Let It Burn: Life [Sasuke Uchiha]

Chapter 21

Mai groaned. Her head pounded painfully not only from the new prominent bruise from the knock to the back of the head, but the awkward angle in which she landed and stayed in. For how long she didn't know, but it was still raining as droplets fell from the hole in the ceiling. Just her damn luck, the ninja couldn't believe she had been so careless. Not only that her clothing was damp from the limited covering, now the teen had to worry about the possibility of getting a cold. Why couldn't things lately just go according to plan?

Before pulling herself out Mai paused abruptly. Her eyes scanned the surrounding darkness. She wasn't alone, hand carefully reaching for a short sword while stretching her senses to search for chakra.

"Don't even try it," a voice spoke from the shadows.

It nearly made her heart stop, freezing in place.

"You're not armed."

It was true, the person in the shadows had disarmed the Be Fong in her unconscious state. But she didn't need the weapon pouch to attack.

"And don't think I can't see your strings either."

The ninja realized who it was yet that did not make her feel any better.

"What are you doing here, Sasuke?" she questioned.

Shifting in the darkness his red eyes turned on the Be Fong watching her carefully from a corner of the wide room near the door.

"I should be asking you that," he shot back.

"I asked first."

His expression never wavered, and neither did hers as the criminal looked away to stare out the cracked open exit. Sighing quietly Mai pulled herself out of the hole ignoring the stiff muscles and moving as far away from the Uchiha as possible. Listening carefully, it was still pouring outside. Any chance of trekking back to Konoha would be useless in this weather as thunder cracked through the sky. She would just be blindly walking around without cover and that wasn't going to do her any good.

Unfortunately... Her gaze shifted towards the other occupied corner; that meant they were stuck together riding out this storm. This wasn't exactly how Mai saw the mission concluding.

Her weapon pouch sat by his side. There was no possible way to recover it without him noticing. And by recovering it, that showed hostility. The ninja wasn't quite certain it was worth the risk yet given the enclosed area.

"I came to think," the Uchiha broke the silence.

That answer was somewhat believable. In the Village, Sasuke would always be in search of a place to sit in silence. To mull over things that bothered him.

"A lot has happened since we... You came here for a mission, right? To take out that threat that's plagued the forest and surrounding land. It was an experiment that was set loose on purpose."

The Hokage had been correct.

"That day at the hideout..." he couldn't bring himself to finish, eyes shifting in her direction.

The teen's deadpan stare made him wary. She had changed in the years since he left, that much was certain. Then again so did he. On the battlefield it had been hard to observe one another outside of protecting from blows. But now being this close everything was clearer. They were no longer the children they once were and the Uchiha noticed how detached his former friend had become. Vacant. Yet terrifying.

Then again, wasn't he the same? Strutting around Orochimaru's hideout with a glare firmly set on his features, not speaking with anyone as they passed because they were below him, and using his Genjutsu without hesitation on victims who annoyed him. Sasuke hated everyone he interacted with, including the very people who took him in. Sentiment was not something he commonly used. And the Uchiha couldn't figure out why now of all places he was stuck in a hut with someone who haunted him from the past. Words bubbled in his throat that he fought to suppress, while at the same time wanting to let it all out. Release the heavy weight on his shoulders since leaving Konoha. He should've been prepared for this one day. It was Mai. Even then and now, Sasuke couldn't suppress the desire to tell her everything like when they were kids. They were all they had left to hold on to in this fucked up world.