Pompeii
Chapter 29
VesperChan
Things go wrong and the world holds its breath. Sometimes the world holds its breath for minutes, sometimes for days, sometimes for years. In a land as ancient and mysterious as Pompeii, Yamato wouldn't have been surprised if it held its breath for a century before people saw the fruit of their mistakes. If ever.
Something wrong had been done, but would anything come of it? Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe it wouldn't come to torment them until most of them had aged out of their near immortal lifespans and faded to dust. There was always that hope, but that did nothing to remove the unnerving sensation of 'wrong' in his gut. It was a part of him now, and he couldn't shake it.
He wondered if his Senju betters felt the same, or if they would ever admit to as much. He suspected if he asked all he would get would be lies. Hashirama was good at that, lying directly to Yamato's face. For the rest of the world he was sunshine in the trees and softness from the down feathers of a dove's wings, but Yamato was different. Hashirama would never be kind or soft or vulnerably honest with Yamato.
Yamato hadn't been wrong when he saw fear in the older creature's eyes. He knew that much. The Senju were unsettled by something, but neither had said anything after the ceremony and everything else went according to plan. The song had been sung, the fire had burned down, nothing was left of Sasori's chair and everyone seemed happy and settled like they should be.
Almost everyone.
Yamato looked down at his fingers and remembered the moisture collected there on his fingertips. Her tears.
Something pulled painfully in his chest and he stopped to wince at the feel of it. It was still so odd to feel these feelings after growing into them. The fay took centuries to mature their emotions and for the first many decades of their physical maturity they expressed and felt precious few emotions. It was a sign of great age and maturity when the fay could feel something. Which made the younger ones who lacked such emotions excellent thespians.
It made Yamato smirk coyly to himself that at least he had come into his feelings far quicker and even Tobirama was still budding into new feelings. It was rare that Yamato could make the Senju feel anything other than disgust, but the idea that Tobirama might be jealous for something Yamato had….well that made him glad.
It was probably easier for Sakura to stand his company if he had more emotions and could feel things. Yamato hadn't missed the way the younger Senju brother watched Sakura from afar at the afterparty but held himself back from approaching her when it looked like she wasn't going to seek him out. Yamato had never seen Tobirama look so dejected with so little facial expression.
Or maybe it didn't have anything to do with how little emotion Tobirama felt. Maybe the reason he held himself back from reaching for her was the same reason so many others held their hands to their chests or broke their necks getting to her first.
Sakura was the ripple in their stagnant waters, and she was sweet to drink. It was more than just her being new, far more than just that. New people had come to Pompeii in the past fifty to one hundred years and Yamato didn't remember any of them really changing the environment of their community the way Sakura had. Yes, she was a doctor, but it wasn't her job that made the town take notice of her and then keep taking notice of her.
Yamato looked down at his hand again and tried to remember what it felt like to touch her tears. They had rolled off so innocently when he had been distracted, but now he wished they were still there on his fingers, connecting him to her. He wanted that little part of her at least.
What was she?
Something ancient in him, something older that him, a part of his origins, stirred painfully in a delight whenever she was near. He had thought it was simply attraction at first, but he doubted it was this…terrifying. He knew he would be short of breath when attracted to someone, books had taught him that much. But with Sakura it was more than just a little short of breath. He felt like falling when she looked at him and in his falling there was nothing to breath in.
Yamato wanted to stay there in that emotion, in that moment, with her eyes set on nothing but him. He wanted to be looked at, that had been a long held envy of his, but now he just wanted one person to look at him. If the rest of the world decided to keep ignoring and shun him that would be fine. He was used to that, he could endure that. Just…he wished Sakura would be exempt from the shunning. That would be enough for him.
Just her.
If something went wrong because they had screwed up the ceremony then hell could come to Pompeii for all Yamato cared. Likely, it wouldn't be anything worse than a harsh winter, but it could be far worse for all the love Yamato had for his home. He didn't care for it that much. He just hoped nothing evil reached out and touched her. If Sakura was safe than it made all the difference to Yamato.
