S.A.: Had this idea for a while now…
Title: Memories
Summary: AU Someone knows a secret about Sasuke's past. But, what is it? Why is she so concerned that it's his twentieth birthday? Why did Itachi come back? And, most importantly, why did Itachi really kill the Uchiha clan? Did Sasuke help him do it? Little ShikaIno, NejiTen, and I guess NaruSasu (depends on how you look at it). Uchiha Angst.
Note: This has two scenes at the beginning showing times when Sasuke was in danger. They are the only reason that this is an AU. This could happen, but the scenes didn't happen in the manga. I'm pretty sure that all the rest of the stuff is the same, but I'm too lazy to actually check that… Also, in the first scene, Haku throws his needles across the whole mirror-room thingy, then Sasu jumps in front of Naru and that's about where this begins.
Haku threw his needles, purposely setting them a half-inch off his vital organs. Suddenly, a kunai flew through the cloud, knocking each needle another half-inch off, making all the needles miss vital organs by a whole inch. They hit Sasuke and the blood spilt. Haku knew someone was protecting Sasuke. Unfortunately, he would die before he could reveal this information to Sasuke.
Orochimaru launched his head at Sasuke, dead set on marking him with the cursed seal, when a kunai imbedded itself in his extending neck. Orochimaru froze.
"Jump up and tell Sasuke to run."
"But why don't you just-"
"Do it! Hurry! And don't tell him that it wasn't you who threw that kunai!"
Naruto jumped up from the bushes. "Sasuke! Run!"
"It's Sasuke-kun's twentieth birthday tomorrow!" Sakura cheered.
Hinata, who had long gotten over her shyness, waved her hand in front of her face. "Yes, yes, we all know now, that was the fifth time you announced it in this hour alone."
Tenten, Ino, Hinata and Sakura had begun meeting every week when the younger ones were fourteen and Tenten was fifteen. That was about the time they realized that they couldn't stand being around only guys all the time.
"Seriously Sakura. The world doesn't revolve around Sasuke." Ino said. The girl had finally come to her senses and realized that: 1) if he liked her and hadn't said/done anything to hint about it by then, he wasn't worth the effort, 2) there were other fish in the sea and 3) let Sakura have him, he's dropped some hints to her and she had more patience anyway.
"Shut up, Miss I-like-my-teammate-and-my-best-friend-turned-rival-turned-best-friend-is-gonna-tell-him!"
Hinata cracked up while Ino tried to figure out what Sakura had said. Suddenly, it clicked. "YOU WOULDN'T DARE!"
"TRY ME!"
Tenten was staring off into space. Hinata noticed this. "What's up?"
"Hum?" Tenten asked, barely making a sound.
"You're usually encouraging Sakura to spill the beans to Shikamaru, or at least watching with mild interest. WHAT IS UP?"
"I was just… thinking… is all…"
"Sakura?"
Sakura turned to the girl behind her. "Yes?"
"Can you leave Sasuke alone tomorrow? Please? As a favor to me?"
"Sure! I mean, you saved my life in the Chunin Exams! And it is just one day."
"Thanks!"
(The next day)
Hinata carefully walked down the street looking for some one in particular.
"Hinata!" Hinata jumped.
"Oh, hello Ino. I'm a little busy right now but could you go tell everyone else in the Rookie Nine, except Sasuke, plus Neji and Lee to come to the Uchiha estate at eleven thirty tonight?"
Ino blinked. "Sure…"
"Thanks! I owe you one!"
She walked into Naruto's ramen stand and scoped (sp?) it out. Once she'd locked onto her target (Naruto and Sasuke sitting in a corner, Naruto apparently buying Sasuke a bowl of ramen as a B-day present), she shifted through the crowd and sat down beside Naruto.
"I hope you don't mind me sitting here!"
Both boys blinked. "Not at all."
"I nearly got lost in the crowd. It was such a relief to see some familiar faces!" She leaned over to Naruto's ear. "Do you think I could spend the day with Sasuke?"
He nodded and stood. "I've gotta go. Bye!"
Sasuke looked at her. "What do you want?"
She smiled. "I just want to spend the day with you!"
He shrugged. He didn't know why, but he couldn't turn her down. She was... different.
The first place they went was the amusement park (A/N: Don't ask me how Konoha got an amusement park. Just roll with it.).
