III.

Sasuke understood hospitals. He'd sent people there himself, by his own strength or with the help of his teammates. He'd been in there himself, during the chuunin exams and countless other times before. He'd gotten used to the sterile smell and the whiteness, and he stared at the blanket covering his legs, picking out individual fibers and tracing them as far as he could go. He was alone, the doctors having rushed out when he had so much had looked at them for too long. One quivering nurse had tried to sedate him, but his chakra had returned, and with his metabolism functioning properly, the sedative had been broken down too fast for it to take effect. He heard the door open, and expected Ibiki. The man had promised he would return after all. But it wasn't the inquisitor that had come through the door separating him from the outside world; it was the Hokage, the woman moving to his side to examine his wounds.

Sasuke gave no resistance, and Tsunade wondered if that was because he knew of his predicament or he was still exhausted. He tensed as her fingers drew closer to his neck and face, and she watched his working eye close, as if by blocking her from his sight would make her touches non-existent. She took that opportunity to gesture Kakashi and Might Gai into the room, instructing them to be as silent as possible.

"Sasuke, I need to check your eye. Will you let me?" she asked the boy, gauging his reaction to her proximity to his face.

"Get away from me," Sasuke hissed, drawing up a little, baring his teeth in Gai's direction. Tsunade had the two jounin back up, and she watched Sasuke relax.

"I won't let them touch you, Sasuke. They're just here to protect me."

"Protect you from me." Sasuke said bitterly, and he opened his eye, staring right at the Hokage. "I'm not stupid."

"We never said you were Sasuke," Kakashi replied, hands on his hips, trying to put on a friendly air, but that only made the boy tense more.

"You didn't come in with her. You came in after she started prodding at me. It's my eye that doesn't work, not my ears."

Kakashi seemed to wince a bit at that, and rubbed the back of his skull nervously. Tsunade understood all too well. They had no idea of knowing what level Sasuke was, or what happened during his time training with Orochimaru. If he had heard Kakashi and Gai enter the room when they were being stealthy, what else could he hear? The flow of blood beneath skin? The dull thumping of a pulse in a throat? Sasuke watched them, and looked away as he fought a yawn.

Tsunade wondered if Sasuke wasn't completely ready to be conscious yet.

"I'm sorry, Sasuke. It's my fault. I shouldn't have done that to you."

Sasuke shook his head. "I don't blame you. You shouldn't trust me."

Tsunade was taken aback a little by that statement, before nodding, seeing the truth in the boy's words. She had no reason to trust him, despite the fact he was allowing her close. And as powerful as Tsunade was, even she wouldn't be able to withstand any abilities Sasuke might have acquired with the Sharingan, and even if Sasuke tried to hurt her in any way, there were two jounin in the room, and several more right outside. Sasuke looked toward her then, and then away again, fingers curling in the blanket over his legs, knuckles beginning to turn white. When Tsunade finally gained access to the boy's facial scar, she noticed his knuckles were bone-white, the blanket starting to turn crimson with blood the longer Tsunade held his face. His nails were cutting into his palms through the blanket, and Tsunade knew when to back off.

"You're fine enough. But I want you to take some medicine, and you're going to be under the care of Ibiki for a few hours." Tsunade explained, as she gestured the two elder jounin out of the boy's room. "Please answer him truthfully Sasuke."

The boy nodded, and Tsunade gestured Sakura into the room to bandage the Uchiha's hands, the pink haired girl trying to gaze at her former friend's face. Sasuke had closed his eye, and apparently was ignoring her. The kunoichi left, discouraged, and Naruto glared at the other boy through the glass separating him from Sasuke. If he had been allowed in the room, he would've been on Sasuke in a flash, hands wrapped around his throat, squeezing the life out of him. Mission or not, Sasuke didn't have the right to treat Sakura, or Tsunade, like that. But Naruto followed Kakashi when the silver haired jounin pulled him away from the window, leaving Ibiki and two ANBU to enter the room freely.

