YUN
By: SinsofYouth
He stares at them: at the people in the picture.
He holds the picture in his hands. He holds it up to the dim light, so he can see their faces.
There are four faces, each one unique.
One has snowy white hair and would have had brown eyes, if he hadn't been squinting. One has pink hair and a happy green gaze, the fake hair and bright eyes matched her smile. The third one has yellow hair. That boy is scowling, so it is difficult to see his eyes. But that doesn't matter, this one knows that they are a vivid blue.
The fourth face held within the picture is his own face, his own dark hair and black eyes. It is his own embittered gaze his sees.
This picture...brings back memories. It brings back thoughts and feelings. It brings things to the surface that he does not want to remember; but they are things that he must remember if he is to make this decision tonight.
The first day of school...
He was the main topic of conversation; not because of himself, but because of his brother. It was because of what had happened.
It's strange, he thinks, to have everyone speak your name all at once, but you never recognize a single face.
But he hadn't cared. At least, that's what he always told himself. He was too busy to care what a bunch of losers with delusions of grandeur thought about him. Too focused on his goal to worry about the gossip others were spreading about him and his past.
He hadn't bothered with friends either.
Friends leave you in the end. They die, or betray you...just like family.
Though, he hadn't been the only one without friends at the school. There had been one other who'd seemed to be alone, just like him: the blond boy from the picture...Naruto.
With the exception that his own exile had been self-imposed, they had shared that loneliness. Although, Naruto's isolation had steamed from the fact that none of the other children would associate with the boy at all. He didn't know why this was, and frankly, he hadn't really cared. He'd had other things to focus on at that time to pay attention to the small yellow-haired boy. He'd had little contact with Naruto during his school years, but there had been that once...
The image of a dock appeared before his mind's eye:
He'd been sitting on the edge; his feet dangling off; just barely grazing the water's surface as he silently watched the brightest sunset sparkle and reflect off the deep blue water.
He'd been drifting a thousand miles away when a flash of bright orange had jerked him back to reality.
He'd turned, slowly swiveling his head toward the source of the neon colored nuisance.
Naruto had jerked in surprise as this one's' fathomless black gaze had locked had locked onto him. The blond was apparently oblivious to the fact that his bright orange jumpsuit did not blend into the surroundings very well. Some ninja.
With a complete lack of expression on his face, this one had watched as the other boy had turned and walked away, trying to look as though he had other, more important places to be.
This one had gone back to watching the water then, trying to get his mind back to what he had been thinking about before, but his thoughts kept returning to the other boy.
He'd seen something in the blonds' eyes. For the split second that their gazes had locked, he had seen such intense sorrow and pain reflected in those crystalline depths. It was a suffering that almost, he'd supposed, rivaled his own inner demons.
That someone could merely comprehend what he was going though was laughable; but to consider, for an instant, that anyone was going through anything like what he had experienced was...ludicrous.
Yet he could not deny, there had been something akin to his own sorrow reflected in Naruto's eyes.
Still he stares; standing rigidly still in his pale, moonlit bedroom. Only his eyes move, quickly sliding over each face once more, bringing more memories.
His graduation from the academy; such a proud moment.
He'd had no one to share it with. There was no one to congratulate him. No one whispered how proud they were of him. Because of what had happened all those years ago.
He shies away from those blood-stained tendrils of thought, but they persist. They are a part of the crucial past.
The images come...
It was early evening. He'd been out all day exploring and playing in a forest not far from his village. It was fun to get away every once and a while, nice to practice with the kani on his own.
An icy wing had blown wintry tendrils of cold down his spine. He'd shivered, and glanced all around him. THe feeling of eyes in him growing so intense until he'd turned. There hadn't been a soul in sight.
'That's weird' He'd said to himself. 'All the lights in the houses are off, but...it's not bedtime yet.'
He'd continued to walk hurriedly down the darkened street, glancing all around him. He could not shake a strange inner feeling that something was terribly, horribly wrong.
He'd turned onto his street and every muscle in his body had frozen in absolute horror.
They were everywhere. Bodies littered the street like crumpled pieces of paper, lying motionless in their own crimson essence.
Men...women...children: this one's school mates, his teachers, his friends!
His family! That thought had crashed into him with the force of a tidal wave.
'No...'
He had begun to sprint toward his house, his small feet clipping along the darkened cobblestones, drumming out the words: 'too late, too late, too late...'
The house had been empty, completely devoid of life. Maybe that should've been a sign to him: a warning to run, and never look back. But desperately he'd torn through the house, thoughtlessly, he'd ignored the warning that thrummed through his subconscious.
Mom? Dad? Brother?
