Artes animi.
Disclaimer :I don't own Naruto.
An : So I am back, I hope you will enjoy the chapter.
Chapter 28.
People were talking, the noise of glass rattling and drunk laughs filled the air.
A man fell asleep on the side table, his face landing into a the bowl of soup he was eating from, causing a splash around him.
Another man was clinging to a bottle of sake as if it was his last anchor in the world.
A woman laughed loudly, before throwing a spoon at someone, the utensil flying way of, causing the woman to curse.
Lifting his cup close to his mouth, Sakurai sipped lightly from the red liquid in the glass cup in his hands.
Closing his eyes, he enjoyed the sensation of the liquid on his tongue, or at least pretended to before putting the glass back on the counter.
He liked it here, the place was filled with so many emotions it made him feel alive, even though he definitely didn't like the establishment all that much.
He took the cup up once again enjoying the sensation he got from one of patrons, the bliss the man got from his cup of beer mixed with anger and frustrations were like a balm on his heart.
The door opened, and a young woman, barely older than himself walked in, making a beeline toward the counter.
"Is this place free?" she asked, pointing at seat near him.
He nodded absent-mindley, still intoxicated by the amount of emotions in the room.
Seating down, she ordered a cup of wine causing the barman to frown at her.
"How old are you?" he asked her.
Sighing she put her hand into the small pouch she had with her, taking out a hitai ate.
"Old enough" was the reply.
The man sighed shaking his head but brought her the cup nonetheless.
Sakurai could feel the man's disgust.
Not that he shared the man's views, after all if they were old enough to kill they were old enough to drink as well.
Taking the glass in her hands the girl stirred it up a little bit, before taking a sip.
Sakurai looked at her for a long moment, she looked familiar.. But from where?
She had a shoulder length dark hair, her eyes were dark blue.
She wasn't a beauty by any means, but could be called pretty.
Shaking his head, the boy focused on her once again... She looked familiar.
She looked up at him sensing his stare, her eyes narrowing "Do I have something on.. ?" she started asking when the boy's eyes suddenly widen.
"Kurumi?" he asked "Is that really you?".
The girl looked stunned for a second before her own eyes lightened up "Sakurai?"
"So it is you" he said "I thought I recognized you from somewhere, but damn, Kurumi you sure changed a lot, I barely recognized you"
She smiled at him "You're one to talk, I didn't see you for three years and you've already got yourself a scar"
Sakurai nodded, his senses extending to touch her emotions.
There was surprise, delight and.. Shame?
Some hatred? Towards who?
And then there was this feeling.. This feeling he knew so well.. The void.. The emptiness.
This was curious, curious and.. Repulsive.
Repulsive? Where did that come from?
He felt repulsed.. By the emptiness?
No, he realized.. He was afraid of it, scared that it would latch onto him.. And yet he felt oddly drawn towards it as well.
Shaking his head he flashed her a smile.
"So, Kurumi.. What have you been up to since you graduated?"
"Nothing much, missions you know" she said, smiling.
But while her voice was filled with confidence, her emotions were telling something else entirely..
She was ashamed and angry and the feeling of emptiness...
This was truly overwhelming, and he had to physically shake his head to clear it from that.
"How about you? What have you been up to?"
"Nothing much, some cleaning around and some stuff, but nothing out of the ordinary" he replied and was surprised to see her eyes widen slightly, she understood what he meant.. Curious.
"I see" was all she said as she stirred the cup of wine, but to his surprise for whatever reason he felt something akin to sympathy from her.
No not sympathy, understanding.
They chatted for a while longer before Sakurai decided to call it a night and head back home.
Paying the bill, he got up turning to the girl "Wanna go talk a little bit? Catch up?"
The girl looked surprised at the offer but nodded nonetheless.
"I'll be out in a minute, so how about we'll meet outside?" she asked.
The boy nodded, walking outside.
He wasn't sure himself what caused him to ask her, but for some reason he felt a sense of camaraderie with her.. Maybe it was the emptiness he felt from within her.
The doors opened and Kurumi walked out, joining him.
They walked in silence for a while, enjoying the gentle breeze and the light of the full moon.
Finally, the girl broke the silence.
"Say, Sakurai... Do you ever feel regret?"
At his questioning gaze she elaborated "For choosing a shinobi career".
For a long moment he said nothing, closing his eyes.
He knew what she meant, regret was a single feeling he felt constantly.
"Indeed" he nearly whispered his gaze falling on his hands, the hands that were bathed with blood, the hands that held the hands he betrayed, averting his eyes in disgust he looked up back at her "But I also understand that there isn't much of a choice.. It's not like we can just change the world".
Extending his senses he felt her emotions stir yet again, though this time they were warmer.. She wasn't happy no.. But she understood what he meant, and was glad to meet someone who felt the same.
At the same time the void in her resurfaced once again and the warm feeling retreated.
Something was weighing on her, but he decided against asking, he guessed she was connected to Anbu, and she most likely couldn't talk about it, just like him.
She flashed him a smile and nodded "True enough" she stifled a yawn "But that does not stop us from feeling remorse".
He looked up, to the moon "Yes, remorse..." he didn't say anything else opting to continue walking down the alley.
The continued in silence until she yawned again.
"I think I should be going home.. I can barely stand on my feet" she said
He nodded "Do you need me to escort you home? You live in the civilian area are you not?"
