Fall.
The season where leaves turn red with golden hues, or brown with honeyed lace.
The last fruits of the season ripened, many of them apples burning a deep red color, or amber yellow, or shyly blushing with splashes of dreamy pink.
The season that was just a taste, a nip of crisp cold to go with the beautiful surroundings of Konoha. It's not surprising that Konoha becomes a tourist spot in fall, is it?
But autumn was the season when Sasuke finally came back.
It had taken everyone by surprise. "The Uchiha?" They had all said.
It was another one of those days, when the voice of leaves swirled around the citizens of Konoha, who were rustling around like leaves in the wind.
As the leaves danced and went, it seemed just as quick when Uchiha Sasuke appeared at the gates of Konoha, finally ready to come back.
The Godaime interrogated him the entire day, and for some odd reason, let him go after a quick sealing of some of his powers. Sasuke wasn't after blood; he was done with that.
Perhaps it was the healing powers of fall, where green began to fade into warm hues of red, yellows, and browns, before leaving death and cold in its wake.
She sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose, still unsure of what compelled her to do such a thing. Even her assistant, Shizune, was a tad confused.
As the Godaime looked down from her high tower, various parchment scrolls and elegant seals forgotten temporarily, she saw the Uchiha head straight for her prized apprentice's home, where, coincidentally, the "future" Hokage was, as well.
But ultimately, perhaps the Godaime did it for the smiles and tears of happiness as Sakura and Naruto launched themselves at the last member of their team.
Happiness. It meant to much to the Hokage of Konoha. It was her duty to keep her village safe, and her duty to keep it happy.
"Then why did you come back? You could have joined Akatsuki, taken the place of your brother, become someone feared for an entire century," the Godaime asked, intent on getting to the bottom of things.
He merely shrugged. "I wanted to see some people I left behind."
"That's it? You betrayed Konoha to join forces with a snake, and you come skipping down here to expect us to take you back with open arms?"
He grimaced. "Not exactly. I will accept whatever punishment you give me." He sighed almost imperceptively, slumped over in the chair, put his hand to his forehead, and with a slightly shaky voice, "I just want to go home."
"You can't be serious, Uchiha."
"Why not?"
"Betraying your village is not just a grave crime; it marks the end of your ties, and I know well enough that when you left, you broke my student's heart-"
"Naruto is your apprentice?"
"No, he's with that loser Jiraiya. Listen up Uchiha, you better have a damn good explanation for coming back, because nothing short of a miracle will save your revenge filled ass from being pummeled by our ANBU interrogation units."
An uncomfortable silence reigned between them, and the Godaime glared at Sasuke.
Finally, Sasuke spoke.
"I will only say it once."
"What, your sad story of your reason?" The Godaime snorted impatiently.
"…"
"My reasons for coming back."
The seasons come and went, evolving itself into splendid beauties, the inspirations of humanity.
Perhaps Sasuke's heart could, as well.
00
"Eh, Naruto, why don't you pick up Sasuke tomorrow and come over for dinner?"
"Sakura-chan, you're so cruel! Sending me to pick up that teme!"
"No Sasuke, no dinner. Come to think of it, I was just about to buy some ramen…"
"Ok, ok, Sakura-chan, you win."
"Tomorrow, seven sharp."
That was the conversation between Sakura and Naruto the day before, as Sakura mused. She scooped up some rice, and smoothed it over a sheet of seaweed, before adding some cucumbers, various assortment of sashimi, and delicately smoked meats.
Sakura rolled up the sushi, and with the deft precision of a kunoichi, soon began molding into the precision and concentration of a surgeon, each slice yielding a perfect round center surrounded by rice and snugly wrapped in seawe-
"Sakura-chan!" A loud banging on the door resounded.
Sakura looked down to the roll she just sliced. The chop was straight line, but the sushi itself was slightly oval.
She sighed; what if that had been a real patient?
Putting down the gleaming knife, Sakura wiped her hands on her apron and proceeded to open the door.
There they were, just two of the most precious people in her life.
She saw Sasuke first, his blue eyes. He simply nodded, hands in pockets.
Naruto sheepishly put his hand behind his head. "We're five minutes early, Sakura-chan."
Sakura smiled. Good. Kakashi-sensei hadn't rubbed off of them.
As she stepped inside, Naruto stood in the middle of her wooden floor, sniffing the air.
"That smells soo good, Sakura-chan!"
"Hn."
Sasuke had come in too, and he looked at her apartment, as if slightly bewildered and bombarded by her room's mere presence and the delicious smell in the kitchen.
"Make yourself at home."
Naruto immediately plopped on her pillow of a couch, and sat back with a loud sigh of contentment, like that of warm soup on the coldest day in winter.
