BOUND
Chapter 120: The Last

Six Months Later

Konoha has an unusually cool spring. Even though the sun glares over the village and fills it with bright light, a soft breeze eases the heat. When the Academy starts up again, kids are restless in their seats, eager to be outside and enjoy the weather. I end up planning my lessons around the weather, taking the kids outside to do most of their exercises, creating role-play scenarios for them to apply their skills. It works in my favor: my students are the highest achieving of all the Academy classes, and my students love me.

Normally I stay after class in case any of my students want to speak with me or ask any questions about the day's lessons, but today I have some errands to run. As soon as class ends, I apologize to my students and dart out of the classroom.

I leap from the Academy rooftop to another nearby building. It's faster to take this route than use the main village roads. My students gasp and point, and I hear Iruka-sensei discouraging students from following my lead, at least not until they're older and have a better sense of balance. I'm going to get an earful from him later, but with my track-record at the Academy, I can't imagine him being upset with me for too long.

I make it to the village's main park where I find him sitting under an old tree thick with green leaves. He props an arm on his knee as he is wont to do, and his eyes are closed. I slide in beside him, bumping him and breaking him out of his reverie. He narrows his eyes at me, more out of suspicion than irritation. I grin.

"It's a wonder Sakura can never find you," I say, crossing my legs as Sasuke tsks. "You're always brooding in the same place. Unless you haven't told her about your favorite thinking spot?"

Sasuke doesn't dignify my teasing with a response. I laugh, shrugging my knapsack off my shoulders. Digging through my bag, I extract a handful of scrolls that I offer to him as a sign of peace. He purses his lips and takes them with a nod of thanks.

"They range from first aid kids to medicines and vitamins and stuff like that," I say. "I've been in communication with Karin and she agreed to rendezvous with you when you need to resupply—not that she needed much convincing. Give her this when you see her." I hand him another scroll, thick enough to be mistaken for a thermos. My family crest repeats over the border of the scroll, links overlapping to infinity against a blue background. "It's an inventory of all the supplies I gave you, plus recipes for everything. She's not gonna be happy about it, but insist that you need your supplies made exactly as I instructed, and she won't argue with you. Don't lose this!"

Sasuke takes the scroll from me and puts in a pouch separate from the others. He says, "Thank you for your help."

"You're welcome," I say. "You know you could have asked Sakura to do all this for you."

"Sakura's a good medic—"

"That's an understatement."

"—but you're better when it comes to poisons," he says, organizing the scrolls to fit better in his hip pouch. "Besides, if I told Sakura I needed poisons, she might reconsider supporting me."

"Sasuke, you've done much worse than requesting poisons," I say. "Anyway, you're doing espionage for our village, essentially. As a shinobi, she knows what that entails. She would have understood. Plus, when did you start caring what Sakura thought about you?"

Again, he doesn't answer. I laugh.

"But today's the day, huh? You're finally getting out."

"It's been a long time coming," he says. "Living in the village these past few months was…a good break. But being a wanderer suits me better. And there are still some things I have to understand. Staying here won't help me with that."

"Yeah," I say as he gets up. I grab his hip pouch off the ground and follow suit. "That's how I felt when I went to Suna all those years ago, and when I was traveling with you for a bit, too. This place is a good home base, but when you really wanna see things, when you really wanna understand things, you have to leave."

I swing his hip pouch around his waist and secure it for him. He thanks me and picks up his cloak, this solid black thing that makes him look even more suspicious than he already does. I frown at his aesthetic choices, but a guy with a personality like Sasuke can't really be seen in anything else.

He wraps his cloak around his shoulders, deft for being only one-armed. In the weeks after the war, I assisted him through his physical therapy, helping him get used to using only one arm. I call it "physical therapy," but it was really getting him acquainted with fighting with one arm. It didn't take long; Sasuke has always been talented, and fighting with one arm came naturally to him. Meanwhile, Naruto kept throwing punches with his right arm and was stunned each time when he was hit square in the jaw. Still, fighting is one thing, and dressing yourself is another. When Sasuke pulls his cloak on, it's lopsided and he struggles straightening it.

