Disclaimer: Not mine, apart from the bits that are. Shizuka and various other OCs are mine, but ask and I'm happy to let you use them.
Warnings: Original characters, original characters' foul mouths, various other bad language and flashback!emo-joy. General lack of action.
A/N: ...oops. Didn't mean for this to take so long to write. Sorry. -sheepish- Slightly shorter chapter, but I thought it was better to get this up rather than waste time trying to insert an extra one thousand words. Some bad humour is present, but nothing that should have you clawing your own eyes out. Hopefully. Thanks for all the reviews (thirty four:D) and in response to some of the questions: Sasuke will not regain his eyesight, ever, because frankly, he was a powerful enough ninja that he could wreck my plans for this timeline entirely; Shizuka will never get together with Sasuke or any other main canon character (except Gai. I'm very tempted to get her together with Gai, but I suspect I'll restrain myself); I have no idea whether this will be slash or not and the title is meant to be 'Two Steps Back' (as in the saying one step forward, two steps back, for reasons you will have to figure out yourself.) I'll try to respond to some of the longer reviews with questions, but I seriously appreciate every comment made. :D
Chapter Two
Sasuke could feel small hands clenching the trousers he was wearing, Naruto half-hiding behind him, and this shyness in him seemed so out-of-character. There was a hint of moisture in the air, foretelling the coming of rain, and Sasuke wondered briefly what he would do if it began to rain in his session. He would work through it himself, but these were children – Sasuke wasn't comfortable around children. Naruto was an exception because Sasuke knew him, probably better than the boy would ever know himself.
Shizuka was over in the corner of the training ground, and Sasuke could hear the solid 'thunk' of her fists hitting the wooden post. Hopefully she'd remembered to wrap her hands this time – two days ago she'd come back with her knuckles bleeding after a training session, thick enough that he could smell it, and Sasuke had been forcibly been reminded-
"Tenten!" Lee screams as Sasuke pivots, slamming his fist into her throat and feeling bones crunch. She collapses, like a puppet with its strings cut, and Lee is knocking down the Sound nin as if they are nothing, screaming and shouting incoherently about "I'll kill you, I'll kill you!"
Sasuke turns and leaves, and behind him he can hear the sounds of a genjutsu falling into place over the boy who once beat him. He does not look back-
of Lee. He suspected she was punching wrong, though; there had been scratches along the length of her fingers when he had grabbed hold of her hand, clearly implying that her positioning was poor. He decided against mentioning it at that point, although he had pointed her towards a set of bandages. He'd correct her another time.
"When're they coming, Kenshin-sensei?" Naruto asked, and in his voice there was a mixture of hope, nervousness and barely suppressed excitement. Sasuke ruffled the boy's hair, feeling the slightly coarse strands and tugging out a couple of knots. He suspected Naruto didn't even own a comb, although why he was wondering about Naruto's appearance was slightly baffling to him.
"Soon," he said, and there was a faintly stern note in his voice – patience – that made Naruto wilt slightly under his hand. A flicker of guilt ran through him, quick as a shiver, and he ruffled Naruto's hair again in apology. What was this going to be like? He didn't like children, but he needed the money (and wasn't that a comedown for he who had never worried over it before?)
Training little children. This would be difficult. The only teaching he'd ever taken part in was in Sound, and Sasuke doubted their methods would be appreciated in the much softer Konoha – and he was blind. How was he going to make sure they didn't do anything stupid? Nara Shikaku had already been over to talk to him about signing Shikamaru up, and there had been a kind of doubt in his voice that had made Sasuke bristle.
"Oi, Kenshin-sensei!" Shizuka bellowed from her side, and Naruto held on tighter to Sasuke's leg, a possessive move that made Sasuke grin; a slight slip of his mouth.
He turned his head towards her, and cocked it to one side in question, and Shizuka took this as the invitation to continue that it was, walking over from where she had been training. "It's nothin' big," she said, breathing slightly hard. "I was just wonderin' why you didn't want any of the Uchihas in your trainin' sessions."
