All I can say is, sorry guys. I lost my mojo for a while. But I think I've found it again...
Oh, and I don't own Naruto characters or world, etc. etc.
The Nightmare of Dead Siblings & Monsters
Sergeant Takeshi Kudo was a bit of an oddity.
Having pulled his flashlight from his fatigues and flicking it on before entering the ebony cloaked abyss which was the Valley of the Shadow, he now turned it off, and threw it unceremoniously away into the blackness that surrounded him. He would not be needing it, and, quite frankly it was more of a hindrance to him than anything.
He would not be needing it, because he could see far better without it.
He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, then opened them again to reveal two yellow glowing orbs.
Because . . . Takeshi Kudo had a Kekkei Genkai.
Yes, he had a rare birth-gift passed down through generations of his ancestors, but no, he was not a Shinobi, and had no intention of ever taking that path. His Kekkei Genkai had been passed to him from his Mother's line, but his father was from a long and proud line of military men, and had spent the better part of Takeshi's childhood instilling in him that Shinobi were a scourge on the face of the earth; reckless busybodies with too much power and too little control, who would eventually tear this world apart with their unrestrained and lawless warring.
And so, after years of brainwashing at the hands of his father Takeshi had taken the Military route, much to his father's delight, and to his mother's chagrin. Of course, despite his programmed distaste of all things Shinobi, his Kekkei Genkai had saved his hide more than once during his line of work.
Naturally, being able to see in the dark was a valuable ability for anyone to have.
And right now he was more than thankful for it.
The valley began to form in his vision with sharp focus, every curve of the cliff-face, every boulder, every stray pebble was illuminated before him, shining brightly through the darkness as if they had been coated with a thick sheen of glow in the dark paint.
He smiled, a cold and malicious expression which bared his teeth and made his eyes appear even crueller than usual, and for once the dark was a blessing; for had any creature or person been able to witness it they would likely have been terrified half to death by that look alone.
Just ahead of him he could see the shapes of the three dogs sniffing at the ground and following the faint trail they caught. Suddenly they took off again in unison. He raised his head to scope the far edge of the valley.
Far ahead in the horizon of his vision a small movement caught his attention.
He sprinted forward, hurtling full speed into the dark.
Sasuke felt Sakura's hand shift against his shoulder as he led her through the rock labyrinth as quickly as was possible without injuring themselves.
He was rather pleased with the progress they were making, and from what he could see with the limited vision of his Sharingan, he approximated that they were about halfway across the valley floor. He guessed they could only have been moving through the darkness for about 15 minutes or so, so he was hopeful that within a very short time they would be back safely within the borders of Fire. From what he could tell by the brief glimpse he had of the map earlier, the border between the two countries was almost immediately beyond the edge of the valley, and combined with the fact that he had heard no sound of their pursuers yet at their heels, he was slowly beginning to allow himself to relax into the idea that they may actually escape this ordeal unscathed.
Sakura had been unusually quiet behind him, but Sasuke imagined that would be a typical reaction to suddenly finding yourself completely blind and reliant on another for such a simple task as walking. He surmised that she would be using every one of her other four senses to their full extent to gain even the slightest advantage for herself.
Her hand shifted against his shoulder once more, and he moved his own hand back up to cover hers in reassurance.
"You doing ok?" he called quietly over his shoulder.
Oomph. Shit. He almost lost his footing as his ankle turned on a rock that had been lying in the middle of the path. It was taking his full concentration just to navigate through this place.
He came to a stop and moved and stretched his ankle about, to make sure he wasn't injured.
Thankfully it seemed fine, but . . .
That was when it dawned on him that he had heard no reply from Sakura.
She had definitely stopped behind him when he had. He still had his hand over hers so he knew she was still there.
"Sakura?"
He squeezed her hand to try to elicit a response from her.
And that's when his heart almost stopped, and a long, cold shiver ran down his spine.
It suddenly dawned on him that the hand he was holding was nothing like the slim, feminine paw of an attractive young lady. Granted, he hadn't spent a lot of time studying Sakura's hands, but he was pretty sure her hands were not that large. Nor that calloused. Nor were her knuckles that big. And he was pretty god-damn sure she didn't have any hair on them.
Now that he was concentrating, it was pretty obvious that he was holding a man's hand. And if the thought of holding another man's hand in a dark place wasn't creeping him out enough, he was also trying to figure out when and where the hell had he lost Sakura, and who the hell was this man that was just calmly walking along with him in the dark.
