Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.
A fallen leaf skims
the silk surface of a pond;
Ripples turn to waves.
Chapter One
Something wasn't quite right about the house.
On the outside there didn't seem to be anything wrong with it. It was a simple, modest structure with just enough bedrooms to house the whole family. Situated in the suburbs, it was only a short drive from the centre of town. Judging by the clean sandstone bricks, it had only been built within the last thirty or so years.
But Sasuke couldn't help but find this odd. For such an ordinary house, the price was unusually low. Perhaps he was a little paranoid, but he didn't like the way the estate agent grinned a little too wide when the paperwork was complete. There had to be a reason. There was a reason for everything.
"Stop looking so traumatised, baby brother" Itachi's hand clapped onto Sasuke's shoulder. Sasuke scowled when Itachi gave him a gentle smile. "Instead you can put yourself to good use and help with the bags."
Sasuke didn't answer.
"Something wrong?" Itachi asked. There was a lilt to his voice. "It's a house, Sasuke. I do believe you've seen a house before, no?"
"You don't think it's weird?"
"Hm?"
"The house, I mean," Sasuke said. "They're selling it dirt cheap. There has to be something wrong with it."
"So?" Itachi shrugged. "I didn't see anything wrong when I viewed it. I'm just grateful that we managed to find somewhere affordable."
"Exactly. It just makes you wonder why It's been up for sale for so long."
Itachi shook his head. "Don't be so negative, Sasuke."
There was a grunt, and Sasuke turned to see their mother attempting to lug a suitcase from the back of the car. When her eyes met Sasuke's she huffed. "Be a lamb, Sasuke, and help me rather than just standing there. I'm breaking my back over here."
Sasuke had to stop himself from rolling his eyes. The bags weren't as heavy as she made them out to be. Even so, he walked over to the car and lifted the suitcase out with ease before putting it on the pavement. Itachi sauntered past him to help the movers carry a refrigerator from the back of the van.
Despite how much Itachi brushed it off, Sasuke wasn't sure about this house. As he stared at the blank windows opposite him, the back of his neck began to tingle, as though he were being watched. He turned, facing the house once more. But he saw nothing. Just windows that stared emptily back at him.
"Get the fuck out of my room."
The words were quite simple, really.
Itachi stood, arms folded, blocking the doorway to what should've been Sasuke's bedroom. Sasuke glared, hoping that his brother would get the hint that he wasn't in the mood for this. But it seemed to have no effect. Itachi's eyes glinted as he smiled wryly.
"Language, Sasuke," Itachi said. "I believe you were taught better than to speak with such vulgarities."
Sasuke ignored him. "This room is mine."
"Is it?"
"I put my bag in here earlier."
Itachi's smile widened, revealing the creamy tip of a canine. "Ah, yes" he said. "I saw your bag before, but I thought you would be happier in the other room. It's so much more spacious, plenty of room for all of your books. I went ahead and moved your bag in there for you."
"The other one is a girls room," Sasuke hissed.
"Who said that it was a girls room? It's just a room."
"The walls are pink, Itachi. I'm not sleeping in a pink room."
"Gender stereotyping, little brother," Itachi replied, shaking his head, "is not a flattering trait. You'll never find a girlfriend with that kind of ignorance. Pink is merely a shade in the spectrum. At your age, I would've thought you'd have some maturity by now."
Sasuke bit back a curse. He made a move to barge past Itachi, but the door was slammed in his face. When he heard a chuckle from the other side of the door, he pounded his fist against it. The doorframe shook, and a few flakes of paint drifted to the carpet.
Goddammit, he thought.
Seconds later, he heard his mother yell up the stairs. "Sasuke! We've only just got here. If you break the doors you'll be the one to fix them!"
"I know," he muttered, heading down the hallway to the bedroom that he seemed to have been cursed with. It needed re-decorating as soon as possible. There was no way he was going to live in a pink bedroom during his three years at Konoha University.
Granted, the room was fairly spacious. Aside from his small bed and his desk, there was one large window with an dusty pair of cream curtains that looked like they were left behind from the previous owner. There was more than enough room to fit all of his books, even if he had no bookshelf to keep them in. Just as Itachi had said, his rucksack had been oh-so-kindly dumped in the centre of the floor.
"Asshole", he hissed, dragging the rucksack into the corner.
Despite his protests, the room itself wasn't actually too bad. But the walls were a different matter. They were painted a dull, candyfloss pink that reminded Sasuke of a fairground. It would have been fine if he were a ten year old girl, but he wasn't. However, the colour of the walls wasn't the only issue. The plaster had crumbled in places, as though something had been thrown against it. It was a disturbing thought, considering that the pink paint suggested that the room once belonged to a child.
Just looking at the patches of crumbled plaster made his stomach churn.
