Surrender Soldier

Summary: In which, Sasuke has been in love with Naruto from the first day he arrived at the Konoha Trauma Orphanage, but around the trials of living with a group of deranged teenagers in a building only one step away from being a mental hospital, who has time for such things? AU, NaruSasu.

Disclaimer: This product is meant for entertainment purposes only. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. Some assembly required. Batteries not included. Use only as directed.

AN: Hello all, I am back (finally) with an update. Sorry it has taken me so long to pick up the story, but I'm well on my way to writing the next few chapters, so be reassured that I'm continuing it from now on - although updates may be slow, me being at university most days of week, I will continue to write if people still want this story!

Nine Years Later

Chapter 2: Third Floor, Section C

Nothingness.

It surrounded him, held him, penetrated his body - until he was no more than a wandering whisp of thought.

And he was at peace, as he ebbed with the flow.

The boy walked slowly, the soles of his feet making no sound, as he moved forward; but seemed to gain no distance on the dim, blurred landscape around him. He moved in a daze, the calm lulling him, as he allowed himself to drift through the sea of his mind.

Colours and shapes drifted before him; images of places, of people, catching his mind's eye before drifting away again, and this seemed to go on endlessly - until suddenly, one rose above the rest.

A person, faintly visible, as though standing in a mist - and the boy strained to see clearer, his pace slowing to a stop, as familiarity washed over him.

Someone long forgotten, and often thought of - with flowing black hair spilling over straight shoulders, and a face so like his own; pale skin, an elegant nose, and somber eyes. The image swam before him, the person - and what was his name? - smiling ever so gently; and as the boy stared, comprehension evading him, the man seemed to walk towards him.

But then, even as the boy felt some level of recognition rise within him, and an elation he remembered only in dreams - the face of the man changed before him.

The long, silky tresses of hair became matted and messy like so many cobwebs, the expression on the man's face turning wild and unrestrained; and now he seemed no longer to be walking, but charging towards him - an object glinting threateningly in his hand - as eyes that had previously held such a tenderness, the darkest of night's blue, were now a menacing, bloody red...

With a shout of alarm, Sasuke shot up in his bed - wide eyes darting around himself in panic - as he gasped for breath, fingers clenched at his shirt front, and air came abruptly to his lungs.

Sweat beaded at his forehead, hair sticking to the back of his neck, as shallow panting blew over slick lips - and after a moment of simply sitting in fearful bewilderment, the boy's dark bangs fell across his drained face, as he slowly settled, and sat still.

The Uchiha's mind swam; and as his sight cleared, he found himself sitting in a familiar room - the open window on the far wall allowing the early morning sunshine to warm the cool stone of his bedroom walls.

His heart beat fiercely in his chest, and with a deep sigh of relief, Sasuke leaned back against his pillows tiredly, as a shaking hand rose to wipe at his brow.

'Just a dream...' He thought to himself calmingly, his heart slowly returning to a normal pace, as he then flung the sheets that had tangled around his legs into the corner of the bed, turning steadily to place his feet on the grey-carpeted floor. 'Just a stupid dream...'

Standing from his bed, the Uchiha sighed shakily to himself, as he pulled off his now sweat-soaked bedshirt, and dug around on the floor for a new one.

How long had it been, since he had one of those dreams? One week, two?

‘Not long enough.’ He thought.

"NARUTO!"

A sudden shout caused the boy to freeze where he stood then, his head whipping towards his closed bedroom door, as a familiar aggravated voice suddenly drifted in from the hall, the tone bellowing.

"Get back over here with that!"

Sasuke's heart leapt in surprise at the noise, and with only a moment's hesitation, he hurriedly tugged a clean shirt over his head - frowning as he approached his bedroom door, fingers curling around the silver handle.

'What is the dobe doing now?' He thought irritably.

Pulling the heavy iron entrance open, the Uchiha stuck his head outside the door just in time to whip it back in, eyes wide - as the speeding figure of a tall blonde ran past, something bright red clasped in his hand, the boy very nearly colliding with the wall as his head turned slightly, and he managed a strained - "Morning, Sasuke!" - before bolting past. Quick on his tail, was a rather incensed Inuzuka boy.

