Chapter Seven
Sorry for the delay. Real life (mainly school, darn that thing).
Thanks to everyone who commented on the last chapter, and sorry I didn't get around to replying.
Title: These People I Can’t Stand
Rating: T
Warnings: Angsty Sasuke-ness, and some swearing, references to very recent chapters of the manga
Other pairings: Lee/Sakura and Nagato/Konan (yes, how did these two get into this fic?)
Setting: AU, present day Japan
Chapter One, Chapter Two, Chapter Three
Chapter Four, Chapter Five, Chapter Six
Chapter Seven: Dreams
The bounce in Sakura’s step, and the excited squeaks she made with each as she approached, was nothing he hadn’t seen before. She had rushed to him like that before, just for the simple reason that he was there to be rushed to. Now her gaze darted evenly between him and the people he sat among, as she caught her breath and clutched the piece of paper to her chest.
“I… I got in!”
There was a cheer, drowned out by a squeal as Yamanaka jumped up and dragged the Hyuuga girl with her.
“Bacchikoi bacchikoi baby!”
The little dance ritual ended in a group hug, at which point the rest of the flock got up and joined in. Sasuke took his time, and noticed he wasn’t the only one who didn’t dive in head first. Gaara had noticed the same, but directed his smile straight forward and opened his arms, as Sakura emerged from the bundle.
“Congratulations. I knew you would,” he told her, looking like he had hugged people all his life and nothing like the brute you shouldn’t let near anything fragile.
She thanked him, and turned to the one person present who had yet to take part in her joy.
“So, you’re going to be a doctor, then,” Sasuke acknowledged.
“It would appear so,” she beamed, ignoring for now Naruto’s addition of ‘A damn fine one, too’.
Sasuke, however, decided to leap at the chance and nodded at him. What’s the use of talking when you have Naruto around to do it for you? It proved to be enough, as her arms wrapped around him, and Sasuke forced his own hands out of his pockets. If Gaara was going around initiating hugs (and whatever cuddling went on between him and Naruto did not count), he could handle returning one. It was certainly easier when that was all he was expected to return.
“Does Lee-san know yet?” Yamanaka enquired, as she snatched away the center of attention.
“Not yet, I just got the letter myself. I’ll tell him right after school, though,” Sakura replied, and with that they snuck beyond hearing distance of anything other than giggles, the Hyuuga girl pitter-pattering along like she didn’t know how to include herself but was determined to try anyway.
Sasuke had been skeptical of Sakura’s boyfriend. The guy was weird, and not in a way he was used to, because this weirdness was loud and ridiculously serious about the stupidest things, and apparently completely oblivious to being that (as opposed to Naruto, who knew perfectly well he was getting on people’s nerves, but considered any reaction a positive one). His looks didn’t fit the standards Sasuke hadn’t realized he had, of deserving to possibly have his genes mixed with Sakura’s. He had no sense of style, to the point that it became a style.
Well, she had been skeptical, too, at first. The poor bastard had started his pathetic wooing thinking himself a knight in a shining armor, gotten a crash course into less outdated gender roles as a response, and Sasuke had thought that would be the last they saw of him. But this Lee character was a persistent one, and apparently not afraid of a princess who could handle the dragon on her own. No doubt he would have nothing against Sakura’s decision to pursue an ambitious career instead of becoming an obedient housewife.
Not that Sasuke cared, much. But he would expect, or tolerate, nothing less for her.
“…and also, now he has to listen to your advice when you say he’s training too hard. It’s coming from an expert on medicine,” was heard from the girls’ general direction. The voice was Naruto’s.
“Well, that’s one way of looking at it. So what’s your relationship’s occupational perk?” Sakura smirked.
Naruto frowned in thought half a second, and drew his boyfriend closer. “I’ll have him write my speeches, so I’ll sound really smart.”
Gaara considered this, and replied: “And he can handle the annoying public debates for me, since he’s good at improvising means to get his point across and converting stubborn people.”
“Or I could just teach you my art of dumb luck persuasion,” suggested the blond.
“And I could teach you how to use big words,” agreed the redhead.
Sakura shook her head with a smile. “Kokkai beware…”
“So you’re still serious about it? I thought it was something like how back in first grade, Shino wanted to be an ‘ant farmer’ when he grows up.” Inuzuka made bunny quotes at the term, and Sasuke doubted it was because it was trademarked.
“Myrmecologist,” grunted the boy tucked in a hoodie like a caterpillar in its cocoon. The people sitting close enough to hear him turned to look, having not noticed him until now. “It’s an actual profession.”
“Whatever, bad example. How about that Haku kid who wanted to be an ice princess, then? What happened to him, anyway? I never heard from him after he moved away in third.”
“Um…”
More head-turning followed. Hinata Hyuuga was about to speak, and nobody dared to so much as breathe in fear of ruining the occasion.
“Kiba-kun, I take it you haven’t followed figure skating. He has won three World Championships and took bronze at the last Olympics.” She then glanced around the crowd out of habit, and would have apologized for speaking if Naruto hadn’t weaned her out of that last year.
