Disclaimer I own Naruto like Al Gore owns the Internet.
A/N So here it is, my first Naruto chapter fic. (grin) I'm very in love with Sasuke (just like 99.9997 of everyone else) and his story, because we relate a lot - how we deal things and the things we deal with. I just really wanted to personify him with personal experience and get in his head more. Sounds fun, right?
Four things to know about this fic before you read it:
1 - The italicized bits before each chapter are lyrics from the song My Sacrifice which is sung by Creed. It's such a beautiful song, and it fits Sasuke wonderfully. Just know that this is not a song fic. A few of the lyrics will appear at the beginning of each chapter, but just to narrate (sort-of.)
2 - The title for each chapter will complete this sentence: "The wind is..." I'll give the title for the next chapter at the end of every new one so you can try to guess what it's going to be about. Isn't that exciting? On the edge of your seats now, right?
3 - I'm not following the manga or anime when it comes to Sasuke's... whatsit, completely. It's the same basic idea, but it's happening how I want it too. (lol) Definitely some spoilers, though , so if you have no idea what I'm talking about, I wouldn't go any further. Unless you like to ruin things for yourself, in which case, by all means.
4 - So, originally I hadn't been planning to post this until it was entirely done. But this chapter has been written for quite some time, and I just wanted to put something out there because I haven't posted in a while. Kind of just to say that yes, I have been writing, I'm not just saying that. And also to say that I will continue to write fanfics, probably until I'm eighty, because it's something that I like to do. Updates won't be super-duper fast (are they ever? eh heh), because I do have some other priorities, sadly. Like a job. And SAT studies. And being sick, apparently. (sneezes and whines) But just know I don't do the whole "hiatus" thing. If it's posted, it's always being written and re-written and re-written and... well, you get the idea.
A big thanks to SkItZo-FrEaK, Nadyell, Rayemars, Leanne Ashley and several other authors who've inspired me to write this. They write approximately twenty-million times better than me, so it'd be a sin not to go read their stuff. Really. (nod)
Enough talking - go read now! Off with you! (shoos)
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From the time I was old enough to understand the word 'useless', which was not a two-digit number in my household, I knew there were a lot of things to be classified under it. Toys came first to my understanding - then came people, parties, and even family, in some cases. Some thoughts were also 'useless', like the ones about the opposite sex. And childish behavior, that was just annoying.
Eventually, only a few things weren't useless to me: training, loyalty and knowledge. Later, I would add 'retribution' to this list, but that was it. Nothing else qualified; everything else seemed wasteful.
It was several years after my childhood ended that I realized I'd missed something in my world analysis. Surely that couldn't be possible since I'd already processed all I saw, touched, heard or thought. But this thing was easily missed; it was so insignificant that I'd never even considered it before. The wind - for thirteen years of my life, it never once crossed my mind. Its strange now that it should mean so much to me.
When I realized that it had evaded me so long, I was instantly annoyed with it. And my frustration only grew as I thought about the wind. It made me cold, it ruined stealth operations, it blew my bangs into my eyes - any possible worth it had seemed highly insignificant, considering it never bothered to be useful when I wanted it to.
So I filed it away deep within the confines of my mind, along with all those other worthless things. It was never to be thought of again as more than a fleeting annoyance.
Yet, here I stand, in complete contradiction of my entire world-view, enjoying the wind. It's cold out, and the plant life in this field has definitely seen better days. But the wind - it moves the grass, the trees, the flowers - as if they were alive again. As if this late autumn was not upon us at all.
The wind brings about... life. New life, not old and mundane. No. It's fresh and it breathes on its own.
And I see that now, so clearly. I ran from it, so hard, for so long, but they've shown me - she's shown me - that it's okay to just be still for a while. To just be still and let the world move instead of you. So I do, and all those years of restlessness, those periods of despair... they blow away.
I can only silently marvel at how seventeen years of building up walls around myself could crumble in a month. One! Just one! But I don't resent it; it's a part of me now, and I guess I owe it all to 'useless' things...
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Wind Facets
By: SunshineandDaisies
Chapter 1: A Nuisance
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Hello my friend, we meet again. It's been awhile - where should we begin? Feels like forever.
