Chapter Eight: The Favorite
"...Sakura."
Sakura stared blankly forward, her vision oddly fuzzy and her mind hazy. Everything about her senses seemed...muddled. She could hear someone speaking but it was like being submerged under water and the syllables and tone of what they were saying was construed. Physically, her body felt like it was being pushed and pulled at from all ends, making her feel stretched beneath a weighted pressure. She breathed in deeply, working against the pressure in her chest and she noted the scent, or more accurately the lack of scent. It was as if all her senses had been muted.
Just as she began to wonder what was inhibiting her senses, a sudden sound broke through the barrier of whatever was muffling the words before.
"Sakura!"
The sudden burst of her name into her ears seemed to break away whatever was holding down her senses. It was like an apparition suddenly regaining life and being thrust into a physical body. Her ears were filled with the clear voice of a woman speaking the syllables of her name. The decadent and savory smell of cooking food filled her nose causing her mouth to water and stomach rumble in reaction to it. All the while her body seemed to be released from whatever hold and pressure it was under as every nerve came alive. Her eyes blinked and it was like waking from a heavy day dream as her sight cleared. She was greeted with the sight of a woman standing at a kitchen table and looking at her with a worried expression.
"Sakura dear, are you all right?"
The woman addressing her spoke to her as if they were deeply familiar with each other, but Sakura stared at her like the stranger she was. Sakura took in her ebony hair and matching eyes that somehow held a warmth despite the darkness of them. She had a face that was deceivingly young at first glance but upon closer inspection, the faint lines around her eyes hinted to the woman's true age. From beneath her dark bangs that framed her face, the woman looked at her with a fondness that was only cultivated from many years of knowing someone.
Instinctually Sakura was convinced she did not know this woman, she had no recollection of ever meeting her nor even a name to match her with. But the longer she took in her features, the more she found herself finding something oddly familiar in her face. Despite her efforts, Sakura still failed to come up with any name that could be paired with her, causing a confused unease within her.
"I am sorry but I don't…" As Sakura spoke, her mind seemed to become muddled and again, that small sense of familiarity had her confused and her words drifted off. Maybe she was mistaken? She must know this woman given the way she spoke so concerned and familiarly with her. Sakura shook her head and gave the woman a strained smile. "Sorry, I seem to be spacing off."
The woman gave her a knowing smile. "That is all right," she said, then picked up a stack of bowls and held them out to her. "Would you mind setting the table, supper should be ready soon and the boys should be back at any moment from their sparing."
"Ah," Sakura nodded hesitantly as she automatically reached out for the dishes, all the while, wondering who she was referring to. What boys? And again, who was this woman?
Sakura looked down at the bowls, her eyes deep in concentration as she tried to think more clearly, but it was like her thoughts trickled into her mind at the rate of poured molasses.
"Fugaku will be home for dinner too, that is why there are five."
Sakura looked up from the bowls, then back down at them, noting that there were five dishes stacked in her hand. "Ah," Sakura said, not bothering to explain the extra bowl had nothing to do with her delayed actions as she added yet another person to wonder about. Who was this Fugaku?
"And the dinning room is just through that door, where it has always been," the woman continued, giving Sakura a sweet, but slightly concerned look.
Sakura looked in the direction and found a shoji door cracked open to reveal a traditional dining room with a low table and cushions placed around it.
"Ah," Sakura said, causing the woman to let out a light laugh.
Sakura looked at her with a curious expression, wondering what she was finding so funny and the woman's laughter died down enough for her to explain her entertainment.
"I always hoped you would rub off on the men of the house and expand their vocabulary to more than monosyllabic words and grunts, but it seems today is the opposite."
Sakura, unsure of what she meant, gave a polite smile as she turned to go set the table. When she returned back to see if the woman had any other tasks for her, a man entered the kitchen as well. She took in his jet black hair, noting the silver grey strands forming at his temples that placed his middle age. Sakura paused at the doorway, unsure about this second stranger.
Unlike the woman, this man was not warm and sunny or approachable. His eyes lacked the warmth and his face, which was pulled down into a permanent frown, was not as welcoming. It lifted only in the smallest of fractions when his wife looked up at him.
"Mikoto," he greeted, brushing his lips against the crown of her head as she pulled steamed buns from a bamboo basket. "Where are the boys?"
"They went for a sparring session, but I told them to be back soon," she replied with a warm expression, then she seemed to catch sight of Sakura lurking between the dining room and kitchen, finished with her task but trying to not intrude.
The attention of the woman caught the man's attention and he followed Mikoto's gaze to look at Sakura. Instantly Sakura felt a heavy weight as his gaze fell onto her. After a moment, the man gave her a stiff nod.
"Sakura," he greeted, his tone holding a casual familiarity instead of a cold distance that Sakura had expected.
However this did not put her at ease. For there was yet another stranger that she had no recollection of or even a name for, yet he seemed to know her. Sakura nodded her head in a silent response as her fingers knitted together nervously. Seeming to note her unease, Mikoto looked up at her husband and gave him a pat on his cheek.
"Why don't you go wash up, Fugaku." Her hands fell down to the police uniform he was wearing and patted him on the chest, right where a patch with a familiar emblem was stitched on. A four pointed star with a fan on it. Sakura tilted her head, trying to place the emblem but again, her mind seemed to become sluggish as to where she knew the emblem from.
Fugaku turned away to leave and Sakura found herself staring at his back. Across the top between his shoulder blades was a large fan stitched into the middle of his flak jacket. Sakura knew that symbol, she had seen it thousands of times in her younger years and increasingly more often in more recent times. It was of the Uchiha clan.
...but why was he wearing it?
As soon as the question filled her mind, it was as if a heavy pull was tugging at her body. It pulled her away from a logical explanation and she felt herself losing a grip on reality. Soon the anomaly of the misplaced Uchiwa fan did not seem to matter.
A loud thud of feet landing on wood sounded from outside. "That must be the boys," Mikoto commented. "Sakura, can you finish this up while I tell them to clean up?"
Sakura nodded and walked over to take the woman's place in plating the perfectly steamed buns on a tray as Mikoto disappeared down the hall. As Sakura worked, platting and setting the table, she heard a pair of male voices responding in short monosyllables each time the woman's lighter and more chattery voice flowed down from the hall. Sakura passed by the hall and peeked down the dim area to see two tall figures turn and walk farther down. Again, Sakura caught the Uchiha crest emblazoned on their backs as well.
Instantly Sakura's mind seemed to react to that, and it felt like it was slowly stirring, beginning to think. But then Mikoto was coming back down the hall and as quickly as she had left, she was back.
Taking over the final touches, Mikoto gave out instructions in which Sakura blindly followed, her mind and body failing to coordinate together and before she knew it, she was kneeled at the table where Mikoto had instructed her to sit as she and her husband lightly talked back and forth. A conversation which was more Mikoto speaking animatedly and pausing every so often to allow Fukagu to let out a commenting 'hn' to let her know he was listening.
"Sakura, could you pass me the tempura?"
The unexpected deep voice that sounded right across from her had Sakura jumping up, her chopsticks clattering against her bowl. As her head snapped up, her eyes landed on a young man with long hair and deep stress lines running from the corners of his eyes to his cheeks. Instinctually she reached out for the requested plate near her left hand and moved to pass it closer to his reach. But as her sluggish mind caught up and processed the information, she froze halfway through the action.
A deep unnerve rushed through her and seemed to replace the warm blood flowing through her veins with a cold fear. Itachi Uchiha, possibly one of the most feared ninja she had ever faced other than Madara, was sitting right across from her.
