Hurricane
Chapter One: Avenger
The light was fading, fading fast, but Sasuke couldn't sleep. His mind was reeling, still, weeks later, taking him to places and faces he longed to never see again. He sighed. It wasn't to be. He could not forget. Not tonight, not ever. The truth was burned into his being.
Madara had turned his world upside down with his story and the more he pretended to not believe a single word the great Uchiha had told him, the more he knew that it was all true. That his life had been a lie, that Itachi's life had been a lie.
All a big fucking lie.
And his brother, his idiot brother, caught in the middle of it.
Not today, little brother.
Sasuke forced his eyes open as the tell-tale burn in his throat began and his eyes started to water. He would not cry. Would not. The time for tears was over.
I killed him, he reminded himself. I did what he wanted. I need to focus. On Konoha.
The hatred burned through his veins, making him shiver although the night was warm. He wrapped the feeling around himself like a blanket, the familiarity aching and hurting in all the right places. He was an avenger. Now, at the end of all things, finally, for the right person.
And again he fell, deeper then the first time and further into blackness, the darkness welcoming him home like a lost lover. No peace. No freedom. But sleep. And in sleep he could be no-one, nothing.
*****
"Sasuke!", shouted Karin through closed doors. "We have to get going."
Her booming voice invaded his consciousness, dragging him out of nothingness and he briefly wondered how he had managed to fall asleep at all. He lifted a hand to his forehead and send a glare towards the door.
On the other side he could hear Suigetsu fighting with Karin. Sometimes, when he was feeling weary, they reminded him of old times. Of another place and other faces he longed to forget.
Focus, he thought as he swiftly put on his clothes. The whole time the noise outside pulling and twisting his insides.
"Shut up", he mumbled irritated as he opened the door and went past them. "Karin is right, we have to get going."
"But she's such a stupid bitch", Suigetsu moaned and jumped out of the window into the awaking sunlight.
"Look who's talking, you sponge of idiocy," Karin shouted after him, then turned to Sasuke with a frown. "You look tired. Have you slept at all?"
He nodded and wondered why she cared. HHHHHhe didn't.
She smiled at him. The way that made his skin crawl. "If you need company at night, you could always..." She blushed and Sasuke sighed. "You know...I...", she began again, but Sasuke wordlessly brushed past her and jumped out of the window.
The hell?
Suigetsu was right. Sometimes she really was a stupid bitch.
Outside, the grass was still wet and the sun had not yet risen over the mountains. Sasuke breathed the fresh morning air deep into his lungs and with every breath he could feel a part of the darkness, the nothingness leave him. For the day he knew who he was, who he had to be.
Jugo greeted him calmly, shooing the birds from his shoulders. Suigetsu stood beside him and a thump behind Sasuke told him that Karin had joined them as well.
*****
The hideout was dark and gloomy. Jugo hated the place. Sasuke didn't care for all it was worth. It had its advantages. They were surrounded by forest, the city was near and it was the place Madara had chosen for them. They simply had to bear with the dark clouds.
They would stay here for a few weeks, until the preparations for his attack against the hidden village of the leaf was perfected. As well as his new jutsu. Everything would develop smoothly. He could see it. Could see the fire, the burning houses, the falling trees...
At least if Karin and Suigetsu hadn't killed themselves by then.
If they do, who cares?
Sasuke suppressed a smile.
"Should I be concerned?"
Sasuke whirled around, his sword at the ready in no time at all.
"Try not to sneak up on me", he snarled and pushed past a chuckling Madara. "Otherwise, you'll be sorry one day."
Madara laughed. "That day will never come, you know that."
"Hn."
"When are we going to discuss this great plan of yours? I don't have time to stick around and wait all day, you know?"
Sasuke went past Suigetsu and Karin and silenced the still brawling pair with a sidelong glare. "I wasn't doing anything", Suigetsu said and shoved Karin one last time. Sasuke ignored him and turned back to Madara instead.
"I have to scout the village. I'll be doing that tomorrow morning. After that, we can discuss whatever you want to know."
"What is with that bad excuse of a team of yours? They staying?"
"Hey!" Karin and Suigetsu screamed at the same time.
