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Sasuke really wished that he was home right now. Or literally anywhere but there. Despite the fact that the night was warm, a shiver crawled down Sasuke’s spine. His father would be ashamed. “You’re an Exorcist, graveyards shouldn’t scare you.” Yes, well, Exorcists also should have the foresight to bring appropriate supplies before the start of a mission, but he’d also failed at that. Really, it was Sasuke’s personal way of saying Go big or go home.
Still, huddled next to an old gravestone, Sasuke wrapped himself in his own arms. The night overwhelmed his vision, eating away any hope of seeing anything else. His grip on his sword tightened. Naruto was probably done with his mission by now. The thought of that idiotic blond managing to actually finish before him prompted rage to start bubbling in his stomach, strong and potent. Stupid Uzumaki with their stupid endless Essence supply. Yeah, he could see it: Naruto triumphantly returning home with bags full of gold and a harem, and his Clan looking off in shame because Sasuke had yet to return—and when he did, he would have neither gold nor a harem. At best he’d be carrying a shriveled up old ghost head.
It’s not my fault that Naruto’s mission was on a goddamn island resort while mine’s in this stupid backwater village! Suddenly unable to sit still, Sasuke stood upright and marched straight into the darkness. There is something so incredibly powerful about completely ignoring common sense—he only felt that power for maybe five seconds before the fear set in. Okay. Bad idea. Abort abort abort—
Sasuke was not at all ready for the hand that clamped down on his shoulder. He whirled around, sword already out of its scabbard, pointing it in the direction that the body was presumably standing. After his absolute terror settled down, logical thought processes once again began working. Okay, he thought, maybe this is the ghost that the old drunk woman was talking about? That would make this way easier. I’d be done in a day! Maybe then I—
His vision finally made out the very solid and un-ghosty, hulking figure. He was at least a foot taller than Sasuke, his shoulders as broad as a table, and his biceps the size of Sasuke’s head. Sasuke’s sword was less than an inch away from his abdomen, but the man did not move. Sasuke very nearly passed out because Goddamnit, I angered some wild thug, didn’t I? The man was covered with a thick cloak that obscured his features and Sasuke realized that he couldn’t make eye-contact if he couldn’t see someone’s eyes.
Sighing, he put his sword— I bet if I had actually stabbed him, my sword would have broken...he must have abs of steel —back in its scabbard, looked to where he figured the man’s eyes would be, and said, “My apologies, Sir, I did not expect anyone else to be here. For future reference, please do not startle an Exorcist in the middle of the night.” There, the man knew that he was an Exorcist, so he probably wouldn’t attack him.
Indeed, the man twitched. Then, slowly, he pulled his large arm up to his face, his index finger in front of where someone’s lips approximately would be—the universal sign for Be quiet. Unsure of whether or not it was a threat, Sasuke gave him a questioning look. The man promptly turned and walked in the direction of the graveyard keeper’s office, his arm still raised, now beckoning him to follow.
Sasuke’s stomach dropped. Oh, he’s turning me in. There was a code of conduct for this: if an Exorcist was caught breaking a law, then they must be punished. This usually wasn’t a problem because those who hire Exorcists usually give them free rein to do what needs to be done. For Sasuke, however, his mission ended up with him staking out in a private graveyard, which he had not gotten permission to do. Now, there were two possibilities: he can either be punished, or he can run away.
The second option was much more appealing, but if he did so, the people who own the graveyard might not trust any other Exorcists, making it much harder for the next poor sap who got assigned this mission to actually do anything useful. So, Sasuke followed the man. It was for the greater good.
The keeper’s office was nothing grand. It was so small and insignificant that Sasuke had originally missed it entirely, realizing too late what it was. At that point, he had already broken in so he hadn’t seen the point of informing the keeper. Now it was coming back to bite him in the butt. (At least the keeper’s office was nice and bright.)
When the door shut behind them, the huge man finally spoke. “Do you have a death wish or something?”