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The half-empty, early Autumn moon shone bright and strong in Fire Country that night, but he couldn't see anything other than shadows and paling trees. His black-sandaled feet stopped on a branch just long enough for their owner to catch his breath, and then they pushed off again.
Anyone else would've landed themselves a concussion or a serious bump on the noggin, going at such a speed. But the runner had a native's understanding of this particular forest. His temporarily red eyes also aided in his lack of injury.
This man was younger than twenty, but older than sixteen. His years had blended together after a while with no calendars and hardly any seasons to go by. He wore nothing but black and silver - the silver being the many sharp, metal weapons he had on him. Black wouldn't have been his first choice, but blending in with every shadow was something he had learned to do years ago; it was camouflage or death where he came from.
Where he was going would be no different now, of course. He couldn't allow himself to be seen, not that that was a problem, it being second nature and all. The only person who would see him tonight was a woman he had known very briefly, a long time ago, who was also good at hiding herself. She was his only chance at normality now.
Yet he questioned that for what had to be the five-thousandth time. Was that what he really wanted? Normality? A once-glossy, rectangular paper hidden in his belt told him it was. But what did paper know, really?
Breaking from the darkness of the trees, he quickly found himself atop a tall stone wall, overlooking some empty streets. The man crouched down and surveyed the entrance of the city. It hadn't changed much; there were a few new paint jobs on some buildings, a new store on that corner.
He closed his eyes, filling his tired lungs with the woodsy-pure air. Konoha. The red taint in his eyes was gone when he looked out again. He didn't linger there; being caught wasn't on his 'to-do' list tonight.
Jumping lithely, almost casually, from roof top to roof top, he made his way silently to Hokage Tower. The familiar building was exactly as it had been. His eyes picked out the window he required instantly, and his feet deftly took him to it.
He knew there had been an alarm on the Hokage's roof - how could there not be? - so it came as no surprise when he entered the room that he was not alone. In all truth, he'd hoped for it to turn out this way.
"Who are you?" a voice called calmly from the dark recesses of the room. It sounded bored, but alert. She must've been up late for business, his mind assessed.
"Turn on the lights and see for yourself, Hokage."
There was a soft click from a light switch, and the room was illuminated. A pair of tawny-brown eyes narrowed at the black-clad boy.
"Uchiha."
He crossed his arms and nodded curtly, not bothering with courtesy. Tsunade was a woman of business not easily swayed with pretty words. Not that he had any to share, or anything.
The woman mirrored his stance, tilting her head in a haughty sort of way. She was dressed as if it were daylight business hours instead of one AM. That furthered his hypothesis of the Hokage working overtime, which was something to be noted, if his memories of her renowned laziness were correct.
"What are you here for, Sasuke? Got some vengeance to inflict on me now?"
"No," he answered sharply, disliking her condescension. After a pause, he added, "I want to come back."
Her calm expression caved, and she started forward. "What does that mean? Is Orochimaru--"
"--dead. As of a year ago."
"By whose hand?" Her attempt to recover herself worked - save for the sadness in her eyes.
"Mine."
The silence slipped in abruptly, unsettling them both. It was a while before Tsunade could speak again. When she did, her voice was once again stable.
"And what of the rest of Sound?"
"When I left, they had a fire problem. I haven't checked back in since then." His ego smirked, but Tsunade didn't think this was amusing or impressive in the least. In fact, it seemed to make her angry.
"I assume your return means that the Akatsuki is missing someone fairly important, mm?" It was like trading blows. He'd killed her ex-teammate, and now she had brought up his brother.
"You can't miss anyone if you aren't alive." His answer was flat, but it took a large amount of effort to keep it that way. More than he wanted to admit, or likely ever would.
The Hokage pressed both wrists over her eyes and sighed. Then, running a hand through the length of her bangs twice, she gave him a very scathing look.
"You left the Leaf four years ago to train under an S-class criminal so that you could gain enough power to kill your brother in revenge for his homicidal treachery against your clan." She took a breath. That was quite a statement she'd made. "During this time, you may have gained and used this power with success, Sasuke Uchiha, but that's not all you've received. You warranted the title of 'Missing-Nin'. You were listed as an S-class criminal - because of your sensei - not your own talents. And when you walked through those gates, you left more than a crying girl behind."
