The Heart of an Artist
Miyako
I stood outside in my favorite courtyard staring at his note in my hand. It simply said "I love you. Always remember that," in his surprisingly neat handwriting. It seemed like I had been doing nothing but staring at this small piece of paper for two days. That and waiting for news of Naruto and the others, news of whether my brother would be coming home with them. Deep down I knew that they were most likely going to be unsuccessful. But if they have Naruto with them, I kept thinking. I knew that if anyone, besides myself, had a chance at getting Sasuke to come home, it was Naruto. Being Sasuke's twin, I always had a good idea of what he was thinking and feeling. I knew that deep down, he considered Naruto as his closest friend, almost a brother. If he'd listen to anyone, it would be that knucklehead. I was relieved that Shikamaru had picked him to come, since Lady Tsunade had forbidden me from going along. "One Uchiha Twin is already in the hands of Orochimaru. I don't want the other one falling into his grasp as well," she had said.
Ever since he woke up in the hospital, Sasuke had been in complete turmoil. I knew, even though he tried to hide it from me. It was partially that we had the honest-to-God twin connection thing going on, and partially because I had always been good at reading people, especially my brothers. That's why I didn't share in Sasuke's drive for revenge. I knew that there had been something more going on, even if I didn't know what it was. It went against Itachi's nature to kill our clan "to test his abilities." He wouldn't have given up his dream for the sake of something as ridiculous as that. And he wouldn't have told me he was leaving for a special mission that the Hokage had given him. Itachi never lied to me. He knew there was no point because I would see through it. But no matter how I tried, I couldn't convince Sasuke of this.
I could feel that, somewhere, Sasuke was fighting. I could always tell when he was fighting or in pain, as he could tell with me. I don't know how to explain it, we just knew. It was almost like an adrenaline rush. Even if one of us wasn't fighting, we would both experience heightened senses. Several months ago, when he was in the Land of Waves and I was here in the village, I had been having lunch at the dango shop with my boyfriend. Suddenly I was hyper-aware of everything around me. I knew Sasuke was fighting, which he'd been doing a lot of over the course of his absence. Soon I was feeling piercing pains all over my body. I tried my best to ignore it. Gradually, I became more and more aware of what was going on around me. I could see in clear detail every little hair in the fur lining of Kiba's coat. Everything began to slow down and take on a slightly redish hue.
"Miyako!" Kiba exclaimed, taking me by surprised when he used my real name rather than the nickname Itachi had given me which everyone called me by, "Your eyes are red!"
"What do you mean?" I said as I reached into my purse, pulled out my compact, and flipped it open, "My eyes aren't…Sharingan!"
I closed my eyes and when I opened them, my eyes were back to their normal black. I blinked twice more and was able to activate and deactivate my kekkei genkai.
"What? Sharingan?" Kiba asked.
"I got to go. I'll talk to you later," I leaned in and gave him a quick kiss then grabbed my purse and started running.
"Wait! Mimi!" Kiba yelled as I left.
I didn't stop running until I reached the Hokage's office. I burst into the room and some scandalized looking chuunin said, "Hey you can't just come barging in here."
"Sorry it's an emergency," I exclaimed as I ran to the desk.
"Miyako, what is the mean—" he fell silent when he saw me activate the Sharingan.
He was quiet for a moment, "Well, this changes things. You're dismissed."
"But—"
"I'm sorry, but a matter of great importance has just come up."
The chuunin left, mumbling apologies.
"How long?" Lord Hokage asked me.
"Not long. No more then a few minutes. Sasuke's activated his as well. I know because I've always been able to sense when he's fighting. He's been fighting for about thirty minutes and he activated Sharingan at the same moment I did," even as I spoke, I knew it was true.
"I think I'm gonna have Kakashi give you both extra training so that you can begin to hone your Shar—" I didn't here the rest of what he said.
I was surrounded by mirrors made of ice. I watched, in slow motion, as a person in a mask flew out of one of the mirrors and went in for the kill. Instead of going for me, as I was expecting, he went for Naruto. I moved before being conscious of doing so. I could feel his needles embedding themselves in my skin, hitting vital points. I grabbed the boy's hands and threw him into one of his ice mirrors. Behind me Naruto started to come to. I told him that he never fails to get in the way. I watched as he realized that I was severely injured. "You should see the look on your face. You look like a loser."
Naruto asked why I saved him. I said I didn't know why. Memories of the two of us together started running through my head. I told him that I had hated him. Naruto asked why again and when I didn't answer he started yelling about how he didn't ask me to save him. I told him again that I didn't know why, that my body did it on its own. "Loser," I choked out as I fell to the ground.
I felt Naruto catch me before I hit. I told him that I promised myself that I would live until I had killed my brother and not to let his dream die. I left unspoken why I wanted to kill him; to avenge my clan, but also for my sister. I saw how it devastated her when he left. "Miyako…Miko," I whispered.
I remembered why I started calling her Miko. It was because when I was first learning to speak, I couldn't quite say Miyako, so I said Miko. It had been my nickname for her from that time on, although I didn't call her by that name much anymore. I remembered how she, wanting to have a nickname for me as well, started calling me Suke-suke. They were stupid, immature names, but we were very young.
I felt things growing dim. I couldn't see Naruto anymore, all I could see was Miko's face. I knew she knew. Before everything completely went away, I felt Naruto hug me. I wanted to laugh at the ridiculousness, but I couldn't move my face. I couldn't even breathe. Faintly, I heard the masked guy say, "He found strength he didn't realize he had to protect a person that was precious to him. He was a true ninja worthy of honor."
Did you hear that, Miko?
I could hear screaming. It was the most horrible blood-curdling scream I had ever heard, and it sounded like my brother's name. It had taken me a second to realize that I was the one screaming out his name. It was almost as if I thought I could bring him back if I screamed long enough. Everyone had left me. I was completely alone. Everyone was gone: Mom, Dad, Itachi, and now Sasuke. I didn't know what to do. It was as if my heart had died with Sasuke. He had taken the last shattered piece of my long broken heart…and I would never get it back.
"Miyako? Miyako? What happened?" I could hear the Hokage asking.
"He's dead," was all I could say, "He's dead."
It felt almost the same as the day of the memorial service for our clan. It had been raining that day almost five years ago. I could remember it clearly…
I was crying and clinging to the Third Hokage's robe, his hand was resting on my head. I looked over at Sasuke. He was really pale and his hand was clenched into a fist. I took hold of his hand and squeezed it gently in mine. "It'll be alright, Suke-suke" I told him, even as tears streamed down my face, "Big brother will come back. And then everything will be ok."
"He won't come back," he said in a tone I'd never heard him use before. It reminded me of that day when the men that worked with Father came to our house and Itachi fought them. Sasuke sounded so much like Itachi did then. He sounded so mad, but his voice was cold. "He won't come back because he is the one who did this."
"No, he didn't," I was crying harder. It hurt that Sasuke was blaming Itachi. "Big brother saved me. He took me away from the house so I wouldn't get hurt. And when he left he told me he had a mission. Big brother has never lied to me before. He's on a mission, you'll see. He'll come back…"
I started laughing, even as the tears started to stream from my eyes. The first memory I pulled up after finding out my brother was dead, was the one of our first ever fight at our parents funeral. It struck me as funny, in a completely morbid way. I heard the Hokage speaking to someone and I felt someone help me up from where I had fallen during my vision of Sasuke's death. I saw Kiba as if I was looking from a great distance. He must've followed me. "Come on. I'll take you to my place. You need to rest."
He began to pull me out of the office. I felt like a wraith, as if I wasn't in my body. I was floating somewhere watching Kiba lead me to his house. Suddenly I was back in my body and I felt warm. "He's alive."
"What? The Hokage told me you felt Sasuke die!" Kiba exclaimed.
"I did. He was dead. I don't know how, but he came back," I thought of my screaming. Maybe it had worked after all. "He's alive!"
A few weeks later when he came home, I was waiting for him at the gate. He looked almost happy as I ran towards him. To my dieing day, I will always remember the look of shock on his face when I decked him.
"Sasuke Uchiha!" I screamed, tears running down my face, "Don't you ever do that to me again."
"You saw."
I started beating his chest but I was so distraught that I'm sure it didn't hurt him at all. "Damn right, I saw. If you ever do that to me again, I swear—"
He surprised me by hugging me. He hadn't hugged me since we were seven. "I missed you too, Miko."
"Mimi," a voice brought me back to the present. I turned and saw Sakura.
"Have you heard anything?" I asked.
"I haven't heard anything from Sasuke, Kakashi, or Naruto. But they've brought in Choji, Neji, Kiba, and Akamaru. Kiba's a bit beaten up, but nothing too serious. Akamaru is in a more serious condition but the vet's with him. Choji and Neji are both in surgery right now. Shikamaru and the Sand Sibs have also come and all of them are fine," She informed me.
"And all of this was Sasuke's doing?" I asked even though I was already sure of the answer.
"No, he was with a group of Sound Ninja."
"Damn!" I cursed. I knew it!
"Have you sensed anything?" Sakura asked.
"Yeah. All I know is he's fighting. I'm not sure who, but I'd be willing to bet money that it's Naruto.
"He's not in any great pain. Either that or he's ignoring it. I've noticed that if he's concentrating so hard on the fight that he's not really noticing the pain, it comes to me dulled."
"That's good, I guess," Sakura said slowly.
"But there's something that's been bugging me. For most of the past two days it felt a lot like when he died in the Land of Waves, but I still felt that he wasn't dead. I can't figure it out. I'm really worried about what that was. About an hour ago, he suddenly felt terrifyingly strong. Normally I don't feel him unless he's close. It's only when something bad has happened that I sense anything. There's something about this power that's wrong. I think it has to do with that—ungh!"
There was a sudden and strong pain in my left shoulder. It was so bad that I collapsed from the pain. I suddenly saw Sasuke collapsing like I was. He was looking down at Naruto. With every last ounce of strength he possessed, he forced himself to get up and finish his journey.
"Mimi!" Sakura cried.
"The fight's over. Naruto lost, but he put up one hell of a fight. Sasuke's not doing well at all. He's coughing up blood. I'm surprised he's still alive. Ungh! He's just left the fire country. I'm amazed he was able to keep the level of pain he was feeling away from me. God, I'm so tired, but it's nothing to what he's feeling."
"Well have you slept at all since he left?" Sakura asked.
"No."
"Well you need to sleep," she said, helping me up, "There's nothing you can do right now."
"I suppose your right," I said and I let her put me to bed.
I'm sorry, Itachi. I failed.