Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Resonance ❯ Oddities ( Chapter 3 )

Rough. The texture that met his face was rough. He had been looking out the window at nothing in particular; all cities looked the same after all. The endless sea of people was different just in the color but it was still just the same multitude of faceless strangers struggling with the petty grievances of being human. The sun was on the other side of the car, and he did not have to face it. Its warmth had been odd; it had stirred things he rather not recollect. Smith had screamed at the driver and Sasuke busied himself with existing despite not being there at all.

Suddenly his center of gravity had been removed, his arms had not been fast enough to provide a cushion when his face unexpectedly met the rugged surface of the front seat's back. A screeching sound had pierced the air and Sasuke was vaguely aware of someone screaming something in an unidentifiable language that sounded like a curse.

The car had halted at an unhealthy speed because of some obstacle in the middle of the large road. Sasuke's brain managed to process in the turmoil that it was not something but someone who seemed to be the cause. He had to do a double take when his eyes were able to focus on the person and reassess his previous thought. That person could have easily been a thing.

The amount of African paraphernalia hanging from him bordered on religious idolatry, ragged washed jeans barely hung to a thin waist, a plain t-shirt that at some point must have been colorful showed a feeble mix of browns and reds, an orange duffle bag of significant size was slung across his back and gave him the aspect of a hunchback, an army cap squatted on his head as if desiring to swallow it while blondish wisps of hair attempted to escape, and cop glasses hid the eyes which gave the face an insect quality of enigmatic tones.

The person if such an individual could be considered one seemed to be quite peeved at the moment. His arms were moving animatedly and pointing at the car. Sasuke soon learned why, at the expense of his hearing that is, once the windows were lowered.

“Are you insane?! How can you even have a license?! You should be locked up in an asylum or in a place for blind people! Did you not see me crossing the street when the light was RED?!” Sasuke's sensory abilities were assaulted with the most obnoxious voice he had ever heard in his life. The person seemed to be straining his vocal chords in order to produce the highest pitch possible without giving it any depth.

The driver got out and approached the stranger all the while carrying a very apologetic; which diminished his own size and increased that of the stranger.

“Sir, we were in a hurry, I barely saw you when I turned the corner. It wasn't intentional; you seem to be fine though. There's no need to be angry and shout.” As the driver spoke his voice acquired a firmer grip while the man himself acquired an inch of stature as he straightened up some, however in an instant this false victory was squashed.

“I almost lost my life and you suggest I keep calm?! What kind of a person are you?” The young man seemed to tower over the driver who taking hat in hand twitched nervously and looked back through the tinted windows as if imploring the men inside to save him. Smith sighed and got out; walking over the other two with the air of one who is about to do some mundane task and feels like his time should be invested elsewhere. If he did not end this quickly they would be late for the damned meeting.

The almost run over individual receded from the driver's face and cocking his head to the side with arrogant flair confronted the new adversary.

“Ah hah! So the boss appears! Now I should get a proper apology.” A cocky smirk took hold of full lips which dissipated into confusion a second later when Smith flipped open a small notebook and began to write something without so much a word.

“What's your name?” The young man stood perplexed for a moment at being addressed in such a blunt and business like manner. He recovered soon enough while adding a frown in between thin but defined blond eyebrows, and the previously annoyingly high voice dropped its tone to a more mature baritone. Puberty seemed to have held on to him.

“I seem to recall that people introduce themselves before they go asking for the other person's information. That is if you have any manners at all of course.”

Smith leveled the stranger with a stare. He really did not have time for this and he doubted Sasuke appreciated being made to wait; their investors even less. Without much of a choice he simply scrawled a numerical figure on the piece of paper and waved it on the guy's face.

“This enough to shut you up? Just fill in the name portion, its signed already you can get it at any branch of an American bank. Now I would appreciate it if---”

He would have finished except a furry missile had launched itself towards his face and his mouth was currently full of tail while his skin met the delicate caresses of sharp claws with enthusiasm. The driver had jumped back thanks to survival reflexes and the other person was immediately on top of him attempting to dislodge the mass of fleas attached to his face.

