Returning Home: Chapter 1
The leaves rustled in the wind and the tree branches wavered back and forth as they kept walking. The sun glimmered off of the metal sheath attached to his back that held the legendary katana that he used in battle. They all walked at a steady pace; taking their time as they put one foot in front of the other. Where were they walking? To Konoha.
The anbu walked steadily around him as his stoic face stayed, with no chance of changing.
What was happening? Can you all tell or do I have to explain it?
Uchiha Sasuke. Coming back to the village Hidden in the Leaves. Konoha. Was it by force? Far from it.
They still had a few miles before they reached the village.
Did they care? Not really. They had taken their precious time like they had all the time in the world. They all saw nothing was going to happen any time soon.
The Uchiha wasn't even paying attention to anything around him, caught up in his own thoughts. The anbu haven't even known why he chose to come back without force. He had just plainly stated.
"I'm ready to come back to the Leave village."
That was it. No struggling. No fighting. No nothing. Which was a surprise to us all.
Had he killed Itachi? Probably, by the way he was acting. Had Sasuke said a word after that? Defiantly not. They were just casually walking to the Leaf Village. Only just a few more miles now, but what do they care? It's not like they were gonna go after him again. Or would they?
…..
The young, teenage, 15 year old girl smiled as she held up a clipboard while looking at the younger patient. The young boy's smile brought up her slow day in work as she giggled to herself.
"Did you bring me any candy today Sakura-nee-chan??" He asked as his smile brightened even more. Sakura smiled back, not taking it off her angelic face.
"Yes, I did Kouji-kun." The 8 year old boy put out his hands in adoration, waiting for her to give it to him. Sakura smiled even more. She had never known why, but she loved kids.
She guessed it was because they always acted like they had nothing in the world to care about. His smile had said it all. Just like Naruto.
But far from her. Everyone around her knew it was a fake smile placed on her lips as she carries on her life. Stress eats her up alive as well as memories. Those horrid memories. Of the Uchiha nonetheless.
She never talked about him. Not once. Everyone guessed she gave up on the Uchiha that haunted her dreams at night. But little did they know. She cries. Every single night. Wishing he would come back. Or at least help him. She wanted him. Badly. And she would do anything for him.
Naruto had not given up on her. Her best friend that smiled like the 8 year old Kouji. Naruto had always acted like he never had any worries in the world. Always saying he would become the Hokage someday. Sakura had no doubt about his dream.
He was strong. He was caring. He was the best.
Yet Sakura never knew why she hadn't loved him back.
Was Sasuke getting in the way? Or was it just fear of carma? She would never know.
But what she did know was that no matter how hard she tried, she would never love the way Naruto loved her. The relationship between them stayed as siblings. Nothing more. Nothing less.
Sakura handed him the candy she had picked out of her pocket. He smiled even more, if that was possible.
He wasn't her brother, yet he calls her 'nee-chan'. I guess she had grown on him. Or was it the other way around? For what she knows, is that she cared about this little boy, who had cancer. And she would do anything to cure it.
Kouji had begun to eat the candy. She looked over his features. His black hair framed his face quite well as his bangs covered his normal sized forehead. His bright, light blue eyes had stuck out from his face. He had lightly toned skin that covered his body. But what stuck out more than anything else, more than his eyes, or his hair.
Was his smile.
The exact smile that Naruto had. Maybe he had hung out with him too much? Most likely not.
This little 8 year old boy, that had cancer, smiled. Like he had the best life in the world. But that wasn't the only thing.
His mom was dead. She had also died from cancer. His dad, had blamed her death on Kouji and had beaten him every single day. Not saying a word to anyone.
But, he smiled. You would never see a frown consume his face or a tear streak down his cheek.
Sakura and Naruto had found out about his dad and Konoha had him in jail for no one knows how long. But Kouji never stopped smiling.
Sakura was the nurse who was chosen to take care of him, because Sakura had pleaded Tsunade for her to take the job. She was attached to this boy… but she never knew why.
Sakura looked over her clip-board once more. Kouji was on the brink of death… though she would never say that out loud to him. She wouldn't want to see him sad. She would do everything to keep him alive…Sakura was snapped out of her thoughts when a nurse came running in.
"Sakura-sama!!" The nurse yelled. Sakura turned around and raised an eye-brow. Here we go.
"What is it Suki-san?" She asked patiently and calmly. The nurse breathed heavily before yelling again.
"Uchiha Sasuke is back!" She yelled as her voice echoed through the halls. Kouji blinked.
