Toshiro ran through the village gates and skidded to a halt. 'Where is everybody?'
Konoha was empty and not a person was in sight. She took off toward the heart of the village and her eyes caught someone. "Hey!" she shouted as she stopped in front of the man. "Where is everybody? Where'd they go?"
He stared at her awhile and asked, "Where have you been? They're at the church. Rumor has it that the last of the Uchiha is finally getting married." Toshiro's eyes widened and she darted down the street.
"If any have a reason that this couple should now be wed, let him speak now, or forever hold their peace."
"I object!" Toshiro shouted as she found herself barging in through the chapel doors.
The villainess turned around in surprise at the unexpected guest and a frustrated look appeared on her stern features. "You…" she hissed.
Toshiro ignored her and pushed her out of the way and she stood in front of Sasuke. "Is this what happens when I disappear for awhile? You go and find a piece of low-life such as this to replace me?"
He stared at her with a slightly confused expression. "What are you talking about? I've never seen you before in my life."
She looked dumbstruck. "Sasuke, what are you talking about? It's Toshiro! Your real fiancée! I've known you since we were little!"
"Fiancée?" he asked, confused. "I haven't seen you before in my entire life. I would've remembered you, had I seen you before. I don't know how you even know my name."
Toshiro turned on the imposter and shouted, "What have you done to him, charlatan?!"
"I've done absolutely nothing to him," was the simple reply. "I suppose he didn't love you very much if he's forgotten you."
"Shut up," Toshiro spat and she turned back to Sasuke. "How can you say you don't remember me, Sasuke? You and I are engaged." She held up her hand and on her ring finger was a band of gold, shining in the light for all to see. "You gave me this ring yourself on my 21st birthday. You probably don't remember because she hit you on the head or something, but I remember." She had a small smile on her face as the memory popped into her head and she relayed, "You told me to meet you on a hill in the forest just before sunset and that is when you proposed to me. How can you not remember something as significant as that?"
His black eyes locked onto the ring and he shook his head. "I never gave you that."
"Yes, you did." She was sifting through her memories for anything to persuade him that she indeed did know him and tried to jog his memory. "Do you know where the scar on the back of your knee came from?"
"And that matters, why?"
"You were fighting your brother as a teenager and he did that to you. One of your tendons was cut and because you were in a hurry, the nurse only bandaged you up instead of taking you into surgery to fix it. That's why you can't run as fast as you used to."
The villainess grabbed Sasuke's arm and pulled him towards her. "Don't listen to her, Sasuke-kun. She's only trying to confuse you and pull you away from me."
He wasn't listening to his bride-to-be and just stared at Toshiro. At his silence she drew from another memory and kept going. "I know how much you hated Itachi. Do you remember where you killed him?"
Internally Sasuke failed to see the point of all these questions but he nodded. "I barged into a house and threw a Demon Wind Shuriken at him. But I can't recall how I knew he was in there."
'At least he remembers a little bit about that awful night,' she thought with a shudder and she inhaled. "I remember. You had just walked me home from the hospital and had left. Itachi had been waiting there for me because he wanted revenge. He thought I had killed Izunami who was my older sister and his girlfriend." Toshiro watched his expressions carefully and briefly hesitated before speaking again. "I almost died that night." She put her hand on her neck and muttered, "He tried to strangle me… and the only thing that stopped him… was you, Sasuke."
His eyes widened a little and the villainess shot her a frightening glare. Toshiro ignored her frustration easily and kept her eyes on Sasuke. "You came back to check on me, because you cared for my safety. You loved me, and so you came back for me, and killed Itachi. You may not remember because of her, but I remember, and I'll never forget that night." She gazed downward as her eyes burned with tears. "I don't know how you could forget something that important to us." There was a moment of silence, and then she whispered, "That night… you saved my life, Sasuke… and on that night, I truly realized that you really did care for me, and would do anything to take care of me." She was starting to shake as her feelings took over and the tears came pouring down her cheeks.
Something moved inside of him at her words but it hadn't stirred his memory. "I'm sorry, I still don't remember anything." To her he sounded sympathetic, but underneath it all, it sounded like he really didn't care. "You must have the wrong person."