Feeling the tiny hairs on the back of his neck prickle up with fear, he slowly turned to face the person whose hand he still held against his own shoulder . . .
. . . and found himself staring into two very distinctive spinning tomoe.
"Hello. . ."
At the sound of that voice alone Sasuke nearly had a heart attack.
". . . foolish little brother."
There was only one word which could describe the way that Sakura was feeling right now.
That word was TERRIFIED.
The sensation of being blind was the most helpless feeling she had ever experienced in her life. Sure she may have been one of the strongest kunoichi around, but what good was that when she couldn't even see what she was swinging at? She couldn't just go bashing around indiscriminately if they found themselves being attacked because without the use of her vision she couldn't be sure that it wasn't Sasuke she was aiming a deadly punch at. She was sorely tempted to create a chakra flare from her hand to light up the surrounding area so she could navigate for herself, but she knew that, first and foremost, that would reveal their position to the enemy, and secondly, would drain even more of her now short supply of chakra. Some of which would most definitely be needed for the trip home, and using it frivolously would be a foolish decision at a time like this, even if using it to see for just a moment would help preserve her sanity. If this whole ordeal had taught her anything it was to have a newfound respect for the blind. She honestly didn't know how someone could live like this.
And on top of that she felt like crap. The mud had completely dried onto her skin and she felt like a walking statue. For that reason she was minutely glad that it was dark because she was certain she didn't look like the Venus de Milo either. More like a clay creation made by a small, short-sighted child.
With her current long list of grievances she tried to focus on any small positive thing to cheer her up. The one thing that she had to be thankful for right now was that it appeared that her eyes were finally beginning to adjust to the thick shadow, and although she certainly couldn't claim to see anything, she could just make out a few vague shapes which were slightly darker than the rest of the landscape.
One of those dark blurs was Sasuke. She could just make out the outline of his distinctive haircut and his shoulders rising and falling as he walked in front of her. His shoulder felt warm and comforting beneath her hand. The muscles beneath her fingers were taut and tensed for action, and his shirt was damp and soaked through with his sweat. His hand was still on top of hers and this too felt clammy against her own, yet the simple connection of their bare skin was a welcome and necessary reminder that whatever happened, they were in this together. She squeezed his shoulder gently, and hoped the simple motion could provide him with some reassurance of his own.
They continued to walk that way for some time, the eerie silence that surrounded them broken only by the sound of her own heart beating in her ears, and the quiet breathing that guided her like a beacon through the ebony mist.
She was so busy concentrating on his steady breathing that the shock that she got when it stopped was dwarfed only by the confusion she felt when she realised he had stopped altogether, and she had almost walked straight into the back of him. Quickly, confusion gave way to fear, as it dawned on her that whatever had caused him to stop must have frightened him pretty badly too, for he suddenly dropped his hand away from hers.
She could just make out his silhouette in the dark, as she saw and sensed him turn around to face her.
She was expecting him to warn her of danger, or pull her into a run, or throw them both to the ground, or just push her behind him and attack the unseen enemy.
But he just stood there, staring at her. Well, she presumed he was staring at her; of course, there was no way to tell in this damned infernal darkness. She strained her eyes to try to make out his features, but it was no use. Her eyes were completely useless to her in here, and the feeling of being unable to see his expression, unable to tell what emotion was on his face was becoming quite horrific for her.
"Sasuke?" She risked whispering.
No response. She now was certain that the suspense of his silence was going to drive her to insanity. She could not cope with this blindness any longer, and she had just made up her mind and begun to draw as little chakra as possible to her hand to form a flare when a violent sensation stopped her in her tracks.
She got a taste then, of what the blind must experience as matter of course. The full kick-in of her other four senses combining to replace the loss of the fifth. A sixth sense if you will, allowing what seemed the insensible to be sensed, the inaudible to be heard, the unseen to be seen, and things which would otherwise seem impossible were now suddenly in clear focus and horrifyingly real.
She sensed it, a fraction of a second before she even felt his chakra spike sharply and saw the familiar flashing blue form in his hand, before she heard the birds chirping their frantic cry of death. And although it was the quickest chidori formation she had ever seen in her life, that fraction of a second's forewarning just allowed her enough time to brace herself against the full impact of his attack.
Still, when it struck her the blow itself was even more powerful than she could have ever imagined, and for a frightening moment she feared that she had miscalculated the strength of the chakra barrier she had enveloped her vital organs in. All she could think was that she should have used all but the last speck of her remaining chakra to protect herself, the trip home be damned. This was her life, her one chance to protect herself from inevitable mortality, and she had held back? For that moment the familiar old feelings of failure that she had experienced so often as a child when competing against this very man before her now returned, and she realised something that she had known sub-consciously all her life... Sasuke would be the end of her.
