Young Love
"We are here." Shisui's voice boomed from the driver seat of the limo.
The limo pulled to the side of the sidewalk, right in front of the gated entrance. Sasuke was the first to walk out of the door that opened by itself, but I knew that it was Shisui. Karin quickly followed him, scared to even look Itachi in the eyes. Jugo and Suigetsu followed them. Itachi put his sunglasses on and grabbed his backpack, throwing it over his shoulder and holding it by the handle at the top of the backpack.
I watched Itachi walk out of the limo, hearing the girly screams start up again, just like with Sasuke. I saw a hand come into the limo and I knew it was for me. I put my one strapped backpack over my chest and grabbed the hand. Itachi helped me get out of the limo and did the same for Melody. I could hear the gasps of everyone begin the moment we both stepped out of the limo with Itachi. Kisame followed after Melody and only chuckled at the surprised looks of everyone around us.
"Who is that girl to him?" A voice said from the crowd.
"I don't understand, why do we keep seeing them together?" Another voice asked, "Why has Itachi taken a fancy to her? What does she have that I don't?"
"Just ignore them Suine." Itachi whispered to me, "I always do."
Itachi let Shisui shut the door to the limo. Itachi grabbed some money out of his pocket and sneakily put it into Shisui's pocket. He was paying his servant for thanks? Who was Itachi really? And why did I think he was so evil?
"You are always so generous Itachi." Shisui told Itachi who just shrugged, "You know I can't accept it. Your father would have my head."
"Accept what, Shisui?" Itachi smiled, lightly nodding to Shisui, "I'll see you after school."
Shisui rolled his eyes and went to the driver seat of the limo. He began to start up the car, the moment we started to walk into the gate, headed towards the entrance of the school. I went past Melody and began to walk beside Itachi, wanting to know more about who he really was. I could hear Melody mumble but I saw her begin to talk to Kisame.
"So..." I lightly brushed my bang behind my ear, "You...um..."
"I um what?" Itachi made fun of my stuttering, "I still don't understand why you are so embarrassed around me."
"I-I-It's...It's just..."
"It's just what? My good looks making you stutter?"
"Idiot!" I yelled as I hit him over the head with my hand. My eyes widened the moment I had realized what I had done, "Oh...my...God...I am so, so sorry Itachi-kun I didn't mean to-"
"...Ow..." Itachi began to rub the back of his head in pain, "What was that for?"
"I...I..."
"Well?"
"It's a bad habit of hers." Melody interrupted us, making Itachi stop walking and turn to her, "I thought we had allowed her to get over it but I guess it is harder than it looks."
"Bad habit?" Itachi asked as I looked down, feeling my cheeks redden with embarrassment. I could feel the eyes of everyone who saw what had happened on me, I was being such an idiot.
"Yeah, Suine gets embarrassed a lot. She used to get embarrassed when I hugged her in the hallways. When someone makes her feel like that, she hits them over the head...It's a way for her to get the attention off of her."
"I made you embarrassed?"
"Yes...you were teasing me...I was trying to ask you something and I..." I tried to finish but Itachi looked to me.
"But I make you embarrassed?" Itachi knew exactly what I was trying to say.
"It's because you are new, just give it a bit. Soon, she will be just fine, being around you and talking to you like this." Melody spoke up and I nodded.
"I am sorry though." I told him but he just smiled.
"It didn't hurt that much." He began to walk again and I still stuck to his side, "So continue with your question."
"Okay...Do...you..." I sighed, come on Suine, you can do this!, "Do you want my cell phone..." I looked into his eyes and felt the redness come to my cheeks again, "...number?"
"Oh...Yea sure. Here." Itachi pulled out his cell phone and handed it to me.
I looked at Itachi's expensive phone and felt so poor when I compared it to my old phone. He had a touch phone, the newest model that was out. While mine was just a normal flip phone, I had never felt so poor than at that moment. I clicked a button on Itachi's phone and wondered what to do from that point on.
