Author's Note: please enjoy! (I'm very nervous about how you will all react to this..) Please review!
Brighter Skies
By
Explodillien
The Reintroduction
A man stood in a pale lavender yukata in front of a huge villa. The sun was setting; the breeze felt cool to his face and the warmth from the now-orange sun was refreshing. The villa was grand and beautiful, despite its obvious distaste for being ignored and left alone by its owners. Even so, there was still that home-y feel that he felt the first time they landed there.
That was so long ago.
He opened the unlocked gate and pushed it; the creaking was a hindrance to the heady silence that covered the entire area. For a moment he paused and watched the entire house without the bars of the gate to obstruct his view.
He was wrong. The house did not feel home-y at all. That was just his mind retelling him how comfortable he had felt when he was here once. Maybe it was hard to imagine a place that once made him feel safe could turn into such disarray. His slippers tapped the cement as he walked towards the distant front door. He passed by and ignored the ruined bonsai and decorative potted plants that were placed in the once-beautiful front lawn. The grass could use a little attention too, especially since it was already up to the man's knees.
I don't understand why, maybe I should remind the man that Fate had destined him to be a form of destruction. He should be reminded of Konoha's demise and his role in it.
He walked up the front steps and with no signs of hesitation and rested his wrist on the door knob. Unknowingly, the man held his breath. He twisted the knob and pushed on the huge wooden door to open.
'If I recall, she once said that she would always leave the door open for us in case we wanted to stay…to return.'
The man sighed. He ran a hand through his dark mane and scanned the foyer. The place was dark and unwelcoming in his sight. Just like his parents' room. Just like the entire Uchiha compound itself.
He took a brave step forward and, leaving the door open, began opening the windows in the living room to his left. The sunset streaked in and he smirked, imagining the gladness of the furniture now that they could feel an inhuman presence again. It was true though; he wasn't completely human.
He continued opening windows and removing the dusty white sheets that covered the furniture. He tossed them to one spot in the middle of the living room.
He went back to the arc separating the foyer and the living room and looked at his progress. He watched in slight amusement as the dust began to settle on the living room. But at least he did the furniture a favor. At least he did Xylene the favor.
And what a huge favor it was.
He recalled how she laughed her squeaky laugh, and how she utterly hated dust because she sneezed when there was too much around. It brought a smile to his lips.
He continued opening the creaky windows and went to the dining room next. He did pretty much the same thing. He went over to the light switches and found them inactive due to long term disuse. He went to the back, to the ground floor storage room, and brought out some light bulbs which he checked were still working, and a ladder. He began to replace the old light bulbs, and it made a huge impact on the dreary house. Still, it was very quiet.
He went inside the ground floor bathroom and replaced the light bulbs there as well. He checked if the water was still running; it was. He was relieved he wouldn't have to find someone to fix the taps. He leaned his weight on the sink for a moment, just watching as the water from the faucet flowed to the drain.
"Sasuke, get ready." A female voice warned.
"I am." He replied. He stood in the middle of a huge seal. She watched him worriedly as he shifted his weight to his other foot. He looked smug about the whole situation, like he wasn't in anyway endangering himself, and you could tell because he was smirking as he watched her. Clearly not amused, she performed the handsigns from outside the range of the trans-placement seal.
Silent words were spoken as their eyes met; she with orbs the color of wine, and he with ebony eyes.
Don't die.
And then the water on which the seal was written on gave in and swallowed Sasuke's mass entirely. From underwater he watched her silhouette standing above and slowly disappearing from his abruptly blurring eyesight. The darkness of the jutsu/technique of Saireen's mother slowly warped away any sense of gravity he may have felt moments ago. Like in a rushing river, Sasuke was swept towards something he perceived as oblivion. But this time he was much calmer. This time he welcomed the pull of the current…that would eventually lead him to the Maine.
Sasuke had soon found himself in front of the gates of the Waza family villa. Or he thought it was so; he was curious why it was not built in the traditional style of the Japanese which Waza Natsu or "Saireen" considered to be the source of the Narutoverse. Either way, there was no other hill within the one yard "mistake" radius. He had been sure this was the house.
Sasuke looked up to the mirror and examined his features. He was perspiring, but other than that there was no harm from the trans-placement technique. Not even motion-sickness.
"You're gonna get a fever when you get there, I think." Saireen said as he looked up from the studies that she and her animal partner had conducted in the past. Sasuke raised a perfect brow at her. "I don't understand why also, but it happened to Hyo when I sent him back to take care of the villa."
He pushed himself off the sink and inspected the bathroom – everything here seems to be in perfect condition. There wasn't even any gunk or molds on the tile walls. He exited the bathroom and checked on the comfort room, as well as the kitchen and pantry. Those were in good working condition too. He held a rag in his hands as he made his way up the stairs, wiping the dust from the railing as he went along. He went back down the stairs still wiping the railing and then he picked up the ladder and working light bulbs and carried it up the stairs to the second floor.
