Thanks for reviewing last chapter and being understanding about the school thing guys! =)
The morning of the exhibition, Sasuke arrived before any one else did. Through Earth Style Jutsu, someone had raised a pretty large stage for the children to perform on, located in front of the Academy. Looking around needlessly, Sasuke chose a spot in the center and as close to the front as he could get. He stood there awkwardly for awhile before finally sitting down.
As the minutes passed, the dirt lawn slowly began to fill with people and Sasuke looked around in slight irritability. He wished Sakura would hurry up. Though he had been welcomed back into the village by order of the Hokage, Sasuke still didn't feel like he belonged. Despite all the arguments, name calling, and hostile incidents he and Sakura had gone through, she had a way of making him feel like maybe he did belong- like he somehow was wanted. Even as children, she secretly always had a way of making him feel at ease, because she always had a comforting way about her presence. As Sasuke's mind began wandering he felt a familiar presence seat itself beside him.
"You're here early," Sasuke said sarcastically, shooting his former sensei a dull look.
Kakashi laughed. "Lady Tsunade asked Sakura to stop by the tower to clarify an issue before she came down here. Since Sakura had to pass by my place to get to the tower, she asked me to drop Shunsuke off."
"Where is he?" Sasuke asked, craning his neck in an attempt to see behind the stage.
"He's inside," Kakashi responded coolly. "So how's everything going?"
Sasuke shot Kakashi a borderline glare. "Peachy."
Kakashi laughed once more, completely unfazed. "You know Shunsuke asked me if you'd be here today. Seems the two of you did some training together and he's dying to show it off."
"He said that?" Sasuke asked, his neck snapped towards the older gentleman.
Kakashi shrugged. "More or less." Sasuke growled in dissatisfaction at the obscure answer and turned back to the stage.
"We haven't trained since he found out I'm his father."
"No interaction whatsoever?"
Sasuke glared at his former sensei. "What do you want Kakashi?"
"Sasuke," Kakashi started. The lightheartedness was no longer in his voice. "You've always been a stubborn brat; it's no surprise your son is just like you. If anyone should know better than Sakura on how to deal with this situation, it's you. It's time you pitched in and thought of something to change the tides."
"Tchh." Sasuke spat. He didn't feel the need to share with Kakashi what Shunsuke had proposed they do, nor share about his brief conversation with Sakura a few nights ago. Instead, he turned his attention back to the stage-signaling to the jonin that he was done entertaining the conversation. After a few moments of silence, Sakura and Naruto appeared.
"Hey guys!" Naruto called with a wave as he and Sakura headed for the two men.
"Thanks for saving us a spot," Sakura smiled as she crouched down. "I was afraid I wouldn't make it on time."
Kakashi nodded towards Sasuke who shrugged. "It's no problem."
Sakura nodded back. "Oh hey, I brought a blanket," she said as she began unfolding the giant cloth. "It's big enough for all of us."
After Naruto helped Sakura spread the blanket out, he settled himself down on her right side. Sasuke sat back down-to Sakura's left-and Kakashi dismissed himself and went to talk with Kurenai and a few other jonin who stood against the large tree. The rest of their friends-with the exception of Ino, Neji, Shikamaru, and Choji who had all been called away on missions- slowly began trickling in and seating themselves among the group. Thanks to the villagers unexpressed yet evident uneasiness around Sasuke, there was a lot of space for everyone of their friends to fit comfortably.
Well comfortably in the physical sense that was.
This was the first time that Sasuke had seen Sakura since their…heart to heart so to speak. Their group of friends made things less awkward, but both could easily detect the rigidness and discomfort that one another's body was currently in. They both knew they'd have to talk eventually, but there was no need to rush the conversation, right?
Iruka-sensei ascended to the stage at precisely nine o'clock. He talked for a few moments- thanking everyone for coming out and commending the hard work of the students who would appear in the exhibition. "Very well," he concluded, "let's get started!"
The youngest of the academy were up first. The audience 'aww-ed' and laughed at the young ninja in training and some marveled at the potential talent among the group. The age group was broken up into three classes and the second group was Shunsuke's usual class.
"Those are his classmates," Sakura whispered to Sasuke as she watched the stage. At least Sasuke assumed that she was talking to him; Sakura kept her head facing forward and everyone besides him already knew what class Shunsuke was in. Sasuke nodded-not sure of what else he should do-and turned his attention back to the stage.