“Wow, no, I haven’t. Good for him, then. Uh… just to make sure, in men’s series?” Hinata nodded. “Okay, I give up. But you guys realize you can’t both be the prime minister, right? Or does one of you plan on becoming The Emperor instead?”
Naruto laughed. “I guess as long as we get to be where the decisions are made, it doesn’t matter what the title is exactly. Or, hey, we totally could both be the prime minister, just not at the same time, you know.”
“Well, remind me to vote for you, then,” Inuzuka shrugged.
One more notch on the list of successful conversions à la dumb luck persuasion, Sasuke noted. And one less thing on the list of things Naruto had and Gaara didn’t, but at this point such a list would be quite pointless. Obviously the only thing on it was the ability to grow facial hair.
Sasuke watched the conversation go on, making sure to detect in time any signs of being made to join it, lest he would have to divulge his own career plans -or rather, the lack of them.
It was no wonder Itachi had weaseled out of ever becoming a part of Uchiha Copiers, lately putting his energy into his band instead (And damn if that bastard hadn’t gotten some name for it already. Not to mention that somehow, between going nearly blind and graduating from high school, Itachi had learned to play a keyboard), or that their uncle had resigned years ago, starting a small business of his own. The company was a hellhole of backstabbing, wrapped up neatly in a ribbon of red tape for the sake of red tape, and already Sasuke knew grandpa Madara was a boss you wouldn’t wish on your worst enemy (unless… no, not even Deidara).
But this path had always been a given. Grandpa expected at least one of the brothers to join the family business (and be his henchman slash gofer), as had the whole family ever since their parents got married. Sasuke himself had made it his goal to do what Itachi was too stupid to do and do it well (ideally, with Itachi there to watch and weep), but something told him there was no way of doing well what his ‘legally guaranteed place in the sun’ was beginning to reveal itself to contain.
In the midst of it, he had neglected to construct a Plan B. This was a weakness not to be shown.
A week later Sasuke found himself wearing more black than was his norm and sitting between a silently mourning, hand-holding Garuto and hugging, tear-gushing Sakura and Lee, with another weakness in the process of not being shown. He had hardly known Gaara’s grandmother, and here he was, surrounded by her children and grandchildren as they waited to go pick her up at the crematorium.
Gaara had told him he didn’t have to come, even though he was invited. He knew Sasuke had been old enough to remember when it was his parents’ bones and ash that got chopsticked into urns.
So of course Sasuke had come. At the moment he was beginning to wish he hadn’t, as he listened to Naruto recount the surprising events involving his parents from the day before.
“I guess I always knew they were alive,” he said through a few sobs that obviously weren’t for granny Chiyo anymore, “just didn’t want to believe it.”
“They were that bad?” Sakura asked with a nasal voice and sniffed. God, teary people sounded so disgusting.
Naruto shook his head. “I’d kept hearing they were, from people who didn’t know anything, and I guess I’d added to it myself by thinking they must have hated me if they didn’t wanna keep me.” He winced a little and continued with a wry smile. “I made an equally bad first impression myself.”
The others looked at him expectantly, and when he didn’t say more, Gaara did. “He punched his father.”
Naruto laughed a little. “Yeah… I did, right in the gut. Not very smart, but I’d resented them for so long it just came to that when they were finally there. They understood, though, and they’re cool, it was all one big fucking misunderstanding. They never dumped me in the first place and they’d been looking for me.”
“And you believe them?” Sasuke asked.
Naruto nodded, and Gaara let go of his hand to put his arm around him. “So do I,” the redhead said. He had been there, of course.
Naruto’s parents had been in junior high school when he was born, and obviously too young to raise a child. Their own parents had pressured them into giving him up for adoption, and despite of their efforts to remain a part of his life, they had lost track of him for eighteen years.
He had his mother’s eyes and sense of humor.
His father was also a rising politician, started out from as good as nothing and now well on his way to preceding his son in realizing his dream.
They were still together and in love.
They were proud of how he had turned out, albeit in their absence.
And that was just great.
By the time Naruto got to gushing about how his new, perfect, loving, alive mommy and daddy had named him after the hero of their favorite book, Sasuke jumped to his feet and stomped outside. He hardly registered his friends calling after him; he was not going to listen to any more.
He found his way to the garden pond and sat down on the bank. If he could still smoke he would have lit a cigarette to occupy himself, but was left with only staring at the water and thinking instead.
When Sasuke had first met Naruto, the blond boy had sat next to him at a pier and declared them friends by saying ‘I heard you don’t have any parents. Neither do I. Let’s play together!’
They had not played together, but Naruto had talked, jumped around and played enough ‘ninjas vs. pirates’ for the both of them, assuming the roles of both sides of the battle and ending the game in falling off the pier and claiming he meant to do that, because he had just been made walk the plank. Sasuke had gone home without a word and Naruto had gotten more annoying with each passing day.
Naruto had had no parents. Sasuke had, and didn’t anymore. Was he really too stupid to tell the difference? Sakura had belittled the fact once, gotten told off, and hadn’t brought it up since. At least she didn’t claim to understand something she didn’t.