Now that was something that had been bothering him. When he'd heard the Uchihas were alive, he'd felt… something. Some kind of duty; that he should save the family he'd been born into. He'd even started planning how to kill Itachi in an 'accident' – which he now realised was impossible; Itachi was good enough at thirteen that he'd easily be able to defeat Sasuke who had a heavy handicap. It wasn't that which was stopping him though. It was more that he realised the Uchiha Massacre had to happen. If it didn't, then Orochimaru would have a much easier job in finding someone to act as his host, instead of concentrating on Sasuke.
If he allowed Uchihas into his sessions, he might rethink his choice, changing the future in a way that it should not be changed.
Shizuka was still waiting for a reason and, from the shuffling of her feet, she was impatient. So. A half-truth was always better than a lie, and this had been part of his reasoning. "Uchihas have a history of mental instability – their bloodline originates from mixing demon blood with the Hyuuga line," he said mildly. "I would prefer not to aid in their insanity."
There was a choking sound from Shizuka, and Naruto spoke up curiously. "Mental instablility?" he asked.
"Instability," Sasuke corrected. "They have something wrong with their minds, and they do foolish things that can be harmful to others."
"Oh," Naruto breathed, and then, "What? Why?"
Sasuke sighed. "They have a special ability called the Sharingan," he said patiently. "This allows them to remember everything that they have seen, and so they store too many memories. It gets to the point, where the brain can't remember anything more, so-"
"-It goes bang?" Naruto offered helpfully, and Sasuke snorted in amusement.
"Something like that," he said.
"I ain't heard of nothin' like that," Shizuka said uncertainly, and Sasuke shrugged, a bare movement of his shoulders.
"I wouldn't imagine it's something they want to broadcast," he replied, and tried to change the subject. "Who did you say was coming?"
"Uh," Shizuka said eloquently. "The Ino-Shika-Chou kids, some civilian brat, Takao's kid, a Morino and some others."
It was through sheer force of will alone that Sasuke managed to keep from twitching. "I see," he said in a tone of forced calm. "How exactly do you plan to become a chuunin if you can't produce a coherent report?"
"This ain't a report!" she protested, but any other complaint she might have made was silenced by Naruto's enthusiastic bouncing.
"I c'n see someone!" he said gleefully. "It's a girl!"
"Oh?" Sasuke asked, changing his grip to Naruto's shoulder to prevent him from jumping up and down.
"Yeah! She's got blonde hair, like me!" Naruto gabbled. Ino, Sasuke thought-
"I don't know what I ever saw in you, traitor," she snarls opposite him. "Tell the bastard you serve that Konoha won't ever fall to him or you."
Sasuke stares at her, unimpressed, and for a second she is clearly unnerved-
"You'd be Hideyoshi Kenshin?" a man's voice asked, light and slightly – wary? The way his chakra swirled around him indicated that he was ready to draw on it, probably without even being truly conscious of it.
"I would," Sasuke said, inclining his head in the direction the voice had come from. "Is there a problem?"
"No," the man said, but there was still something in his voice. "My wife spoke to you about signing our daughter up – Ino?"
"She has," Sasuke said, his shoulders tense. There was something wrong here; he could feel the beginnings of a fight stirring and he had no idea why. He pushed Naruto away with a hand, with the instruction to 'go and introduce yourself', and thought for a second. It was Inoichi (that had to be who the man was), who gave the excuse.
"I just need a few words with Hideyoshi-san, Hiroshi-san. Something about my family's techniques." It was a reasonable excuse, and Shizuka seemed to accept it at face value as her footsteps moved away and a steady 'thunk' started up again.
The two men stayed in silence for a few long seconds, Sasuke determined not to be the first to speak. He didn't know what this was about, but he would not be forced into the position of supplicant. Inoichi seemed to be off-guard, searching for words.
"Who was that boy?" he asked, and Sasuke felt surprised. He kept silent while he struggled to find the right words.
"What is it to you?" he replied, and then nearly winced. The words would be too defensive, if not for the blank tone they were delivered in.
"Hideyoshi-san, please don't try to play with me," Inoichi said, and there was an agitated note as he spoke.
