nothing on you
Callista Miralni
disclaimer: blah blah blah nothing.
Thank you so much for all your love and support! Your reviews and activity (favoriting and alerts) on the fic are so encouraging and motivate me to continue writing. :D
Also, I received an anonymous review I would like to reply to in my author's notes because the reviewer brought up something I probably need to address about everyone's age. I wrote bubble tea and nothing on you because I wanted to try writing a different kind of story. I wanted to explore Sasuke's pre-massacre character and an emotionally conflicted Sakura. I wanted Naruto to be angry and possessive and Hinata to be confident. bubble tea and nothing on you are simple stories in compared to the more complex Cold and Spiral.
I didn't know this before (I love my reviewers because they tell me new things all the time!), but Japan has their enrollment cutoffs in April, which would place Sakura in the grade above Sasuke if they had been born in the same year. I usually write Sakura younger than Sasuke because I prefer her to be younger but I guess she is canonically younger than Sasuke given Japanese enrollment cutoffs?
Since Sasuke did immigrate to Michigan when he was still in elementary school, he is technically supposed to be in the grade below Sakura—if he had stayed in Japan. However, the Japanese education system is more rigorous than the American system and any academic placement tests he took would have placed him in a grade higher than what he was in Japan. So if Sasuke was in his third year of elementary in Japan when he left, then the American public school system would view him as a fourth grader when he transferred in based on his high test scores. This isn't always the case, but that's just what I've observed growing up and meeting Asian transfers students and new immigrants.
Just a tidbit of information I felt like sharing with you. :) Thanks again to Me for bringing that up!
OH YEAH—I'm stupid and made a mistake. Sasuke and Sakura are 19 and 20, not 18 and 19. The previous chapter has been edited to reflect the change but some people may have not caught that.
Onward!
.:loop00.2_2:.
.: before summer:.
The door to the restaurant opened.
"Welcome!" Mrs. Chu greeted them.
Sasuke looked up, wondering who their latest customers were when he heard:
"Sasuke!" The girl exclaimed and waved at him frantically.
"Pipe down." Their bleached-haired friend snickered. "People are staring."
Mrs. Chu glanced sideways at him. "You want me to seat them in your area?"
He shrugged. "It's up to you."
The older woman smiled at the younger employee before directing his friends to a table along the wall. Sasuke sighed before walking over to them.
"What can I get for you to drink?"
"You know," Suigetsu Hoshizuki smirked. "I kinda like this waiter-Sasuke thing. You would never offer to get me a drink unless your mother was eavesdropping at the door."
"Sasuke," Karin Fujiwara smiled, pinching Suigetsu in the arm. "I'll take a hot tea."
At those words, Sasuke immediately replied, "Why do I even bother asking you anymore?"
"What?" Karin laughed. "I usually drink iced tea Sasuke. Are you okay?"
Flushing, Sasuke scribbled Karin's drink down. "Yeah. It's been a long day."
"You just started your shift." Juugo Makenshi frowned. "And it's lunch time."
The restaurant door opened again and Sasuke froze when he heard the familiar medley of voices.
"Welcome back!" Mrs. Chu gestured to the table by Karin, Suigetsu, and Juugo's. "Just two?"
"Whoa!" Suigetsu gaped at the next table over. "Check out her hair!"
"Stop staring—it's rude." Karin hissed even though her eyes were glued onto the back of the teen sitting across from the object of her best friend's attention. "Hey... doesn't he look a lot like Sasuke?"
"I'll be back with your drinks." Sasuke moved to his new customers.
"Can I borrow your cell phone?" Karin hollered at his retreating back.
He gave her an annoyed wave as a "yes," and breathed in deep to rearrange his features into a pleasant mask before stopping at his next table.
Sai Haruno surveyed him coolly as Sasuke repeated his standard question. "A Dr. Pepper for me." The other teen requested. "And I think we're ready to order?"
They looked at Sakura, engrossed in her menu. Glancing upwards at everyone staring at her, she uttered, "Huh? Oh yeah, we're ready."
Turning to a new page, Sasuke nodded for Sai to go ahead.
"I'll have a chicken teriyaki." Sai leaned back in his chair.
Sasuke's gaze shifted to his sister. "Hot tea and Udon please." Sakura sighed and shut the menu, handing it back to Sasuke.
It was then that Sasuke noticed the blue book bag in the empty chair beside her. Sakura pulled out a spiral notebook (Sasuke smirked when he saw Phineas and Ferb on the cover) and a sheaf of papers from a matching folder from the bag. "Oh my God..." She groaned. "I'm not ready for this test..."
"Sasuke." Karin stopped him after he brought them their lunch. "Is that the girl Itachi-nii was telling us about?"
