literature

Chapter Twenty and Four

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Once we were home, Sasuke seemed to have gone back to normal. He asked me about my exam and how I'd done. I told him as much as I remembered from the exam. He wrote it all down and helped me review the mistakes I'd made. Apparently I had made plenty of mistakes. Maybe I wasn't as ready as I had first thought. As we went over what I remembered, Sasuke gave me words of encouragement, saying that the teacher might not be so strict on grading.

"You do understand it, you just keep making clumsy mistakes, dobe," he told me.

"Stupid English," I mumbled.

Sasuke half smiled and shook his head. "If you keep making these mistakes, people are going to think you're the stupid one."

"Gah! Shut up, teme!"

Itachi walked into the living room in that moment, interrupting us. "Boys, dinner's ready. Quit your bickering and come eat."

"Food! Yes!"

Itachi smiled at me as I ran past him into the kitchen. Sasuke sighed and followed behind me at his own pace with Itachi beside him. I sat down as the two of them stepped into the kitchen. I eagerly waited for them before starting. They were taking forever to sit down! When they finally sat down, I began to eat without holding back. Itachi's cooking was always amazing. Half the time I didn't even know what was on my plate, but it was delicious. For all I knew he could be making strictly vegetarian dishes and I'd be none the wiser.

Itachi asked me about my exams and how I was holding up. I was honest and told him how I felt about every single exam so far. The ones that remained were yet to be seen, but I was a little nervous about them. He smiled at me and ruffled my hair. He was sure I'd passed everything just fine after so many nights of studying. It was then that I thanked him and Sasuke for helping me. If it wasn't for them, my grades wouldn't be doing so well. They helped fill in the gaps that teachers left behind.

"Nonsense, you're smart kid," Itachi said.

I shook my head. "Not book smart. My grades have never been this good."

Itachi stared at me for a moment. "Really? What about grade school?"

"The only thing I was ever great at was sports and art. Everything else was a jumble," I told him, stuffing my face again.

He sat there, thinking for a moment. "That's strange. You've really applied yourself. Maybe that was lacking?"

Again, I shook my head. "No, I've just never been good at school." I wasn't ashamed to admit it. School was something I had never really taken to. I liked school, yes, but mostly because I got to be around friends and other people I knew. Not so much for the homework and the exams parts. I had a hard time focusing on paperwork and teachers that went on and on about things I was probably never to going to see again. No, school was about getting to know others.

"Well, no matter. What's important is that you're doing better now. We'll see how much you've improved at the end of the semester when grades and ranks are posted," Itachi said with a smile.

I nodded and continued to eat. Sasuke didn't say a word. Once again, he was out of it. He wouldn't look at me. Itachi must have noticed because he kept stealing glances at his younger brother, not saying anything about the matter. I figured Itachi would pull him aside later to see what was going on. At least that's what he normally did when Sasuke didn't willingly share what was on his mind in front of me.

After dinner, I went back to the living room to pick up my notebooks and stuff. Sasuke and Itachi remained in the kitchen cleaning up and doing the dishes. Itachi had practically shooed me away. It was to be expected. They were brothers. They understood each other in a way I would never understand. It wasn't a bad thing, but it did make me feel a little left out.

Nothing I could do about it, though. I closed up the books Sasuke had left behind and put them in a neat stack for him. When I was done, I headed back up to my room to review my notes by myself. Three more days of class this week, two more days of exams. Two more days. Next week we'd have all the exam results. The week after that we'd have our final grades and rankings. Then, summer vacation, with more homework to do for the fall.

I showered before hitting the books. That way, once I was done, I could go straight to bed. After my shower, I sat at my desk and reviewed. An hour passed before I heard Sasuke head to his room. I was about to call out to him to ask him a question, but as he passed my door he didn't even look my way. That was enough to stop me. What was up with that guy?

The following morning, things had gone back to normal. Sasuke talked to me as he usually did and nagged me about getting ready for class. Whatever he'd been going through the night before was gone. At least for now.

"Dobe, hurry up!"

"Dammit, teme! Two minutes! That's all I need!"

"I'm not doing your tie again," he warned.

I sighed. I was still pretty bad at tying my tie. Normally Sasuke had to fix it for me or do it himself. "Sasuke, you know I'm bad at it!"

"You have to learn," he said as he passed my door with his backpack slung over his shoulder.

That jerk. I was sure he got some sick pleasure from seeing me struggle. Checking in the mirror, my tie looked better than it usually did. Sasuke was sure to say something if it looked off.

Downstairs, Itachi had left breakfast ready for us even though he'd left earlier in the morning. Sasuke and I ate and did the dishes before leaving. We walked to school in our usual silence. Sasuke, for the most part, was on his phone texting and playing games. It wasn't until we reached the gates that Sasuke turned to speak to me. "Go with Inuzuka and the others during lunch today."

"Eh? Why?"

"Just do it."

I stopped walking. I saw him walk ahead. I ran up to him, pulling him back by the arm. "Hey! If I pissed you off I'm sorry!"

His eyes widened for a moment. "What?"

