Complexity
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
by summerdragonfly
Chapter III
"Bonding"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Within a week Sasuke was off his crutches and was as good as new. His progress was
no shock to anyone, since they did know of him and his strengths. They were glad
to have him back. They didn't---no, refused---to question his reasons for leaving,
and his strange reappearance. The only people who did know the truth behind him
were his closest friends.
Sasuke even surprised himself. Often times he found himself thinking of Sakura
more and more, and planning conversations with her ahead of time. As he stood
outside the gates of the Ninja Academy waiting for her son, Takeshi, like he
promised her, he thought about her smile and her eyes, how they had shined with
happiness, unlike the night when he left her, crying and full of tears....
*That's in the past now.* He told himself. *Don't dwell in the past.* But even
he himself did not know where he was going. He recognized himself as miraculously
changed. Never, six, eight, ten years ago did he dream that he would be the
person he is now....
And Sakura. What exactly did he feel for her? Did he still love her? Did he
ever love her? He cared about her, of course, but his feelings were still unclear.
Eight years had changed him a lot....and it had changed her too.
As the familiar Ninja Academy bell rang announcing the end of the school day,
Sasuke oddly wondered why he volunteered. Sakura...he couldn't bear to let her
down again.
"I'll see you tomorrow!" Takeshi said to his friends as he ran out. Strangly,
he looked almost indistinctible from Sasuke as a child. He was even as happy
as Sasuke was when he was seven, before that dreadful incident...
"Let's go," Sasuke said curtly to Takeshi the moment he saw him. "Training
begins now."
"Now?" Takeshi said incredulously. "Don't I get some food or something?"
".......didn't you already have lunch?" Sasuke raised an eyebrow.
"Naruto-ojisan tells me to eat plenty of food," Takeshi said.
*Naruto...that total moron.* "Come on, let's go." Sasuke said, obviously
not used to being around young children. "If I decide that you're doing well,
I'll give you something later."
* * *
"No," Sasuke sighed tiredly two hours later. "It's snake, boar, HARE,
tiger," he looked impatiently at Takeshi. "Not snake, boar, rat, tiger."
He was teaching Takeshi the Katon Ryuuka no Jutsu, Dragon Fire jutsu, and
so far was not making any real progress.
"Also, your chakra is going all over the place." Sasuke took Takeshi's
hands and made them into the tiger seal. "Focus the proper amount to
the finger tips when making the seal of the flames and concentrate
your brain on releasing the very core of your chakra system. Only then
will the flames come out strongly."
"I was concentrating!" Takeshi protested angrily. "And the hand seals
are hard."
"Well, learn them!" Sasuke said. "If the only thing you can produce
is a mere fireball, then you'll never make it as a ninja."
"I'm eating something." Takeshi said defiantly, going over to the bench
in the park they were training in, kicked the lid off the cooler and
pulled out several snacks his mother had made for him.
Sasuke was about to open his mouth and give the boy a scolding when he
realized that maybe he was overworking the kid. After all, he was only
seven, and Sasuke had been eleven when he had learned the jutsu. And
Takeshi did a perfect Grand Fireball jutsu, so maybe he did deserve
a little break. It surprised him how much Takeshi was alike to him:
hardworking, but rebellious.
"Five minutes," Sasuke said stubbornly, but went to join Takeshi
at the benches.
He had just pulled out a riceball and began peeling the banana
leaves off when he remembered something. Sasuke asked uncomfortably,
"Takeshi....who---where's your father?"
"....." Takeshi stopped sipping his juice. "My mom says he died."
"Died?"
"She told me that he died before I was born."
"Didn't you ever bother to find out more?"
"I asked Naruto-ojisan, and my mom's other friends....but I guess
she asked them not to tell me. She goes all quiet whenever I ask
about my father."
Sasuke looked away. He refused to let himself think what he was
dreading. "So to you, your father's dead."
"I guess," Takeshi shrugged. "Never actually met the guy, how
am I supposed to be sad?"
Such simple words, yet such powerful ones.
"....Sasuke-ojisan?" Takeshi asked timidly.
"What?"
