"You're late, Kakashi!"
Glancing at Kakashi's back, Sasuke could imagine the irritating smile the man was giving the Hokage. The excuse offered didn't surprise Sasuke in the least either. "I'm sorry I'm late Lady Tsunade, I had something I needed to take care of."
When Kakashi shifted just slightly, looking back over his shoulder at Sasuke, he took the cue and moved over to the side, out from behind Kakashi and pulled the hood of his cloak back, revealing himself to Konoha's fifth Hokage. The room seemed to be instantly filled with masked ANBU, weapons drawn. Though none of those weapons were pointed at Sasuke, he could feel the potential for action radiating in the air around him. Schooling his face into a blank mask, Sasuke tried to decide how he should feel about this response. Angry? Nervous? Simply annoyed? Glancing up at Kakashi's calm face, or what he could see of it, Sasuke let his internal debate go and settled for just standing quietly, hands held out from his sides slightly to show that they were empty. Though, as a ninja, and a user of the Sharingan, that didn't particularly matter. Noticing that the Hokage never quite looked into his eyes, Sasuke knew that the older woman was indeed aware of that, and not willing to take the risk. Unable to stop himself, Sasuke smirked. Feeling a stinging slap at the back of his head, Sasuke pulled his gaze away from the Hokage, glancing about until he saw Kakashi's glare. He knew then who had smacked him and anger flared.
"What the hell did you do that for?"
"I told you Sasuke, I'm not going to let you be a brat. Especially not in the presence of the Hokage."
"Kakashi, what's going on?" The Hokage snapped, drawing both mens' attention back to the buxom woman behind the desk.
Kakashi gave Sasuke one last hard look, then turned back to face the Hokage once more. Sasuke stood seething and glaring at Kakashi's back as he spoke to the older woman. "I returned home from my mission in the early morning hours two days ago. When I arrived at my apartment I found the trap I always set on my door had been removed. To make a long story short, when I let myself into my apartment and looked around, I found my wayward student asleep in my bed. He awoke shortly after I found him and we talked. I'll let him tell his own story however he sees fit."
Sasuke crushed his annoyance, reminding himself that Kakashi was trying to help him, and his anger would defeat his purpose for returning to Konoha. Stepping up to stand next to Kakashi, he took a deep breath and squared his shoulders, then began his story. His head was held high, ever the proud Uchiha outwardly, even if he wasn't inwardly. "I killed Itachi. I'm sure you're well aware of that. However, as I stood over my brother's dying body I began to feel regret. It was just as everyone had always told me it would be. My revenge, once achieved, didn't fill me with satisfaction. Instead, it left me empty. I started to feel guilty about killing my brother, because in my eyes, by killing him, I was no better than he was for killing our clan.
"I was injured pretty badly in the fight and used up all of my chakra. Just after Itachi died, I passed out. When I woke up, I was mostly healed and tied up. Of course, I assumed that the Akatsuki had taken exception to me killing one of their own, and I thought I was going to die. At that time, I was so confused about my feelings for what I'd done, I wouldn't have cared if they decided to kill me, and I probably wouldn't have fought back. A masked man wearing a black robe with red clouds on it came out of the shadows and I figured that my life was over. Turns out I was right, but not in the way I expected."
Sasuke paused and took a deep breath, letting his head fall forward for the first time. That outward appearance of Uchiha pride was slipping through his fingers faster than water, and grab as he might, Sasuke couldn't seem to catch a firm grip on that pride. Feeling the weight of a hand settle on his shoulder. Sasuke lifted his head and looked up at Kakashi who was looking at him gravely. Nodding, Sasuke squared his shoulders and allowed himself to take the offered comfort.
"That man pulled his mask back to reveal his face. It was clear from that moment that he was of the Uchiha clan. He not only bore the Sharingan, but he looked a lot like my father. He introduced himself as Madara Uchiha."
The normally stoic Tsunade gaped at Sasuke, color draining from her face as her eyes widened. "That can't be. Madara Uchiha is long dead. Even if he had survived the fight with the First Hokage somehow, he'd have died of old age long before now."
Sasuke shrugged and felt some of the Uchiha pride returning. "The Uchiha are a strong people. There are a great many things one can do with jutsu if they are strong enough."
"I don't believe anyone is strong enough to outwit death."
Sasuke felt himself smirking, and somehow that one gesture relieved some of the weight that had settled on his shoulders. "Do not judge other clans by your own, Lady Tsunade."
