Disclaimer: Not mine, apart from the bits that are. The character you don't recognise in this chapter is mine. I'm not entirely sure if I want to keep them though. -eyes them suspiciously-
Warnings: Original characters, original characters' foul mouths, various other bad language and flashback!emo-joy. Complete lack of action.
A/N: Aha. Ahahaha. Longest chapter I've ever written for a fanfic (7,009 words, without title, etc). Whether this is a good thing or not remains to be seen. It's really, really difficult writing descriptions and stuff while omitting sight. -makes face- Future pairings are currently unknown to me, only the first part of the story (i.e., this, and the next four chapters) will be told from Sasuke's POV and I am working on From Six, rewriting the chapters, etc. Check out my livejournal to know more. Thanks to everyone who reviewed; I appreciated all your comments.
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Chapter One
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Sasuke woke to the unfamiliar pricking of sharp grass against his back. He could feel the sun beating down on his face, and the song of birds flying far above. Somewhere in the background, some distance away, there were the sounds of a settlement; too far to separate the noises, but close enough to recognise them as the pleasant babble of security and contentment rather than the screams and shouts of panic he well knew.
He breathed in deeply through his noise, surrounded by the scent of healthy plants and nature. Was this heaven? It certainly seemed like it, the feeling of languid ease slipping into his very body and keeping him in place, relaxing in the warmth of what he hesitantly identified as the morning sun. He tilted his head to the side, letting the grass press against one cheek to form a criss-cross pattern.
Would Naruto come? If this was heaven, then maybe he had been allowed in, and maybe Naruto would find it in him to forgive Sasuke, and maybe everything would be okay. He sighed softly, ignoring the faint throbbing of his eyes and the feeling of some phantom pressure on his limbs, as if he had been forced through space. The feeling was reminiscent of the teleportation jutsu every jounin knew, and he wondered mildly why that was.
A bug was crawling up his arm; he could feel the soft coolness of its body. A caterpillar? he wondered, then, why am I thinking of this? His mind felt sort of disconnected, in the way that reminded him of being half-drunk but not drunk enough to dance on tables. He raised his left hand and flicked it off his arm, allowing his hand to flop back into its previous position, too relaxed to sit up and find out any information.
"Hey!" a strident voice called across the field. Female, Sasuke hazily identified it as, unable to force his limbs into moving. Young adult. It was brash and loud, with a harsh quality to it that nearly grated in his ears. Not one that would attract the opposite sex, that was for sure. "Hey, you! Civilians ain't allowed in the training zones!"
Training zones? he wondered. That... clashed with his previous observations. He couldn't imagine heaven having training areas, after all. Wasn't it supposed to be a place of peace? There was something wrong with this scenario, but somehow he couldn't make himself move into a defensive stance; just lay there, wishing the voice would go away.
"You even listening to me, bastard?" the voice demanded harshly, and Sasuke could feel the the chakra signal moving closer at a quick pace. She'd be standing over him in a couple of moments, he thought, and bit back a groan as a toe prodded his ribs. That was foolish. If she was standing close enough to kick him, then she was probably well within his reach, which meant that he would be able to stab her in the foot or something, if he particularly wanted to.
"I'm trying not to," he admitted in a rare moment of honesty, his voice blank and emotionless even to his own ears. The person standing above him seemed taken aback at this, before she made a noise of outrage. It took her a few moments to compose herself (and God, she reminded him far too much of that woman; what was her name – Anko?)
-"Tell me where your fucking master is, Uchiha boy, and I'll let you live," she says with a sneer on her face, and he turns to face her, smirking.
"Do you really think you could beat me?" he asks contemptuously-
"Look, civilian, you're on Leaf training grounds," the woman began to say, and then cut herself off. "Fuck, what the hell happened to your eyes?"
...Had she only just noticed the bandages? His mind was too busy processing her other words to be properly disdainful however; Leaf training grounds hadn't existed in over a year. There was something strange going on, and he felt his body trying to adjust into a battle situation, somehow unable to make his muscles co-operate with him.
"Your bandages are fucking coveredwith blood," she said, her tone a mix between incredulousness and wry amusement, clearly trying not to laugh, unaware of Sasuke's inner conflict. "You should probably see a medic about that."
Sasuke paused, his thoughts diverted, and raised a hand to his bandages. They were bleeding? The wounds had healed up long ago though – but, now that he thought about it, he could smell the iron of dried blood, and he could feel the dark crust that was forming. It was mildly alarming that he hadn't noticed such a thing; he had probably become too accustomed to the scent.
