Archive of Our Own ^beta

The immature child his family couldn't count on. The foolish brother who couldn't see through Itachi's lie. The selfish teammate who gave up the possibility of a happy life. The teenager who buried every bond. The deranged one who burned everything to the ground with hatred. The avenger who failed. All the people he once was, all the opportunities that opened up to him ended in the same cursed way.

Beige. The wall above him was a flat, drab, weathered beige color. There was the occasional crack in the paint, but nothing too striking to capture his attention.

He turned his head to look to his side. He knew from the first moment he got there that the house the Hokage designated for them belonged to someone previously, a random person who was moved from their spot to leave them and not be too much of a nuisance until they found a way to return to their time. He wondered, as he paused at the lack of any furniture other than the essential bed he was lying on, desk with chair and closet, if this nameless person had cared at all. After all, the place didn't look homey. But he quickly dismissed the thought, what did he know about home, anyway?

Well, for sure he could tell that place wasn't. No matter how much Naruto insisted that they weren't prisoners, in his eyes that room was nothing more than a cage with golden bars. He would have preferred to stay in the cell rather than have to pretend he believed in this freedom, but of course no one asked his opinion. That was how they treated the people there, like cattle they could handle as they pleased. And he was simply too tired to fight it.

"Sasuke," three knocks on his door brought him out of his dissociation. "Come out."

Despite having heard Kakashi clearly, he didn't move an inch from his place. With his eyes fixed on the ceiling again, lost in a place between past and present, he waited for the man to desist the same way he did every time he tried to check on him.

But this time, the man didn't. "Sasuke, it's an order."

You don't give me orders, he thought about telling him. You're not my teacher, you lost that title when you tried to kill me.

But he chose not to say anything and for a moment it seemed to be enough because Kakashi's footsteps faded down the hallway, but before he could be relieved by his loneliness, Kakashi's footsteps approached again and without asking for permission he opened the door wide and threw a bag at him that Sasuke instinctively caught. 

“Put this on and come out for a few minutes,” the man said, and as quickly as he entered, he was gone.

More out of reflex than genuine curiosity, he opened the bag and scattered the contents on the floor. A pair of black pants and a sleeveless t-shirt of the same shade lay in front of him as the incomplete ensemble of an ANBU outfit.

Sasuke looked at the clothes on the floor and then at the one he was wearing. Given the amount of things that happened since he arrived at that place, he never stopped at the fact that he hadn't changed once. Both his shirt and pants were stained with dried blood and mud, and had various cuts and holes caused by the three fights he had been in during that time.

And yet... 

He took off his T-shirt and turned it around, looking at the print on the fabric. Since the massacre, not a day had gone by without him wearing the emblem of his clan on one of his clothes. It was a silent vow he imposed on himself, he used to believe that as long as there was someone who wore it his family would somehow remain alive in memory. But none of that mattered now. If in that future there was no one to carry it on his back there was no point in continuing to cling to that foolish thought, so without giving it any further depth he changed his attire and left his room.

He walked down the hallway. His eyes startled to meet his reflection in the picture frames strayed inside the rest of the rooms, and as he looked at the colors and decorations in these, he wondered if they intentionally choose to designate him the only one that didn't seem to belong. But before he could come to any kind of conclusion, he was already in the living room.

The aroma of home-cooked food hit him as he peeked into the place, causing his stomach to clench and just as with his clothes, it only took one look at the plate of rice with smoked vegetables on the table to notice that he hadn't eaten anything in that time. That he hadn't done anything in that time. He didn't shower, he didn't eat, and judging by the sharp pain in his abdomen he didn't go to the bathroom either. It was as if his body was governed by a different time than in this world. Everything outside of him was passing too fast, and the little he could recognize felt slow and foreign.

He swallowed, pain descending down his dry, injured throat as he stood immobile in place, watching the image of Kakashi and Sakura sitting at the table not knowing exactly how to proceed.

“Come, sit down,” Kakashi broke the silence, and with a casual gesture invited him to sit in the free chair.

Sasuke moved cautiously to the spot and without a word, he followed the order and sat down. His lowered eyes were fixed on the plate in front of him consciously avoiding Kakashi's and Sakura's, and he took the chopsticks to start eating. But even though he was starving and every part of his body was begging for food, he found himself immobile again, unable to do anything but move the food on the plate without eating it.

“It's not too hot,” Kakashi pointed out, interpreting his lack of movement the wrong way. “Sakura prepared and served it a few minutes ago. It should be fine by now.”

Though the man's intentions weren't bad, his words made all his appetite vanish. He put down his chopsticks, leaving them beside the plate untouched, and waited for them to finish eating, too tired to just get up and leave.

Once they finished, a new silence settled over the room.

“I'll, um, clean this up,” Sakura stood up and with quick movements began to clear the table, evidently desperate to escape the place.

“Leave it,” Kakashi interrupted her, ”I'll do it later. Just take a seat, we need to talk.”

If the atmosphere wasn't tense enough before that, Kakashi's words seemed to condense the air. 

“The report from the Detection Unit came today with news about the investigation. As you know, the Hokage gave the order to focus the search on an object causative of the travel, since that's what happened once, but it seems he was wrong.”

Something inside Sasuke's chest sank at the revelation. Even knowing that if he returned it was only to run a predetermined lost race against his death, the thought was more relieving than lingering in that future any longer. 

“So they didn't find anything?” Sakura asked, her tone betraying her desperation.

Kakashi shook his head. “I wouldn't say that. As far as we know, there are different ways to break a timeline—through an object or through some jutsu. With the first one ruled out, all that's left is to focus on the other. That's why we're here. In this timeline we don't know of any person with the ability to use a jutsu of that magnitude, so if there's even the slightest chance that in yours there is, I need you to tell me. I need to know exactly what was going on when you got here.”

The weight of Sakura's gaze fell on him for a moment, as if she was waiting for him to be the one to tell what happened. When he responded with nothing but silence, she took the initiative.

“I'll tell you.”

She recounted everything without any interruption. Starting from a meeting she had had with Kakashi and Naruto that he hadn't been aware of, to the moment when the four of them met on the Samurai Bridge, she told every part in detail, as if the memory was still vivid in her memory.

“So nothing changed until the Bridge,” Kakashi stated. “Everything you're telling me is what happened, word for word.”

“I guess. The last thing I remember is Naruto talking to Sasuke, and then, waking up in the forest,” Sakura continued. “I thought I just had a nightmare that I woke up from, but then when I tried to get up I felt all the wounds from the fight and saw them on the ground next to me.”

His previously unfocused attention sharpened on the story. He remembered that when he found them in the cave Sakura swore that she didn't know that he was there too, and while in theory he hadn't believed her then, the confirmation that she did indeed lie made him grit his teeth. He raised his gaze, the fire inside his chest ready to burst and demand the lie. But when saw her and noticed the puffiness of her eyes, the slight tremble in her lips and the deep pain in her eyes, he wished he would have stayed with his head down. 