His jaw almost dropped but Uchihas don't loose their cool like that so easily.
"What?"
"Did you bring me your phone? I lost Idate's number." His best friend changed the topic, holding her hand out impatiently. Sighing, Sasuke dropped his phone into her palm.
"Hey..." Suigetsu squinted. "She does fit Itachi-nii's description... is that her? She's pretty hot, weird hair and all."
"Like you're one to talk." Karin snorted. "You bleached your hair white."
"I lost a bet with Sasuke." The other teen defended his hair color. "Besides, Juugo dyed his hair brown-"
"-only it sure as hell didn't turn out that way!"
"-and you have a reddish tint in your hair." Suigetsu continued, undeterred. "I don't get why your picking on me."
Karin pushed her glasses up higher on her nose. "Because it's easy."
"Can I leave now?" Sasuke demanded. "I have other customers."
"It's her." Juugo confirmed. "I heard the guy she's with call her Sakura."
Groaning, Sasuke moved to the other table, ignoring Karin's shriek of delight and her outburst of "OMFG—SASUKE'S GOT A GIRL!"
"Anything for dessert?"
Sakura ignored him, going over her notes, her lips moving in silence as she mouthed formula after formula.
"Yeah." Sai sighed. "One green tea ice cream. Uh... without whip cream for my sister please."
"Two spoons?"
"Sure why not?"
When he left, Sai glared at his twin across the table.
"Sakura." He reached over and slid her Chemistry notes out of her hands. "I didn't invite you to lunch in Canton so you could study."
"My test is on Monday!" The older Haruno grumbled. "And I'm not ready at all. Oh my God, what if I fail this exam? I'll get my ass handed to me by Tou-san!"
"You're lying." Sai told her flatly. "You're studying during lunch so you can avoid contact with the Paper Boy."
"I don't know what you're talking about." Sakura insisted, taking her notes back.
Sai exhaled softly before shaking his head. "Denial's your favorite river in Egypt."
He winced when Sakura's foot connected with his shin.
"Green tea ice cream." A glass bowl interrupted their fight.
Resigned, Sakura accepted the spoon from Sasuke, their fingers brushing. "Thanks."
He tried to ignore the tingling in his fingers.
"Let me know if you need anything."
One table over, Karin tilted her head forward, allowing the curtain of red-tinted hair to hide her cell phone pressed hotly against her ear.
"It's her!" She exclaimed giddily, trying to keep her voice down as she waited for the line to pick up.
"How do you know?" Suigetsu demanded.
Sighing in exasperation, Karin cancelled the call. "Remember when I asked Sasuke for his phone earlier? I told him I was looking for Idate Morino's number-"
"Your lab partner?" Juugo raised an eyebrow.
"-yeah, him." Karin quickly clarified. "But Itachi-nii told me her name was Sakura Haruno so I looked for that name in Sasuke's phone book."
"I bet it wasn't there." Suigetsu checked his own phone for the time.
"But it was!"
"You lie! Let me see this!"
Passing him Sasuke's phone, Karin went back to her previous task of dialing this Sakura's cell number. The phone started to ring.
"Holy fuck." Suigetsu's eyes went wide. "He really does have a Sakura in his contacts."
"Look!" Karin nudged him. "That girl looking for her phone!"
Juugo turned around to look as well. "It really is her..."
"Hello?" Karin heard in her ear at the same time she saw the other girl's lips form the greeting. "Who is this?"
"Is this Idate Morino's cell phone number?"
The other girl looked confused. "No... sorry. I think you have the wrong number Miss."
"Wait—is this 7346724468?"
"Yeah..." She drew out the word. "That's this number."
"And you are...?"
"Sakura Haruno. Listen, are you sure that's Idate Morino's number?"
"Not sure." Karin faked a concerned frown. "Maybe I can't read my best friend's handwriting?"
"Maybe?"
"Oops. Sorry for bothering you."
"It's no problem. I was just finishing up lunch so it wasn't a big deal. Well, I hope you get a hold of your friend."
Karin smiled. "Thanks."
She shut her cell phone triumphantly. "What now?" The redhead crowed.
"That was pretty good Karin." Juugo leaned forward. "Not only did we get to see Sasuke at work but we also got to meet his future love interest."
"We didn't exactly meet her." Suigetsu grumbled. "We saw her."
"Same difference. I got to talk to her on the phone." Karin sniffed. "I like her; she seems nice enough. Oh Sasuke," She stopped their friend on his way to the Harunos' table with their check. "Here's your phone back."
Slipping the black flip phone into his pocket, Sasuke muttered, "I'll be back with your ticket in a second."
Eyeing her, Suigetsu flicked Karin in the arm. "You did something, didn't you?"
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"She looked up Sakura's number and took a picture of me." Juugo said.