Carefully, he sat up and began to unravel the knot at the back of his head. He could hear the woman make a sound of interest, and her chakra signal leant forward slightly (was she some kind of sadist?) to watch. He tugged the soiled bandages off, placing them to one side, and made no noise as she breathed in sharply.
"Do they appear to be bleeding?" he asked her, and she sounded thoughtful when she replied.
"They look fine," she said, and there was a note of bewilderment in her harsh voice, before it turned more mischievous. "Well, you know, as fine as empty eye sockets can look anyway. Think a couple of blood vessels burst in the back or something. You got any more bandages?"
Sasuke drew up a sleeve of his coat to show the bandages he had become far too used to wrapping there, and they both fell into silence as he began to unravel them. The woman was the first to speak.
"Name's Shizuka," she said. "Hiroshi Shizuka, genin. Were you a ninja or something?"
Sasuke stayed silent for a long few seconds. He didn't recognise that name at all. Running through every Leaf ninja he had ever met (and he had to admit that there weren't that many, because he killed most of them before getting their names) he found he just couldn't place it. She sounded old to be a genin, too. "Where am I?" he asked, finally, and Shizuka seemed to miss the fact that he was avoiding the question until he had further information.
"Konoha, 'course. You hit your head or something when you got your eyes removed?"
Konoha. This was wrong. If he didn't recognise her, and Konoha was wiped out (burnt to the ground, his mind supplied)... Sasuke was silent for a few moments as he pulled the last of the bandages off his arm. In unknown territory, his mind classified for him instantly. Take advantage of whatever they give you, and make sure you give nothing of value back. Keep your name hidden, along with all other personal details possible. She was already aware of his weakness, but she didn't need to know of any... emotional flaws he had.
"You might say that," he said at last, lie coming fluidly to his tongue. "I've had some difficulty after my eye was taken."
She was silent, and Sasuke hoped that she wouldn't analyse his words too deeply. At the moment, however, she wasn't exactly giving off the impression of being a very good ninja, and so was probably falling for the most basic of infiltration tactics – give only the barest details and let them fill everything else in themselves.
"Could you put the bandages on?" he asked, but his voice made it more of an order than a request. "And I'm... Hideyoshi Kenshin."
Shizuka audibly relaxed at that point, taking the material from his hand and beginning to tie it roughly around his head. Her loops were too sloppy for her to be a medic-nin, and Sasuke was finding it difficult to place her exactly. She sounded around twenty, but her skills clearly declared her in the lower ranks of ninjas – and if she didn't have any specific talents, such as that of a medic-nin, then it was hard to see how she had the authority to throw anyone out of a training field. At least, he thought blandly, she's forgotten about that.
"You used to be a ninja?" she asked, going back to her original question, and at least her knots were decent, if what he felt was correct. Tight and strong, better than Naruto's had been. He remembered the day they were put into teams – then tore himself out of memories.
"Mm," Sasuke said to her question, then elaborated. She would find out soon enough that he wasn't from Konoha (or wasn't anymore. He tried to kick back the thought that suggested he might be on the missing-nin list, and in which case he was in trouble), and to deceive her over this would just cause fatal distrust. "I'm one of the wandering ninjas. Never got taught in a village." It was unlikely, but not overly so. There were around one, one and a half hundred nin who were born off missing-nin; taught by their parents, and with no other talents. Generally cheap to hire, but without the more advanced skills of village trained ninjas.
"You ain't got anywhere to stay then?" she asked, and she sounded more interested than idle curiosity would allow.
"No," Sasuke confirmed, wondering how to get the date out of her. Time travel – the idea was beginning to poke its head up, refusing to be put down. If Konoha was around, still in one piece... It was impossible, but- if it wasn't...
(I wish I could change things, he remembered. For him. Was it possible that someone, something, had answered his wish?)
"Huh," she said thoughtfully, then grasped his hand. Sasuke jerked out of her grip before he realised what he was doing, leaping to his feet and a few steps back in a graceful movement – and Shizuka laughed, a coarse, rough sound. "Guess you weren't lying 'bout being a ninja then." Sasuke could still feel the scrape of roughened skin, callouses and old blisters holding onto him. He hated people touching him. Even Kabuto, when getting rid of his eye hadn't-
Sasuke kept his face impassive. "A test?" he asked, and she said nothing, but he could imagine the smirk on her face.