I take his cloak, pulling it so that it sits more comfortably on him, and smooth out the wrinkles. I pause, my hands resting on his shoulders. Somehow, he's not as tall as I remember. If I leaned up on my tiptoes, I could kiss the crown of his head, easy. Instead, I say, "I could come with you, you know. I could maintain your medical supplies and back you up when you need it. Even without the bond, we make a good team."

He seems to consider it, scanning my face for any sign of pretense. He takes my hand of his shoulder and grasps it tightly. He lets me go. "This village needs you more than it needs me," Sasuke says. "You should stay for a bit longer."

"Fair enough," I say, offering him my pinky. He blinks at it and then he smiles, hooking his finger around mind. "We'll meet again soon, Saa-kun. In the meantime, let's not keep them waiting."

Sasuke and I head toward the main village gates. He tells me about his plans to explore the Fire Country and weed out any insurgent groups. He's going to keep Orochimaru under surveillance, just in case, and will probably make contact with Juugo and Suigetsu to see if they have any intel that might be useful to the village.

"The other Kage are still wary that Konoha let me off so easily after the war," he says, "so I'll travel mostly in the Fire Country. At this point in time, there's no reason to suspect the other nations might attack us anyway."

"How long do you think you'll keep this up?" I say, clasping my hands behind my back. "Traveling the country and everything, I mean."

Sasuke doesn't answer.

"Well," I say, "it probably won't be long before I leave too. With the prostheses project about done, all I have left is to finish reforming the curriculum at the Academy, and that's already in its final stages. There are other research projects I'll do at the hospital, but after that—I don't know. I don't want to keep everything I've worked on in our village alone. The kind of change I want to bring applies to the whole shinobi system, not just ours. Before the war and the peace talks, sharing these programs with other nations may have been frowned upon, but no one wants a repeat of that war. Based on that alone, I think the shinobi villages will be open to it."

"I think so, too," Sasuke says. "The Kazekage is already interested in the mental health program you and Sakura worked on together. If it's successful there—and it will be—the other nations will want the same thing for their shinobi."

We talk more about the future, about the research projects I want to pursue after the prostheses project. I tell him about my idea to incorporate the vibrations into a new neurological study I'm doing to help shinobi affected by trauma, and he raises his eyebrows.

"You're being careful with the vibrations, right?" he asks. I laugh, bump his arm with mine, and reassure him that, yes, I am being careful.

Before the war, I would have never expected Sasuke to be concerned about much less ask about my wellbeing. But one day, while I was assisting Sasuke with his physical therapy, he zoned out for a few minutes. Sasuke was never talkative to start, in this life or the last, so I didn't think anything of it. When I called his name, though, and he didn't respond, I figured something was wrong.

We were only a month out of the war, and my daily physical therapy sessions with Sasuke were the only times I had contact with him. Part of it was I still wasn't sure how I felt about his involvement in the war; the other part of it was I was afraid us being together for so long would trigger something that would reactivate the bond.

But, for some reason, when Sasuke filled out his paperwork, he listed me as his primary physician, which made his wellbeing my responsibility. Knowing I was uncomfortable with the situation, Sakura offered to take over his care for me. But I knew if I didn't face Sasuke then, or I would never face him at all. I oversaw his treatment in the hospital, and then I took charge of his physical therapy, too.

I took a drink from my water bottle, weighing my options. I could wait until he snapped out of his reverie, or I could take it upon myself to snap him out of it. I tapped my fingers against my water bottle. Then, I waved my hand in his face, asking, "Hey, Sasuke. Everything all right?"

"Fine," he said with a shake of his head. "Where were we?"

I pursed my lips, unconvinced. "We're gonna take a break," I said, motioning for one of the nurses to bring us chairs. "You've been training for almost three hours straight, anyway. I know you're used to a more rigorous regimen, but you've just been discharged from the hospital, so you should take it easy. There's no rush to get you out of here."

At that, Sasuke's hand tightened into a fist that relaxed almost as quickly. I tossed him his water bottle and pushed him into a chair an assistant brought up. I pulled my seat up beside him, and asked, "What's on your mind?"

