(A/n): This chapter is a lot shorter - I was hoping it could act as a buffer period considering school is in session. Hopefully this will be the shortest one.
. . .
Sasuke was hauled away to a jail cell for the night, of course under heavy supervision. He didn't put up any struggle or resistance and went with ease. Despite the blatant lack of control he had, the smug, confident expression never left his face. It was safe to say that the reunion of comrades was ruined.
After everyone paid for their meals, despite most of them losing their appetites, they went their separate ways. Kiba reluctantly bid Ayame a good night as she requested that he go home without walking her to her flat. Instead, she and Naruto started to head toward theirs homes, for they lived directly across from each other.
"Onee-chan," Naruto said after strolling in silence for a few minutes, "how'd you know Sasuke was there?" Fiddling with the handkerchief around her throat, Ayame replied after a brief pause.
"I heard him," she said. "When I was outside, it was like I could sense him." Naruto watched her with kind sapphire eyes.
"You don't like him anymore," he stated, picking out her discomfort at the topic. She shook her head.
"I don't trust him," she corrected. "Of all times, why come back now? What's changed?"
"Maybe he finished what he needed to do," Naruto answered. "Just like we did."
The rest of their walk was in silence. When they reached the building they lived in, Ayame invited Naruto over for the night. Though she wanted to believe that she invited him over for them to continue to catch up, if she was being honest with herself, she also wanted him there for protection. Entering her home for the first time in months, the immediate scent of books and paper caressed Ayame and lured her in, Naruto following behind and closing the door.
"Man, it's been so long, you know?" The blonde boy commented as he kicked off his sandals. Ayame had turned on a nearby lamp to give the room a warm glow. The deep red walls looked a tad sinister, the nostalgia pushed away the sensation.
"I'll put on some tea," Ayame said, going to the kitchen. Opening the cupboard for a box of tea, she found an unopened package of jasmine tea - her favourite - that she didn't remember being there. She took it down to find a note on the top of the box that read: Welcome home it rather poor, yet familiar, penmanship. It was dated weeks ago. She smiled.
"So, Naruto," she spoke to the young man seated on her couch as she worked, "how did training go with that . . . thing inside of you?" She was speaking of the Tailed Beast within him.
The Nine Tailed Fox was different from Aroi; although the former gave Ayame more chakra in addition to her own, the Tailed Beast was on an entirely different playing field. Akarai, the leader of the pack Ayame lived and worked with, explained the distinction. The Tailed Beasts were made by the Sage of Sixth Paths, the original ninja. Aroi was just a wolf from a clan of chakra-enhanced animals that was murdered.
"Oh, Kurama?" He asked, rubbing the back of his head with a grin. "I got to work with him and another Jinchuriki, Killer Bee from the Lightning Village. He helped me to channel Kurama and make friends with him." The tea kettle whistled as Naruto continued to describe how he managed to gain mutual respect with the Tailed Beast that once destroyed Konoha. Ayame served him the beverage and sat next to him, fully engaged.
"That's really great," she complimented as his tale came to a close. The window behind them revealed the small sliver over the sun the remained peaking over the horizon. "I can feel how much more powerful you are now."
"You, too," he returned before enjoying some tea.
"It's the same thing with me and Aroi," Ayame related. "He isn't very friendly - he definitely wasn't when we first started talking. But now we understand and talk to each other."
"It's like we weren't ever really alone after all," Naruto said with a nod, swirling his drink. He studied the room with a comforting smile on his face. "Once this whole thing with Sasuke is cleared up," he said with unyielding positivity and hope, "it'll be just like old times, you know?"
"Onii-san," Ayame sighed, blowing the steam from her tea cup outwards. "Nothing will ever be like back then." After a moment, Naruto began to chuckle, which turned into out right laughter. "Oi, what's so funny?"
"It's just," Naruto snickered, wiping a tear of laughter away. "I remember back then, and I never understood why you liked Sasuke. He was a jerk and all, but he was still my best friend in the end. Even when he left, I thought he was my brother. And now, it's like the other way around, you know?"
"Things change." Ayame said, shaking her head as she placed her cup on the coffee table. Next to it sat a leaning tower of unopened envelopes. "People change."
"That's right," Naruto agreed. "So, maybe you'll change to like him again." Ayame chuckled once.
"You're as optimistic as ever," she commented before yawning. She rose from the couch and headed towards a closet. Retrieving a pillow and blanket, she made up the couch for Naruto to sleep. "I'm off to bed, then. We'll spend the day together tomorrow, okay?" Naruto smiled brightly, his eyes shining beautifully.