And then all thoughts were gone. There was nothing left but pure unadulterated pain, searing through her, and she felt herself falling, falling for what seemed like an eternity.
And her whole world turned to darkness.
Sasuke couldn't believe his eyes.
He had hit Itachi squarely in the chest with the full force of his chidori, then watched his powerful brother turn to ash and dust before his very eyes.
How many times had he had that very dream as a young man?
Too many to count.
And how many times had he fought Itachi in reality and been evaded time and time again? How many times had he swung and missed, how frustrated had he become by his seemingly invincible brother and his effortless way in battle, the man who seemed to not fight, but merely dance through the moves with a bored and indifferent expression glued to his face?
No, something was definitely not right here. This success had been far too easy.
He spun around, trying in vain to will his eyes into seeing further through the black abyss which surrounded him, certain that Itachi was about to fly out of the shadows at any moment and seal his victory.
As he scanned the area surrounding him, he happened upon a small nook in the surface of the valley wall. He darted quickly over to it, constantly checking his back and sides for any sign of a sneak attack. When he reached the nook he could see it was just big enough to fit a person, it was darker than the rest of the valley, and surrounded by a scattering of boulders and rocks which shielded it to an extent from the rest of the valley. He climbed down into the little crevasse and tucked his knees inside with him.
Yes, this was where he would hide and watch for enemies. Itachi hadn't been able to get him, but if his long-dead brother could manifest before him looking as real as the day of his death, then who knew what other horrors this dreaded place was capable of?
The crevasse he was in was just the perfect size for him to hide in. As he sat scanning the area before him he wondered how many other poor souls had cowered in this very spot, while their nightmares had transformed to reality before their very eyes?
Well he too would wait.
And let his nightmares come to him.
A strange noise stirred her.
Her face was pressed against the cold earth, and the most overwhelming sensation she felt was the taste of a combination of the chalky flavour of dust and dirt, and the metallic heat of her own blood filling her mouth. Her body ached with fatigue, her eyes were closed, and the unusual sound which was growing louder every second was the only thing she could hear. It sounded like a rasping cough, incessant and drilling into her head which was pounding like crazy right now.
The coughing sound grew even louder, more determined in her ears.
She couldn't get her mind around what it was. It gained in speed now, and as she listened more carefully she thought it sounded like there was more than one, the slightly different tones morphing into one another as they carried across the echoing valley. The sound was definitely aggressive. She felt the fear trembling through her with a shudder as the violent snarls and rough grunts and cough-like noises reverberated even more clearly now, all laced with intent to kill.
In a miscalculation caused by sheer heart-gripping terror she ran blindly in the opposite direction of the horrifying noise, the clipped and vicious rasps she could hear unnervingly close were enough to make her forget all her extensive training on the subject of how to react in the case of pursuit by an unknown entity. Her legs were moving of their own accord and seemed to be quite successful at moving her as far away from the danger as possible until she felt that familiar feeling of lost footing, and found herself tumbling forward to impact with the ground with a bone-jarring thud.
Where her hands had landed splayed out in front of her, she suddenly experienced the relief of vision.
She could see her fingertips. Glowing very dimly in a pale blue.
It was the light. The glorious white light of the stars had found their way to her.
For a moment she lay there, smiling up at the stars and basking in the joy that she felt at finally being able to see again.
A second later, and she wished she still couldn't.
Out of the shadows which still lay draped over the valley came a creature of mythical ungodliness that looked as if it had crawled its way out of the underworld itself.
It had jagged, scaly skin which seemed to glow under the faint light of the stars, and four legs with enormous sharp claws which tapped and dragged against the rocky ground beneath its paws as it moved. Its grotesque head was dominated by a too-big mouth full of razor sharp pointed teeth, surrounded by rotting, bleeding red gums.
But it was the eyes which terrified her most intensely. They glowed red and bright out of the darkness, bloodshot and crazed, revealing the soullessness of the thing before her.
She backed up, horrified with terror towards the wall of the valley which she knew was behind her, though it seemed to be taking a lifetime to reach it. But she could not tear her eyes from the putrid beast before her to check, and when she finally felt the cold wall of granite press against her back, she was too afraid to feel relief, as the thing continued towards her without pause.
