Distant Echoes

1 - Silence

Pulsated. 

The stump of his arm pulsated with a dull and cyclic pain, leaving him breathless. He slowly swirled his eyes, embracing the hospital room that housed him: four white walls, a coffee table, two IVs, a bed with a ninja blindfolded at his side, and the rays of the sun crossing the windows. The dawns in that country were drenched in lumpy blood and heavy silences.After almost a month in prison and a year and a half of wanderings for his atonement, he had decided to return to the cursed village to fulfill the will of his brother. Who in dreams told Sasuke to start over again. It was a step toward rehabilitation but he question himself if it would even be possible to overcome his dark thoughts. 

 Sasuke had decided to follow Naruto and accept the arm implant. It was not certain, however, that he had made the right decision because he still could not forgive himself for the crimes he committed. Sasuke was convinced he didn't deserve anything, and maybe once again made a mistake.In a short time, Tsunade had managed to rebuild Sasuke's limb which now reacted to all the stimuli and flexed like his previous arm. 

The external wounds healed with a disarming velocity compared to the internal wounds so once he got out of that place that smelled like medicine, he would have been the one to flay that suture, punishing himself again and making sure the blood still flowed. Because the only way to tame his psychological pain was to distract the mind and feel a physical one.After all, looking at a healed wound was damn soothing.When he was discharged, he started probing the whole village. After the Fourth Ninja War, peace had alternated and before his eyes a pathetic scenario of actors intent on rebuilding the ruins of what had been destroyed.

No one asked him for help. Everyone feared Konoha's traitor. The same traitor who also saved them, risking his life. He also didn't bother to associate himself with anyone.  The villagers allowed him to stay - and that was enough.With every buzz of voice that mentioned his surname, Sasuke looked the other way, indifferent to the echoes of insults addressed to him and his clan. 'Traitor' and 'murderer' seemed to be the most popular words. In those moments his lips curled in a gloomy way, pondering how ephemeral those derogatories were. Those people who denigrated him would never be able to punish him as much as he could with himself. He no longer had a purpose, he had nothing to do, nor did he know where to go. When he could not sleep he got up, and begin to walk through the alleys of the huge structure of his clan. 

The same structure where he had seen his childhood shatter into a vice of dust and air gusts that had the taste of iron.Now there was only a shadow left of him who enjoyed wearing a thousand masks of pride. And who actually survived, dragging himself into the mire of an ungrateful existence. Except for Naruto and Sakura, no one approached him. And it was okay. The girls looked at him from a distance, but as he turned around they disappeared terrified by his eyes and his fame. Only Sakura seemed to resist his warnings. At that moment, Sasuke wondered with what courage does she have that she still went after him. Certainly, it was true that he had almost gone crazy following the revelation about his brother Itachi, but heck, he had also tried to kill her more than once. How long will it take for her to realize that he wasn't interested in her at all? Is it possible that all women were so masochistic and without self-respect? He had no experience with any women, and never cared about them when he was only caught up in his plans for revenge. But now that he had nothing to do other than wander around the village and train in the forest, he began to question himself about it.