"Naruto!" Kiba seethed, a frown set fiercely on his face, scrambling out of his room across the hall - and Sasuke could figure out the reason for the dog-loving boy’s anger. Dressed only in a low-riding towel, cheeks a prominent shade of red, Kiba sprinted full-pelt after Naruto. "Give them back!"

"Gotta catch me first!" Naruto’s laughed reply could be heard from the main room, and Kiba gave a shout of infuriation, immediately picking up his speed.

Sasuke watched the chase disappear with slowly depleting interest, closing his door behind him as he came to stand in the multi-doored hall, gazing down to where the two feuding boys could be heard scrambling around in the lounge room, a smirk twitching at the corner of his lips.

A figure settled next to him then, and the Uchiha boy turned his head sharply to see a familiar pony-tailed boy now leaning against the wall beside him, arms crossed over his chest as an irritated expression settled on his face.

"Can't we ever get a moment's peace in this godforsaken place?" Shikamaru droned in displeasure. "I never get to sleep in on Fridays. It's all so troublesome..."

Sasuke quirked an eyebrow in amusement, though silently he agreed with the Nara - before a loud, indignant squeak could be heard, followed by a decisive thud as something fell heavily to the floor.

The two docile boys made their way down the hall then at no quick pace, walking past the lines of identical white doors that led to both empty and occupied rooms, and into the open living and dining area otherwise known as the main room - where Kiba now sat straddling Naruto's back, as the Uzumaki seemed to have fallen face-first to the tiled ground, the Inuzuka sporting an absurdly triumphant grin - and holding in his hand a pair of bright red boxer shorts.

"Ok, Kiba, you won! Get off now!" Naruto flailed weakly under the other boy, his tone humouring, as Kiba merely sat on his back, smiling from ear to ear.

"No way. I'm going to stay right here, until I'm sure you won't steal my boxers ever again!" The Inuzuka announced decidedly, nodding to himself.

The Uzumaki groaned in reply, as he lay sprawled on the floor at the entrance to the bedroom hall, struggling to breathe under Kiba’s weight - forcing Sasuke and Shikamaru to carefully step over him as they gazed down at the scene.

Naruto stopped squirming as two pairs of bare feet came to a stop in front of him, and lifting his head from the floor, he was met with the amused expressions of his other two hall-mates.

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow at the trapped blonde. "You are aware of the romantic connotations of stealing someone's underwear?" He asked casually then.

Kiba became suddenly still at the Nara's words, before he flushed an even brighter red than before, and his face scrunched up as he stuck his tongue out at the spikey-haired genius. "Ew, Shika, that's totally gross!"

Naruto scowled from the floor at the now-chuckling Nara, choosing to ignore Shikamaru's amusement at his position, as he turned his gaze to Sasuke - and upon seeing the Uchiha's bored expression, pouted pathetically.

"Sasuke," The blonde whined then, "Help me out..."

The dark-haired boy considered telling the Uzumaki that he deserved Shikamaru's ridicule and Kiba's punishment after causing so much noise, but one look into the blonde's pleading face, and he settled for an eye-roll and an irritated sigh. "Kiba, get off Naruto."

Kiba poked out his tongue childishly at the Uchiha, but did what he was told, roughly using Naruto's shoulders to get up, and laughing when the blonde gave an indignant grunt.

Shikamaru's amusement seemed to disappear then, as the boy turned his back on the others, and went immediately to sit at the table situated in the middle of the main room - just to the left of the lounge area - and stared pointedly at a certain glass barricade, arms crossed over his chest once more.

Sasuke's face relaxed into a casual smirk then, as Naruto rose to his hands and knees, and the Uchiha grasped his arm to help him up.

The Uzumaki gave a thankful grin, his other hand rubbing at his back as he came to stand as well, towering over the Uchiha slightly - and Sasuke tried to remember a time when they had been the same height.

"I think Kiba did my back out when he tackled me." The blonde complained.

"Serves you right." Sasuke replied without missing a beat, his smirk widening, as he arched a curious eyebrow at the other boy. "What did you steal his boxers for, anyway?"

Naruto shrugged, his arm slipping easily around the Uchiha's shoulders, and they made their way over to the table Shikamaru sat at. "He said he'd race me, so I gave him a little initiative!"

Sasuke shook his head slightly, though not without amusement. "You shouldn't encourage him." The Uchiha scolded lightly.