"I'm not," Sasuke said, and paused. It would only do more harm than good if he continued to avoid the question – Shizuka would spill everything if asked. "His name is Uzumaki Naruto."
There was a short intake of breath, and then Inoichi let it hiss out. "I never saw him this close," he said – bewildered? Confused? Something like that. Sasuke wondered if this was going to be a problem; he knew many of the older shinobi saw Naruto as the demon rather than a vessel, but Inoichi didn't sound afraid or angry.
Even through the seemingly rational thoughts, Sasuke could hear himself speaking, his voice frosty and disconnected from the rest of his body. "If you have an objection to my student, Yamanaka-san, there will be no problem in you withdrawing your daughter from my session."
"No!" Inoichi shouted in alarm. He continued in a lower voice. "It's not that, I was just…" Inoichi coughed, cutting himself off, and Sasuke became aware of the silence that had gathered over the clearing at Inoichi's shout, even Shizuka stopping.
"Already arguing with the sensei, Inoichi?" someone else drawled – Shikaku, Sasuke identified, with a low jolt. How had he missed the man's approach? "Scram over to the other kids, Shikamaru."
"Dad?" Ino piped up from where she was standing. "What's wrong?"
There was a forced smile in Inoichi's voice as he replied. "Nothing, Ino love. Just discussing something with your sensei."
Sasuke could hear Naruto's concern – illustrated in how he wasn't saying anything. The awkward moment was on the verge of becoming something more, Shikaku obviously moving to the defence of his friend, when the others arrived in a gaggle, chatting among themselves.
The introductions passed in a blur – my daughter Sakura, my daughter Tenten, she's in her first year at the academy, my son Chouji, you already know Ino, this is Shikamaru, Morino Daisuke, sensei, nice to meet you, my daughter, Ayame-chan, she wants to get in some extra training before she goes into the academy, my son Ryuu, he's only five but we think he'll be able to keep up just fine.
It was luck that allowed Sasuke to overhear Shikaku cornering Inoichi in concern, and years of training that had him make a few subtle handseals to amplify his hearing – normally, he wouldn't use this jutsu, as it had a tendency to cause serious damage to the user's eardrums if there were any loud noises nearby, but he was paranoid over how Inoichi had reacted to Naruto. As he nodded and smiled to Seito Mitako, the concerned – and pushy mother – of this 'Ryuu', he strained to overhear what the two were muttering about.
"...what was that all about, Inoichi? Hideyoshi didn't do anything, did he?"
"No, no – it was just- I was surprised at the kid's appearance. Nothing big."
"The Uzumaki brat? It's weird how an ex-ninja would suddenly come along and pick that kid to become attached to, I suppose..."
"Don't push him, Shikaku. When he thought I was threatening the kid, he was as cold as anything. You should have felt the killing intent – and it was concentrated, as well. None of the kids noticed anything."
"He's blind – he's not exactly a threat-"
"Yeah, but haven't you noticed the way he moves? He was definitely good."
"He told Shizuka that he was a wandering nin."
"...I just think he would have had a reputation. You can see it in the way he holds himself – and the whole 'no emotions' thing. Are you sure you trust Hiroshi-san?"
"She's my cousin."
"Still, I'm just saying that she's a bit easy to take in, don't you think?"
"You reckon we should withdraw the kids?"
"No, I'm just saying he's not as helpless as you seem to think he is."
"It was the kid, not him, that you were arguing about, though?"
"Yeah. It's just that he looks-"
"We gonna start, Kenshin-sensei?" Naruto asked, tugging on his trousers, and Sasuke cancelled the jutsu with a shake of his head, flicking Naruto's hair without really thinking about it.
"We are. Go get the others, will you?"
"Sure!" Naruto cheered, and Sasuke just knew he was bouncing off from the tone he spoke in. He didn't bother to turn his head to where he could feel Inoichi's and Shikaku's chakra, as Naruto began to happily sing-song at the others, instead speaking with his head facing straight forwards.
