Under the Yoshino Tree

Chapter 1

When lavender meets Onyx

If Itachi had not succumbed to illness, would things be different ? If he was here right now, would the warm rays of the sun feel so cold ? Would everything he ate be so tasteless ? Would the days blur into one another, impossible to distinguish one from the rest ? Would he struggle to find a reason to get up from bed every morning ? Those were the questions Sasuke asked himself as he absent mindedly stared into his bowl of rice.

He had been sitting at his two person dinner table for while now. He had barely touched his rice. It tasted too much like nothing for him to enjoy. Maybe he had to approach Sakura about his taste buds. But that was probably a bad idea. Sakura and him were not at a good place right now.

Sasuke took another mouthful of rice. He stood up and deposited the remaining rice back into the small pot he had cooked it in. He had resolved to have a glass of water instead.

Sasuke dragged his feet out of the kitchen. The kitchen was small with nothing but a two man dinner table, two pots, a cup, two plates, one bowl, a skillet, and a set of utensils. It was lonely too, like a haunted house. Just like the rest of his three room cottage. These walls housed the last Uchiha. The last of a cursed clan. If only these walls could talk.

Sasuke bent down to the height of the bathroom sink. He turned the faucet. Blood flowed out of the tap. He clenched his eyes shut. He opened them after a while. Clear water flowed from the tap. He was imagining things again.

He washed his face with one arm and proceeded to brush his teeth. He was heading out. He preferred the seclusion but on some days he felt as if spending one more minute in his lonely home would make him insane. Home. Was that what he called it now ?

He straightened after brushing his teeth and looked into the mirror. A pale face looked back at him. It whispered of diminishing vitality. Long strands of unkempt hair framed the pale face. The eyes that stared at him were more lifeless than a rotting corpse. He observed his cheekbones. They were getting more and more sunken by the day. But it was understandable. That was what happened when you developed a chronic lack of appetite.

He was good to go. He saw no need in taking a full bath even though he had not taken one in three days. Why bother anyway ? It would only add to the futility that now surrounded surrounded his life.

He put on his cloak and strapped on his sandals. He grabbed the book next to his futon, slipped it into his cloak and left the dead cottage. He left the place unlocked. Who would have the courage to break into his home ? His katana was left abandoned in the corner of his bedroom.

The bright star that hung in the sky burned brightly. It was the deepest deep of summer. Sasuke knew the sun was supposed to be hot today but he felt nothing. He knew he was supposed feel the heat but he felt nothing. It was a common thing lately. Everything just felt so cold...so dead.

Sasuke took to the trees. He was a blur in the sky as he sped through the late morning sky. He was heading for the village. He was heading to one of the few the places he went to when the cottage became unbearable. It was a quiet place.

For some strange reason, Naruto never bothered him when he went there. It was as though the idiot knew that he only went there when he was in no mood to be bothered.

He circled the outskirts of Konoha. It was the longest route but he took it because he did not want to go through the village. By using this route, the chances of bumping into people were much slimmer. It was only him and the trees. He liked the quietness. Silence was good. This thought made him wonder why he sometimes felt as if he couldn't breathe because of being alone.

Sasuke arrived at his destination. It was the part of the village that housed the eastern training grounds. He had only seen five people along the way. All of them had been civilians he didn't know.

He arrived at his destination. Training Ground Three. The training ground that they had been allocated as a genin team at a time that felt so long ago. Too long ago. It felt as if it had been a lifetime had passed since then. In a sense it had, after everything that had happened.

Eight months had passed since the ending of the Fourth Shinobi World War. A war that had been the conclusion to a conflict that had started thousands of years ago. Many shinobi had perished in the war. But somehow, like always , life had moved on.

Sasuke gazed at the field. It looked the same as always. It was a bare rectangular piece of land surrounded by bushes and trees.

Being here always took him back to the old days. The days he had spent with Kakashi, Naruto and Sakura as a genin team. O his teammates. They were moving forward with their lives while his feet were rooted in place.

