Story: Nothin' Ever Lasts Forever

Summary: Except when it does. Time Travel/Loop.

Category: Naruto

"Sasuke! You're awake!"

His eyes fly open, his entire body tensing involuntarily as he sits up, only for a blur of pink to cloud his vision. Sakura. Her arms wrap around his strangely lethargic body, hugging him tightly, and he lets her, confusion and the grogginess from sleeping too long dulling his cognitive abilities. He blearily takes in the rest of the room (white, clean, machines hooked up to his body; Conclusion: hospital) and eventually zeroes in on the others surrounding his bed.

The rest of his old team stare back at him, along with the Hokage, and the relief and concern about him etched onto their young faces is so wrong. It makes him lividregretfulhapp- His mind screams at him to run away, get away, far away from here, but he doesn't move. Presumably, he's just awoken from a prolonged slumber, and then there's the drugs still in his system; he's entirely too tired to do anything more than stay in an upright position, and that's mostly because his ex-teammate is keeping him there.

Since he's physically inhibited, he attempts to clear the fog from his mind and puzzle out the current situation. This is enemy territory, but then, why isn't he imprisoned or his chakra suppressed? There's also the fact that the Idiot is visibly younger than Sasuke had last seen him, which had only been a few months ago. Is it a ploy to make Sasuke let his guard down via the appearance of a once-trusted teammate? Surely, they couldn't believe such a thing would work on anyone, much less him.

"It's about time you woke up, Sasuke-teme," The Idiot grins at him cheerfully. Pointing a thumb at the Hokage, he says, "Me and Pervy Sage went and tracked down Tsunade-obaa-chan to cure you; she's supposed to be a really good medic."

He narrows his eyes at the non-sequitur. Why would he pretend he doesn't know the Hokage? Is he assuming Sasuke doesn't remember who replaced the Third? Something about this conversation rubs him the wrong way, even ignoring the weirdness of it all. It's almost as if he's heard it before...?

Hitting The Idiot once on the head, the Hokage snaps, "What did I tell you about calling me 'granny', huh, brat?!"

"I don't care what you look like! You're still an old hag!" The orange-clothed ninja retorts, quickly stepping behind Kakashi for protection as the village leader descends on him again.

Huffing in irritation, the woman points out, "You're supposed to be grateful, brat." Abruptly, she turns a shrewd gaze on him, looking him over expertly. "You alright, kid? There's nothing physically wrong with you." The fact that he might have mental scarring goes unsaid, but the occupants of the room understand it, regardless. Sakura squeezes him more tightly, and The Idiot's face contorts with undisguised worry.

"What happened?" He demands hoarsely, not bothering to answer the woman's inquiry. Bluntness has always been his preferred method over subtlety anyway.

The Hokage and Kakashi don't outwardly react to his memory loss(?), while the moron steps out from behind cover and starts babbling with a scowl, "Che. Of course you wouldn't remember, teme." He crosses his arms and continues, "Your brother and this fish-guy showed up in the village and attacked Kakashi-sensei and tried to attack me before you turned up and tried to fight him and got your ass kicked and then he did some genjutsu thing to you, and then you and Kakashi-sensei wouldn't wake up, so me and Pervy Sage went on a journey to get Tsunade-obaa-chan to come fix you."

He takes all of his former teammate's words in, recognizes the sheer impossibility of said words, and wonders idly if his cracked mind has finally shattered completely. He thinks back to his last clear memory (bloodpainregretwhydoyoubelieveinm-) and can't find it in himself to be at all surprised by this development.

Sakura - who is also much younger in appearance - finally stops clinging onto him and leans back, wiping her eyes, but she doesn't attempt to vacate her spot on his bed. Still sniffling slightly, she points out in the same haughty tone of voice Sasuke vaguely recalls her using when correcting the Idiot from his long-buried memories, "You forgot the part where she's our new Hokage, Naruto."

The boy mutters something unpleasant about the village leader, who in turn takes it upon herself to cause him more physical harm, resulting in another session of bickering. Sakura's hand stays firmly wrapped around his, even as she watches the spectacle with a small smile, and he can feel his old mentor studying him intently without even glancing up. His eyes never stray from his lap, wherein his free hand has balled into a white-knuckled fist.

Either Sasuke is reliving his own memory in dream-form, someone has cast a powerful illusion on him, or he has somehow gone back in time. The first one is unlikely; he would be able to change things were he simply asleep. The second suggestion is laughable. It's not arrogance fueling his belief that no one would be able to best him in his specialty - simply fact. (Besides, there's no longer anyone alive strong enough to do so.)

...Time travel, huh? Something stirs within him, an ugly, bitter thing. His mouth curls into a self-deprecating smirk because of course he couldn't have traveled to before the massacre, to a time wherein he could actually make a difference. It's fitting, in a way. He's always taking one step forward and two steps back - always achieving his goals only to find out he's made things worse.

"Maa, why don't let Sasuke rest? He's only just woken up, after all," Kakashi-sensei suddenly proposes, cheerfully. Ignoring the Idiot's squawk of protest as he and Sakura are nudged out of the room, alongside the Godaime, the masked man goes on, "We have a mission to do soon, and I know neither of you have been-" The voices die down as the door closes, and the lighthearted atmosphere Sasuke hadn't even noticed vanishes with them.

He lies down and stares unseeingly at the paneled ceiling. What is he supposed to do now? The burning hatred that had kept him going even after every failure has been extinguished; there's nothing left now - only griefpainlossdeathturmoil. Maybe once, he might have jumped at the chance to right his wrongs, but hasn't he already proven that everything he touches eventually turns to ash? Death clings to him, like a cloak, doggedly following his footsteps no matter what he does or where he goes.