He turned away, reluctant to answer. Then, in a quiet voice, he said, "I traveled a lot when I was away from the village. We would be some place new maybe every other month if we were lucky. Usually, though, it was much more frequent than that."

Before that moment, he had never spoken about his time with Orochimaru. When we were first deciding on a treatment plan for him and and Naruto, I tried to persuade him to do some sit-down therapy, along with his physical therapy, but he flat-out refused. Now that he was talking a bit, I knew I had to tread carefully so he wouldn't shut me out and internalize everything again.

"I can imagine," I said. "I bet there was someone from Konoha always on Orochimaru's tail. You were a hot commodity back then. Have you been thinking about that a lot?"

He swirled the water in his cup. Sasuke lifted his gaze, his bangs falling just slightly over his Rinnegan. When his injuries healed and swelling went down over his left eye, the Rinnegan was still activated. At first I thought it was unnerving—another reminder of the war that sent shivers down my spine each time I saw it—but I've gotten used to it. Besides, I don't think there's a way for him to deactivate it like the Sharingan.

"Yeah," Sasuke said. "I've been thinking about it. Mainly, I've been thinking about the feeling. I was…lonely for a long time. I used that loneliness as motivation to become stronger, to vindicate what I was doing. But I realized, at the end of the war, the feeling that stuck with me the most was what Naruto said to me."

Sasuke sipped his water, then rested the bottle on his knee. He swiped his thumb against the condensation on the bottle. "Naruto always said he and I were similar. He called us brothers. I didn't see it then," he said, "maybe because I didn't want to because my brother's betrayal was still so raw. But I realize now: we were similar. We were two kids who were left alone and starved of love. We grew up in a world full of hate. Even though we fought and went our separate ways, he never abandoned me. Even when I resisted and tried to destroy the village, he kept believing in me, that I could change. He kept trying to come closer and bring me back."

Sasuke finished his bottle, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand and setting the bottle on the ground. He said, "For the record, I don't resent you for turning your back on me. I know how much I hurt you—and Sakura, and Naruto, and the rest of the village. Given my track record, if I were in your shoes, I probably would have done the same. But if it weren't for Naruto's steadfast commitment to our friendship, I don't think I would be here."

"You know," I said as he stood from his seat, "Sakura never gave up on you either. It was both of them, together. Naruto had the charisma to convince everyone that you were good, but Sakura had the heart, too."

Sasuke rolled his shoulders back, leaning his weight on each leg. "There was a difference," he said. "I didn't deserve what Sakura gave me. Sakura could never understand the pain and isolation I felt. But with Naruto…"

"You love him," I said, and Sasuke scoffed. "Come on, Sasuke, there's no shame in admitting that. He understood you and everything you went through. Anyone would love someone who could resonate with them on that level."

"You could."

Sasuke stood over me, his right hand extended in offering. "You understood me in the same way."

I rolled my eyes, took his hand. "Maybe," I said. "But I lacked the heart to believe in you."

Sasuke waited for the assistants to move the chairs out of the way and take our water bottles. We moved to the center for the room, prepared to restart our training. I pushed my hair out of my face as Sasuke said, "What do you think was different about us? Why do you think we took different paths?"

His question caught me off-guard. With a purse of my lips, I said, "It was a handful of things. It was our circumstances. It was who did it and why. It was who we had after that."

"Who we had, huh," he repeated. "That's right: you've had someone this whole time."

"What matter is," I said, "we're on the same side now, you and me. And it's like I said: without the bond, I think we can be much better than we were. We're gonna be fine, Sasuke."

"Let's start training again," he said, running a hand through his hair.

"At least try to pretend this is physical therapy," I said. "I don't want Tsunade-sama thinking we're just in here fighting. You're rehabilitating, too, in preparation of the prosthetic we're making for you."

Sasuke hummed, taking a wide stance. "Speaking of the prosthetic," he said. "You probably don't want to hear this, but I'm not interested in it."

