夢 - 2021 rewrite

うちはサスケ

A sword. And a bow. And everything he could only imagine, hidden under a blanket and a stack of folded shirts.

Sasuke knew that Hideki was a trained shinobi. And he assumed the man was as simple as those guards by the gates, having finished their education and settled somewhere comfortable. But these weapons, by their mass scale, led him to only wonder what kind of shinobi his roommate was.

Maybe one that would train him. And, heaving one from the many stacks, dragged it on the hardwood floor and out through the hallway, towards the awaiting Hideki slumped over a sleepy Satoshi on the couch.

"Deki-nii," Sasuke called and Hideki woke up, eyes latching onto his own katana, and pushed Satoshi's legs off his lap.

"Why were you in my room?" Hideki stood, three paces from the boy.

"I-I thought I left some of my socks and--"

"You're not supposed to--please, give that to me," Hideki crosses the distance in a step and wretched it from the boy's hands, pulling it away from him. "Don't play with my things, Sasuke."

"I want you to train me." And the proposition fell silent on Hideki's guarded eyes, scrutinizing every breath Sasuke took and the clench of the boy's fists. "Deki-nii, I--"

"No." And Hideki stepped back, setting the katana on the kitchen counter. "No, no. I'm not training you with this, this sword, it is dangerous and I--"

"Train me, make me strong," Sasuke pressed on despite the slumbering Satoshi. "You said you wanted to help me out of this, right? This is ho--"

"No. You do not get to pull that on me, not like that," Hideki said, shaking his head, and turned to the sword. "You know that's not gonna change a thing. Killing him won't change--"

"You don't know that! I--"

"I do know that!" Hideki snapped, guarded eyes now flaming, and Sasuke took a step back. The man quieted down. "I-I'm sorry. But I can't let you do this to yourself. You don't need revenge, Sasuke."

"Then what do I need?" The boy asked, his throat running on dry just at the thought of it. "I can't stay here anymore, knowing he's out there, knowing he left me here, and I--"

"You need to move on. You need to forgive him," Hideki said, firm and knowing and final. And Sasuke scoffed at such an idea, eyes stuck on the damn sword, clean and unscathed and without the blood he needed.

"Why? Why should I forgive him?" Sasuke demanded, his words nothing to the indifferent Hideki. "When he's taken everything, everyone from me, and as the one person that I needed, he left me here. Without even saying goodbye." And the man looked off to the side. "A brother like him doesn't deserve my forgiveness. He let go of me just like that and expected me to...just, please, let me fight him."

"Fighting never takes you anywhere. It never took me anywhere," Hideki responded, quieting down with a sigh into his seat. "You can't center your life around this...this brother who took everything from you. You can't leave that as your meaning. You begin to lose who you are. And who you were."

And Sasuke took the seat beside him, eyes turned against the sword. Hideki continued, "And you were a brother. A part of a family. You're a Shinobi now." He paused. "I know you might not understand now. And I don't want to make you to. Please, just promise me, you won't run off seeking power. You'll only get the cost."

And the two fell silent, watching Satoshi snore into the couch cushions, and not long after a few pondering moments, Sasuke hopped off his seat, lingering another glance at the gleaming katana, before turning to the man.