The Curse Of Hatred ~Book 2~

Chapter 10: Old Photos

Yuzuki sat at the new dining table in her new apartment on the second floor, three doors down to the left. She wasn't doing anything. She was just sitting and staring out of the window to the far wall contemplating everything in life. The apartment was unusually big for both her and Sasuke to live in. Maybe it was compensation.

The kitchen was decent and the first thing you see when walking through the front door. Off the kitchen was the dining table and adjacent to the dining was the lounge lined with bookshelves filled with Yuzuki's mothers pottery and picture frames taken from her old house. A photo of team seven sat on the far right shelf surrounded with other family photos. She missed Minato, and Obito's big goofy smile and Rin's beautiful soul. She wished they were here.

The bathroom was the first door on the left down the corridor, then Yuzuki's master bedroom, a spare bedroom right across, and Sasuke's room at the very end. Since coming home, the boy hadn't left his room. Courtesy of the Hokage, they had Sasuke's room set up to replicate his old one. Everything he owned was now in that bedroom. Yuzuki sighed heavily dropping her face into her hands. This was a house, but it didn't feel like a home. It was empty, cold, barren.

A breeze blew into the room and the curtains flew open. Katsuko was sitting on the windowsill twirling a lock of orange hair. "How did the meeting with The Elders go?" she asked curiously.

Yuzuki raised her head. "Haven't you heard of knocking? There's a perfectly good door." she gestured.

"Door's are for losers." she chuckled slipping into the house and gazed along the shelves to admire the pictures and pots. She stopped at a photo of Yuzuki as a baby and her father with a smile. A smile she never saw him have in real life. "So, how'd it go?"

"Alright, I guess. They're letting me keep the demon because removing it would kill me again, and apparently I'm compatible unlike the first two who died."

Katsuko turned on her heel with surprise on her face. "No way." she gasped rounding the table. "Did they ask about the dagger?"

"I didn't tell them where it was, relax."

"Good. You can't tell anybody. Not even me."

"It's safe." Yuzuki reassured leaning back on the chair. "Trust me."

Katsuko came to sit across her on the table and laced her fingers together. "Who else knows? Kakashi doesn't know, does he?" she cocked an eyebrow.

"No." she said shaking her head. She then looked over her shoulder directly down the hall to Sasuke's closed door before leaning in to whisper. "Itachi knows. And the person who has it, obviously."

"Okay, good." Katsuko whispered back. "Itachi can be trusted more than anybody else. If anything I'd trust it more if he had the dagger."

"Yeah, well, not while he's working with this new group called The Akatsuki. He said they're dangerous and currently recruiting."

"Recruiting for what?"

Yuzuki shook her shoulders. "I don't know. We didn't get that far." she leant back in the seat to stare out of the window. Katsuko followed her gaze wondering what she was looking at beside the tree branches threatening to enter the window. She noticed her friend was doing an awful lot of 'not' blinking. She exasperated her hand to the window and said, "That window seems interesting."

"I'm sorry. I can't help it lately." Yuzuki turned her eyes to the floor. "It's just... ever since coming back from 'that' place. Nothing's been the same. It's like my body is learning to function all over again. It's weird on all levels of weird."