Story basics:
Pairings: Undecided, but if there are any, it would first off be SasuNaru.
Warnings: Eventual violence, and character death. Possible shounen ai/yaoi. Some swearing.
Rating: PG13
Disclaimer: Own Naruto? Naw. I wish I could, but you see, I can't draw anime or speak fluent Japanese, so things just would not work out. Kishimoto Masashi can, so let's all leave it up to him to entertain us.
General: AU – They are still ninja's and are grouped in their respective teams, but events are way off from the anime/manga. There're no Uchiha Massacre or Orochimaru happenings. Sorry, no Element-kage's either, but I'll try to incorporate the characters. Bits of OOC. (eg: Naruto is toned down a bit). Sasuke is still considered hot, but I am not having squealing girls in my story, thank you very much. Strange things will become clear later on, hopefully ^.^;;;
Setting: Kind of like Konoha Village. They have electricity and the such, but things are still rural. I have to decide some things and hopefully it won't seem like I'm trashing the village. I like Konoha, it's just…gonna be in a bit of trouble for a while.
Prologue
History Lesson
Long ago, a man was a ruler by hierarchy. His nature was full of greed; only thoughts and plans of how he may obtain more filled his mind. He would start wars to conquer land, seize women, and add treasures and trinkets to a collection which he kept only for himself. His armies were immense, and with them, he ruled more than half the earth. Anyone who was caught opposing him would die, on site or as demonstration.
But one day, he realized his army, as powerful they were, were not good enough. Yes, if the enemy force had even one tenth as many people as his own army did, his ruling would have come to an end. The enemy he had encountered was special. From birth, they were able to manipulate the elements around them. Their strength, reflexes, speed, and intelligence were all beyond average. Simply put, they were geniuses.
In a gruesome, entertaining battle between the two armies, the man had won. With this, he decided fate had given him a chance. A chance to be stronger. And so, he round up all the surviving victims and brought them to his capital. There, he kept count of his captives, the numbers rising as he force-bred them. He let none of those people escape, threats of horrible degrees hanging over their heads. Hidden from the public eye, newborns were taken away from their mothers and trained for battle.
Gradually, there were three ways in which this race could see their situation. They could accept it, commit suicide, or hope for a freedom.
Gradually, those three choices narrowed down to one. Accept it. Suicide was weak, and freedom seemed further away than a dream.
Hundreds of years later, the earth was divided into smaller kingdoms, the old ruler long passed away. But what was started did not stop. Trade was the newest thing. Auctions were high up in the business list too. The born fighters were fetching high prices, and soon, as property, they were traded and auctioned for. They were admired and disgusted by the publicans. Admired for their abilities and loyalty. Disgusted because they were heartless. They fought for whoever could afford them, and accepted it, killing friend or foe.
One village had a certain man, also a ruler by hierarchy. Foolish. Scared. In his ignorance, he became obsessed with defending his position. He bought and traded for as many of these special people as he could with his inheritance. When he ran out, he took from the village. Taxes rose, and no amount of work could pay.
In shame and embarrassment, the ruler left, never seen again. A group of people came to power, but their communist ideals could only last so long, and soon after, everyone was in a ditch once again. By then, those 'special' people seemed to have disappeared. Only a few knew where they were, who they were, and what went on out of site.
+ + +
One
"Saaaah! That was refreshing." A young woman with waist-length brown hair slammed an empty shot glass onto the bar table. The bartender looked at her, a little bit concerned.
"That is your fifth one, miss. Will you be okay?" He dried another glass and set it on a wire rack.
"Yup! It's been a hard week, so I got to have a drink and relax a while, you know?" The bartender merely nodded as she placed paper and metal onto the counter. "Thanks a bunch, ojiisan." She winked good-heartedly at the old man and began her way out. The bartender watched her leave, wondering to himself if it was possible to still be sober after five shots of hard whiskey. He shook his head. He'd just have to be amazed the next week she came, and probably every week after that for the rest of his life.
Once outside, the girl walked down towards the back alley of the bar she had just come out of. Hidden in the shadows with her movements drowned out by the happy drinkers inside, she interlaced her fingers and closed her eyes.
"Kai!" A small puff of smoke came out of no where and by the time it had dissipated, a girl with rough-cut pink hair stood in place. She blinked green eyes as she forced any woozy feelings away. For a few seconds, she was completely still, listening and feeling for any possible unwanted people. Satisfied, she sighed.
She started to walk her way out of the alley when her senses jumped, making her duck, turn around, and grab the wrist connected to hand currently fisted in place to where her brains would have been. Her other hand reached forwards in attempt to punch the stomach of her attacker, but it hit air as the target disappeared. She sensed the presence appear behind her and was too late to do anything before her right arm was twisted back. She was shoved into brick alley walls and cold metal was felt at the back of her neck. It all had taken a little more than a second.
"That was weak," commented the voice behind her.
"Your getting better at hiding your chakra," the girl tried to flatter. Her cheek was getting scratched from the brick.
"You could have detected me a mile from here. You could have at least put up a struggle if you weren't so intoxicated." There was a dangerous edge in the boy's voice. Angered, he flicked the girl harder into the wall before lettering her go. He watched as regained her balance and rubbed her shoulder. The girl glared at him.
"What I do in my own time does not concern you." She looked seriously into black eyes.
"What you're doing is stupid and irresponsible, Sakura. You're drunk!" he flared.
