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[chieftainronin-blog]

The Book of Love [Chapter 3]

Sarada only managed to make it as far as the street corner before tripping over and landing face first into the dirt. She slowly flipped over and sat up, only to see a blurred line of porcelain slugs on the street, neatly in form of of a sweeping curve around the opposite side of the street and past the next corner over. She quirked an eyebrow at this, and after reaching for her fallen glasses, got up. Slightly wobbly and strained from the fall, she made her way around the corner, only to find even more slugs, all lined up in an elegant formation across the way.

Sarada looked at them with suspicion, slightly irate at the idea of her father having bought out an entire country's worth of tacky little statuettes. She only looked even more annoyed when she actually saw him bent down on the floor, slowly arranging the figures in a uniform line. Did he seriously have that much time? "What are you even doing?" She put her hands on her hips, leaning down towards her father.

Sasuke didn't respond to the question. Instead, he simply stood up, quickly towering the other who had looked at him with contempt and disrespect. "You know what I'm doing." He extended his hand out to her before letting it fall beneath the cloak once more. "The more important question is, why you were causing your mother grief?"

She flinched at the comment. "Huh?"

"You know better than to leave while she's talking to you."

"How did you know that any of that even happened?"

From underneath his cloak, his only hand shuffled around and came to reveal a black cellphone. It seemed rather old, with a screen the size of his thumb, but new enough that it had a colored screen. On this screen, it showed Sakura's face, looking completely mortified in the front gates of Konoha. The embarrassment from being scolded had Sarada slowly contorting her face in the same manner. It was certainly not a flattering look on either of them. "There's electricity in Konoha," he replied.

There was a momentary staredown between the two of them, and it wasn't long until Sarada folded, looking away in shame. Sasuke simply continued to look at her, and she could feel his glance burning at her cheek. He merely squatted down to be at her level and put his hand on her shoulder.

It didn't take any convincing to get her to talk. "Mom told me about when you went to some village out in the woods. You met a girl named Yuki. There was a murder and you sent a message out to my mom to come help even though you wanted her to stay away—It's...it's all lies! It has to be! It makes no sense!"

Sasuke nodded. "Of course it doesn't. It's not true." She glanced up at him, seeming somewhat redeemed by his agreement. Of course, the stern expression on his face didn't let up. It wouldn't be so simple. "Your mother is right, I did end up calling for her. However, there are certain details she probably changed… left out… things that would happen when you don't get the story from the person that was there. For example, your mother most likely would've had you believe it'd only been a short while since I left the village… maybe a few months at most. It'd been two years."

"Two years?" She parroted her father in question, looking at him with slight shock. He nodded to him and patted her shoulder. "Two years. Maybe a few months more. We hadn't spoken since then, but I was back in the Land of Fire because I had heard that there were displaced refugees trying to get back to the Land of Water. The few exchanges over letter we had were fairly brief."

"But the snowstorm stopped you?

He shook his head at this, moving his hand to his knee to keep himself steady. The stubbed arm hung lower to balance himself out. "It only slowed me down. I took shelter in caves at night or behind a thick brush from the trees."

"Mom said you used your fire jutsu to make an indent in the tree."

Once again, he shook his head, but now he would stand up straight right after. "No… that's impossible. The tree would've caught alight."

Sarada nodded knowingly, and she saw her father smirk at this. It was almost light-hearted, but in his eyes, there was a glimmer of disappointment.

"At least you have the common sense to not believe everything you hear. Everything you see. It's a good skill." He motioned her to follow him and began making his way down the line of slugs until he reached the corner, and jumped up onto the rooftop before taking a seat there. Sarada would follow in his steps exactly, placing herself beside him on top of the apartment complex that they lived in.

"She made it sound so much more immediate… some of the things she said..." She thought for a moment, looking down to the tiles that they were sitting on. She felt his heavy hand on her shoulder and looked towards him, only to find similar eyes staring right back.

"The story is more romantic that way; it's the way your mother had always thought it as. But I didn't meet Yuki in the midst of a snowstorm while crammed into a hole in a tree. She was standing in the middle of the road and pointed me in the direction of her village. I was given my own lodge. It was small, and filthy, with holes that let in the draft, but it was slightly warmer than the blizzard that was outside. I took what I could, and didn't complain."

She looked at the man with hesitation, and glanced right back at the floor, her eyes making quick, short movements. "Did the… conversation you had… the one with Yuki..." Once again, her eyes returned to him. "Did it happen?"

The father went from staring at his daughter to the sky, squinting slightly as the sun blinded him. The wind started to pick up, and with it, the cloak he had started to shift, moving freely in the wind. It slightly obscured her sight of him. "Some of it."

"Which parts?"

"The important parts."

She didn't understand what this meant, and glowered at the floor, feeling frustration rising again. Sasuke was quick to correct himself, knowing that patience was running short. "What's important is that I mentioned her. It was therefore asked of me to bring her to the village… at the edge of the Land of Fire. I knew it would take a couple of days just to get the message to her. I also knew I thus couldn't just sit around and wait for her to come help the village."

"So what did you do? You don't know how to heal people like she does, do you?" She leant closely, surprised at the idea that her father could have been a medical ninja.

He quickly shook his head again. "I sent a message to her, and went on the move."

The hawk beat its wings against the ground, a massive bracelet on its foot. It lifted itself from Sasuke's arm, and went in the direction of the wind, due south towards Konoha. It had always been the path of least resistance, and if there was a response letter that would come to him instead of help, it wouldn't be in his hands for at least a week. He turned away as the bird faded into distant clouds and ran towards the frozen river. It was his only lead, and the best place to start searching for answers.

It was a short dash, as the man nearly slipped on the ice and fell flat on his back. The only thing that had caught him was the edge of the bank, where a box full of live bait was dented by his foot as he came to a halt.

"Eh?" One of the three men who sat around a hole in the pond looked towards the direction of the sound, and saw the man who had kicked at their box. "Hey! Careful with that! How are we supposed 'ta fish if we ain't got no bait, eh? Fucking watch it there!" Standing up to face Sasuke, it was seen that his left leg was missing. In its place was a peg leg made of welded iron which held the Hidden Mist Village's symbol. He was definitely one of the men he was looking for. Glancing towards the other two for a moment he saw one missing an eye, the socket indented and sewn shut whilst the other's body was riddled in scars. The three of them were sure to have experience fighting.

"Do you know anything about the murders that have been happening in the village?" Sasuke was direct, quickly getting to the heart of the matter. He didn't want to spend longer with the men than he needed to—stopping the culprit before they struck again was more important.

They, of course, gave him the obvious answer. "We ain't seen nuttin'. Look, that village is suspicious of us outsiders already! No one will even sell us bait for fishin'! But they don't fucking mind when we got fish to sell don't they?"

"You're talking to the wrong people, kid," said the one missing an eye. He scratched at his peppered beard before throwing his line into the small hole.