"Uchiha… Sasuke?" Kouji mumbled aloud. Sakura stayed still.
"Suki-san… please only come yelling to me for emergencies." Suki was taken back.
"B-but Sakura-sama! Sasuke Uchiha… h-he's back! And he came back on his own will-
"I don't want to hear it Suki." Sakura demanded. Suki gasped and stood there for a moment. Then she bowed quickly.
"Gomen, Sakura-sama." She said before exiting. Sakura took a deep breath before letting it out and turning back to Kouji with her clipboard.
"Kouji-chan- She said before she was vastly interrupted.
"Is Sasuke Uchiha the guy that you keep talking about?" Kouji asked seriously. Sakura was taken back and stood still for a moment. Kouji was the only one that Sakura talked about Sasuke to... she felt he was the only one who would listen without him saying anything back to her about it.
"…yea…" She said with a frown. She quickly turned away before he could catch it, but it was too late. Kouji frowned and his bright and cheerful eyes were replaced with solid, sad ones.
"Sakura-nee-chan… why won't you go see him?" Kouji asked slowly. Sakura sat on Kouji's bed and put her fingers on his wrist, while staring at her watch; checking for how much his pulse beats. After about thirty seconds she stood up and wrote more on her clipboard. She continued without looking at him.
"It's… complicated." She mumbled. Kouji's eyes saddened even more.
"Sakura-nee-chan… I can tell your real sad…" Kouji said, who was never good with grammar. Sakura hid her saddened and regretful eyes and continued writing. "You sad you loved him… does that mean someday you won't come see me when I die?" Kouji said, whispering the last part. Sakura immediately stopped what she was doing and turned to him with her eyes full of tears.
"K-Kouji-chan… w-what makes you think you'll die?" Sakura asked, biting her lip once the word 'die' escaped her lips. Kouji smiled sadly; Sakura's heart, once seeing this, broke into pieces.
"Saku-nee-chan… we all know I'm not doing very good…" Kouji said with a fake smile. Sakura quickly put down her clipboard and sat on the bed right next to him and wrapped her arms around him. He laid his head on her shoulder.
"Kouji-chan… I swear, you're not going to die… everything will be ok." She said slowly. Kouji pulled away from her and stared into her eyes.
"You promise…?" He thought before asking. She nodded slowly.
"I promise…" She said before smiling. He smiled too.
"And will you promise to go see Sasuke-san?" He asked, not taking the smile off of his face. Sakura's mouth gaped a little before she closed her mouth and swallowed any words from the back of her throat. Kouji kept looking at her. "You'll only be happy once you talk to him…" He said seriously. Sakura's eyes glimmered in the light as she never took her eyes off of the young boy.
"Ok… I promise."
…..
The crowds whispered from one another. Not really caring who over heard them, but were careful of the one person who might have heard.
"Did you hear…? Uchiha Sasuke is coming back to the village." One man said to another as he carefully looked around, seeing all the other people caught up in their own conversation about the young Uchiha.
"Yeah… I heard that he's coming back on his own will." He said back to the other. The first man nodded.
"Do you think he killed Uchiha Itachi…?" The shook his head.
"I don't think so…" He said. The second man nodded.
"You're probably right…" The man said back. Then they were interrupted by a loud voice.
"Look! There he is!" A woman yelled. All of the small crowds looked up to the great big walls that lead to the outskirts of the village to see anbu crowded around a man.
Uchiha Sasuke.
Tsunade made her way through the crowds and stopped once seeing this. She mouth stayed in a straight line. After a few seconds she walked up to the anbu and they all backed off to see Sasuke looking at the ground. He lifted his face to meet the gaze of the fifth Hokage.
"So… you decided to finally come back." She said to him. His face still held a stoic expression.
"Hn…" He said. The crowds started lowly whispering to each other. Some people could be heard over the others.
"So it's true!" A woman said.
"Who would have thought?!" Another man said.
Tsunade kept quiet for a minute after closing her eyes. Then she opened her eyes again return her gaze to the Uchiha.
"What makes you think I will let you back in the village." Tsunade demanded without yelling. Sasuke stood there with his hands tucked in his pockets and lightly shrugged.
"Orochimaru is dead…" Sasuke protested without any emotions. The head of the anbu responded.
"It's true Lady Hokage…" He said to her. She looked at the anbu and nodded to him. She looked back at the Uchiha, who was a little taller than her and stared into his eyes.
"…come to my office, and we will see." She said. He nodded before everyone was vastly interrupted by a louder voice than before.