The blonde simply grinned, bringing the other closer as they walked, and leaned down slightly to whisper in the dark-haired boy's ear; "Jealous it wasn't you sitting on me back there, Uchiha?"

Sasuke's smirk widened into a grin at that, though his heart gave a strange leap that he chose to ignore, and he shot a superior look at the blonde. He knew this joke, it was well versed between them - and he squared his shoulders, making a great effort to look down the length of his nose at the taller boy. "You wish, Uzumaki."

Naruto gave a loud chuckle at that, his arm slipping from around Sasuke’s shoulders then, as they came to sit at the small white table - Shikamaru ignoring them completely, as Kiba came skipping back out of the hall again, and he and Naruto lapsed into casual conversation - as though the embarrassment of before had never happened.

It wasn’t long, as it never was, until their attending supervisor arrived.

“Breakfast time, you little monsters!” The silver-haired man’s jovial voice reached them, the man carrying a well-packed plastic box as he made his way towards their table from the heavily-barricaded door located on the lounge-area side of the main room.

Dressed as he always was in the sterile white uniform of the attendants, with the emblem proudly proclaiming ‘Konoha Trauma Orphanage’ emblazoned on the front, Kakashi’s smile was made evident only by the familiar curve of his one visible eye - the rest of his face being covered by an eye-patch and a tall mask that fitted over his nose. Setting the large plastic box he carried down onto the table the boys sat around, the badge fastened to Kakashi’s right pocket, reading ‘Section B Supervisor’ dangled from his long coat.

Naruto smiled brightly in greeting at the older man. “What’s for breakfast today, Kakashi-sensei?” The boy asked eagerly, his eyes fixed on the box on the table.

Kakashi gave Naruto a reprising look. “You know exactly what's for breakfast, Naruto.” He told the boy in a deadpan, before reaching into the box and retrieving a plastic bowl and a container filled with a thick grey substance.

Emptying the contents of the container into the bowl and placing it in front of the blonde boy, Kakashi smiled at him once again, as Naruto frowned in disappointment.

“I’m sick of eating this so-called ‘oatmeal’.” Naruto complained then with a glare at the man, “Give me whatever the others are having.”

“You know the deal, Naruto.” Kakashi replied simply, as he fished out a pile of plates and containers filled with scrambled eggs, bacon and toast.

Sasuke ignored the blonde boy’s pained expression as he reached for a plate and helped himself to portions of the food, and began to eat at a slow pace. Kakashi then grabbed a sandwich out of the box for himself, before going to stand at his usual morning-post in front of the tall glass door that Shikamaru had been staring at, opposite the barricaded entrance that Kakashi had come from.

Naruto frowned fiercely down at his bowl of indiscernible grey mush. “I’m sick of these plastic plates and bowls.” He whined, grasping at things to complain about, Kakashi ignoring him from where he stood.

Sasuke frowned himself as he struggled to cut his bacon with the flimsy plastic knife he held - which then subsequently snapped. “Hn.”

“Yeah,” Kiba agreed for the sake of it, “But I bet it’s not as bad as in Section A.” He added optimistically.

Shikamaru nodded faintly. “They aren’t even allowed plastic utensils, because of Tenten.”

Naruto didn’t reply, merely glaring down at his mediocre breakfast - and Sasuke couldn’t help but glance at him. He didn’t know why, but Naruto’s diet had been changed for about a week now, and he had been put on a diet of only oatmeal for breakfast every morning. Naruto had told him that Tsunade said it was some experimental thing relating to his condition, but the blonde avoided his gaze whenever they spoke of it - making Sasuke slightly concerned.

“Hey, Kakashi,” Kiba called over then, his eyes bright as he asked expectantly; “When do the boundaries open today?”

Kakashi pulled back a sleeve to glance at his wristwatch. “They’ll be open when you get back from class - which you have early today.” He replied, “So hurry up, you’ve got twenty minutes to eat and get dressed.”

The rest of breakfast was had in silence, the boys quickly finishing up with their food - Naruto grimacing as he scoffed the unpleasant-looking oatmeal - before hurrying back into the bedroom hall and their respective bedrooms to get dressed, and when finally they were all ready, Kakashi led them over to the door he had come through that morning - the boys fidgeting with anticipation.

