Expectations

Chapter 13- Sense and Sensibility

"Calm down, I'll get you out," she hears him reply frantically, which snaps a little at her heart and hardens her next decision.

"No. Not this time."

"Kushina –"

"You always help me out whenever I'm in trouble, it's time I did my share. This was all my suggestion, so I'm going to see it to the end. If I'm not out in fifteen minutes, come get me."

She switches the device off and places it on the desk after she walks back towards it. The locks must have been switched on, so any obvious exits would be out of the question.

The door slammed open and she froze like a fawn caught in the headlights. There, standing tall in nothing but Calvin Klein boxer shorts, long spiky hair making him look intimidating and the infamous Uchiha glare was the man who made her friend's life hell.

"One of you didn't make it out?" he cackled evilly, fitting the description Sasuke had given her plenty of times. She was not about to cower; one of her dominating traits was her fearlessness.

"I was not running to begin with."

He is quiet for a moment, before the lights are switched on. And for the first time in her entire life, she stares at a half-naked man shamelessly.

The man is tall and has a satisfying burly stature, eight packs and all, but despite the fact that she hated built men, a notion she had mentioned to Ino a billion times, he was ripped just enough for it to be likeable. How old was he? He looked young enough to be at least Sasuke's elder brother, but he was his uncle?

Did she mention that he was half-naked?

"It would be a pleasure to know a name before you drool."

Kushina narrows her eyes disdainfully, and he is amused by her reaction. There is no way she could get past him, and if she did, there would be no guarantee that Sasuke would ever agree to this again. She was in deep shit.

"Why are you so mean to Sasuke?" she asks, seeing confrontation and honesty would be the least painful method to escape. The man raises his eyebrow.

"And he is to you...?"

"My friend," she snaps at him, her hands balling at her sides and a scowl on her face. "And you have been horrible with him for years! What's wrong with you? Aren't you supposed to be the only family he has left? Don't you feel even a little – "

"What he is to me has nothing to do with you, friend or not, and he should not have invited you to –"

"It was my idea!" she exclaimed.

He recoiled.

"Sasuke was against all of it. I pushed him to fight back."

He studied her quietly for a while, which made her a little uncomfortable, but did nothing but show determination and strong will to not back down.

"You could have alarmed the police –"

"That would not have put you down."

"Legal actions would have been safer –"

"I already helped him start an emancipation with my Godfather."

"Informing me of your plans is –"

"You mean to say dumb but I know I will not be left alone with just a warning; you don't seem the type to release people easily."

He could not help but be impressed, but does not voice it as he gazes upon the stubborn and unyielding girl with sudden admiration.