None of them seemed very interested in doing anything else that wasn't catching fish. And so, Sasuke did the only thing that could be done in such a situation. The moment that they turned their backs on him, he kicked over the live bait with a clang, letting worms, smaller fish and insects escape.

The three of them immediately turned around and stood up in unison, glaring at the lone shinobi. "What, you think we're playin' around, kid? We'll chop you up and use you as bait! Jashin smite you, you piece of shit!"

"Jashin?" This definitely caught Sasuke's attention. He'd traveled around long enough to know what that name meant. "You're one of those people, I take it?" His eyes locked onto the one with the missing leg. "Part of that cult?"

"Shit," the man cursed underneath his breath before turning to the other two. Neither of them knew what to say. "Look," the one-legged mist ninja turned to Sasuke, "whatever you think, it ain't us—honest and for true! We used to worship that guy… do all the sacrifices and whatnot, but we've changed. The war has changed a lot of things." The other two nodded.

The sound of birds rapidly chirping was already heard as Sasuke's hand was immediately enveloped in electricity. The three took a step back at this, but Sasuke quickly filled the distance by charging at the one closest by, immediately piercing his body with the chidori. They yelped in shock as the cloaked man had immediately and effortlessly pierced through their friend's heart.

It was a quick death, and the moment Sasuke felt the body of the man start to slump over him, he'd carelessly pull his hand out, letting him fall right on the floor and roll back into the frozen river's ice. Blood poured out of him, making an already difficult surface to walk even slicker. It stood out stark against the blue and white hues of the surrounding area. Sasuke raised the bloodied hand, letting the sparks dance against his hand once more as the chakra once again was made visible.

The others seemed to prepare themselves for the fight, raising their hands to make signs, but before they could utter a single syllable, the two were already falling against the floor, with holes the size of fists in their chests.

About an hour had passed before Sasuke returned to the village itself, his clothes wet from snow and dirt. His fingernails were caked with filth and blood. There were no longer dead men on the ice. It was for the best.

"The problem is solved," he opened the door to the leader's home before even knocking. He'd have of course, expected the man to wait, but found no one in particular when he stepped inside. Slowly Sasuke walked through the whole house, hand on his katana. A soft thud came from the very end of the home, and the man was very quick to make his way over, slamming the door open to find two of the three children huddled together on the bed. They screamed at the sight of him, his current look not doing him any favours to calm them down from their hysteria.

Sasuke was very careful to not agitate them any further and knelt at the bed to look them in the eye. "What happened?" The smaller of the two boys sobbed out, "Th-They took her!" before burying himself into his older brother's arms. He was also crying, but seemed to be holding most of it in, in attempts to comfort the other. He saw a familiar face in that and shut his eyes, trying his best to avoid thinking about it at the moment.

"Do you know… who it was? What they looked like?"

Neither of them said anything in response, and so Sasuke stood up, his sharingan activating at that very moment. "Lock the door when I leave. Don't come out until your father comes home. And with that, Sasuke was gone with a gust of wind to follow that slammed the door right shut.

He knew where to go first, but before he had gotten there, he found something he didn't expect. The crowd was massive. It could have been the entire village, and they were all huddled closely, trying to peek over each other's shoulders. Mothers covered the eyes of their children and father's weeped openly. With his eyes, he could see and understood that he was already too late.

Sasuke jumped over the crowd and into the opening in the center, his headscarf covering his eyes with shadows. Yuki's hands were bloody, and the young girl was in the arms of her father, gasping desperately as blood drowned her by the fresh wound in her neck.

"I've done all I could...it'll be over soon," the woman simply looked away, unable to bear the sight of her.

The father—the leader of the village immediately turned towards Sasuke the moment he stepped forward. "You..." he eyed him with a familiar hate that Sasuke knew very well. "You said you'd take care of this! Look what you've done! MY DAUGHTER IS GOING TO DIE BECAUSE OF YOU!"

Sasuke said nothing to this, and merely stood as the whispers about him picked up from the crowd. He knew he had failed.

As he looked down to the leader, shame covering him like a cloak, he felt the eyes of the entire village on him. They judged him with contempt, and few even stepped back with distrust in their eyes. The man before them had spoken... and it was then that Sasuke decided to disappear, with a flash into the night.

Despite all that happened, he did not leave the small forested village. He had promised to solve the case, and was determined to do so—even if no one appreciated it or trusted him to do any good.

How could he be called a redeemed man if all he did was leave misery in his wake? Many watched him pass by for those two weeks, and no one dared to get close to him. Even Yuki, who knew it couldn't have been him seemed distant. He was alone again, and it was not until the end of that second week that he was approached by her.

"You do not think I did it, but you want me to help you with a lead?" Sasuke's face was covered by the shadows of the cloak which hung over his head. The strong winter winds did not blow it off, because they carried in the direction he was going.

"No, but if I don't follow along, they'll ostracize me too… and how can I help people if they don't trust me with their wounded and ill?" Yuki held onto her own cloak, facing the winds herself. She did not look at Sasuke, and hid beneath the cover of it's hood.

He himself simply shook his head. She was unlike her in this manner. That woman would have betrayed any and every civilization in the shinobi world to stay at his side.

Yuki shoved at Sasuke's shoulder with her hand, barely moving him. "What's wrong with you? I need you in on this! This is serious!"

"I know it's serious," the Uchiha agreed, "and I'll help you, but we need to find this man soon. There soon might not be any more people to kill."

"Agreed. Go on ahead. Try to ask questions, but try not to make sure that they don't think we're connected."

Was he even capable of helping at this point? Without the support of the village, he could barely get a loaf of bread at the end of the day—let alone some answers on what's been going on. People died all around them and corpses became a regular sight, yet they only eyed him with a sense of blame, as though every life that came after he had killed those men were his responsibility.

Sasuke pressed on either way, and simply set aside a rising urge to let them all rot and continued his investigation. If he could not help make the world a better place after he nearly ruined it, what good was he as a person? What could a man heal when his body was a weapon from the gods themselves?

Sasuke never had a true ninja way, as Naruto would call it. His calling since the inception of the man he had known his entire life was to take revenge on those who had harmed him, his family, and loved ones. The life was too familiar and it was too easy to fall on those old habits. To survive in this world with changed eyes… to make sure he didn't become the person he had been destined to become, he had to change. But into what? How? He doubted himself and knew all he wrought could not be surpassed with compassion alone.

He looked down to the snow beneath him. "I need..."

There was a flash of light. The force of him flying came before he could hear the sound nearly rupture his ears. Sasuke's body broke through wooden homes that were incinerated by the blast that came in his wake. The fireball engulfed half of the village, and what remained would be charred ashes.

It started at the longhouse.

Sasuke could barely move, let alone try to see what happened. Still, through the ringing he heard the shrill screams of horror. Entire families had been wiped out. Those that survived the blast were gravely injured, and sounded together into a low hum of agony.

"HELP!" He heard one man scream as he had been impaled by a wooden beam. Others were not quite so lucky.