Sasuke did not compute. The cognitive dissonance in his brain was enough to freeze him in his tracks. At first, he doesn’t understand why, but when the man pulled his hood down, it became clear. Turned out that “he” was actually “she.” And she had hair the color of the sunset, eyes the hue of jade, lips a distinct shade of cherry, and God Dammit this is not how I fall in love!
(And that was how Sasuke fell in love.)
He hoped that his face wasn’t bright red as the woman continued to stare at him expectantly. “E-Eh?”
“What were you doing out there? Didn’t anyone tell you not to go out at night around here?”
“Yeah,” Sasuke said, regaining his composure. “Yes, I was told that on multiple occasions. However, I am an Exorcist and I was hired by Lord and Lady Tanegashima to expel the spirit causing this village so much grief.”
The woman squinted. “So you’re actually an exorcist?”
“Indeed. I do not lie.”
“Is that so…” She paused as if considering something before she sat down at the bench in the middle of the room. It gave out an audible creak and, even while sitting, she was at least three inches taller than he was. She gestured for him to sit opposite her. When he did, she said, “Well, sorry to tell you like this, but you should probably give up.”
Sasuke bristled. “Uchiha do not give up!”
“You’re gonna have to if you want to live. Look, a bunch of Exorcists have come here before saying that they’d be able to take care of the ghost, but none of them lived.”
“...Are you certain? Before I received this mission, I was told that no one had attempted it before.”
Sakura shook her head. “No, there were a lot of them. Some of those poor saps even stayed here before trying to do it.” She rose, once again towering over him. “I know that I’ve got it around here…” Before Sasuke could ask what “it” was, Sakura presented him with a cloak, a triumphant look on her face.
“...What is this?”
“It’s the cloak of the last Exorcist that stayed here. See, it even has the official Akimichi mark on it.”
Cautiously, Sasuke took the cloak and examined it. Indeed, there was a mark on it, but… “This was obviously fabricated.” A pause. “And very poorly, I might add. The lines are shaky and ungeometric. The shape in the middle seems more like a parallelogram than a rectangle.”
Sakura leaned down to inspect it. “Are you saying that—”
“He was not a member of the Akimichi Clan,” Sasuke confirmed. “And the others most likely were not part of any Exorcist Clans, either. They were probably here to get a place to stay and some easy money.”
“Oh.” She frowned. “They lied to me. Still, those poor men died a gruesome death.”
“How?” Sasuke asked.
“Why do you want to know?”
“Depending on how they died, I can make a more informed hypothesis about what type of entity the ghost really is.”
“I...well, no one’s actually seen them,” she admitted. “But whatever happened to them couldn’t have been good.”
“...I see.” Sasuke hoped that the frustration wasn’t clear in his voice. “Well then, can you tell me what you know about the ghost?”
“I know just as much as everyone else. You probably won’t get any new information.”
“I might,” Sasuke said gently.
Sakura sighed. “Well, it all started four months ago. Have you seen the old house down the street? A family used to live there, and they had one daughter, no sons. Her name was Ami and they said that she was the prettiest thing to ever set foot on this Earth. You know how small this village is? Most people here never get to leave. Ami, though, attracted so much attention that a member of a bigshot Clan agreed to marry her. They were betrothed and everything but then, three months before the wedding, they found out that she didn’t have any Essence. Now, Mr. Bigshot said that it would be unsightly for anyone without Essence to try and marry into his Clan, and he just threw her away like a dirty rag. Ami desperately begged for him to take her back, but he refused. He didn’t even talk to her before he left. Ami...well, she couldn’t take it. She publically stabbed herself and declared that she’d forsaken him. No one thought anything of it until men from all over the village started going missing. She never takes girls, just grown men—and not too old, either. Anywhere from maybe seventeen to twenty-five years old is fair game. But she’s taken every single man who said that he was a cultivator, even the ones that weren’t after her.”
Sasuke’s eyebrows scrunched. “You are the first person I have talked to who has mentioned the other cultivators.”
