Okay, I've gotten complaints of the original of this drabble needing a serious overhaul. I agree. Honestly, this was just something that mauled my brain before my ShikaIno piece and I just wanted something to fill space while I climbed my way to my fiftieth piece of work on the site. I wasn't really satisfied with it, but I had no idea what to do with it, but now that I've given it time, it's going to be a oneshot instead of a drabble. I hope this format works better.

Disclaimer: Do Not Own Naruto.

Whispers round his ears. In the streets, he feels the eyes crawling over his body. Around him, thinly veiled sneers meet his eyes as a mother in his path shields her child from him. From behind her arm, he sees the child's eyes gazing at him with reverence and fear before going on his way.

"Oh my God, did you see that?"

"I know."

"The nerve of him."

"What makes him think he has the right to show his face in public after what he did?" a villager whispers into the rapidly growing group. He hears every word they say, every hateful opinion of how he should just die because he was worthless and a disgrace to his family, but it does not affect him anymore. He has heard all of it before and will probably continue to hear about it until the day he dies. What can he expect? He deserted his village for power. This was just one of the consequences he will have to accept.

The whispers are now busy, hurried chatter, just words stacked upon words. He makes out some fragments, talk of how he should've just stayed gone or not have been born at all.

Sasuke merely walks on.

He is at home, a deserted compound slowly falling into disrepair around him. Walking around the house, he feels dust collect on his feet and turns to his right. Large doors meet his gaze. Idly, he makes a note to himself that he should dust around here, but disregards it as he begins to quake. That room holds memories too painful and he would rather have his parent's room fall into ruin than relive that night once more.

He begins to wander again, whistling a song to himself to disturb the silence. It is quiet, but too quiet for his tastes. In the back of his mind, he wonders if he should turn on the television, but throws the idea away. He wonders if he should train but sees rain clouds outside from the veranda and decides against it, walking back into the house.

Quiet patters of rain echo through the compound. A clock ticks on the wall and from outside, muted light filters in. He stares vacantly at the wall, losing himself in memories and dreams when the door opens. He pulls himself away to see his girlfriend, the only person to accept him after his return. Looking at her face, he knows she is displeased and wonders if it is Ino who she has been talking to.

"You're a fool."

At her scathing words, he quietly sighs. "I know," he replies as he stares down at the floor.

"You're worthless."

"I've learned," he repeats in the same quiet tone as before. She folds her arms over her chest and glares at him with contempt. Briefly, he realizes it has been Ino that she has been talking to. Anger courses through him, but it fades almost immediately because he knows Ino is just looking out for her friend and also because she is right.

"You're scum."

"I've realized," he says without meeting her gaze.

"All you do is take and destroy. Nothing is ever enough for you! You're disgusting."

At her words, Sasuke flinches and instinctively curls into a ball, but he still looks up at her and meets her gaze with an unreadable expression and a sad air.

"But you still love me."

And Sakura rushes to him, cupping his face in her hands and tearfully tells him she knows and that she is sorry before kissing him and crying softly. He holds her hesitantly because he knows he is undeserving and comforts her as best he can as her sobs increasing. Tears suddenly prick his eyes at the thought and realization of how she might eventually leave him one day and they cry together into the suffocating air, clinging shamelessly the only way they know how.