"I don't know what I did to upset you, but I'm sorry, okay? I'm sorry." No matter what I had done, if anything, I didn't want Sasuke to be this cold and distant with me anymore. I wasn't just another of his classmates. I lived with him. I knew him.

The next reaction I didn't expect. Sasuke laughed. I think that was the first time I'd seen him laugh at school.

"Dobe, I'm not mad at you."

"Uhh then what? Why don't you want me around during lunch?"

He shook his, motioning to follow him. "I'll be busy. I might not even eat."

"What? What are you going to be doing?"

"I have a project to finish."

This was news to me. "A project?"

"Don't worry about it. I'll show you later."

"Oh, is it your drawings?" I asked excitedly.

"Hn."

"Awesome! I'm finally going to see your artwork!"

"Calm down, usuratonkachi. It's just a small project for a contest. No big deal."

"For you maybe, but I've never seen you draw or any of your work! It's going to be so awesome!"

He smiled. Then he stifled a yawn. My guess was that he didn't get much sleep again.

That morning we took our exam. Sasuke waved at me as he left the class when the bell rang, announcing lunch time. Just like he'd asked, I went outside with Kiba and the others. We had a few rounds of basketball. Then, the girls suggested playing badminton so that everyone could play. Shikamaru was the first to say it was troublesome. Chouji said he wanted to sit out to continue eating. All the while, I couldn't help but wonder what it was that Sasuke was working on.  

The rest of our classmates were used to his absence, even Sakura and Ino, but I wasn't. I lived with the guy, so I was used to having him around or within my reach in some way. Enjoying my time with our classmates wasn't hard, but my thoughts kept circling back to Sasuke.

He had been working on a project for contest. For how long? Is that why he was always tired as of late? Did Itachi know about it? Was I the only one that had no clue? Sasuke didn't purposely keep things from me, at least not in the time I had spent with them, but I had noticed that I was the last to know about some things. At first, none of that bothered me. I knew that they were brothers; they were family, blood family. I was an outsider that showed up in their lives one day.

The moment Itachi and Sasuke had welcomed me into their home, and their lives, officially, I felt integrated. They included me in a lot of their conversations and plans. If there was something I didn't know or understand, they would explain the situation or the history behind it. It was a change of pace for all of us. Now, when there were things I wasn't a part of, it sucked. It was hard to deal with that nagging feeling of not being in the circle.

It kinda hurt.

"Naruto, did you pass the exam?"

Sakura and I had returned to the classroom a little early. She had wanted to get out of the sun for a bit, despite Ino's nagging that she needed to get a tan. I decided to join her. Her company was always welcome.

"I think I did," I told her.

She smiled. "You've been studying a lot, haven't you?"

"Eh? How could you tell?"

She shrugged. "I feel like you've just really been investing yourself in school. Considering you've told me you don't really like and never been good at it, I'm seeing a different attitude from that."

Sakura was very observant. "Sakura-chan," I started. I couldn't help but smile. She was a great friend. "I have. Sasuke has been helping me a lot, too."

She nodded. "He's changed, too."

"What?"

Her smile had a hint of sadness to it. Why was that? "Nothing. Don't worry about it. Have you decided what high school you're going to apply to?"

"Ah, yeah. I'm aiming for Konoha!"

Her face lit up. "Really? I'm applying there, too!"

We went back and forth about going to Konoha and how different school was going to be. How our lives would change. How we hoped to be in the same class. She told me that a lot of our classmates wanted to go there, too. Ino had told her that her family and Shikamaru's and Chouji's had gone there generation after generation, so for them the decision was a no brainer. Their parents always gave them the freedom to choose differently if they wanted, but so far, the choice remained the same.

"Do you know if Sasuke-kun is applying there, too?" she asked.

"Yeah, he said he wanted to go there."

"Wow. I thought he'd go for Otogakure."

I laughed. "That's what I thought, too, but he said he was going to Konoha. Apparently Oto's programs don't interest him."

She nodded thoughtfully. "Hmm, maybe that might change. I feel like Sasuke-kun is a closet poet or musician or artist."

Well, he was a closet artist. I wasn't sure if I was allowed to mention that, though. "Ah, maybe. He spends a lot of time in his room."

"If he is, he might be interested in Otogakure's art program."

"What? I thought Oto was for music and theatre," I told her, confused.

Sakura shook her head. "Not just music and theatre. It's a school for the arts. They're known for their music and theatre programs, but they also have art programs and other things."

Why would Sasuke lie about that? "Oh, I see. Well, Sasuke will decide for himself."

"Yeah. Sasuke-kun knows what he wants," she said with a smile.

The bell rang. Afternoon classes began.

The rest of the day I kept staring at the back of Sasuke's head. Did he think he wasn't good enough for Otogakure? Why would he bother lying to me about their programs? There was no point in him going to Konohagakure if he didn't really want to. Although, if he did go to Oto, I couldn't follow. There would be no way for me to follow. My grades were nowhere where they would have to be, not to mention, I wasn't particularly artistic. I had some doodles, but nothing extensive.

Sasuke.

What was he not telling me?