“Well, they were all men, so everyone else probably just lumped them in.” She nodded to him, “Now do you see why you shouldn’t the ghost? She’ll definitely kill you.”
“Really?” Sasuke asked, eyebrow raised, leaning toward her. “I think not. I am a fully trained Exorcist. If this ghost can cause me any trouble, then I will be a shame to my entire Clan. About that, do you happen to know what Clan this ‘Mr. Bigshot’ is from?”
The woman shrugged. “Don’t know. All I heard was that he was from a large one.”
“I see.” Suddenly realizing how close he was to Sakura, he immediately pulled back and looked away, once again hoping his face wasn’t red. “W-Well, from the information that I have received, I have come to the conclusion that this ghost is a Vengeful Spirit.” He stood up. “Thank you for your information. Now, I should probably—”
“Stay here,” she finished. “I already told you that if you go out there, you’ll die, and I don’t need that on my conscience.”
“Why on Earth would you care? You don’t even know my name.” Holy crap, Sasuke hadn’t told her what his name was. Wait, Sasuke didn’t know what her name was! Goddamnit, he was an idiot! In the time he’d been talking to her, Naruto probably could have amassed a harem of fifteen women and had an entire city fall in debt to him. Itachi would have probably already caught the ghost, and at least twenty other ghosts from neighboring villages. Hell, even that lazy Nara Heir would’ve figured out the meaning of life by now. And here he was, still blushing every time he looked her in the eye— wow her eyes are so deep I can’t—
“Well then, what’s your name?” she said suddenly, pulling Sasuke out of his reverie. “Oh, right, my name is Sakura Haruno. Will you tell me yours now?”
Sasuke pressed his lips into a thin line. “Sasuke Uchiha.”
“Right, the Uchiha Clan. I should have known.” She gestured at the symbol that was placed loud and proud on the back of his cloak. “Mr. Uchiha, you’re very...pretty.” She floundered a bit before lamely finishing on that last word.
Sasuke stared at her blankly. She called me pretty. She thinks I’m pretty. Holy crap I might actually have a chance—wait, wait, calm down. She’s probably trying to flatter me. Well, it was working. Unfortunately, his inner monologue led to an awkward silence out loud. Sakura cleared her throat. “So...yeah. Mr. Uchiha—”
“Sasuke. Call me Sasuke.” Wait, actually, I don’t think I’ll be able to handle her calling me that—
“Sasuke,” she said hesitantly. Sasuke very nearly faints right then and there. Well, at least if he does, Sakura could definitely catch him. “You should stay here for the night and leave in the morning.”
Naruto would probably have thirty women and would’ve become the monarch of a small nation by now. So, Sasuke shot back, “I am a trained professional. I can handle myself.”
Just like that, the atmosphere of the room became tense and unyielding. For one terrifying moment, Sasuke wondered if she would try to physically make him stay here. Really, he didn’t want to fight her because a) he was taught to never use force against someone untrained in Exorcism, and b) he would probably let his guard down and she’d accidentally shatter his skull. However, neither of these came to pass. Instead, Sakura said, “I’ll come with you.”
Sasuke froze. “What? No. You will stay here. You are not trained and will only put yourself in unnecessary danger—”
“The ghost only takes men,” Sakura said. “I’ll have much better chances than you.”
“Absolutely not.”
“If anything goes wrong, I can help.”
“How, exactly?” he demanded. He refused to let her get anywhere near that ghost. He needed her to be right here, safe and sound. He wanted to come back triumphant and her to be all like Oh Sasuke, you’ve saved my village! Please marry me! And then he’d say Of course, my darling. And then they’d run off and get married and— wait, stop, that’s creepy. Still, even if Sasuke put his feelings aside, the proper procedure was to not let any civilians get involved in such matters.
And yet, the look in Sakura’s eyes promised an uphill battle. And, well, Sasuke did what he did best: tactfully withdraw. ( “No, Naruto, I didn’t quit—I tactfully withdrew.” “Whatever you say, Sasuke.” ) “Fine, of course. You may accompany me. However, stay out of harms way to the best of your ability.”