"How good were you?" she asked, and he nearly frowned at the sudden change in topic. He never considered telling her the entire truth; that would get him up in front of the Hokage faster than anyone could blink.
"Good," he said flatly, and she seemed to approve of his almost-arrogant statement.
"Cool," she said, and he could tell by her tone of voice that she was scheming. He suspected that it wouldn't be very complex. She didn't seem the type – too blunt and too crude to come up with a web of manipulation that some ninjas had gloried in. Orochimaru in particular liked that style. "C'mon, you can stay with me."
She began to walk off, clearly forgetting he was blind, and Sasuke had to drag his mind out of the you can stay with me part. What idiot-?
"You must be a very bad ninja if you trust people this easily," Sasuke said carefully. There was a silence, and he translated that as 'she's stopped and is watching me, probably upset at what I've said'. He'd learnt to interpret quiet after a while; the different tensions that hung in the air could be told apart if one had enough time and concentration to do so.
She was breathing slowly and softly, obviously trying to keep her emotions in check. A pause – he imagined her flashing a bright grin, from an otherwise blank face – and she tried to defend herself. "You're blind," she said. "I'm not such a bad ninja that I can't deal with a blind man, arsehole."
Sasuke almost flinched at how easily she dismissed him; not entirely for himself, but for her as well. How on earth did she survive this long if she continually took things at face value? "Just because I am blind," he said in his steady monotone, "Does not mean that I am helpless. Do not underestimate people. It will only get you killed."
Shizuka let out a long, drawn-out sigh, and then laughed loudly, as if trying to convince herself of something. "You going to kill me or something? If you did, you wouldn't have anywhere to stay." There was a rustling, and she began to move again, Sasuke keeping pace with what his ears were telling him. "Besides," she continued in a lower voice. "You kinda remind me of my da."
"I don't think I'm old enough to be your father," Sasuke said drily. "You're how old?"
"Eighteen," Shizuka said, and Sasuke was glad of the bandages covering the top half of his face, keeping his wince from being obvious. Eighteen and still a genin? That was atrocious. "You give the lectures just like he does though." She snickered suddenly, and imitated a lower, gruffer voice. "You shouldn't trust people so easily. Don't underestimate anyone." Reverting to her normal voice, she kept speaking. "You don't look that much older than me, though. And you're a damn sight better-looking than my da."
"Hm," Sasuke said, making no effort to put emotion into his voice. Shizuka laughed again, and then yelped.
"Watch out!" she called, and Sasuke stopped mid-step, one hand reaching out to touch the bark of a large tree. That was embarrassing. He'd nearly walked into the stupid thing. Shizuka shuffled slightly, and then, hesitantly, asked, "You want me to guide you?" There was a hint of amusement in her voice though, suggesting that she was thinking of his previous statements. ('Don't underestimate me,' he says, before walking into a tree. Sasuke felt like slamming his head against a wall for his own idiocy.)
Sasuke said nothing, unable to overcome his own pride to that point, and she was obviously laughing at him. "You paranoid about people touching you or something?" she asked. "You leapt away fast enough when I grabbed your hand. " Sasuke stayed silent, and Shizuka shrugged. "Suit yourself. You ain't going to be getting the girls with that attitude."
"Girls tend to be put off by the scars more than anything," Sasuke said drily. This Shizuka was an idiot, albeit one who didn't act like the typical girl. She reminded him more of Naruto, to be honest.
"Bollocks," Shizuka said cheerfully, then, "Turn left now." Sasuke followed her directions, trying not to flush. Normally Kabuto lead him, flaring his chakra just enough to be obvious in where he was going. "I reckon," she continued, when they'd moved onto what felt like a road, cobbles beneath their feet. "That scars add character. Sure, the gaping eye sockets are a bit of a turn off, but I can deal. It's your attitude that puts me off."
"I'm not looking for a girlfriend," Sasuke said bluntly, and Shizuka snickered.
"Wasn't suggesting you were," she said, turning right, and stopping after a few steps. "Home sweet home." Sasuke drew to a stop beside her, and waited patiently as she unlocked the door, kicking what sounded to be a few traps out of the way without hesitation. "My teammates," she said by way of explanation. "I got stuck with a new genin team, and they're a bunch of brats. Keep on trying to get me to screw up."
She moved through a thin corridor, which lead straight into what Sasuke thought was a living room. Flopping down on a sofa, she grumbled at him to do the same, and he felt his way to a chair and sat down. "Bet you're wondering why I'm still a genin, right?" she asked, and Sasuke thought about this for a moment.
