Finding Home - Uchiha Sasuke Fanfic

11 - Her reason

Person in the pic is Jun Ho.

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Sasuke pov:

My gaze shifted between Jay and Juno, my curiosity only increasing by the minute, all the more because the tension around Jay too was increasing by the minute. She averted her eyes with a sharp scoff while Juno only continued to smirk with his eyes closed in a sort of satisfaction now.

The king then called in and introduced his daughter who also seemed to make a mental note about me. However, unlike Princess Rina, she seemed to be more calculating and not a mere spoilt brat. I mentally groaned at the way she eyed me, like a predator eyeing is prey, though with a seductive hint. Just when I thought I was finally free of one obsessed fangirl, another one appeared.

"You must all be tired. Please follow the maids and they will lead you to your rooms. You can all relax after your long journey," the king said with a smile. Neji bowed and thanked him for the hospitality before we followed after two maids who were ordered to escort us to the rooms we would use during our stay here.

I couldn't hold in a scoff at the princess before I left which, obviously, the princess was absolutely oblivious to.

Jay too spared another glance at Juno, more like a deathly glare, before lowering her gaze to the floor as we walked to the guest wing. Her fists were all tightly clenched and her brows deeply furrowed, and I could not take my eyes off her. I wished to talk to her, to ask her many things, now this matter added as well, but she had not met my gaze more than once after I had kissed her. Though I was mildly flustered by what I had done, being the first kiss I had had out of romantic feelings for anyone, I was also annoyed that Jay was avoiding me.

I watched as she and Tenten entered one room - it was on two sharing basis here - while Naruto and I were led to the room right opposite to theirs. I was glad for the proximity but wished for more along with the desire for her to reciprocate my feelings of wanting to be together. It was all the more stronger because I had noticed that despite keeping her distance from others and treating me as a normal person as against the traitor or epitome of perfection that everyone else did, any care or concern she showed towards anyone was genuine and sincere. It was rare for people to be so transparent in their care for someone, though I had only seen it in small gestures in Jay, and had me wishing to be on the receiving end of it.

After the incident in the Coal Village, when I had seen Jay break down, show a vulnerable side that I never expected to see in her, when I had held her in my arms, a strong sense of belonging and the desperate wish to protect her had bubbled within me. I wanted her by my side. I wanted to show her the real me, I wanted her to accept the real me, and give me the warmth my heart so greatly yearned for. Perhaps I sounded too desperate and was expecting too much, much more than I ever deserved, but I wanted for someone to love me for who I truly was. I wanted to find peace and happiness too.

Every time I saw Jay smile, my heart skipped a beat. Her smiles were always warm and reached her eyes - it was the opposite how indifferent she had been when she first came to Konoha. She had begun to show such expressions only after the incident in the Coal Village and had even grown to be friendlier. Perhaps I was wrong or only deluding myself, but she had been warmer to me than what she had been to others, at least until I kissed her and made things awkward. She had no reason to give me any sort of special treatment, not after how harsh I had always been with her, but I was tempted to think that she felt the same was about me as I did about her...at least a little.

Had I really fallen in love with Jay? There was no other explanation to the way I was feeling about her, especially after going to the extent of kissing her.