"Sakura?" he said, his eyes flashing down to the plate she was holding out to him, her grip on it so strong it was on the verge of shattering into pieces all over the table.
Her wide eyes quickly averted from his as she looked to Mikoto in a panic. As she did, the older woman turned, giving her such a calm and serene expression that Sakura felt herself over taken by a calming feeling. As if wrapped in an invisible security blanket, she felt herself relax into herself, her mind slowly disregarding her alarm and Sakura found herself looking at Itachi again. Only this time instead of alarm and fear, she only felt a relaxed compatibility as she gave him a small smile and surrendered the plate to him. What had she been thinking? It was just Itachi, something whispered into her mind. Her cognitive so thick with whatever haze she did not even question this assurance.
"Sasuke said that you two will be taking the jounin exams with Naruto next season," Itachi said as he served himself, peeking up at her before his eyes flickered to her left.
...Sasuke...?
Sakura suddenly became aware of a presence to her left, and she slowly turned her head and stared. It was Sasuke...but not. It was the same aristocratic nose, the same mess of ebony spikes of hair with the midnight blue undertone, the same shiny dark eyes of obsidian. Physically, he was exactly how he should be. But everything else was wrong. His continence, the way he held himself, even the look in his eye was not quite right. There was no sadness or solemnity. He didn't seem burdened from years of depression and anger. He was still the same stoic looking man, but there was a lightness about him that left an impression of contentment emanating from him.
Groggily, Sakura's mind seemed to try to awaken again. If this was Sasuke, and Itachi was sitting across from her, then the other two had to be their parents. Sakura looked to the older man and woman sitting at the ends of the table. First to Fugaku, and as she looked into his grim looking face, she saw Itachi's face. Then she looked at Mikoto and she realized why she had looked familiar before. Because her features could be found in her youngest son. She looked around the room, into the kitchen and down the hall. This was their home, this was their life.
...But Sakura had never been to Sasuke's childhood home, she had never met his parents...
As soon as the thoughts came, the familiar push and tugging sensation washed over her, trying to redirect her conception. It was as if each time she tried to look in a certain direction, an invisible force was redirecting her attention to look the other way. But this time Sakura fought through the delirious haze and more contradicting thoughts poured into her head like a flood of water after a dam breaking.
She was in Sasuke's home, but she had never entered his home. At least not his family home because it had been destroyed. And his parents, as lovely as Mikoto was and how much Sakura would love to spend time in her presence, Sakura knew this was the first she had ever seen of her or Fugaku. Because they died before her and Sasuke were ever remotely on familiar terms.
His parents had been killed before Sakura and him were put on a team. Murdered by their own son Itachi who was sitting across from her. And Itachi; while she had met him before, his presence did not make sense either. Because Itachi was dead. She knew this because Sasuke had killed him. Maybe not the Sasuke sitting next to her, but a version of him had. Sasuke had hunted his brother down for years and killed him for a vengeance that was not deserved.
Mikoto and Fugaku, killed by Itachi. Itachi, killed by Sasuke. And even this Sasuke, this happy and undamaged Sasuke, should not exist. He was killed by devastation, war mongering, hatred, and a thirst of revenge before he could ever become this version of himself.
Sakura looked around at all of them. Her mind crystal clear and more than aware of the shimmering veil that was beginning to manifest as it attempted to cover the false illusion over reality. These people were not real, they were ghosts, people who had passed on before she ever even met them.
This was not real. It was an illusion.
Kai...kai...KAI!
Sakura's body lurched upwards, her torso rising from the soft surface she was laying on as her breaths came in and out with ragged breaths. Breaking away from the genjutsu had been no easy feat. Even without her chakra suppressed and difficult to manipulate with the metal inhibitors around her wrists, it would have been a challenge. Sakura had an affinity for genjutsu and along with that came a natural resistance and talent for releasing herself on the rare occasion she found herself caught up in one. But genjutsu cast by a Sharingan user was a whole other story. It had been nearly impossible and it had taken numerous attempts and a profound mental strength to accomplish it.
Even now as she breathed in the smoky layered air that came in through the window of her darkened room, Sakura was not convinced she was even awake. It had a heavy scent of burning rubber and plastic, things that were never intentionally burned without the intent of destroying things. There was a loud pop, like that of an explosive tag that echoed from afar and Sakura's head turned towards her window. Her eyes widened as she took in the orange glow of fire on the other side of the village. Above, thick black clouds of smoke rose up over the city, blocking out the stars and moonlight of the night. With the yells and screams that echoed out over the city and the shadows of ninja rushing across rooftops, Sakura felt as if she was still locked in a genjutsu as she relieved the destruction of Konoha. But the longer she had to recover from the lingering remnants of the genjutsu, the last few moments before looking into Sasuke's swirled, blood red irises came back to her. It was then she realized this was not genjutsu, Konoha was under attack.
Ignoring the brief question of how she ended up in her bed, Sakura moved from her sitting position on the bed and crossed the short distance of her room to her dresser. Pulling it back from the wall, she grabbed the few kunai she had wedged between the back and the wall. It was not much, but it was what she had managed to swipe over the months from unsuspecting guards and neglected arsenal. She secured them to her person as she dashed to the window frame, not even bothering to change into her gear.
There was an urgency within her, a desperation to act as quickly as she could. While she knew it was not so, there was a deep yearning within her that hoped she had woken from a year long nightmare where Konoha had been attacked, Madara had risen from the dead, and Sasuke had become hokage.
As she dashed through the streets towards the screams and flames, Sakura was filled with a desperation for a second chance to try and save Konoha from falling. Any moment she expected Kakashi, Naruto, Sai, or Yamato to fall into formation of their team cell. They would fight side by side. They would fight with every last breath they could take to ensure that this time, they would not fail. They would save Konoha.
But with each alleyway she cut through, and with every chaotic street she ran down, her boys never came. She worked her way through the city alone, weaving through citizens who were screaming and running the opposite way. Every once in a while a group of soldiers would fly across the rooftops towards the chaos, each time spurring her faster as an impending unease settled in the pit of her stomach. Just what exactly was happening?
She came to a halting stop at the end of a side street when she ran into a scuffle. At first she thought it was just a random citizen being brought down by a patrol guard, but they turned their head and the familiar spiky ponytail made her realize it was Shikamaru that was being detained. Normally one such of his skill and smarts would not be struggling, but of course the tight metal around his wrists put him at a disadvantage against the already larger man he was wrestling with who was being aided by yet another official. It seemed almost torturous, Shikamaru, surrounded by shadow and unable to focus enough chakra to wield it.
No one would blame her for not helping. Their world had become one where turned heads were encouraged and being an unconcerned bystander was a good thing. She hated to admit that in the past year she had done such things, all of them had. But in this moment, something within her snapped and Sakura did not even hesitate. A ferocious and feral snarl erupted from her throat, fueled by a suppressed fury that she had not realized she had within her.
It blinded her and all she could see was red. And before she knew what she was doing, she was fiercely launching herself towards the smaller of the two patrol guards. She plowed into him at full force knocking the unsuspecting man clear off his feet and into the brick wall behind him. His head smacked against the wall and Sakura instantly grabbed onto his hair and wrenched his head forward before striking down on the pressure point to knock him out.
The man's body slumped forward and with little disregard. When Sakura released her hold on his hair, her fingers warm and sticky from the blood that was seeping from a wound that was bleeding out from where his head hit too sharply against the wall.