Who cared if she lied? It didn't change anything. It was one more lie in a pile. A small grain of sand that didn't change the scheme of things. And he should be used to it by now.

Kakashi sighed, annoyed that he didn't find any answers. “If everything is the same as it should be when you were there, and everything was normal when you arrived, chances are that whatever happened was in the in-between time you don't remember. The best thing to do will be go to the Detection Unit and see if they can do anything to recover your memories. But I'll have to ask Naruto for authorization first.” 

“So we just keep doing nothing? A war is about to start in our world, we can't just—”

“You'll wait,” Kakashi cut Sakura off, and without leaving time for a retort he got up from his seat and started stacking the dishes on the table. “If you want to keep busy on something, compare what you remember and try to see if you can find something.” 

With that he left, leaving them both in that room alone.

Sasuke took attention from the doorway the man just left and directed it towards Sakura, only to find that she was already looking at him. He took advantage of the fact that neither reacted to analyze the details he didn't notice before like the half-assed ANBU outfit she was wearing and the messiness of her hair, and watched her do the same, using what little strength he had left to keep himself from wondering what she saw when she looked at him.

They stayed that way for a while, waiting for the other to make some kind of move or take the initiative to start a conversation. When she failed to do anything, he got up from his place.

But just before he could walk out of the room, her voice made him stop.

“The last time I saw Naruto, something was happening to his seal,” she began, her strained voice giving no hint of where she was going with that. “Even though the Fox's chakra was enveloping him, I could feel it slowly evaporating around him, as if it was dying and wanted to take him with it.” 

The image of Naruto on the cave floor flashed in his mind. Although neither before nor during the fight was able to get close enough to him, in the distance he could see the chakra cloak Sakura was talking about and feel the life escaping from his body.

“I know Akatsuki has been trying to capture him for years and that you are part of them now. But if this was up to them, you would tell us, right?”

Sasuke stood in place for a minute trying to divine if the question was real, and when the seriousness on her face confirmed it, he just turned and walked back to his room, giving her no answer.  

What was he supposed to answer that? He was sure it wasn't about Akatsuki, but even if it was about them, the question was meaningless. If he had been in his own world he would have assured that in those conditions it was impossible for Naruto to survive. But as he walked back into his room, lay back on his bed and fixed his attention on the ceiling above him, he knew for sure that no matter how bad he might be, Naruto was going to be okay.

Because it was written, both in Sakura's silent hope and in the pages of fate, that Naruto would survive to become the Hokage.

The one who would die was him.

---

He wasn't sure if it had been only a few hours or a couple of days, but soon enough Kakashi knocked on his door again and informed him that Naruto gave them the authorization to go to the Detection Unit.

He sank further into his bed wishing it would suck him in so he would have an excuse to stay there, but when by logic that didn't happen, he got up and walked over to the new bag Kakashi left for him.

A new set of the clothes he was wearing lay in front of him with the only difference that there was also a grey vest, a pair of high boots, some arm covers and a mask with a design of a raven on it. Sasuke pressed his lips into a line and contemplated throwing the clothes away, screaming that he wasn't going to wear that and that he didn't find the sick joke funny. But he decided against it.

Even if they choose the direct memory of the intel branch to which they deliberately designated the extinction of his clan, it didn't matter. There was no point in fighting over his crushed ego. Taunts meant nothing if he didn't have an honor to defend, so without stopping to think about it he put on the outfit, grabbed the mask, and went out.

He found Sakura and Kakashi by the exit door, waiting for him. She in an outfit like the one he was wearing and the man in his usual clothes, and he had to distract his head by counting the fifteen breaths it took him to approach them not to fixate too much on the fact that that image was almost the same one he had dreamed of years ago.

“Alright,” Kakashi clapped his hands, and with that simple gesture the little hope he had left that whatever they were going to do wouldn't take too long vanished. “We have several things to do today and not much time, so we'd better start now.”

Sakura shifted her weight from one foot to the other, still holding her bear mask in her hand as if unsure whether to put it on or not. “What else do we have to do besides go with the detection team?”

“A couple of stops, but don't worry about that,” the man replied with his typical laziness, and without waiting for an answer, started walking out of the apartment.

He followed in silence. With his gaze fixed on his feet he didn't dared to acknowledge the outside, nor to sharpen his hearing to hear the laughter of the people around him, nor to evoke a feeling of anger at that. 

They kept walking for what felt like forever for miles until Kakashi finally stopped at the entrance of a high walled building he saw before but assumed was the Detection Department. The man guided them inside with confidence, their outfits although functional didn't serve to fool the sensory ninjas who watched them with confusion as they passed, but with the determination on Kakashi's face that clearly read a don't get in my way no one dared to say a word about it. 

They reached a reinforced door at the end of the corridor. Kakashi opened it and ushered them into a room full of machines and complex seals on the walls. A group of ninja waited for them inside, all with serious and concentrated expressions of which one stood out for its familiarity. 

“We were expecting you,” the familiar figure of the woman approached them. Her long platinum blonde hair swayed in her ponytail with the movement of her hips, and though he hadn't seen her in an eternity, he recognized the woman in front of him as Ino instantly. 

And so did Sakura, who without stopping to think about it for a second, ran to where the woman was. The two began to have an effervescent conversation that he watched from afar, feeling a small pang of envy in his chest.

Of all the things he hated about the situation that had to be the worst of all: having to be the spectator of an enveloping but still foreign happiness. Seeing Sakura smiling, chatting with the woman as if she was the same Ino she knew, as if their relationship was so unbreakable that not even time could alter it, was like standing in front of a happy world that no matter how much he wanted to do so he couldn't belong to.

If he had stayed in the village, if he had made other decisions, maybe he could have felt the same pride Sakura felt seeing her best friend being the head of the Detection Unit when he saw Naruto as the Hokage. He could have felt a hint of that happiness. But he didn't made other decisions so instead of happiness, all he could feel was a void spreading inside of him. 

As if he was able to read his twisted musings, Kakashi at his side cleared his throat, catching the attention of the two women and breaking the momentum to bring them back to reality.

"Well, it's time to start," Ino announced and with a wave of her hands pointed them to the chairs in the middle of the room. "Have a seat."

He and Sakura waited for Kakashi's approval in an old habit of seeking permission from the man who was once their teacher. When Kakashi nodded, they both walked over and took a seat in their respective chairs.

"The process is simple. All you have to do is to concentrate on the last memory you have before you arrived here and not let your minds wander into thoughts that are beside the point," the woman explained, her back turned to a machine displaying codes he didn't understand. "We will decode the data received through the hippocampus and see it on these screens."

"You'll see everything we see?" Sakura stirred in her seat, not thrilled at the idea of having to share her memories of that infamous day with everyone in that room. He shared the same sentiment.

