A/N: Let me start with apologizing for an omission last chapter in my thanks to the anon readers and that's to Carmen. Sorry sorry- mind was numb with painkillers for the tooth! Thank you all who read, extra smooches to those who take the time to review and offer feedback- really REALLY appreciate it. :-D Thanks my anon readers Kakashi's Dog [Thank you! Sakura – Sai will be coming up after this one… with some Sasuke. ;-), Shikamaru's Secret Love [Thank you. :-D I like ambiguity. Hehe, Naruto101 and of course my "?"[I can't rush stuff even if I try so that works. Hehe I want you to know that I DID consider throwing a thong in the chapter for the hell of it! Lol You crack me up. .

I had started to write the Sakura-Sai chapter, but after a couple of pms I realized I was messing with continuity if I left this one for later. So extra thanks to TWNJ for helping out with consistency. .

Disclaimer: I own the splinter in this chapter. ;-D

Tides and Ebbs of Honesty

Tide 7: Splinters

Uchiha Sasuke was well beyond pissed and treading to the very dangerous seeing-red territory- quite literally at that, considering his Sharingan and all. And, in spite of what people thought, that was unusual for him. Generally he was considered quick tempered with a very short fuse, but, in reality, most of his outburst were dramatic for show. Because that made people think twice about upsetting him again. Overall though, he recognized that anger- much like fear- rendered for poor decisions and ill-advised reactions. Having accepted that- through experience- he tried to avoid the emotion, when he could. Right now, he couldn't.

He felt Kakashi's gaze resting on him for a moment and hoped that there was actual fume coming out of his ears to sufficiently obstruct his view. He was certain that the older man was laughing at his expense- and with fairly good reason.

Konoha's once-upon-a-time rising star was returning from a D-ranker with a limp. It wasn't even due to unforeseen combat action- oh no, the mission itself had been so boring, he would have much rather watched paint dry. The last Uchiha was limping his way back home, because Kakashi was a cheap bastard and booked them a contemptible excuse of a room the previous night. All was well, until he woke up and stepped on the wooden floor bare-footed and right on a splinter. Probably the only splinter on the entire sorry inn, but it was there, waiting for him. The paranoid him had already provided karmic reasons that explained why that prickly piece of would was currently giving him grief. The fact that he had not said anything to avoid embarrassment, had nothing to do with it. Nor did the fact that by the time Kakashi noticed that there was a problem, his toe had been infected; the reddish purple should have been a dead giveaway for that one. The Jounin had not laughed or taunted as he inspected his swelling toe and declared it an infection, and that's how Sasuke knew that he was secretly laughing his butt off at his expense.

The raven stared at his oversized toe, turning an unhealthy deeper purple, mournfully. Sakura was going to have to heal this- no matter how hectic her schedule- because he sure as hell wasn't telling anyone else. Including the Dobe.

Speaking of which, he had lost track of the times he had wished the loud blonde was there. There, but completely unaware of his plight, if he could have it. And maybe he could, because Naruto could be clueless about the most obvious things- though he appeared to be a lot more alert around him since his return. Sasuke wondered if perhaps his friend was still uncertain about his decision to stay in Konoha and couldn't really blame him. Sometimes he still wondered what he was doing there; mostly when the blonde was away, his presence becoming an unexpected necessity. He would not say that out loud, of course, among other things. Somewhere along the line, the idea of hurting Naruto had become an emotional splinter the likes of which were impossible to remove. The thought drew a smile that he himself could not understand.

"We should be in Konoha before nightfall." Kakashi said, looking up at the sun for a moment. "Unless you need a break."

Fumes out of his ears darkened to black smoke, he was sure. He had certainly survived worse wounds than a splinter. And the wound on his toe would never measure up to the wound in his pride. "I'm fine, Kakashi." He spat.

He was hoping that it was mere paranoia that made him think he heard a muffled chuckle, because Kakashi did look sober when he turned his way. Not that one could ever really know… Sasuke needed a distraction or he'd attack the Jounin, legitimate reasons or not. He would break probation and Naruto would have to kill him on account of his mood just being that foul. It occurred to him that he had never appreciated the amount of stress relief that the blonde brought in missions with his loud comments and his silly ways.

Naruto and Sakura…Both of whom were currently otherwise engaged in their own tasks.

Though it had not been the first time that he had set off on his own with Kakashi, leaving the other two behind, it had never been for a mission. Training maybe, but even then the idea that there were at least two people back home waiting for him made it almost feel good. The boy in him liked the idea of being missed. Another epiphany he had was that, even as he had presumed to have severed his bonds, he had never cut the umbilical cord to Team 7. When he had left, they had been a three-man-cell and far from ready to separate for missions. The stubborn part of him that refused and rejected all change, had expected that nothing would be different, even as everything had changed. The part of him that tried and failed to pull out the splinters of Time.