Sasuke struggled to get up. He needed to get to the epicenter. He needed to know what happened! However, a shadow danced upon the roofs and the wreckage, and instantly, he realized what happened. It was the culprit again.

As soon as he was on his feet, he made his way to the longhouse, only to see in itss stead a beam of light that reached on beyond the clouds that swirled above him. Massive pieces of the earth, wood, and other debris also encircled the strange beam. What was it? He questioned to himself. "Is this from a jutsu?" He did not build any courage to approach the light, but before his fingers could brush against it, it disappeared, and with it, all that floated in the air fell upon the ground, killing even more people.

"Sasuke Uchiha!"

He turned around to see the leader. He trembled weakly but his steely eyes were firm against the Uchiha. His right arm was gone, and in its place blood oozed out. One of his eyes was closed—gone. Sasuke looked to him, and saw himself.

"Get out."

He said nothing in return, and continued to stare.

"GET OUT!"

There was a moment of silence between them before he turned around and began to walk the opposite way. He could hear the pained voices of people, screaming as the world burned all around them. The sky turned red, and Sasuke started to run.

He could see them again with his eyes closed. He felt small then, as they were all cut down, horribly mutilated by steel and raw power. Sasuke knew it wasn't his fault, but what could he do? They were dead.

The bleakly lit moon grew larger in the sky before turning black. His pupils dilated as everything else turned black too. People who suffered and were dead on the floor were simply outlines that oozed blood darker than night. They weren't just the faces of the people he distantly knew by name… some were his friends… family… all dead like the village. Compassion was his weakness, and it was eating him alive from the inside again.

Sasuke fell upon his knees and screamed at the top of his lungs, hands to his ears as his forehead pressed deep into the snow. He couldn't stop the thoughts. He felt them racing faster than he could hope to stop them. They burned at him, making him quake as he huddled himself together into a ball, still on his knees. The cloak covered his body, and so he was a figure amongst them too. Of course, he knew he had run far. He was alone.

The memories and visions clouded him. He couldn't tell what was real anymore, and so when he looked up, he could find no source of comfort. At least not, until he heard a voice.

"Sasuke."

It was a familiar voice. He remembered her healing. Her bloody hands while he had lost his own.

"Sasuke."

No, it wasn't her. She was too far away.

"Sasuke."

He felt himself slipping out of his own consciousness. Biting his lip, he knew he needed help, that he couldn't hope to piece anything together. He was as broken as the world he saved. However, she was out of his reach.

"My sins have nothing to do with you." Sasuke remembered those words he told her. "This is my journey of redemption."

She had looked to him with those eyes of her's; She had asked him to come along.

"I'll see you when I get back."

He made a mistake.

"Sasuke!"

A hand touched his shoulder. He looked up, his body shaking and his breath shallow. It was Yuki.

"I saw him. I saw the way he was heading."

Sasuke said nothing.

"If you want to make things right, we need to catch up to him." With those as parting words, she went off, leaping into the trees as she had done before when they first met. Sasuke furrowed his eyebrows before wobbling up to his feet and following from behind.

The path he followed led to an abandoned building about a mile off from the village. It seemed decrepit and in no sort of working order. Pieces of the roof were gone, and while Sasuke would have normally used this as his entrance, he was stopped by the arm of the other, halting him from going.

"You don't know what's in there. Let me go first. You're not the only one who can actually stand a chance against them." She looked back at him with a slightly cocky smirk, and before he could say anything on the matter, she slowly walked in, with one hand out signaling to come in when she gave the say. And so, he waited.

It was not long before he heard a scream, and immediately burst in to see what happened, only to see Yuki and the glistening of a blade at her throat. Slowly, it cut through her, and the moment it finished on the other side, she dropped onto the floor—dead.

Sasuke flinched at this, before his frowned deeply. "Damn it," he said under his breath, "I shouldn't have let her come in here alone."

"You're quite right, Sasuke Uchiha."

From the shadows came a man, and he wore on his sleeve a very familiar insignia. One that immediately reminded him of the mist ninjas he had slaughtered at the river. "Another one, huh?" He felt almost immediately vindicated. "I thought I killed all of you Hidden Mist cultists."

"Ah, but you killed the wrong cultists. My friends weren't welcomed at the village, so I decided to start killing the people, one by one. When I heard that you'd killed them all in your little investigation, I decided to return the favor by killing all the people at that pitiful excuse for a clinic! That Jashin wishes for all people to burn in the raw chaos is just an added bonus." He put his hands up before shrugging. "Who would have guessed? Treating people like monsters turns them into monsters. Revolutionary idea, isn't it?"

Sasuke balled up his hand into a fist before immediately letting it open, releasing a massive ball of chakra. Electricity sparked and danced in his hands again and almost entirely enveloped his arm.

The mist ninja laughed heartily at the technique before speaking bitterly, "Yes, that's it. You killed them with that, didn't you? Felt them die in your arms?" He put up a fist before water began to swirl around him, coming in from the darkness. It instantly froze into place, making a shield around him. "YOU'LL PAY FOR KILLING MY FRIENDS, UCHIHA!"

Sasuke immediately bolted towards the man at lightning fast speed, at which moment the ice turned into water again. It slowed him down just enough for the mist shinobi to jump away. He grabbed a kunai from his holster as Sasuke drew out his sword, and as the two landed back on their feet, they immediately lunged towards each other.

In the dark, one could see the sparks fly. The equally strong metals clanged loudly and pierced the silence filled only by the storm that had picked up outside. It was enough to make the windows burst and brought a biting chill to Sasuke's body. With this, he slowed down—a fatal mistake.

The ninja grabbed the sword with his hand this time, and kicked the man away. Of course, Sasuke's grip was stronger, and he only managed to slash his hand with that move. He screamed in pain, before making his hand into a fist to stop the bleeding. "Fine… I guess we'll both be fighting with one hand tied behind our back." He dropped the Kunai at that moment and made a hand sign close to his face. "Water style, Water dra-"

Sasuke had come back and kicked the man in the face, causing him to fly right into the reinforced steel walls of the building. "You talk too much." He stood in stance, allowing for lightning chakra to surround the blade. It was enough to light up some of the otherwise pitch black barn.

His voice could be heard ringing through this darkness. "Fine, Uchiha… I guess we'll be fighting lightning with fire."

This time he heard the sizzling first, and then he saw the light. Beneath Sasuke's feet, right where the other had been standing before, ten explosive tags were set off, and the Uchiha man was sent flying sky high before immediately hitting the ground.

Everything went black.

Sasuke heard his laughter in the distance but by the the time he looked up, he saw him standing right above him. He felt the heavy stomp from steel bottom boots crush his back and slam him back into the ground.

Slowly, the man bent down, pulling the katana from Sasuke's holster. He chuckled at this, and gave it a few swings before immediately latching his hand onto as much of Sasuke's hair as he could grab.