""Do you wish to stay and supervise, Yamanaka-san, Nara-san?" he asked, and his voice was faintly sardonic. There was a soft mumbling between the two, and Sasuke briefly regretting dismissing his jutsu.
"No, we're fine," Inoichi said at last. "We pick them up at five, right?"
"Hn," Sasuke agreed, inwardly wincing. Five hours of the brats – and he could already hear Ino scolded Naruto in strident tones; something about 'not talking to a lady like that'. Look on the bright side, he told himself. It's only on the weekends.
It was with some dismay that Sasuke realised just why Naruto had been failing at water-walking yesterday. None of the children knew how to draw on their chakra properly; Naruto had probably just been grasping at 'that weird feeling' and walking forward, ending up at the bottom of the pond every other time.
He'd sat them down and started them on basic meditation techniques, pausing only to wake Naruto up (for the sixth time in a row; Sasuke was really starting to empathise with Iruka) and confiscate Chouji's crisps, which the boy seemed to have an unlimited supply of. Sasuke had a nasty suspicion that Shikamaru was just cloud-watching from what he knew of his character, but considering that that was akin to meditation, he left the boy alone. Ino was whining about being bored over by a tree, and Daisuke- well, he seemed to have a good hang on meditation for an eight-year-old, which wasn't that surprising considering he was a Morino.
"Now, chakra is like a store of inner power," Sasuke said for what had to be the twelfth time. "When you're meditating, try to see a flame, and imagine that that flame is your chakra. Everyone got a flame?"
"I don't like fire, sensei," Ryuu complained, and Sasuke just managed not to twitch.
"Pretend," he got out in a voice that was edging on being strained. "Try to make the flame bigger, and then imagine it running through part of your body-"
He stopped as he felt the chakra signals alter slightly – Morino Daisuke was breathing slightly hard as he channelled chakra through one hand; impressive enough, and smart to focus on one area. Sakura seemed at about the same level, but Sasuke expected that. She was- he corrected himself; she had been the most focused on control, when they were genin-
"You," she whispers in a broken voice, her hands a bloody mess. "You disgust me, Sasuke."
"The feeling is mutual," he replies with a sneer, hardening his heart to her tearful green eyes and shaking fists-
Ayame was a pretty unknown quantity, but she wasn't doing too badly; a couple of flickers juddered through her body now and then.
He extended his senses out to the other children, and nearly choked. "Naruto, that's enough!" he snapped, feeling the chakra flow disrupt in the boy, fading away like it had never been there. For a second there, Sasuke had thought-
"Why'd I have to stop, sensei?" Naruto whined. "I was feeling something then."
"Obviously you were doing something wrong, moron," Ino snapped, and there was clear frustration in her voice – Sasuke didn't think she'd even managed to brush her chakra.
Naruto, though... Naruto had been drawing on more power than he should have been able to, even if Sasuke recalled his insane stamina. That had been lower chuunin level, except he was seven years old. It was unnatural, and he swore he didn't remember anything like that from the academy. Iruka would have had a heart-attack if Naruto had been summoning that kind of power. He would have been hailed as some kind of prodigy. (Apart from the fact that he was a complete idiot with books, but that was besides the point.)
"Nothing is wrong," he said slowly, calmly, after a moment. "You were just going a little overboard, alright? Remember what I said about your pathways not being fully developed yet." And definitely not developed enough for you to be acting as though you're a reasonably powerful ninja already.
"You suck," Ino whispered loudly to Naruto, and there was a pause.
"You suck more," Naruto replied grumpily, though there was a hint of upset in his voice. Sasuke ignored them.
"Daisuke, Sakura, both of you did well. Keep that up, and perhaps you can move on to more advanced techniques later." No, Sasuke didn't see anything wrong at allowing his students to proceed at their own pace, whatever some might grumble about favouritism. And pointing out those two as good examples wasn't an attempt to make the others feel bad – just to foster competitions.
Unfortunately, both Ino and Naruto seemed to be lacking in the 'having been challenged' area, and were instead continuing to hiss childish insults at one another.
"Whatever, blondie," Ino grumbled, and there was a scuffing sound, like Naruto was dragging his foot across the ground.
