Gun Theory
By: TheAntiAngel
/ bang
Why make sense when you can make believe?
3
There were a few things that Sakura could just not take: when people cracked their knuckles, when people popped their bubble gum, and when people would chew with their mouth open.
Naruto Uzumaki was one of those people that did a combination of the three. Well he didn't pop his bubble gum right then but she was sure he did; instead he was cracking his knuckles, chewing with him mouth wide open and talking to her. Loudly. Like really, some people halfway around the world couldn't hear him. It was maddening. Yet, Sakura couldn't help himself but like the tall and talkative young man.
In the ten minutes they'd been talking, she'd found out that he was an orphan, had gotten adopted at a young age by a semi-famous erotica writer (Sakura asked for the name and recommendations), and how life was at Shady Leaves.
Naruto was grown and raised in the small little town; it had been his dream to work here. Sakura couldn't help but analyse the man; why would anyone want to work at a small, underfunded little hospital? Clearly, there was a back story. One that she was determined to find out.
He constantly bounced his leg as he talked, greeting many of the people milling past them. Some of whom sat down; Sakura was introduced to many people whom she wasn't sure she wanted to know: Hinata Hyuuga with her frighteningly pale eyes and rosy cheeks, her cousin Neji Hyuuga with the same eyes but bigger and more menacing. A man with white hair which defied gravity, another with eyebrows that was in dire need of a waxing. An eclectic bunch in all, Sakura thought, politely declining the eyebrow-man's request for a date. Lee his name was? She wasn't sure. And there was a man named Gaara that apparently did not work there but was not a patient either; he was unsettling as Sai.
Sai. Sai, Ino's new boyfriend. He was so strange, he was so unnatural. She didn't trust him: especially with Ino. The name sounded familiar, maybe a former classmate? He scared her a bit, really. There was something off about him; something Sakura could just not place.
"Sakura-chan… OI, still there?" Naruto was waving a piece of instant ramen in her face. Sakura let out an 'eep,' jumping up startled, knocking the chopsticks out of his hand. As Naruto stared forlornly at the wasted piece of ramen on the ground, Sakura snapped out of her stupor.
"Oh, shit. Sorry about that!" she said abit sheepishly. "Whoops, I'm a bit out of it." Naruto laughed easily, going back to his steaming bowl.
"It's all good, Sakura-chan! So how was your first day here" He grinned, continuing to inhale his food. Sakura sweatdropped at the sudden suffix.
"Uhh, fine for the most part. My first patient basically ditched me, my second saying about 10 words in all to me," She said, folding her arms and resting her head on them. Naruto laughed sympathetically.
"Oh, you have it pretty good. No one yelling or screaming or jumping you. Count your blessings, my friend." Sakura smiled half-heartedly, wondering vaguely if that was a scolding. Naruto continued:
"You know Gaara, that guy who kinda works here but not really? Yeah, he was like my first patient. Believe me, he was one of those people that once had the entire world against him, his inner torture just adding to that pain. That's why we're here, right? To help people get over their own troubles and become the person that they know they can be."
Half-raising an eyebrow, Sakura stared at the blond man. His smile was so genuine, it hurt, but there was something beneath that; something that Sakura wanted, all the more, to find out.
For the first time that day, Sakura was glad to be in the dilapidated little hospital. Patient number 3 of the day: Itachi Uchiha. And he was absolutely, undeniably, utterly gorgeous. Like damn, it took every bit of the will power Sakura did not know she had to keep from drooling/raping the man.
He had skin that looked like it belonged in a proactiv ad, silky midnight black hair, and glinting crimson eyes. There were no tell-tale contact lines either, she wondered if he got surgery. And he had a nice, sinewy build. Honestly, she could jump the man. She inwardly praised God.
"So, Uchiha-san. Tell me about how your recovery from your previous bout of insanity had been." There, that sounded somewhat intelligent, Sakura commended herself.
His voice was icy but still made her inwardly squeal.
"Fine." Oh, the wonder of one-word answers. Sakura twitched.
"That's good," She smiled encouragingly. "Who was your previous psychiatrist?" She mentally killed herself for not looking more thoroughly into his file.
"Orochimaru." Sakura cringed. The name sounded so familiar. She heard the name before, but where?
"Well, what are you thinking about right now?" She said, cheerfully as she could. The man continued to stare, right through her. It was unnerving, to say the least. His crimson eyes had 3 little dots in them; they looked like commas, really. Every few seconds they looked like they were spinning. But he would never look at her straight in the eye. Scary as fuck, she couldn't help but think. Cosmetic surgery maybe? His ice-cold voice sliced through her thoughts:
"Nothing," Again with the one word answers. Sakura gasped in exasperation.
"Well how exactly do you expect me to help you if you don't freaking talk?" Whoops, she didn't mean to say that out loud. And especially not loud enough for him to hear. Oh, shit. Sakura watched as her patient stood up slowly.
"That's just it. I don't," he said, weighing his words as he spoke. His eyes met hers for the very first time. Sakura froze in her spot; his eyes were empty. It was like someone had taken every bit of happiness, of sadness, of anger, of joy, of desolation, of fear, of life out of him and left him with nothing.
Nothing was the perfect word for him; there was nothing inside. He wasn't living, only surviving.
Sakura could have cried.
"Ino, I just can't figure it out. There's something about these people. They're like scary and sad and so real that it hurts. It hurts," Sakura whispered, taking a sip of the cheap champagne Ino had brought to celebrate her first official day.
Ino stroked her hair comfortingly, letting Sakura's head fall into her collarbone. "I know, sweetie," she murmured, ignoring the sudden vibration of her cell phone in her pocket. Sakura's head shot up from her friend's embrace.
"No, you don't. That's the thing, that's why I'm failing so badly as these people's psychiatrist. I don't know what I'm doing; I'm making it up as I go along." Sakura slumped on her caramel leather couch, her messy pink bangs covering her hair.
Ino laughed a little morbidly. "Isn't that what we're all doing? Like look at Sai and I. He's so not what I expected from a man,"(where were you Shika, when I needed you?)"But I think he's what I want. What I need."
Sakura looked at her closest friend.
"When did we grow up, Ino-chan?" Again, came the morbid little laugh.
"That's the problem, Saku-chan. I don't think we did."
End 3
Haha look at my sad attempt at a proper chapter after the 7+ month 'hiatus.'
SOSOSOSSHORT. I swear, how do these things look so long on MSword and so tiny here?
I make the next one longer? :D
And I am so sorry about the lack of proper grammar and whatnot in this chapter; no beta, remember?
P.S: Lots of reviews make me update quicker. *winkwinknudgenudge*
-TheAntiAngel