A Rose By Any Other Name (A Sasuke Uchiha Story)

Chapter 17.

Sasuke's opinion quickly began to change, however, and he couldn’t help but be slightly surprised as it did so.

Right from that very first training session they had, she proved herself, and managed to do so in a way that didn’t make Sasuke feel hostile towards her in the slightest. She never did things in a mocking way, never patronized him or did tons of demonstrations in order to show off her abilities. She simply stated the facts and showed him what was needed, and then helped him to master what it was she gave him. At first, he had been unsure, as she picked techniques that were pretty low-level. But Sasuke soon found out that it was for good reason. She needed to get to know his abilities better, for one. But by building on the basics, she could enforce those, making those stronger, which would in turn have a knock-on effect for the rest of his techniques. When they began to cool down for the day, they meditated in order to allow Sasuke to gain further control and understand his own body more, harmonizing with their surroundings; becoming one with nature.

The lessons were flexible; sometimes it was more theory than practical, but somehow he didn’t mind. What she told him waspractical, and allowed him to grasp the nature of his physical techniques a lot better. If the weather permitted, all lessons took place outside, regardless of what it was, and they generally spent all day out there, bar several breaks during the training. Though he had spent so much time in the clearing, Sasuke could still sense the energy that the clearing emitted—if anything, he could feel it more than before. This fact was only heightened when they meditated at the end of each day, the sun setting in front of them and slowly disappearing form the sky.

It was during one of those times that he got broken out of his meditative state, and opening his eyes, he had watched the sun go down, bathing everything in its light. He couldn’t help but smirk as he glanced back at the dojo; things had definitely moved on from how they had been at the start. For the first few lessons he had tried to remain skeptic and remain aloof towards the situation, but soon…he hadn’t been able to do so. He might have been disbelieving at first, but he simply accepted the fact now; he respected her. It hadn’t taken as long to come to terms with her ‘title’ as he had first thought, and thinking back on it all now, it had to be expected from her. This thought flickering through his mind, Sasuke tilted his gaze to look at her. She still hadn’t surfaced from her meditation, her eyes closed gently and her breathing steady as she sat there.

Sometimes he wondered how he hadn’t considered the idea before. With the way he met her sitting in that clearing—a clearing that evidently didn’t hold much importance to anyone in the village apart from her—and with just the way she was, it seemed obvious she would know all this kind of stuff. Sasuke couldn’t help but contemplate whether he looked like she did when she meditated, though he doubted it. She was just completely calm; completely at peace with the forest and utterly in harmony with it, to the point where it almost seemed like the boundaries that separated her from the forest were gone. It wasn’t just the forest she was at harmony with, however; it was the world. She had fit in perfectly in the clearing where he had first found her, the forest welcoming her with open arms, in the same kind of way it had been when she had been playing with the fish. He’d seen her abilities first hand, and now he could begin to see she was Tatsujin no Kakusareta. He could see the rumours were true about her.

Whether he could achieve such peace of mind like she had attained through her meditation, he didn’t know—and he wasn’t sure how she had achieved it in the first place. He knew there was something in her past; something he connected with. What it was, he had no idea—but there was definitely something there. And yet she never let it show. Like now; her face was utterly unmarked and smooth, the breeze gently lifting her bangs to show more of her face.