Uchiha Sasuke, sixteen years old, had been awake long before he heard his older brother and guardian Itachi knocking on his bedroom door. For the past five nights, the youth had been experiencing the same dream over and over. It was a dream that his young mind couldn't even begin to comprehend. In fact, whenever he woke up, the specific details of the dream would always leave his memory. He knew that there was rain, and blood, and tears, but whenever he tried to recall what took place in the dream, his chest would tighten and feelings of indescribable rage would begin to emerge. It made not a single lick of sense.

Sasuke continued to stare mindlessly at the crack and hole-infested ceiling of his bedroom when he felt something wet nuzzle his left arm. He turned his head; staring back at him was his pet dog, Karin. She was an abandoned mutt, somewhat bipolar in personality, yet still extremely loyal to a fault. Standing in the dim lighting of the room, her strawberry-red coat still seemed to shine with luster. She barked at him once. Sasuke felt a smile tug at his lips despite himself. He ran his fingers along the top of the dead's furry head.

"Ha ha...yeah, I know, you're hungry, right, girl? Okay. Let's go!"

Sasuke climbed out of bed. He took a quick glance out of his window. It was just another day in the town of Konoha. Although he didn't wish to, he still found his attention briefly drawn to the large, black structure located far off on the top of a hill overlooking the town. Four cylindrical-shaped pillars surrounded the outer area of the building. It invoked images of an ominous, fire-and-brimstone castle, the kind that would make any demonic overlord or trashy super villain feel right at home.

He had no idea what the building's purpose was, or even when it had been built. It seemed to have just popped up over night three years ago. The only thing he knew for sure was that it was all under the control of a man known as Madara. There was something about it all that made him terribly uneasy. Suddenly, the young man heard Karin bark again at his back, and he shook these dark thoughts from his mind. No sense in worrying about it.

"Alright, just be patient," Sasuke replied, "Let me just make sure that Suigetsu and Juugo get their food too..."

Aside from Karin, Sasuke also owned two other pets who were meant to keep him company; Suigetsu the puffer fish, and a rather timid canary named Juugo. Itachi had purchased Suigetsu as a pet for his younger brother's fifteen birthday, but where his brother had obtained Juugo, considering there weren't any canaries available at the local pet shop, was a total mystery. Nonetheless, Sasuke was grateful to have all three of them. He didn't have many real friends outside of his apartment complex.

Sasuke sprinkled a handful of fish food into Suigetsu's tank, and then placed a bowl of bird seed onto the newspaper that covered the floor of Juugo's cage. The tiny bird twittered happily. Sasuke reached out, rubbing its feathery breast with his index finger. Karin was starting to growl this time, and Sasuke laughed; she really seemed to hate it when he didn't pay her enough attention.

Sasuke stepped out of his bedroom, Karin following close behind, and walked down a short corridor into the kitchen. As expected, Itachi was already seated at the table and eating. He was eating from a bowl of cereal, shoveling corn flakes into his mouth with a spoon in one hand while holding the local newspaper in his other. His eyes absorbed the lengthy strings of words with ease; he had always been a fast reader.

"Morning," Sasuke mumbled. He had forgotten how sleepy he still felt.

"Good to see that you're finally up," Itachi remarked without looking up, "You won't wake up when I knock on your door, but you'll wake up when that stupid dog wants you to feed her, huh?"

Sasuke ignored him. His brother had a tendency to be a smart-alack in the morning. He walked over to the sink counter, opening the bottom-most door to take out a bag of Karin's special dog food. Sasuke opened the bag and poured several cup-fulls into Karin's bowl. The hungry dog watched her master's food-preparing process with an intense, wide-eyed stare.

Itachi flipped through the pages of the newspaper. He never seemed to settle onto a single page for more than a minute or so. "By the way, Sasuke?" he began.

"What?"

"You sleep alright last night?"

Sasuke placed the filled bowl in front of Karin, who immediately began to eat. "...Yes." he replied after a moment's hesitation. He couldn't bring himself to tell his brother about the dream. It's not like he'd really believe him either.

"That's good to hear. My night hadn't been such a smooth ride, unfortunately. My eyes were hurting like hell! I couldn't keep them closed for barely a few seconds! Eventually, the pain went away, but it still hurts a little right now."

"If they hurt, maybe you should stop straining them by reading that newspaper?"

"Nah, no way, little brother. I control my eyes, they don't control me."

Sasuke sighed. Itachi was always like that. He didn't seem to put much thought into caring for himself, only for making sure that Sasuke was safe and healthy. It was his greatest fault but also the only thing that helped Sasuke to retain a somewhat-stable life. After their parents had died in a car accident, Itachi immediately set himself to work at any odd-jobs he could get. Sasuke helped him out sometimes, as well, but it was mainly Itachi's work that brought dinner to the table. The last thing Sasuke would want was for something terrible to happen to his big brother. He didn't know what he would do if that happened. Not only was he the prominent provider, he was Sasuke's closest and most reliable family member as well.

"Just be careful, okay?" Sasuke remarked in a stern tone of voice. It had been like this between the two of them for ages. Sometimes, depending on circumstances, they switched between who was the more responsible of the two, but it always had to be one of them. It was the best they could do to make up for the lack of real parental guidance.

Itachi dully nodded his head, barely listening. "Yeah, Yeah..."

"You have a lot of work on your list for today, right?" Sasuke asked as he bent down to pick up Karin's now-empty dish. The dog barked happily, trotting circles around her master's legs. She was always most cheery after breakfast time. Itachi nodded in response to his brother's query.

"That's right. I'll be working as waiter at the Akamichi family's buffet place first, and then I have to help sort out all the old letters and files at the Nara Post Office. I probably won't be back home until really late tonight, so be prepared to make yourself dinner."

"Sounds hard."

"It is; which is why I'm going to need you to take over for me for the third job."

"What?" Sasuke nearly dropped his glass into the sink, but stopped himself just in the nick of the time.

"What do you mean 'what'? It's Saturday, you don't have any homework, and you already know that you have to help with work every now and then! I need you to do this for me! I won't have enough time in the day to make it over to the Yamanaka flower shop!"

Sasuke sighed. "The flower shop? Again?" he groaned.

"Why? What's the problem?" This time, Itachi finally looked up from his paper, and glanced at his brother from over the shoulder.

"That Ino girl who works there is such a pain; She's always flirting with me while I'm trying to work! Even worse, I can't yell at her to fuck off, because her dad owns the store." Sasuke took out a bowl for himself this time, and began pouring cereal into it. He didn't care much about what he ate for breakfast, just like his older brother.

Itachi shrugged. "You're the first guy I've ever heard actually complain about cute girls giving him attention. But I do understand how ya feel with this particular girl; when I'm there, she's constantly badgering me to tell her everything about you! But just try and put up with it, okay? And, you know, maybe she'll stop pulling this crap all the time if you actually took her out for once...?"

"Never!"

Shaking his head and sighing, Sasuke sat down at the table beside his brother. He casually glanced at the newspaper; it was open on the page for town news. There was a small article concerning the death of a merchant named Jiraiya, who had died in his sleep, choking on his own blood.