"You're blonde too!" he complained. "Stupid."
"I'm a prettier blonde," Ino said haughtily. "And I'm not stupid, you're stupid."
Naruto laughed. "If you're pretty, I'm a tree!" he said, in the tones of one who has pulled out that ultimate trump card.
Ino thought about this, and then came up with a threat to respond to this. "I'll lick you," she proclaimed triumphantly, and Sasuke could feel the beginnings of a headache coming on.
"I don't want your girl germs," Naruto protested.
"Naruto," Sasuke said, but Ino continued, ignoring the teacher who was looking faintly irritated.
"Then admit that I'm pretty, blondie."
"No way! You look like a pig," Naruto said, and Ino shrieked in indignation.
"Ino-chan, please don't-" Sakura began from over to one side, but from what Sasuke could tell, Ino had launched herself at Naruto and was busy trying to lick him as Naruto screeched about drool and pig girls.
Sasuke could feel his nails digging into his palm as he gritted his jaw. He was never going to think of any teacher as taking the easy way out, ever again.
"I'm hungry," Chouji grumbled beside Shikamaru.
"You're always hungry," Shikamaru said back, his voice relaxed. "This is so troublesome."
"Kenshin-sensei, I don't really understand the meditation," Tenten confided quietly. "I use weapons more than chakra."
"Ino's really good at taijutsu, ne?" Morino Daisuke said to Sakura, and she looked over at him.
"Yeah, she is," she replied. "Ino's my best friend! Even if she is a pig."
"Um," Daisuke responded, and Ryuu began to cry at being ignored.
"Kenshin-sensei, Ino's given me girl germs," Naruto whined loudly, as a victorious Ino began to dance about wildly, and Sasuke snapped.
"Naruto," Sasuke said in a voice of eerie calm. Naruto wisely fell silent, as did everyone else in the training area. "You are going to shut up and sit down. Then you are going to meditate. You are not going to try and make a very big flame, because you will damage your chakra pathways. You are not going to sit near Ino. You are not going to talk to Ino. Do you understand?"
Naruto 'eep'ed, and Sasuke was left with a very fixed smile on his face. "Now, does anyone else have something to say?"
There was silence, and Sasuke held back a shiver of relief. He hated children.
"So, tomorrow at half twelve?" Ryuu's mother asked, holding onto her son's hand after having wheedled her way into a precise progress report of how exactly her precious Ryuu had done in the four and a half hours Sasuke had been teaching him.
"Yes," Sasuke replied, keeping his voice blank. Today's session had been hell – he had a nasty suspicion that Ino and Naruto were going to get on very well. They'd already managed to move on from arguing with one another to backing each other up when arguing with others, and Sakura had started crying about being replaced. Daisuke had tried to comfort her, but that had been a most spectacular failure after Ayame began to tease him about having a cruush on Sakura. Why was everything drama with children?
He'd left Naruto with Shizuka as he went to wait with the rest of the kids for their parents; Shizuka herself had interrupted his session several times to ask about tree-climbing, and spent most of the time falling down if Sasuke heard correctly. He wasn't entirely sure why she wasn't with her genin team, but had kept from asking, under the basis that it wasn't his business, and maybe if he didn't ask her anything, she wouldn't ask him anything. (He didn't think that would work too well, but as Shizuka seemed unconcerned with anything save her training, that wasn't such a problem).
"I'm sure Ryuu will be one of your best students soon, Hideyoshi-san," Ryuu's mother chirped happily as she began to lead her son away, and Sasuke wanted to beat his head against a nearby tree. You're getting paid for this, he reminded himself. You must be patient with the parents.
"If he works hard, I'm sure he will be too," Sasuke said neutrally, and briefly wondered what Shizuka and Naruto were doing as he heard Naruto's childish laughter drift over to him. The last of the parents faded away, voices talking indulgently to their children, and Sasuke leant back against a tree, his head throbbing faintly.
