Title: Omission
Chapter 1: Old Habits
Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to the work of Masashi Kishimoto.
Warnings: This is yaoi, I think... so if you no like, then you leave... t(-.-t)
Sasuke sat at the edge of the pier absentmindedly staring at the water, watching it ripple under his feet as he swayed them back and forth, deep in thought.
"Sasuke!" calmly snapping out of his stupor, Sasuke turned his head to see the approaching pink-haired kunoichi waving at him in greeting, "I thought you'd be here…"
"Hn." Sasuke half grunted, returning his attention to the water, stoic face in place.
"You're thinking about him aren't you?" Sakura said as she sat herself down next to him, her feet swaying alongside his. "You always swing your feet like that when you think about him." as if on cue his feet stopped. "I miss him too, you know that right? It's be-"
"What are you getting at Sakura?" Sasuke snapped his tone colder than he had hoped.
"I just want to talk that's all…" Sakura put her hands up defensively, slightly altered at his response, maybe this was a bad time. "We-You never talk anyone…" she sighed tiredly, questioning if this was even worth it anymore. "I thought it would be different… I always dreamt we would bring you back and it would've been back to the way it was, just me, you, Kakashi-sensei, and…"
"Naruto..." Sasuke whispered under his breath slightly clenching his fists, feeling a sharp pang in his chest. He lay back on the wooden boards and opened his eyes, without a recollection of ever closing them, staring at the all too familiar blue sky. Closest thing Sasuke had to remembering those eyes, even though over time he seems to have forgotten the correct hue.
"Yeah…" Sakura breathed softly, sprawling herself out next to him tucking her arms behind her head, careful not to make any physical contact, she couldn't risk scaring him away. This has been the most conversation she's had with him in a while. "My dream partially came true; I guess… you came back but…"
"Naruto left the village, and has been in the dark for quite some time now." Sasuke's lips thinned as he finished, and his eyebrows furrowed. "It shouldn't be this hard to the idiot; he's obnoxiously loud, his blonde hair stands out in a crowd and with that stupid jumpsuit you should be able to spot him a mile off."
Sasuke hallucinated that he was smiling at him with his face-splitting grin, the scars on his tanned cheek. His head cocked to the side, the yellow mess of spikes that was his hair flopped on his head perfectly complimenting his sun-kissed skin. His teeth baring smile lined with white teeth his sharp canines noticeable. Then he opened his eyes and stared down at him with such vibrant azure eyes and unconsciously Sasuke's hand reached for the sky as if he could just touch him. "... and his eyes…"
Sakura stared at him from her peripheral vision, not daring to look at him in the eye. Maybe this wasn't such a bad idea after all, she can't remember him talk this much in the time he has been back and his voice, he said it with such a concealed tone, clearly hiding away emotions. She smiled to herself, more evidence that proved she wasn't the one to steal his heart, now she could only hope for him to return home.
"Yeah…" Sakura carefully thought of what she could say to him now. "...and yet here we are. Almost two years later, and he's still missing…" Sasuke clenched fist in the air and brought it to his chest, crossing his arms he closed his eyes and frowned defiantly.
"Hn." Sasuke grunted taking slow deep breaths relaxing his body, he opened his eyes to glare viciously at the sky. He sensed familiar chakra approaching not too far away and he glared harder, he wasn't in the mood to deal with it.
"I'm starting to see why that used to piss off Naruto so much." Sakura huffed crossing her arms when she sat up. "Well, I'll see you around Sasuke." she stood up dusting off the non-existent dust. "I promised Lee that I would let him take me out for dinner later, I have to go start getting ready." Sasuke grunted another 'Hn' intensifying his glare at the sky, she shook her head at his antics and left.
After a while of glaring the sky didn't combust under his glare, he decided this wasn't going anywhere and was very uneventful. Sasuke stood and stared out into the water once more catching a few people walking alongside the opposite side of the lake. A rather suspicious character caught his attention they were wearing a cloak that completely covered their body. Normally he would go investigate but then he felt someone approach.
