The One Beyond His Revenge - Sasuke x Reader fanfiction
wattpad link | ao3 link
pairing: Sasuke x Reader
description: He's always been focused on one thing: revenge. But when she enters his life-an anxious yet unyielding force-he finds himself questioning the path he's chosen.
This is the Professional Integrity series, part two. For all other parts and additional IkeSen works by me, see here.
She bought an RV the next day. It wasn’t a large thing, nor top of the line, but it was convenient and easy. A small kitchen, a shower in the bathroom, a loft bed over the driver’s cab, an extension to make the living room larger when parked, a pull out bed in the couch, and a fold down bed over that.
“Are you going to christen it?” Mitsuhide joked.
“What?” Her eyes were wide. “What do you mean?”
“Like a boat before a maiden voyage. You know.” He mimicked breaking a bottle of champagne against the side. “It’s bad luck if it doesn’t have a name.”
“Hm.” The Princess patted her hand along the sides, obviously fond of it already. “I don’t know yet. I think it’ll name itself.”
What a cute sentiment. He shrugged. “Your choice. Where are we going?”
At that, she laughed. “You’re going to hate me.”
“It doesn’t matter much to me, Princess, I’m in contract to you for the next eight months either way.”
“Aw.” A long silence passed between them. “Well, I was thinking I’d just... find out where I’m going.”
Laughing, he rubbed back some of his pale hair. “You’re not much for planning, are you?”
“I am, but...” Her voice trailed off into nothing and finally, she eased her head to the side. “I dunno, I just think I’ll find out where I’m going.”
Well, at least one of them had faith in more abstract things.
Sasuke volunteered to come with them for the first leg of the journey. “We could drive out to Arizona. I have a friend in Tuscon, Yukimura.”
“Yuki? From college?” Teasingly, the Princess hip checked him, dragging a duffle bag into the RV around the men. “That ass?”
“He’s a good guy.”
“I know, I’m just making fun. He’s just not good at coming off like a good guy is all.”
Sasuke didn’t argue that, just shoved his glasses back up his nose. “And from Phoenix, I can fly back in to Los Angeles and get back to work.”
“I wish you could come the whole time.” The Princess settled down into the driver’s seat, adjusting it to her specifications. “That would be a kick.”
“From what I understand, you mean to be on the road a few months.”
She sighed, smiling sweet and sad and gentle at Sasuke, and Mitsuhide wondered what it would be like to be on the receiving end of that himself. “Yeah. It just would be fun is all, if it were possible.”
“We’ll make the most of it.” Sasuke’s face didn’t exactly move, but his enthusiasm was palpable nonetheless. “I think Yuki wants to throw a bit of a party when we get there.”
“Oh, god.” She laughed. “He’s gonna get me tanked, isn’t he?”
“Sounds like my kind of a party,” Mitsuhide chuckled.
“Jesus, I’m sorry if you see me like that. I’m a mess when drunk.”
He grinned lopsided at her, settling into the passenger seat. “That only makes me the more intrigued.”
“Tsk.” She settled a hand over his shoulder and squeezed it affectionately, and his heart thumped painfully. What the hell was that reaction? He did his best to shove it from his mind. “Don’t be awful. Are we ready back there, Sasuke?”
“All clear.”
They pulled out of the driveway into the sinking sun, beeping the horn to part the throng of fans from the gate. As it rattled shut behind them and they set onto the road, she flipped on Running On Empty by Jackson Browne.
“You know what we need? A Cracker Barrel.”
“A what?” Mitsuhide settled into the diner booth only after scanning the whole area with his eyes, and even then, he settled on the very edge of the seat next to her, ready to take action at a second’s notice. They were on the border of California, the small hours of the morning pale and grey in the windows. A few sleepy patrons scuffled around the old fashioned bar, sipping coffee.
“A Cracker Barrel.” The Princess unfolded her menu, eyeing the breakfast food. Her eyes were tired and swollen, but it was no worse than it had been of late, and she seemed at least in slightly better spirits.
“It’s sort of a themed restaurant,” Sasuke explained. “They’re common in the southeast. They’re supposed to be ‘Old Fashioned’ and serve good breakfast.”
