11 p.m. ended up ringing, and Sasuke was ready to go.
Kisame had parked the dark car not so far from the house like it was planned. He was waiting for the young heir to come out.
Sasuke was almost alone at the time. Nara-san was sleeping on the couch, and Shino had left.
It was slowly that he finally stood up to go through the door of the small office/living room again. The music was calmer and slower. The boys and the girls still there were dancing slowly in the living room. He then noticed his old classmates.
He did not spot Sakura, but he noticed Ino talking animatedly to other girls in a corner. One of them, felt weirdly familiar. He took a second, but then realized that it was the host. Dirty blond hair, quite short, she seemed do get along quite well with Ino.
Tenten seemed on the phone close to the door, while Hinata was talking to another guy—a bit older but very similar to her—that he didn't know… Well, Sasuke did not need to know. It was definitely another Hyûga. He thought that if his father knew Hinata Hyûga had been in his class since primary school, he would lose it.
Lee was moving on the dance floor completely unsynchronized with the music.
And Naruto and Kiba were stupidly (like always) laughing in the corner with other members of the football team. They were doing a prank on the girl with red hair that was right next to them. Sasuke did not know her.
He raised an eyebrow but just ended up ignoring them, continuing on his way out. Thank all the gods, Sakura wasn't there. She would have wanted to join him or say bye to him. He really hoped she left.
It was then as discreetly as possible that he exited the house.
He was barely done closing the door when a hand behind him caught it, pushing it back open.
"Oh! Hum, sorry, Uchiha," murmured the girl, suddenly surprised to see it was him.
"Hn."
Ignoring her, he continued his way out, ready to join Kisame. She was just walking behind him. Her footsteps were quiet on the stairs and stopped. Sasuke could hear her… sobbing?!
What? No… no. He was definitely not going to turn around to check.
He was an Uchiha. He did not need to meddle. Uchiha didn't turn back to see if a random girl he did not care about… was… ah, she stopped… so she wasn't really crying… was it just her nose running? Uhh, gross. Or maybe she was cold? Nah… she shouldn't be, it was the middle of spring. Even he was warm. Well, he would rather be cold than warm, but still… allergies?
God, was the alcohol making him dumb?
He slowed down after he spotted Kisame's car and waited a second, unsure if he wanted the girl to know that the luxury black car was indeed for him. Sasuke did not have much time. Kisame noticed him, and the tall man got out of it and came to the back to open the door for Sasuke.
Sasuke used a small head movement to quickly glance at the girl.
She was there, right in front of the doorstep, standing still and waiting. Not crying like he thought, but definitely a bit upset. He, of course, didn't know why.
Maybe that phone conversation she had a bit earlier?… Not that it was any of his concerns.
"Uchiha-sama?"
He jolted a bit when Kisame took him out of his thoughts. Then he hesitated an instant, but, to the great surprise of the fish-man (yeah, that dude definitely looked like a fish), he turned around and walked toward the girl.
He was back in front of her in very few steps.
"Mitsashi-san."
She raised her head and looked at him with big eyes, waiting for him to continue talking. He must admit it, after all. It was quite a rare sight to see Uchiha Sasuke talking to a girl without raising his voice.
"Do you need a ride?"
She did not answer, looking at him with big eyes. And thirty more seconds later, Sasuke was already regretting offering. His annoyance in front of her silence might have shown, because suddenly she started to tremble and opened her mouth.
"Oh, hum, thanks, yeah, yes, I mean, no, I… am waiting… for… T-thanks… I, I'll be fine."
He raised an eyebrow again. Why could no-one in the school talk normally? What did she think, he was going to hit her or something?
"Are you sure?"
"Hum, ah, well—"
"It would be no trouble, you know."
He tried to soften his voice. Maybe she was indeed scared of him.
"Ah… hum… maybe, ok, thanks."
"Hn."
He then turned and went directly to the car waiting for him, looking directly at Kisame. He knew the employee had definitely heard. Kisame did not even nod, and Tenten walked into the car after him.
That night, everybody was still asleep when he came back home. It had been another day like every other day since the beginning of the year.