So. Today he had got into an argument with Yamanaka-san (and over what, Sasuke wasn't entirely sure), managed to make both Yamanaka and Nara wary of him, taught nine bratty children how to draw on their chakra, with varying success, had them start arguing loudly with one another, threatened to burn them all to cinders (albeit quietly, so he wasn't sure how many of them had overheard that) and started them on some basic taijutsu stances. At the moment, Tenten was probably his favourite student, because she didn't talk if at all possible.
He sighed, letting the tension leak out of his muscles, and stayed silent for a few moment, just listening to the birdsong and the vaguely blurring shouts going between Shizuka and Naruto. He should probably go and find out what they were doing, and then escort Naruto back to his apartment. Just... not yet. He could relax for a few more moments before throwing himself into the annoyingly energetic world of Naruto.
Tomorrow, he could probably start on tree-climbing, if he told them they weren't allowed to go any higher than three metres. He doubted many would make it that far anyway – after all, the majority of them hadn't even started at the academy; they were still at the civilian school. The Academy only began when they were seven, unless the child was some insane prodigy, like Itachi or Kakashi.
Actually, on second thoughts, maybe he shouldn't start them on tree-climbing. He didn't trust any of them not to go higher, and then fall and break their necks-
A scream broke his thoughts, and Sasuke was moving before he really thought, knocking into a tree in his haste, thinking – that was Naruto -
"What happened?" Sasuke demanded, a frantic note in his voice as he followed the sound to kneel by a crying Naruto, awkwardly trying to soothe him with one hand. His heat was beating erratically, and he was tense; ready to fire off an offensive jutsu.
"Hurts," Naruto wailed. "My arm and leg are all funny."
Shit, Sasuke thought desperately. What's the damage? He found himself regretting that he couldn't see what was happening more than ever, as he fumbled his hands into quick movements, forming the basic diagnostic jutsu he'd copied off Sakura at one point. Head fine, breathing safe, bones; right arm and leg broken, arm in two different places- oh shit, what did he do?
"Fuckfuckfuckfuck," he chanted under his breath, forming a cross-shape with his index fingers and pressing it against Naruto's forehead. The clearing fell silent as Naruto slumped into unconsciousness, and Sasuke carefully reached out for him, picking him up with as much care as he could, cradling the (oh God, he was so light) boy to his chest.
"Where's the hospital?" he asked, and his voice was curt.
"Uh," Shizuka got out, struggling with her words. "Down the road. Like, a mile an' a half."
"The co-ordinates," Sasuke snarled, annoyed more than ever at her incompetence – what eighteen year old ninja didn't know that their superiors meant co-ordinates when they asked for directions? Teleportation jutsus were the obvious things to use in this situation, and she was stopping him from getting Naruto medical aidwhile she stuttered.
"Thirty two, four," she finally said. "I'm not sure though-"
Whatever she said after that was lost, because Sasuke was already popping through the air, the uncomfortable tension of his body being squeezed surrounding him for blank, blank seconds, before he was thrust out into a babble of human noise. He took a couple of sniffs of the air – sterile, disinfected; good, he had arrived at the hospital.
He stood there awkwardly, not entirely sure which way to go or turn, Naruto cradled in his arms. "Is there a doctor, here?" he called, and someone snorted behind him.
"Of course there is – what are you, blind-?"
The person's voice trailed off as Sasuke turned his head to fix on where the sound was coming from, and he smiled, showing all his teeth. "Yes, yes I am," he said, his patience clearly coming to end, even though his voice was sweet. "Would you care to find a doctor for me?"
"Er," the man said. "No need. I'm a medic-nin." Sasuke guessed the man had attempted a smile. "Sorry about the comment. Um. What needs healing?"
Sasuke wondered briefly if everyone in this age was a complete and utter idiot. "The boy," he said, in a very calm, very patient, what-the-hell-are-you-on tone, "In my arms. That I am carrying. Is injured. Are you blind?"
"Oh!" the man exclaimed. "Shit. Er, didn't notice. Um, shit. Here. Um, Kenji, over here! Get a thingy to carry- the kid's injured-"
It was some relief to Sasuke that there was no mention of 'demon brat' or a debate on whether to treat him or not as Naruto was removed from his arms and rushed up to a room number 203 – he knew with some people Naruto was treated badly, but it didn't seem as bad as he had suspected.
