Categories > Anime/Manga > Naruto > The Slave of Sound
The Slave of Sound
Chapter 10
Sasuke eyed his one time teammate, the girl that had so plagued his existence whilst he was still in Konoha with her unrequited love and refusal to believe he would never return the same. To see her standing so proud and defiant before him now, eyes filled with distain, her lush lips twisted in a sneer, was a little unsettling. However, she was Sakura; always had been, always would be. Without end. He began to turn away from her.
“Uchiha…” she drawled coldly, catching his attention. No Sasuke-kun? No avowals of love and admiration? Hn. Like that would break his heart, her finally waking up from fruitless dreams. But still. There was steel in her eye, in the ramrod spine, the body changed from a child to a breast bound warrior woman. Her attire was as changed as her hair, as her demeanor. Still. Sakura. A disdainful sniff.
“How does it feel to be such a man that you had to steal and pervert the only one who ever really loved you?”
At Sakura’s coolly delivered taunt, Sasuke’s brow arched. Then he gave a suffering sigh. Insubordination again? From yet another woman? Fuck. Obviously the only real man in Konoha had been Naruto. He was not impressed what he was seeing to date in the others.
“Haruno,” he responded coldly, “I have never been impressed by you. Not then, not now.” He was so not going to be drawn into some pointless discussion with her.
“Ditto,” she replied with an Uchiha worthy smirk. “Though would that I could claim I never held you in any esteem.” With a casual flick of her fingertips, she dismissed any possibility of respect or admiration towards him now.
Despite himself, Sasuke felt a stirring of a little of those feelings now. He was very good at reading people. It was a skill he had only sharpened in the ensuing years since he departed Konoha. However, it would never do to give her any encouragement, no matter how over him she seemed to be. She was a woman, after all, fickle of heart. He had only to lay on the charm and she would once more be his. It was tempting to do exactly that, then slam her back into ignominy again.
“Che…” he muttered, deeming it not worth the time and effort. He felt indescribably weary just now, and made to turn away again.
“I hate you, you know.”
Once more, he turned to her, a little more sharply now. She looked a little lost, a little forlorn.
“I can’t believe I wasted all those years pining away for you, when the finest man of all had been before me all along.”
Something dark twisted in his gut. Surely she didn’t mean… not his dobe…
Sakura was now staring vaguely just over his left shoulder, a gentle smile gracing her full lips. “It gave me such a start, when he came back that first time with Jiraiya,” she continued, her voice soft, as if speaking to herself and not to him. “It was then I began to realize, what I had been distaining for so long.”
Despite himself, despite his growing jealousy and rage, he couldn’t move away from her. She was speaking of Naruto how he used to be, and he was helpless to turn away from that.
“He was so handsome, so bright and vivid and alive,” She smiled dreamily now. “With that bright hair, those blue eyes, and he’d grown taller, and stronger and so manly.” She gave a soft laugh. “And then he had to go and open his big mouth and the spell was broken. He was the same inside as ever, despite whatever changes had occurred on the outside. Still loud, still outspoken, still vulgar as ever.” Her almost skinny finger lifted to toy with pink hair that barely brushed her high jounin collar almost flirtatiously. “And despite the disappointment I felt, I couldn’t deny that I was glad, relieved. He was still my Naruto.”
She looked down and began to fretfully twist the slim golden band on her other finger. “And I loved him so much for that.” She whispered softly, tears in her eyes.
Sasuke’s eyes were drawn of their own volition to those slender hands, that glimmering band. She’d married her admirer Lee just last year. At last that overzealous ardor had won her over.
Still staring at her hands, she smiled and blinked those tears away. “He was always there for me; when I was happy, when I was sad, when my dad died. Naruto was always there for me. Like the brother I never had. And god, I loved him even more.” She sighed very softly, so softly, Sasuke almost didn’t hear it.
“He was like that with everyone. Women and children, grizzled old men and cranky old ladies. Even his prune faced fish wife of a landlady was won over. Even the council relaxed it vigil. Naruto was there for everybody. Even those that had never shown him anything but scorn and hate and pain. Nothing was too big or too small, too important or too trivial for him. If you were hurting, he was there to comfort you. If you were discouraged, he was there to uplift you. If you were happy, he was there to laugh along side you. If you were triumphant, he was the first and the loudest to cheer you on. He was always laughing, always smiling, always there!”
Once more, Sakura lifted her head to stare over his shoulder, nettling Sasuke. It was like he wasn’t even really there, so lost in her reminisces she was. But still, how could he be angry? This was the Naruto he remembered. This was the Naruto he was missing so much right now. Not that cold and empty creature he’d left bleeding in his bedroom yesterday afternoon.