"Do you....like my mom?"
Sasuke looked back to the kid sitting across from him, highly
taken aback. ".......?"
"Do you like my mom?" Takeshi asked again.
"Well," Sasuke pondered his answer. "Yeah, I care about her, yeah." Why
he was telling this to a seven-year-old child, he did not know. But
somehow he wasn't at all uneasy talking to this kid.
"No, like her as in like-like her."
"Oh..." Sasuke thought. "I don't know. No. Not really, no." he
said, but he was still very unsure. "She's...a friend." Friend.
Strange how he still had that word in him.
"Oh. Ok."
"Why do you ask?"
"...I don't know." Takeshi said, trying to not to care. "She
just has lots of pictures of you two....like hugging and
stuff."
Sasuke didn't say anything. Since when did he allow people to
take pictures of him? He wondered why he had not threatened to beat
the hell out of anyone who tried to flashed a camera at him.
"...I tried to ask her who it was in the pictures with her,"
Takeshi continued. "But she just said, 'Nobody', and then
tell me to go elsewhere."
Sasuke was listening intently. *...Sakura..*
"She would smile first," Takeshi said. "When she was looking at
those pictures. Smile, and then cry. That's really weird. I don't know why.
Do you?"
"....iie." Sasuke lied, shaking his head.
"Say, Sasuke-ojisan, where have you been all this time?"
"Huh?" Sasuke searched his brain for an answer. "...away."
"Oh," Takeshi thought it would be wise not to continue.
They sat in silence for a moment, each one lost in his
own thoughts. At long last, Sasuke said, "Let's continue
a bit more, until it gets dark. You're making lots of
progress," The kid was starting to grow on him after
all.
"I am?"
Sasuke smiled a rare smile. "Yeah."
* * *
"Hey you two!" Sakura said as Sasuke and Takeshi came up
the front steps of her house. She had just finished her
mission and had met up with her son and Sasuke. "Perfect
timing, hmm?"
"Hi mom," Takeshi said, smiling.
"So?" Sakura said, taking a box of candy out from her
bag and handing it to an ecstatic Takeshi. "Sasuke-kun?
How did he do?"
"...OK." Sasuke shrugged.
"Tell your mother what you've learned," Sakura said to
Takeshi.
"Fire jutsu!" Takeshi said through a mouthful of candy.
"Grand Fireball, and Dragon Fire---"
"Dragon Fire?" Sakura said, appalled. "But that's...that's
a ledgendary jutsu, that is. Sasuke-kun...?"
"He wanted to learn it really badly," Sasuke said. "So
I thought I'd just teach him."
"But it's far beyond his level!"
"But I can do, it, mom, I really can!"
"Well, almost." Sasuke corrected him. "He can produce a
medium amount of flame around him. His direction of
that flame is still off, but with a few more sessions,
I think he can do it."
Sakura, although she thought differently, smiled. "Thanks,
Sasuke-kun."
"...it's nothing."
"When is dinner going to be ready?" Takeshi asked.
"Right away, that is, once you've washed up and put all
your gear away," Sakura said. "Now, go."
Takeshi nodded and headed into the house.
"That kid eats a lot," Sasuke said, chuckling.
"He's been under the influence of his Naruto-ojisan,
I'm afraid," Sakura frowned, then laughed it off.
"I won't get my official list of new missions until
another couple of weeks," Sasuke said. "So if you
want to, I can train him for a little bit more,"
"Really?" Sakura said. "I'm sure you do a much
better job than I can,"
"Yeah, well, he's a good kid." Sasuke said.
"I appreciate it." Sakura smiled, and Sasuke's
stomach made a funny lurching movement. A pink
tinge appeared around his cheeks. *She's so
beautiful.*
"Um..." Sakura said shyly, "If you're not busy...
would you...that is, if you can---stay for dinner?"
"Oh," Sasuke didn't expect that. "Um---"
"That is if you want to. Obviously you don't
have to or anything---" Sakura said nervously. "But
it's just that Takeshi and I would love to have you
stay and---"
"OK." Sasuke shrugged. "I can stay."
