woah its been a hot second how are all of you. i didnt know what the hell i was doing and then i started writing the jikan phenomenon and the sasuke bug bit the shit out of me.

Story warnings apply.

Chapter 7: to make a choice

Haku and Zabuza are both Unmarked, Sasuke learns after they're dead. Naruto tells him, sniffing and wiping away tears as they stand vigil at the two missing-nins' graves.

He's standing in between Naruto and Sakura, Kakashi a firm presence behind him.

"Haku didn't care," Naruto choked out, staring down at the grave. "He said they were Unmarked together, which meant they were meant to be."

Sasuke's eyes burn with unshed tears. The two might have been their enemies until the end, but they had irrevocably changed the fate of Team 7. They had just decided to start working together as a team when they convinced Kakashi and the Hokage to let them have a C-rank mission. Their teamwork was sloppy still, but there was improvement in that they were all trying to work together.

Facing off against Zabuza while he had their sensei trapped was one of the most terrifying moments Sasuke would live. Hearing Kakashi tell them to run, to leave him behind, made him feel like he was being torn apart all over again.

Facing off against Haku, later on, was another terrifying moment. He was scared, this was his first real fight one on one with another ninja, but he wasn't giving up. Then Naruto showed up and Sasuke watched as Haku aimed his senbon at Naruto and he couldn't. He couldn't.

He finally had his sharingan, something that could truly help him with his search for Itachi and answers, but he throws it away to step in front of Naruto. Because Naruto is his best friend, his constant, and Sasuke can't go on knowing he did nothing to save his first friend.

Sasuke's vision tunneled black as he was held within his best friend's arms and he went peacefully.

Only he woke up.

Now they're all standing in front of two graves, ruminating over their encounters. Sasuke let's Naruto's words penetrate through his mind, allows them to sink in, and ponders them. Haku was one of the cursed, one of the Unmarked, as was Zabuza. They held no mark, had no soulmate. The Unmarked weren't supposed to be discriminated against, not anymore, but this is the real world and no one wanted to deal with the Unmarked. The fact that they found each other, that Haku found someone he obviously thought of as his other half, is something that gives Sasuke pause.

He had been so concerned with fate and soulmates for so long. Itachi was his fated half. His brother was his soulmate. But, Sasuke thinks, fate is cruel. Fate, Sasuke believes, doesn't always get it right.

Sasuke still loves Itachi. Sasuke loathes him just as much, that's true, but he's wanted to be with Itachi since his soulmark first appeared. He's been left behind by his soulmate and Sasuke knows it's only now that he's finally started to heal from the sting of abandonment. Only now that he's seen someone choose a different path does Sasuke realize he could to, if he really wanted.

Sasuke could turn his back on his soulmark, leave it covered for the rest of his life. Find a husband or wife and settle down. Have Naruto by his side, maybe even Kakashi and Sakura as well. He could concede defeat and let Itachi be truly gone from his life. He has that choice.

And he's choosing to chase him.

Sasuke smiles. He's making a choice, here and now. No longer is he doing what he knows he was supposed to, but rather what he wants to. He's going to get stronger, track Itachi down, and fight him. Instead of killing him, however, like Itachi told him to, he's going to force his older brother to listen. He's going to beat Itachi and make him shut up, for once in his life. Sasuke will be in control and he will make Itachi understand that Sasuke had made a choice. The choice to follow him. Tell him that Sasuke knew part of the truth, that Itachi had a mission that he completed with gory efficiency, and that Sasuke couldn't forgive him, not yet, but that didn't mean he would abandon him.

Sasuke made the choice to chase Itachi and he would stick by this conviction.

Naruto, still sniffling beside him, reaches down to grasp his hand in a tight grip. He's shaking slightly, his frame quivering with emotions. Sasuke squeezes his hand and doesn't shake off Naruto's grip. He contemplates his actions for a second before he takes the initiative and takes Sakura's hand as well. She stiffens slightly, his crying becoming muffled for a second before she moves just an inch closer to him. They're all shaken from this encounter, for the direction this mission took, and if Sasuke wants them in his life, he needs to make the effort. He squeezes both of their hands gently.

He glances behind him, catching a glance of Kakashi. Their sensei meets his eyes, his eye conveying a sad smile. He understands, Sasuke knows, that something has shifted in their team dynamic. Kakashi can see it and it makes him equally sad and proud. Sasuke's eyes flicker to the covered half of his face, to where Sasuke now knows lies a sharingan, and meets Kakashi's gaze once more. He tilts his head back, asking a question without speaking.

Sasuke wants to know how Kakashi got it, who gave it to him, because Kakashi wasn't someone who would steal a dojutsu from his own village. He wants to know about the Uchiha Kakashi had known. But, Sasuke is also willing to let it go. He wouldn't have been, not before this mission, but now that he's realized he can make his own choices, not having to do everything as Uchiha Sasuke, but as just Sasuke, he finds he wants Kakashi to tell him because his sensei wants to, not because he feels obligated to.

Kakashi looks at him, takes him in, with a completely serious face. There is no eye smiles or goofy attitude as he shares Sasuke's gaze. Kakashi is also making a choice, Sasuke knows. Kakashi closes his eye and then nods, just for the briefest moment, before he turns his attention back to the graves in front of him.

Sasuke won't ask him now that he knows Kakashi plans on telling him. He'll wait. He doesn't need to know immediately. He just needs to know that Kakashi is just as invested in their team as the three of them are.

Sasuke lifts his gaze and looks out at the scene in front of them. Green and hills fill his vision and he takes it in. He's grown some, after all of this, and he can feel it in his bones that he's taking steps in the right direction. He would train and grow for as long as it took. He would find his brother, his soulmate, and he would get him to confess. He would learn the full truth from Itachi, one way or another.

it took me almost a year to update again. lol i typed this in 15 minutes lololololol