A smirk came to the villainess' face as she watched Toshiro's tears splash down onto the carpet below. "You're pathetic. I don't believe that you think you actually had a chance of resurrecting a memory that never existed in the first place. You may as well leave. There's nothing for you here."
Toshiro looked at her and nodded. "You're right, there is nothing left for me here." She turned to Sasuke and turned her gaze to meet his. "Look to see me no more. But there's one last thing I want from you before I leave." She stepped closer to him and as she kissed him, he froze. She slowly pulled away, and with a heavy heart and wet eyes, she ran out of the room, not even caring to look behind her.
Sasuke watched her leave and as the door swung shut he looked back at the villainess. "Now that she's finally gone," she began, "we can get this done properly."
He didn't answer her for a minute or so and he suddenly said as something came into his eyes, "Excuse me, but I need a moment."
She stared after him with a confused expression and mentally demanded, 'Come back.' When he didn't, an irritated look appeared on her face and she realized, 'If he's overcome my abilities, he knows how to block me out. This is all her doing.' She took on a mischievous look and she smirked. 'If that's the game they're going to play, then I'm going to play one of my own.'
Toshiro didn't even watch where she was going. She just let her feet take her where they wanted. When she looked up she saw the house she had grown up in for the first part of her life, and then abandoned after a most traumatic event.
The door swung open with the slightest push and she stared into the dark house. It had a dark and almost haunting aura about it even more then it used to. The floor creaked with age and the center the floor was slightly darker than the surrounding area. She cautiously walked in and she kept an eye on the shadows as a certain experience flashed before her eyes. She jumped at a small scratching sound and she whirled around and held the kunai inches from a shelf.
At the sound of a squeak, she cautiously pulled it back. As she took a closer look, her eyes made out a small mouse which was cowering in between two books. Toshiro dropped her kunai to the ground and gently picked up the mouse by the tail. He looked up at her curiously as she set him down in her palm and she stroked his fur with the tip of her finger. "I'm sorry," she muttered to him and he just stared back at her.
Toshiro walked over to the window and he hopped onto the sill and into the pale moonlight. His fur was speckled; it almost looked like he had been running around while it was snowing. He was completely black, besides the small specks of white covering his body and his little feet were also white. She stared at him for awhile and as he investigated his immediate surroundings, he soon scurried away, back into the shadows from whence he had come.
Toshiro looked down at her hand and at the ring shown in the white moonlight. Without a second thought she pulled it off of her finger and stepped back into the living room, her eyes cast down at the floor in frustration. The words of the villainess floated through her mind, saying, 'I suppose he didn't love you very much if he's forgotten you.'
'She was right, you know,' an unusually strong nagging voice echoed across her mind. 'He's forgotten completely about you. You may have that ring, but he denies having anything whatsoever to do with you.'
Toshiro felt frustration appear to fight off the unwelcome thought, but it hesitated and retreated suddenly. 'You're right,' she thought as she slammed the ring down on a table next to the couch. 'He's completely forgotten about me, and he's married to her now.' A tear slipped down her face, and then another, and another. She sank to the ground in the middle of the floor and buried her face into her hands.
'You can't chase after him anymore,' the voice said calmly. 'Now that he's gone, there's no one here for you.' The voice took on an amused tone and Toshiro's heart fell a little more. 'Your parents are dead, your sisters are dead, Sasuke doesn't remember you… it's time to realize. You're completely alone.'
Toshiro began to shake again and she put a hand on the floor to keep balance. 'Why… why does everything have to happen to me?' She clenched a fist and whispered, "It's all so painful."
The voice seized its opportunity and in a soothing tone, it said, 'There's one way you can stop the pain.'
The words echoed through her mind and something cold wrapped itself around her heart. Her eyes flicked up at the kunai lying on the ground barely feet from her and she looked away quickly, shaking her head. 'No… no, I won't. I can't. I…' She stopped in mid thought, and she looked at it again.
'End your suffering, Toshiro. Why continue on when there is nothing left for you but pain?' The voice was louder this time and she put a hand on the side of her head. 'Take the kunai, and end it. End it all.'
Toshiro slowly reached her hand forward and she brought the kunai closer to her. 'What am I doing?' she asked herself and she dropped it again. Her hand twitched a bit she closed her eyes with a shiver.
