It was a calm night, mostly.
People sat with their families and friends, eating and exchanging talks; the tension was almost gone.
Those lands are...peaceful, the type where you can just lie down and enjoy the moon in the sky and the light breeze.
They weren't hungry, they weren't desperate and they weren't alone.
...
"It's amazing how you are a skilled surgeon too at that age, kid." Dale smiled as they were having dinner, remembering what he heard.
Hershel's house, where Rick and his group were eating dinner, was small, and he somehow found himself enjoying his place here.
"What surgeon?" Daryl, who was munching, asked in confusion.
"He treated Carl's injury with amazing skill, Jenner told me."
"Pfft, surgeon?" And of course he chuckled hearing that, Sasuke was anything but a freakin' doc.
"The only one who took more lives than he had ever saved." Billy pointed at Sasuke's blade and laughed with Daryl.
"Guys, I'm here with you; you know that right?" Sasuke scoffed at them enjoying his scrambled eggs.
Daryl suddenly laughed as he was leaning on a tree and turned to Sasuke asking him.
"Yeah, so a ninja, Doc...what is your next reveal of profession? A damn painter?"
"Good idea actually, I can start with drawing you on the wall of the biggest building in Atlanta."
He was about to sneer but froze when he heard Sasuke's next words.
"With the part below the head belonging to a grandma in lingerie. Sounds good?"
Daryl glanced at him speechless, Sasuke suddenly looked way menacing...where the hell did that weird idea came from?
"Tch, you can't do th—alright, alright, dammit, can't take a joke?" He can't risk it...that damn ninja looked confident in that claim.
"Do it, Sasuke," Ciri suddenly smirked, pointing her tongue at Daryl who started feeling targeted here.
"I need to, right? I will show him my amazing skill. How about I add Shane hugging his grandma's body from the side?" Billy, who was enjoying his beer with amusement, spat from the side nearly choking.
That shit planted a disgusting scene in his mind that refused to vanish.
'Fuck, I need a brainwash here.' And old man Dale was no better; he didn't take Sasuke for that kind of...creative person.
"Eww, no, make it a big unicorn, a pink one." Ciri nodded to herself in satisfaction, much better than Shane, having no idea what lingerie is or how much worse it was becoming for Daryl who started picturing it in his mind. Shuddering in disgust.
"Hey! Stop corrupting my innocent sister." Sasuke faked a wince as Katniss pinched his thigh.
"In-innocent? I don't think so, not anymore...you people are crazy, and you, Sasuke, what are you? A hidden sadist? Girls won't be liking you anymore if that spreads." He sincerely prayed that Sasuke would drop the subject.
'I'm not sure about that.' Katniss rolled her eyes at Daryl's ignorance. Man was the one truly innocent here. Sadist? Some would tie themselves ready for Sasuke to be the sadist.
"Eh, I was joking; I won't bother with a grandma body." Daryl nodded in masked relief hearing that. So Sasuke cares about his image...
"I will make it a mil-mmph."
"Eat, eat...don't you see gears turning in her head?" Katniss shoved a bread into his mouth, amused by the banter he was having with Daryl.
But Ciri was more curious than Sasuke could imagine; she didn't want her sister going around asking what a freaking milf is, or worse, saying something like Sasuke liking them...no way she would allow that possibility to surface.
The rest of the night went calmly with a light mood, everyone relaxing and going back to their tents after they decided on the watch duty.
"Where to?" Katniss asked, seeing him ready to leave again.
"I need to do my night exercise; I'll be back in 30 minutes. You did great today; have some rest."
"Can I come?"
"No, princess, it's boring and unnecessary. Sophia was looking for you; play with her here, and I will tell you a new story when I come back. Later."
===
"So, what's the deal with him?"
"Who?"
"That Asian boy with the sword"
"What's with him?" Rick asked back, confused about what Otis was asking exactly.
The man invited him to sit here after finally finding time to apologize properly about the shooting incident.
"I mean, how old is he? He looks young, but I didn't see anyone saying no to him from the moment he came, and your people seem to be the ones listening to him instead." He wasn't the nosy type, but...
Seeing that Adonis-like kid moving around and talking to people and even pointing to what they need to do and no one objecting, it felt weird, honestly.
He wasn't used to seeing that here, where Hershel was the one doing that.
"Oh, Sasuke? He is...different. I know it sounds crazy, but he is someone you can trust your life with, and you won't be disappointed. Intelligent, highly skilled, and a good kid who had done more good than anyone can count for."
"Even you...?"
"What?"
"I don't get it; I'm just curious, haha. I mean...we all here, adults, are the ones protecting Jimmy and Beth. It feels the other way with you guys. I know he was something of a doctor."
Rick blinked hearing that.
"Hah? I don't know about that, but he is our best fighter; his skill is second to none when it comes to battle."
"Really? How much can someone his age do?" Otis didn't believe that; that boy wasn't even half his weight, nor does he look that tough.