"Gods... I haven't been to an amusement park since..." A picture of him, his mother, his father and his brother flashed in Sasuke's mind. He quickly suppressed it, however, he noticed a fifth smiling figure appeared right before the picture vanished. He tried to summon it again, but it was gone. "For a very long time."
She looked at him, hurt clearly shining in her eyes for a second, but it quickly disappeared. Or had he just imagined it? "Do you want to go on the rollercoaster?"
He smiled, actually smiled for the first time since he was seven. "Sure."
What did this girl do to him?
At precisely eleven forty-five, they walked up to the Uchiha estate.
"Uhh... Bye." Sasuke offered.
She grabbed his arm. "I'll go inside with you."
He raised an eyebrow, but stepped aside anyway.
She walked in and he fallowed. His jaw dropped as he saw all of the people on his couch.
"Umm... Yo?"
11: 48
"DON'T ASK ME! INO TOLD ME TO COME!"
"Hinata asked me to tell everyone."
"Hinata, what's going on?"
"You'll all find out very soon."
11: 58
The door opened. Everyone stared at the man who stepped inside.
"ITACHI!"
11: 59
She jumped up. "Way to push the gun, Itachi! What would happen if you were later then this!"
11: 59: 30
Everyone stared at her.
"Tenten, what are you talking about?" Neji asked.
11: 59: 47
Tenten and Itachi looked at twin watches on their arms.
"Ten."
"Nine."
"Eight."
"Seven."
"Six."
"Five."
"Four."
"Three."
"Two.
"One."
"MIDNIGHT!" Both yelled at the same time.
Sasuke clutched his head and screamed. Ino, Sakura and Naruto jumped up.
"What did you do to him!"
When neither Itachi nor Tenten spoke, the other three grabbed kunai and charged.
Naruto was the fastest and pressed his kunai to Tenten's neck as the other two froze. "I THOUGHT YOU WANTED TO PROTECT HIM!"
His eyes widened as tears started to pour down Tenten's face. "I did. But... He's not seven years old anymore. He can take care of himself."
Sasuke clutched his head as pictures- memories- flew through his head. It went on for what seamed like hours- seven years worth of memories, replacing everything he thought had happened in his life. In each memory, there was someone there who hadn't been there before. Someone extremely important to him. Tenten. His head jerked up and he saw Naruto pressing a kunai to Tenten's throat. Every fiber in his being demanded that he protect her. "GET AWAY FROM HER!"
"GET AWAY FROM HER!"
Naruto turned, shocked at Sasuke.
"I will not say it again, Naruto."
Naruto stepped away from Tenten, putting his kunai back in his pocket, Sakura and Ino fallowing his example. "Why? What happened?"
Then, Tenten ran past him and pulled Sasuke into a tight hug. "I'm so glad your back!"
He hugged her back. "I'm glad to be back... Older Sister."
Tenten started sobbing when Sasuke called her that.
"Okay... Am I the only one confused?" Naruto asked.
"Sasuke! Sasuke!"
"Tenten!" Five-year-old Sasuke yelled as he ran up to six-year-old Tenten and gave her a bear hug.
She laughed. "Come on now, Sasuke. Father will be mad if you're late for training again."
"Are you and Older Brother going to train with me?"
She shook her head. "Sorry. Father says we can't."
Six-year-old Sasuke and seven-year-old Tenten sat curled up in a closet as their father and Itachi fought.
"YOU ARE THE HEIR TO THE HEAD OF THE UCHIHA! I WILL NOT ALLOW THIS!"
"Do what you wish to me, Father, but I will always love him and nothing you do to me will ever change that."
Their father stomped out of the room.
"Itachi!" Tenten burst out of the closet and ran to her brother. "Are you okay? What's going on?"
Itachi smiled and placed a hand on her head. "Father and I just don't see eye to eye on something. I've fallen in love with someone and Father doesn't want me to be with him because he's another man and he says that the Head of the Uchiha can't be gay."
Tenten stared at him. "Okay! If you want to be with this person and Father wants someone else to be the Head of Uchiha, I'LL be the Head of Uchiha when I grow up!"
Itachi laughed and picked up the small girl. "I don't know. You look pretty puny to be the Head of Uchiha."