His service and indebted nature to the Senju had long been rotting in his mouth, but he had never wanted to break free and leave the only place he felt marginally welcomed or at peace. A part of him was Senju and a part of him was Pompeii. That had changed after meeting Sakura. For the first time in his life Yamato wanted to be active, not passive, in his service. He wanted to be helpful because he saw how it would benefit someone precious to him.
How lovely it was to feel things. Poor Tobirama. Yamato wanted to pity the younger brother who still felt feelings through the fay filter of late bloomage, but didn't. Tobirama could sit in moose shit for all Yamato cared.
Yamato stopped outside the large gates hidden between sunshine and shadow. His hands had been lax in his pockets, but now he pulled one out and knocked, almost hating how he was here and doing what he was about to do. While he had always been helpful, he had never gone so far out of his way to be of aid to others. It had always been at the beck and call of his betters that he did anything, but not this time.
The gates opened inward and in a show of surprise it was truly Hashirama himself who stood there, answering the summons. His expression was ever grave when regarding Yamato, nothing new. However, this time there was also confusion and unsettlement. Yamato had never come to the Senju lands of his own free will. Not since the first year, the year he learned how much he was disliked and thought of as disgusting. It have been many decades since then.
"Yamato," Hashirama nodded in greeting, expression tight. "You have come to call."
"No shit, old man. You know why I'm here."
"I'm sorry, I am mighty and great but no mind reader in this world." There was no sarcasm in his voice and Hashirama meant every word he said.
Yamato crossed his arms. "You felt it too, at the ceremony. There is something worth fearing with this misstep."
"There is no misstep."
"You don't need to lie to me when I already know what you know and have felt what you felt. Have your forgotten that?" Yamato felt bolder with each new word.
Hashirama narrowed his eyes and readjusted his posture. "You are emboldened. I assure you, however, that if there were such a misstep there would be nothing to concern yourself with. If Sasori mistakenly shipped the wrong tree for us to burn then that just means we go out the next day and burn it at its roots. Tobirama has already found the tree and taken care of it. One day does not make a difference in the ceremony."
"Then why were you so scared?"
"I was not. I might have been surprised that Sasori made a mistake, but there is nothing worth fearing with this ritual. It is purely to commemorate and remember. Now," Hashirama drew himself up more and stared down his nose at Yamato. "Is there anything else, or have you nothing new regarding the true threat in our grasses. We have not heard any developments regarding Orochimaru in several days."
"Because you chase him underground again."
"Which is where you should be right now, not meddling in the traditions and affairs of the regular crowd." His tone was the tone of a ruler, one who was used to talking down to others.
Yamato didn't like the underground. He did better there than most, it was where he was first formed, but it brought him no pleasure or joy to return to the darkness and hunt in it like he was suited to the ick of a world's underbelly. None of the other Senju followed Orochimaru into the under dark or the dammed spaces between shadow and shade. It wasn't in their nature to go there, so they didn't.
Sakura's face showed up, and Yamato remembered her on the park bench, asking him with concern and worry. He remembered hearing about how she had ripped one of Orochimaru's curses straight out of that Haku boy. He remembered her and the memory stung pleasantly in his heart.
"Fine, I'll go, but there is somewhere I need to stop first." Yamato's hands were fists at his side but he wasn't upset with Hashirama this time. The eldest Senju could be annoying and make him want to swing some days, but now there was a different motivation to the white of his knuckles.
Yamato didn't wait to hear anything more from Hashirama, but turned on his heel and started to walk away from the gates, pausing only once when he caught sight of Tobirama coming out from the forest with something in one hand, cradled against his opposite arm.
The two passed each other and it was like a second frozen in time. Yamato saw the tree branch, still blooming with beautiful pink blossoms of Sakura petals. The Senju held it too tenderly for someone still unable to feel as deeply as Yamato suspected of the younger Senju brother.
Tobirama glared at Yamato as they passed, but there was no hesitation or pause in his step. A few seconds and they had passed each other and Tobirama was being greeted by his brother.
Yamato had better hearing than most, and maybe Hashirama forgot that, but it didn't matter as Yamato was able to catch the last few whispers between brothers before the gate shut them both off from the rest of the world.
"You said you had burned it all. What did you bring back?"
