In three years alone she feels like she's aged about ten.

The council chamber currently mimics a scene from two years prior, because two years prior upon hearing the increasingly worrying reports about Iwa's mobilization in the northern eastern territories near the Land of Earth's borders, Danzo demanded that the jinchuriki be returned to Konoha immediately.

Naturally, Tsunade bypassed this request but it hadn't been easy. The politics of a hidden village was deadly business, and it'd been so long since she had to navigate this viper's nest, and somehow she still fell into the pit of snakes.

It is a rare thing to call upon the jonin council to settle a decision with a unanimous vote but it happens when the Hokage and their selected advisors cannot reach an accord. It's a scare tactic if nothing else, with the fear that the support you imagined you had from your people was little more than smoke and mirrors, rendering your title a formality.

It was a way to demonstrate the extent of one party's support and call the other's bluff, to make them cave and avoid that possibility altogether. But it was a double-edged sword. Had she rejected Danzo's request to use the jonin council he would have seen it as a sign of weakness and uncertainty in her own rule. She could hear him now, spreading lies and rumors to make that reality real.

Perhaps our Hokage simply doesn't trust our esteemed council's judgment , he would say to them, nor does she have much faith in your faith in her.

Instead, she'd taken him up to the challenge, a decision that could prove to be just as fatal.

In the end, the jonin council had favored her side, and a unanimous decision had been made, the votes cast, and the argument settled. Jiraiya of the Sannin would continue his training of the jinchuriki, and the training mission itself would be extended by two years due to the threat of the Akatsuki and the possible conflict with foreign sovereignty in the future. She'd repeatedly reminded them of this threat and the rumors of a possible war, the conflict between Iwa and Sound, their own past invasion at the hands of the latter, and the villages who are rumored to be without their jinchuuriki.

They're down on soldiers, she'd told them, Konoha isn't what it used to be. How bad would it be if Konoha lost their own because they wanted to put all their eggs in one basket? Brining the Jinchuriki back will only make the Hidden Leaf more susceptible to attack. How many times must our sovereignty be threatened before we realize we must exercise some form of control and deception?

The blame had been subtly laid at the past administrations' feet, the administration who'd looked on at her insult with displeased wrinkled faces.

She'd played on the council's fears well, taking the intel Jiraiya had given her, and weaving stories out of their worst nightmares. War, carnage, death. Shinobi are immune to these things, yes, but they still fear them, and if not for themselves then for their children. Especially Shikaku Nara, whose own son was now a chunin of decent caliber. She'd seen it in the man's eye that he knew should they not take precautionary measures to avoid catastrophe, his son would be at the heart of it, again . This thought had resonated with all of them, she thinks.

Oh, yes she had played on their fears well.

The thing is though, Danzo knows how to play on those fears too, maybe even better perhaps.

So here they sit, in the council chamber as they did two years ago. Their faces smoothed over like a washed stone, grave and serious. Everyone has their own copies of the recent reports Konoha has received. Tsunade had wanted these reports private, but somehow, someway, they became public knowledge among the shinobi population within Konoha and the fear was as real as ever. There was so much one could manipulate with fear.

She tries to hide the murder in her eyes, and everyone feels this anger. Danzo is pleased with himself, back as straight as ever and eyes as sharp as a hawk. Her clenched fists pop and groan in restraint.

She breathes through her nose. Control, she chants, control.

"There was an attempted kidnapping of the newly made Kazekage, Gaara of the Sand, during an inauguration ceremony at Sunagakure," she begins. " It is said that the offender was staved off by the newly elected Kazekage with the help of Jiraiya of the Sannin and his pupil, Naruto Uzumaki, the jinchuriki of the Kyuubi no Kitsune, both of who were in attendance for the inauguration ceremony. Sources believe this kidnapping attempt was made by no other than the Akatsuki organization-"

"Who have grown in abundance," Danzo cuts off. "My own sources tell me that there is a strong possibility that numerous bases dedicated to the organization are scattered across the nation. What do you suppose we do about this, Lady Hokage?"

Tsunade doesn't hide the glare she directs at him. "You obviously have your own ideas Lord Danzo, so why don't you stop playing this game and say it already,"

He ignores her clipped tone and does just that. " Lady Hokage, you yourself have reminded us numerous times that war is nigh. And despite our disagreements, this is something we can agree on. The Akatsuki becomes bolder every moment we don't publicly recognize them as a threat. Already they've attacked one of our allies, how long before they attack us? Then there is the problem that comes in the form of Iwagakure mobilizing their military and the resistance toward Iwagakure's occupation of the northeast by the radicals who have set to attack any shinobi that comes across their path,"

Yamanaka perks up to add, "I've heard rumors about the radicals being led by no other than Sasuke Uchiha, is that true?"