"Great!" Sakura said. "C'mon, let's go."
* * *
"Dinner was amazing, mom!" Takeshi said, grinning widely
and biting down a slice of chocolate cake for dessert. "And
this cake, too!"
"I'm glad you think so," Sakura said.
"Dinner was great, Sakura." Sasuke agreed.
"Thanks, Sasuke-kun..."
They smiled at each other for a bit. Sakura looked back at
her son. "Well, it's almost your bed time so you'd better
get changed and go to sleep. You still have school tomorrow."
"Ok," Takeshi swallowed the last bit of cake, licked his plate
clean, and bid good night to his mother and Sasuke.
"Where does he put it all?" Sasuke asked Sakura.
"I've wondered that myself," Sakura said, grinning after him.
"You've done a really good job raising him," Sasuke said to
Sakura.
"...well, I've had a lot of help," Sakura blushed. "I just
do my best."
"He's gonna be a great ninja."
*It's not like him to acknowledge other people.* Sakura laughed.
Sasuke looked at her. "What's so funny?"
"...nothing." She was still giggling. "..it's just...you've changed."
"How so?"
"Well, let's face it, you're not the type to recognize other
people."
"...." Sasuke wasn't even outraged by this statement. "I suppose. But
your son is different."
"I love him so much," she said. "He's one of the biggest things
in my life. He really brightens up this house---no, this village."
...brightened up. *Since I left, that is.* Sasuke noted. He
mentally decided to push off the question of who was the father until
later. He couldn't spoil her happiness right now. He just
couldn't.
"Sasuke-kun," she faced him and broke through his reverie. "I really
can't thank you enough."
"Don't worry about it," Sasuke waved his hand. "...glad to do it."
She smiled that bright, gorgeous smile again, and he felt his heart
thumping harder than usual. *She's right.* he thought. *I really
have changed. But probably one thing that hasn't changed....* he
looked into her eyes.
*......is the way I feel about her right now.....*
.:END CHAPTER III:.
A/N: More to come. Please tell me what you where want this fic
to possibly go, as I have no thoughts about it now.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
by summerdragonfly
Chapter III
"Bonding"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Within a week Sasuke was off his crutches and was as good as new. His progress was
no shock to anyone, since they did know of him and his strengths. They were glad
to have him back. They didn't---no, refused---to question his reasons for leaving,
and his strange reappearance. The only people who did know the truth behind him
were his closest friends.
Sasuke even surprised himself. Often times he found himself thinking of Sakura
more and more, and planning conversations with her ahead of time. As he stood
outside the gates of the Ninja Academy waiting for her son, Takeshi, like he
promised her, he thought about her smile and her eyes, how they had shined with
happiness, unlike the night when he left her, crying and full of tears....
*That's in the past now.* He told himself. *Don't dwell in the past.* But even
he himself did not know where he was going. He recognized himself as miraculously
changed. Never, six, eight, ten years ago did he dream that he would be the
person he is now....
And Sakura. What exactly did he feel for her? Did he still love her? Did he
ever love her? He cared about her, of course, but his feelings were still unclear.
Eight years had changed him a lot....and it had changed her too.
As the familiar Ninja Academy bell rang announcing the end of the school day,
Sasuke oddly wondered why he volunteered. Sakura...he couldn't bear to let her
down again.
"I'll see you tomorrow!" Takeshi said to his friends as he ran out. Strangly,
he looked almost indistinctible from Sasuke as a child. He was even as happy
as Sasuke was when he was seven, before that dreadful incident...
"Let's go," Sasuke said curtly to Takeshi the moment he saw him. "Training
begins now."
"Now?" Takeshi said incredulously. "Don't I get some food or something?"
".......didn't you already have lunch?" Sasuke raised an eyebrow.
"Naruto-ojisan tells me to eat plenty of food," Takeshi said.
*Naruto...that total moron.* "Come on, let's go." Sasuke said, obviously
not used to being around young children. "If I decide that you're doing well,
I'll give you something later."
* * *
"No," Sasuke sighed tiredly two hours later. "It's snake, boar, HARE,
tiger," he looked impatiently at Takeshi. "Not snake, boar, rat, tiger."
