Chapter Eleven; Sasuke's Confession
The next couple of days on the journey back home Sasuke and Keiko spent a lot of time together. They played games like Sorry, and games like hide and go seek. Keiko won the Sorry game, but it was Sakura's suspicion that Sasuke had let her win. She also had her suspicions that Sasuke knew where she had been hiding the whole entire game of hide and go seek, (which was in a treehouse that they had built together) but he had been pretending that he had difficulty finding her.
To Sakura's complete and utter amazement and bewilderment, Sasuke had even decided to teach Keiko how to swim in the hotel swimming pool. Or rather he had taught her how to stay afloat by doggie paddling and had congratulated her with a nice and loving warm embrace once she had succeeded. He didn't know why, but on the day he had been driving back to the hidden leaf village he felt a sense of disappointment and depression.
He heaved a deep and heavy sad sigh while he continued to drive down the highway in silence. "Gosh, what's the matter Sasuke?" Naruto wondered. "You seem upset about something." He said.
"Nothing. I was just thinking about how much I'm going to miss Keiko that's all." Sasuke replied.
"Why? Aren't you guys going to do that fundraiser or something?" Naruto inquired before a moment of silence passed between them. It had suddenly occurred to Sasuke that he had forgotten all about that. "What's the matter Sasuke, cat got your tongue?" Naruto questioned him.
"No." Sasuke replied a few moments later.
"Well obviously if you can speak I guess not." Naruto said.
"No. " Sasuke repeated. "I'm not going through with the fundraiser, I can't. Not now." Sasuke told him.
"Huh?" Naruto questioned him widening his eyes with amazement. "Why not? It was your silly idea." He pointed out.
"I know, but that was before_" Sasuke began before he suddenly just paused and glanced over at Naruto.
"Before what Sasuke?" Naruto questioned him eagerly as Sasuke took a deep breath and then let it out again slowly.
"I guess there's no use in trying to hide it anymore." He began. "I've fallen in love with Keiko." He finally admitted as Naruto simply just looked at him. "I mean I love her as if she was my own little sister." He clarified.
"Oh. So then shouldn't you let her know that?" Naruto questioned him.
"Yeah." Sasuke replied. "I guess you're right. I should tell her the truth." He told him. "Don't worry Naruto, I'll tell her as soon as we get back to the hidden leaf village." He said.
…..
As soon as they got back home Keiko went straight to work at setting up her fortune telling booth. Her eyes turned white while she stared at the wooden boards, hammers, and nails and watched as they magically started building it in midair. That's when suddenly Sasuke walked up to her. "Hey, whatcha doing?" he questioned her.
"I'm setting up the fortune telling booth so we can start our fundraiser." She told him.
"Listen Keiko,.. there's something that I,.. err,.. umm need to tell you about." He replied.
"Can it wait Sasuke-Kun? I'm sort of busy right now." She told him.
"No it can't." he told her while he squatted down in front of her and grabbed ahold of her shoulders and turned her body over to face him. "This is extremely important. Keiko,.. I've done something very wrong." He said.
"I know. You told me about it remember? It's in the past now." She told him.
"No darling you don't understand. I lied to you." He confessed. "I lied to you about everything. I only wanted us to do the fundraiser is because I wanted the money all to myself. That's the only reason that I became friends with you in the first place." He admitted.
"What?" Keiko questioned him with uncertainty while a tear rolled down her cheek and that's when Sasuke quickly brushed it away with his thumb.
"I'm sorry Keiko, truly I am." He told her.
"Why would you do that? I thought you liked me." She said with a sniff while more tears rolled down her cheeks and she quickly brushed them all away afterwards with her hand.
"That's just it. I do. Very much in fact. Or rather,.. it's a little bit more than that now. You see, somewhere along the line when I wasn't watching you sort of became like my own little sister. The truth is that I don't like you, I love you." He admitted. "I love you just as much as Sakura does. And I'm really asking you to forgive me. Although I wouldn't blame you at all if you didn't, but I really want you to." He told her when suddenly Keiko's eyes turned white again.
"Sorry Sasuke-Kun, but I have to do this." She apologized as hundreds of rocks levitated up into the air.
"Go ahead, I deserve it." Sasuke said while slowly and shamefully hanging his head but that's when suddenly Keiko grinned proudly and dropped the rocks back down onto the ground.
"No biggie." She told him while her eyes returned to their normal color.
"What?" Sasuke questioned her with an astonished gasp.
"You told me the truth which I know must have not been an easy thing to do. You might have messed up but you still apologized for it in the end. Besides, it's what you told me remember? Violence doesn't solve everything. Not to mention the fact that I love you too." She told him as Sasuke smiled brightly at her.
"Really?" he inquired.
"Mhm." She replied with a nod as Sasuke gasped again and held out his arms before she leapt inside of them and he wrapped them around her in a tight embrace while she kissed him on the cheek. A few moments later they broke out of it and they turned to face each other again. "Hey, I got an idea. Why don't we still go ahead with the fortune telling and give the money to the poor just like we agreed that we were going to do. Does that sound like a good idea?" she wondered as Sasuke smiled warmly and lovingly at her.
"Yes I think that sounds like an excellent idea." He admitted truthfully with a grin.