"Some people never get promoted to chuunin," he said by way of answer, and she snarled.
"Well, I ain't going to be one of them. Just 'cause I'm a kunoichi, and 'cause I'm shit at all this 'seduction' stuff, everyone reckons I'm going nowhere." There was a lot of pent-up frustration in her voice. "I was told to go and patrol the training zones, 'cause my jounin-sensei wanted to teach the other two and didn't want me in the way."
Sasuke kept silent, wondering at his luck. He'd somehow found the one person who would take him in, regardless of the fact that he was a blind ex-nin – and now he had to listen to her whine. Pathetic.
"I ain't that great at taijutsu and ninjutsu, but I want to get better," she said firmly. "I just need to find a teacher who'll spend time with me, y'know? The academy screws kunoichi over; our taijutsu and stuff is almost never as good as the guys, and all the teachers I find say I should work with genjutsu 'cause I'm a girl."
"The chuunin exams?" Sasuke asked.
"Keep getting knocked out, 'cause I have different teams every two or three years. We fail the first couple of times as a team, then I keep on getting put up against people who have my weaknesses. And, well, you know how it is." From the rustling of her clothes, Sasuke suspected she shrugged. "Shit happens. I just ain't getting promoted."
Sasuke paused, and had the inkling of a suspicion. "And this would have something to do with why you asked me to stay." It was a statement, not a question, but Shizuka answered anyway.
"Y'could say that." She took a deep breath, then sighed. "You said you were good, right Kenshin?"
Sasuke took a moment to associate the name with himself, and then tilted his head to one side. "I was good," he answered. "How good I am now..." He trailed off, leaving the implications clear.
"Doesn't matter," Shizuka said. "Either way, you can probably teach me more than my new jounin-sensei. He's a dick. Chews on a needle half the time, and spends the other half flirting with whatever girls he can find." Her voice was decidedly disgruntled, and Sasuke kept his face blank. "He doesn't care when the brats have a go at me either. Teamwork, my arse."
Sasuke considered this. "I came to the village to find someone," he admitted at last, wondering how he could manipulate this. "I was told that someone my friend swore to protect might be alive. Finding this person is my first priority, but I would be willing to train you with whatever I can – on the condition you listen to what I say, as if I were your teacher.
"Sure thing, Kenshin-sensei," Shizuka mocked, but there was a note of hope in her voice. "When can we start? And who're you looking for? I can get into pretty much any records if necessary..."
Well now. This was the moment of truth, wasn't it? "A boy named... Uzumaki Naruto, I think." There was an almost painful hope twisting inside of him, as he waited for her response, analysing her breathing and every other noise she made in an attempt to get the real answer.
Shizuka didn't make a response for a while, her breathing steady. She shuffled slightly on the sofa, probably arranging herself in a thinking pose. Then, there was an intake of breath – a moment of realisation. "I know who you're talking about," she said at last. "The Kyu- uh, the Uzumaki kid. Blond, right? Blue eyes?"
The Uzumaki kid. Yes, he had a chance, he had a fucking chance and there was no way in hell he was going to ruin this, so he better speak up to make sure Shizuka didn't suspect him. "That... was how my friend described him, yes," Sasuke said, his voice sounding unsteady to himself, but Shizuka didn't seem to notice. "Three scars on each cheek?" He continued when she made an affirmative sound. "How old would he be now?"
"Shit," Shizuka said. "I don't- Wait, Kyuubi attacked before my ma died, so..." She muttered under her breath for a few seconds, calculating the age, and then seemed to decide. "Seven."
Seven years old. That was... perfect. He could change everything for Naruto; prepare him for every hardship he might have and make sure that he survived, whatever happened. There was the problem of money to solve, but Shizuka seemed happy to let him share her house as long as he taught her, and he still had some skills left over. He could do this.
"How 'bout this," Shizuka said, slowly, taking advantage of his silence. "You teach me a new jutsu, then I'll go find the kid and drag him back here so you can do whatever you need to do." She stopped. "You ain't going to kill him, right? 'Cause I don't let people kill kids in my house. You have to do it somewhere else."
"I'm not going to kill him," Sasuke said, unable to keep the indignant note from his voice. "I... my friend swore to protect him, and I'll do it in my friend's place."
"Huh," Shizuka said, "Doesn't bother me one way or 'nother. What jutsu you going to teach me?"
"I didn't even agree," Sasuke said, and Shizuka huffed.
