Kaerizaki
By The Ambitious Blank
Disclaimer- Guess what goes here! Go on, guess! No? Okay. Yeah. Naruto still isn't mine.
---Chapter 5- Charge Through the Problems! A Sense of Normality Returns?
"You.. you killed them..!" Sasuke sobbed as Sakura reached out to hold him. He stared at Itachi, his big, dark eyes filled with tears.
"Why'd you kill them? They didn't.. I thought.." He choked out, finally giving up on words and burying his face into Sakura's shoulder as she lifted him up.
"Sasuke-kun, calm down.. it was just a nightmare, it didn't mean anything. Shh.. stop crying.."
Itachi lowered his eyes, glancing away from the scene. Kakashi moved to usher Naruto, who had stuck his head in to look, back to the bedroom. Naruto pushed past him and ran over to his mother.
"'kaasan.." He whined, plaintively. "What's wrong with Sasuke..?"
Sakura just shook her head down at him, still trying to calm the dark-haired boy down. Sasuke had stopped crying, but was sniffling and shaking. Kakashi stepped over to Itachi next. Itachi glanced to him.
"Does he remember everything, do you think?" He asked, softly. Kakashi shook his head.
"No. To him.. that was just a dream. Granted, it must've been a realistic one.. However, I think he's too young to realize what it really is. This concerns me, though. I'm worried they'll start remembering things as they grow older. For a while, it's easy to just shove it away as some random occurrence, a simple dream.. but as they get older, it's going to be harder and harder to just ignore. But, I wouldn't worry about it for right now. I think Sasuke might be a little distraught for a while, but he's still a child. He'll be alright."
Itachi nodded doubtfully, glancing back to his little brother, who had managed to calm himself down. Sakura set him back down, and Naruto moved and hugged him tightly. Itachi felt a twinge in his chest and turned away again. What was he doing here? He didn't have a place in such a close-knit family. He'd betrayed Sasuke, waiting for the day when the boy would return and kill him.
What place did he have here?
As he turned to start his way over toward the door, he was stopped by a small tug on his pant leg. Turning, he looked down.. Sasuke was standing there, his hand fisted in the cloth of Itachi's pants. Itachi turned around fully, kneeling down in front of the young boy. Sasuke stared at him, and then reached out and touched his face.
"..you still have sad eyes," he said, quietly. "I'm sorry.. for saying those things." He said, looking earnestly into Itachi's eyes. The older Uchiha blinked, once, as Sasuke pulled lightly, dragging Itachi into a gentle hug. It felt so alien, these simple gestures of caring.. not only because they were awkward for Itachi himself, but because they came from Sasuke, willingly.
"I didn't mean it," Sasuke added, still in that quiet tone of his. "It.. it was just a dream.. I shouldn't have been so angry. I just.. it felt like it was real. You have those kinds of dreams, don't you?" He asked.
He was so innocent.. those large black eyes were nothing compared to Sasuke's old ones, back when he was twelve. That old gaze of his had been filled with such burning hatred and determination.. and it was obvious, with one gaze into those old eyes, that Sasuke had seen things that no other child should have seen by then in their lifetimes. Or at all, ever, for that matter. It was such a drastic change from what he'd used to be. Itachi closed his eyes and put a hand to his chest. He hadn't thought he still had a heart left.. but the way Sasuke was looking at him uncovered what remained. It wasn't much, but maybe it could be fixed..
Sasuke's smaller hand reached out and touched Itachi's.
"Does something hurt?" He asked, looking concerned. Itachi shook his head, opening his eyes and reaching out, patting Sasuke's head.
"No. Not anymore." He said, and smiled.
---
Sakura spoke with Ino the next morning. It looked like Itachi would be staying for a while, and they both felt that Sasuke needed to know that Itachi was his brother. They'd decided that the young Uchiha had probably already guessed.. and so, simultaneously, they began forming a story about Itachi being Sasuke's long-lost brother, and that Sasuke was adopted. It seemed awfully farfetched, but it made so much sense.. it would explain Ino having different abilities than Sasuke, Itachi being so much older than both of them, and for the most part, at least, in Sasuke's mind, it would explain why they looked so different, and why Sasuke had no father to speak of. Sakura decided that they should tell Naruto that he was adopted as well, so Sasuke wouldn't feel so alone. And, it would also explain the differences between Naruto and Sakura, as well.
So, it was decided. Lucky for them, this had happened while they were still young.. and the two mothers figured that if they told their children early on, it wouldn't be so bad for them later. The two boys had the reactions they'd expected.. they accepted it, and were easily prepared to just move on, to the relief of the two women. They both seemed to understand what that meant, and Sasuke seemed excited. He had an older brother!