"You have no idea what to do, do you?" Itachi asked as I shook my head in defeat, "Here." Itachi pressed some buttons and handed the phone back to me, "Enter in your number now."
I entered my number and gave the phone back to Itachi, afraid I might break it with my confusion. Itachi only smiled at my confusion and put the phone back into his pocket. We walked into the entrance, to hear more gasps from the crowd. It was weird for Itachi Uchiha to be seen with a geek like me.
"Well I'll see you later." Itachi turned to me, taking off his sunglasses and I smiled lightly, "Want a ride home?"
"Y...You don't have to-" I began but Itachi rolled his eyes.
"Do you want a ride home?"
"Yes...Please..."
"Cool, see you here after school. Kisame, coming?"
"Of course man!" Kisame lightly waved to both Melody and me and they walked away from us.
"Wow..." Melody walked up to me and I turned to her, "You really weren't shitting me about the nice thing huh?"
"Nope." I told her.
"Well I am not complaining I can go into that limo anytime!"
"Suine!" A voice said from behind me, making me turn around.
There I saw Sakura, Ino and Hinata coming in from the front door. Ino lightly waved to me and Hinata smiled my way but Sakura looked away from me. Melody and I stood there, allowing them to catch up to us.
"Hey guys! How is it going?" I asked them as they just shook their heads.
"We should be asking you that!" Ino lightly remarked, "Especially coming to school with none other than Itachi..."
"Oh..." I looked down, "So you heard about that huh?"
"Heard about it?" Sakura angrily started, "It's everywhere, and you two are the biggest news since the school first opened its doors! How could you Suine, you know that he is the reason I lost Sasuke."
"Well...I don't..." I paused and felt everyone's eyes on me.
"Now my best friend is betraying me...Dating Itachi Uchiha behind my back, helping the man that hurt me so much-"
"Ok enough!" I started and everyone turned to me, "Itachi is different from what I originally thought. He's a lot nicer than any other guy I have ever been with. And I'm not even with him. He is just a friend. And to top it all off, I don't blame him for Sasuke going overboard. I think there is something else going on and I am going to help him fix it, for you!" Sakura's eyes widened, "I want Sasuke to be normal just like you..." I sighed and she looked down, "And just for your information, Itachi wishes that Sasuke would have stayed with you too."
"H...H-He does?" Sakura's eyes widened.
"Yea, he does. So please, don't you insult Itachi in front of me again..."
"Wow...He must have been really nice to you Suine for you to be this protective of him..." Hinata told me as I nodded, "See Sakura, you know you can trust Suine...She has bended over and backwards for you. There is no need to worry. I know Suine will stay your best friend."
"Hinata is right." Melody told Sakura who turned to me.
"I'm sorry." Sakura started and I just simply hugged the little girl, "For doubting you."
"No worries." I told her and she smiled, "You should smile more, it suits you a lot better than being depressed."
Sakura only smiled more the moment I told her that, I knew that was what she needed to hear. I didn't want to tell her that I saw Sasuke with Karin in the limo, that would just make the rumour's more true. And break Sakura's heart more. I couldn't live with myself if I told her that information. Instead I walked with Sakura and everyone to their lockers, before our first class began.
. . .
Lunchtime hit and I have not had a single chance to talk to either Itachi or Kisame, I had absolutely no classes with them. I wished I would be able to talk with them some more. I wanted to get closer to the both of them, I enjoyed their company, their laughter. I was happy to be around people like that again. Even if Melody was like that, to have more people be our friends. It lightens the mood a bit more, it makes me feel a bit more alive.
I sat down at a large white table with Sakura, Hinata, Ino and Melody, who like me, had brought their own lunch. Melody smiled to me and pulled out her math textbook.
"Do you know how to do this?" Melody asked me as I nodded lightly, "Oh thank God! You are so teaching me this thing called mathematics when we get home."
