Chapter 5 – When a Ribbon is Tied
"That's not a legal move," Sasuke pointed to a piece on the shogi board. "You can't capture like that. Your last move was illegal too. And why did you move the King, don't you know it's useless on the offense? And your defense is a disaster, look at all those vulnerable backward pawns. I could end this in another four moves." He paused. "Do you even know how to play?"
They sat on the floor of Naruto's sitting room; it was probably around midnight. But a boy who lived by himself didn't have any enforced bedtimes, and he had valiantly forced himself to stay awake just so they could do 'sleepover things'. Sasuke felt like he'd been dragged to hell and back.
"I saw other people playing so I know a little bit," Naruto shrugged. "No one actually taught me, though."
"But you have a board?" He raised an eyebrow.
"Jiji bought it for me on my last birthday, cause he said it's an 'educational game' that I should learn. He also got me a whole bunch of books on politics and calligraphy. They were all boring, though. I mean I love him and all, but if he's gonna put so much effort into it he could at least get me something fun, you know?"
Sasuke almost smiled at that. Almost. That,he could relate to. Uchiha Fugaku paid a little more attention to his youngest on his birthday but all his presents were absolute bores, usually thick tomes depicting the history of their clan. Aniki would always buy him practice shuriken sets or new, elaborate pens to practice his script, and oka-san would make him his favorite meals. "He's the Hokage, he has to buy you things that are good for you. He probably already knew that everyone else would get you candy and 'fun' things."
"Yeah, but no one else actually gets me anything," Naruto shrugged absently. "I only get two, jiji's and this other present without a name-tag that's left in my room." He paused. "Which is a little creepy, cause no one else has my key. I still haven't found out who those ones are from, but they aren't soaked in poison or anything so I think they're ok to take."
Oh. Sasuke frowned slightly, berating himself for forgetting that this was Naruto. No one actually cared about this annoying yellow-haired boy at this time, apart from a very busy old man. But … another? "What does this other person get you?" He asked curiously.
"Um, stuff. My goggles are from that person," he pointed proudly to the green goggles sitting on the table nearby. "And this sleeping cap, too," he tilted his head to display the panda-bear cap. "They never leave a note, though. There's nothing but a box wrapped in blue paper every time, sitting on my bed. Can I tell you something?"
Sasuke nodded slowly.
"Sometimes, I think it's from one of my parents," Naruto said thoughtfully. "Because that person never gets me fun stuff either. It's always clothes and kunai sets and other usable things. Shinobi parent-things. I like it, though, because the shopkeepers always give me the ones the rust quickly and the ones I get from this person have really good-quality metal. They never break or go brown no matter how much I use them."
So he had some sort of secret provider apart from the Sandaime. Clothes? Well, that cap was overly … childish. For his sake, Sasuke hoped it wasn't some old pervert.
The boy grinned, "maybe my parents are super-cool shinobi who are always busy on missions far away from Konoha! And they come back to see me just on my birthday to leave me a present! That would be really cool, wouldn't it?" His face fell, "but I'd like it better if they stayed for a little while, just so I could talk to them. I mean, I know they could be really busy, but still …"
He was putting his small heart into Sasuke's hands with that confession, just like Sakura had done with that flower. Sasuke watched him thoughtfully. He didn't seem sad at all, just vaguely wistful. He didn't seem embarrassed to say it either, as if he was used to telling people these things. As if he was used to handing his heart over in words like those, and having it crushed. As if he was used to springing back up, pulling his childish emotions back together, and telling someone else while believing that it would be different.
Just like Sakura had done with that flower.
How could they trust so easily? Was that normal? Were they the abnormal ones … or was it … him?
Maybe Sakura's obsession gave her something to hold onto when they made fun of her. Maybe the dobe's short attention span was what kept him sane.
"Wanna teach me another card game?" Naruto went on. His tone was excited, but his eyelids were already starting to droop.