Sakura hardly registered the blood as she turned around and launched herself again towards the larger man who was in the process of rapidly striking Shikamaru in the face. Her arm wrapped around his neck and legs, circling around his torso as she leapt onto his back. The moment she was latched on she rolled, pulling the guard free from Shikamaru as she took him with her. When they hit the ground, she began twisting herself so that she was sitting on the guards chest, her fist striking down wildly and repeatedly into the man's face.
She was not sure how many times her fist came into contact with the man's now bloody and mangled face but she found herself being pulled from the body as someone's shout broke through the pitched ringing in her ears.
"Sakura he is down! Sakura!" Shikamaru shouted. "Kiba! Ino! Help!"
Sakura instinctively flailed, trying to free herself and keep attacking. But when another pair of arms grabbed onto her and a pair of blue eyes and a high ponytail came into her vision she seemed to break from the rampage that had erupted from her enough to give in to Kiba and Shikamaru's attempt to pull her away.
Sakura blinked a few times, looking back into Ino's aquamarine eyes. It had been awhile since she had seen the blonde and it looked like she had gotten even thinner.
"I'm fine," Sakura said, but when she was not released immediately, Sakura repeated herself, "I said I'm fine!"
It took a nod from Ino before the two men released her and Sakura let herself fall to the ground breathing in as the rush of adrenaline seemed to waver and take some energy from her. Finally after steadying her raspy breaths, Sakura looked to the limp forms of the patrols guards.
The one she had knocked out was still out cold, his head hanging forward as blood stained and matted in his yellow hair where he had hit his head. It was not enough to be too concerning, but he would certainly be suffering from a heavy concussion.
"Damn Sakura," came Kiba's voice, drawing her attention away from the first patrol guard to where Kiba was crouched over the man she had just been pulled off. "You did this guy a number. How the hell to you still pack such a punch with your chakra suppressed."
Sakura's eyes moved to the man he was looking over and suddenly a sick feeling came over her. She was used to blood and gore, but she never could truly handle it when she had been the one to do the damage. She had gotten used to it in the war, but it seemed a year of being trapped in the walls of Konoha without any battles and spending all her time mending people, reversed her tolerance to it.
The man's face was mangled. Bloody and misshapen from fractured cheekbones and a ruptured eye socket. Sakura swallowed. "Did I kill him?"
"Who cares?"
Sakura turned at the feminine voice to find Tenten approaching with Lee and Hinata behind her. She had grown hardened over the past year, a bitterness since Neji's death making her less sympathetic. She still nurtured her son with all the love and sweetness, but all of it went to him. What was left after that was a hollow and unsympathetic shell.
"He is still alive," Shikamaru said, bringing her attention back to the brunette man who was crouching down and taking the man's pulse.
The shadow wielder looked over his shoulder to her, the dark beard that he had started to let shadow his face making him look significantly older than he did a few months back when Sakura last saw him. It baffled her just how long they all went without seeing each other anymore. The segregation, the curfews, and the separated and monitored missions and duties they were all given...it made it difficult to find time.
His face was covered in his own blood from his earlier beating and the off centered angle of his nose told her it had been broken. Seeing his injuries Sakura moved over to him and grabbed his face to inspect it. Shikamaru did not even try to brush her off, knowing better than to disregard the medic. And as Sakura reset his nose and examined his face for any other injuries, the rest of what was left of Konoha 11 gathered around them.
"W-what is going on?" Hinata stuttered.
"Is it an attack?" Ino asked. "Maybe Suna is coming to retaliate? They have been bringing in Suna captives and questioning."
"What do you mean like Gaara?" Kiba questioned, rifling through the unconscious guard's pockets before pulling out a key. He unlocked the metal suppressors around his wrists before passing on the key to Ino. "No way, he wouldn't risk his people."
"He would if Naruto convinced him," Ino replied, taking the offered key from Kiba as he stood and unclasping her own suppressors before passing it on.
"N-naruto?" Hinata said in a hopeful tone.
"Please, Naruto is dead," Tenten remarked. "If he was still alive he would have come months ago to storm that castle by himself.
Hinata gasped, a worried look coming over her face. "H-he's not dead, he c-can't be."
Tenten whirled around at the woman who they all knew had deep feelings for. "You still think he is alive!? Would that be any better? At least if he was dead he would have an excuse for abandoning us."
Sakura stood abruptly, her hands fisted as she glared at Tenten. While she did her best to accept this hardened version of the weapons master, Sakura found herself unable to tolerate the sharper than the very weapons she wielded words at the moment. She respected Tenten, but she would not tolerate her belittling her teammates reputation, despite her own thoughts often thinking the same thing.
"Naruto would never do that!" she snapped. "And he is not dead," she nearly screamed at Hinata who was shaking and teary eyed. "Naruto loves this village too much, he will come back! He is going to come back," she emphasized to Naruto.
"Stop arguing," Shikamaru spoke up as he stood, taking a spot in the circle that was forming. "It's a drag to hear you turn on each other when this has nothing to do with Naruto, Gaara or Suna." They all seemed to shift as they gave silent looks of apology to each other before looking back to Shikamaru when he continued. "There is a riot. Someone set fire to the gallows and after a day of reminder like today, let's just say that people joined in and it grew into an angry mob."
"Who?"
"Mostly citizens and a few shinobi, most of them inactive," Shikamaru replied. "I was on my way there to try and calm them down but I kept getting stalled."
"Why would you try to stop them?" Kiba argued. "This is what we need! This is what we have been waiting for! We can take back the city!"
"How?" Shikamaru argued. "With disorganized and untrained citizens? This is not an orchestrated revolution, it's a frenzied riot. There is a difference and it would never be successful. Already the cities patrol is forcing them back-" he pointed to the two unconscious men on the ground- "these two with two others were unrelentingly beating a brave, but stupid genin before I stepped in. They gained up on me before dragging the kid away and these two stayed behind after I ran out of what little chakra I had managed to use. They don't fight fair and none of them stand a chance."
"But if we join-"
"You don't get it," Shikamaru said irritated, his strategist mind annoyed with Kiba's less thoughtful, more impulsive way of thinking. "This kind of thing takes strategy and planning. Revolutions do not happen like this, at least not successful ones."
"We still need to get to them," Sakura quickly interrupted. "On my way here all I saw was Sasuke's ANBU and foreign troops headed in that direction. They are most likely rounding up the crowds in one place. Sasuke already knows what is happening and there is no telling what he will do to them."
Even as the words came from her mouth it felt odd. A few months ago she would not have doubted or cared, but for some reason, this expectation unsettled her. It did not feel right to automatically think the worst of him. But given the shift in each of their faces, the unnerved worry and confirmation of agreeance, Sakura knew the statement was true. There was a need to worry what would become of the people if Sasuke was left to attend to the consequences.
"If he is there with all of his support, what are we supposed to do?" Ino questioned.
Sakura looked at her, slightly taken aback, but then she saw the slight hesitation.
"Ino has a point," Choji muttered. "If we interfere we will be held accountable and our families..."
Sakura looked at him, then back to Ino and a few others. They were afraid. She could see it in their eyes, in their body language, and Sakura found herself unable to blame them. It was sad, but this was what oppression did to people. It broke their spirits and doused their fires of ambition. She looked at Kiba, who just moments ago, was ready to jump in fang over fang without hesitation. Now he too was looking slightly concerned as he began to consider the consequences.