Tsunade brows twitched ever so slightly. She had heard those rumors but hadn't wanted to feed into them. Though perhaps she would have been better off informing them about it to at least have some measure of control over the growing case against Sasuke Uchiha. This would do nothing but further estrange him from the Leaf, regardless of the rumors being heedless or not. He can no longer be classified as a victim of brainwashing and kidnapping. After the death of Orochimaru, it is as clear as ever that Sasuke Uchiha is anything but a victim.

"I've heard these dreadful rumors as well," Koharu says, tense. Worried, Tsunade realizes. Why would she be worried? "Could it be that-"

Tsunade clicks her teeth. She can't let them do any more damage to the Uchiha's name, for Naruto's sake. "These rumors are worrying but until we have further intel on the whereabouts of Sasuke Uchiha we cannot make any baseless claims. Rumors are rumors,"

"And facts are facts," Danzo counters with a sympathetic sigh, "Kumogakure is as silent as ever, which is worrisome on its own, but we must remember the disastrous Hyuuga conflict. Who's to say they've let go of their ambition to seize one of our bloodlines for their own? The former Sound village was successful, Kumo may feel emboldened to-,"

"Get to the point already and stop speaking hypotheticals," she grits out. Already his words were starting to take effect, the shoulders on every jonin growing stiffer and stiffer, their chakra swirling with unease and nervous energy, barely hidden from her perceptive sensing abilities.

"The point is, as a village and as a nation, we need to mobilize more than ever," the silence is deafening.

Everyone knew what that meant. Early academy graduations and fewer regulations on the graduate requirements, the increase of the military state backed by the Daimyo, more immediate emergency powers chomping away at the little freedom given in their society. And most importantly the undeniability of a fourth great war.

"No," she responds curtly and heads swivel to look at her. "I will not follow a course of action that will lead us to war. I'm all about exercising caution but in the name of peace not in the pursuit of conflict. The moment we mobilize is the moment we unofficially declare war, and we don't even know who we're fighting against. The Akatsuki is as elusive as ever and despite your sources on secret bases how are we to confirm the validity of those claims or the sources in question? And who are we to suspect Iwagakure or Kumogakure of anything? Iwagakure has always been known for its neo-colonialism, and Kumogakure poses no current threat to us. Let's not shoot in the dark here,"

"So you suggest we do nothing then?"

"No, I suggest more security measures along our borders and walls,"

"Then I suggest the council, both elder and jonin, employ our own special task force completely independent of your choosing, to ensure our satisfaction with these measures,"

Tsunade could hear her teeth grinding in her ears. Deep breaths, she told herself and relaxed into her seat, folding her arms. "Very well,"

"And," the man added. "I suggest Konoha send a unit to retrieve the jinchuriki,"

"No," she states bluntly. "Returning the jinchuriki so soon after an attack from the Akatsuki makes us susceptible for an attack, I've stated this before. The most I'll allow is for a team to check up on the jinchuriki and one of my choosing and on my time,"

"Perhaps we should have the council vote on it instead then," he gestures toward the many faces that look upon her, unreadable.

This game again. Damn him , she thinks, squaring her shoulders off. "Very well,"

They leave the room, both the elders and the Hokage, so that the discussion can be had and decisions made without the influence of either party. But this time is different from the first time. The first time the decision was unanimous, as it should be, but during unprecedented times it was possible for there to be division among the jonin council, and in such cases when even they couldn't reach an accord the council went with the majority vote instead of a unanimous one.

Such was the case this time. She thanks all the gods that it is in her favor but doesn't allow herself to feel too happy about it. Because this vote is the heralding of the political struggle to come.

Naruto had never seen tensions so high in a village. The movement never ceased and the shinobi was as alert as ever.

"This is what happens during a time of crisis," Jiraiya explained. "It'll be a long while before they know a moment of peace,"

The battle that'd preceded this was clear in her mind and the fear had been real. Those Akatsuki members had been this close to capturing Gaara and had she and Jiraiya not been there she knew her friend would have truly been gone.

The single moment of ease that her friend had felt has all but disappeared and she was more likely to find him hurriedly leaving a meeting than anything else. She barely managed to snatch moments of his time and when she did, it was short-lived pleasures.