Her devious smile grew. "That's not all I did."
From the next table over, they heard Taeyang's Wedding Dress blaring from the table. The dark-haired boy, Sakura's brother, picked up his sister's phone to look at the caller ID.
"Who the hell is Sasuke Uchiha?" The trio heard the boy say at the same time Sasuke stiffened and his free hand twitched towards the pocket holding his cell phone.
"I'll take care of your check when you're ready." Sasuke set the folder upright on the table before running to the cash register to pick up his friends' bills.
["Sasuke Uchiha? I have no idea. When was the first time I dialed that number?"
He pressed a few buttons. "On our birthday, it says."
"Birthday? What the... oh no."
"What?"
"Ino called the Paper Boy on our birthday from my phone."]
"Not funny Karin." Sasuke hissed as he handed her the black folder. Glancing over his shoulder, Sasuke saw his co-workers were too pre-occupied with their duties to be looking his way. He pulled out his cell phone and ended the call before looking at the time on the screen.
"Karin." The Uchiha hissed between his teeth. "This really isn't funny."
"What?" His best friend said innocently. "I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Change it. Now. And delete it off my phone."
Pouting, Karin took the phone back, clicked a few buttons and shoved it back at Sasuke. "Here's your boring phone back."
"Thank you." Sasuke breathed a sigh of relief. "I'll be your cashier when you're ready."
Suigetsu waited until he left before launching at Karin. "What did you do?"
Smug, the girl took out her own phone and showed the last text message to the guys. "I changed his wallpaper to this. Sasuke has a pretty decent camera on his phone, you know."
Juugo laughed softly. "No wonder why he was so upset. How'd you pull off the phone call?"
"Oh that's easy." She waved her hand. "All I did was dial the number, put it on speaker, and lower the volume to nil so you couldn't hear it ringing over the noise of the restaurant. Sasuke has that kind of phone where even if you close it during speaker phone, it's still dialing or calling or whatever."
"Geez!" Suigetsu groaned. "You put too much thought into this!"
"Tadaima"
The house was dark, save for the lone light coming from the kitchen
"Itachi, what the hell are you wasting your time with?" He heard his father say angrily. "I paid for your college tuition under the pretense that you're going to get an education and a good job but what do I hear? My co-worker sees you at a bar in the middle of the night screeching away on that ridiculous guitar you wasted your money on. And then you tell me you want to make music. Music! You can't live off of that son. After all, you're in line for an assistant manager position at that restaurant you work at."
"Well obviously, I don't work there anymore."
"Itachi!"
"Music is what I'm good at." Itachi said.
"Do something worthwhile, Itachi, and secure. You'll do well in business."
"In case you forgot, Otou-san-" Sasuke cringed, knowing what would be out of his brother's mouth next "-but we're not in Japan anymore. There is no family business for me to take care of. Even if there was, you still have Sasuke."
"Itachi, I'm trying to help you-"
"From making your mistakes? Face the facts Otou-san; this isn't about preventing me from ruining myself. This is all about you and your stupid pride. You don't want a son who failed."
"Itachi!"
"I will be a musician." Itachi vowed coldly. "But just so that you sleep at night, I'm taking up a job in a recording studio. I hope you're ready to pay the consequences, Otou-san. A disgruntled son is difficult to deal with."
Sasuke heard his brother leave the kitchen but he made no effort to hide or pretend he wasn't eavesdropping. When Itachi passed by his younger brother standing mute in the entry way with his skateboard still in hand, he smiled bitterly. Reaching out, Itachi poked him in the forehead.
"I'm pathetic ototou." The elder said softly. "I dream and dream and can't go anywhere."
Sasuke said nothing in response. Sighing, Itachi left and walked back to his room.
"Baka." Sasuke murmured. "That's why it's better not to dream at all."
"I don't know how you do it." Karin groaned over her filled backpack. "All you do is study and work. Shit, I bet that if we all didn't go to Canton Community together, we'd never see you at all."
Sasuke chuckled humorlessly across the table. It had been a week since his father and his brother argued and things in the Uchiha house were considerably more tense. At every given opportunity, Sasuke stayed away from home, taking on more hours at the sushi restaurant or studying in the college library with his friends.
"Unlike you, I'm naturally brilliant."
"Egotistical pig."
"It's true though." Juugo yawned. "You weren't class salutatorian."
"But he wasn't valedictorian either." Karin countered. "Amy Lipinski was."
"Only 'cause she cheated off of me." Sasuke smirked. "And she was involved in campus activities."
Feeling like tearing her hair out, Karin dropped the subject and went back to her homework. "Where's Suigetsu?" She mused aloud over the next question.
"Making out with some girl probably." Sasuke shrugged. "I saw him with whatsherface in his math class earlier."