The two girls went around and told everyone else what they had told the two boys, and everyone had agreed to go with it. Nothing really changed.. the boys continued to go to the Academy, being taught by Iruka, getting into trouble every so often with Kazue and Takeshi.
Life was about as normal as it could get.
---
A few months later, the Hokage re-introduced Itachi to the village, relieving Sakura of her duties of keeping him a secret. Quite a few were skeptical, but eventually, after a few weeks, they accepted him. Itachi trained to become a Jounin of the village, which was quickly agreed to. He was a massive help on missions, which helped the people and the shinobi of the village to accept him more quickly. Whenever he wasn't away on a mission, he would take Sasuke and Naruto off to the training grounds to help them practice their skills as they learned them.
As expected, Sasuke quickly picked up the techniques. Naruto was slightly slower in learning, but with Itachi and Sasuke's help, and his own steel-willed determination, he never fell too far behind. Itachi was starting to readjust to a normal life. So far, the leader of Akatsuki hadn't sent anyone after him, but the older Uchiha was always wary, just in case.
But, still, months and months passed, and nothing happened. Rumors flew about that Akatsuki had disbanded, now that it had lost one of its strongest members. Itachi doubted it, but he went with that explanation for the time being.
Naruto and Sasuke were growing beautifully. Both now ten years old, their skills were nearly even, despite the fact that neither of them would admit to the other one how good they were. Still, things were like how they used to be. Sasuke pushed Naruto to do better, and Naruto did the same for Sasuke in turn. Were it not for such a change in their personalities, things almost seemed the same.
The most drastic change was the fact that they remained best friends, even through their rivalries with each other. It was as though they couldn't be separated.. one of them was rarely seen without the other. Despite how different they were, they continued to keep at each other's sides, and even though they exchanged rude comments with each other, it was obvious that it was all in play. They would insult each other and then they would laugh.. Naruto much more loudly than Sasuke, but the Uchiha boy would laugh nonetheless.
It disturbed Sakura, Ino, and the rest in a way. It was so strange seeing them so attached to one another, especially considering what it had been like before.
Before..
It seemed odd, thinking about before. Before was when Naruto and Sasuke were bitter rivals, willing to split paths, refusing to acknowledge one another as a fellow shinobi. And now, even despite their playful rivalry they held, they were the best of friends. Sasuke was still a bit more distant, but it was a huge change from what he'd been before. That cold, lonely boy..
Ino watched on, remembering him as he used to be. The cold gaze, the icy tone, the whole aura of "don't touch me".. it was almost as though Sasuke were a completely different person. She remembered how she and Sakura had almost ceased being friends because of the huge crushes they both held on him.
But now that he was her son..
It all seemed wrong, somehow. That crush was something of the past, and she and Sakura had realized they hadn't stood a chance, after all. Those times were over, and she was glad to have Sakura standing with her again.
Sakura remembered the days when she used to hate Naruto. Not only because of the Kyuubi sealed within his body, but also because of the great jealousy she had felt for him. Only Naruto was able to keep up with Sasuke, even if just barely. Only Naruto gained so much as a glance from the cold-hearted boy Sasuke used to be. Only Naruto could get a rise out of him, and only Naruto could make him smile, even if just a little bit.
Sakura had always been jealous of that.
It hadn't been until both boys had been lying upon their presumed deathbeds that Sakura had finally realized that. Her hatred of Naruto stopped spawning from what her parents and the villagers told her, and eventually grew into jealousy. But, she had warmed up to him later. Naruto had a stout, good heart within him, and it didn't take long for someone to see that, even through the loud, obnoxious exterior.
She realized she was still jealous of Naruto now. Not for spending time with Sasuke, but for being able to forget all those times of the past, when there had been so much animosity, so much pain..
They'd been forced to grow up so fast back then. Sakura was jealous of both Sasuke and Naruto for getting that second chance at starting over.
It wasn't so easy for the rest of them to forget.
She glanced to Itachi, who was sitting against a tree, reading a scroll as he, Ino, and Sakura watched the two boys, plus Takeshi, Kazue, and Shiromaru tumble around in the falling cherry blossom petals.
"It's such a beautiful day, don't you think, Ino?" Sakura asked, looking up at the pale pink trees. The petals fell like a delicate snow, coating the ground with their beauty. Ino reached down and scooped up a handful of them, letting them flutter away in the breeze.