"I know it sounds invasive, but it's necessary. We need to have all the information we can gather, and if there's anything you can't recognize in your memories, our analysts will." As if they were waiting for her to utter those words, two ninjas approached them and stood at their backs. "We'll start with you, Sakura. We have your testimony from the interrogation so it will be easier to compare."

Beside him Sakura gave a gasp as the ninja rested his hands on her shoulders, but didn't try to escape the grip instead she let out an exasperated sigh and followed the man's orders.

Just as Ino said, images began to appear on the screen in front of them. He squinted his eyes in an effort to catch the content from that distance but was unable to make out clearly given the state of his vision so he gave up and focused on the sounds coming from the memory.

He listened to every little thing, from the blowing of the wind in her ears to the clicking of her shoes walking on the bridge, and the instant the sounds began to turn into fighting noises and her internal monologues went from being confident to being laden with regrets and anguish, he decided he didn't want to listen anymore so he focused all his attention on his feet.

A tap on his shoulders brought him back to reality to find that the room had fallen silent and Sakura's memories were no longer playing on the screens. 

"It's your turn," the ninja at his back commanded, his grip on him rigid, leaving no room for his opposition. "Stand still and relax." 

Sasuke gritted his teeth at the sensation of unfamiliar chakra entering him. His nerves always ready for the worst twisted with the need to try to flee, but before he could, the unfamiliar chakra merged with his own and the anxiety disappeared behind a strange numb, heavy feeling that shut everything down.

For a brief moment everything was black, still and peaceful. The only image his mind conjured  behind his closed eyes was a dense dark fog that slowly faded no matter how much he wished it would stay, making the image behind it more and more visible.

And then everything flashed into clarity.

The first thing he saw was Danzo in front of him, blood staining his entire body and his chest rising and falling from the exertion of battle. One of his arms, the one that had been replete with his family's eyes, lay somewhere on the ground behind him while the other, the one that was still part of his body, was around Karin's neck. 

The contrast between the violence of the situation with the peace of nature was almost sadistic. The blue sky shimmered behind the figures, clear and glowing, accompanied by the chirping of birds that might as well have been real but were nothing more than the artificial sound of his new jutsu, stretching from the origin of his fingers to the middle of the chest of the people in front of him.

Surprise flashed across both their faces as blood escaped their mouths, and he braced himself to hear the words of victory he remembered he had spoken for his brother, but they never came.

He felt frozen even in the memory. His limbs contracted trying to regain control and instigate the broken record to follow its script, but nothing happened. The three red eyes looked at him with such clear and palpable fear that before he could help it, the image of him as a little boy standing terrified and horrified on the pool of blood belonging to his parents intruded on his mind.

"What...?" He staggered. His footsteps left marks of fresh, thick blood on the wooden floor of his house, and when his back hit the wall, the image changed and the bloody footsteps became Danzo's running in front of him trying to save his life. 

He watched as the man ran away and tried to follow him in the same way he did in the past, but just as soon as he was ready to take a step, the image changed again and he found his father's back in front of him, large, imposing and always out of reach.

Vomit rose in his throat. A wave of intense chakra surged through his insides and he could practically hear how out of his memories the ninja were telling him to focus on what they were looking for.

"Focus! Focus!"

But it was useless. The images kept flashing in his memory like jigsaw puzzles destined to fit together with his cruelest and most painful memories.

When Kakashi told him that he was beyond saving, the image of his mother hugging him and telling him that no matter what he was her favorite overcame it. When Sakura raised a weapon behind his back, the streets of his bloody district shone in the moonlight. When Naruto appeared to save them, his brother's limp body lay in front of him.

Quickly everything became a blur. The lines between each memory smudged until there was nothing left but tragedy after tragedy. Each memory of that day, each sharp frame in his memory triggered and juxtaposed with a worse one.

Panic swept over him. His heart pounded against his chest with all its might, making him lose his senses. He wasn't sure if he was breathing. He wasn't sure if he was still there. 

Everywhere he looked there was blood.

Everywhere he looked there was death.

"Stop it," he heard the weak plea coming from his own lips over and over again, befitting of a helpless child. "Please stop it."

As if they heard his prayers the chakra disappeared from within him all at once, taking with it its anesthetic effects and bringing him back to reality.

He gasped for air. His choked, desperate gasps failed to pass oxygen as quickly as he desired and he promptly found himself on the floor, unable to make his body act at will. His limbs trembled, his heartbeat echoed in his ears and the certainty that he was dying clouded whatever glimmer of judgment he had left.

"Sasuke!" A muffled, distant voice as if it were a tunnel away called out to him. He raised his head to find Ino kneeling in front of him, worry contorting every fraction of her face. "Can you hear me? You need to breathe."

The woman raised her hand in his direction, her healing chakra glowing in her palm tried to find destination at his temples but before she could reach out to touch him he slapped her hand away and jumped to his feet. 

With adrenaline coursing through his veins like electricity, he scanned the room for all the pairs of eyes riveted on him, hoping to find in them some trace of dsnger or threat but found nothing but pity. On Kakashi, on Sakura, on Ino and even on the ninja he didn't know, each of them looked at him as if pitying him.

His stomach sank as he understood why their expressions. They saw everything. Every memory he promised to take with him to the grave, they saw them.

And now they felt sorry for him.

"I tried to get you out of it but the thoughts wouldn't stop flowing," Ino stood up from the floor and took a step back, as if afraid that one false move would make him lose his mind. "Nothing like this ever happened I..."

"We'll leave it here for today," Kakashi stepped in at the woman's speechlessness and with a gesture ordered Sakura and him to follow him.

And the same way he entered, he left that place without knowing how.

---

Whatever other plans Kakashi might have had were canceled after the visit to the Detection Unit.

They arrived at the apartment in the blink of an eye. Without saying a word, Sakura and Kakashi went into the kitchen, where they began preparing dinner with the remaining scraps of provisions. He didn’t follow them; instead, he entered the bathroom and stepped into the shower.

The ice-cold water drenched him from head to toe, making him shiver and causing his teeth to chatter, but he didn’t move to get out. He just let the cold seep into his bones until it burned, and only when the pain was so sharp that it was comforting he finally step out.

Kakashi was waiting for him in the hallway, arms crossed and leaning against the wall. "You’ll get sick if you don’t dry off properly."

Sasuke just stared at him, expressionless. Of all the things on his mind at that moment, getting sick was not one of his biggest concerns.

"Dinner is almost ready," the man continued, evidently not intimidated by the lack of response. "Sakura insisted on making tomato soup since…"

"I'm not hungry," he cut him off, the words coming out rough and harsh, matching how he felt.

Kakashi frowned. "It's not like you to not take care of yourself."

The accusatory tone made him immediately defensive. With both fists clenched, he began walking towards his room, desperate to escape the situation, but before he could enter, Kakashi's voice stopped him.

