𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚋𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚔𝚎𝚎 • 𝚜𝚊𝚜𝚞𝚔𝚎 𝚞𝚌𝚑𝚒𝚑𝚊 𝚡 𝙾𝙲

32 - Smartasses

January, 1993 - Japan

On the morning that the third and final term of the year was to begin, Haruka was up way before the crack of dawn working on her mural. The break had been nice, but she was excited to get busy again. She made it home with about an hour to spare before she had to start getting ready for school, fully prepared to have a nice, relaxing morning.

Five minutes after she'd situated herself on the couch with breakfast to watch a movie she'd recorded, the phone rang. She groaned aloud.

"Hello?" She answered as pleasantly as she could.

What she heard from the other end of the line was an indistinct batch of ear-jarring sounds that might've been an argument of sorts. If she hadn't been fully awake already, she would have been seriously angry at whoever was calling.

"Haruka?" Akia's voice finally came through. In the background the other noise was still audible. "Are you awake?"

"Uh, duh," She replied, wondering why on earth Akia would need to reach her at this hour. "You're lucky I like getting up at four sometimes. I hope you don't call people like this all the time, Akia."

Akia sighed. "Listen, can you give me a ride to school?"

Haruka's eyebrows furrowed. "Why?"

"Our car won't start. Mom and dad both have to take the metro to work."

"You're kidding," Haruka said, staring sadly at her paused movie and uneaten breakfast of chocolate pancakes.

"No, I'm not."

Haruka looked blankly into space. After waiting a couple of seconds in the hopes Akia would tell her she was joking, she said, "You could skip school today...theoretically...right?"

"Oh, can I?"

"No," Haruka rolled her eyes. "I'll be there in a half hour. Be ready or you're walking."

And so, half an hour later, Haruka sat waiting in her car outside of Akia's house. She beeped the horn and turned up the heat in her family's car. The radio played feebly over the speakers.

The sky was barely lightening as Akia's father walked her out of the house. As Akia slipped in the back seat, he came up to Haruka's window. She rolled it down, and accepted his thanks for doing them the favor. He looked pretty tired.

As Haruka started down the road, she asked Akia, "Everything okay?"

"Mhm," Akia hummed. She was leaning on the car window, bored as ever.

"You sound tired," Haruka said observantly.

Akia glared at her from the back seat. "Probably because I am."

"Probably," Haruka nodded. She would forever enjoy being a thorn in the young girl's side.

The ride was quiet at first. Akia didn't at all seem in the mood for a chat, and Haruka could only wonder what had happened in her house that morning. She didn't mind the silence though, and she turned up her radio. Before they got out of Akia's neighborhood, they passed by Sasuke's house. She glanced over, but she wasn't expecting to see anything. He should have already been on his way if he wanted to make it on time.

What she saw completely made up for having to miss out on her relaxing morning and then some. Sasuke hadn't left yet—his windshield was still a block of ice. In fact, he was loading his things into the passenger's side. What was most important was that his back was turned and his head was less than an inch from the roof of his car.

"Akia, watch this, watch this," Haruka whispered. She pulled quietly to a stop beside his house and willed her window to be quiet as she rolled it down. Then she beeped her horn.