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“Is something the matter?” someone asked.
Under the moonlight a small boy teetered back and forth while his thin frame shook. A small pair of hands clenched into fists at his side while the corners of his mouth twisted so he might not cry. His feet hurt from walking for so long, looking for someone, anyone, though his mind felt numb regarding why he should find someone.
The voice got closer, the person getting closer and vaguely his mind registered the woman leaning towards him. “Children shouldn’t be wandering around this late at night. Where are your parents?”
The child teetered back and forth, his gaze drifting.
“You’re a Uchiha, aren’t you? I should take you back to the compound, right?”
“Compound...” the boy muttered.
“Yes. The Uchiha compound.”
In that moment he screamed his small hands lifting up to twist into dark locks of hair.
~
“Uzumaki and sensei are running late. Can I use your bathroom, Haruno-san?”
“I... sure. It’s down the hallway.” Sakura fidgeted slightly. Sasuke knew because the chair she sat in moved across the floor ever so slightly. “On the left.”
Sasukee stood up, the chair scrapping across the ground while his hands shoved into his pockets. “Sakura’s parents invited us to have lunch at their place, so we’re going. I expect you and Naruto to be on your best behavior.”
“It’s not...”
“Both of you were at fault for that fight, but Sakura could have gotten hurt.” Kakashi followed up by saying. “Don’t let him goad you into things. And...”
“And what?”
“This is a good opportunity for you to implement moving forward rather than looking back.”
“I guess...” Except, doing so, not looking for revenge was harder than he’d thought it would be, what with how the decision led to him thinking about his past behavior towards other people including Sakura—particularly Sakura—and his sensei, though not so much Naruto. Naruto was still annoying, albeit Sasuke admitted there was likely a reason why he let Naruto goad him into things.
Turning on the faucet in the bathroom, Sasuke splashed some water in his face while the sunlight streamed in through the window, a stark contrast to a moonlit night. When he turned to dry his face, he saw a familiar looking bottle.sitting in a basket near the bath. His fingers reached out, unscrewing the cap and taking a sniff and letting the familiar scent he’d forgotten about wash over him.
~
“It’s my shampoo,” the woman laughed. “That’s the smell you’ve taken an interest in.”
The smell of the shampoo drew him out of his trance. He heard the sound of a nearby bath running while a warm steam filled the room with a mist which soothed his lungs—lungs which were run ragged from crying, even possibly screaming. He sat in a bathroom with only a towel wrapped around him while someone—an adult, gently massaged shampoo into his hair. While the floral smell drew him out of his trance, he still felt numb to everything going on around him.
Through the window though, he could see the night sky and the bright moon—a bright moon the same as that night, beating down on him and making him feel so small. In the back of his mind, he knew the person wasn’t his mother. A nearby door slid open just as a bucket of water poured over his head, but the voice he heard—it was the third Hokage. “How is he doing?”
“A little better. I’m about ready to get him into the bath and to bed.”
“It’s a good thing you found him when you did. There’s no telling how long he’d be wandering around before we discovered—” The Hokage stopped speaking. “No child should have to go through losing their entire family like that.”
“What about...”
“It might have been him, so best not to say anything in front of Sasuke.”
~
“Sasuke!”
“Huh?” Sasuke started, the bottle of shampoo still in his hands as he turned to look at Sakura. For some reason her face was turning a vivid pink which was, he remembered, a sign that he’d possibly done something wrong.
“What are you doing smelling my mother’s shampoo!”
“I-oh.” Sasuke continued looking at her.
Sakura on the other hand walked in, removing the bottle from his hands and screwing the cap on. Her mouth formed a distinct frown, which meant she was definitely mad at him, yet the pink didn’t leave her cheeks. “Seriously. I didn’t think you the type.”
“I, um – why are you here?” The fact she’d come into the bathroom when he could have been on the toilet—Sasuke turned his head away. He also felt heat in the tips of his ears.