"You can't keep acting like this forever, Sasuke."

He turned around, fury boiling in his chest. "What?"

"This. Locking yourself in your own world at the slightest inconvenience, refusing anyone's help. You're not a child anymore; you need to start accepting once and for all that the burden you're carrying is too heavy to bear alone."

"Why the hell do you care?"

"Because I care about you," Kakashi replied calmly, as if the answer was obvious. "And I'm not going to stand by and watch you destroy yourself. Not again."

All the anger that flared up from Kakashi's earlier words vanished, replaced by a lump in his throat.

He tried to swallow it, to untangle it somehow to find the strength to tell the man in front of him that he didn't care, but as if it refused to let him speak the lie, he was unable to say those words out loud. 

"It's none of your business," was all he could murmur. "Leave me alone."

He closed the door behind him with a soft click and let his back slide down the wood until he ended up sitting on the floor. And there, in the darkness, he wondered how it was possible that after countless losses, he felt now emptier than ever.

The following nights were infested with nightmares. Every miserable time he managed to close his eyes the images of blood infiltrated his subconscious like a torrent of unstoppable horrors and he woke up drenched in sweat, with the echo of his own screams still ringing in his ears and Kakashi by his side. 

The man never said anything or stayed for too long, he just waited until he regained his senses, left a glass of water on his bedside table and left. And though he never said it out loud, Sasuke appreciated the gesture. The fact that Kakashi never mentioned anything the next morning was probably the most relieving thing he'd had since the moment he stumbled into that timeline.

But like all good things, it didn't last long. 

As the days continued to pass and the gloominess of his nightmares pushed him to stay awake for endless hours, Kakashi's frustration started to become more and more palpable. The man tried countless times to get him out of his own head by forcing him to spend time with them or accompany them on their walks through the village, but the lack of sleep mixed with his grief always triggered arguments that ended with him slamming the door of his room and falling back into a vicious cycle that neither of them seemed to be able to break. 

Or so he had thought, because now as Kakashi diverted their usual walk through the village to the Leaf Hospital, the realization that he had perhaps pushed his patience a bit too far hit him. 

“What are we doing here?” Sakura asked, stealing the question from his lips. 

Sasuke watched her from the corner of his eyes. If his relationship with Kakashi was hanging by a thread, whatever was left between Sakura and him was even more delicate than that. Since the events in the Detection Unit neither had spoken to each other, and though on the odd occasions when the two of them coincided somewhere in the apartment he could feel her eyes fixed on him, he never dared to return her gaze. 

Just the possibility of finding the same pity there made him feel sick, so he had decided to keep as much space as possible between them. It wasn't like it was anything new, anyway.

“I was finally able to arrange that thing you were asking me,” Kakashi replied, a smile peeking out from under his mask. 

They walked cautiously into the hospital, trying to blend in with the rest of the people, until they stopped in front of the ICU. 

Sasuke frowned. Years ago that place used to be one of his most recurring places when missions went wrong. He used to hate it. Regardless it was he who was wounded or one of his teammates, the stillness and the air permeated with a subtle scent of death made him feel trapped and in danger. And still did, he recognized as his heartbeat began to accelerate. 

Luckily for him, it didn't take too long until they to meet their destination. As soon as they stopped in front of the door Sakura rushed past him like a whirlwind and entered the room. By reflex he almost followed her but froze when he caught sight of the image in front of him.

With tubes attached to his body, monitors flashing and the hum of a machine monitoring his every heartbeat, Naruto lay bedridden, looking even worse than the last time he had seen him. 

All his skin was red-hot, covered in a thin, bubbling blanket of chakra. His complexion had diminished, accentuating his ribs and cheekbones and giving away that his current state of unconsciousness wasn't new, but rather had been like this for days—probably since the cave.

Sasuke felt a pang in his chest as he watched Sakura moving around the room, checking every little device attached to Naruto and making sure each machine was working properly, and he had to remind himself that he didn't care. They were no longer his friends, hadn't been for a long time. And it was for the best. The choice to nip their ties in the bud had been the right one. He had no regrets. Not for that, nor for what he'd come close to doing on Samurai Bridge. 

Sensing his change of mood Kakashi shook his head. “Not you, Sasuke. We have somewhere else to go.”

Without uttering a word other than the 'we'll come back for you later' he said to Sakura, the man shoved his hands in his pockets and started to walk away.

Sasuke followed him through the halls towards the garden, his tired eyes scanned his surroundings without stopping on anything specific until he noticed the building looming at the end of the path.

It was smaller than the hospital, with architecture that matched the overall style of the complex but less imposing. There were flowers decorating every window, a small park on the side with swings and slides, and children running around.

“You brought me to a daycare?” 

For the first time in a long time, he heard Kakashi laugh. “Well, no. But it's definitely an idea I wish I'd had earlier.”

An young lady met them at the reception and informed Kakashi that everything was ready for their appointment. The man thanked her and guided them to the indicated place, which turned out to be an office located on the top floor of the building where standing by the door a woman with a white coat, pink hair and jade eyes was waiting for them.

Sasuke swallowed hard.

Even though he was supposed to be used to it by now, it was still hard to digest the weight of seeing the people he once knew so different. The woman in front of him was undoubtedly Sakura but at the same time, not. She was taller, curvaceous in places the girl wasn't yet. Her once round face was now more defined, sharp in her cheeks and jaw.

But of all the differences, the one that captured his attention the most was the small diamond on her forehead. He knew about the seal, had studied it when he was under Orochimaru's tutelage. It required exceptional chakra management and a great deal of patience, but once unlocked its regenerative abilities, strength and chakra reserves made the user nearly invincible.

Instantly he returned to his own body. He scanned her, searching for some sort of threat or intent to attack, only to find that there was none. The woman seemed harmless with the folder in her hand and a pen in the pocket of her hospital coat.  

Still, he remained alert. He knew better than not to when it came to her. 

“Let me guess,” she said uncrossing her arms as they stopped their walk in front of her. Sasuke couldn't help but notice the slight change in her voice—still sweet, but now more mature. “Another black cat crossed and you had to take the long path.”

“You wouldn't believe the absurd amount of black cats around this area. Someone should take care of that,” Kakashi smiled.

Sakura rolled her eyes, apparently used to his antics. “How is everyone?”

“As well as they can be at the moment. Little sleep, isolation, lack of food. Stuff that happens, you know.”

Though Kakashi's words were meant to describe both his and his former teammate's state, Sasuke could clearly hear the undertone that indicated the man was talking exclusively about him. And Sakura seemed to pick up on it as well because her eyes lingered on him for an instant.

Her gaze, he noticed, was the only thing that had remained the same. Though it was inked with a stiffness that could only be ascribed to time, it was still intense and analytical, taking in every detail as if through a microscope. And under her scrutiny, he couldn't help but feel overwhelmed.

