This chapter is dedicated to the reader who sent me EIGHT reviews. I really apologize, but my sis deleted all of my stuff in my inbox, so I couldn't find your name. I hope dedicating this chapter to you is enough
Ch 9
Sasuke stepped into the empty house, Aori following behind. It was eerie inside, a layer of dust on everything, and the interior in ruins. It had been a long time since he had been in this house, and no one had dared enter while he was gone. He slowly walked through the hallway, letting his pack thump down onto the dust-covered floor. With a slight brush against his shoulder, Aori walked past him, going to gently put her hand on a door beam.
"This house…It is very lonely…" Sasuke looked at her, all emotion devoid from his face.
"That's nonsense Aori. A house cannot feel anything. Now follow me, I have to show you where you are going to be sleeping…" He led her down the hallway, past more desolate rooms, and took her up the stairs, leading her into the second door on the left. This room was only slightly better than the others condition wise, and there was an even worse layer of dust. It was sparse, a bed, table and dresser the only furniture, with a single closet in the wall to the right.
Aori gently set her pack down on the bed, taking in her new home. Her eyes made their way back to Sasuke's form.
"Thank you, for this. I have never had such a big room before…" Sasuke nodded.
"My room is the last door on the right at the end of this hallway. Under no circumstances are you to go in there, unless I give you permission. Other than that, you are free to go anywhere within this house." Saying that, he turned back, leaving her to stand in the room, staring at where he had just been.
Slowly, Sasuke made his way back downstairs, picking back up his pack from the hallway. He proceeded to slowly walk through the house, surveying with blank eyes what needed to be fixed or replaced. He stopped when he came to the doorway leading into the back gardens. Looking out, he saw that they were as in much disrepair as the rest of the house.
He really wished that he did not have to be back in this house, but unfortunately, fate had seen otherwise. He turned his back on the gardens, and made his way upstairs. A quick look into Aori's room told him that she had begun to dust the furniture. He snorted, not understanding why she had to do that. He kept going, past her room, past all of the other rooms, until he came to the single door in the house that still had a lock on it. His chakra signature as the key, the door unlocked for Sasuke and he stepped inside, the door sliding shut behind him.
Aori had just stood there for a minute, after Sasuke had left. She was greatly puzzled by how he was acting. Here he had a whole house, and a grand one at that, but it was in bad condition, and very lonely. She had always been able to sense the feelings of wood, and other such natural things. But Sasuke had scorned her when she told him. That was another thing that was different. Inside of this house, he seemed tense, uneasy, as though he expected a ghost to be following him around.
She frowned, letting her mask go for a moment, worry showing on her striking face, but decided to investigate the matter later. At the present moment, her most pressing need was to clean up this room. She proceeded to the closet, and opened it up. It was fairly large, and there was a broom in there, along with some old rags. She pulled both out, and then thought to open the windows in the room. They were stubborn though, and needed a great deal of force before she finally got them open.
She had finished the dresser, after realizing that she needed to wrap one of the old rags around her nose and mouth to keep from choking, and had just started on the table next to the bed when Sasuke walked by her door. She heard him snort, but decided not to pay him any mind, and continued to dust and clean the room. From the table, she proceeded to sweep the floors, and then she tackled the closet.
Within a few hours, the room was almost sparkling again, except for the bed. Aori frowned. The sheets covering the bed were still filthy, holes and dirt and who-knew-what-else all over them. She pulled them off the bed, leaving the mattress by the open windows to air out. Grabbing the sheets, she made her way downstairs, humming to herself. She paused when she reached the bottom of the stairs, trying to decide which way to go.
Realizing that she wasn't getting anywhere, she huffed and set the sheets down so that she could place her hands on the wood of the house. She closed her eyes, letting a soft gold light infuse her hands.
"House, do you know where I can wash these sheets?" The house, overjoyed at having people in it once again, directed her down the hallway to the left, and out the door at the very end. Aori gasped when she slid it open. She was looking out at a vast, vast garden. True, it was a very unkempt garden, but to her, it was still the most magnificent garden she had ever seen. The sheets in her hands, she slowly wandered through the garden, identifying different plots of land, where various things had once grown, even though all that grew now was weeds.
Eventually, she stopped in front of a large fountain, still in working order. The water that ran from it was crystal-clear, and she nodded in satisfaction.
