The day of Rinn's departure, she awoke to find the little arms of her best friend clutching around her, snuggled up as close as humanly possible.
"Sasuke, are you awake?" Rinn sleepily enquired, the reality of the fact that this was her last day in the Hidden Leaf Village for a long time hitting her, and sickening her slightly.
"I've been awake for hours...," A sniffly voice replied from behind her, his little head still tucked into her shoulder.
Rinn pulled his arms from her, turning round to face him, gesturing him to follow her lead and sit up on the bed. Finally getting a look at her friend, she noticed how terrible he looked; his eyes were red and puffy, with huge black bags under them – it didn't look like he had slept at all.
"Did you not get any sleep last night?" Rinn asked of her friend, concern evident in her voice.
Sasuke paused for a long while, before carefully answering.
"It sounds stupid... but I thought if I didn't go to sleep, then it would keep being yesterday and today would never come. And I didn't want to waste some of our last hours together by sleeping either so..." he trailed off, eyes casting downwards as he became lost in his thoughts once more.
Rinn however was not in the mood for Sasuke's melancholy attitude on her last day – she wanted to make the most of it and have as much fun as possible! Rinn wanted to go out with a bang, not spend all day moping about the house! She was itching to get out of bed and start a day of fun, and she was going to get her way even if she had to physically drag him around the entire village!
Rinn poked Sasuke in the nose sharply, making him jump and come back to reality.
"Owww Rinn what was that for..."
"Sasuke. We are not sitting cooped up in this house any longer!" She stated jumping off of the bed in a sudden explosion of energy from who knows where, roughly grabbing Sasuke's wrist and pulling him across the bed so hard that he went flying onto the floor at her feet.
Her little friend glared up at her sulkily from the floor, as if to say 'How dare you pull me around like your pet rag doll' and Rinn found this positively hilarious.
She let out a most unattractive snort, and burst into a fit of laughter pointing at Sasuke's crumpled figure on the floor as she said:
"Y-Y-You know *snigger* you have one of the funniest grumpy faces Sasuke Uchiha! *snigger* you're such a little sulker *snigger*..."
And with that Sasuke launched himself at her, mumbling something along the lines of "Uchihas don't sulk" and thus crashing both of them to the floor this time in a giggling heap.
As they began to play fight their laughter became louder and finally Sasuke managed to stop being such a grump and allow his face to crack a smile. Spotting this immediately, Rinn quickly reached up and grabbed his cheek, pulling it around as if a grandmother would.
"See? There he is. My fabulous non-grumpy friend Sasuke. Now we can go out and have fun!" She said, the mood in the house already lightening as the children finally began to realise that what was coming was inevitable, so rather than try to fight it and make themselves even more unhappy, they decided to make the most of the hours they had left before Rinn's escorts arrived in the village.
"So, what shall we do today then?" Sasuke asked, sitting up with a toothy grin still plastered on his face.
"Well... I think we should make a scrummy sweet sugary breakfast first of all. Then shall we go to the woods? Then maybe we could get some nice food out on our way back?" Rinn suggested, also sitting up from the floor.
"Whatever you want Rinn, today is about you." Sasuke stated. The young boy honestly didn't mind one bit what antics they got up to in their final day together, as long as he got to spend as much time with her as possible. Sasuke and Rinn sat smiling wistfully at one another for a short while, before Rinn got to her feet once more and headed towards her wardrobe.
"Right Sasuke there's no time to waste! Let's get up and get ready for the best day ever!" She said, beaming.
"OK! I'll quickly go home and shower and I'll be right back so we can make breakfast OK?"
"Yup – see you in the kitchen!"
And with that, little Sasuke's feet pitter-pattered as he hurried downstairs, out of the front door, into his front door, and up the stairs to his room. To be honest, Sasuke rarely slept in his own house – he hated being alone at night, and he began to wonder how he would cope without his friend.
No Sasuke, you can worry about that once she's gone. Today must be special. Today must be good.
