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interlude
He used to be less weary of people.
He used to trust more easily.
It went like this: He joined the Academy, he had a family to adore, new friends to make, and a burning desire to do well. (He'd been passionate.)
the boy with the two dæmons
Sasuke had never met anyone like Naruto before. Sure, the Inuzuka didn't have any dæmons at all, but they had their ninken, which were just as much their soul-twins as spirit animals.
But two soul-born dæmons were an anomaly. Sasuke had been fascinated by it, baiting his classmate into answering their teacher's questions just to get a feeling of who he was and what made him special. He picked up on odd puzzle pieces every now and then. Naruto was an orphan, his dæmons were called Ashura and Kurama, he liked ramen, orange and gardening. Naruto was rather vocal about all of these but, unlike the other children, Sasuke listened.
Disappointed by Naruto's lack of brilliance, Sasuke had quickly lost interest. It became clear that no one really cared about the blonde. He'd have been unremarkable except that he sucked. Idiot, class-clown, Naruto.
“Deadlast,” Sasuke said. It was all the credit he gave.
(Naruto rose to Sasuke's insult like a challenge.)
settling
Indra used to flutter around him in excitement, batting her wings at Itachi's swan dæmon excitedly. Sasuke had wanted to be just like him, and Indra made sure to imitate Owari whenever they went to the Academy, and all the way back home too.
Everyone was supposed to see just who Sasuke was going to be like.
Then Indra and Sasuke padded through the gate into ghost-quiet streets of his district, going slack with shock when they saw the bloodied pavement. People with empty eyes like puppets who's strings were cut off violently greeted them.
His heart had pounded heavily in his chest, drowning out the eerie silence around them. Indra soared through dusk above him and Sasuke started running, feet hitting the ground hard. Sasuke felt a tremble go through him, a choke half-stuck in his throat when he'd entered his home, Indra a wolf next to him. His mother's dæmon had faded just out of their reach, and Itachi had looked at him with redred eyes –
When he woke up from their nightmare, Indra was clawing at him in despair. “They – they – Itachi –“
Sasuke cried messily into reddish-brown fur set against the white sheets of a hospital bed. They were changed and Indra would never have wings again, would never have scales or eight legs or large ears to listen in on what his father was telling Itachi.
(Following the bad dream Indra made sure Sasuke remembered to eat.)
token
Sakura had stammered for years when addressing him, unlike her dæmon whose disapproving hisses carried through the classroom.
“Bother someone else,” Sasuke grunted at some point into their direction and suddenly, the demure lizard surged forward to become a raven and drag her claws across his face.
Someone else's dæmon had – had –
It would scar. Indra made sure to always point it out.
He wisely avoided Sakura, but it became easier, too, because when he hadn't been looking the girl had pulled herself together and started working for her choice of career.
(They were put on a team together.)
the angry spirit
The grass woman's split tongue sizzled out of her mouth and she shed her human skin like a shell, vomiting up her true form. Sasuke's sharingan wheel-turned to size her up but he couldn't detect an illusion or a dæmon. Fear took control of his limbs. She could only be an angry spirit – and his team was a couple of ragtag children playing at being ninja, not anywhere near good enough to take on a Jounin, let alone a god.
Far be it from facts to break Naruto's never-ending optimism, as he heroically dashed in front of Sasuke and stared the spirit down defiantly. When Sakura brushed up against him, sharing little more than a moment's touch, an eclectic sense of determination rippled through him.
Later, Sasuke learned that she had been a human after all. “Orochimaru of the Sannin.Traitor, by definition human. But he's more of a monster, if you ask me,” Ino told him sourly. She unfurled her crossed arms and a butterfly turned into a white rabbit to leap into the girl's embrace. “He cut off his soulbond.” She paused and observed the shudder that went through him. Then Ino added snidely, “How did you get the top spot in our year again?”
present
Sasuke's dæmon is curled around his neck in a soft tremble and he cups the cat's head soothingly in his palm. Indra nuzzles against his hand, giving a petite bite, and leaps ahead to stand tall between him and Tayuya.
Naruto flipped off a monster for him. Sakura had dragged him back from the pitch-black certainty of death. They're his team, his friends, his family.
It's simple like that.
“What makes you think,” he hears himself saying, “That I'd ever go with you?”