Sasuke's eyes were glued to Rinn's now, searching, hoping, for a sign that she was lying. He walked towards his friend slowly, but purposefully, his eyes still boring into her. Sasuke paid absolutely no mind to the shattered family heirloom across the floor, and merely stepped over it as if it never existed as he approached Rinn and gently placed his hands onto her shoulders.
"You're lying..." Sasuke stated simply, hoping he was speaking the truth.
"I wish I was," Rinn replied sadly, unable to meet his gaze.
Sasuke's head dropped to the floor, and he held it there for a short while as he tried to collect himself, still clutching onto Rinn's shoulders. She noticed his own shoulders moving up and down as he tried to control his emotions by taking deep breaths in and out. When he eventually looked back up at her, his eyes were watery, yet the young boy somehow managed to hold in the tears threatening to fall.
"Why?" He managed to choke out.
"The Hokage wants me to train with a teacher out in the mountains... I have special 'powers' which he says are dangerous, and he wants me to learn how to control them properly. Otherwise… Otherwise I could end up hurting people," Rinn said, at last managing to look her friend in the eyes.
"No! I won't let them take you!" Sasuke exclaimed, his grip on her tightening as he shook her slightly, as if it reinforced his determination to keep her in the village, with him.
"Rinn... I know you... You wouldn't hurt anyone!"
"Sasuke the Hokage's right," Rinn began, as Sasuke quickly let go of her, taking a step backwards, his face a mixture of awe and sadness.
"I didn't want to believe him either. But recently strange things have been happening to me... These 'powers', whatever they are, seem to be affected by how I feel, and I can't control how to use them at all. I need someone to help me Sasuke... I'm… I'm scared!" She finished, her small body beginning to shake once more. The two children stood in silence, eyes to the floor, for what seemed like forever, when Sasuke suddenly spoke:
"So am I."
Rinn was slightly startled by the sound, and looked up at him curiously, not quite understanding the boy.
"I'm scared too," Sasuke clarified.
This time, it was Rinn's turn to approach her friend, taking her hands in his as she spoke.
"I'm so sorry Sasuke! I want to stay here with you, I don't want to go but.."
"It's OK," Sasuke interrupted, wrapping his arms around his friend and pulling her into a warm, but firm embrace.
"Sasuke..."
"How long?" he asked quietly, mumbling into her neck.
"I have less than two weeks before they come for me... My training could take a few years..."
Sasuke responded with a choked sob, and at last allowing himself to show his emotions, began to weep. He fell to his knees, taking Rinn to the floor with him as he clung to her. The young boy could not understand why all these awful things had happened to him during only a few days. What had he done to deserve this? First his family had been taken from him, by the brother whom he idolized, and now his beloved best friend was being taken too. Was he not worthy of any comfort? Why was this happening? Sasuke felt utterly helpless, as though his life was disintegrating before his very eyes.
Rinn rubbed his back soothingly, still holding him close, silent tears also escaping from her own eyes. When the children released one another, Sasuke had but one request.
"Rinn, can I stay here with you until you go? I want us to spend as much time together as we can before you leave," he said, wiping his wet face on the sleeves of his shirt.
She smiled at him, nodding in happy agreement. Rinn's eyes subconsciously wandered to the Uchiha family vase, now lying in pieces on the floor. She felt guilty that her words in some way caused this, as she slowly crouched down closer to it.
"Sasuke… your family's vase..."
"I can fix it. Let's just sit down for now," Sasuke instructed, clearly tired of reminding himself of all the things that had gone wrong that day. He made his way to the sofa, timidly sitting down and switching on the TV with a *click* to try and fill the silence.
Rinn could not bring herself to leave what was left of the priceless vase on the floor, potentially leaving it open to even more damage, so she emptied out the bag which she brought with her from the hospital, and began collecting the pieces of the vase inside it.
"Rinn, I said I can fix it, would you just come and sit down." Sasuke said, a little more harshly than he intended.
"S-Sorry..." Rinn replied, hurriedly gathering the last few pieces into her rucksack and scurrying over to the sofa to sit next to her friend.
