Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. I do own Hiyori, Yuki, and the plot!
"Alright, are the buckets ready, Sasuke-kun?"
"Check!"
"How about the trip wire?"
"Yuki, my brother's a shinobi. He gonna see it coming."
"Come on, don't jinx our plan! You always do!"
"Shhhhh! Itachi's coming! Hide!
Sasuke and I hid behind trees opposite from one another. I noticed he looked quite handsome for a seven-year-old. His black, spiky hair and big, onyx-like eyes are just too irresistible to not look at. Soon, his thirteen-year-old brother Itachi came down the forest trail, looking as mysterious and gothic as ever with his pale skin, black clothes, and black eyes. He suddenly stopped and looked around suspiciously. Then, he shrugged and kept walking… right into our trip wire. All the water out of the buckets poured onto Itachi's long, black hair. After that, Sasuke and I came out of hiding laughing our heads off. One soaked Itachi walked over to me, knelt down, and said, "Ha ha, you got me there, Yuki-Chan." He smiled through his scar-like birthmarks, messed with my brown hair, and came by Sasuke. "We need to talk, now."
"But, Ni-san—"
"Let's go," he said persistently. He grabbed Sasuke's wrist and yanked him away. Sasuke winked and I smiled back. Sasuke and Itachi had been like brothers to me since my parents being murdered during the invasion of the Leaf Village of Konoha by the Water Country when I was ten months old. At the time, I was at the peak of my happiness in life. But, I had no clue that my life would be turned completely upside down at only five years old.
A week later, I had left my jacket at Sasuke's house and I was going to go get it. While I was walking through his neighborhood, I heard multiple bloodcurdling screams. I was scared and worried about my friends, so I began to run to the Uchiha's house. I arrived at the door and knocked, but nobody answered. I rang the doorbell a few minutes later, but still, nobody came to the door. Finally, I opened the door myself. My brown eyes widened to the sight of Sasuke lying unconscious on top of his parents in a growing puddle of blood. "Sasuke!" I cried. I ran over to him, knelt in the blood, and shook him. "Sasuke-kun, wake up! You can't be dead!" I ran over to his parent's phone and called the Emergency Hotline. This is how the conversation went on:
"This is the Emergency Hotline."
"Oh, my goodness, please help! Please help!"
"What's going on?"
"My friend's family has just been murdered, and… and I'm not sure if my friend is okay! Please come quickly!" I began to cry.
"Where are you?"
"At Fugaku and Mikoto Uchiha's house; hurry!"
The operator hung up the phone and in only minutes, the police and a few shinobi had shown up. What they had seen was that the whole clan was massacred and Sasuke was the only one left alive. They asked me if I saw the whole homicide occur, and I said no. The entire Uchiha clan was accounted for except for Itachi. He must've escaped his cruel fate. Soon, Sasuke was rushed to the hospital.
The next afternoon, I came to the hospital and was allowed to go into Sasuke's room. I asked for me and him to be alone. When they let me in, I shut the door behind me and ran over to Sasuke's side. "Sasuke-kun?" I shook him. Abruptly, his eyelids twitched and his eyes soon opened. "Yuki, is that you?" he said huskily while sitting up.
"Thank goodness you're alright!"
"Where am I?"
"You're in the hospital. Don't you remember what happened last night?"
His eyes widened in shock. Unexpectedly, Sasuke had begun to cry and scream like a maniac. "Sasuke, stop screaming! What's wrong? Please tell me what happened!" Of course, being so worried, I hugged him, begging him to stop. Suddenly, he shoved me away and ran out of the hospital room. I ran out after him. "SASUKE-KUN, STOP! WHERE ARE YOU GOING?" But he disappeared into the forest and I was too tired to chase him any longer. I fell to my knees and cried. What happened to Sasuke? I thought. I soon got up, ran home to my apartment to my bed, and cried for hours. Suddenly, I noticed the stuffed panda bear that Sasuke gave to me a year ago. I grabbed it and held it in my arms and cried for another hour or so. Then, I soon realized it was around ten at night. So I stopped crying and went to sleep, still holding the bear in my arms.
I woke up to a knock on my door at nine in the morning. I opened the door to see Sasuke at my door. "Good morning, Yuki-Chan."
"Sasuke! Thank goodness you're alright!" I hugged him tightly. Then, I noticed all his belongings were in a backpack he was wearing."What's with the backpack?" I asked.
"I'm… I'm leaving."
"Where are you going?"
"I'm going to train to become a shinobi."
"What? You can't leave! Your brother's gone and you're all I've got!"
"I have to. I've tried to train and now's my chance."