"Sai." Sasuke unfortunately has gotten all too familiar with his particular chakra. Sai or whatever his name was, his replacement when he was gone, Sasuke didn't really care. Without turning around he felt him come closer, until her heard his footsteps stop a few feet behind him. "What do I owe the pleasure of this encounter?" he said coolly sticking his hand into his pockets.
"I just wanted to make sure you weren't dead, you've laying there for quite a while now. Wasn't sure whether to inform Sakura that Konoha's Ice Princess finally kicked the bucket." Sasuke could feel his stupid fake smile. "It would have been a shame if you would have died without gotten laid, it's sad really that you haven't, I bet even Dickless has gotten some by now."
"You don't say..." Sasuke commented dryly, the internal struggle not to strangle him began. "Spare me the details then." he debated whether to dump his lifeless body in the lake or use him as an example for people to leave him alone. Neither of them would settle down right with Tsunade, and Sasuke did not need her to nose her way into his business any more than she needs to.
"Oh, really? I thought anything that dealt with Dickless was your business. Well, I suppose you wouldn't want to know what I overheard earlier today." Sai smile grew when Sasuke slightly fidgeted. Sasuke clenched his teeth not daring to turn around, he was baiting him again wasn't he? "I'm sure Sakura would love to hear this news, she probably cared about him more anyways. I hear you two were always fighting."
At that Sasuke snapped and tackled him to the ground, Sharingan swirling dangerously. He pinned his arms to his side and glared viciously at him, he was going to die, and Sasuke was going to be the one to kill him. "If you want me this badly…" Sai grunted out still smiling. "...You're going to have to take me out to dinner first."
Sasuke let one of Sai's arms go and punched him, blood spilling out of Sai's mouth. "You will never comprehend…" he right hooked him in the chin and Sai swears he could feel a tooth loose. "... how much…" more jabs, few landing on his face. "... I… I..." Sasuke's fist stopped mid-punch, his bloody knuckles tightly clenched. Sai could hear how hard Sasuke was grinding his teeth aside from the loud ringing in his ear. With his partially open and functional eye he could see Sasuke's bangs shadow his face, struggling to retain himself.
"Yo." Kakashi said as he poofed a few feet away. "Let him go, Sasuke. Sai go home, get yourself cleaned up, you know better than to rile up Sasuke." Sasuke scoffed and he stood, clenched and unclenched his fist a bit. He glanced down at Sai's writhing body and gave him one final kick in the ribs. "Sasuke."
"Oops." Sasuke smirked satisfied as he heard Sai groan in pain. "Must've slipped." Sasuke slipped his hands into his front pockets and casually began walking towards his former sensei. Kakashi sighed and walked towards Sai's still groaning form. They bumped shoulders as they passed when Kakashi whispered something to him. Sasuke stopped and he couldn't stop his eyes from widening. Sasuke turned around to demand answers but he was met with a cloud of smoke.
"Tsunade." Sasuke knew she had to know, and one way or another he'd get it out of her. Not wanting to draw much attention he tried to casually walk in the direction of the Hokage Tower but when he reached the top of the staircase near the pier he frowned. "Dammit." he whispered under his breath. Throwing everything aside he jumped his way onto the closest rooftop and began dashing towards the Tower.
Tsunade looked up when she felt familiar chakra enter unwelcomed into the room. "Sasuke what do I owe the pleasure?" she said slightly annoyed as she went back to read his document of her desk.
"Is it true?" Sasuke demanded walking over and slamming his fist on her desk. Tsunade remained unfazed continued reading, pausing only to look up confused when the information was processed through her head.
"Is what true?" Tsunade inquired raising an eyebrow, momentarily wondering where Shizune was she needed a break. "I can't read minds Sasuke, elaborate." she picked up the brush, deciding to might as well start signing some of the papers piled on the desk.
