Note: The third person's POV will begin next chapter
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Sasuke felt the three jonin glance him over, the boy's attention grabbed as Tobira moved forward to take his hand. The older shinobi's gloved palm fit warmly against his own, Tobira not seeming to think much of it as he spoke to the others. "Well, I should get going, then. I promised Sasuke I'd train him for a bit, so we'd better head off before it gets too late."
Inoichi nodded in understanding, musing, "Finally getting that training you're always craving, huh?" eyeing Sasuke with amusement.
Something in Sasuke seemed to perk up, the young Uchiha nodding quickly as he held onto Tobira's hand. Though he tried to keep his excitement reeled in, the ravenet gripped his bag tightly. "Mhm. I'm going to train my speed." he couldn't help but tell the elder shinobi with pride. He could already imagine how great he'd be.
Shikaku rose a brow from where he stood, eyeing Tobira briefly as he heard Sasuke's words. "Oh? Well then, you make sure to train hard for Tobira. Good to use the chances you get."
The man didn't have to tell Sasuke twice. He of all people knew just how rare the chance to be trained one on one was. "I will." he nodded seriously, looking up at the masked shinobi with determined yet reserved eyes.
"Sasuke!" a shout from behind them came, the young Uchiha grimacing as he heard the voice. His excitement shattered as he realized Ino was fast approaching, Shikamaru and Choji walking leisurely behind the short-haired girl.
The boy gave a final wave to the elder shinobi before quickly agreeing, "Yeah, better not waste it. We should go." moving to walk towards the gate. Sadly, the hand attached to his own didn't seem to follow.
Sending a pout over his shoulder, Sasuke couldn't help but send Tobira an irritated look. Tobira seemed like a pretty smart guy, from what Sasuke had seen. Which was why the boy was certain the silver-haired shinobi had to understand what he was doing. "Let's go, Tobira. I really want to get started." he insisted.
Upon seeing no reaction past a mere raise of Tobira's eyebrow, Sasuke felt an overwhelming sense of defeat. This feeling was only further supported as Tobira scolded, "That's a bit rude, isn't it Sasuke? You should at least respond."
Oh, why was it always him? "No- you don't-" Sasuke's objections were cut off as Ino reached them, her own hands reaching out to clasp his free one. A jolt of displeasure ran through him as she watched him with stary blue eyes, Shikamaru rolling his eyes from behind while Choji merely tilted his head. Would it kill them to help him out just once?
At least Tobira had the sense to look mildly surprised by her sudden grip on his hand, the young girl speaking with excitement, "Hey, I'm glad I caught you before you left."
Sasuke definitely felt caught. "It was so sad that I got stuck at a table without you." she pouted, though she seemed to brighten up as she suggested, "I know! Why don't you come over today? It's been a while since we got to be together."
Taking a step back, Sasuke moved towards Tobira without thinking. "No way. I'm busy today." he objected, words as cold as he could muster in hopes of getting his point across. He was not getting stuck in her garden with flowers being shoved in his face or sickeningly sweet tea being pushed down his throat again.
"Doing what?" she insisted, pout having returned to her face. It took a great weight off Sasuke's shoulders as Inoichi set a hand on his daughter's shoulder, hesitantly shaking his head at her.
Sasuke felt the warmth of Tobira's hand disappear, only to reappear on both his shoulders. He'd moved back a bit further than he had realized, the young Uchiha practically on Tobira's feet as he pulled away from the too-close-for-comfort girl.
His shoulders sagged slightly in relief as Inoichi spoke to Ino, carefully motioning to Tobira as he spoke. "Honey, Sasuke has training with Tobira today. A good shinobi needs to practice, right?"
"Right..." was the blonde's bitter response, hand slowly dropping from Sasuke's as she hear her father's words.
"Besides, daddy has to do some extra work tonight. You don't want to leave your mother all alone in the flower shop, right? Don't you want to help her water all the pretty flowers?" he urged, deadpanning as she sent him a pout.
"I guess not." the six-year-old muttered after a long moment, arms crossed as she spoke. Her temper seemed to dissolve slowly, though not before sending Tobira a look of disdain.
Sasuke was fairly sure his classmate had just put the elder shinobi on some sort of mental hit-list.
"Man, you two are always so bothersome," Shikamaru grumbled, walking past them and over to his father. Choji followed right along, Shikaku shaking his head in amusement.
Glaring over at the Nara heir, Sasuke objected, "Hey, it's not my fault she's so grabby!" grimacing as Ino sent him a wide-eyed look. Ah, probably the wrong thing to say in front of her.
"I'm sure he didn't mean anything bad by it, Ino. Sasuke just likes his personal space, that's all." Choza comforted, shaking his head at the look of hurt on her face.
Looking back at Tobira, Sasuke furrowed his brows. Well, it was true. He wouldn't have a problem with her if she wasn't so grabby and weird all the time. She'd started it! She didn't treat anyone else in class so weirdly!
At least Tobira seemed to have some mercy, the masked man eyeing him briefly before letting out a sigh. "He certainly could have worded it better, but he isn't completely wrong. He clearly doesn't want you holding onto him. Keep pushing, and he may very well decide he doesn't want to be around you at all." the man shook his head, "Friendships can not be forced."