Sasuke didn't open his eye, aware of who entered the hospital room because of the scents that filtered into the air. They were muted, however, only because he and Shiro weren't working in tandem as they'd learned to do, Shiro hiding behind his seal, curled up in the back of his mind and watching through exhausted icy black eyes. He only opened his eye to stare at the inquisitor when the larger man's hand nearly hit his cheek.

Apparently, the Hokage had given them free reign of the proceedings of this interview.

"Uchiha Sasuke," Ibiki began, drawing his hand back to clasp his hands behind his back, staring down the boy on the bed, "You left Konoha to join Oto. You became a missing nin. Why have you returned? Surely you know we retain the right to have you executed."

"I came home." Sasuke replied simply, smirking a little bit. "And if you wanted to kill me, you wouldn't be talking about it."

"Why did you return?" Ibiki asked again.

"Because there's no where else for me to go,"

Ibiki paused, watching the boy. Sasuke's shoulders had slumped from the proud position they had held before he had entered the room, and his head was bowed, strands of hair falling in front of his face. Ibiki had seen a lot of defeated men in his time, especially as Konoha's inquisitor. But no man or woman had ever exuded the sense of utter hopelessness that Sasuke seemed to, the boy fully expecting to die, no matter what answers Ibiki received from him.

"And you chose Konoha, where there are many places that a missing nin such as yourself could hide. Why?"

"What better place to hide than among those who are looking for you?" Sasuke replied. "I came home."

"And what is here that is home for you? You no longer are the inheritor to your family's assets. You can no longer step foot in your family's house. You are homeless, without family, without friends. You know we cannot trust you, and yet here you are."

"Home isn't about having a roof over your head, or money. It isn't about family or friends." Sasuke said bitterly. "Home is about feeling safe. It's safe here. Because I know how Tsunade thinks. I know Kakashi. They will not allow any harm to come to me. That is why I am here. Trusting me is a choice left for everyone else to make. I can't make it for them."

"Then what do you hope for?" Ibiki asked, watching the boy, signaling the ANBU to back out of the room, giving Sasuke that trust he seemed to desperately want. Looking nervous, the ANBU complied, but stood near the window, watching the pair within the room.

"I want peace." Sasuke answered. "I hope I can live a normal life. But that will never happen. You know that. I'm forever a traitor."

"But traitors can be redeemed." Ibiki muttered under his breath, not knowing Sasuke could hear him clearly. "I have one final question for you, Sasuke."

"What is it?"

"What would you do to stay in Konoha?"

"What, does my being here depend on what I say?"

"Just answer the damn question."

Sasuke looked up at the inquisitor, wearing an expression that could be construed as glaring. Ibiki noticed the boy's chest was completely still, as though he was holding his breath. Ibiki relaxed only slightly when he saw the barest movement from the boy, waiting for his answer.

What would Sasuke do? He certainly wouldn't demean himself by letting everyone in Konoha do what they pleased to him. He wasn't that desperate. But he would do menial tasks, no matter how horrible they were. He would never be trusted with Konoha's youth, but maybe cleaning up after them. He frowned. He really wasn't sure what he'd do.

"I don't know." The Uchiha said finally, looking off toward the window that allowed others to see into his room, but didn't let him see out. "Probably... whatever was asked of me, within reason, of course."

Ibiki nodded, and moved toward the room's exit. "Get your rest, Sasuke. Tomorrow, your ordeal will begin, whether you're ready or not."

"You make it sound like some kind fairytale."

"Go to sleep."

"Yes, mom."

Ibiki shook his head and curbed the urge to utterly destroy the boy, and settled for hitting him over the head. After he made sure Sasuke was truly unconscious and not faking, he pulled the blankets over the boy's shoulders and left him, sighing as he left to go make his report to the Hokage.

He had a feeling life was going to get harder from here on out.