Chapter Text
Uchiha Sasuke became a great ninja.
It was what people said of him as he grew older and put distance between himself and the public conviction of his abuser. He’d been infamous in ninja circles for the trouble that incident had kicked up, an object of scrutiny no matter where he went. Chunin exams, jounin exams - whatever it was, people had a preconception of him based on the incident in his childhood. No other victim of sexual abuse had ever been so publicly displayed, and the morbid fascination of it kept eyes on him as he’d advanced through the ranks. Some treated him like he was a time-bomb - volatile and waiting to erupt. Others treated him like a victim who needed to be coddled. No one in his year had been told what transpired during that tumultuous time, the adults sworn to secrecy much like they had with the jinchuriki (a secret Sasuke had learned shortly after becoming chunin). Still, some figured it out; most obviously Shikamaru who could barely stand to look him in the eye whenever they were assigned together, but somehow always made sure Sasuke had the opportunity for privacy when it came to bathing or changing while out on a mission. Either way it was a constant mark on his skin, a discomfort that could flare unsuspectingly, like an old wound. At the same time, there were times when it wasn’t a factor at all.
His team, team seven, didn’t know.
They were on a mission into the Land of Rivers, one that was of two parts. They’d been hired to retrieve a stolen logbook of a minor lord’s expense account from a gang of thieves and deliver the logbook to the lord. The first half of the mission had immediately gone to sh*t, as the lord had failed to explain how changed the political landscape was in River country and how the southern-most half of the land was actually controlled by this gang of thieves, acting as pseudo-police with a full ninja battalion and everything. They’d retrieved the logbook, but Kakashi had been hurt severely enough that the rest of the team (now all chunin in their own right) forced him to return to Konoha for much needed treatment before they’d even made it inside the territory. The rest of the team was to navigate an unfamiliar land with unfamiliar guards, the civilian population clearly torn between two loyalties and extremely unpredictable. They had to blend in, to travel the civilian route to the lord-controlled portion of this country, as the trees were crawling with angry, lethal ninja.
So they’d gone to a restaurant for lunch and to gather intelligence, the logbook tucked into Sasuke’s kimono as he sat at the bar and acted casual. They couldn’t cause a scene here, couldn’t fight their way out if their cover was blown. The stakes were death.
“Hey, Sasuke.”
It was like slipping back through time, pulling Sasuke away from his dangerous mission into somewhere far away and half forgotten.
Takuo looked exactly the same.
Yamanaka hair cropped short, fair features curved in a teasing grin, his voice confident, exuding competence. He wasn’t wearing the standard-issue uniform of Sasuke’s memories but instead a sleek, cropped jacket over a working hakama. The restaurant was crowded, so Takuo had sidled up beside him, casually leaning against the bar to Sasuke’s right.
Sasuke opened his mouth. No sound came out.
Takuo laughed into his hand, a gesture that felt too modest considering his confidence, his audacity to be doing what he was doing. For a single moment Sasuke had the thought Takuo was handsome, and felt his throat close up even more.
“I assume they’re yours?” Takuo asked jerking his chin.
Sasuke looked behind him to see Sakura and Naruto hunching over a table awkwardly, trying to communicate as subtly as possible. Feeling their eyes, Naruto looked up, frowning at what he saw.
“Don’t worry, it’s not obvious,” Takuo offered, looking back at Sasuke. “I just know you.”
“Right.”
Sasuke pushed off from the bar, only to back into the rest of his team appearing at his shoulder.
“Alright?” Sakura asked, giving Takuo that carefully open look, one meant to put someone off-guard even while she clearly inspected him.
Takuo co*cked his head. “I was just telling Sasuke here you guys stand out a bit.”
Two heads jerked to Sasuke, both of them alarmed that a stranger knew Sasuke’s name instead of his pseudonym.
“It’s alright,” Sasuke explained immediately. “He’s an old friend.”
Sasuke pursed his lips the second he said it, his tongue tasting something sour. He didn’t know how to act, this whole scenario like something out of a dream. Either way once he said it his team relaxed, and in response Sasuke’s muscles tightened even more.
“Do you guys need a place to rest?” Takuo asked. “I run a clinic in town, and I have a few empty beds I could spare.”
Naruto’s eyes widened, and it was only the propriety they were clinging to as cover that stopped him from whooping. They needed rest, but the hotels were the first place suspicious ninja would check. Running into an ally in the middle of enemy territory was a godsend, and Sasuke could see his teammates exchanging pointed looks, latching on to the opportunity and reorganizing their escape around the idea they could tackle the boundary ninja fresh.
