Cuts & Bruises

Chapter 1

Sasuke, aged 16, sat in the passenger side of his brother's car, leaning heavily against the door, making sure his back wasn't touching the seat. The bruise he got on his back the night before, was hurting more than he thought it would.
     Itachi, aged 24, gave his little brother a confused look at the way he was sitting. As time went on, Sasuke started fidgeting some more, hissing and flinching at times. Itachi turned down the volume of the stereo. “Sasuke?”
     Sasuke stopped his movements and calmly, but slowly sat back in the seat, letting out a deep breath when he managed to relax. “Yeah?”
     Itachi made a quick glance at the road and smirked when he got an idea in his head. He jerked the wheel enough to the side so that the car ran over a pothole.
     Sasuke immediately grunted in pain and jumped forward, grasping onto the dashboard. He glared at his brother, teeth clenched. “What are you doing, asshole?”
     Itachi was laughing too hard to answer his question. Sasuke grumbled to himself as he got settled back into his seat.
     “You’re such a fucking jerk.” Sasuke managed to get out once his brother calmed down.
     “You just couldn't sit still, I had to take advantage.” Itachi gave him an innocent smile before laughing wildly again.
     “Of course, take the advantage of the fact that my future girlfriend is in pain causing me to be in pain and you just adding on. I can see why it's so irresistible now.” Sasuke’s tone was laced with sarcasm as he glared back out the window.
     The humor from Itachi was quickly replaced with worry and concern. “I’m sorry Sasuke, I just wanted to-” He was interrupted by the car’s stereo beginning to ring, signaling a call.
     They both turned to look at it. Itachi sheepishly looked at him. “Its work, so I gotta,” he trailed off, feeling guilty.
     Sasuke rolled his eyes. “Whatever.” He went back to looking out the window.
     Itachi’s call lasted the whole ride to Sasuke’s school and he hurriedly said his goodbyes as he dropped him off and speedily drove away.
     Sasuke started the walk to his homeroom class and sat in his seat. His two best, and pretty much only friends, Neji Hyuga and Kiba Inuzuka, were sitting in the two seats next to him.
     Neji greeted him with a nod, he wasn't one for talking. His long brown hair was styled in a messy bun and he looked bored, probably from the previous one-sided conversation he had with Kiba.
     Kiba was the complete opposite of Neji, very talkative and full of energy. His brown hair was shaggy and even with his mouth closed, his canines managed to peek out between his lips. He greeted Sasuke with a large grin.
     “Hey Sasuke, you got that homework from last night?” Kiba looked at him hopefully, a blank piece of paper on his desk.
     Sasuke rolled his eyes before taking out his folder from his backpack and handing it to Kiba. “I don’t know if the last answers are right. I couldn't concentrate at the end and didn't care about double checking.”
     Kiba waved him off. “Whatever, dude! I don't copy your answers word for word, so getting a few wrong is what I do anyways.” He looked at Neji and stuck out his tongue. “At least someone loves me enough to let me copy off of them.”
     Neji glared at Kiba. “I don’t think it's love so much as him not wanting to be annoyed first thing in the morning.” Kiba gave a pout but went back to his homework. Neji turned his attention to Sasuke, his look softening. “What happened last night?”
     Sasuke sighed and shook his head. “Nothing out of the usual. I have a killer bruise on my back though. And of course Itachi had to be a dick about it.”
     “Itachi is always a dick.”
     Sasuke nodded. “I can't argue with you there.”
     “Hey Sasuke!” A higher pitched voice called out to them. The three teens looked up at each other in fright. Kiba moved his head to see Sakura Haruno, Sasuke’s number one “fangirl”. She was an over eccentric girl who tried her very best to try and win Sasuke over.  Her pink hair was layered and she was  wearing a cocktail dress that just barely met the dress code.
     Sasuke ignored the girl, keeping his gaze on Neji.
     “How are you?” Sakura stood next to him, leaning down to try and get a better look at his face.
     Sasuke scrunched up his nose in disgust. The perfume she was wearing wasn't one that was pleasant and she seemed to have gone overboard with it. “What perfume are you wearing?”
     “Oh!” She stood up quickly and clapped once. “You like it? I'm so happy you noticed!” She went behind him and wrapped her arms around his neck, pressing against his back.
     Sasuke hissed in pain and before he realized what he was doing, stood up and pushed her away from him. She stumbled but caught herself on a nearby desk. “What the hell, Sakura?” He shouted, glaring at her.
     The whole room was staring at the two of them. Sakura nervously tucked her hair behind her ear but didn't say anything.
     Sasuke looked around the room, then back at her. He sighed deeply and rubbed his forehead. “Please don't touch me without my consent. I'm sorry for pushing you.”
     Sakura was silent before smiling. “It’s okay! No worries!” She gave him a quick hug before running over to her friends.
     “And she still just completely ignores me.” Sasuke rolled his eyes before sitting back down.
     “She’ll get over it one day.” Kiba slammed his homework back on his desk.