"Home? You guys make it sound like you two live together." Ino told us as we nodded.
"You didn't know Ino?" Sakura asked her as she shook her head, "They do live together."
"But what about their parents?"
"It's a long story..." I looked down to the food I had made for myself last night, staring at the rice ball, "My mother died when I was very young, in a car accident. I don't remember much about her but I remember she made the house feel warm. She kept me and my older brother, Sokka, safe. After her death my father became an extreme alcoholic. My brother paid no heed to it and never hated living there...But my father frightened me...He used to hit me, not much, but he did...Verbal abuse and emotional abuse...So one day I ran away, ran away from that place, that country and came to Konoha. See my real name is Suine Iburame but I changed it when I came here, to Ika. Here I met Melody, who like me, was parentless..."
"You too?" Hinata sadly asked as Melody nodded.
"Yeah...but unlike Suine, both of my parents hated me. I was just a nuisance. As far as I remember they were both scientists and only considered human life as another experiment to find answers to questions. Needless to say they had no love for anyone besides their experiments. The only reason they were together was because they had the same interest in finding the answers in everything. One day they just left, they said for a business trip and that a babysitter would be over to watch me. But they never came home and the babysitter took care of me for a year or so. Then she put me into an orphanage...where I ran away from, because I hated that god damned place. So I came here and met Suine." Melody told her story and Ino began to look sad.
"But how did you get everything that you needed without parents? Like a health card, and a driver's license and money to go to school and-" Ino began to ask and I chuckled.
"Our apartment's manager, Mira. She met us on the street when we came from school, sitting in the rain. She took us both in, adopted the both of us. We told her our story and she made it official to adopt us. Legally, she is our mother. But we told her that we would live in an apartment and pay her back for everything that she has done for us. We are so in her debt." I told her as Melody nodded.
"Thank you for telling me. I would never have guessed, you guys are always so happy. I just would have thought that you two grew up normally." Ino told us, "Wow..."
"No worries though, we are happy!" Melody happily smiled, "I got to meet Suine and come to this school. I am happy where I am. I love Mira like a mother and she treats me like a daughter. I couldn't be more thankful to her and Suine..."
"Agreed." I replied, "Well enough about us, what about you guys? How's Naruto?"
Hinata froze at the name and her cheeks became bright red. She tried to open her mouth to say something but she stopped herself. I knew that she loved Naruto, the class clown from our old grade school. Though I was only there for a year I knew right away that she adored that boy, and he had no idea. He was too busy crushing on Sakura to notice a beautiful young woman loving him from afar. It was actually kind of romantic.
Everyone began to tease Hinata as I looked away to see Itachi walking down the cafeteria, trying to find some place to sit. I saw the Student Council's table far away from where Itachi was looking, so they really didn't want him back. Suddenly, to knock me out of my thoughts, I saw a kid pop his leg out from underneath the table, tripping Itachi, making the food on the cafeteria plate fall to the ground. Itachi looked around trying to figure out which kid tripped him but no one confessed, but everyone began to snicker at Itachi.
Itachi was about to clean up the plate but the janitor came over, giving a glare to the kid who tripped him. The janitor talked to Itachi, telling him he was going to clean up the spill. Itachi lightly smiled and walked away from the spot to sit at a table in the corner, far away from anyone. He sat alone. I looked to our table to see we had plenty of room for more than ten Itachi's to come sit over here. I looked down to my lunch and picked up the container that held three rice balls in it. I stood up and everyone began to give me weird looks.
"Where are you going?" Sakura asked as Melody looked over to Itachi.
"I know where she's going..." Melody began and I looked away from the table, "She's got Uchiha fever. Just can't stand away from him can you?"
"It's not that Melody." I began, "He is all alone and it is all my fault-"
"He'd kill you if he heard you say that."
"I know but he didn't okay!" I sighed, "I'll be back."
