Overcome and completely silent now
With heaven's help
You cast your demons out
And not to pull your halo down
Around your neck and tug you off your cloud
But I'm more than just a little curious
How you're planning to go about
Making your amends to the dead
I hadn’t seen the dobe in days since my return to the village. It was hard for me to think of much else, since he was the only one I was allowed to see. He was my tenuous grasp on the outside world after I had been confined to my house for the first month of my arrival. I hadn’t been disillusioned with thoughts of being warmly welcomed back. I knew that what I had done had been wrong and I was expecting a harsher sentence than the one that had been doled out.
Again, this goes back to the blond with whom my thoughts were consumed. I sat in the tomb like silence of my family’s house, the house that I could barely remember filled with laughter and warm with love, and I watched the shadows slowly creep across the dusty wooden floors as night settled. He brought food, once a week, enough for me to live off of. He made sure I hadn’t killed myself, a thought that had crossed my mind a few times. He didn’t say much besides responding to the few bitter insults that I hurled at him.
So there I sat with no one to blame but myself for the solitude I was being smothered in. The stifling silence, the taunting noises from the outside world that told me life still went on. The world still turned. Days were born and were slowly strangled in the grasp of time until finally its bright skies faded to a deep, unforgiving indigo. The nights seemed longer although the clock on the wall had told me that its lifespan was just as long as day. In the twilight, the shadows seemed to add to the silence, enhancing the despair and loneliness that I had no one to blame for but myself.
My eyes were growing heavy, finally after two days without rest. Two days of nonstop thought, reflection on my past and my life that only made me eager to hasten its end. My chin dropped on to my chest as my eyelids slid closed and my brain seemed to cease, for a few precious moments.
“Are you dead yet, teme?” A voice called, brutally yanking me out of my much need rest. My senses immediately opened to receive the world around me and I looked up, into the cerulean eyes of the man in front of me. “Obviously, not.” He said, dropping bags on my kitchen counter.
I watched him, studying the sure and steady grace of his movements as he went about tucking groceries in my cupboards. I desperately tried to think of something to say but nothing seemed meaningful. “Groceries for another week.” The blond announced as he stuffed the plastic bags in the garbage. “Do you need anything else?” He asked in a voice that was stern and devoid of anything but polite disassociation reserved for strangers and inmates. After putting up with my silence for another five minutes in anticipation for an answer that would never come, he shrugged and left without another word.
Listening to the dwindling sounds of his footfalls, I was caught up in a past that seemed hazy and fragmented. I recalled that face, the one that was now apathetic had once been flushed with an almost naive belief in the love he thought was strong enough to survive anything—even time. I remember his voice as he swore he’d come for me, that he was my friend and he would do anything for that bond. He had given his all for that vow and in the end, had lost too much in keeping it. The proof in that was his apathy for my existence.
No matter, I resolved with a sigh and stood. Hopefully, soon my house arrest would end and I could integrate back into society but for now, I would satisfy myself with the little chaos Naruto had created in my otherwise orderly world. It was all I could do to fight back the boredom that tagged doggedly at my already strained sanity.
“So has the Uchiha shown any sign of remorse, Naruto-kun?” Tsunade asked from behind her cluttered desk.
Rocking back on his heels, Naruto pursed his mouth before answering, “No baa-san. He hasn’t said anything besides insults.”
“And this is not normal for the Uchiha brat?” She asked, lifting an eyebrow over sharp, brown eyes that seemed incapable of missing anything.
“Guess so.” He fidgeted, “Can’t you get someone else to take care of him?”
She sighed, “Why don’t you want to do it, Naruto? He’s your friend… you insisted he be brought back to the village. Are you regretting your decision?”
Unable to meet her eyes, he fixed his blue gaze on the floor in front of him. “No… I don’t. It’s just that… seeing him makes me…” He clenched his jaw, a deep intake of breath that sounded like a hiss filled the silence before he growled, “So angry.”
Those last two words brought back the warning that Jiraiya had uttered before disappearing. ‘He’s dangerous. His temper has shortened since he achieved his fourth tail, Tsunade. Keep an eye on him and make sure he doesn’t get too… emotional.’ With that in mind, the fifth Hokage tapped a finger on the desk and asked, “His insults are finally getting to you?”
He glanced up at her and briefly revealed eyes that were starting to bleed into an eerie crimson, before his eyelids shuttered. “I don’t care about what Sasuke does. He’s no longer my concern. I did what I had promised to do and that’s all.”
Shock registered on Tsunade’s face, she had never before heard Naruto use his name without slandering it with insults. Obviously, this was a testament to his resentment towards his former teammate. As her shock wore away, worry set in. She wanted to give her potential successor the benefit of the doubt and say he wouldn’t go so far as to hurt the last Uchiha but this disturbing display made her think otherwise.
One of the stipulations to Sasuke’s confinement had been taking away all of his weapons in fear that he would use them against a villager. It was a stupid rule because of the kid really had wanted to hurt someone he could have done it with his hands and feet or the many jutsus he had required over the years. Unfortunately, it was a rule and therefore, had to be observed. Despite that, she was concerned for his safety because Naruto was no longer the clumsy, silly boy he had been before the whole Uchiha-Orochimaru drama had ensued. His training had changed him and the mission to find Sasuke had shifted his usual pedantic childishness into something darker and much more dangerous. She feared they had underestimated the Kyuubi’s grasp on the young man.
Naruto had returned to the village sans a whole and hale team WITH a very much alive, yet trussed, Sasuke. Sai hadn't said much about the relationship between the two young men, as was expected from a person who had not known the boys previous to Sasuke's disappearance. He had alluded to the fact that an awkward sort of animosity was shared between the Uchiha and the Kyuubi holder but that was easily dismissed by Tsunade as ‘nothing out of the ordinary’.
She realized, as she watched Naruto wrestle with his rampant anger, that there was certainly nothing usual about the feelings Naruto had for Sasuke. Tsunade contemplated the implications of keeping Naruto on his assignment and all logical outcomes led ultimately to a fight between the boys. She didn’t want either of them to get hurt. “Fine.” She said, “I’ll put Neji on it, since he’s not on a mission right now.”
“Thank you.” He said softly and didn’t wait for Tsunade’s dismissal before leaving the office.
Shizune walked through the door moments later, glancing worriedly over her shoulder as she entered. “What did you say to Naruto-kun, Hime-sama?” She asked.
“He came in asking me to relieve him of his duties to the Uchiha brat.”
“And you said no?”
“I told him that I’d put Neji on it.”
“Well why did he leave angry?”
Tsunade shrugged, “I don’t know, Shizune but he’s been doing a lot of that lately.”
Her worried look intensified, “You don’t think it’s the…”
Grief struck her, leaving a sour taste in her mouth as she faced