Sasuke heard footsteps behind him. Great, now one of them had come to talk to him.
Was it Naruto -apologizing he had upset Sasuke but ready to pick a fight if he had to grovel too much? Sakura perhaps -feeling pity for him but trying not to show it, pleading that they should all get along and scolding him for the lack of effort?
Gaara? Come to stand there like he had no weaknesses, watch Sasuke be a mess and tell him something brutally honest? That sounded likely. Well he was not going to see him cry for a second time. Sasuke cooked up a quick sarcastic greeting and turned around to fix a glare.
“…What the hell do you want?” Not the sarcastic greeting he had had in mind, but still face-savingly scornful.
“I can see why you rather came here to honor Chiyo-baasama’s memory. This place is beautiful,” Lee said as he sat down beside him. His voice had that sickening optimistic determination in it that it usually did, even when filtered through the snot and tears he had at least had the decency to wipe off his face. “I heard this was one of her own favorite spots, she would sit here fishing and meditating quite often.”
Sasuke noticed the koi swimming around the pond and a fishing rod on a rack nearby. There was no hook at the end of the line. Then again, what would the old lady have done with an expensive ornamental carp if she had caught one? Cooked it for dinner? What an idiotic pastime nonetheless.
“But, I think it would be better for Gaara-kun to have his friends around him at the moment. I cannot imagine what it must be like to be orphaned three times so early in one’s life, but perhaps you have a better idea of that, Sasuke-kun.”
“What are you talking about? Gaara’s not an orphan,” Sasuke snapped. “His father’s still alive.”
Lee looked at him innocently. “Did you see his father in there?”
“I wouldn’t know if I had, I don’t know what he looks like.” He had been to Gaara’s house twice before their temporary move back to Suna, and no one besides the three siblings had been home either of the times.
“I only saw him once myself, when he was asked to come to the school to discuss some problems Gaara-kun was having,” Lee continued, and Sasuke suddenly remembered he had gone to school with Gaara before.
“What had he done? Is the rumor that he killed someone true, too?” he snorted quietly.
Lee shook his head. “It was in first grade, he was very different back then. Perhaps if I had noticed and tried to befriend him sooner he would have never gotten the way he was when you first met him. But it is a good thing that you did, because now he is more like that again, only with less tears and more smiles.”
Sasuke stared at the koi, wishing he had at least that stupid rod if he couldn’t have a cigarette.
“The day following his father’s visit, he came to school with a bandage on his head. After that he didn’t refer to his father as ‘otou-sama’ anymore, it was simply ‘that man’ if he had to mention him at all.”
Sasuke remembered the kanji Gaara had on his forehead. It looked like a tattoo from afar, but he had been close enough to notice it was a scar. One of the gashes was much deeper than the others, like the whole thing had been built around that one stroke. Sasuke had assumed Gaara had just lost the nerve to carve that deep after the first cut, and that he had done it in some insane attempt to look more badass like any kid with a homemade tattoo or piercing. Now he wondered.
“Chiyo-baasama was the one who brought it to the rest of the Sabaku family’s attention that Gaara-kun and his siblings were more or less raising themselves,” Lee mentioned, and when Sasuke expected him to go on and conjure up a string of praises for the old woman for that feat, he didn’t, instead watching Sasuke like he was waiting for him to verbalize those praises instead.
Sasuke narrowed his eyes at him. “And what do you want me to do now that I know his sob story? Hold his hand if he starts crying?” He cringed at the memory of that situation reversed. He hadn’t meant to make a reference to that, not that Lee could know about it.
“I believe Naruto-kun already has that covered, but he invited you, so you must have a purpose here,” Lee said as he stood up. "Let us do our best!" he added, like it was a challenge they had all accepted with the invitation.
Sasuke said nothing. He hadn’t known Gaara had personally invited him. Sakura was there because she had been close to Gaara’s grandmother and admired her greatly, Naruto and Lee were the supportive boyfriends. He had thought he was there just so he wouldn’t be the only one of Gaara’s friends who didn’t get an invitation.
Still -so Gaara didn't get along with his old man? Nothing new. Join the club. Having a bad childhood hardly made you special, and if it did, then surely Sasuke was more special. But Lee was right about one thing, he would give him that -this was the funeral of a woman who, for the past five years, had acted as a parent for someone who could be referred to as his friend. And though nobody probably expected it of an ex-druggie, the pride of the Uchiha family (which he was going to be, even if it wouldn't be in the way that was expected of him) still had some manners.
He opened the door a few minutes after Lee had gone in, not wanting to seem like he had been brought back. Nobody spoke when he sat down, and he didn’t look at them when he said it.
“Sorry.”
The smile Gaara gave him when he did look in their direction made him quickly add “I just needed some fresh air” before they got the wrong idea. The fact that the smile didn’t disappear told him they weren’t fooled, but Gaara only nodded and left it at that.
When he got home all he wanted to do was take a shower and go to bed. He could hear Itachi and his band practicing and arguing about something at the other side of the house, but he had slept through more noise than that.
He got as far as in front of the bathroom door when he heard a splash inside. The door creaked open as he pushed it. Did no one use locks anymore?
