1.
It's been raining ever since the first day of spring rolled around, reviving the earthy smells that were previously trapped by the light snow that fell throughout the winter, bringing to life all the flowers that slumbered through the duration of the chilly weather.
It's been raining ever since Sasuke decided to join with Orochimaru to further enhance his powers to ensure the death of his brother.
Fuyu, already disappointed by the gloomy weather that came with the beginning of Spring, slugged her way through the rain towards the small riverbank that she continued to hold close to her heart, no matter how much it hurt her to bring back the memories that were associated with it.
“There you are, Sasuke!” a young Fuyu called from behind him. “I've been looking for you everywhere.” she added, her small feet pitter-pattering across the wooden dock of the small lake before them.
He remained silent as her sweet aura surrounded him once she took a seat, dangling her short legs above the water, over the edge of the dock.
Bright brown eyes looked over at him curiously, questioning his silent state as his obsidian eyes peered over the calm waters ahead. “What are you thinking about?”
A wave of silence continued to plague the two academy students, accompanied with the occasional splash of water the lake made as it hit the river bank.
“I'm not thinking about anything in particular.” He finally responded just above a whisper before looking over at her. “Just...about our promises.”
“Which one?” she asked happily, her eyes curving joyfully.
“The one we made in the hospital.” he paused, his breath hitching slightly “the one where we promised to always be friends, no matter what.”
Fuyu's smile slowly melted away, only to be replaced with a light frown. “What made you think about that?” she questioned sadly.
“What if we don't live up to that promise?” he asked suddenly “There's no way we can predict what will happen in the future, much less how we'll change. We shouldn't be determining our future on how we feel now, just to save us some disappointments-”
“Now wait a minute!” she objected. “I don't know about you, Sasuke, but I don't plan on ever going back on any of the promises I made to you. I'll do everything in my power to live up to them, even if it's the last thing I do.” she paused, taking in a shallow breath “I understand what your thinking, but...I more than believe that we'll find a way to make everything work out!” she finished, with a reassuring grin.
“And what if in the end, nothing works out like how we planned?” Sasuke asked quietly, looking back at the water that danced so gracefully in the wind.
“Well...” Fuyu sighed “We'll deal with that road when it gets here! In the meantime, let's do everything we can to continue living up to that promise, Alright Sasuke?”
Sasuke shook his head lightly. “I just can't bring myself to have any doubt in you, Fuyu.” he expressed quietly, a small smile pulling at the corner of his lips.
“That's because you know I’m right!” she responded cheekily. “C'mon, Mama's making us homemade rice balls!” she urged, pulling a pale arm behind her without any objections.
Looking over her right shoulder through the stray brown strands of hair that blew around her face, a sad smile graced her lips. 'I wish there was some way I could further reassure you, Sasuke. But at this point, you'll just have to believe me!'
-
Staring out at the same lake that she and her childhood friend regularly met up at, a jagged sigh escaped Fuyu's lips as the pits of her stomach knotted up uncomfortably.
A single tear escaped her brown eyes as she shut them tightly, a wave of emotions emerging from said knots.
Never had Fuyu been so thankful for the rain, finally giving her an opportunity to release all the anger and tears she's kept back since the second attempt to bring Sasuke home failed. Her warm tears mixed together with the cool, frigid rain that fell all around her, wetting her clothes and causing her hair to stick to her body as if it were a second skin.
She involuntarily let out a quiet yelp as she slowly fell down to her knees, completely unleashing the barriers of her tears.
Why- how could you leave me Sasuke? She asked mentally as she wrapped her arms around her shaking torso. What did I do wrong to cause you to make such a decision?
Why couldn’t I be good enough to keep you here!
A silent gasp of air signaled her need for oxygen as her last one-on-one interaction with Sasuke resurfaced in her mind.
“Sasuke?” Fuyu called after him as he slowly made his way to the western gates of Konoha. “Where...are you going?” she dreaded to asked, already knowing the answer.
Sasuke slowly turned around on his right heel, his onyx eyes peering into her brown ones.