"Sasuke-teme!!" A loud-mouthed blonde yelled. Everyone's eyes turned to the source of the voice. Everyone again started whispering to another. Tsunade looked up at the blonde and smiled.
Sasuke didn't even look up at the source of the voice and smirked.
"Dobe…" Sasuke said, not removing the smirk off of his face. He looked at Naruto as he jumped to his side. He was taller now, but the same knuckle-headed ninja as before. Naruto smiled that sheepish grin and gave him a thumbs up.
"Glad you're back teme…" Naruto said.
"…" Sasuke stood there for a moment then smirked again at him.
"Glad to be back…" He said with a little happiness in his voice. Tsunade looked at the Uchiha, who was now a few meters in front of him.
"My office. Now Uchiha." She demanded. Sasuke nodded before following suit, looking around the crowds who were whispering to one another.
'She's not here…'
…..
Sakura sat down on the couch in her living room with a hot cup of cocoa with her legs crossed over one another. She came home right after the talk with Kouji she had… she asked Suki to take over her second shift and she said yes without any hesitation. She was too caught up in her own thoughts to continue work. She took a sip of her cocoa.
'So… he's back…' She had thought to herself before taking another sip. So many things were consuming her thoughts at once.
"Ok… I promise."
She had promised Kouji that she would talk to him. She never broke her promises… but what was she gonna do? Just go up to the arrogant emotionless Uchiha and go, 'Hey! I just wanted to say, ever since you left, you ruined my life! Thanks for that!' …Who was she trying to kid anyway? She sighed again and took another sip of her cocoa.
Sakura was always helping others… but when it came to herself, she could do nothing to make anything better. She stared at the furniture that was placed in her living room. She didn't have that many decorations, since she never really used her money on that kind of stuff.
She put her elbow on the arm of the couch and leaned against it.
'…..'
What are you gonna do…? Her Inner asked her. She sighed again and leaned against the couch. She turned her head to the side and stared at a picture of her dead parents. Their death seemed to flash before her eyes.
'Mom… Dad… what would you do…?'
…..
An awkward silence. That's about everything that went on in Tsunade's office. Sasuke was demanded to sit in the chair right in front of Tsunade's desk. Tsunade, at this moment, was rubbing her temples with her shut eyes. Kakashi was leaning against the wall, staring at the Hokage while Sasuke, his eyes closed as well, both standing/sitting there patiently.
"…" Tsunade swung her chair around to stare outside the window that was behind her. She placed her head on her hands.
"…" Sasuke and Kakashi kept quiet and waited for her to start.
"I've been thinking…" She started off. They both waited for her to continue.
"I've been told that you killed Orochimaru by the anbu… did they bury the body?" She asked, not turning around. Kakashi nodded.
"Yes ma'm." He said politely.
"Hmm…" She responded. She swung back around to stare at the Uchiha, who had now opened his eyes to stare back.
"Uchiha… have you killed Itachi yet?" She asked him. Sasuke shut his eyes and slowly nodded. Tsunade stared at him, and then at Kakashi. He nodded as well. She put her elbows on her desk and folded her fingers onto each other and then put her head on top of them.
"I have obtained Mangekyo Sharingan…" He mentioned. Tsunade's thoughts wandered. Sasuke would never really hurt his own village would he…? He obtains one of the strongest kekki genkai's in the world and could take over the Leaf in a second. He would he leave again now Itachi is dead? She thought about all the questions that lingered in her mind before looking again at Kakashi.
"What do you think Kakashi…?" She asked him. He unfolded his arms, leaving his book in his pouch, not even touched once today. He looked once at Sasuke's back and then back at Tsunade.
"I don't see why he would leave again…" He said. Tsunade nodded. She looked back at Sasuke. She stared at him for a minute then continued to neatly place a file in order. She contined without looking at them.
"I will talk to the people of the council and hear what they have to say… until then, you will be under house arrest. Anbu will be watching you at all times, and no training. Got it?" Sasuke nodded. Tsunade stopped her files to look back at him to see him respond. She closed her eyes and thought for a moment.
"…" His eyes remained emotionless.
"…I'm going to assign someone to be with you at all times as well…" She said continued. Kakashi raised an eyebrow.
"Who do you have in mind…?" He asked. Tsunade spun her chair around to stare outside the window to see Naruto waiting at the entrance of the Hokage Tower.
'Please forgive me Naruto…' She thought to herself.
"Sakura Haruno…"
A/N: Ok people, once I get at least 5 reviews, I'll update!
C ya!!