The voice was silent for awhile, almost as if thinking about what to say next, and it approached her again. 'Sasuke doesn't remember you at all. Nothing will bring him back to you. Because there is no one here, why do you not leave? The rest of your family is gone. Why do you not join them after nearly ten years of misery?'
Toshiro opened her eyes again and stared at the kunai. 'Leave? Just so I can be with them again? My parents… my sisters… die to see them? And Sasuke…' A burning hatred suddenly rose in her stomach and without a second thought she grabbed the slim and slender handle of the awkwardly-shaped dagger. '…Sasuke wouldn't care.'
She straightened up and looked down at the kunai that was resting in both her hands. The voice retreated as it found its work done and so she was left alone with the crude thought. 'It's true. Sasuke wouldn't care.' As she lifted it up to her neck she saw the moonlight flash across the blade and she closed her eyes out of her quiet but yet abundant fear. 'He wouldn't miss me. No one here would.' A tear fell down her face and landed on the kunai. 'So this is how it ends,' she thought sadly. 'Me taking my own life, in the place I once called home, where almost all of my family died. Isn't this ironic?'
Toshiro sucked in a breath as the door slammed open behind her. There was the sound of feet running towards her and two arms wrapped themselves around her. She hadn't moved at all as she felt anger appear in the pit of her stomach. "Why have you come back?" she asked with an annoyed tone clear in her voice.
He didn't respond and he pried the kunai out of her hands. She hesitantly released it and noted, "So Sasuke, you haven't even been married for an hour and you're already cheating on your wife. What a loyal husband you are. Maybe it's a good thing you forgot me, or I would've been married to a cheating git. I thank you."
He didn't let her words seep into him and he threw the kunai to the side. "Wife?" he questioned. "I'm not married to her. I came back because I love you, not her."
Toshiro scoffed, "Uh-huh, sure, right. And Naruto is Hokage."
"Naruto is Hokage," he said plainly and Toshiro shook her head.
"It doesn't matter. You've only come back to toy with my emotions again and break me, just like you did the last time." She reached out for the kunai again. "Please leave."
Sasuke grabbed her hand and pulled it back. "I'm not leaving you in this state. Stabbing yourself and ending your life isn't going to help anything, Toshiro. Please, don't do this to yourself."
She jerked her hand forward in attempt to get him to let go but he still held onto it. "Why do you torture me so? Why don't you just leave me alone? Let go!" she shouted and he still refused. Toshiro knew she couldn't pull out of his grasp and so she did the only other thing she could think of. Bite.
Sasuke bit his lower lip to keep from shouting out and Toshiro didn't let go of his hand until a foul taste appeared in her mouth. 'Blood,' she realized with a shiver and she spat it out. Her stomach flipped as a horrifying memory came to mind as Sasuke put his hand on her shoulder. "Don't touch me! Get away!" she began to shout and she tried to get away from him.
Sasuke grabbed her firmly by the shoulders and turned her around to face him. Her eyes were squeezed shut in attempt to block out everything and she squirmed harder to get away from him. His tries weren't helping anything and he gently pushed her down until her back was on the ground. A look of fear appeared on her white face as he pinned her wrists to the floor by her head and she stopped moving out of what seemed to be fear.
Where she was, her position, and who was on top of her was hauntingly familiar to her. Sasuke stared curiously at her new expression and his thoughts went back to a time years before then. After Toshiro had mentally overcome the frightening assault by his older brother, she had quietly explained what had occurred that night, and Sasuke then realized what he was doing. He knew he looked enough like his brother to unintentionally invoke fear into Toshiro but he still didn't move. He sadly looked down at her with sympathy coursing through his veins but if he did move, he'd see her only one last time, and that would be at her funeral.
"Toshiro," he whispered softly, "it's alright. It's only me. You have no reason to fear." She didn't respond to the sound of his voice and he grew quiet.
Toshiro looked up at him and she finally calmed down. Sasuke moved aside, grabbing the kunai at the same time, and she slowly sat up. Toshiro slowly turned her head to look up at him and she pushed herself to her feet. She turned her back to him and Sasuke stood up behind her. He hesitantly put his hand on her shoulder and quietly muttered, "Hey… I… I'm sorry…"
She uncaringly brushed his hand off of her shoulder and stepped away from him. "Apologies aren't going to make up for what happened and what was said." She sniffed and rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand.