As Sasuke watched their display, he mentally noted that while the children had a lot of potential, compared to Shunsuke they seemed rather untalented. A few of the children stood out more than the others- one being Aito, who Sakura pointed out to Sasuke. Sasuke had initially thought that Shunsuke was exaggerating when he'd said that Aito was very skilled at taijutsu, but Sasuke saw that Shunsuke was in fact correct. Aito seemed about a head taller than Shunsuke and his long body transitioned fluidly between moves including from offense to defense.
After about three minutes, the group took a bow and exited the stage. Several more classes followed and did their routines until finally Iruka-sensei's class-the group that Shunsuke was performing in-was up next. A rowdy applause erupted from Naruto, Kiba, and Lee and at the back of the stage, two chunin set up a large paper screen with the Leaf emblem on in. A piercing note from a flute cut through the cheers and silenced the audience and a beat rose up from two large drums hidden behind the stage. Chants from the students began rising in rhythm with the beats and then with a loud yell, a boy did a front kick through the center of the screen. He stopped at the edge of the stage in a kneel and in the same manner, two more students-one girl and one boy-joined him. Once the other two landed, the screen was completely destroyed as the entire class flew through and took their designated spots on the stage. Because of Shunsuke's height, he was placed on the front and directly in front of Naruto.
"Shunsuke! Heeyy!" Naruto cheered, thrusting his hand up into the air. Shunsuke's eyes brightened and he flashed an excited smile, but he didn't move from his ready position.
"Stop causing a scene," Ten Ten laughed, roughly-yet playfully-pulling his arm down and watching Shunsuke proudly.
After a few seconds, the class began a synchronized and mesmerizing myriad of kicks, rolls, blocks, and punches. After about a minute of the routine, the children split in half on both sides of the stage and one by one engaged in a ten second choreographed battle designed to show off their taijutsu skills. Shunsuke was matched with a stocky, brown haired, green eyed boy who was very swift for his build. Sakura and her friends cheered wildly as the two battled and when all of the match ups were done, weapons came next.
The students grabbed their kunai and shuriken, hurling them at two targeted posts. The children weaved expertly through the steady stream of weapons, retrieving theirs from the post and returned to the end of the line. Sasuke glanced at Sakura and saw that half her face was frozen in pride of Shunsuke, and the other half held a wide eyed paralyzed look of maternal worry. Sasuke held back the laugh forming due to her odd expression, and turned his attention back to the stage.
A chunin raised a large earthen wall at the back of the stage and the group reflexively flipped away with their backs to the audience, kneeled down and in staggered timing, hurled two kunai each at the wall. The end result was an astoundingly precise picture of the Leaf emblem. In a mixture of rolls, flips, and dashes, the group congregated back to their initial spots on stage and with a shout marked the end of their presentation.
The audience cheered vehemently and most leapt to their feet in applause. The class bowed and exited the stage. Iruka walked on after they had made their way off and he was obviously brimming with pride at his students. "We will now wrap up the program with a few individual displays. A panel of Academy teachers have selected the best students deemed capable of displaying mastery of taijutsu and ninjutsu. First up demonstrating his mastery of taijutsu, we have Ashihira Seiichi with help from Ashihira Aito, Ito Kauro, and Toriyama Yusuke."
Seiichi-the young boy who took the stage first in Shunsuke's group-began his demonstration. The audience watched in awe as he made quick work of all three men: one of whom was a chunin and other two who were armed with kunai. Once he had taken care of his three attackers, he turned to the audience and gave a slow bow. The entire audience cheered loudly-especially Lee who saw in Seiichi a young protégé.
After all four men had exited the stage, Iruka once more appeared to announce the next student. "And now for our final display-ninjutsu-performed by Haruno Shunsuke."
Sakura's mouth dropped open and her eyes flew wide.
"Sakura, why didn't you tell us?" She heard Naruto yell, lightly pushing her.
"I didn't know," Sakura laughed elatedly. "Did you?" She turned to Sasuke, her eyes still bright.
He wasn't smiling, but his wide, bright eyes showed his utter pride and elation at his son. Sasuke shook his head 'no' and the both of them turned to the stage as Shunsuke started ascending the steps.
Shunsuke walked to the middle of the stage and gave a short quick bow. Kiba started up a cheer and Shunsuke flashed Sakura a smile and gave a quick, enthusiastic wave. The audience chuckled lightly as did Sakura, who waved proudly back. In the meantime, Iruka-sensei placed a wooden dummy at the end of the stage and Sakura watched it all in mild confusion- she hadn't recalled practicing on Shunsuke's ninjutsu too much.
Shunsuke stood opposite the dummy with about two feet's distance. The young child closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Upon exhaling, his eyes flew open and he leapt backward into the air. As he jumped, he began rapidly forming hand signs and at the apex of his jump called out, "Fire style: fireball jutsu!"