Shaking his head, trying to encourage himself to snap out of it, Sasuke began to gather his clothes together for the day and proceeded to the bathroom, taking a quick shower and throwing his clothes on, already urgently trying to get himself back to Rinn. As he went back to his room to pick up his shoes, however, Sasuke had an idea and grabbed a fistful of coloured thread from a box underneath his bed. Shoving it into his pocket, he ran back down the stairs, quickly arriving back in Rinn's kitchen where she was already starting to whisk together some pancake batter. She had also taken out a variety of syrups, sweets and confectionary onto the kitchen top to put with the pancakes, true indeed to her earlier declaration of wanting "Scrummy sweet sugary breakfast" but all Sasuke could do was stick his tongue out in disgust – he despised anything sickly sweet.
"Sasuke Uchiha I saw that!" Rinn exclaimed when she saw his facial expression, turning around and pointing her whisk at him accusingly.
He merely laughed at her in response, clearly not remotely threatened by her choice of weapon.
"Now I know you don't like nice food, so I've put some things out over there," she gestured toward the corner of the kitchen top with said whisk, "for savoury pancakes, so that you can have some too."
With all of this whisk-waving she was doing, Rinn was making an awful mess over the kitchen floor so Sasuke took it upon himself to confiscate the whisk off of the young girl.
"Thank you Rinn, I think I'll take over the whisking now," he said as he got hold of the whisk, "You sit down, I'll make us breakfast today. I'll be much tidier as well..." he teased, poking his tongue out at her.
Rinn's eyes looked down to the floor in dismay at the splatters of batter all over the floor, and just as she was about to reach for the cloth to clean it up, Sasuke beat her to it once again.
"Sit!" He instructed, feeling very grown up and very much like the man of the house, "I'll clean that up as well. Do you want a hot drink Rinn?" He asked, deciding that today he would do all he could to make his friend happy.
"Aw thanks Sasuke, I would love a hot chocolate or something, but you don't have to..."
"Shut up Rinn! It's your last day today. Let me make it a good one for you. Relax, OK?" Sasuke jokingly scolded, smiling genuinely at his friend. Rinn couldn't help but beam back. She had forgotten what a happy, thoughtful, and caring boy Sasuke could be. Since the death of his family, he had understandably been a bit worse for wear, but she always knew that deep down he was always there...
"My Snapdragon..." Rinn mused wistfully. Snapdragon had been a little nickname that she had given Sasuke when they were very young. The 'dragon' came from his determination to master the fireball jutsu (which Rinn always thought made him look a lot like a dragon) and 'snap' because he was such a grumpy little boy. Finding out there was a flower called Snapdragon amused Rinn no end, and it quickly became Sasuke's new name – she used to call him it all the time, and he would call her...
"Starfish." Sasuke stated simply, beaming at her once more. He had missed their silly nicknames for each other, it made him feel closer to her whilst also bringing him comfort. Rinn's nickname was mainly attributed to her coppery-coloured hair, and her affinity with water and swimming (she had once rescued Sasuke when he was trying to show off and almost drowned in the lake). The use of these names did however cause a painful feeling in Sasuke's heart, and his whisking began to slow down as his mind wandered to darker places once again.
Snap out of it Sasuke! You're behaving like an idiot!
"Batter looks ready!" He suddenly announced, forcing a smile and locking away his melancholy thoughts once again.
Rinn leaped out of her chair in excitement, switching on the cooker and putting oil in the pan, clearly impatient for her breakfast. They continued laughing and joking, remembering happier times as they stuffed their bellies full of pancake-y goodness (both sweet and savoury alike!)
- X -
After they had filled themselves up to breaking point, the two children clutched at their bellies ready to doze off, evidently suffering from a 'food coma'.
"Right! Let's head out to the forest shall we?" Rinn suggested, almost begrudgingly. Neither of them much felt like moving anywhere after all the food they had eaten, but time was not on their side and they needed to get going!
