I'm back!
Note: I won't be following the BNHA canon because I don't want to spoil it. The traitor was Sasuke, that's it.
August 12th comes, as it does every year, and just like every year, Sasuke takes the time to mourn the loss of his family.
He wakes early and searches through the cabinets for some incense. He's pretty sure they have some somewhere, it's not an uncommon thing to have.
"What are you looking for?" Yamada asks.
"Incense."
"In the drawer next to the fridge." Yamada replies. "What do you need it for?"
"I'll burn it outside." He says in lieu of an answer.
Yamada nods slowly before he gets out some ingredients and starts on breakfast. "Let me know if you need anything. I imagine you don't want to be disturbed so I'll leave you alone until lunch time."
"Thank you." Sasuke says honestly. He leaves the kitchen and makes his way out to the backyard.
He'd make a makeshift pyre if his Chakra was cooperating. As it stands, though, he'll have to settle for a rock and the incense.
He kneels in the dirt and sets up.
He inhales deeply and starts a prayer, carefully centering his thoughts around the good memories he has of his families instead of, well, everything else.
It takes around 3 hours for him to notice soreness in his knees, but Yamada has yet to get him for lunch so he doesn't move.
He drifts for a bit, his awareness scattered between memories and a vague watch he's keeping on his surroundings. He's out of it enough that he only notices Yamada's presence when the patio door clicks open.
"Lunch is ready." They say.
Sasuke nods and experimentally opens his mouth. He'd been clenching his jaw, he hadn't even realized. It's a bad habit of his.
He brushes off his knees and follows Yamada inside where Aizawa has just finished setting the table.
"We'll be leaving in about a week's time." He says. "Most of the students will have moved into the dorms by then."
The rest of lunch is filled with idle chatter that Sasuke tunes out.
"Are you going to return to the yard?" Yamada asks.
Sasuke nods again.
"Do you mind me asking what it's for?"
"What's what for?" Eri wonders.
"It's a memorial." Sasuke says, knowing if he gives them at least that much they'll leave him alone.
"Memorial?" Eri repeats.
"It's to remember someone who passed away." Yamada explains gently.
Eri frowns. "Oh."
Sasuke clears his plate and spends the rest of the evening kneeling in the garden.
~~~
It's a Sunday when Aizawa locks the door to the house for the last time in a while.
Sasuke stares on dispassionately as Eri, Yamada, and Aizawa say their goodbyes to the house. It's not like it's being sold, they're more than likely to see it again.
The car is packed full of luggage. Sasuke takes one look at it and decides he'll walk. Sasuke's claustrophobia isn't a problem in most situations. It's very specific, which is nice, because otherwise it'd be a pain to deal with.
"You can't walk to the school." Aizawa argues with a frown marring his face.
"I'll– huh." Sasuke is about to say he'll just teleport there before he realizes that's not an option for him.
"Even if you could use your... abilities, that's illegal Quirk use."
"It's not a Quirk."
"Try explaining that to anyone who catches you."
"They won't catch me, then."
"Alright!" Yamada interrupts. "I can see that this is going absolutely nowhere and we're on a tight schedule as is." They pause, thinking. "Can you take public transit?"
"Probably."
"Then do that, but please don't walk all the way to the school. It's over an hour away."
"Fine."
"Great. Problem solved!"
Sasuke helps them load the remaining bags into the extra space they have in the car now that he won't be joining them and starts walking before they start driving.
He knows the route pretty well, or so he hopes. He's had ample time to study road maps and subway lines.
The buses are, thankfully, pretty empty since it's summer. If they weren't, he would've walked.
It doesn't take long for the bus to pull into the stop that's a few minutes away from the school. He walks the rest of the way and scans his keycard and face at the door. Once he's let in, he goes the rest of the way to the dorm building, Heights Alliance.
He only knows where it is because he took the time to memorize a map of everything on campus before he first came to the school under Kakashi's name.
It's early in the morning, around 10am, so there are people moving about the dorms already.
"Oh! Are you the new student Aizawa-sensei was talking about?" A girl, Uraraka, if Sasuke remembers correctly, asks.
Sasuke nods and her smile widens.
"I'm Uraraka Ochako!" She sticks out her hand for him to shake and Sasuke stares at it for a beat too long. She pulls her hand away with an awkward laugh.
