Chapter Text
The scent of blood and decay was heavy in the air when Sasuke returned home. Returned to the place that had been all of their home. Returned, alone, to the clan compound. It had been a few weeks since the Massacre. A few weeks since he had fully turned on his own. Weeks since any human had been here. At least the cats and the birds had remained, he didn’t know how, or even if, he would have been able to manage without them. They were partners and comrades, family, as surely as the clan. As surely as the traitors once had been, for them to be let in so easily. For them to kill his – their – his clan.
Sasuke felt some relief at the knowledge that the safeguards still held, that no one would be able to just walk in. Even if the traitors–murderers–kin-killers were to return, they wouldn’t be able to bypass them after that. Anyone who broke the rules in such a fundamental way was shut out, not that it happened often, given… well, given that those rules were about killing clan, for the most part – substantial injuries also featured, some.
He would, probably, get somewhat used to the cloying scent before he finished getting all of that sorted. Sasuke didn’t have any intention of asking for help, even beyond the fact that that would mean inviting someone else into the compound, it was his duty, and he intended to do it well. He was left. Alive. So it was his duty now, to handle the affairs of the clan. Even if it wasn’t much of one. He wanted to get it done within the next couple weeks, before… well. It would be possible to at least be mostly done, then.
The hawks and crows - carrion eaters - were picking on the bodies. They didn’t move much when he got close, only looked at him and jumped away from the face. The eyeholes were mostly empty, eyes picked apart. Good. The bodies had been laying for weeks, and if the birds - their birds - had been the ones to take the eyes, no one else would have access to them. Sasuke murmured an expression of gratitude to the birds and turned towards the next body. He would have to check all of them to know what had been done with the eyes.
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There were missing eyes, but not many. Too many, yes, but few enough that he could find them. Few enough that he knew which, as well as how many. Everyone involved in taking the eyes would die, just as surely as the people involved in killing his clan. He wouldn’t let it be any other way. He would have vengeance, and his clan would have peace.