With his hair firmly gripped in his hand, the shadowy man swung around his head, maneuvering him in whichever way he felt. "So this is the true strength of the Uchiha clan, is it? You're weak… too weak to even save a damn village full of refugees, eh Sasuke Uchiha? How can you give them your word to save them when you can't even save yourself?!" He switched grips on the sword and raised it high above his head. "Well, allow me to save you the trouble of dealing with your utter failure! It's for the best… when your word is as good as dogshit."

"You're wrong," Sasuke glowered up at the man, only to have his head shaken and moved around again, so that his head was pressed against the cold steel floor.

"No, you are."

At that moment, the sword swiftly came down.

...

Sasuke's eyes opened wide as he jolted awake and suddenly grew still. His sharingan eye, still activated, searched the room, only for him to realize it wasn't even the same place as before. There was a pain in his ribs as he fixated on a single object, a shadow seen from the light of the door as it flooded part of the wall. The door was only slightly open, but he could see the shape. It was a woman… familiar and comforting, but barely visible. Through the glimmering haze, there was nothing else to look at, and so his eyes closed. A pounding thud began at his head, compounding with the pain in his abdomen, making it difficult to concentrate. When he opened his eyes once more, the sharingan was gone.

His eyesight blurred as he looked up again, seeing the outline of the figure leaning to hover over him. He groaned as the pain of his broken and exposed flesh began to overtake him. He felt weak, coldness coursing through his veins. His body was failing, and yet he was still alive. He shouldn't have been… he could feel the gaping hole in his stomach. Most of it had been closed, unbeknownst to him, but the phantom pains lingered… the emptiness remained like the feeling of being able to grip with his left hand when nothing remained. His eyes watched listlessly, and he felt his body rise and stir.

"You're awake..."

"Sakura?"

The figure hushed him and placed a hand on his stomach as they sat beside him. Colours flashed brightly into his eyes, and they shut quickly in reflex. The pain was white hot, searing into the very center of his body.

Sasuke felt as the room spun in his head, and with each passing moment, he only felt sicker. The fact that she shifted him to sit up slightly in her arms only made things worse. The next noise of pain was more of a gurgle than a strain or a shout, and he quickly reflexed away from her—to the side—in order to retch. However, despite his delicate state, she responded to it by passing her hand over the Uchiha's forehead.

It was a gentle touch.

Opening his eyes, he saw her face in the green light, concern etched into her face. As she gingerly pushed him down to his back, he noticed various things about her. Her eyes were bloodshot and her movements slower than usual. How long has she been awake? He asked himself in thought. Relenting to the concerns in his head, he felt a sinking in his stomach. There was a better question to ask.

"How long have I been out?"

Sakura looked at him, and he at her. As always, she broke contact first. "Two weeks."

He barely heard it but it struck him, and his eyes trembled as his hands did—in utter horror. They flickered red, as he sat up again with dire consequences. Sasuke screamed and immediately fell sideways into the other's arms. His organs were not yet done healing.

"Don't do that," she raised her voice at him, and put the man back down to the floor, so that she could use both her hands to heal the damage to his abdomen.

"Sakura," he took her glowing hand, squeezing weakly. He felt that it was drenched in blood. The sharingan that had activated through a surge of adrenaline faded out slowly, leaving only his soft onyx eyes. Shutting them, he could feel the pain radiating from within his skull… from his stomach… chest… everywhere.

"You need to rest, Sasuke. You're lucky to even be alive… you..."

His soft grip grew firm, as he used what was left of his strength. "Sakura, I need you to tell me if the people in the village are okay."

"Sasuke," She diverted her sight from him. "We're not at the village. I never got there. I found you on the floor in front of an abandoned building—you were dying! I couldn't just leave you there… Sasuke—."

He yanked his hand off of her's and turned away.

Shit.

"So you don't know anything about what's going on?"

"I haven't been there, no. I came with a team of medics… they went on ahead, but I haven't heard back from them."

He turned away his head and scowled, his eyes hidden by the shadows as he bit his lip. By this point, either everyone was dead, or the culprit was gone, or both.

Shit!

Sakura's expression hardened at this, and she balled up her fists tightly. "You can't be so hard on yourself. You did everything you could. I'm just trying to make sure you're okay. I mean, you won't be able to keep your promise otherwise, right?" The silence between them only riddled the woman's heart with guilt, as she could see his body struggling to move… trembling in pain both in body and mind. "I… I'm going to get some more bandages." Awkwardly, she left the room. Looking to the spot that she was sitting at, Sasuke could very clearly see two rolls of fresh bandages and grimaced. Yet another thing he messed up.

Taking another look around the room of the cabin, he found the surroundings familiar. The dusty hearth, the rickety floors and the holes that let in draft were all there. Of course, the part that struck him him as odd was that he was not cold… in fact, he was very warm. Very comfortable… but why? He didn't have his cloak and the few thin blankets that they had were on the floor beneath him, drenched in his own blood. Could it be Sakura's doing? A genjutsu to comfort the ill and injured?

No, such a thing couldn't exist. But then again, couldn't it? Things looked bleak in the room… dark with hard shadows that covered everything in sight. In comparison, Sakura was lighter… her hair was a bright pink and her eyes pierced with a green that could be seen even in the darkest night… almost as bright as her healing technique.

Maybe it was a genjutsu...

Maybe it was just Sakura...

Maybe it was the culprit, and he was still on the floor of that abandoned building—wait.

Sasuke's eyelids fell shut.

Was he dreaming?

...

He woke up in the steel building, looking up at a destroyed fan that spun with a shaking motion. It was barely functional, as the blast had destroyed most of the objects inside of it. His body had been slammed against the wall, and he lied face up before it. Slowly, he stood up and pulled at his cloak with his hand. Yes, it was colder now… and the pain that he felt in his dream racked at his body, but it was manageable.

Slowly, he stepped closer to the darker part of the building and soon he heard the soft straining of someone trying to get up. They strained, but hearing the shuffling of their sandals on the floor, Sasuke knew that he wasn't done yet. Looking not too far ahead, he saw his katana lying on the floor, and hurried up to grab it before he was attacked again. As he stood in stance, he couldn't shake away his dreams… the words that she told him.

"You can't be so hard on yourself."

No, he had failed too many times. Hurt too many people.

"You did everything you could."

Sasuke gripped at his katana harder. He knew that it wasn't enough. How many times had he failed her? Failed other people that needed him?

"I'm just trying to make sure you're okay. I mean, you won't be able to keep your promise otherwise, right?"

"COME OUT HERE!" He shouted into the blackness, only to receive no response. It was a breaking point… his limit was being reached, and his thoughts raced as he tried to keep his composure. Still, he was tense, and the weight on his shoulders only seemed heavier. What was he going back to?

Only the soft, strained creaking of the broken fan struggling to work could be heard, broken and ineffective.

Finally, Sasuke caught the sound of the culprit, sucking through their teeth, making small noises of pain as he moved closer to the spotlight, where Sasuke stood beneath.

"You had to to mess things up for me, didn't you?" Their voice changed as a small explosion of air went off… almost as if a transformation had worn off. The voice itself was very familiar, and he narrowed his eyes. "You should have left after you got half the village killed."

