A/N: I began this story more than a year ago and have written on it on and off ever since then. It is loosely based on The Dream Hunters by Neil Gaiman and the title was taken from the Robert Browning poem "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came". I only began reading Stephen King's Dark Tower series after I started this, so I'm not sure if or how it will affect it. It is at this point in time incomplete and I'm sure updates will be sporadic(real life does tend to get in the way), but I'll try my best not to let it die. Having it here will likely be motivating in that respect. The prologue is pretty short, but it's necessary to set up the rest of the story, I hope you enjoy it.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, The Dream Hunters, Robert Browning's poetry, or anything at all by Stephen King.
Prologue: The Curse
Long ago, in a land populated by spirits and demons, there lived a boy. He was the second son of a prestigious feudal lord who oversaw the eastern province under his overlord; named Sasuke by his mother. However, the birth left her in failing health, and the upbringing of her child was left in the capable hands of a young nurse named Megumi. The nurse loved her new charge and all remained well in the Uchiha household until one cool spring day.
Megumi had taken Sasuke, by this time a healthy child of three, out into the forest around the compound to play. During their madcap games, Megumi lost sight of the boy, who never missed out on the chance to give his nurse the slip. Grumbling to herself, Megumi moved farther into the woods in search of her charge, seeking behind bushes and trees. She was about to give up and go retrieve some help from the other servants when she heard a cry.
It was the high, almost surprised yelp of a young child who has been injured, but who is still so bewildered as to not realize what has happened. Filled with dread, Megumi plunged into the bushes, pulling them back to reveal the child where he crouched on the ground, one hand protectively clutching his neck as he stared in shock at a thin black serpent that wriggled away into the undergrowth. Choking back a scream of her own, Megumi snatched up the child and raced back towards the compound. Clutching him to her, she heard him give an agonized moan. With some vague idea of sucking the poison from his veins, Megumi pulled him away from her to examine the wound. Her heart nearly stopped at what she saw. No pinprick holes, left by the fangs of a malignant serpent; rather an eerie black mark, a bit like a tattoo, had blossomed on the pale skin. Her eyes grew wide.
"Black sorcery," she breathed.
When Megumi at last arrived at the Uchiha household, Sasuke's father immediately sent for a doctor. The old physician, an aged man who had seen much illness in his own life, took one look at the ailing boy and shook his head gravely. He had never seen anything like it and feared to treat a patient under the influence of such dark magic. In the end he left and Megumi remained sitting by Sasuke's side, watching helplessly as the stricken boy twitched and moaned with fever. His agony went on and on until at last, in the final hours before dawn, the fever broke and lifted as suddenly as it had arrived. The curious mark remained however, and as more time passed and Sasuke grew into a young man, the mark spread, causing a pain that sank into his very bones. Slowly, inch by inch it licked across his skin, devouring him like a cancer. Bit by bit it ate him alive, sinking painful tendrils into every part of him. And as his agony grew, so did the pain of his parents and ever-faithful childhood nurse. Soon none of them would look into his face any longer, for all they saw were the black flames of his unknown curse.
At last, when the pain and ostracism from his family became too much for him to bear, Sasuke made the decision to leave the family that no longer wanted him and seek some means of purifying himself. No words were exchanged as he packed a small knapsack, fastened a long dagger to his waist and bandaged his exposed skin, wrapping a cloth around the bottom half of his face. Without a backward glance, the boy crept silently from the compound and began his journey to the northern mountains.
A/N: Please Read and Review.