Sasuke merely nodded in response, holding his arms helplessly up to Rinn like a dead beetle, clearly requiring some assistance to get his now heavier self up from the chair he was sat in. Rolling her eyes, Rinn dragged him up out of the chair and, after putting on their shoes, they made it to the forest in no time. Old habits die hard, and as soon as they reached the small clearing in which they normally trained, Rinn quickly took up a defensive stance as was the norm when they sparred against one another. Sasuke chuckled.
"Rinn, what on earth are you doing?" he said, amused.
"Well why did you think we came here? To train!"
"I'm not fighting you today. Come on we are supposed to be doing nice things, not sparring!"
"Sparring is nice Sasuke!" Rinn retorted defiantly. "Besides, you said earlier we could do whatever I wanted today so you should just shut up and fight me like a man!"
She's right, I did say that, but...
Sasuke shoved his hands in his pockets, as if he was about to start sulking once again; but as his fingers touched the thread he had placed in their earlier he remembers his ingenious idea.
"Hey Rinn, I've got a better idea for something we can do!"
Rinn's eyes narrowed suspiciously, but he had piqued her interest.
"Well, what is it then?"
Sasuke walked towards her and dangled the coloured thread in front of her face. A bemused look overcame Rinn's face, genuinely unsure what he was getting at here, when he sighed and spelt it out to her:
"Friendship bracelets...?" He said, exasperation evident in his tone.
Suddenly the penny dropped and Rinn started to crack a smile.
"You wanna make some more bracelets for each other before I go?" Rinn asked.
Sasuke nodded in response.
"Aw Sasuke that's so cute! Yeah let's do that for sure!" She said excitedly, already snatching the bundle of thread from Sasuke's unsuspecting hand and selecting the colours that she wanted to use to make his bracelet.
And so, they both sat down back to back (as was the tradition from the last time they made them – they didn't want the other person peeking) and began to weave their thin, but colourful, bracelets for one another. Rinn, already being very skilled in the 'girly' art of bracelet making, was the first to finish.
"All done! You nearly finished Sasuke?"
"Just give me a few more minutes!" He called from behind her, their backs still together as they faced opposite ways. Sasuke was concentrating very hard on making this bracelet for Rinn, as he wanted it to be perfect and be a good reminder of him.
A few more minutes ended up turning into another half an hour, in addition to the almost hour or so Rinn had taken to finish Sasuke's to begin with.
"Aw man Sasuke you're such a slow poke..." Rinn yawned, trying not to fall asleep against his back as she carried on waiting for him to finish weaving the bracelet.
"I'm almost done I swear!" He retorted, now sticking his tongue out as if that helped him concentrate even harder. Another five or ten minutes later, Sasuke tied the final knot and proudly admired his handiwork.
Phew. Not a thread wrong.
"Rinnnnn I've finished yours now too!" he sang, wiggling his shoulders a bit to get her attention as she seems to be almost passing out behind him.
"Oh sorry you took so long I've already been to do my training and come back!" Rinn teased, standing and turning around to face her friend so that they could exchange their creations, which they were both hiding behind their backs.
"You first!" She prompted, and just as Sasuke was about to object she reminded him, "My day, my rules!"
Sasuke rolled his eyes jokingly, bringing her bracelet from behind his back and presenting it to her. Rinn had to admit, his technique was positively faultless, and the weave was perfectly neat and tidy. But what she liked most about it, was the way it reminded her of him. This was also helped by the fact that the threads he chose were:
"The Uchiha colours," she stated, smiling to herself. Sasuke nodded proudly to her.
"Do you like it?"
"Of course I do Sasuke, now when I wear it I'll always think of you!" She said, quickly gesturing to him to tie the item around her delicate wrist, just above the other bracelet already sitting there (also made for her by Sasuke). He smiled as he admired his creation further, now that it was attached around Rinn's wrist. Deep down, he knew that he chose those colours not only to remind her of him, but also to serve as a warning to anyone that might think about messing with her that she was under the protection of the Uchiha.
"Soooo in comparison to the one you've made, mine looks a little bit rubbish..." Rinn began, now feeling a little reluctant to hand over the less-than-perfect product of her labour.