“That would be great!” Naruto chirped, while Sakura gave a small bow of gratitude.
***
The clinic was built into a strip on the edge of town, the back opening up to a small area for trash before the foreign forest began. It felt safe, far away from the crowds yet close enough to the town that the guards were still thin. To the left of the clinic was a barbecue restaurant and to the right a thrift store, both closed and darkened in the dusky evening. The inside of the clinic was warm, wooden furniture of a waiting room with a sign on the receptionist’s desk explaining that the clinic was closed and in the event of an emergency to go to the hospital. The rooms beyond had two private inspection rooms where beyond that a row of beds to the left and a more comfortable break-room to the right.
“I live upstairs,” Takuo explained, shrugging off his jacket as he gestured to the empty beds. “Take your pick. There’s a stocked kitchenette in the break-room. I think I have a few instant ramen packages lying around…”
Naruto pumped a fist. Sakura rolled her eyes.
Takuo gave them space, let them sit and relax in the break room while he disappeared upstairs to change for bed. It was…too domestic for what a clinic break-room should be, his teammates stretching out on the couches with cups of tea each, their spirits lifted at their change in fortune. Sasuke himself sat at the table, staring into his tea like it could give him answers, his vision blurring as he felt it grow cold. This felt like a movie.
“Aww, hell yeah,” Naruto crowed, sweeping three empty ramen cups into the trash. “I can already feel my power levels rising.”
“We haven’t had a real rest in a while,” Sakura hummed, sorting out her things as she rose. “Are you coming to bed, Sasuke-kun?”
Sasuke grunted, rubbing a finger on the lip of his full tea cup.
Naruto rolled his eyes. “Let the bastard get his brooding in. We have to leave early anyways.”
“Don’t be an ass,” Sakura scowled, and kicked Naruto through the door of the break room towards the bed. “Goodnight, Sasuke-kun.”
Sasuke grunted again.
Being left to his own devices was a mistake, as the yawning emptiness inside him was suddenly loud without his team’s inane chatter to occupy his senses. Trickles of thought started to flow, but the less he disassociated the more his anxiety grew. Instead of shallowly being pulled along the trail of this ridiculous turn of events he started to feel his control over his body assert itself, but to regain control meant he was really there, existing in the home of someone who’d come to occupy a place of memory, revisited under his own terms. This wasn’t his terms, and while he might now feel control over his own body he had no control over this situation, his teammates lured to this building on Sasuke’s word that Takuo was a friend.
Oh. He hadn’t even had the thought that Takuo could sell them out, call the authorities down on them and guarantee their deaths. Takuo wasn’t dangerous like that, he was dangerous like-
“Your team must have been exhausted,” Takuo sighed, entering the break-room casually in his pajamas, his hair wet while he toweled it dry. “They’re already asleep.”
Sasuke swallowed, extending his senses to confirm. Idiots.
Takuo stretched his neck, putting the kettle back on before pulling out the chair across the table from Sasuke, plopping himself down heavily.
“You alright?” he asked indelicately, before wincing and rubbing his head sheepishly. “I just- I know we didn’t really have a great sendoff.”
Sasuke clenched his jaw, felt his eyes dull and followed that feeling, preferred disassociation to reflecting on this impossible situation.
“Sorry,” Takuo sighed, wiping his face. “I know that doesn’t cut it, but if I’d known you’d be put on display like that-”
“You wouldn’t have done it?”
Sasuke had said it, yet also hadn’t. It was his voice, but he hadn’t felt it escape his tongue.
Takuo gave him a pained smile, adjusting in his seat so he was reclined back, his foot stretching out beneath the table in a way that had Sasuke stiffening. He knew if he shifted his own foot just a bit, he’d feel Takuo’s.
“You’ve grown up,” Takuo commended, looking him up and down. “You’re so tall, Sasuke. It’s freaking me out.”
Am I not to your tastes?
The bitterness afflicted him, but that feeling scared him. Besides, he knew it wasn’t true, saw how Takuo’s body was completely open to Sasuke, leaning in, his eyes glittering in interest even while he projected paternal respect-
No matter how many times Sasuke looked into his past he never saw any manipulation. He’d eventually been convinced it happened, that Takuo had lied to him for his own ends, but every time he played his memories over he couldn’t find a single fault to the ruse, a single crack in the mask. It was the source of his doubt, that Takuo was just a misled individual who’d been hurt and learned the wrong thing and then went on to hurt others. Here: sixteen, chunin, and years elapsed since his abuse Sasuke was panicking with how obvious it was. He was so deliberate, so practiced in his mannerisms that it couldn’t be natural. Sasuke saw it in how he hadn’t disguised himself in the least, how he’d boldly gone up to Sasuke in that restaurant even though Sasuke would have every reason to lash out at him.
