ALL REVISED

Author's Note: So, yeah, figures that I'd begin a new collection. Truth be told, I actually considered just putting this under Inspirators but I wanted to start a whole new theme with this. This collection's theme is "Reasons Why Sasuke...(blank)". I want to get promts from you guys and write a short drabble about why Sasuke, and maybe other characters, does whatever he does. This is a small, low-priority, fun, little aside project that will - hopefully - serve as something-to-do-to-stimulate-the-writing-process when writer's block hits me hard.

Anywho, what I need you guys to do is send me a prompt/question in a review or message asking "Why does Sasuke... (blank)?" and I'll do my best to answer that question. It doesn't need to be a SasuSaku question either, it can involve any of the other characters.

I should warn you though, I'm not up-to-date with the manga so the farthest I know of the story is that Danzo is Hokage and has sent an ANBU army to hunt Sasuke while he goes off to some meeting with the other Kages. That's where I stand.

Q: Why did Sasuke turn the picture of Team 7 down before he left Konoha?

Bubbles' A: Because he knew he'd be gone for a while. :)

Dust

She had deemed herself to be masochistic by then, sure, but even that had been a step up for her.

The day after Naruto's return (without Sasuke's) she visited both boys' apartments. She saw to Naruto's first, planning to surprise him in the hospital with a cup of ramen when she'd visit him later, and was both amused and disgusted to see how chaotic it was. There were empty ramen cups, grass-stained clothes, spare bandages, loose scrolls and other such things scattered over nearly every surface. It may not have been sanitary but it was very Naruto.

Likewise, Sasuke's apartment was very Sasuke.

She wasn't even sure why she had gone in the first place. To confirm he really had left? To pretend like he was still a part of her life? To try to get to know some part of him that he'd never let her see? She couldn't say, mostly because she couldn't speak after seeing what little he had left behind. (And of all things, it was the turned down picture frame that made her shoulders shake.)

That night she had stashed her own copy away in some drawer, unwilling to think about it or him or why he had set it down. She never expected him to take the photo with him to Sound, but she also never thought that Team 7 would mean so little to him.

Years later, on the day after his return, she visits his apartment again. They've set him up in the dusted-thickened space to remove him from endangering other hospital patients but several of his wounds still need professional, medical treatment. She's been sent (volunteered) to heal him. This won't be the first time she's seen him (he's still so handsome), so she feels steady when she knocks on his door. His wounds are cooperative (and so is he) so she feels stable when she stops for the day. Neither of them say anything ("Thank you" "Why, Sasuke?") so she isn't crying when she packs up her supplies.

Finally, just before she leaves, she does ask if he finds the dust in his home irritating. He gives a light nod of confirmation so she goes to open up his windows. What surprises her most, is the thing she didn't see before: the frame on his desk is now turned up. And it is only now that she knows why he hid Team 7's photo from the world's view.

(Protection)

Of all the objects in this dust-filled apartment, the photo is the one thing that is truly and completely dust-free (for even Sasuke is dusted with ugly dirt and nasty bruises). The picture, more than any other thing, Sasuke has kept pristine and well and whole.

She knows it's stupid to be so affected by it and she knows that Sasuke won't appreciate her enthusiasm but none of that stops her from hugging him anyway.

Author's Note: Okay, well that's it. Please review! I know there's gotta be a question or two you want answered about that Uchiha!