"You said you were going to teach me, so you're going to have to teach me a jutsu sooner or later, sensei," she pointed out, and Sasuke nodded.
"Very well," he muttered. "I'll assume you know tree-climbing and water-walking-"
"Water-walking?" Shizuka interrupted, and Sasuke turned his head to face her. What had she been doing in the years she'd graduated from the academy?
"I'll take that as a no, then. Is there any water nearby?" he asked, and Shizuka bounded to her feet.
"Yeah, there's a pond out back," she said, sounding more enthusiastic by the second. "C'mon!" She grabbed hold of his arm, and Sasuke could feel a strong grip through the fabric. At least, from what he could assume, Shizuka didn't slouch when it came to working for strength. He did not appreciate her touching him however, although he kept an impassive face.
She dragged him through what he assumed to be a kitchen (after he'd walked into the oven, because Shizuka had failed to adjust her grip properly) and out into what seemed to be a decent-sized garden, although overgrown. The grass brushed at his shins, but Shizuka didn't seem considered by this, still moving.
"Here," she said, stopping abruptly – and Sasuke had to side-step quickly to avoid her back. "The pond." She paused. "I'm not going to have to get in it, am I? There's a load of scum floating on it."
"Only if you fail," Sasuke said, and then stepped forward, forcing the chakra through his feet as he moved into the area he guessed was about the middle. "There's a trick to this. Keep your feet as flat as possible, and make sure the chakra you push out is constant. Focus on your feet, not on anything else. Don't get distracted."
"No problem," Shizuka said confidently. A few moments went by, before there was a splash, and Shizuka was swearing viciously. Sasuke allowed himself a smirk at that.
"Keep trying," he said, and grumbling, she got up.
A couple of hours later, Shizuka crawled out of the pond after her latest attempt. She claimed that she'd lasted about twenty seconds on top, but Sasuke doubted her. He might be blind, but he wasn't stupid, and from what he felt of her chakra signal, her control was poor – and she didn't have Naruto's excessive store of chakra to make up for such a flaw, either.
"I'm heading in for today," she mumbled. "If I show you where food is, can you cook when I go get the kid?"
Sasuke felt his heart skip, and Shizuka managed to interpret his expression, because her voice turned grumpy (or grumpier; she seemed in a constant state of irritation with everyone and everything).
"I ain't going back on a promise. You started teaching me this shit, so I'll find you the kid. From what I've heard of the brat, he shouldn't be too difficult to find, anyway."
"...I should be able to cook the food, if it's preprepared," Sasuke offered, and Shizuka snorted.
"I got some stuff you can shove in the oven. Friend makes it for me. She doesn't reckon I can cook without poisoning myself."
"Is she right?"
"Probably," Shizuka admitted, without a hint of shame.
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"Hey, hey, Shizuka-nee-chan! Where's this guy you said wanted to meet me?" A loud, young voice shouted through the house, and Sasuke nearly dropped the plate he was carrying. It really was... He took a few deep breaths, waiting for the footsteps to come running in, tense in a way he didn't really understand as Shizuka shouted back at Naruto.
"I am not your sister! And stop fucking running!" There was a pause, and then she swore again. "That wasn't an invitation for you to follow me that closely- Oh, screw it. Kenshin!"
"Through here," Sasuke said, managing to make his voice carry without shouting.
Shizuka stalked through the rooms to the kitchen, but Sasuke's ears were focused on the light pattering of smaller feet, and the excited breaths. Naruto, he thought.
-"Whatever you do, Sasuke, you're still my friend. Stop being such a dick and come home," Naruto says, eighteen now, and newly promoted to jounin.
"I haven't killed Itachi," Sasuke says bluntly. "Only Orochimaru can give me the power I need."
"So, what. You're going to kill your brother with someone else's power? Don't seem like the 'almighty avenger' to me." Naruto pulls a face, ignoring the sounds of the Leaf ANBU approaching. "You missed Sakura's wedding. Shoulda seen Lee crying about being beaten by a civvy."
"Naruto..." Sasuke says, his body tensing and ready to run.
"Oh, alright then. Scram. I didn't see ya." Naruto is pouting slightly-
Shizuka's voice rudely brought him out of his reverie, snapping with clear irritation, "Here's the brat, where's the food?"
"In the oven," Sasuke said blandly, and then there was a tugging on his trousers and the young boy – Naruto, not just any young boy, piped up. "What happened to your eyes, mister?" he asked, and Shizuka snorted in the background.
