Chapter Seven: Comfort

Rei was still distant as Team 7 left the town. She couldn't keep up with their conversation, so she stood by Kakashi's side in the outer corner, eyes down and quiet. However by retreating from the rest of them behind her sensei, it only drew attention to her. Sasuke slowed down his pace so that he was by her side. "Is everything alright?" he asked with open curiosity. She hadn't met his eyes once since the bridge incident.

"Yeah," her voice was soft. He narrowed his eyes at her but Kakashi turned to his two students and shook his head slightly at Sasuke. He backed off. Still, her silence bothered him. When the squad split up after arriving back in Konoha, Rei immediately headed toward her home – only to be stopped by Sasuke. "Let me walk you home."

Sakura stared in shock at his words, but Sasuke just stood there, hands in his pockets and looking down at Rei.

She bit her lip, and sighed. She didn't want him to – his presence would be a constant reminder of what happened in the Land of Waves. But she was too tired to object so she nodded towards the direction of her house, and he trailed behind her soundlessly. Eventually, she had enough of his weird, brooding and insistent behaviour. "Why would you even bother come with me when you're not going to say anything?"

"Just in case you faint on your way home," he stated in that condescending tone of his as if he was doing her a huge favour. She rolled her eyes, but secretly appreciated the fact that he worried for her. In fact…he was there for her at the hospital when she collapsed. He was the one who picked her up with their first encounter with Zabuza, who came to her defence when Haku attacked her, and countless other times in small missions. It could be from doing a part of her share, or carrying her on his back when she grew tired.

And she had abandoned him during what could have been his dying moments.

"Thank you," she said, still quietly. Reaching her house, she stopped at the door, hands on her knob. Changing her mind, she turned back around and faced Sasuke. He finally caught a glimpse of a really lost, scared girl – not the happy, go lucky Rei. "There is something wrong," she admitted, slowly shrugging. She still smiled though – a small sad one. It was as if she was afraid of showing that she wasn't happy and that there was something wrong.

She let it all out in one breath.

"It's just that… I can't do anything to help anyone. I left you when I should have tried to save you, and I was just there, too scared to do anything…worse than that. Everyone was doing their part to protect the squad and Tazuna while I just sulked at the corner for Haku." And the more she talked, the smaller her voice became, the larger her eyes grew, and the vulnerability more obvious. "I left you, and Naruto during a battle where you could've died – and, and who does that! It's just so wrong. And I can't handle feeling like this, feeling so sad but I –"

She feels the same…she understands.

"Rei." He interrupted but he had no advice. He didn't know the solution to escape the sadness and loneliness that she felt. He had no idea how she could even bottle it all up for this long. He forced his emotions to anger towards his brother, unleashing it during each training and each battle. Rei didn't. But there was one thing that he could offer to her. Still she continued to babble on. "I'm sorry, Sasuke, you don't even –"

"I can't tell you what to do, but…I felt that way before." The two were so same, it was eerie. "And you will get past it, because..." He sucked at advice, but the mere act of trying to comfort her shocked Rei.

This was the boy whose brother murdered his entire clan. She felt selfish that the boy who witnessed all the horrible things was consoling her and her obstructive feelings. So for his sake, she smiled. "Thank you."

The space between them felt strange and her body ached to close it. Leaning in, she hugged him tight, even though he stiffened, it only made her hold him closer until he sighed and relaxed.

There was nothing romantic intended in her touch, but for the first time, Sasuke felt the first sense of real companionship.

0-0

"Happy half-Birthdaaaaaaaaaaaaay!"

Rei and the rest of the squad spun around at an over-excited woman. She blinked and then a huge smile surfaced as she ran over to hug Yuri and thanked her enthusiastically. Meanwhile the rest of her teammate was staring at her oddly. "Half-birthday?" Sasuke repeated, narrowing his eyes. Rei turned to smile at him.

"It's a sick kid's thing." She shrugged. "I'm not dying but it's a good way to recognize that I'm alive, you know?"

Kakashi smiled. "Well I think that we should celebrate Rei's half birthday."

