𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚋𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚔𝚎𝚎 • 𝚜𝚊𝚜𝚞𝚔𝚎 𝚞𝚌𝚑𝚒𝚑𝚊 𝚡 𝙾𝙲

24 - Adrenaline

November, 1992 - Japan

"Ah, right right...it hasn't been on the market because we were previously under the impression that it was going to be leased by anoth-...we reserved the building, you see..." Fugaku sat on the phone in the conference room of his workplace, his boss listening in on the proceedings. "What? No, no not at all, there's nothing wrong-"

Click.

Fugaku set the phone back down, fighting the urge to sigh loudly. He tapped his pen against his notepad and waited for his boss to speak.

"It's been months, Fugaku." His voice was grim. He was a rather short and stout man, and he wore circular glasses that his subordinates made fun of behind his back. Most times he was pleasant, but in dire situations, he had quite the temper.

"I know, sir," Fugaku replied, almost withering under his superior's gaze. "I only need-"

"Did I make a mistake when I let you take up this project?"

"...not at all, sir."

"Then I'd suggest you hurry and prove that to me." With that, he vanished out the door.

Fugaku laid his head down on the table and exhaled slowly. Working at a company that leased real estate was never easy, but going into the office had been a living hell ever since the end of July.

-

After her particularly nasty scrape up, Haruka took the next couple of days off from skateboarding. Even though she'd decided that she wasn't going to quit, she knew her energy was majorly depleted.

When it was finally time to get back on the trail, she found that it was much easier to stay out of her own head while skating. Steadily, her skills grew along with her confidence, and with about a week left until the race, she could finally make it down the course without falling.

"No way," She said excitedly to herself as her wheels rolled to a stop. She set one foot down to stop herself, and she looked back at the trail and Sasuke, who'd been following her the whole way. Her heart was pounding wildly—finally, finally she felt like she just might have a shot at winning the race.

In Sasuke's eyes there was no denying a look of pride, and Haruka thought she might finally be getting some words of praise from her teacher. But, true to Tenten's words, they always ruined it when they open their mouths.

"You need to make it down in half that time if you want to win," He said casually, kicking up his board from the ground. "Let's go back up."

"Oh, come on!" She complained, her hands on her hips. "You just said that because you don't want me to be happy!"

He shrugged and began the walk back up the trail, and Haruka sighed in defeat behind him. In a way, she was right. Anything to wipe the beautifully glowing look off her face, because he could barely meet her eyes.

"Well, whatever, I'm happy." She skipped up to fall in line with him, wearing a shameless, stupid smile. "Koda is totally going down!"

"Don't get ahead of yourself." Sasuke warned. "You're getting there, but you're still too slow."

"I know that, killjoy." Haruka replied, waving him off. "But I feel like I actually have a chance now. And skateboarding is kind of cool. I mean, when I was going down those hills just now and I wasn't worried about whether I was going to faceplant or not, it was really cool. The wind and stuff. Is that why you like it?"

"The...wind and stuff?"

"No," She laughed. "I mean that feeling you get when you're doing something that's dangerous, you know?"