夢 - 2021 rewrite

chapter three

うちはサスケ

Three days past, as the medic nin promised, and they had yet to hear a sound. The sun rose higher than the mountain's peak, ringing the end of Sasuke's watch, but he stayed put.

"You keep staring and he just might stay asleep to spite you," Sakura called from the doorway, laying a glass of water and another protein bar.

He picked it up. "Again?"

"You heard the Third--no one's been here in years. The only thing that hasn't expired are these from the pantry," she said. "Kakashi's gone to the market, so maybe lunch won't be so bad."

"Hm." He ate the bar with its bland bite, eyes glued to the boy on his bed. "Any longer and he might just starve."

Sakura took a seat by the blonde's side. "Don't worry. I spent my entire shift transferring everything I recovered since we got here. I'm sure he'll wake up soon."

"Hm."

And the two of them paused, in between the slow and constant breaths of the boy they needed most to be alive and awake and goddamnit naruto, wake up, Sasuke thought once more as he stared down at his closed eyes, having yet to pry themselves open and smile in the rarest shade of liveliest blue. Sasuke finished his bar and Sakura, taking another pausing breath, took initiative because Kakashi was supposed to talk to him like we planned but he just ran off to the market, damn.

"Sasuke," and he looked at her with another annoyed glance. "We need to talk about the plan."

"We'll talk about it when Naruto wakes up."

"No--no, I-I mean," she paused once more and Sasuke spared another impatient glance. "The plan and its concerns with you."

"Enough with the polite talk, Sakura. Just say it." He took a sip of his water.

"Look, I saw that look when the Third told you that we're only six years old in this time," Sakura began. "And I saw that look again when I caught you watching who was crossing the street on the way here. And I--"

"It's none of your business, Sakura."

"It is when it interferes with the plan. As your teammate, I have to be honest with you. And I can tell what you want to do." He sighed as she continued, "And I mean, you haven't done so well at hiding your emotions ever since...well, your brother died."

"And you haven't been so helpful at all ever since we got here," he countered, gesturing towards the still-sleeping boy.

She paused again, her face a soft indifference to his remark. "Look, I know how you think of us--me, in particular. And our relationship as a team, well, you haven't really treated me or Kakashi like teammates in a long time."

"Am I supposed to?"

"If this plan is going to work, then yes." Sasuke clenched his jaw and leaned back in his seat. What was it that bothered him, he didn't know--maybe how she voiced the thoughts that drilled his mind with an honesty that irked him. She pressed, "I get it, okay? I-I'm annoying, I can't do anything outside of what I learned from Tsunade, and the entire time we were a team before the war, I couldn't do anything. But I'm different. We all are. And I know I'm better than that little girl you still believe I am."

"Sakura--"

"Can't we just, I don't know, leave all that behind? Start on a clean slate?" She asked. "I don't wanna be the girl you're gonna always believe is running after you, running for you, when you leave me behind. I wanna be the teammate you know and believe in. The one who can tell you that trying to prevent a massacre is not a good idea and the one you'll at least listen to."

Sasuke looked down at Naruto. "I don't want you to just, what, bite back every insult anytime you wanna say something to me," she continued, trying a smile. "I just want you to consider me differently."

The front door creaked open and there came a call from the living room, i bought breakfast! and some dango, some tomatoes, is naruto awake?

She sighed. "I know how much you want to help him...No--I don't. I was never in that situation. But there are consequences to changing the future at that big of a scale," she continued with a trying smile. "The more we change the future, the more unpredictable it will become, and--"

"I know." And in a few slow blinks, he looked up at her, a more honest approach to his voice. "I just don't want him to end up like me. I want him to have a family."

"He will, but not if you try to stop it," she stood from her chair and checked Naruto over. "Either the coup happens or the people retaliate or the Council finds another way. But that doesn't mean he should be left alone. You can help him."

"How do I--"

"Guys!" Kakashi bursted through the door, in arms with a basket of tomatoes and mangoes. "What are you doing here? I brought lunch! I'm warming it up right now." And he disappeared down the hall, swinging baskets to and fro.

Sakura grabbed the bucket from the table and the towel from Naruto's forehead. "You should go and eat, maybe have a nap, too. You've been up all night."

And maybe it was the tired smile she wore as she soaked and wrung the towel again to place on the poor boy's warm head; or maybe it was another poor boy running down the morning market with his mother in tow, a loss unbeknowst to him; but he got up from his post and strolled down the hall to meet Kakashi's welcoming smile, eating a breakfast that was something other than a protein bar.

Sakura was, he would admit a second time, right. The Uchiha Massacre, despite its immensity in losses, was the only option that seemed to work out in their past. Itachi was their poor soldier running for a rich man's clean blade, and either way he would be used to their bidding--for the coup or for the village, it really made no difference. And the people, after the Kyuubi attack, still despised the clan for its misdoing, and the harbouring of their hatred would divide the entire village (and considering the future attacks the village would suffer, a civil war was something they could not manage).

Stopping the Massacre would lead to times of unpredictability. But, letting it happen, leaving a family worth living to die--it would break another boy's heart. And Sasuke considered her words, for once, that maybe there was another option between life and death.

So after Sakura opened the blinds and fixed the pillows and straightened the sheets, there came a knock on her door. And, behind it, a tray of warmed-up soup and a glass of water and a note.

thanks