Its eyes did not look at her directly though; they continued their crazed motions scanned the general are in which she was. Its nose however, worked furiously inhaling the scent of the air before it. Unfortunately, it seemed to be leading the thing directly to her, as it stopped less than a foot in front of her.
Her heart felt as though it were about to tear its way out of her burning throat at any second and reveal her to the monster. Putrid green slime oozed out of its gaping double mouths between razor-sharp fangs and dripped onto the ground below. She watched, horrified, as the foul smelling fluid sizzled and fumed as it burned a small hole into the earth it touched. She eased her protruding foot slowly and carefully back towards her body.
The giant beast continued to inhale the air around her, its nostrils flared and red; from this close Sakura could see the dried cracked flesh of its face, gashed too deep in some places and flaking in others as its huge sniffing nose crinkled and creased the skin surrounding it.
As she watched; already too horrified for anything to come as a surprise at this stage; from the back of its neck, two identical heads grew out of each of its shoulders, just as foul and mutated as the first, and immediately joined in with the incessant sniffing.
She cowered slowly closer against the wall behind her as its heads moved back and forth, even bumping together once or twice in its determination to find her.
For some reason it couldn't find her though. She had thought she was surely doomed, but yet something seemed to be shielding her scent from the creature. She caught sight of her arm in the corner of her eye then (her eyes were still not able to leave the sight before her) and suddenly recalled that she was covered in dirt from head to toe.
So the dirt was covering her natural scent. She relaxed at the thought, but only by a fraction. There were still other things that could give her away. She had kept her mouth closed and was breathing as little as possible. She dare not open her mouth, as the scent of blood from where she had bitten her tongue when Sasuke chidori'd her would give her away in a heartbeat.
Now she just had sit as still as she could till the creature found another distraction.
That's when the chirping started again.
No!
Suddenly, a short distance away from her towards the opposite side of the valley, Sasuke's silhouette was illuminated by the blue charge which was currently growing from the palm of his hand.
No, Sasuke!
Her mind screamed out at him, though her throat was still rendered mute with terror, as the three heads turned sharply in unison in his direction, then were followed quickly by its giant body as it hurtled itself towards him, having finally found something of interest to pursue.
They approached him swiftly, and she braced herself for the worst.
The bright blue flare of his chidori was awe-inspiring. It lit nearly the entire stretch of the ebony valley in a radiant turquoise glow, its innermost walls of rock and shale being illuminated for possibly the first time in their existence.
The shockwave that rippled away from Sasuke's silhouette happened so quickly and intensely, it was like the flash of a camera; a snapshot which exposed the horrified faces of the approaching Sergeant Takeshi Kudo and his three dogs as they all reared in shock and terror; and imprinted the image into Sakura's mind.
And then they were blown away. Thrown violently to the other side of the valley amidst a hurricane of shingle and stones, and great eddies of dust and fog, which Sakura could only hope would help cushion their no doubt painful landing.
There was no time for concern over her enemies however, as Sasuke spun out of his stance and began to hobble as quickly as he could towards the countries natural border, the end of the rocky valley, and the return to the green foliage of Fire Country. She hurried to his side and flung her arm around his waist and shouldered some of his weight to allow him to use her as a crutch.
Finally they crossed the border enough that they were comfortable to turn and watch as the destruction they had left behind them slowly began to settle back into its ebony normality once again.
Then, tired, exhausted, dirty, and rendered mute with fatigue they turned to the West, and pumped the remainder of their waning supply of chakra to their legs for the final stretch home.
The trip home was relatively short, and - compared with what they had been through over the last few days - had been a relaxing journey. They had both run as fast as they were able to on their remaining supply of chakra, and had taken to the trees as soon as they became dense enough as they approached closer to Konoha. They were no longer masking their chakra, nor keeping up a pretence of any kind, as their cover had long been blown they could see no point. All they wanted was to get home a swiftly as possible. It had gone without a hitch.
Neither had uttered a word during their entire journey, partially because they were both almost incapable of speaking anyway due to using the full concentration of their chakra to travel, but mostly because neither one was willing to speak first.
As they entered the dark and quiet early morning streets of Konoha however, and Sakura gave the Hokage tower a wide berth before continuing without pause towards her apartment block, Sasuke's curiosity got the better of him. He waited just outside the little rusty gate that stood between her humble front garden and the dusty street, and as she ascended her front steps and reached her keys toward the burgundy door he found himself unwilling to part with her on these silent terms.
"Shouldn't we-"
"-Goodnight, Sasuke."
"Aren't we going to report to Tsunade?"
