Disclaimer: I wish, but I can't…
Notes:
This fanfic idea was from one-shot, Hotarubi no Mori E by Midorikawa Yuki, but it won't follow the whole thing. This fic was beta by my dear friend, Ryuusei, without her constant poking, it won't ever be written! So 'yay' to Ryuusei! And on with the fic.

Forest of Fireflies

Chapter 1 - Sasuke doesn't like flowers!

I could never forget the first time I met him.

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"Sasuke! Itachi!" A beautiful woman called out whilst packing away the remains of a picnic.

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I was only six back then. It was during summer that my father had decided to bring the whole family to the family's 'land'. Don't ask, apparently our ancestors did some grand shit with the five main kages and bestowed upon the Uchiha family their very own piece of land.

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"Where could those two boys be? It's about time we leave!" the woman exclaimed, turning towards a her husband who was lazily reclining against a shady oak tree.

"Calm down Mikoto. They're all young and active boys, let them be. They'll come back on their own when they've seen enough." A tall, broad-shouldered man said absently whilst still engrossed in his book. 'The Life and Times of Feudal Era Ninjas' had absolutely captured his attention.

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The 'land' was actually a small town where mostly elder Uchihas lived since it was situated at the countryside. Fresh air, nice environment, it was a living haven, where old folks and nature lovers were well-provided for.

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"You've got a point, Fugaku," Mikoto replied , biting her bottom lip in worry. "But it's Sasuke I'm more concerned about. He's only six, and that is not a valid age for him to be wondering about. He hasn't even enrolled into the Academy yet! What if he trips and hurts himself? What if he gets lost!? What if he gets attacked by vicious animals!" Mikoto become more frantic as she continued to think of the possible "happenings' that could happen to her youngest child.

"Mikoto, calm down. You know how tame the animals here are and Sasuke is already a big boy. Furthermore, he is an Uchiha, and Uchihas don't cry just by falling down," Fugaku unsuccessfully tried to reassure his worried wife. " Besides, I'm sure he is with….."

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As soon as my mum's all-watchful eye was off me and my dad was too engrossed with that book of his, I slowly made my way in the direction my elder brother, Itachi had headed of to a few minutes ago. Itachi always come and go as he pleases unnoticed. Normally, one would attribute this skill of his as the mark of a shinobi. However, the unearthly aura that seems to surround this disappearing trick of his still eludes my comprehension. That is another story for another day.

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"Itachi?" Mikoto finished for her husband as she saw Itachi slowly ambling towards them, with no little brother in hand.

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I trailed my brother into the forest like a hawk hunting it's prey, keeping a keen eye on his swaying back and ponytail. Failing to do so was not an option, there was no way I wanted to get lost in that big, dark, creepy forest. However, something went in my eyes. I swear I didn't get distracted by a butterfly that happened to have flown pass me. Okay, fine, maybe I did get distracted. I was only six! A young naïve child who would gladly jump into the arms of a stranger when offered a piece a candy. Wait, scratch that thought, I hadn't been a big fan of sweets from young, so it wouldn't matter. Back to the story, that damned butterfly had distracted me and before I knew it, I was going after the wrong target. Looking around, only to be met by large trees and rustling branches, with no Itachi in sight, I could only come to one terrifying conclusion – I was lost.

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"Where is Sasuke, Itachi!?" the worried mother screamed as she shook her older son furiously, hoping it would shake some answers out of the boy. This of course, gave the poor boy a headache instead and a pissed off mother with no answers.

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I calmed myself down, desperately trying not to cry despite how scared I was. I had decided to retrace my steps as I thought that I hadn't actually walked that deep into the forest. Somehow, I only managed to walk in circle. There were brief moments that I thought that I was hallucinating as I kept seeing that same dreadful butterfly which had caused this disaster to happen. Therefore, I had to think of another way out and I thought of putting up signs so I would know which paths that I had taken. It wasn't long before I had managed to escape from that circle of doom. Patting myself on back for being able to save my hide from that forest and being a wonderful Uchiha for doing so. It wasn't until I noticed that my surroundings had gotten darker that I realized that I had I hadn't managed to get out of the forest, I had actually went deeper.

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"Mikoto, stop shaking Itachi! You're giving him a headache." Fugaku said as he tried to stop his wife from shaking the living daylights out of his heir. If you continue doing that, he won't have a head to answer you!" Mikoto immediately stopped her shaking and shot a nasty glare towards her husband and crossed her arms, waiting expectantly.

'Why me?" Fugaku thought forlornly, as he prepared to interrogate his older son about the whereabouts of his younger, and less responsible son.

Glancing at his father's stoic face and his mother's face which threatened to do awful things to him if he didn't answer, he resigned and proceeded to tell his side of the story. Well, tried to anyway.

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Uchihas are never afraid of anything. We're not afraid of bugs, not afraid of the dark, not afraid weird noises and most of all, Uchihas are not afraid of getting lost. Remember, this Uchiha is only six and it's his first time out in the forest alone. You don't have to be a genius to get it. I was scared shitless.

