Anthology: Connected

#3: Too Close

Sakura tried to calm her pounding heart as she attempted to focus on her work, a bead of sweat dropping down her temple. Her racing heartbeat was making her restless, but she forced herself to focus.

If only... She raised her head a little to sneak a glance at a certain person sitting before her.

If only  he didn't become my partner...!

She jolted when his eyes suddenly came to rest on her, a slight frown pulling at his lips.

"..."

He looks like he wants to say something, she thought to herself, swallowing. But why isn't he talking?

He hasn't been talking for the past hour. I wonder what's wrong...

After what seemed to be minutes of internal conflict, he took out an extra piece of paper from his bag and started to scribble something on it. Sakura, puzzled, waited, though she didn't know what she wassupposed to be waiting for.

Finally, he nudged the paper towards her.

She blinked and read the words:

Do you have something to ask me?

"...Um..." Her words got stuck in her throat. It was a little confusing, to be honest. Why did he feel the need to write something so simple when it was a lot easier to say it in the first place?

As if sensing her immediate confusion, he sighed and wrote additional words on the paper before nudging it back to her.

I can't talk. My throat's hoarse.

Realization bubbled inside her chest. Oh...! So that's why...!

"S—Sorry," she stammered. "It's nothing. I'm just thinking about what to draw in the background for this art project that we have..."

Sasuke stared at her, patiently waiting for her to elaborate.

"...I want to draw a small forest and a field of flowers," she continued on. "But... I don't know how. And you're already busy with sketching the sky, Sasuke-kun, not to mention that you're going to be the one coloring the drawing, so I was too embarrassed to ask for help..."

"..."

"..."

After a few beats of silence, Sasuke silently dragged his chair and took a seat beside her. Sakura, not knowing what was happening, held her breath.

Sasuke ripped out a page of a notebook nearby and started to draw.

The angle he was in was such that Sakura could clearly see what he was sketching, but in the process, he scooted closer to her until their proximity is mere centimeters apart.

Blood rushed to Sakura's face.

"...You start with the trunk."

Her heart leaped out of her chest when she heard his voice. It was indeed hoarse and scratchy, yet his low tone mixed with his usual underlying indifference did not make it hard to listen to. It was actually kind of soothing in a way.

Sakura turned redder and redder by the minute.

"Make sure the bark has a texture," Sasuke continued on slowly, obviously making an effort to speak. "The leaves don't need to be too detailed. I can remedy that with the watercolor. As for the meadow..." He paused for a while, letting out a deep breath to rest his voice for a bit. "...it would look nice if we use white dandelions—"

When he turned his head towards her, he blinked when he saw that she seemed to be frozen stiff. What was wrong? Was his voice not loud enough?

Maybe she couldn't hear him...

Sasuke stopped sketching and leaned towards her.

When Sakura snapped out of her daze, she immediately noticed that Sasuke was moving closer to her and she froze once more.

Wh—Wha—What is he doing?!

Sasuke-kun...?!

"Sakura..." he said in that low voice she was now attracted to. His face was very close now, and she fought the deep blush that was threatening to show up on her features.

"Can you hear me now...?"

That was the last straw.

"SORRY, SASUKE-KUN! I—I—I NEED TO GO HOME NOW!" Sakura yelled, jumping out of her seat and dashing out of the empty classroom.

Sasuke blinked in shock, staring at the open doorway where his classmate had disappeared to.

"...What about our project...?"

fin