AI NO JUTSU

By miku


STANDARD DISCLAIMERS APPLY

WARNING: Shounen-ai/ Yaoi.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I'm sorry for so many revisions. It's just that I'm planning to change the pacing because I started really slow (well, I'm usually like that ). Please do review. Any comments and suggestions, flames and criticisms, are greatly appreciated. Just don't kill me –wipes tears- Oh, and yes, I know the title sounds sappy. I'm really not into sap much (although sometimes… -shrugs- can't help it) but I can't do anything about it. Er, I can… but somehow, the title has stuck in my puny brain already.

PS: (I write too much, no?) I thank one review. It was actually the main reason why I repeated this chapter . He was right. The last chapter made no sense at all . –bows head- I'll try to write less crappy chapters from now on (slow down the pacing, not contributing at all). There.


AI NO JUTSU

By miku

Chapter One: His Return

He watched the scene presented before his eyes thru the widely-opened window of the room. People were rushing; going from one store to another, buying innumerable goods which purpose he could not fathom like the stack of tin pales, planks, candles, wire strings etc. Then there were men pulling carts, containing newly harvested vegetables and fruits, entering the arena where the final part of the Chuunin exam took place. He winced at the memory and became more motivated to watch the whole village of Konoha prepare for the event scheduled that night. The Fifth's birthday.

It was almost the usual preparation – parades, fireworks, feast, but the air smelled different. Usually, the Hokage's birthday celebrations were only a form of custom and of respect. It was for the Hokage. But the anticipated event that day was different – it being the first extensive celebration after the Sand's attack. It signified their "full" recovery. And thus it was not solely for the Hokage but for the whole village of Konoha.

The door swung open and Sasuke immediately shifted his attention. He stood up as Tsunade entered together with three shinobis trailing behind. Greeting her a happy birthday was not necessary, he thought.

The woman observed him – scrutinized his every part, from his resiliently closed-together feet to his raven hair softly blowing with the wind. He was not wearing Konoha's head protector. He did not have one anymore. He left it at his room the night he left and when he returned, it wasn't there anymore. Well, he'd been gone for nearly three years. He was not even expecting to still have his friends.

"I'll be direct, Sasuke-kun. Why did you leave?"

Konoha was a paradise - a haven for all striving souls like Naruto, Neji, Rock Lee… a sanctuary for those who dream, a heaven where everything was pure and forgiven. Therefore it was not the place for him. His dream belonged in the past and his soul was striving to reach for it. Definitely, it was not pure. Definitely, it was not forgiving.

He replied calmly - as if he were answering the truth. He said he needed to be alone, to think. He said he needed to ascertain himself of his purpose… that he needed to know himself. But the thinking had been done in the past. His purpose had been established since the murder of his clan. And he was a person who did not need to have his identity recognized even by himself.

"Where have you gone then?

"Wandering," he plainly stated. "Some days I'm even here… just unseen…"

Tsunade stared at him doubtingly and Sasuke accepted her doubt wholeheartedly. "I AM a ninja," he continued but decided to speak no more. And whether Tsunade believed him or not, he did not care, as long as she stopped questioning him and permitted his stay. The Fifth nodded and the issue was closed. She did not give him a new head protector, saying that he should still have it if he only really planned to "take a break". Sasuke understood. "But if you don't have yours, I can give you another one provided you answer more questions."

"I still have it, Hokage-sama."

She nodded and gestured him to leave. The stare was still there and Sasuke knew. But he wouldn't beg for it to go away. He closed the door and heaved a sigh. It was harder than he thought but easily done. He moved to go to his second destination. "There were only two anyway," he thought. His house.

Inside the room, a shinobi appeared and informed the Hokage that their mission was done.

"Just in time for the celebration, their arrival," she thought out loud. The shinobi nodded and was gone.

He needed no key to open the gate. When he left it three years ago, it was intentionally unlocked. He pushed the steel gate, warm from the sun, and noticed that there were barely any dust. He entered composedly, despite the curiosity forming in his head. He roamed his eyes around the small yard and found out that the plants had grown properly. He was actually expecting them to be wilted – dry and dead upon his return and he would sulk in one ghastly corner and empathize with them. So much for his imagination.

There was no dirt in the pathway and looking at the exterior of the house, the walls were pristine and the window glasses were clear. The house even looked cleaner than when he left. He could also see dark curtains pulled down inside. Queer enough, nobody seemed to be home. Whoever looked after his house when he was gone, he cursed him (or them)… all the while denying that he was grateful for having one trifling task eliminated.

"It could be Sakura," he thought. And he was right.

He turned the knob, pushed the door open and came inside. It was dark. The only light was coming from his direction, from the setting sun, but it soon vanished as he closed the door and moved to turn the lights on. He still remembered the location of the switch. But there was no need for that. Because even before he finished his first step, the lights turned on and voices invaded his eardrums. Welcome back, Sasuke-kun, they shouted.

And the walls shattered.

He smiled.

The parade was about to start. He could hear the drums and the cymbals being primed and the energized voices of the villagers shouting random compliments. He could smell the faint scent of explosives combined with the delectable scent of foods, grilled meat being the most dominant. His stomach would have growled if not of the simple feast his friends prepared for him. He winced at the thought and decided to focus on other things. Like the glass of juice in his hand – most slowly trickling, reaching for his fingers which were numbed by the coldness of the ice. Like the ice cubes – chinking as they melt and touch each other, creating soothing chimes which could but were not enough to distract him. So he watched the tea lightened in its color as the ice melted and added more water to his glass. He watched everything in his hand as he intense as he was being watched.

"Sasuke…" a voice called. It was Naruto's.

He did not respond but turned his eyes on the other shinobi, deciphering what was lying beneath the blue pools which were staring at him, glistening. Glistening?

"What?" he finally asked, in a tone gentler than he intended.

He wanted to ask him why he left, Naruto honestly told him. He wanted to know why he did not trust his friends to understand. He wanted to know if Konoha were not enough to contain him. Why he waited for three years to return. Was it anybody's fault? Was it his (Naruto's) fault? Or was it Kakashi-sensei? But Naruto did not compel him to answer those questions.

"What matter's you're here now, na, Sasuke?" he paused and smirked. Sasuke eyed him curiously. "And that I may finally carry out my oath." A smile. And it disturbed Sasuke even more.

It was the same smile Naruto flashed him that night.

(flashback)

"Sheesh, Sasuke. Like your words gonna affect me. I'm gonna prove to you that I'm better than that dumbass, whoever he is, and make you like me. Hm!"

(end of flashback)

The wind suddenly blew colder. And suddenly, there were no more rhythmic beats from the drums and the cymbals. The scent of the warm earth and the burnt leaves prevailed over the smell of foods and explosives. Suddenly, his mind was swimming back to that night's memory.

Sorry. It resonated in his mind. Again and again. And at the setting sun he envisioned the figure of the man who unintentionally made a fool of him. The same man who uttered that word to him.

But it was three years ago. It was no more than a memory.

"Here," he heard that voice again. And he surprised himself by looking up and seeing Naruto's grinning face. "You left it here before."

He stared at the outstretch hand before him, holding a piece of metal lying in a blue cloth. His head protector.

"I kept it knowing that you'd return anyhow. Wear this now, alright?"

He took it and felt the scratched metal. He traced the finely engraved symbol of Konoha, the leaf, and held it tightly. To the people watching him, he looked like a prodigal son who had just returned to his father. But Sasuke was thinking differently. And Naruto did not know what lied beneath his eyes when said, "Alright."

There was a crack, and how much one tried to conceal it, it was still lying deep within the wall.

To be continued…