Fire: This is chapter ten, and the last chapter of Wait for Me: Crystalline Mirage. For those of you who want more yaoi, go to the first book of the series, Wait for Me: Leaving. The people who have read that might want to go on to the second book, Wait for Me: Following, but that is very Sakura-centric and you might want to just go on to the third book if you don't want to read too much into her character. But if you skip the second book, she might seem OOC to you. As well, there might be a little confusion over characters introduced or reintroduced in the second book. But don't worry, I don't create original characters unless I really feel like it, and I don't want to do it for this series. And reminder to everyone, this is a prequel! It will end on a cliffhanger since it all runs into the first book. I already said it before, but I just want to say it again in case I get flames for it. I had already mentioned it before.
Sasuke: Long intro this chapter, Fire.
Fire: I know. Now, for reviews! (turns to Kakashi)
Kakashi: (drops the Big Bag of Reviews on the ground and sighs) You keep replying using the reply button, and you still need me to carry the bag? (pulls out a window and hands it to Fire)
Fire: I need to be reminded of what to say to the general public. The concerns of one reviewer might be the concern of many others. (reads the review)
Sasuke: That means that Fire wants to fill up the space with as much talk as possible.
Fire: Urusai! I have something important to say.
Kakashi: Everything you say is important.
Fire: I said urusai! Now, the first thing I want to say is thank you to everyone who took the time to review. I really appreciate it and it really helps me understand what the reader is thinking when I write. I do a lot of research before I write a story so I understand things on a different dimension. I sometimes forget that the reader might think that a character is OOC when they're not. If you think anyone is OOC, I can reference you to the manga chapter and anime episode if it's available so that you can understand it better.
Sasuke: What's the second thing?
Fire:Second thing?
Kakashi: You said first thing, so we're assuming there should be more.
Fire: There's nothing more. That's it. (turns back to the audience) Thanks for all your moral support. Please don't kill me because this ends on a cliffhanger!
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Disclaimer: The phrase "my dobe" still belongs to Fire. Please don't steal it otherwise Sasuke will come to flame you, literally, with a katon. I didn't use it in this chapter, but I just want to remind everyone out there. Ja!
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Chapter 10: Facets of Inevitability
As soon as Sasuke walked out of the Hokage office, he let out a sigh of annoyed relief. It had gone better than he had thought. Tsunade-sama hadn't killed him for betraying Konoha, and there was no long lecture. There was only the scolding usually dealt to erring shinobi and the knowledge that he wasn't going to be doing anything of considerable use to the village for a long, long time. It was going to take a while before they trusted him again.
But the Uchiha didn't care about that. He didn't care that his apartment was gutted and his things were put in storage. He didn't care that someone else had rented it and he had nowhere to go. He didn't care that he had to live in the old Uchiha estate again, a place that he hadn't been in since the massacre. He didn't care about any of that.
All he cared about was how Naruto was. The last time he saw the blond, Shizune was shouting to all the medic-nin in the hospital about an emergency operating table and calling Tsunade-sama from the tower. Sasuke didn't know how serious it was, but his meeting with the Hokage was delayed for several hours because of it.
However, the last hour of lecturing was far from Sasuke's mind as he found his rain-drenched body in front of the hospital again. 'Naruto...' There was only the thought that he might be seriously hurt. All that blood–the dark red staining the melting snow as it ran into the falling rain–shone vividly in his mind. He didn't know if he wanted to go in and see him.
What if he was dead?
With reluctant steps, the Uchiha walked into the hospital. He could feel the presence of unseen ANBU, watching his every movement, waiting for something suspicious to catch their eye. But Sasuke ignored them.
"Uzumaki Naruto's room, please," Sasuke said to the nurse at reception.
The woman looked up with wide eyes before replying shakily. She wasn't supposed to be at reception so it made sense that she was a little shaky. Usually, she tended to the patients. However, that wasn't all that was unsettling.
Kaori was sure that the young man who asked for the jinchuuriki's room was Uchiha Sasuke. She had seen Uchiha Sasuke before, and it looked like Uchiha Sasuke. But, she was sure that Uchiha Sasuke was no longer with them. He had left...
"Arigatou," the dark-haired boy said before turning down the hall to Naruto's room.
...and this boy was too polite to be Uchiha Sasuke.
Tsunade tapped her fingers on her desk. It seemed as if the weather was finally returning to normal, although it was still a little too early in the day to nap. That was why she had allowed her mind to wander, even though she should really be focussing on her work.
