In Spite of it all (BOOK TWO)

Chapter 9

Still Sasuke POV~

I was up and running as soon as Shikamaru was out of sight.

Orochimaru? What about him? His hideout?

I grit my teeth. Shikamaru intentionally let that little detail slip, knowing I'd be curious. He wouldn't do that unless he wanted me to respond in some way. 

In the beginning, I had mixed feelings about Orochimaru. But now?

I hate that snake bastard.

I never liked him, honestly. He was a source of power for me. It was a simple exchange: he gives me strength, I give him a new skin-suit or whatever shit when the time came. But after endless days, weeks, hell, even months of thinking I grew to resent that I depended on that asshat for power.

If I was going to be powerful, I wasn't going to cheat. I would still kill Itachi, get my revenge, but I would do it my own way, not through his fucking manipulation. 

Naruto himself had said it, after all. If I gave in to the temptations of the curse mark, I'm weak. It didn't fully make sense to me for a long time, but he turned out to be right.

I was weak. Blind. So, so easily influenced that I was disgusted with myself for falling for it.

And there was no way in fucking hell that I was going to let that filthy serpent get away with it.

I arrived at the Hokage tower, careful not to seem to desperate. After all, I couldn't let them know why I was here just yet. No doubt Shikamaru was already inside. If I recall, Kakashi should still be here too.

After taking a deep breath and composing myself, I settled my face into its usual unbreakable scowl and walked in.

It looked almost like happenstance that I walked in to the Hokage office (without knocking, obviously, I'm not that kind of person) and happened to overhear Tsunade telling Kakashi about Orochimaru's hideout.

"Orochimaru?"

They both turned, mixed expressions on their faces. Frustration, concern, other things I didn't bother to decipher. 

"Sasuke. What are you doing here?"

I frowned at them both. "What were you saying about Orochimaru?"

They both glanced at each other, then back at me. Tsunade started,"It isn't anything that concerns you-"

"What do you mean it doesn't concern me?" I shot back, a sudden surge of anger erupting from within me.

Tsunade sighed, muttering something suspiciously similar to, "This brat" and said, "We located a possible location of one of Orochimaru's hideouts."

I blinked, surprised. "What?"

"You heard me, gaki. We might have found Orochimaru's hideout. And before you get all excited, no, you're not going."

The anticipation that I didn't know I was feeling deflated at that moment. "Why not?"

They didn't answer. One look was all I needed to confirm what they were thinking.

They don't trust me. 

After all this time, they don't trust me.

I wanted to be mad. I wanted to resent them for it. I wanted nothing more than to feel some sort of anger at this situation.

But I couldn't. All I felt was the sting of something painful, deep in my heart. A mind-numbing clench in my chest that coiled tightly in the back of my throat.