part seven, revised.
To Build A Home
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One day, when Sasuke's visiting Tenten and her elderly grandmother, he catches his friend thumbing the edge of a crinkled photo and frowns. "Do you miss her?" Sasuke finds himself asking, watching with a softened gaze as Tenten fumbles with the small square, smoothing it out carefully, as if to repair the torn edges. The brunette doesn't speak as she continues to thumb a finger over a face much like her own, only older, with long hair twisted in a chignon and a scar marring her smiling lips.
"No, not really," she mumbles, exhaling tiredly. "You can't really miss someone you never knew."
Sasuke nods, wondering if he could categorize her as the same. Probably not.
They sit on Tenten's twin sized bed for a few more moments before Tenten rephrases his question, moving so her head was resting against one of the two pillows that matched the lilac sheets of her bedspread. "Do you miss Itachi?"
Sasuke blinks, mouth opening quickly—ready to shout angrily at her for even asking such a thing—but he shuts almost as quick. Something in him stirs and he sighs, defeated, just as exhausted as his companion, laying back on her old duvet. "Should I?" is his weak reply, and they say no more for the rest of the afternoon, until Tenten's grandmother comes in to ask if Sasuke's staying the night, and the Uchiha thinks about it, but he shakes his head and gathers his things, departing with a quiet goodbye.
Tenten keeps her eyes on the Uchiha until the door to her room shuts behind him and she's left alone until dinner. "Yes," she says out loud to herself. Maybe, she reconsiders.
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