"Uchiha Sasuke." He replies eventually. "Which way are the elevators?"
"They're just behind that door." She points to a door to Sasuke's left.
Sasuke nods in acknowledgement and turns to leave.
"Ah, wait!" She calls out to him and her face immediately flushes when he turns to look at her. "Since you're new... I was just wondering if you wanted me to introduce you to everyone later?"
Sasuke already knows his soon-to-be classmates since he's been to Yuuei before, not that they know that. He knows it would be a bit stupid to be rude to her so early into the school year. No point in purposefully making a bad first impression.
"If you'd like." He says before actually leaving this time.
His room is on the fourth floor sandwiched between Shouji's and Satou's, which is nice, because Sasuke knows they're pretty quiet people.
The room itself is pretty big for a dorm room. He'd been expecting to get something in a similar size to the ANBU dorms, though he's only been there once or twice.
He doesn't have a lot of stuff. It's mostly just books and disguised weaponry. Aizawa and Yamada had insisted he at least get a carpet, so there's a small, gray, circular rug in the center of the room.
There's a desk with a chair on the left side of the room along with a dresser. The bed is on the opposite side with the futon folded on top of it.
All in all, it's an alright set up.
He feels a bit agitated from the knowledge that there are so many people around him at all times, but he knows he'll just have to get used to it so he forces his rigid shoulders to relax.
It feels uncomfortable to hold himself like he's anything other than a weapon, but he's surrounded by civilian children again so he doesn't have much of a choice in that area either.
Speaking of the children, a knock at the door brings him out of his own head.
He can hear the person on the other side of the door speaking to their friend pretty clearly, so that tells him all he really needs to know about the soundproofing.
"Uchiha-san? Aizawa-sensei sent me to come get you."
Sasuke opens the door to see a guy with hair pretty similar to his own. It's jet black and pretty straight. The length is similar too.
"Sero Hanta, nice to meet you." The boy smiles and Sasuke thinks he looks a bit like a wind up toy but he doesn't comment. He also doesn't introduce himself because Sero apparently knows his name already. Sero takes his silence in stride and they head downstairs to where the rest of the children are.
The children are sitting in the common rooms with Aizawa standing in front of them. They're all listening to him, which is a shock. Given how much Aizawa mutters darkly about their inability to follow instructions, Sasuke would've thought they'd be more rowdy. They were when he met them all those months ago. Though, current circumstances seemed to have calmed them down somewhat.
"As I'm sure you've all heard, this is Uchiha Sasuke. He'll be in your class from now on." Aizawa says.
Everyone starts talking at once and Sasuke feels the beginning of a headache. Aizawa looks like he'd take being 6 feet under instead of being in the room at that moment.
Iida (Sasuke thinks so, anyway. He knows Iida Sr. and they look pretty similar) stands up and manages to get them all to calm down.
"I am Iida Tenya. We're happy to have you in our class, Uchiha-san." Iida gives a curt, robotic bow and returns to his seat. Everyone else introduces themselves one after another.
Aizawa takes the opportunity to get out of the room while the introductions are happening and Bakugou leaves shortly after he gives his own introduction. Sasuke envies them both.
Eventually, conversation switches to their dorm rooms and how they decorated them. Someone, Sasuke can't see who, suggests they hold a contest to see who has the best decor. The class latches on immediately. The suggestion alleviates some of the obvious tension in the room, though, so he supposes it's a good thing. That, of course, doesn't mean he has any intention of participating.
He slips out of the room while they discuss the specifics of the competition and texts Yamada that he's going to the teacher's dorms where they, along with Aizawa and Eri, are staying.
Really, he'd rather just go to sleep instead of doing this, but he doesn't want to sleep in the dorm without one of his primary senses.
The teacher's dorms are much different than the Heights Alliance, they're bigger, for one, looking more like an actual apartment building with individual units than a dorm building.
Yamada and Eri are standing by the front door waiting for him.
"Sasuke-san!" Eri waves excitedly.
Sasuke nods in acknowledgement but otherwise doesn't say anything. Yamada smiles gently and herds them into the building.
"Did you have something you wanted to talk about?" Yamada asks knowingly.
Sasuke lets his eyes purposefully wander to where Eri's standing.