"No. I'm going to bed."
"But-"
"-I can't see my shishou like this!" she turned on him suddenly and hissed at him angrily, grasping the hem of her torn dress and throwing it up disgustedly as if were some kind of diseased rag.
Sasuke just stared at her, baffled. Women were so strange sometimes . . .
"Look, I'm the mission leader and I say we shall report to her in the morning . . . . We're not even supposed to be back till tomorrow anyway." She ascended the last step and grasped hold of her door handle. She looked back at him testily over one shoulder. "If I were you, I would get some sleep."
She went to enter her apartment, but paused suddenly and turned back to look at him with a raised eyebrow that was probably pink and perfectly manicured, but at the moment was brown and still clogged with mud. "I don't know why you're in such a hurry to see her anyway . . . she's probably going to tear you to shreds!"
And with that she was gone, slamming the door in her wake.
So Sasuke did the only thing he could do. He turned and headed home.
Sakura stood leaning against her door as she listened to the Uchiha's footfalls drawing away from her front yard.
She knew it was wrong not to report directly to Tsunade. But she couldn't.
Number one, she was exhausted, and the thought of having to break the news of their failure and having to listen to Tsunade derailing Sasuke for an hour or two was the last thing in the world she wanted right now. All she wanted was to have a nice hot shower and wash away all of this filth and the memories of their mission, before falling into her nice soft, comfy bed and sleeping for about ten hours straight.
Number two – and yet probably most importantly of all – she was being truthful when she said to Sasuke she couldn't see her shishou like this. It wasn't just the mud and bruises and scratches and the fact that she had ruined the beautiful dress that Tsunade had given her that she had promised to guard with her life . . . it was the fact that she currently reeked of sex. She knew it, and Tsunade would know it too. She would only have to take one look at her student to know that she was currently glowing with something other than the sheen of mud and sweat.
Also, her over-bearing sensei would take one look at the state of her and insist that she be allowed to examine her thoroughly herself for any internal injuries. That wouldn't have been so bad, except that Sakura knew from past experiences of examining Ino after a particularly rough night out on the town that to even a novice medic the signs of post-orgasmic activity within the body were glaringly obvious. Tsunade would know within seconds of touching her. That was the only problem with having such a crafty sensei. She couldn't hide anything from her.
Sakura plodded from the front door through her living room and down the hall towards the bathroom, shedding her clothes along the way. She tossed the sopping brown bundle into the laundry room as she passed it and walked into the bathroom, where she leaned straight into the shower and spun the mixer to allow the water to run hot.
She sat on the lip of the bath while she waited for it to heat up, and reassured herself that she was doing the right thing. Yes, she would report to Tsunade after a long sleep-in and a satisfying breakfast and not a moment sooner.
I mean hey, wasn't it Einstein who said 'Why do today, what you can put off until tomorrow'?
Sasuke took his time as he strolled down one of Konoha's narrower streets on his way back to the Uchiha complex. His hands were thrust characteristically deep into his pockets, and he wore a thoughtful expression on his face as he pondered over all that had occurred in the past forty-eight hours or so.
Ok, he had fucked up. He didn't admit his weaknesses out loud much (because one of his weaknesses was that he didn't want anybody to know that he did, in fact, have weaknesses) but a major weakness of his was that he did not like to fuck up anything.
But this time, he readily admitted to himself that he had messed up big time. He had spent too long with the freedom that came with being a missing-nin, a rogue that didn't answer to anyone but himself, and he'd temporarily forgotten that his actions had consequences that he now actually gave a shit about. For example, his imminent demotion. He would most certainly be sent back to the academy, forced to start again with the toddlers and the five year olds, and no doubt end up being the local joke; 'Ex-Sannin's apprentice, Elite-nin, Ruthless killer, Multi-Sharingan-wielding Uchiha, Fire Technique Jutsu-ist and 'World's No. 1 Sexiest Missing-nin as voted by ShinobIchi Magazine'-shinobi' practicing stick fighting with kids and trying to prove that he did in fact know how to perform a transformation jutsu to some pretentious pup of a Chuunin teacher whom he could probably kill with his little finger if he so desired.
Sasuke sighed. Yes, as far as his career was concerned the foreseeable future looked very humiliating indeed.
But, the question that Sasuke had been trying to answer for the last half an hour as he'd wandered aimlessly through the streets, was why, for some crazy reason, could he not find the will to care?
He'd inexplicably accepted his fate with little fuss, and it irritated him greatly, because he wanted to be pissed off but he could not for the life of him shake off the feeling of pure happiness he felt right now.