"AND LEAVE YOUR ONLY FRIEND BEHIND?" My eyes had begun to fill with tears. I couldn't picture him gone forever. I hugged him and he hugged back. He rubbed his hands up and down my back affectionately. "I'm going to miss you and you'll always be in my heart, Yuki," he mumbled.
"I love you, Sasuke," I murmured. Then, I ran over to my bookshelf and pulled out a photo album. I took a favorite picture of us two from a month ago and gave it to him. "Here," I said, "take this."
"Thank you…" He smiled, put the picture in his pocket, and walked toward the door.
"Bye, Sasuke-kun." I started to weep again. He walked toward me and said, "Don't cry, I'll see you again someday! I promise!" He smiled and wiped away my tears. Suddenly, he kissed my cheek and I quickly turned red. He waved and walked out the door. Once he shut it, I stood there in shock for a few seconds. Then, I smiled and touched where he kissed me. Suddenly, my stomach groaned, so I decided to get some cereal and make myself some breakfast.
Six Years Later…
I had moved to the Waterfall Village, also known as Takigakure, and sadly, I didn't make any friends there. Since the Waterfall Village is completely isolated from the rest of the world and had gone through some pretty serious invasions before I moved there, nobody is very social. Now, I'm eleven and I had come to Konoha to try and find Sasuke. He promised me that I'd see him again, so why not try to look for him? I looked all around the village looking for him. Soon, a fifteen-year-old shinobi wearing all black with red hair and a whole lot of purple makeup asked me, "Hey, you wanna, uh…" He grabbed my ass and I screamed, "PERVERT!" Suddenly, he grabbed my wrist. "Shut up or else," he growled.
"Somebody help!" I shouted. Then, he lifted me in the air by my collar. "I told you to shut the hell up!" All of a sudden, a rock hit the guy in the back of the head and he fell to the ground and let me go. I looked up at a nearby tree and saw another shinobi a little bit younger than him with black hair and eyes wearing a blue shirt and white shorts. He jumped down and the other shinobi ran off. "Thank you so much," I huffed.
"No problem." He said, putting his hand on my shoulder. "Are you alright, Miss?"
"Yeah, I'm fine, thanks." Wait a second, I thought, THAT WAS SASUKE-KUN! I turned around to say to ask him if he remembered me, but he was gone. I don't believe it after six years, he forgot about me. I looked through the entire village another time, but Sasuke was nowhere to be found. I decided he may have been training again. So, I stayed one more night in my apartment and soon traveled back to the Waterfall Village.
Three More Years Later…
I still wasn't doing too well in the Waterfall Village, so a week after I got back; I left for the Mist Village. I was doing much better and I had made many friends. All the villagers were like my family. My best friend is this girl named Hiyori Miyakawa. She is seventeen with long black hair and black eyes. Also, she has glasses and is very skinny. I still have my long, wavy, brown hair and brown eyes, but I have a bit of a tan and I have sun-bleach highlights in my hair. I am now fourteen and traveling back to Konoha with Hiyori to try to find Sasuke-kun one last time.
When Renu and I had arrived, I saw a girl about Hiyori's age with short, light pink hair and green eyes running toward us. She was wearing a red tank top and a tan skirt down to the mid-thigh. "Hey," she said cheerfully, "are you new around here?"
"No," I replied, "I'm actually coming back for a visit. My name is Yuki Takara and this is my friend Hiyori Miyakawa. What's yours?"
"The name's Sakura Haruno. I'm a kunoichi as you can see, and it's nice to meet you."
"Same here; hey, do you know anyone named Sasuke Uchiha around here?"
Sakura looked at me with a surprised look. "Umm, I don't know where he is at the moment, but we can look for him. Do you know him?"
"Yeah, we were childhood friends, but he left to train nine years ago and I haven't seen him since."
"Oh." She smiled. "He was an acquaintance of mine about three years ago, but he, um, disappeared. I saw a glimpse of him not all that long ago, so I know where to look. Let's go!" Sakura started to walk toward the South Gate and we followed. "Where are we going, Sakura?" asked Hiyori.
"We are going to look in the forest. It's not the safest to travel by foot in the forest without protection, so I will go with you. Come on, hurry up!" We soon ran through the gate and into the southern part of the forest.
We had been looking around for a few hours and we were worn-out. "Sakura, how long have we been at this?" I panted.
"About four hours." She wiped the sweat off her brow. "We'll go back to the village after maybe another half hour."
Suddenly, I heard a branch snap, as if it was being stepped on. I gasped and looked around. "Hiyori, did you step on a stick or something?"