A long silence fell around them and even Sakura found herself slightly hesitant as she thought about her own father and Kakashi. Who would monitor Kakashi's treatment while imprisoned? There was no telling what the punishment would be. She was not sure her father could handle her being gone. And she had just gotten him back. She had gotten away with a lot of things, but Sasuke had given her many warnings of not going against him in public. He had a limit and she knew she surely had to be fast approaching the end of the rope he had her tethered with. They all fell silent and the distant yells and sounds of disruption began to fill their ears, yet even then they did not seem to realize what they were considering.
Returning home and leaving those in trouble to their fates.
"Seriously!" It was Tenten who had spoken up. She stepped into the middle of the solomn circle and glared around at them all. "Is this really the kind of world that my child will have to grow up in? A world where we all just stand aside and abandon those who we took an oath and spent our lives dedicating ourselves to protecting? If that is the case than we are no better than Madara, or Sasuke, or any of the Akatsuki!"
Sakura took a step forward. "Tenten is right, we have to at least try," Sakura declared and to her relief, she watched as a spark flickered in each of their eyes and they all shifted to hold themselves up with a dignity that had not been seen in far too long.
"We will go," Hinata said with such firm confidence, Sakura could not be more proud for the raven haired woman.
Sakura saw the rest of them begin to nod and Sakura finally looked to Tenten who gave her a committed nod. Sakura looked to Shikamaru who was deep in thought, his calculative mind most likely weighing and balancing their chances of opportunity.
"Alright," he said. "We stick to the shadows and shortcuts, when we get there, depending on what we find, we will make a plan." Once they all nodded in understanding, Shikamaru gave his own nod of agreement. "Let's go then."
It was like getting back on a bike. Free of the suppressors, chakra flowed through her as naturally as a river current through the mountains. It felt free and liberating to be outside the confines of the hospital and know that she could do anything. The movements came easily. Sakura had worried about being out of practice but they all moved together as one unit, all of them having been paired on the same cell team at one point or another during the war. They moved together with a fluidity through the shadows, avoiding large patrols that were chasing after and rounding up citizens that had yet to find refuge in their home after the curfew alarm went off. They subdued as many as they could without slowing down or delaying their arrival to where the main body of commotion was taking place. In an effort to reach their destination more quickly, they took to the rooftops and sprinted the rest of the way.
It was at the edge of a two story apartment building that they all came to a sudden halt as they took in the sight before them. There was a small group of people circled and compacted together in the middle of the courtyard next to a burning pile of lumber that had once been the gallows. Within the burning timber, other items had been added to the pile such as rubber tires from trollies and trash cans. Littering the ground around the fire, burned and charred propaganda pamphlets and signs that had been posted around the city center smoldered around the main fire. Broken glass and other litter was strewn around the courtyard where windows and bottles had been smashed and broken. In places, small craters and broken brick created holes in the mosaic cobblestone that paved the city center from where small paper bombs had detonated. The shades of gravel and dirt had been scattered around making the place look like a warzone. All of it clearly visible from the numerous burning garbage cans that were scattered across the courtyard.
However it was not the destruction that had them frozen. Instead it was the sight of the soldiers surrounding the group of now scared and panicked citizens. Within the circle of soldiers, Sasuke stood before them, a middle aged man being held on his knees by two of his men as Sasuke slowly withdrew his katana from its saya.
Sakura stared wide eyed at the scene before her. She had seen this before. Several times Sasuke had stood before the crowd and executed countless people before them without so much as a blink of an eye. Why she thought she would find something different was beyond her, perhaps because she thought he was changing or perhaps she had hoped those times it was as he said, he had no choice. But right now, he did. There was no Madara standing beside him giving him instructions, there were no diplomates from Mist or Sound or any other dominions of Madara's regime. It was just them, just him, taking action of his own will.
She held her breath when Sasuke seemed to pause. And for a fraction of a second, she saw him hesitate. But then the man muttered something so quietly that Sakura could only see the man's lips move but his words did not reach her. However, by the expression on Sasuke's face, the raven haired man did not like what had been said. And Sakura knew what was going to happen. Hesitant or not, Sasuke was not going to stop himself, he was going to make a choice, and Sakura could not let him do this.
For the sake of the man kneeled before the Uchiha For herself and her fellow teammates who were all frozen and staring helplessly. For Sasuke. For whatever shard of remaining humanity he had left within him, Sakura jumped down from the building. Landing on the cobblestone ground, she ran forward, breaking through the wall of ANBU soldiers and making a direct line to Sasuke's as she reached out to him, wrapping her arms around him from behind as she yelled out.
They were all fools.
Sasuke was seething, his body physically shaking with fury. He had anticipated something like this was bound to happen. In other regions under the new control of Madara there had been flares of small riots and protests. From the reports of others placed in similar positions as he was, Madara had instructed and even taken personal interest in seeing that such occurrences would not be happening again. For the more densely populated or areas of importance, more pressure was added. This meant more restrictions and harsher conditions. For the smaller communities in which Madara found dispensable, that was exactly how they were handled. Madara had the settlements wiped from that map, the people were cut down, the buildings were razed, and all of it was burned and left as a reminder for anyone who passed through.
Having monitored reports and detected a recent rise of insurgent actions from those under his domain, he knew it was only a matter of time before he would be dealing with similar things. Which is why he prepared.
Sasuke had been determined to avoid and control even minor mentioning of unrest for the past month. He had done everything he could think of to prevent this and did his best to keep things peaceful. Now all his hard work and effort had been for nothing. No matter how much sweeping under the rug he did for this, he knew Madara would find out and he would have no other choice than be held accountable. His actions and how he dealt with the situation would be strictly reviewed by Madara. As the leading village in the fire country, they were expected to be the exemplar to the rest of the settlements in these lands.
He had tried, but they forced his hand. Now, he had to do something that he knew Sakura would not approve of. But it was more than just Sakura he found would be disappointed. Itachi. And worse, himself. The idea of what he was about to do did not settle with him. It made him twitchy and uncomfortable. And that only served to fuel his anger even more and stoked the slumbering darkness within him, causing the coals of his rage to rekindle.
He and his men had rounded up the majority of protestors until they were corralled into the city center in which it had started. Where he had approved permission for a memorial to take place in respect and effort to appease those under his rule.
Now he had them herded together like sheep for the slaughter. Sasuke let his dark eyes run over the once foolishly brave crowd as they grouped together and looked around in panic at the shinobi surrounding them. Most of them were citizens with a few young genin that thought themselves ready for such combatant requirements of leading a rebellion. Here and there he spotted some elder looking citizens that by the way they held themselves and their makeshift weapons, they were retired shinobi. Perhaps once chunin and even ANBU but time and past injuries had made them into shells of what they once were. But even in their prime they would have been no match for him.
Sasuke locked eyes with a particularly defiant looking man. His body was slightly bowed and he favored a leg, most likely from a past injury that had forced him into an early retirement. However his eyes held a certain gaze that held a spark he rarely saw these days. It was the infamous Will of Fire. The belief that the village was a family unity and it was through the Will of Fire that the Konoha shinobi loved, cherished, and fought to protect the village. It was a concept that Sasuke never learned to embrace, having lost everything worth protecting at such a young age by the very person who he had always seen holding the Konoha torch so high. Had he been more open and accepting with his teammates, he could have perhaps adopted such noble beliefs. But Sasuke had always had an instinct to push others away. It was as if it was in his very blood to go against the philosophy, spurred by the Uchiha's curse of hatred. Like he was fated to clash with such ideals.
However, despite Sasuke's lack of practice in such an art as sacrificing for others who may or may not even be deserving of it, Sasuke was more than aware of what a belief could muster amongst people. Naruto had been the poster child of that. Always talking about believing and depending on others and being willing to do anything for anyone. It was all nonsensical to Sasuke.
