Naruto: Blind

He had also learned that while she often complained about her family, she deeply cared for them and he knew that she would be devastated if any of her immediate relatives were to be killed. She spoke fondly of her brother; she often protested about her father's tendency to be unreasonable; and she seemed to cherish her mother, whom Sasuke had come to respect in the few encounters he had with her.

As Sakura led him back to the village, chattering pleasantly about the weather or something of the sort, he thought of Sakura's family. Something within him seemed wistful, nostalgic and almost jealous—she had things that he no longer had, and he felt a protective instinct emerge. No one should ever go through what he had suffered; he would protect Sakura, her family and her friends, even if it killed him.

Sakura squeezed his hand suddenly as she became aware of his silence, "You're not mad at me because we stopped training, are you?"

"No," he replied shortly, shaking his head.

"Okay, well if you want to talk about it, just let me know," she said after a moment.

Always there to listen; she always accepted him, no matter what he did to her. The mere thought was almost implausible to him. It was then that he heard the quiet tune that she was humming into the summer breeze—the song his mother used to hum to him. Without really realizing it, he held her hand tighter; in response to the gesture, she put her other hand on his arm, walking closer to him in a supportive manner. And he didn't know why, but he didn't want to push her away; he wouldn't consciously acknowledge it, but the gesture reassured him.

"Oi! Sakura!"

A smile came to the face of the petal-haired kunoichi as she turned her head to the call of her name. The voice was very recognizable, after all she'd heard it her entire life. She and Sasuke stopped as she looked down the street to where they had just come from, where none other than her brother was jogging down the road towards them. Her smile turned to a playful grin as she mentally prepared herself for an onslaught of teasing, however the first thing Kanaye did was engulf her in an enormous bear hug and ruffle her cotton candy tresses.

"Hey!" she heard herself squawk in a very unladylike fashion, "Get off me! I'm caught on Sasuke's arm and you're hurting me!"

Kanaye released her with a laugh and beamed a smile at Sasuke, "Heya Uchiha."

Sasuke gave an acknowledging grunt but made no other indication that he had even heard Sakura's platinum-haired sibling.

"Still loaded with creative responses I see," Kanaye mused with a good-natured laugh, "You know, you need a nickname. 'Uchiha' sounds too formal and calling you by your first name sounds so strange."

"How about not?" Sasuke replied sourly, shoving his hands in his pockets now that Sakura had dropped his arm.

Sakura grinned at the ebony-haired youth's behaviour and turned a grin to her brother, "When did you get back? And how long until your next mission?"

"I got back yesterday—the next mission I hope will be ages away," Kanaye replied heartily, shrugging off Sasuke's behaviour as well, then added in a teasing tone, "Why do you ask? So eager to get rid of me already?"

"Of course," she replied lightly, her eyes sparkling, "You have no idea how quiet it is around here with you gone. And if you and Naruto both leave for missions at the same time, it's so silent that you can hear a pin drop from the other end of town."

"Ha. Ha," Kanaye remarked sarcastically before giving her a light punch in the shoulder, "Where were the both of you yesterday? I went to the house but you guys weren't there. At all. All day."

"Oh, well we were out training all day yesterday," Sakura replied, with a shrug, "I'm not surprised we weren't home—Naruto's been complaining, saying we're anti-social. In any case, how do you know we were gone the whole day?"

"I sat there and waited. For four hours," Kanaye explained with a shrug.

"Stalker," Sakura threw in with a smirk.

"But training?" he raised an eyebrow and turned to the silent Sasuke, "My sympathies, friend."

"Oh, stop it," Sakura retorted indignantly, "You make it sound like I'm violent—you'll taint my reputation as a kind and caring medic-nin."

"Kind and caring medic-nin?" Kanaye laughed, "This is coming from the person who beat Naruto up for doing who-knows-what, and then heals him so she can beat him up all over again."

At this remark Sasuke gave a snort of deep amusement; Sakura and Kanaye both turned and looked over at the Uchiha in surprise. A wide smirk decorated his lips and he seemed profoundly entertained by the mere notion.

"Almost had a laugh there," Sakura commented, blinking slightly, before turning back to Kanaye, "And Naruto deserved that!"

However her elder sibling wasn't paying attention, but was rather studying Sasuke with mild interest. "I've decided to embark on an daring quest and document it so that it shall one day be shared with the world. I shall call it My Epic Adventure on getting to Know Sasuke Better. Chapter one: Trying to make Sasuke laugh. –But before I begin, he needs a nickname."

At this statement Sasuke turned his head towards Kanaye's general direction and raised his eyebrows ever so slightly—a slightly annoyed expression was on his face, bordering the emotion 'peeved'. Sakura on the other hand burst out laughing and couldn't stop for about thirty seconds, a time span in which she had received a number of stares from passing onlookers.

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