"No," she replied with a whisper, "did you, Sakura-chan?"
"I didn't." Sakura looked around. "Wait a second. Let me look through these bushes right here." She stuck her head through the shrubbery and quickly took it out. "Yuki!" she whispered with excitement. "Look!"
I stuck my head through the bushes and saw Sasuke sitting on a large rock. Oh, my God, I thought, could that be him? He had the same spiky, black hair and pale skin tone, but he had gotten much more muscular. He was wearing an open robe-like shirt, thin, black sweatpants, a light purple rope-like belt around his waist, and black ninja sandals. The most noticeable thing he was wearing was a samurai sword in a sheath tied to his waist. But only one thing was stunningly different about his looks: his eyes. They were still the same black color, but he had a serious and emotionless face. He started to drink water out of a canteen. "I'm going to see if he remembers me," I said to Hiyori and Sakura.
"Yuki, I suggest you be careful, alright?" said Sakura. "Don't startle him."
"Okay." I walked out of the brush and Sasuke stared at me. "Sasuke-kun, is that you?" I asked nervously.
"Yes… but how do you know who I am?"
"I'm your old friend Yuki Takara. Don't you remember me from nine years ago?"
He stared at me with a very confused face. "I don't know you, sorry."
"Oh… then never mind." My smile faded and I started to walk away. Then, Sasuke grabbed my wrist. "Wait," he said and pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket. "Is this you?" I realized that he was holding the picture of us two that I gave to him all those years ago. He pointed to me, who was making a peace sign, while Sasuke, in the picture, was sticking his tongue out. I smiled and nodded. "I can't believe it's really you!" Sasuke stood up and embraced me.
"Wow, you've really grown." I smiled and looked up at him. "You must be six feet tall or something. And you're sixteen, right?"
"Heh, you're correct. Um… sorry to say this, but you've barely grown yourself." Sasuke smiled and I rolled my eyes. I knew I was barely five feet tall, so I stood only to just below his shoulder. I turned to the bushes and made a gesture telling Renu and Sakura to come out of hiding. "Who's the girl with the glasses?" Sasuke asked.
"Oh, she's my friend, Hiyori."
"Nice to meet you," she said warily.
"It's nice to meet you, too, and hello to you, Sakura-chan. It's been around a year since I've seen you, hasn't it?"
"Yes," she smiled.
Suddenly, the ground had begun to grumble. "Oh, no," Sasuke said nervously, "My sensei is calling. I have to go."
"See you soon, Sasuke-kun!"
"Maybe tomorrow! Do you still live in that apartment of yours?"
"Yeah!"
"See you tomorrow then!" He ran deep into the forest and the rumbling had stopped. "I wonder what that rumbling was, Sakura-chan!" Hiyori exclaimed. I turned to hear Sakura's reply, but she was gone. "Where'd she go?" I asked.
"I honestly don't know, and why would she leave us here? Didn't she say the forest was dangerous?"
All of a sudden, we heard what sounded like a crowd of people running and twenty shinobi from the Sound Village appeared and surrounded us. They pulled out their shuriken and looked as if they were about to hurl them at us. Then, without warning, black flames came out of nowhere and consumed the shinobi. They were screaming in agony and looked like they wanted to run away, but it seemed as if they were stuck to the ground. Once they had disintegrated, we realized that the plates on their headbands and weapons were in a perfect circle around us. Hiyori and I clung to each other in fear. "What was that?" Hiyori shivered.
"That was, was—"
"What was it, Yuki?" Hiyori interrupted.
"It may have been Amaterasu."
"What kind of justu is that?"
"Amaterasu is a justu when black flames made by the shinobi's chakra, or energy, devour the enemy. The flames will not go out until the enemy is completely obliterated."
"So, whoever created the flames just saved our lives, because there is no way he could've missed his target."
Suddenly, we saw a man dressed in a black overcoat decorated with red clouds and an oriental straw hat came out of the forest. His headband had the Leaf Village mark on it, but there was a scratch straight through the symbol. He looked a good five inches taller than Sasuke-kun and had similar features, such as hair color and skin tone. His nails were painted black, but his eyes were blood red with three pupils around another pupil. "Yuki-chan, is that you?" the man said in a deep voice. His eyes widened and he approached me and Hiyori.
"Who… who are you?" I stepped back.
He soon took off his hat, showing his whole face and head of long hair. I looked under his eyes and noticed two, identical, scar-like birthmarks going down beside his nose, just like Itachi. "Do you recognize me now?"
"Are you Itachi Uchiha?" I said, trembling at his eyes.