She shook her head "No, it's fine I can get there alright, but thank you for the offer"
"Very well then" he said "Have a good night"
She nodded and turned around walking away before turning around "Sakurai!" she called him causing him to turn around.
" Thank you for keeping me company for tonight, it was nice seeing you once again" she said before turning around once again and vanishing in a swirl of leaves.
For a moment he stood there, looking at the place where she just was, before shaking his head and walking home.
A few moments later he reached his house, silently unlocking the door and walking in.
To his surprise, his uncle was seating behind the table in the living room, and apparently waiting for him.
"And where were you young man?" his uncle asked sternly.
"I just met a freind, and we had a small chat" the boy answered, seeing no reason to mention where exactly did he meet said freind.
Inoichi frowned but nodded all the same "And who exactly is this freind?" he asked.
"Kurumi"
The frown on the man's face deepened "Ah" he asked, and Sakurai detected a small hint of disgust in his uncle's eyes.
"Yes".
The man nodded "Very well Sakurai, you can go to bed" the man said his gaze returning to the document in front of him.
Doing just that, the boy stopped for a single moment in front of the mirror, his hand touching the scar on his face.
"Regret.. Eh?" he muttered before getting into his bed, and falling asleep quickly.
He woke up sore, his mood sour.
He wasn't sure why, maybe it was because the talk about regrets he had yesterday, but that night he dreamed of Mai looking at him with accusing eyes.
The rest of the morning didn't improve his mood, and when Fu Yamanaka decided to show up and leave him a small note his mood turned even worse.
A few hours later, he stood in the clearing where the note specified, waiting for the one man he realy didn't want to meet right now.
Silently he hoped the man wouldn't show up, but alas he had no such luck.
From the shadows the man emerged, and Sakurai decided to try and touch the man's mind, and shuddered.
The man was cold, his emotions filled with nothing but cold fury and hard stone jealousy.. And ambition.. So much ambition.
This man was a monster, plain simple.
"It's a pleasure to meet you again Sakurai, let me personally welcome you back" the man spoke coldly, his voice holding no emotions whatsoever.
"Shimura Danzo" Sakurai greeted, enjoying the ping of annoyance he felt from his clansman.
"I see you're not in the mood for pleasantries, that's good.. I am here about the deal we made"
Sakurai wanted to grown, he completely forgot about it.. What the hell was his younger self thinking making a deal with that kind of person?
He needed out of it.. The faster the better.
"Well? What about it?" he asked.
"I need something from you" the man said.
Sakurai blinked before narrowing his eyes "I am afraid not, Danzo" he said, enjoying the feeling of surprise coming from the man.
"I beg your pardon?" the older man said.
"You've heared me, Danzo.. I said I don't think so. I can't trust you to keep your end of the bargain.. Not without you actually giving me something in return first".
Danzo frowned "Then I am afraid we are quite in a problem Yamanaka san, you see I also can't trust you to hold your end either.. So we just have to trust each other"
Sakurai shook his head "No, I don't think so Shimura. I can not trust a man who does not feel remorse, I can not trust you at all"
The man was now irritated "Does that means that you want to break the deal?"
Inwardly Sakurai smiled "You said that, not me" he replied.
The man gritted his teeth "You are making a mistake Yamanaka. I can be a very powerful ally.."
Sakurai narrowed his eyes "Is that a threat?" he asked, inwardly cursing for letting himself be dragged into this situation, the man was indeed dangerous, even to someone like him.
The older man shook his head "No, not at all".
Sakurai turned around "Then we are finished here" he said.
Danzo nodded stiffly, but inwardly he was shimmering in fury, his cold anger turning into a hot magma.
But he knew he couldn't touch the boy.. Not when there was a possibility he had a failsafe.. That what he himself would do.
Having no other choice the man left, taking Fuu with him, a moment after Sakurai vanished from there in a swirl of leaves.
Standing back in the leaving room, Sakurai breathed in relief.. He was a fool, a complete fool for getting close to the devil himself without making any fail safe.
He was just glad the old monster overestimated his preparations.
He really did need to make one.. And that means only one thing.
It was going to be uncomfortable and he would have to reveal at least his ability to read the surface thoughts and most likely get quite the punishment, but it was nothing compared to his life being safe.
He needed to talk to his uncle.
The blonde man listened carefully, his expression stern, from time to time nodding to himself.
Finally he looked up, a sigh escaping his mouth.
"The thing that I am most angry here Sakurai, is that you didn't feel comfortable to talk to me about it all until your life was in danger" he massaged his eyes wearily "I sometimes forget that you're only twelve years old" he sighed "Don't worry about it, I'll make sure that Danzo will stay away from you. But in exchange I want you to promise that if anything like that ever comes up again you'll come and talk to me" he narrowed his eyes "Do you understand?".
Sakurai nodded "Thank you uncle" he mumbled.
The man's features softened as he got closer to the boy, giving him a small hug.
"You can trust me, Sakurai... Always".
The boy returned the hug.
"I know.. I am sorry uncle".
End of chapter 28.
And that's it for the chapter.. Honestly the entire last part of the chapter was made specifically to retcon the mistake I made beforehand by connecting the two.
It was unnecessary and stupid, it was unnecessary and was just for an arc I planned but after thinking about it once again I decided to scrap that arc.
Sakurai will still have some dealings with Danzo, but it's going to be on a quite different wavelength.