Chapter Text
Sasuke narrowed his eyes as he stared at the building down his path, he had never been to this specific part of the village — had never bothered to — but here he was now. Walking over there alongside his two teammates.
He could have just not been here, bailed on the two people by his side, Kakashi had said they didn't have a choice, but he wasn't watching them at the moment. Any of the three could easily just walk away and ignore their teacher's ‘demand’, but they didn't. Instead, they slowly marched towards the place, with serious expressions, as if they were ready to dive into a battle, a fight.
So they set off.
Naruto took the front and was the one to open the doors, allowing them to enter, and Sasuke observed the environment. The walls were mostly white, much like any other hospital, and though the place had few windows, the air was a pleasant in between of warm and cold. There were chairs against the walls adjacent to the entrance way, and opposite to it was a desk with a receptionist seated behind.
Now Sakura was the one leading, she stepped up and began talking to the woman in front, explaining why they were there and asking what they should do from now on. The woman also spoke, but Sasuke tuned it down as he looked past her. On the wall behind the desk, up higher, was a portrait of three people — “Founders”, was written in neat letters above it, and beneath were their names. A Yamanaka, a Hyuuga — hard to not notice as the person had the signature almost paper-white eyes — and… an Uchiha. Sasuke's lips twitched. An unusual combination, that was.
Sasuke wondered if she'd passed peacefully of old age, in the comfort of her house, or if she died bravely fighting in a mission for Konoha — if she was a combatant, that is — or even if she had met her fate on that somber night, like many others. He doubts it, Sasuke didn't know every one in his clan, but he took the time to learn the name of every single person lost that night.
So many people.
Killed and for what? A single man's selfish desires of testing his strength, that's what he had said to him.
But Sasuke was spared.
He wasn't worth killing.
He had been too weak-
Sasuke jumped as he felt a nudge at his side, he sharply turned his head to look at whoever had dared-
“Were you even listening?” Naruto pointed at his chest, “You gotta go to room 9.”
“Tch. Is that it?” He turned away without waiting for an answer, proceeding to head for the corridors.
“Good luck, Sasuke-kun!” Sakura shouted, he glanced behind him over his shoulders, Naruto was rolling his eyes, with his arms behind his head, “Yeah, yeah. What about me, Sakura-chan?” she just shot a tired look his way.
Sasuke huffed. He went back to walking, with a raised hand, he said to no one in particular, “You too.” he needn't look to know that Sakura was gleeful and Naruto conflicted on how to react to that. He just continued on his way to room 9.
His therapist was called Ichika, she had dark, fierce eyes, and arranged her hair in two low buns. She wasn't straightforward with things, she didn't outright ask what was wrong with him. The woman asked simple questions, and made it clear Sasuke didn't need to answer, “It is only the first session” she had said, and Sasuke scoffed having remembered that this wasn't a one-time thing.
Basic questions to get to know the boy, and subtly building up ones for him to talk about his background, which was stupid as she did know. The moment he told her his name, “Uchiha”, she hummed — anyone who was old enough in Konoha knew what happened to him. But Ichika prompted him to talk, and he did, she took notes sometimes, Sasuke wondered what she wrote down there.
Almost half an hour in, she asked about his dreams and he only hesitated for half a second before she received the same answer he had given Kakashi the day they met, she only looked pointedly at him;
“Is this what you want or what you believe you have to do?”
He stared at her, beginning to feel annoyed by how neutral her face was, “It's what I want and what I have to.” he gritted his teeth as she only nodded and took more notes, taking longer than usual this time.
Who did she think she was? Questioning his reasoning as if she didn't know better, it is only logical to do what he will- what he wants. Because he does want to kill that man, and no amount of therapy is ever going to change that.
It won't.
That hadn't been as boring as he thought it'd be!
The guy who talked to him, Masaki was his name, wasn't wary of Naruto like most adults tend to be, he was a cheerful brunette but still a professional when it came to it. He let Naruto talk as much as he wanted and indulged him to talk some more, some astray questions here and there.
Questions which slowly led him to talking about his childhood, he did so with a hint of melancholy at first but then got back to his usual smiles. Masaki stared at Naruto that whole ordeal, uncharacteristically quiet, with eyes full of fascination as if he wanted to tear Naruto's head open and analyze every neuron that makes him work like he does.
But he didn't mind.
Masaki later asked about his dreams;
“I will become hokage! Then everyone will see me!” Naruto proclaimed, the man in front of him laughed, but not in a mocking manner, he seemed genuinely overjoyed with how things were going.
“Is that so?” Was the thing he answered.
So, yeah. Naruto had nothing to complain about, now he had someone whose sole job was to listen to him, how could someone not like that?
Sakura was set. Kakashi was right, they do need this. She will be making the most of it, and she hopes her other two teammates do too.
Her very first session with the therapist Kokoro had been pleasant, she wasn't overbearing but not quite closed off, she only took notes sometimes, and they were brief if the amount of time she took to write them down was anything to go by.
She remembered the entirety of the things that happened there, which was a little unusual, Sakura tends to forget some bits of the happenings on a day-to-day basis. But she's used to it, having accepted that she has some kind of selective amnesia or something like that.
Anyway, one thing that stuck to her was how Kokoro had reacted to some of her answers to her few questions;
“As for my dream, well… there's this boy…” Sakura giggled.
A barely audible groan came from the woman in front of her, “It would be fit if you talked a little more about yourself rather than this boy.”
Which was just not fair! Sakura talked about Sasuke, sure, but that wasn't the only thing she had talked about. Though, she feels embarrassed to be called out like that. Plus, Kokoro is a professional, she ought to be right about these things, Sakura wasn't bland. She is more than just the boy she likes.
Yet, we ended our friendship with Ino because of him.
Sakura came to a halt, she shook her head, that was always a bother. For everything she thought she had another thought alongside it, sometimes an agreement, others a conflicting opinion.
Well, she was doing therapy, maybe she could talk about that.
Yeah.
Sakura sighed.
The three met again on one of the training grounds because even if some had enjoyed their time in therapy, Kakashi had still promised he'd award them if they did go. So there they were, waiting for their teacher who, unsurprisingly, was late.
Naruto scratched his cheek, “Did y'all like it?”
Sasuke frowned and said nothing, he stared at the ground, with his mind somewhere else.
“It wasn't half bad.” Sakura offered.
“Yeah? I liked it! It was kinda fun.”
“Is that so?” A new voice appeared.
“You're late!” Naruto and Sakura exclaimed.
“Now, now, don't be like that. Why don't we just start today's training?”
The kids groaned, “I thought you said we were doing cool stuff.”
“We are. Today we'll train your chakra control.”
“Aw, climbing trees again? C'mon! That is more boring than therapy, ya know.”
Kakashi huffed, “I thought you said you liked therapy?”
“Don't twist my words!”
“Let's just get to it.” Sasuke said out of nowhere, leaving no room for argument. Kakashi did not fail to notice the hesitance in the boy's body language, he wondered what happened back there.
“Alright! Let's go.”