He smiled and his eyes turned back to black. It had been nine years since I've seen his face. He hasn't changed at all, except for that he should be around twenty-one years old and I only stood to his chest. Unexpectedly, Itachi hugged me and enveloped me with the long sleeves of his coat. I leaned my head on his chest and wrapped my arms around him. "I've missed you," he said. "I thought I would never see you again." He laid his hand on the back of my head and stroked my hair. Then, he looked up and asked, "Who's your friend?"
"Oh," I replied, "that's Hiyori Miyakawa."
"Nice to meet you, Hiyori." He let go of me and put his hand on her shoulder and smiled. Hiyori slightly blushed and shifted her shoulder a bit. "Pleased to meet you, too," she said smiling.
"Um, Yuki-chan?"
"What is it, Itachi-san?"
"Can I tell you something?"
"Sure, go ahead."
"In private."
"What about Hiyori?"
"My shadow clone will watch her so she's protected." He made several hand signs and a clone appeared and stood by Hiyori. Then, Itachi led me to a part of the forest where it was thick with trees and bushes. "Hey, do you remember the night of my family's massacre?" he asked quietly.
"Yes! I found Sasuke unconscious and took him to the hospital! How did you get away?"
"You know who murdered them all, correct?" His face began to look more serious.
"You know who it was? Tell me, please!"
He looked around and sighed.
"Who was it?" I asked in a worried voice.
"I killed them all." He paused. "I killed every last one of them."
I stood like a statue in complete shock. Why would Itachi do such a thing? I thought. He's not like that! I was truly afraid of what he would do to me, so I began to think that all this was a trap. I took off running in terror and he ran after me. "Get away from me! Please don't kill me!" I cried. Tears rolled down my face in sadness and fright. I could never imagine Itachi-san murdering his entire family. What was his reason? I thought. Suddenly, I tripped and fell to the ground flat on my face. I was bleeding a little so I lied down on the ground in pain. Itachi soon was by my side tending to my wounds. "Are you alright, Yuki-chan?"
"I guess so."
"Please let me explain what happened."
"Go ahead."
"Our family was trying to take over Konoha."
"So what?"
"In order to accomplish that, they were going to slaughter every resident in the city."
My mouth dropped open. His family with only thirty shinobis and kunoichis couldn't possibly murder a million people in a single invasion!
"And anyone who refused to do so would be executed, like my cousin. And you, Sasuke, and I were next."
"Why?"
"They knew you'd agree with my logic if I told you about it."
I realized that Itachi cares about both Sasuke and I very much. He was only trying to protect the both of us and the entire Leaf Village. "Itachi-san," I said with a tear in my eye, "I'm sorry I misjudged you. I really should've—"
"It's fine. I ought to have explained sooner." He gave me a little smile and helped me up. I looked over to where Hiyori was and saw Itachi's doppelganger trying to hit on her. I told Itachi to look and when he did, he rolled his eyes. "Ugh, why do they always do that?" he moaned. He made the shadow clone disappear and Hiyori randomly hugged Itachi saying, "THANK GOD YOU GOT HIM AWAY FROM ME!" Itachi and I had the weirdest looks on our faces, but all we could do after that was laugh. "What are you laughing for? Your clone was really scaring me." She crossed her arms and grimaced.
"Okay," Itachi abruptly said, "I'm taking you two back to the village now."
"Fine…" I groaned.
He led us through the forest for an hour, but when we could see the village through the trees, he wouldn't go any further. "You two go ahead."
"Why can't you come with us?" I asked, giving him my puppy eyes.
"Uh, a friend wanted to originally meet me where I was before, so I have to go."
He turned to leave, but I said, "Wait a second!"
He turned around. "What is it?"
"Can you lean over a bit? I need to tell you something." He stooped down and I put my mouth to his ear. "Thank you," I whispered and kissed him on the cheek. I ran straight to the village only taking a little glance behind me to see Itachi smile.
Hiyori and I walked through the gate and Sakura ran up to us quickly. "I'm so sorry! I had to try and get—"
"It's okay; we were fine."
"Wait, did something happen?"
"We were attacked by shinobis from the Sound Village, but someone saved us and got us out of there," Renu said.
"Oh, that's good! Hey Yuki, it looks like Sasuke really missed you. He seemed different when he saw you."
"What makes you say that?"
"He might've not changed at all to you, but he changed a lot. Since his brother killed his clan, as you may have heard, his mind has been deranged and has wanted a bloody revenge since that day. He even joined Orochimaru's organization of rogue ninjas to gain as much power as he could. That outfit he was wearing is like a uniform they wear to show they're a part of it."
"Who's Orochimaru?" I asked.