“I will,” Sakura promised.
And that was how Sasuke ended up in his current situation: back next to the old gravestone, Sakura pressed up to his side as they crouched down. It took entirely too much of his concentration to not lean too far into her warmth.
“So,” she said so suddenly that Sasuke flinched, “why are you here?”
Sasuke frowned. “You yourself said that talking out here is inadvisable.”
“That’s because you were about at quiet as a donkey.”
“I see. Well, we are here because this is where Ami was buried.”
“No, it’s not! Who told you that?”
“The old drunk woman.”
“What—wait...does she happen to be blonde and have large assets?”
“Yes.”
Sakura’s features fell into regret. “That was Lady Tsunade. She was the previous graveyard keeper. Don’t listen to anything she says—she once told me that her grandfather led some big shot Clan that doesn’t exist anymore.”
“I see...wait, this is not the site of Ami’s grave?”
“Nope.”
“I seem to remember you saying that all the previous ‘Exorcists’ stayed with you?”
“Yeah, well, I was the only one who would take them in. If you went anywhere else and asked for a place to stay, they’d probably turn you away. People around here won’t just accept people into their homes.”
“You did.”
“I’m a nice person.”
I can tell. There was an unsuppressable smile on his face. “Well then,” he said, trying to play it off, “I suppose there is no reason for us to be here. My only reason was in hopes that it would reveal itself near its resting place.”
“The actual grave is in the graveyard on the other side of the village.”
“I suppose we are lucky this village is so small.”
The walk there consisted mostly of Sasuke trying to keep a respectful distance away from Sakura while simultaneously trying to get closer to her. That was, of course, contradictory, and it ended with Sasuke walking in an awkward zigzag pattern. Luckily, Sakura didn’t seem to notice—or, at least, care.
Suddenly, something struck him. “Did no one pray for her spirit to be appeased? Most Vengeful Spirits can be mollified by enough people asking their forgiveness.”
“We’ve been praying since day one,” Sakura responded. “We’ve made offerings and hired a bunch of priests, but nothing works.”
Sasuke’s eyes narrowed in thought. “How odd. Could it be unappeasable? That would be a problem…”
“What do you do if it’s unappeasable?” Sakura asked.
Sasuke shrugged. “We exorcise it.”
Sakura nodded. “I figured.”
When they arrived at the graveyard, Sakura pointed out Ami’s grave. Sasuke could easily see it from outside. It was small but well-kept, covered in flowers and offerings of food and various valuable trinkets, not to mention there were a myriad of candles lighting it up. “It’s even well taken care of. Why on Earth…could it be a Vengeful Ghost?”
“I already told you it was a ghost.”
“No, technically a Ghost is the soul of a human that died a gruesome death. They tend to be fiercer than Spirits and much harder to please,” he corrected. “I had originally ruled it out because a prerequisite for becoming a Ghost is to have a large amount of Essence. Unless someone performed the ceremony wrong, there is no reason for her to have become one.”
“So what is it?”
“I still think that we are dealing with a Spirit, though not necessarily a Vengeful one. Not a Protective one, obviously, but there are other, much less common types.” He paused. “The worst case scenario is that it is a Corrupted Spirit. If that is the case, I would have to immediately request back up. The possibility of that is quite small, but this case is so vague that—“
“Stop,” Sakura said, putting one hand up. Sasuke instinctively stepped away from it, subconsciously recognizing the amount of physical power it could exert. “I get it, you don’t know what the ghost is.”
“Well, that is not necessarily true. After all, I do know that it is a Spirit. Actually, it could also have nothing to do with Ami at all and just be a standard Demonic Outcrop case—“
“Sasuke.”
“—or even an actual Demon. Not a Catastrophic one, or even a Wrathful one. Perhaps an Under Demon?”