“Hi there, Sasuke. I thought it was you.”
Sasuke stared in disbelief at his old accomplice. “What are you doing in my bath tub, Suigetsu?”
A toothy, sharp grin glistened from the sea of bubbles. There was probably no soap left at all. “Bathing, duh.”
Sasuke groaned. He did so not need this right now. “Why at my house?”
“Because I was at your house.” Suigetsu stood up from the tub and walked out to Sasuke’s room, dripping water and foam all over the floor, and started to open closet doors. “You got a towel around here somewhere?”
“Yeah, in here,” Sasuke growled and pulled a towel from the bathroom shelf.
“Oh, how did I miss that,” Suigetsu laughed, wetting the floor a second time as he walked back and getting some on Denka and Hina, who had gotten too close in their curiosity. The two cats hissed and fled the room in a flurry. “What was that? You’ve got tanukis as pets now? Awesome!”
Sasuke just handed him the towel and a scowl.
“Long time no see, what’ve you been up to?” Suigetsu asked and turned on the shower.
“School.”
“Cool, they found you then. I mean of course they did, since you’re here instead of dead in a ditch.”
Sasuke cocked a brow. “You helped Naruto and Sakura?” Right after the words left his lips he realized he should have known which three of his allies would have, but he couldn’t take back showing his surprise now. “What about Karin and Juugo? Where are they?”
“Dead in a ditch.”
Sasuke tried not to look upset.
“Not!” Suigetsu grinned and threw him back the wet towel. “Just kidding, they’re with your brother.”
“You're all here? What are you up to?”
“Itachi invited us, actually. You may know he’s got that band thing going on.”
As if Sasuke could forget.
“They’re doing some changes, a few old members want out and they need new ones to replace them. I think they’re considering having Karin as a bassist.”
“What about you?”
“Me? I don’t know shit about music, Juugo just wanted to see you and I thought I’d tag along. He’s been better you know, went to see a real doctor and got drugs that actually make him less crazy as opposed to more. I don’t think Akatsuki wants him as their lead singer, either, though.”
Sasuke noticed they had gotten out of his room and into the hallway, but there was something missing. “Shouldn’t you put your clothes on?”
Suigetsu just shrugged and started looking for his clothing. “Anyway, they were gonna pick Itachi, since he’s pretty and all that… but his singing voice is crap.” Sasuke smirked. “Which is bullshit, since so is Yahiko’s. You know that guy with piercings that they have as their front man now? He’s not really singing. Konan’s boyfriend runs the band and does his vocals. If you ask me your brother has a stage fright, he’s scared shitless of being the center of attention.”
Sasuke smirked wider.
“But Nagato doesn’t want the job either, he’s happy just sitting in his emo poet corner and writing songs about pain and rain and whatever else rhymes with that,” Suigetsu said as he finally pulled his shirt over his head and followed Sasuke out the door. “He said if they could get someone with Itachi’s looks but prettier, and a good singing voice so they wouldn’t need playback either, and enough confidence to look hot on stage, that’d be perfect. You know someone like that?”
Sasuke tried to stay cool, but he couldn’t help the smirk he still had on his face when it was his turn to shrug. He was going to wait a while longer before he admitted it, but he had made a decision.
Juugo and Karin rushed to greet him as he opened the door to Akatsuki’s practice room. He walked straight to the ‘emo poet corner’ of the evening, where a skinny guy with bright red scene hair hunched at a desk with a bored-looking blue-haired woman folding the pile of paper next to him into random things. With the confidence of a man who had finally found a way to realize his dream (though he preferred calling it an ambition), Sasuke made his impressive entrance.
“I heard you’re looking for a lead singer. I’ll join if you ask nicely.”
“Sasuke? I was under the impression you didn’t like singing,” Nagato asked, apparently in utter amazement. Good.
“Did Itachi tell you that? He must have misunderstood. I love it,” Sasuke deadpanned.
Nagato nodded. “Let's hear it then. I expect you to do this justice.” The man gave him a crumpled sheet of paper and gestured at the mic stand.
Sasuke took a look at the lyrics. 'The Sky Is Crying', huh?
'The world will know true pain
Giving birth to peace in endless chain of hatred
You say my peace is a lie
But in this cursed world
A peace where people truly understand one another is nothing but a fantasy
Love breeds sacrifice
Sacrifice breeds hatred
You can know pain
But my pain is greater than yours'
Yes, he could get used to voicing this stuff.
As the band begun to play, he threw a glance at his older brother, who was looking adequately jealous. This was indeed perfect.
He thought he had seen Itachi smirk just as he turned his head back and heard him mutter something that might have been ‘foolish little brother’ just as the cymbal clashed loudly, but he must have imagined it.
-----------
Kokkai = The National Diet of Japan, the legislative body of the country.
Otou-sama = A pretty formal way to speak of your father (I think little Gaara actually calls Mr. Fourth Kazekage this in the anime). For the record (and omg spoiler), Naruto called Minato tou-chan ('daddy') when he first met him.
The lyrics are things Nagato/Pain said in the manga. The title of the song was said by Konan.