"You don't know?" Hiyori looked at me in shock. "He is a rogue ninja from the Sound Village that has made an organization of other rogue ninjas! Not to mention he is one of the three Sannin!"
"Sasuke's not evil, is he?"
"No, he has just been so thirsty for power that he's even cross the path of evil to get it. He wants to become stronger only to avenge his family. Now, back to what I was talking about. Ever since the massacre, Sasuke has always been the serious type and almost never smiled. So when I saw him hold you close, he looked the happiest he has ever been. That was probably the biggest smile he has ever made in a long time."
I had a feeling Sasuke had a deep loathing for his brother. Seeing his family murdered by Itachi must've been too traumatic for him. He really loved his parents. I remember his mom making us ramen on rainy days, his uncle and auntie telling us stories, and his dad always having a good joke to tell. I never could imagine such sweet people trying to kill Sasuke, Itachi, and me. I remembered Sasuke's smile and realized that hatred is now hidden beneath it. "Um, earth to Yuki-chan," I heard someone say. My thoughts went away and I noticed Hiyori waving her hand in front of my face. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I was just thinking."
"About…"
"It's nothing." I smiled.
"I have to introduce you to some people," Sakura exclaimed. Sakura, Hiyori, and I walked to the marketplace and saw a few other shinobi standing around. "Hey, Sakura-chan!" shouted one with blond, spiky hair wearing an orange and black ninja jumpsuit. "Who are these people?"
"This is Yuki Takara and her friend here is Hiyori Miyakawa. Yuki and Renu, meet Naruto Uzumaki. Yuki was friends with Sasuke before the clan was killed."
"Really?" said a blonde kunoichi wearing a purple outfit. "You knew him?"
"Yeah…" I said sheepishly.
"We actually saw him today!" Hiyori shouted happily.
"SERIOUSLY?" The blond kunoichi got in really close to my face. "What does he look like? How is he? Is he buff? Is he hot? Is he still—"
Another shinobi with black hair in a ponytail (his head looked like pineapple) dragged her away. "Sorry about that," he said. "I'm Shikamaru Nara and this is my friend Ino Yamanaka. So, I hear you know Sasuke."
"Yeah, we were good friends. I actually did see him today."
"Sakura-chan actually saw him last year on a mission."
"And," Naruto butted in, "he tried to kill me, too!"
"Really, Naruto?" I don't think he'd ever do such a thing."
"Actually, Yuki," Sakura said, "he did."
My eyes widened. "What the—"
"But Naruto deserved it."
"What'd he do?"
"It's nothing to talk about." She crossed her arms and glared at Naruto.
"Oh…"
"Yuki," Hiyori soon interrupted, "shouldn't we go to your apartment and get settled?"
"I guess. Well, see you all later!"
"It was nice meeting you!" Naruto and Shikamaru said in unison. Then, Hiyori and I went to my apartment. My fifth-floor apartment is a small, two-bedroom dwelling that had a small kitchen, a living/dining room, and two bathrooms. It is decorated with a few oriental tapestries and had the typical Japanese sliding wall between the living room and the kitchen.
Once we got all settled in, it was around eight in the evening and I had unpacked all our stuff. We decided to order chicken-flavored ramen over the phone for a late dinner. Once it had arrived, Renu were eating it while watching an anime called The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (Disclaimer: I DON'T OWN THIS!)on TV for an hour or so. Soon, it was getting late and we decided to go to sleep. I wanted to be well-rested for Sasuke in the morning, so I soon lied down on my bed and fell asleep.
I woke up with a start to a loud knocking on my window at around midnight. I looked outside at realized Sasuke was sitting on the windowsill of my apartment. I opened the window and he said, "Yuki-chan, can I come in?" He lightly smiled.
"Sure, but why are you here so late?" I replied as he climbed through the window.
"Sorry, but I just couldn't wait to see you," he whispered. "Is Hiyori sleeping?"
"Yeah, she is."
"So…" There was a long pause. "How has the nine years of me not seeing you been?"
"They've been okay, I guess."
There was yet another pause. "What happened?" Sasuke asked in a very concerned tone.
"I moved to the Waterfall village after a month of you leaving and lived there for six years."
"Did you make any friends?"
"Actually, no, but I moved to the Mist Village after that."
"How long have you lived there?"
"I've lived there for three years or so."
"Is that where you met Hiyori?"
"Yes, she's the best friend I've had in a while."
"But not better than me, right?"
I rolled my eyes and he quietly laughed. "Sasuke-kun, do you remember rescuing a girl from a shinobi wearing all black and with purple makeup about three years ago?" I asked.