…except of course the mission, how he was in a situation where he needed to lay low. Even now Takuo was in control, had once again used his circ*mstances to his advantage and had Sasuke alone in his home, his foot creeping closer to Sasuke’s body like he was a kid pushing a boundary. He so clearly wanted him, and Sasuke might have grown but he was also still a kid, this whole situation inappropriate.
The bitterness was back, curling Sasuke’s lip as he finally felt Takuo’s socked foot press into the arch of his own. He gave Takuo a glare, but his old sensei didn’t wither, just co*cked his head into a soft smile, like the gesture of touching him was done to comfort instead of what it clearly was meant to be.
The back door suddenly opened furiously, a ruckus that had Sasuke’s head whipping around, but Takuo was unbothered. A moment later he found out why.
“That girl is so not sick, I swear to god. She keeps calling us up and wasting our goddamn time-”
The voice was young, and when the boy rounded the corner into the break room Sasuke confirmed for himself just how young.
The boy couldn’t have been more than ten, dressed in shorts and a tank top, revealed as he pulled off his coat. He had dark hair and tanned skin, scowling at his story only to scowl at the scene his discovered in the break room. Dark eyes flicked from Takuo to Sasuke, only for his eyes to land on Sasuke with a pointed glare.
A jealous glare.
A shock of coldness froze Sasuke stiff, all bitterness and anger gone from him in one swoop. It wasn’t anxiety he felt seeing the boy march over to Takuo, kick out a chair, and cross his arms as he slouched in his seat, sneering at Sasuke. To be anxious was to be scared of what was to come. Sasuke was scared about what had already happened.
Takuo sighed. “Go upstairs, Toshi.”
“Nah,” the boy said loudly. “I’m gonna stay right here.”
“Toshi.”
Toshi pursed his lips, cowering only a little bit under the scolding, more concerned with giving both Sasuke and Takuo glares. Slowly, under Toshi’s look, Takuo pulled his foot back from under the table, and Toshi looked satisfied.
In the next second Sasuke was up and moving for the door, deafening himself to the exchange that started up behind him as he left the room. He went to the row of beds and sat down heavily between the two occupied ones, leaning against the wall and lowering his head between his knees. He felt so weak, no longer the disassociated emptiness but a deliberate hollowing out. His insides had been scrapped clean, the pain horrific in his stomach, and all he could do to ease the ache was put himself between his teammates and struggle to breathe.
Was I that young?
***
They left early in the morning, Sasuke not having slept a moment. They didn’t say goodbye.
Despite that the rest had done his team good, which was a boom considering Sasuke relied on them heavily to lead them through the enemy territory. It was obvious his behavior was causing concern, how he’d stumble and falter and struggle to process basic commands as Sakura led the team while Sasuke was incapacitated, but overall they’d chalked it up to his missing sleep.
“You could have woken us up to keep watch,” Naruto scolded as they jumped from tree to tree. “You’re useless like this.”
Sasuke didn’t even have it in him to grunt.
The disassociation was back, was the only thing keeping him moving. He couldn’t think about what had happened, had to focus on staying sharp and getting out. The stakes were death, stakes which he had to prioritize because his team deserved that at least.
Kakashi was at the gates of Konoha when they finally made it home, sat in a wheelchair and looking out with pursed lips. He looked awful, covered in bandages with bruising under his uncovered eye, but his two friends just behind his chair looked just as anxious. Sasuke supposed they’d taken their time coming back, so this anxious attitude made sense.
Usually, when Sasuke saw his brother perched anxiously over his shoulder, struggling to restrain himself as Sasuke did his duty as a shinobi Sasuke just rolled his eyes. This time, watching Itachi gradually relax as he processed Sasuke had returned, Shisui at his shoulder teasing him for being so overbearing, prompted a very different reaction.
“The logbook?” Kakashi asked when team seven neared, and Naruto produced the item from his bag.
“You know it!”
“Good,” Kakashi sighed, relaxing in his chair. “This mission is salvageable at least.”
Naruto scoffed. “More than salvageable! We-”
“Nii-san!”