But as he looked into the pale blue eyes of the middle aged man before him, Sasuke recognized the danger of such a thing. And he had to put a stop to it before, like the flames of the riot slowly spreading to other regions of the city square, he needed to douse it before it spread to others.
Slowly, he began to withdraw his sword. The blade let out a metallic ringing as its polished surface caught the flames that were busy charring the stage that he had given dozens of speeches and decrees over the past year. Once the blade was free of the saya, he held it out to the side for a delayed moment, finding himself hesitating. He did not want to do this, not really. But if he did not, things would be much worse. It was the reason why he was so angry. Not because they were rebelling, but because he was being forced to take this action for the sake of the rest of the village.
If he did not handle this swiftly and to Madara's standards, Madara himself may take action and there was no telling what he would do. He had heard of three settlements being completely wiped out for similar events. And while he knew Konoha was safe from being completely eradicated, things would get worse and more lives would be lost if he did not do this now. It was perhaps a construed version, but was this not part of the Will of Fire concept? Sacrifice for the preservation of the village? These people would be that sacrifice. Their deaths would save the rest.
Eyes still locked with the defiant looking man, Sasuke hardened himself as the grip on his katana strengthened. With a twitched gesture of his head towards the man, he gave a silent signal. Immediately, two of his soldiers took a step forward and grabbed a hold of the man. They pushed him forward before one of them gave him a harsh kick to the back of the knee and forced that man to kneel. Sasuke took a few steps forward as he looked down at the man with a blank expression.
That man's eyes snapped up to him. "You Uchiha have always been a curse, if only that bastard of your brother hadn't been so incompetent and finished you off when he did the world a favor and killed the rest of you. Then again, seems your clan are the cockroaches of the earth and somehow keep crawling back from the very cracks of hell."
Those words were all he needed to let himself be consumed by the bubbling darkness and help him finish the task before him. Raising the blade he prepared for the first of many executions for the night.
Just as he was about to bring the blade down, a sudden scream broke over the crackling fires of the protest and echoed across the square. "Stop!"
He was hit with a weight of nostalgia the moment the feminine voice of protest rang out. And it only intensified when it was followed by the embrace of arms reaching around his waist and the feel of her pressing against his back. Despite the rational part of his mind telling him the impossibility of Sakura being here and not still trapped in a genjutsu at her home, he found himself being thrust into what felt like an illusion.
It was like he was standing in the forest of death again. Twelve years old and over taken with an uncontrollable rage that was extinguished the moment she wrapped herself around him and pleaded.
That moment had been a significant occurrence in his life that he often thought back on over the years. It was the first time he noticed and acknowledged the effect that Sakura had on him. It was that calming aura and effect that she had brought upon him that he craved whenever he lost control. Sasuke craved power, but like a drug, it damaged him. While he liked power, he also liked control, something that he found he never had...except when Sakura was around. She was like an anchoring focal point that gave him the ability to contain what was usually uncontrollable to him. It was a kind of power he had never been able to harness himself, always needing aid.
However as pivotal as that moment had been, there were certain changes to then and now.
The hold she had around him was tighter, stronger. No longer where they thin arms that he could easily break free from. The grasp was firm and powerful. And her voice, instead of a pleading cry of desperation, it was fiercely demanding. But like before, it made him pause and hesitate. However before he could fully compare all the differences, or turn around to see the expected green eyes as she looked up at him, or even savor the feeling of her so voluntarily close to him. The moment was shattered.
Instead of grasping on tightly and pressing into him as she did before, The moment her arms were secured around him, he felt a tugging sensation around his midriff as he felt himself being lifted. A fraction of a second later he found himself being separated from the pair of arms as he was launched into the air, a fierce roar of exertion filling the air and echoing out into the night.
Immediately Sasuke twisted and turned, flipping to catch himself at the last moment. His feet landed on the ground and he came to a sliding stop, his body bent over to catch his balance with one hand, while his other held his sword with a practiced form.
With the moment shattered, his anger was quickly revived and he sprung forward for an immediate attack of his attacker. Looking up at the last second, his eyes took in the image of Sakura standing strongly between himself and the man as she pushed off the two soldiers who had earlier been restraining the man she was now protecting. It took him a delayed moment to register that it was her who had attacked him, who had thrown him. And it was only due to his lightning reflexes that he was able to stop his motions in the last moment.
Everything came to a halting stop with his sword paused mid strike, the cold blade pressed against a frozen Sakura's neck. Her collar bone protruding out as she sucked in a breath and held it, obviously slightly taken aback by his acquired speed that she had still yet to get used to. But despite her bated breath, she looked down at the metallic blade not with fear, but only a watchful eye, as if daring it to press a little harder. Everything else around the square seemed just as frozen and still, even the flames seemed to flicker into embers in respect to this paused moment.
For a length of time, all Sasuke could do was glare down at her. Feeling both impressed and furious as Sakura stood defiantly strong before him. How the hell did she break free? She had always seemed to have a natural talent and resistance to genjutsu, but he had used his sharingan.
He had purposely cast an illusion that would not seem torturous. Doing his best to create a landscape that would not make her want to leave or be free. Initially he had thought to build one off of her family, but he did not know much about them. And admittedly, it seemed it would be cruel when she finally did wake up to find her mother was gone again. So he had pulled from his own thoughts of what would seem peaceful enough a person would not want to escape the dreamscape illusion. But perhaps he overestimated what he thought was happiness. Perhaps his memories and idea of what families and domestic peace should look like were wrong.
"Sakura," he said in a single tone of voice. She did not even look up at him. "Move aside," he instructed.
Her eyes moved from the blade but only rose to his shoulder. "No," she said plainly.
Sasuke gritted his teeth and did his best to keep his hand steady as anger bubbled beneath his skin. This, this was exactly why he had not wanted her here. Why he expected to avoid it, he was not sure. But he was quickly realizing that it was more than her being involved he had wanted to avoid. It was her seeing this, seeing what he was going to do. Because he knew no amount of explaining would make her understand why he had to do this. No one did. How Itachi had spent half his life living and taking the blame for what saved this wretchedly ungrateful village Sasuke could not understand how he so easily kept to his ways. For already Sasuke was to the point of just letting the fires they set tonight burn it all to the ground. If it did, it would render this place useless and then Madara would have the population slaughtered for no longer being of any use to him. He could finally just wash his hands of it all.
But then what? What would be left for him in the world? Before he had never looked farther than the next step to his ambitious goals, but now, he found himself looking farther, looking at the horizon of his wayward paths and seeing where the road ended. And without this village, he found himself looking out into an empty void.
He adjusted his hold on his blade and it slightly nicked her skin as the faintest of cuts opened along the column of her neck. Sakura flinched slightly, obviously taken aback by the sting of his blade. While it had been an accident, Sasuke did not remove the blade, using it as a driving point.
"Sakura, I will not ask again," he warned. "Step. Aside."
She lifted her chin defiantly, although her eyes remained below his jawline. The action caused his blade to graze against her skin and another, and a more deeper crimson line was drawn across the porcelain column of her neck.
"No," she said firmly. "I am a kunoichi, sworn to protect the citizens of this city against all those who try to hurt them and I will, we all will."
At that, Sasuke saw a movement from the corner of his eye and he turned his head fractionally and angled his eyes upwards to the roof line. His anger turned to annoyance as he saw their figures standing at the ready. His old classmates, or at least what was left of them. All skilled and capable clan members that unlike the rioters, would and could actually pose a threat to him. He knew he would still come out on top, but their loss would not play favorably. The rest of their clans would surely become ungovernable and then he truly would have a rebellion.
