The Mask

chapter 10

With each passing stride Sasuke's emotions grew and wanned. Her footfalls alternated between stomping and the graceful stride that showed her years as a ninja, and her face kept switching between extremes, elation, melancholy, fury, every time she changed direction, blocked only by her finger as she ran through an endless number of scenarios.

"I didn't say yes," she reminded her sister, for the past five minutes she had been sitting in silence watching her sister jump from foolish conclusion to outlandish theory. Even then she couldn't bring herself to deny half of the things Sasuke was muttering about. She clutched at the still warm linen sheet that made her bed, even now she was keeping truths from herself.

"But you can't say no, and that's worse than a yes." Sasuke snapped her finger at her, not once looking her in the eyes. A sigh and she came to a stop facing away from her and staring at the shut door. "It's how Naruto got me to admit my feelings after all."

With a frustrated scream, Sasuke scratched at her head and pulled at her hair. "I'm still not sure if that's a good thing or not, and I have no idea what to even think about any of this." She started walking pacing again, now spinning a kunai in her free hand. "On the one hand he's my boyfriend and I'm supposed to be angry at you. But I'm not, and you're my sister."

"I uh," What was she supposed to say? She didn't even know how to respond if someone came up saying they loved her. Let alone being the one in love. Not that she was, maybe, probably? Yes? No? None of this was making any sense to her. She was just doing her best to be happy and now she was in love?

The word bounced against her every thought, weighing itself against her every action. She shouldn't fall in love. She wasn't sure if she should be alive. "Just ignore it Sasuke, keep being happy with Naruto I'll…"

"You'll what?" Her sister came to a dead stop her emotions frozen somewhere between fury and annoyance. Sasuke spun on her heel, stomping now. "You'll leave the house? Stay out of our lives? So that you can live all by yourself as a hermit? That has to be the dumbest idea I've ever heard."

"No, that's not going to happen. I'm not going to live without my sister again," Sasuke directed a finger towards her and her eyes narrowed. "And neither are you, we're family."

"I can fall out of love," She offered, not that she was in love.

Sasuke gave a sharp laugh that cut through the silence. "Ha! I've been trying to do that for years, trust me it doesn't work when it's an idiot like Naruto!" She screamed that last bit, something she only did once or twice… a week.

"No, no, no," She spun on her heel a manic smile on her face. "You don't get to get off that easy. Besides, you're kind of a social wallflower."

Was that supposed to be an insult? What was a wallflower? Another question to ask Inoichi's nosey daughter.

"And you have that whole 'please don't talk to me aura' that makes people stay away from you," Didn't she also have that? Minus the politeness. "That means that the chance of you finding someone else to fall in love with is astronomically low. Which means you'll be alone for the rest of your life, and I'm not going to let that happen. Again."

On the one hand, this was the most they've spoken in weeks. On the other hand, did it have to be about this? Her cheeks were burning and her heart was acting unusual. The more Sasuke kept talking, the more she was starting to agree with her sister, she might have feelings that were more than respect and admiration for Naruto.