Ch.15.: Hero's Come Back
Something about returning home felt strange for Sasuke. He remembered having dreamt about it once a long time ago.
As he stared at Kakashi's face after having spent two months in a dark cell, blindfolded, without an arm and completely restrained besides being watched 24/7 –he couldn't help but agree with his former mentor.
"We actually were lenient on you, Sasuke."
"Thanks, Kakashi."
The Hatake stared at him longingly. He noticed achingly Sasuke no longer called him sensei.
"You've gained your freedom, Sasuke. But-"
"Actually, Rokudaime-sama. I have yet to atone my sins-"
"Yes, Sasuke" Kakashi interjected. "Naruto told me all about it, but for the village to fully trust you to be on your own you'll have to gain Konoha's trust again."
"I saved them. Isn't that enough?"
Kakashi sighed and reclined on his chair.
"They see Naruto as their savior. You have yet to fully gain their trust, Sasuke." Sasuke was about to interrupt again but Kakashi raised his hand. "It won't be that difficult. Just let yourself be seen, walk around Konoha, help old ladies and that kind of stuff. Become an active member of the community is what I'm saying."
"And letting me roam around Konoha is your idea of its citizens trusting me?"
"Well, this won't be coming off in the meantime" he said pointing to the chakra restraining bracelet he was wearing. "And you'll have ANBU guarding you."
Sasuke's lips curved into a humorless smirk.
"So you just want to use me to test your little new ANBU experiment."
Kakashi's eyes crinkled.
"Consider it a form of community service."
"How will it help your ANBU rookies?"
"They're not rookies…at least most of them."
Sasuke rolled his eyes.
"I still think your program won't work…"
"I believe it will. Wicked and mad shinobi have proven to lead to wars and destruction, take the Akatsuki for instance. A shinobi's mental stability is the foundation for a peaceful future."
"Still, I don't see how your plan of recruiting ANBU every two years, leave them two years to rest and return after that period of time if they wish to, will work. Some may even only enter to get the tattoo and brag about it."
"It's not like that, Sasuke. Those ANBU will be handpicked by me, the Hokage. I'm not just going to pick someone up from the street. I'll be taking into the program only some jounin who I know are devoted to the shinobi lifestyle and are loyal first and foremost to the Leaf above even themselves. Living a life like the one an ANBU has for a long period of time affects a person's life in a negative way. You begin losing your humanity. Giving them a chance to step away before it's gone and to recover would benefit the village. Elite shinobi who are emotionally healthy."
Sasuke sighed and leaned on the wall, crossing his arms.
"How long?"
Kakashi flashed a triumphant smirk under his mask.
"That depends on you and how well you behave, but I wouldn't give it more than 6 months at most. Just for them to get a bit used to you and trust you…especially after all this 'you killing the previous Hokage' thing."
The Uchiha's eyes closed, and his brows furrowed. After a few seconds of pondering, he opened them.
"Fine. Just tell your ANBU not to be a nuisance."
Kakashi only smiled through his mask.
"Can do. You'll even forget they're there."
"That I doubt." The raven muttered followed by an undignified huff.
"It won't be that bad. They'll be like your bodyguards, you know, like a feudal lord." Kakashi joked.
Sasuke's eyebrow twitched.'Yeah, right.'
It was like the weeks following the massacre all over again. Well, perhaps a tad worse.
As he walked down the street, in plain daylight, Sasuke became the victim of the many stares. He could feel them, every single one of them. As he walked by the only people that seemed not to stare were the children who had no idea who he was but still, some of them spared him curious glances as their parents moved them away from him.
An old man was selling dango on the street and his heart ached at the memory of his late brother. The Uchiha stopped in the middle of the street and felt the three chakras following him also come to a halt.
Sasuke approached the old man who, after noticing this, a scared expression began making its way to his features.
"An order of dango, please." He spoke.
The old man nodded once and started immediately to prepare the sweet treat.
Sasuke knew the three ANBU behind him were watching intently his every move and could see with his Rinnegan how their chakras flared a bit when he extended his hand to pay the man for the dango. Inwardly he made a disgusted face when he noticed the generous amount of syrup the man had given him. Outwardly, Sasuke thanked politely the man and headed for his home.
"Will you also follow me to my house?" he asked aloud once he reached an isolated road, knowing the masked shinobi would hear him.
One of them shunshinedhimself in front of Sasuke. Honestly, the Uchiha had imagined he would be rewarded only with silence.
"Rokudaimme-sama's orders were of guarding your wellbeing 24/7" The ANBU spoke. His voice sounded about Sasuke's age and besides a mop of dark hair, the rabbit porcelain mask covered his entire physiognomy. Sasuke also noticed the choice of words the ANBU had used. Guarding your wellbeing.
"Kakashi's getting people my age to guard me? I thought he would at least demonstrate a bit of respect and not send me some newbie I could easily get rid of."
With satisfaction, he watched the ANBU tense.
"But it isn't only one, so it won't happen, Uchiha-san." a female stern voice said behind him.
He chuckled. The ANBU made a sign, and her comrade retreated.
