Sometimes I wish that I could choose another life. One without so much pain. I know that may seem selfish. There are others in the world who must have it worse. But I suppose it's only human to want what you cannot have, to crave happiness and comfort.
I was unfortunate enough to be born as an illegitimatedaughter to the Uchiha clan. My natural light pink locks standing out among the field of dark haired family members I was raised into. I am an outsider. The flaw of my own personal story. A gangster and his mistresses offspring. The physical embodiment of lies and deceit to the highest regard. My mother passed away shortly after I had turned three years old and by decree of her will I was to be put in my fathers custody, A powerful man who had horrible secrets. I was one of them. His wife left him shortly after my arrival, taking her eldest son, Itachi.
Father had passed many years later. I was about thirteen at the time. He had left the family company to his oldest son but the boy wanted nothing to do with this infamous gang related business. Instead Itachi had passed everything onto the next in line, Sasuke. This made the boy furious. He had only been sixteen and yet he was now being pressured to run an infamous multi- million dollar company as well as all the illegal perks that came with it. All of his anger turned into physical violence, and most of the time I was the one who received this indignation. At the time I hadn't known any better, never once trying to stop his lashing out. Growing up in such a violent world had led me to believe that this was somewhat normal behavior. The strong survived and the weak were punished.
Itachi was the only one in our family that hadn't treated me like an outcast. But living with his mother, I didn't get to see him often. He would try to visit at least once a week and always made it up to me when he couldn't by buying me something nice as a present. This seemed to make Sasuke even more irritable. In his eyes, Itachi was the cause to all of his suffering. He hated the older boy with a passion. It wasn't long after Sasuke took over that Itachi had all but vanished. After his sudden disappearance the abuse had stopped along with all my knowledge of anything pertaining to the family business. It wasn't until six years later that everything would change.
My upbringing had caused me to become a very light sleeper. The tiniest of noises awoke me from the deepest of sleep. So the sound of heavy footsteps outside my bedroom door all but provoked me from my pleasant dreams. I tried to ignore it the best I could but became alarmed when a heavy banging sounded from the other side of my door. Looking over at the clock numbly, I surveyed the glowing numbers reading 3:26 and decided to ignore the patronizing sounds. They increased in volume for a few seconds and then ceased briefly before a sudden crash echoed throughout my small room, causing me to bolt upright. I inspected my now ajar door in utter shock as a man with silvery white hair walked over to my bed. He grunted as I scrambled to cover myself with the blankets.
"I don't have time for this." The man spat angrily, grabbing my wrist harshly as he yanked me out of bed. Not waiting for me to protest, he dragged me behind him still keeping a firm grasp in my wrist.
"Suigetsu, where are you taking me? Stop this!" His tongue made an annoyed clicking sound as he ignored my banter outright. Something was off. The pit of my stomach tightened and it was getting a little hard to breathe. This was fear. It was something I was used to feeling.
It wasn't long until we reached a heavy metal door that I recognized as the entry to the basement. He opened it and led me down the stairs into an entirely concrete hallway. The floor was cold against my bare feet and it sent a chill up my spine. It was dimly lit and smelled of something dank and stale. I had never been down here before as it was usually off limits to me. But the heavy feeling it gave me now killed all previous curiosity and made me wish I would never see it again. We stopped at a door that was already opened and I was promptly thrown to the ground of the room. My brother was standing inside, attention now directed towards me. I scurried to my feet quickly. His presence always brought unease and I couldn't tell if my face was showing the fear that he had given me. He looked at me with disgusted eyes and I quickly connected mine with the floor.
"You are to clean up this mess. I will come back for you later." At first I didn't understand his words but then I looked to the other occupant of the small room and his words fell into place. There was a man in the corner who looked to be about my age. He was badly beaten and hunched over unconscious in the far corner. My fear had bubbled up once again upon witnessing such a scene. I looked at my brother in shock as he turned to leave the small room.
"What did you do?!" I was aware of the trembling state my voice was in. To him, I must have sounded small and weak. Like a fearful mouse trying to challenge a hungry cat. He spun back around and began approaching me slowly. A part of me wanted to back away but I somehow held my ground, albeit with shaky legs.
"I do not need to explain anything to you. You were ordered to clean him up. Nothing more." Was this something he did often? It made me rethink all the secrets I have been kept from over the last six years. My father was no saint of the man and he had done his fair share of dirty deeds. But to the best of my knowledge he had never done something like this, had he? A thought struck me and before I could stop myself I had voiced it.
"Is this how you solve all your problems? Hurting people and having others clean up your mess?…" I had recalled one time after he hit me a little too hard. He had ordered one of his men to 'clean this mess up.' Sasuke looked at me sharply and grabbed my chin with one hand. The amount of pressure applied by his fingers made me wince and try to recoil. Before I could even grasp the situation, he had pulled out a small pocket knife and sliced a small incision in my bottom lip. Just as fast as it had happened, his knife was back in his pocket and he was walking out the door.
"Hold your tongue or I'll cut it out." He slammed the door shut and a click sound fallowed as the lock slid into place. It wasn't until his retreating footsteps that I let all the air escape my lungs. With it came all my fear for the man.
I turned around and surveyed the area. This particular room had a sink in the corner with cabinets above and below it. The only other thing in the room was a small cot on the other side which held the hunched over and bound redhead. Looking in the cabinets first, I found basic first aid supplies, some towels, a blanket, and a small bucket. I filled the bucket up with water and grabbed a handful of medical supplies. At first he was unresponsive. The thought that he might actually be dead crossed my mind but then I saw his chest moving slightly indicating that he was indeed breathing. I took the pair of medical scissors and cut his bound wrists and ankles. It would probably anger my brother that I had done so, but my concern was only for the man in front of me. I scanned his injuries before dampening a towel with some water and proceed to clean a rather large gash on his neck.
Expecting him to be fully unconscious, I was thrown off guard when he lunged forward and pinned me to the hard floor. He looked about ready to strike me. I winced, closing my eyes and guarded my face with my free forearm. I felt his weight shift before it was gone altogether and heard him quickly stumble away. Opening my eyes and sitting up I watched him as he pounded and jiggled the handle, a string of raspy curses coming from his mouth. He was going to hurt himself more if he kept this up. Standing, I cautiously walked towards him.
"Please stop…you're hurt. And they will hear you." He looked at me fiercely and I backed up. At that moment the door opened and two men pinned the redhead down. He gave a nasty fight but soon was restrained. They hauled the man to the cot and bound his feet and hands once more. He bucked and pulled against the ropes aggressively. That's when I had realized that the cot was bolted to the concrete floor. The boy continued to thrash around violently and yell at the men. But then he went eerily still as his attention shifted towards the door. I averted my attention to it and saw Sasuke standing there. His eyes were chilling as he stared me down. I white-knuckled the towel in my hand as he advanced into the room, closer to me with each step he took.
"You. Can't you do one thing right?!" I knew he was going to hit me. But knowing this fact didn't help the fear I felt or the sting on my face after the fact. I didn't look at him or the silent redhead. I just kept my hand on the spot where his had struck me. Even when he proceeded to drag me out of the room I did not look up. The Sasuke I was now seeing was nothing like the reserved secretive one I had come to know these past few years. And right now I had wished for nothing more than him go back to ignoring my existence once again.