"We're awesome!", Suigetsu crowed and suddenly a memory was very vivid. Just there. Sasuke had to shake his head so that suddenly blond hair became white again.
"They're useful. Let them be", he said and glanced at Suigetsu out of the corner of his eyes.
No, definitively white.
Madara shrugged, "Should they be in my way..."
"They won't." Sasuke didn't know why he was standing up for his little make-shift team, but something made him. Something just out of reach.
*****
The village was already full of people. It was perfect. Sasuke blended in with the masses, unseen and undetected. It was a small town, nothing special at all. He could see at the first glance why Madara had chosen this place. It was the end of the world.
The shops were old and battered, like the people.
Younger folk probably moves into bigger cities.
It was the perfect place to get lost in, to be not seen in, because nobody saw much beyond the grey of their own lives.
Every color gets lost in this place, he observed.
It was in this exact moment that he saw her.
Before Sasuke comprehended what he was doing, his feet had rooted themselves to the spot. He couldn't believe it. It had to be a joke, a bad one. Out of all the places, in this god-forsaken village...
He took a step back into the shadow of an alley, quickly concealing his chakra. Hoping that it wasn't too late, that he hadn't been detected. But he seemed to be lucky. Out of the shadows, he watched her, still not really able to believe the sheer coincidence.
It was a shabby little bar. Only a few men sat on the worn-out sofas. The girls tending to their customers were nothing to get crazy about; Sasuke had seen far more beautiful hostess girls. But there was one his eyes lingered on.
A girl he knew all too well.
The lithe figure sat on the lap of an elderly man, laughing that way. The way that used to short-circuit every brain, even when they were younger. Her long blond hair was bound in two pig-tails and her blue eyes sparkled with mirth.
That silly jutsu. Naruto.
The memories came back in a rush, tearing his insides. Naruto and him. Sparring, bickering, worrying, fighting and now he was here.
Suddenly the whole gravity of his situation hit him. The boy wouldn't be alone. Especially when he had used a henge to gather information. Sasuke let his eyes wander hectically. Nothing. Carefully he send out his chakra, trying to feel his surroundings without being felt as well. Especially with the blond so close. He was slow to catch up sometimes, but Sasuke knew that Naruto would detect him, should he feel the slightest fragment of him. But, there was no-one there. No shinobi at least.
That can't be true.
A little bolder Sasuke activated his Sharingan and send out his chakra again. This time towards the girl. Slowly, it wrapped itself around her, touched her being.
It's not him.
Sasuke sighed and leaned against the cold stone of the wall behind him.
What am I doing?
Standing there, ambushing an unimportant girl, suddenly, Sasuke felt ill. Since he had taken up the plan to destroy Konoha, these flashes haunted him. Out of the blue, he was remembering things, saw things.
Since Itachi was dead there was nothing left. He had rescued himself into the only thing he knew. Revenge. But sometimes, when he had time to think, there was this longing. He hated this feeling.
Slowly he walked out of the shadow and into the grey light again. Why was he wasting time here? He had to get back.
"Nii-san?", someone said.
He turned and looked down at the blond. He couldn't believe his damned luck.
"Would you like some Sake? You look tired. Come in. I'll make you feel better." She smiled sweetly and now that he was standing right before her, he could see that she wasn't him. It was obvious. Different eyes, different skin, just different.
"Not today", he said.
"You'll feel better." She grinned widely and all of a sudden he saw how he could have mistaken her. How he could have thought she was... Maybe he should...
What was he doing? Was he seriously thinking about this?
"Not today", he said again, harsher than he would have liked. The girl flinched.
"I...I understand", she whispered.
You don't. Hell, I don't.
"Feel free to come in any time. I'll be happy."
Sasuke turned without another word. He had to get away from here. Quickly. Before the memories came back, before he was back again.
Why was this happening? Over three years he had been able to focus without so much as a glimpse backwards and now the loudmouthed blond haunted him everywhere he went.
It was time to come to terms with it. Time to destroy his past, everything that had made his life torture from the very beginning of adolescence. Time to destroy everything that had twisted his brother and loaded him with such a heavy burden to bear.
But also, it was time to forget the one good thing that had come out of all this. Once and for all. He could not lose focus. He was an avenger.
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