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A knock at your window startles you. You jump, and sit up in your bed, and once you see the swirling sharingan, your surprise dissipates. You knew he would come back. How could he not, after what you said to him the day he left?
Silence reigns as he straightens himself in the middle of your room. It is a new moon, and you can scarcely make out his silhouette in the darkness. He has grown so much. You both have.
You sigh, then stretch your arms to erase some of the sleepiness, thinking all the while. Your casual air evaporates as he steps closer to you, each movement gentle like he's trying not to scare away a deer.
You finally catch a good glimpse of him in the nightlight and your breath catches in your throat.
“Fancy meeting you here.” You murmur, voice heavy with many things unspoken, but heard all the same. Things like, where were you? How have you been? Are you okay?
He lets out a soft snort of amusement, and your lips quirk upwards as you imagine the reactions of others knowing the suave Sasuke Uchiha would do something as undignified as snorting.
“I needed to see you.” Direct, to the point, and focused, as Sasuke had always been.
“Why?” You ask, already knowing.
He pauses, Sharingan whirling out as he summons the courage and closes the last few steps between you and him, and sits next to you. He hesitates again, before pressing his thigh to yours. You notice he has taken off his shoes and left them by the window sill. At least he had learnt his lesson from last time.
He seemed to want to say something, but was struggling to find the words. You reevaluated what you had concluded earlier, realizing that something was on Sasuke’s mind.
“I care about you.”
You blink. It turns out you had not known why.
“That's good. I care about you too.”
He growled in frustration, immediately stopping when he noticed you lean back apprehensively. Sasuke sighed, and gently reached out to hold your hand in his. It was very warm, and soothing how his thumb rubbed circular motions into the back of your hand. It was tender. Loving.
“Ahh.” You said.
Not knowing what to say, you squeezed back, and leaned into him.
This seemed to make him happy, if the small smile gracing his face was anything to go by. It was the most off guard he had been since stepping into your room.
“You were right. About Konoha.”
You paused.
“Oh?”
You had seen him off after Sakura. And had warned him that Konoha was hiding the full truth behind the massacre. You encouraged him to run, and get as strong as possible, take every avenue of power, because it wasn’t just Itachi he had to worry about.
The contentment slid off his face, to be replaced with a menacing scowl, and heartbreak behind eyes as dark as the new moon.
“Oh.” You said, feeling your own eyes prickle with tears. You hug him, feel him clutch back with vigor. You may have been born and had lived your life in Konoha, but you never held any love for the place. It made you fight for scraps in the orphanage, and sneered at you when your meager diet meant you couldn’t become a shinobi and fight and die for them as cannon fodder. It was that resentment that led to you telling Sasuke about Konoha’s suspicious activities.
He came to visit you periodically. Your job meant that you often traveled outside of Konoha to and from the capital to look at goods for the business you were employed by. He would listen to your suspicions, and stay quiet as you railed against the village.
“I fought Itachi. I got the truth from him with my sharingan. Konoha ordered him to do it to prevent a coup and keep their power.”
You bit down hard on your lip. Tears flowed down your cheek. He gently dabbed them away, and cradled your face in his hand. You felt the calluses from years of hard work and swordsmanship. He had taken your advice, and learned everything he could. His skin was lined with fuinjutsu he had learned from Orochimaru and Karin, combined with the medical expertise he had learned from Kabuto. He was strong and lean with extensive training, and his mind was sharp with powerful jutsus.
You traced the patterns on his skin while blinking rapidly.
He kissed your forehead, and whispered words against it.
“I want you to leave Konoha with me.”
Startled, you pull back, even as Sasuke’s hands gripped your hands harder. But not enough to hurt. Never enough to hurt.
“I need you to think carefully about your next decision. It’s up to you, but don’t think there won’t be consequences for either of them.”
You think.
In Konoha you couldn’t stand out, couldn’t make a fuss, couldn’t speak up even when something was wrong. The mountain with the visages of the previous hokages was visible from your window. Always watching, judging, daring you to step out of line, because if you did, you would be put back into your place-even if they had to crush you and cut bits off to make you fit again.
After all, a favored saying among here was “the nail that stands up gets hammered down.’
You knew. You knew the anger Sasuke felt against Konoha because it was your own. You couldn’t claim that your whole family had been killed in a state sponsored genocide, but you knew what it was like to be hurt by the village, and then have your hurt ridiculed, ignored, and brushed aside like it was nothing. What was keeping you here?
"Sasuke, I know what you're asking me, but do you? I am a civilian. I have no shinobi training. I've worked hard and supported myself my whole life. I will be vulnerable if I leave the village, and dependent on you. Are you okay with that?"
His eyes soften from the tenseness they had. He laughs, warmly, softly, so that you could scarcely hear it.
"You have supported me for so long, let me do the same. I will protect you. I don't mind, not as long as you are with me." He leans forward, warm breath mingling with yours, before his lips were on yours. They moved in a pattern against your, patient, loving, and with an passionate edge underneath.
You gasp.
“Yes. I’ll go with you.”
You sigh at the boldness of your own words. You can and cannot believe you just said that, and you fall back onto your bed in shock. Sasuke follows you, strong arms winding around your waist, and his warm body on top of yours. It’s the first time he’s had his back exposed the entire conversation, and you know just how rare it is for a shinobi to be this vulnerable.
Your hands pause, before resting against his neck and in his hair, gently holding. He shivers, before sinking into you.
Puffs of warm breath break against your shoulder and jaw as you hear him speak.
“You make me feel things I haven’t before, I can’t control them around you.” He whispers, planting kisses on your neck and jaw. They are warm and wet and soft, and are doing things to your mind. He pauses, nuzzling your cheek.
“In two weeks, when you go on your next trip we’ll stage a bandit attack, and take you then. Be ready, have everything you want with you.”
He moves to sit up, using his hands to rub a pattern from your outer thigh to mid calves, over and over again. It’s incredibly soothing, and a turn on, and you feel your legs open wider as Sasuke rests between them, legs folded beneath him.
“I think you could be the only person to influence me now, and stop me from doing something too big.”
You are stunned speechless, but nod faintly anyway. You wouldn’t do this for just anyone else either. You hold no love for the village, and your civilian status means that you can leave without consequence, but leaving everything you had ever known, no matter how bad, can be hard.
But with Sasuke with you, you felt like you could do it.