Kakashi's Teammate, the Lightning Goddess

Never Forget...

*edited*

Chapter 26: Never Forget…

I heard the sound of shuriken whizzing through the air, and then the sound of metal piercing through bark. I could only guess that he was hitting all the targets perfectly, just like the Uchiha stereotype he’d grown up with.

I entered the clearing to see him pulling the last shuriken out of the tree in front of him with a hard yank, backing up to prepare to try again.

“Hey,” I called, and quickly dodged a shuriken that flew straight at my face. “Was that really necessary?”

                He lowered his guard. “I didn’t realize it was you,” he said shortly, a trace of bitterness present in his voice. I sighed. I hadn’t talked to him since our fight that day, and it had been nearly two weeks now.

                “I was just appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs,” I informed him, and his coal eyes darted over to me for a second. He gave me a curt nod. I chose my words carefully. “Sasuke, after you take your revenge, what are you going to do?”

                His eyes darkened, as usual, and I saw his fists clench. “What do you mean?”

                I narrowed my eyes at him. “Let me rephrase. After you kill Itachi Uchiha, what are you going to do after that?”

He didn’t look at me. “Why does it matter?”

                “You don’t have a plan, do you?” I smirked, knowing I was right. “Okay, then let me ask you this. If Itachi wasn’t a traitor after all, what would your goal be?”

                He turned on me. “But he is a traitor!” he yelled. “I’m going to kill him!” A shuriken embedded itself in the tree next to me with surprising force. “And you can’t stop me!”

                “I was thinking no such thing,” I said calmly. “I just want to make sure that you know what you’re doing, that’s all.”

                I wanted to cry at the thought of my Ducky leaving, but I knew that it would happen. Closing my eyes, I regained my composure, hearing his short, ragged breaths.

                “Sasuke, whatever you do, wherever you go, please remember one thing. Never forget your home. Never forget your place – your true place.” I opened my eyes to see him staring at me out of the corner of his eye, and that was when I knew that he suspected that I knew something. “Never forget – “

                But my throat constricted, and I had to turn away. I couldn’t speak, and I had to bite my lip to keep from crying. I could feel Sasuke’s curious gaze on my back, his anger long gone, but I couldn’t form the words.

                I ran, back to the busy streets of the village where everyone milled about without a care in the world. They didn’t know the horrible tragedies that would befall us soon. They didn’t know, or care, that Sasuke Uchiha was going to leave the village very, very soon.

               And they didn’t know that most likely, if I was right as I often was, that he would forget us all.

***

               Two days later, I was summoned to Tsunade’s office. I had been playing Shogi with Shikamaru Nara, surprisingly not losing too badly, but packed up right away when I received the summon. I was in her office a minute later, and she smiled upon my arrival.