It was afternoon, though the sun had barely begun to slant west. No one walked through the alley. The road had been bleached white by the sun.
The tree outside the courtyard gate was old, its shade spreading five feet across the ground. Kakashi stood beneath it, the book in his hand closed, its cover worn and frayed.
Sasuke saw him from halfway down the alley. He kept walking.
He had not left this courtyard in days. Someone brought in his meals, someone took away his laundry, and life outside the gate went on as usual, only without him. A single wall stood between them, yet it felt like a layer of water.
The mark on the back of his neck had burned a few days ago. By now, the burning had faded. He had checked it once in the water jar. It still reached the edge and had spread no farther upward. The water rippled twice before settling.
He could sleep at night, too. He did not dream when he slept, nor did he wake in a panic. One day passed like that, then another.
He counted the days, all the way to today.
Before going out, he changed into clean clothes. There was no particular reason. He simply changed.
That was the man standing beneath the tree. On the way over, he had gone through what he would say several times. Once he reached him, he needed only one sentence, and that sentence required no thought.
Someone had taken care of his duties inside and told him someone would meet him this afternoon, so he could go without worrying. He had answered without looking back.
He did not walk fast. The alley walls contained the sound of his footsteps, keeping it from carrying far. The man beneath the