A noise drew him once again outside his home. This time it led him toward a shed at the very back of his yard.
He'd hesitated at the door...somehow, he'd known what it was the he would find there.
In the small, unlit bedroom, this one closes his eyes for in instant, seeking a small respite. These events had shaped him, so violently, so rapidly.
But this one must remember; if he is to make this decision tonight.
His eyes open.
Silently, he'd pushed through the door. It had slid open with the slightest of noises, like the whisper of a baby's breath and with a dull 'thud', it had shut behind him.
He'd taken a step into the room and cried out.
They were lying in the middle of the floor. They were so still; the wooden boards beneath them soaked through with blood...their blood. The wood looked nearly black in the subdued light.
'Younger brother," A shadow on the far side of the room whispered. The figure had emerged from out of the darkness behind this ones slaughtered parents, exposing a blood splattered visage for all to see, or at least, for the only one alive to see.
This one's skin had crawled as the all too familiar figure of his brother appeared; the brother he had known all his life. The brother he'd thought he'd known. It was a stranger who gazed back at him now.
'Itachi!' He'd screamed his brother's name, but even that felt foreign to him now. 'Why have you done this? Why did you kill everyone?'
His brother had blankly stared at him. And this one had stared back, searching frantically for any sign of remorse, any indication of conscience in the now alien blood red eyes.
'To test my skills.'
This one had stood for what seemed like an eternity, gazing in shock at the bother who he had played with, who he'd laughted and played with. The brother who had wrestled playfully with, who'd shared meals with his one. The brother who had become a stranger in the span of an instant.
'You've got to be kidding me!' This one cried, running at his older brother, his fists swinging. The blows never landed. All it had taken was a single punch to the gut and this one had crumpled to the ground.
Pain had driven out the irrationality of shock and anger, and as he'd lain in the floor, staring into his dead parent's faces, a new sensation made itself known with startling acuity.
Fear…
I'm going to die, this one had thought frantically. He's going to kill me…I'm going to die!
'No!' He'd thrown himself toward the door, flinging it open and shooting through. He had to get away, he had to get anywhere but here.
He'd ripped past the dead lying in bloody masses in the streets. Faster, faster he went, as if he was in a race. And he was…the deadliest kind of completion. It was a race for his very survival.
Panic had taken charge of this one's mind as he'd plunged through the street, his adrenaline-numbed brain not even registering when he'd stumbled over one of his friends. He hadn't thought; he'd just kept running.
'Don't kill me!' His scream was the desperate cry of a hunted animal. 'Please, don't kill me!'
This one had looked up from the ground. Itachi was standing in front of him, as cold and lifeless as a statue, just staring. This one slid to a stop and stood there, breathless, waiting. Finally, Itachi spoke:
'Live…'
His brother's words had frozen the breath in his chest, hope surged.
'I let you live because I see you have the potential to become my opponent. So one day you will face me, and I will once again be able to truly test my skills. This is why I allow you to live…for my own benefit.'
This one had gone cold as the reality of what Itachi was saying sunk in.
'If in time, you gain true power, then there will be meaning in the life I have granted you. But for now…' Itachi regarded him with utter disdain. 'You are not even worth killing.'
Then, a smirk had crossed the older man's features, twisting them in mirthless laughter.
'My pathetic younger brother; if you want to kill me, then begrudge me! Hate me! And life in an ugly way…but for now, run away, far away, and cling to life.'
The smile disappeared once again behind the cold mask.
'And one day, when you have the same eyes as I do…come and stand before me.'
This one's childhood had vanished, to be swallowed whole by something dark and ugly. All his stupid, naive notions of pride and honor had been ripped apart like the smallest of leaves before the tumult of a hurricane. Every idea he'd ever aspired to, vanished like a sinking ship beneath the waves of the all encompassing ocean, replaced with a simgle purpose; a single goal.
One day he would kill his brother.
He would do it to avenge his family.
He would, so he could close his eyes and not see the bodies of the massacred lying before him.
He would, so he could forgive himself for living.
He would, so he could feel something more than just bitterness and anger.
He would…so he could sleep at night.
This goal was everything to him. It was the only purpose he had in his life. It was his reason for living.
But now, as this one gazes at the picture, at the mostly smiling faces, he thinks that maybe, just maybe…there might be room for something more in his life than the need for vengeance.
The picture…
The people in the picture…
In his mind's eye they transform from cold two-dimensional images to flesh and blood. Living…eating…fighting…learning…together.
His first real mission…
What should've been a routine bodyguard mission had suddenly turned rogue, and deadly. Only hours after the journey had begun, this one had found himself fighting alongside his team: the people from the picture.
