Salvation
Chapter 17: Restoration
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Staring at the four walls of his old room, Sasuke was encompassed with an eerie feeling. Looking around he could see paint chipping off the walls, cobwebs lined every corner, and it would take about a hundred rags to wipe down all of the dust that now caked the room.
He stepped farther into the room and he laid eyes on the bed in the center. It was rather small for him now, but back then he had loved his bed. It was a place where he dreamed of the future, of becoming someone his dad could be proud of, of surpassing his brother as an intelligent ninja. Those dreams were long gone, but the nostalgia of it all still lingered after so long. Nostalgia he often wished would leave him the hell alone.
It was hard to imagine that this place once thrived with visitors, two rivaling brothers, and parents that both yelled and loved at the same time. Sasuke made his way over to the window and noticed the small, overturned picture frame. Lifting it up, he wiped off the dust that covered the picture lingering underneath. He almost smiled as he gazed at the old picture of Team 7.
He from Sakura's smiling face, to Naruto's angry face, and to his own scowling face. And there, watching over them as he always had, was Kakashi. They were all so innocent, young, and naive then. They were completely different today. So many things had happened, so much grief and sorrow, he honestly couldn't even remember the last time he felt happiness. He looked at the picture once more before setting it carefully in his bag. This time, he wasn't leaving it behind.
Walking over to his dresser, he began pulling out all of his clothes and stuffing them into his bag.
"Sasuke-kun," a voice said and Sasuke turned to see Sakura standing in the doorway. "What are you doing?"
"I'm packing my clothes. What does it look like?" he said, a little too harshly and Sakura just looked to the ground.
Holding onto the doorframe, Sakura leaned into the room a bit more. To Sasuke, it looked as if she were afraid to walk into his room.
"I know that, but what I mean is what are you doing packing all of your old clothes. I'm sure you know that you can't wear that stuff anymore. You're definitely too big," Sakura said as she finally walked over to him. She pulled out a shirt and held it up to Sasuke. It was clearly a few sizes smaller than he was now.
"Hn," Sasuke said, clearly not amused at Sakura's statement. "Well, I'll just wear what I have on." Sasuke looked at his outfit, the long pants, the open-collared white shirt, accompanied by the bright purple rope that held it all together. He had worn this for the past three years, why change now? Sasuke was never one for unnecessary changes. Why fix something that's not broken?
"No, no, no!" Sakura began, waving her arms frantically. "You can't stay in those stupid Sound clothes. Not only do they make me uncomfortable, they also don't do anything for your image. Remember, most of the village is probably not going to trust you. You have to earn their respect back, and wearing clothes from the Sound village doesn't help."
"I don't care about earning their damn respect," Sasuke said, giving Sakura a glare.
Sakura shook her head. "I'm sure that's true, but how about this-you look like a psychopathic killer with a metrosexual complex."
Sasuke humphed at Sakura's statement, before turning away from her. He caught his reflection in the window and he couldn't help thinking that what she said held some validity.
"Fine, what should I wear then?" Sasuke asked and Sakura shrugged.
"Well, why don't you just wear some of your dad's old clothes then you can get some new clothes made," Sakura proposed.
Sasuke immediately thought there was no way he would wear his father's clothes, but then again, he thought it would be nice to wear something more fitting and also something that branded the Uchiha symbol, something he was very protective and proud of.
"Alright," Sasuke said, before unpacking his old clothes and heading out the door with Sakura trailing not too far behind.
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"This place doesn't look too shabby," Naruto said, looking around at Sasuke's apartment. It had taken them the better part of the day before they had everything moved, but as they looked around at their hard work, Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto were proud of what it looked like.
The apartment wasn't that big, as Sasuke had insisted on something small that would fit what he needed. The living room was to the right of the front door. Currently, there was a white couch in the corner, accompanied by another chair, two brown end tables, and a coffee table in the middle.
On the left was the kitchen. It was rather small, but after Sakura put some fresh flowers in a vase to place on the center of the four-person table, it felt a little more homely.
Through the hallway, there were three doors. One on the left was the bathroom, only decorated with the bare essentials at the moment. On the right was a spare bedroom/junk room. It currently held random boxes and old books and training materials. At the end of the hall was Sasuke's room, equipped with a queen sized bed, brown dresser, and a small night stand.
"Yeah, it does look good. We're going to have to hang out here all the time," Sakura commented and laughed as Sasuke glared.
"Well, now that that's done, I'm starving!" Naruto commented and they all laughed as his stomach began to rumble.