Those who break the rules are scum but those who abandon their comrades are worse than scum. He remembered the day Kakashi had said those words to them. He had been drowning in hatred but the sun had been so warm back then.

Everything had been so different back then. Naruto had been so optimistic. Sakura had been nothing but a thorn in his side. He had been so full of hate, so determined, so purposeful, so alive. Sasuke felt a blunt pain in his heart.

His reminiscing came to an abrupt stop when he noticed something foreign. Something that didn't belong here.

It sat by the Yoshino tree on his left- by the grass beneath the shade. Sasuke felt a heart-squeezing anger growing within him. The kind of anger that made it hard to breathe. His hand tightened into a fist. Tension seeped into his neck and back. This was sacred ground. The foreign object had to go. It sought to destroy one of the few things that he had not been irreparably ruined.

Sasuke appeared next to the Yoshino tree. He stood next to the cancer that needed to be removed. The cancer 's wide lavender eyes looked up at him ? Moments passed. Still, the Hyuga did nothing but stare at him in suprise.

The girl sat crossed legged on the grass. Her back was against the tree. She was dressed in lavender coloured pants and a white and lavender light zip-up jacket. Her skin was pale. Too pale. Her indigo coloured hair was a stark contrast to her white skin. A book had fallen from her grasp and was lying on the ground.

The two of them remained like that for a while - neither of them looking away. Sasuke was livid. He was close to growling at her like a savage beast. This girl thought she could just come here and destroy one of the few things that had been preserved from his boyhood. Despite all he had done, could he not be allowed to keep this one thing. Only this untouched piece of his past. Was that too much ask ? Did every good thing he had ever known have to ripped away from him ?

He imagined her soft porcelain flesh being burned away by the eternal flames of Amaterasu. But then Naruto 's face appeared in his mind. Guilt overtook him.

Gradually, his anger melted away like a block of ice on a hot plate. What was he thinking ? It was all futile. They weren't genin anymore. This training ground did not belong to team seven anymore. The old life he often found himself so desperately trying to hold on to in his dreams was over. It was long gone. What was the point of removing a cancer from something that was already dead ? What was the point of trying to preserve something that just wasn't there anymore ? He was chasing the wind.

"Sasuke-san ? " the girl said. She had a mellow voice. It was as soft as cotton and as gentle as the sound of healing rain.

The tension seeped out of his body. His clenched fingers relaxed and his shoulders slumped. He did not acknowledge the girl. He merely planted himself on the opposite end of the foot of the tree.

He would not remove her from the training ground but a childish part of him wanted to show her that this was his territory. He would do as he pleased. He would sit right next to her to show her that he could do anything he wanted here. If it bothered her, she could leave. He took his book out of his cloak and flipped it open.

He had developed a hobby of reading in the last few months. Reality made him feel like shutting his ears, closing his eyes and never opening them. He had found an escape in fiction. The escape was temporary. Extremely short-lived. But it was better than no escape at all. On some days, when the memories were too much to bear, even reading failed to provide a pleasant escape from reality.

"Sasuke-san you look..." said the girl. The look he gave her stopped her from continuing. It was so cold and empty. The girl swallowed nervously.

Sasuke searched her features. She spoke to him as if she knew him. He looked into her lavender eyes and at her long indigo hair. He felt as if he knew the girl from somewhere. He just could not remember where. Maybe he did not know her. Maybe she just reminded him of someone he knew.

"It's been a quite a while Sasuke-san. It's surprising considering how we live in the same village, " the girl whispered.

Sasuke looked away. He fixed his gaze on the book in his hand. So they did know each other. Her words and her tone indicated so.

Hinata stared at Sasuke. The way he looked sent a cold shiver through her. He looked as thin as a stick. There were thick dark bags beneath his eyes and stress lines on his face. His skin was taking on an unhealthy hue. Probably from not eating properly and not spending enough time outdoors. He also looked disheveled and unkempt. What had happened to him ?

