Winter's P.O.V
From today, it has been exactly three months since I was supposed to be dead. More importantly, it's my birthday. Of course, I wouldn't tell Sasuke that, what would he do anyway? No offense to him but he doesn't seem exactly the partying type.
I've been getting quite worried for him lately, he returns home and eats the dinner I prepared for him and then he goes to bed - and that's on a good day. Usually, he returns home covered in cuts and blood, a lot of blood. His onyx eyes have grown more and more empty, what is Orochimaru making him do?
His eyes have gradually become nothing, I can no longer read his expressions unless he wants me to, there's nothing I can think of to lighten them. He doesn't trust me one little bit, he watches me like I'm a bomb about to go off.
But on the bright side, I've managed to live to my sixteenth birthday. Hooray.
Brushing my hair out of my face and tucking it behind my ears I walk around his home, cleaning, and dusting. I've become his unofficial housemaid and in payment, he supplies food for dinner and when I'm really lucky, clothes.
He can't be seen buying ladies clothes, though, so the clothes he brings back are all men clothing, long pants or shorts and baggy t-shirts. But I make do with what I get, I cut the shorts shorter and fix a belt around the waist. I don't mind baggy t-shirts, I find them so comfortable so I usually just leave them. I don't need to keep up appearances, who is going to see me anyway? I don't care what Sasuke thinks of me and he doesn't care what I think of him, it's a mutual agreement.
Sasuke is due to come home any minute now and I've prepared Spaghetti, a dish that I used to have back home - I doubt he's ever heard of it. I would have loved to make something more to secretly celebrate my birthday but this was all the food I could find.
Setting the dinner table I decide to wear the nicest pair of shorts I have and a matching t-shirt. Because I want to look neat and tidy, I tuck in my shirt and brush my hair into submission. I put a little bit of concealer on to get rid of the bags under my eyes and I do a thin coat of mascara on my eyelashes.
Looking nicer than I have in a long time, I sit on the newly made couch (I had straightened all the pillows and folded the dark green blanket) and waited for my captor to return home.
I don't know why I was so nervous, perhaps it was the fact that I didn't want him to ruin my birthday dinner. I knew already that he was going to come home looking like something the cat dragged in, but I didn't want him to turn up his nose at the Spaghetti or yell at me again because of something I didn't know.
He'd been doing that a lot lately, I might get him to smile and then his face turns cold and he yells at me like he's afraid of being happy or nice. Even though he doesn't know it's my birthday, a part of me still hopes tonight will be a good night - a yelling free zone.
The door clicks open and I turn my head to see Sasuke's dark figure walking through the door. His pants are torn and there's a jagged cut across his left cheek. His empty eyes squint at me, probably trying to figure out why I am dressed so neatly. "What's with the getup?" He asks his voice gravely.
I grab the notepad and pencil that I now leave permanently on the glass coffee table and write, 'No reason, get cleaned up for dinner.' Sasuke shrugs and walks into his room where I hear running water.
As I wait for him to take a shower my eyes drift curiously over the books sitting stoically on the bookshelves. Unable to contain myself, I reach for the first book. After all, he's in the shower and I'll put it back before he notices it's missing.
Opening it to the first page, I read again over his mother's name, 'Mikoto Uchiha'. Curious, I turn to the next page. Astonishingly, I find that it's written in English:
PARIS GRAY
Paris Gray was a straight-A student, she excelled at Taijutsu, Ninjutsu, and Genjutsu. Even though she was short at five and a half feet tall, she was nothing short of beautiful. With wavy, brown hair down to her waist and warm brown eyes, she could have any man she wanted in the village.
However, one boy was avoiding her, one could even be under the assumption that he hated her. Paris liked the fact that he didn't like her just because she was smart and pretty, she wanted to be his friend.
He wasn't very handsome, he had short cropped hair and freckles that made a bridge across his nose. His hair was fiery red yet his eyes were a dull gray. His lips did not stand out on his face but instead blended into his tanned skin. Jeremy was short for his age and failed every one of his classes. But he never let his grades bother him, he would just screw his face up at the back of the teachers head and stick his tongue out - it would make Paris laugh. When he couldn't take the pressure of school and people, he would sit underneath the sky watching the clouds, lost in his own world.
Paris didn't know if he had any friends, he sat with a group of boys in classes but he never spoke to them. He never spoke to anyone.
Every day after training, she would try and speak to the boy, ask his name. But he would just ignore her. Agitated, Paris decided to annoy him equally and she made a game out of following him home. He knew she was there of course - but he never pointed it out. If he was annoyed, he never pointed that out either. For a long time she would wonder, did this boy want me to follow him? But she would contradict herself, this boy didn't want her around - he wouldn't even tell her his name... Perhaps he couldn't speak-
The book was ripped from my hands and I stared, startled into the pits of Sasuke Uchiha's eyes. His hair was dripping wet and it cascaded in front of his face, dripping beads of water onto me. "What, do you think you are doing?" He said in a low, dangerous voice.
I tried to ignore the close proximity to Sasuke's lips and shifted my features. "I was curious..." I managed with a guilty expression.