He replaced the light bulbs in the hallway, and then stood the ladder near the entrance along with the accumulated non-working light bulbs and dirt rags. He removed the white cloths from the furniture along the hallway and tossed them to one spot beside the stairs. He moved towards the first bedroom.
He opened the windows and removed the white cloths and tossed them out the door. He checked the bathroom as well as the lights and replaced the lamps' light bulbs only. Sasuke then left the room and closed the door behind him. This would be his room; it was nearest to the stairs.
Then he did the same for the rest of the 5 bedrooms. On the last bedroom however, Sasuke seemed to linger in the doorway. It was Saireen's room. It had a pink bed with a pink mattress and pink wardrobe and chest of drawers. For one thing, Sasuke never imagined Saireen to be the girly kind, so it was a surprise to him to find a room that was all pink. But he ignored this and continued.
After cleaning up, Sasuke, who still had a fever running, went outside and looked around at the green. Too much, I think. He sighed, doubting this "favor" for Saireen. Is it worth the dirt? No kidding. He walked around the house, trying to get to the garage at the back. At least the cement is holding up well. And then he was thankful that not much grass had crawled and grown on the cement.
He found the garage; closed and locked. Figures. He came closer, remembering that time when Suigetsu decided to stumble upon the chainsaw and experiment with its teeth-like jagged edges. He lifted the rusty lock. Yale. He narrowed his eyes at the upside down 'U' and guided the flow of crackling heat into the lock. It sparked, almost magically, and then the 'U' popped out. It made a noise as it hit the door and tinkered on the cement, away from Sasuke's form.
He passively tossed what was left of the lock to one side and kicked the door open. It slammed with a crash; he kicked it too hard. He winced when something that had hung on the back of the door crashed to the door with a shattering sound. Dammit. He took one step inside and realized he had forgotten the light bulbs and rags. I think I'll ignore the garage for now. Saireen won't mind, I think; I've never seen her in this garage. She must not like gardening. Sasuke smirked at their similarity; I think I can relate to that… He chose the lawn mower and garden shears.
He sat in the lawn mower, panting. The garden shears lay to one side, on the cement and covered in grass, mildly forgotten. He was staring straight ahead, lost in his thoughts…
"Tell me again why I'm doing this?" Sasuke looked down at the list in his hand. He stood in the Waza family library, dusty books serving as the quiet background. It was after library hours, but he insisted the library would be a better place than the huge bathroom where Hyo, the panther who Sasuke considered a stupid excuse for a pet, cleaned itself.
"Charity," Saireen's relative said. She crossed her arms and rested them on the table. She rolled her eyes at him.
Sasuke narrowed his eyes at her; "Something like that…" Saireen said, smugly.
"If you needed a servant, you've got the wrong guy. I'm-"
"I'm asking you, Sasuke, because I know I can ask this from you and receive good results." she said seriously. "Look, I know it's unfair, what with everything you do—"
"…Yeah, sleeping, eating and training for nothing because you refuse to take our side," the relative inserted.
Sasuke ignored the relative. "Didn't I just reject your offer? I'm not going to Maine to clean up some villa." He frowned.
"Did I mention that there is food in the walk-in freezer?" she grinned.
"Don't think I didn't do the math, lady. We left Maine 3 years ago. I refuse to eat food that's been stale for a year and a half."
"Eww." Sasuke glanced at the response of the relative from where he stood.
"Will you go if I ask you to live there?" Saireen asked again.
"Look, can't you start making sense already? I'm tired of listening to your excuse. Why are you sending me away?"
"Can't you see that I want a chance to miss you? Just say you agree!"
And with that they prepared for his trip. Still, he never said he wanted to leave. It was that she was persistent, and he really didn't feel like being stubborn during that time…
I think I shouldn't have been too passive with the decision. Sasuke thought to himself as he drove the lawn mower back to the garage. The breeze hit his face, and he shivered. It certainly is not worth this work and this fever, being back in Maine and all. Walking back to where he left the garden shears, he lifted his hand to his forehead and grunted. Ignoring the weakness in his body, he stopped in front of the huge scissors with blades of grass peppered over it and picked them up. He continued working.
The garden shears dropped with a thud; Sasuke straightened up and gazed towards the gates. He wore a serious expression despite being famished as he narrowed his eyes at the figure. There stood a woman with blond hair and a gray sweater. She wore simple low-rise jeans, a black silk tee and sneakers. The breeze blew her hair around, but he could clearly see who it was.
"Jaune."
The figure tensed; she saw him form a word with his lips. She replied with a word of her own. Two syllables, from what Sasuke could tell. He turned to face her and she placed a single step forward. She lifted her hand tentatively; Is she trying to say hi?