Sasuke smiled. Unless he was training them or fighting with Itachi, his father was locked up in his room. Since the day he was born, Tenten had played with him and taught him valuable information, like how to get cookies from the cookie jar without being caught and where the best hiding places were for hide-and-go-seek, and Itachi had helped him master all his Justus. As far as he knew, Itachi had trained Tenten, too. The two of them was all he needed and were all he would ever need.
Unfortunately, disaster was right around the corner for the three siblings...
(Sasuke: 7, Tenten: 8)
Itachi looked in horror at the mangled body in front of him. Sasuke and Tenten stood behind his legs, almost hiding from the site.
"No..." Itachi whispered.
"You see what you've done? The "man you love" is dead, Itachi. All this could've been prevented if you just did what I told you to." Their father said, smirking smugly.
"MONSTER! HE WAS INNOCENT! HE HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH YOU AND YOUR TWISTED GAMES!" Tears were starting to leak from Itachi's eyes.
"Oh, but Itachi. He had SO MUCH to do with this. You see, you were right. Nothing I could do TO YOU would ever stop you from loving him. However, if you love a dead man, there's no problem!"
Itachi was crying so much that he could barely see. However, he turned around and picked up his younger siblings and opened the sliding paper door. "Father..." He turned around, Sharingan blazing, and gave his father a glare that sent chills down the older mans spine. "I will NEVER be the Head of Uchiha." He walked out and closed the door.
A month later...
Itachi, Tenten and Sasuke stopped outside a room where the whole clan seamed to be.
"-Itachi has refused to become the Head." Their father said to the entire room. "So we are left with one option: Sasuke must become the Head of Uchiha! However, in order to do this, Tenten must die. That is a small sacrifice to ensure the power of our clan!"
"Despicable." Itachi muttered. He turned to Sasuke. "Sasuke, who do you love more, Tenten or everyone else in our clan?"
"Tenten, no question."
Itachi knelt down beside his younger brother. "Are you willing to kill everyone else, even Mother and Father, to make sure that Tenten won't get hurt?"
With a nod from the younger boy, Itachi launched a full-on attack on the people in the room.
Hours later...
Tenten stumbled up to her brothers, kimono covered in blood. She had tripped over several of the stray body parts of her clan...
Itachi looked only slightly sad while Sasuke was holding himself and shaking. "I killed them... I really killed them... All of them... even the ones younger than me..." Tenten ran up and wrapped her arms around him. "TENTEN! RUN! I-I'm scared I'll kill you to!"
Tenten looked up at Itachi. "Can we help him?"
Itachi looked at Tenten. "Yes... but you'll have to give him up as your little brother until midnight on his twentieth birthday."
"Anything, as long as he's better!"
"Okay." Itachi placed his hand on the younger boy's forehead. After a burst of Chakra, Sasuke fainted. "I've replaced his memories with a set of new ones. I had to erase you from them. He has no idea who you are." He handed her a watch and put on one that looked just like it. "Don't lose this. On Sasuke's twentieth birthday, when that watch says midnight, Sasuke's memories will come back. That's not the best Justus, if you get to close to him, he'll start to remember. When his memories come back, he'll be mature enough to handle them without going insane. Now, I'll have to leave. I'll tell the Hokage the story and tell him to tell everyone that I killed our clan. Tenten, protect him from the shadows until both of us can protect him out in the open."
"Yes, Older Brother."
"Wow..." Naruto said after the three Uchiha siblings explained their story.
Itachi smiled and stood up. "I have to go. But, before I do, Neji, Naruto, can I talk to you for a minute?"
(In the other room)
"Just because I haven't seen my siblings doesn't mean I haven't been watching them from afar..." He smirked and pulled Naruto close to him and whispered in his ear. "Take good care of Sasuke. If he gets killed, it'll be your head." Next he whispered in Neji's ear. "Take care of Tenten. Break her heart and make her cry and Sasuke will beat the living stuffing out of you (he can do it, believe me) before I kill you."
End.
S.A.: First piece of work by me that's had more than five seconds of angst. OH YEAH, NOW WHAT? I'M EXPANDING MY HORIZONS! (Does a little dance) REVIEW PLEASE!
Shameless Advertisement:
Need a laugh? Cheek out the NejiLee fic "We call these 'Tweezers'" By Ember
OR
"We call these 'Tweezers'" - the MST by SilentAngel1291 on Mediaminer (dot)org (Remove spaces)