It was his eyes though that haunted her the most. Hinata knew she would see those eyes in her nightmares for a long time. They were dead. That was the only way to describe them, dead, lifeless, void of any life. He was a living corpse.

"It has been four months to be exact." Sasuke did not respond.

They sat together like that in silence for a long time. Sasuke was transfixed on the book he was reading. The girl beside him was a living ball of discomfort. He could almost taste the awkwardness she was feeling. He noticed how her eyes kept kept stealing glances at him. She kept glancing at his left. At the place where his left arm was supposed to be. He noticed the tension in her shoulders and her fidgeting.

He nearly rolled his eyes. She could just go if she felt so uncomfortable. He prepared to tell her off. He knew a few sharp words would make her storm off in anger or maybe in tears judging from how soft she seemed. He preferred being alone anyway. She was intruding in his quiet place. Silence was good. Being alone was good.

After preparing the piercing words in his mind, he shifted his eyes and pointed them in her direction. He made sure to give her the most hostile glare he could muster. The girl was staring at the book in her petite hands. She looked up when she felt his eyes on her. The girl flinched when she saw the look he was giving her. Sasuke watched her as she looked back down - trying to avoid his gaze.

Sasuke changed his mind about telling her off. What was the point anyway ? He often asked himself asking that question nowadays.

What was the point ? What was the point of waking up ? What was the point of leaving his cottage ? What was the point in training ? What was the point of being in Konoha ? Once upon a time he had believed that avenging his clan and producing heirs was the purpose of his life. But now the thought of having children scared him. He wiped the glare on his face, cracked his neck and shifted his eyes back to the book in his hands.

Time moved and they continued in the same manner. The girl fidgeting and him ignoring her. He did not know how much time passed. Keep tracking of time was difficult lately.

The girl finally stood up. She dusted off her clothing and then held her book close to her chest. She hovered over him. Sasuke ignored her. He eventually dragged his eyes up to her. She looked away nervously. After a moment, she dragged her eyes back to his own.

"I'm sorry for intruding into your space. I just wanted a quiet place where I could clear my mind and get a change of scenery, " said the girl. Sasuke did not respond. The girl fidgeted.

"Naruto worries about you, " she said.

From what he heard, Sasuke figured that she knew Naruto on a personal level. She knew Naruto well enough to know that he was worried about the way he was living his life. That increased the likelihood of him also knowing her.

"Naruto should worry about himself, " Sasuke spit out. He half-expected the girl to break down in tears because of the venom in his voice.

The girl flashed a smile. The rays of the sun kissed her hair. It radiated in the sunlight. Two birds were singing from the branches of the yoshino tree. The birds took him back home - the home that did not exist anymore. The girl lost in herself in her thoughts . A breeze blew the girl 's indigo hair. It danced in the wind.

"It's not easy to let go of the people we care about Sasuke-san, " the girl whispered.

Her eyes brought a feeling of discomfort in the pit of his stomach. He felt as though those eyes saw everything that he was. It was as though those eyes saw past flesh and bone and peered right into the most hidden corners of his being. He felt naked.

"Sasuke-san should eat more, " said the girl.

The girl turned to leave but then paused. She turned back to him. There seemed to be an internal conflict taking place in her. A crimson blush grew on her cheeks. But very soon, an unmovable resolve appeared in her strange eyes.

"Sasuke-san needs a bath, " the girl said. She spun around and disappeared into the sun.

Sasuke was left dumbfounded. He knew he didn't smell like a field of flowers. He had not bathed in three days after all. He was shocked though that this girl would point it out to him. Him, Sasuke Uchiha, wielder of the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan and the Rinnegan, one of the two most powerful shinobi in the world. A lot of things had been said to him since he had returned to Konoha. But this...

For the first time in a very long time, a miniscule smile appeared on his lips. Sasuke looked back to his book. He shook his head. Of all people, he had never imagined that a shy little Hyuga would tell him that he stinks. For some reason, Sasuke felt as if it would not be as hard to distinguish this day from the rest.