Years ago when they were still children Sasuke used to believe that she could read his mind. He didn't know how, since he was supposed to be the one with the special eyes, but all it took was one look for her to see right through him. He never got the answer as to how she did it—never dared to ask, either. But whatever the trick was, it stopped working once he left the village.

Or at least it had with the Sakura he knew. That woman, on the other hand, still seemed capable of it.

“I have about two hours left to spare,” she said, pulling her attention to the clock on the wall and then to Kakashi. “Then I have a major surgery so I need you to be back on time. No excuses.”

“Okay then,” Kakashi nodded and giving him a final pat on the shoulder, he disappeared in a burst of smoke, leaving them both alone.

As he stood there with his nerves twitching, Sasuke made a mental note to curse the man when he saw him again.

Which would be in two hours, apparently.

Just two hours.  

“So, um, this is my office,” Sakura opened the door behind her. “Come in. Make yourself comfortable.”

Without any other option, he followed.

The place was spacious and homey. The walls were lined with what looked like framed children's drawings and tall bookcases filled with books of all colors and sizes. At one end two couches faced each other separated by a small coffee table; at the other, there was a desk filled with neatly organized documents and folders. 

“Would you like some tea?” she asked, her back turned in his direction as she entered the office and headed for a cabinet. “There's cinnamon, black, aniseed, chamomile...”

She continued to list different types but Sasuke was no longer listening to her, puzzled and almost insulted by the casualness with which she was handling the situation. The Sakura of his time would have rather walk on glass than let her guard down before him, and yet, this woman didn't seem to care in the slightest. 

Between Kakashi, Naruto and her it was as if the universe wanted to prove correct his assumption that that place had made fools of them all. And him too, apparently, because having the opportunity to attack he chose to plop down on one of the couches and lower his mask.

“Here,” Sakura took a seat across from him and set two cups on the table. “It's linden tea. It'll help with your eye pain and migraines.”

Sasuke pressed his lips into a line. He hadn't mentioned anything to Kakashi regarding his pains and the man hadn't implied to know about it either, so how was it possible that she had figured it out in only a few minutes?

His attention swept over the place once more, stopping at a pile of books that were located to his left on the table, almost as if she had expected him to take that specific seat.

Now that was what he was talking about. Fucking mind-reading. 

Not able to take it any longer, he spoke. “What's this?”

“Oh. I took the liberty of choosing a few that I thought you might find interesting,” she clarified, following his line of sight. “You can take any others from the shelves if you want, just make sure you don't...” 

“Not the books. This,” he gestured to their surroundings, emphasizing the two of them. “Why am I here, are you gonna heal me or what?”

Sakura blinked. She took a moment to take a sip of her tea, as if she wanted to organize her words before she said them.

“I will, if you'll let me. But that's not the reason you're here. I heard about what happened in the Detection Unit, and since I'm the one who's in charge of your health I decided it would be best if you came here today. Just for a couple of hours, to clear your mind.”

“To clear my mind,” he repeated, his eyebrows raised in scepticism.

If this was any other situation, he would have thought it was a joke. Of everything Kakashi tried, that now was the most absurd of all. But the woman's face was straight, almost professional as she continued to speak.

“I know it doesn't sound serious when you put it that way, but you went through a lot in a very short time. Your brain couldn't process things properly and it won't until you give it a good rest,” she pushed the books a little more in his direction. “You can read, we can go for a walk, I can even arrange to get us a training ground if that's what you want. Whatever gets you out of your head for a minute.”

Sasuke let out an humorless laugh. “It's a waste of time.”

For a moment, he waited for her offense. His last few interactions with Sakura had been so volatile that he sought to find the same anger in the woman as in the teenager. But there was no anger. On the contrary to that, the woman seemed patient.

“Well, until we find a way to return you home, we have plenty of time. Besides, whatever you do in the apartment can't be much different than this.”

“It is.”

“How?”

“Because at least I could be alone. I wouldn't have to listen to this crap over and over again,” he snapped, rising from his seat. “What's so hard to understand? I don't want you around me—any of you! It's bad enough that I have to be in this fucked up place, I don't need you acting like you care. You don't get to do that now.”

“I understand that you feel—" He cut her of, stopping his steps to glare at her.

“No, you don't understand anything. You can't even picture what it's like. This village, this peace you all are so proud of, was built at the expense of my clan. You marginalized them, cornered them until they had no choice but to respond, and when they finally did you sent my brother to exterminate them. His own family,” His chest tightened at the memory, igniting in him a flame of rage that had been dulled for days. “Itachi died like a traitor, a scum undeserving of a grave, all because the higher ups couldn't take responsibility for their own actions.”

There were words he had saved for this moment. He had varnished them with the purest of his venom, waiting to release them on the perfect occasion which was now. But just as he was about to say them, he noticed something out of place with the woman.

She wasn't surprised.

Although his accusations should have caught her off guard and provoked the need to deny them with fervor, she had remained silent, not once interrupting his tirade.

“You know this,” he understood.

The woman's gaze didn't tremble, nor did her voice. “I do. I know the whole truth.”

With that, the flame of fury burned brighter. He clenched his fists, feeling the sting of pain from his nails piercing the layers of skin.

“Who told you?”

A heartbeat passed, long and heavy, and then:

“You did.”

That had to be a lie. Sasuke couldn't imagine a situation where he would have decided to give her any kind of explanation, not where she lived to tell the tale. Still, there she was. Alive. With no hint on her face that she was lying. 

How, he wanted to ask. How they all always managed to get through it without any wounds. How come his family was the only one who ended up with the scars. It wasn't fair. Where was the justice? Why were they the ones who got to live here, on the graves of those who sacrificed everything, without remorse?

He felt the familiar sensation of drops of blood erupting from his palms, thick and warm, but he continued to squeeze, desperate to divert the pain from his chest to anywhere else.

“Is that why you're doing this, to clean your conscience?” he asked between clenched teeth. “Are you going to be like Naruto and tell me what you understand why I did the things I did?”

The woman shook her head. “I'm not here to be your teammate, Sasuke. I'm not going to try to convince you to come back to the village, or to forget your revenge or anything like that.”

After a full minute with no response, she continued.

“I know you don't trust me, you have every reason not to. This village has failed you countless times, and no amount of apologies can make up for those mistakes—that's what I understand.” She stood up and grabbed some bandages from her desk. “So I'm not going to force you to do anything. If after today you choose not to come back here anymore, I'm going to respect that. But the truth is we don't know how long you'll be here, and until then, you can't keep living like this. It isn't healthy.

So for your own sake, if there is any chance that you can make an exception, I ask you to make it with me. I want you to trust me, only as a doctor, because I know I can help you."

Sakura stood in front of him, the distance between them wide except for the hand that was extending the bandages in his direction, almost like an olive branch.