Placing his hands to his mouth, Shunsuke unleashed a current so fierce that it propelled his several feet higher and backward. The people seated near the front were forced to wince away from the power of the flame. Shunsuke held the blast for around six seconds and when he smoothly landed on the other end of the stage, he looked at the disintegrating dummy with a satisfied grin. Flaming, charred chunks of wood fell to the stage and the two chunin from before doused the fire. Shunsuke turned to the cheering audience, bowed and hurried off.
Amidst the vociferous cheering, Sakura took a pause from her own applauding to shout over the noise, "Sasuke…when did my son learn the Fireball jutsu?" Sasuke looked at her and saw the amazement and delight on her face and realized she wasn't trying to start an argument.
"I taught him when we first began training." Sasuke answered simply. Sakura nodded her head in astonishment and laughed ecstatically. Sasuke felt a surge of pride and contentment and for the first time since he'd returned, Sasuke genuinely smiled at Sakura. Her smiled brightened and she fought a blush by laughing once more, then both turned their attention to the stage to applaud all of the students as they lined up and gave their final bow.
"Mama! Mama!" Shunsuke called as she weaved through the audience still congregated on the lawn. He jumped right up into Sakura without even slowing down and threw his arms around her neck. Pulling away to look at her, he asked exuberantly, "Didju see me Mama? Huh? How'd I do?"
Sakura laughed. "Shunsuke you were amazing! How long have you known how to do that?"
Shunsuke chuckled and shrugged. "I dunno, Sasuke-sama taught it to me a while back."
Kiba came up and lightly dug his knuckles into Shunsuke's back. Sakura put Shunsuke down and the young boy turned to face Kiba and laughed.
"You've gotten stronger, huh ya little brat?" Kiba joked. Shunsuke grinned and nodded.
"You bet! An' pretty soon I'm gonna take you on!" Shunsuke challenged and Kiba smirked back, starting up a playful banter with the young child. Sasuke watched as Naruto congratulated Shunsuke, then jokingly said they'd have to work on his "piss-poor stage presence." Naruto lifted Shunsuke onto his shoulders and spun him around quickly and wildly as the young boy screeched in delight. Sakura began punching Naruto for his recklessness and the now sore blonde quickly placed Shunsuke down and grumbled an apology. As Naruto tensed up for another hit from Sakura, Shizune arrived to bring Naruto, Kiba, and Shino back to the tower for a mission. They waved goodbye to group and were off. Ten Ten, Hinata, and Lee left as well and now all that was left from their group-other than Kakashi who had wandered off after congratulating Shunsuke- was Sakura and Sasuke.
Before Shunsuke had even made his way over to Sakura, Sasuke had already retreated a few feet away and watched on as several villagers whom Sasuke didn't know came up and congratulated Shunsuke- giving him their impressed opinions. After the crowd around finally began to dilute out, Sasuke made his was closer. Shunsuke saw him coming and gave him a smile that was a little warmer than usual. "Thanks for teaching me the Fireball jutsu Sasuke-sama."
Sasuke nodded. "You were very good today Shunsuke," he congratulated.
"…Think we can try out some new moves soon?" Shunsuke asked as he scratched the back of his neck. Sasuke smiled slightly.
"Of course."
"Hey Fireman!" A young voice yelled. Shunsuke turned towards the voice, beamed, then ran over to greet Aito and Seiichi.
"You were very good today Shunsuke," Seiichi commended as the trio walked back towards where Shunsuke was. He placed an affectionate hand on Shunsuke's head and his grey-blue eyes closed as he smiled.
"Thanks! You both did great too!" Shunsuke said, jumping ahead and mimicking their kicks and punches. Aito laughed and ran behind him as Seiichi continued towards Sakura at his own pace.
"Hello Sakura-sama," Seiichi bowed as he reached the older woman. Hearing his brother, Aito called out hello from over where he was playing with Shunsuke.
"Hey guys," Sakura smiled. "Needless to say you both did incredible. Your skills are only improving Seiichi, Aito's too!"
"Thank you," Seiichi bowed again. Shunsuke's and Aito's roughhousing had landed the boys back near the group. Aito threw a kick at Shunsuke who dove to dodge it and popped back up behind his friend. Twisting his arm, he swung the taller boy around and ended up bumping him into Sasuke.
"Oops, sorry," Aito apologized immediately. He broke free and straightened up to give Sasuke a polite, apologetic bow. Sasuke nodded back in good humor.
"It's no problem."