"Yeah." She said, dreamily. Itachi glanced up from his scroll, watching the four children and the puppy as they raced around the park area. Takeshi tripped and toppled down into a pile of the petals, scattering them everywhere. All of them had the pink flowers stuck in their hair and on their clothes. Shiromaru barked joyfully and raced about through the trees, chasing Sasuke, who was using everything he'd learned during training to evade the puppy. Shiromaru lost interest suddenly, whirling to chase after Naruto instead, grabbing his pants leg playfully and pulling him down into another pile of the blossoms. Naruto yelped and reached out, grabbing Takeshi by the ankle as the Hyuuga ran past and yanking him down with him. Takeshi, in turn, managed to catch Sasuke, just as Shiromaru dragged Kazue down too.
The five of them rolled around in the foliage, and Naruto picked up a clump of the petals and hurled them at Itachi. Itachi blinked, looking up just as they hit him in the face, sticking in his hair, on his clothes, and the scroll. He blinked once, a motion that would have seemed more comical were it not for his constantly-serious expression, and frowned.
"Naruto!" Sakura scolded from the sidelines, though from her tone, anyone could tell she wasn't being serious. Naruto grinned sheepishly, and Sasuke jumped up and started helping Itachi pull away all the petals. Itachi had that sort of half-smile on his face, the one that no one else could really copy. Sasuke giggled a little as he pulled a petal from directly in the center of Itachi's forehead.
"Aniki, you're supposed to be a great ninja. How can you let Naruto get you with such easy tricks?" He asked, smiling brightly. The older Uchiha gave a soft chuckle and patted Sasuke on the head.
"Dunno. But he's about to get you too, so." He pointed out, as a clump of petals hit Sasuke directly in the back of the head. Sasuke whirled around with a playful growl and picked up a handful of the pink flowers, tossing them back at the Uzumaki, and soon it was an all-out war between the children as they threw them at each other. It rained more of the petals from the sky, and they danced around in them, playing their imaginary games with legendary ninjas, Anbu missions, great warriors and fierce foes.
It was so eerily similar to what their lives had been just before they'd been reborn. Sakura and Ino had noticed that, and struggled to ignore it to the best of their ability. It was just coincidence.. but still, it seemed so wrong, somehow. Ino had been scared ever since Sakura had told her about Sasuke's dream he'd had two years ago. But nothing of the sort had happened since then, and Sasuke and Naruto remained blissfully ignorant of their previous lives.
"Oiiii! Sakura, Ino!" Called a familiar voice. The two women turned around, and they smiled upon seeing who it was. Konohamaru, Moegi, and Udon all stood on the path next to the park. Konohamaru had his hand raised in greeting. He'd grown up so much from the small, somewhat annoying kid they'd known before, and was aspiring to become a great ninja. He was hoping to take the name of Hokage next after Tsunade, if she was unable to continue ruling before Naruto was old enough to take the name.. almost everyone supported the idea of Konohamaru as Hokage, considering he already knew what to do for most of it, considering his grandfather had been the Third.
"Konohamaru!" Naruto cried, jumping up from the tangle of arms and legs that the four children had become, and he went running over and jumped into Konohamaru's arms.
"Naruto!" Konohamaru returned, with a huge grin. "Nice to see you."
They laughed and immediately started chattering with each other. Sakura smiled, watching them. It'd been hard for Konohamaru to let go of his habit of calling Naruto "Naruto-niichan", but he'd managed to break it, for the sake of letting Naruto keep his second chance. Occasionally, he still slipped up, but he would brush it off as a joke and the two of them would laugh as though it hadn't meant anything. But afterward, Konohamaru would hold this sort of sad look in his eyes, which would disappear quickly after his two friends comforted him. Even now, when they were so much older, they were inseparable, and still went by the title of the Konohamaru Corps. Of course, by now, they'd gotten much better at their disguising techniques.. the old rectangle box labeled "rock" had been stowed away in Konohamaru's closet long ago, more for sentimental value than anything else.
But, even now, Konohamaru and Naruto still shared almost the exact same grin.
"Do you have time to play today, Konohamaru?" Naruto asked excitedly, bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet.
"Wellllll.." Konohamaru mused, crossing his arms thoughtfully. He turned to Udon and Moegi. "What do you two think?"
"I dunnoooo, Konohamaru-kun.." Moegi said, playing along with a wink in his direction, "I think we're busy today.."
"Awwh!" Naruto whined plaintively. Konohamaru smiled.