He interspersed his gaze between the object and her several times and when he decided not to take it, Sakura returned to her seat and set the bandages down next to his tea and books.

“It's your choice, Sasuke. Just remember that no matter what you decide today, this door will always be open for you,” she said.

And those were the last words spoken in those two hours.

---

The rest of the afternoon he spent pacing around.

Whatever was happening to Naruto it hadn't gotten any better because the second they returned to the apartment Sakura locked herself in her room. With her out of the way, Sasuke took the liberty of getting to really get to know the place.

Unfortunately, there was nothing interesting. The apartment only had what was easy on the eye, four simple rooms, an open kitchen that faced the living room, and a bathroom. The only remarkable thing about the place was the view. Since it was located above the Hokage's mount, one could see almost the entire village. Although the word village seemed to be a bit of an understatement. The place was more like a metropolis now, with tall buildings, modern businesses and busier streets. 

It still didn't sit well with him.

“Sasuke,” a voice from behind him called. Kakashi was standing by the breakfast bar. He had a pencil and paper in his hand, and was writing something down. “Do you need me to add something on the market list?”

For a second he was about to ignore the man, but before he could, he remembered that there was something he actually needed.

“Headache pills.” 

That seemed to catch Kakashi's attention because for the first time since he entered that room he raised his head. There was surprise all over his face—probably because he wasn't expecting an answer—but after a second of contemplation, he just nodded.

“Okay.”

Kakashi continued writing his list and Sasuke took it as his cue to return his gaze to the window.

It hadn't escaped his attention how every room in the apartment had one except his. He didn't know if it was because they feared he might want to escape or it was just a trick to make him feel claustrophobic, but he hated it. Without the presence of a sun or moon the days blended together, becoming eternal.

It had barely been a week. No more than seven days—two in the cell and five there. But they had felt like months.

And he was tired, exhausted even. His body had begun to take a toll on him from his stunted sleep routine and nonexistent diet, and he felt the weakest he had felt in years.

You can't keep living like this. It isn't healthy.

Deep down, he knew the woman was right. From the infamous moment the truth of that future was revealed, he stopped caring about himself. The despair had been too much to handle. And it still was, if he was honest, but after the events of that afternoon something changed. 

Sasuke couldn't pinpoint exactly what the trigger was, whether seeing Naruto lying in a hospital bed or the future version of Sakura claiming to know the truth about his clan, but it had ignited a spark inside him. A motivation.

He needed answers, not only of what brought them to that place but also of what happened from the moment Madara declared war on the five nations to there, so once he had them he could use them to his advantage.

To go back. And to avoid the dystopian disaster the future had become. 

---

One of the first lessons they taught them at the academy was about how to get information effectively. The one that had stuck with him was that no matter how tentative it seemed to ask someone heavily involved, the best way to get information discreetly and accurately was to go for an outsider who wouldn't hesitate to tell their little truth.

So as he walked through the market with Kakashi at his side, he looked around for his test subject.

He found her by the tomato stall. The woman was old, somewhere in her sixties or seventies, and was wearing a big smile as she held her customers in an unnecessarily long chat. Sasuke analyzed her for a moment, making sure of his decision and then turned to Kakashi.

“I'll take the tomatoes.”

Kakashi stopped his walk to look at the tomato stand and then at him, doubt contorting his face. “You will?”

“Didn't you say I had to help?” he replied a little too curtly. “Besides the last ones you bought were disgusting, I want to pick these.” 

The man let out a sigh. When Sasuke informed him that he wasn't going to back to Sakura's office, he tried to change his mind. Kakashi went as far as to blackmail him, telling him that if he didn't go, he wouldn't be able to stay in his room anymore but would have to start contributing to the apartment's maintenance. Sasuke reluctantly agreed to that, and since it was the first time he was showing interest in his part of the deal, Kakashi couldn't say no. 

Besides, it was true. The ninja who had once been recognized internationally now wasn't capable of distinguishing between a good and an bad vegetable.

"Alright, alright," Kakashi raised his hands innocently and handed him a few bills. "I'll be here picking out some fruit. Don't take too long, we're already late to pick up Sakura."

Sasuke took the money and headed towards the stand. He waited until the two customers in front of him finished their purchases and greeted the vendor with a nod.

"Hello there," the woman greeted back, her voice full of enthusiasm. "Do you need my help with these or will you pick them out yourself?"

"I'll do it, thanks," he observed the large selection of tomatoes then spoke again. "The streets are pretty crowded today."

"It's because of Spring Day. A lot of people came to do their shopping ahead of time."

Sasuke hummed. He never heard of that day before so it had be something new. "I still can't get used to that."

"Oh, I know. Since the war it's like they're announcing new holidays every year," she laughed. "Although, between you and me, I'm not complaining. It's what keeps the business afloat."

"Aa."

Setting aside several tomatoes, he began to analyze them one by one. Too ripe. Too unripe. Too small. Too big. Sasuke took his time until he made a perfect selection. Once he was done, he extended the tomatoes towards the woman.

"You have a good eye," she put the tomatoes in a bag, her expression a mix of surprise and amusement. If he wasn't sure that he didn't know her and that the ANBU attire did its job hiding his identity, he would've thought it was some kind of inside joke. "What about you, do you have any plans for Spring? Maybe spend it with someone special?"

"I'm thinking about it," he wasn't. "I don't know if I'll be here by then." Hopefully.

"Well, you should stay. Things have been a bit... hectic since the Hokage's fight with that woman who infiltrated the village, it'll be good to have a day to relax. Especially for you ninjas."

Sasuke let out a breath. If this attack she was talking about happened before or after his arrival, he didn't know, and he couldn't ask without raising any suspicion, so he just limited himself to agreeing.

"You might be right."

That earned him a smile. The vendor took his money—much more than he would have been willing to pay in his time—and gave him some change before extending the bag in his direction.

"Quite the chat we had today," she said with a smile. And there was that again, that strange familiarity. When he didn't respond to that, she seemed to perceive his confusion because she winked at him. "An old lady knows her customers. But don't worry about me, I won't interfere with your mission. Now take this."

Not knowing exactly what she was referring to, he took the bag, gave her a final thank you, and walked back to Kakashi, ignoring the strange feeling of discomfort that interaction left him with.

She probably just mistook him for someone else.

---

Sasuke was back at the living room window when he heard footsteps approaching. He turned towards the sound expecting to find Kakashi. Instead, the one standing there, looking as surprised as he was, was Sakura.

"I thought Kakashi was here?" she asked. Everything in her body language indicated that she didn't know what to do now that she was there.

Sasuke didn't either, but instead of overthinking it as much as she did, he simply replied. "He's taking a shower."

A long moment of heavy and awkward silence passed until she seemed to find her voice again.

"Oh."

With that, Sakura made her way to the table, where she dropped into one of the chairs. While she looked everywhere but at him, Sasuke took the opportunity to study her without her knowledge.

