was no long at this address. She had been broken hearted by losing her best friend.
Then, Naruto's face suddenly transformed into a darker, more brooding face. Sasuke Aoshi's face. It was a lie. She knew the eyes, dark pools of black that could suck her down forever. She knew the hair, so black it was nearly blue and defied gravity with the way it stuck up at odd places. She knew him and yet, his name told her that she was looking at a different person. Sasuke Aoshi was not the child she had met when she was eight years old.
The child she met had been Sasuke Uchiha. And Sasuke Uchiha had been for nine years. The murder unsolved, the father unmoved. Sakura hadn't known his last name. But she had seen his picture on the news three days after she had talked to him. The picture of a sullen boy, looking like he hated the world. She had been so devastated when she saw the picture and heard the news lady say that he had been killed and the murderer was no where in sight.
It had even been in the newspaper the next day. She had stolen that newspaper and hid it from her parents. That night she had cut out his picture, the same one that was one the news and kept it in her prized jewelry box. The box had a false bottom, one she discovered a few days after her mother gave it to her. Sakura looked over and saw her jewelry box sitting on her desk, along with other boxes on her desk that had yet to be unpacked and put away.
Sakura sat up and swung her feet over her bed. She stood and walked over to the box. She pressed hard on the side of the box near the bottom and heard a click. She didn't smile as she pulled out the bottom and looked at aging picture of Sasuke Uchiha. Sorrow washed over her as she looked at his picture. Ever since she had seen the news she had seen Sasuke every where she went. It was the boy who had his back to her or the person she just barely caught a glimpse of.
Maybe it was time to get rid of the picture. She had been chasing this ghost for nine years. It was in the past. It was her childhood dream to find out that he wasn't really dead. But that was just a dream. She had spent so little time with him, barely fifteen minutes and she had worried about him ever since leaving him. She shouldn't have left him. She should have stayed until he told someone that he was being abused. Then maybe he wouldn't have died. For the past nine years, she had wondered if his father had been the one that killed him.
It was possible. Sakura knew that when she saw it on the news as a kid and had cried for the rest of the night. Her parents couldn't figure out why she was crying, but they consoled her. It didn't help. But now, nine years later, she had bumped into someone who looked just like she imaged a seventeen year old Sasuke too look like. When he had said his name was Sasuke, her heart had skipped a beat. She shoved aside the thought that he could be Sasuke Uchiha. Sasuke Uchiha was dead, no matter how much this boy looked like him.
Sakura breathed in deep, trying to calm her nerves as she remembered meeting him, hearing of his death, and meeting his spitting image. Her heartbeat was in her ears and she couldn't hear anything but that. As she breathed, her heart slowed and she was able to think. To rationalize. Sasuke Aoshi was a different Sasuke. The name Sasuke wasn't a really popular, but it wasn't uncommon to run across two different Sasukes.
Get a grip, Haruno. Let it go. Sasuke is dead and no amount of chasing can bring him back to life. You're holding on to something that you can't do anything about.
Even the pep talk didn't help her. Sakura put a strand of pink hair behind her ear and shoved the false bottom closed and roughly set down the box. There was no need in working herself up when Sasuke Aoshi was not, absolutely not, Sasuke Uchiha. Sakura breathed in, nearly chocking on the combined smells of ramen from the shop next door and chicken, which her mother was cooking downstairs. Instead of dwelling on the past, Sakura thought to the future about what her and Naruto were going to do after school tomorrow.
"Sakura, dinner's ready!" her mother called from downstairs. Sakura, pulled from her thoughts so quickly she jumped, hit her hand on her desk.
"Ow! Coming, Mom," she called down, swinging her hand back and forth as if that would help ease the pain of her hand. As Sakura went down the stairs, she resolved to not think about Sasuke Uchiha. She would think about the life in front of her.
A/N: I'm finding it hard to write Sasuke's point of view. I keep wondering if he's OOC and when you review, could you tell me if you think he is or isn't. Thanks, it'll help me. R&R, ta-ta for now.