"You cannot touch these, they're are off limits." He growled. Leaning closer to me, I inhaled sharply trying to keep my heartbeat in check as he reached behind me and placed the book back in its place. "Time for dinner." He dismissed me and I exhaled, glad that he hadn't yelled at me. Yet.
We sat down in complete silence and he gave me another once over. I wrote down on the piece of paper, 'It's called Spaghetti, it's delicious.'
The corner of his mouth turned up a fraction and then went back down, "I know, my mother made it for us once or twice." How did his mother know about Spaghetti? It's impossible! Sasuke noticed my confusion and answered knowingly, "When my mother was young before she met my dad in the Village Hidden in the Leaves, she visited a village that was located on an island called Oakshire. A village surrounded by the ocean, it's native language was different to everybody else's. Nobody knew where it originated from, but the people there called it English." He paused knowingly and ate a mouthful of food, smirking at my surprised face.
So his mother used to visit Oakshire? I wonder if my mother ever met Mikoto Uchiha. Oakshire was where I was born, my home... but everyone there was killed for their immunity to Ninjutsu and Genjutsu... I was the only survivor.
"She wanted to become a writer. Those were all her books." Sasuke pointed to the bookshelves and my eyes gazed over all the books she had written. "Writing fictional novels wasn't a strong profession in the ninja society so she went to Oakshire to recognize her dream. She learned to speak English and wrote many books before she returned to the Village Hidden in the Leaves where she met Fugaku, my father. When she was married she still wrote books, and to keep Oakshire alive in her heart and mind, she taught her kids English, Itachi and me." Sasuke continued to eat and my mind processed everything he said.
I felt a little guilty about intruding on his mother's personal books but I was so happy to know that his mother knew about Oakshire. I sent a little prayer up into heaven where I hoped Mikoto was and I thanked her for teaching Itachi and Sasuke English, if she hadn't I wouldn't be where I was right now. Instead, I would be in some sort of cemetery six feet under the ground.
"So, are you going to tell me why you've dressed up?" He said through a mouthful.
He seemed to be in a greater mood than usual so I suppose telling him isn't the end of the world, I quickly wrote down, 'Today's my sixteenth birthday.'
Sasuke choked on his mouthful of food when he read this and swallowed it quickly. "It's your sixteenth birthday?" I gave him a sarcastic grin as if I was saying, 'Well duh, that's what I said'. "Huh."
I sweatdropped, I had gotten so worked up over not telling him and when I do I get a 'huh'. I rolled my eyes and he gave me a sideways grin.
"If you want, you can read the books on her shelf, I've never read them and they just sit there." I was shocked for two reasons. One, he was actually letting me read them?! And two, he had never read them?! "I know, but when have I ever had time to sit down and read books?"
Well maybe if he wasn't spending so much time on being a sadistic killer he would have time. I struggled to not slap him. I managed to thank him with a quick bow of my head and a stretched smile and he walked off to his room.
"Good night, Winter." He said it like he did every night, and left me with the dishes.
******
Finishing up with the dishes I plucked the first book off the shelf again and began where I left off.
Sasuke's P.O.V
I choked on my food when she told me it was her birthday because it was what I was least expecting. Some guilty part of me knew that she had dressed nicely to lighten the mood I always put her under when I came home.
I notice it every single time, like she is putting my darkness on her shoulders, that she feels the need to do something about it - just like the way Naruto felt. I didn't want to admit it, but letting her read my mother's books is kind of like my birthday present to her.
I should treat her better than I do, she makes such an effort to be lively and I choke the light out of everything. I decided a month ago that she wasn't going to run, she had nowhere to go and I had realized that she had nothing left. She wasn't the type of person to dig someone else's grave, she wouldn't turn me into Orochimaru, especially when I saved her life.
A small voice in the back of my head keeps telling me to apologize to her because it's her birthday and she deserves it, but I can't do that. I've never apologized sincerely to anyone in my life.
So I do the next best thing, trudging out of my bedroom I walk to the couch where she sleeps, but when I see her I have to try my hardest not to laugh at the awkward position she's put herself in to be comfortable and hold my mother's book up at the same time. Perhaps she wasn't being awkward, perhaps she just naturally reads books like that. I bite my lip.
I watch her eyes stop at the bottom of the page before she notices I've been standing there. Winter lifts a questioning eyebrow to me and I try to keep my confidence up. "I just want to know, if you're... okay?" Wait, that didn't come out the way I wanted it to. It was Winter's turn to bite her lip, trying not to laugh as I tried again, "Are you okay? I know I haven't been the best to you lately."
She seemed to accept it as a good enough apology and she nodded her head. Patting the space next to her I awkwardly sat down. I watched her write down on the pad of paper, 'This is a great book! You should read it!'
I laughed at her enthusiasm and she seemed to light up even more as she handed the book to me. She mouthed the words "Read it."
"Out loud?" I questioned uncertainly at all the small words on a single page that my mother had written. Winter nodded her head and I began to read from the very beginning of the book because I didn't know how it started. She didn't complain, just watched the words on the page as I read them to her.
Ten minutes later, she began to nod off. I smiled inwardly at how innocent she looked and went to bed. Perhaps I could get used to Winter staying here.
******
Can you guys see the change in the way Sasuke's acting toward her? I think he might be feeling a lot more than just 'used to her'. Thoughts?
Love, Books4_Ever xx