“I mean, the breakfast isn’t even all that great, it’s really the biscuits. But it’s kind of a road trip tradition for me, so to speak. I don’t know.” At least she was smiling. “What are you going to have, Mitsuhide?”
“Let’s see.” He flipped open the menu, absently scanning for anything that looked both filling and cheap, and... “Dear Lord, am I going to have to say that out loud? I’ll just point to it.”
She wriggled over by him, her cheek rested against his shoulder to see the title, and laughed aloud. “Oh my god. Please.”
“Oh, ‘please’?” On a habit, he shot her a broad, slithery grin. “And what are you begging me so nicely for?”
“I have to hear you say that.”
He hummed in amusement. “Why’s that?”
“Cause you have such a great, deep voice, and I’m tickled just imagining you saying that seriously.”
“You do have a very Shakespearean delivery to your sentences,” Sasuke noted, and Mitsuhide figured that was a compliment.
“Can I get you all something?” The waitress emerged by his elbow, pad at the ready and stifling a yawn.
“Could I get the western omelet, please?” She asked.
“An egg, over easy, with a side of toast,” Sasuke added, “If it’s no trouble, please.”
Mitsuhide shot his eyes sideways at the Princess, who was biting down on her lip to keep down the laughter, and he decided in the moment it was worth it. Clearing his throat, he announced--as smoothly and deeply as he could, lending every inch of theatrical gravitas he could muster-- “I’ll take the ‘Hungry Hombre’.”
And that--that broke her. She clamped a hand over her mouth, stifling the laughter that spilled forward, and suddenly she was laughing so hard that she wasn’t making any sound at all. The waitress just cast a bemused stare and walked off to punch in their order. Clutching his arm, the Princess struggled for breath, petering back into laughter, then giggles, then hugging him tight around his shoulders.
It was the most he’d ever seen her laugh.
“Oh my god,” she managed, wiping tears from her eyes.
“You must be tired, if that made you laugh that much,” he commented lightly. Something warm stirred in his stomach, wrapping tight around him. “Perhaps I should drive from here on out.”
“Ahh, if that’s what you want to do.” But she smiled at him, brighter than he’d ever seen, and he told himself he’d say a thousand ridiculous platter titles if it made her that happy.
God knew she deserved it.
Yukimura lived in a rancher on a small subdivision squarely between Tuscon and Phoenix--which, in Arizona parlance, meant ‘in the middle of the goddamn desert’. Apparently he’d been expecting them, because when the RV rolled up at his driveway around dinnertime, he emerged in the doorway, holding back the leash of a large, excitable German Shepherd.
“Down, boy!” He grunted, wrestling his dog back into good behavior. “Hey, Sasuke! Princess!”
“Yuki, hi!” She bounded from the RV and stretched hard, rushing to the dog. “Awww, who is this cutie?”
“I call him Kuro.” The man--man? He looked younger than Sasuke--fixed his bright eyes on Mitsuhide. “And you’re the bodyguard?”
“Mitsuhide Akechi.”
“Yukimura Sanada. Come on in. Guess who else came?”
“Do tell.” The Princess followed him in, glancing around the narrow hallway, and--“Oh my god, Shingen?”
“You say that like I wouldn’t have crossed heaven and earth to see you.” A huge, huge beast of a man emerged from the living room, heading straight for her. On reflex, Mitsuhide wedged himself between the two of them.
“Mitsu,” she laughed, patting his arm. “It’s okay, you’re kind of off the clock.”
“Who is this?” The redhead was a little less massive closer up, but he was still a veritable tree.
“Mitsuhide, he’s my bodyguard.”
“Fancy.” Another voice drawled in the living room, satin and sour all at once. Perched on the couch was another man, blue and green mismatched eyes vibrant in the setting desert sun. “I take it that’s just a result of your new, high-flying lifestyle.”
“Hi, Kenshin.” She smiled at him, picking at her sweatshirt that read VIRGINIA BEACH across the chest. “I’m sure I look like the best of Hollywood right now.”