"I'll cook us a meal. Naruto, you go out and fetch Kakashi-sensei. Sasuke-kun, you should finish unpacking the stuff for your room," Sakura commented. She didn't even wait for an answer as she flipped her hair up onto to top of her head and set to work on the food.
Naruto looked at Sasuke, who seemed a bit annoyed at the situation. "Oh, suck it up teme, we'll have a nice meal to commemorate the reformation of Team 7," Naruto said, before heading out the door in search of their ever-late arriving teacher.
Sasuke shook his head in disapproval. He just wanted them to help set up his apartment and leave. How did it turn into a dinner invite too? He looked at Sakura and was about to tell her to leave, when he saw her face scrunched in concentration.
She had several pots in front of her and was measuring out some pasta to put into one. She looked completely focused and Sasuke should have known she would put just as much energy into cooking as she did her medical jutsu.
He smirked at bit at her before deciding he would just deal with this tonight, but he would make sure they knew this was a one time only deal. Heading into his room, he glanced at the few packages he had to unpack.
Grabbing the first one, he began putting away his clothes and other training materials. He set aside some of his father's clothes in one drawer. He stared long and hard at the Uchiha fan engraved in the back of one. It had been hard to go through his father's things. It brought back so many unwanted memories he was afraid he was going to chock on nostalgia. He considered throwing out the idea altogether until he tried on one of his father's favorite shirts. It fit perfectly, and he did feel more comfortable wearing it then he did the Sound uniform. For some reason, the feeling of the shirt against his skin, calmed his nerves and he was overcome by the feeling that his father would want him to wear his clothes.
His father only had two sons, one of which had murdered him and the other who set out on a path of vengeance; a path riddled with violence and fear, to kill the other. Sasuke knew that his father would not be proud of how his life had turned out so far and he felt ashamed; just as ashamed as he did as a kid when being compared to Itachi. He decided now, he would start the road to becoming the person his parents would be proud of. Sasuke vowed to himself that he wouldn't turn out like his brother, that he would try and become the ninja he would have been had his parents still been alive.
Breaking from his thoughts, he grabbed the last thing he had to put up: the photograph. Wiping it off carefully, he set it on the nightstand by his bed. He turned it so it angled to him and gazed again at the faces of his teammates. He knew things were only beginning, that Itachi would not let up, and that Naruto and Sakura would always be in danger if they were associated with him, but it was something he would have to deal with because he knew the two of them would never leave his side. Hell, he had even tried killing both of them, nearly succeeded in killing both of them, and yet they still devoted their lives to saving him. They were quite the pair.
"Sasuke-kun," a voice said, and Sasuke turned back to see Sakura standing at the doorway again. She had on an apron, which was covered in flour, and her hair wasn't as tidy as it had been earlier today, and Sasuke was struck by this odd emotion and a weird thought. She looks beautiful. He shook his head, brandishing thoughts like that away. "Dinner's ready."
Sasuke nodded his head and watched her leave. Turning back to the picture, he wiped it one more time before rising from his bed. Walking out, he flipped off the light and headed into the kitchen where he was greeted by Naruto, Kakashi, and Sakura all settled at the table.
"Yo," Kakashi said, giving Sasuke a small wave. Sasuke nodded his head, before taking a seat down at the table. In front of him Sasuke saw quite the little meal Sakura had thrown together. There was plenty of rice and meat for all of them. She had a plate of tomatoes sliced beside him and a bowl of ramen beside Naruto.
"This looks great, Sakura-chan!" Naruto exclaimed, digging into his food.
"Yes, Sakura, you outdid yourself," Kakashi said, looking around at all of their food.
"You are very welcome," Sakura said. She looked over at Sasuke and he could tell she was waiting for some sort of thanks from him.
Disregarding his pride he muttered a quick thank you, and Sakura's face brightened that much more.
Sasuke looked up to see Naruto motioning for him to watch Kakashi. He looked up and realized that Naruto was talking about trying to see Kakashi's face. Sasuke smirked and looked at Sakura, signaling her. She looked at him with a confused look, and then realized what he was talking about.
The three of them looked intently at Kakashi, waiting for him to eat. He was completely oblivious to them. They were so into what they were doing, the sudden noise of the oven timer going off, made them all jump.
Sasuke looked at the kitchen and then at Sakura. "Oh, the dessert," she said suddenly, jumping up from the table and running to the oven, taking out a cake she was baking.
"That was excellent, Sakura," Kakashi said, and Sasuke whipped around to see him sitting in front of a clean plate.
