A Rose By Any Other Name (A Sasuke Uchiha Story)

Chapter 41

Nothing special had happened in order for it to trigger an argument.

It wasn't as if Mei had noticed Sasuke flirting in response to Karin's behaviour, or Mei doing the same with Suigetsu or Juugo, heightening the jealousy they were both feeling to another level and leaving them no choice but to act on it. True, the situation hadn't changed between them, with them both still finding it hard to spend time together, and how they should act when they were hanging out with one another; Mei still felt jealous about Karin flirting with Sasuke and Sasuke not doing anything to stop her, and Sasuke felt the same about Mei spending so much time with Suigetsu and Juugo. But they had held back their feelings towards those circumstances all this time, and it had seemed like, unless something changed drastically for the worse, that was the way things would remain. Whether Mei or Sasuke would be able to face the problem and try to sort it out with one another had remained to be seen, but in the meantime nothing was changing. Without an understanding of their emotions or any experience with being in a relationship, neither of them had a clue how to fix what they were going through—so what else could they do but go on as normal and wait for it to sort itself out?

Not that either of them had been satisfied with the idea. So many times Mei had watched Karin flirt with Sasuke, gritting her teeth and glaring at the both of them, wanting to do something about it but not knowing what. It wasn't as if she was afraid of speaking up, but the consequences of doing so were something Mei couldn't predict. How it would change the atmosphere between Hebi and how Sasuke would react to her actions, thinking she was being an obsessive stereotypical girl, Mei didn't know—and she didn't want to risk things becoming worse in a situation she didn't have a good understanding of. Of course, it was a feeling Sasuke shared when it came down to Mei and the others. He wasn't exactly friends with the rest of Hebi, and if he stood up and confronted Suigetsu and Juugo about what they were doing, it could alter how they viewed him in terms of respect—he didn't care what their impressions of him were otherwise. Sasuke didn't want to lose his temper over something that Hebi would see as trivial—and he didn't want Mei to think he was being jealous or clingy. The concept that both Sasuke and Mei were finding it hard to control their emotions wasn't something either of them liked—but they didn't know how to make things right in order to stop it.

However, as night fell on another day of journeying, it finally built up to a climax—something had to be done. Just like always, it had been on Sasuke's mind for a large portion of the day, feeling that Mei didn't want to be hanging out with him during breaks in his training or the time after they had finished. He had been constantly glancing over at her as she spoke with Suigetsu and Juugo, noting every miniscule change in her facial expression and feeling a flash of anger flicker through him every time one appeared. His emotions had caused him to ignore everything around him entirely until the way Mei was acting was the only thing he could concentrate on, meaning there were plenty of times Karin flirted with him—and Mei immediately noticed. But frustrated with seeing it all over again, she merely turned away to try and think of something else, attempting to push the images to the back of her mind, her own anger building at everything continuing on the same way as it had done from the beginning. They had been quieter with each other than usual as it got to the end of the day and Sasuke called for them to stop and make camp for the night, and it only continued as they got something to eat and sat around the campfire.

But when Mei blanked him completely as they sat next to each other, Sasuke couldn't take it anymore. Something inside of him snapped and he couldn't just sit back and let things continue, prompting him to stand up, everyone turning to him as he did so, and state bluntly, staring directly at Mei,

"Mei—come with me."

Narrowing her eyes at what she saw in his gaze and the seriousness of his tone of voice, Mei paused for a moment before nodding and joining him, walking off into the trees and far enough away from the rest of the group for their conversation not to be heard. Not that any of them were about to follow—considering Mei was training Sasuke, no doubt he had something he needed to discuss with her, causing them to shrug it off and go on with their night as normal. What Sasuke was up to, however, wasn't normal at all, even with how things had been going between them, meaning Mei remained silent until he finally stopped and turned to face her, staring back at her silently before he began bluntly,

"What are you doing, Mei? Why are you spending so much time with Suigetsu and Juugo? I'm your boyfriend—and yet you avoid me?"

Blinking in surprise at this abrupt confrontational comment, Mei's expression soon turned into a glare, her anger rising at what Sasuke was saying. He was standing there practically accusing her of being more interested in Suigetsu and Juugo than him, and yet seemed to completely ignore everything that he'd been doing, trying to act entirely blameless and that their current situation was all her fault, prompting her to retort testily,

"Well it hasn't seemed like it! You don't act like you're my boyfriend—that I'm your girlfriend. You treat me like 'one of the team' and nothing more," continuing on furiously before Sasuke could respond,

"I'm beginning to think I'm not special to you—that I'm no different to anyone else! You react more to Karin when she flirts with you and drapes herself all over you than with the idea of acknowledging we're dating!"

Though Sasuke's tone of voice had been level when he had first spoken up, the more Mei had talked the more his anger had risen, a glare of his own appearing on his face as he gritted his teeth in frustration at all Mei was saying. She was standing there blaming him for not revealing they were dating to the rest of Hebi, when she had been the one to avoid him when he had been attempting to do just that in the first place. She was standing there reproaching him for apparently flirting with Karin, yet she had been ignoring him over spending time with Suigetsu and Juugo. Dismissing the idea of talking about the problem rationally, both of their tempers had flared up, meaning Sasuke didn't bother to hold back, as after a minute of taking it all in, outraged at everything Mei was accusing him of, he snapped back lowly,

"I'm the one who's flirting? You're really going to accuse me of that? You hang all over Suigetsu and Juugo, and I don't recall you mentioning our relationship to them while you were doing so! Is this all you left the dojo—the valley for? So you could see what men were available and take your pick? Not that it's a change—you did the same when your father was alive and men came to the dojo to get trained by him."

At that, however, Mei had nothing to say. Though she didn't like to admit it, it had caught her off guard, having never expected Sasuke to come out with something like that, even if they were arguing. She wouldn't have said she was holding back in what she was saying, but even so, that had been out of the blue, and there didn't seem to be anything she could say to respond to it. Out of everything he could throw at her, and he had to bring up her past? Not only that, but the one thing that she never liked to remember—her biggest mistake. What he had said was complete bullshit, true, having always been focused on her training since she was young, not paying attention to anyone who had come through to be trained by her father. Mei had always seen them as training partners, pretty much in the same situation as she was, even if she got a lot more training than anyone else did. The idea of getting close to any of them in that way was never something Mei would have considered, and being a child for the most part, it hadn't exactly interested her in the first place.

The only time—the one time—things had been different, had been with Uragiri. The first person she had actually liked in that way, and it had been with the man who had killed her father and changed her for life. Who had taken everything from her—and Sasuke knew that. He knew what she had felt towards Uragiri, and everything he had done. So why he would bring something like that up, Mei couldn't comprehend. Being betrayed by someone you cared about and wanting revenge was one of the main reasons they had connected so much, and yet he was using it against her. Not to mention Mei had left the valley and the dojo in order to train Sasuke—to help him get revenge. She had dedicated herself to that when he had been at the dojo in the first place! When she had fallen in love with him. So why would he throw that back in her face? Mei couldn't understand, when he was supposed to feel the same—and it was why she finally turned around and walked into the trees, saying nothing to reply to Sasuke's words as she disappeared into the darkness. There didn't seem to be anything she could say to change things, and so she didn't bother.

Obviously he didn't care.