Inoichi looked conflicted with the man's words as Ino stared up at him with a mixture of frustration, surprise, and hurt. Sasuke couldn't help but feel the slightest bit bad as he saw her expression, blinking at her as Tobira spoke. "If someone doesn't want to accept your friendship, that is their choice that they have to live with. All you can do is let them know you'll be there should they change their mind. Now." Tobira looked down at the young Uchiha, "Let's go. If you want time to train while it's still bright out, we should go now."
The elder shinobi's words still processing through his mind, Sasuke gave a hesitant nod. He did want to train before it got dark, but there was something about Tobira's words that gave the boy an odd sense of déjà vu.
Tobira led him away with a hand on his shoulder, Sasuke glancing back only briefly to see the varying looks of surprise and resignation on the three jonin's faces. Even if they seemed uncertain of Tobira's words, it appeared they didn't exactly disagree. Sasuke had a feeling it was more the upset Ino they were concerned with.
Sasuke was suddenly very glad the weekend was coming up. He wasn't sure how to feel about this all. On one hand, he was beyond happy with the idea that she would finally back off and stop her weird attitude. On the other, it was unsettling to see the girl so upset. It wasn't exactly that he wanted their friendship to end, he just wanted to go back to how it was before. He missed sparring while their fathers watched on...
Though, he supposed that was off the table regardless of whether she was acting off or not.
"I was talking to you too, you know," Tobira spoke once they were past the school gates, the taller shinobi finally letting go of his shoulder. The two walked side by side, the young Uchiha looking up at the other. "Friendships can't be forced. They'll only happen if both people are trying. You can refuse a friendship, yes, but keep in mind that the stance you make is one you have to live with. Even if you later decide to go back and try to work something out."
Walking alongside Tobira, Sasuke settled on looking anywhere but at the other. Eyes scanning over the busy street ahead, Sasuke defended, "I do put effort in. She's the one acting weird." he spoke sourly, "I miss training and doing fun stuff."
"Well, what do you consider 'weird' about the way she's been acting?" The masked man implored, Sasuke's eyes tracing over the people passing by and crows picking from the trash outside Ichiraku Ramen.
What wasn't weird with her? It felt weird to talk about it- how he felt about others wasn't usually something that got brought up past his classmates' surprisingly unstealthy arguments over who he prefered. Though, he supposed Tobira would know what to do if anyone. He seemed to at least have a vague idea of how these things worked.
Still, where to start? "Well, she doesn't want to do any of the things we used to do. She just wants to sit around smelling flowers or drinking tea." he huffed, "The flowers are boring and the tea always makes my stomach hurt. It's way too sweet, but she gets all upset when I tell her that. Why can't we just train instead? We're both going to be shinobi anyway. It's not like she never wants to train- she does it all the time with Shikamaru and Choji. Just not with me."
It didn't make sense to Sasuke in the least, but something must have clicked with Tobira. A low hum of understanding came from the elder shinobi as they rounded a corner, the man asking, "I can't say for sure as I don't exactly know her, but perhaps she just likes those things now and wants to share them with you."
"But I don't like them." Sasuke deadpanned as the Uchiha clan walls came into view. Did he have to sit through them even if he didn't like them? Was their friendship really worth being miserable the whole time? No, it wouldn't work even if it was. Even when he'd followed his mother's advice and tried to sit through it, she'd still seemed upset! It was a lose-lose situation.
The man's next suggestion had him feeling like a bit of an idiot. How had he not thought of it before? "Then make it into something you both like. Bitter teas exist. Perhaps try training your mind with her by talking about strategies. It won't be ideal for either of you, but it will be something if you truly have no even ground and want to find something to share."
Oh. Well, that might work, if she was willing to. He'd be lying if he said he wasn't still a little agitated...or maybe the right word was hurt?...by the way she had steered away from any mention of him missing his clan after the murders. Then again, in the far back of his mind, he was reminded that he himself had refused it outright in the beginning. Maybe it was expecting too much of the girl, to ask her to...well, he didn't know what he wanted her to do.
This was why he didn't think about it often. Ino always made things so complicated. Was everyone outside the clan so difficult? Then again, his father and Itachi were both pretty hard to understand too. Maybe some people were just like that.
"I wouldn't worry about it too much." Tobira settled on moving ahead, pressing the gates open for them. "I'm sure there's still plenty of time to figure things out if you decide you do want to be her friend. Worrying now won't do much good. You have other things to focus on."
That was right. Sasuke did have other things to focus on. He had training to do.
Taking a step forward, the boy nodded, bag held close as they moved through the gates and into the compound. The sight he was met with had him slowing ever so slightly.
The blood. It was gone...but there. The ground looked as though it had been rubbed half to death, the spots he knew oh so well no longer crusty. Instead, the concrete was dark, as though it had been scrubbed aggressively with water.
Even as they walked by them, Tobira not mentioning a thing, Sasuke found his eyes attracted to every wet spot. Flashes of red found their way into his vision, replacing the wet spots as they walked past them. It was almost nauseating, seeing the spots flicker. From a dark grey to a crusted red, they switched briefly, pooled blood intruding on the visions.
Eyes closing tightly, Sasuke paused with a deep breath. He just had to keep going, over to the training field where he knew for a fact no blood had been spilt. Not on that night, anyway. The young Uchiha followed the steady footsteps of the man ahead of him, gathering his composure as he walked along the all but empty streets. The puddles were long gone, let alone the remains, and yet. With the images pulsing in his eyes, the boy could only do his best to follow after the silver-haired shinobi.