"No," Sasuke sighed. "Go to sleep. You're tired." He realized that he really didn't like children, and promptly got rid of any plans to repopulate his clan. This time, he wouldn't need to anyway.
"I am not! I can stay awake all night!"
This was troublesome. Instead of arguing further, Sasuke put the pieces away and stood up, looking around. "Do you have any extra blankets?"
"There are some in my closet," Naruto replied glumly. But he yawned loud enough to convince himself that Sasuke was right, and rubbed his eyes. He stood up and made his way to his bedroom.
He came back later with a blindingly orange blanket, imprinted with henohenomohegi designs. "I hope you like orange. I don't actually remember where this one came from, but it's really warm. 'Night, Sasuke," he handed the blanket over, yawning again.
"Goodnight." Sasuke took the blanket and stared thoughtfully at the familiar print. It almost looked like … but he didn't dwell on it. That man didn't have any reason to buy Naruto gifts, and the girls in those perverted books he read were much older. He stripped down to his boxers – dryly noting the small Uchiha fans that decorated them – and settled down on the couch.
Morning came too soon. The sunlight streamed in through the windows, falling onto his face and making him shuffle farther into the orange blanket. When he finally opened his eyes, it was to see the white ceiling of the dobe's apartment.
He was completely in control. The relief that brought was stupendous.
It wasn't gone yet. He could still feel it lingering in his mind. But it was powerless here, where his own memories thrived. It only held power in the familiarity of the Uchiha compound. Naruto's apartment held safety. Naruto held safety.
Sasuke noticed the small form peeking over the edge of the couch, waiting to pounce.
He sighed a suffering sigh and prepared himself for the onslaught. Just as he'd thought, Naruto's blue eyes emerged from the top, glinting with mischief. With one great leap, he made it over the back of the couch and directly onto Sasuke's form, hands going to his exposed middle.
"Morning, Sasuke! Ha, I caught you!"
"I'm not ticklish," Sasuke told him, watching with slight amusement as he desperately dug fingers into his stomach. After a few moments, he realized that since he was seven again … he was. He struggled to hold back coughing laughter as he pushed the yellow-haired boy off him. In doing that, he ended up falling off with the blanket wrapped around him and the floor cold against his bare legs. Naruto stood on the couch, laughing with glee.
Sasuke groaned, glaring up at him without caring that he probably looked like a disgruntled caterpillar.
"You look so funny!" Naruto grinned. "And you are ticklish!" He leapt off the couch and helped tug the blanket off. "There's an extra brush in the cupboard under the basin in the washroom. And you can take some of my clothes, if you want. But they might be a little too small." He shot a look at Sasuke's Uchiha-printed clothing, which was laid carefully over the edge of the couch.
"It's fine, I'll wear my own." Sasuke shrugged into his clothes and turned to head for the washroom. He frowned when he saw how high the sun was outside; it was probably well into their first class.
When he came back to the kitchen ten minutes later, Naruto was pouring him a glass of milk. "We're late for class," he stated. "Really late. Not that I care, or anything, but your parents might get mad, right?"
"I may not go to the morning classes today. I have to do something," Sasuke told him, pulling out a chair at the kitchen table. "My parent's don't know I'm here. They've probably been sending the police out to search for me."
The boy looked troubled when he pushed the glass of milk across the table. "You should have told them. I don't want you to get in trouble."
"I told you already, I don't care. There's something I have to do, and I can't do it at home." He raised the glass of milk to his nose and sniffed. "This milk is sour. Throw it away."
"No it's not. It's fine, see," Naruto raised the glass to his lips and made to drink it. Sasuke reached across and grabbed it before he could do so. Then he walked over to the sink and poured both glasses down. As an afterthought, he took the carton from the fridge and poured that out too.
"Go by yourself, you might make your second class before lunch with Mizuki-sensei if you run."
"I don't want to! If Sasuke's not going then I'm not going either. And Mizuki-sensei will send me out for being late so I won't be there anyway," Naruto whined. He sobered suddenly, and bit his lip. "It's because of me, isn't it? You're having trouble with your parents because of me. I'm getting you in trouble."