Our sessions continued in this manner. Sasuke and I opened up to each other more in those few weeks than we had in the past twelve years. I honestly never thought we would get there, much less where we are now, encouraging the other in their endeavors, taking care of each other by asking the small questions.

Ten years. It took us ten years and a war before we finally found ourselves on the same side for good. I can't say I've forgiven him for everything he's done, and I definitely haven't forgotten. But I'm moving past it. I'm hoping for the best with us.

I think we can make it.

When we reach the village gates, Kakashi and Sakura are already there. They turn when they sense us coming. Sakura immediately brightens, only to deflate when she remembers why we're here in the first place. I greet Kakashi with a two-fingered salute and he returns the greeting with a curt nod.

"Oi," I say, tapping his headband, which he has pulled over his left eye. "What are you doing still wearing your headband like this? You're Hokage, look alive."

"You're right," Kakashi says, catching my wrist. "I am Hokage, which means there's a certain level of respect you should pay me, right?"

"'You'll always be Kakashi-sensei to me,'" I say. "Wasn't that the line that got you misty-eyed at the end of the war?"

Kakashi sighs, and I snicker as Sasuke stands at the front of the village gates. He stares into the open wilderness, like he means to leave without saying goodbye. Kakashi clears his throat, and Sasuke turns to face us again.

"This is it, then," Kakashi says.

"If you don't think it's a good idea," Sasuke says, "I can stay in the village."

"That won't do anyone any good," I say and Sakura purses her lips, crossing her arms behind her back. "You'll just end up getting restless again, and there's no telling what will happen then. Regardless of whether we feel uneasy about this, you should go."

"Under normal circumstances," Kakashi says, "you would be imprisoned for life for everything that you did. The only reason you've been pardoned is the role you played in undoing the infinite tsukuyomi. Not to mention, the reason you're even allowed to leave is thanks to Naruto. As the hero of the war, his words carried some weight. And I did pull some strings as Rokudaime Hokage. Just take it easy and don't lose your path like last time. It'll be my head they take."

"Are you sure you want to leave?" Sakura says, stepping forward. "Tsunade-sama's about to complete your prosthetic using Hashirama-sama's cells."

"I need to see how the world looks for myself," Sasuke says. "All those things I missed before, I have a feeling I'll be able to see them better now. If I miss this chance, I don't think another will come. Plus, there are a few things that have been bothering me."

"Well, your birthday is in three months," I say, counting off on my fingers. "If we don't see you by then, you can rest assured we'll come find you so we can celebrate together. When was the last time you did anything nice for your birthday?"

Sasuke cringes, his mouth pressing into a taut line. "I'll see what I can do," he says. "In the meantime, I'll try to look for Rei and the others, too. I'll send you word if I find anything."

I startle at the mention of Rei. There hasn't been a day that's gone by where I haven't thought of her, at least a little bit. I haven't talked about her with anyone in a while though, considering that there wasn't much to say about it since I still haven't heard from her. Sasuke's offer to look for her makes me grin and I knock my foot against his shin.

"Thank you," I say. "If you do find anything, I might let you get out of coming home for your birthday."

"What if," Sakura starts, drawing everyone's attention, but then she loses steam. I prod her to continue. She glares at me, irritated, but I give her a pointed look that makes her turn back to Sasuke. "What if," she begins again, her ears growing pink to match her hair, "I told you…that I'd like to go with you?"

Sasuke pauses. His eyes flick to me, then back to Sakura, which doesn't go without her notice. She takes a step back, but I nudge her to stay where she is.

"It's my road to redemption," he says. "You have nothing to do with my sins."

Sakura slumps, muttering under her breath in her disappointment. She straightens when Sasuke moves forward. He reaches out and taps two fingers against her forehead, making her breath catch in her throat.

"I'll see you soon," he says, a faint smile on his face. "Thank you."

With that, he leaves. We watch his back recede into the forest, his footsteps barely audible against the dusty walk. It's a familiar sight—I feel like my whole life I've been watching Sasuke walk away from me. But this time, I'm not worried about the distance between us.

"How soon do you think 'soon' is?" says Sakura when we can't see him anymore. Still, Sakura watches the horizon like she expects him to come back and invite her to come with him.