"I guess we can take some time off, though." He said, laughing. Naruto let out a whoop of victory and grabbed Konohamaru's hand and dragged him toward the trees. Sasuke and the others had stood up from the pile of petals and were trying to pull some of the pink blossoms from their hair and clothes.
"Aniki.." Sasuke said, moving toward Itachi, "You still have lots caught in your hair, too." He pointed to several caught in Itachi's ponytail. The older man frowned, trying to pull some of them out.
"Take your hair down and I'll help get them out." Sasuke offered. Itachi gave a small smile.
"Sure."
"B-but, Sasuke!!" Naruto whined, "You're still gonna play with us, right??"
"Yeah! Just gimme a minute!" Sasuke said, standing up and running over to Sakura and Ino as Itachi started untying the ribbon that kept his hair back in a ponytail.
"Mom!" He said, tugging on Ino's skirt gently, "Do you have a brush or something with you?"
"Um, I think so.." Ino said, digging into the bag she'd brought with her, "Ah, yes, there it is. Here you go, Sasuke." She handed it to him, and he smiled at her before running back toward Itachi, who had taken his hair down and was running his fingers through it, trying to get all the knots and the petals out of it.
"Waaa.. Sasuke-kun's brother is so pretty.." Kazue said in awe to Moegi, who laughed.
"Yeah, I agree," she said with a light giggle, "He's prettier than most girls. Ne, Konohamaru-kun?" She grinned over at her friend, who crossed his arms and turned away.
"Hmph!" Konohamaru said, scowling, "I don't see what's so great about him."
"Yeah, me neither. Itachi gets all these girls going all sparkly-eyed whenever he takes me 'n Sasuke somewhere," Naruto said, his arms crossed in mimicry of Konohamaru, "It's stupid, they're always saying how pretty he is, and blah blah blah.."
"Awwh, is Naruto-kun jealous?" Kazue teased, smirking. Naruto whirled on her, face flushed.
"I am NOT!" He said, in furious denial. Kazue giggled and skipped around him.
"Naruto's jealousss.." She sang. Naruto's face turned red.
"I am not!" He said again, puffing up his cheeks and glaring off to the side, "It's just not fair. Itachi and Sasuke get lots of attention when we walk down the street."
"Yeah, but so do you.." Takeshi pointed out as he pulled the last of the petals from his dark violet hair. "They're always ruffling your hair and saying how cute you are."
"Well.. well.. hmph!" Naruto said, plopping down on the ground. Konohamaru laughed.
"Oh, don't be so mad, Naruto, you'll get your chance." He said, taking a seat down next to him and adjusting his Chuunin vest.
"Yeah!" Kazue piped up, sitting down and rubbing Naruto's shoulder, "I was just kidding, Naruto-kun.. I didn't mean any of it, honest. You'll get a nice girlfriend someday, I'm sure." She smiled and laid back down in the grass. Shiromaru barked in agreement, and she smiled.
"See? Even Shiromaru agrees."
"I guess.." Naruto said, playing with the hem of his shirt.
"Aww, don't guess, Naruto. We're sure of it. I mean, heck, even Udon got a girlfriend, and that's saying something." Konohamaru said offhandedly, smirking.
"Hey!" Udon said, frowning, "Just what is that supposed to mean??"
"Oh, nothing.." Konohamaru said, whistling in feigned innocence. Udon laughed.
"Yeah, I guess it is saying something, though, isn't it?" He said, smiling sheepishly.
"No kidding." Moegi put in, sticking her tongue out playfully at her friend. "So, relax, Naruto-kun. You'll have a girlfriend in no time, I bet."
"Yeah.. that'd be cool." Naruto said, folding his arms behind his head and falling back to look up at the bright blue sky through the trees, a calm smile crossing his face.
Sasuke watched all of this from where he was standing behind his brother.. Itachi was sitting cross-legged in the grass while Sasuke ran the brush through his long hair, pulling out all the small little petals that had stuck in it.
"Your hair got really long, Aniki.. maybe you should cut it, it's already touching the ground now," he pointed out, frowning a bit. Itachi smiled a bit and ran a hand through his long hair.
"You think so?" He asked, "I think I kind of like it like this."
"Well, it is pretty," Sasuke admitted, shrugging as he pulled the last petal from the long, soft hair, "Maybe I should grow mine out too.."
"Ooh! Can we braid it now?" Kazue asked excitedly, crawling over to the two brothers, "Please, Itachi? Can we?"
Itachi blinked slowly, and then exchanged glances with Sasuke, who just shrugged.
"I suppose.." the man said, scratching his head, "Just try not to pull it too much."