"They got damaged in a fight," Sasuke said, putting the plate down before he crouched to what he knew had to be face-to-face with Naruto. He could hear the sharp intake of a breath, before Naruto hesitantly spoke up – and that was strange, because to Sasuke, Naruto had never been hesitant over anything.
"Why didja want to meet me?" he asked, shyly, and there was nervousness in his voice too.
Sasuke opened his mouth to tell the truth, unthinking, and then pause. Good idea, said a snide voice inside of him. Tell a seven-year-old that you killed him in the future, so now you want to look after him because you regret it. That's really going to make him trust you.
"A friend of mine," he began, slowly. "Wanted to protect you. He... died, and," he forced his voice to be emotionless, calm, "And it was my fault. He asked me to protect you for him."
"Oh," Naruto whispered, and Sasuke could almost imagine he could see the look of sadness creep over his face for a second. "Who was your friend? And what's your name?"
"My friend was called Haru," Sasuke said, and a sudden thought came to him. The Hokage kept an eye on Naruto, didn't he? He'd definitely be suspicious of the story Sasuke was giving, but if he added in a few details... He'd consider it later. "I'm Kenshin."
"Speech time is over," Shizuka said, as she pulled the (slightly-burnt) food out of the oven, wafting the smell over Sasuke's way. "It looks... mostly... edible, so c'mon, everyone sit down. Yeah, you too brat." Sasuke assumed that Naruto had looked quizzical at this point.
When they were all seated, it was Shizuka who began peppering Sasuke with questions, Naruto too busy eating. "You know any decent fire jutsus?" she asked.
"Mm," Sasuke said, nodding. Naruto made a sound of interest, trying to speak through a mouthful of food, and, when he failed to make a comprehensible sound, swallowing and starting again.
"Wouldja teach me?" he asked eagerly, and there was the sound of Shizuka slapping him around the head.
"I asked first," she grumbled at him. "Get your own teacher."
"Shizuka-nee-chan," Naruto whined, and Shizuka growled.
"I ain't your sister!"
Sasuke stopped further arguments with a low laugh, and it was Shizuka who whistled softly. "I get the feeling this is a rare occurrence," she muttered.
"What an occurrence?" Naruto asked.
"It's a... thing," Shizuka said, lamely. "Er. Something. That happens. And, fuck, I don't know."
Sasuke chuckled again, then let his face sink back into stony blankness. "I could teach you when Shizuka is working with her team," he said. "There are conditions, however."
"Treat me as if I were your teacher," Shizuka mocked in a sing-song voice, and Sasuke nodded.
"That, and another thing." His voice was grim, and he made no attempt to change it. "Because your chakra coils have not yet developed fully, teaching you jutsus can be dangerous. If you overdraw on your chakra, you could do permanent damage to your coils." And this is especially true because you have Kyuubi's chakra. If you drew on that, the damage to your coils could be immense. "If you ever feel any kind of prickling through your body when using chakra, you are to stop immediately. Do not let it progress into the burning stage. Do you understand me?"
"Yeah," Naruto said, sounding humbled. "I agree." There was a pause. "What's chakra?"
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They tidied up the remnants of the meal together, Shizuka kicking Naruto out of the house after Sasuke had told him to come back at nine tomorrow. Sasuke was already beginning to adjust to where everything was in the room – after having walked into pretty much every appliance there was at least once. Shizuka hadn't been much help, asking questions upon questions about what type of jutsus he knew. Sasuke was mildly impressed at her knowledge of the different types of jutsus – less so, when it turned out the majority of which she'd never been able to learn. He suspected it was her control that was the major problem.
"I guess I should show you the house," Shizuka said with a groan, putting the last glass away. "There's the kitchen here, living room is the room adjacent, and study to the right of the stairs. Upstairs, there's four bedrooms. Here, c'mon."
Sasuke followed her silently, as she continued to talk, and he got the feeling that it was more for her own comfort than anything else.
"Uh, yeah. You can pick a room. The one at the end is mine," Shizuka said. "There ain't anybody here 'cept me." There was a melancholy note in her voice, and it was that which let Sasuke know the exact reason why she'd let him into her home – because she wasn't used to being alone.
"Are you certain about letting me stay?" he asked. Shizuka shuffled.
"I told you I was good with it," she said. "I ain't one to go back on my word. You'd probably fit in most of my da's clothes, too, so you don't need to worry about the extra."
"Naruto might be over quite a bit," he warned, taking in the last part of her sentence and storing it in his mind, and Shizuka huffed.