Sasuke sighed, rinsing out the glasses and putting them on the counter. He needed energy for the day. If nothing else, he could always take one of the various cups of ramen that filled the cupboards. But first he had to deal with the annoying kid. "It's not about you."
"It is! I bet it is!" Naruto stood up, knocking his chair over. His lower lip quivered. "It's not fair!" He yelled. "Why does it always have to be me?!"
"Naruto-"
"They hate me! They all think I'm a stupid little kid who doesn't see anything but I can see their looks. Why do they look at me like that? I didn't do anything! Their nice to everyone else, why not me? What … what did I do?!"
Sasuke stood there wordlessly with his arm crossed, watching him release his pent-up anger. A childish tantrum. Troublesome.
"All the adults tell their kids to stay away from me, and when I have a friend he gets in trouble too," the pure anger was gone, but his voice still broke. "I'll show them," he whispered. "I'll become the Hokage and then they'll have to respect me. They'll have to notice me." He looked up, as if expecting some sort of approval.
"Ch." Sasuke turned away. He didn't plan on encouraging the kid's self-pity. There were things about Naruto that he respected, but he wasn't there to please him. "Just go to the academy. I'll leave your apartment after a little while, I might be there at lunch. Leave your key and I'll lock the door when I go."
"Are you … going to come back later? For another sleepover?"
"I don't know. But if I do, it'll be to sleep." And after that, he didn't even think he would be able to stay in the village. He'd go out and find Orochimaru. The man was disturbing but brilliant nonetheless, and he had to figure out how to stop the episodes once and for all. Orochimaru was the only one who knew about the seal.
He didn't turn to see Naruto's watery eyes. He only heard vigorous rubbing and a muttered 'fine' before the door opened and the boy left.
Chakra was difficult to use in the body of a seven-year-old. It was wild and uncontrolled, and it took tremendous effort to perform the simplest things. The only thing he had full control over was his Sharingan.
But he sat there on the floor of Naruto's kitchen for hours, practicing his control. If he were Sakura or Shino, it would have been easy. But veritable pools of chakra flowed through his body, a testament to his bloodline. It was difficult to gain precision.
Finally, after two hours, he managed a simple henge. Just enough to fool an average civilian, but it would do. He stood up and made his way to the washroom, looking into the mirror at his green eyed, blond form.
It was enough to fool a shopkeeper.
He would buy it the next day. It would be easy. Aniki trusted him, after all.
Sasuke arrived at the academy at noon, in no particular rush. But he had taken care to not been seen by anyone on the way. He was the second heir of the clan that led the police force, after all. It would be nice to delay that for as long as possible.
He ambled over to the playground without a bento lunch to eat, but he wasn't particularly hungry. Cup ramen was rather filling, once he got around the taste of it. Instead of going inside, he went to the back to find a tree to sit under.
He paused when he saw a familiar blond head, standing at the edge of the academy building and peering to the other side, where the sandboxes were. With a sigh, he walked over. It wouldn't do to displease Naruto too much. His house was the only other place he could go when he had an episode.
"What are you looking at?" He asked, approaching Naruto from behind. The boy jumped slightly before turning around with a guilty look. It was truly amazing how fast he could get over his anger. But it was probably what kept him happy.
The boy bit his lip with a sad look in his eyes. "You said it was better to leave her alone, right? But I want to help her. It's not fair, she's so nice …" Her turned back to his peering. Sasuke looked around the edge to see what he was watching.
A small pink-haired girl was sitting in the sand. Her lower lip quivered as another boy kicked down the sandcastle she'd built. She looked down pointedly, and her crude pink fringe fell around her face again. It looked like it had been styled differently, but it still emphasized her large forehead, instead of hiding it. Sasuke couldn't hear what the other kids were telling her, but it was probably something devastating to a seven-year-old girl.
Sakura determinedly gathered more sand in her bucket, her hands shaking as she tried to rebuild her castle. Her nails were dirty with how she clenched the grains tightly.