He was teaching Takeshi the Katon Ryuuka no Jutsu, Dragon Fire jutsu, and
so far was not making any real progress.
"Also, your chakra is going all over the place." Sasuke took Takeshi's
hands and made them into the tiger seal. "Focus the proper amount to
the finger tips when making the seal of the flames and concentrate
your brain on releasing the very core of your chakra system. Only then
will the flames come out strongly."
"I was concentrating!" Takeshi protested angrily. "And the hand seals
are hard."
"Well, learn them!" Sasuke said. "If the only thing you can produce
is a mere fireball, then you'll never make it as a ninja."
"I'm eating something." Takeshi said defiantly, going over to the bench
in the park they were training in, kicked the lid off the cooler and
pulled out several snacks his mother had made for him.
Sasuke was about to open his mouth and give the boy a scolding when he
realized that maybe he was overworking the kid. After all, he was only
seven, and Sasuke had been eleven when he had learned the jutsu. And
Takeshi did a perfect Grand Fireball jutsu, so maybe he did deserve
a little break. It surprised him how much Takeshi was alike to him:
hardworking, but rebellious.
"Five minutes," Sasuke said stubbornly, but went to join Takeshi
at the benches.
He had just pulled out a riceball and began peeling the banana
leaves off when he remembered something. Sasuke asked uncomfortably,
"Takeshi....who---where's your father?"
"....." Takeshi stopped sipping his juice. "My mom says he died."
"Died?"
"She told me that he died before I was born."
"Didn't you ever bother to find out more?"
"I asked Naruto-ojisan, and my mom's other friends....but I guess
she asked them not to tell me. She goes all quiet whenever I ask
about my father."
Sasuke looked away. He refused to let himself think what he was
dreading. "So to you, your father's dead."
"I guess," Takeshi shrugged. "Never actually met the guy, how
am I supposed to be sad?"
Such simple words, yet such powerful ones.
"....Sasuke-ojisan?" Takeshi asked timidly.
"What?"
"Do you....like my mom?"
Sasuke looked back to the kid sitting across from him, highly
taken aback. ".......?"
"Do you like my mom?" Takeshi asked again.
"Well," Sasuke pondered his answer. "Yeah, I care about her, yeah." Why
he was telling this to a seven-year-old child, he did not know. But
somehow he wasn't at all uneasy talking to this kid.
"No, like her as in like-like her."
"Oh..." Sasuke thought. "I don't know. No. Not really, no." he
said, but he was still very unsure. "She's...a friend." Friend.
Strange how he still had that word in him.
"Oh. Ok."
"Why do you ask?"
"...I don't know." Takeshi said, trying to not to care. "She
just has lots of pictures of you two....like hugging and
stuff."
Sasuke didn't say anything. Since when did he allow people to
take pictures of him? He wondered why he had not threatened to beat
the hell out of anyone who tried to flashed a camera at him.
"...I tried to ask her who it was in the pictures with her,"
Takeshi continued. "But she just said, 'Nobody', and then
tell me to go elsewhere."
Sasuke was listening intently. *...Sakura..*
"She would smile first," Takeshi said. "When she was looking at
those pictures. Smile, and then cry. That's really weird. I don't know why.
Do you?"
"....iie." Sasuke lied, shaking his head.
"Say, Sasuke-ojisan, where have you been all this time?"
"Huh?" Sasuke searched his brain for an answer. "...away."
"Oh," Takeshi thought it would be wise not to continue.
They sat in silence for a moment, each one lost in his
own thoughts. At long last, Sasuke said, "Let's continue
a bit more, until it gets dark. You're making lots of
progress," The kid was starting to grow on him after
all.
"I am?"
Sasuke smiled a rare smile. "Yeah."
* * *
"Hey you two!" Sakura said as Sasuke and Takeshi came up
the front steps of her house. She had just finished her
mission and had met up with her son and Sasuke. "Perfect
timing, hmm?"
"Hi mom," Takeshi said, smiling.
"So?" Sakura said, taking a box of candy out from her
bag and handing it to an ecstatic Takeshi. "Sasuke-kun?