"Yay!" Kazue cheered and ran over to sit down next to Sasuke. Naruto and Takeshi followed after, while Shiromaru occupied himself with chasing a squirrel through the orchard of trees. Naruto frowned.
"Kazue-chan, I didn't think you'd be the type to braid hair.. you always seemed like a tomboy to me." He commented. Kazue glared and whapped him playfully over the head.
"Stupid, all girls know how to braid hair! Just 'cause I don't wear stupid skirts and dresses doesn't mean I don't know how!" She said, defensively. Naruto rubbed at the bump on his head.
"Jeez, okay, okay.. sorry," he said, "How about you show us how to braid hair, then?"
"Okay!" Kazue said, carefully separating Itachi's long hair into three parts. "First, you do this, and then you take two of them like this, and cross them over.."
She started showing him how to do it, and they each took turns putting a plait or two in Itachi's long hair. Naruto was careful not to pull, Itachi noticed, but he was still a little bit rougher than the rest of them. Takeshi and Sasuke both did their parts very carefully and slowly, trying to make it perfect. Kazue's hands were the fastest at it, and she finished it off, picking Itachi's hair tie from the ground and tying it off.
"There!" She said, triumphantly. "Perfect."
Itachi reached back to touch the braid that the kids had put his hair into, and smiled.
"Thanks." He said, standing up and dusting himself off.
"'kaasan!!" Naruto whined, running over to Sakura. "I'm really hungry.. can we go get some ramen from Ichiraku?"
Sakura sighed, rolling her eyes and smiling down at him.
"Can't you ever think of something else besides ramen?"
"Well, I can, but I don't wanna!" Naruto put in helpfully. Takeshi and Kazue laughed, and Sasuke only smiled, taking Itachi's hand.
"Sakura-san, I'll take them if you'd like me to." Itachi offered. Sakura blinked.
"You will? Oh, thank you, Itachi. Ino and I have a few things to talk about, anyway." She smiled. Itachi nodded.
"It's the least I can do after they helped me with my hair like this." He said, touching the braid again. Kazue giggled.
"Heehee, now Itachi-san is extra pretty!" She said, and they started down the road toward the little ramen bar. Kazue and Shiromaru ran ahead, Takeshi on their heels, and Naruto right behind them. Sasuke stayed back with Itachi, holding onto his hand tightly. Naruto suddenly stopped and ran to the side of the path.. down below was a small dock that moved out into the lake. Itachi blinked as they paused near it.. this was where Sasuke used to train when he was trying to teach himself the Goukakyuu no Jutsu.
Naruto scowled, studying the spot carefully.
"Sasuke..?" He asked, suddenly. Sasuke blinked slowly, coming up behind him.
"What?"
"Huh?" Naruto turned around, seeming to be honestly surprised that Sasuke was right there. "But.. I just.. you were down there.. weren't you? And for some reason I was mad at you 'cause you ignored me for some reason, and.. and.. then we smiled.. or.." He frowned as he trailed off, his brow furrowing in confusion. "I don't get it."
Itachi paused in step, watching the two boys. Sasuke shook his head.
"Don't be stupid, I've been up here the entire time." He said, putting his hands on his hips and pouting cutely. "Come on, let's just go get your ramen."
"Uh.. okay." Naruto nodded eagerly and grabbed Sasuke's hand, dragging him off down the road. Itachi watched them, looking back down at the small dock, and then hurried to catch them.
---To Be Continued…
Author's Notes: Okay, I've decided to put these down here from now on. Anyway, apologies for my slow updating times. I have serious issues with writer's block mixed with issues of procrastination.
..argh, and naturally, the day I get this chapter done, I can't upload it because has found a bug and disabled uploads, so it's even slower in coming out. Grr.
Anyway, the reference in the last part of the story was to the part of Naruto after it shows a flashback of little Naruto trying to befriend little Sasuke, and Naruto kind of glares down at Sasuke, but as he turns to walk away, they both have the little smiles on their faces.
Umm.. what else. Oh yes. Translations for those who are Japanese-impaired:
'kaasan- Short for "Okaasan", which is mother. "'kaasan" is less formal.
Aniki- An informal way of saying "big brother". I suppose it's kind of like calling someone your "bro". n.n;
Shiromaru- I believe "maru" is just a name ending, but "Shiro" means "white", since Shiromaru is a white puppy.
Also.. is it "Udon" or "Udou"? x.o; I don't know which name it is.. I thought it was "Udou", but all the subtitles say "Udon".. waa, forget it. xD Hopefully next update shall come more quickly.
-TAB