Absurd… He scolded himself.

"Ma, Sasuke, you have been so quiet. Are you sure you're not in pain?" Kakashi asked, his tone deceptively concerned.

"You are a bad actor, Kakashi." Sasuke accused, not bothering to play along this time.

The silver-haired Jounin merely arched an innocent brow. Sasuke hated how his ex-mentor had always found his insults or threats- at best- merely amusing. Maybe he really didn't realize that he was no longer the boy he knew. Maybe he didn't think that it wasn't beyond him to freakin glare him to death… quite literally, with all the Sharingan jutsus he knew now. He tried to bridle his present temper. If he ended up going psycho on someone, he'd confirm some peoples' assumptions that he beat up on others to make himself feel better. He wondered who the hell had started that rumour anyway. If it was Kakashi, he'd have to kill him on principal. Or maybe it was that brat Konohamaru, because he bore a remarkable resemblance to Naruto that age. Only darker… and about as immature… and still missing that tooth. He doubted there ever was or ever would be a tooth there.

"You need to be more trusting of people's concern." Kakashi said casually, almost like reading a line out of his book.

This time he glared, however grateful he felt that his previous train of thought had come to a halt. "When it's honest, I am."

"Such cruel words, Sasuke-kun."

Sasuke noted that Kakashi had not even tried to fake hurt. Their conversations often resembled the lines of a script that they read out loud without actually trying to act them out. Like Kakashi, he was a bad actor himself. The two of them had been sharing a roof for the past several months, so it was becoming increasingly difficult to take each other seriously or get under each other's skin. In spite of their age difference, they had not developed the father-son relationship. Kakashi was many things- a teacher, a comrade, a confidant- but none of them was a father figure. Sasuke, for his part, had been mourning his dead father for years, avenged his death and had finally made his peace with being the last of his line. What they did have, though, was a deep understanding that had amazed him.

"I'm sorry I hurt your feelings, sensei." he jabbed back on the same note.

The verbal sparring was amusing enough to them both- more so now that the tedious D-rank was over. Still, there was something nagging at the back of Sasuke's mind and it gained ground the more he tried to ignore or dispel it. There had been a certainty in him that his first mission out of Konoha would have been with Naruto. It was a purely unsubstantiated conviction, but all the same, he had been taken aback to hear that it would be Kakashi instead. And for some reason, the more he thought about it, the more it got to him that the blonde had not objected at all. It was a mental splinter, this one, and it made his mind swell with confusion about both their reactions. Naruto shouldn't have been that cool about it and he shouldn't have been quite that bothered. Something in him was sinking and he couldn't even tell what it was.

"You look like there something bothering you." Kakashi uncharacteristically probed. "You already said it's not your toe."

Sasuke shook his head. He could try to glare again- for all it was worth- but he knew it was useless. "Nothing of your concern."

Kakashi's visible eye moved to him. "As long as you are under my supervision it is. For all I know, you could be planning to assassinate the Hokage."

This time he did glare. "You know it's nothing like that. You're just fishing."

"To fish, would suggest that there's something to catch." Kakashi returned to his book. "In any case, why not think that? You'd be more favored by the next in line to become Hokage."

A scoff. "If you're talking about the Dobe, the Elders would not accept him at this point."

The Jounin arched a brow. "But you would consider it, if they were to accept him?"

It was mostly theoretics, but the amount of time Sasuke took to consider his answer made him close the book and instead turn his attention to the boy walking beside him. "Sasuke?"

Kakashi was very good at phrasing his name as a threat. Sasuke was just as good at dismissing it. "No. Tsunade means too much to Naruto. It would cost more than it's worth." Then he smiled haughtily. "Unless you'd prefer I say something like, 'Oh no, how could you ever think that of me! I love our Hokage-sama'."

The older man merely blinked, before returning to his Icha-Icha book. "No. I prefer that you do this for Naruto."

That drew a frown from him. "Why?"

"Loyalty is a good answer. If your loyalty to Konoha or Konoha's Hokage is not a prominent factor yet, it's good that your loyalty to a Konoha ninja is." Kakashi's eye closed in the crescent that suggested he was smiling under his mask. "You and Naruto seemed quite close last time, so I'll believe you."

Sasuke rolled his eyes and smirked. "I was wondering when this would come up." He turned to the older man with a cocky attitude that was uniquely Uchiha's, splinters and swollen toes forgotten for a moment. "You disappoint me, Kakashi. I thought you were saving it for when you could really embarrass me with it." He started walking again, adding a parting. "Getting soft in your old age?"