"Hokage-sama, please focus on your work," Raidou said even though he was glad that he didn't have to run around today. He was still tired from chasing after Shizune the night before. That medic-nin could really run when it was needed.
"Naruto's condition is better?" Tsunade's eyes caught on the medical report from the hospital. There didn't seem to be any more problems, but then, the woman didn't expect anything serious. After all, it was she who had performed that complicated procedure.
"Yes, Hokage-sama," Raidou said as he looked at the binders in his hands. They were placed in completely wrong places. It was a wonder that he had found them at all! "Here are the new missions to be assigned tomorrow." He handed one binder to Tsunade and turned back to the shelf with the other. That binder contained reports on completed missions. Those needed to be filed away in the right place.
"Yes, new missions..." Tsunade said as she looked at the binder. She was sure that Naruto would want a few missions too.
But that was completely out of the question.
The blond woman leaned back in her seat, staring at the pages of missions as she read them. There were no D-ranked missions because of the snow. People who usually came to them from outside the village had avoided this area which had been snowed in for quite some time. It looked as if it might take an entire year before they could reform their ties with the rest of the country, that it was safe to actually come to Konoha again.
C-ranked missions had the same problem, and the ones that actually arrived through the snowstorm were too vigorous for someone still recovering from injuries. Tsunade refused to assign them to Naruto, even if he threatened suicide.
B-ranked and A-ranked missions were even worse. She wasn't even considering assigning them to the blond. He didn't even have the necessary skills much less the health to perform the tasks.
Tsunade dropped the binder onto her desk with a great sigh. It was ridiculous to think that people wouldn't come to Konoha because of a little snow. She had been through worse snowstorms, and many of the shinobi here have been through ice ages in Yuki no Kuni.
But the blond woman pulled her raving mind back into her body as she reminded herself of where she was. This was Hi no Kuni. These people knew nothing of snow. They would naturally lock themselves in when something like this happened.
Not to mention that there were rumours that the Daimyo had mentioned Konoha weakening because of the genjutsu. Some of the other Daimyo were hesitating and turning to other hidden villages. That accounted for the overall decline in missions.
It looked as if she wasn't assigning missions to anyone, much less Naruto, for a while, but that was okay. It might actually be better since she wouldn't have to make up an excuse to the blond shinobi. She didn't really want to assign the jinchuuriki any missions since he was still recovering, and she wanted to keep an eye on him. That genjutsu might have side effects that she hadn't thought of.
'Now, to the matter of rebuilding those ties.' Tsunade let out another sigh over the binder of missions. Usually, it was full, but the few pages there were depressing. 'I'll have to send someone to the capital to sort all this out.'
As the Uchiha walked down the hall, he looked around. No one seemed to notice him, but then, there weren't a lot of things to draw their attention. He was just another visitor to the hospital. It would still be a few days, or at least a few hours, before any of his fangirls realized that he was there and tried to attack him. If he still had fangirls in this village.
"Sasuke..."
The whisper came from the other side of the door as Sasuke allowed his knuckles to fall on its surface once, the door throwing open at the sudden word. The Uchiha didn't know what to think as he saw those blue eyes staring up at him. There was only fear.
"Naruto...I..." The dark lashes on Sasuke's cheeks uncurtained dark eyes which promptly fixed on the blond shinobi. For a moment, they shared a single emotion which saturated the entire room. He didn't know what to say. 'Gomen. I tried to kill you at Shuumatsu no Tani, but that was only an accident. I promise never to do it again.' No. He couldn't say that. "I..." What could he say!
"Hello, Sasuke." Naruto clutched the blankets nervously, his mind reminding him what the Kyuubi had just said. Sasuke was here to kill him! "Wh-what are you..." He looked around for his kunai pouch, his shuriken pouch, a weapon of any kind! But there was nothing. "...doing here?"
The Uchiha closed the door and sat down in front of the blond. He took a deep breath before speaking again. He didn't know what to say, but he decided to say the first thing on his mind. "Naruto, gomen." His eyes were fixed on the ground. He didn't want to see Naruto's reaction. "You can hit me later for..." He didn't want to bring up Shuumatsu no Tani. "I understand if you hate me." He was never good at words.