Kakashi didn't notice the shocked looks of his three students as they eyed him wearily. How the heck did he eat so fast?
Sasuke just shook his head and decided that he would probably never see Kakashi's face, but he vowed that when Kakashi died, he would pull that dumb mask down and see what the heck was hiding underneath.
Sasuke began eating the food and was pleasantly surprised that it tasted pretty good.
They all finished eating and Sakura cut them each a piece of her cake, and of course, Kakashi declined.
After they were all done eating, Sakura cleared away the dishes.
"Thanks so much, Sakura-chan," Naruto exclaimed and Sakura smiled.
"Yeah, thanks Sakura," Kakashi added.
"Thanks Sakura," Sasuke also said and Sakura couldn't help the huge grin that spread across her face.
"You're very welcome," Sakura answered. "So, there's just one last thing left to do before we can all head out and leave Sasuke-kun in peace."
Sasuke wondered what else they had for him. Naruto smiled before reaching into his pack and pulling out two different items, each wrapped in white cloths.
Sakura and Kakashi both looked on as he set the two on the table. Reaching up, he grabbed the one on the right.
"Since you've been gone we held a part of you not only as a keepsake, but also as something that drove us to keep going after you. Sakura, Kakashi, and I couldn't lie and say that we didn't think about quitting a time or two when all hope seemed lost, but we would take a look at this and we knew we had to continue, that we had to do all that we could to get you back," Naruto announced. He opened up the cloth and Sasuke was shocked to see his old forehead protector, complete with the deep gash in the front.
Sasuke was waiting for Naruto to give it to him, but Naruto didn't He picked it up and threw it into the trash. Sasuke was about to protest when Naruto opened the other cloth. Inside, was a brand new Konoha headband. Bright, shiny, and ready to protect.
"So, you're back now, so it's out with the old and in with the new. This, Sasuke, represents your new life. You've been given a clean slate from the Hokage, and that can only be accompanied by a new forehead protector," Naruto said, picking up the forehead protector. "Sasuke Uchiha, I present this forehead protector to you to signify your brand new start and your re-entrance back into Team 7 on behalf of the future hokage, the best sensei in this village, and the best medic-nin in Konoha."
Naruto handed Sasuke the forehead protector and Sasuke took it. Kakashi and Sakura clapped cheerily as he placed it back on his head. Sasuke felt like a part of him was back as he wore it. He couldn't believe that they would think about doing something like this. Sasuke had always been proud of his forehead protector, and the new one he was presented with solidified the fact that he did indeed have another chance at life. Life had actually gone his way if just for a moment, it had taken a turn he never would have fathomed in a million years.
He felt emotions welling up in him, even though on the outside he looked perfectly calm. He looked over at Naruto, then Kakashi, and finally at Sakura. She caught his gaze and held it for a moment. She had a huge smile on her face and Sasuke couldn't help but smirk.
"Guess this means I get to prove how much stronger I am still," Sasuke said and Naruto jumped up.
"Hey now! Can't you just say thank you!" Naruto said and Sasuke smirked again. It only took a small comment to get Naruto riled up.
"Well, I think it's best if we leave Sasuke-kun alone now. He's got to get accustomed to his new apartment," Sakura said and Naruto and Kakashi obliged.
"We'll meet at the bridge at 7am tomorrow. Goodnight," Kakashi said and disappeared in a poof of smoke.
"Bye Teme," Naruto said, then looked at Sakura. "You want me to walk you home?"
"Nah, I think I can make it. Goodnight, Naruto," Sakura said and Naruto waved before heading out.
"Welcome back, Sasuke-kun," Sakura said, before heading out the door. Sasuke didn't know what made him do it, but before he knew it, he had reached out and grabbed Sakura's arm. Sakura looked back at Sasuke and for some reason a feeling of shyness flooded through Sasuke, but he immediately squished the emotion.
"Sakura," Sasuke began, looking into her eyes. "Thank you and I mean that."
Sakura smiled and nodded. "You're welcome, Sasuke-kun," Sakura answered. Sasuke let go of her arm and she walked out. Sasuke watched her go until he couldn't see her anymore then shut his door.
Shaking his head, he reached up and ran his fingers over the metal plate on his forehead. As he headed to his room, he thought to himself that this time he'd make sure no one would put a scratch in it again, and he'd also make sure his teammates didn't have to either.
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So, I know I said there would be action in this one, but I felt like this chapter was needed to sum up any plot-holes that might be presented later. Next chapter=action!
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