Karin made a disgusted face before abandoning her homework once again. "Are you ready for summer break? You guys have any plans?"
"Work." Sasuke answered immediately.
"Nothing." Juugo offered. "What about you?"
The girl sighed and blew a strand of hair out of her eyes. "Nothing. Too poor to travel."
"Except to Canada right?" Sasuke grinned.
"You're never too poor to go to Canada!" Karin exclaimed. "I bet Sakura Haruno has lots of summer travel plans. I'm so jealous."
She missed the way Sasuke tensed in his seat.
"Well, I guess that's what happens when you're lucky enough to have parents with a good job." Juugo said. "She really is lucky."
"The only one of us with a remotely decent amount of money is Sasuke. But your parents are so hellbent on saving for everything under sun that you're about as broke as the rest of us." The rosette laughed.
Weakly, Sasuke laughed along with them but his thoughts were in overdrive. It was true that the Uchihas were far from destitute, not with his mother working as a nurse and his dad in a supervisor position with the Affinia Group. However, a sizable portion of their money went towards repaying the debts caused by the crash of the then-budding Uchiha Group. If it weren't for the fact that he didn't want to add onto his parents' financial burdens, Sasuke knew he could have gone to U of M beginning his freshman year with or without financial aid.
"Hey what time is it?" Sasuke deftly changed the subject.
"4:10."
"Shit!" He stood up hastily and began shoving his books back in his bag. "I need to go to work!"
"You want a ride?" Juugo offered. "I'm thinking about going home too."
"And you're going to leave me here?" Karin pouted. "Fine. I guess I'll go home too."
"If you don't mind." Sasuke breathed a sigh of relief. "I have to be there by 4:30 in time for the dinner rush."
"It's not a problem. We should probably leave now."
"Yeah..."
"Have fun with Sakura-san." Juugo waved to Sasuke as he hopped out of his car.
"Not you too!" Sasuke groaned. "There's nothing going on man."
"Whatever. Just admit you have a crush on her." Karin laughed. "I mean, seriously, why'd you even save her number in your phone if you didn't like her?"
Onyx narrowed. "You snooped."
"Oops. Did I say that aloud?"
"I'll deal with you later." Sasuke glared at her. "Thanks for the ride Juugo."
At the sound of the opening door, Han looked up at him from counting the cash register. "Yo. It's about time you showed up. You're usually here at four."
"Sorry." Sasuke shifted his backpack higher on his shoulder. "I was studying in the library and lost track of time."
"It's not a big deal." The older man shrugged, following Sasuke into the backroom. "It's just... unusual."
"Huh?" Sasuke's voice was muffled by the shirt he was pulling over his head. "Unusual?"
"Well, you're never late."
"I guess there's a first for everything."
"And you've scheduled yourself in for almost the entire summer." Han pointed out, glancing at the paper taped onto the wall.
"So?"
"Are you crazy?"
Sasuke rolled his eyes as he tied his apron around his waist. "No. Why is that such a big deal?"
"No normal teenager wants to work his summers away."
"I guess I'm not normal." Sasuke answered shortly. "Besides, aren't you supposed to be the host for tonight?"
"Damn!"
Following at a more leisurely pace, Sasuke pushed aside the curtain and looked out into the restaurant. Sakura Haruno's parents and her twin brother stood at the entrance, looking quite at home in the small restaurant.
"Three?" Han inquired.
"Four actually." Mr. Haruno grunted.
Han looked back at Sasuke and threw him a sly smirk. "Right this way, sir."
After they had ordered their drinks, Sakura Haruno rushed through the doors, spotted her family immediately and sank into the empty chair. "Sorry I'm late." She breathed out.
"Saki-chan, you said you'd meet us at home." Her mother frowned.
"I know, I know. But Naruto-"
"You were with Naruto?" Sai interjected.
She gave him a puzzled look. "I told you that I was going to help him buy a gift for his girlfriend."
"Can I get you a glass of water?" Sasuke smoothly cut in, taking note of her flushed apperance.
"Please. And a cup of hot tea."
As he filled up an empty glass with ice and water, the last few minutes played back in his head. Groaning, Sasuke felt like hitting himself.
"Can I get you a glass of water?" He mimicked under his breath. "Yeah Sasuke, you definitely sound like you're not hyperaware of her every movement. A glass of water, my ass..."
Author's Note:
Hello! Sorry for the wait.
I really don't like this chapter for several reasons. One, it was very difficult to write things about Sasuke only (I want to write SasuSaku—yeah!). Two, nothing interesting happened. T_T
Thank you all who have read, reviewed, favorited, and put nothing on you on alerts! I'm overwhelmed by your support.
Ja ne!
Callista Miralni