"Hey, um," she spoke up after a long-embedded silence. She straightened up, slowly removing her weight from his back. "If you ever leave, I, um…" she looked at Sasuke and thought maybe she would be asking too much. This was, after all, just a fling. "…would you please say goodbye?"
He kissed her then; I guess that's a no.
She placed her hand on the gate. Sasuke was surprised by this; he thought she was just going to go away. She pushed it open, ignoring the irritating sound, and came inside the property.
"Hey, I know that you love him and whatever but it's not going to last." Karin said nonchalantly as she and Jaune strolled through the heavily crowded aisle 13. "If you love him so much, let him be what he wants—a shinobi." She pushed her glasses up. "Being with someone normal, like, you is going to change that."
"I don't want to hear the rest of what you have to say, Karin. I know what's happening between me and Sasuke. And it's not going to stop him."
Sasuke watched her warily as she closed the gate with a push. She kept pushing her hair out of her sight; she came forward slowly.
Step after step she came closer. Their eyes never wavered from each other. They both wore serious expressions.
"What are you doing?" she asked him, as he bent over to pick up the piece of paper.
They both stood in her room, in front of the computer and desk.
"Nothing," he shrugged nonchalantly and pocketed the piece of paper.
They stood still for a moment, just staring each other down.
He ducked; she grabbed a handful of air. He ran out of the room, childishly chuckling, and Jaune ran after him.
And gradually, the pull of her intentions, of her thoughts, brought Sasuke's feet forward too. And then he ran; out of pure impatience, or boredom, or hunger, or whatever. He ran.
She slowed down when she saw him running. She panicked. What is happening? What should I do? I'm…
Sasuke took her in his arms and hugged her. For the first time in three years, he hugged her. And she hugged him back.
His laughter rumbled their bodies for a moment—she smiled at his laughter.
"I know it's not much, and I'm really sorry to say this, but this is all the love I can give you." Sasuke said to her as she stood there in the dark, in between street lights.
Jaune looked down at her feet; what should she say? She felt him shift and take her hands. He brought them up to his lips and kissed them.
With a heavy heart, she spoke, "It's…raining…"
They stood that way, for a moment. His arms around hers, his head resting in the crook of her neck, his lips resting on the collar of her cotton sweater. She shut her eyes; letting their body just stand beneath the shade of the Chinese bamboo.
"Do you want to come with us?" Xylene asked as they watched the sunset. "You can come if you like…"
"I don't belong in your world, Sai…" Jaune spoke, but she felt that it was a very ironic lie. "But it would kick ass if I could." She was not going to tail around him. It would be foolish.
They laughed after that and no more words were spoken. What was a girl to do?
His breath was on her neck; he was breathing through his nose. He was warm, which was nice, until she realized that he was heating up.
"S-sasuke?" She mumbled incoherently into the hug. She slowly let go of the embrace and held his shoulders to push him away in order to take a look at him. "Hey are you 'kay?" she mumbled again.
He gave a kiss on the cheek. He let go of her and said, "Long time no see, Jaune." He smirked as she reddened, and stepped back a bit. "You look fine, Jaune; what brings you here?"
"I…I could ask you the same thing!" she laughed, sensing the strain of their friendship.
"I was sent here by Saireen to clean up the damned villa. And you?"
"S-saireen? Oh you mean Xylene! Right, I was here to…" she looked behind him, at the villa she visited and passed by almost every day. "I don't know, never mind that; what are you doing, working with a fever in there?" she poked his chest, and Sasuke smiled.
"I was… getting bored, that's all."
"I have some paracetamol in here; let's get you some water…" Jaune strode past him and went inside the villa.
She stood in the lit foyer for a moment, imagining all the servants playing house and Xylene's laughter, as well as the rest of what used to be Akatsuki. And then came the time when she saw her best friend slowly transform into something she could barely understand but could only accept. Sasuke and the rest of Hawk came along… and then they left.
"Are you okay?" Sasuke asked.
"…I will be when you've taken them." She muttered as she strode onwards, heading for the kitchen. Sasuke watched her retreating back with a neon pink Jansport hung on one shoulder. He suppressed a shudder.
He followed her into the kitchen, wiping the sweat on his forehead with the back of his hand. She held out a glass of water and 2 paracetamol tablets. He thanked her and then said, "I was actually sent here to prepare the villa for her. I think that she may be coming back." He took the medicine.
"That sounds good, Sasuke" she said, and then smiled. "I don't want to put you in a mood, or anything, it's just that… well, I just noticed that there isn't any food in here. When did you get here? Have you even eaten?"
"Why are you worrying so much? I'm a shinobi—"
"—that has a fever and hasn't eaten?" she raised her brow at him, and Sasuke was reminded why he liked this house more than anywhere else.