"Eri, why don't you go find Nemuri?" Yamada offers. Eri frowns at the obvious attempt to get her to leave but lets it slide.
Yamada then turns to Sasuke and motions for him to follow them.
They go up a flight of stairs and then into the apartment Yamada shares with Aizawa and Eri.
Aizawa is sitting on the floor with a computer open on the coffee table and papers scattered haphazardly around him.
Sana slithers out of what Sasuke assumes to be Eri's room and climbs up Sasuke's body so he sits around his shoulders.
"We're as private as we can get, now." Yamada says with a grin. "What did you want to talk about?"
"I'm going to try and fix my Chakra." He says bluntly. He ought to do this when he isn't quite so tired, but it should be fine since he won't be the one using much energy.
"Oh?" Aizawa shuts his computer and turns his attention to Sasuke.
Sana, who already knows about Sasuke's plan, explains so Sasuke doesn't have to. "I come from a dimension connected to Sasuke-sama's. It is called Ryuchi Cave and is home to the snake summons. Sasuke-sama plans to have me go there and request that the elders summon him to the cave."
"Do you think it'll work?" Yamada wonders aloud, easily accepting the new information.
"Most likely." It'll be painful, though. "I don't know how long I'll be there."
"Thank you for telling us." Yamada pauses. "Did you want to do it here?"
It doesn't really matter where he does it, the result will be the same, so Sasuke shrugs.
"You're welcome to stay here and try." Aizawa says and Yamada moves to sit on the couch behind him.
"Thank you." Sasuke nods and scans the room for somewhere where he can be sure any backlash could be controlled.
He finds a spot and sits cross-legged on the floor with his eyes closed.
"Sana, if you would."
He feels Sana's connection to the world snap like a bone and Chakra rushes into him. He sits with his back ramrod straight while he waits for it to pass and for Sana to get the elders.
"Are you okay?" Aizawa asks.
"'S fine." Sasuke answers through gritted teeth.
Yamada makes a sound like he thinks it's very much not fine, but he knows there's not much that can be done.
5 minutes pass and Sasuke feels the tell-tale signs of reverse summoning take over as his body is ripped through several dimensions to land in Ryuchi Cave.
"What in the name of the Gods have you done to yourself, you foolish boy!" Is the first thing he hears when he lands. He recognizes the gruff voice to be from one of the younger elders, Kohaku.
"Kohaku-sama, nice to see you again." Sasuke looks up from his place on the floor to see large red eyes staring back at him.
"Nice to– your Chakra coils are completely wrecked! I'm surprised you even made it here at all."
"Kohaku, the boy has had quite the journey, let's all calm down." The milder voice of Maaya, one of the oldest snakes in Ryuchi cave, gradually gets closer as she continues speaking. Kohaku immediately quiets down.
"Maaya-sama." Sasuke greets.
"Can you stand?" She asks wryly.
Sasuke blinks and looks to make sure his feet are still there because he can hardly feel them. "...No."
"I thought so. Ayako, Chiaki, help our halfwitted summoner to Izumi-Ohimesama."
Ayako and Chiaki are large snakes that don't speak any languages other than whatever language normal snakes speak.
Ayako responds in a series of hissing that means something vaguely along the lines of "what kind of hole did he crawl out of?" and Sasuke can do nothing but attempt a shrug.
Eventually, they get him to Izumi-Ohimesama. She's blind, but still manages to see more than even Sasuke. Her body is slightly smaller than Aoda's, but not by much. Her scales are a mix of dark green, black, and a brighter yellow.
She slithers off the rock she spends most of her time perched on and looks him over a few times.
"What has happened to you, hatchling?" She asks. "If I were not looking at you I would think you were dead."
"The power in the world I've found myself in was... surprising. It will not happen again, Ohimesama."
"Your promises mean little." She narrows her eyes at him. "If you find yourself in such a state again, I cannot say for certain whether or not you would live. Some of the damage is irreparable."
That's... not what Sasuke had been expecting. He'd known it was bad but it hadn't really felt like anything other than standard Chakra exhaustion. Though the feeling when he attempted to use his Chakra was a little different.
Izumi-Ohimesama moves aside so a healer, Kenji-sensei, can look over him properly. She whispers something to him and Kenji-sensei nods.
He stares at Sasuke for a while before sighing. "Izumi-Ohimesama is correct. Your Chakra pathways are not destroyed so much as they have pieces missing? No, that is not quite right. They have holes."