"So indeed, he sent a newbie squad to guard me?"
The ANBU stayed silent and shunshined out of sight.
Sasuke disliked his words to be dismissed.
He entered his house and, for the first time in several years, he entered his room.
It was obvious someone had been snooping around. His drawers were open, and his clothes were disordered. Judging by the thin layer of dust, it had been not more than six months ago.
The walls of the Compound just felt like another cell to him. He eyed Itachi's room and steered away from it, his heart pounding.
'Let myself be seen and help old ladies, right, Kakashi?'Sasuke sighed as he walked out of his house, leaving the dango untouched at the table. The sooner he could get out of the village, the better.
The three chakras tailing him started moving, he noted, mimicking his pace. Konoha's streets had changed since he was a kid, he supposed Pain had had something to do with that, yet the Yamanaka Flower shop could be found where it always had been located.
The bell chimed above him as he entered the shop. Another shinobi about his age was there, Ino helping him pick and arrange the flowers. After the war, an era of peace had to follow he guessed.
Both heads turned to him as his presence was announced, both sporting polite smiles before, after noticing who he was, they vanished.
The shinobi quickly thanked Ino and paid for his flowers before scurrying away.
Sasuke inwardly sighed.'Perhaps it's gonna be tougher than expected.'
"H-how may I help you." Ino called, her voice a bit unsure, eyeing him warily. Had it been other times, Sasuke was sure she would've been delighted with him setting a foot on her shop, but now, even one of his former fangirls saw him as a pariah. At least he had gotten rid of them and wouldn't have to be constantly nagged.
He quietly asked for a dozen of white carnations. Ino's demeanor changed as she swiftly arranged them, a painful look on her face. Those were the kind of flowers she had been bringing to her father's empty gravestone every Saturday since the war had come to an end.
Ino's eyes wandered to Sasuke, stopping for a moment at the place where his arm should have been. He had caused pain, a lot, she remembered. All those nights Sakura had cried herself to sleep, even if the girl pretended to be strong. Yet, the pain inflicted on the Uchiha had also been a lot. She had almost experienced a fragment of that pain -with Asuma and her dad-, and it was almost unbearable. A tinge of empathy crossed her features. She did not have to like him to try to understand his pain.
The Uchiha paid for the flowers, and stopped a moment, hesitating, before adding.
"Thank you, have a good day." Ino's expression morphed into one of surprise.
Sasuke exited the shop, barely hearing the muttered.
"Y-You too."
The flowers were beautiful, and their fresh scent invaded Sasuke's nostrils. He wondered if his mother would have agreed with him, she had always smelt like flowers, he remembered that.
Winter's presence was beginning to make itself known, like announcing its soon arrival. The chilly autumnal air blew his hair, orange and yellow leaves dancing with it. Sasuke's left empty sleeve had seemed to attempt joining the leaves dance, it being a reminder of what his path of darkness had cost him.
On the graveyard, there was a whole section dedicated to the Uchiha's. On the span of one night, it had suddenly filled. He approached his parents' graves and offered a silent prayer for their souls' rest after leaving three flowers on each one of their graves. No matter how much time had passed, he still remembered crystal clear his mother's face and soft voice, her affectious caresses.
Sasuke could sense the three faint chakras following him. The Uchiha sensed a fourth one approaching and, immediately his hand went to where he always had his katana, only to remember he wasn't allowed to carry weapons. The fourth chakra ignored him and approached the other three ones, belonging to the ANBU. One of them left and the newcomer stayed. So, it had been a shift.
Sasuke sighed and approached the newest looking grave. Itachi's name had been carved on white marble stone, the Uchiha fan proudly engraved under it. His eyes started prickling, a tear threatening to fall, but the reminder of the three ANBU's presence prevented him from doing so.
"Aniki…" he muttered, laying six white carnations atop the grave. A gust of wind blew his bangs away from his face. Sasuke closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, the smell of the incoming winter filling his senses. 'Itachi'.
Night covered Konoha with its starry mantle, the white moon came out, serving as the main light source trough the cold night. Sasuke was still standing, next to the grave, his eyes closed.'Are you watching, Aniki? I'm here at Konoha, I'm gonna redeem myself. Your sacrifice would not have been in vain.' The moon's light shone directly in his eyes as they opened. 'It does look better white than red.'
An owl's hoot brought him back to reality. The night was chilly, and it wouldn't be too long before the first snow fell, December had started to show its face. He dusted his clothes off and walked home, the three chakras tailing him ever-present.
On the way to the compound, he passed the lake, the one that held so many memories. The moon's image, reflected on the lake's surface, brought back memories from that night. Itachi's tears had not been an illusion, but a simple glance at the pain he had been forced to carry alone. The burden he had carried for Sasuke's sake. His brows furrowed as he continued his way home.
He arrived home, the dango still laying on the table. He tried to take a bite of it only to grimace at the awfully sweet taste, sweets weren't his forte. Sasuke threw the dango away and proceeded to perform his night rituals, afterwards, he went to sleep, noticing on the back of his mind how the ANBU made another shift in the middle of the night.