Sasuke's sharingan eye immediately activated at this point. It was no byakugan, but a strange thing revealed itself to him when he activated it. Their chakra system… he'd seen it before as well. Could it be...?

"The game's over… Yuki."

She stepped out from the shadows just enough so that most of her face was visible. Her eyes were wide and seemingly, she smirked at Sasuke's comment. "Oh, but the game's just begun! I managed to throw you off my trail until now, haven't I? If you'd only have stayed oblivious for a little while longer… things would have been very different."

Sasuke readied his sword against her. Almost immediately, electricity started to surge from it, dancing wildly against and through the steel.

"No time for words anymore?"

"You talk too much," he repeated.

"Fine… let's do this." The woman formed a sign and immediately lunged at him.

"Wait… you can't be serious. You're going to end the story here?!"

The male put out his hand, palm facing upwards as though he was trying to explain something. "Do you at least understand why the story is important now? Why your mother decided to use this as the starting point?"

"Well..." Sarada seemed calmer at this point, and at the very least, not annoyed by how the story turned out. "At least the two of you were in the same room. Even if it was fake."

It was clear that she didn't understand. Sasuke kept his eyes on the skies, fixated on the slow moving clouds that now blocked the sun. "It's a catalyst. The beginning. I've done many things by myself, but those years away weren't as important as—"

"But you just said it was a dream..."

"It was." While Sarada was now laying down on the rooftop, her father stood up and shut his eyes, seemingly allowing himself to get lost in thought. It was a good five minutes before either of them said anything, and this time, it Sasuke was the one who broke the silence. "I can't even say that this alone brought me back here, but the event weighed most heavily on my mind on my decision to return. Konoha was not my home." He turned to look at his daughter, whose attention was caught by this. "I only cared about the people. The important people. Home was where they were. If I saw too much of what life could be like," he paused, letting his eyes drift to their home's balcony momentarily, "I wanted to heal, to learn, to understand the same world with different eyes. I could never do that in a village. Not in Konoha or anywhere else."

Sarada sat up, not allowing herself to break contact with her dad. She looked curious, and though she felt very nervous, she steeled herself. It was all very difficult to digest. Of course, the next question in particular was very unnerving for her. "Why would you let something like that drive you back home? You literally spent most of my life away from Konoha! You didn't even write to us… but you're saying that you would have come home immediately if you didn't keep moving?"

Sasuke nodded, watching his daughter's expressions carefully. He was concerned, but she didn't resist his answer, when she would normally just begin demanding more. Instead, her question was soft spoken.

"Why?"

The Uchiha patriarch squatted down again to somewhat at her level. He still looked down at her, but not by much. He tried his hardest to formulate the words in his head. "Back then, there was nothing holding me back from coming home. That's all I will say on the matter." He looked down towards the street, watching as a cat started playing with the slug statuettes. When the one he swatted disappeared in a loud explosion of smoke, it quickly darted off in fright. "Sakura and Naruto worked very hard to keep me around, so to speak. Most other people would have quit. I was… very stubborn."

"But you're here."

Once again, there was a nod of agreement. "It speaks well about how long I can stay away when it's against their wishes."

"And you leaving for eight years wasn't against mom's wishes?"

"Your mother understands when not to ask questions." It was a warning.

Sarada frowned but said nothing. She could not find words for him, and instead could only feel her heart beating and sinking to her stomach. Eventually, she managed something, and tried to look at her father to say it. However, she couldn't, and so she looked to her feet as she spoke. "You don't have to be alone."

Sasuke looked to her firmly and spoke the same. "I never said I had to either; we three are connected."

They look at each other for a moment. And the quiet between them was very brief.

"Papa, why do you love mom?" One of the questions that had lingered since she had asked her mother the same thing about her dad. Sasuke looked on, and responded in kind, "Why do you love your mother?"

"Well, she's mama. Sure, there's Uncle Naruto and Konohamaru-sensei, but she was there the whole time."

Sasuke went quiet at this point and jumped down from the roof, leaning down to rearrange the slugs on the floor in a way that would cover up the somewhat gaping hole left behind. Sarada herself was left on the rooftop, and she only stood up, not following back down.

"H-Hey… aren't you going to respond?!"

"I believe I already did," he shouted back to her from his spot.

Sarada jumped down from the roof, seemingly confused and about to ask something else. Instead, before she was able to get anything else out to him, Sasuke tapped her forehead and simply said, "In time."

"But..."

"In time."

Sarada touched the spot on her forehead and blushed slightly. Of course, Sasuke wouldn't have seen any of this; he worked to fix the small frail slugs on the floor and seemingly focused himself on the task. Still, it didn't mean he wouldn't speak.

"I'll continue the story."

[chieftainronin-blog]

The Book of Love [Chapter 2]

He left the previous village on a cold winter morning, and rubbed his hands furiously as the wind picked up, chilling his entire body. Perhaps this was not his best idea, but he needed to leave as soon as possible. He couldn't get comfortable anywhere. He couldn't let a domestic life continue to entice him into forgetting what had to be done. The journey he had to take was to cleanse his soul with open eyes and absolve him of sin through helpful deeds. Neither Kakashi nor Naruto could absolve him of the guilt that weighed in his heart, even if they had pardoned him for his crimes.

The days bore no signs of good luck as they passed. Sasuke wandered aimlessly through the roads, meeting no one as an early freeze began to set in. Yet the beginning of another day made more difficult by an unforeseen , with the way the dark clouds billowed over the area, it didn't even seem like it was day time anymore- let alone the morning. It wasn't long until it was obvious that the man could not traverse much further, and he turned towards a massive tree on the side of the road. Making a hand sign, he blew a small, yet concentrated ball of fire. However, instead of up and lighting the tree on fire, it made a very large dent into its trunk, which he was quick to squat into. The snow that had accumulated on Sasuke's head instantly melted from the heat of the hole, wetting the man's head. His hair drooped over his face, momentarily blinding him before it was quickly parted—at which point there was already someone standing over him, looking down at the man pushed up into the small crevice.

It was a woman- a strange sight to behold. Her skin was almost pale enough to compare to the snow, with piercing grey eyes to match. Her bluish-slate hair, though thick, fell limp over her back and shoulders. Fine boned, with narrow shoulders and a gaunt face, her lithe, delicate form made her feminine features all the more otherworldly. Sasuke was taken aback after first glance, and flicked his eyes away from her. Looking back up, his gaze met her's, and he noticed that her pupils held no life in them.

"You're a long way from home." She held out a hand to him, and though it was warm, the snow on her hand only melted the slightest bit. Sasuke watched a single drop reach the ground from her hand and instantly turn back into ice. He frowned slightly at this, and looked back up to her. "Why are you out here in this storm? It's impossible to walk around...especially in civilian's clothing." He took notice of the clothes she wore, and the lack of any shinobi's gear raised his suspicions.

