"Crap, crap, crap, crap, crap..." I muttered to myself as I heard the front door open and close and a cacophony of voices welcomed the return of Itachi, and with him, Sasuke and Hana.
"By the way, Sasuke, you had a visitor while you were out..." I heard Sasori say as some of the noise died down.
"Hm?" was his reply.
"She's upstairs" Sasori continued.
I didn't like situations like these. I felt like I was being cornered. So I met with the problem head on. Just as Sasuke went up the first step, I rushed down the flight of stairs and met him face to face. Our gazes met and there was silence as everyone was paralyzed by this confrontal situation.
"What's up?" I said, shattering the tension into a million little pieces.
"W-w-w-what the hell are you doing here?!" Hana raged as she locked arms with Sasuke.
Sasuke flinched at her touch but remained silent and unmoving, not at all protesting against her contact.
I blinked at him, "I've brought your homework... would you like to discuss it in the study? Alone?" I offered, ignoring Hana.
"I don't believe there's much I need to discuss with you" he replied coldly.
"Brrr..." I faked a shiver, "It's getting cold in here, isn't it?".
Hana scoffed, "Stop trying, you're only gonna make things worse".
"Says the one who made things worse to begin with" I sneered back.
Hana looked red with anger, and I positively loved it. I descended the last few steps until I was right in Sasuke's face.
"I hate speaking in code. So I'll be straight with you. I'm not the only one worried about you. Liz, Gaara, they all know that this is bad for you" I said firmly.
"Then what's good for me?" he asked calmly.
I paused, "I'm not gonna lie. I honestly don't know, but I believe that you can do better than this. Much better. And I'm not saying me, but let's just say I'm not totally against it, if you wanna give it a try" I said, feeling my face getting slightly red.
Sasuke sighed, "You know what, that's what I hate about you. You can never say it out loud. You've always gotta make it seem like everyone else is crazy about you. Why can't you just get over yourself and say it!" he yelled, his hostility bringing him towards me a few more inches.
I backed up and turned away. I hated him. I hated him for being so right. But I also hated myself. I hated myself for letting him be right.
"Come on, little bro! The girl basically just confessed to you, what the hell are you doing?" I heard Deidara urge under his breath.
"And that's how she gets spoiled. And there's nothing I hate more than spoiled girls" Sasuke hissed back.
But that time, I felt as if the comment wasn't only directed at me. I turned to face him again.
"Fine. You want raw? You want unspoiled?" I challenged.
He shook off Hana's grip and crossed his arms over his chest, "Yeah".
I reached out and grabbed his arm and dragged him out the door. I ignored all the high-pitched protests and the deep laughter that followed. I stopped when we were on the edge of the driveway.
"Holy crap, Vira! What's your problem?! It's cold out!" Sasuke complained.
"Then let me warm you up" I said, before I pulled his face down and our lips met.
My heart pounded in my ears. I felt so daring, but I despised myself. I hated my weakness, but I hated losing Sasuke even more. His hand pressed against my back, I let him. His tongue darted out to trace the border of my lips, I let him. He even nibbled on my lower lip, but I let him. My head dizzy with blood pumped with adrenaline, I almost didn't hear Hana's cry of outrage and her heavy steps as she trudged outside to stop her own daytime nightmare. I winced as my lip suffered a slight graze as Sasuke and I were roughly pushed apart.
"What. The. Hell. Do. You. Think. You're. Doing?!" Hana cried as she confronted me.
I laughed and sucked on my bleeding lip, "Um, I'm pretty sure I just kissed Sasuke. Really hard too".
Hana was livid. Her eyes blazed with a cold fire.
"You...you..." she was breathing heavily.
"While you think of what kind of rude name you're going to call me, if you could just excuse Sasuke and I. We've got plans" I said and dodged around her to grab Sasuke's awaiting hand.
We ran for our lives. Laughing and shivering. When we stopped, we neared a little parkette.
"Well, I'm sure your brother and his friends enjoyed that little show" I said as I caught my breath again.
Sasuke nodded, a light smile on his face, "That was pretty mean though".
I shrugged, "She's meaner".
He laughed and we sat down on a bench together, worn out from our escapade.
"What gave you the guts to do that?" Sasuke asked quietly.
I sighed, "That's not as gutsy as what I'm about to do now...".
He turned to me with a confused expression on his face.
"I...used you" I said as I saw the hurt on his face.
"Wh...what? I...I don't understand" he said, his voice on the verge of breaking.
"Hana and I got into an argument at the ski resort. You remember that. After we talked, I ended up agreeing to a bet with her on who would be able to get you first" I admitted shamefully, "Only now when I look back on it do I realize how stupid it really was" I sighed.
"Wait...what? I'm still..." Sasuke seemed unsure of whether to feel hurt or not.
"I took the bet and this whole time, I've only been doing what I've been doing so that I could win the bet. From the beginning, it was all about my own pride to be honest" I continued to confess.
"Wait...so, just now...you...you didn't..." Sasuke seemed to be having difficulty putting his words together into coherent sentences.
I shook my head, "Let me finish. Then you can judge me how you like" I pleaded.
He made no move to leave, so I continued.
"As I was participating in this bet, I did a lot of things that I wouldn't have done normally, but I want you to know now that I don't regret anything I did with you. Through this stupid bet, I've honestly come to understand you a lot more, even though most of that was built upon me lying to you...but when I found out what Hana had done to you, I think it was a tipping point for me. From that moment, it seemed as if I was trying as hard to win the bet, but more like I was trying to win you. I hated to see Hana near you. I hated that she even had a chance to do that to you. At that point, it became my business to make sure that wouldn't happen again" I said.
"So...you're doing this out of pity for me?" Sasuke tried to clarify.
I shook my head again, "I was. Until I realized that my plan went a little awry, thanks to that one time you decided to be serious with me" I said with a smile, "I don't know when or how it happened, but it seems like you're more right than I ever was. What we have between us is no longer over some bet, or my pity for you. After spending a day without you being you with me, I understood that I'm too old to play games like this with Hana, or I might just miss out on something really special".
I stood up and pulled him up with me.
"So, here's compensation for being a jerk to you" I said as I let go of him and backed up a few steps.
He looked at me with a look of slight amusement on his face.
"I like you. A lot. So, will you be my boyfriend?" I asked with a bright smile.
He laughed, "This is so weird, it feels like a proposal or something" he grumbled.
I rolled my eyes, "Then do you want to ask?" I demanded.
"Yeah, I do actually" he said as he closed the distance between us.
His arm snaked around my waist and he looked into my turquoise eyes, "Will you be my girlfriend?".
"You don't care that I did all that crap to you before?" I asked.
He shrugged, "I care, but I'll just get revenge on you later" he said with a mischievous smile.
I smirked, "We'll see, we'll see".
"Well? Answer?" he urged, pulling me closer still.
"How's this for an answer?" and I reached up to kiss his neck.
He winced, since his wound was completely healed yet, but he didn't complain otherwise.
When I drew back, there was a clear red mark on his neck, "Finally got you back for that one" I smiled.
"Is this what our relationship is gonna be built up upon? Non-stop revenge?" he chuckled.
I raised an eyebrow at him, "What? Don't you like it rough?".