She paused and he stiffened, not expecting something so trivial from her. Her speech was insulting, albeit true. But it was that last part that caught him so off guard. It had sounded almost protective, even though it didn't make sense for Tsunade to know or speak of what had happened that night. He might have expected it from Naruto, but not the Godaime.
Sasuke narrowed his eyes at her warily. Did the wench tell the whole damn village, or what?
"You walked away from all your privileges," Tsunade continued. "Your right to come, to go, to wear our symbol, and even to live." Her voice became sharper, more bitter now. "I could take your life anytime, Uchiha. You know this, so why would you come back?"
"I don't know." And he didn't, though there was that one thing... "I have responsibilities to my cla-"
"You left those, too!" she snapped invectively. Lowering her voice, she added, "And if that's your only reason, then I'm afraid I don't sympathize."
Sasuke recognized the subtle shift in her stance; she really could start a fight at any time. But she hasn't...
"If you wanted to kill me, shouldn't you have done it already?"
Such a simple question created a lot of tension in her stare. It took an entire minute for her to arrange an answer she liked. and even then, she seemed to have difficulty getting it out. "I know two people roughly your age who would not appreciate me spilling your blood without a good reason. Apparently, being an S-Class Missing-Nin doesn't count for them. I believe in their judgment, and I owe one of them. Consider yourself lucky, Uchiha."
Naruto and Sakura? Of course, who else?
"So what will you do with me if you're not going to kill me?"
"Two lifetimes in prison are the minimum for mass homicide." Tsunade straightened from her battle-pose and crossed her arms. "The minimum."
"I killed the two most wanted men on the planet!" he hissed, bristling angrily. "You've had people after them for years. Or at least one of them." Oops.
She had been on the verge of relaxing, he could tell, but this sent her into a whole other realm of 'pissed'. "What are you implying?"
"We all have our soft spots," Heshrugged and looked away, resisting the urge to smirk. He should've kept such a careless opinion to himself, what with her elite ability to kill and his lack of an inconspicuous escape route should he actually survive. But with all those cheap-shots she'd been taking, he couldn't help himself.
Footsteps sounded in the hallway, and Tsunade promptly forgot what she was on the brink of yelling. Someone knocked at the door. "Speaking of," Tsunade took a seat behind the desk to her left and gestured at the door. "Here's yours." Later, reflection would tell him that he'd skipped right into this one.
"Sensei, we've found the file." The exasperated tone of a young woman filtered through the door. "Can we--oof! Naruto!"
"Oh, she doesn't care," The door opened briskly and a blond walked in, carrying the same chaotic air twenty screaming children would create with him. "We're like family, this hag and... me." The last word came out quieter than the rest as azure eyes met pearly black. Then Naruto made a strange sort of choking noise, but otherwise seemed incapable of anything but staring. Quite a feat indeed.
The young woman outside the door who had just begun picking up the file that her friend has so unwittingly knocked from her hands paused her efforts. Slowly, she got to her feet and walked inside. The sight floored her so much, she had to grasp the door frame to remain standing.
"Sasuke?" she gasped. "You're... back?" For once, Naruto was speechless and she was the one asking dumb questions.
The man in question looked past Naruto's gaping visage to verify that this was indeed the "crying girl" he'd left behind - it was - and instantly started worrying about her traditional methods of greeting him. Again, reflection would show him that this was a stupid assumption.
"Yes." he said tersely, hoping she wouldn't pry. He glanced back at Naruto. "Stop staring, loser."
That snapped him out of it.
"Yo-you!" The blond pointed an accusing finger at him, as if being Sasuke was suddenly a crime. Although he guessed that maybe it was, in a way. "You're here! You son of a bitch, you're freaking here! Why are you... How are you..." He stopped talking, and they all assumed his mouth could no longer keep up with his thought process. After a few moments onf silent pointing, Naruto's hand dropped and hurt briefly encompassed his previously bemused gaze. "We... we came for you."
As quickly as he'd spoken, he shut up, pocketed his hands and stepped back - but not once looking away. Tsunade, who had been watching all this take place over tented fingers, took the opportunity to speak.