The blonde just sniffed, his eyes flitting between them, and lifted the glass he was holding in his hands. “I’ve already started drinking. You’re late.”
“I told you to wait,” Yuki huffed, finally letting Kuro off the leash. “Sasuke, without you to handle him, Kenshin’s getting downright stir crazy.”
Kenshin frowned. “I do not need handling.”
“Of course you don’t,” Sasuke soothed expertly, joining the other men in the living room. “Well, I suppose we need to catch up on the drinks, then.”
Mitsuhide was thankful, not for the first time, for his incredibly high alcohol tolerance, because it seemed like Kenshin had an impossible one.
“You’re the only one keeping up with me,” he huffed, taking another shot and trying to shuffle a completely soused Sasuke off his shoulder. “What was your name again?”
“Mitsuhide.”
Either Kenshin hadn’t really cared about his name, or he had a short attention span, because he turned almost immediately to the Princess. “How was James in the end?”
She paused where she sat in the floor, petting Kuro’s soft ears and waiting for Shingen and Yuki to return with Cards Against Humanity, and Mitsuhide watched the faint smile she’d been holding slip from her mouth.
“He...” She sighed. “He was comfortable.”
“Hm.”
A long, long silence. The Princess swayed where she sat, tipsy from vodka and sprite, and cupped her face in her hands, meeting Kenshin’s gaze. “I mean, what can I say? He was in hospice a few weeks. I slept by his bed and got him food he liked, told him stories, read him books. We listened to The Adventure Zone like, four times.”
“But?” Kenshin prodded. Mitsuhide had heard it too, the unspoken end of a sentence she hadn’t begun.
“But... I don’t know, Kenshin.” She sighed, tracing circles in the carpet with her finger. “I just wish I could go back and stop him from being diagnosed that late. He’d been having issues with his stomach for years, I... I dunno.”
The blonde was silent a long, long, long time. Finally, he got up. “Give me your cup. What were you drinking?”
“Uh, vodka and sprite?” She handed it to him, confused. Crossing to the counter, Kenshin fixed the drink with calm precision, presenting it to her. “Hey. Thank you.”
“You did what you could.” He settled back in on the couch as the other two barged back in the room, card game in hand. “You cannot be faulted for it not being enough.”
At last, only he and Kenshin were sober, and the rest were passed out. Yuki was splayed out on the ground, wrapped around Kuro. Shingen had claimed the only arm chair to kick back in. The Princess and Sasuke had formed a little cuddle pyramid against each other, each bolstering the other up on the couch.
Mitsuhide wondered what the hell was wrong with the weird surge of affection and jealousy swirling around in his stomach. Best to blame it on the alcohol.
Still--he picked up the blanket from the side of the couch and draped it gently over her body, tucking it in around where he felt her arms were chill and bare. She stirred, but didn’t move, thoroughly wasted.
“Bodyguard, hm?”
Mitsuhide straightened and fixed his eyes back on the other man, sitting like a statue on the couch still.
“You must have the constitution of Bacchus,” Mitsuhide joked thinly. “Yes. Bodyguard.”
Kenshin stared at him so long and hard that he wondered if he were being intimidated, so he fixed a smile on his lips and just stared right back.
“Can I help you?”
“Do you think she’ll find relief from grief on a road trip?” His voice was so tired and raw and angry that Mitsuhide sensed the pulsing edge of something personal.
“Who can say?”
“I’m asking you.”
“That’s my answer.” He settled in along the kitchen counter and delved his hands in his jean pockets, watching her sleep. It was the most deeply she’d slept in months, and it settled his soul. “It’s an awfully loaded question to ask me. Maybe she’s not looking for relief.”
“What else would it be?”
Mitsuhide shrugged. “I’m a man with simple and few attachments, simply dedication. If I had to take a hard guess, I’d say she’s the kind of woman with the spirit and bravery to lean into that tide, not out of it.”
Kenshin fell silent at last. Behind them, the sun rose like a melt of fire.
Hey look, something with *three* Sasukes this time! :D That's Modern in the middle grabbing Classic Sasuke's arm, and obviously Chara over on the left :3