Sasuke staggered forward, feeling twelve years old again, his limbs uncoordinated and young. His brother’s eyes widened in alarm and all conversation from his team died, watching as his brother stepped up to Sasuke just in time to catch him as he fell.
“Sasuke!”
Sasuke gasped then whined, clutching at Itachi’s arms as he tried to regain control. Itachi took his hand and pressed it to his own chest.
“Breathe with me,” Itachi commanded, falling back into a position he’d taken more than once in Sasuke’s life. “Follow this rhythm, okay. In…out…”
The issue, as was always the issue, was that when Sasuke regained his breath he started to release painful sobs, the horror more pronounced in his voice than any other feeling.
“What happened?” Shisui barked to his teammates. “Is he hurt?”
Sasuke didn’t look away from his brother’s face, but he could imagine his teammates shock, their confusion.
“H-he-” Sasuke choked, beating at Itachi’s chest. “I never thought- I’m so f*cking self-absorbed-”
“None of that,” Itachi scolded, shuffling closer. “Just tell me what happened first.”
Sasuke jerked like he was going to vomit, and Itachi shuffled to his side to hold him just in case, a hand on his back.
“Report,” Itachi spat, addressing his team. Sasuke leaned into his brother, trying to remember the last time he felt this bad.
Not since…back then.
“Uh- we got stuck in River country,” Naruto said. “It was bad, but nothing we couldn’t handle. Um…”
“Sasuke had an unexpected ally inside enemy territory,” Sakura added, her voice stiff. “I thought it was a bit odd, but…assumed it was an Uchiha thing. His name was Takuo.”
All adults immediately stiffened, the severity of their energy pulling his team up short. Itachi's hand on his back crept higher to his nape, his body trying to curl around Sasuke unconsciously as he recognized the name. Sasuke breathed.
"You stayed with him?" Shisui demanded. "Overnight? In his house?"
"Er," Naruto stuttered. "He, um, runs a clinic."
"Full debrief," Kakashi demanded, his voice trying to project calm. "That man is an enemy of Konohagakure. Give me every detail from meeting him to leaving his company."
Sakura and Naruto looked at each other awkwardly, a bit alarmed.
"But Kakashi-sensei, if he's an enemy of Konoha then why would Sasuke vouch for him?"
Sasuke felt eyes on him and wiped his face, felt calmer after sitting.
"Sasuke," his brother hushed, his voice both scolding yet heartbroken. "You didn't."
"It's not- I didn't say he was a good person."
Naruto frowned. “You said he was your friend.”
“Sasuke.”
“What was I supposed to say?! ‘Hey team, this is my sensei that used to f*ck me, but it’s better than dying at the hands of River ninja’?!”
“You slept over at his house, Sasuke!” Itachi spat, before pinching his brow and visibly struggling to modulate his tone. “Please tell me he didn’t do anything.”
Sasuke cringed at the question, couldn’t even begin to sort out how Takuo had treated him during their unexpected reunion, what he’d felt seeing him again after so many years. Instead he remembered something more important, something that sucked his stomach up to his throat and turned it inside out, left him scrambling on the sheer horror of it. He clutched at his throat, felt a new sweat build on his brow as he finally felt all the implications, and discovered a kind of loathing he’d thought he’d felt before, but hadn’t. A new kind of loathing for Takuo, and a new kind of loathing for himself.
Was this how Maki felt?
“Okay,” his brother shushed, holding him closer as he drew the wrong conclusion. “Breathe, Sasuke. You’re safe now, you’re home. Y-you did what you had to do. We need to get you checked out-”
“He had a boy,” Sasuke choked out, and finally realized he was crying, a grief not for him. “He- worked with him. Maybe lived with him. He…”
Sasuke squeezed his eyes shut, shaking it furiously, the revulsion so sickening his entire body felt like a rejection.
“He was so f*cking small,” Sasuke spat, his sobs now a growl. “H-he came up to my chest, and he was so f*cking jealous that Takuo wanted me- just like I- when Maki-”
He cut himself off, too overwhelmed. The silence that descended gave the impression his words had also overwhelmed the group, going through the same processes of horror as Sasuke.
Then Itachi spoke.
“Four years ago I made you a promise,” he intoned, moving so he was kneeled back in front of Sasuke, grabbing him by his shoulders to look into his eyes. “I promised to let the police take care of Takuo, remember?”
Sasuke clenched his jaw, remembering how he’d used that promise as a test, to see if his brother could love him more than he hated Takuo. He’d more than lived up to that promise, both the letter and the spirit.