"Yeah. Sounds great."
Ayame grinned back before scooping up the envelopes and shut off the nearby lamp before heading off to her room. She gently shut the door behind her. Kiba really did take care of her home - despite his usual disorganisation, he seemed to have dusted frequently and organised the letters she had received. He even bought that box of tea for her without knowing when she would come back.
Her room was even clean: the bed was made and not a single article of clothing out of place. Though the prospect of Kiba rummaging around her room made her feel initially embarrassed, Sakura's scent lingered in the air, telling her that her pink-haired companion did at least that for her.
Going to her desk, she flicked on a small light and she sat down. She set down the letters on the table and a photograph caught her eye. A picture of her younger self standing next to a smiling Sakura in front of their proud sensei and teammates. Naruto had been nearly sneering at Sasuke, while the latter was looking indifferent. Next to that image was another photograph of her dear brother, Akio. In the picture, he was holding the cloth Ayame had round her neck in his hand and was laughing. Ayame had managed to capture this closed-eye, opened-mouth smile in the eternity of a picture.
She had been smiling at the sight of her happy brother when she spotted a third snapshot that she didn't remember taking. Picking it up to examine it, she saw that it was a picture of the Inuzuka boys, Kiba and Akamaru. Kiba's arm was extended but out of the shot, showing that he had taken the picture himself. The boy had a toothy grin with one eye shut in a wink and the enormous kanine companion's tongue was hanging out of his mouth. She flipped the paper over to see the same sloppy script on the back. We were missing you. Can't wait for you to come home.
"Kiba," she breathed quietly, a grin too big to contain spread on her face, "you're so thoughtful, you big idiot." She set it back in its place next to Akio.
The letters were without a doubt from Yuki, an extremely talented ninja she had met the previous year during the Chuunin Exams. Akio had trained her before the girls' big fight, and Yuki was there for Ayame when she lost him; the gesture earned Ayame's ever-lasting trust and companionship.
Though Ayame warned her long-distance friend that she would be training abroad, Yuki continued to send relevant updates on her personal life. Whenever Ayame returned home, she would reply to all the letters at once, sending between three and nine correspondents at a time.
She set the several letters aside until the morning, for the day of travel and the unwelcomed guest had exhausted her. So, after changing into her pajamas, that was ultimately just a large shirt, she slipped into her extremely comfortable bed, which was much better than sleeping on the rough, dirt ground of the pack's extensive den. Her eyes slipped shut and she fell in a restless slumber. Despite the comfort she felt from her mattress, she spent the remainder of the night tossing and turning.
. . .
Ayame rose with the sun. Streams of golden luminescence landed on her pillow, her walls, and her floors as she stretched her back in a downward position. When she was done with her morning ritual she picked up the letters from her desk on her way to exit through the door. Her grey eyes fell on Naruto, who was snoozing and sprawled out on the couch. The sunlight coming through the window didn't seem to bother him.
"Oi," she called, making the blonde snore sharply. "Wake up, take a shower. You smell."
"Do not," Naruto groaned, hiding his head under a pillow.
The cups of tea had been left out, so Ayame transported them to the kitchen sink, splashing noises from the faucet causing Naruto to groan. She hopped on top of the counter next to her as Naruto reluctantly sat up, furiously rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. Just as the girl was about to tear open an envelope, there was a knock on the door.
"It's just barely the morning," Ayame noted with a furrowed brow as she approached the door. "Who could that be?" Opening the door revealed a white-haired man with a mask covering the majority of his face. The only dark eye she could see looked tired and sleepless, his posture was cool and casual.
"Yo."
"Kakashi-sensei!" Ayame cheered, face suddenly electrified with the joy of seeing her old team leader. "Come in, please."
"Actually, I came to retrieve you," he said in a calm, bored voice. Despite the tone of voice Kakashi wanted everyone else to hear, Ayame could pick out what he was truly feeling inside. Worry and something like doubt. "Both of you."
"Huh?" Naruto hummed confusedly, now approaching the door. "What for?"
"It's about Sasuke," Ayame answered as if reading Kakashi's mind. "Isn't it?"
"You always did have a way of knowing things," Kakashi sighed. Of course, Ayame thought. Sasuke has been here less than twenty-four hours and it's already all about him. Damned Uchiha. "Clean up and get dressed. Oh, and, welcome home."