...Or, alternatively, he was meeting with all the idiots of Konoha who didn't care about Naruto being the vessel because they were too stupid to ever think this through. Sasuke suspected the latter.
He moved to the side of the room, out of the way of the bustling doctors and nurses, and slouched there, looking vaguely intimidating. He'd go upstairs to wait by Naruto's room soon enough, but he suspected Shizuka would come running in soon enough, rushing around like a headless chicken if she couldn't find him. How had Naruto got hurt though? It seemed like he'd fallen from a height, but, really, Sasuke had no idea why he would have been climbing trees – he didn't know how to walk up trees, for one.
"Kenshin-sensei!" Shizuka gasped, out of breath, and Sasuke nodded once to himself.
"Room 203," he said. "Do you know where it is?"
Shizuka froze, and Sasuke could almost hear the cogs in her mind moving. "S'upstairs," she said finally. "Can you follow me?"
"If you flare your chakra," he said, and to his relief, Shizuka did seem to know how to do that as she wound her way through the crowds. When they'd gone up two flights of stairs and were walking along what seemed to be an empty corridor, Sasuke broached the subject without hesitation.
"How did Naruto get hurt?" he asked, and there was a mild warning in his tone. Shizuka swallowed.
"Well, y'see," she began uncertainly. "It was sorta..." They stepped around a doctor who was snarling about 'hopeless incompetents, and why were they allowed in his hospital,' and kept walking. "I was climbin' a tree, yeah?"
Sasuke had a bad feeling about where this was going.
"And anyway, the brat asked what I was doin', and I told him, an' then he betted that he could climb the tree faster 'n me – usin' hands, not chakra – and then we were climbin' and he sorta fell an' then you came rushin' over-"
"You got into a competition with a seven-year-old boy," Sasuke said, his voice disbelieving. He could hear Shizuka shuffling, clearly abashed.
"Sorry, Kenshin-sensei," she mumbled. "I kinda got caught up in the moment, y'know?" She shuffled again. "He can stay with us, if you want. While he gets better. I don't mind."
Sasuke opened his mouth, and then closed it again, the anger dissipating slightly. "I'm sure he'll appreciate that," he said at last."You should go home and get some sleep soon. Are you meeting your team tomorrow?"
"Uh, yeah," she said, and there was clear relief in her voice at his acceptance of her tacit apology. "Eight o'clock. More D-class missions." She came to a halt. "Room 203's here. You gonna wait?"
"Yes," he said, feeling along one wall until he came to a chair, and sitting down. He thought for a moment, knowing that she was still standing there uncertainly, and spoke again.
"Keep on practising your tree-climbing and water-walking," he said, his tone almost absent-minded, and there was a noise of hair brushing against fabric. Was she nodding? She seemed to remember herself then, putting it into words.
"Sure thing, sensei. I'll have it mastered by Monday!" There was a clear boast in her voice, and Sasuke nodded as he waved for her to leave, settling back into the slightly uncomfortable hospital chair to wait for news on Naruto. She acted like she was still twelve, he thought, then shrugged. Wasn't really his problem.
Shizuka left, and Sasuke sat there, feeling worn as the emotions and stresses of the day caught up with him. Was this what it had been like for his father with him? Fugaku had never been emotional with Sasuke, but still, there had to have been some fondness and worry for his younger son – hadn't there? Itachi had been the genius, but among the Uchiha district, Sasuke had been the child to spoil and play with; the child who proceeded to ignore all this in favour of tailing his older brother with worship in his eyes.
He had been such a fool – not just then, but all the years following it, every thought obsessing over that man. He wondered if his younger self would follow his own footsteps, and shook his head. If it came to that, he would just make sure Naruto never made friends with the younger Sasuke, no matter how much more it had made Sasuke's life. Naruto deserved some happiness, and he wouldn't get it by racing after an Uchiha brat.