I prop a hand on my hip. The cloudless sky extends beyond the forest, to the purple mountains along the horizon. "Not soon enough for you," I say and Sakura shakes her head with a small laugh, "but don't worry. He'll stay true to his word this time. He'll return."

"I know he will," she says. "But I miss him already."

"Oi, Sakura-chan, what about me?" someone says. "I'm still here!"

Naruto, wearing a traveler's cloak, enters the village from the forest, pouting. "Now that Sasuke's gone," he says, "Tsunade-bachan says I can't leave the village until they can study how well the prosthetic works. I'm the only lab rat they have to test it on!"

"Hey, that's revolutionary work," I say, wrapping an arm around his shoulders and pulling him into a head-lock. "Be grateful Tsunade-sama's even giving you the opportunity to have this prosthetic!"

"I am, I am!" Naruto says, wriggling free. He fixes his headband and smoothes down his hair, frowning as Sakura giggles at his plight.

"Did you get a chance to say goodbye?" Kakashi asks.

Naruto grins, adjusts his cloak, and gives us a thumbs-up. "Yeah," he says. "I have a good feeling about this time. Sasuke's different than he used to be."

"And," I say, "if he messes up again, you'll go out and beat some sense into him, right?"

"Hey, why don't we go out tonight?" Sakura says with a clap of her hands. "When was the last time we did something as a team? Plus, since Kakashi-sensei is Hokage, we don't have to worry about paying at any restaurant! He can just put it on his Hokage tab—Tsunade-sama used to do it all the time."

"Aw, man, that sounds great," I say, "but I actually already have plans. Plus, with graduation season coming up, I have a lot of paperwork to do for the Academy. But now that I know about the Hokage tab thing, you can bet I'm gonna take advantage of that."

"Ren…please…," Kakashi says, holding his hands up. "Do not abuse village funds."

"All I'm saying is there were a lot of times you were supposed to foot the bill as our sensei and you didn't come through," I say. "It's payback time. Literally."

"You already have dinner plans?" Sakura says as Kakashi's shoulder droops. I can practically see him making plans to return to the Administration building and talk with whoever is in charge of his Hokage accounts to make sure there aren't any abnormalities from today on.

"Yeah," I say, pulling on the straps of my knapsack. "I'm supposed to meet someone."

"Someone," Sakura says, wiggling her eyebrows, "currently working at the Hokage's office? Maybe…taking over his father's old job?"

"Who?" says Naruto, looking between the two of us. "Who are you talking about, Sakura-chan?"

"Yeah, Sakura-chan," I say with a tight smile. "Who are you talking about?"

"Oh, you know: his family's known for their deer park," she says, "and for their signature shadow technique?"

"Wait a second," Naruto says, a light bulb going off behind his bright blue eyes.

"Speaking of the Hokage's office," Kakashi says. "I have to get going to finish some work. Ren, make sure you get that paperwork for the Academy to my desk soon. I need to look over them for approval, too."

"Put it on my tab," I say, and when Kakashi gives me a plaintive look, I say, "Okay, okay. I'll get it to you tomorrow morning, Hokage-sama."

With that, Kakashi disappears. I say my goodbyes too, rushing off before Sakura and Naruto can say anything else to me. Anyway, I'll see them tomorrow, and the next day, and every day after that for the foreseeable future.

A few years ago, that thought would have triggered something in me that would have made me impatient and eager to get away. But now, it gives me a sense of calm. I've been searching for this kind of peace for a long time. I've wanted this kind of predictability and the stability that comes with that for a long time.

I take the long way home to avoid running into any of my students. I cut through the village parks with all the flowers in bloom and well-manicured grass. There are a few kids playing between the trees, but they're too young to be in any of my classes. I greet them when we cross paths, and they barely pause to acknowledge me before moving on, their laughs echoing behind them as they chase each other.

The sun dips behind the houses as I make it to the residential neighborhoods. It makes everything shine with a hazy golden light; I can see bits of dust swirling through the sunrays that get caught between buildings. Families going out for dinner debate where they should go, mothers and fathers walking close as their children run ahead of them only to be reeled back with a single command. I wave to them and they smile at me.