Her eyes were red and puffy as they had been since her first visit to the hospital, but there was also a hardness in them—one he suspected was only reserved for when he was around. Sasuke would be lying if he said it didn't bother him. Still, realizing that this was his only chance to bring up the subject without eavesdropping ears, he decided to ignore it and ask instead:

"Have you heard anything about a fight between the Hokage and an infiltrator?"

Sakura snapped her head in his direction. "What, no. What happened? Is Naruto okay?"

He had to resist the urge to roll his eyes at her concern. Despite her attempts to deny it years ago, he knew that Naruto had always been very important to Sakura. Still, the way she behaved lately when it came to him made Sasuke feel uncomfortable and repulsed.

"I don't know. Some people at the market were talking about it. From what I heard it happened a few days ago."

"I had no idea," she bit her lip, lost in thought. "Do you think it has something to do with the reason we're here?"

Sasuke shrugged. "Maybe."

It was a lie. He didn't believe those two things were connected, but if convincing her that they were gave him a chance to get some information, he was more than willing to lie. However, before he could plant the seed of doubt the sound of a door opening interrupted him.

Kakashi appeared in the room with a still wet towel on his shoulders and frowned at the sight of them. "What are you doing?"

Before he could think of an excuse, Sakura had already answered. "Waiting for you to come out. I'm starving."

The man looked in his direction and then back at Sakura, as if he wasn't sure of the truth of her words but had nothing to refute them with. "Dinner's almost ready. But if you two are so eager then help me set the table." 

As Kakashi retreated to the kitchen, they both silently agreed to follow his orders.

A few minutes later, everything was set and they were sitting in front of a steaming plate of stew. The first part of the meal was eaten in silence, except for a few small comments Kakashi added here and there, to which neither of them reacted. Sasuke because he wasn't interested and Sakura because she was too busy looking at him, her eyes tracing his figure with an inner questioning.

Annoyed, he put down his fork. "What is it?"

"Where did you go while I was in the hospital?" Sakura asked, not embarrassed to have been caught but rather filled with determination. "The first time, I mean. I know it wasn't the market."

Sasuke frowned. It was only fair that after his questioning she'd get ask something in exchange, yet he couldn't help the bitterness in his tone as he answered. "I don't have to explain anything to you."

A flash of confusion lit up her face. "I just thought..." 

"You thought wrong."

At the harshness of his words, she frowned as well. "What's your problem? Why do you keep acting like we were the ones who betrayed you?" 

"Just because you chickened out last minute doesn't mean the intention wasn't there," he replied matter-of-factly. He wasn't trying to pick a fight with her, but that didn't mean he was going to let her forget what had really happened. "You tried to kill me."

"So did you. Many times!"

"Because you keep getting in my way!"

As their voices began to raise, Kakashi who had only listened to the interaction until then, tried to interrupt. "You two..."

"What was I supposed to do?!" Sakura cut him off, her voice rising to almost a shout. "You joined Akatsuki, attacked the five kages summit and killed Danzō. Your face was first in the bingo book with the order to kill on sight." 

With that, the last of his patience vanished. Fuck not fighting, if that was the way she wanted to go, then so be it. 

"Yet you decided to come after me. You started the fight the moment you pulled out that kunai and when you finally realized that you were too weak to do anything with it, Naruto had to save you," Sasuke spat. And then, in a move he knew was low, he added. "And look how that worked out for him."

As soon as those words left his mouth, the grip Sakura was holding on her fork like a lifeline snapped, causing the utensil to fall and shatter the ceramic plate in the crash.

For a long minute, their heaving breaths were all that could be heard in the room as they continued to stare at each other, anger pouring from both of their bodies like radiators in the middle of winter.  

The tension was only broken when Sakura lowered her eyes to the mess she had made. 

"I'm sorry for this, Kakashi-sensei," she swallowed hard and stood up.

Sasuke watched her round the table and waited for her to walk out the door behind him. However, the footsteps that were supposed to lead away came closer and before he could even react, a blow to his chin sent him flying out of his chair.

His back crashed against the floor with a nasty crack. He gasped in pain and directed his gaze at her, burning with anger. If his chakra flow hadn't been blocked, he would have engulfed her in black flames on the spot. Instead, he slowly got up and wiped the blood from his mouth with his forearm.

"Was that all it took for you to react, bringing up Naruto?" He let out a venomous laugh. "I guess I was right all along. You fall in love with power, not the bearer."

Sakura took a step forward, both fists clenched at her sides. "What did you say?"

"After years of trying to win you over, what finally did it for Naruto was becoming the hero of the village. I think it's pretty clear."

This time, he saw the blow coming.

Sasuke managed to dodge out of the way just in time and, taking advantage of her extended arm, grabbed her wrist and pulled her towards him. He was about to connect his fist with her face, but she seemed to read his intention and kicked his feet, making him lose his balance and freeing herself from his grasp.

With only a split-second difference, they both launched at each other again. They fell to the ground, knocking over all the furniture around as they rolled on top of each other trying to gain dominance.

Sakura landed a blow to his right, and Sasuke responded with another to her shoulder. One after another, their fury continued to grow, mixing with pain and regret. It almost felt like a sick competition to see who could gain the upper hand, with neither of them seeming to be able to win.

Still determined to try, Sasuke continued to struggle. He used his weight advantage to pin her down, and once he managed to immobilize her, he placed both hands around her neck.

Sakura's face contorted in terror, yet her gaze never left his. The same eyes that once looked at him as if he were the one who hung the stars in the sky now pierced him, fierce and vicious.

"Go on," she dared him.

And Sasuke almost did, but before he could tighten his grip Kakashi intervened.

An electric current coursed through his body at those words. The tiny electrons descended from his neck to the rest of his body, burning every nerve until he lost control of his own limbs. Sasuke fell to the side, forcing his eyes to open and search for the man. 

Kakashi was in front of him, helping Sakura up with one hand while holding a small device in the other. It was a control, no larger than a shuriken, with a dial in the center that he seemed to be adjusting to the desired level of immobilization. 

As consciousness slipped away, Sasuke briefly remembered the device the ANBU had implanted in his neck. 

Of course.

---

After the dinner fiasco, he couldn't say he was surprised when Kakashi left him outside her office the next afternoon.

The man didn't waste his breath on small talk this time, just asked the woman to let him know when to return. And though in any other situation that would have made him lose his mind, when Kakashi left and took his proachful look with him, Sasuke could only feel relief.

He didn't care where or under whose supervision, as long as he could get away from that apartment and the people in it, he would take it.

"So," Sakura spoke, turning the attention back to her. She hadn't hurried to invite him into her office this time, but seemed to be waiting for him to enter under his own free will.

Sasuke thought about it for a moment and then asked, "Did you really mean it the other day? We can do whatever what I want?"

Her eyes sparkled. "What do you have in mind?"