Anticipating the slap from Kakashi this time, Sasuke ducked his head forward, then shot a glare at the older man before he turned his attention back to the older woman. "The Uchiha were a strong clan before they were ordered to be eliminated. They were stronger than the Senju clan, and that was obvious. But, they had also grown bitter and the seeds of darkness had been sown so many years before with Madara's departure. They had begun to take root, producing a crop that promised bad times for Konoha. To put a stop to this, and to destroy the crop before it could fully ripen, my brother was ordered to murder our clan. He let me live because he loved me, and wanted to protect me. Itachi protected me my entire life, and I killed him for it." Feeling Kakashi squeeze his shoulder again, Sasuke shook his head and continued firmly, "I know what you told me, Sensei. Itachi did everything he could to make me hate him, but that doesn't change the fact that he was protecting me and I killed him."
Before Sasuke could continue his story, Tsunade lifted a hand and motioned to the ANBU around the room. When all of them had vanished as quickly as they had arrived, Tsunade turned her attention back to Sasuke. "I'd heard something of the decision to eliminate the Uchiha clan because they had begun to rot and were viewed to be a danger to Konoha. I can't believe that they would have told Itachi all of this however."
"You think my brother was so weak-minded as to blindly follow any order given to him?" Sasuke growled, ignoring the warning squeeze on his shoulder.
"No, Sasuke, I don't. I know you Uchiha well. What I mean is that I'm surprised they would tell him the whole truth. They likely could have told him less, or told him lies and gotten what they needed in the end."
Hunching his shoulders, Sasuke scowled at nothing in particular. "I don't know what he was told exactly, I just know what the truth is. Whether that truth was delivered to Itachi, or whether he found it out on his own after he murdered our clan and fled the village, I couldn't say. The only man that would know is now dead, by my hands."
"Yes, that's true. Now tell me why you're here, Sasuke. More revenge? Do you wish to kill those that ordered your clan murdered?"
Sasuke shook his head, letting his gaze settle on the Hokage once again. "I know it was true. I knew even then as a kid that the Uchiha clan had begun to rot. I saw things, and I heard things. Children are mostly ignored by adults after all.
"No, after Madara told me the truth, he left me to think about what I'd heard, to consider my next actions. He wanted me to come to the Akatsuki, take Itachi's place. I was so overwhelmed with guilt for killing my brother that I couldn't think of what I wanted to do next. I went back to the team I formed after I killed Orochimaru, the ones that helped me track down Itachi, and I let the guilt eat at me. I got up in the middle of the night while the rest of my team slept and I left. I had no thoughts where to go or what to do, I just needed to be as far away from that place as I could get myself. As I moved away I remembered the last time I talked to Kakashi, the evening before I left. I remembered what he'd told me then and I knew he'd been right. I knew that if I'd listened to him then that everything would have turned out so differently. I'd not have killed my brother, and I'd not be eaten up with guilt. So, it was with thoughts of my former sensei in my head that I turned myself toward Konoha. In the back of my mind, I just knew that Kakashi would have the answers I sought. I knew that he would be the one that could help me see the way to right the terrible wrong I had done."
Tsunade turned her gaze to Kakashi, and Sasuke saw the older man nod from the corner of his eye. Turning her gaze back to Sasuke, the Hokage frowned. "So, you came back to Konoha looking for Kakashi so that he could help you make things right?"
"Yes. I've come to make amends for my mistakes, and to find the forgiveness I need."
"Forgiveness. From who?"
Not sure how to answer that question, Sasuke frowned. When Kakashi spoke up next to him, Sasuke turned his head to look at the older man. "From himself mostly. But also from the village. From Naruto, Sakura and myself."
"You can't make amends for an act as permanent as murder. At least, not to the one murdered. You didn't think that you could make amends to Itachi by coming back here did you?"
Turning away from the Hokage, Sasuke hunched his shoulders around the pain that ate at his heart. Breathing deeply, but raggedly, Sasuke felt himself succumbing to the guilt once more until Kakashi spoke up again. "Itachi forgave him the moment the act was complete. Sasuke did what his brother led him to do, so there was nothing that Sasuke needed to be forgiven for. Itachi's death at Sasuke's hands was his restitution, and was Sasuke's forgiveness. What Sasuke needs now is to forgive himself. Once he finds the way to make amends for all that he has done wrong, he will have made amends for killing Itachi."
"But what does any of this have to do with his return to the village?"