"Naruto, sit. Sakura, you too." She didn't say it, but the passionate glare sent Sasuke's way told him that if he sat, maybe he wouldn't be maimed. So the three took their seats: Sakura on the left, Naruto in the middle, and Sasuke furthest to the right. Each fidgeted with their clothing, and two sent furtive glances at their 'guest'.
Tsuande's eyes scanned the sight in front of her for some time. Finally, she sighed wearily and said, "Well, there you are, Team Seven."
The fidgeting stopped.
"My first choice in this whole matter would be to sentence Sasuke to death." The blond started forward in his seat until the Hokage raised her hand. "This is the custom! Don't look at me that way, Naruto." Tsunade reinforced this command with as much of a glare as she could muster, and he sat back stiffly. "As legal and justified as this would be, I won't."
Sakura slowly let out the breath she'd been holding, releasing her grip on the armrest. "So, what will happen, then?"
Tsunade glanced at Sasuke - he was pretending to stare at the floor and not notice. "I suppose," she began slowly, turning back to the pink-haired girl. "that it's up to you and Naruto. By the way, boy, consider this 'debt paid'."
Naruto flashed a toothy grin and settled more comfortably into his chair. "That's what you get for losing so many games of poker in a row, hag!"
Sasuke's head jerked up and he gave them both incredulous looks. My life was saved by a card game. He snorted and looked back at the floor. "You suck at poker, Naruto."
"Yeah, well, she sucks worse."
"Apparently."
They both paused, and Naruto's grin became a smaller, more somber version. Sakura cleared her throat in the silence, saving them from the rapid retreat into their memories.
"What do you mean by letting us decide?"
"I mean exactly that, Sakura. If I can't kill him then I have nothing to do with him." Sakura frowned at that, but simply nodded. "He has to stay in an apartment assigned by myself and he will be under ANBU guard at night. During the day, he must stay with either you or Naruto. That time can be used as you wish. He'll be your responsibility."
"So we have to babysit him?" Naruto jerked a thumb at Sasuke, who was now furiously thinking of ways to object and only making himself angrier by not finding any non-threatening ones.
Tsunade smirked. "In theory, I suppose you could say that."
Naruto pulled his thumb back and down his cheek, grinning again. He didn't say anything out loud, but he was obviously thinking of cleverly sadistic things to force Sasuke into doing.
"What do you think about that, Sasuke?" Sakura leaned forward in her chair and addressed him. He lifted a shoulder in response, still too irritated at Naruto and wary about her possibly still-existent feelings to answer. Her eyes narrowed slightly at this, but he didn't notice.
"Sasuke." He stopped contemplating genocide and glanced up at her. The glance lasted longer when he saw a very unfamiliar expression on her face. She looked... "Why are you back?"
...completely pissed.
"Why does it--"
"Because it does." She stood abruptly, the chair scraping roughly against the wooden floor as she did. Sakura bowed and muttered a shoddy excuse to Tsunade before leaving. The older woman sighed and slid one leg over the other underneath her desk. The only sound from the room for the next few minutes came from shuffling papers. Then Sasuke heard footsteps again.
"Hokage?" A silver-haired man walked into the room, his uncovered eye focusing instantly on his former students. "Sakura just rushed past and she said that--"
"As you can see, Kakashi, it's clearly true."
"Mm." The man crossed his arms but didn't say anything else. Instead, he leaned against the wall beside the door and stared blankly out the window.
Tsunade sighed largely and held out her hand to Naruto. "The file?"
"Oh!" Naruto slid from his seat and went out into the hall. He swiftly tucked all the fallen papers back inside their manilla casing, placed it all in her outstretched hand, and plopped back into his seat, making more noise than the average person would when seating themselves. Maybe more than the average orangutan.
Tsunade glanced inside the folder briefly, nodded, and dropped it onto her desk. "Go to Shizune's office," she addressed Naruto. "Ask her for a key to one of the 'spares', and then follow her directions. Take Sasuke with you. That apartment will be his home until I say otherwise."
Naruto nodded and stood. "Sure thing, hag." Somehow it wasn't insulting. He cast his gaze to Sasuke, and a pair of intensely dark eyes returned the look. The two nodded , and Sasuke pushed himself out of the chair. As he walked past, the Uchiha could feel more than one eye on him from his ex-sensei. He gave no inclination of knowing it.