Sasuke had been watching distractedly the proceedings while repeatedly looking at his silver watch. He had checked the time for the fifth time (he really hated being late) and was again focusing on the strange individual when he had detected movement in the orange duffle bag. It was an odd sort of twitch that betrayed the presence of something alive inside of it. It made him wonder if the young man was a poacher, hunters had always made his skin crawl, surely they would look as repulsive as this person did. The twitch of the duffle bag had increased almost to a drum beat while Smith had started writing on his checkbook and then stopped momentarily only to have the bag spew forth a red-orange ball of fur.

“NO! Gin! Stop it!! Let go!!” The young man pulled on the small lion cub desperately while Smith succumbed to the combined weight of animal and human falling backwards on the front portion of the car.

Sasuke watched in rapt fascination of a sadistic nature how the stranger grabbed hold of the lower portion of the animal's body and pulled while pressing his foot on Smith's groin to gain leverage; as he started succeeding in retrieving the small lion the claws fixated themselves on the olive skin that covered ruptured cheeks. The trails left behind gave the man a wild and tribal look that altered the previous visage of complete plainness.

“Gin let go! Please let go!” A touch of panic had infiltrated the ambivalent voice; which had once again slipped into the uncontrolled high pitch. A crowd had started to form and a few people at seeing the animal shouted out for someone to call the police. The young man doubled his efforts at hearing the words, true panic taking hold of his entire body. Various artifacts that had previously been hanging from his body flew everywhere as he finally managed to unlock the hold the lion had on the other's face; and as the momentum unleashed its force he fell back on the street while embracing the body of the cub to protect it.

His glasses were knocked off by the impact but the cap was so low that the eyes were holes of darkness. A siren sounded off in the distance and the melody struck the young man like a stingray, he sprung up in a flash and gathered his things with lightning speed. He turned for a second and gazed at the bloodied face of Smith, his lips dipped down in distaste but with the same speed as before he produced a white cloth from his pocket and pressed it into the man's hand.

“Asshole. You should get to a hospital soon if you don't want scars. We are even now. Keep your useless money.” The last words were rushed and the moment he finished relaying his comment the young man turned and ran soon disappearing into the crowd that had assembled.

Sasuke had gotten out of the car when the lion had been removed and approached Smith to assess the damage. The movements of the other person had taken him by surprise and the words even more. Sasuke had turned to him in order to—To what? He didn't know, but he was going to do something, however he had been too slow and only managed to capture a speck of intense blue from below the rim of an army cap. It was quickly forgotten with the arrival of the police and the subsequent ordeal at the hospital. He disliked Smith, this fact did not mean though that he would allow the man to bleed to death or acquire unsightly scars. Scars were fine for yakuzas*, but not so great for businessmen.

In the end Sasuke attended the meeting by himself and packed his things once he got back to the hotel. Not having anything else to do he went back to the hospital and found Smith sitting by the ugly green bed that filled most of his room.

“What did the doctor say?” Sasuke did not particularly care, but it seemed too rude to ask his other question without some sort of preamble. After all the other man had gotten his face ripped off by a lion, even Sasuke found it logical that a minimal amount of pity should be bestowed on this unlucky individual.

“I'll be fine if I keep it bandaged and use the ointment they gave me. Man what a day. I can't wait to go back home, my wife is going to go ballistic when she sees me though.” The brunette sighed and rested his head in the back of the chair for a moment while Sasuke counted the seconds and measured the appropriate time for him to interrupt the other's wallowing in self-pity.

“Yes is all very unfortunate. I presume you will be leaving tomorrow?”

“Yes while you were in the meeting I called the airline and had them move my trip to the morning.” Sasuke observed the distinctive wince that every word caused the other man to exercise, moving his jaw must have been painful. In order to spare the other some pain and knowing he didn't really have much else to say Sasuke decided to ask the question that had motivated him to come in the first place to the hospital.

“So…how will I get to my destination?”

“There is an assistant that your uncle designated for you that will contact you probably tonight. You will be given all the details then, but I'm pretty sure you will be leaving in the morning like me. I was not told anything else since I am supposed to be gone by then.”

“I see.” Not really, no, he did not see at all. If he could have seen he would not be feeling like a five year old that's being guided through an experimental labyrinth that had mystery holes and surprise boxes, which never held pleasant things. He needed a drink. Badly. Looking through the window Sasuke observed the darkening sky and when his eyes lowered to the pavement the sight of an army cap greeted him.