How did he do?"
"...OK." Sasuke shrugged.
"Tell your mother what you've learned," Sakura said to
Takeshi.
"Fire jutsu!" Takeshi said through a mouthful of candy.
"Grand Fireball, and Dragon Fire---"
"Dragon Fire?" Sakura said, appalled. "But that's...that's
a ledgendary jutsu, that is. Sasuke-kun...?"
"He wanted to learn it really badly," Sasuke said. "So
I thought I'd just teach him."
"But it's far beyond his level!"
"But I can do, it, mom, I really can!"
"Well, almost." Sasuke corrected him. "He can produce a
medium amount of flame around him. His direction of
that flame is still off, but with a few more sessions,
I think he can do it."
Sakura, although she thought differently, smiled. "Thanks,
Sasuke-kun."
"...it's nothing."
"When is dinner going to be ready?" Takeshi asked.
"Right away, that is, once you've washed up and put all
your gear away," Sakura said. "Now, go."
Takeshi nodded and headed into the house.
"That kid eats a lot," Sasuke said, chuckling.
"He's been under the influence of his Naruto-ojisan,
I'm afraid," Sakura frowned, then laughed it off.
"I won't get my official list of new missions until
another couple of weeks," Sasuke said. "So if you
want to, I can train him for a little bit more,"
"Really?" Sakura said. "I'm sure you do a much
better job than I can,"
"Yeah, well, he's a good kid." Sasuke said.
"I appreciate it." Sakura smiled, and Sasuke's
stomach made a funny lurching movement. A pink
tinge appeared around his cheeks. *She's so
beautiful.*
"Um..." Sakura said shyly, "If you're not busy...
would you...that is, if you can---stay for dinner?"
"Oh," Sasuke didn't expect that. "Um---"
"That is if you want to. Obviously you don't
have to or anything---" Sakura said nervously. "But
it's just that Takeshi and I would love to have you
stay and---"
"OK." Sasuke shrugged. "I can stay."
"Great!" Sakura said. "C'mon, let's go."
* * *
"Dinner was amazing, mom!" Takeshi said, grinning widely
and biting down a slice of chocolate cake for dessert. "And
this cake, too!"
"I'm glad you think so," Sakura said.
"Dinner was great, Sakura." Sasuke agreed.
"Thanks, Sasuke-kun..."
They smiled at each other for a bit. Sakura looked back at
her son. "Well, it's almost your bed time so you'd better
get changed and go to sleep. You still have school tomorrow."
"Ok," Takeshi swallowed the last bit of cake, licked his plate
clean, and bid good night to his mother and Sasuke.
"Where does he put it all?" Sasuke asked Sakura.
"I've wondered that myself," Sakura said, grinning after him.
"You've done a really good job raising him," Sasuke said to
Sakura.
"...well, I've had a lot of help," Sakura blushed. "I just
do my best."
"He's gonna be a great ninja."
*It's not like him to acknowledge other people.* Sakura laughed.
Sasuke looked at her. "What's so funny?"
"...nothing." She was still giggling. "..it's just...you've changed."
"How so?"
"Well, let's face it, you're not the type to recognize other
people."
"...." Sasuke wasn't even outraged by this statement. "I suppose. But
your son is different."
"I love him so much," she said. "He's one of the biggest things
in my life. He really brightens up this house---no, this village."
...brightened up. *Since I left, that is.* Sasuke noted. He
mentally decided to push off the question of who was the father until
later. He couldn't spoil her happiness right now. He just
couldn't.
"Sasuke-kun," she faced him and broke through his reverie. "I really
can't thank you enough."
"Don't worry about it," Sasuke waved his hand. "...glad to do it."
She smiled that bright, gorgeous smile again, and he felt his heart
thumping harder than usual. *She's right.* he thought. *I really
have changed. But probably one thing that hasn't changed....* he
looked into her eyes.
*......is the way I feel about her right now.....*
.:END CHAPTER III:.
A/N: More to come. Please tell me what you where want this fic
to possibly go, as I have no thoughts about it now.