A calm gust of air blew between the duo, causing Fuyu's auburn hair to blow around in unorganized waves.
“I'm almost sure you won't appreciate my answer.” Sasuke responded quietly, adverting his gaze to the night sky above. “But I'm sure you already know the reason why I'm leaving. At least, you should be the one who understands the most.”
“I don't.” she responded quietly. “I don't understand why you'd leave everyone -the people who are trying to help you- in order to go off and get more power in the worst way possible. None of it makes sense to me Sasuke, and I hope it doesn't make any sense to you either.”
“Whether it makes sense to you or not doesn't matter. You wouldn’t understand either way.” Sasuke replied harshly.
“I wouldn't!” she paused “but I'm trying to. But if you leave then I won't have the opportunity to understand-”
“Even if you ended up understanding in some way, how would that help me?”
“How the hell would Orochimaru help you!” she retorted, clenching her fists slightly. “You know that this isn't how you should go about things, Sasuke. And yet, you go against all reasonable thinking and go through with it anyways.” she paused, inching closer to him. “Please, give us the opportunity to help you.”
A tear fell from her eye, followed by another and another. “Please.” she breathed out, taking a light hold onto his arm. “Give me the chance to help you.”
A sad smile found it's way to Sasuke lips as he looked down at Fuyu. “As much as I would love to wait around for you to become the Shinobi I know you will be, Fuyu, you of all people should know that I don't have the time to do that.” Sasuke responded quietly. “If you wish to see me back in the village once again, then allow me to do this.” he negotiated, taking a light hold onto Fuyu's tan hand.
Her free hand wiped away the stream of tears down her left cheek before she looked back up at Sasuke. “I don't want you to leave.” she whispered, pulling her hand away from him. “It's not fair how you refuse to give us the chance.” she added, her sobs becoming more and more powerful.
Sasuke scoffed. “You're acting like a child, Fuyu.” he reprimanded.
“You are too.”
“How is my wanting to revenge-”
“What about our promises? How am I supposed to keep to them if you're not even here?” she asked, looking down at the spots her tears landed on the ground.
“I don't have the time to worry about trivial things like promises, Fuyu.” Sasuke responded quietly.
“Trivial?” she repeated, slightly hurt. “Everything in life is trivial, Sasuke. It just depends on how important you make them seem.”
“Either way, our promises aren't my top priority right now.”
Her breath hitched slightly as with a silent kiss of wind, Sasuke appeared right before her, his nose flush with the top of her forehead, easily towering over her.
Her hands involuntarily grabbed onto Sasuke's navy blue shirt, as a few more tears managed to escape her eyes.
With a gentle tug, Fuyu had Sasuke wrapped up in her arms as much as she could managed. She carefully took in slow, deep breaths of the scent Sasuke always had around him, being sure to remember it perfectly.
Slowly, Sasuke snaked his pale limbs around her lightly, pulling her small body more into his own.
“Do you promise you'll come back?” she asked into his shirt, her tears slowly seeping through the thin cloth. “Or is that just another trivial promise that you'd rather not make?”
Sasuke let out a smooth chuckle as he slyly stole a few sniffs of Fuyu's hair. “I'd rather not make that promise at this moment, Fuyu.” he whispered, almost apologetically.
Fuyu, abruptly pulled away from him, peering into his onyx eyes.
If only looks could kill. Sasuke thought to himself as he nonchalantly gazed back into the chocolate orbs.
“I hope you don't expect me to not do nothing.” she growled quietly “I'd rather you make the promise now and break it, than not have any sort of reassurance.” she whispered, backing away from him. “But...as much as it kills me to say this, I don't have any power over the decisions you make Sasuke. I can only hope that soon, you'll realize where your true power will come from.”
Sasuke rose a questioning eyebrow. “Then I'm guessing that it's goodbye till then?”
Fuyu shifted uncomfortably, again wiping away the streams of tears from her rosy cheeks. “No.” she whispered. “Just a see you later.”
Sasuke nodded his head. “Till then.” he mumbled before turning back on his heel. “I wait till you'll be able to fight me and keep up with me, because the moment I see you again, we'll fight, with or without your objections.”