And during the silence that filled the air between his words and the blond shinobi's words, Sasuke thought that Naruto might have been confused. The dark-haired boy opened his mouth to explain what he meant when his companion let out a huge sigh. "Wow, and I thought you were here to kill me!" His loud voice was filled with relief. "I guess you just decided to re–" The blond stopped for a few harsh coughs. "Hey, you can buy me ramen later!"
"I'm not buying you ramen," Sasuke said, glaring at the blond. He was trying to be nice, and Naruto was taking advantage of him. That was a nice way to welcome him back!
"Yes, you can. Then I want to fight you. Don't think that you're stronger just because you went away." The blond grinned at him. He was never going to let the betrayal go, but he wasn't going to remind Sasuke about it. The important thing was that he had returned. And Naruto was happy. "I'm going to make you eat dirt."
"Hn." Losing to Naruto wasn't going to happen.
"Don't argue, teme!" Naruto shouted before grinning at him. "I'm going to beat you this time." After waiting almost three years, he would definitely defeat him.
But some things never changed, no matter how much time passed, no matter what had happened. As soon as they walked out of the hospital a week later, the fangirls had already heard. Sasuke had returned, and the race to become mother of the Uchiha clan had begun again.
"Waah, why are there still so many girls chasing after you!" Naruto shouted at Sasuke as soon as he saw the crowd. There were more girls than he had thought possible. Sasuke had abandoned them, and they didn't even care.
Sasuke didn't answer, only ran. He didn't know the answer to that question. All he knew was what he always did in this situation. He ran as far away from that area as possible. There were fangirls now, but Ino and Sakura were going to be here soon, and they were a lot more persistent.
"Sasuke-kun!" Ino's smiling face appeared two inches away from Sasuke as soon as he turned a corner. He was going to grab Naruto and shunshin away, but that was out of the question now. "I was wondering if–"
Sasuke grabbed Naruto's arm and pulled him in the opposite direction from Ino. He hadn't remembered so many girls following him around before, but then, his memory might not be right. It has been about three years.
"Sasuke-kun!" A hand reached out and grabbed Sasuke's arm, wrenching him around to see pink hair and aqua-green eyes. "I heard you had returned!" A huge smile beamed from the kunoichi's face.
"Uh...yeah," Sasuke said shakily. After years of being on his own, he had forgotten how to deal with fangirls. It was just unfortunate that the fangirls hadn't forgotten about him.
"Sakura-chan!" Naruto sang as soon as he saw the pink hair at Sasuke's shoulder. All thoughts of fighting Sasuke had vanished. "Want to get some ra–"
"No!" Sakura shouted at the blond before turning to Sasuke again. "Sasuke-kun, do you–"
"Training." The Uchiha pulled his arm away from the kunoichi. He already knew what she was going to say, and he didn't want to hear it. All prospects of a fight today had vanished, and he wasn't in a good mood. He really wanted to see if he had gotten stronger, if he could still defeat Naruto even though he was stronger now too. Those other forms that the spies had told him about...could Sasuke defeat them? "I'm going home."
Sasuke turned away from the group, his mind settled on the same goal he has had since he was eight years old. He was going to kill Itachi, and he would becomes stronger, so that he could accomplish that goal. Even if he had to sell his soul to the devil, he would become stronger. He was an avenger, and he will kill his brother.
"Sasuke-kun! Sasuke-kun, you're going the wrong way!" Sakura yelled as Sasuke continued down the street. That was the direction of the old Uchiha estate. Sasuke's apartment was in the other direction. "Sasuke-kun!"
But Sasuke didn't hear her. He was already gone.
"Naruto, this is all your fault!" Sakura yelled as she smacked the blond in the head. If Sasuke ignored her, it was always Naruto's fault. "Sasuke-kun was about to take a walk in the park with me!"
"I can take a walk with you, Sakura-chan," Naruto suggested as his chest filled with a strange relief. But he had to admit, he wasn't sure if he was glad that Sasuke had refused to go with Sakura, or that Sakura wasn't going with Sasuke. "I'll even–"
"No."
Naruto hadn't known why he was glad, but he knew what had made his heart drop from his chest to land at his feet in a bloody splat. "No?" Suddenly, things had become too normal again. Reality had smacked him in the face and all he needed was... All he needed was... "Ano-sa! Ano-sa! Where's Kakashi-sensei, Sakura-chan?" He hadn't seen his sensei once since he found himself in the hospital, since he had recovered.