Sasuke's hand fell to his side and he cast his eyes downward. "Even so… I didn't mean to say any of those things. She… she brainwashed me because apparently you aren't the only one who-"
"-you may not have been able to control the situation," Toshiro interrupted, "but because of it I feel betrayed!" She turned around and looked him in the eyes. "I was kidnapped on my wedding day, you almost married her twice, I came back and you completely didn't remember me, and now… and now, you've come back here to beg for my forgiveness and I have none to give!" Tears were streaming down her face as she stared at him and she turned away a second later. "I'm not sure why I even fell in love in the first place, if it was this painful."
She crossed her arms and Sasuke could hear the small splats of her teardrops landing on the old wooden floor. He looked down at his darkened hands and he clenched a fist. "Why… why do you not believe me in what I say?" Toshiro didn't respond and he stared at her. "I do love you. Why can't you understand that? She brainwashed me, and because of you I overcame her controlling me. She got what was coming to her. I saw to it personally."
Toshiro looked over her shoulder at him. "What did you do to her?"
Their eyes met and they both looked down at his hands. The back was clean but the underside was a dark red. She noticed it was completely dry and his aggressive action took her by surprise. "You… you killed her? Because of what she did to us?"
He looked up at her and slowly nodded. "Yes."
She stared at him in surprise and she looked down. "So… you really do care. I… I'm sorry… I didn't believe you before. I… was just afraid that-"
"-it's fine," he calmly interrupted and he rinsed his hands off in the sink. Toshiro stared at him with eyes full of regret and she walked back into the living room.
"I almost… if you hadn't showed up… I could've… I could've…" She let out a loud sob and she fell onto the couch face-down.
Sasuke walked back into the living room and his eyes found her on the couch. He sighed and sat down next to her. "Hey," he muttered quietly, "you're alright. I hold nothing against you. Don't beat yourself up over this." Toshiro didn't move at all and Sasuke put his hand just below her shoulder. She didn't pull away at his touch and she just sobbed that much more. He lay down next to her with his back to the couch and he hugged her. "Please, Toshiro, I don't like seeing you like this."
She didn't respond to him and he pulled her closer. The only sound in the little house was that of Toshiro's muffled sobs and it broke his heart to hear it. A couple of minutes passed slowly by and the tears lessened and eventually disappeared.
Sasuke let out a relieved sigh and he loosened the hug a little bit. Toshiro rolled onto her side and kept her back to him. Internally she was a bit embarrassed at the act she had nearly committed and she quietly exhaled. "Sasuke…" she silently muttered, "…I'm sorry…"
He moved his hand up to her shoulder and let it sit there. "I understand why you might've tried to do what you almost did, but it didn't happen. There is no reason to apologize to me. But, I understand where you're coming from."
She stared at the wall across the room and her skin tingled as his hand slid down to her right wrist and stayed there. "Why are you so forgiving with me?"
He was a little surprised at the question and he responded, "It's because it's you." He let it hang in the air for a second or so before continuing. "If it were anyone else, I wouldn't treat them the same way. Not by a long shot."
Toshiro let his voice echo through her head a couple of times and she didn't argue against him. She remembered suddenly what had prompted her to commit the act and what it had said. It stood out in bold in her mind and she and to ask it. She had to know. "Sasuke… I need to be sure… do you really love me?"
The house echoed the silence caused by the question and Sasuke was taken back. "Do I love you?" he repeated in surprise. "I love you more than I could ever hope of explaining to you."
Toshiro didn't respond to that at all and soon after the sound of her breathing became much clearer. "Toshiro?" he quietly asked and then he realized that she had gone to sleep. He smiled slightly and sighed quietly as he grasped that she had the right idea. Soon after, he fell asleep too.
Toshiro opened her eyes indolently and she stretched, but not so much to wake Sasuke. Outside the sun was beginning to rise and she yawned sleepily. She took in her location and with whom she was with, and a feeling of embarrassment overtook her. "This is awkward," she whispered to herself.
"I'll second that," a voice behind her said and she closed her eyes even more embarrassed; she had thought that he'd been asleep. A moment passed and he asked, "Did you hear the last thing I said before you fell asleep?"
