Blanket Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
Why are we alive?
Is it because have a purpose to fulfill?
If that is the case, then what are we living for?
Why have we not died?
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Do you believe in fate?
How about in destiny?
Do you believe that you have not stumbled upon my story on purpose?
Are you fated to know what's inside?
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Will you understand?
Will you think ill of me?
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Why am I here?
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Why are you here?
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Why do we live?
The Paradigm of Colors
BOOK 1
We have only once to die, and if we do not die well, we lose an opportunity which will not again be presented to us.
- J. Rizal, 9 July 1890
Tap tap tap tap tap tap -
"No..."
Fists clench -
"We're too late..."
Tap tap tap tap tap -
"They're all gone..."
A sob -
"What was that?"
Another -
"Who's there?"
Tap... tap... tap...
"Hello?"
She pulls her legs closer, her green (green, green, green) eyes looks fearfully at him.
"Fugaku-san, it's -"
He reaches out to her; he doesn't let him finish.
"Hello."
His voice is soft -
"Come out."
His voice is gentle.
"I won't hurt you."
Her whole body shakes in fear; he steps closer.
"N-No, d-d-don't - !"
He crouches down to her (so frail, so small, so scared...).
"I won't hurt you. I'm a friend."
She meets his eyes (black, black as night, black as coal...).
"I won't hurt you."
He tries to reach her with his hand.
"I promise."
She looks at him; he smiles faintly (you pitiful child...).
"I promise."
Slowly, she extends her hand (so frail, so small, so scared...) and he takes it gently (so frail...).
"My name is Fugaku."
He closes his big hand around her small ones.
"What is yours?"
She looks at him curiously.
"Sa...kura. My name is... Sakura..."
He smiles sadly.
"Well then, Sakura... can you stand?"
She nods.
"Kaito, send a message back to the Hokage. Tell him the situation."
He glances at the child who is looking blankly at the burnt houses.
"And tell him that I want to talk to him about this child."
She doesn't hear him and doesn't notice as his eyes dim with pity.
He hadn't able to save them...
... but, in their memory, he could save their child.
Chapter 1: And so they met
He glared intensely at his mud tower and glanced at his brother's. His obsidian eyes narrowed. Grabbing another handful of soil and dampening it a little, he added another storey above his last before the tower finally collapsed.
Sasuke whined in frustration, stood up, stomped his feet and crossed his arms. His older brother laughed.
"How are you doing that?" Sasuke demanded, pointing accusingly at his brother's intricate workmanship (while his looked like a pile of poop).
Itachi laughed quietly. "I already taught you, Sasuke, but you can't expect it to be perfect at your first try. Building mud castles require patience."
"Pfft," Sasuke pouted. "I don't see what importance this is to becoming a ninja."
Itachi smiled. "Hm, it is important," He looked at his brother and met his eyes, "especially when learning new ninjutsu. You can't expect to get everything during your first try."
Sasuke narrowed his eyes, seemingly unconvinced. "But you did," he said accusingly.
Sasuke was about to continue when a familiar voice rang in his ears.
"I'm home."
The child's face lit up, forgetting his previous predicament. "Otou-san's back!"
Sasuke ran into the manor's back door, kicking his dirty outdoor footwear out and speeding towards his father barefooted with Itachi slowly following.
"Otou-san, Otou-san!" he said cheerfully, tackling his father into a hug.
"Hello, Sasuke," his father greeted, putting a hand above his younger son's head affectionately.
"Welcome back, Otou-san," Itachi said once he arrived at the scene.
Almost instantly, their mother walked to the front steps, too, wiping her hands with her apron.
"How was work?" Mikoto asked, kissing her husband's right cheek. Sasuke, who was sandwiched in between them, ack-ed in disgust and quickly let go of his father.
"Gross," he murmured, walking towards Itachi.
Mikoto laughed and Fugaku, if he wasn't the serious man that he was, could have smiled.
"Sasuke, behave yourself," Fugaku said, with a hint of seriousness in his tone. "We have company."