“Even when Naruto wasn’t in Konoha, you could feel him. Feel his devotion to us all, his will that we prosper and be happy. And when he came home, that feeling multiplied ten fold. It was easy to overlook his loud voice, his too boisterous laugh, his oftimes childish behavior because he loved us all so much. It was easy to laugh away his silly pranks and bawdy tales because he lit our lives so brightly. So brightly…” She trailed away with a whisper, and for a moment a frown wrinkled her smooth brow before vanishing, and she smiled once more.
“Even so, it was no more brighter than his smile when Tsunade-sama announced that he was next in line to succeed her, and the council agreed! He was so happy, as were we all. At long last, he was noticed, he was admired, he was loved! His dreams were coming true. The only thing left was to bring you home, where you belonged. And he was filled with greater zest to do just that. To have his most precious person beside him, to revel in the culmination of his dreams, his hopes. To help you achieve your dreams, and then have you with him when he achieved his. So happy, so filled with hope, with light and laughter.”
Sakura looked at him with a vengeance then, her face filled with anger.
“And you took that all away!” Her eyes burned with righteous wrath, her slender form trembled with barely leashed rage.
She took a daunting step forward and Sasuke couldn’t help but step back in instinctive protection. He was barely aware of his minions tensing, fingers at the ready to protect him if need be.
“You took all that away from us all, from Konoha, who was enjoying his light, basking in his reflected glow of happiness. You took it all away from us. And from him.” She bared her teeth, ignoring the weapons appearing in the hands of the Sound Ninja’s that guarded their treacherous Otokage.
“Do you even have the slightest idea of what you have done, Uchiha?” Then Sakura shivered, and shrank slightly, head drooping. “Do you have any idea at all? I know you don’t care about Konoha. You never have. I know you don’t care that you have deprived us all of the Light of Konoha. But do you realize what you have done to Naruto? Do you even care about that?”
Tears once more filled her eyes, and she stepped back, staring at him in something akin to horror. “He loved you… so much! Did you know that? And I’m not just talking about a friend, or even a brother. He told me, not six months before you stole him from us, how much he loved you. How he dreamed of you at night. At first he was confused. You were his friend, his rival. All his aims were bent towards bringing you home. How could he have such vivid, such intimate dreams about you?” She smiled gently, wistfully, a single tear leaking down her cheek as once more her eyes were lost in the past. “I had to tell him what it all meant. He thought he was getting sick, thinking of you that way. God, how he loved you. And even though I looked upon him by now like that of a sister, I couldn’t help but feel a faint jealousy towards you. Oh, to be loved so passionately, so purely, with such utter devotion and loyalty. It made me realize, then and there, that what I’d felt for you was nothing but a silly school girl crush. But I still loved you enough to want you to come home, and see what was waiting for you. Find the love that could have redeemed your stupid pathetic life.”
Sakura wrung her hands piteously, head tilting back as she swallowed thickly, crying in earnest now. Then she lowered her head and glared balefully at him through her tears. “Do you know what he meant to do for you when he finally brought you home? He wasn’t going to tell you how he felt, oh no. He never felt good enough for the likes of you. He was the demon carrier after all, and you were the prince of Konoha. No, he was going to be by your side, for the rest of your life, support you, protect you, and make sure you became the happiest man alive. He took what he had saved and completely restored the Uchiha compounds, so that when you came home, you would have an abode worthy of you. He hunted down all things Uchihan that had been sold for whatever reason by your father. He brought it all back. For you. Then he began to research the most beautiful women, all strong and true and regal as he thought you were. He was trying to find you a fitting mate. Someone you could love and be happy with as you restored your clan. Someone to make the Uchihan heritage proud.”
Sakura closed her eyes once more, now barely able to speak through her grief. “He was going to stand there, and give you to someone else, so you could be happy, so you could finish reaching your dreams. He was going to smile at you though his heartache as you married some lofty woman worthy of you, and watch you make lots of babies. He loved you so much, and was willing to stand aside so you could be all you could be. So you could be happy. He was going to break his own heart. For you.”
She drew in a shuddering breath and tried to regain her composure. “And look how you have betrayed him. Look at what you have done to his innocence, his bravery, his loyalty, his sacrifice for you. Because he loved so much, he couldn’t conceive of anything except you gaining the happiness he was willing to give up for you. This is what you do to repay him.”
Sakura choked, and swallowed. “And I will hate you for eternity for it.”
She stood there a moment, trembling, agonized. And when he said nothing, when his face didn’t even change for a second. She turned away. “You are less than the dirt below his feet.”