A few minutes later they were on a training ground, the spring breeze blowing against their skins.

When he first proposed the plan, he only wanted to hit some trees, but upon hearing that Sakura suggested practicing target instead, insisting that it would be a better way to channel his energy. Sasuke wasn't so sure. A part of him feared that her understanding of throwing practice was setting up a single target and giving him a wooden kunai like the ones the children trained with at the academy.

Fortunately, that wasn't the case.

The woman sat on the grass, surrounded by several summoning scrolls. She had already channeled her chakra into all of them and was now organising their contents into two piles of new, sharp kunai and shuriken.

As if she could feel his eyes on her, the woman looked up. "Are you done over there?"

He placed one last target behind a rock, making sure it was secure, and nodded. Sakura clapped her hands excitedly.

"Alright then," she stood up and gestured to the weapons. "All yours."

Sasuke took some in his hands and watched her sideways, anticipating a reaction. He half expected her to change her mind, to realise how reckless it was to give him a weapon, but just like the first time he met her, she seemed oblivious to the risk.

It made him wonder what the reason for her confidence was. Was it because of the device on his neck or did she think she had become such a formidable ninja that he was no longer a threat? He hoped it wasn't the latter because that would be naive—he had taken down a Hokage after all. 

Not letting her expression give away the answer, Sakura stepped back and sat down on a branch a few meters away, clearing the area for him to begin.

With a deep breath, he did. The first shuriken flew from between his fingers, slicing through the air swiftly until it found the center of the target. After that he threw three more, each one finding its perfect mark. Then he threw four more. Then another five.

Each thud echoed inside him like a heartbeat, constant and reliable. It reminded him why this had once been his favourite activity. There, with all his attention focused on hitting the target, all other thoughts faded away. He wasn't the last Uchiha, alone in the world, carrying the duty to avenge his clan on his shoulders. He was just a boy standing in a forest that was much bigger than him or his family.

It felt natural, the way the sun hung over his head, its warmth tempered by the leaves of the trees and the promise of refreshment brought by the whisper of a nearby stream. The moisture in the air. The blades of grass that fitted just right into the soles of his sandals. The birds singing ancient melodies. The collage of all the pieces enveloped him, as if the world was trying to apologise for its cruelty by letting him be cradled gently once more.

But as he said before, nothing good ever lasted. So when the sun went down, so did his weapons.

Sasuke let himself fall to the ground, somehow feeling even more exhausted, and watched as the sun's rays disappeared behind the canopy of trees in the distance, grudgingly accepting the fact that no matter how much the world tried to extend their exchange it never lasted long enough for him to forgive.

"Do you want to leave already?" Sakura asked, bringing him back to reality. 

He shook his head. "Just a few more minutes."

"Alright," she stepped down from the branch, her eyes scanning the nearly destroyed targets around her. "Your aim is still as impressive as ever. Even after all these years, I don't think I've ever seen anyone with such precision."

"That's because you never met my brother."

As quickly as the distracted words slipped from his lips, he wanted to take them back, refusing to share the memory with anyone else. However, it was too late. Sakura hummed in response, acknowledging his words but not pressing for more details about it.

After a long silence, she spoke again. "What happened in the apartment?"

Sasuke lifted his gaze from the sunset to look at her, one eyebrow raised. "Didn't Kakashi tell you already?"

"I'm asking you."

If her face told him anything, it was that her patience wouldn't extend to this particular topic of conversation. So, with a click of his tongue, he explained. "We had a fight. The other you and me. She was asking questions that were none of her business and got angry when I called her out on it."

At his side, the woman crossed her arms. "I have a feeling you weren't very kind with your words."

"Why would I be?" he returned his gaze to the front, avoiding hers.

"Because she's someone who's going through the same thing as you," Sakura suggested, and when she caught the faint edge of his expression, she corrected herself. "I don't mean what happened with your family and the Leaf, I mean being in an unknown place surrounded by unknown people."

"They're not unknown to her."

"Are you sure? Because from what Kakashi told me, she still doesn't trust him. And I know that Ino and Naruto had been to busy lately to be around. The only people she knows who belong to her world are Naruto and you, and he's still unconscious in the hospital. She must be scared."

Sasuke snorted. "She didn't seem very scared when she punched me."

"Well, I'm not going to defend that, but I do believe you two need to find a way to smooth things over. This wasn't the best, but it can be a start," she sat down next to him, making sure there was a comfortable distance. "Just think about it, okay? And if you ever fight again, come straight to my office. That blow on your right side must have bothered you all night. "

It had indeed bothered him all night, and although Sasuke couldn't understand how she kept deducing such things, he decided not to ask her about it but to focus on the question that had been bothering him since the first time he'd seen her.

"Why are you doing this?"

She tilted her head in confusion. "I'm the one responsible for your health while you're here..."

"That's not it. If you really cared about my health, you would have healed me by now. It wouldn't take you more than a minute," he accused, his voice deep and serious. "You told me before that you wanted me to make you the exception, didn't you? Then tell me the truth."

Sakura sighed, turning her gaze to the sky. "The reason I haven't healed you yet is because I don't think that the treatment you need is only physical. You have wounds deeper than the ones that can be healed in a hospital. The only way to get to the core of your pain is through deep introspection, and I can't force you to do that."

"So you've decided that you won't heal me until I agree?"

She shook her head. "Not exactly, no. As I said before, I'll heal you if you let me. It's just that you wouldn't have listened to me if I had done it right away." 

Sasuke gritted his teeth. As much as he wanted to deny it, she was right about that too. "I'm listening now. Explain."

She did. Sakura told him about the origins of the Mental Health Clinic, how it had been founded after the war out of the need to deal with the emotional and psychological wounds it had left behind. She explained the characteristics that made it different from a normal hospital, the special training that each of its professionals went through, and the different programs they had developed to treat people. 

Apparently, every case was different. Each patient needed a unique type of treatment. Some preferred to play, some to train, some to talk about it, some showed up for appointments and didn't say a word. The one common denominator among them was that there was something in their lives—a particular event or chemical imbalance—that caused them to experience internal challenges that affected their emotional and physical well-being.  

As she listed some of the challenges these people faced, Sasuke couldn't help but feel singled out. Depersonalization, flashbacks, crippling guilt, insomnia, radical swings of emotions and that constant feeling of emptiness were things he had experienced since childhood. He used to believe they were the protective walls he had built after the massacre, the painfully carved patterns that kept him focused. But if what Sakura said was true then he had been wrong all along and they were the symptoms of a malaise that, obviated behind his goal, had settled and taken root inside him. 

Like a plague. A lethal infection enhanced by the generational curse of his blood. 

The very thought made the acidity in his stomach rise up into his throat still, Sasuke didn't interrupt her. He allowed Sakura to explain every detail, every treatment and every reason why she believed it would be helpful, until she reached the conclusion of her argument: