Disclaimer & Warnings: Naruto is not mine. Sasuke, sadly enough, isn't mine either. Their brilliant author takes all credit for creating them and the rest of the world they evolve in.

There are presently five chapters written of this fic and I am nowhere near finished with it. Most of this fic is a flashback, a take on Sasuke's time in Sound village. There may be some OOCness, and I'm very aware that it is sometimes too fast-paced. I am hoping both of thosewill even out as I go. For now, please just enjoy.

The Sound of Fear: Prologue

I'll never give up on you, you know? You betrayed me, Konoha and everyone in it. You did horrible things. Stuff people only see in nightmares... I've seen some of those battle grounds myself, the whimpering, felled warriors. Not dead, some not even wounded, but somehow fundamentally destroyed. It's worse. You don't kill half as much as I expected you to at first. You'd rather scare them, leaving a permanent scar in their minds that you can use in the future, when they think they've recovered from you.

You blinded Neji. I don't know how you did it. There's no trace of injury near his eyes yet he can't see a thing. That was glaringly obvious the first time he walked into a knee-high table. Everyone's tried to help him along but there's only so much you can do for a blind Hyuuga.

I've seen Hinata train with him countless times, so careful around him that he couldn't control his words, his pride and his pain. He said some pretty bad things to her, but she was still there the next day. I've seen Sakura try to heal him so many times she drove herself to exhaustion, her hands burned with chakra, trying to undo your evils.

I've been researching every single record of jutsus known to cause blindness, revising all I know about that Mangekyou and the Sharingan itself with Kakashi. I don't know how you did it, and whether it's fixable. There's nothing I can do to help him. And it's your fault.

He's sworn to kill you, but we all know he won't. He never will.

A few days ago, Shikamaru told me that you'd come to him at night. That you'd been visiting him almost every week for months now. He didn't give me a reason as to why he withheld the information for so long. He just told me, no hint of regret about anything. I guess that's Shikamaru for you, really. He's smart enough to choose the paths without regret.

At least that's what he tells himself. I went numb when he told me he was seeing you. I should've yelled and screamed and punched, that's Naruto after all, isn't it? But I just stared at him. Unable to get past it.

Shikamaru is safe for you. It's so much you to go to him. He's the only one who can't gather the energy to feel for you, be that hate or love. Maybe... Maybe it was you trying to hurt me too.

Shika didn't say why he chose that moment to tell me about your visits either. I think if he waited so long to tell me, it means that somehow, in some way, he cares enough to want to protect you. I don't know how you managed to get even that much feeling from him.

He defends you, once in a while. Not always and certainly not when Neji's there but sometimes... he makes you think he's not quite as objective as he should be. He's smarter than to fall for you though. He's always been much smarter than me anyway.

There's the other people to consider as well. Sakura hasn't given up on you and isn't about to. In her case though, I'm still not sure what it is. She doesn't know you, how can she love you? But she sure as hell likes to think she does. She's so in love with the idea of you that it's sickening. To find so much... infatuation in an adult, sexy and smart woman is entirely too irritating. She's prepared to be all you need and the more trials you put her through the better. It makes her feel strong, stronger than everyone to be able to withstand anything for your sake. She can always say, I've suffered for love, I deserve it. I wonder how much of it is self-inflicted, really.

But she'll always think you need her. That you just don't acknowledge that yet. She'll always think that she's your path out of the darkness and into light.

Maybe I'm just as bad as she is after all.

The rest of the populace seem to just generally fear you. You've never done anything to harm Konoha, directly or indirectly. I'm a little curious about that, actually. Are you still tied to this village, emotionally? Is it a conscious choice to not fight those who know you? I suppose it matters little. The only significant consequence is that I'm not bound by duty to hunt you down.

The villagers though, they hear the rumors, the whispers. They're scared to death of you, the last Uchiha, the Sharingan unveiled, the nightmare in your eyes. But even when they lower their voices to say your name, there's respect, that admission that you're better than they are. Some awed tone to their fear. Sometimes that respect borders on pride. You're still the golden boy of Konoha, the genius child, impossibly strong, born and bred in their own little town.

Everyone knows The Uchiha is from Konoha.

TBC...