And walked away, leaving Sasuke stunned and unable to respond.
Chapter 10
Sasuke eyed his one time teammate, the girl that had so plagued his existence whilst he was still in Konoha with her unrequited love and refusal to believe he would never return the same. To see her standing so proud and defiant before him now, eyes filled with distain, her lush lips twisted in a sneer, was a little unsettling. However, she was Sakura; always had been, always would be. Without end. He began to turn away from her.
“Uchiha…” she drawled coldly, catching his attention. No Sasuke-kun? No avowals of love and admiration? Hn. Like that would break his heart, her finally waking up from fruitless dreams. But still. There was steel in her eye, in the ramrod spine, the body changed from a child to a breast bound warrior woman. Her attire was as changed as her hair, as her demeanor. Still. Sakura. A disdainful sniff.
“How does it feel to be such a man that you had to steal and pervert the only one who ever really loved you?”
At Sakura’s coolly delivered taunt, Sasuke’s brow arched. Then he gave a suffering sigh. Insubordination again? From yet another woman? Fuck. Obviously the only real man in Konoha had been Naruto. He was not impressed what he was seeing to date in the others.
“Haruno,” he responded coldly, “I have never been impressed by you. Not then, not now.” He was so not going to be drawn into some pointless discussion with her.
“Ditto,” she replied with an Uchiha worthy smirk. “Though would that I could claim I never held you in any esteem.” With a casual flick of her fingertips, she dismissed any possibility of respect or admiration towards him now.
Despite himself, Sasuke felt a stirring of a little of those feelings now. He was very good at reading people. It was a skill he had only sharpened in the ensuing years since he departed Konoha. However, it would never do to give her any encouragement, no matter how over him she seemed to be. She was a woman, after all, fickle of heart. He had only to lay on the charm and she would once more be his. It was tempting to do exactly that, then slam her back into ignominy again.
“Che…” he muttered, deeming it not worth the time and effort. He felt indescribably weary just now, and made to turn away again.
“I hate you, you know.”
Once more, he turned to her, a little more sharply now. She looked a little lost, a little forlorn.
“I can’t believe I wasted all those years pining away for you, when the finest man of all had been before me all along.”
Something dark twisted in his gut. Surely she didn’t mean… not his dobe…
Sakura was now staring vaguely just over his left shoulder, a gentle smile gracing her full lips. “It gave me such a start, when he came back that first time with Jiraiya,” she continued, her voice soft, as if speaking to herself and not to him. “It was then I began to realize, what I had been distaining for so long.”
Despite himself, despite his growing jealousy and rage, he couldn’t move away from her. She was speaking of Naruto how he used to be, and he was helpless to turn away from that.
“He was so handsome, so bright and vivid and alive,” She smiled dreamily now. “With that bright hair, those blue eyes, and he’d grown taller, and stronger and so manly.” She gave a soft laugh. “And then he had to go and open his big mouth and the spell was broken. He was the same inside as ever, despite whatever changes had occurred on the outside. Still loud, still outspoken, still vulgar as ever.” Her almost skinny finger lifted to toy with pink hair that barely brushed her high jounin collar almost flirtatiously. “And despite the disappointment I felt, I couldn’t deny that I was glad, relieved. He was still my Naruto.”
She looked down and began to fretfully twist the slim golden band on her other finger. “And I loved him so much for that.” She whispered softly, tears in her eyes.
Sasuke’s eyes were drawn of their own volition to those slender hands, that glimmering band. She’d married her admirer Lee just last year. At last that overzealous ardor had won her over.
Still staring at her hands, she smiled and blinked those tears away. “He was always there for me; when I was happy, when I was sad, when my dad died. Naruto was always there for me. Like the brother I never had. And god, I loved him even more.” She sighed very softly, so softly, Sasuke almost didn’t hear it.
“He was like that with everyone. Women and children, grizzled old men and cranky old ladies. Even his prune faced fish wife of a landlady was won over. Even the council relaxed it vigil. Naruto was there for everybody. Even those that had never shown him anything but scorn and hate and pain. Nothing was too big or too small, too important or too trivial for him. If you were hurting, he was there to comfort you. If you were discouraged, he was there to uplift you. If you were happy, he was there to laugh along side you. If you were triumphant, he was the first and the loudest to cheer you on. He was always laughing, always smiling, always there!”
Once more, Sakura lifted her head to stare over his shoulder, nettling Sasuke. It was like he wasn’t even really there, so lost in her reminisces she was. But still, how could he be angry? This was the Naruto he remembered. This was the Naruto he was missing so much right now. Not that cold and empty creature he’d left bleeding in his bedroom yesterday afternoon.