And Sakura stared at him, as if he was in a coma again. "He's on a mission," she said slowly. "He has been gone for an entire month." Only one month. It had felt longer. She couldn't help but worry, couldn't help but wonder what was taking him so long to return. She didn't know what he had to do, but he should have finished his mission by now.
"A mission! But I need him to train me! I need to be stronger than Sasuke!" It was ridiculous. After so many years, Kakashi was still the only person who hadn't given him any personal one-on-one training. And Kakashi's tips were more important than anything else! He had trained Sasuke. He knew what Sasuke knew. That could give Naruto the advantage in their fight!
But the desire that he felt within him wasn't for battle. This emotional high that had run through his body at Sasuke's answer held a mystery that Naruto didn't want to think about. He had wanted to...hug Sasuke? Was that it? He was so happy that he wanted to hug him?
Naruto looked shyly at Sakura. She was staring at him, but he didn't feel that same nervousness that had taken hold of him many times before. That was missing, and it was scaring him. "I-I'm going to go to Ichiraku's," he said quickly before turning away. Ramen. That was something that never changed, that never scared him like this. He needed ramen!
Teuchi greeted him with the usual cheeriness that he always greeted the blond shinobi. After almost two months of absence, he was happy to see him again. "Miso chasu omori!" Naruto called out in his usual voice, even though his chest riled with tumultuous confusion. He didn't even notice Sakura sit down at his side.
"Naruto..." She couldn't help but think that she was missing something. She was sure that nothing serious could have happened to Naruto while he was affected by that genjutsu. "Are–"
"Sakura-chan, I want to be alone for a little while." Naruto looked at the girl, an unnameable emotion contorting his face. His mind was flying in all directions, and he couldn't stop one long enough to figure out what he was feeling. "I need to think." And he didn't want Sakura–
'Chikusho! What is wrong with me! I don't want Sakura-chan around! That can't be normal!' He turned back to the hands that sat on the counter, and was faintly aware of the ramen girl, Ayame staring at him. 'It has to be Itachi! Itachi did something to me! That genjutsu messed with my brain!'
"Think?" Sakura stared at the blond. That was a word that she never thought she'd hear from Naruto. "Are you sure?"
"Yes." But Naruto was beating himself up inside.
Baka. I thought you liked her.
'Urusai, kuso kitsune!'
"Yokata! Then, you won't mind if I run over to see Sasuke!" Sakura chimed as she jumped to her feet. "I'll see if he wants to take a nice romantic walk by the river!" And the kunoichi was gone.
"Miso chasu," Ayame said with a smile as she placed the large bowl in front of the blond boy.
But Naruto only stared at it, his mind truly lost in thought before he bowed his head and shouted, "Itadakimasu!"
He had searched through his mind, and searched through his body. And he had come to a conclusion. He couldn't be in love with Sasuke. That vision was created by Itachi to destroy his brother, and if Naruto kept believing it, he would only end up hurting his friend. That was why he had to abandon it. These feelings that filled his chest weren't real.
"Ossan! Another bowl!"
He was in love with Sakura. That was it. There was no room for anyone else. That dream of Sasuke and him–in a house together, living a happy life–wasn't real. It was best that he forget it.
And he would erase his memory with ramen, because sooner or later, everything in his life came down to ramen.
Sakura was happy. It seemed as if everything was finally normal again. The weather had returned to their early spring hues, and finally the trees had decided to bud. It was the perfect day for her Sasuke to return. Today, she would finally get him to agree. Today, she would make him her boyfriend!
"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura knocked on the doorframe of a sliding door, the front door of the house far inside the Uchiha estate that she knew Sasuke was living in. There were few things that could hide from the Hokage's apprentice. "Sasuke-kun, I know you're in there!" At which, the door slid open forcefully and dark eyes stared down at the pink-haired kunoichi. Sasuke didn't look happy to see her at all.
And he wasn't happy to see her. He had lost his apartment, was forced to live in a place he despised, and now there was the first girl of many here to annoy him and make him miserable. Not to mention all the thoughts of Naruto that was going through his mind!
"What do you want, Sakura?" His dark voice challenged her. If she said the wrong thing, he might actually kill her.
"Sa–" Sakura stopped herself, her mouth closing slightly as she tried to word what she wanted to say. "Do you...want to..."
"No." Sasuke knew. She was going to ask him to take a walk, or to go to the Dango shop, and she would say that they were on a date. And he wasn't going to date her!
"Well, you might want to–"
"I said no."
"But Sasuke-kun!"
