Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ The Shinobi and The Miko ❯ Reunion ( Chapter 6 )

Well, that couldn't have possibly been any more pointless…

 

Sasuke was headed for home. The visit between himself, Naruto, Sakura, and Kakashi could not have gone worse. Naruto had doomed the whole thing from the start by acting as if nothing had changed, as if three years with Orochimaru was just some…day trip. He'd challenged him to a ramen-eating contest, of all things.

 

And then there was Sakura. He rolled his eyes. Still constantly trying to make eye contact, flipping her hair over her shoulder in just such a way, batting her eyelashes. It was pretty pathetic, really. You'd think three years would be enough to get over it, but apparently they were both still ridiculously juvenile.

 

Some things, at least, never change. What the Hell am I doing anyway? He'd agreed to come back because he had no other place to be, but that didn't mean he belonged here. The years had changed him too much. And now he was going to have to stay and be under constant watch. He was actually surprised the Hokage hadn't insisted on him sleeping in the apartment complex where many of the younger ninja lived. He was being allowed to use the Uchihas' old complex. Allowed. To live in his own home. He snorted derisively.

 

He continued walking, looking around at the familiar buildings and storefronts. Granted, the town itself had changed considerably: at night especially, everything looked a little more run-down, a little more foreboding. A sign of the times, perhaps. The Akatsuki weren't making things easy for anyone, and he supposed war could break out at any time, for any reason. Then again, he thought cynically, that's always been true. There are just more chances now.

 

His feet had carried him through the village and to a training field. Unsure of exactly he had gotten there, he looked around. Three posts were situated at the far end of the plain, and it was surrounded on three sides with trees. A twisted smile flashed across his face as he realized where he was. He permitted the memories to accost him, and stood in silence for some time as he recalled what had transpired here, and in the months after.

 

A small sound brought him back to the present. Someone was behind him. He whirled around, grabbing a kunai, and Kaguya took a step back, a slightly fearful expression on her face. He lowered his arm, and a wave of guilt washed over him.

 

“It's you…”

 

She relaxed, and he stowed the knife.

 

“What are you doing here, Kaguya?”

 

She tilted her head to one side. “Looking for you.”

 

What? “Why?”

 

“Because I can tell you're stressed from half a mile away, that's why.”

 

“Don't worry about it. I'm fine.” He turned his back to her, and his eyes wandered from the ground to the sky.

 

To his surprise, she didn't leave. Instead, she took a few more steps, so that she was standing beside him, and lifted her face toward the sky as well. She couldn't see the moon, but she thought she could feel its light.

 

Sasuke saw her do this from the corner of his eye, but said nothing. In a sense, he was irritated with her. It was she, after all, who had caused this situation to come about. And yet, he could not be angry. She had done what she thought was right, which was more than he could say of himself lately.

 

“Is this place…is it important to you?” she asked in muted tones.

 

“Important? I dunno.” What's she getting at?

 

“I mean, does it hold any memories, when you come here?”

 

“Some. Why do you ask?”

 

“It's just… well, it occurred to me that I really know very little of your life. You know… before you came to the temple.

 

He shrugged. “I've told you everything important. Who cares about the rest?”

 

“I think… that cannot be true. Surely there are more important things in your life, more relevant things than Itachi-san's betrayal. Surely.”

 

His eyes narrowed. “Hmph. Hardly. I'm sure you can guess at it anyway. I was on a team with the idiot and the annoying one. Kakashi was in charge. He gave us our first test here, that's all.”

 

“What kind of test?”

 

“Why do you care?” he responded testily.

 

“Forgive me. I am merely… unfamiliar with your world. I know very little of shinobi, and less of this village. I just wondered what it was like.”

 

There was a pause. “He had two bells on him. The three of us had to steal them somehow.”

 

“Hm. It seems simple enough, if you worked as a team.”

 

He looked at her curiously. “We didn't. He told us that only the two who got the bells would be able to proceed with training.”

 

“I see. That was rather clever of him, wasn't it?”

 

“I guess.”

 

“What happened?”

 

“We all failed.”

 

“But then…” she sounded confused.

 

“He tied Naruto to a post for cheating. We ate lunch, but we weren't allowed to feed him.”

 

“You did anyway?” She seemed to have an uncanny ability to guess.

 

“Yeah. Kakashi made this big show of being pissed, but then he told us we passed.”

 

She smiled. “That seems like an important memory to me.”

 

“How do you figure?”

 

“The way you feel when you tell it.”

 

He didn't respond. What was he supposed to say to that? He didn't get it, but whatever.

 

She took a deep breath and sank gracefully onto the grass, assuming a cross-legged position, albeit one with perfect posture. Feeling odd standing while she sat, Sasuke had little choice but to sit as well. She made no further attempt to speak, and for that, he was grateful. Unlike other people he could name, she understood the value of silence.

 

His eyes gradually left the sky and wandered over the ground in front of them, and then to Kaguya herself. The moonlight lent her an ethereal quality. Her hair and skin were almost luminescent, shadows played upon the angles of her face. She looked like something not of this world, in this light. And yet, there was something very tangible about the heat from her skin in the cool air, the slight curve of her mouth when she smiled, the stubborn point of her chin. She was just real enough to be believable…

 

He stood up abruptly. “I have to go.”

 

She rose decidedly more smoothly, her expression one of puzzlement. Nevertheless, she did not ask, and he did not explain.

 

“Later.” He shoved his hands into his pockets and started for his house. He left her standing there, and it was not until he was quite some distance away that he heard her turn and head off in the other direction.

 

Sasuke realized that he hadn't breathed for quite some time, and let out a stream of air. He walked the rest of the way home looking at nothing but the ground before his feet, distinctly more troubled than when he had started, but for an entirely different reason.