“The police didn’t take care of Takuo,” Itachi continued, struggling for control. “He’s still out there, so I…I’m begging you to let me end it. Please, Sasuke.”
Despite Itachi’s begging Sasuke’s first thought was rejection, that promise he’d extracted so hard fought, was the first time his brother had truly done something to respect Sasuke’s wishes rather than just decide what was best for him. Getting his brother to see him as someone who deserved autonomy over his life even when Itachi didn’t agree was a constant struggle, but that promise was an ultimate testament to Itachi’s ability to do it.
Yet despite how he cherished the idea that promise represented, all he could picture was Toshi, that little boy, and all the many ways Takuo could ruin him.
“It’s my fault,” Sasuke gasped. “Back then- I never considered that he’d still do this. I was so consumed with what he did to me, and now there’s a boy out there who- It’s my fault.”
“It’s his!” Itachi snarled, giving him a shake. “He’s damn guilty, more than deserving of the fate I can give him. Please, Sasuke! Please let me.”
Sasuke made a pained sound, ducking his head as he squeezed his eyes shut. There was only one answer, because for the first time this wasn’t just about Sasuke anymore, about what he wanted. He should have considered this, should have realized that Takuo would move on to someone else. Maybe he’d truly thought he was special, that Takuo preferred Sasuke and that was that. From how he’d treated Toshi, maybe that was still the case.
Sasuke nodded his head.
The relieved gasp Itachi let out slumped his body, the hug he granted Sasuke overwhelmed in gratitude.
“Summon Shi,” he demanded, pulling back to sweep Sasuke’s bangs away and eye him seriously. “I’m going to take Shisui with me as backup. Your team will escort you home, and Kakashi will deal with informing the village of what’s happening.”
He pulled them to their feet, a hand around Sasuke’s waist supporting him as Sasuke finally raised his eyes to see the twin looks of shock and horror on his teammates faces, before quickly summoning his cat.
Shi appeared with a puff, before stiffening in alarm and jumping into Sasuke’s arms, fully-grown and sleek compared to how he’d been as a kitten. He rubbed his face on Sasuke’s furiously, and despite himself Sasuke felt himself soften to the attention.
“Escort him back to the Uchiha compound,” Itachi ordered his team, his voice stronger than it had been. “Don’t pester him, just let him be - that means you, Naruto.”
Naruto didn’t squawk in offense like he usually did being singled out. Sasuke didn’t know what that meant.
Itachi jerked his head. “Shisui.”
“Right.”
Sasuke flinched forward. “Wait.”
Itachi waited, eyeing Sasuke with complete openness even though the pleading was still in his eyes, begging Sasuke not to change his mind.
“Don’t just- kill him,” Sasuke said, felt like he was the one pleading. “I mean, you can kill him, but…someone needs to take care of the boy. Don’t just…leave him there.”
He matters more.
Itachi sucked in air through his nose, the complication more massive than what a blade through the heart should be. To figure out how to make sure a boy like Toshi was cared for, had support and someone to look after him after Takuo was gone, was a bigger project. To do so in enemy territory complicated it even more, but…the job wasn’t complete without it, Toshi unsaved if all they did was kill someone he thought he loved. They had to do more. Saving the boy meant more than punishing Takuo.
“Please.”
Itachi crumbled, and once again pulled Sasuke into his arms, squishing Shi-chan between them.
“Of course, Sasuke,” he promised. “I swear.”
Sasuke slumped, his eyes glittering in gratitude when Itachi pulled away.
“Thank you.”
Itachi gave him one more charged look, then disappeared, Shisui following soon after. Sasuke looked down, holding Shi, and struggling to force himself to follow his brother’s orders and move back towards home.
“Come on, bastard,” Naruto choked, and when Sasuke looked up he was grabbing at Kakashi’s wheelchair. “Your brother’s scary. We gotta do what he says.”
Sakura sidled up next to him, raising a hand palm-down in offering, but when Sasuke didn’t take it she wasn’t upset.
“I’m excited to see your mother,” Sakura offered, and when she took a step, so did he. “She’s a better cook than even my own mom - don’t tell her that though.”
“sh*t,” Kakashi hissed quietly. “Fugaku’s going to kill me.”
Sasuke clenched his jaw, knowing what he was getting at. “It’s not your fault you got hurt and had to send us on to complete the mission. That’s protocol.”
Kakashi laughed somberly. “I’m sorry, Sasuke, but I think your father has lost more respect for protocol over the last few years than you’d think.”