"This will do…" With that, she knelt next to the fountain and dumped her sheets in, deciding to let them soak for a long time. While they soaked, Aori decided to approach Sasuke about the garden.
She headed back inside, and up the stairs, almost crashing into Sasuke. He looked at her, a little surprised.
"Aori? Why are you in such a rush?" Aori gave him a breathless smile.
"Just the person I wanted to see… Sasuke, may I have permission to use the garden?" Sasuke blinked, confused by what he thought was a very odd question.
"Of course you can… You are allowed to go anywhere and do anything in this house… As long as it does not involve my room." Aori's face broke into a smile, and Sasuke felt his breath hitch from shock. It was the purest, most genuine smile that he had ever seen.
"Thank you Sasuke." Sasuke watched the red-haired girl recede down the stairs, his breath not yet regained. After a minute, he shook his head, bringing himself back to reality.
I cannot lose focus right now… I have to stay alert until everybody is used to me again, and until the town gets used to Aori…
Sasuke was brought out of his mind by ninja knocking on the window. He turned to look, and saw Kakashi staring back at him through the misty glass. Scowling, Sasuke walked over and slammed the window open.
"What do you want, Sensei?" Even though Kakashi was not really his teacher anymore, that sense of respect was still ingrained within Sasuke, and so he reverted to his old title for Kakashi. Kakashi just smiled, ignoring the barely contained annoyance in Sasuke's voice.
"Hokage-sama would like to see you. Now. She said she just wants you to come. Leave Aori here." Sasuke sighed, rubbing the back of his neck in a tired fashion.
"All right…Just let me go and tell Aori." He headed down the stairs and out into the unkempt gardens. Aori was bent over the fountain, washing the sheets from her room vigorously. Sasuke walked towards her, and she brought her head up from her work to watch him walk the rest of the way to her.
"Aori, Tsunade-sama wants to see me again, but alone. Will you be all right if I leave you here without any company?" Aori gave him a small smile.
"Yes, I will be fine. Thank you for warning me." She turned back to her sheet, scrubbing hard on a particularly stubborn stain. Sasuke's mouth quirked up in the corner in a small smile as he turned and walked back through the house, stopping outside of the front door to turn and lock it. He turned, and Kakashi was waiting for him a few feet away. Sasuke sighed.
"Let's get this over with…"
When the house confirmed that Sasuke had gone, Aori stood up, her spine cracking as she stretched. The sheets were hung from a line to dry in the sun, and so she headed back into the house, stopping in the hall to stare at the dusty rooms. She sighed to herself.
"Now, which room to clean first…" A rumble from her stomach decided her. The kitchen would be the first room to clean up. Rolling her sleeves up, she ran upstairs, grabbed her broom and cloth, and headed straight for the kitchen.
Sasuke lowered himself into the same chair that he had been in a few hours ago. He sat there, staring at Tsunade as she paced in front of him. Finally, she spoke.
"Sasuke, your sudden and unexpected return has caused quite an uproar in Konoha… Not to mention the fact that you brought with you Aori, a strange girl that no one has ever even heard of before. None of this sits well with me. I insist that you must make a formal appearance, with Aori." Sasuke bolted upright in his seat.
"Hokage-sama, you cannot be serious! You know that I don't like crowds, and Aori's demonstration with Naruto, Gai and Kakashi should have been evidence enough that she can't even stand one stranger, let alone a whole crowd!" Tsunade held her hand up as he drew a breath to say more.
"That Sasuke, is exactly why I want her to be introduced in front of one. It will show me that she is able to control herself, and that will allow me to trust her a bit." Sasuke, realizing that Tsunade was right, relaxed back into the chair slightly, a little frustrated.
"How much time do we have to prepare?"
"The Summer Festival is tomorrow night. I expect you both to appear in festival-wear behind the podium at around 8 PM. Am I understood?" Sasuke nodded grudgingly. Tsunade gave a satisfied sound, then turned to her desk to rummage through some papers.
"Now then Sasuke, shall I catch you up on the events of the past four years?"
Ahhh! I'm sorry it took so long to get the next chapter out TT I have a ton of thanks to give though, to all of those who reviewed, especially to a certain someone. I 'm really sorry, I deleted all of your reviews and don't have your name, so I can't mention you, and that makes me feel really badTT The only way I can make up for it is by dedicating this chapter to you. Your eight reviews really boosted my spirit