"E-eh...Sasuke...you look so angry...am I making you angry?" Naruto whined at the bedside.

Sasuke attempted to stop scowling, but Keito had managed to not just get under his skin, but his irritating voice and chirpy expression had wriggled its way into the cracks of Sasuke's heart that still screamed for revenge.

"...No, Naruto."

"Then why are you so mad?"

"Shut it."

"Eh? Sasuke!"

"Urasacontachi..."

"Seriously, Sasuke...is it Kakashi-sensei?"

Sasuke flinched at that, but not out of anger. He had fully woken up that morning (only to be greeted with Keito's happy face) and Kakashi had sent note that he would see Sasuke at 3pm...five minutes from now.

Sasuke was nervous to talk about his, essentially failed, mission. In fact, it was more like guilt, thinking that – no, knowing that the death of the villagers was his fault. Had he been more careful...well, Sasuke's life was full of "what ifs".

He hadn't told Naruto yet, what had happened, even though he had asked. Technically, it was against shinobi law to discuss sensitive mission details when the hokage was not around, but Sasuke thought that is Sakura had asked – who he hadn't seen yet – he would have told her. Despite herself, he imagined that she would have responded calmly and maturely, advising him on what to do and the next best step, whatever that was.

The door opened, and in walked Sakura with Kakashi close behind her.

"Sasuke-kun! Oh, as soon as I heard from Keito that you'd woken up I cleared the rest of my day to- ah that's irrelevant now, I'm glad you're awake!"

Why use the suffix with my name and not his? Don't you know me more than him?

"Sasuke...I guess you know why I'm here. We'd better get down to business; the details of your mission are essential."

"Hn...I know."

"Tell me from the beginning what happened."

Sasuke faltered slightly. He wasn't sure whether he was ready or not. But what did it matter? Who cares if Sasuke failed? It wasn't as if he hadn't fucked up big time years ago. His gaze shifted to Sakura. Would she be disappointed in him, that he indirectly killed those people?

"Sasuke?"

"...He's dead. Haiichiru is dead. I didn't kill him; he killed himself."

Kakashi's eyes narrowed, "What happened?"

"I found him on the outskirts of the village. Villagers told me he'd been walking around, but not doing anything. He was easy to find. We fought, but he beat me off, and...it turns out, he had planted bombs, hundreds of them, around and under the village. I don't know how. But he set the bombs off; poisoned gunpowder. He and I were caught in the explosion, but I used Manda to escape. All...all the villagers were caught in it too. They...they're dead. All of them. As for the files...I don't know. Haiichiru said something about avenging Deidara...I don't think he knew I killed him."

Silence settled over the room. Kakashi bit his lip, "Right...well this isn't good. We need to send shinobi to that place to see if anything comes up...maybe to recover any undamaged documents too. I guess a memorial stone is in order. Naruto, Sakura, I want you both to go and-"

"What about me?"

Kakashi raised an eyebrow at Sasuke's battered and possibly radioactive form, "Sasuke, I don't think you should-"

"Tch. Don't be stupid." In three fluid moves, Sasuke removed the IV from his arm, stood up, and walked out of the room, "I'll see you both tomorrow at the gate."

"Don't be stubborn, Sasuke." Kakashi sighed, rubbing the back of his neck.

"No." with that, Sasuke turned and left the room.

"...Sakura?"

"He should be fine."

***

Sasuke was in the middle of packing when he heard a knock on the door. He quickly placed the kunai he was holding onto his bed and answered it, immediately regretting his decision.

"Good afternoon, Sasuke-san!" Keito beamed, "I came by to see how you were doing! Since, of course, I was looking after you and all."

Sasuke flung an imaginary kunai at Keito's offensive smile, "I'm fine." He growled and made to shut the door.

"Wait!" Keito stuck his foot out, and for half a second Sasuke considered crushing it with the door.

"I-I wanted to ask you something!"

Sakura will get mad at me. Blood is difficult to get out of wood and I'd probably ask her to do it.

"What?"

"It's about Sakura-san!"

Sasuke edged the door open a little more, "What about her?"

Keito struggled to, but somehow made his way past the threshold and Sasuke, and made himself comfortable on one of Sasuke's couches, "Wow, Sasuke-san! You've got such a nice place here! Sakura-san tells me that you only arrived about a month and a half ago; how'd you find someplace like this and decorate it in such a short space of time? I've been living in my place for about a year now – it's only five minutes from Sakura-san, you know, so I sometimes walk her to the hospital when we have a shift together – but it doesn't look as nice as yours. You've got to give me some hints, Sasuke-san!"

Don't kill him, Sasuke. That's illegal.

"What do you want, Keito?"

"Oh! Of course. Well...Sasuke-san, you see, umm...the day Sakura-san handed your care over to me, I...well, I asked her on a date! And she said yes! We went to a nice restaurant in town and we talked for hours, and it was wonderful! And she seemed really happy, you know. Even though she was worried about you. I think I took her mind off it. But, the date went really well until she had to go. Something about a ward round...? I'm not sure, because when I offered to walk her there she declined. It didn't matter though, since I'd spent so much time with her-"

"Get to the fucking point. I'm busy."

Keito's face quickly went red. His cheeks puffed and his lips pursed, reminding Sasuke of an angry child. A fat, angry child. A fat angry child he was considering murdering without hesitation.

"That's not very nice, Sasuke-san. Anyway, what I wanted to ask you...she hasn't called me back or even suggested going on another date. Is that normal, or do I have to ask her? Is that the man's job?"

"...Why the hell are you asking me this?"

"Because! Because...because you know her! Because you're close friends with her...I've admired Sakura-san for such a long time, and, and I'm in love with her! I want her to love me too. I went to Naruto-san earlier, but he didn't answer the door and I could hear a couch moving inside, so maybe he was redecorating and I didn't want to disturb him."

For fuck's sake, Naruto.

"So I came here! Sakura-san keeps talking about you, you know, so I thought maybe you would know a lot about her feelings. What do you think?"

Sasuke's jaw clenched, "I think you need to leave."

"But-!"

Sasuke grabbed Keito's collar and shoved him towards the door. His expression reverted back to the fat angry child again, and he straightened his jacket, "You're awful rough, Sasuke-san."

"I've been told. Get out."

Keito opened the door slightly, then turned his head with a sly look on his face, "You know...this tells me you don't really know much about Sakura-san. I bet you feel guilty, leaving her alone all those years. Yes! I know; everyone does. Not that it matters. Sakura-san will fall in love with me one day; I'm the much better match for her! I'm kind to her and open with her and good to her."

Sasuke could feel adrenaline rush to his arms and legs, begging to be released in a fatal blow. "You're also five years younger."

"I am not! Only two years! And age doesn't matter! Besides-"

Slam!

Sasuke quickly locked the door and headed back into his room, just after setting the cushion where Keito sat on fire with Amaratsu.

I know her better than you do, bastard.

I'll get to know her better. 

------//

I cannot tell you how FUCKING frustrating the damn website is!!!!