Fuyu wrapped her arms around her Sasuke's were previously, already missing the warmth he gave her.
She involuntarily shivered as he watched him slowly disappear from sight into the darkness of the forest that surrounded them.
'I'll be sure to get stronger by then, Sasuke. If I can't even win against a single person, how can I ever expect to bring him back?' she asked herself, once again wiping her tears away before turning back around to head back to the residential district of Konoha.
'Until then, Sasuke.'
-
I'm starting to think that I won't even make it far enough to see you again, Sasuke. She thought to herself, finally regaining a portion of the control over her emotions. I wonder if you're having as many doubt as I'm having.
She slowly rose from the wooden dock, with the low clouds still emptying their supplies. Taking in a deep breath, she turning on her heel to head back down the dock where a welcoming shower, bed, and family that awaited her back home.
Fuyu scrubbed her hands down her face, already knowing how her eyes must have presented themselves; red, puffy and certainly not in any mood to deal with the current rainfall.
She sighed quietly as another wave of memories flashed in her mind.
“I don't know why, but you continue to think that you're alone in this boat Fuyu.” Soma scolded quietly as he stood near her hospital bed. “Although it may have seemed like I hate Sasuke's guts thoroughly -which perhaps, I did- I still have the urge to find him.” he paused, scanning over the visible bandages on her arms “But, I'm not ignorant enough to jump into it right away.”
“I think what Soma's trying to say is, could you wait a little while longer till we, your team, are able to help you get Sasuke back? I hate how you've been, sad and depressed, I'm willing to do anything to get the happy normal Fuyu back, but even I, the blockhead, knows that I can't do that with how weak I am now.”
Fuyu turned her head away from her two teammates over to where her Sensei stood silently, taking in all the words that flowed from his students mouths.
“I'm sorry.” she whispered through a cracked voice. “I just...wanted things to go back to normal as soon as possible.”
“You overestimated yourself.” Nagare chipped in. “You're strong for someone your size and age, but nothing compared to the strength and experience Sasuke has under his belt.”
Fuyu shut her brown eyes tightly, letting the words of her sensei and teammates sink in fully. She went completely silent, focusing on the slightly labored breathing she struggled to withhold.
“I'm willing to do anything to get Sasuke back.” she murmured “but I don't want that moment to take such a long time to get here.”
“You and the whole village.” Ritsu chuckled “If you just give us the time and just a smidgen of encouragement, he'll be back in no time!”
A sad smile graced Fuyu's lips as her tired brown eyes looked over at her energetic teammate.
“But everything take tame, Fuyu.” Nagare whispered, lowering to Fuyu's forehead before planting a light, friendly kiss. “We'll be back to bother you tomorrow, but in the meantime, I've got to get these two strong enough to get Sasuke back.” he explained, ushering his two students out the hospital room.
Fuyu nodded her head weakly. “Have fun.” she whispered, before bring her gaze to the cloudy skies outside the window.
A single tear escaped her left eye as she gently shut them, doing all she could to maintain her demeanor till after her team was finally gone.
Just as he was gently shutting the sterile white door, Soma easily got onto the tear that escaped Fuyu's eyes.
'God damn it Fuyu.' he thought to himself, clutching the door handle more than what was necessary. 'Everything might be easier for you if you would show your actual feelings to us.' He swiveled on his heels to follow his Sensei and teammate while stuffing his hands into his pockets.
'Why can't we be good enough for you compared to Sasuke?'
-
As quietly as possible, Fuyu slipped in the main house of the Saatchi compound.
Already having sensed her parents presence in the family room, she quickly strode past it having one destination in mind. A nice warm shower to wash off all the spring-time rain that dripped off her person.
She slowly wrapped her arms around her torso, shivering slightly despite being so used to the cold.
Only, the cold she was experiencing wasn't caused by the weather. It was the type of cold she's never had to deal with, one that she prayed to never experience.
The type you would feel if you were lonely.