"I was sent out to see if there were any stragglers in the storm. I'm used to tough terrains so the last thing that's worrying me right now is the storm." Her hand was still outstretched to him, and he looked to it once more, before taking it. The warmth of his hand steamed the snow on her hand, but the touch was still cold. Thinking nothing of it, he pulled himself up before following the woman. It was difficult to brave a storm such as this. For Sasuke, this woman provided him an easy out.

Following behind her, he watched as she skillfully made her way from the snowed-in road and onto the brittle branches, delving off the road and into the otherwise dead forest. Sasuke went on behind her, but with every step, the limb that held him would snap, causing him to have very little balance. This was only made worse by the very small amount of visibility he had in the storm. Despite this, he saw her shadow not too far off in the distance, and managed to make it to what seemed to be a small town of about a hundred people. There were few homes scattered over a far, visible distance. They too were fallen into a strange state between disrepair and abandon, where the windows and doors were boarded, but they all seemed as though they'd fall apart at once with a single strong gust of wind. The wood used to build them was cut down while the trees were far too young to provide structural support, and yet, they were expected to keep someone or something out. There were no roads...no lights...no semblance of modern civilization. If it wasn't for the woman that had lead him here, there was nothing that wouldn't give him the idea that this was the scene of a long gone society. There were no welcomes, only a barren snowscape dotted with clusters of home which surrounded a massive lodge in the middle. Considering how there were no people walking around however, he knew immediately that helping this place would be difficult.

The woman opened the door to Sasuke and he was quick to walk inside, ready to welcome the warmth of a cabin. He found the home to be only slightly warmer than the cold that had chilled him to the bone outside, and so the man was now shivering.

"Sorry, with a house like this, I can't afford to light a fire. It'd catch alight in a second!"

"You don't need to explain yourself for me." To be out of the snow was decent enough.

The Uchiha merely watched as she went from one end of the room to the other, the hearth so unused that it had collected what seemed to be a year's worth of dust. He looked back to her and furrowed his eyebrows. "What's your name?"

She turned back to him, approaching with a somewhat tattered set of blankets. "Yuki," she told him whilst handing him what would most likely be his only reprieve from the cold night. "I'm from the south, but I came up here to help as many people as I could when the war was over."

"I see. Are you some sort of medical-ninja?"

"No. I'm just someone who knows a lot about getting people patched up. My medical know-how ends at herbs, bandages and medicine. No ninjutsus here."

Sasuke seemed to scoff at the thought. How could someone who didn't know the first thing about medical-ninjutsu help in any significant way? How much could twigs and bandages help when someone has a fatal wound or even loses an arm in battle? The man caught himself in the midst of these thoughts, and it was only when he looked around to see the state of disrepair of the home that he realized that these people didn't need a properly trained medical ninja. There was little to furnish its interior. Holes let in the draft at any point of breach, with boards covering up older damage to the house. Where there would normally be an array of knick-knacks on the shelves, these held an assortment of homemade ointments and remedies, as well as worn rolls of bandages which seemed suspiciously used and reused. Medicines came in old bottles made for alcohol. The stents that would normally hold a leg in place after being broken were being used as a door holder for the bedroom. These were only civilians- poor and destitute. What they could get was all they needed. Hell, it was probably more than they could have asked for. He shook his head and scoffed again.

"Is something wrong with wanting to help now?" Yuki seemed insulted by the way her guest reacted to her words, her eyes fixated on the man himself.

"No," he spoke to her as he looked towards the hearth and started to make his way to it. "It's hard to keep perspective. I was spoiled."

Her expression softened slightly. "How so?"

There was a moment of dead air between them. Not even the ruffling of garments as they moved broke the strange silence between them. He lowered his head as he thought about it. About her. "I know a very good medical kunoichi." Feeling his body on edge, he wondered to himself why he got a sinking feeling. Almost as if to immediately shut down her existence in the conversation, he summarized her role succinctly. "She'll be the best one day."

"You definitely have some faith in this woman, don't you?" It was a question that strained him. Why was she trying to continue this? Was it guilt he felt in his chest for her? The pangs came like pulses, faster and harder with agitation. Still, he tried to cover up how he felt by simply continuing to try to end the conversation. "I only say it because it's fact. She was trained by the Fifth Hokage, who is the greatest medical shinobi of the age. The torch will pass onto her eventually." He turned away from her at this point, and his face was no longer visible. Still, it did not end.

"Has she saved your life?"

"Multiple times."

"Do you know her personally?"

"She was my teammate."

"I see..." Yuki folded her arms, a smug look on her face, eyebrow raised and a grin as she smiled. No wonder he was so sensitive, she thought to herself. Why would he be so fast to drop a conversation if he wasn't emotionally invested in her? It would be so much easier to speak of someone you didn't know or didn't like than the opposite. "So are you sweet on her? Interested in this 'greatest kunoichi of the next generation'?"

"No." It was stern and solid, but the fact that he did not say this while looking the other in the eyes seemingly made her more suspicious of his words. She couldn't believe that such wasn't the plan.

"If you say so~" She chimed.

An opening to anything else at last! Sasuke was quick to take it by not delving on the matter further. Instead he would ask about something a little more in line with his goals. "Tell me about this village." It was a good start. Perhaps there would even be the chance for him to do his work in the humble little town.

"Well, the village is pretty new. Half the people here are veterans and the other half are people displaced by the war. Enough of them found their way to this opening in the forest and… well, here we are."

"So the people here aren't simply civilians."

"Well, only half of us aren't. But then half from that are crippled in some way. Missing an eye or a limb is commonplace. People who are heroes… people who can afford to go home, often do."

"Hm," He shifted under the cloak and pulled the nub arm closer to his chest. "Makes sense."

"Well… should be time to sleep. It's only going to get colder out."

Sasuke nodded and took to cleaning out a spot for himself before the opening of the fireplace. The hearth was bitterly cold—just as the rest of the house, and as he drifted off to sleep, he noticed that the said fireplace itself was as unused as it was on the day it was first built.

The next morning, the storm had died, but the wind itself was strong, and the snow blew at an angle.

Still, people attempted to go about their business as much as possible.

Walking around the village, Sasuke was left to his own devices as Yuki had left to attend to the sick of the village at a longhouse that had been converted into a makeshift hospital. Walking near it, he could hear the pained wails of those fresh with the grief of death. Groans of those still suffering echoed as well, adding to the song of misery. The air around the place made him slightly uncomfortable. He resisted the idea of entering unnatural elements, but in the end decided that where he was most needed was in there.

He stepped into the longhouse—a building packed with people, beds, and makeshift equipment. There were easily sixty people completely pressed together in the small room, visiting their respective friends or family. Rings of people around the ill or dead left only a small crevice of space that allowed Sasuke to move forward. However, it was when he reached the end that he found the thickest crowd. Slowly, he made his way to the front, squeezing in between balding men and unkempt women.

"What happened here?" He asked as he finally managed to reach the front, only to catch sight of Yuki. Her hands were drenched in blood, and her clothes were splattered with it. It was a senseless appearance, but he did not flinch at it.