The door was painted a mellow red, barred over with stripes of iron and lined along the side with heavy locks, each more complicated than the last. It was well-known amongst the boys that no one was to attempt to pry open this door, and that only their official supervising attendant could get in and out of their rooms.

Kakashi reached into his coat and retrieved a key on a metal chain, turning towards the barricaded door and slipping the key into all the different locks in succession, before grasping the silver handle and pulling it slowly open, the hinges creaking with the weight of it.

The pastel-coloured walls of the Orphanage halls where revealed to them as the boys stepped out of their confined rooms, Kakashi locking the door behind them quickly.

“Alright!” The man declared cheerfully then, “On we go to class!”

The familiar trek through halls, mundane and repetitive as it was, it being the same walk to class that they had taken most days of the week for all of the years they had each been at the Konoha Trauma Orphanage, was still no less enthralling to the boys.

Being outside of Section B, the official name for their living quarters, was something not to be taken foregranted for them, and they revelled in it as they passed by busy clerks and nurses on the same floor. The Orphanage was also, in part, a hospital - it being a way to gain funds, or so Tsunade had said - and so gloved doctors and chart-reading nurses also passed down that hall - Kiba smiling widely at each and every one of them.

Down a flight of stairs, two lefts and right, and before long they reached a door which proclaimed ‘Educational Facility Room’, otherwise known as class. A voice could be heard talking from within the room, and Kakashi opened the door ahead of them, hurrying them in.

All the eyes of the room trained on the newcomers, the man at the front of the class frowning. The boys moved past their supervisor, heading immediately towards the long table in the middle of the room, around which nine familiar faces sat - some smiling, some not.

Naruto and Sasuke took a seat next to each other on the far-side of the long table, Kiba perching himself between Naruto and Chouji - who grinned at seeing the dog-like boy, as Shikamaru broke away from them to take a seat purposely left empty for him.

“Kakashi.” The same voice they had heard outside the door, belonging to a man with a high ponytail and lightly scarred nose, spoke up from the front of the class in a scolding tone. “You’re late again! Class started fifteen minutes ago.”

“Oh, well, Iruka,” Kakashi scratched the back of his head apologetically, as he replied; “You see, I was on the way to class with my lot, when I got stopped by a nurse who’s patient was flatlining-”

“Are you kidding me? Again with the excuses? Kakashi-”

“-And so I said I’d handle it, so I followed her to the room, and grabbed those chest zapping things-”

“You don’t even know what they’re called.”

“-And ZAP! I shocked him, but he still wouldn’t move, so do you know what I said?-”

“I don’t think the hospital even takes critical patients.”

“-I said, crank up the voltage! And so the nurse, almost fainting in peril, the poor woman, turned up the power to over five thousand volts-”

“That's an absurd amount. No one in their right mind would believe that.”

“-And I ZAPPED him again! And it was a miracle - he came back to life, and she thanked me, and even offered to take me to lunch - but I said I had to get to class with my kids, because my dear Iruka was counting on me, and so here I am.” Kakashi smiled innocently.

A moment of disbelieving silence reigned for a moment in the classroom, before Iruka sighed. “Fine, whatever. Let’s just get on with class.”

Grinning as though the other man had congratulated him on his efforts, Kakashi went to lean against the door leading back into the second-floor halls, guarding it as he and the teenagers sitting at the large table turned back to focus on Iruka.

“Alright,” The man replaced his expression with a patient smile, “Does anyone have anything to add to what I said yesterday at the end of class?”

“About the class book, Flowers in the Attic?” A girl with unnaturally bright pink hair asked sweetly, her hand raised in the air.

“Yes.” Iruka nodded, “We were discussing the ethical treatment of the children by their mother.”

A large boy with thick war-paint on his face and a hood covering his hair, the oldest of those congregated at the table, spoke up loudly. “Well, I reckon she’s a definite bitch for what she did. I mean, come on, like she didn’t know what her own mother was going to be like. And I should know, mine was a right piece of work.”

“Yes, thank you, Kankurou.” Iruka said without smiling, before the boy could go on. “But please raise your hand next time.”

The boy shrugged without care. A few seats away from him, a hand shot into the air.