The two youngsters sat as near as they could to one another as the TV blared out whatever uninspiring show was on, almost as if they were protected in their own little bubble, but neither could find within themselves the right words to speak. Despite this, Sasuke and Rinn both enjoyed this closeness, and it brought them comfort until the sun finally set and it was time for them to get some much needed sleep.
Both yawning tremendously, they both dragged themselves up off of the sofa and wandered upstairs, taking it in turns to use the bathroom to change into their pyjamas and parting ways to the two bare bedrooms. Rinn paused as she began to shut her own bedroom door, wondering if she should call out to Sasuke and ask if he wanted to share her room so he wasn't by himself – they could sleep at opposite ends to each other if he wanted, and frankly she would be glad for the company.
No... he probably needs some time alone to think about everything...
So she closed her door with a soft click and snuggled down into her new bed in her new bedroom in her new house, momentarily in disbelief as to where she was and how she ended up here, and little by little managed to drift off into a deep sleep.
Little did she know, the young boy two doors down in the spare bedroom would have given anything for his friend to suggest that they stayed close during the night, for tonight was when the nightmares began...
- 1-2 Hours later-
Rinn awoke to a muffled yelp in the middle of the night, and the noise was so tortured that, at first, she was sure that it came from an animal outside in the street. She was just about to roll over and go back to sleep when she heard a louder, more human shout that sounded like it was coming from down the corridor.
No! Sasuke!
As Rinn flew out of her bed and ran down to the spare bedroom to check on her friend, all sorts of worrying explanations for the noise entered her mind.
Is he hurt? Has somebody broken in? Is it Itachi? Has he come back to finish what he started at the compound?
As Rinn burst through the bedroom door, she was pleased to find that there was in fact no intruder, and let out a sigh of relief. However, worry was not completely free from her mind as she had a closer look at the boy who, somehow, was still sleeping in the bed in front of her.
Sasuke looked terrible. His body was shaking and covered with sweat, his bangs sticking to his forehead as he breathed rapidly, occasionally thrashing around under the sheets as if he was trying to physically attack the very nightmare that was haunting him (So much that Rinn was worried that he might end up hurting himself).
Rinn softly sat down on the edge of the bed next to Sasuke, carefully calling out the name of her friend as she shook him, in an attempt to pull him out of his slumber. Suddenly, Sasuke shot up, sitting bolt upright with wide eyes. He was panting, and his heart was racing; it took him a while to focus and realise once again where he was.
He felt a hand gently touch his arm, and his eyes looked up to see the shadow of his friend sitting next to him.
Oh no, I must have woken her up!
Sasuke placed his head in his hands. Not only did he feel incredibly guilty for being so noisy that she had to come all the way down to where he was, but he also felt incredibly embarrassed. His face burned as he hoped for the ground to swallow him up, and lay back down onto his bed, rolling away from Rinn trying to hide himself under the duvet.
"Thanks for coming to check on me," He muttered to the wall.
"Sasuke, are you all right?" Rinn asked, sitting further in on the bed trying to get a decent look at his face to see for herself how her friend was.
"I'm fine Rinn. It was just a nightmare. Please go back to sleep, I don't want to keep you up," Sasuke mumbled, trying to convince himself just as much as he was her.
"Don't tell lies Sasuke, you look unwell..."
No response.
"Would it help if I stayed in here with you?" she proposed, for her benefit as well as his. She too was craving the security of being close to her friend.
Rinn just about caught Sasuke hesitantly nodding (it was rather dark in the room), and so she gingerly got in beside him, cuddling up once more to the duvet. Even though they weren't touching one another, just having each other's presence brought peace to the children, and for the first time since his family died, Sasuke drifted off into a calm and tranquil sleep.
The following week and few days, this routine continued and Sasuke and Rinn gradually settled into their new lives. The adults would check on them occasionally, and the youngsters began to learn together about all the aspects of running a household, keeping on top of menial chores and how to cook things other than soup and beans on toast! At night time, they would always stay together in the same room as it helped keep Sasuke's nightmares at bay, and they would still go out to the forest to train in the day.
However, beneath all of this the children were unable to forget the events that led them to this new life, and Sasuke's thoughts were beginning to fill more and more with dread as the day came that his best friend would have to leave him.