"A couple was found dead not too long ago near a frozen river. I tried… I tried to help them but I failed."

He simply narrowed his eyes at this. "What did they die of?"

"Murdered."

"Are you sure?"

It was a question that brought ire into the woman's eyes, and she was quick to uncover the bodies. However, she only did so until the shoulders. Their necks were visibly cut, with one of their tongue's prodding out the slightest bit, almost as though someone tried to yank it. This was enough to cause a scene, including the shrill screams of one woman in particular and two others screaming towards the bodies. "My baby," one of them cried out. It made the man feel smaller… more grounded to hear the despair that others experienced. Never had he actually heard a mother's wail as he did, nor seen a father suffer at the sight of seeing his daughter's body desecrated and displayed for others to see. He felt drained experiencing this all, but soon found reprieve in Yuki calling his attention.

Yuki, seeing the distress of the people around them merely covered them with tarps once again. "The slits in their throats had to have come from a knife or a kunai. Their bodies are stiff from the cold, so the rips were preserved well enough."

He did not wait to turn around and squeeze his way out of the crowd again. It became unbearable. The sounds… the looks on the people's faces… he couldn't possibly have enough empathy to continue. "I will look into it."

"What?"

"You and your town have let me stay so far… just let me look into matters." It was definitely better suited for him than to stay here. He just wasn't able to take something like this with his new perspective. At the very least, he was good at tracking things down.

"And what makes you so certain that you can find anything? You're an outsider."

Glancing back at her, his sharingan was activated, and he narrowed his eyes at her, letting her catch a small glimpse showing before he turned away. "So are you." And with that, he was out of sight.

The doors flung open as he disappeared, letting in a gust of wind that blew the blankets off of those who were either too ill to hold them down, or were dead.

The Uchiha himself appeared halfway across the village and started to walk slowly again, making his way to the frozen river. He had heard from echoes around the small town that it lied south of the village leader's home. Making his way past it, he stopped and looked towards the building.

It was certainly nothing impressive- a small shanty of a cabin, certainly one of the smaller homes. The wood that formed its walls were old and rotting, and there were places where a single careless bump would threaten its structure. It was a place not befitting even a scoundrel of a prisoner, let alone a leader of any village. However, the sign did say it was the leader of this particular village's home, and so he stopped. Looking towards the direction of the river and back to the home, he gave both a thoughtful look. In the end, Sasuke ended up opening the door to the home, only to see that a man sat at a table with two young boys and a girl.

All three had eyes that shone as green as endless fields. They were beautiful. It was jarring. Out of strange instinct, he took a step back.

"Who are you?" The father's eyes were similar to his own- a soft onyx hardened with years of life. They eyed the cloaked man with suspicion, and in turn Sasuke approached the man carefully, making sure of course, to reveal his hand as he did so, as to not allow himself to be mistaken for a threat. "My name is Sasuke. I have come to ask you about the murders." He looked to the children, and saw that their eyes were also a shade of black. A trick of the eye? At this, he lowered his glance.

"Alone."

Looking at his children, the father motioned them to leave the room, outstretching his hand to one of the many unpushed chairs left by the younger ones. Sasuke took the one closest to the father and put his hand on the table gently. "I need to know what you know."

In response, the man leant forward. "I saw you this morning with Yuki. I know as much as her about what may be going on. By that of course, I mean I don't know a damn thing. They just all show up the same way. Slit from the throat, frozen from the cold. Never do get the courage to see the rest of their bodies after Yuki's covered them up."

"So you're saying that there has been a string of murders… and they all started after it got cold? That can't be too long ago." It shouldn't have been happening to begin with! Of course, saying that would be far too obvious, no matter how frustrating.

"You assume right. The deep freeze started maybe a week ago."

Sasuke pressed his hand against his forehead, trying to hold back the headache that was forming. The two things were connected, he knew. "Did anything happen before that might have triggered it?"

"Well, there were these ninjas from the Hidden mist village who moved in… but we can't pin anything on them. They've taken to ice fishing and tend not to bother anyone."

A lead? The younger would take anything at this point, and simply decided to go along with it. "I suppose I'll have to start there." And with that, he stood up, bowing with respect to the man. "Excuse me for having intruded." Of course, before he got the chance to leave, the leader had reached out to him.

"Hey… Sasuke, is it? Say… before you go, Yuki came in today saying you knew some top-notch medical ninja. One of them trained with the Fifth Hokage?"

He didn't like where this was going. "Yes, I did mention her in passing." His eyes darted in another direction. "Could there be someone who hated all the victims acting out in revenge?"

"We could really use the help."

At that moment, he had remembered that she had wanted to come along with him on his journey. How he had told her that she couldn't come because it wasn't her journey to take. It still wasn't. He still wouldn't allow her to distract him from his healing and atonement.

"I don't like the implication. It's not as though I can call her to my whims whenever I ask of her." Sasuke resisted the idea of inviting her. "I can find others from the same village who can do what is needed." He looked out the window at that moment, and saw a tree in the distance. There was something glimmering from it, but before he could focus his attention on it, the older man spoke up again.

"Please. We need the help! We need someone who can do something in the longhouse! At least a quarter of the village is lodged up in there dying or dead! We'll die out before this damn snow's melted!"

Sasuke was silent as he stood up, and walked slowly from the table to the door.

The leader protested this. "Hey! I'm talking to you!"

Opening the door, he saw things more clearly. He activated his sharingan to catch the shimmer that caught his eye upon the tree. It was something that made his eyes widen slightly. A single pink petal clung to the branch of a tree. Alone but still there, it was surviving an unnatural winter, still clinging to the tree that gave it life. He shut them at that moment, the color of blood draining from his iris as he relented with a sigh. In a way, he felt it coming. The last thing he wanted was always the first thing in his hand. And this time, he was doing it to himself.

"I will send a hawk."

Sarada watched as her mother fell silent, and her cheeks puffed up gradually, a deeply upset frown replacing what had originally been shivering excitement!

"This… this has almost nothing to do with you and Papa! I mean, you were mentioned but you weren't even in the picture! You even said that dad didn't care about you!" Old feelings began to resurface, and the expression of discouragement on her face was damning proof that she now questioned something as pivotal as the love between her parents.

The Uchiha matriarch tried her best to keep her daughter calm as the frustration began to build within the little one. She noticed it in her eyes. "I never said that he didn't care about me. He just wasn't interested at the time! That's the whole thing with stories that involve change. First you are or aren't something, and then you… well, change."

"But Papa says people don't change!"

"Your father says a lot of things. Not all of them are true. Besides, there's a lot more to tell before we actually get together."

"Are you serious?! Shannaro, this is ridiculous! I never get a straight answer when I talk to you!"

And with that, Sarada stood up and bolted out the door of the house. Sakura stood up behind her, but knowing there was literally no way that she would be able to get her to come back and listen to the rest, she simply sat down again in the living room sofa.