So these are the duties of a kage , she thinks. Of course, she hadn't really thought it'd be all fun in games, well, mostly fun in games, but she'd thought it would be more than this. Leaving and entering council meetings by turns, doing paperwork to sign off on decisions she wouldn't have a direct hand in.

Something about that didn't sit right with her.

"Don't hold it against Gaara, Naruto. They're debating on a course of action for the traitor," Temari claims.

They both stare at the double doors that close behind the new Kazekage and his council members.

Naruto perks up in interest. "A traitor? I didn't know there was a traitor,"

Temari nods grimly in confirmation, folding her arms with a displeased sigh. "Yes, I'm afraid there were many traitors involved with the attempted kidnapping. Though what separates this traitor from the rest is that he was one of Gaara's most trusted advisors and staunchest supporters. Even debated the entire council when some began to object against Gaara becoming the Kazekage and made Gaara his pupil," Temari shakes her head, and the disappointment is mutual between them.

Naruto knows what people are capable of after being manipulated by Mizuki, had learned that vipers could smile too, but still . She doesn't know what she'd do if Iruka-sensei and Granny Tsunade ever betrayed her like that, or Jiraiya and Kakashi-sensei. Just the thought is too much to bear.

"Gaara and the council are deciding on what to do with them based on their crimes," Temari continues, "He's arguing for a life sentence instead of execution but the council feels he should make an example of them, to scare any would-be traitors,"

"And what about you?" Naruto questioned. "What do you think?"

The older girl grit her teeth, eyes sharp and hot, "I would like to agree with the council,"

Naruto's eyes widened.

"But," Temari adds, "There were others who probably agreed with the council when they wanted my little brother assassinated. And I can understand why Gaara wants to go easy on the punishments. Thanks to someone , he believes everyone is capable of redemption, and he doesn't want to rob them of that chance. Still, with the only man who ever backed him being outed as a traitor, and being left with a council where the majority is dubious about him at best, the wisest course of action will be to execute the traitors. Though, as a last resort, Gaara plans on reaching an accord with the council, where both interests are met, as is his prerogative,"

Naruto became filled with great unease. "And what's in both of their interest?"

"A punishment that gives both the chance of life and death, with the traitors being sent to one of the most dangerous 'spice' mining companies in the Land of Wind, under a twenty-year sentence. Anyone who is sent there is as good as dead and the company would gladly accept prisoners. Prisoners equal free labor,"

The younger girl spluttered. "Now wait a minute isn't that slavery?"

Temari only shrugs. "It's either that or imminent death,"

The two teenagers stare at the council doors for a few seconds more before Temari nudges her along. "Let's not hover about. Come on, we can visit Akari. She's been asking after you since you got here,"

Naruto allows herself to be moved along, excited about meeting up with an old friend, but the possible contents of discussion happening within those council chambers weigh on her mind.

The air was still.

Though it was more than just the air that had shifted, the entire atmosphere had grown frigid and cold, faces as though they were carved from stone and ice. In the yard beneath the balcony of the palace-like office where Gaara overlooked them all, the crowd stretched out so far back, that some had to rest against the gates. All were shinobi, some who had been injured in the battle that'd preceded this moment, and others wounded in less obvious ways. All in one day, they'd been invaded, their homes destroyed, and their loved ones lost.

She remembers just a few days prior, a celebration in the streets for the newly elected Kazekage who the populous was beginning to grow fond of. Under his unofficial rule, he'd restored peace and prosperity to his lands. The markets were thriving, the rivers and wells flowing, and the people without hunger. In a village-like Sunagakure, this was all that mattered.

He'll make a great Kazekage , she'd heard people whisper among cups of desert red wine, faces flushed with jubilance. Now their pallor resembled something paler.

In the end, it was decided that the traitors would be given a twenty-year sentence working in the Wind's Great Mining Company, a company that specialized in the mining of a drug dubbed spice that was used for medicine and mass exported to the rest of the world. The conditions of the workers are rumored to be hellish, so back-breaking and soul-crushing, that the life expectancy of every worker is measured and divided in half upon their entrance.

All traitors would be met with this fate, all except one Yūra, former advisor of the Kazekage and council member of Sunagakure's esteemed council. In lieu of imprisonment, Yūra would be publicly executed, hanged.

Naruto's stomach flipped a bit at the thought. Gaara's face was impassive, betraying nothing. Temari said that this man had guided Gaara on his path to becoming Kazekage and now he was to oversee this man's execution.

She didn't want to be here, but Jiraiya had stated it would be expected of them, especially after their aid in protecting Sunagakure and its leader.

