Yin and Yang

Chapter 5

Sasuke

It had been a while since he'd seen Sakura, but her words still haunted him. He recalled the chill that ran down his spine when he heard her screaming at those men, her captors, in his defence. As soon as she'd finished, a fight broke out, and he had to pull himself together to launch his body into action.

There were seldom any incidents that affected him, and this was one of them. After years, somebody had bothered to peel off layers and layers of trauma, mistakes and emotions to look at who he truly was.

He remembered looking at her considerably weakened, yet still stronger than most form emerge as soon as he'd finished up knocking out the ninjas guarding the entrance to where she was kept. As soon as they looked at each other, a wave of emotion swelled within his ribcage, and no amount of stoic exterior could push it back. He saw the figure of a battered woman, who had been physically, mentally and emotionally tested over and over again, much like he was.

Only, she didn't deserve it, and he did.

In the coming fortnight, he'd ponder over it, again and again, wondering why he was the way he was, and if his trauma was a justified reason to inflict so much pain over someone else. But he realised that Naruto and Shikamaru would take care of her, and he would just be a hurdle in the way again.

He sped back to the direction he had come from, determined to finish the mission he had decided to take on. Upon reaching there, he began looking after the injured civilians, assuring them that he would defend them from the next attack.

He'd sit with them occasionally, when offered meals, and some of them were kind enough to provide him shelter for a few days. One of such households belonged to the Kaminari family. The mother, Ayako, lived there with her young son, Shinzo, and the father, Hayate, had to travel often to sell his produce. During one of his travels, he had been injured, and had to stay in the village till he recovered. Since the attack, Ayako had lived in a constant state of frenzy and terror.

"Sasuke-sama" he'd been surprised at the level of respect he'd received. "Could you please bring my husband and his friends back home?" she had begged him. He looked at her desperate expression, and then glanced towards the small boy clutching at the helm of her skirt, wide-eyed with confusion.

"Nii-chan! Mother says you'll bring father home. Will you?" he'd asked, looking eagerly at Sasuke.

He paused for a moment, calculating how it would all play out.

"I should be able to bring them back in three days, considering they should travel slow to not strain themselves right when they've recovered."

"Sasuke-san! Thank you so much!" the woman had exclaimed, overjoyed at the safety of her husband. Little Hayate ran towards him and hugged him delightfully.

"Nii-chan! One day, I'll be just like you, so that I can protect my family!"

Sasuke smiled at the words, wondering if the embrace and admiration had once felt the same to Itachi when Sasuke looked up to him.

"I hope you do. I won't always be around." he smirked, before turning to head out the door.

"Wait, Sasuke-san!" Ayako made him halt. "I need you to take something to Shinzo, if you don't mind." he was mildly surprised, but nodded in response.

She rushed to the shelf and pulled out a paper, and quickly scribbled something before folding it neatly, and tucking it into an envelope.

"Here." she handed it to him.

"A... letter?" Sasuke asked, mildly puzzled.

"Yes, Sasuke-san. Please give it to him when you meet him at the hospital. She bowed courteously.