Her Assassin

35. They Love You

  At Orochimaru's base, Deidara was having the time of his life detonating one bomb after the other. He was super excited when he found out that someone wanted him to do a job that involved bombing. The excitement doubled when he found out that Orochimaru was the one getting attacked. The bastard had it coming for him for a long time. The icing on the cake was the fact that the client was some big shot in the underworld, and was paying him a huge amount of cash. The kind he would get after like 10 assassination jobs. Orochimaru's cup was full, he had finally pissed off the wrong person.

   Two black vans were just outside the building, and were used to evacuate all the children in the building. They were taken to one of Madara's mansions.

  Within the burning building, Orochimaru walked around aimlessly.  He still had a palm pressed on his eye. He kept staggering forward with no clear direction or destination. The fire kept spreading, heavy beads of sweat rolled off his skin as the heat increased. He fell to his knees and broke into a coughing fit. The smoke was becoming too thick, his remaining eye began to water. He could no longer stand, so he started to crawl. Soon he was completely surrounded by flames, and they were closing in on him rapidly.

  Orochimaru started laughing again "Sasuke-kun I will have you"

As he was consumed by the flames, his laughter turned to screams, till there was nothing left.

*_*_*_*_*

   Madara had managed to obtain some of Sasuke's dried up blood that was on the wall. He had given the sample to one of his men and it was immediately taken for testing.

   When the results came, Madara was not surprised that it was a match with Fugaku and Mikoto. Madara and Obito took a different vehicle, and with the help of the people that Obito had monitoring Sasuke, Sakura's address was revealed in no time.

   Sasuke, Sakura, Naruto, Ino, Suigetsu, and Karin were still huddled up in Sakura's room. They had not fully recovered from the shock of the day's event, and neither of them really wanted to be alone. They needed each other's company just to remind themselves that it was over, and they were ok.

  
  Sakura's bed was huge, she lay on one side with her head comfortably in Sasuke's lap as he combed through her hair with his fingers. Ino was sitting on the other side beside Naruto.

   Naruto had realized how tense Into was, and he tried to make small some small talk, tell her jokes or stories. Anything that could take her mind off the traumatic event she had just passed through.

   Karin lied on the couch, and Suigetsu sat beside her, bickering with her until she eventually got tired and fell asleep.

   A peaceful tranquility filled the room till suddenly there was a knock at the door. They immediately went back into panic mode. Sasuke got up instantly, and protectively stood in front of Sakura. Suigetsu reached for the gun that was with him, and Naruto tried to calm Ino who was about to start crying.

  This time there was no knock, the door was opened, and Madara and Obito walked in.

   "Pardon our rudeness, but non of the doors were locked so we let ourselves in. There's no need for the tension either, I only came here to talk." Madara's eyes locked on Sasuke "with you."

  Sasuke maintained a protective stance in front of Sakura.

  "What do you want?" He asked coldly.

  "You do not need to be so hostile towards me, I mean no harm." Madara replied.

  "I have every reason to be hostile with someone who's working with Orochimaru."

  "Tsk a vermin like that isn't even worthy enough to be a servant for me.  You were the only reason I bothered to grace him with my presence."

   "If you're not working with Orochimaru, then what do you want with me?"

  "Sasuke." Madara paused for a minute. "I know who your parents are."

  The room went as silent as a graveyard. Sasuke went from surprised to shocked. His heart was beating so hard that one would be able to hear it if they listened closely. Parents, Sasuke hadn't ever thought about meeting his parents. Did he even want to meet them? It was like a million cogs were spinning in his head at that moment. He could go crazy, then he felt it. Someone's warm hand had wrapped around his, and squeezed gently bringing him back to his senses. Sakura.

  "I'm an orphan, I was raised in an orphanage, I have no parents."

  "You do have parents Sasuke, and I have proof."

   "They abandoned me." Sasuke's voice cracked, and Sakura squeezed his hand harder. She had never seen him so vulnerable.

  "They didn't."

 
  "They didn't want me."

  "They loved you, they love you."

   "How would you know!" Sasuke yelled.

Sasuke laughed. "This is ridiculous."

 
   "Sasuke, I think you should listen to him." Naruto pitched in.

  
  "I was only 4 years old when it happened, but I still remember clearly how my uncle and aunt went through so much pain when they found out that their baby was gone. The same baby that I had planned to be the best cousin to. Someone had taken their child, and left them in pieces. Aunt slowly lost her sanity, uncle became a shell of himself. They searched high and low, but still couldn't find their child. They had to start accepting reality.

   It was hard for them not knowing if their child was dead or alive, it was hard for grandfather to live with the fact that his grandson went missing, and he couldn't do anything about it. It's been eighteen years, and only now did we find a clue that led us to you.
Your parents never abandoned you, they loved you with all their heart, they still love you, and seeing you now would be a miracle for them, they'd be overjoyed. You can't tell me that there isn't even a small part of you that wants to meet them."

  Obito's speech left Sasuke dumbfounded. He had spent his life believing that his parents abandoned him, now he was hearing a completely different story. A part of him knew that it wasn't surprising that Orochimaru was a liar. A part of him wanted to meet his parents desperately, a part of him also wanted to hang on to the lies he was fed. It would be easier that way to continue living without parents, because now seeds of fear had begun to grow in his heart. Fear of rejection, what kind of parents would accept someone like him? It would be much easier to protect his heart by running away from the truth.

   Sasuke was prepared to say that he wanted nothing to do with them, but he found himself saying something else entirely.

   "What if they hate me?"

  It was Madara and Obito's turn to look shocked.

   "They would never!" Madara pulled Sasuke into a hug.

   "Do you want to see them?"

  Sasuke nodded. "I do, but I don't want to go alone." He slowly turned to look at Sakura. She understood immediately, and smiled.

   "I'll come with you."