My after school class felt long and boring. My teacher had decided to make the class a review session. I wasn't sure why since I had already taken the exam. Some of the things we went over had been in the exam. Actually, a lot of the questions she asked me to answer on paper or verbally were exactly like the exam. I wasn't sure what that was about.

Class had ended a little earlier than usual. I thanked my teacher, bowed to her and was on my way to the library. There, I saw Sasuke in a corner table, toward the back next to the windows. This time, instead of scattered books, he was on his laptop. He must've heard me because he closed the laptop as I approached him.

"Done?"

"Ah yeah."

"Then let's go home," he said, yawning as he stuffed his laptop into his pack.

"Was that your project?"

"Hn."

That explained why he was so quick to close his laptop. I didn't get to see anything. "Are you almost done?"

"Hn."

He picked up his pack and started walking out. I followed him, stuffing my hands in my pockets. I wasn't sure how to ask.

It wasn't until we were outside in the courtyard that I decided to ask him about it. "Hey, so, uh, Sakura-chan said Otogakure was a school for the arts."

Sasuke slowed down the slightest bit. "Did she?"

"Yeah. She said they're known for their music and theatre programs, but they also had various art programs."

"What's your point, Naruto?"

I stopped and stared at him as he continued to walk forward. "You didn't have to lie to me," I told him.

He stopped. "I didn't," he said with his back to me.

"You said Oto was for music and theatre, yes, but I'm guessing by your reaction you also knew about the art programs. If you want to go there, why don't you?"

He was silent. "I didn't lie. I don't want to go there."

"You're lying to me."

He sighed and shook his head. "Let's go, I'm hungry." He began walking.

"No! I want you to tell me why you lied!" I screamed, standing my ground.

Sasuke stopped walking again. "If you stop behaving like a child for two seconds, it might cross your thick head that I don't want to talk about this here," he said, turning to glare at me.

"Fine," I spat. I went on a little ways ahead of Sasuke. What was the big deal? I didn't see the problem with discussing that then and there.

Sasuke walked at his pace, not caring that I wasn't walking next to him the way I normally did. The teme.

Itachi wasn't home yet when we got there. I kicked off my shoes and headed upstairs. I was about to walk into my room, when Sasuke grabbed my arm and pulled me toward his room. I wanted to protest but he warned me to keep my mouth shut. Before I had a chance to say anything else, Sasuke sat on his desk and turned on the already open laptop.

"I wasn't lying when I said I want to go to Konoha. As far as Oto goes, I don't know if I'm good enough. Not only do I have to take an entrance exam, but I also have to assemble a portfolio."

"What's a portfolio?"

"It's like a scrapbook of your work. Your best work."

Okay, finally some answers. "Okay, so what? You can make a portfolio, can't you?"

"It's not assembling it that's the problem," he said, still working on his laptop.

"Then what is, teme?"

"I don't know if my work is good enough for it. I wouldn't know what to put into it. I also need to have entered a contest and placed in the final three."

That did sound like a lot work. "So then, the contest—"

"A requirement I'm trying to fulfill," he stated. "Take a look," he said, moving aside.

On the screen sat open various windows displaying his artwork. It was good. Like really good. Like really, really good. Sakura was right in him being a closet artist. The characters looked nearly the same as they did on TV, the same shades and colors. It was all very detailed and well done.

"How can you say you're not good enough?" I screamed.

He was silent. "None of it is mine. It's all just fan art. I don't really have my own style."

I could hear the resignation in his voice. "You've done some of your own stuff, though, haven't you?"

He scrunched up his nose. "Yeah, but it's not good."

"You're the artist, so you clearly can't see your potential. Let me see some of it," I offered.

Sasuke shook his head. "Not until after the contest."

"You're entering original artwork for the contest?"

He nodded, taking his place back in front of his laptop, closing each file. "I'm going to apply to both Oto and Konoha. Even if I get accepted into Oto, I don't know that I'll go."

This was so strange. Sasuke was always sure of himself. Always confident. Even arrogant at some points. This was different. He was vulnerable and unsure. This wasn't the Sasuke I knew. At least this wasn't a part of Sasuke I was familiar with. I guess even he had insecurities.

"Don't sweat it! I'm sure you'll place if your style looks this amazing!"

A small smile crept onto his lips. "Hn."

"You know, even if it's just fan art, the art is still yours. It came from your hands. You're borrowing the characters, yeah, but the art is yours," I told him. It was mostly to give him a confidence boost, but it was also the truth.

He scoffed. "Shut up."

I grinned. Sasuke was going to do great. I could feel it. I couldn't wait to see what he submitted for the contest.
All right, so I didn't post another chapter like I said I might have done...so I'll be nice and do this one along with Chapter Twenty and Three. 
Also because I don't know what my school and work schedule will be like next week. I just know I have two games and a couple of assignments due... My time may be limited. 
Until next time!!

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© 2015 - 2024 Kyoko-Li
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Arisu-ArtnFics's avatar
Oh wow double update... thanks :D :D
And the teme is an artits >< ><
Cool... but the only thing is if he end being accepted in that school... and in the end chose to do the best for him...
They will separate... :'( :'(

And on the other hand...
I'm pretty sure that Naruto will pass all his exams ^^ ^^