So no, this isn't a songfic, lol.
Chapter Eight
Thanks to everyone who commented on the last chapter, and sorry I didn't get around to replying.
Title: These People I Can’t Stand
Rating: T
Warnings: Angsty Sasuke-ness, and some swearing, references to very recent chapters of the manga
Other pairings: Lee/Sakura and Nagato/Konan (yes, how did these two get into this fic?)
Setting: AU, present day Japan
Chapter One, Chapter Two, Chapter Three
Chapter Four, Chapter Five, Chapter Six
Chapter Seven: Dreams
The bounce in Sakura’s step, and the excited squeaks she made with each as she approached, was nothing he hadn’t seen before. She had rushed to him like that before, just for the simple reason that he was there to be rushed to. Now her gaze darted evenly between him and the people he sat among, as she caught her breath and clutched the piece of paper to her chest.
“I… I got in!”
There was a cheer, drowned out by a squeal as Yamanaka jumped up and dragged the Hyuuga girl with her.
“Bacchikoi bacchikoi baby!”
The little dance ritual ended in a group hug, at which point the rest of the flock got up and joined in. Sasuke took his time, and noticed he wasn’t the only one who didn’t dive in head first. Gaara had noticed the same, but directed his smile straight forward and opened his arms, as Sakura emerged from the bundle.
“Congratulations. I knew you would,” he told her, looking like he had hugged people all his life and nothing like the brute you shouldn’t let near anything fragile.
She thanked him, and turned to the one person present who had yet to take part in her joy.
“So, you’re going to be a doctor, then,” Sasuke acknowledged.
“It would appear so,” she beamed, ignoring for now Naruto’s addition of ‘A damn fine one, too’.
Sasuke, however, decided to leap at the chance and nodded at him. What’s the use of talking when you have Naruto around to do it for you? It proved to be enough, as her arms wrapped around him, and Sasuke forced his own hands out of his pockets. If Gaara was going around initiating hugs (and whatever cuddling went on between him and Naruto did not count), he could handle returning one. It was certainly easier when that was all he was expected to return.
“Does Lee-san know yet?” Yamanaka enquired, as she snatched away the center of attention.
“Not yet, I just got the letter myself. I’ll tell him right after school, though,” Sakura replied, and with that they snuck beyond hearing distance of anything other than giggles, the Hyuuga girl pitter-pattering along like she didn’t know how to include herself but was determined to try anyway.
Sasuke had been skeptical of Sakura’s boyfriend. The guy was weird, and not in a way he was used to, because this weirdness was loud and ridiculously serious about the stupidest things, and apparently completely oblivious to being that (as opposed to Naruto, who knew perfectly well he was getting on people’s nerves, but considered any reaction a positive one). His looks didn’t fit the standards Sasuke hadn’t realized he had, of deserving to possibly have his genes mixed with Sakura’s. He had no sense of style, to the point that it became a style.
Well, she had been skeptical, too, at first. The poor bastard had started his pathetic wooing thinking himself a knight in a shining armor, gotten a crash course into less outdated gender roles as a response, and Sasuke had thought that would be the last they saw of him. But this Lee character was a persistent one, and apparently not afraid of a princess who could handle the dragon on her own. No doubt he would have nothing against Sakura’s decision to pursue an ambitious career instead of becoming an obedient housewife.
Not that Sasuke cared, much. But he would expect, or tolerate, nothing less for her.
“…and also, now he has to listen to your advice when you say he’s training too hard. It’s coming from an expert on medicine,” was heard from the girls’ general direction. The voice was Naruto’s.
“Well, that’s one way of looking at it. So what’s your relationship’s occupational perk?” Sakura smirked.
Naruto frowned in thought half a second, and drew his boyfriend closer. “I’ll have him write my speeches, so I’ll sound really smart.”
Gaara considered this, and replied: “And he can handle the annoying public debates for me, since he’s good at improvising means to get his point across and converting stubborn people.”
“Or I could just teach you my art of dumb luck persuasion,” suggested the blond.
“And I could teach you how to use big words,” agreed the redhead.
Sakura shook her head with a smile. “Kokkai beware…”
“So you’re still serious about it? I thought it was something like how back in first grade, Shino wanted to be an ‘ant farmer’ when he grows up.” Inuzuka made bunny quotes at the term, and Sasuke doubted it was because it was trademarked.
“Myrmecologist,” grunted the boy tucked in a hoodie like a caterpillar in its cocoon. The people sitting close enough to hear him turned to look, having not noticed him until now. “It’s an actual profession.”
“Whatever, bad example. How about that Haku kid who wanted to be an ice princess, then? What happened to him, anyway? I never heard from him after he moved away in third.”
“Um…”
More head-turning followed. Hinata Hyuuga was about to speak, and nobody dared to so much as breathe in fear of ruining the occasion.
“Kiba-kun, I take it you haven’t followed figure skating. He has won three World Championships and took bronze at the last Olympics.” She then glanced around the crowd out of habit, and would have apologized for speaking if Naruto hadn’t weaned her out of that last year.