"Is it true that Naruto was sensed near the village." Sasuke stated, his fists beginning to curls up against the hard wooden. Tsunade slightly taken aback dropped the brush from her hands.
"Damn that Kakashi…" Tsunade grumbled and she met the serious eyes of the young Uchiha. "Yes it is true he was sensed, but only momentarily. A group was returning from their mission when they sensed his chakra, well Kyuubi's. Though we had the Hyuuga and various teams check out the perimeters and the village has been scanned. There is no trace of him or the Nine Tails."
"Well check again." Sasuke demanded. "If either was near the village they couldn't have gone far."
"Sasuke we've done everything you could think of, the Hyuuga's, the Inuzuka's, the Aburame's are still thoroughly scanning the surrounding forest, Inochi and a few others are attempting to see if they can connect with him." Tsunade sighed when Sasuke's bruised knuckles turned whiter. "Did you get into a fight?"
"That's far from the point." Sasuke took in deep calming breaths before he himself got in more serious issues with the Hokage. He needed to calm his heart down, it was beating frantically he could feel its pulses on his neck. "I'm going to go find him."
"On whose permission?" Tsunade demanded raising her voice, reminding him while he was still a member of the Leaf Village he was to follow her orders, she didn't need more cover up paperwork to do.
"On yours." he said matter-of-factly, with or without her permission. "I don't need your permission to go find my friend." Sasuke slammed his fist onto her desk again, he was determined to leave the village again and come back with that idiot in tow.
"Since when have you consider him your friend? Answer the question for me Uchiha, depending on your answer I will give you an alibi to go search for Naruto to your heart's content." Tsunade purposed, laying her chin her fist.
Sasuke was slightly thrown aback at her question, he narrowed his at her noting the seriousness in her voice. "I've considered him my friend since…" Sasuke frowned since when he had asked himself, he didn't really know the answer to that. These past years he'd spent in very bitter nostalgia, and in the time he'd come to realize how much Naruto really meant to him. He open and closed his mouth various times unable to come up with an answer. "I don't know… but I promise to bring him back."
"Such a bold statement, you shouldn't make promises like that Sasuke…" Tsunade said with a tad bit of sadness. "You should know they're not always kept…" Sasuke knew what she meant with all his empty promises. "What makes your promise any different from any of Naruto's?" she let the silence linger until he spoke up again.
"I can assure you, I will bring him back, even if it kills me." Sasuke said truthfully there have been many points of his life where he questioned why he was still alive and why he still trudged to keep on living. Every time it had ended with the same conclusion; if he was going out he was going to go by his hands.
"Very well..." Tsunade knew he wasn't going to say it but she internally smiled. Fate had a weird way to bring people together if anyone had the real chance of finding Naruto it would be Sasuke. "You are still not allowed to leave the village without one of my teams assisting you, and that's final. Though if you can get a team of your own, you still have to keep me informed, the soonest you can get started is tomorrow. Now leave, you wasted enough of my time." Sasuke bowed and left, he already had a team and plan laid out in mind.
The following weeks were extremely tiring for the Uchiha, coming up empty handed every time, each time getting more and more frustrated. Sasuke soon found himself wandering aimlessly throughout the village after another failed search and retrieve mission and managed to end up in front of Naruto's apartment door again. "Since I'm already here…" the raven muttered to himself and unlocked the door using Naruto's spare key, he walked in and quietly closed the door behind him.
Sasuke heard a sigh and movement somewhere inside the apartment building. He didn't sense anything inside the apartment building and out of habit his Sharingan flared, crimson eyes flicking quickly around until they spotted a crouching distorted figure in Naruto's bedroom. They seemed to have pulled some of the floorboards searching for something. Stealthily he masked his chakra and proceeded to enter the room unsuspected.
