Some of an AU of another Naruto AU story of mine, 'What my mother said'. It's only about two chapters long, but it appealed to me. I hope you enjoy it.
Disclaimer: Naruto, both manga and anime, and any related work do not in any way belong to me. This is a fan-made story, unrelated to the original creators of Naruto, intended purely for the amusement of other fans. No defamation of any sort is intended towards the original manga and anime, its characters and creators or anyone else related to the official Naruto franchise. This work is available for free, on a wholly non-commercial basis, and no profit has been made or is intended to be made by its production and distribution.
"You know I love you, right?"
The boy stilled. His lean muscular body lent over his widely spaced legs as he sat poised on the bed, both bare feet placed firmly on the ground, apparently absorbed in his task. The Uchiha family crest was displayed largely and prominently on his high-necked petrol blue vest top, his only covering above his black harem trousers and the purple sash and the ominous rope combination he still wore around his waist.
In itself the question had just been tagged onto the end of a familiar enquiry into how his preparations for the chuunin exams were going, but something in the tone made Sasuke tense. The whetstone shifted in his hands and the point of the kunai (1) drifted downwards. His intelligent dark eyes frowned and long black strands of wayward hair swayed loosely over the pale skin of his forehead as he inclined his head a little towards her.
"O'Nee-san(2)?"
She avoided his gaze, adjusting the outrageously big basket on her tiny hip as she bent to fill it with his discarded laundry, the household chore she had entered his room for in the first place. Her stubby infantile fingers had to grip tightly onto the wicker weave above her head to prevent the vessel from slipping out of her grasp. She knelt slightly on the worn tatami(3) mats to make it easier, her bronze-coloured wavy hair brushing loosely over her shoulders as she did so. Her bare grubby child-sized feet were just visible under her long patterned kimono, made of thick neon-pink velveteen even though it was summer and the Land of Fire never got that cold to begin with.
She seemed to swallow nervously, not looking at him as she began to speak. "You know I love you very much. As much as if you were one of my brothers by blood," she whispered, her tiny hands twisting one of his shirts between her fingers as the words spilled over her tongue in a sudden desperate rush, "That won't change. No matter what happens you can always talk to me or come to me for anything. I'll always help you if I can."
"Nee-san." The kunai fell to the floor. His eyes were wide with sudden shock. "Nee-san... what?"
Abruptly she stood up. Dropping the shirt into the basket, she seized the container's woven rim and turned as if to go out the door. He was by her side in an instant, gripping her nearest wrist in both his hands. The built-in wardrobe to rattled next to them, shaking from the sheer force of his movement.
There was a chill in the room and it didn't come from the open window. The Spartan little attic room that Sasuke had called his own since he was thirteen was devoid of furniture save for the bed and the desk beside it. Decorations seemed to consist only of the team photo near his bedside and a large wall scroll nearby outlining the first twenty-five Shinobi Rules, yet the place had never felt as bare as it did right now. Something in her attitude was making Sasuke feel very alone.
"Nee-san," he repeated, pulling her around to face him. He was sixteen, vastly bigger and stronger than she was even without his shinobi(4) training, so try as she stubbornly might to she keep her face turned away from him, he could see her pale skin flushing under her freckles and clenching around her nose and eyes. She looked like she was about to cry.
He dropped to his knees so he could meet her at eye-level, keeping his grip on her rounded wrist deliberately gentle so as not to hurt her by accident. "What's going on?" he demanded. The normally cool deep bass of his melodious voice sounded shaken and his features were tense, almost afraid.
"I... I'm..." she fumbled for the words, obviously unsure about what she was going to say. The awkward, and for her over-sized, laundry basket slipped from her precarious grip. She took a deep breath, shaking her hand out of Sasuke's grasp as she did so. When she raised her head, her large blue eyes meeting his, there was an air of determination on her face. "When your brother comes back from his next mission, I... I might be going back to live with my parents for a while."