“Because you were taking a long time and sensei is here.”
“Yeah, but...” Sasuke muttered, thinking that didn’t quite explain why she’d come in without...”
“I knocked, but you didn’t answer. I was worried.” Sakura reached out for his hand and started to pull him out.
“I-uh...”
“I regretted it the moment I saw you sniffing my mom’s things.”
“I...” Sasuke protested. “It was just the shampoo!”
Sakura glared at him over her shoulder. “That actually makes it worse.”
“It looked familiar! The bottle! It...” Sasuke frowned, wondering why it looked familiar. “It was that nice ladies shampoo, but she smelled like that.”
~
The smell returned every time that woman brought him food. Dinner was often set in front of him, with her insisting he should eat while breakfast, lunch and a snack went into the fridge while she verbalized the instructions on how to reheat the food, though later on she taught him a few meals he might prepare on his own as a shinobi needed to be independent like that.
At that point, he picked at the food, not wanting to eat. One night, under a moon which was the exact opposite of that night she said, “You need to eat so you stay strong.”
“So I can take revenge?”
“Revenge?” the woman asked. “Where did you get that idea?”
“It’s what Itachi wants,” Sasuke muttered, though he didn’t quite understand what that meant, why he thought that way.
“You forget about what Itachi wants and think about what your parents would want.”
“What do you mean?”
“I think that they’d want you to live a fulfilled life, make lots of friends, marry and have lots of kids.”
“How would you know?”
“Well, I’ve got a little girl myself and as a parent—well, that’s what parents want for all their children.”
“But...”
“I also knew your mother. She wouldn’t want you to do something like that, but would definitely want to see you marry and give her lots of grandchildren.”
“My father...”
“Well...” The woman hummed. “You’re the last Uchiha, which means it’s your job to continue the bloodline, not end it. In fact, ending the bloodline seems like what Itachi wants, and if you do, he’ll win.”
“I guess.”
While he didn’t see much of the woman when he got older, being expected as a shinobi to take care of himself, she did send him letters on holidays asking how he was doing—letters he’d shoved into a box thinking they were meaningless, yet...
~
“I can’t believe you Sasuke,” Sakura said as they arrived in the kitchen.
“What! What can’t you believe?” Naruto piped up, his usual zeal suddenly making Sasuke feel rather tired.
“I...” Sakura’s cheeks turned pink again. “When did you get here?”
“Just now I think?” Kakashi said as he leaned into one hand while reading the books he loved so much. Sasuke wasn’t even sure what they were about.
“Um, sensei?”
“Yeah.”
“Could you put that book away before...”
“Oh. You read that series as well?” A woman asked, yet Sasuke couldn’t help but feel the voice was familiar to him for some reason.
He looked up, his eyes blinking. “Wait...”
“Mom...” Sakura’s cheeks seemed to become even more pink while she continued holding onto his hand.
“I know you,” Saskue muttered. What he said—he didn’t understand why both Naruto and Sasuke stared at him like he’d turned into Orichimaru all of a sudden, but then there was still the curse mark to be handled.
It was then that Sakura’s face went from pink to red while her hand continued holding onto his, but something made him think she’d forgotten she was holding onto his hand. “Sasuke!” she squeeked out.
“That’s a rather cute boyfriend you have there Sakura,” the woman said. The heat in Sasuke’s face increased. “That’s why you’re holding his hand, isn’t it?”
“Hold on a second. Sasuke and I...” Sakura let go of his hand and started waving her hands in the air. “We’re not dating.”
“Well, the two of you certainly are crushing on each other, what with how both of your faces are turning right now.”
Sasuke remembered what the significance of faces turning red, but a bit more.
~
The moon from that night shown down ont a child sobbed, leaning into the closest comfort he could find. The person smelled a certain way, yet they also rubbed his back, saying that the Hokage would soon be there, though they never promised things would be okay, almost as if they knew saying that would make him think he’d be getting his family back. He sat there, in the middle of the seat.