He refocused on Sakura whose eyes quickly flickered back down from his face as he set his eyes on her. He watched her for a moment as his mind raced for something for him to use.
"These people are endangering the village. They must be held responsible and treated as such."
He watched as her face hardened and he could tell she was resisting the urge to look directly into his eyes. "As hokage you are supposed to give your life for the protection of this village and its people. You're supposed to preserve their lives, not take them. Hashirama, Tobirama, Minato, Hiruzen, Tsuー" she struggled with the last name, her voice breaking slightly as she struggled to keep her voice under control. Taking in a deep breath she tightly closed her eyes. "And Tsunade," she said, a special hallowedness accompanying her former tutors name. "They all gave their lives for the people of this village, regardless of what they did or thought." Slowly she opened her eyes and looked up at him. "And look at you. How can you call yourself hokage?"
"I have told you," he said through gritted teeth, just loud enough for only her to hear. "I may be hokage...but my hands are tied. I cannot show weakness, nor give the impression that I am letting things go. I have to take actions that reflect the example of the daimyo."
She was quiet for a long time before she finally spoke again, her expression softening. "They are just hurting. Today was a difficult reminder of what we have all lost. Sometimes when people hurt they do things that they cannot be held responsible for, they make mistakes," she said, then took a step forward and lowered her voice. "You of all people should know that."
For a moment she held his gaze, actually meeting his eyes. Then she seemed to realize what she was doing and her eyes dropped down just slightly, as she focused on his nose. Sasuke stared down at her quietly, acutely aware of all the prying eyes around them but could not find it in himself to really care. He waited for her to look back up at him but she continued to just stare at the center of his face. It felt like she was looking through him more than at him. But he pondered her words. Pondered why she had spoken them so quietly and with such respect. And then he remembered the illusion he had captured her in and suddenly regretted having chosen such a scene.
She was using that against him. Using his family and trying to manipulate him. And he was angry that it was working.
"Give them some leniency, show people you can be merciful, that they have a leader who will protect them and will put the village first."
Sasuke's face twitched slightly. Then suddenly his hand shot out, his fingers dug into her jaw and he leaned forward. "I have said this many times, Sakura. I have given you many warnings to not do something like this…"
He drifted off, his voice unable to form the denial of her request and he cursed. Letting out an exhale his gasp on her jaw tightened with frustration and he heard her take in a breath as she tried to tolerate the bruising grip he had on her. Pulling slightly back and loosening his grip just enough to still force it up, he looked down at her half lidded eyes as she stared forward at his chest.
"Look at me," he said darkly. "I said...Look. At. Me," he enunciated when she did not obey.
Slowly, her lashes lifted and he was met with a dark green version of her stare. He held it for longer than she had dared look at him during this entire exchange before finally speaking. "I will grant you this request, I will show...mercy," he said spitefully. "But only out of respect for the dead." He watched a look of surprise come to her face and something within him twisted. He despised that she thought him so low as to not have respect for the deceased. He leaned closer to her until they were only an inch apart from their noses touching. "I have said things before, but this time I mean it. Do anything like this again and I will have you put on house arrest or throw you into prison myself."
"I've seen worse fates, and so long as some good comes from it, I will gladly accept that," she said, not fully satisfying him with a promise or even a hint that she would try and follow his command. She was becoming more rebellious.
Sasuke's face twisted with dissatisfaction but he stood up, looking over her head at the gathered crowd who were all staring between himself and Sakura with confusion and anticipation. Immediately he hardened his face, as he took in a breath before speaking out so that his voice could be heard even by the Konoha 11 standing on the rooftops.
"It has been brought to my attention by Doctor Haruno, that due to grief and mental trauma, the actions of tonight should not be faulted...I disagree." He watched Sakura stiffen and noted her head raise up to look at him but he kept his eyes on the crowd who all began to shift nervously. "However," he continued, glancing down to Sakura who was staring at him with bated breath. "Tonight, I will take her advice."
He watched as Sakura's shoulders dropped in relief as she let out a breath. He slipped his sword away, taking a step around Sakura as he looked warningly into the crowd. "This does not mean you will get away without punishment. Everyone in this square, along with anyone else found affiliated with tonight's actions, will have their names taken down and consequences will still be taken. Five hundred hours of service will be worked by each of you and all, including their families, will be on probation for the next six months."
He looked out around the crowd taking in some of their faces and watching them as they registered what he had just done.
Spared them.
"You will start by putting out all the fires, then go home," he moved to turn away then paused, giving the crowd a stern look and his voice lowered and octave. "Do not make me regret this for tonight will be the only time I grant this."
He began walking away from them, grabbing onto Sakura as he began to drag her towards the rest of Konoha 11, who were descending from the rooftop, each of them looking at him warily as he approached. "Unless you all want to be included in tonight's share of reprimand, I suggest you all go home." He pushed Sakura forward, who slightly stumbled before catching herself and turning back to look at him with a confused expression. "You too," he commanded. "Go home."
He did not even wait to see if they would obey or not. Instead he turned around and began to make his way to the opposite side of the city, where his secluded clan compound was found. He needed to think. He needed to devise a way in which he could explain a rational explanation to Madara for his leniency. Ideally this event would not leave the walls of this city, but Sasuke was not so naïve to know that Madara had his eyes and ears everywhere. The chances of him not finding out where far too small for Sasuke not to prepare. He would be asked to explain himself and Sasuke was unsure if he even had an explanation that he himself could understand.
From her vantage point at the side, Ino had watched the scene in utter disbelief. The last person who ever stood up to Sasuke, at least in the public eye was an older shinobi seven months ago. Sasuke had just given an executive order in front of the masses when the man had started shouting. Ino hardly remembered what about, or what he was protesting, but she certainly remembered the sound of Sasuke's sword being drawn and the thud of the man's body as his head rolled along the stone ground. Sasuke had beheaded him on the spot, in front of everyone just for yelling a few words of protest. She remembered watching the head roll off into the crowd and people shoving each other to escape the pool of blood that had formed around the body. And that was only a single person.
Now, as a rioting mob of citizens and a few older or naïve shinobi that did not know the difference between an organized revolution and a foolish act of bravery, Sasuke had just dealt out the equivalent of a slap on the hand when compared to what he once used to do. And from what had been about to go down upon their arrival and now, this was all due to Sakura's intervention.
As he approached them and shoved Sakura towards them with the warning and command for all of them to go home, Ino could not do anything but stare. She remembered his treatment of Sakura back when they were genin. It had not been good. Everyone had known he was cold and heartless...and yet it had still shocked them all when Sasuke had come to wage war on the village. It had been the ultimate testimony to just how low he had sunk. Ino had not really looked at him much, mostly out of fear of him and what he would do. She was not proud of it. But Sasuke had proven himself far more cruel than she had ever imagined he was...and yet...she had just witnessed that.
As Sasuke walked away from them, Ino finally managed to look away. First to Sakura who was turned away from them as she watched Sasuke retreating back, then she moved on to the others. Tenten was looking between Sakura and Sasuke with suspicion. Kiba and Choji in disbelief. Hinata looked puzzled but the more gentle woman also had the faintest of understanding and sympathy on her face as she studied Sasuke before her lilac eyes moved to Sakura. Shino was more difficult to know what was going on as his shaded glasses covered his eyes and the lower half of his face was tucked into the high collar of his coat. It was when she glanced at Shikamaru when she stopped and took in the analytical genius' expression. He was rubbing at his bristled jaw line as his eyes flickered back and forth between Sasuke and Sakura, his usually tired and bored face pulled into deep thought.