"Yeah, I remember that! His name was Kankuro, I think."
"That girl was me!"
"Oh, my God, that was you? If I only I had recognized you!"
"I tried to say hi, but you left me standing there."
"I wonder what would have happened if I actually knew it was you."
"That would've been interesting."
"Ha ha, yeah…"
"What happened to Itachi? Have you seen him around?"
Sasuke looked at me in anger. "Wait, you don't know, do you?"
"About what?"
"Itachi was the one who murdered my clan."
"I had no idea," I lied.
"I want him to feel at least as much pain as I did nine years ago." He clenched a fist.
"Hm… that explains why you left to train. You want to become stronger than Itachi to get your bloody revenge."
He took a long pause, intertwined his fingers, and put his hands under his nose.
"I'm always here if you want to talk." I lightly smiled.
He looked at me and smirked. Suddenly, Sasuke took my hand, led me out my window and up to the roof, and we lied down and stared at the deep blue of the night. He pointed up and said, "Look at the sky! It's amazing, isn't it?"
"It's beautiful. There are so many stars and planets out there; I wonder if anyone could count them all." I smiled.
"Psh, I could if I tried."
I laughed. Thank goodness his loathing for Itachi-san didn't take away his humor, I thought. Out of the blue, I felt something on my hand. I shot up in a startled manner and realized Sasuke had placed his hand gently on mine. I looked down at it and smiled a little. "Sorry I scared you." He leaned closer to my face and said, "I've just really missed you." He moved my bangs out of my face, smiled, and gently caressed my cheek. Suddenly, he laid his lips on mine. I felt as if I had no choice but to kiss back; he is my best friend. I wrapped my arms around him and he did the same. We kissed for a minute or so until I pushed him away and said, "Okay, enough making out for the night."
"Alright," Sasuke chuckled. He carried me back to my room and set me down on the bed.
"See you tomorrow, Sasuke-kun." I whispered.
He kissed my forehead, whispered "I love you," and leaped out my window waving goodbye. I sat in my bed for a few minutes thinking about what had just happened. I couldn't imagine my best friend in love with me. I giggled just thinking about it, but I soon fell asleep afterwards.
About three hours later, I heard a muffled scream coming from Hiyori's bedroom. I got up and ran in there realizing a kunai was pierced into the wall right above her head. She was lying on her bed shivering. I took it out and saw blood was dripping off of it. I screamed, dropped it and got up on her bed. Suddenly, I heard a window break and a man screaming. Hiyori and I ran into my room finding my window broken and an unconscious shinobi heavily bleeding on my floor. After a few minutes of staring at the guy in shock, who had spiky, silver hair and looked like he was in his mid-twenties, I walked over to him to see if he was alright. I noticed he was wearing a cloth over his lower face, so I decided to take it off. Abruptly, he grabbed my wrist and said, "Don't even think about it."
I screamed and jerked my hand away.
"Sorry I startled you, Miss. I wear this mask to hide my face and I don't like people to try and remove it."
"Are… are you okay?"
"Yeah, it's just a flesh wound."
Flesh wound? I thought. You've got to be kidding me.
He walked into my medicine cabinet and took out some rolled up bandages and wrapped it around his bleeding arm. "Um, who are you?" Hiyori asked.
"And what the hell is going on?" I shouted.
"I'm Kakashi Hatake and I was just attacked by two members of the Akatsuki."
"Who are they?"
"They are a group of S-rank criminal ninjas. They wear a certain uniform, so I suggest you watch your backs."
"What does it look like?"
"They wear a black cloak with red clouds on the fabric. Also, on their headbands, the symbol of their village has a huge scratch through it."
"Okay…" Something about that description was familiar, I thought.
"I must leave; I'm putting your lives at stake by being here. Stay safe." Kakashi leapt out the window and I looked to see him leave. I looked down and saw Itachi and another man with a large sword look at each other and start to chase after Kakashi. "No no no no… it can't be." I knelt to the ground holding my head.
"What is it? What's wrong?" Hiyori asked.
"Itachi… no…" Tears began to stream down my face. "ITACHI, YOU CAN'T BE!"
"Yuki, what is going on?"
"Itachi is part of the Akatsuki, that's what! He's a criminal!" There was a silence. "I just can't believe the man who saved our lives is… is…"
"Calm down, I'm sure he may just be part of the organization to... um, what did he tell you when he pulled you aside yesterday?"
"He was the one who slaughtered his family to protect Sasuke, me, and the whole Leaf Village."
"Maybe his leader asked him to join because he heard of his heinous crime, even though it wasn't exactly a crime if you look at his reasons."
