Initial Reason
Sasuke
Short Story

He was the alpha and omega. He was the nothing and everything. He was the Great Sasuke Almighty.

How could anyone not love Sasuke Uchiha? He was the most handsome, the coolest, the greatest, the best. Everyone in the village knew this. Every girl in the village loved him. Every girl that I knew anyway.

But that might be because I'm in the Sasuke Fan Club.

Every meeting we talked about him. The way his mysterious eyes shined in the sunlight. How sweat gave his skin an angelic glow. How his hair was so soft (although none of us have ever touched it). We even talked about what we would do if we were his wife. (This topic often led to fights or perverts discussions.)

We often went on missions, following him around and admiring him from afar. Hearts were in our eyes and everything else around us just looked like darkness compared to his light.

That was all we could do. None of us actually got close enough to make contract with him. But that was our dream. Secretly (but everyone knew) we each wanted to have him to ourselves and wanted to kill the rest of the members or non-members for liking or getting too close to him (especially Sakura, a former member).

In short, we were crazy for Sasuke.

But he was never crazy for us. That never bothered us though. We each wanted to break that barrier and seize the enigmatic treasure that was buried inside. So each of us tried and tried, but none could do it.

I spent every moment of my life thinking of ways to get to him.

I sent him flowers and chocolates on Valentine's day (I saw him give it away to Kakashi-sensei). I gave him love notes signed anonymous (which he didn't even look at). I tried to be mysterious around him, as if I didn't care that he existed (which is a total lie). That didn't work out. (He never even gave me a small curious glance.)

Nothing I did seemed to work. Even my best schemes were failures.

But I could understand why Sasuke would not like me. To him, I must've been another annoying fan girl he wanted to get rid of. A pest on the windshield.

Even so, I wanted to get to his heart unlike any other annoying fan girl had. Even if I couldn't, I wanted to at least be known as the fan girl who got the closest to Sasuke.

He could not be touched physically or emotionally. Every girl who tried never succeeded. But I thought I was different.

"Stop stalking me," he growled at me.

I got out from behind a small tree, my hiding place for stalking. I tried to look hurt and innocent, but really my heart was racing and my face was about to turn red.

"Don't you girls have anything better to do than to stalk me day and night? It's annoying," he complained. He glared at me, straight in the eyes. I tried not to faint. "Do you understand? Or are you just checking me out?"

"You're so cool," I said absentmindedly. I was barely paying attention to him.

He groaned again. "Why do you girls follow me anyway?"

"Well, there's a ton of reasons, but I don't know whether I should tell you," I said mysteriously, or at least attempting to be. "You might not find them suitable."

Sasuke groaned. "Shallow girls."

Then he walked away, but not without saying good-bye first. "Just leave me alone, you got that?"

I almost fainted from the realization that he had actually spoken to me.

When his voice graced my ears, they sounded like heaven. I didn't care if he was angry or annoyed.

The next day it happened again, at the exact same place. Only a little different.

"Come out, whoever you are," Sasuke commanded, already knowing who was following him (that would be moi). He groaned at the sight of me again, but I didn't mind a bit.

"Didn't I tell you to stop following me?"

I could barely say a word.

"Why do you keep following me?"

I took a deep breath, preparing my confession that I rehearsed last night in my head and my mind.

Like every fan girl, I had my dreams about winning his love and living happily until we were eighty.

"Because I admire you. I've always admired you," I said with a small smile. "Sasuke, you don't know how much I've admired you from afar."

"Really? Nozomi-chan, I don't know what to say," he said with a small actual smile. I almost fainted. "Except that I love you."

He came over and kissed me as the sun was beginning to set, and then the next day it would rise, starting a new day of our love.

But of course, those dreams are nothing but dreams, unrealistic and full of nothing else. They weren't even filled with love.

I just crossed my fingers and hoped that was how it came out.

"Because I admire you. I've always admired you," I said with a small smile. "Sasuke, you don't know how much I-"

"Admire? What's there to admire?" Sasuke said coldly.

"Well, there's your power, coolness, and mysterious aura," I answered without a second thought. I expected to see him smile and say those three words that every fan girl of his wanted to hear.

Instead...

"And my body and looks, right?" he asked with a mischievous look. I nodded shyly from embarrassment. The instant that I did, that mischievous look was gone, and instead I saw a pissed-off Sasuke. Not a sight to behold. "You girls don't even know or care about me, do you?"

What did he mean?

"Of course we care about you. Why else would we defend you from boys who always say that you're not cool? Why else would we punch Naruto for always challenging your authority?" I said with much desperation. I didn't want him to think that his fan girls didn't care for him. Of course we cared.

"Do you really think that stuff matters to me? Do you think I care if the other guys say that? Do you think I care for Naruto's opinion about me?" He almost shouted at me.

"You mean that you don't?" I asked with a little surprise. I always thought that he did care about others opinions about him.

"You girls are the only ones who think I care." Sasuke continued with his tirade. "You know, girls like you really piss me off. You're annoying."

I stilled immediately. His tone and the hurt of those words hit me like a rock.

"And I hate annoying girls."

My world fell apart into shards.

"But, Sasuke, I-we-I mean-us-" I finally regained myself. I put on a hopeful smile. "You're just saying that to make me go away. Because if the other fan girls saw us together, they'd be after me. You care for me, don't you Sasuke?" The door to his heart opened a little.

Sasuke only groaned. "Did you listen to anything I just said? I don't like you. I don't like any one of those stupid fan girls, and that includes you. I hate you."

The door closed.