"Not really. My tolerance is actually really high," she commented with perk. She ignored the anger in the boy's voice.
"If I were anyone else, you would be dying in your own blood right now."
The girl rolled her eyes.
"Save your breath, Sasuke," Sakura said dryly. She smoothed out her red Chinese dress with her hands, also getting rid of any dirt on her hands. "So, where's Naruto?" she asked.
"Back at the house." Sasuke turned and started walking, hearing Sakura's foot falls catching up to his. Once she was beside him, she turned her head and grinned.
"For someone so cold, you can be quite motherly." Her reply was a whap on the upside of her head, which made her smile.
+ + +
By lamplight, a boy at about fifteen sat hunched over a mess of papers on a rutty wood table. A rock was placed under one of the legs in compensation for missing length. It awkwardly lifted one end of the table up but effectively stopped the table from rocking back and forth. The seat he sat on was a simple stool, one foot placed behind a support bar, the other keeping himself from toppling over.
A pencil hovered over the paper, writing briefly, only to stop again as the boy attempted to concentrate.
"Naruto!" a blob of pink giddily attached itself to Naruto's back in a hug. He turned his head to smile back at her. Her closed eyes and face-splitting grin alone told him she wasn't exactly in her right mind.
"Sakura, your drunk," he stated disappointedly. Sometime during the walk, Sakura stopped fighting off the symptoms of her drinking and had decided the world was interesting when it spun. It kept her entertained, never mind the consequences of a severe hang over the next morning. Sakura leaned closer into the hug, close to falling asleep in the warmth.
"Sakura, get off Naruto." Sakura frowned after the words registered in her head. She let go of Naruto and let her hands hang at her sides.
"My, my. Aren't we touchy of our property," Sakura slurred amusedly. Sasuke paid no acknowledgment to the insult in her remark. Naruto turned back to his work to hide a faint blush from the implication. Sakura moved towards stairs leading up to a second level, attempting to put full concentration into find the light switch.
"Electricity has been cut. Didn't have enough for the month," cut in Naruto's voice. The sound of someone tripping and the beginning of what would have been a long string of curse words turned bright blue eyes to Sakura's direction. In a flash, the raven-haired boy caught Sakura before she had the misfortune of splitting her head open. Both boys breathed out a sigh of relief.
Indifferently, Sasuke carried Sakura bridal-style to the couch and unceremoniously dropped her. Her near-unconscious mind told her to scowl, which she did passionately. Sasuke turned into the kitchen to brew her some tea. Medicinal, if they had any left.
"About how close are you to finishing those orders?" casually asked Sasuke.
"Almost done," replied Naruto's occupied voice as he wrote. The sound of the kitchen in work and Sakura's steady breathing gave Naruto the impression of a normal home, something he wished for. He closed his eyes for a second to absorb the sounds around him before continuing on with his work.
He could hear Sasuke's footsteps reenter the living room area, a cup of tea in hand. Sasuke woke Sakura up long enough for her to drink at least half the cup before her head dropped back down onto the couch cushions.
"She's out like a log," said Naruto, who felt her consciousness fade. "Here." Naruto spun around on the stool with the papers in hand to give to Sasuke, "done." The other boy walked over and took the papers and scanned them. With free arms, Naruto brushed bits of eraser off his black t-shirt and stretched his joints, popping some here and there. "I'm going to bed now." He checked his watch and was surprised to find out it was already past one in the morning. Naruto looked up to see Sasuke smirk.
"What?"
"You have to do the bottom quarter again."
Naruto dropped his head in tired defeat. "Damn," he cursed under his breath. Sasuke put the papers back onto the desk Naruto had been working at.
"Kakashi is coming to get them tomorrow afternoon. You can finish them in the morning."
"Heh, he'll probably come during the evening, so I've got lots of time," smiled Naruto. "Kay. See ya in the morning." He waved a tired hand as he ascended the stairs.
Alone, aside from Sakura, Sasuke stood in his spot, looking back at the papers. What are we getting ourselves into? Is this the only way to live? After a few moments, he went back into the kitchen and poured out the rest of the tea and washed the cup. He clicked off the old banker's lamp and quietly made his way to the curtainless window, letting the moon illuminate the living room and create silhouettes. He shoved his hands in his pants pockets and looked at the thicket of trees he knew were surrounding the house in a protective shield. A small rat crawled by a bush where he, Sasuke, had previously seen a snake slither into, and was punctured by poisoned fangs in a blink of an eye. A terrified squeak sounded before the rat was knocked out. I saw you, his mind commented, but I didn't help you. Life is like that.
Sasuke's eyes shifted to view the outline of a drawer unit beside him. Four polished, brown wood knobs reflected moonlight and were nailed smack in the center of each large drawer. He knew what were in those drawers. The bottom held scrolls, the middle two held various weapons, and the top contained three forehead protectors. Each was a cloth strip with a band of metal. The smooth metal was engraved to signify the wearer as part of the military, of course with special class and ranking.
Unaware of his actions, Sasuke's left hand placed itself at the base of his neck where a mark lay, tracing it over and over with his index finger. A perfect black outline of a circle, separated into quarters by perpendicular lines. Although he was born with it, it had the appearance of a tattoo rather than a birthmark. No specialist, in tattoos or pigmentations, would be able to get rid of it.
The mark was there for life.
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So…how do u add html tags into this? Cuz when I tried the center tag, it had no effect. And I really want indenting .