Sasuke glared at the girl. He didn't know what it was. It might have been that he has been away for too long, or it might just be because he was more heartless, but he was annoyed. The girl was annoying.
"Sasuke-kun, just one date. I just want to catch up," Sakura said, oblivious to the glares that the dark-haired boy shot at her.
"One date," he said slowly, wondering if he would have said it if she had asked him the same thing years ago. He might really have gotten soft. The girl's whining had actually broken him down. "But, only one date, got it?" Then, he turned back into the house, slamming the door in the kunoichi's face. He had agreed, but he didn't say when.
One date. 'I'm really losing it.' Sasuke's mind slumped to the ground as the thoughts of Naruto that had plagued him for the last few years continued to rage. 'I should be talking to Naruto. What am I doing with Sakura?' His hands curled and uncurled at his side. He couldn't help but feel that he was playing with her, even if she had asked him, begged him to do it. Deep down, he knew that he should have said no. But, Sasuke's mind wasn't entirely sober. Anger had drunken his thoughts.
With dazed movements, he wandered through the empty house to the room that used to belong to his brother. It was still the way he had left it.
But, Sasuke didn't think twice before wrecking it.
It was going to be another week before Sasuke came out of the Uchiha estate.
End Chapter 10
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Moral of the story:
Dreams are only visions you cannot hold in your hands. It is more important to shape dreams into reality than to allow others to determine your fate. The path you walk down must be your own because in the end, only you know what it is you had dreamt.
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Fire's English tidbits for those who care:
Here's the last tidbit for the book. I don't want to do them for non-chapters since I didn't do one for the prologue and I want to stay consistent. So, since I promised to explain what parentheses, ie. "( " and " )" are for, here it is. First of all, they are called parentheses, not brackets. Brackets are " " and " " and " " and " " and although they share the uses of parentheses, there are a few uses that are unique to parentheses, and uses that are unique to brackets. Parentheses enclose non-essential information, information that is less important than those enclosed by the dash, "—" and commas. I'm sure you know what a comma looks like. That means that you can still understand what is happening or what the writer is trying to say, even if you don't read it. Another use is to enclose numbers or letter that list items in a series. For example, Sasuke hates (1) Itachi, (2) natto, (3) anything sweet, (4) annoying fangirls, and (5) losing to Naruto. The same would go for letters, ie. A, B, C, I, II, III, etc. For brackets, they share these same uses, but they act as parentheses within parentheses. You might not come up with any uses for them in creative writing, but for technical writing (ie. School), you might need to know about it. The only other use is for editorial comments, like when you read quotes in the newspaper. I'm sure you'll find lots of examples there. Brackets have highly restricted use as opposed to parentheses. If you come up to a sentence when you have to use them, chances are you would use parentheses. That should help with deciding which to use. I hope that has clarified a few things. And remember dashes, "—" are different from hyphens, "–". I'll bring up the uses of hypens later, probably in the next book.
Fire's babbling:
Kaori: Hmm…I think I have the same problem that Iwashi-san had. No one knows who I am.
Sasuke: Pay attention to the other characters! I know I'm distracting but—
Kakashi: (muffles Sasuke before he could continue) I don't think that's what Kaori-san meant.
Fire: Kaori is the nurse that brought Sakura and Ino to Sasuke's room, then to Lee's room after the Chuunin exam prelims. I hope that answers some questions.
Sasuke: I don't think they had any questions at all. They probably thought she was OC like Iwashi was.
Fire: But I don't do original characters! Not for Naruto! There's a million characters, so original characters are redundant!
Sasuke: I think you should wrap up now.
Fire: Oh, yes, my usual speech. I don't think I have to ask you to review, so leave one if you want to, or if you're in a good mood. Actually, leave one if you're in a bad mood too. But if you're really busy, you can just leave a review later. I won't mind.
Kakashi: Can we try to keep this short?
Fire: I'm trying! (turning back to the audience) For those of you who want to read the epilogue, please remember that it's on a cliff-hanger since it continues into Wait for Me: Leaving. Unless you're good at dealing with cliff-hangers, I don't suggest you read it if you don't plan on reading the first book of this series. If you're wondering about the title of the epilogue, that will be explained at the end. It's a metaphor so it might take some explaining. Until then, review!
Sasuke: (staring at Fire's comments) You actually kept it short. I'm amazed.
Kakashi: Now let's close the window before Fire starts talking again.
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