Living Through Time (BEING REWRITTEN)

Walk in the streets

"It's a long and silent street.
I walk in the dark and trip and fall
and get up and step blindly
on the mute stones and dry leaves
and someone behind me is also walking:
if I stop, he stops;
if I run, he runs. I turn around: no one.
Everything is black, there is no exit,
and I turn and turn corners
that always lead to the street
where no one waits for me, no one follows,
where I follow a man who trips and gets up and says when he sees me: no one."

- Octavio Paz

~~~~~~

"Well, Sasuke-kun, it's nice to meet you."

Those words shouldn't have shocked Sasuke, they were exactly what anyone should and would say to a complete stranger. Yet, they did.

Why?

Because no one had ever said that. Not to him. Never to him.

They always know who he is before even meeting him. Or at least, once they learn his name, they either back off or start sticking to him like glue.

But this guy - Asachi, his mind supplied - didn't seem to know him at all. And Sasuke was glad for that, people can get quite annoying once they learned who he is.

The black haired teen gave him a very tiny, uncertain smile, and Sasuke couldn't look away. The smile looked a bit off on his face, as if he didn't often did it. But even with this, Asashi seemed to ooze off a kind-person aura.

Sasuke can be a real jerk when he want to. The people that didn't outright worship him call him an asshole on a daily basis. He even acknowledged that he is one. But even he wouldn't stand so low to completely disrespect someone who genuinely look like a nice guy.

"... Nice to meet you too?" He said, even though it really sounded like a question. The words were foreign to his mouth, and normally he would stop right then and there, because he had absolutely no idea how to talk to someone. The other seemed to be just like him, as in he looked like he didn't knew what to add in the conversation.

Sasuke caught sight of a shiny object attached to the older man's arm and his eyes widened once he recognize it to be a shinobi headband. In his peripherals vision, he saw the slight turn of Asachi's head as he followed his gaze. When understanding what the younger was looking at, the curly haired teen said. "Yeah, I'm a chūnin."

Sasuke's eyes very lightly brightened at that. Being a ninja is always good in his books.

Asachi noticed the changes in the vibe the other was giving out and only raise a brow. He shook his head fondly and gave a small chuckle. "I guess you're still in the academy, right?" At the nod he received, he moved his left hand so that his finger could stoke his chin as if he was in deep thoughts "Isn't the academy graduation, like, in two days?"

"Yes." Sasuke answered, gaze meeting the blank ones of the chūnin, he gave a smirk. "... and I'm going to graduate, that's for sure."

It was in his blood to boost his ego at any chance he saw.

However, he regretted it when he remembered how most people react to that.

At that point, he either expected a scoff or at least a roll of the eyes, everyone - fangirls not included- did that, but he was surprised when Asachi didn't show any sign of annoyance. He merrily smiled, small and nostalgic. "I don't doubt it a second... You have a pretty good amount of chakra for your age." He stated, as if it was a well known fact. "It would be strange for someone like you to not pass."