"Huh. The brat ain't that bad. I'll deal," she said dismissively. "Now which room do you want?"
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Sasuke got the feeling that some kind of god was looking out for him. The kind of luck he had was insane – admittedly Shizuka was probably going to annoy him, but he could deal with it, especially when she was willing to give him food, board and clothes for nothing more than a few lessons. He'd pay her back, sometime, when he worked out how to get the money, but the fact that she was accepting him in like this was... unreal.
He'd consider his uncanny luck, later, her decided. Now, though, he had a child-version of Naruto watching him and hanging onto his every word. It wasn't quite like having his friend back, but it was... calming, in a way. Knowing that he was slowly fixing what had gone wrong, even if he could never redeem himself for all the damage he had done to others.
For a second, he wondered about his younger self, and then dismissed the thought. He had been an arrogant brat at this age, and would stay that way for the next thirteen years. He'd only really woken up out of his self-induced stupor when Naruto had-
-"Youdidn't dodge," Sasuke accuses hoarsely, his hand buried chest-deep, straight through Naruto's heart and rib-cage. The feeling of bone shattering beneath his hand was sickening, even more so when he withdraws it with a grotesque squelching sound, blood rapidly pouring into the hole. "You didn't dodge," he repeats, and Naruto looks at him.
"No," he agrees, the blood bubbling up his throat, as he dies with an odd smile on his lips and his eyes fixed on Sasuke, staring straight ahead.
"You didn't dodge!" Sasuke shouts at Naruto's body, and his hand is covered – oh god, covered – with his best friend's blood. He cannot see through his right eye-
-died. He swallowed, and Naruto bounced ahead of him, running into the garden. "C'mon, Kenshin-sensei!" he shouted. "Teach me some cool jutsus!"
"Not yet," Sasuke said. "Calm down, and come here."
Naruto ran over to stand in front of him, and sat down, before jumping to his feet, clearly incapable of staying in one place. Sasuke nearly grinned, the floating remnants of his memory keeping him blank though. He'd taught himself how to bury a lot of emotion over the years. "I'm going to teach you the same thing I told Shizuka how to do yesterday – water-walking. Normally we'd start with tree-climbing, but that's dangerous when you don't have a lot of training in landing from jumps."
"Okay," Naruto said, his voice eager. "How do I do it?"
"First, remember if you feel any sort of tingling or prickling – what do you do?" He waited for Naruto to answer, but Naruto didn't seem to know, from his hesitation.
"I... stop?" he finally said, and Sasuke nodded.
"Otherwise it's dangerous. I'll be able to tell if you're drawing too much-"
"How?" Naruto asked, infinitely curious, and Sasuke tried not to feel irritated at the interruption. Naruto didn't know any better. He hadn't been raised by a father who believed in manners and clan honour above all.
"I'm able to sense chakra. It's a sort of sixth-sense all ninja develop once they've been using chakra long enough. And don't interrupt in future."
"Sorry," Naruto mumbled, sounding embarrassed, and Sasuke shook his head, almost regretting the stern tone he had taken.
"It's fine. Now, water-walking helps you improve your chakra control, because it's most difficult to channel chakra through your feet. What you have to do is the opposite of tree-climbing – you have to push yourself away from the water. The more surface area you push chakra from, the easier the exercise becomes."
The training went much the same way as Shizuka's had – Sasuke standing on the middle of the pond, while Naruto went charging in, maybe getting one or two steps on the water before his chakra collapsed beneath him and he went diving straight into the water. The first time that had happened, Sasuke had nearly had a heart-attack (what if he couldn't swim?), only to hear Naruto's head break through the water, gasping for air desperately and clambering out of the pond.
They paused for lunch, Naruto persuading Sasuke into cooking the two cups of instant ramen he had brought, and sat outside, discussing the training. Despite the fact that Naruto was a child now, and didn't seem to understand half of what Sasuke was saying, there was a certain comfort in his presence, only broken by the occasional 'Kenshin-sensei' used. Almost absentmindedly, Sasuke began to plan out what he was going to teach Naruto – some kind of counter for Chidori, certainly. If he remembered right, there had been a Stone nin that had managed to block his Chidori once by solidifying his skin into insanely hard armour. He might not have his sharingan anymore, but he could remember the handseals used – he'd have to practice it on his own, before he trusted himself to teach it to Naruto however. Who knew what could go wrong with it?