"Fair's Fair," Sasuke replied, excited to see what his friend had made for him in return.
Sighing, Rinn handed over the bracelet and Sasuke hurriedly picked it up to inspect it. He looked at it for a long while, which cause Rinn to worry that he did not like it.
"Sorry, I shouldn't have rushed..."
"I love it." He said simply, looking up at her.
"Huh?"
"I don't know what you were worried about."
"But it's all messy and..."
"And orange, and unique, and fun and... beautiful – just like you," he said, smiling at her sweetly with a small blush on his face.
Rinn blushed furiously in response. She too had tried to pick colours that would remind Sasuke of her while she was away, and she was glad he had noticed that, but she hadn't expected to be called beautiful by her young friend, and it caught her quite off guard.
Sasuke broke the awkwardness by holding his arm out to Rinn, asking her to fasten his new bracelet for him. Like Sasuke, she tied on her creation just above the other bracelet that he wore, also from her. They admired each other's work quietly, before slowly making their way back to civilisation to try and find another bite to eat, for it was now almost evening.
- X -
Sitting in a quaint family restaurant that they often frequented, Rinn and Sasuke browsed the menu for something tasty to fill their hungry bellies. The owner of the restaurant, a kind and rather rotund middle-aged lady, came over to see how two of her favourite customers were getting on. They had not been in for a meal for a little while, and she couldn't help but attribute this to the Uchiha massacre – something which most of the village was now acutely aware of. She approached their table, neither of the children noticing as their faces were buried deeply into their menus.
"And how are my two favourite littlest customers this evening?" The lady, Hiro, enquired, causing them both to jump a little in surprise. Rinn responded with a smile while Sasuke glared a little bit, clearly not impressed by being called 'littlest'.
"We are fine thank you! Just trying to decide what we want to eat – it's so hard to pick something," Rinn replied, frowning as her eyes darted around the menu.
Hiro chuckled.
"I've certainly missed seeing you both here, you have such excitable spirits!" she said kindly.
"Rinn's leaving tonight. It's her last dinner." Sasuke remarked, out of nowhere, eyes still attached to his menu. Rinn's eyes flicked over to him, a little taken aback by his comment, and then looked back to Hiro who was looking at her slightly saddened, but inquisitively.
"The Hokage is sending me away for some special training..." Rinn explained, "I could be gone for several years..." She trailed off, her eyes threatening to water.
Hiro smiled sympathetically at her, genuinely disappointed to hear of her departure, yet the kind woman had an idea for how to brighten the mood.
"Well now, we had best give you the best send off we can, hadn't we? You children order whatever you like from the menu – it's on the house!"
Sasuke's ears pricked up and he finally tore his eyes away from the menu.
"Anything..?" He asked.
Hiro chortled at his sudden interest.
"Yes Sasuke, that's what I said wasn't it?"
The two youngsters grinned from ear to ear, as Hiro walked away from their table smiling to herself, leaving them to converse excitedly about all the delightful things they were going to have to eat. She couldn't help but feel disheartened at Rinn's news, however. The young redhead always brought such light to her restaurant, and she worried about what would happen to her little friend Sasuke once she had gone. Ever since the two of them had started coming to her restaurant, Hiro would always notice how much the little boy adored his friend and couldn't help but wonder how he would fare after her departure, now that he had no family to comfort him. She hoped her kind gesture of their free meals tonight would help bring them a moment of happiness before they went their separate ways.
A couple of hours later, Sasuke and Rinn were lazily slouching in their chairs, hands clutching at their once more overfilled bellies. They had both thoroughly enjoyed their food, there was no denying it, yet an undertone of dread had began to take hold of the children once they started eating. Their distracted silences grew longer and longer as the night drew on, unable to shake the knowledge of what was coming. They paid their thanks to Hiro, Rinn giving her a quick hug as the kind lady wished her well on her travels. Sasuke could only watch this exchange with a sullen look on his face, wishing against all hope that this was all a bad dream.
Thirty minutes. They're coming to take her from me in thirty minutes...