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When Sakura had nearly run into him, Kakashi had been forced to grab her shoulders or collide head-on. He knew she was upset before she even looked up, but he couldn't imagine why.
"What is it, Sakura?" he'd asked gently, feeling that parental-like tug he'd had for the past five years creep into his brain again. She was holding herself together without any bravado. It wasn't often that things shook her nowadays, but at least she wasn't crying. Still, he was worried.
"He's back, Kakashi-sensei. Sasuke's back."
At that statement, he'd released her shoulders and looked past her face, almost expecting to see the boy standing there. As he looked, he felt Sakura pat his arm and continue her way home more cautiously than before.
Now he had seen Sasuke for himself, and any misgivings he had harbored were gone; the very instant he'd seen both boys sitting there, he had rendered him speechless. Somehow, he'd always expected Sasuke's return, even when it seemed completely impossible. There had been rumors recently about the fall of Sound, and just this morning he had overheard some talk of the Akatsuki being unusually quiet.
Kakashi had expected it, yes, but not tonight. It took some time to find his voice, and when he did, he discovered his mouth had gone dry.
"Hokage, are you going to let him live?"
Tsunade had been staring furiously at the file residing on the corner of her desk for some time now, but she spared the innocent pages and turned her animosity to Kakashi. Unluckily, he was the only possible victim left in the room.
"No, I just wanted him to have a good night's sleep for the ensuing showdown tomorrow at dawn. I've been practicing my kunai-slinging, I think I'll get him first."
The gray-haired man shifted his weight uncomfortably. Better to take the verbal abuse from an angry woman quietly than to say something unwise and be torched. Now wouldn't that make a lovely proverb? "So what is it you plan to do, then?"
"Let Sakura and Naruto find out the hard way about what kind of person he is, and then claim every right in the book I have to kill his ass. Simple, really, I just have to break all of their spirits first."
He didn't show it, but inside, he was greatly dismayed. "Why? I'm not suggesting you kill him, but--"
"Then what do you propose I do, Kakashi? Ask him pretty-please to never run off and betray our village again?" She shoved away from her desk and stood, slamming her hands on the wood and letting out a growl reminiscent of rabid wolves. "He's just like Orochi-- exactly--and I can't let him... I..."
She looked up at the jounin, pleading with her eyes, "Don't you see it?"
"No, but I can see how you would."
"Don't give me that, Hatake!" She beat the desk with her palms again for emphasis, creating hand-shaped dents this time. "I don't want to watch those kids go through what I did, and they're one misstep away from that road! But damn their stubbornness, neither of them will let me lift a finger without seeing the dead end personally." Tsunade paused, emitting a wavering sigh. "Plus, I promised Naruto I'd do anything for him in the world if he didn't tell everyone I lost those poker matches. I just never thought it'd be this important."
She stood slowly and placed her hands on her hips, stretching backwards and glancing into the darkness outside the window. "I can't forgive myself for this."
"He's not going to pull an Orochimaru," Kakashi said, staring out the window again and trying to ignore how suddenly she'd looked at him. "There's a fierce loyalty inside Sasuke that will always stay with us. Yes, his vengeance came first, but he has come back to us. Loyalty like that is a quality that your teammate never contained--"
"Get out."
Kakashi returned her pointed look with equal force. "As you wish. Goodnight, Hokage." He bowed and turned on his heel, mind reeling and face as expressionless as ever. Sleep was going to be beyond his reach for hours now.
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"It's a good neighborhood," Naruto said as they reached the door to Sasuke's new apartment. He hadn't said a word since they'd left Shizune's office, and it had slightly perturbed his companion until he'd realized that he hadn't the slightest notion of what to say either.
Instead of formulating a reply, Sasuke simply shrugged and slid the key into the lock. Annoyingly enough, it stuck a little when he tried to pull it out. He soon found that the door also had an affinity for requiring too much force to budge. He hadn't taken one step inside, and he already hated it.
Naruto flipped on the light. The walls and carpet were butter yellow.
"It suits you," Naruto snorted. "It's very... obnoxious."
"Piss off."
"I would, but it looks like someone already has. All over the place."