She waited for him to say something, to share what higher insights he had, but when he opened his mouth and looked around. It was only to encourage everyone to go home. It took a moment for them all to follow, but when he repeated himself, they all sluggishly moved in various directions in retrospect to their homes.
Sakura had first taken a few steps not in the direction of her own home, instead in the direction of the Uchiha district, but then seemed to have second thoughts. She turned around, catching Ino's azure stare.
"Can I explain later?" she requested to Ino.
As desperate and curious Ino was to know what exactly just happened, she could see Sakura was conflicted. Slowly she allowed her head to dip down.
"Wanna walk home together until we get to the turn off?"
Sakura nodded. "...yeah"
Ino nodded, trying her best to understand her friend and her hesitancy to explain what she had said to Sasuke to get him to do what he had just done. To get him to do what Ino had thought him incapable of.
Mercy.
The temperature had dropped significantly since the day before, making for a crisp morning that brought in low clouds that mixed with the residual smoke from the fires from the night before. Even without passing by the charred remains of the city center, the smoky undertone of the air reminded and notified everyone of the events of last night.
Sakura pulled her jacket tighter around herself as she walked through the unnaturally still area of the Uchiha compound. With the low fog resting on the rooftops, it made the area seem claustrophobic as she passed by empty houses and vacant lots. It gave the impression of a ghost town and Sakura found herself recalling the genjustu Sasuke had cast, the warmth and life in it contrasting heavily to the now haunting reality. She walked quickly and briskly, not daring to look around for fear of seeing an actual ghost. It was not until she had reached the central home that she finally lifted her eyes and looked at the house. It was large, too large for just one person. But then again, this entire compound was too large for the miniscule population that occupied it.
She kept her feet light as she walked up the steps, uncomfortable with breaking the heavy silence of the morning. But such effort was inevitable as she lifted her hand and rapt on the frame of the door.
It let out a hollow sound that she could hear echoing through the house behind the door, reminding her of the emptiness. Before Sakura had not processed it, but the more she thought about it and recalled the short time she had spent in the walls of his home, Sakura noted the sparseness of the house. There were no pictures or extra furnishings. Just minimal functions from what she had glimpsed in the hall and in his room.
She knocked on the house again when she failed to detect any stirring within, and after five minutes she turned around, convinced that he was not home. She had reached the end of the engawa when the shuffle of gravel caught her attention and she looked down the pathway to see two figures emerge from the fog.
Sasuke and Obito were walking together with an awkward distance between them. While younger, Sasuke seemed to tower over Obito who had a more stocky and broad shape to him. Each of them were wearing loose pants and standard shinobi sandals. Obito had a loose shirt with the sleeves rolled up while Sasuke carried his over his shoulder, his chest and torso naked but flushed against the cold air as a mist seemed to radiate from his heated body.
She could hear them talking in dull tones, their breath condensing and forming into clouds that rose above them. However their words were lost to her and before they were close enough, Sasuke's bowed head shot up as his dark eyes instantly zeroed in on her standing at the edge of his porch. His steps slightly faltered from the obvious unexpectedness of her presence. Sakura herself felt herself falter slightly, second guessing her decision to talk with him at his home instead of waiting at his office, but that scene was beginning to grow weary and too familiar. And she didn't want familiarity with Sasuke.
Her eyes flickered to the other Uchiha only to find Obito looking curiously at her. She was not sure, but there was a sadness in his eyes that was off putting. He too was supposed to be a villain, his hand having dealt exceedingly in the demise of Konoha as the resurrector of Madara. Yet despite this, the look in his eye looked so lost, so unfulfilled, that Sakura felt herself weakening with a certain tenderness. She gave him an uncomfortable nod to which he returned before turning away abruptly and without a word to Sasuke, began to depart to an unknown region of the Uchiha district.
She watched Obito disappear into the fog, the transition so quick it was as if he had teleported. Blinking a few times at the empty space of swirling fog, Sakura steered her attention away to focus on Sasuke as he approached. He silently stepped up to the engawa and halted at the step. With the extra height from where she stood on the wooden porch, and him on the solid ground, she found herself looking ever so slightly down at him. His head tilted up, dark hair wet and clinging to the nap of his neck as the lingering sweat from his spar dried it to his skin.
"What are you doing here?" He asked, his voice short and holding a tinge of frustration. Obvious signs that he was still angry with her from last night.
Knowing he was not one for elaboration or beating around the bush, Sakura went straight to the point of her presence. "What do I owe you?"
His brow quirked. "Owe me?"
"From last night...for being…" She paused for a moment as she tried to decide the proper term. She did not want to say, lenient or merciful. Sakura knew Sasuke did not want to be associated with such things as he saw those as weak. But she did not want to devalue the goodness of his actions. "...a fair hokage," she finished.
Sasuke was quiet for a while as he looked up at her, his face deep in thought as the corners of his mouth slowly turned downward. "You don't owe me anything."
She looked at him skeptically. "Nothing at all?"
"Is that so hard to believe?"
"Yes."
Her answer was immediate but it was honest. Because yes, it was difficult to believe. While she had told herself Sasuke had changed, in reality, he really hadn't. Age and life had just given his traits more depth. When they were younger, Sasuke only ever thought of himself. He only ever truly contributed to teamwork during their genin years when he saw that the team success paralleled his own success. The grown man before her was no different in her eyes.
Sasuke stepped up onto the engawa and Sakura took a step back from his sudden intrusion of proximity. "You gave me council regarding their mental state and I took your advice." He titled his head to the side. "Is that not what a Hokage is supposed to do? Listen to the leaders of the city and take their council into consideration? As head of the hospital that would make you an official of this village."
There was a mockery in his tone and Sakura frowned for a moment before folding her arms and tilting her head to look up at him. "Only I am not the head of the hospital, remember," Sakura chided, adopting his sarcastic tone of mockery. "And we both know how you feel about council members in this village, considering what happened to the last of them. Didn't really take their advice to not destroy the city to heart back then," she said dryly. "So why start listening now?"
A darkness passed over Sasuke's face at the mention of the elders she had referred to and for a moment, Sakura wondered if she had managed to cross that line. It was such a grey and thinned area it was difficult to gage where she stood when it came to Sasuke. That was the one thing that truly was different. Before Sasuke never listened to her, he never even bothered to hear her. But now...he actually listened. And she was apprehensive of that change.
The shadowed expression on his face only lasted for a moment before he was looking at her. His eyes flickered back and forth, roving over her face.
"What do you want from me?" she found herself asking. "Please just tell me what I owe."
He gave her a wry look. "Sakura," Sasuke said, her name rolling off his tongue in a way Sakura had never heard him, nor anyone utter in such a way. "Do I really have to spell it out? Deny it as much as you want, but you know exactly why I treat you the way I do. My intentions have been clear since the beginning."
Sakura did not answer immediately as her insides twisted. She did not like this topic. Acknowledging it, thinking about it, and most of all talking about it. Because it gave the ideas and theories that Kakashi had suggested a foundation. That made them real, not hypothetical. And if it was real...well, she wanted no part in that. She wanted no part in life with him. But the biggest reason was because they did not make sense.
"Have they though?" Sakura challenged after her moment of thought. "Because I do not understand why you would treat me with any care. You never did before."
