Our Eyes Met

Ten

Naruto sat on the terrace, enjoying the slight breeze in the sun. He planned to skip the rest of the periods - what he did on most days. His grades weren't good but at least he was passing the subject, if only by a few marks. He was more interested in the sports events and the school festival. At this time of the year, as school had only reopened some time back, there was nothing which interested him. One could say he only came to mark his attendance so that he didn't have to repeat a year because he tool too many days off.

He lay on his back and stared up at the sky, trying to put a name to the shapes of the passing clouds.

He wanted to bring Sasuke along with him, but he had gone missing before Naruto even had a chance to ask him. Probably, Sasuke was skipping too.

But whenever they didn't attend classes, they sat on the other side of the terrace, away from the sun. Sasuke was not there, which - if he really was skipping - was weird. Naruto thought it was decided that they would sit there, but perhaps that was what only Naruto assumed.

The door to the terrace opened as Naruto heard footsteps nearing and voices grow louder. On reflex, he sat back up quickly.

"..and then, she gave me a very cute smile." said Kiba with a slight blush as he walked on to the terrace, with a little skip in each of his step. Choji followed him closely.

"What are you, a teenage girl whose crush noticed her ?" said Naruto, staring at Kiba with wide eyes.

"Oh." said Kiba as he looked at Naruto. "I didn't see you there."

"Well, now you did. So leave." said Naruto, 'shoo'-ing Kiba with his hand.

Kiba narrowed his eyes at him as he stomped right ahead and sat down in front of him.

"I didn't know you owned the school terrace." he said.

Naruto scowled at him. "Just go. I came here first." he said as he started kicking Kiba away.

Kiba glared at him and kicked him back. That angered Naruto and he hit Kiba on his head. Kiba punched Naruto in return.

Needless to say, it turned into a fight, until Choji intervened.

"Hey, guys," he said, pulling both of them apart. "I'm out of chips."

Kiba and Naruto pulled away from each other and looked at Choji with wide eyes. Kiba sighed and reached into his pockets to pull out another packet. It made Naruto wonder how he manage to fit it in his pocket, but he had done it anyway.

Kiba tossed the packet to Choji, who started eating as noisily as he could. "You both may continue." he said, as he made himself comfortable leaning against the wall, in the shade.

Naruto and Kiba first glared at each other, and then at Choji before joining him.

"What are you doing up here ?" Kiba asked Naruto in a slightly accusatory tone, which went unnoticed by Naruto.

"Exactly what you're doing here." Naruto replied, looking back up at the sky, at the clouds.

"That one looks like you." said Naruto, pointing to one cloud.

Kiba followed his finger and looked at the cloud. "Your eyesight is terrible. That looks nothing like me." he said.

It didn't look like Kiba. It was rather an abstract shape which looked more like a sheep.

Naruto frowned but let it go. He got up and walked up to the edge of the terrace amd leaned on the railing.

"What a bright, sunny day ! It's such a waste to spend it sitting in class." he said, stretching himself.

"Yep. We could have gone to the beach, or a pool at least." said Kiba, getting up and joining Naruto.

Choji followed him without a word and sat down beside them, still eating his chips. Naruto and Kiba were staring into the distance. Choji followef their gaze, but he saw nothing interesting. His gaze shifted downwards, towards the back of the school building.

"Hey, isn't that Sasuke with (Name) ?" he said, standing up to get a better view.

"What ?!" Naruto and Kiba exclaimed at the same time and jumped out of their places to look at where Choji was pointing.

Indeed, it was Sasuke, and he was with (Name). Although he was hid by the branches of a tree, Sasuke, with his features and hairstyle, could be recognized from even a mile away by Naruto. (Name)'s face was quite clearly visible to them.

"This is unbelievable !" exclaimed Kiba and Naruto, again at the same time.

They both were shocked, but for different reasons. Kiba couldn't believe that (Name) was spending her time with a guy, when she clearly preferred to be alone. Naruto found it surprising how Sasuke was skipping class and sitting with (Name), who, Naruto was sure, Sasuke was uninterested in - or, so he claimed.  Apparently, he was lying.

Naruto narrowed his eyes as he tried to get a better view. Sasuke always scowled or shrugged it off whenever people talked about (Name) around him. He tried to show that it didn't faze him in the least, but it was clear that it bothered him a lot. Sasuke was jealous of (Name), but he denied it. Naruto had noticed it, but he never paid much attention to it. If Sasuke envied (Name), why was he talking to her as if they were the best of friends ?

(Name) and Sasuke seemed to be conversing about something. They couldn't hear them at that height, and neither could they see them properly, because the trees blocked their vision. As the bell rang, Sasuke got up and started jogging away.

"I have to go." said Naruto, following Sasuke with his gaze till he disappeared around the corner.

"Where are you going ?" Kiba called out, but was ignored by Naruto.

Naruto had planned to spend the rest of the school hours lazing on the terrace, but he changed his mind. He dashed back inside the building and down the stairs, after Sasuke. His gut instincts were telling him that something was not right.