For once though, nobody was glancing out at the school's lush green sports fields with longing. Girls sat huddled in groups over the rows of glass desk tops, pleats of their skirts riding high up their legs as they bent their heads low to gossip. The classroom's male occupants were no better, slouched in more loose-knit assemblages on whining misused chairs on the pitched floor. Screens flashed on and off as people brought up local news and social networking sites, bending low to read or magnify details from time to time.
Then Uchiha Sasuke opened the door. Time actually froze. Conversation halted. Movement stopped. Each and every person stared at the emergent figure, a lost lonely figure in his forest-green uniform. He ignored them, his eyes fixed on the dull plastic fibres of the carpet. Wordlessly he moved through the sea of silent stares, his hands deep in the pockets of his blazer. His eyes were fixed on the pressed turn-ups of his trousers, his face hidden beneath his unruly black hair. No one said a single word as he passed them, intend simply on climbing through the rows of desks.
Well, not quite no one. Somewhere behind Nara Shikamaru and Akimichi Choji, a messy blonde head shot up with a familiar broad grin. A tanned hand waved enthusiastically over the heads of his schoolfellows and there were a series of muffled complaints as he barged through them, unkempt uniform getting more crinkled as he leapt over desks and down the aisles. "Yo," he yelled, jade-striped tie loose as he charged forward. He wasn't even wearing the regulation sweater-vest. "I heard…"
"Shut up, Naruto."
The grin slid from the flushed oval face; its exit made more visible by the drooping of the whisker-like birthmarks on each cheek. Thick, black-lined fingers twitched at the sides of the scuffed trousers. Sasuke had not even looked up as he dismissed him: the harsh, rough tones of his voice sounding colder than usual.
Instead the Uchiha moved away, along one of the thin aisles of desks. One highly polished leather shoe kicked the leg of a chair, knocking it backwards far enough to sit down. It whirred slightly, juddering as the delicate programming struggled to compensate for the rough treatment, but obediently moved back on its tracks inlaid on the floor. A slender hand emerged from one immaculate pocket and fished out a small blue PCD, still attached to its matching headset. For a moment, Sasuke stood still, revolving the contraption aimlessly between his long pale fingers, seemingly staring helplessly at the Uchiha Crest upon it.
It was broadly similar to most of the other Personal Communicators of its generation, but the outer appearance had clearly been customized for its user. A touchscreen took up most of the front and the wireless earpieces clicked neatly onto the back, just above the outline of the familiar white and red fan. Even the screensaver depicted that same symbol, growing periodically larger and smaller against its black background. It seemed to fascinate Sasuke for a minute.
Then he sat down, the back of his blazer barely caressing the pale padding of the seat. In front of him, the glass-fronted touchscreen illuminated itself. A soft drone and the clicking of metal spokes hidden in beech wood announced that chair was adjusting itself to the optimum position for his height and leg length. One miniature Uchiha fan landed on each side of his head as he snapped the earphones from the main body of the PCD, which plugged neatly into a specialised slot on the front end of his desk. A small microphone antenna automatically sneaked out of the left earpiece towards the corner of his mouth. Sasuke absently brought up a playlist on the desk touchscreen in front of him, selecting a song without much thought. Dark, screaming music blared in his ears and his fingers steepled in front of him over the glass, officially designating him as ready to face the lesson… just the same as every day.
Only the look on his face as he stared at the distant screen behind the teacher's desk suggested that anything was out of place. The dark angular eyes spoke of too little sleep and the delicately arched features looked hollow and dead. Sasuke gave the impression of someone caught in a waking nightmare.
In contrast, the rest of the room was still dominated by an awkward shuffling quiet. People shifted clumsily for a good look at the Uchiha, exchanging meaningful glances and nudges with those around them. They didn't appear to notice they were gawking, as everyone seemed to be trying to rubberneck without looking as if they were staring. Naruto gaped helplessly at his friend, motionless in the middle of the walkway with the smile still not back in his face. He seemed at a loss for what to do.
Slowly a pink-haired girl detached herself from a group of her wide-eyed classmates, weaving nervously through the rows of desks towards him. Haruno Sakura, Sasuke's girlfriend since middle school, patted one of the blonde's shoulders absently as she approached him, making Naruto jerk up in surprise at the contact. She blushed and withdrew her hand hurriedly, the crimson-painted nails with their white floral design disappearing into the cuffs of her sleeves.
