Waiting Just for You
Summary: How can one truly become strong? Itachi seems to know the answer. Can Sasuke find out how to become strong in order to defeat his brother?
Rating: T
2 years after time skip…
Uchiha Sasuke sat down, placing his head in his hands. Although Akatsuki as an organisation met its end some years before, his brother seemed to be more elusive. When the organisation was destroyed – almost killing Uzumaki Naruto in the process – Sasuke temporarily halted his search and went back to Konoha with his team Hebi.
At first, there were some troubles with Hebi fitting in with Team 7. Karin and Haruno Sakura had almost reached the point of killing each other; with Yamanaka Ino being no help to the cause. Although the "We love Sasuke" club mostly dissipated as its members matured and found more attainable boyfriends, Sakura seemed to be the only one left carrying the torch for him. Then there was a clash between Sai and Karin, and his thoughtful nicknames: "Scarecrow".
Although Team 7 seemed to manage to get along with Hebi, the rest of Konoha treated them with suspicion. Everyone knew the story about how the Uchiha up and left one night to join up with Orochimaru, and how Sakura tried to sway him otherwise. There was also the fact that the Uchiha's three companions were also once 'henchmen' of Orochimaru and all missing-nin.
Currently, Sasuke was fed up. Two years was a long time for sitting and training to defeat Itachi. Sasuke knew he was missing something, a something that would enable Itachi's defeat.
"Sasuke!" a bright voice rang out, "time for lunch!"
Sakura entered the training area with a picnic basket, followed by Hyuuga Hinata and Naruto. They set up a blanket and the lunch upon plates. Sasuke reluctantly sat between Hinata and Sakura and took one of the sandwiches offered to him by Naruto. From the outfits they were wearing – Sakura in a white coat, Naruto wearing a black t-shirt and pants, and Hinata in her clan's formal kimono – Sasuke could tell that they weren't slacking off either.
"Father is teaching me the ways of the Hyuuga clan…" Hinata began, between bites of sandwich and sips of tea.
"So you'll become the head when he dies?" Sakura asked. Hinata replied with a slight nod, turning towards Naruto who was offering her some of his ramen.
"Don't you ever eat anything but ramen, dobe?" Sasuke asked.
"Sure I do, teme," Naruto grumbled.
The argument was interrupted by Konohamaru running into the training area and nearly knocking Hinata over in his attempt to get to the group.
"Sakura… we need you… Moegi… emergency!" he shouted breathlessly. He began to run off again. "She's in the next training ground!"
"I'll catch you guys when I finish work…" Sakura said as she ran off after Konohamaru.
"She sure gets busy doesn't she?" Naruto asked.
"Yes, her mother says that Sakura gets called out at odd hours, says that its starting to take a toll on her health, she never gets enough sleep," Hinata explained.
"It's been so hard on them since her dad got injured on that mission last year," Naruto sighed.
"I better get back home; father is expecting me back for my next lesson," Hinata said, standing up from the blanket.
"I'll walk you back!" Naruto said, gathering up the picnic things.
"See you later, Sasuke," Hinata said to Sasuke as she left the training area with Naruto.
Sasuke watched their retreating forms before resuming his previous stance: sitting on the ground with his face in his hands.
"What am I missing?" he shouted to himself, letting out a growl of frustration.
"I'd say you need to cool it and think of something else for a while…" came a voice that belonged to one of Sasuke's 'new' team mates.
"Suigetsu…"
"Y'know Sasuke, my mother once told me that if you get frustrated with something, get your mind on something else," Suigetsu explained, slapping Sasuke on the back in a friendly manner. Sasuke ignored him.
"A walk will do you good; go do something you haven't done in a while besides train,"
Sasuke stood up, still ignoring Suigetsu, and walked away. Suigetsu looked as Sasuke retreated out of sight towards Konoha.
"Jeeze… either he needs to wake up and smell the flowers or he needs a girl…" Suigetsu said out loud to himself, scratching his head pensively.
"We've been saying that for years…" came a bored voice from up in a tree. Suigetsu spun around to see Kakashi squatting on a branch, nose in the omnipresent 'Icha Icha Paradise' novels of Jiraiya and – more recently – Naruto Uzumaki.
"We've spent a year and a half trying to prise Karin from Sasuke," Suigetsu began. "Poor Sasuke has a fan club wherever he goes…" Kakashi said, peering over his book at the youth.
"But," Kakashi continued, "There has been one girl here who never gave up on him, and has been the only one that Sasuke truly trusts when it comes to the crunch."