“Wow, no, I haven’t. Good for him, then. Uh… just to make sure, in men’s series?” Hinata nodded. “Okay, I give up. But you guys realize you can’t both be the prime minister, right? Or does one of you plan on becoming The Emperor instead?”
Naruto laughed. “I guess as long as we get to be where the decisions are made, it doesn’t matter what the title is exactly. Or, hey, we totally could both be the prime minister, just not at the same time, you know.”
“Well, remind me to vote for you, then,” Inuzuka shrugged.
One more notch on the list of successful conversions à la dumb luck persuasion, Sasuke noted. And one less thing on the list of things Naruto had and Gaara didn’t, but at this point such a list would be quite pointless. Obviously the only thing on it was the ability to grow facial hair.
Sasuke watched the conversation go on, making sure to detect in time any signs of being made to join it, lest he would have to divulge his own career plans -or rather, the lack of them.
It was no wonder Itachi had weaseled out of ever becoming a part of Uchiha Copiers, lately putting his energy into his band instead (And damn if that bastard hadn’t gotten some name for it already. Not to mention that somehow, between going nearly blind and graduating from high school, Itachi had learned to play a keyboard), or that their uncle had resigned years ago, starting a small business of his own. The company was a hellhole of backstabbing, wrapped up neatly in a ribbon of red tape for the sake of red tape, and already Sasuke knew grandpa Madara was a boss you wouldn’t wish on your worst enemy (unless… no, not even Deidara).
But this path had always been a given. Grandpa expected at least one of the brothers to join the family business (and be his henchman slash gofer), as had the whole family ever since their parents got married. Sasuke himself had made it his goal to do what Itachi was too stupid to do and do it well (ideally, with Itachi there to watch and weep), but something told him there was no way of doing well what his ‘legally guaranteed place in the sun’ was beginning to reveal itself to contain.
In the midst of it, he had neglected to construct a Plan B. This was a weakness not to be shown.
A week later Sasuke found himself wearing more black than was his norm and sitting between a silently mourning, hand-holding Garuto and hugging, tear-gushing Sakura and Lee, with another weakness in the process of not being shown. He had hardly known Gaara’s grandmother, and here he was, surrounded by her children and grandchildren as they waited to go pick her up at the crematorium.
Gaara had told him he didn’t have to come, even though he was invited. He knew Sasuke had been old enough to remember when it was his parents’ bones and ash that got chopsticked into urns.
So of course Sasuke had come. At the moment he was beginning to wish he hadn’t, as he listened to Naruto recount the surprising events involving his parents from the day before.
“I guess I always knew they were alive,” he said through a few sobs that obviously weren’t for granny Chiyo anymore, “just didn’t want to believe it.”
“They were that bad?” Sakura asked with a nasal voice and sniffed. God, teary people sounded so disgusting.
Naruto shook his head. “I’d kept hearing they were, from people who didn’t know anything, and I guess I’d added to it myself by thinking they must have hated me if they didn’t wanna keep me.” He winced a little and continued with a wry smile. “I made an equally bad first impression myself.”
The others looked at him expectantly, and when he didn’t say more, Gaara did. “He punched his father.”
Naruto laughed a little. “Yeah… I did, right in the gut. Not very smart, but I’d resented them for so long it just came to that when they were finally there. They understood, though, and they’re cool, it was all one big fucking misunderstanding. They never dumped me in the first place and they’d been looking for me.”
“And you believe them?” Sasuke asked.
Naruto nodded, and Gaara let go of his hand to put his arm around him. “So do I,” the redhead said. He had been there, of course.
Naruto’s parents had been in junior high school when he was born, and obviously too young to raise a child. Their own parents had pressured them into giving him up for adoption, and despite of their efforts to remain a part of his life, they had lost track of him for eighteen years.
He had his mother’s eyes and sense of humor.
His father was also a rising politician, started out from as good as nothing and now well on his way to preceding his son in realizing his dream.
They were still together and in love.
They were proud of how he had turned out, albeit in their absence.
And that was just great.
By the time Naruto got to gushing about how his new, perfect, loving, alive mommy and daddy had named him after the hero of their favorite book, Sasuke jumped to his feet and stomped outside. He hardly registered his friends calling after him; he was not going to listen to any more.
He found his way to the garden pond and sat down on the bank. If he could still smoke he would have lit a cigarette to occupy himself, but was left with only staring at the water and thinking instead.
When Sasuke had first met Naruto, the blond boy had sat next to him at a pier and declared them friends by saying ‘I heard you don’t have any parents. Neither do I. Let’s play together!’
They had not played together, but Naruto had talked, jumped around and played enough ‘ninjas vs. pirates’ for the both of them, assuming the roles of both sides of the battle and ending the game in falling off the pier and claiming he meant to do that, because he had just been made walk the plank. Sasuke had gone home without a word and Naruto had gotten more annoying with each passing day.
Naruto had had no parents. Sasuke had, and didn’t anymore. Was he really too stupid to tell the difference? Sakura had belittled the fact once, gotten told off, and hadn’t brought it up since. At least she didn’t claim to understand something she didn’t.
Sasuke heard footsteps behind him. Great, now one of them had come to talk to him.