Sasuke's head reared back as if she had slapped him. Numbness crawled over his skin and he found himself swallowing hard. "Why," he gasped. He stared at his empty hands, clenching them slightly, "Is it... is it me?"
It had always been a fear of his, ever since he had returned from Orochimaru's hideout some months before. He knew the trouble everyone had gone too to get him back. He knew the trouble he had been ever since the Uchiha uprising when he lost both his parents. He knew the sheer venom with which his thirteen year old self had treated his brother's girlfriend when she first moved in with them. Although gradually since Danzo's death the few remaining members of the clan had stared to rally around Itachi, rather than condemning him as the traitor who chose the village over them, Sasuke knew he hadn't exactly been pulling his weight. Mostly the burden of standing by the new chief-of-ANBU and head of the Uchiha fell to his brother's girlfriend, to the woman Sasuke had gradually found himself calling his 'nee-san'. Frankly, he wouldn't have been surprised if she had just gotten sick of him.
That said, her eyes widened in abject horror at Sasuke's exclamation. "No! Of course not!" She reached up on tip-toes and snatched his chin between her thumb and forefinger, yanking hard as she glared fiercely into his eyes. "Don't ever think that, you," she snapped, her thumb pressing hard enough to make him wince, "You're my little brother as much as Itachi's. I just told you that. Nothing you do is a burden to me." She knocked her forehead sharply against his, half in affection half in annoyance and only released him as he started to wriggle, turning away and rubbing at the sore spot.
Her eyes were still glaring at him in outrage and he glanced away in embarrassment, staring at his hands. "Then did Aniki(5)... do something?" His fingers twitched and his entire face contorted at the unfamiliar notion, but he seemed very much at a loss to come up with another explanation.
She paused. One small hand batted at the ends of her hair. "No..." she eventually sighed, shaking her head as she turned back to her fallen laundry, "Not exactly."
Sasuke's brow twisted further, utterly perplexed. "Then...?"
Her head snapped upright, her shoulders stiffening as her hands clenched without looking at him. "It's more..." she interrupted, apparently surprising herself with the frustration in her voice, because she breathed deeply forcing herself to relax before whispering, "It's more what he doesn't do any more."
Slowly she turned towards him again. He could see the lines in her face clearly as she buried her arms in the folds of her kimono. She seemed sadder and more tired than he had ever seen her before.
"To be honest, Sasuke..." she wet her lips, the words awkward in her mouth, "We barely talk these days and when we do it's just to fight... about you, about the clan, well... chiefly about you. " He tensed and she caught herself, glaring at him again in annoyance. "No, stop that," she snapped, aiming a kick at his shin and missing even though he hadn't moved, "That doesn't make any of this your fault. It's just that you're the only thing he and I have in common that he cares enough to talk about... or fight about rather. Anything else and it's always 'sorry, later', 'later'..." She shrugged her shoulders, her arms spread open wide as he regarded her carefully, mistrusting of her words.
He shook his head defiantly. "Aniki's still..."
She shook hers too, sighing loudly. "I think your leaving for Orochimaru affected him more than he'd like to admit," she explained, fiddling with the edge of one of her kimono sleeves. "I mean," she raised a meaningful eyebrow at him, "We all know it was a stupid thing to do and something you are pretty much going to regret for the rest of your life.. but Itachi, well, sometimes I swear he looks at you and only sees his little baby brother who just entered the academy. You're a fine shinobi, Sasuke, but you're all he's got left and after what happened last time... well, he's scared of letting you out of his sight. He blames himself for it all, I think. I know you've matured so much since then. Heck, it isn't exactly a lesson you'd need to be thought twice, is it?" She smirked, as he stiffened guilty, avoiding her face. "But..." she sighed deeply, rolling her tongue around the word as she sought for more. She held her hands loosely in front of her chest, indicating herself. "That's why he's always having a go at me about how I'm dealing with you at home... over nothing most of the time. I know you've heard us fighting, so don't start. It's probably also why he doesn't seem to trust himself to just raise you himself any more either. He's such an idiot sometimes." She shook her head and shrugged, as if that would somehow solve the matter and seemed lost in her own thoughts.