Sasuke pursed his lips, saying nothing as he was corralled by his team, herded by the unusual quiet of team seven. Luckily the route to the Uchiha compound went around the majority of the village, because Sasuke knew anyone who recognized them would immediately clock the strange quiet, the awkward air, the gloomy-
“Why didn’t you say anything?” Naruto demanded, torn between gruff upset and the overwhelming awkwardness. “We didn’t have to stay with him.”
Both Sakura and Kakashi hissed. “Naruto-”
“Yes, we did,” Sasuke defended. “It was a perfect out, a way to hide ourselves in the village without being so public-”
“I’d rather let the River ninja kill me than stay with someone like that,” Naruto snarled, but his eyes were still hurt more than angry. “We could have found a sewer or something. We- he- of course you didn’t get any f*cking sleep. We left you alone with- someone like that-!”
“You didn’t know.”
Naruto huffed, his shoulders bunching, but Sasuke…
Felt suddenly incredibly good.
Naruto was the one person Sasuke never wanted to find out about this, because he was the one person who was crude and insecure and always so ready to fight Sasuke over anything. The few horrible times Sasuke had imagined Naruto finding out he always laughed, would call Sasuke an idiot, would roll his eyes and dismiss his pain as something trivial. In his kinder imaginings Naruto would pity him, would so clearly lose respect even while he pretended otherwise, would no longer consider Sasuke a rival or a teammate but someone permanently disfigured and not comfortable to be around. Instead Naruto was trying, was extending consideration to Sasuke in a way he didn’t do - and was also clearly shivering in Itachi-level rage as he considered what he’d learned.
“You could have told us,” Sakura whispered next to him. “We wouldn’t have…”
She didn’t finish the thought, and Sasuke knew she was considering all his anxieties around Naruto Sasuke had considered.
“I didn’t want to,” he said simply, and tensed, waiting for her response.
She took a breath to speak, then faltered, reconsidered. After a moment she tried again.
“Okay,” she said, and gave him an apologetic look. “I’m sorry we found out, then.”
Sasuke quietly gasped, facing forward quickly to hide the reaction. Sakura wasn’t really one to always see his boundaries or to honor them, and because of that Sasuke had more than once treated her coldly, brutally rebuked her and hadn’t felt the least bit bad about it. Still, he was nervous around the idea of her finding out, of her mouth twisting in judgmental disgust like he knew it could, or of her eyes getting all performatively sad, cooing over him like he was an injured kitten waiting for her feminine rescue.
Instead she gave him space, wasn’t even touching him, apologizing for inadvertently learning something he hadn’t wanted her to learn.
The walk back was continued in silence, but no longer the awkward silence of things unsaid. Sasuke was too exhausted to try to explain, to answer any questions, but he blessedly didn’t have to. The only sound was of their footsteps and Shi-chan’s loud purring in his ear.
His team had grown up.
He’d said he hadn’t want them to known, but as they escorted him like protective dogs around an injured packmate Sasuke felt a bit delirious to realize he felt good that they now knew. It was like all the pain of Takuo had rushed him all at once, seeing his old sensei again, a brutal blast that made his ears ring and shattered the previous calm. His team now knowing, and treating him like…like he was their teammate, was easing that hidden anxiety. He’d had all this support and he hadn’t even realized.
Sasuke breathed, and felt his shoulders pull back, then marveled at it. How long had it taken him to walk tall again when he was twelve? How long had it taken him to see and recognize the support around him for the blessing it was? How long had he railed and screamed and spit at anyone who’d dare even bring this up, let alone calmly explain why he couldn’t talk about it? They entered the Uchiha compound, and Sasuke almost thought he wanted to laugh with how different it was, how no one stared in horror like they should at Sasuke’s mere existence but grinned, a few relieved looks sent his way as Sasuke’s mission had run long, his auntie grinning wide and waving, someone else rolling their eyes that Kakashi ‘of the sharingan’ was once again in a wheelchair.
His mother was outside when they neared, and Sasuke stopped, pulled his team up short before they could get within hearing distance of his mother.
“Thank you for walking me back,” Sasuke said formally, and clutched Shi to his chest a bit more firmly as he gave his team a shallow bow. “I’m grateful.”
While Kakashi pursed his lips at the uncharacteristic gesture, his teammates’ jaws dropped, and it was a testament to how far Sasuke had come that he could grin, just a bit, at their reaction.
Maybe they weren’t the only ones who’d grown up.
