Chapter 13: Morning in the Hidden Leaf

The next morning, Sasuke woke up extremely early and could not fall back to sleep. He lay in the bed looking up at the ceiling and waiting for the inevitable; the sounds of Tsubaki and Isamu getting ready for classes at the Academy. The longer he waited for it, the quieter the house seemed. Odd, he thought, they should be up by now.
Sasuke rolled out of bed and ventured out into the house. It was still dark outside, the moon was just starting to disappear in the west and the stars were just beginning to twinkle out of sight. The house was still and quiet, no bickering preteens, no various disasters throughout the two-leveled house, no noise at all. It was the first time he had heard the house silent, and it was a bit unnerving.
It reminded him of the morning following Itachi's forced genocide of his clan, his house had been silent that morning, and silent every morning after that…
He shook the thought away like a heavy burden, and breathed deeply trying to keep the eerie thought at bay. This was not the Uchiha Compound, this was Naruto and Sakura's home; and everyone was just asleep still. So there was nothing to worry about.
Sasuke went back up to his room and changed, he wanted some time alone; to think and not spend most of the time trying to avoid Naruto, who would want to do something with him, Sakura who would want to talk to him, Tsubaki who would spend all her time staring at him, and Isamu. So he was going to leave before they all woke up, and walk around the village thinking.
The sky had lightened to a soft gray when he left the house, but it was fading in the east with the rising of the sun. It would not be much longer before the sun was up and the village would come to life with children running around laughing, mothers herding their children around while they went about their daily business, shinobi and citizen alike watching him like they he was about to lash out and destroy the village. They would look away when they thought he was looking, but they would turn back to him as soon as they thought it was safe again; he wanted a little time before all that started.
He breathed in deeply as he walked in silence looking at the village, there were less trees now, they were still abundant, but not quite as much as it had been before, and the buildings were missing the rustic charm, was that the way to describe how the village had looked before? It had a new look, a new feel, a new… everything.
So not only was he out of place here, in his childhood home, it was all new, all different, and somewhat confusing. But he was here, he had given up on everything else; this was it now, the village, Naruto, Sakura and all the others, this was where he was and who he was going to be from now on. Granted thirty-two was not the best time to decide who you are going to be, since half of your life is already behind you, but it was a good time to restart, right?
He sighed sitting down on one of the benches lining the street. He wanted to start over. He was going to start over, pretend the last nineteen years had never happened. That meant he was going to work as a shinobi here in the village with all his comrades. They were his comrades, they had never given up on him and now he was going to prove that all their effort had not been wasted. He was also going to marry and have children, he would restart his clan, making it as strong and powerful as before, but not arrogant. He would lead a normal peaceful life with a family and steady work with his friends.
He was going to revamp his life for the better. And the first step was to find an apartment and move out of Naruto's house. From there he could begin again, form a life; a real life.
Sasuke was not sure how long he had been walking around the village, but it was coming to life now and people he had yet to run into during his stay at the village were seeking him out. Rock Lee was the first, he came bounding down the street, filled with the vibrancy he had always showed when they were genin, and was tailed by a boy dressed like him, it was like a mini Rock Lee.
"Uchiha Sasuke!" he said leaping to a stop in front of him. "It's good to see you again!" he more or less shouted. "I would like to stay and talk, but I have to finish my exercises this morning before I have to meet Lady Tsunade! If you want you can join us."
"No thanks, I don't think I would be able to keep up with you," Sasuke smiled jokingly.
"Well the offer will always stand, if you want to join us," Lee shouted and took off again. Sasuke watched in slight shock as Rock Lee bounded off, the mini-me steps behind him.
Second he ran into Kiba Inuzuka, he was accompanied by a pair of huge dogs; Sasuke could not tell if one of them was Akamaru or not, and a girl around the same age as Tsubaki with a puppy sitting on top of her head. "Ah, good morning Sasuke," Kiba greeted smiling.
"Good morning Kiba." He returned stopping to talk, since Kiba did not seem to be in a hurry to go somewhere like Lee had. "And who is this? He asked turning to the girl.
"Inuzuka Hotaru," she said almost defiantly looking at him with a cross between a raised brow and a pointed glare. Kiba laughed and dropped his hand on the girls shoulder to avoid hitting the dog.
"How have you been Sasuke? I meant to come find you during the festival, but," he stopped, thinking of why he had not come to see Sasuke.
"You where with Shino, Chouji and Shikamaru drinking." Hotaru supplied the missing information. "Mom had to come take you home, because Akamaru couldn't steer you anywhere near the compound." Kiba grinned broadly at Hotaru, who sighed rolling her eyes.
"So what are you up to this morning?" Kiba asked changing the subject.
"Just walking around, getting to know the village," Sasuke replied. Kiba nodded.
"It is a lot different since we rebuilt," Kiba dropped his hand from his daughter's shoulder and on to the head of one of the dogs. "I love to stay and chat, but I've got to get this guy home." He smiled rubbing the dog behind his ears.
"You're welcome to walk with us, we can catch up." Sasuke shook his head, not wanting to impose, especially since Hotaru did not seem thrilled to be in his company. Kiba shrugged, "We'll have to talk later then," waving Kiba walked away with the dogs and Hotaru in tow.
Next were Ten Ten and Hinata. The waved him over smiling and invited him to join them as they continued down the street. They chatted lightly about the weather and Sasuke's plans now that he had returned to the village. He talked to them vaguely about what he wanted to do, they wouldn't be interested in the details. When he parted ways with them near the Hyuuga Compound, he smiled and waved farewell as he continued on without them.
It was almost noon when Sasuke worked his way back around to the Uzumaki house. Isamu was walking out the door as Sasuke started up the walk. "I would not go in there," he said warningly as he passed Sasuke. "Mom and dad are being all," he shuddered, shaking his head, continuing on to the street. "It's nasty, just so you know." He gave the final warning and then was gone.
Sasuke looked up at the house and then back to where Isamu had been when he last saw him. Did he really want to go in there if Naruto and Sakura were doing something that made Isamu shudder?
No, not really. But he was getting hungry, and he still lacked the funds to pay for a meal out in the village. So he had to go in. He took a deep breath and continued to the door.
For the most part the house was quiet, but he could hear people talking, it sounded like it was coming from the kitchen, so that was where he needed to avoid; but that was where the food was. He sighed and started for the kitchen, as he pushed open the talking stopped, and when he entered the kitchen Sakura was sitting at the table and Naruto was leaning against one of the counters. Sasuke smiled as he entered heading for the refrigerator, to get something and then retreat to a different part of the house to eat it.
After he had what he came for, Sasuke turned to leave but a hand on his shoulder stopped him. Smiling he turned to find Naruto forcing a smile at him. What had he done?
"Sasuke, I need to talk to you."