"He told you, it was his need to come to me that brought him back here. He thought I could give him the answers he needed. I gave him the direction he needed to find those answers."
Sasuke turned around, trying to scowl at the Hokage, but he couldn't quite make the frown stick as uncertainty built in him. "I'm still from this village. I may no longer be a Leaf ninja, but I was born a Leaf citizen. Or have my foolish actions taken that from me as well? Am I going to spend the rest of my life wandering alone, no clan, no village, only the bitter taste of my guilt for everything I've done?"
"No Sasuke, you'll never be alone, I'll make sure of that."
Sasuke turned his head to look up at Kakashi when he spoke, surprised to find that his former mentor was not looking at him, but was looking intently at the Hokage. Frowning, Sasuke looked back at the Hokage and squared his shoulders, drawing a deep breath. "I'm ready to pay for my mistakes and for my crimes. Tell me what I need to do to get back into the village's good graces and I'll gladly do it."
Tsunade finally looked away from Kakashi, her gaze traveling over Sasuke's face as if looking for the truth or deception of his pronouncement. Shaking her head, the older woman leaned back in her chair with a sigh. "I can't make that decision on my own. I need to talk to those two old fools. I can't let you wander free around the village, but locking you up seems to be a bit harsh." The Hokage paused, her gaze shifting to Kakashi and narrowing. "I'll tell you what, Kakashi, you've kept the boy at your place for the last two days, you can keep him for a few days longer while we work out what is to be done with him. I'll station ANBU outside of your apartment, though I don't anticipate there being any trouble with you to keep an eye on him."
"Wait, my apartment? That's a bachelor's apartment, Lady Tsunade! There's only enough room for one. You want me to squeeze him into my apartment for a few days? Where will he sleep? The floor? I suppose everything else would be ok, no matter the size of the apartment, but sleeping will be a problem."
"Don't you have a couch? I could have some genin bring a cot you could set up for him. Look Kakashi, you accepted responsibility for him when you kept his return hidden for the last couple of days. And don't think that the council won't want to have a few words with you about that when this is all said and done!"
Kakashi lifted a hand and rubbed at the back of his head, giving a nervous laugh that for some reason made Sasuke have to duck his head and smother a grin. When he lifted his head again, the Hokage was glaring at him now. "What?"
"Are you going to complain about the living arrangements too?"
Sasuke shrugged and glanced at Kakashi from the corner of his eye. "If Kakashi-sensei is fine with it, I'll manage. I've slept in much less comfortable conditions since I left the village." Sasuke paused and glanced at Kakashi again, then turned his gaze back to the woman behind the desk. "Can I go out and see Naruto and Sakura, or am I under house arrest?"
"No, it would be better of you stayed out of public view until this is all worked out. I don't want any kind of panic being started by your presence. I'm sure Naruto will know soon enough that you're back, and once he knows he'll tell Sakura and they both will be over to see you at Kakashi's, you can see them then."
Sasuke nodded, then frowned. "I was going to go see about getting some new clothes. I don't want to wear these anymore, and they're all I have."
Tsunade sighed and leaned back in her chair again, rubbing her eyes as if she were suddenly tired. "I'll send Shizune by for your measurements later today and I'll have clothing provided for you. Once this is all sorted out, you can see about getting your own clothes. Any other questions?"
Sighing, Kakashi just shook his head. Sasuke glanced at the older man, then back at the Hokage and shook his head as well. "No, but I wanted to thank you for listening rather than just tossing me in jail or having me killed."
"It probably would have been easier if I had," Tsunade muttered, then lifted a hand and waved it toward the door.
Nodding, Kakashi turned away from the desk and started for the office door, commenting blandly to Sasuke as he pulled the door open, "You might want to put your hood back up Sasuke, you don't want to cause a panic."
Sasuke snorted, but did as he was told, settling the hood over his head once more. "I'd think I'd be more likely to stir suspicions and cause unrest by walking around the village with my hood up," Sasuke muttered as he stepped out of the Hokage's office behind Kakashi, following the older man to what would be his home for the next few days.
AN: Yeah, I snuck by having to come up with a punishment for Sasuke for at least another chapter or two. This chapter wanted to be written, but I didn't know what Tsunade was going to do. So, I found a way around it. ;)
Am I evil for sticking Kakashi and Sasuke together in that tiny apartment for 3 days? *evil laughs* I have to keep the boys close so they can fall in love. *sage nod*
Thanks in advance for your reviews! They mean the world to me folks! :)