Sasuke stalked inside and turned into the first room on his right, determined to leave the blond in the breezeway. But he couldn't get rid of him that easily.
"Well, look at that! The kitchen's blue!" Sasuke heard Naruto exclaim from the other room, accompanied with the door shutting in his wake. "It's a nice contrast to the shitty yellow, I think."
The Uchiha ignored him and continued frowning at the hopelessly small bedroom. Space wasn't an issue in Sound - he'd gotten his pick of any place in the village. And it didn't matter, really, but he couldn't help but think that even a hamster would turn its nose up.
"The whole place kinda matches," Naruto came to stand beside him, crossing his arms and doing his best imitation of someone who knew what they were talking about. "Might be a little cramped, though. I don't think you could fit a futon, a girl, and your ego in here without some of those little organizing cubes like Sakura has--"
"Go away, loser."
"Oh, yeah, sure." Eyes that cut even when he couldn't see them sliced through his skull. "And then what? You'll bolt?"
"I'm not leaving, but you are." He let his eyes meet Naruto's. It was suddenly suffocating to be here with him, and he knew it wasn't the room's fault. His companion had always had a way of taking up space and getting too close...
"Not until I know, Sasuke. Why are you back?" He was dead-set on getting an answer, Sasuke could feel it. But could he tell him, honestly, why he was back? It was an answer loaded with some very personal meaning. He refused to expose himself like that.
"Why does it matter?" Sasuke growled. "First Sakura's a nosy wench, and now--"
Naruto slammed his fist into Sasuke's jaw, having faked him out with his left and succeeded. The Uchiha stepped back, eyes narrowed fiercely.
"Answer the damn question and never insult her again!"
"It's because this is the only place left to go! Happy?"
"Is that it?"
"Yes, fucktard, now leave."
Naruto rolled his eyes and re-crossed his arms. "You're not even sorry, are you?"
"No."
After a few moments of staring, Naruto stuffed his hands into his pockets. With nothing more than a disapproving glance, he left the room. Sasuke leaned his head lightly against the faded-yellow wall, copying Naruto's hand-in-pocket look, and listened for the door. It opened.
"You'll have to have a story for the hag in the morning," He heard him call. "After that, I'm parading your ass through the village."
Wonderful.
The door shut.
After a few minutes, Sasuke left his new bedroom and peeked at the rest of the space. He found that the kitchen was indeed blue and compensated for the yellow at least a little. There was a blue bathroom left of the kitchen, a straight shot from the front door, and a tiny closet in the kitchen he supposed would hold some food and a broom.
With a sigh, Sasuke utilized the bathroom, locked the door, flipped off the lights, and dropped onto the futon that had so kindly been provided. Reflection always found him at the end of the day, and now was no different. These thoughts always went back just far enough to dredge up some unhappy memories, making his sleep-life a nightmare. In most cases, literally.
So he'd taken care of Orochimaru and the rest of Sound. It was an absolute victory won in the dead of night, where his speed and stealth came together in a fatal way. Yeah, he was proud of that. The only hard part had been killing Orochimaru, and even then, it was easier than hadexpected.
But that was no surprise, since the battle he compared it with was the one against his brother.
It had taken months of painstakingly tedious planning and maneuvering to get in such a place, to obviate all the unnecessary extras, and to finally take down the man he hated most. Itachi had served him the most brutal and devastating blows he'd ever received throughout his life, both emotionally and physically. But that fight... that fight had nearly killed him.
Sasuke's eyes squeezed shut in remembrance. It hurt. It would always hurt. The look in his eyes in those last seconds, the blood that drenched them both, the sound of kunai-to-flesh...
To kill someone so evil, and so wicked from the core, was nothing to be ashamed about. But to kill your own brother, one who was once so filled with love, who was your sole companion throughout your only happy memories as a child, was to kill something deeper than flesh, even thicker than blood.
When Itachi's hand slipped from its icy touch on his brother's cheek to thud lifelessly on the ground, it had unknowingly ripped a slice of Sasuke's soul out, and clung to it tightly. As clean a cut as it might have been, the wound wouldn't heal. Of that, he was certain.
But even after that, after everything, all those pains paled in comparison to the aftershock - he was sick. Completely homesick. Orochimaru had forced him to become apathetic in his human connections, so unfeeling and cold that when the time came for him to give his life up, there wouldn't be much to lose. Nothing for the Sannin to battle and erase.