Sasuke sat back on the couch across from Naruto, and turned his head away, as if Naruto really hadn't changed at all.
Sakura returned to the kitchen, intent on finishing the rest of her sushi.
If it was a real patient, he or she would have surely died by now. First the lack of concentration, the slightly oval sushi. Then left unattended for five minutes. No doubt the patient would have already died.
Her elegant brow furrowed and she frowned slightly, not happy with the thought at all, even though it was just sushi. Dammit. It was just a piece of sushi.
Life is so incredibly important, to Sakura, to Sasuke, to Naruto, to everyone in Konoha.
Sasuke had killed, his life goal reached.
Sakura saved, to prove the worth of her own.
And Naruto fiercely pursued.
As Sakura came back with a plethora of dishes, Naruto sat back on a cushioned chair, and all three sat in soft, glowing circle around the table.
Tempura. Sushi. Sukiyaki. Seaweed salad, and sweet rolls of warm bread. She was lucky her profession as a medic-nin allowed her to buy such expensive foods. Being a doctor had its quirks, even if it was such a responsibility laden job. She stared at her cut sushi again with a slight frown.
Naruto was jabbering his head off, Sakura scolding him for various things, and Sasuke, lost in his own thoughts.
Sasuke had never been in such a happy, glowing surrounding before, and the loud, happy conversation felt to foreign.
He felt out of place, like an assassin in the room of a baby princess.
It felt wrong.
"Sasuke?"
Her words jerked him out of his thoughts from further depression.
"Oi, teme, you don't look good."
"Tch." He turned his head to the side in irritation. "Neither do you."
Sakura burst out laughing, coughing on her rice.
"Huh? What are you talking about, teme? I don't look sick like you do! What's so funny, Sakura-chan?" When she didn't answer, he thought over what Sasuke just said.
"TEME, DID YOU JUST CALL ME UGLY?"
"That was five minutes ago, Naruto." Sasuke dryly replied.
Standing up, Sakura left to go into the kitchen, knowing an argument when it came this way, and came back.
"Who's up for dessert?" Sakura drawled out, sweet tea cakes and soft candy buns on a tray in her hand.
Naruto gave one last look at Sasuke before marching over and grabbing a red bean paste bun.
Sakura couldn't help feel that the Sasuke who came back was still cold as ever, spiting insults this way and that.
She plopped the tray in front of him, tantalizing as ever.
"Dessert?" She asked in a cheerful voice, complete contrast to Sasuke.
He took a slice of candied apple, and looked at Sakura.
But she missed the look that reached out, hurt and anguish every bit in his gaze. Apples, emblems of fall, the forbidden fruit he slapped away years earlier.
Sakura herself sat back down, chattering about some training with Tsunade, oblivious to the memories of the incident.
Sasuke's glance focused back onto the table, the pale cream of apples and a splash of color where the skin was.
"Don't eat with your mouth full, Naruto." Sakura said with exasperation. She looked at Sasuke for a split second. He still didn't willing join the conversation. It would be a long time before he did, Sakura mused.
It didn't escape Sasuke; he had watched the encounters between both teammates, how both were suddenly closer than ever, and he was once again left out.
Funny how Naruto was left out at birth because of the Kyuubi.
Funny how they excluded Sakura during missions because she was always so damn weak.
So, it was funny how now he was the odd one out in this group.
When he parted with a solemn nod to Sakura and Naruto, he leisurely walked to the Uchiha complex.
Fall.
The season to muse, to watch the leaves fly down before dying.
The warm, vibrant colors of fires burning everything before it died, covered by winter's icy breaths.
And that's how Sasuke felt. When he came back, Konoha had been warm, some people happy, like Naruto and Sakura, and some with fiery distrust, like his neighbors.
And Sasuke felt like letting go of life, purpose lost. Leaves falling, and dying before winter's end.
Loneliness and tragedy burst in his heart as he saw his home once more.
He was the sole heir of the Uchiha name.
There is a time, when we are children, that we try our best to please our parents, to love them to the extent that they have of us.
When parents are gone, it seems like life itself has ended, too.
With no family, just a reminder of what home was, Sasuke's version of comfort, of home, is just a reminder of childhood.
The fires of autumn had come and go, the warmth of happiness suddenly washed away, leaving crackling brown leaves and death.
It seemed like his heart could do nothing but mimic the action of leaves in fall.
A/N: I'm not sure why I characterized Sasuke like this, but I did…
You know when people are so isolated from something they love, they have a hard time connecting to others?
Simply put, Sasuke feels like he can't connect with the close and warm bond Sakura and Naruto have; he's been gone so long, he's almost at loss as for what to do.
I have very high expectations for this fanfic! I'll post Winter in a couple of days.