"That pink-haired kunoichi!" Suigetsu exclaimed, "He has a photo of her in his kunai pouch." Kakashi raised an eyebrow at the omission of a 'team mate' having gone through Sasuke's personal belongings.
"Well anyway, I have to get back to make sure Karin isn't causing problems with the kunoichi population of this nice village…" Suigetsu said as he moved away.
"Hey!" Kakashi shouted, causing Suigetsu to stop and turn around. "Would you tell me what your ambition was that caused you to join Sasuke, I heard you were the one portraying him as a hero."
"Akatsuki's swordsman, the Uchiha's partner,"
"You have certainly achieved that goal… why stay?" Kakashi asked the sliver-haired youth.
"To show Sasuke that there's more to life than achieving goals… it should be here that we part company, he needs to stay in Konoha." With that, Suigetsu turned and walked away from the training grounds.
'Things are just getting weirder by the day…' Kakashi thought, his visible eye returning to the page of the book he had left earlier. 'But with Sasuke… he's more unpredictable than Naruto when it comes to his private life.'
Flashback… 5 years ago
"Sasuke… Sasuke…"
Through the fog of darkness and pain, he could hear a female voice sobbing at the same time of holding back emotions. Ninja code 25: no ninja should show emotion, no matter what the situation.
Sasuke's first thought was of his mother. The warm hand on his cheek felt like his mother's, soft yet strong. He remembered how she used to stroke his cheek when he was sick or asleep.
'Mother…? But… she's… am I…?'
He could hear a gruff male voice, and beyond that, the roar of a crowd. It was there that Sasuke decided that he wasn't dead. The gruff voice belonged to that of their client, a man who lied about the job in order to pay less. A lie that had put them all in danger.
'Someone's… pushing those senbon into… ugh… my chest…'
He could feel the weight of the female who was crying on his chest, pushing the needles that were embedded in his chest further in. The pain was enough for him to open his eyes.
"Sasuke! You're… alive!" cried the female, her pink hair visible through his watering eyes.
"Get… off me…" he managed to choke out. She did as she was told, seeing the senbon that were slightly causing her pain.
'Why… why would she be sad if I died?'
(Because she loves you…) came a voice from the back of his mind.
'I have no time for love…'
(You can't live your life without it, nor can you get stronger without it.)
'Shut up…'
(Suit yourself… but when it comes to the crunch, you'll wish you'd taken notice of that 'annoying' pink-haired kunoichi earlier.)
Sasuke opened his eyes to see the darkening sky. He had fallen asleep in the training grounds.
"Damn…"
He stood up, stretching his numb arms and legs. He walked, and didn't stop til he reached the gates of the Uchiha district. A ghost town for the past nine years, and a place he hadn't set foot in for the previous five years.
The first thing he noticed was that the door to the main house was wide open. The second thing was that someone was inside. Sasuke scowled, and entered the house with his katana raised ready to fight.
There were voices in Itachi's old room. One was shaking, one was cold, and a third was moaning in pain.
'Itachi… he's here.'
Sasuke peered around the door to see something he never expected to see. Indeed, Itachi was there, standing on the far side of his old bed. A pink-haired kunoichi stood with her back to the door. A third person, a woman, lay on the bed. The woman had a well-rounded stomach, and was panting and moaning.
"Ah, my little brother is here…"
The pink-haired kunoichi spun around to see Sasuke in the door way, and the woman in the middle looked between the two brothers. Sasuke stepped into the room, eyes trained on all three, katana at his side.
"What are you doing here, Itachi?"
Itachi smiled; his eyes as cold as they were the night he killed his clan. The woman groaned again, Sakura checking her large stomach.
"It's only right that a child is born with family around," he said simply, kneeling down to hold the hand of the woman on the bed. Sasuke scowled, as the woman let out a loud, guttural moan.
"Damn you… you kill our family, leave me to live with it, and now… and now you knock a woman up so that you can restore the clan…" Sasuke growled.
"Sasuke…" Sakura began, "please… if you stay… please just don't fight…."
"I'm just wondering how he gets off on causing the worst kinds of betrayals someone can ever do to their family,"
"All of you…" started the woman, "Just shut up!"
Sasuke crouched down by the door, katana still at the ready. Sakura monitored the woman on the bed, checking every so often on the progress of the birth. Itachi looked at the woman, occasionally looking over at Sasuke.
"Keep pushing, I can see the head!" Sakura said, positioning herself at the bottom of the bed.
"Sasuke," Sakura began, "I'm going to need your help."
