Monachopsis

七) Alexithymia

I present to you: Sasuke having a Bad Time.
Courtesy of NaNoWriMo

Receiver: Uchiha Sasuke
Place of residence: Konohagakure-no-Sato
Address: 12-17
Apartment no.: 14

You have been formally requested for an audience with His Honourable Hokage and the Konoha Go-Ikenban. Please select one of the times printed on the bottom of this letter on the 7th of August to set up a meeting before 36 hours have passed starting at [8:00 AM, AUGUST 3RD]. If you are confused as to how to mail a letter to the Hokage Tower, please see the following piece of paper for further information.

If you do not select a time, a time will be selected for you and you will be escorted to the Hokage Tower.

If you are confused as to why you are receiving this letter see the bottom of this page for the reason behind your summoning.

Failure to set up a meeting or failure to attend a meeting will result in a fine and an investigation into the reason(s) behind your absence.

If the results of said investigation reveal malicious intentions toward His Honourable Hokage, the Konoha Go-Ikenban, a shinobi of Konohagakure-no-Sato, or a citizen of Konohagakure-no-Sato, you will be persecuted accordingly.

You have been called to the tower in relation to:
[RECENT MISSION REQUEST.]
[FORM SUBMISSION NO. 23C.]
[DATE OF SUBMISSION: AUGUST 2ND]

TIME SLOTS:
[8:30 AM - 11:30 AM] | MEETING ROOM 3C
[7:45 PM - 10:45 PM] | MEETING ROOM 2B

The Hokage Tower Secretaries

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What.

Sasuke stares at the letter. The words don't change.

He turns the pages over in his hands, hoping that maybe this is a mistake and they meant to send the letter to some other Uchiha Sasuke out there. Maybe just this once Sasuke can do something he wants to do without anyone breathing down his neck.

That's not to say he doesn't understand the necessity. Obviously, the Hokage is aware of what he does, being The Last Uchiha and the only one who can reopen the Uchiha Compound. Until he dies, that is. Then the Hokage and his Konoha Go-Ikenban are free to do whatever they please with Uchiha land if they can dismiss his will.

But it's... hard. It makes frustration build up in Sasuke's throat until he wants to tear his hair out and never leave the house again. It makes him never want to try anything ever again out of fear that he'll meet obstacles at every turn.

Thinking about it logically, he knows that he hasn't met obstacles at every turn. He's been pretty... Well, not lucky, but not unlucky either in terms of how things are progressing. It's been relatively linear, with no sudden drops in productivity or major depressive episodes.

So he knows that he's making a thing out of nothing. Of course the Hokage would want to meet him once he decided to do something with the Uchiha Compound after explicitly stating that he wanted nothing to change and had no plans whatsoever. Of course the Hokage would be interested in several major renovations going on in his own village. Of course, of course.

Sasuke tosses the letter onto his coffee table and squishes himself into the couch cushions.

It's far too early for this. He doesn't have time to melt into his sofa and never come out. He has things to do and appearances to keep up. There's no space in his schedule for disappearing out of existence, no matter how much he wants to.