Toshiro nodded and muttered, "Yeah."
"Well, I didn't finish. See…" He picked the ring up off of the table and held it in front of her face. "I wanted this to end the way it was originally intended. Please, if I haven't entirely messed up my chances, marry me, but for real this time. Please Toshiro, will you marry me?"
She was quiet a minute and turned red. "Uh… well… gee, this is kind of awkward…" She rolled off the couch and rose to her feet as she looked at him. "I'm sorry, but… no."
He sat up in shock. "Hold on, hold on… no? What do you mean, 'No'?"
"I mean exactly what I said. No, I will not marry you, Uchiha Sasuke."
He was shaking his head in confusion at her words and he grabbed her hand. "Why not? Have I done something? What's changed? I don't understand…"
Toshiro pulled her hand out of his and shrugged. "Nothing's changed. You haven't seen? I've never loved you. It was pity. I figured you needed someone to talk to, and you never opened up to anyone until after I came along."
Sasuke's eyes found the floor and he sighed. "Wait," he said and he looked up, "you never were going to kill yourself in the first place, were you? There's someone else, isn't there? Who? Who is it?" He had a look of rage on his pale face and his hands were clenching into fists.
She had a somewhat innocent smile on her face and began, "Well…"
The door suddenly opened as someone walked in and Sasuke's jaw nearly hit the floor. For a second he'd forgotten how to speak, and when he remembered, he wasn't happy. "You chose this idiot? Over me? Are you ill?"
"Don't call him an idiot!" she scolded as she walked over and hugged him, but his eyes were over his shoulder in search of the "idiot". "Hi, Naruto-kun," she said warmly as she greeted him with a kiss. Sasuke's face went from white to green within a five second time span and he looked as if he were about to hurl.
"I can't believe you," he snapped, obviously irritated from the early morning shock and the horror story that was unwinding itself before his eyes. "You've been playing me from the very beginning," he realized and he exhaled in an attempt to calm himself down.
"Took you long enough," Naruto commented as he wrapped his arms around Toshiro snugly. "She can be quite the trickster, can't she? But I don't blame her. You really never were much of a guy. I mean, come on, I'm Hokage, in a power-wielding spot, devilishly handsome and rugged… seriously, you really don't have that much to offer." He had the most smug look on his face as he watched Sasuke turn red with an untamable rage but he didn't fear the Uchiha at all. "Really, if you can't impress her, you can't impress anybody."
He stood in silence for a moment, and spat back at Naruto, "How do you know she's not just playing around with you like she was with me? Maybe it's pity in your case too."
"Nope," Toshiro answered, "just you."
Sasuke crossed his arms and came back, "You're just like your sister." Toshiro's expression was a terrifying one but he paid no heed to it. "Izunami did the exact, the exact same thing to my brother those years ago. Remember? You said she played on pity, and that she never loved him in the first place." He turned for the door and commented, "I guess the Yamashita's are all the same."
Toshiro stormed over and stood in front of him. "Take it back," she requested sweetly and she held back a glare.
"No," he said simply and pushed her aside.
She stood in front of him again and she asked even nicer, "Come on, Sasuke, take it back. You know I'm nothing like my sister." She leaned up and kissed him an attempt to get him to agree with her.
"What the heck is wrong with you?" he asked as he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and he pushed her away once more.
She jumped in front of him again and grabbed him by his collar. "Take it back," she said loudly as the sweet side of her disappeared and he shook his head uncaringly.
"I'm not going to take something back when I mean it, Toshiro."
Toshiro pulled his head an inch or so down to her level and shook him in anger. "I'm nothing like my sister! She was a fool and killed herself attempting to save me! I will not tolerate being compared to that scoundrel!"
"Too bad," he said in an emotionless tone, "I'm comparing you to her anyway."
"Come on!" It sounded like she was begging to him although she was still shaking him by the collar. "Come on Sasuke! Please!" she begged, and then, "Wake up!"
He looked at her with a confused expression on his face and asked, "Wake up? What are you taking about?"
"Wake up! Wake up!" she repeated as she continued to shake him and she pushed him onto the couch.
"Sasuke! Wake up!"
He shot up and looked around him as he gained his bearings and he collapsed back down onto the couch. 'It was a dream?' He stared up at the ceiling for a second or so and assured, 'It was a dream.'