However… maybe going to that party was not the worst after all.
In the following weeks, it seemed that a couple of things had changed. Of course, everyone—like, every single soul—seemed to be talking about the party. How some of their classmates had hooked up somewhere, kissing here and there. Sasuke did not even care to listen to the names.
Of course, some of Naruto's and Kiba's pranks also had become popular that day. Apparently, a poor girl named Karin had suffered from an entire slime attack.
Not that he cared.
To him, everything seemed normal, except that he ended up, sometimes during the day, exchanging a few words with Shikamaru. And weirdly, that thing… that discussion became a new habit of theirs. Actually, that made him think even more about joining the student council.
Well, he could try at least.
Also, at some point, his eyes would cross Tenten's, and very quickly he would ignore her. The girl always with a small smile on her lips, like she seemed quite fond of Sasuke now—without it being about stupid flirt—but Sasuke could see that there was something more, some kind of thankfulness, and he really did not want that—his kindness—to be taken as something that it was not… right? That would be bad.
He would sometimes, however, acknowledge her too. Without the smile (Uchiha he was), but also without the antipathy or the coldness he normally reserved for the other had never bothered him before after all.
The end of the year came faster than anyone could have predicted. And by then, it was the end of their second year in middle school.
And the only thing Sasuke could think of was how quiet it all was. Not peaceful. Just quiet. And there was like some sort of nostalgia about it all.
Summer started, and nothing unusual seemed to happen. Except maybe, some small talk going around. Apparently, Ino had liked the party so much that she had decided to organize another one later in July. Her and the party girl host (Sasuke could not remember her name) had hit it off and were becoming the party planners for the year.
On a not-that-unusual note, Naruto had upgraded and joined his class as well at the dojo.
Weirdly enough after a year of silence, this did not bother Sasuke.
Maybe they would slowly start talking again.
However, that thought was very quickly met with a cold shower. Naruto seemed to have for him, only violence and hatred.
Suddenly, he realized how much his actions after the kiss—the ignorance, the contempt, the meanness—had destroyed the little relationship he had with Naruto…
Maybe it was long-built anger, maybe it was newly found aggressive behaviour. The day Naruto joined his class for the first time, he ignored Sasuke with a long, cold face. Sasuke felt trapped.
Bitterness toward him was slowly emanating from the blond boy.
For a minute, Sasuke didn't recognize him. They had grown up.
The blond had always been a little bit stupid, but he had never been rancorous before. Just child-like. But now—he could feel all the resentment coming from the blond.
They were teenagers now, and they were far from forgetting the small everyday instances like before.
Sasuke felt like he was suffocating; his judgment felt clouded. So Sasuke did what he was best at: he acted like a dick. Rubbing his superiority in Naruto's face, to hide how hurt he was.
And at the end of the summer, he knew that nothing could ever repair his relationship with Naruto. It was done. Now they hated each other.
And silence was always going to surround him… which he liked, right?
At the beginning of the year, everything felt stupid again.
He had been to Ino's party, and maybe had indeed enjoyed the first five minutes before getting a headache and hiding with Shikamaru. (Honestly, he wondered why, that time again, they were both there, while both of them didn't really like noise?)
They had played chess in a corner, and Shikamaru and he had talked about actually joining the student council back in September. Also, he had tried alcohol that day. Well, it wasn't the first time, but this time, it was consensual, and it kind of felt more right.
Not like he was going to get hammered. But Ino's party had been quieter overall. It was closer to home, so he hadn't needed a ride, and it didn't feel as official as the last party, where everyone had made a big deal about it. Fewer people were there, and he had almost immediately felt more at ease. The still 13-year-old boy had tried some wine, which he immediately liked more than the beer he had once, by accident, a year before at a relative's wedding. Overall, it wasn't that bad, and, well, he was kind of relieved—he wouldn't be the only one from their grade to join the council.
Which could have been quite funny when you think about it, because three months later, in October, Shikamaru had already quit, leaving him alone to represent his grade—and yet here was his third year of middle school.
The useless boy had been too lazy.