No one was quite sure of what exactly happened in the accident which had taken the lives of Uchiha Fugaku and his wife Mikoto. The story was quite famous, and for a while it was the only thing aired on the news and printed in the headlines.
The car they had been driving in was a private black sedan; what make and type, no one quite knew. The passengers were Fugaku, Mikoto and their youngest son Sasuke, not including the chauffeur. The sixteenth of August, they had been on the way home from a formal birthday celebration – of the well-known Uchiha company's CEO, Uchiha Fugaku himself, in fact.
The vehicle that had so effectively crushed the smaller car was a large truck, the driver of which could not be found.
Yet the highlight of public interest and speculation was not the tragedy itself, but rather what came after. The eldest son Uchiha Itachi's whereabouts could not be traced, and Sasuke, the only survivor of the crash, refused to show himself to the public.
Uchiha Sasuke's reluctance to go public fed the rumor mill.
It was possible, they said, that he was affected physically – scarred, handicapped, etc. – so much that he was too embarrassed to show himself.
Others speculated on the disappearance of his older brother.
No one could blame them. Even an idiot could have figured out that it was Uchiha Itachi who had done the deed.
Sasuke was not stupid. He had been one of the first to deduce that his own brother had killed their parents. He also knew what kind of nonsense the outside world (read: media) had been spouting about him.
But there is a saying that where there is smoke, there is sure to be fire. The rumors must have had some basis. No amount of money could have had completely repressed something like this.
The people who had visited Sasuke, and was therefore present when he first gained consciousness after the incident, could testify to that. The second he had opened his eyes, he had shocked them all.
And still, years later, none of his doctors could explain why as of that day, Uchiha Sasuke's eyes were red.
Going back to school was not an option.
When Itachi had gone missing, Sasuke had legally become the inheritor to the company. And when his eyes had turned vermillion, it was the company's way of saving face.
Oh, they said it was to protect him from any possible future assaults. He wasn't naïve enough to believe that.
Since Sasuke still needed to finish his education, they hired people to tutor him at home. They usually never lasted much longer than a month at a time. Sasuke either got fed up of them – it wasn't his fault the females got too clingy – or they were scared away by his eyes. The company even paid for therapists for some of them.
Sasuke's eyes, they told their counselors, had this air about them. At first they just stunned you because they could look haunted and yet devoid of anything at all, but day after day after day of being looked at by those eyes gave you a certain paranoia. After the first week you could feel the heat – or severe lack thereof – of his stares, and by the second week you were sick and tired of flinching every time you saw that shade of red – in the traffic lights, in tomato sauce, in blood. And when that torturous month was over, you saw those eyes and their desolation everywhere you went.
You know what that feeling's like when something's watching you wherever you go? they asked their counselors, their voice painted with some sort of helpless desperation. Yeah, it's like that.
Enough was enough.
Too many teachers had quit, they said. The media was picking up on it. They couldn't afford another disaster like Itachi.
Well, Sasuke had wondered when they were going to stop the 'we're-imprisoning-you-so-you-won't-shame-us' charade.
He hadn't, however, expected someone like her to show up when they told him this was the last tutor they would ever hire.
"Konnichiwa." Light, demure. She bowed. He couldn't help noticing how fluidly practiced the formal gesture was. "I am Hyuuga Hinata."
He carefully looked at her. "Uchiha… Sasuke."
It was a little amusing when she slightly started at his voice, because he could tell that she had been expecting it and yet was still surprised.
"A-ah, hai, Uchiha-san. I will be your teacher from now on. I look forward to… working with you."
She met his gaze equally, her eyes rooting him to the spot.
They told him later.
Her eyes…
"She is blind, Sasuke."
I like this pairing. I don't know why - there's just something to it that draws me...
Yes, I'm aware they have never even met in the series. It's called fanfiction for a reason.
Suggestions and critiques are always welcome. :)
-the feather quill