They walked back to the house quietly to pick up Rinn's readily packed possessions, neither really knowing what to say to one another. After putting on her huge rucksack (and Sasuke very kindly offering to carry everything else for her), the reality of her leaving suddenly hit Sasuke. Hard.
It took all the self-control he could muster not to let his emotions consume him, and so instead he tenderly linked his arm through Rinn's as they walked towards the gate of the Leaf Village. Rinn tried to be strong as well, for she too was beginning to realise the gravity of the effect of her leaving would have on Sasuke, mistaking his current placid face as evidence that he had come to terms with everything. Little did she know the internal battle he was facing underneath this facade.
As they approached the gate, they noticed several shadowy figures standing there awaiting their arrival. Upon closer inspection they were revealed to be the Hokage, Kakashi, Kurenai and three ninja they were not familiar with, who they could only assume were those sent to escort Rinn to the mountains. Sasuke's lip began to tremble as they finally made it to the gate, so he bit down on it firmly to keep his emotions in check. He made sure to look at the floor so he could try and shut out everything that was happening. The conversations that the adults were having with Rinn were all but background noise to him, as a lump threatened to rise in his throat and his heartbeat got louder and faster, starting to become the only thing he could hear until he felt the grip of his best friend's arm around his disappear.
"NO!" He suddenly cried out, startling everyone, latching himself back onto her arm, his pent up emotions finally coming out, "NO I won't let you take her!"
The adults all looked sympathetically at him, as Rinn turned around to fully face her friend. Her face was also dusted with a glisten of water, showing that she too had been crying.
"Sasuke, I have to go now. I'm so so sorry!" She said, Sasuke still clinging onto her arm for dear life.
He couldn't take it anymore – his little legs trembled and collapsed from under him, dragging Rinn down to her knees with him. She put her arms around him and hugged him tightly, as both of his arms now gripped onto her as he wept.
"Please don't leave me..." He whispered almost inaudibly into her ear as she held him, "You're all I have."
Rinn's heart broke as the guilt washed over her once more, but what could she do?
"I'll be back before you know it," she said, trying to convince herself as much as she was Sasuke, "Just don't forget me OK?"
"Rinn, I could never..."
"Achem..." The Hokage interrupted, "Firinne..."
He needed to hurry her departure along, it was a gruelling journey to the mountains and the longer they delayed, the worse it would be for the young girl.
Rinn exhaled deeply, half in annoyance, half to catch hold of her breath, and dragged both herself and Sasuke to their feet. Letting go of him, she placed her hands on his shoulders, looking him dead in the eye and said:
"Promise me you'll write?"
"Of course I will Rinn! I promise," Sasuke replied, still sniffling.
His teary eyes looked back at his friend, and he tried to memorise as much of her as he could, taking everything about her in and locking it away somewhere safe in his head. He didn't know how long it would be until he would next look upon her. They embraced one final time, before Rinn turned around to make her exit. Sasuke, in one last act of desperation, grabbed onto her hand, but they both knew it was futile now, as he looked at her pleadingly before Rinn sadly let go of his palm and disappeared into the night.
Sasuke let out a cry of anguish as he leaned himself against a nearby wall, beside himself with grief, his small arms wrapping around himself as he struggled to breathe. Kurenai and Kakashi exchanged worried glances, and the latter bent down and picked up the child to take him home, expecting a great deal of protest from Sasuke. However there was none. The young boy hadn't the strength to do anything but weep at that moment, allowing himself to be carried all the way home and placed in his bed by the Jonin, before they too left him.
Sasuke, now in the house by himself, curled up into a ball under his warm quilt. This was the first time since he and Rinn had moved into this accommodation that he had actually slept in his own house, in his own bed, and it felt awful. Sasuke carefully fumbled with the bracelets on his wrists, seemingly the only thing that he had left of her now. A feeling of dread swept over him as he knew what was waiting for him as soon as he closed his eyes – the nightmares would surely be back for him in full force now that he didn't have his friend there to comfort him.
And he had never felt so alone.