“Iruka-sensei! I think my toe is bleeding.” A boy wearing an almost too-green T-shirt, bandages rolled all up and down his arms, and a bowl-cut, sat nearly jumping in his seat as he tried to gain Iruka’s attention. “I bumped it this morning when I got up, you see, and it hasn't stopped hurting since, and I’m sure it won’t get better unless I get medical treatment-”

“Lee.” Iruka interrupted exhasperatedly, “Your toe is fine, I can see from here that it’s not bleeding. Just give it some time, and if it still hurts later, just ask Gai-sensei and he’ll take you to the nurse’s station.”

Hesitating for a moment, Lee nodded, and his hand dropped back into his lap.

Sighing, Iruka turned his gaze back on the class at large. “Now, back to the lesson - does anyone have anything more to add?” He asked hopefully then, before his gaze settled on one student, and his tone softened considerably. “What about you, Hinata?”

The class’s eyes fixed on a girl in a much-too-large hooded coat sitting with her head bowed, who at the sound of her name, jumped in surprise, blushed a dark red and began pressing her fingers together nervously. After a moment of silence in which the girl attempted to speak, she merely shook her head.

Iruka opened to mouth to say something encouraging to her, before he was interrupted.

“Well, I know what I think.” A haughty voice spoke up confidently, and everyone’s eyes whipped to the boy beside Shikamaru - sitting with his arms crossed over his chest, long black hair clasped lightly behind him, and an ever-present bandage wrapped around his forehead. “I would have escaped that attic the moment I was put in it. Tied a bunch of the sheets together, gone to the nearest window, and be done with it.”

Iruka faced at the boy with a strained expression, while beside the long-haired boy, Shikamaru smiled.

One of the older boys, though he didn’t look it, Hyuuga Neji seemed almost constantly to have an arrogant expression plastered on his pretty face, and was a class favourite for interrupting the teacher - especially when Iruka deigned to give attention to his younger cousin.

“Do you think so, Neji?” The teacher asked patiently, although he obviously didn’t appreciate the boy’s interruption of his coaxing Hinata. “But you have to consider the fact that the children still trusted their mother at the beginning of the book, and that the older two siblings wouldn’t have been able to manoeuvre the young twins out of a window to escape.”

“Stuff the twins.” Neji replied without missing a beat. “And stuff the mother too. I would have left by myself if no one else would follow, it’s obvious that being stick in an attic couldn’t be a good thing - I’d be out of there, day one.”

Shikamaru had to suppress a laugh at the plainly disapproving look on Iruka’s face, as a wide grin spread over Neji’s.

“That’s quite enough, Neji.” Iruka told him then, his voice quiet and serious, as his tone suggested that he should leave it be.

But Neji was never one to listen. His eyes glinting at the challenge, the boy opened his mouth to deliver some language that would surely send Iruka reeling-

Before a loud knock at the door sounded.

Eyes jumping to the door in surprise, where Kakashi had lept away from the entrance, Iruka took a moment to clear his throat. “Come in!” He called then.

The door swung open swiftly, the person behind it wasting no time, as a pair of leather heels clicked loudly into the room - and Iruka broke out into a pleased smile at the visitor.

“Tsunade-sama,” Their teacher addressed the woman at the door with a thankful tone, “What can I do for you?”

Tsunade smiled pleasantly at Iruka, her painted nails drumming meaningfully over the chart she held in her hands. “If you could hand over Sasuke, Iruka, I’d be much obliged.”

Sasuke perked his head up in surprise, as he turned to look at the familiar woman. Turning in his chair, Naruto gave him a questioning look - to which he could only shrug.

“Oh,” Iruka responded, turning his gaze over to Sasuke and smiling gently, “I’m sure that will be fine. You’ll just have to ask your classmates about what we discuss, Sasuke.”

“I’ll make sure he does.” Tsunade reassured the teacher, holding out an obliging arm and sending a smile to Sasuke as the boy stood from the table and made his way over to her - his eyes briefly glancing back to Naruto at the table, as the other boy smiled reassuringly at him.

Tsunade’s arm wrapped around his shoulders in a friendly way as they turned away from the classroom, the sound of Kakashi closing the door behind them echoing in the hall as they briskly made their way away from the classroom.