Sasuke looked down at the wooden flooring between them before looking back up at her. "I did not understand back then...I didn't...see."
Sakura's brows furrowed and she slowly shook her head from side to side, unsure of herself if it was to express her inability to understand or yearning desire of denial. She bowed her head and pinched the bridge of her nose. "I understand infatuation and obsession. That I can believe. That I can accept you feel for me. Because I have seen you express and act on those emotions for everything you do. Your ambition to achieve your goals drive you." She looked up at him. "But I do not understand your intentions with me. You have made it very clear all our lives of how much you detest and abhor me, how much I annoy you. I do not believe that you would just do something for me without an expectation."
Sasuke chewed at the inside of his lip and he looked away from her out to the swirling and foggy expanse that surrounded them. He fidgeted as the silence between them grew longer and he pulled the shirt from his shoulder and shook it out, focusing on the fabric before pulling it over his head. He took his time adjusting the collar and smoothing out the front before finally looking back up at her, a firm expression on his face.
"Opinions and feelings can change, Sakura," he stated clearly before taking a step towards her.
Sakura stepped backwards and found her back hitting against something. She looked back to find herself against the support beam of the overhang. When she turned her attention back to him, she instinctively pressed back into the wood, not caring about the sharp edge digging into her back. He was leaning over her, his forearm coming to rest against the wood above her head as he leaned in.
"I am not one for words," he said, taking on a sultry tone as his eyes ran across her face. "But I will gladly show you my intentions and desires."
Sakura's hands automatically shot up and shoved him back and away from her. Then she scrambled off the engawa to stand on the pebbled path with only enough space between them as she did her best not to wriggle under the sooty look of his eyes. He did not even seem bothered or surprised by her reaction. His hands lazily went into his pockets as he walked to the edge of the deck and leaned against the beam she had just been pressed against. No guilt, not even embarrassment, in his eyes. Perhaps only a glint of disappointment. But otherwise he seemed...comfortable and casual. Too casual. She straightened herself up.
"If we are talking about making ourselves and intentions very clear, then allow me to make myself clear," she began, drawing herself up and setting her shoulders. She did not meet his eyes fully but she dared to center her attention as close to them as she could without making contact. "I still hate you and I will never stop or forgive you for the things you have done.
"You left me heartbroken on a bench and while now it seems insignificant as at the time I was young and naïve, it is just one of the things that have added up over the years. You left the village and abandoned your team. You pushed us away. You betrayed the village, working against us and siding without enemies. You tried to kill Naruto, you tried to kill me-" his mouth parted as if to counter that claim but she did not let him- "you destroyed our home and let yourself fall to a darkness that even now I doubt you will ever truly escape. One that Naruto, Kakashi, and I all tried desperately to save you from.
"I will say this however. I do genuinely appreciate what you did last night, what you showed. Those actions are good and I will never go against them or diminish what they do. However those actions should not be done for the sake of trying to gain favor in me. It should be done because it's the right thing to do but frankly, these are things that should have never had to be addressed in the first place. If you were really changed you would know that.
"This brings me to the reason why I came here. I will never accept your intentions and therefore I will not let these actions be done for me. I will pay a price, I will not be indebted to you or feel like I owe you anything regarding my changed feelings. Am I understood?"
Sasuke did not respond, vocally or physically. Instead he stood silently and statuesque. When all he did was look at her, she decided to take his silence as acceptance.
"So, for last night, what shall it be?" she asked bluntly. "What do I owe yー?"
"Dinner," Sasuke suddenly interrupted.
"...Dinner?" Sakura parroted.
"Once a week, you have to have dinner with me."
Sakura did not even bother to question the demand, instead, "For how long?"
"Hn," Sasuke hummed, tilting his head to the side thoughtfully. "For however long it takes," he replied simply.
Sakura's brow crumpled in confusion. "Takes for what?" she questioned.
The corner of his lips curled up into a smoldering smirk that made Sakura's insides clench and churn within her stomach. "Hn," he let out, a tone of amusement sounding with the syllable and reflecting brightly in his dark eyes. But that was all he offered her before turning around and walking quietly to his door.
Sakura watched his retreating figure, her eyes focusing on the Uchiha emblem on the back of his shirt as he slid the door open and disappeared inside, leaving her alone in front of his house. Seeing the fan brought back the genjutsu he had cast over her. The domesticity of it all, the alternate reality. Did Sasuke mean to show her that? If so, what purpose did it serve? It certainly played at her advantage last night in saving and talking him down, but what purpose did it serve for his favor? Did he think it would change the way she thought about him? She liked to think it didn't, that she was firm, that he had done too much to be forgivable. But to see just an innocent desire, it made her wonder, could a monster desire such things? A safe home, a warm meal, and a loving family that was all together? Could she really continue to condemn that?
As her father wandered upstairs, Sakura began to clean up the tea they had just shared before making her own way up to bed. But the soft and hesitant knock at the door had her pausing at the bottom stair and turning to the front door. Cautiously, she undid the bolt she had put into place earlier and cracked the door open, uncertain of what would be on the other side.
Ino? A guard? Sasuke? It was none of the expected answers.
When Sakura first registered the stranger standing at her door steps, it took her a delayed moment as she stared at a middle aged woman with faded chestnut hair.
"Are you doctor Haruno?"
Sakura opened the door a little more wider, spurred by the urgency in the woman's voice. "Yes, is someone hurt?"
The woman shook her head vigorously as she continued to wring her shaking hands. "N-no, miss. I just…" she looked around nervously at the dark street, obviously unsure about being out and about so close to curfew.
Immediately Sakura opened the door wider and stepped aside. "Here, come in and we can talk out of sight."
This only seemed to make the woman more nervous but as the sound of the curfew warning alarm rang through the streets, the woman quickly pushed through the threshold and Sakura quickly shut the door after giving a quick glance into the street. When she turned around, the woman was standing nearly right at her heels.
"I am terribly sorry to come so late, but I didn't know what else to do. Kou, told me that I should come to you."
"Who?" Sakura inquired, unfamiliar with the name.
"Kou...Kou Tanaka, Daichi's mother."
It was not as if Sakura had anyone in particular that she was expecting, but Daichi's mother was the last person she was expecting to send anyone to her. From what she could tell, the woman resented everything about her.
"Please miss Haruno, my two oldest children died in the war and my third child, who just turned thirteen was deployed on a mission that is far too advanced. Now, I just got an official notice demanding that my youngest is to be conscripted."
Sakura's heart went out to the woman. While she herself had been trained from a young age in the shinobi arts, she had at least chosen to go and her parents, having been shinobi in their younger years before settling down to marry, had easily allowed her. But in the past year, a conscription had been set into place, the age demand falling lower and lower each month.
"I'm sorry, I cannot imagine what that must feel like," Sakura sympathized. "...however, I am not sure exactly why you are here?" she questioned gently. "Why would Kou tell you to come to me?"
"Kou said you could help me," the woman said. "She said the hokage-sama would change the conscription age. Everyone today is saying he will listen to you...because, you're his favorite."
Yikes I rearranged this chapter so much trying to get the best flow of conversation that I got to the point of eff it I am posting it. Next chapter we will be getting some more Obito interaction and Ino as well as some Naruto insights and some other characters that I will leave for a surprise and of course some Sasuke and Sakura time before someone comes knocking at the door.
Thank you to everyone who gives this story so much love and patience. I know I have been slow to update really but I am trying to just rotate through all my other WIP's, trying to finish at least one of them before I add more projects that I am developing lol.
As always take care and be your excellent selves!