His face broke out in a small relieved grin instead. He shoved his hands in the depths of his pockets as she hovered around by his side, nodding affectionately in response to her gesture. With a little hesitation she smiled back, but her expression seemed to shrink away just at the sight of lone Uchiha at his desk, her almond-shaped eyes wide with indecision and worry.
She was slender with a medium build and, like everyone else in the room, wearing the regulation forest-green blazer with the Konoha symbol in a lighter emerald on the front pocket. The same shade outlined the one thin stripe at the top of the school-issue knee-high woollen socks, just above the mandatory flat black court shoes. Her tulip-shaped pleated skirt matched the blazer as did the thin ribbon tied in a bow around her neck, decorating the v-neck of her pearl coloured sweater. Her hair, mostly cropped to around the length of her chin with a few longer strands left to frame her face, was pulled back by simple crimson headband that set off her heart-shaped features and brought out the rosiness in her otherwise pale skin.
Right now though that visage was churning with anxiety for the sake of her boyfriend, her figure hunched and withdrawn without a notion of how to help him. Naruto frowned and carefully reached out to pat her shoulder. She froze… and then slowly turned her head, the longer strands of soft pink hair falling across her face and gave him a weak faltering smile of her own.
He grinned in return, raising his eyebrows as he leant forwards and caught her gaze in his own cheerful oval eyes. Then all of a sudden his hand moved behind her shoulder blades and pushed. It was gentle, but firm enough to send her reeling. Startled, she staggered a few steps, but nonetheless picked up the pace on her own, swallowing hard as she approached the seat beside her boyfriend. She slid carefully into the rectangular beech frame with little more than a quiet mechanical whine, her shoulder bumping against the padded backrest as she sat sideways on her seat. Sasuke gave no indication of having noticed her.
Something moved in the row behind them. She turned just in time to see Naruto leap over one protruding desks, landing squarely in the seat on Sasuke's other side. The machinery shrieked in protest at the sudden assault, but minutes later the sound of a loud artificial rhythm and the sudden orange glow of the distant table top suggested that Naruto too had plugged himself in. From what Sakura could see passed the looming figure of her boyfriend, the blond was busily fussing about with his headphones.
She breathed nervously, adjusting her skirt and knew that now was the time to make her move, if she was to stand a chance of being at all helpful. Hesitantly she reached out to touch her boyfriend's shoulder. A timid smile fought for position on her face in what hoped to be a comforting gesture.
He jerked violently, shooting her a glare that froze her breath in her lungs. His face was white, his eyes wide as if in betrayal at her violation of his space. One hand swung up into the air, hanging there limply, the palm angled towards Sakura's face. She flinched before she could stop herself, cowering backwards in her chair. Her insides twisted in a giant knot of ice.
"Knock it off, Sasuke," Naruto barked from somewhere behind the Uchiha, punching him in the side with a scowl. The brunette gasped, his body lurching from the blow. Sasuke stiffened with a slight quiver, pale-faced and blinking like someone woken from a trance. His hand dropped downwards, landing heavily against his thigh. For a moment he simply stared at his frightened girlfriend, as if the sight of her was something new and alien. Then he turned away, facing the front, and folded his arms on the rim of the touchscreen. She was once again successfully ignored.
Sakura sat still, her heart racing so hard it felt like it would tear itself out of her chest. Her mouth seemed unusually dry and her breath came in strangled gasps. She felt cold… and like she was going to be sick. Naruto flashed her a reassuring smile, but she turned away, facing the front with. Her expression was frozen in shock.
People were bundled up in their groups around the classroom, seemingly obvious to what had just transpired. The gossip had started up again too. As the noise washed over her, Sakura thawed and fumbled awkwardly in her pocket, drawing out her bright red PCD with the giant Zero printed on its reverse side. As she hesitantly plugged it into her desk and put on her matching flower-shaped earphones, the last thing she heard was a harsh whisper from someone at the back of the class.
"But it can't be true, can it? The entire Uchiha Clan was massacred? For real?"