"Peace, brother. It's no more than a wood shaving. Soon it will die, let me keep this."
"You've never asked for anything before. Why this and why now? It is not in your nature to bend the rules for anything."
"…I thought it was beautiful. It reminded me of her."
Yamato stopped where he stood, feeling pins and needles in his heart. He couldn't help but smile bitterly and look back over his shoulder at where the gate should have been. They were out of sight now, closed off between sunshine and shade, but the memory was still crystal clear. He could remember the look on Tobirama's face being a little less impassive than usual.
So maybe Tobirama, the stone cold face of stoic Senju pride and rule, could feel a little more than Yamato first assumed. Huh. That was new.
Yamato didn't have to think too hard on what or who had inspired such a shift and change in behavior. And as much as he wanted to, he couldn't blame Tobirama. Yamato was no different, after all.
Sakura had her ankles crossed and propped high above her head. They rested on the arm of the coffee table while she slouched against the side of her couch and dug her spoon deeper into the gelato. It was a pistachio mint color the same shade as her eyes in a pale light, Ino said. Sakura didn't know what shadow or color Ino saw when she looked, but Sakura was sure she didn't really care as she dug into her frozen treat.
Most of the girls were worn out and lay sprawled out among the various sleeping bags and mattresses that had been set up to cushion them as they slept. The only one of the girls who had stepped out early had been Temari, saying she needed to get back to make sure her brothers were well and hadn't partied too hard.
Some parts of Pompeii were still partying into the late of the night. Apparently the Uchiha were terrible about late parties, even though the spring equinox was supposed to be a Senju thing. The fair folk liked to retire before the festivities went too late. Also, Tobirama looked like he had work to do after the burning.
A tapping on the window made her set her gelato carton aside, but she kept a spoon heavy with the treat in her hand to suck on as she approached the window over the lightly stirring bodies of her girlfriends.
Sakura pushed open the glass door and stepped out to look around, spoon still in her mouth. The night was clear and beautiful all around her. A single cloud drifted through the sky, blocking out patches of stars as it passed. It edged in front of the waxing moon and glowed a little brighter, outlined in silver. As it passed, more of the world returned to standing out in a silver light.
"Anyone out there?" Karin asked, sliding up alongside Sakura and bumping her with a hip.
Sakura bumped back naturally before she even knew she was doing it. It was something Ino would do.
"No. Sorry if I woke you. I just thought I heard something and then I just…got distracted looking at the sky I guess." Sakura pulled the spoon from her mouth, silver and clean. "I've had too much ice cream. I can't sleep."
"Yet you're still eating it."
"Oh no, this is gelato, not ice cream. There is a difference."
"Does gelato not keep you up?" Karin asked in a disbelieving tone that paired perfectly with a look a teasing.
Sakura pouted. "I guess not. But I have a day off tomorrow so I thought it would be fine to ignore the rules for once. I can stay up late."
"Which is astonishing when you consider how hard you played…lava was it?"
Sakura nodded, grinning. "The floor is lava, yeah, that's what we call it. You did pretty well yourself. Almost as good as me."
Karin grinned back and shrugged. "But not as good as in Karaoke. You sure you don't want some lessons, canary?"
Sakura groaned, turning around to lean against the railing. "I've never been a fantastic singer under pressure, and the song selection didn't suit my vocal range or whatever."
"Yes, it wasn't suited to a cat's horrified howling, was it?"
Sakura fake gasped and slapped the redhead with the back of her hand. "Rude! I invite you into my house and share my traditions with you and this is how I am repaid, with ridicule and mockery."
"And sass," Karin added with a finger raised.
Sakura shook her head and sighed far too loudly for it to be anything other than fake. "You have no compassion for my poor feelings, do you?"
Karin's grin was impish and mischievous. She looked very much like her cousins in that her grin made Sakura think of a fox's sly smile. "None whatsoever."
"You're so mean to me."
"You did hear how I have a reputation, right? I'm the mean cousin that doesn't make trouble that drags the rest of the family into. Menma is the one that makes messy trouble."
"And do I want to ask what the difference is?" Sakura asked, waving her silver spoon around in front of her face, occasionally sucking on the end of it, looking for the last bit of gelato flavor.