I then decided to test my luck to get me out of the dreadful situation. I took a deep breath and ran as fast as my little leg could take me. I didn't know where I was going, and I didn't care as long as I could get out of the damn forest. Sometimes, I wish I was born super lucky and not super handsome (Yes, I was very full of myself since birth), because the next thing I knew, I tripped and fell face first to the forest floor.

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"What do you mean you don't know!?" Mikoto was back to shaking her son senseless, but this time with more vigor. "Get a hold of yourself, Mikoto!" Fugaku shouted as he once again tried to free his son from his wife's incessant shaking. "Sasuke will be fine, he IS an Uchiha after all. He's probably chasing butterflies or picking flowers without a care in the world for all we know!"

"But he doesn't like flowers!" his by now hysterical wife wailed.

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I was getting more afraid (if that was even possible) as time passed. I had already given up running after I had fallen. There were two reasons for me to raise the white flag. One, I was too exhausted from all that running, and two, the forest was alive. Normally people would think I'm mad, but I swear I wasn't lying. While I was running, the trees seemed to move with me. I thought it was all in my head until I tripped and saw a freaking vine snaking away from my foot! It scared me shitless! I couldn't stand it anymore. I did the most disgraceful thing an Uchiha could do. I got up, took a deep breath, plopped down onto the forest floor, and cried.

"Fugaku…" Mikoto asked, not bothering to continue struggling for the thousandth time, the ropes were just too tight and her back was starting to hurt due to the rough tree bark. It hadn't been easy for Fugaku to hold down his wife as he tied her to a tree. "What if the legends are true Fugaku?"

"What legends?" Fugaku asked, not bothering to look at his wife as he cleaned the white foam off his unconscious son's mouth.

"You know…the legends my grandfather used to tell us…" Mikoto was getting more worried as she remembered the strange tales her grandfather would always tell her when she was but a small child.

"Oh…" Fugaku thought for a while before continuing. "You mean the one about how the forest seemed to come to life during the summer?"

"Not that one, the one about the demon fox…" she half-yelled to her long-suffering husband.

"Mikoto, you know those are only legends? They aren't real at all." Fugaku got up and made his way towards his bound wife.

"But, remember that night, we…" Mikoto's words trailed off and she fell silent.

"We were just kids," Fugaku firmly said, grasping his wife's shoulder to still her shaking. " And kids have wild imaginations that run wild if they are not kept in check."

Mikoto kept her silence at her husband's reply, refusing to meet his eyes opting instead to grace the ground with her proud gaze.

Reading her mind as all happily married couples should, Fugaku let out a great sigh and continued "I wouldn't worry too much about your old man's tale. If the fox was liked how he was, we wouldn't have to worry. We can believe in Hotaru's word."

Mikoto let out a small chuckle that was followed by Fugaku.

"So…" Mikoto began, "Can you untie me now? This tree is killing me." She smiled sweetly at her husband.

"No." Fugaku flatly said.

"What! Why not?" His wife whined.

"Because you'll go crazy again, and I can't have that."

Fugaku then started walking down the hill, leaving his unconscious son and tied-up wife there.

Ignoring her loud protests, he smiled to himself as the shouting gradually fades into the background.

"And now, to finish my book." he thought gleefully to himself.

Sasuke wailed loudly as he sat in the forest clearing. He had been lost for nearly an hour and had the injuries, the fatigue and the psychological damage to show for it.

At first, he just thought that the forest was creepy like any old forest. But he soon realized that this was no ordinary forest, it was an EXTREMELY CREEPY forest. How not to classify this forest as such? The trees were moving, strange shadows flitted behind said moving trees and any dark nooks and crannies about. And to top it off…

" GYYAAAA------WOOOOOOOOOOO----!!!!!!"

The unearthly sounds that the bugs made here were more akin to that of a banshee!

' Crick'

Sasuke was startled by the sound of crushed leaves. Was this one of the many illusions that had come to plague him he wondered but soon dismissed it when the sound got louder, and louder and then…. stopped.

" Hey kid….."

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The beginning of a meeting.

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…. a voice suddenly said.

Sasuke look confusedly around the clearing, hoping to identify the source of the mysterious voice. However, the voice repeated itself again, this time, more persistent and ... was it sounding annoyed?

Weary from his rendezvous around the forest and unwilling to deal with whatever imaginary and eerie things that the forest had to offer, he did the most logical thing his six-year-old mind prompted him to do, cry.

After bawling out his lungs for a good whole minute, he stopped when he felt something hit the side of his head. Picking up one of the objects, he found them to be pebbles.

"God, ghosts can throw stones too?"

Sasuke felt a wave of fresh fear wash over him when the voice spoke up again.

" Hey, kid, STOP CRYING ALREADY!!!!"

This time, Sasuke was certain that the voice had come from behind him. Turning around, he tried to catch a glimpse of the speaker of the mysterious voice. Instead, a pebble came-a-flying and hit him right in the middle of his forehead.

" PLUNK!"

And there you go, chapter one of Forest of Fireflies. This fic was supposed to be much shorter, but thanks to Ryuusei, this chapter has become this long! She's the best! Feel free to visit her great deviantart account:
www. ryuusei-illusion. deviantart. com (Get rid of the spaces)

Till the next chapter!