"I like her," Naruto confessed. "Like how Inori-sensei likes Mizuki-sensei."
Sasuke stayed silent at that. He thought of pointing out that the Hyuga girl had been watching him in class for a year. But the shy Hinata would get in trouble with her family if Naruto began to pay attention to her; it was better like this.
"She's really pretty. Why don't they see it too?"
There were three other kids sitting with her, taunting her just to laugh at her reactions. One of the girls was a year older. Sasuke didn't regret rejecting the flower she'd tried to give him.
If this was what a civilian child had to go through in order to prepare for shinobi life, then he would gladly let her suffer.
"Hey, who's that?" Naruto asked, pointing discreetly. Sasuke leaned over to see another student approach the sandbox, arms crossed. She had a stylish crop of blond hair and wore a purple sundress, evidently not caring for taijutsu practice.
He sighed inwardly as he recognized her. Yamanaka Ino.
The girl walked over to the sandbox. Sakura peered up at her through her pink bangs, but the blond girl simply chatted for a while with the three who had laughed at her. She went back to rebuilding her sandcastle.
"If she says something mean to Sakura-chan, I'll help her," Naruto muttered, shaking his small fist. "People shouldn't be like that."
"Don't. Leave her be." Sasuke pulled his fist down and turned back to watch.
After a while, Ino gestured towards the building and the three waved goodbye and cheerily walked away. Then she turned back to the pink haired girl determinedly ignoring everything. She sat down in front of Sakura with a small frown on her face.
Sakura said something. Reading her lips from the distance, Sasuke interpreted it as 'go away'. Ino remained. Instead of leaving, she took Sakura's face in her hands and tilted it upward, and then to the side, as if examining her. Sakura tiredly tried to claw her way out of her hold, but the other girl quickly moved her palm underneath the pink fringe, pushing it upwards.
Sasuke watched with a tinge of curiosity as Sakura stopped trying to get away and simply let her shoulders fall, prepared for more ridicule. But Ino silently drew a red ribbon from her pocket, holding it up as if matching it against the pink shade of the girl's hair.
Then she carefully slid the ribbon around the back of her neck and brought it to either side. She lifted it up and tied it at the top of Sakura's head, pinning all her bangs away from her face. "There!" She said loudly enough for them to hear. "No more hiding, got it, Forehead-girl?"
Sakura watched her, wide-eyed and mute for a few seconds. Then a slow smile spread across her face.
"Hmph," Naruto said glumly from beside him. "Now she has a friend too. She's never gonna talk to me if she can talk to Ino instead. Everybody likes Ino."
"I thought you wanted her to have friends?"
"Well, yeah. I guess it's fine, if she's happy," he said gruffly. They watched as Sakura followed the blond girl inside. "But she won't play with us if she can play with another girl. Girls think that boys are stupid and annoying."
"No, just you, Naruto," Sasuke deadpanned.
He sat nonchalantly in class, although he was perfectly aware that Iruka-sensei had sent a message to his family the moment he spotted him. It seemed that the Uchiha police really had combed the village for him.
After another three hours of afternoon class, Iruka-sensei stopped him on the way out. He waited until the other kids had left until standing by the desk with his arms crossed. Sasuke stood by the blackboard patiently.
"Uchiha Sasuke," Iruka-sensei began. "Where in the Five Countries were you? Do you have any idea how much trouble you caused? Your family did try to keep it hidden, but all of us were instructed to capture you the moment we saw you. The only reason I didn't was because you didn't look like you were about to run."
Sasuke nodded, "I apologize for worrying you, Iruka-sensei. I'll tell my family where I was."
Iruka seemed slightly taken aback, as if he had been expecting more of an argument. Evidently, he had been dealing with Naruto for too long. "Good," he settled. "But I do have to escort you to your home, to prevent you from running again." He picked up his bag and gestured for Sasuke to follow him as he left the class. "Will you tell me where you went? It's not safe to be outside all night like that."
