Chapter 29 - Epilogue - Reunion
'Thoughts' "Memories"
"Speech"
"Who approaches?" a female voice asked, and Ino jumped down from her station atop the wall to enter Konoha.
"Really, you forgot what I look like already? I've only been gone for 4 days!" a girl laughed, and the two travelers next to her looked warily at the guard.
Her black pants went to hang snugly just above her ankles, and her pinkish white shirt covered until just below the elbows. On her back was the largest scroll Ino had ever seen, and she couldn't mistake it, or the two buns of hair on the girls hair.
"Tenten. Who are they?" she motioned to the travelers.
"Some travelers from the north that were lost on their way to Konoha." she leaned in close and whispered the next part. "Their clothing style is similar to Sasuke's, see?"
Ino nodded. "I do." she smiled at them. "Welcome to Konohakagure, I hope you find what you're looking for here." Ino let them pass through the open gate and jumped back into place on the wall. Tenten lead the two travelers into the city and motioned around her.
"I'm assuming that this is your first trip to Konoha, so welcome. Take a look around." she smiled at them.
The female seemed ecstatic about being there, while the male seemed suspicious of Tenten and the guard Ino.
"How did you know we wanted to come to Konoha in the first place, Tenten-san?" he asked. Tenten smiled.
"I'm actually a very observant girl, Julian-san. I recognized your clothing. Once I learned you were headed to Konoha, I knew you were coming to visit our very own Sasuke Uchiha." she laughed at their surprised faces. "I have to go report back to the Hokage, so I wish you luck finding your way. And don't feel bad asking for directions." With a wave, she was gone.
Mr. And Mrs. Julian wandered through the town, confused as to where they were, until they finally did stop and ask for directions. They asked for Sasuke Uchiha, and the man smiled broadly, pointing in a direction and claiming that the Uchiha household was that way, saying "You can't miss it."
Indeed they couldn't. The house was very large and a wall surrounded it. But the nameplate 'Uchiha' was easily recognizable and they knew they had found the house.
"Honey, it doesn't look like anyone is in there." Marry said worriedly. "Maybe he's not home?"
"If you're looking for Sasuke, you won't find him here." a voice called, and they turned to see a brunette teenager sitting on the wall. It appeared that he'd been staring at the clouds.
"And you are?" Tucker asked. The teen sat up and languidly fell to the ground, then nodded a greeting to them.
"My name is Shikamaru Nara, and like I said...You won't find Sasuke here." he repeated himself. Marry recognized the name from Sasuke's letter and smiled.
"It's nice to meet you. I'm Marry Julian and this is my husband Tucker Julian. Please, if Sasuke isn't here, where is he then?" she asked.
Shikamaru shook his head as if he thought this was 'troublesome.' But he still answered.
"Sasuke has been staying with his best friend, Naruto Uzumaki, ever since he got back." Marry recognized that name too, as did Tucker. "As far as I know, today they're at the training grounds."
"How do we get there?" Tucker asked, now trusting this boy. Shikamaru shrugged and nodded as if to himself.
"I'll take you there." he offered, and they accepted.
-
Sasuke blocked a punch and threw Naruto away. They had agreed that for this training, no genjutsu or ninjutsu were to be used. Just taijutsu and weapons. Naruto flipped in the air and tossed several kunai in Sasuke's direction. Sasuke brought out a shuriken and parried each kunai aimed at him, then tossing the shuriken at Naruto as the blonde fell.
Naruto smirked and caught the shuriken in midair, which surprised Sasuke.
"You think that I spent two years sitting on my butt or something?" he asked with a laugh. Naruto's voice still shook and sometimes changed pitches sporadically, but he had learned to speak incredibly well in such a short amount of time.
Sasuke smirked and ran at Naruto. Naruto tossed the shuriken to the side and met Sasuke hand to hand in a battle to see who was stronger.
This is the fight that the Julian's and Shikamaru came upon. Shuriken and kunai littered the ground everywhere, but the boys didn't seem to be running low still. Neither of them had very many cuts, being able to dodge or parry all the other's attacks. And as they watched, Naruto and Sasuke jumped away from each other and both simultaneously grabbed some of the fallen weapons and tossed them at each other, dodging the weapons thrown at them and flying into the air.
The final blow that they saw was when Sasuke and Naruto simultaneously punched each other in the jaw, sending each other flying towards the trees on opposite sides of the clearing they were in.
"Sasuke!" Marry cheered out of joy. The black haired youth blinked and didn't catch himself before he hit the tree he was so surprised. "Ah!"
Marry and Tucker rushed over to him, Naruto just stood up and stared at them, and Shikamaru made his way over to Naruto.
"Those two are apparently the ones who cared for Sasuke after his mission failed. They seem like good people." Shikamaru nodded to himself again, and Naruto smiled. He hoped Sasuke would introduce him.
Meanwhile, with the other three inhabitants of the clearing.
Sasuke stood up and brushed himself off after hitting the tree. Suddenly Marry was upon him, hugging the life out of him.
"Marry-chan..." he warned, and she let go.
"I'm so glad to see you. You seem to be doing so well here." she had tears in her eyes she was so happy. Sasuke smiled a bit.
"Yea. Yea I am, I guess. Better here than I have ever done anywhere else." Tucker looked at him.
"Sasuke. How is your amnesia?" he asked.
"Actually, it got cured just yesterday." Sasuke let out one laugh, and seemed embarrassed. "I kinda had a spasm attack or something and when I woke up, I remembered." he explained with a shrug.
"Oh dear." Marry gasped. "Are you alright?" she asked. Sasuke nodded.
"Yea. Naruto made sure I was alright." he motioned to the blonde over with Shikamaru.
Tucker nodded, being insightful.
"He's the one from the memory you had of Christmas, isn't he?" he asked. Sasuke started and a blush crept across his face. Marry giggled.
"Oh that's so sweet. You two must be so close by this point." Marry laughed again at how red Sasuke's usually pale face was and smiled. "I give you my blessings."
Sasuke almost fell over to that.
"M-marry-chan...We aren't getting married!" he gasped, his face looking like a tomato.
"Hey Sasuke-teme! Are you gonna introduce me or not?" Naruto called, his voice only wavering a bit. Marry seemed confused, but then she looked like she'd remembered something.
"That's right. You said he'd been trying to talk again." she nodded to herself, imitating Shikamaru. Sasuke nodded in agreement.
"And he was the first thing you remembered Sasuke." Tucker entered his two cents. "You had something to do with his wanting to talk, and he had something to do with you wanting to remember, right?"
Sasuke grinned. "He's not someone you easily forget."
With that, Sasuke lead Marry and Tucker Julian over to Naruto, where he would formally introduce them to each other. Later he would introduce them to Sakura, Ino, Konohamaru, the other teams, and even the Hyuuga's. If given the chance, Sasuke knew he would even introduce them to his brother.
With that thought in mind, Sasuke looked to the sky, as if his brother would be there. But of course, his brother can not fly, and thus, was not there. But it's the fact that Sasuke was thinking a bit fonder of him that counts. Naruto made a comment about him spacing out and Sasuke just smirked and turned to face the blonde again.
The End.
I really wanted to put more of Konohamaru in here, but for some reason...just couldn't find a spot for it! I also wanted to enter one more bit of "Travel Sized" (see Itachi scenes) in here, but I decided against it.
Hope you've enjoyed this!