"Perhaps you're right." Yuki, pull yourself together, I thought. Everything will be okay.
"You need to go to bed. It's three in the morning."
"Fine… good night, Hiyori!"
She walked back into her bedroom. I climbed back into bed and tried to fall asleep, but I couldn't stop thinking about Itachi. I couldn't imagine him being part of such an organization. Was could he possibly be doing? I pondered. Was he doing this to hide from Sasuke? No… he's much more powerful than he is by far. Is he avoiding arrest? Is he using the Akatsuki as a cover up? Or was he just asked to join because of his strength? You know what? I'm going to talk to Itachi and Sasuke about this tomorrow and get the story straight and settle the dispute between them. Well, I only need to explain to Sasuke why Itachi killed his parents. Soon, I turned over on my side, shut my eyes, and fell asleep hoping there would be no more disturbances.
I woke up at around eleven in the morning and I got Hiyori up and told her, "We're gonna find Sasuke and Itachi and settle this once and for all."
"Are you crazy? I'm not going with you."
"Yeah, you are! You're better than me at convincing people to do things. I need you to help me persuade them, especially Sasuke-kun, to stop trying to kill each other!"
"Fine, I'll go."
"Let's get ready, then!"
Hiyori and I got out of our pajamas, put on some fresh clothes, and made some scrambled eggs with sausages and cheese for a quick brunch. I brushed my teeth and hair and put on my favorite onyx necklace. It has always brought me good luck when a challenge comes along in life. Then, we left the village into the east part of the forest.
We walked along the path for around fifteen minutes until we crossed paths with a shinobi from the Sound village. He looked around twenty-three and he had silver hair in a ponytail with perfectly round glasses. Maybe he knows where Sasuke could be, I pondered. "Hey!" I shouted.
"What?" he said, looking annoyed.
"Sorry to bother you, but do you know where Sasuke and Itachi Uchiha are?"
There was a pause. "Hm, I think they may be over at the old tomb of the Uchiha family over that way." He pointed to my right to an old, castle-like building rising from the forest. "I suggest you be cautious; this is the forest, you know." He made an eerie grin.
"Thanks!" I was happy he knew where they were, but them being together is what scared me. They were obviously trying to settle this by killing each other. I had to get to the tomb quickly before any major damage was done. "Come on, Hiyori! Hurry up!" We turned on the path and ran toward the tomb to save my friends.
Once we had arrived, I saw that the enormous double doors were wide open. Hiyori and I heard the clash of swords and grunts of pain from inside. When we went inside, we realized there were two hallways. "Renu, you go to the right and I go to the left." We went our separate ways. As I was walking down the hall, I noticed that the sounds of battle were fading. I turned around to the sound of Sasuke cry in pain. Suddenly, I saw a dead body on the floor and I screamed. Hiyori came and asked, "What the hell is going on?"
"That!" I pointed to the corpse.
"Oh, that's nice." She began to look a bit queasy. "Let's go down the other hallway this time."
"Right…" We ran back to the double doors and turned on the right hallway. The fight sounds were becoming louder as we went further. Soon, we came to a slightly open door. I peeked through and saw Sasuke and Itachi trying to kill each other in a large, concrete ballroom. I wanted to run out there and stop them, but Hiyori held me back. "I'm not going to let you get hurt, Yuki. Just wait; they'll stop sooner or later."
Soon, after plenty stabbings, Itachi cornered Sasuke. He put his index and middle finger on the top of the right eye and the thumb right below it. He had begun to press on the eye and I knew he was going to do: Itachi was going to gauge Sasuke's eye out with his bare hands. I couldn't bear watching him do this; I had to stop him. I ran through the door and hugged Itachi with all my might. "Itachi-san!"
He froze then stared down at me.
"Please don't hurt Sasuke-kun… please." I leaned my head on Itachi's back.
Sasuke looked at me out of breath. I looked up at them both with my crying eyes. Suddenly, Itachi put his hand down and Sasuke looked absolutely relieved. Out of the blue, a shinobi that wore the same cloak as Itachi wrapped his arm around my neck and lifted me up. He had green hair, had his head in between what looked similar to the jaws of a Venus flytrap, and had a half black and half white face. "I have watched every great ninja-to ninja battle the world has ever known, and I don't plan this one to be messed up by this little brat!" said the shinobi as I struggled in his grasp. "One of you is going to go down or she will!" He tightened his grip and put a kunai to my throat.
"Zetsu, let her go," Itachi mumbled.
"Not until you start to kill each other!" I tried to kick, but I was helpless. Hiyori had suddenly come out of hiding and ran toward Zetsu and me. All of a sudden, he lifted her by her collar and kicked her across the room. "Hiyori-chan!" I shouted.