Most would agree that this is a fitting punishment. The traitor conspired against the Kazekage after all and had been willing to hand him over to an enemy as mysterious and elusive as the Akatsuki, who would have done god knows what to him. And yet, as righteous as she could be in her fury, she didn't think it was right. And if Gaara had fought against this decision, she knows he doesn't think it's right either.

The fact that he's doing it anyway baffles her. To appease the council , she reminds herself.

There's something odd about them standing in a yard, awaiting the moment a man will be hanged in front of them. Even odder that a small group of people in a meeting room could decide a citizen's fate and play god, regardless of his crimes.

There was something barbaric about it, inhumane even. But the people want it, want their retribution, and they're brimming with anticipation. So Naruto waits and watches with them, trying her best not to fidget.

The man is walked out, from where she cannot even begin to guess, but the moment he appears the crowd comes to life, their solemnity discarded. It starts with light curses and grows into pained shouts and condemnations.

This is the man who conspired against them, who allowed some foreign foe to enter their walls and terrorize them. They've lost brothers and sisters and daughters and sons. Their anger is justified, she thinks, even when she doesn't agree with how they seek to gain their justice. The anger is almost overwhelming, it feels as though it were her own, and in the depths of her mind, the Kyuubi lightly stirs, attracted to the stench of it like a shark to blood.

A gallow has been situated a few yards in front of the building, looming ominously over the emblazoned crowd. It is a slow death march, walking by the people he had once served, onto the wooden steps ascending to the platform where he will stand his last. Death comes in the shape of a rope. The man stares at it, almost blankly as it is placed around his neck.

Gaara raises a hand for silence and the crowd quiets down. "I feel there is nothing left to be said on the matter," he begins, "But should the traitor wish to speak his last words, I will listen, and I encourage you to listen as well,"

The dead man walking stares into the crowd and in return the crowd waits. The quiet becomes deafening in its intensity. Perhaps they were expecting pleading and crying and repentance and forgiveness, all the things the guilty are infamous for.

Instead, the man stands in quiet dignity. One second passes, then five, then ten. The crowd grows impatient; if he doesn't plan on doing any of those things, then there's no reason why he should still be breathing.

Gaara looks down upon the traitor, once a friend and confidant, with a face unreadable, before nodding at the hangman.

Death comes in the shape of the rope and the sickening snap that resounds across the yard to silence them all.

In the end, grief and anger remain, and Yūra does not.

She finds Gaara in his solar on his lonesome, how she usually finds him after long days, and this one has been the longest thus far.

"The beginning of my leadership is stained with bloodshed," he begins, with a bittersweet smile, "Perhaps that is simply our lot in life,"

He leans against his balcony, overlooking the village. The moon is large and luminous in its beauty, streams of glow touching one half of his body and leaving the rest in shadow. She moves to stand beside him, tries to get a better look at his face.

"You mean as jinchuuriki?" she asks and he nods. She turns away, swallowing the lump in her throat. "Don't say things that you know aren't true. It's not your fault, none of it is your fault. You can't control the actions of other people,"

"No, I suppose I can't," he sighs and then regards her with teal green eyes, as serious as she's always known him to be. "What would you have done today?"

Naruto frowns, she'd been afraid he would ask this. She answers anyhow. "I would not have executed him. I wouldn't have cared about what the council wanted,"

"So you would have sent him to the mining company then? That's just as good as killing him, with a much longer and extended death,"

"I wouldn't have done that either," she responds fiercely, "The traitors might be piece of shit human beings but they're still human beings,"

Gaara sighs once more, "You're not happy with my decisions,"

Naruto softens, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder. It was a strange thing being able to touch him. When she and Jiraiya had first arrived the feat had seemed infeasible, and then Jiraiya had put her on the spot. You've dealt with tougher seals than this , the old man reasoned. You can handle this.

Handle it she did. Gaara had blessed her.

"To tell the truth I don't know what I would have done," she admits, "I can guess and guess but I'll never truly know until I've stepped into your shoes. I never thought being a kage could be so...difficult."

Gaara nods in agreement. "Neither did I,"

That night Naruto thinks about what it means to be a traitor and despite herself thinks about Sasuke.

Jiraiya doesn't say, but she knows that's what the old man thinks of the Uchiha and she's not silly enough to think that the sentiment will not be shared among the people of Konoha.

Do we have a council too? , she wonders, and what would they do to Sasuke?

It was the first time she pondered on whether or not Sasuke returning would be a good thing.