My heart simultaneously swells and sinks at the sight of them. Since the end of the war, I've become more sentimental—at least, that's what Sakura tells me. She's not wrong; I've teared up at the hospital on numerous occasions after witnessing the slightest expressions of love between families and significant others. She says it's because I know what it feels like now to experience real, frightening loss. And because I know what it feels like to have that true, deep love.

Even so, it's been lonely for me lately. Over the past few months, I gradually moved from the Nara home back into my own house. It started with just spending every other night at my house. Eventually, though, with all the papers from the Academy, it was more convenient for me to be in one place, consistently, than to go back and forth between there and here.

The house was furnished with all the basic necessities, but it lacked the warmth. Sakura and Ino helped me decorate my house and make it more homey. They gave me pictures they took of our friends, bought flowers for my porch, shelves, and side tables, helped me pick out throw pillows for my couch, and a nice kotatsu for the winter. After a few days of what seemed like endless shopping, and a much emptier bank account, I had, admittedly, a much cozier place. We had a small house-warming party with all our friends, that ended with everyone sleeping over.

Yeah, it was much warmer after that.

As everyone was leaving, though, I was tempted to go with them. But I stopped at the door when Shikamaru said, "Your house is really becoming you."

"You think so?" I asked, crossing my arms against the early morning chill. "Ino and Sakura did most of the decorating."

"It's not the decorations," he said. "It's you."

Since then, I've been coming home to an empty house, cooking and working alone for the most part. Sometimes Ino, Sakura, Hinata, and Tenten come over, but everyone has their own affairs. I can't expect them there all the time, and I don't.

It's been lonely, but it's nothing compared to the way it was before the war. There's no big secret for me to keep, there's no reason for me to hide my true self from my friends. That makes all the difference.

Still, that's no guarantee that I'll stay here forever. Like I told Sasuke, the changes I want to implement go beyond the scope of our village. Plus, I want to find Rei and Hiro and Nao. I'm sure they're doing fine, but I want to hear it from them. I want to se them. And if these things take me away from here for a while, it'll be good. But I know, no matter how long I stay away, I'll always come back.

I've barely made it into my house and taken off my shoes when the phone rings in the kitchen.

"Hello?" I say into the receiver as I rummage through my bag. I pull out the folders from the Academy, some profiles on students who we want to group together in cells for the coming season. There are a lot of promising students. I smooth the papers out against the table. There's still a lot of hope. "Hey, how are you?"

My kitchen window sits ajar, lilting back and forth as a breeze presses against the pane. Before a stronger breeze gets through and blows all my papers around, I move to shut the window, only to find something caught between the pane and the ledge. I hold the phone against my shoulder as I wriggle the object free, careful not to break it.

"…does that sound? …Ren? Are you there?"

"Yeah, I'm here," I say, pulling the window shut. I take the object with me as I go to the living room, turning it over and examining it. It looks unchanged from when I last saw it nearly a year ago. Briefly, I wonder how it had gotten there, when I realize: it doesn't matter. "Sorry, I got a bit distracted. What were you saying?"

"The office is letting us out early today. We haven't seen each other in a while. I was wondering if you wanted to go out tonight for dinner."

"Actually," I say, sitting on the couch, my legs stretched across the cushions. I hold the feather up to the light, spinning it by its stem. "Why don't you come over instead? I'm home."

Well. 120 chapters later, and this is it. Thank you thank you thank you to everyone who has supported this series over the years. It took a lot of work to make it this far, but truly it would be nowhere without you for reading and favoriting, leaving reviews and sending me messages. I appreciate all the love you have poured into this series; I don't know if I'll ever experience anything like this again.

Some of you were probably expecting an epilogue going into Ren's adult life. Truthfully, I don't have anything like that planned. Rest assured, though: the way I imagine it, Ren lives a happy and healthy life full of accomplishments and love, haha. If I do post anything else related to BOUND, it will probably in the Take Your Time drabble series.

Thank you again for everything.

xoxo
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