"Probably not, because you're one of the least nosy people I know but I'm going to tell you anyway because this is what you do at sleepovers. You talk about boys, right?"
"Yeah, but I'm not sure that's the context that's intended."
"It's the only context I'm interested in."
Sakura laughed. She had originally thought Ino was the huge gossip, but it was becoming clear who Ino learned all her tips and tricks from.
"Fine, tell me about your lovely cousin and why he makes a mess of himself and you don't."
Karin shrugged, still grinning. "Well, it's less than I don't and more of I can't. Naruto and Menma are really unique, the one in a thousand type. Our family might have a hundred new births every century, and that's during the good years, so yeah, they're even more rare all things considered. But, they have the potential to ascend the limits of what is typical for the fox tribe and walk on a god's level, like Pein. I think Madara has that potential as well, but he's powerful enough without godhood."
Sakura suddenly remembered the messy encounter she had witnessed during one of her first weeks in Pompeii, where Menma traded blows with Pein in the dinner. She hadn't ever really received clarity on the beef between the two, and to be fair, she never brought it up.
"What does Pein think of that?" Sakura asked slowly, knowing Pein was classified as a god. She had a guess but she wanted to hear more from Karin.
"Now or then?" Karin tugged on the drawstrings to her extra short, shorts. "At first he was trilled with the idea of maybe not being so alone or something. He wanted to mentor the boys and train them and bond, but Menma made a mess of things. Naruto was a dofus and just slid out of it like a kid, running away and goofing off so badly Pein wouldn't want to mentor him. Menma wasn't like that. Menma was-is headstrong in all things and talked with his fists to the god. Menma can't help but make a mess of things. It's in his nature. Maybe he'll be the fox god of fistfights."
"Pein didn't like being denied," Sakura guessed.
"It wasn't just that, Menma wanted to square up and prove he was just as good as a god the way he was and didn't need to change. He's still looking for that fight to this day. He wants to prove himself like a child. It's been years and Pein has been…well, I don't know if he's given up on the boys, but he doesn't bring it up or make any efforts anymore. But maybe he's just waiting. He's lonely enough for it."
"Are gods really that rare in Pompeii?"
Sakura asked, trying to think of any other gods she knew of. Was Kakuzu a god or something else? The two of them seemed equal when it came to might, but Pein was a lot more austentatious, the way Sakura suspected a god would be. He got her a car for her birthday, after all.
"Well, you know how it's rude to ask, so I don't really know. But gods aren't the most humble, so if there were more than just Pein I think we would hear about it," Said Karin. She eyed Sakura out of the corner of a gaze and then chuckled. "But you never know. Sometimes a god can be humble and sneak in right under your nose."
Karin grabbed for Sakura's wrist and tugged her back inside over to where Ino was dozing. Karin kicked at the blond's side and Ino came awake on a grunt of pain that swiftly turned to anger as she saw it was Karin.
"What the hell?" Ino seethed.
"We're going out for late night trouble!" Karin hissed in a whisper that wanted to be a shout.
"Out?" Sakura squeaked, looking to the clock that read a bleary 1:23AM. "It's too late-early. At this hour? Who would be out and up?"
"It's a special night, everyone is up who wants a little more adventure in their life. I want it. Leave Tayuya, she'll murder me if we try to wake her."
"You're such a-ugh," Ino groaned, rising to her feet and running a hand through her messy hair that looked all the more beautiful for it's disheveled state. She looked over Karin's shoulder to Sakura and then grinned. "But I think you're right about the adventure bit."
"Guys, nothing good happens after 2AM," Sakura sighed, looking nervously to the clock again.
"Good," Karin cheered, grabbing both girls with one arm each. "Let's start with the Hyuga compound. Those overprotective sticks wouldn't let their girls sleepover one night, so we might as well spring them free."
"Is this going to be illegal?" Sakura whispered in fear.
"Only if we get caught," Ino chuckled, reaching behind Karin's back to grab Sakura's hand. "Come on, adventure time, right?"
Sakura couldn't help but grin, even after she repeated her earlier warning that nothing good ever happens after 2AM.