“Sasuke—“
“Then again, Under Demons tend to leave behind noticeable areas that are saturated in Dark Essence, so—“
As shameful as it was, it was Sakura who had to pick him up and dash to safety when a beam of pure Essence was about to hit them both—and she had done it in one, fluid movement, the same way one would pick up a school bag. In other words, like Sasuke didn’t weigh over a hundred pounds. For a moment, Sasuke stared at her face, eyes wide. You saved my life please marry me now—
Then he came back to himself. “Put me down, let me get a good look at the Spirit!” Sakura immediately obeyed and Sasuke whirled around, sword once again out. Standing at the opening of the graveyard was a blurry, white figure. It had no features and its shape changed every other second, but it was definitely a Spirit. And yet… “Why isn’t it taking form? Spirits take the form of their body from their life!” He dodged another burst of Essence. “And where is it getting all of its Essence from? I thought you said that Ami didn’t have any!”
Sakura dodged along with him, then grabbed his collar and dragged him behind a nearby cart. “She didn’t! Everyone in the village knows that—hey, you just said a contraction.”
“What?” Sasuke asked before flinching from another assault. “Damn it, if we don’t move, it’s gonna—”
“You did it again!”
Sasuke scowled. “Well, I’m sorry,” he said, rising up and pointing his sword directly at the Spirit, “but I don’t care that much about etiquette when I’m in a fight!” Sasuke’s sword flew out of his hands and charged at the Spirit, which fled backward into the graveyard.
Sakura stared at him, eyes wide. “Wow...that was really cool, Sasuke.”
And Sasuke was back to hoping he wasn’t blushing. “Thank you. Now come on, it’s in the graveyard.” He ran over to the entrance, catching his sword which was still hovering midair, but paused when he got to it. “It’s locked with an enchantment. No wonder my sword couldn’t get through. I think I can break it, but it might take a while—”
Sakura reached over and easily pulled the iron bars apart. She gave him a look. “Or I could just do that. Can’t we go through now?”
“Well, the enchantment was adhered to the bars, so...yes, I suppose we can.”
“You should talk informally more often—it really suits you.”
“If my father found out, I’d definitely get a talking to.”
“But it suits you,” she repeated as they climbed in. This time, Sasuke knew that no amount of hope could hide the heat that was most definitely flushing his face.
“I-I see…” For both practical and personal reasons, he then told her, “We should probably stay quiet.” Sakura nodded.
They slowly approached the light given off by the Spirit, and found it kneeling in front of Ami’s grave. Its light drowned out the ones given off by the candle, and the Spirit seemed to be guarding the grave. “Ami,” Sasuke said softly, “please, I understand that you were wronged, but what you are doing isn’t right.” Reasoning with Spirits rarely ever worked, but Sasuke tried it on the off chance it would.
It didn’t.
The ghost just started to slowly advance, glowing threateningly. Its form rapidly changed shape and Sasuke was once again frustrated. “It’s not taking human form,” he said. “All Spirits do! The only exceptions are—” Oh. Oh.
There were two exceptions to the rule that Spirits take their human forms: Spirits of those who were blind, for they did not completely know what they looked like (and Ami was not blind)...or those who never had bodies at all. Like…
Sasuke licked his lips. “Sakura,” he asked slowly, “did Ami happen to be pregnant when she died?”
Startled, Sakura said, “I don’t think so.”
“So you don’t know for sure? Because from what I’m seeing, I’m pretty sure she was.”
It made sense—during pregnancy, the fetus was known to aid its mother’s health...and now, the Spirit was still protecting its mother. And the Spirit having Essence made much more sense—Ami had none, but the man she was betrothed to was from a major Clan, so he must have had a lot. It seems the child had taken after its father.
Sakura stared in horror. “You mean—”
“I think we’re looking at Ami’s child.”
“Why would it kill people?”
“It’s looking for its father,” Sasuke guessed. “It’s grabbing men from around the village, especially Exorcists, because it’s trying to find its father.”
Sakura looked devastated. “That poor thing.” Then, apparently ignoring all common sense, Sakura approached the Spirit.