"You're the only thing I can't seem to cut…" the voice said pulling out a instant ramen cup and Sasuke froze in place his chest tightening, that voice. The cloaked figure sighed tiredly running their thumb over the label print. "You're going to be the end of me…" Sasuke immediately recognized the ramen cup, Naruto ranted about them nonstop in their childhood, the Food of the Gods, he'd call it. Some special edition Ramen that Ichiraku's Ramen Shop had short stock of.
Placing a few under his cloak and stood up their piercing azure one's clashing with Sasuke's onyx ones. Sasuke felt his throat dry up, he couldn't move, he couldn't breathe, and he was standing right in front of him. "Naruto…" Sasuke whispered finally finding his voice again.
"Damn, I should've been paying more attention to my surrounding…" Naruto's face scowled when he finished. "Out of all the people that could have found me it had to be you." Naruto said agitated.
"What the hell is that supposed to mean you idiot?!" Sasuke yelled offended, clenching his fist. "And, -and where the fuck have you been these past years?!" Ignoring him Naruto collected the rest of his prized possessions and made his way to the balcony.
"I don't have time for this…" Sasuke stormed over blocked his way, shoving him back further into room. Naruto wasn't going to fight him, he needed to leave without anyone else noticing him. He could easily shake off Sasuke if he chose to tail.
"So now you don't have time for your friend?!" Sasuke continued to yell, years of pent-up anger and frustration fueling him. He was breathing through his nose, fuming and Naruto looked at him bored.
"Since when have we ever been considered friends? As I recall you tried killing me more than enough times to get the wrong idea across." Naruto said dryly, and slowly began sucking up air though his mouth.
"That's not the point!" Sasuke argued. "What are you doing?" Sasuke narrowed his eyes when Naruto starting to gather up air in his cheeks. Sasuke took a step wondering if was going to strike, he'd doubt it but he was prepared for an assault.
"Like I said before I don't have time for this." Naruto made a hand sign and Sasuke jumped back Sharingan reactivated. Naruto whispered something he couldn't quite caught then he opened his mouth wide and Sasuke saw chakra begin to gather near in his mouth where a light bluish colored orb was forming. Naruto consumed the orb and his cheeks puffed up glowering fiercely and when he spit it out there was an extremely bright flash in the room, blinding Sasuke.
After a moment the light died Sasuke blinked the vision back into his eyes, noting Naruto was gone. "What the hell was that?" he asked himself but quickly re-scanning his surrounding finding Naruto's distorted figure at a distance. He was headed for Konoha's East Wall he was planning to leave again. "Like hell I'd let him."
"He's faster than I remember." Sasuke said through gritted teeth dashing after him. "You're not leaving dobe... even if it means breaking every bone in your body..." Sasuke swallowed the lump in his throat; those words were once told to him before.
"CHA!" there was a pink blur that came out of nowhere aiming to strike the fleeing blond up ahead. Naruto dodged Sakura's devastating punch, knocking off his hood that hid his identity in the process. "Naruto..." Sakura said eyes widening, tears began to form.
"Damn it..." Naruto cursed out Sasuke quietly as he covered his face again. Quickly gathering chakra at his feet, he made another run for it. It was bad enough Sasuke saw him, but now Sakura she'd tell the village and then they all would be after him again. "There's no choice now…" he grumbled and began to suck up air the best he could running.
"Naruto, wait!" Sakura yelled before Sasuke came at a stop next to her. Making eye contact for a moment they nodded. "Let's go."
Naruto made it to the wall to find Tsunade standing there waiting for him arms crossed. He landed in front of her and noted she looked torn. "I don't want to fight you." he said in a small but serious voice.
"Just be safe, brat." Tsunade let a tear fall down her cheek; she clenched her fist and shut her eyes tightly. She felt Naruto fly past her as he jumped over the wall, leaving her with only bittersweet memories.
"I'd close your eye if I were you…" Naruto whispered as he passed Tsunade. "Light Release: Ethereal Heavens!" Suddenly all of the Hidden Leaf Village was consumed in a blinding bright light.