He had made it about ten steps ahead, before he froze at Kakashi's reply. "Trust me, Sasuke… one of these days you will do something so outrageous, you won't need any help from me."

A chill went up his spine, knowing, without looking, that the Copy Ninja was smiling wittingly. That smile was not meant to tease, but to warn. It meant he had seen something that no Sharingan or Byakugan could perceive; only the eye of experience. Kakashi had plenty of that. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"Oh, nothing." Kakashi walked up to him, then past him unruffled by the tension that overtook the boy. "What would I know in my old age."

Charcoal eyes narrowed at him. There was a time for verbal sparring and there was a time for straight answers. "That's what I'd like to know."

The Jounin sighed as Sasuke fell in step with him. "What am I supposed to tell you, if you haven't figured it out yourself?"

Now he was confused and defensive, feeling that his intelligence had just been insulted in some way. "Figured out what? What are you talking about?"

"I'm sure you'll figure it out eventually." He was delving into his Icha-Icha book again, apparently considering the matter over. "You're a genius, ne?"

Sasuke's previously foul mood just hit rock bottom with that snare, so he proceeded to snatch the book from his ex-mentor's grasp, demanding his attention. "So, it is your belief that I will mess up at something, even though I have yet to figure out what that is."

Kakashi's visible eye moved from Sasuke to his obsession of a book that the boy was currently fanning at him. "You will mess up, because you haven't figured out what it is."

The raven moved further back as Kakashi reached for his book. "You are making less sense than usual."

The Jounin took a deep breath. "There are three real enemies one must face and defeat in life." And even though the boy rolled his eyes, he continued. "Himself, his fear, and his confusion. And you, Sasuke, have neither faced nor defeated any of them."

And with that, in a flash of a moment, Kakashi moved up behind him and retrieved his book. He coolly retraced the page he was on and started walking. Sasuke, for his part, watched him stunned. It dawned upon him that the older man could have done that all along and was simply indulging him. If something was going to be his downfall, it would be pride and that ugly habit he had to underestimate people and things. He had to learn to, every so often, admit that he wasn't quite on target- not necessarily wrong, but definitely not right.

Sasuke started walking again. "And you have?"

"No." was the off-handed reply.

It was a surprise. The man had spoken as though he knew- really knew- what it was like to fight against those spectral enemies. "No?"

"Some of us don't have what it takes to fight and win. Most of us choose to fight anyway." Kakashi answered to his unspoken thoughts, never looking up from his book. "I couldn't win, so I've made my peace with them. Maybe if you succeed where I have failed, we'll understand each other less and be less alike. And maybe you won't end up alone."

Sasuke stared at the ground, because he didn't want to know what expression might go with those words. Kakashi's words were suddenly a splinter in his heart, made of truths and nightmares. It stung deeper and deeper with each beat and his heart raced with something akin to panic. Down the hill, he could see Konoha bathing in the last rays of a glorious sunset and all he really wanted to do was run. Run somewhere that those thoughts did not echo so tangible and foreboding. Anywhere that he could find someone that could remove that splinter. Unbridled, his mind ran off to the Dobe.

A hand on his shoulder brought him rather violently out of his thoughts. Kakashi was watching him quietly, his usual gamely mood having abandoned his frame. The touch was not comforting, but it was solid and that's what he needed. Or rather, not what he needed per se, but all he would allow himself to receive.

"Let's forget about all that for now. It's late and we are both tired." Kakashi then proceeded to smile. "Besides, it's not so bad being me. Ask the ladies."

The raven arched a brow and smirked a little. "Ask your students."

The Jounin chuckled at that. Sasuke's features relaxed into a soft smile, allowing those thoughts that plagued him to ebb back into the depths of his mind. He let his usual confidence seep into him, assuring himself that he could win where others had failed. And yet he couldn't explain why the most soothing thought to him was seeing Naruto. He wanted to deny it, but he knew that he didn't deserve such a caring and supportive person in his life. In fact, he had to consider himself lucky that the blonde was more naive than a newborn puppy when it came to people's innate goodness, or he'd never have fared a second chance.

Sasuke winced as his infected toe throbbed with each step, yet, given the option there and then, he would choose to limp all the way to Suna, however many splinters sting with every single step.

::looks around uncertainly:: So yeah… that was Chappie 14… Started all upbeat, but the Kakashi had to speak and I don't know what the hell happened… dammit, I can't write Kakashi upbeat… at least not for long. Heh Next Chapter will be the Sakura –Sai one, but it will start off with Sasuke… we need to take care of his toe, right?

Thank you all for your patience during my tooth-aching period. I hope you enjoy this one…

Kisses and huggies!

Ja!

M.