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There was a wind chime than hung off of Kakashi-sensei's porch. It was a simple thing, nothing like the flashy chimes with glittering crystals the vendors sold at the market or quite so dramatic as Naruto's bright colored tubes of metal that created a cacophony of sound when struck. Kakashi's wind chime was nothing more than a little copper dome pockmarked with hammer strikes and long chain that ended with a carved wooden tag. Its sound was soft and familiar as it danced in the breeze, a gentle song that offered peace for those who bothered to stick around and listen.
Sasuke rested his back against the porch post and let the familiar melody of the wind chime keep him company as he hid from unrelenting summer heat beneath the shade of his sensei's porch. His dark eyes watched Kakashi tend to his garden, the old man's back hunched against the sun's burning rays, his pale skin slowly growing pinker by the second. Obito was with him, as he usually was, talking animatedly, his voice just barely audible over the delicate metallic peel from the wind chime. The ringed scars on his cousin's face moved and rippled with each word, the watering can he held in his hand spilling its contents as he gestured wildly. Kakashi-sensei didn't seem to mind, even as water splashed across his shoulder and onto his gloves. He simply nodded along to whatever Obito was saying and continued to rip the weeds from the dirt to add them to his growing pile.
When he looked at Kakashi and Obito, he saw two men with a history more bloody and sordid than his own, overshadowed by suffering that never truly went away. They were defined by hardship and pain so tangible, so palpable, that it was a minor miracle they hadn't crumpled under the weight of it. Yet here they were, tending to a small vegetable garden under the bright summer sun, whole and alive and happy.
Sasuke didn't understand it. He didn't understand how these two people, so intertwined in their trauma - trauma that they had inflicted upon each other time and time again - could look so at peace, so happy as if all that they had gone through was simply a minor inconvenience.
He didn't get how his normally aloof and often unreachable sensei was suddenly open and alive whenever Obito was near. Or how his wild and dangerous cousin never looked more calm and content than when Kakashi was by his side. He didn't understand how they could be near one another when every inch of their bodies acted as a constant reminder of the blood they had split.
But then again, Sasuke didn't really understand much about love to being with.
When Sasuke though about love he was assaulted with memories of his academy days, little girls chasing after him screaming his name, saccharine sweet words that spoke of infatuation rather than actual feeling. That wasn't what he saw when he looked at the two in the garden.
He saw Kakashi gently guiding the watering can nozzle over a growing patch of cucumbers and Obito following without question. He saw Obito shifting his weight slightly so his shadow would fall over Kakashi's bent form, shielding him from the sun. He saw two halves of the same soul, living independently from each other yet forever bonded by an endless devotion that made Sasuke's heart ache strangely in his chest.
Their love was a quiet love, one that was woven in simple touches and words spoken in knowing looks. Kakashi's hand on Obito's back, Obito's chin resting on Kakashi's shoulder. Hands intertwined as they sat out on the porch while he and Naruto sparred out on the lawn, legs tangled as they lazed on the couch during movie night, Obito fighting to stay awake while Kakashi had given into the temptation before the first scene was even over. Their love was built on small, unassuming gestures that said everything without having to say anything at all.
But for all its simplicity, their love was impossible to ignore. It was like there was a bright neon sign that hung over their heads, proclaiming their devotion to one another and no matter how many times Sasuke tried to blink away the glow, the reminder of their love still burned itself into back of his eyelids.
Yet, even still, on days like today, when the air was thick with humidity and the sky was a bright cloudless blue, Sasuke couldn't look away. He found that he didn't want too. Their gentle, easy love pulled him in with its familiar, peaceful embrace. Because in the end, no matter how many times he had walked in on them in various states of undress or caught Kakashi curled up in his cousin's lap like some damn house cat, it made something settle deep within him.
Kakashi and Obito's love meant that there was still hope to be found in this accursed world. It meant that despite it all, all of the pain, the suffering, the bloodshed and war, peace was achievable. Happiness was there for the taking - no matter how soiled the soul may be.
Sasuke tore his eyes away from the couple in the garden, his cheeks growing red at the sight of his cousin dragging a hand though his sensei's wild silver hair. He knew from experience that if he looked on for too much longer, he would witness horrors no on should be subjected too. Like Kakashi's stupid, love struck face as he leaned into Obito's touch or gods forbid the two of them kissing.
He shuddered at the thought. He had seen enough of that to last a lifetime. Instead, he let his gaze fall on the wind chime that hung off of Kakashi-sensei's porch, its gentle song a peaceful balm from the heat. And if he happened to fall asleep only to wake hours later to the sound of laughter, sprawled out on his sensei's couch while Obito and Kakashi cooked dinner in the kitchen, moving around each other in a well practiced dance, well there worse things that could happen. Even if he had to watch Obito wrapping his arms around Kakashi's waist and mouth at his neck like some kind of animal.
Sasuke sighed and closed his eyes. Maybe one day he could find this type of love for himself too.