Sasuke stared at his feet, unsure of what to say in reply. "I know Aniki still cares for you, Nee-san," he whispered at last, "He told me he wants to ask you to marry him."
The hoarse snort he got was not the response he had expected. "Hah, yes, I imagine he does want to secure his in-house babysitter," she growled, her fist clenching at her side, as he stared in wide-eyed surprise at her. "You and I, we both deserve more than this Sasuke," she hissed in visible annoyance, "That's why I'm leaving. He needs to grow up, to see you for the fine trustworthy shinobi you really are... To know that you are easily as strong as he is now and just as clever... and I..." She stopped abruptly, having apparently said more than she wanted to.
He frowned, staring at her with surprise. "Nee-san, what is it?"
"I'm so sick of feeling alone all the time..." she whispered.
"Alone?" he echoed, his eyes widening.
She closed her eyes, running her hands over her face as pursing her lips in obvious disgust at herself. "Ah, I'm sorry, Sasuke," she laughed apologetically, her tone more light-hearted than she clearly felt. "This isn't really something you need to hear about your Aniki and me, is it? Just know that we both love you very much. Even when I leave here, I still want to be your Nee-san if you let me." The words were fond and incredibly sincere, but it was a dismissal and Sasuke knew it.
"Nee-san... what's wrong?" he demanded, his arms outstretched as he strode towards her, "Please... talk to me... If there's something I can do...?"
"No, Sasuke," she replied, shaking her head as she tried to hoist the overly large basket onto her hip again. "This isn't your problem."
"O'Nee-san!" He seized her arm, yanking her back towards him hard. The basket flew across the room. She skidded across the floor, losing her balance and bringing them both to their knees as she crashed into his side. He grabbed her shoulder, glaring down at her, his eyes fixed on hers until at last she looked away in shame.
"I shouldn't tell you this," she mumbled, her voice little more than a whisper as she sat on her behind propped up against his knees, staring over her shoulder at the scattered clothing, "But... the truth is... there was another man."
Sasuke thrust her away from himself as if she'd scalded him, crawling backwards on his hands and knees in desperation. He choked, staring wide eyed at her as his shoulders shook. "That's not true," he whispered, "That can't be."
She sat with her eyes closed on the rush-mat floor and hugged her middle as best she could with her tiny arms. "He told me he was in love with me," she continued her confession ever more quietly, still not looking at him, "I wasn't having any of it because of your Aniki, but he made me feel something I haven't felt in a long time. He made me feel happy... special, loved. I even felt myself falling a little bit in love with him too in the end. It was like I had been sad for a long, long time and only when I was shown happiness could I realise how unhappy I truly was."
"Are you leaving Aniki for this guy?" he demanded, his fists shaking as he stared at her from his position against the bed. His eyes were suddenly burning hot and he was finding it increasingly difficult to look at her.
"No," she shot back, glaring at him as her lip curled in disgust at the notion, "And I'm not leaving your Aniki at all until I can tell him face to face... but this is no place for me any more either. I'm sorry, Sasuke, I'm sorry. I never wanted to leave you behind." Her face fell with the last choked words, surrendering what was left of her pride to her own pain. Tears ran down her face, gathering in her folds of her full cheeks were he was used to seeing her dimples.
The young shinobi only stared at her like that for a moment, then he sprang to his feet, seizing his discarded kunai pouch from the floor.
"Sasuke!" she yelled, crawling onto her knees, but he had already disappeared through the window.
(1)A sharp pointed tool, similar to a trowel; often used a weapon by ninja due to its multiple uses, ease of concealment and ability to be explained away. Japanese media has since also reinvented and popularised the kunai as something more like a throwing knife or dagger, which is how one typically sees it used in Naruto.
(2) A familiar address for one's own sister - or in this case one's own sister-in-law.
(3) Traditional Japanese rush mats, used as floor covering.
(4) Another term for a ninja
(5) A term of address for one's own older brother