"That child of mine… unbelievable sometimes," she sighed, pulling her cellphone and placing in the password. The moment that it booted up, she pressed the number "7" speed dial and put the phone up to her ear. After only two rings, a muffled voice answered on the other side.

"She's headed your way."

[chieftainronin-blog]

The Book of Love [Chapter 1]

Coming home early was now a strange habit that Sarada had developed. Though the house felt smaller, having her father around was a highlight that she'd never actually admit to out loud. Strangely, she was drawn to the man whose path she denounced, and his lack of openness about the full contents of his life made him a target of curiosity.

Today, she had been taken to a store by him to pick up a small gift. Sarada knew her mother's birthday was coming up, but she didn't realise that her father himself knew until he had presented her with a small porcelain figure. It was in shape of a slug. "Do you think this is acceptable?" He asked this with no tone of emotion, nor any visible sign of contemplation. This expression broke the moment that Sarada herself grimaced.

"I think maybe...we're talking about the same person, right? Mom?"

The man furrowed his eyebrows, his lips twitching once in hesitation before placing back the object just as he had found it. "There are a great many deal of baubles here. It's difficult to discern what she'd like."

"How would you know what she likes? You haven't exactly been here to find out, have you?"

This comment, biting as it sounded coming out of Sarada's mouth, simply left a thoughtful silence behind it. Fully turning to his daughter, the Uchiha patriarch leaned down slightly, and she in turn moved a step back, then took another one. No words were spoken between them as he watched her, and though in the end he finally shut his eyes and turned his attention back to the statues. He remained generally unfazed by her words, leaving her with a rather curt response instead.

"I know my wife."

"Do you?"

"People say that they can change, but in truth only their inner nature is revealed." He picked up the slug again from the shelf and inspected it carefully before literally taking every single one off the shelf, much to the Uchiha child's utter horror. The purchase was quiet and with few words, with Sarada hesitantly following behind his footsteps until they started making their way towards another shop. She frowned at the way that her father spoke, but said nothing about it. It was clear that he had his reasons (no matter how ridiculous) and there was no convincing him otherwise that her mom might not like the idea of receiving a statue of a mollusk for her birthday—or a hundred for that matter.

Sarada rushed up to the man, but before she was able to get a single word out, half of the small boxes that carried the small figurines were given to her, a load that more than covered half of her face from him before he'd begin walking once again. She struggled and fumbled to and fro to keep the boxes from falling out of her grip. It was enough to give Sasuke a twinge of a smile when he looked back momentarily. His own boxes were neatly in his folded arm without much effort, and it wasn't long until the man decided it was probably for the best if he held all of them. Walking back to the struggling Sarada, he knelt down and placed all the boxes on the floor, before taking the ones his daughter had into his own arms and gently pouring them onto the floor. With his knees in the dirt, he started to stack the small boxes into a column.

When his daughter attempted to help, her hand was met with the Sasuke's stub, which was raised up to halt her from approaching. "C-Can't you at least use shadow clones?" The guilt and thoughts of ineptitude were bubbling in her core.

"Please take my cloak and hold it open."

"But-..." She trailed off as she watched her father make a stack that nearly topped off over her arm's highest reach. As he knelt once more to pick up the column from it's base, he threw them up into the air, only to see a suddenly panicked Sarada rush with the cloak to catch the whole load- which for the most part, she did. The single one that managed to drop out of her reach was caught by the man himself before placing it along with the others in what was now a makeshift sack.

It was really all worth absolutely nothing in the end, and Sarada begrudgingly tied together the cloth that held their purchases. "Couldn't you have just asked the man in the store for a few bags? I could have carried those."

"No."

"Do you always make things more difficult than they need to be?"

Sasuke looked back at her, looking her over carefully before bending down to her level. "I am capable." He placed his hand on her shoulder and patted it before brushing up and through her hair. The moment they made eye contact, Sarada grew slightly more tense, but as fast as Sasuke noticed, he broke it, furrowing his eyebrows. "I know you don't understand… and I'm not upset you're asking these questions. The fact that I did not walk a beaten path means I may have to do things differently now, but I want to make sure you're a part of that."

Those words caught her attention, and at this, he smiled, as he saw a slight shimmer in her eyes. It was familiar, and a ghost of a smile flickered on his face as quickly as it went: barely noticeable, but noticed. It captivated his daughter that there was some sense of joy in a man who had difficulty expressing anything, and although she was still frustrated, in a way, she found his mannerisms fascinating.

The door slammed open. Sarada had run home all on her own, leaving her father to his devices.

"I NEED TO UNDERSTAND DAD," Sarada shouted into the house, a comment that was immediately received with a pink head slowly rising from the sofa. The corners of her eyes were creased as she wiped away the sleep from them. What had she said? What was Sarada going on about?

"Understand your dad?" She sat up at this moment to see that Sarada herself was peeking into the house.

The young Uchiha walked in, alone and with nothing in hand before slipping off her shoes at the door. "How could you fall in love with a guy like that? He's so...strange."

"Not to insult your question, but you wouldn't exactly be here if we didn't fall in love." Her question had touched a nerve, and trying to even out her voice was probably as important to her as sitting up to make room for her. From the look on her face, Sarada knew she was invited to sit beside her mother, and she did so, seeming as tense as ever in face of the question. "He's your father, Sarada. And he's no more strange than Naruto is."

"Uncle Naruto is the Lord Seventh! He's not the same thing! He's always there...for everyone and it isn't awkward or frustrating or just...weird." The concentration on her face was familiar to Sakura, and the searching eyes that she saw stirred something within her that somehow made the woman feel at ease. She understood it, and with that, she simply wrapped an arm around her child and held her close. "It's not as difficult as you think it is. If you want to know why your dad is as he is, you shouldn't ask why, but how."

"How?" She looked up at her mom with curiosity.

She nodded at this and offered a smile. "How he changed. How he became a better person. How he opened up and let love come into his life where there was none before."

Sarada had caught onto the context quickly and hesitated for a moment. "Wait… you're saying that things were worse before you two got together?"

Pulling her hand away from Sarada, she made an odd face. "Don't take it like my love saved him or anything like that! But for the most part, things were difficult before, yes. It's not a story that I should be telling you though. At least not now."

"Could you at least tell me everything else?"

"Alright." Sakura leaned forward and hung her head to the floor. Whilst her eyes were hidden from view by shadows, she furrowed her eyebrows before taking a deep sigh. Her head then tilted up, towards the roof, as she begun to recall the story, cobbling as many pieces of memories together to spin into a tale for her wide-eyed child.

"It all began after the war when he came back to us and left again, but this time with a promise and a journey..."

[chieftainronin-blog]

Reblog if you’re a SasuSaku page

It’s the only ship I’ve loved consistently since 2005 and I’d love to have that stuff on my page.

I’ll also be writing SasuSaku stuff for the majority of this blog, so if you like Uchiha family fics or fics with Sasuke, Sakura, and the sharingan gang, you’ve stopped at the right place.