"You're son will never see."
Itachi heard the doctor tell his parents while he held his little brother who gurgled unknowingly.
"He will never use Sharingan."
Their father grunted, offended. Their mother sobbed almost silently but Itachi heard. Sasuke flinched as if he knew what that meant.
"Is there anything that we can do?"
"I'm afraid not. There was a problem with blood getting to the visual parts of his brain. There's no cure." The doctor paused knowing exactly what that meant for the Uchiha Clan.
Sasuke Uchiha was the last of a dying people. They needed him to be strong, to represent that despite their dwindling numbers, that they were still to be feared and respected.
Sasuke represented a dangerous change.
Itachi knew and he held his little brother close. "Don't worry, otouto, I'll always be there for you. Always."
Sasuke opened his watery onyx eyes, gazing towards his older brother but seeing nothing. There would never be the sharpness or the glint of red behind those dark abysses.
It made Itachi uneasy.
...
"No, Sasuke, that's not right," his father barked as Sasuke failed yet again to produce the flame from his core.
He squeezed his eyes closed focusing all his energy, all his chakra on the heat inside his body. His father would never let him join the academy if he couldn't do this one thing.
"Like this." His father's rough hands grabbed Sasuke's and pressed them against his chest. Sasuke's blind eyes went wide as he felt the surge of Chakra pulse through his father's body, from his stomach to his heart, up his throat and erupt like a dragon's flame out his mouth.
He couldn't see it but he felt the astonishing heat against his cheeks, scorning him for being such a failure.
"You're brother was able to do this by your age, why can't you."
Sasuke gritted his teeth. He would show to his father that he could do this. That was not just a shadow of his brother, that he was his own being.
He positioned himself on the edge of the dock. He shakily did the hand signs, trying to remember the exact shape of his father's hands. He felt the surge of heated chakra pulse through his own body, felt the sweet burn on his lips as it poured from his mouth.
But he knew just by the feel of the heat that it was nothing to his father's.
He heard the man sigh behind him. "I'll see you at dinner."
He heard the echoing footsteps of the man leave.
Sasuke sat down on the chipping rotting wood in defeat. He pressed his hands to his useless eyes and cursed himself. He didn't possess anything of the Uchiha clan. How can he bring honor to his family if he can't do anything right?
He scratched at his eyelids.
He would do this.
He would prove his father wrong.
After another deep inhale, he stood up slowly, facing towards the cool air of the lake.
...
"Otouto, what's wrong with your face?"
Sasuke laid in the grass exhausted, his insides scorched. He had no idea if he got anything accomplished today but his lips were burned and his cheeks were raw.
"I'm trying to do the fireball jutsu but I don't even know if I'm doing it right to know for sure if I'm improving." What he didn't say was that father just left him out here and he had no idea how to get home.
"Get up."
He sighed. What was the point? He couldn't do anything right. He should just lay here and wilt away but he gritted his teeth.
There was rustling sound as Itachi moved toward him. Sasuke kept his eyes shut. There was a heaviness between them. Itachi had been doing a lot of missions lately. He had been fighting with father and as of yesterday, Itachi's best friend had been found dead. Sasuke didn't know what to think but his father had finally given him a chance to prove himself.
And he failed.
Again.
He felt his brother kneel down on the grass. "Sasuke, even the kappa drowns sometimes."
"What does that mean?"
"It means that even experts can make mistakes and mess up." His deep throaty voice was soft. "It doesn't mean you give up."
Sasuke sat up slowly wincing at the pain in his face.
"Show me what you can do."
He was exhausted and had no idea how many steps it was to the end of the dock but he slowly rose and slid his feet along the boards, feeling for the edge. He didn't know how to swim.
He found the edge, did the hand signs, inhaled deeply, and screamed the words for the jutsu. The flames scorched his teeth and his tongue; the heat burned his face once more and tears evaporated instantaneously from his eyes.
He felt a hand on his shoulder.
"You're better than I am."
"I'll never know."
His voice was bitter. He tried not to let his blindness get him down like this but he was sick of being inferior. He was sick of trying to uphold the clan and represent them. He physically couldn't. He would never have their eyes.
The Sharingan.
Itachi took his hand and they started to walk home. Sasuke bitterly let his brother lead him. Itachi was being quieter than usual.
Maybe he felt Sasuke's pain.
Maybe it was something deeper.
"I will find a way to have the Sharingan," Sasuke said without even thinking about the plausibility of the statement. "I will be an Uchiha father will be proud of."
Itachi released Sasuke's hand. "Being an Uchiha doesn't only entail visual prowess and the fire jutstu."
Sasuke turned his face away from his brother, holding his left hand across his body while he held the right out in case anything was in the way. He knew his brother wouldn't let anything happen to him but still.
"The Uchiha rely on their emotions, their hate, their anger and their passion to accomplish great things."
For some strange reason Sasuke felt like Itachi was smiling.
A sad smile.
