Chapter Text
Sasuke knows not to follow strange people into the forest. He does. It’s just that his loop around Konoha- made after hours of tossing and turning restlessly in his empty house on his empty compound- hasn’t succeeded in tiring him out in the least and the baby tomato nudging his ankle at least gives him a reason to be awake that doesn’t sound so pitiful leaving his lips.
A reason that isn’t that man and his brutal handiwork (which Sasuke, determinedly, is not thinking about).
A second baby tomato rolls his way, jumping across the toes of his sandal, and suddenly Sasuke has a mystery on his hands. Someone- probably a harmless someone- is mistreating baby tomatoes, dropping them so carelessly as they walk along the edge of the woods that they're rolling out of the brush and towards Sasuke’s shoes. And even if they aren’t harmless- because Sasuke does know the rule about not following strange people into the forest was made on account of how they were usually the opposite of harmless- he could probably take them anyways.
Definitely could, actually. Sasuke is a verified genius.
The thought of a fight sends a flash of white hot something through Sasuke’s sleepy veins and here, at his feet, is finally a reason to seek one out.
So Sasuke picks up both tomatoes and stuffs them safely in his pockets. Then he follows the trail into the forest, smothering a yawn behind his fist.
Whoever it is abusing their tomatoes, Sasuke can definitely take them.
**
Hound rolls another tomato Sasuke's way, gratified to see the small boy finally finally blink with exhaustion rather than peer suspiciously into the treeline or flick his kunai around his small, agile fingers.
He's determined, Hound will give him that. But a tired kid can only keep up with an ANBU member for so long, even if Hound's had to dart back to his apartment twice now to refill his basket.
Carefully, Hound leads the half-sleeping Sasuke towards his actual destination. A bed. Or, at least a makeshift one, tucked away in a comfortable part of the forest away from the usual trails enemy-nin think to explore when trying to infiltrate Konoha. Hound will watch over him anyways, so it's about as safe, in truth, as the Hokage tower. More importantly, this little patch of grass and blankets is free of memories. No blood stains the ground. No rooms stand empty where they should be full.
And nobody has to know Hound was the one who kept Sasuke off the compound- Sasuke, who wouldn't have fallen for his little trail of tomatoes if he'd been anything other than bone-dead exhausted and bordering on delusional. Hound's seen the sharp, dark-eyed child around the village often enough to know that much. Heard his name squealed often enough to remember it, mostly against his will.
Something uncomfortable gnaws at Hound's mind, but he leaves it be. There's nothing more he can do for the boy. Not as Hound and certainly not as Kakashi. So he leans his weight against the tree he's sitting in and watches Sasuke patrol the area- walking the perimeter, peeking under the blankets, staring into the trees (and, of course, seeing nothing but leaves). He spends thirty minutes brushing the dirt off the tomatoes bulging out of his pockets and then places them back into the mostly-empty basket Kakashi dropped by the bed just before Sasuke pushed into the clearing.
For all his care and attentiveness, Sasuke doesn't eat a single one. He falls asleep in the patch of grass beside the bed with a frown on his face that mirrors the one on Hound's.
Food and shelter had been his main prerogatives and the child sleeping heavily on the forest floor has somehow managed to sidestep both of them. Children were unpredictable like that, and that was one of many reasons Hound preferred to avoid them- both as ANBU and himself.
But, Sasuke's out of the compound, if only for the night, and Hound knows that's better than the alternative.
So he watches, and Sasuke sleeps through the night.