But that would never happen now: his teacher was dead, and all he had left was everything he'd pushed away. It came back in a rush, rocking him to the core with a strange sensation inside his chest that felt like he was being crushed from the inside out.
And that was it. He wanted home. Some peace, just a little familiarity, out of all things. Every reason he ever had to stay away from Konoha was gone now, and after laying low to lick his wounds for a while, he'd returned.
Sasuke opened his eyes and rolled over onto his back, grunting as he removed the weapons hiding uncomfortably in his clothes. The ANBU were no doubt already outside, dealing Old Maid on the roof or something. It was silly to keep all of his numerous comfort objects on him now. Just a few kunai, a shuriken, and...
His hand paused on the belt hook behind him. After a moment he undid it, slid it off, and dropped his back against the futon. It was unusual to hook a belt from behind, but his routine of slipping weapons on and off had required speed. After lots of trial and error, he discovered that the only way he could access the knives from behind and the smoke bombs in his belt at the same time was to have it backwards. This also served another purpose, however, one he kept confined solely to himself.
Inside the sturdy leather lining, just beside the buckle, was a pocket three inches tall and four inches wide. It was unethical to kill someone from behind, and even though Sasuke wasn't nearly naive enough to believe it couldn't happen, he knew it was less likely. Using that logic, whatever he kept in this pocket was bound to be safe so to be with him constantly.
After some practiced fiddling, Sasuke opened the pouch and carefully slid out its contents: a small picture depicting himself and the rest of Team Seven in the glory days.
Sakura was sitting right beside him, smiling victoriously at the camera for having finally got him in a shot. Naruto was behind them, poking two of his fingers over each of their heads like rabbit ears of disproportionate growth. Kakashi was on his other side, though not suctioned to it like Sakura seemed to be. He was leaning on a tree trunk, lowering the infamous book for once to look at the camera. The tree shaded them, little patches of light falling on their faces.
It was his favorite and only picture of them. The one that Sakura had made him keep - "for memories sake", she had insisted. She never could've known how tightly he'd clung to this picture that first year. How he never let it go outside of reaching distance, even after the pain had dulled. Leaving them had been harder than he ever thought. To think that it was pure accident he'd had it on him when he'd left was absurd. Without it, he would've had no comfort to speak of. Without it, he may not have held on like he did.
They look so much better in real life, he thought, trying to see them again in his mind's eye. He frowned, realizing Naruto was taller than him now by about an inch. So much has changed...
With a resigned sort of sigh, he carefully pushed it back into the belt and sealed it away. It was getting a little too worn around the edges these days. He needed to figure out what to do with the photo - frame it, maybe? - before it started evaporating. Kami only knew all of the elements it had been exposed to.
Just as his mind began to clear, Sasuke realized that the air had gone stale in the apartment and was then forced to get up and crack the window. A chilly little breeze shuddered the faded, navy curtains on its way inside. It made the room's only occupant shake a little too. He'd nearly forgotten Konoha's unpredictable temperatures. Damn wind.
As he slid back into the futon and tried to pretend he was warm, Sasuke couldn't help but notice how loud the silence was.
It's always been this way. It's better this way, he told himself rather unconvincingly. The quiet was no longer his friend because the only way to fill it was with more retrospect - an idea he didn't anticipate readily. So instead, he concentrated on any sounds outside of the apartment's languor and pursued this task until he finally fell asleep.
That night, he wasn't alone in his toil. Four others sought and, only after much difficulty, found rest. When morning came, they all concluded it to be the weather's fault - namely the bitter wind that had finally blown in to signal summer's end.
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End A/N Sasuke's BACK IN BLACK! (laughing hysterically) Sorry, I can't help myself.
Sooooo, what say you? I'd really like some good constructive crit. here. If you could add more than a "it was pritty god, sasuke and sakura shud liek hook up! update1!11" I will be forced to tackleglomple you endlessly. XD And ignore those ugly line-breaks. I think we all know ff dot net is being a loser about this right now.
The next chapter shall be: Drifting And Lonely
Make some guesses, and I'll be back soon! (blows kisses)