Sasuke’s eyes widened in panic. “Sakura, don’t—”
It was too late, for Sakura had already gotten close to the Spirit. Desperately, Sasuke gathered Essence in his arm, ready to give the Spirit a catastrophic blast—he had gathered too much and if he made one wrong move, this entire village would be leveled but I don’t give a Damn, Sakura must live—
But the Spirit didn’t do anything. Sakura enveloped it in a hug, and the Spirit didn’t move. “I’m sorry,” she breathed. “You’re hurting. Your parents left you—they didn’t even know you existed. But if they knew you existed, I’m sure that they would have loved to take love and cherish you.”
It was a blatant lie, but the Spirit was mollified. After five minutes of just standing there—Sakura still enveloping the Spirit, Sasuke so tense that he might have stretched a muscle—the Spirit dissipated.
Sasuke collapsed on the ground. “Well,” he said shakily, “that was pretty anticlimactic.”
Sakura just stared at where the spirit once was. “Why did it disappear? Did I convince it—”
“No,” Sasuke said. “It couldn’t understand anything you were saying. I think...it must have accepted you because you weren’t giving off any Killing Intent. And, based on your physique,” Sasuke cleared his throat, “it must have thought that you were its, ah, father.”
“Oh.” There was a moment of silence. Then, “So it felt loved?”
“I think so.”
“Good.”
Sasuke straightened and looked Sakura straight in the eye. “This is going to sound sudden, but hear me out: come back to my Clan with me.”
Sakura blinked. “What?”
“Your physical prowess is undeniable,” Sasuke said, “and I can sense a strong Essence presence within you. You’ll flourish under some proper tutelage. I’ll handle all of the bureaucracy, you can just worry about learning and eventually…” Eventually, you can travel with me.
Sakura gave him an apologetic look. “I’m sorry, Sasuke, but I already have a job here.”
Sasuke scowled. “You’re a graveyard keeper. You could be so much more if you just—”
“No,” she said firmly. “I’m staying here.”
Sasuke deflated. “Oh.”
There was more silence before Sakura gave him a tentative smile. “Hey, I’m not going anywhere. You can visit anytime you want. Actually, feel free to stay here for a while.”
It would be rude for Sasuke to accept...but Sakura seemed to be eager to help. She looked at him with bright, shining eyes. A harem and bags full of gold, Sasuke reminded himself. That’s what Naruto would have by now. But, really, he didn’t care that much. All the women and riches in the world paled in comparison to Sakura Haruno.
Sasuke gave her a hesitant smile. “Maybe I’ll take you up on that offer.”
It wasn’t everything he had wanted...but it was a start.
fin
A scene that I couldn’t quite fit into the one-shot:
“How come she was pregnant? Mr. Bigshot threw her away like a dirty rag...if he was so worried about his image, why would he have sex with her before their marraige?”
“Sakura...sometimes Clan politics get in the way.”
“What does that mean?”
“I mean...anyone from a large Clan can sense the Essence, or lack thereof, in someone. Mr. Bigshot would have known the moment he met her. Either he was too incompetent...or he was willingly ignoring it.”
“Are you saying that he actually cared for her?”
“I don’t know. I just know that Clan politics are terrible. If someone else in the Clan found out that she had no Essence, then he would have had no choice but to cancel the wedding.”
“That’s...even worse.”
“I know.”
Omake:
Sasuke had stayed with Sakura for a good two weeks, meaning he had come back especially late. In fact, he was the second to last disciple to return. As for that last? Well, it was Naruto Uzumaki.
He had casually strolled in a good month after Sasuke had returned, and declared that he had successfully completed his mission. People cared less about that than the fact that there was a child clinging onto his arm. “Naruto,” Jiraiya had said, “who is he?”
Naruto grinned. “His name is Inari and he’s my apprentice.”
Sasuke was very regretful that he couldn’t come back with a wife the way Naruto had come back with a disciple, but at least the aftermath of Naruto’s little declaration was interesting.