Never Trust Your Rinnegan (Tales of Sasuke's Travels)

Chapter 29

It's been a while since we've had some proper Sasuke angst, hasn't it :)
This chapter summarized: hurt/comfort

Check my AO3 for this chapter's outtakes!

TW - creepy Orochimaru, dissociation. Continue reading at the ~~~

"My, my. It's almost a good thing I didn't pursue Itachi's body further. Yours is much more... moldable." Orochimaru's raspy voice sounds from somewhere in the room. Sasuke can barely hear it over the whir of machinery.

His eyes are shut as he tries to picture himself somewhere, anywhere else. If he imagines it hard enough, then it's true.

Orochimaru continues to talk, all things Sasuke doesn't want to hear and Orochimaru knows he doesn't want to hear them.

He thinks of himself in the past, projecting his awareness to who he was back then as hard as he possibly can. Back when Itachi was still "ni-san" and he could think of his parents without seeing their dead bodies.

He can hear his parents talking to him as if they're still there and for a bit he can pretend they are. Until the imagery is shattered by Orochimaru taking his chin and forcing Sasuke's eyes open.

"Eyes on me, Sasuke-kun." Orochimaru leans over to whisper in Sasuke's ears. "I want you to be present for this–"

Sasuke wakes up with a start and is in his bathroom bending over the toilet before he can fully register where he is. His arms tremble with effort and it takes all the energy he has for him to remember that he can't cast out his Chakra to check if anyone's in his immediate vicinity.

He sits with his back against the wall for some time. He drifts for a bit, he doesn't know how long. It's better this way because it leaves his mind peacefully blank and numb. Nothing is registered, it's like he doesn't even exist.

Somewhere, in the back of his mind, he notes the sun streaming in from the window by his bed in the other room. The light is visible through the partially open door. It was dark when he woke up... maybe. He can't quite remember.

Sasuke blinks and finds himself back in his bed. He ought to be more concerned about how he got there but as it stands, he remains unbothered.

He's tired now, which is weird. He can't remember doing anything that would make him feel this exhausted.

He shuts his eyes for a quick nap.

~~~

Sasuke opens his eyes and squints as the bright sun assaults his eyes. He checks the time on his phone. It's 1pm.

"Fuck." He says quietly.

He spends a minute in silence to gather his thoughts before sighing and pulling himself out of his bed and into the shower. He zones out a bit during the shower, but he manages to get clean so he decides that it's a good thing.

He's expecting to be reverse-summoned some time later today, so he doesn't do anything that would take too much time.

Sasuke decides to read, which doesn't go nearly as well as he wanted. His eyes don't manage to focus on a word for long enough to actually understand anything.

He tosses the book to the side with an irritated scoff and switches to tending to and cleaning his weapons. It's been a while since he's used the things so they're in pretty okay shape.

At around 3pm, he's pulled back into Ryuchi Cave.

Immediately upon his landing, he's dragged directly to Izumi-Ohimesama and Kenji-sensei.