Was it Naruto -apologizing he had upset Sasuke but ready to pick a fight if he had to grovel too much? Sakura perhaps -feeling pity for him but trying not to show it, pleading that they should all get along and scolding him for the lack of effort?
Gaara? Come to stand there like he had no weaknesses, watch Sasuke be a mess and tell him something brutally honest? That sounded likely. Well he was not going to see him cry for a second time. Sasuke cooked up a quick sarcastic greeting and turned around to fix a glare.
“…What the hell do you want?” Not the sarcastic greeting he had had in mind, but still face-savingly scornful.
“I can see why you rather came here to honor Chiyo-baasama’s memory. This place is beautiful,” Lee said as he sat down beside him. His voice had that sickening optimistic determination in it that it usually did, even when filtered through the snot and tears he had at least had the decency to wipe off his face. “I heard this was one of her own favorite spots, she would sit here fishing and meditating quite often.”
Sasuke noticed the koi swimming around the pond and a fishing rod on a rack nearby. There was no hook at the end of the line. Then again, what would the old lady have done with an expensive ornamental carp if she had caught one? Cooked it for dinner? What an idiotic pastime nonetheless.
“But, I think it would be better for Gaara-kun to have his friends around him at the moment. I cannot imagine what it must be like to be orphaned three times so early in one’s life, but perhaps you have a better idea of that, Sasuke-kun.”
“What are you talking about? Gaara’s not an orphan,” Sasuke snapped. “His father’s still alive.”
Lee looked at him innocently. “Did you see his father in there?”
“I wouldn’t know if I had, I don’t know what he looks like.” He had been to Gaara’s house twice before their temporary move back to Suna, and no one besides the three siblings had been home either of the times.
“I only saw him once myself, when he was asked to come to the school to discuss some problems Gaara-kun was having,” Lee continued, and Sasuke suddenly remembered he had gone to school with Gaara before.
“What had he done? Is the rumor that he killed someone true, too?” he snorted quietly.
Lee shook his head. “It was in first grade, he was very different back then. Perhaps if I had noticed and tried to befriend him sooner he would have never gotten the way he was when you first met him. But it is a good thing that you did, because now he is more like that again, only with less tears and more smiles.”
Sasuke stared at the koi, wishing he had at least that stupid rod if he couldn’t have a cigarette.
“The day following his father’s visit, he came to school with a bandage on his head. After that he didn’t refer to his father as ‘otou-sama’ anymore, it was simply ‘that man’ if he had to mention him at all.”
Sasuke remembered the kanji Gaara had on his forehead. It looked like a tattoo from afar, but he had been close enough to notice it was a scar. One of the gashes was much deeper than the others, like the whole thing had been built around that one stroke. Sasuke had assumed Gaara had just lost the nerve to carve that deep after the first cut, and that he had done it in some insane attempt to look more badass like any kid with a homemade tattoo or piercing. Now he wondered.
“Chiyo-baasama was the one who brought it to the rest of the Sabaku family’s attention that Gaara-kun and his siblings were more or less raising themselves,” Lee mentioned, and when Sasuke expected him to go on and conjure up a string of praises for the old woman for that feat, he didn’t, instead watching Sasuke like he was waiting for him to verbalize those praises instead.
Sasuke narrowed his eyes at him. “And what do you want me to do now that I know his sob story? Hold his hand if he starts crying?” He cringed at the memory of that situation reversed. He hadn’t meant to make a reference to that, not that Lee could know about it.
“I believe Naruto-kun already has that covered, but he invited you, so you must have a purpose here,” Lee said as he stood up. "Let us do our best!" he added, like it was a challenge they had all accepted with the invitation.
Sasuke said nothing. He hadn’t known Gaara had personally invited him. Sakura was there because she had been close to Gaara’s grandmother and admired her greatly, Naruto and Lee were the supportive boyfriends. He had thought he was there just so he wouldn’t be the only one of Gaara’s friends who didn’t get an invitation.
Still -so Gaara didn't get along with his old man? Nothing new. Join the club. Having a bad childhood hardly made you special, and if it did, then surely Sasuke was more special. But Lee was right about one thing, he would give him that -this was the funeral of a woman who, for the past five years, had acted as a parent for someone who could be referred to as his friend. And though nobody probably expected it of an ex-druggie, the pride of the Uchiha family (which he was going to be, even if it wouldn't be in the way that was expected of him) still had some manners.
He opened the door a few minutes after Lee had gone in, not wanting to seem like he had been brought back. Nobody spoke when he sat down, and he didn’t look at them when he said it.
“Sorry.”
The smile Gaara gave him when he did look in their direction made him quickly add “I just needed some fresh air” before they got the wrong idea. The fact that the smile didn’t disappear told him they weren’t fooled, but Gaara only nodded and left it at that.
When he got home all he wanted to do was take a shower and go to bed. He could hear Itachi and his band practicing and arguing about something at the other side of the house, but he had slept through more noise than that.
He got as far as in front of the bathroom door when he heard a splash inside. The door creaked open as he pushed it. Did no one use locks anymore?
“Hi there, Sasuke. I thought it was you.”