They were on the second floor, the location of the hospital-section of the orphanage, where semi-daily class with Iruka and therapy took place - and where visitors came, if you had any. The walls on this floor where painted a soft yellow, although not much else was very different from the other two floors - and after turning a few corners, Sasuke realised where they were going.

“I have a session now?” The boy asked incredulously, looking up at the woman beside him.

“Only with me.” Tsunade replied placatingly.

When they reached her office, the door was wide open - and Sasuke made a beeline for the second chair in front of her desk; the one he always took when having a session with her.

Tsunade closed the door behind them, and made her way over to her desk, dumping herself in the padded chair and kicking off her shoes with a sigh. Leaning back and placing her feet on the desk, one on top of the other, she squared her gaze at the Uchiha as he too relaxed into his chair.

Sasuke didn’t mind sessions with Tsunade, she was by far the best psychiatrist in the building - and plus she wasn’t as high-strung as the others. Sasuke could relax around her, and wasn’t afraid that she would repeat anything he said.

“So,” Tsunade began, “You know the deal. For every time you say something positive, you earn a tomato.”

Sasuke nodded his understanding. It was a rule that Tsunade had implemented when they first met, and for all the years he had been in the orphanage, it was still enough to get him to co-operate in sessions - for as long as he could recall, he had always loved tomatoes. He still remembered when he was younger, and he would say positive things that he didn’t mean at all, in the hope of getting more tomatoes - he never fooled her though, not even once. She could always tell when he meant it.

“Well,” Tsunade swivelled her chair slightly to face him then, “How has your week been?”

Sasuke shrugged. “Pretty good, I guess. We haven’t had as much TV time, because of Kiba’s tantrums.”

Tsunade nodded. “Kiba has been having a rough time of it lately. He lost Akamaru, did you know?”

‘How could I not know?’ Sasuke wondered, reflecting back on the morning Kiba had woken up screaming, because he claimed that his imaginary dog was missing. At the delusional boy’s insistence, they had spent the whole morning searching for Akamaru - even getting Kakashi involved when the man came by with their breakfast.

Sasuke merely nodded.

Tsunade sighed. “He is making good progress on his therapy, Kabuto tells me - but all the same, Kiba has been quite disturbed lately.”

“There’s no one here who isn’t disturbed.” Sasuke replied in a slightly bitter tone.

Tsunade made no reaction. “Oh, you think so?” She asked plainly.

“Well, we all do therapy, don’t we?” Sasuke asked, not looking at Tsunade but gazing around with apparent boredom at the familiar fixtures of the office. “There are two specialist psychiatrists down the hall for all the fucking varieties of crazy us orphans have, isn’t there?”

“Everyone has their problems.” Tsunade replied as though they were chatting about the weather over cups of coffee.

Sasuke fell into silence for a moment then, thinking greatly on something, before - without averting his gaze from a tall owl statue across the room - he asked, with great conviction; “Why have the boundaries been opening later than usual?”

Time when the boundaries were open was important to the orphans. The third floor, where the they all lived, had three different entrances which led to it, because of the three different sections it was split into - Sections A, B and C. All of the orphans where split into one of these sections, each with a supervisor who let them in and out of their rooms and brought them their meals. What separated these sections into easy-to-manage groups where large doors made of four-inche thick soundproof glass. Only the supervisors of each of the three sections could, when notified by Tsunade herself, swipe their cards in the security systems and open the doors for all of the orphans to interact - a very important aspect of daily life for them all, especially for those who had close friends in the other sections.

Usually, the only reason the boundaries would open late or not at all would be because someone in a section had had an episode, or an there had been an attack. Those events didn’t happen very often, and Sasuke was sure they would have been notified off it if it had.

Tsunade fixed him with a smile that said it was complicated. “Many reasons.” She replied vaguely, “Why, do you feel you need more time?”

“No.” Sasuke answered easily, “I just know that something must have happened.”

The woman drummed her fingernails on her desk - something she often did while her mind was preoccupied. “Don’t worry, Sasuke.” She told him simply then, “Things will go back to normal soon.”

Sasuke didn’t reply, instead lapsing into silence once again.

“Have you had any nightmares lately?”

The question caused him to still - the ticking of the clock on the wall registering in his mind for the first time since he had entered. Flickering his eyes back to Tsunade and locking on hers, he thought of that morning - how he had woken up in a cold sweat, his brother’s face swimming in front of him - the terrifying red eyes.