They had come without warning, swooping down from above like hawks upon unsuspecting prey. With deadly speed and agility, the assassins had swept past him and toward their intended target, weapons gleaming in the sunlight.
If their master had not been with them, this one had no doubts whatsoever that the entire team would've died that day.
This one had made fun for Naruto after that first battle had finished.
The blond had been terrified, and rightly so. It had been the first time any of that group had ever seen real combat…except him. Naruto had had a right to be a little shell-shocked. But no empathetic thoughts had entered this one's mind. Instead of comforting the boy for doing the best that he could, this one had mocked the blond's fears.
'Hey, Naruto,' He'd smirked down into the wide, horror-filled blue eyes. 'Don't be such a scardy cat.'
He didn't know why he'd said that. Why he'd struck out at the idiot. Every time he'd tried to figure it out, he hadn't like the result. But now…it really didn't matter. Not in the grand scale of things.
What mattered was what happened after that…
Another fight occurred only a few short days after the first. The battle which ensued, had encompassed the entire expanse of a massive bridge that spanned the length of an ocean.
One by one, the team had been slowly cut off from one another, but somehow, he and Naruto had managed to stay together. They had been trapped inside a structure made of ice and mirrors, trying to fight their enemy who flicked in and out of the mirrors, hurling razor sharp needles at them both, too fast for the eye to see.
Desperately, they had tried to dodge the objects flung at them from what seemed to be all directions at once. Time and time again they'd shattered mirrors, attempting to track the rapid movements of their opponent, but to no avail.
Naruto, not nearly as skilled as himself, had been badly injured. After hours of openly bleeding cuts and constant movement, the blond had collapsed.
Their attacker had taken the opening, throwing dozens of her gleaming needles at the fallen boy.
They never reached their target.
This one didn't know why, but…
He'd stepped in front of them.
He'd saved…
The blond is glaring at him in the photograph, anger written on every feature. This one has no idea why Naruto is so mad at him. He's not sure that he cares about the reason; he isn't ever sure that he cares about the idiot at all.
But if he didn't…if he doesn't, then why did he…?
'Why?'
Naruto had asked. And as this one stood, bleeding and shaking with the effort of remaining upright, he'd asked himself that very same question.
Why…?
He didn't have an answer…
He still doesn't have an answer. But the answer now, more than ever, is vital. He must find one.
'You…' This one's voice had cracked with the overwhelming pain. It had been so hard to breathe. 'I…hate you.'
'What?' Naruto had shouted, confusion covering his face, clouding his vivid blue eyes. 'Why? Why me?'
There was no answer…this one had just stood there, his back to Naruto, thinking about everything that had happened between the two of them. The painful memories…the awkward moments…the small fragments of camaraderie, those tiny instances that had seemed to mean everything.
Just like he was now.
Naruto's cry had broken through his thoughts
'I didn't ask for your help!'
No, this one had thought. So why did I save you?
'I don't know…' This one had said weakly, answering his own unspoken question. 'My body just moved on its own.'
An instant later, his damaged carcass gave. With a moan, he surrendered to the agony coursing through every fiber of his being.
Gently, almost in slow motion, he fell. He'd closed his eyes, braced himself against the impact he probably wouldn't have felt anyway.
But when he'd opened his eyes, he saw, with some surprise, that Naruto had caught him and laid him carefully to the ground.
Desperately, Naruto had called out his name.
Was this death? He had wondered. Was this where his road was supposed to end? Strangely, he was not angry of bitter about his choice. He didn't regret stepping in front of Naruto, he didn't regret protecting him.
Lying that way in Naruto's protective embrace, the words had come, almost of their own volition.
'That man…'
He'd seen Naruto's eyes go wide. Maybe the blond had already thought him dead, or maybe the idiot actually knew what he was talking about. In those crystalline depths had been reflected…he tried to think. Pity, gratitude, humiliation…sadness?
'Until I defeated…my brother…' Blood dribbled down his chin. 'I absolutely refused to die. That's what I decided, but…"
This one had made the choice then. He'd given up his one goal, his only purpose. He'd done it willingly, for a…friend.
His own clouded obsidian gaze had locked into Naruto's pain filled blues. He'd tried to pat the other boy on the shoulder, ruffle his hair, do something that would show it was all right, that it was oaky, but all he could manage to do was raise his hand feebly from off his stomach. He tried to make it go higher, but it had just hung there, half-way between Naruto and himself, refusing to go any further.
A friend…
This one had seen the sadness reflected in the blue eyes above him…it had made him speak, forced the words out of his weak, blood-stained lips.
'You…' He'd whispered, summoning the last of his strength. '…don't die.'