"Fine."
"Invite him over..." Sakura sighed, "I don't care if you want to have your boyfriend sit here, but just don't expect me to be happy about it."
"Thank you Sakura...and he's not my boyfriend." I told her and went over to where Itachi was.
Itachi looked down in sadness and he didn't notice me as I came up from behind him. I lightly put the container of rice balls in front of him and he lightly looked back. A bright smile came upon his face as he realized it was me. He turned back to the rice balls and sighed.
"I'm not taking your lunch Suine." Itachi tried to tell me as his stomach growled.
"Come on Itachi, I'm full anyways...Just take some I won't mind." I told him and he smiled again.
"Ok...Thank you Suine." Itachi took one and took a bite out of it. I sat down beside him to join him, "You make these?"
"Yea, of course."
"Damn they are good."
"Oh..." I felt my cheeks warm up, "Thank you, Itachi-kun."
"Thanks for coming over here, you are always so nice to me...How can I ever repay you?"
"No need to Itachi-kun. But I'm sure Melody would love the limo rides."
"Done. You always think of others...Never about yourself. That is a quality I wish I had."
"But you do Itachi...You just don't believe in yourself enough to see it. You care about Kisame, Melody, Sasuke...and me. You have done so much for them, so don't try to tell me you don't think about other people. I know you do."
Itachi lightly smiled and I could hear girl screams come from around the cafeteria. They really are annoying. Itachi chuckled at my despair and turned to look at me seriously.
"Are you going to the first dance of this school?" Itachi asked me as my eyes widened.
"No I never go..." I told him.
"Why is that?"
"No one ever dances with geeks, except for geeks and the guy geeks are ugly. I mean just take a look at Shino."
"Oh bug man...right...But what if someone other than a geek would dance with you...Than would you go?"
"Depends on the person, if I like them or if I'm there friend-"
"Suine I'm asking you to the dance with me."
"B-But why?"
"I need a friend there. Someone I can turn to after I have to dance with all those crazy girls."
"Why? You don't have to dance with them."
"I kind of do. The Student Council puts these dances on to allow the girls and boys to dance with its members, seeing as how they are the most popular kids in school. It gets votes and allows them to get more people to like them. Unfortunately, it is already too late to take my name off of the list, I already have more than twenty dances booked up."
"So they can't disappoint them huh?"
"No."
"Okay, I'll go, just because you need a friend, but I don't have anything nice to wear...I know its formal but I don't have money to waste on that stuff-"
"No worries, we will go shopping after school today, get both you and Melody dresses."
"You're inviting Melody?"
"Of course, can't have you without Melody. You guys are connected at the hip after all."
"Thank you."
"Of course."
"Now how about you come over to my table, you are welcome there anytime you know."
"As always thinking of others."
"Come on!"
I dragged Itachi over to my table, him still gripping onto my container for lunch. I pulled him to make him sit down beside me. I heard people gasping around and I rolled my eyes. Itachi can't do anything without it having to mean something. I bet the whole world thinks we are going out just because I made him sit at my table.
"Thanks...Suine." Itachi said to me which made me smile.
"Anytime Itachi." I told him, "Now, Melody and Sakura are people you already know. Here's Hinata and Ino. Everyone this is Itachi."
"Hello..." Ino started.
"H-H-Hello..." Hinata shyly replied.
"Hello everyone." Itachi smiled and then turned to Sakura, "Hey Sakura. How you holding up?"
"What? Why are you asking me?" Sakura looked away.
"Just thought I'd ask because you're my brother's best friend?" Itachi asked himself more than Sakura.
"Not anymore...Karin is his friend..."
"Karin is such a bitch; trust me when I say I miss the annoying Naruto more..."
Sakura's eyes widened and I nodded. She was now seeing what I was seeing. That underneath that cool exterior that Itachi puts out, he actually was nice and cared about people's feelings. She now knew that what I said about Itachi was true.