"Do you live alone?" he asked Naruto, chewing on the last of the noodles. Naruto stayed silent, slurping down what was left in his bowl, and Sasuke sighed. "I can't see you if you nod. You have to answer verbally."
"Oh," Naruto said. "Oops. Uh, yeah, I do. The orphanage sends money every month though, and this woman checks in every coupla months to make sure everything's okay."
"Is it?" Sasuke asked, and Naruto put his bowl to one side.
"Yeah," he said. "I get kinda lonely, but I have my plants to look after and stuff." There was false cheer in his voice, until it became real. "Sandaime-ojii-san said I could join the Academy in a month, when the next class starts up. I'm going to be a ninja, and be the best one ever, even better than Yondaime." He was enthusiastic, as he bounced up and down a few feet away from Sasuke. "If I'm really good, then everyone will have to acknowledge me. I'm going to be Hokage someday!"
Sasuke inclined his head, and the suspicion that Naruto was watching him warily only increased when the boy spoke up. "You're not going to laugh at me?"
"Why would I?" he asked.
"That's what everyone does when I tell 'em I want to be Hokage," Naruto said, sounding down. "But I'm going to prove them all wrong!"
"Then you better get training," Sasuke said. "Only the strongest ninjas can become a Kage, after all."
"Yeah!" Naruto cheered, running off to the pond, and Sasuke shook his head slightly. I guess he's always had that dream, after all, he thought, sensing Shizuka's presence approaching for behind him. I couldn't imagine Naruto without it.
"You know, you ain't bad with kids," Shizuka drawled out casually, flopping down beside him.
"Just with Naruto," Sasuke said, keeping the note of fondness out of his voice. "Most of them irritate me."
"I dunno," Shizuka said. "You could, like, start a mini-ninja training course. I know a couple of people who'd sign their kids on straight away. Shikaku hates having to deal with his brat, for one."
"That doesn't sound too appealing," Sasuke said. Teaching Shikamaru? The boy might be some sort of genius, but that didn't change the fact that he was far too lazy to do anything that might ever require effort. Shizuka snorted.
"Yeah, well, it's a way to earn money, ain't it? Better than the fucking D-ranker I got. Again"
"Hm?" Sasuke asked, hearing the splash as Naruto fell in again, surfacing with a shout about 'green stuff in his hair' and 'get it off, get it off'.
"Yeah. Groceries for the old hag down the road. She makes us do 'em every month for her. Damn, but she's got a tongue and a half on her." Shizuka dumped what sounded to be a ninja belt on the ground, making a metallic clatter as the kunais knocked against a stone. "I'm going to go join the kid," she said.
"Try and learn the skill before him," Sasuke murmured, letting a note of amusement drift into his voice, and Shizuka swore at him.
Their voices melded together after a while; Shizuka's swearing and Naruto's determined shouts forming a conglomeration of blurred noise, laughter and teasing in a way that reminded him of Team Seven on its better days. Sasuke had never formed friends among Sound; they had known him as the 'vessel', knowing that to get too close to him was just to get hurt.
...It was so hard to believe this really was Konoha, and that that really was Naruto. Sasuke could piece them together, just about – see both Narutos showing the same determination to succeed, the same conviction that he could learn some 'cool jutsus' and defeat everybody with them. Thinking about jutsus... Sasuke stretched his senses out to Naruto's chakra signal, feeling it flicker slightly, and sighed. He should have known the boy wouldn't stop, even after hearing Sasuke's warnings about damaging his chakra coils. Insatiable for training, that's what he was.
"Naruto, that's enough," he called. "Your chakra is getting too low."
"Can't I just have one more try, Kenshin-sensei?" Naruto whined. "I'm nearly there."
"No," Sasuke said, hearing another muffled curse as Shizuka went splashing into the water. "That's enough now. You should probably be heading home."
Sasuke could almost hear Naruto pouting, but as he couldn't see it, it didn't really affect him the way Naruto seemed to be planning. "But-" Naruto pleaded, and Sasuke sighed.
"Out. Go. I'll be here tomorrow."
"You promise?" Naruto asked, and Sasuke drew in a breath at the mixture of pain and hope in his friend's – no, not his friend, this wasn't his Naruto, even though it was; not his friend, but the one he would protect beyond all else – voice. There was a shout of exultation in the background, only to be broken by a panicked yell and a splash, but they both overlooked it.
"I promise," Sasuke said solemnly, and then small arms enveloped him in a hug before Naruto fled.
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END CHAPTER
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