Sasuke sheathed his katana, and walked over to where Sakura was standing. She handed him some towels and a blanket.
"When this baby comes out, I'll need you to grab him and wrap him in towels. When we cut the cord, take him to the bathroom to give him a warm bath," she explained.
"I do not trust my child with him…" Itachi began.
"Well you better..." Sakura mumbled, concentrating on guiding an emerging head out. As soon as the shoulders were free, the rest of the body followed. The woman relaxed, and the tiny body was handed to Sasuke.
"What is it?" the woman asked. Sakura called Itachi over to cut the cord. She turned to the woman.
"A girl," Sakura said. Sasuke breathed a sigh of relief.
"Girls can't inherit, Itachi, you know that,"
"Shut up… whoever said I was after this to gain the inheritance?"
"Inheritance?" Sakura asked, pushing Sasuke from the room.
"Yes," Itachi began, "The Uchiha clan is a very old and prestigious clan, and with that comes certain inheritance issues."
He continued, "It was decided by the elders who split from the Hyuuga clan that women wouldn't inherit positions of power in normal circumstances. The first born male of any of the main house members would inherit the clan,"
"So… because you betrayed your clan… you don't get the inheritance?" Sakura asked, checking the woman on the bed. Itachi shook his head.
"That now falls to Sasuke, like everyone always thought it would…"
A cough erupted from the woman, and Sakura sprung into action. She knew the woman was living on borrowed time, and her condition was worsening.
"Please… Itachi… look after her…"
"Do you want to name her?" Sakura asked the woman.
"Kaede… that's the name that… we picked… didn't we… Itachi?" she whispered, coughing punctuating her answer. Itachi whispered into the woman's ear, causing her to smile. Her breathing stopped, but her smile didn't.
Sasuke returned, child in arms, to see his brother kiss the forehead of the woman.
"She died, Sasuke," Sakura began, taking the child from his arms. Sasuke nodded dumbly, looking at his brother. Sakura took the child over to her father, who took the bundle and looked at the tiny, pinched face. He slightly unwrapped the bundle and began counting fingers and toes, starting at limbs, the shock of black hair and the blue of the slightly-opened eyes.
"What are you going to do now?" Sasuke asked, still staring at his brother and niece.
"You still want your revenge… and I can't stay here…" Itachi began. "I can't take Kaede with me,"
"But…" Sakura began.
"Take her to the Hokage, explain that a woman unknown to you died giving birth and that she requested that you do what you saw fit for her child…"
"Brother…" Sasuke murmured. Itachi turned to him. He motioned for Sasuke to follow him, baby still in his arms. They left Sakura behind, who was filling in the paperwork that she kept with her.
"Sasuke," Itachi began. Sasuke stood in front of him, red eyes beginning to blaze.
"When I claimed the lives of our clan, I never knew that one day I would become a father to the restored generation," he said. Sasuke shrugged.
"Look, you know what has to be done; you still have to defeat me," Itachi said, "I know that it has been bothering you… trying to get stronger, and you don't know how. You tried going with Orochimaru, you tried killing your best friend, and you tried creating your own team, all in the hopes of getting stronger."
Sasuke was scowling. 'So he has been watching me…'
"Want to know how I grew stronger?" Itachi asked. He leant closer to Sasuke and whispered in his ear.
"… I don't believe you," Sasuke said, his face as stony as always.
"Believe what you want brother," Itachi said, handing the tiny baby girl to Sasuke, "But when it comes to the crunch…"
Sasuke narrowed his eyes, remembering an event from five years before that had been plaguing him in his sleep the day before. As the sun rose, Itachi disappeared. Sasuke looked down at the bundle that had begun to cry.
"Tsunade will be arriving soon…" Sakura said from behind him. She reached out for the baby in his arms so that she could feed her.
After Tsunade left to take the baby to the hospital, and the body to the morgue, Sasuke sat down in his childhood room trying to process the events of the past night. Sakura sat next to him, head in her hands.
"He told me…" Sasuke began, faltering. Sakura looked up at him, face begging him to continue.
"Never mind…" he sighed, placing his head in his hands. Sakura was not going to take 'never mind' for an answer.
"What did he tell you, Sasuke?" Sakura asked, looking at him curiously. Sasuke shook his head, trying to dismiss the conversation.
"Sasuke, tell me," Sakura continued.
Author's Note: Here is a first chapter of 'Waiting Just for You'. I have an idea where I want this story to go, but any suggestions will be greatly appreciated. So review away!
31/5/07