I would protect him , she assures herself, I wouldn't let anything happen to him.

But the rope and the gallow is clear in her mind. Does Konoha have one of those too?

She shook her mind clear of it and instead focused on her bond, how warm it felt on her end and how cold it became on his, though a comforting cold, like ice on a burn.

The mark on her right hand lightly pulsated with chakra, the only forewarning she received right before she drifted over to the next realm.

She opened her eyes, saw the collision of two worlds, complementary even in their duality, and a sky with more stars than grains of sand on the earth.

"Usuratonkachi."

The name rolls off his lip, against his will.

The markings on her surface, her speckled face, the sapphires for eyes, the honeyed skin and curly blond hair that falls to her chin, the limbs of her body that have grown longer and lovely with strength.

(Not twisted or blue or rotten.)

He takes this all in, and against his better judgment, his Sharingan spins to life, the chakra pooling behind his eyes stronger and more intense in this realm. His vision has never been so perfect and clear.

"Why did you spare me?" This is how she starts off the first conversation they've had in three years, never one to beat around the bush.

"A whim," he lied, only a whim. And he counts his blessings that she doesn't remember anything beyond that, the kiss that he'd gently plucked from her lips.

"When we fought at the Valley of the End you said that our bond meant something to you," Her voice is sharp and accusing, covering the hurt she feels, the hurt she's carried with her for three years without closure.

He's so close and yet so far. His face is still, cut from marble and as impassive as the last time she'd seen him.

" And?" He says and passes the word off so cavalier.

"And now you say otherwise," she retorts, a fire building in her bosom. "Why do you lie?"

Sasuke blinks and then scoffs at her audacity. "I have no reason to lie,"

"I think you do."

"What would you know, Naruto," he spits, incensed and patience running thin with her. "I'm not that little boy anymore, but it looks to me like you're still that little girl. You're living in the past. This bond is a nuisance to me and the sooner I destroy it the better,"

There's a knot in her throat that grows bigger and bigger, and for a moment it's hard to speak, hard to filter in any noise past her windpipe. For a moment he has robbed her of a voice, something she's always prided herself on having.

"...really?" her voice is so thin and raspy, like sandpaper, and she tries not to wince at how broken she sounds or how much she'd like to start crying. Crybaby, he used to tease fondly. Would he do it now or would he sneer in disgust at her weakness?

"Destroy it... so that's the reason why you tried so hard to kill me-"

There's a flash of movement, so sudden that she barely tracks the shift of his body with her eyes. Sasuke stood before her, closer than ever, with his arm thrown over her shoulder, she could feel it's solidness and warmth bleed into her.

He leaned in close, so close that her scent still lingers on his upper lip. She feels warm, her chakra ebbing and flowing, bleeding into the fabric of his clothing. He feels her shortened breath upon his ear, her skin a hair's breadth away from his. She grabs his arm in a vice as if to steady herself and something inside of him clicks from her touch, that place tucked deep within his mind, where their detested bond resides.

"If I had wanted you dead you would be," His breath is on her ear and he robs her of words again. When had his voice gotten so deep?

She laughs away the knot stuck in her throat and says, quite wryly, "Oh, it's just that whim of yours, huh?"

" Yes ." He moves again and in her peripheral, there's a shine of a blade and the cool edge of steel cutting her cheek. She jumps back before it does any more damage and fixes him with a glare.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!"

"Fight me, Naruto." He commands this of her, softly, as a lover might. There's that tell-tale determination in his eyes that's always rivaled her own and she knows what he means to do. Oh, how he wishes he could just cut down the red tether instead. He'll settle on her, though.

Naruto growls.

"I know what you're trying to d-"

"Shut the fuck up and fight! " he bellows and there is no reasoning with him.

She's weaponless and in her pajamas, evading his lethal blows. She doesn't have time to reason with him, he's making sure of that.

He's all fast and precise punches and kicks and deadly steel, linear in their execution and she's like an animal (a cornered one), pure instinct and fluid movements.

There are limits to this realm, and rules that can be bent. Just as his sword can materialize so to can her wind, sharp and biting against his flesh. His eyes widen in surprise ever so slightly, before he gains control over their little dance once again.

She imagines this is what it feels like to be in the shinigami's stomach. Battling for eternity.

A night and a day pass in the span of a minute in the limbo, its sun rising and its moon shrinking into the heavens, moving in tempo with their steadily increasing speed.

Yes, this had to be what it felt like, to be trapped in the shinigami's stomach, condemned to an eternity of fighting.