"Oh hey," Shunsuke said scratching his hair. "This is Aito and that's Seiichi. This here's Sasuke-sama you guys."
"Sasuke-sama? Wow it's an honor to meet you," Seiichi bowed deeply. Aito mimicked his brother as typical.
"Nice t' meet you."
"It's nice to meet you both as well," Sasuke nodded. "I've heard a lot about you Aito."
Aito smiled respectfully.
"Hey Mama, I'm gonna go speak to Ashihara-san," Shunsuke pointed as he grabbed Aito and ran off. Seiichi bade Sakura and Sasuke goodbye and slowly followed the two young boys. Once they were a good distance away, Sakura came closer to Sasuke and spoke lowly.
"You asked me a while ago why Shunsuke doesn't test for genin. Shunsuke…he wants to be as strong as possible and the best he can be, but honestly power and renown isn't everything to him." Sakura started as she stared at her son in the distance. "I don't know if you noticed or not-it's pretty hard to tell- but Seiichi is going blind. We've halted the process and hopefully can reverse it, but we're at an impasse for treatment and honestly anything can happen. Seiichi's also really prone to illness but despite all that, he's still managing to graduate and undoubtedly will do so as number one in his class…but if we can't find a treatment…his future as a ninja is uncertain.
"Shunsuke and Aito were friends since they were babies-when I ran into Aito's mother and brother at the market. And Seiichi…he's always been like an older brother to Shunsuke as well and helped him out with his training. If Shunsuke were to accept Iruka-sensei and the other chunin's offer to graduate the academy, his skills are actually so advanced that he would unseat Seiichi as the number one graduate. Neither Seiichi nor Aito are petty people and both boys were ecstatic to hear that Shunsuke could graduate so early. They wanted him to accept the offer. But Shunsuke told me that out of love and respect for Seiichi he wanted to wait until next year, after Seiichi'd graduated as first in his class. It doesn't matter if Seiichi can go on to be a ninja or not-a well earned accomplishment like that is something he'd never forget."
Sasuke's eyes moved slowly to Shunsuke. He watched as the two younger boys were now attempting to wrestle a laughing Seiichi to the ground. He shook his head slowly in pure, complete awe. When Sasuke was in the Academy, he would have undoubtedly accepted the opportunity to graduate early. And also, if Shunsuke had accepted the offer, he would have graduated the academy at age five: a feat only Kakashi had accomplished. However, out of deference for a friend's brother, Shunsuke unhesitatingly passed it up.
"…I'd like to take Shunsuke to lunch after this…in congratulations." Sasuke said, looking off past where Shunsuke was.
Sakura nodded and shrugged. "Yeah…yeah that's fine."
Aito and Seiichi were preparing to leave and Shunsuke was making his way back to where Sakura and Sasuke stood awkwardly waiting. Sakura saw Aito and his family waving goodbye in the distance and she plastered on a smile and waved goodbye back.
"We headed home now Mama?" Shunsuke asked as he scrawled random figures in the dirt using his foot.
"Nuh uh, Sasuke wants to take you out for lunch." Sakura winked and smiled down at Shunsuke. "It's your reward for doing so great."
Shunsuke thought for a moment then nodded hesitantly. "Um, ok."
Sasuke began walking off and Shunsuke hugged Sakura before slowly following Sasuke.
"Well," Sasuke asked, stopping without turning around. "Are you coming or not…Sakura?"
Sakura's head snapped up to look at Sasuke and her face scrunched in confliction. Shunsuke's bright smile and prodding eyes made her face slowly lax and she smiled.
"Yeah. Yeah I'm coming."
Shunsuke laughed happily and ran to grab Sakura's hand and pulled her along. He heard their footsteps behind them slow and then, Sasuke felt a visual and physical sensation so great that he couldn't even imagine the human body was capable of feeling: Shunsuke ran along between them with a wide toothy grin. His right hand held on to Sakura's whose bright face shone in laughter as he eagerly pulled her along. And on his left, he looked up and flashed an enthusiastic smile to Sasuke as he pulled the older man along as well-holding his hand for the first time in weeks.
This chapter wasn't as long as I wanted it to be and I didn't get to what I'd wanted to get to, but if I'd waited until I got where I'd wanted, then you guys would've been waiting longer for an update. So yeah, I know it's a cliffy-esque ending and I'm sorry about that guys, but I'm trying to make sure I get out at least one chapter every week for you guys =) That's a sign that you can expect the next chapter to be fairly SakuSasu.
Okay, my spill time's over. Time for you to talk-review please!
See ya soon! xoxoxoxoxo