He turned away. "Why am I wasting my time talking to you anyway? It's not like you'd actually listen. I'm just wasting my time." He began to walk away.

"W-wait!" I choked.

He didn't.

I realized that everything I thought I knew well, I didn't really know at all. Everything I was sure about I wasn't so sure about anymore.

That night, my thoughts were all on Sasuke, as they have been ever since I first saw him and realized that it was love at first sight. But tonight was different. Rather than thinking of perverted thoughts or playing a movie of one of his battles in my eye, I was thinking seriously about him.

"Why?" I asked myself and Imaginary Sasuke. "Why do you hate me? Am I that annoying? Am I shallow?" Imaginary Sasuke didn't answer. He just looked at me with that cool smile. "I never thought - I never imagined - that you would do this. I thought that if I confessed my feelings, you would like me too. Was there something I missed?" That same cool smile. I was getting tired of it.

I gasped.

I was getting tired of Sasuke's cool smile? The smile that made my cheeks feel hot, that made my heart beat faster, that made my feelings grow? Were my feelings beginning to darken?

No, my mind told me, My feelings are NOT going to darken. My feelings for Sasuke are still the same. Even if he told me that he hates me. He was doing that for -

Just who am I trying to kid? I'm only kidding myself.

Memoirs of when I first saw him ran though my head.

At first, I admired him because he wasn't just skin deep.

That day we had a new student. A first timer that Iruka seemed to like. His name was Uchiha, Uchiha Sasuke.

The girls immediately swooned. Well, most. I almost did, but I wasn't one to go for just looks. In my opinion (well my mother's, which passed over to me), a boy had to have a certain something that was admirable, not just his looks.

"Okay, class. Today is Tuesday, which means shuriken and kunai practice," Iruka-sensei said with that teacher smile.

I groaned. Another day of shuriken and kunai practice. I hated these sessions. Not because they were boring, but because I would miss every single one and Iruka-sensei criticized me. No matter how much I tried, I never seemed to hit the bull's eye. Always out in the white area (if I was lucky) or not hitting a part of the target at all (which happened often).

We went outside and got into three lines. I was the last one in my line.

Things went as they normally did. The kids threw shuriken and kunai at the target. They were then each evaluated on their skill and the areas they needed improvement on. The next kid would throw, and the same process occurred all over again.

But there was a little distraction.

Sasuke Uchiha had thrown the shuriken and kuani, and had hit every single target. Everyone was just in awe. The girls who had swooned over him before were in even more awe.

"Good, Sasuke. I see you must've been practicing before you came to the academy," Iruka said.

"Yep," Sasuke answered happily.

Just like that, my heart was taken away.

How could I have forgotten? When did my reason for liking him begin to fall into shallow waters?

"Why are you back again? I thought I told you to stay away from me. I h-"

"Last time, I didn't get to say all that I wanted," I interrupted him. He looked at me with that angry look. But he permitted me to continue. "I admire you because you're stronger than I am." He looked at me curiously. "You know, at first I never really liked you for your looks. But then when you were able to hit every target on that first day, and you didn't even brag about it, that was when I started to admire you, Sasuke."

Sasuke's expression almost softened.

"And I know that my confession doesn't make me less annoying. But I just thought I should tell you," I continued.

When Sasuke didn't spoke, I smiled and spoke instead.

"And last night, when I was thinking about our conversation before, I realized something else. You were right. I was being annoying. I wasn't thinking of you. I was just thinking of myself. I was being a brat, just another annoying brat.

"What that was before was not love. It was selfish yearning and desires.

"I don't know when exactly my true reason for admiring you began to diminish. I don't think it diminished at all. Maybe it was just hidden under all the things that I brainwashed myself with." I felt quite proud of myself for my in-depth thinking.

Sasuke smiled, not an arrogant smile he gave to Naruto sometimes, but a sincere one. One that I really liked and would probably not get tired of looking at. "Well, you're still an annoying fan girl." He turned a little away. "But not as annoying as before."

I smiled a sincere smile too. "I won't stalk you anymore, I promise."

He walked away, his face invisible to me. "That's good to hear." He stopped for a moment and turned back to me. "I never caught your name."

"Nozomi."

"Nozomi," he repeated.

He made me realize that I was lower than what I had been before.

"Nozomi-chan, why haven't you been at the meetings lately?" Ino asked me. She was one of the members of the fan club. "Don't tell me you're starting to not like Sasuke anymore."

I shook my head. "I still like Sasuke, Ino-chan."

"Then why-"

"I'm just not another annoying fan girl anymore." I looked over her shoulder and saw Sasuke walking across the street. "Excuse me, Ino-chan." I ran passed her, leaving her to be dumbfounded.

"Oi! Sasuke-kun!"

Sasuke paused and waited for me to catch up.

"Where're you going?" I asked while we began walking.

"What were you and Ino talking about?" he asked, ignoring my question.

"The fan club." I rolled my eyes. "I can't believe I was it before," I said. "I can just imagine her face and everyone else's when she tells them I've actually talk to the 'Great Sasuke Almighty'."

He groaned. "Don't call me that. I hate it when fan girls call me that. It annoys the heck out me."

"Sure thing, Sasuke-kun."

We walked down that path together, unaware of jealous and murderous glares behind us. Well we were aware, we just didn't care.

Slowly, I'll become a girl you can stand. I'll be known as the most hated girl in the Sasuke Fan Club because I got closer to you than Sakura did.

Note: In the beginning of her first confession, Nozomi imagines that Sasuke knows her name. Sasuke does not actually know her name.