Sasuke and Mikoto both looked at the door. Itachi had been looking at it since his father's arrival, seeming to have noticed the unfamiliar presence already.
Fugaku, too, turned to the door. "Sakura," he called, "you can come in now if you want."
Sasuke watched as a child - about around his age - emerged from the door, her head down and with cautiousness in her every step. The first thing he noticed was her hair - it was pastel pink, the color of cherry blossoms.
The child stopped just beside Fugaku and with noticeable gentleness, he placed a hand on top of her head affectionately, just as he did with Sasuke before. Somehow, this irked Sasuke to unfathomable levels.
"This is Sakura," Fugaku said. "She will be part of this family from now on."
Nobody spoke, at first, all looking at the child who was yet to raise her head. And with cautiousness, she did, looking at the three briefly before bowing politely.
And at that moment, time seemed to have stopped for Sasuke - for this child's eyes were even odder than her hair. They were green - vibrant green - brighter than the color of jade, but dimmer than emerald. Not in his six years has he seen a color so odd, so unusual, and so... magnificent.
Sasuke then wondered how pink and green could possibly look good together as it looked good on her.
For the past two weeks since she arrived, Sasuke told himself that he hated her. He cared not if her eyes were dazzling, or her smile was just as bright. He just did. Mainly because although Itachi hogged most of his father's attention, Itachi gave Sasuke his – except now.
Sasuke scowled.
Now, Itachi was behind Sakura, teaching her how to throw a kunai. A damn kunai, Sasuke thought, absently throwing one of the pieces of metal sprawled on the ground to one of the log targets and hitting the bull's eye.
It was unfair that his own older brother was teaching somebody who wasn't an Uchiha ninja technique. For one, Sasuke made it a point to learn how to throw a kunai by himself. Another, the way Sakura's eyes lit up when she hit something close to the target (but not actually the target itself) made him feel something foreign in his chest.
He knew not why it was there, or what it was, but he knew the feeling irked him so.
Again, he hit the target, glancing at his brother who didn't even seem to notice he was there, and asked for the millionth time to whoever it was governing everything from up above why he had to bring the pink-haired girl into their lives.
Sasuke irritably poked the ground with a rather long piece of wood as he contemplated his existence when a familiar voice broke his train of thought.
"What are you doing, Sasuke-kun?"
Sasuke's head shot up and his eyes glared as hard as it could.
Before him, Sakura stood hands behind her and with the biggest smile he'd ever seen, eyes wide and curious. In his moment of contemplation, he didn't even notice that the short training session she and his brother had was over.
"It's none of your business," the boy mumbled, going back to poking the ground.
Sakura, being the ever-persistent, little pocketful of sunshine she was, crouched down to examine further what the little Uchiha was so busy about.
"What's that?" she asked.
"It's a stick."
"What do you need the stick for?
"I'm boring a hole on the ground."
Sakura frowned. She saw no significance to what he was doing, but pressed on further. "What are you creating a hole on the ground for?"
Sasuke's head shot up again, his face masked with irritation.
"Go away. You're annoying," he said in between his gritting teeth before he stood, turned around, and walked away.
And as Sasuke's retreated away, his eyes barely caught a glimpse of Sakura's fallen expression.
It was almost dusk when Sasuke finally got out of his room where he spent the whole day sulking. (He had been rather unproductive that day.) He absently walked towards the kitchen, heading specifically at the direction of the fridge where he poked around for his favorite food.
Which, oddly wasn't anywhere to be found.
Where the hell did all my tomatoes go?
And so, with a small part of him wallowing in disappointment, Sasuke drew his head back, planning on going back to his room when a petite figure holding a plate of rather neatly-sliced tomatoes blocked his way.
"Hey, Sasuke-kun!" Sakura cheerfully greeted; Sasuke's onyx eyes narrowed.
"I'm sorry if I made you angry earlier," she said, her tone sincere. "Here, I sliced you some tomatoes! I know you haven't eaten anything since breakfast."