"Sasuke…" a voice calmly said and he jumped a little in surprise. "Sorry, but I had to wake you. Either you have really back dreams periodically, or you talk in your sleep. Which is it?"
He sat up and looked at her and as soon as he realized that it was her and not a dream he hugged her. "Probably both."
"It wouldn't surprise me." She rose from the floor and dusted herself off and said, "Well, it must've been pretty bad. You were talking for awhile and then you pushed me off the couch. There was something about pity and… Izunami?"
He suddenly remembered when he had pushed her away during his dream and he hesitantly asked, "Did I do anything else? Besides the talking?"
"Oh yeah you did," she agreed, "After I fell off the couch I then got the idea that I should wake you up, so I kissed you. Now, I'm not sure what's going on in that head of yours, but you asked me what the heck I was doing, wiped it off, and rolled over." She stared at his expression and finished, "And the only thing that did work was me calling your name, asking you to get up, and shaking you by the collar. Sorry again. So anyway, tell me about this dream you had."
He was kind of surprised at the amused look on her face and he shrugged. "Uh…" He stared at her in silence and embarrassment for awhile and lied, "I don't remember having a dream."
"You lie," she spat and she hugged him. "Come on! Tell me. I already know I was in it. Did you call yourself an idiot?"
Sasuke rubbed his forehead, and with a sigh, he decided to explain it. By the time he had finished Toshiro's mouth was kind of open in surprise and she had kind of a confused look on her face. "Uh-huh," she commented, almost as if she didn't believe him. "Naruto?" she asked. "As if. So that's your ultimate nightmare? Interesting…"
"This isn't really anything I have to worry about is it?" he asked her and she smiled, but didn't respond.
"Uh oh…" she said to herself, "He knows." He shot her a look and she reassured him, "Come on. Is it in my nature? The answer is no. You don't have to worry about anything like that from me." She looked like she was about to laugh in amusement but his expression hadn't changed.
'I'll bet I'm still dreaming,' he thought to himself and he stood to stretch. He caught a funny look in Toshiro's eye and she turned away in an attempt to hide it from him. "What?" he asked and he turned to face her.
"Uh…" she began, "You know… I might have been thinking it, but… I think I heard you say something that sounded kind of like… a proposal." She was completely serious now, and then she said, "It was probably nothing. Wishful thinking, most likely."
Sasuke looked down at her and shook his head. "It doesn't have to be." He picked the ring off of the small table and he smiled at her. 'Here we go again,' he thought to himself as he got down on his knees in front of Toshiro. She had a hand over her mouth in surprise but the smile was obviously there. He was quiet for a minute as he thought of what to say, and he took a breath, and said, "I know words don't have the same meaning after a second time, but… you know, it still stands. I want to be there to protect you and such, and I love you…"
He glanced at the ground at loss for words, and then continued, "I've known you since… nearly forever, and I'm really glad our siblings met so we could. I know I've been blessed for something I did, but I'm glad. I have to say, my dreams have come true because of you, and I promise you this. I will love you forever, and nothing can change that. I must've done something right to end up with you, and I'm the luckiest person in the world for even meeting you in the first place. So, now again I ask you… Toshiro, will you marry me?"
Toshiro's voice was gone and as tears ran down her face even more than the first time, and all that she managed was a quick nod as she sank to her knees in front of him. He smiled at her as he slipped the ring on her finger again and he hugged her. She wrapped her arms tightly around his neck and just cried tears of joy all over again. "You're lucky?" she asked with a small laugh. "I'm the lucky one." She slowly pulled away with the biggest smile on her face and asked, "So, when?"
Sasuke stared at her for a brief moment and answered, "Today, in a few hours. But I don't want you to do anything. I'll take care of everything. I'll make all the arrangements, send someone to come and get you, the whole nine yards. All you have you do is show up. Don't you worry about a thing, okay?"
She stared at him in a slightly confused manner but eventually agreed, "Alright, whatever you say. You better get going then. It's nearly dawn."
He glanced out the window at the brightening sky and jumped to his feet, pulling Toshiro up with him. "I'll see you later, alright? I love you," he said quickly, and just as he gave her a brief kiss on the cheek he bolted out the front door and was gone.