He was forcing her hand, hoping that she'd reveal her cards, hoping that she'd go all out and give in to her anger, hoping that the anger would turn into hatred for him. But she wouldn't give in.

She would never . She doesn't want to hurt him, she just wants to bring him back home.

(wherever that may be.)

He would pin her down and whisper still to slow and her heart would leap into her throat before her chains chased him away.

Sometimes he would press the flat of his blade beneath her chin, trail the point down to her heart between her breasts. Would pierce beyond the cloth and reach the skin there, enough to draw blood and smirk at his victory.

"You sleep with that thing?!"

"Yes."

She just presses herself against the point of it, eyes fierce in her defiance. She's daring him to go further, and he watches almost transfixed upon the sight of her back arching and her breast rising to the blade that dwells between their valley, dots of blood staining her shirt. He wouldn't dare.

It's a treat to see that smirk disappear into a frustrated growl.

If he wanted to make this place hell, she would make it hell with him.

Every blow felt like fire upon her skin, a terrible addiction.

Each impact felt like crashing oceans, felt like the moon coming down to shatter the earth, felt like worlds colliding.

The once stark landscape had shifted into something unrecognizable, the light and dark smog was still there, but thicker and heavier and nearly touching whenever they made contact. Above them, it was like staring at a newborn sky, a strange kind of heaven that was both night and day. At war and out of balance, swirling with the rotation of the earth they created. The single hill, covered in shade and light, with the river beneath it, the left side frozen over and the right flowing freely. Winter and summer both reign at the same time. What a strange little world they have here.

He had thought he numbed himself, hardening his heart. It was as if she hadn't changed at all. Still the same little brat she was three years ago. Still worming her way in.

They were closer than they'd been in years. I know you, he wants to say. I know you inside and out. I can read you better than anyone else but you will never read me. And for that, you will always fail.

And yet they have both exhausted themselves past the point of rising. Somehow he let himself fall back into this rhythm with her. He should have never yielded to the beck and call that was this bond, but it was so alluring sometimes. He couldn't help but give in. It was preferable to the reality outside of it. The hell he had created for himself.

Was it wrong to allow himself this piece of heaven to call his own?

He heard her shift onto her side to fully face him. Slowly he turned his head toward her. Her face was so close, he could feel her breath tickle his skin, as though it were real, as though they were in the flesh.

"Sasuke please…" her eyes had a way of holding you captive within their depths and holding you there forever. "You know what Orochimaru plans for you. He'll kill you. He wants to wear your skin. Are you just gonna let him?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "No. Do you think I'm a fool? I've learned all I needed to learn from him. Orochimaru is dead. I killed him,"

The girl gaped in shock.

Sasuke feels a bit insulted. He wasn't some victim. He'd always had things under control.

"So- you're not going to...but then why-"

" Because, " He bites out, and then more gently says, "Because that's the way things played out. I like to make people believe what they want to believe about me. It's easier to pull the rug from beneath them. You could learn a thing or two about deception, Naruto. You're so easy to read,"

She pouts at the insult and he feels a teasing grin touch his lips. For a moment they are suspended in time, both the children of the past and the adolescence of the present at once.

"You've gotten good," he comments.

"You fought me just to see how strong I was," it's more of a statement than a fact.

"Yes," he answers, "But I can tell you were holding back. I advise you not to do that in the future because I won't ,"

"I don't want to hurt you, I just want to bring you back home."

"...I know,"

It was strange how the conversation was between them, how it passed back and forth like a gentle tide. Expanding and contracting, advancing, and receding.

He'd been brash and reckless, so lost in taunting her, so lost in convincing her to let him go, let their bond go, that he'd foolishly wrapped himself back up in its devious strings.

"You know even in here, you're still so hard to read," she says. That statement couldn't be further from the truth.

Despite her frustrations, she'd read him all the same, but Sasuke was, for the most part, a blunt person, he had no need for riddles and double meanings.

He always means what he says when he's speaking with her. It's the things he won't say that she tries to fish out. And if he wants to keep any form of control he has he'll keep his mouth shut. Because he fears that one day she'll be able to read him as well as he reads her. Should that day ever come his resolve will break, he knows it. He'll fall to his knees and know that he's too weak, his resolve worn to dust, his heart weary of hatred. He'll forsake his duty to avenge his clan and-

The thought isn't even worth finishing.

He notes again that her face is so close. She smiles at him, eyes crinkling up like a flamed leaf. "I really missed you,"

Sasuke swallows the curse on his tongue. He missed her too.