Fuyu slowly made her way to her lilac bedroom, not taking too much time to think of the puddles of water she left behind her as a trail. She had more important things to worry about at this point.
“Fuyu?” a quiet voice called, just as she was reaching for the handle to her bedroom. “Are you alright?”
Without turning around, Fuyu nodded her head lightly. “I'm fine, mama. I’m sorry if I worried you two.” she replied, opening her bedroom door, preparing to sprint inside and hide from everyone.
“I'd like to talk to you, if that's alright with you.” Chifuyu whispered, walking up closer to her daughter.
Fuyu sighed quietly, before nodding her head in response.
Biting her lip softly, she pushed open her bedroom door allowing both her and her mother to file in.
Scanning the room carefully, Chifuyu reached for a towel before ambling over to her daughter who was now perched on the edge of her bed.
“Where did you go?” Chifuyu asked in a hushed tone, not wanting to disturb the silence too much.
Fuyu took a few moments to answer as her mother gently tossed the towel over her head and dried her hair, just like she used to when she was in the academy.
“The dock.” she finally responded, just above a whisper.
“Do you feel any better doing that?” she asked, taking a seat gently next to Fuyu.
Feeling the dip of her bed, Fuyu gently tugged off the towel from her head before her sad brown eyes met her mother's worried ones. “Not in the slightest.” she paused “I guess a little relieved that I could let everything out finally, but I don't think it fixed anything.”
With a sad smile, Chifuyu cupped her daughter's slightly damp, rosy cheeks before placing a light kiss onto her forehead. “I wouldn't think so either.” she whispered “especially since it's so rainy and gray outside.”
“I don't think that helped with anything either.”
“I remember when you were a little girl, and when spring would roll around you would sit in your room and pout while all the other girls went outside with their mothers and picked as many flowers as they could” Chifuyu paused “Then all the sudden you'd come outside, trying to preform the snowfall jutsu but always ended up putting yourself to sleep.” she concluded with a soft smile
Fuyu shifted slightly as she positioned herself to lean upon her mothers chest, she relaxed fully once her mother took her into her arms fully ignoring her current drenched state.
“Then when you'd wake up, you'd pout even more because it didn't snow one bit.” Chifuyu chuckled
“Rain is such a depressing thing, I’d much rather have it snow everyday, all year than deal with three months of rain.” Fuyu whispered, with a small smile as she relived all those precious moments.
“But without rain, snow wouldn't exist, silly.” Chifuyu chuckled.
Fuyu laughed quietly, as a calming wave of silence came across them, causing Fuyu to relax even more.
“Do you think Sasuke will ever come back willingly?” she asked quietly out of the blue.
Her mother took in a silent deep breath, trying to put together the correct thing to say without completely diminishing her daughter's hopes. “Sometimes, some people need just a small push to notice where they really belong.” she answered quietly “but ultimately, it's all up to Sasuke and whatever he accomplishes.”
“I miss him.”
“I know you do Fuyu. I know.” she uttered quietly while kissing her brown hair lightly. “I'll tell you what, you go take a shower and change into some dry clothes, come out to eat some dinner than get as much rest as you can. You have a long day ahead of you tomorrow.”
Fuyu chuckled quietly before standing up slowly. “That sounds like an amazing idea.” she responded, waltzing over to her bathroom, deciding against asked what she could possibly have to do the next day.
Once the restroom door shut, and the unmistakeable squeak of the faucet emitted from behind the shut door, Chifuyu rose from her seat on Fuyu's bed.
Curiously, she looked over at Fuyu's bed stand. One that had several pictures of Fuyu throughout the years along with some of her with her team, including team 7 before they became Genin.
Chifuyu gently picked one up that had just Fuyu, Sasuke and Itachi in it alone.
Her heart immediately sank at the thought of Fuyu constantly having to look at the picture, knowing all to well what the past several years unfolded.
I wish I could do something more to help you heal, Fuyu. She thought to herself. But I’m afraid, I’m going to have to leave that up to your teammates. She added, placing the picture back onto the bed stand.
The only thing I can do is give you as much support as possible.