"That much"
Rick chin-pointed to a hidden part beside the stalls, and Otis watched in amazement that boy holding a freaking stack of tractor tires on his shoulders and doing squats repeatedly with a steady rhythm like it weighed nothing.
"Whoa—that's"
"He is stronger than any of us; his blade has never failed to cut anything so far, and he has never missed a target. Age doesn't seem to matter when it comes to him; he is a trusted friend of ours..." Rick smiled faintly, remembering the scene of Sasuke kicking Shane.
"Anyway, Otis, I know you feel guilty, and sorry if my wife said something harsh to you; just know that everything is good now. Thanks for the drink." Rick patted his shoulder before entering the house to join his wife and bedridden son.
Leaving Otis, who started contemplating if they maybe were overestimating the kid—no way he is that good in everything? He would be able to lift some tires too if he wasn't...this careless with his weight.
'Should be his face, they swing that way? Damn...'
...
…
.
Sasuke, who was unaware that someone was getting the wrong idea about him, put aside the four-stacked tires he was holding, deactivated the weight-adding seal and stretched easing his muscles.
'To kill or to not.' He glanced once again at the barn, that damn barn held more than a dozen walkers in there.
And worse? Someone was feeding them from what he saw when he sneaked in there earlier.
Feeding fucking precious chickens to the walkers, he wondered if whoever that fucker is is sane to waste that food; fresh meat was becoming scarce, and those people are tossing it at walking corpses...
He can kill them all easily, those walkers in the barn.
But they are possibly Hershel's people, maybe his family or loved ones.
That would just make it a cruel action toward the old man, even if it was the right thing to do.
Thus Sasuke refrained, but he had already made up his mind; he will secure that damn barn his way until it is the right time to make a move.
No way he is leaving it that way.
'Nah, I need to talk to Hershel, I won't have that shit endanger them.'
"Hey," he turned to the girl who was closing on to him.
"Hm, hello, you need me for something, Mrs. Green?"
"Maggie, call me Maggie. No need for those formalities," she chuckled, thinking he might be nervous speaking to a girl, unexpected from someone whose look screamed Playboy...
"Alright, Maggie." Sasuke honestly was speaking to her as if she was already Glenn's wife, shit like this happened all the time to him, the plot knower.
"Yeah, so, Sasuke, right? I came after Rick pointed me to you. We are lacking antibiotics alongside some other things, and he said you can help me with that. There's a pharmacy in the town near here, I am familiar with the place, so?"
She actually was feeling very curious about him remembering the craziness he had done at the well before.
"What else, aside from the pharmacy there, is there any place resourceful?"
She thought about it for moments.
"An elementary school, a restaurant, a bar, and houses. Why? We can't have them checked with just two people. It may be dangerous."
"I will gather a group, don't worry. Tomorrow morning after breakfast, good for you?"
"Well…okay, see you then, good night."
"Good nigh—hey Maggie," he decided to hit the iron when hot.
"Yeah?"
"Can I speak to you about something for a moment? if you aren't busy, of course."
"Um, yeah sure? What is it?" Maggie secretly wondered if this was a confession scene about to happen like in the dramas.
'That is kinda cute...' she thought.
"Why are you keeping walkers in the barn?" Drama? Sasuke asked about the matter concerning his exp poin–dangers, dangers that are close to them...he needs to put them to rest soon after all.
"H-how did you…"
"I found out about it when I was scouting the place."
And that made her angry...
"You were spying on us? How can you—" They welcomed those people, and he was checking their properties?
"Maggie, I have people to protect. I can't just settle in an unfamiliar place without knowing its layouts. I apologize if that comes off as rude, but you tell me...from what I'd discovered, my actions weren't wrong, were they?"
"Listen, you can't tell anyone about that." She closed to him more and whispered intensely, worried he might tell Rick and others.
"Do you realize how dangerous it is to keep walke–" "Don't call them that!!" Maggie seethed.
Those were her family, her step-brother, her mother, sick family who have names, not this...walkers.
"Alright, have a good night." Sasuke didn't want to waste energy on delusional people.
She wasn't a kid, she was grown up and has a damn mind that could think.
Someone attacking you, feasting on the living without a shred of sympathy and in great numbers with no signs showing they are still humans that needed to be treated. Most of them are rotting anyway.
You must be brain-dead to refuse to accept that simple reality.
Even if they were magically treated, what can a rotten body do? Die the next second?
Sasuke returned to his tent, ignoring her reminders to not tell anybody and how her father won't keep them in here if he does so.
Keep them? Sasuke had no intention of staying in here from the start.
He doesn't need an old man reminding him and his people how they are living in his lands every two damn sentences.
======
A/N:
[This doesn't mean I'm choosing her, but I'm following the core of their character...I can't make her suddenly love Glenn when there's freaking Sasuke in there... {I'm a fan of Glenn, and I don't know how to progress honestly}.