"Yeah! For sure – it'll be fun!" Naruto agreed, although he would've thought anything was meaningful if it meant getting them out of the boring mission they were having. Sakura giggled, welcoming the idea of a break but Sasuke didn't see the point of celebrating it. Rei wasn't in immediate danger of dying exactly the way anyone else was. She shouldn't be treated as if she were. So stubbornly, he ignored the group as Yuri busted out a picnic sheet and containers full of sweets. Even worse.

Rei looked up at him, big eyes unpleased with his lack of enthusiasm. She nudged him playfully. "Come on, Sasuke, what's wrong? Here." She dug inside the picnic basket and then pulled out a box specifically for him. "I reminded Yuri that you like omusubi…right?" He hated when she looked at him like that, as if his satisfaction meant something to her – that hopeful, brown eyes of hers. It always disarmed him, each time. He sighed and took it.

"Yeah, I do."

She smiled and elbowed him again. "Well," she started off, "aren't you going to say anything?"

"Say what?" he asked as he chewed on the onigri, his eyes narrowed suspiciously. She stopped smiling immediately and ripped it away from his hands. "Hey!"

"I don't hear a 'Happy half-birthday, Rei!'" she insisted persistently bit her face was radiant.

"You can't be serious –"

"Oh I'm dead serious," she said, and then giggled, "okay, not dead but you know what I mean." He glared at her again for talking about death when the chances of her dying were the same as everyone else's. When he still didn't say anything, she threw the omusubi over her shoulder and decided to tackle him down instead. "Hey!" He protested but she was rolling over him with her knees at the side. She looked down on Sasuke and pinned his arms to the ground. Sakura almost choked when she saw this while Naruto was just amazed that Sasuke could be so easily tackled down.

And the adults? Kakashi was reading away and Yuri decided there was nothing weird going on.

"Come on, Sasuke," she said and leaned down so that their faces were inches apart, "you've been my teammate for how long now, and can't even spare a good birthday –" The longer he resisted, the closer she came to him. Eventually, Kakashi looked over. But Sasuke was still stubbornly silent, glaring at her but there was nothing cruel in his eyes – if anything, it seemed as if he was fine with her proximity.

So she pushed it a bit farther but when he remained silent, she drew dangerously closed…only to pucker her lips and give him an air kiss before jumping back to the grass. "You're no fun," she said with a sigh and Kakashi decided to intrude on this moment before anything novel-worthy broke though. "All right, all right. Back to the mission, we can celebrate after."

So they continued their mission – or rather the four genins did – to help a local farmer that was a large supplier for Konoha. By the time they were done in the fields, all four of them had dirt everywhere and wanted to do nothing more but sleep. So instead of going back to Konoha which would have been a twenty minute walk tops, Rei lazily suggested that they sleep outside instead. "Please?" She pleaded with her sensei. She didn't have to say it out loud but it was clear between them that she wanted to stay not only because they were tired, but because she was able to go a night without any late night visits to the hospital.

"Because it's the half birthday girl's wish, why not."

Naruto cheered excitedly…but then fell on the ground and started snoring away. Kakashi propped an arm behind his head and closed his eyes, although he didn't sleep. Sakura stared up at the starry stars, too wired up and happy with how perfect the day went – and her life in general – to have it end now. Even though Rei had been on Sakura's other side when she was walking, she somehow managed to find her way to Sasuke's when she lay down on the grass. "Sleepy?"

"Not really," he answered. But she was stretching and yawning and eventually curled up into a tiny ball.

"I'm beat," she mumbled and fell asleep right there. Looking at her so comfortably on the grass made him realize how tired he was too, so he inched towards her quietly, closing the distance between then and before he closed his eyes, he whispered, "Happy half-birthday, Rei."

And to his surprise, she was staring right at him. One eye peeked out, tiredly, but brightly all the same. A smile grew on her face, and her voice was quiet. "Thank you, Sasuke."

Originally, the birthday part was supposed to be an 'extra chapter' so to speak, because I couldn't find a good place to plug it into the story - but then I was like, eh why not put it here?

Anyways, like always, leave a review, especially if you think Sasuke is a bit OOC because I really want to keep this close to the original plot line/characters! Thanks for reading :)