In fact, the more he thought about it, the more he realised he didn't actually care what happened to him now. No demotion, embarrassment or other such punishment from Tsunade could take this wonderful feeling away from him. He had finally found someone that he cared for more than his own life, and it didn't matter what rank he was or how long it was going to take for him to finally become a Jounin for Konoha, because he had the rest of his life to work at it, and he could share every day of it with the woman he loved.
He suddenly realised he had stopped walking and was just standing stationary in the middle of the street.
He had been walking home, but why? Delaying the inevitable wasn't going to change anything, and, quite frankly, he would rather get it over and done with and learn of his fate right now. He and Sakura had both made it back alive and unharmed in the end, and as far as he was concerned that was the most important thing.
He just prayed that Tsunade would see things the same way.
He turned around and headed back towards the Hokage tower.
Sakura cooed with pleasure as the hot water cascaded down her hair and back and soothed her tired, aching muscles.
For a glorious moment she just stood there, and allowed the blanket of water gushing over her to block out any of the torrent of thoughts which threatened to burst forth into the forefront of her mind at any second.
Of course, she was dreaming if she thought it would last.
Slowly but surely, her mind began to wander to all that had happened over the past couple of days, and the sudden unexpected intensity of this new 'situation' with Sasuke. It felt as if she had been on an emotional rollercoaster throughout the entirety of this mission, and only now that the ride had finished and she was back with two feet on the ground did the dizzying feeling begin to set in, and left her experiencing a bizarre combination of elation and nausea.
And it was mostly when she thought about the events of this past evening and early morning that she felt the most troubled.
Her natural feminine insecurities had began to take over with a firm hold.
Where did they go from here? She had done two previously unthinkable things for her that evening.
Number one, she had failed her mission. Not the end of the world for her, of course, but potentially devastating for Sasuke.
And number two, she had given herself to a team-mate, in the middle of a field, in the middle of a mission, in the middle of a WAR.
Ok, well maybe not a war. But certainly a battle, and a battle that had resulted in the pursuit of them for immediate extermination!
Her mind began to spin again, this time with the complications that would arise from the consequences of their actions this evening. She tried to put things into perspective rationally.
1. Sasuke was going to lose his rank and would be busted back to the Academy, that was a given.
But, did that really matter? It didn't matter to her whether he was a Jounin or a stable boy; he was still the same Sasuke to her.
2. She would be reprimanded for failing the mission.
She already knew that Tsunade would not be too harsh on her, the woman was practically like a mother to her and would never punish her unless absolutely necessary. And the only reason it would be necessary would be if the council ordered her to be punished because of serious consequences to Konoha due to her actions, which led to...
3. Would there be serious consequences for Konoha?
Everyone knew that public relations between Fire and Lightning were not exactly what you would call 'friendly'. In fact there had been bad blood between them ever since the plot to kidnap Hinata, the Hyuuga heiress years ago. So hey, what was one more issue between old enemies?
So, when she thought about it, that really only left one thing that could tip the balance.
How would Sasuke react to being demoted?
Her head drooped against the shower wall as reality sunk in.
Based purely on past behaviour, Sakura didn't think there was much hope for things to turn out all right after all.
Sasuke stood motionless in front of the double doors that lead into the Godaime's office.
For a brief second he thought seriously about backing out. He could just turn around now, go back home and spend what little remained of the early hours of the morning trying to come up with a sufficient story that might miraculously cause the Godaime to go easy on him. He was also certain that it would be better for him to wait till he had Sakura with him to see the Hokage. Her young apprentice seemed to have a somewhat calming affect on Tsunade's infamous temper, and he was most certainly not doing himself any favours by reporting to her alone.
But no, it was too late to back out now. He had come this far, and he was determined to get this over and done with as soon as possible, so that he could accept the consequences of his actions and start to rebuild his life in Konoha and his career as soon as possible.
He slowly lifted his hand from his side, and knocked on the ominous doors before him.
At first there was no reply, and for a brief second he thought he had gotten lucky and she wasn't in her office yet. But then after a moment he heard the distinct bark of the Hokage's voice calling through the doors.
"Come in."
Sasuke took a deep breath, held his head high, and pushed his shoulders back.
Then he grasped hold of the door handle . . .
. . . and walked into the Lion's den.
Thankyou to all my loyal readers who have been trying to get me to put a new chapter out for a very long time! I hope you are still reading! :)
Reviews are appreciated :)