“No.” He replied instantly, and his eyes skittered away again. But he gave himself away, he always did.

“Sasuke.” Tsunade replied sternly, though her tone was never forceful. “You’re not going to earn any tomatoes this way.”

Sasuke fidgeted for a second, his mouth drawing into a thin line as he furrowed his brow. Glancing over to her momentarily, he sighed and rolled his eyes as he gave in.

“Just this morning.” He told her as though it should hardly matter. “First time in more than two weeks.”

“Do you remember it?” She asked pointedly then.

Sasuke nodded, and was annoyed when he noticed that Tsunade seemed to relax at that.

“But you still don’t remember last time.” She stated, not in a question.

Sasuke shook his head, and was momentarily distracted as flashes of a few weeks before played out in his mind. He knew he sometimes became violent when he had his nightmares - sometimes he yelled things, threw things. But last time, his waking-nightmares had gone to a new extreme. Sasuke didn’t remember much, only waking up and realising he was sitting on top of someone, something shiny and sharp glinting in his hand - and then strong arms pulled him off, and he was sedated. It was the first week he had spent in the infirmary since he was ten.

“Do you want to talk about it now?” She asked then, her tone softening for the first time at Sasuke’s deflating expression.

The dark-haired boy shook his head slightly, crossing his arms over his chest protectively, as he pushed images out of his head of glinting, shiny things - and scared wide blue eyes.

A long silence stretched in the room, minutes ticking by with a thoughtful heaviness.

“You know, when I bought this orphanage, it was an abandoned clothing factory.” Tsunade suddenly spoke then, and Sasuke almost smiled gratefully, knowing she was only talking to bring him out of his miserable trance. “Jiraiya thought it was a lost cause - and besides, he never liked children.” She graced Sasuke with a triumphant smirk. “And now look at it! The biggest orphanage in Konoha.”

“I thought it was the only orphanage in Konoha.” The dark-haired boy replied with amusement, the corner of his lips quirking.

Tsunade ignored his comment. “And now that giant toad of a husband of mine is here most days, and not to see me, but the kids! I swear, with how often I’ve seen him scheming in the corner with Naruto - you’d think they were planning to run away together, those two.”

Sasuke couldn’t help but let out a light chuckle at that, his smile fond.

“Naruto will be turning sixteen soon.” Tsunade said meaningfully then, her gaze fixing on Sasuke’s. “You know what that means.”

He did know what that meant, and he was glad for Naruto. Although, deep in his mind, Sasuke contemplated how he had been concerned for the blonde lately - how he felt suspicious about the larger boy’s change of diet, and the way that Naruto avoided talking about it to him; almost as though he were hiding something from the Uchiha.

“It’ll be good for him.” Sasuke murmured decisively.

Suddenly then, a loud hooting erupted in the room - and both of the occupants of the office shot their gaze to the clock on the wall, a small owl jumping out of a trapdoor and hooting the time at them.

“Ah, time’s up.” Tsunade stood from her desk. “You should get back, the boundaries will be open now.”

Sasuke nodded and stood from his chair also, thinking of what the others would be doing now, and eager to join them. “How many tomatoes did I earn today?” He asked, the question flowing from his lips as it did after every session.

“Three.” She told him, giving him the same proud smile that she gave him no matter how many he earned.

He gave Tsunade a mild smile, as he often did, before turning his back on her, and heading towards the door.

“Oh, and Sasuke,” She called.

The boy turned to face her expectantly, his hand on the door knob.

“Remember,” The woman pointed a finger at him in mock-scolding, “If there’s anything on Naruto’s mind, he’ll confide in you eventually - you shouldn’t worry about him.” She smiled lightly. “That’s my job.”

Sasuke blinked for a moment, before nodding his understanding, and quickly exiting the office. That was just like Tsunade, he thought - to know exactly what he was thinking, even without him saying it.

Shaking his head, Sasuke turned around to see Iruka waiting with a smile, ready to escort him back to his rooms. He sighed lightly under his breath, before turning back up the hallway with Iruka at his side - and he thought, for a moment, and if he had been holding the older man’s hand, it would be a mirror image of the first day he made the trek to those barricaded rooms.

And so he went, back to the third floor.

Back to Section C.

-Emerald-