"You've got one minute!" Zetsu shouted and tightened his grip so hard I only had one breath of air left.
"Sasuke… Itachi… please don't fight."
"But Yuki—" Sasuke said.
"I'm more worried about you guys than myself. I don't want you to kill each other; I'd rather die than watch one of you get killed."
Both of them stared at me in shock.
"Sasuke-kun, I want you to let Itachi explain why he killed your family. I… I love you and I'll—"
"GET YOUR HANDS OFF OF HER!" Sasuke suddenly charged at me and Zetsu. He pulled out his sword and stabbed Zetsu and I fell to the ground. I landed on my elbow funny and I was crying in pain. The throbbing overwhelmed me completely. The last thing I saw before I blacked out was Itachi running to help Hiyori and Sasuke-kun near my face shaking me and screaming my name.
"Yuki! Yuki!" I woke up with Itachi shaking me by my side the next morning. "Good, you're alright."
"Hi, OW!" I grabbed my arm and noticed there was a bandage over my elbow.
"You're elbow joint was a little damaged from your fall. It's not broken, but only bruised."
I glanced to my right through a window/wall thing and saw Hiyori sleeping with big bandages across her torso. "Yeah, Zetsu's kick really injured her. She has four broken ribs and a fractured sternum," said a voice from the left. I saw Sasuke sitting in a chair lightly smirking. "Hey, Itachi-san," he said.
"What?" Itachi turned and looked at him.
"Can you go see if Hiyori's alright?"
"Okay…" Itachi walked out the door and went into her room.
"Are you alright?" Sasuke asked.
"Mm-hm…"
"Good, good."
"So what's up with you and Itachi?"
"He explained everything, that's all."
"Are you—?"
"Yeah, I'm over it." He smiled a big smile.
"Yay," I quietly clapped my hands.
He sauntered over and sat on the bed. "You know I—"
"Yeah, you like me, I know."
"You make it sound like it's a bad thing."
"It's not… I just can't envision my best friend falling in love with me."
"I've loved you since I met you. First as a sister, but right before the massacre, it soon became much more. When I recognized you, I was just so happy that my best friend in the whole, wide world had found me, and I don't ever want to lose you again. Leaving to train was the worst thing I could've ever done. I left you without anyone to help you and as a gained strength; I gained hatred for Itachi, as well. I encountered him several times after you had gone, losing the battles miserably. The battle that went on yesterday would've been the last for one of us, but you stopped Itachi from gauging my eye out. Why?"
"Like I said yesterday, I'd rather kill myself than watch you die. You're both like brothers to me, and watching you two kill each other is torture as it is."
"Would you want me to be… um—"
"What?"
"More than a brother and friend?"
I stared at him in shock. "I… I…"
"I what?"
"Yes… I'd like that." I smiled.
He suddenly leaned close and kissed me passionately. He wrapped his arms around me and I tried to do the same, but my elbow was unable to be moved. I bit Sasuke's lip and he pulled away and asked, "What's wrong?"
"My elbow," I quietly laughed.
"Oh…" He lied down on the bed next to me and I lay my head on his extended upper arm and he put his forearm around my shoulder. Suddenly, I heard a knock. I looked through the window and saw Itachi and Hiyori making heart symbols with their hands and laughing. We laughed back, but a nurse came in and looked very shocked at the four of us. "I'm sorry," she said, "but visitor's hours are up. Yuki and Hiyori should be out of the hospital by tomorrow. Hiyori, keep those bandages around your ribs for a few months, alright?"
She nodded and Sasuke and Itachi got up from the beds. "See you tomorrow, Sasuke!"
He smiled, quickly kissed my lips, and left. I saw Itachi do the same to Hiyori before he came to wish me well and leave.
A year later...
Life has changed for me. Itachi-san quit the Akatsuki and is happily in a relationship with Renu. Itachi is almost twenty-two and Renu is now eighteen. Renu's ribs have completely healed and Sasuke left Orochimaru's organization and returned to live in Konoha. I'm now fifteen and I've just been engaged to Sasuke-kun and we plan to get married once I turn eighteen. Sasuke has completely lost hatred for Itachi and now they have a very close brotherly bond.
I can still remember those few days. I found my long lost friends after nine years, saved them both, and fell in deep, true love for the first time. I sometimes have nightmares of what could've happened at a worst-case scenario (either Sasuke or Itachi would have died or they had forgotten who I was). But I know that childhood friends will stay friends if they stay together or find each other again. And sometimes, they may become even more than just friends.
THE END