Sasuke stared in disbelief at his old accomplice. “What are you doing in my bath tub, Suigetsu?”
A toothy, sharp grin glistened from the sea of bubbles. There was probably no soap left at all. “Bathing, duh.”
Sasuke groaned. He did so not need this right now. “Why at my house?”
“Because I was at your house.” Suigetsu stood up from the tub and walked out to Sasuke’s room, dripping water and foam all over the floor, and started to open closet doors. “You got a towel around here somewhere?”
“Yeah, in here,” Sasuke growled and pulled a towel from the bathroom shelf.
“Oh, how did I miss that,” Suigetsu laughed, wetting the floor a second time as he walked back and getting some on Denka and Hina, who had gotten too close in their curiosity. The two cats hissed and fled the room in a flurry. “What was that? You’ve got tanukis as pets now? Awesome!”
Sasuke just handed him the towel and a scowl.
“Long time no see, what’ve you been up to?” Suigetsu asked and turned on the shower.
“School.”
“Cool, they found you then. I mean of course they did, since you’re here instead of dead in a ditch.”
Sasuke cocked a brow. “You helped Naruto and Sakura?” Right after the words left his lips he realized he should have known which three of his allies would have, but he couldn’t take back showing his surprise now. “What about Karin and Juugo? Where are they?”
“Dead in a ditch.”
Sasuke tried not to look upset.
“Not!” Suigetsu grinned and threw him back the wet towel. “Just kidding, they’re with your brother.”
“You're all here? What are you up to?”
“Itachi invited us, actually. You may know he’s got that band thing going on.”
As if Sasuke could forget.
“They’re doing some changes, a few old members want out and they need new ones to replace them. I think they’re considering having Karin as a bassist.”
“What about you?”
“Me? I don’t know shit about music, Juugo just wanted to see you and I thought I’d tag along. He’s been better you know, went to see a real doctor and got drugs that actually make him less crazy as opposed to more. I don’t think Akatsuki wants him as their lead singer, either, though.”
Sasuke noticed they had gotten out of his room and into the hallway, but there was something missing. “Shouldn’t you put your clothes on?”
Suigetsu just shrugged and started looking for his clothing. “Anyway, they were gonna pick Itachi, since he’s pretty and all that… but his singing voice is crap.” Sasuke smirked. “Which is bullshit, since so is Yahiko’s. You know that guy with piercings that they have as their front man now? He’s not really singing. Konan’s boyfriend runs the band and does his vocals. If you ask me your brother has a stage fright, he’s scared shitless of being the center of attention.”
Sasuke smirked wider.
“But Nagato doesn’t want the job either, he’s happy just sitting in his emo poet corner and writing songs about pain and rain and whatever else rhymes with that,” Suigetsu said as he finally pulled his shirt over his head and followed Sasuke out the door. “He said if they could get someone with Itachi’s looks but prettier, and a good singing voice so they wouldn’t need playback either, and enough confidence to look hot on stage, that’d be perfect. You know someone like that?”
Sasuke tried to stay cool, but he couldn’t help the smirk he still had on his face when it was his turn to shrug. He was going to wait a while longer before he admitted it, but he had made a decision.
Juugo and Karin rushed to greet him as he opened the door to Akatsuki’s practice room. He walked straight to the ‘emo poet corner’ of the evening, where a skinny guy with bright red scene hair hunched at a desk with a bored-looking blue-haired woman folding the pile of paper next to him into random things. With the confidence of a man who had finally found a way to realize his dream (though he preferred calling it an ambition), Sasuke made his impressive entrance.
“I heard you’re looking for a lead singer. I’ll join if you ask nicely.”
“Sasuke? I was under the impression you didn’t like singing,” Nagato asked, apparently in utter amazement. Good.
“Did Itachi tell you that? He must have misunderstood. I love it,” Sasuke deadpanned.
Nagato nodded. “Let's hear it then. I expect you to do this justice.” The man gave him a crumpled sheet of paper and gestured at the mic stand.
Sasuke took a look at the lyrics. 'The Sky Is Crying', huh?
'The world will know true pain
Giving birth to peace in endless chain of hatred
You say my peace is a lie
But in this cursed world
A peace where people truly understand one another is nothing but a fantasy
Love breeds sacrifice
Sacrifice breeds hatred
You can know pain
But my pain is greater than yours'
Yes, he could get used to voicing this stuff.
As the band begun to play, he threw a glance at his older brother, who was looking adequately jealous. This was indeed perfect.
He thought he had seen Itachi smirk just as he turned his head back and heard him mutter something that might have been ‘foolish little brother’ just as the cymbal clashed loudly, but he must have imagined it.
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Kokkai = The National Diet of Japan, the legislative body of the country.
Otou-sama = A pretty formal way to speak of your father (I think little Gaara actually calls Mr. Fourth Kazekage this in the anime). For the record (and omg spoiler), Naruto called Minato tou-chan ('daddy') when he first met him.
The lyrics are things Nagato/Pain said in the manga. The title of the song was said by Konan.
So no, this isn't a songfic, lol.
Chapter Eight