He couldn't hear anything from inside the room, but he could feel the slight movement of chakra signatures and the faint trace of an anaesthetic jutsu. He suspected they wouldn't be able to heal the bone straight off, and wasn't sure how quickly Naruto would heal because of Kyuubi – at this age, the demonic chakra wouldn't have such a hold on his body, would it?
Footsteps approached; ninjas, from the way they walked almost in time, discussing something quietly between them. Sasuke guessed there were three of them, and he stayed unmoving, slowing his breathing until it sounded like he was asleep out of habit.
"Why did we have to bring that guy in?" the first ninja complained, seemingly completely ignoring the blind man asleep on one of the chairs. "Couldn't we have just let the crowd trample him?"
"I know. What a fuckin' religious nut," the second ninja said, disgust evident in his voice. "Can you believe what he was saying?"
"Do you reckon we could get him for breaking Sandaime's law?" first asked hopefully. "I mean, he was ranting about how the vessels were the messengers of God, and we should be 'kneeling before the one who holds back Kyuubi'. That's kind of breaking the law."
"He didn't mention who the vessel was, though," third said reluctantly. "So he only half broke the law. Bent it, you might say."
"We could pretend..." first said, his voice trailing off as (Sasuke guessed) they rounded the corner.
"Hello?" an middle-aged woman asked, her voice soft and hesitant. "Excuse me sir, but are you the little boy's guardian?"
Sasuke jerked slightly, swivelling around. "The blond boy, Naruto?"
"That's the one, sir," the woman said, sounding mildly surprised at something. Sasuke hesitated.
"I... teach him," he said slowly. What had Naruto said? 'This woman checks in every coupla months to make sure everything's okay' and that had been it. "He has no guardians."
"No guardians?" the woman questioned. "Are you sure?"
"Very," Sasuke said. "I'm Hideyoshi Kenshin – he broke his arm and leg, didn't he?"
"Ah, yes," the woman said, and paused. "Well, I suppose you could act as a responsible adult for most purposes..." she mumbled, more to herself than anyone else.
"The diagnosis?" Sasuke asked, trying to keep from sounding impatient.
"Ah. We've managed to fix his leg – it was only a mild fracture, really, so we could use a jutsu to heal that up. He should probably stay off it as much as possible though. His arm has been plastered up, though; we couldn't put any more foreign chakra into his system, because he's too young," she said, faintly patronising as if he wouldn't know what she was talking about. "It should take about seven weeks to heal properly, and he'll need to come in for a check up. Does he live alone?"
"As far as I know," Sasuke admitted warily, trying to process this information. What would this mean for his training?
"He'll need to have someone with him; I don't suppose you could..." she trailed off, but Sasuke realised what she was getting at, and felt thankful at Shizuka's guilt-trip earlier. At least he'd have money to split the food costs. There was no way he'd let himself or Naruto be that dependant on her.
"He can stay with a friend and me for that time," Sasuke said dispassionately. "It shouldn't be a problem. Can I go in now?"
"Yes, of course!" the nurse exlaimed. "Your name was Hideyoshi Kenshin, wasn't it?"
Sasuke nodded, as he passed by her, suppressing the clenched fear and eagerness to see Naruto (was he already that afraid for his friend?) His footsteps tapped into the room as the doctor passed by him outside, and then he was left alone with an awake Naruto. Sasuke carefully felt his way over to the bed, and stood beside Naruto's head.
"Feeling better?" he asked, and Naruto's voice shook.
"I'm sorry," he mumbled into his pillow, and Sasuke stayed silent as he stood there. The room was quiet, interrupted only by the noise outside, and Naruto shivered into his bed.
"Kenshin-sensei?" Naruto asked, and his voice was soft and ashamed. Sasuke sighed.
"Go to sleep brat, and don't go climbing any trees with Shizuka in the future. Understand?"
"Yes sensei," Naruto whispered, and that was just so wrong.
"Don't talk like that, alright? You just need to be more careful." He managed to smile. "On the plus side, you get to stay with Shizuka and me while you recover."
"Really?"
"Yes, really," Sasuke said, and there was a fond exasperation in his voice. "Go to sleep."
And slowly, Naruto did just that.
END CHAPTER