He cracked open the window for the sake of fresh air before stepping out into the hallway. Beneath the hall carpet, the floorboards creaked under his feet. One by one, he opened each door he came across, taking note of exactly where the bathroom was so that he didn't accidentally walk into a cupboard whilst searching for the shower. The house was a lot smaller than their last house. Definitely smaller. There were only six rooms in total, and the living room and kitchen could even be considered as one, as the downstairs of the house was open-plan.
He grabbed a set of clean linen from one of his mother's carefully organised bags of household items, and headed back to his room to make his bed. He reached his bedroom door, only to pause.
The hallway was darker than it was before. It was late noon and the sun still poured through the windows. And yet there was a patch There was a patch of darkness pooling around his bedroom door.
His heart pounded as a jolt of fear surged down his spine. The shadow wasn't his. It wasn't even human shaped. But the longer he stared at it, the more his gut urged him that something was very, very wrong here.
The hairs on his arms stood on end as the air took a sudden dip in temperature. The skin on his shoulders tingled once again. The folded linen slipped from his hands and landed in a crumpled heap on the floor.
"What are you doing?"
Sasuke's heart leaped. His breath snagged.
Only when the familiar cynicism of the voice clicked in his brain, did he felt his pulse begin to slow. Turning his head, he saw Itachi standing a few feet away. There was a moment of silence before Itachi raised an eyebrow. "You look like an idiot, standing in the hall like that."
Normally, Sasuke would throw a witty comeback at his brother. But he felt as though his voice was locked away. Somehow, the thought of arguing with Itachi seemed irrelevant.
"Sasuke?" Itachi took a step closer. His brows were drawn and all traces of amusement or banter had drained out of his expression. "Sasuke, has something happened?"
Sasuke parted his lips. He tried to force a word out. Any word. He just needed to say something. But even the atmosphere around him felt denser. Thicker. As if the air had turned to iron, sinking to the bottom of his lungs.
"Sasuke, are you alright? Speak to me."
Itachi placed a hand on Sasuke's forearm, and at once, Sasuke could breathe again. The feeling of Itachi's hand on his arm seemed to break the trance that he was in, and for a minute, he just stared at his brother, bewildered.
"Itachi," he said. "What was that?"
"Hm?"
"What just happened? I couldn't move or speak." Sasuke's mind scrambled to retrace his steps. "I was just downstairs with Mother, and I came up again to make my bed..." He glanced down to the linen lying at his feet before gingerly reaching to pick it up. "And then there was a shadow? And I couldn't move?"
"What are you talking about?" Itachi eyed Sasuke warily. "You were downstairs, with Mother, and then there was a shadow?"
Sasuke swallowed. He knew how it sounded. But it was the truth. Surely Itachi had felt it too?
"Whatever, baby brother." Itachi muttered, stepping around him.
Apparently not.
Itachi only took two steps before something seemed to catch his eye. He reached up and tapped the broken light bulb above them. "Ah, I guess this needs replacing. The bulb must've worn out."
And then Sasuke felt the full weight of his stupidity sink onto his shoulders.
He felt like kicking himself. Of course the light bulb had just worn out. It happened all the time, to millions of people every day.
Itachi was right; you're an idiot.
Behind him, Itachi slunk down the stairs, probably to help their mother with unpacking their belongings. His parents, especially his father, would scold him if he wasn't also downstairs helping out.
With a low hiss, he entered his room to grab a book. He didn't feel right not having one with him, even if he didn't necessarily get to read it. On the journey he'd found himself nose deep in Kafka's The Trial, only after several hours he found it increasingly more difficult to read without getting travel sick. If he remembered correctly, the book was in his rucksack, which last time he checked, was in the corner of the room.
It took him a few seconds to locate it, but when he did, his breath hitched.
Slumped against the bed frame, his rucksack was unzipped and ravaged. On the floor, he saw his mp3, his wallet, headphones, a bottle of water, his raincoat – no longer folded neatly – and an old poloroid that he bought several years ago at a car boot sale. When his eyes came to rest on his book, he frowned. The book lay open with the top corner of the page folded into a makeshift bookmark.
Itachi, he told himself. This is Itachi's doing.
All thoughts of his brother were brushed away when his neck began to tingle once more. Something warm and moist brushed the skin of his ear. Something not unlike a human breath.
He turned, eyes wide. But there was nothing. Only the cream curtain swaying in the breeze of the open window.
A/N: Yes, I'm back. I'm trying to get my mojo back, as one might have seen in the update I posted on the original version of this story, before I deleted the original story altogether. Yes, I deleted the whole thing. I didn't want any misunderstandings about there being two versions, one original and one edited. So I'm just going to rewrite the fic from scratch. I know that this newer version is far from perfectly written, but I hope it's an improvement. Let me know :)
