𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚋𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚔𝚎𝚎 • 𝚜𝚊𝚜𝚞𝚔𝚎 𝚞𝚌𝚑𝚒𝚑𝚊 𝚡 𝙾𝙲

47 - Rematch

March, 1993 - Japan

After a long and cold winter, countless months of wiping at their noses and shivering through the main doors into school, the students of KHS were eager to greet the warmer winds of spring when they finally came in the middle of March. The day after Haruka's fateful excursion to Nozo Hill, she sat outside during her lunch period along with dozens of others. All around her there was the buzz of spring in the air, from the chirping birds to the chattering students.

Next to her at the wooden picnic table sat Ino, Hinata, Shikamaru, and Choji. At the further end of the table were Naruto, Sakura, and the rest of the gang. Haruka hung off one end of the row, as five people were crammed in a line to her right. At the opposite end of the row, Sasuke barely had room to sit either. Both of them, for different reasons, were relieved to be as far away from the other as possible.

Haruka hadn't spoken a word about what she had realized the night before to anybody. Not even to Hinata, who would be more than receptive and willing to help in any way she could. Maybe if she didn't speak them into reality, her feelings for Sasuke would just disappear before they could cause anymore trouble for her. She opted to watch students play frisbee and the trees sway in the distance, feeling both the sun shine on her face and the bliss of complete and utter denial.

When Haruka decided she was going to head inside early to beat the crowd in getting to her next class, she packed up her lunch and hopped up from the bench. Saying a quick goodbye to Hinata and Ino, she started toward the door that lead back inside.

As she walked, she began rifling through her skirt pockets for a guitar pick she had spotted in a consignment store. It was intricately designed and colored, and Haruka figured it would be a nice thing to give to Akia. Her plan was to set it down in her locker, but she was dismayed to find it must have vanished. Had she misplaced it somewhere?

Stopping to turn her skirt pockets out was her fatal mistake. Even though she heard a faraway "Heads up!" in the distance, she was far too concerned with the contents of her pockets. Only lint and paperclips remained. Where was the guitar pick?

"Hey, watch." There was a voice behind her, and then someone had yanked her by the arm. Jostled back into reality, Haruka whirled around to see a frisbee zip right by her, almost touching a loose strand of her hair, and plunk down onto the grass near her feet.

"Sorry!" called a first year student in the distance, jogging over to retrieve the frisbee. Behind him, his friend snickered in mischief.

"Whoa!" Haruka exclaimed with a laugh. She turned back to whoever had dragged her out of the frisbee's way, and the rest of her laughter died in her throat. Sasuke stood holding books and his lunch bag, as annoyingly nonchalant as ever. As if he hadn't done enough already, he picked up the frisbee and tossed it perfectly back to the first year who had come running for it.

Then, wordlessly, Sasuke gave Haruka a painfully polite nod as he headed for the double doors ahead of him. He was just going to get off scot free? After kissing her and making her crazy and standing there and looking like that? Haruka didn't think so.

"Hey, hold it!" Haruka called out obnoxiously. Sasuke turned back to face her, but nothing on his face had changed whatsoever. Despite every rational bone in her body telling Haruka to shut up and move on, she found herself getting angrier and angrier at him. "You can't just go grabbing a girl like you own her. What's your problem?"

When he really wanted to, Sasuke could speak volumes with just his eyes. He gave her an irritated look that so clearly asked: What the hell are you talking about? He droned on with no emotion whatsoever in his voice: "It was going to hit you."