"I was at Naruto's apartment," Sasuke replied easily as they walked down the hallways. He knew that Iruka-sensei had a soft spot for Naruto, for some reason.
Just as he'd predicted, the man faltered. "Ah … I see. Well, you should make sure your parents know when you're staying at a friend's house," he replied gruffly.
That was the last of their talk for the entire trip. They took the shortest route, directly through the streets of Konoha. Some of the patrolling police breathed sighs of relief when they saw the younger Uchiha heir heading back with an academy teacher. Umino Iruka had never entered the Uchiha compound before, so he left Sasuke at the gates and watched as he went inside.
Sasuke ambled through the streets of the compound with his hands in his pockets, ignoring the strange looks he received. People still hadn't forgotten his outburst from before. He reached his house quickly, but stopped when he heard a shuffle of motion from the side.
Without making a sound, he put his newly gained chakra-control to use as he snuck around the back of the building, to the small clearing where Itachi would return in the evenings. There wasn't supposed to be anyone there. Itachi was at home, temporarily relieved from duty. But the quiet sounds were unmistakably there.
Sasuke went further away and approached from the treetops, where he could use chakra to remain silent behind the leaves. He inched from tree to tree until he found a sturdy branch from where he could make out the back training grounds between the foliage. What he saw almost made him fall.
There were two figures there, standing outside the back door of the house. Itachi was still dressed in his plain clothes. The other was in full uniform, apart from a clay Owl's mask that hung at her hip. His hands were on her waist and hers were around his shoulders.
Fukurou had returned from a mission, and had come this way just to see him. Sasuke squinted as best as he could through the leaves, but he couldn't see her face clearly. It was blocked by how close Itachi's face was to hers.
But he could see the long dark hair that ran down to her waist. It was like black water when she moved to tilt her head.
It was strange, watching his brother like this. For all his life, Itachi had always been either a figure of exalted brilliance or one that spurred searing anger. He'd never imagined him entwining tongues with a girl. But he did, and her hands ran down his lean sides.
Ew. Nii-san, that's gross, a small part of him said. He pushed it down before it could regain control. This was still unfamiliar; it wasn't enough to take him over yet.
Fukurou's skillful hands ran through his long hair, from which the tie had been removed. She had a sort of cold prettiness that some envied. But she was mindless. She did what she was told and killed who she was told to kill. She was the type who would die if her clan told her to die, who would pause only to ask how to go about it. But even so, his hands were on her, and in two days he planned to kill her with those hands.
How could he do that? How could he kill someone he'd kissed like that only days before? And all to test his stupid abilities? How cruel could Itachi be?
There was no true passion there; Sasuke could see that even with his inexperienced eyes. Maybe because his brother was only almost fourteen, and didn't have the mindset for it. But Fukurou didn't clutch at him with loving desperation like he'd seen others do, and when he moved his hand to the back of her neck to pull her closer, it wasn't with excitement.
Itachi didn't dislike her either; he was just too attached to his damned duty.
She slid her nimble hands under his shirt, feeling smooth muscle and warm skin. Sasuke wanted to stop watching. He didn't want to watch aniki do this. But any movement would give his location away and somehow it seemed to take more effort to shut his eyes. He remained in his spot, clutching the branch he sat on. At least he knew that neither of them were aware of his presence. They didn't expect him there, and they were too busy to notice.
Thankfully, they broke apart, recognizing the necessity to head back before Mikoto called for dinner. Sasuke sighed in relief that no clothes had come off, even through he knew that Fukurou wouldn't do anything with his brother when he was still that young. She was only sixteen, but kunoichi like her tended to have experience by then. She wasn't like Sakura or Hinata, who led mostly normal lives by shinobi standards. She was an anbu operative, and only the most powerful among them could afford to keep things like virtue when their lives were on the line.
She shunshined away in a flash, and Itachi retied his dark hair before entering through the back door. Sasuke was left crouching in the tree, wondering at what he'd seen.