He looked over Smith and realized the man had fallen asleep, likely due to the painkillers. For some odd reason he felt compelled to go down and confront that individual, maybe even scream at him. Scream at the stranger for things that had nothing to do with him, but seemed accentuate his presence. The thought of screaming brought forth the memory of the person's voice and Sasuke winced slightly, truly annoying.

His staying in the room was pointless. He was not exactly a buddy of Smith and he was tired, the lack of what to do detained him for a few moments longer, but the act of staying still was not an acceptable concept to his psyche and as such he moved even before he registered the motion consciously.

Hospitals were such dreary places. Those pale walls and death carrying smells that seemed to shake every germ and therefore every natural feeling from a person were disturbing. Sasuke hurried along, white walls always brought back memories. Memories of painful words and promises. Almost forcefully they started to resurface but only echoes penetrated the walls that he had created around himself….only echoes.

“Cling to life Sasuke. Cling to life…..”

Those words had never made sense to him; they were so selfish and hollow, like the person who had uttered them. Such things were forbidden thoughts and before he even dared to regain some other sort of remembrance he shook his head as if the motion would expulse the virus that was the past. He took a deep breath the moment the sliding doors closed behind him and looked around in the twilight in search of nothing and finding nothing.

A demure nurse approached him from behind and almost succeeded in startling him when she touched his shoulder in order to call his attention. Her dark skin contrasted greatly with the white of her uniform and the plaited braids gave her a childish quality that evoked a sense of innocence.

“Excuse me sir, are you the companion of the patient in 251?” Her English was broken and quite heavy with the

“Yes, I'm with Mr. Smith.”

“There was a young man here earlier who wanted to enter the room but since he couldn't prove his relation to the patient, and not to be rude, but didn't look very responsible either we couldn't let him enter. He asked me to deliver this to the patient but he is asleep right now, and I won't be back until the day after tomorrow. Could you please deliver it to him?”

As she finished her explanation her hand produced a small blue bag out of her front pocket that had a small note attached to it. Without thinking Sasuke held his hand out and received the offering with a nod.

“I will deliver it to him. Thank you.” She smiled in response and went back inside. Sasuke observed the item in his hand for a moment, it was a strange gesture; not many people who almost get run over come back to give gifts, then again said run over person usually doesn't have a lion in his/her luggage that attacks the offender. He pocketed the bag and transported himself to the Melrose hotel for his last evening there.

 

 

Someone shook him awake but reality seemed blurry for a few seconds. Focus was regained only by degrees and the bandaged face of his partner appeared before him.

“Too many wine glasses?” Smith attempted a smirk but regretted it almost immediately and his face contorted in pain.

Sasuke realized that he had slept in his suit again and was completely mortified by it, especially since he had fallen asleep on the couch.

“Did the assistant call you?” Sasuke could not comprehend the sentence for a moment but he finally managed to process the general meaning. The previous night he had arrived to the hotel and submerged himself in alcohol. There was a call at some point he remembered, and numbers, specifically time was discussed, maybe.

“Something about nine.”

“You better wash up fast, its nine already.”

Looking at his own watch Sasuke confirmed the time and did as Smith had suggested. Thankfully he had packed the previous day, and after he fixed his hair that seemed to have gained gravity challenging attitudes he collected his luggage and the few things he had left out. Smith accompanied him to the front of the hotel and shook his hand before he entered the car. As it sped away Sasuke reclined into the leather of the back seat, his head was pounding. It was a good sensation, it made him feel alive, he could not remember ever drinking like that before. The absurdity of the week was catching up to him, and maybe he was beginning to create his own absurdity.

He looked down and saw the wrinkled state of his clothes and attempted to smooth them a bit at least. As his hand passed over his pocket he felt a bump, not knowing what it could possibly be he reached inside and pulled out a small blue bag. His interaction with the nurse came back to him in an instant and he realized that he would not be able to relay the offering to the intended person.

Without much fuss or feelings of guilt over violation of privacy he untied the knot and peeked inside. There was only darkness so he flipped it over and shook it. A small black figurine of a roaring lion stared back at him from his lap. It was very finely carved with the mane's hairs being extremely detailed and elegantly painted to give it depth. Not having an explanation for the appearance of such a thing Sasuke sought the small note. A smudgy and obviously rapidly scrawled script met his gaze.

 

“Gin is very sorry.”

 

He felt the desire to laugh for the first time in a very long time.