Tomorrow Blossom (Sasuke Uchiha) - Book One - Trade Mistakes

Chapter Fifteen- Bittersweet

"...Wow..." for once our whole team was speechless. Even me.

Shinobi of all shapes, sizes, and varying shades of ugly decorated the room, like a mad tapestry of wild colours. Certain people stood out as strong- specifically Gaara, and I positioned myself partially behind the others, my gaze fixed on him. I felt like a rabbit in headlights- just his presence was enough to suffocate me. No prey species would ever feel strong in the face of a predator.

Seeming to sense my nerves, my teammates sent me looks of concern, and I tried to pull courage from the confidence and eagerness in Naruto and Sasuke's eyes, but each time my thoughts were dragged, kicking and screaming, back to Gaara's turquoise eyes and chilling words.

"You and I are the same."

Just what the hell did he mean by that?

"There you are, Sasuke-kun!!" a truly recognisable voice sang, someone suddenly wrapping her arms around the boy's neck from behind. Sakura growled.

"Ino-pig! Get your mits off of my Sasuke-kun!!" she yelled. I looked away from the scene and placed a hand on my stomach as it gave a strange, sour ache, a frown on my face. I wasn't sure what this feeling was, but I knew that it was something similar to dislike. But dislike for what?

For Ino? For my sister? After all, the feeling only started when she appeared... but there was no way I could dislike my sister!

Maybe... I disliked what she was doing?

But why would I dislike that she was hugging Sasuke? She had hugged him before in front of me, on that day when we were at the Yamanaka household drying off after the rain. I hadn't cared then. So what had changed between then and now?

In the back of my mind, Izanami snorted rudely. I scowled.

'What's funny?'

'That some find naiveté endearing.'

Fucking cryptic goddess.

"Listen up! My name's Naruto Uzumaki and I won't lose to any of you bastards!" Naruto suddenly shouted, pulling me from my reverie. I frowned. I'd like to believe it to be true, but... I'd met Gaara.

"You rookies might want to quieten down a bit. You're only making things worse for yourself." some silver haired guy said with a smirk, coming over. I scowled. I hate know-it-alls. Who the hell did he think he was, telling us what to do?

"Shut the fuck up." I snapped, folding my arms, cranky because Ino still hadn't let go of Sasuke, ergo the nasty feeling was still there. Silver-hair glared at me, some sort of realisation in his eyes, then pointedly ignored me while talking to the others, making me grind my teeth.

"There are some pretty dangerous people in this exam, so I'll be the good guy and give you cute rookies some tips." um, ew?

"So if you're able to give us tips, this must be at least your second time taking this exam, right?" Sakura asked, and for once I felt like I didn't want to smack her. She was on the same page as me.

"Seventh. Fourth year." He said, and my jaw dropped a little. I expected Sakura to say something like: "You must be really weak then." except in kinder words, since she's only really nasty to me and Ino. But no.

"Wow! So you must be an expert at these exams, then!" she exclaimed, and I facepalmed angrily.

"Well, no, obviously not if he's failed them six times!!" I yelled, but once again, I was ignored. Charming.

I spent the next half hour sulking in the corner, only stopping to cheer on the sound ninja that tried to beat up nerdy-glasses-know-it-all guy. Unfortunately, he got stopped by the proctor.