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7.
outlaws
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In their renewal, there are certain rules.
They do not, for instance, talk about that night. It happened and it changed everything, but they were there so they know and thus, it is never spoken about. Sometimes, in brief silences and flickering stares, it is present and alive. But it is never mentioned. Never. They don't talk about the time in-between either. Sasuke doesn't tell of Orochimaru or Hebi or the hunt or Madara. Sakura never rambles about Tsunade and being left alone and the first time brick shattered beneath her fists. Naruto doesn't gloat about his training or his adventures or how hard they tried to bring the deserter back. By avoiding the past, they avoid the guilt, the anger, the hate and crushing sadness.
(Except they don't - not at all. It's still there, sometimes, invisible and heavy but unacknowledged.)
Those are the rules.
Unfortunately, Sai has never understood unspoken law.
" – Ino was so mad!" Sakura laughs, telling her acceptable story of yesterday. "I thought Shikamaru was dead!"
"No you didn't," interrupts Sai, face smiling but confused. Sakura cocks a resigned eyebrow, waiting for the explanation she is sure will come with patient, albeit tired, acceptance. "You know the lovely Ino would never kill Lazy; he's her teammate." There is a pause, and Sai's face stretches into a bland smile. His eyes flash with a hard light. "I only know of one nin that would sink to such levels. Isn't that right, Scum?"
Surprisingly, Sasuke's face is impassive, his voice calm. Because is fingers are hanging at his sides, no one sees the way they clench. "I will not defend my actions."
Around them, the atmosphere shifts. With his words, with his icy stare and seemingly simple admission, Sasuke has tilted their bubble of a world with no past on its side. Sakura has to make a conscious, careful effort to keep her words from shaking.
"I don't know about that, Sai. If I could have, I would have murdered Naruto when he told me he was leaving to train with - with Jiraiya."
"Eh," Naruto chuckles nervously from his corner of the sofa. "I thought you were going to kill me, Sakura. That first time you punched me in head, I thought I heard my skull crack." His smile softens. "I was proud of you though, especially when you healed the bruise."
Laughing, the sound only a little off kilter, Sakura toes the blonde. "Says the one who came back as powerful as Sas – " For a half-second, the space between heartbeats, Sakura pauses and everyone in the room watches her with wide, wide eyes. " – ke."
What are friends for, if not to steady you in your weakness? Naruto does. "No way! I'm more powerful than teme will ever be!" He stands, puts one hand behind his head and flashes a victory sign with the other. "Believe it!"
"And yet, I could have easily killed you, had there not been interference."
And so the argument begins. On one side, the sunshine blonde shouts with a rage that reddens his face and has his arms gesticulating wildly, flailing. Watching him with a cool, condescending smirk, the black-eyed boy shakes his heads and sends barbs flying. Two children that couldwouldshouldwill be best friends argue about who could - would - kill the other. Soon the verbal battle has escalated to a comparison of jutsus learned, missions completed, miles traveled. Sai is confused. Sakura is laughing.
Team Seven has never followed the rules.
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note: I am the goddess of updating. Yes, I accept hero worship.