This one's hand had landed numbly back against his stomach then and his eyes had slowly drifted shut. The last thing that registered to his semi-conscious brain was something softly striking his face and the feeling of wetness.
…Tears?
Why were you crying for me?
His black eyes reflect the pale starlight as slowly, he turns his gaze to the window beyond the picture in his hand. So much he has already recalled, yet there is more, so much more.
He had not died on that bridge. Naruto had defeated their opponent, or so he'd been told once he'd regained consciousness hours later. It had been Naruto. Not him.
Why not him; when it was obvious that this one was the stronger, the faster, the more accurate, the one superior on and at everything? How had that little weakling become so strong?
The remnant of that year had turned ugly for him, For even in his bizarre friendship with Naruto, this one had never forgotten his brother and what he had to do. His life once again caught up in a vicious cycle.
Fight to gain more skill; use that skill in order to gain more power; gain that power and use it to battle even more, because the power that this one had was not enough. It would never be enough.
That cycle once again became his everything, but with a sharp new edge to it: Naruto.
The blond had become an ever present barb, a constant source of mockery, his thorn in the flesh that never ceased to taunt and ridicule him. Because no matter how his skills seemed to progress, no matter how powerful he seemed to become, somehow, Naruto was always one step ahead of him, always better than him, just out of reach…
He was the symbol of just how weak and pathetic this one was.
And one day, he'd reached his breaking point.
That was the day he'd found his brother.
It had been raining that day. He'd gone to the hospital to visit a former master who'd recently been wounded.
He'd reached the room with relative ease, navigating the bland halls with unfortunate familiarity. He'd been just about to enter the ward when he'd heard voices. This one had ducked beside the door and listened.
'Just before he knocked me unconscious, he revealed that he had come to abduct Naruto.' This one had heard his mast say.
He heard a chorus of 'What?' echo through the room. Apparently, Kakashi had more than a few visitors that day.
'So why is this Itachi guy looking for Naruto?' Someone finally asked.
This one had jerked in surprise.
His brother. Itachi.
Here…
Searching for Naruto?
'We don't know.' Kakashi had replied. 'But just for safe measure, Naruto was sent away.'
Where…This one had thought frantically. Tell me where he was sent!
'Where to?' Another voice from inside the room asked.
'I think…' Kakashi had paused and this one realized that he'd been holding his breath. 'I think he and his bodyguard Jiraiya were headed east toward that large trade city…oh, you know…'
This one was already gone.
This one had run as fast as he could. He knew which city his master had spoken of. It was a huge city and a main hub of trade. It was a place where many people went when they wanted to disappear.
But is he'd known anything about his brother, it was that Itachi would not be shaken so easily.
The man would catch up with Naruto, of that this one had no doubt.
He just hoped that he could get there in time…
It had taken several hours for this one to reach the large metropolis. Long, tense hours with no sound but the thrum of his own heartbeat pounding in his ears. His own thoughts had driven him to the point of insanity. Be there. In silence this one had begged no one. Please, be there.
This was his chance.
Immediately, he'd checked at every hotel for a blond boy with bright blue eyes. Naruto's facial features were uncommon enough to be noticed very easily. Unfortunately, that made it that much more difficult for Naruto to actually disappear. He wasn't the only one following the golden-haired teen. His search had led him to one of the seedier motels in the city. The lady at the front desk had confirmed the fact that a boy with blond hair and blue eyes was indeed staying in this motel. He'd barked for the room's address and raced up the nearby flight of stairs as soon as the number was given.
Adrenaline had coursed through his veins as he dashed down the different hallways in search of Naruto's.
He'd skidded around a corner and came to an abrupt halt. Three figures stood before him, about half-way down the hall. Two had been wearing black coats smattered with the crimson outlines of clouds. A freakishly tall man with sickly green skin and the other one…was his brother. It was Itachi.
The last figure belonged to the orange addict Naruto. The idiot's neon colored jumpsuit stood out drastically against the dull wood that made up the motel's interior.
Naruto had been frozen in place, just gazing up in fear at the black haired man before him.
'Your abduction is my top priority.' Itachi had said matter-of-factly.
'Itachi,' this one had shouted at his brother, anger and excitement churned in his stomach forming a nauseating combination in his stomach.
Slowly, his traitorous sibling had turned, fixing this one with an all familiar red gaze. Then Itachi had spoken, his tone cold and registering no surprise at his younger brother's sudden appearance.
'Hello, younger brother.'
This one had spread his feet wide, the muscles in his shoulders bunched, ready.
