Sage's Resurrection

Chapter 50

"Hey..."

Sasuke perked up, tending the flames as he watched the stars glitter overhead.

"Finally talking again?"

She huddled a little closer to the flames, warily meeting his gaze with a frown. "Oh, forget it. I should've just killed you when I had the chance, if this is how you respond to everything."

He snorted. "You couldn't kill me if you tried."

She pouted, idly flinging strings about her. "I totally could... I just didn't want to interfere with Kano's blast."

"Uh huh, sure." Sasuke shook his head, smiling. "Are you gonna try and kill me again, or are you going to disappear in the night?"

"As much as I want to kill you and be done with it, I don't feel like going back to the Akatsuki." She absently rubbed the ring on her pinky toe. "And they hunt defectors and traitors just as mercilessly as any big village. Staying with you, even for a little bit, is the best choice to stay alive."

He killed the fire, gesturing for them to start moving. "Why did you stay in the Akatsuki then? Were you close to Kano?"

She smiled bitterly, dredging up old memories as she stood. "He... was something like a father to me. I went straight from Claw to the Akatsuki about five years ago. I wasn't in a good place back then, I-" She cut herself off, her expression turning cold. "Either way, it doesn't matter now. Why are you helping me?"

Sasuke shrugged as they started to move. "I don't even know why... I just sympathised with you. You get it, don't you? Fighting to become something more than just some politician's tool?"

"You don't know what that's like." Kuhaku's expression soured, memories of terrible orders and screams and dead friends filling her mind. "Not you or your teammates."

Sasuke chuckled. "I wouldn't be so sure about that..."

Then he paled, burying his head in his palms. "Fuck, how the hell am I going to explain this to Naruto..."

Kuhaku couldn't help it. She burst out laughing.

—

Naruto was walking Sayuri home.

She was aware of the ridiculousness of the act- they lived together, after all, and nobody was going to even try hurting her- at the very least, those who preferred to have their limbs attached and whole- but they still did it anyway.

Sayuri idly wiped away some of the makeup she'd used to conceal his whiskers, smiling when he purred under the touch. She rubbed the spot a little more, giggling at the way he squirmed under the touch, like a temperamental cat.

He brushed her hand aside, looping a hand around her waist and pulling her into his side.

"Everything okay? You're anxious."

"What?" She tried to play it off with a small grin.

He shook his head, fiddling with the key. "Please don't lie to me."

Of course she couldn't fool him. He had that damned emotion sensing on. He looked at her with those terrifyingly adorable puppy eyes that were capable of prying her defences open like an egg.

She would not give in. She would not give in. She would not-

"You're right," she whispered.

Damn it.

"If you-"

"No, I don't want to talk about it."

How could she tell him about her fears, if she couldn't even properly verbalize them to herself? She owed it to him to at least be clear when she needed help, but she didn't know how he could help her. Until she could name the primal dread which crawled in her mind and heart, she would not let it escape her lips.