"Holes?"
"Yes. Like... acu-acupuncture?" He looks at Izumi-Ohimesama. "Is that the word?"
Izumi-Ohimesama nods and Kenji-sensei continues, "I do not know how this happened, you are very lucky the holes are where they are and not half a millimeter closer to your tenketsu points otherwise you would not have survived."
Kenji-sensei stares at Sasuke for a bit longer before speaking again. "Have you been feeling excessively tired lately? Unexplainable exhaustion, lethargy, that sort of thing?"
Well, yes, but Sasuke hadn't thought that was too out of the ordinary. Though, looking back on it he probably should've realized something was amiss.
"I have."
"Right, I thought so. It looks as if it targeted weak points and forced Chakra through them, which is now creating leaks. You are leaking Chakra." He says the last sentence with a hint of incredulity and hysteria.
Sasuke parses through his, admittedly limited, medical ninjutsu knowledge and comes to the conclusion that he's dying.
"I'm dying?" He asks, just to clarify.
Kenji-sensei goes quiet again. He opens his mouth to speak several times before settling on, "You would have been dead by the end of the week had you not sought us out sooner."
The air leaves Sasuke's body. "What?"
Sasuke is intimately familiar with death, having been pulled from the brink of it both physically and mentally several times, once by the Sage of Six Paths himself, but it's still a harrowing experience each time.
"Do not be alarmed, hatchling." Sasuke doesn't know how to not be alarmed but the sentiment is appreciated. "We will work on a solution and it will be finished by tomorrow evening at the latest."
Sasuke sits up from where he was lying flat on his stomach before and nods, forcing his inner feelings out of the equation.
"Thank you, Kenji-sensei."
"Do not, under any circumstances, attempt to access your Chakra before then. I will give you some Chakra replenishing pills so you do not keel over as soon as you leave here. I know you are stubborn but the pills will not do much for you if you do not listen."
Sasuke is about to nod again before Kenji flicks him with his tail. "A verbal response, please. You will not die, there is no need to act like this is the end of the world."
"Yes, Kenji-sensei."
A small snake that Sasuke doesn't know the name of appears by his side and pushes a few large, circular pills into his hand.
"Take one now and the second as soon as you return to your dimension."
The pills are about the size of the tip of his thumb, but a few moments of unpleasantness are better than death.
He swallows the first pill dry and takes several deep breaths to calm the immediate wave of nausea. Chakra pills have a feeling similar to drinking coffee, but instead of milk or creamer, someone used an energy drink.
It's a pretty foul taste, but Sasuke's life relies on them right now.
"Alright, off with you, now. I will send Sana back with you so he can alert us of any changes." Izumi-Ohimesama says and Sasuke is pulled back to the apartment.
His ears ring as his awareness eventually seeps back into him. He's laying on the hardwood floors and there are people standing over him.
"Are you okay? What happened? You didn't say you would disappear!" Yamada's rambling is the first thing his brain registers as it latches onto some semblance of familiarity.
Eventually, he sits up. "How long have I been gone?"
"A little over an hour." Aizawa replies.
Sasuke grimaces before scanning the room for water.
"Do you want help getting up?" Yamada holds his hand out for him to take and Sasuke only briefly hesitates before taking it.
He gets himself a cup of water and takes the second pill.
"Did... did you work it out?" Yamada asks, nervousness colouring their voice.
"It'll be fixed in a day." Sasuke answers after a brief internal debate about how much he should tell them.
"You look...." Like shit, exhausted, dead, terrible, drained, to name a few. Aizawa settles for, "unsettled."
"Hn." Sasuke sighs. "I received unsettling news, that's all."
"What kind of news?"
"The unsettling kind." Sasuke replies wryly. "Thank you for letting me stay for so long, I'll be off now."
Yamada looks like he wants to say more but he holds himself back, which Sasuke appreciates.
They walk him back to the lobby and Sasuke turns down Aizawa's offer to join him on the walk all the way back to the dorms.
By the time Sasuke returns to his dorm room, he's too tired to be paranoid about the people around him.
He's asleep as soon as his head hits the pillow.
I know things are progressing really slowly but I promise we will see more of lots of characters! Just bear with me, okay?
Next update: March 6th