Escape [Sasuke Uchiha]

Chapter 26: The Unspoken Question

Recap:

"You must be Ayuda Makino, right?"

I put a sudden halt to my stroll and spun my head slightly to the side, where the voice came from. I ended up tilting my head skyward because the person who called me was surprisingly tall. This person was a man around his 40's. He had shoulder length hair which was dark red; almost black on the top half of his head and silver gray lower down, his hair was spiky on top with a samurai topknot at the back but with leftover hair that was kept loose.

He gave me a cold glare and I was disconcerted. How does he know my name?

***

I really didn't want to get in trouble, especially right now because I was truly aware that I had to use this precious time to train myself. And this big guy looked like he wanted to wipe me off the face of the earth right then and there, judging from the dirty look he sent me.

I was totally not in the mood to deal with an angry man that seemed to have something against me. Frankly, I did not know him. I've never seen his face before in this village. My mind began to search for a solution to escape from this mess, and one idea immediately sprung to my mind.

I focused my gaze back to his gray eyes. His appearance – if you see him at first glance – would make you assume that he has very small amount of patience. He also bore a sinister look on his face. However, despite that, I could perceive from his eyes that he was waiting for my answer patiently.

Believing that this was a good way to flee from this quandary, I averted my gaze and lied monotonously, "No."

"Hm?" the big guy before me changed his expression into one of perplexity.

I spun around and strolled off, saying nonchalantly, "You've got the wrong person."

"Kids these days are bad liars..." I heard him mutter behind me. So he knew that I was lying?!

Without delay, I raced across the street, desperate to get this dangerous-looking man off of my back. I could hear another set of footsteps, thumping repeatedly against the ground behind me; its speed matching with the hurried pace of mine. Shit, he's chasing after me!

"Come back here, you twerp!" he yelled.

"You've got the wrong person!" I snapped back.

I merely ignored the funny looks people gave us as we bolted across the streets. I was lucky enough that none of them was my friend or people that I've met.

"Ayuda!"

A familiar, lady's voice penetrated my ears, instantly putting a halt to my muscles. I whipped my head to the source of the voice. Just as I expected, my teacher, Shiori, came into my line of vision; her eyes locked on mine. She jogged towards me. The first thing that occurred to me was that I was safe now. Shiori can fend off the scary-looking guy off of my back.

Speaking of that guy, he slowed down his pace and came to a final stop behind me, a good two meters between us. His head spun to glance at Shiori.

My teacher finally reached us and she sighed, exhausted as if she had been looking high and low for me all over the village. She took a deep breath before she parted her lips to speak, "Ayuda, I've been looking everywhere for you!"

"Shiori-sensei! This old guy creep me out!" I whined, pointing an accusing finger at the man behind me, "He asked for my name and also chased me across the street!"

Shiori directed her gaze to the guy. Her closed lips tugged into an apologetic smile and she nodded her head, "I'm sorry, ojisan (uncle). I haven't told her about this."