Sasuke thought how ironic it was to finally be out of that damn villa. Instead, he ended up in McDonald's eating a burger and fries with a blond – a blond of all things – and a large coke. Not the most normal day for someone who initially resided in Narutoverse.
"What's up with you and all your looking around? It's not like Sai didn't take us here before." Jaune said, after a bite of french-fry. She eyed the way he wouldn't keep his eyes on one place. It was odd to see him all worked up and straining his neck here and there. "Nothing changes in McDo."
Sasuke raised one brow at her. "I wanted to see if people still recognized me." Jaune raised her brows in surprise.
"They sure do," Jaune smirked at him, dipping her fry into a sundae. She inwardly laughed at his out-of-place yukata and sandals.
"So, Jaune, won't you tell me why you're here? Well, back at the villa, I mean… We left approximately eighteen months ago; surely you must have noticed that no one lived there anymore."
"I was just visiting, Sasuke."
Sasuke eyed her suspiciously.
She sighed. "I was hoping to find an answer to… why you guys left me out."
"We didn't leave you out."
"Fine. You didn't tell me you were leaving so soon. And for as far as I was concerned, you were never coming back."
"I'm back now, aren't I?"
"And that makes it all better? You left!"
"Why are you complicating something that was out of our hands?"
"You couldn't call? Nothing?"
"There was an impending war between the Waza and Akatsuki; do you think we had time for a phone call?"
Jaune glared at him. Sasuke shut up.
A silence ensued. Jaune dipped fry after fry into her sundae, trying to build something. Sasuke watched her, silently cursing the fever and the droopy eyes and the fullness of his stomach that was making it hard not to remain angry.
"Urg, I hate not talking to you – whose fault was that anyway?" Sasuke muttered, picking up his coke.
"…Mine." She picked up her plastic spoon and buried the fries under the ice cream.
"Apologize then," he said firmly.
"I'm sorry," she said quietly.
"Apology accepted."
Jaune looked up; she heard the smirk in his voice. She frowned.
"To answer your question, I didn't want to tell you we were leaving. I made the decision not to tear you from your birthright: a peaceful life."
"I think peace of heart would be worthy in a war-torn land than under this sky without your face."
He chuckled, "You have no idea."
Jaune slowly smiled.
"Now that I'm here, do you mind living with me?"
"What?" s:L
"Just tonight then?"
"You aren't joking..?" she stared at him. No, it wasn't a joke.
"I haven't finished preparing the damn villa, and it's quite large but I already started on the bigger messes. I was hoping you'd give me a hand at the other stuff."
Jaune watched him with exasperation. "I'll have to ask my parents," she said dully.
"Yes, of course." Sasuke smirked.
"I'm not sure that you noticed but you're quite kind. Why is that? You're not… well 'emotional' might be a good word."
"Sai has been teaching me how to court my feelings in a favorable way. Like therapy."
"Really?!"
"No, not really."
"Oh." Not only more kind, but also funnier…in a corny way.
Sasuke laughed. "If I'm so kind, then I guess you won't mind helping me out," he teased.
"Like I said, I'll have to ask my parents."
"A diplomatic answer, I must say." He smiled, and then said to her sundae, "Your fries—they're soggy."
"I think that that was the point?" she said sarcastically. She picked one up and put it in her mouth.
"Disgusting, that is."
She scooped out an ice creamed French fry and threw it at him. Splat! Jaune laughed as Sasuke blocked the attack with his hand.
Sasuke frowned. Jaune tried to look innocent; she scooped out another French fry and childishly opened her mouth to eat it. "Hm! Yummy!"
He picked up a tissue to wipe his hand off. "That was gross…"
Jaune pouted and Sasuke excused himself to wash his hands. As he stood he took her ice cream and tossed it into the bin.
"Hey!" she muttered curses under her breath and sulked, glaring daggers at his retreating form. Then she got an idea. "I think…" he looked at him, "…we need to find you something to wear."
Sasuke shrugged, his back still facing her. "I found some in the third floor of the villa. I refuse to shop with you, Jaune."
"Whatever," she rolled her eyes.
A few moments later, Sasuke returned with his hands in his pockets and his spiky hair combed through. "Let's go; thanks for the treat."
"Welcome."
This is a story that takes on Sasuke after he leaves the Narutoverse to travel back to Maine (the real world) for reasons i have yet to reveal. :3 Jaune is the best friend of the previous resident of the villa, and i hope it's not confusing in a bad way...
This story was created on Monday, April 30, 2012, 2:04:29 AM (during summer – school break – time). Please review, my lovely readers! It's been so long since I last wrote a fanfiction and posted it. :3 This is a story that i wanted to show you, my readers, because i thought it would be a waste of brain cells if i left it in my mind and not be appreciated :D (Yeah, I think my mind is some sort of memory card) Please review!