'I have come to kill you.' As the words came for out of his mouth, this one had felt all the anxiety leave his body. Every emotion abandoned him except the one that had attached itself to every thought of his brother. Today was his day. Today he would avenge his family. 'Naruto, you'd better stay out of this.'
Itachi's voice was impassive, almost bored as it tore through his thoughts. 'I have no interest in you right now.' The older man had snorted softly. 'You are not even worth killing.'
In his mind, anger twisted common sense into something ugly and unrecognizable. This one had snarled and cone at his brother, his wounded pride fueling the furnace of his indiscretion.
'Don't mess with me!' This one had heard himself scream an instant before his arm had been caught and he'd been thrown against the far wall, his brother using the momentum of his mad charge to increase the speed of this throw. The impact had driven the air from his lungs and he'd thought that he tasted copper in his mouth.
As this one had slowly slid to a sitting position on the polished hardwood floor, he'd heard Naruto calling his name.
'Dang it!' The blond had cried, stepping toward Itachi. 'I'm going to do something about you!'
'Naruto!' This one had managed to gasp out the name just in time to stop the idiot from charging in.
The blond had halted and Itachi turned to gaze at his brother from the corner of his eye, not even bothering to give this one his full attention.
'I told you not to butt in!' This one had risen to his feet, bracing himself slightly against the wall. 'This is my fight. I've lived for this day!' He glared at his brother. 'I've only lived for this day!'
Silence had stretched and consumed the long moments after that statement had been made. Finally, Itachi had turned and begun to walk towards this one with slow, measured steps.
'Fine.'
'Hey!' Naruto had jumped after Itachi, only to be blocked by the other man in a black coat.
'No you don't' The green man had hissed through pointed teeth. 'This one is all Itachi's.'
Naruto had looked past the daunting form in front of him, his desperate blue eyes going out to this one. And then Itachi's tall dark visage had blocked his view, shattering the connection.
This one only remembered vague images and sounds after that; the sensation for excruciating agony as blow after blow tore through his guard to hammer at his broken body. All the time, Itachi had spoken to this one in his cold, even tone.
'It's just like it was all those years ago, isn't it little brother?...You haven't gained any skills at all…Is this the best that you can do little brother?'
Before his world had gone dark once more, he felt Itachi's breath on his ear. The softly spoken words that had followed had been anything but gentle.
'You know why you are so weak little brother?' Itachi had questioned quietly. 'It's because you do not have enough…hatred.'
Black had consumed this one's reality.
After that day, it was never the same he thinks. Something had changed between him and Naruto, something that he understood could never be altered back again.
It was after that the man had come.
The man had come offering strength and power to him; power that he had dreamed of; power enough to kill his brother and avenge his family; power enough to surpass Naruto.
It didn't matter that this one knew the man was evil. It didn't matter that this one knew the man only wanted to use him for his own twisted purposes. It didn't matter that going with the man would ultimately mean his own death. All that mattered was that if he went with this man, he would get stronger, If he stayed alive long enough to kill Itachi with that power, so much the better.
It didn't matter…did it?
And now the choice was before him.
He could go with the man who offered the power to accomplish and finish the task he had laid upon himself. He could take this chance to become strong enough to complete the one purpose he had in life.
Or…he could stay. With the friends that he had made, with the bonds that he realized had been established. With one bond that had been tied strongly around his heart, stronger than them all.
Naruto.
With a twang of surprise, he realized that the blue-eyed idiot had come to know him better than anyone else ever had. All of his secrets…his hopes…the blond even knew about the night that Itachi had destroyed everything in his life. Naruto had become something special to him. His closest friend? His…what?
This is the decision he has to make tonight.
The picture speaks to him. It is a reminder of the memories he had made. It is a testament to the bonds and those he is now bonded to.
But how weak has he allowed himself to become because of those bonds?
There is no choice. For him there was only ever one option. Everything that he was and is, demanded this.
One last memory comes to him. It is one he has seen before. He is sitting on the dock. He turns.
Naruto's blue eyes…filled with sorrow and pain.
But those are not Naruto's eyes anymore. That is not what the blond has chosen to become. He has filled his life with friends. He had surrounded himself with people precious to him, grown closer to each one and added their strengths to his own.
If only…
But it was not meant to be that way. For in everything that made the yellow-haired boy stronger, every weakness in himself was revealed. This one was not meant to live in a world carefree.
He was an avenger…That was reality.
'I'm sorry.' He breaths, the words a soft fluttering of moths wings on the still night air…
The bedroom lay quiet and dark it's empty walls matted by darkness. The only light comes from the stars which shine dully from the glass door on one side. They pour ghostly fingertips into the room and onto the picture on a desk.
The picture of four faces, each unique.
The picture that has been turned face down…