She smiled as she handed over the porcelain plate to him, blinking as he made no move to take it whatsoever.
"I'm not hungry," Sasuke dismissed, walking past her. "Annoying."
Sasuke knew he should just talk to her and apologize. But as he looked at her saddened eyes as the Uchiha household (and Sakura) ate dinner, he found that he couldn't bring himself to do it.
Maybe because every second more he spent with her sent up a wave of raw anger through him - whether he was angry with the pink-haired girl or with himself, he didn't know.
"How has your day been, Sasuke?"
Sasuke looked at his mother, curtly saying he was fine and then went back to eating his dinner. (He vaguely wished he'd taken the tomatoes Sakura offered him earlier, because right now, he needed tomatoes to calm himself down.)
"And how about you, Sakura?"
Sasuke froze. His obsidian eyes subtly looked up to examine her expression as she answered.
"It was great, Mikoto-sama," she said, smiling sweetly at his mother. "Itachi-nii-sama taught me how to throw a kunai!"
"Really, now? Did Sasuke train with you?"
Sasuke felt all four pairs of eyes look at him.
"I was busy with something else," he shrugged.
Awkward silence followed after that. He knew his mother was still awaiting explanation but Sasuke was to be damned before he explained further.
Pushing his chair back, Sasuke stood up. "Thanks for the meal," he said as he stalked away to his room.
After a while, Mikoto sighed and got back to eating the rest of her meal with Itachi and Fugaku, but Sakura's green eyes never left the place where Sasuke had sat during dinner.
Sasuke's eyes flashed up when he heard his room's door slide open. Sakura was standing by it, a small hand still on one side of Sasuke's door.
"Don't you ever knock?" Sasuke snapped, glaring at the pink-haired girl. Sasuke could mentally hear his mother saying things along the context of, "Sasuke, where are your manners!"
"I-I'm sorry… I –" Sakura started, fumbling with the hem of her red shirt.
(Pink, green and red – who knew right?)
"Why are you even here?" Sasuke gritted through his teeth, glaring at the girl.
"I'm here to apologize for –"
"I meant, why are you here?!" Sasuke said, his voice raising. He was distinctly aware of how close his room was to the dining room. "You are not even an Uchiha!"
She looked at him with those green, green doe-like eyes in astonishment. "What – I – I never -"
"That's what you're trying to do, right?! You're trying to take Itachi-nii-san from me, and Kaa-san and Otou-san –"
"Sasuke-kun, I would never –"
"Well you're not going to have them, because you're not even part of our family –"
"Sasuke-kun –"
"Why are you even still here –"
"SASUKE-KUN!"
Sasuke stiffened. He hadn't realized that he just lost his temper. Sakura was looking at him now, green, green eyes watery from tears.
But she looked at him straight in the eye with conviction oh-so-strong and innocence oh-so-pure.
"Sasuke-kun," she repeated in a mellow way, head rising a little bight higher, "I respect Fugaku-sama, Mikoto-sama and Itachi-nii-sama with all my heart. I am sorry you feel that way, but I want you to know…"
Sasuke challenged her with his glare.
Sakura gulped, but she continued with steady determination. "…I would never, ever do anything to endanger my part here. I… I know I'm not an Uchiha, and I know I would never be, but you, Itachi-nii-sama, Fugaku-sama and Mikoto-sama are the only ones close to family I have left and – " Her hands clenched at her sides, traces of tears (If there had been any; Sasuke couldn't remember anymore.) gone. " – I would never do anything to destroy what we have, even how little it is at the moment, Sasuke-kun."
Sasuke continued to stare at her, his eyes slightly narrowed, but the posture he had kept – the proud posture he spent so hard on keeping – slackened.
He never noticed how Mikoto had stood by his door, listening to the children's conversations, or how Sakura marched out of the room, her fists still clenched, her knuckles white, and her eyes straightforward.
Because at that time, all young Sasuke could think about was how he was going to keep the girl close to him and how she would always, always be his.
Review? (Offers pie.)