“Even when Naruto wasn’t in Konoha, you could feel him. Feel his devotion to us all, his will that we prosper and be happy. And when he came home, that feeling multiplied ten fold. It was easy to overlook his loud voice, his too boisterous laugh, his oftimes childish behavior because he loved us all so much. It was easy to laugh away his silly pranks and bawdy tales because he lit our lives so brightly. So brightly…” She trailed away with a whisper, and for a moment a frown wrinkled her smooth brow before vanishing, and she smiled once more.
“Even so, it was no more brighter than his smile when Tsunade-sama announced that he was next in line to succeed her, and the council agreed! He was so happy, as were we all. At long last, he was noticed, he was admired, he was loved! His dreams were coming true. The only thing left was to bring you home, where you belonged. And he was filled with greater zest to do just that. To have his most precious person beside him, to revel in the culmination of his dreams, his hopes. To help you achieve your dreams, and then have you with him when he achieved his. So happy, so filled with hope, with light and laughter.”
Sakura looked at him with a vengeance then, her face filled with anger.
“And you took that all away!” Her eyes burned with righteous wrath, her slender form trembled with barely leashed rage.
She took a daunting step forward and Sasuke couldn’t help but step back in instinctive protection. He was barely aware of his minions tensing, fingers at the ready to protect him if need be.
“You took all that away from us all, from Konoha, who was enjoying his light, basking in his reflected glow of happiness. You took it all away from us. And from him.” She bared her teeth, ignoring the weapons appearing in the hands of the Sound Ninja’s that guarded their treacherous Otokage.
“Do you even have the slightest idea of what you have done, Uchiha?” Then Sakura shivered, and shrank slightly, head drooping. “Do you have any idea at all? I know you don’t care about Konoha. You never have. I know you don’t care that you have deprived us all of the Light of Konoha. But do you realize what you have done to Naruto? Do you even care about that?”
Tears once more filled her eyes, and she stepped back, staring at him in something akin to horror. “He loved you… so much! Did you know that? And I’m not just talking about a friend, or even a brother. He told me, not six months before you stole him from us, how much he loved you. How he dreamed of you at night. At first he was confused. You were his friend, his rival. All his aims were bent towards bringing you home. How could he have such vivid, such intimate dreams about you?” She smiled gently, wistfully, a single tear leaking down her cheek as once more her eyes were lost in the past. “I had to tell him what it all meant. He thought he was getting sick, thinking of you that way. God, how he loved you. And even though I looked upon him by now like that of a sister, I couldn’t help but feel a faint jealousy towards you. Oh, to be loved so passionately, so purely, with such utter devotion and loyalty. It made me realize, then and there, that what I’d felt for you was nothing but a silly school girl crush. But I still loved you enough to want you to come home, and see what was waiting for you. Find the love that could have redeemed your stupid pathetic life.”
Sakura wrung her hands piteously, head tilting back as she swallowed thickly, crying in earnest now. Then she lowered her head and glared balefully at him through her tears. “Do you know what he meant to do for you when he finally brought you home? He wasn’t going to tell you how he felt, oh no. He never felt good enough for the likes of you. He was the demon carrier after all, and you were the prince of Konoha. No, he was going to be by your side, for the rest of your life, support you, protect you, and make sure you became the happiest man alive. He took what he had saved and completely restored the Uchiha compounds, so that when you came home, you would have an abode worthy of you. He hunted down all things Uchihan that had been sold for whatever reason by your father. He brought it all back. For you. Then he began to research the most beautiful women, all strong and true and regal as he thought you were. He was trying to find you a fitting mate. Someone you could love and be happy with as you restored your clan. Someone to make the Uchihan heritage proud.”
Sakura closed her eyes once more, now barely able to speak through her grief. “He was going to stand there, and give you to someone else, so you could be happy, so you could finish reaching your dreams. He was going to smile at you though his heartache as you married some lofty woman worthy of you, and watch you make lots of babies. He loved you so much, and was willing to stand aside so you could be all you could be. So you could be happy. He was going to break his own heart. For you.”
She drew in a shuddering breath and tried to regain her composure. “And look how you have betrayed him. Look at what you have done to his innocence, his bravery, his loyalty, his sacrifice for you. Because he loved so much, he couldn’t conceive of anything except you gaining the happiness he was willing to give up for you. This is what you do to repay him.”
Sakura choked, and swallowed. “And I will hate you for eternity for it.”
She stood there a moment, trembling, agonized. And when he said nothing, when his face didn’t even change for a second. She turned away. “You are less than the dirt below his feet.”
And walked away, leaving Sasuke stunned and unable to respond.
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