"One Year" Chapter 1
"That boy is late again."
Fugaku Uchiha had a scowl on his face, looking in the direction of the door that his youngest son was supposed to have walked through by now.
"Now, dear, I'm sure it's not on purpose. Maybe he was called out for a mission?" Mikoto suggested.
"I notified Lady Hokage that he was not to be put on any missions unless it was a dire emergency. She knows the importance of today." He snapped in reply.
"Father, I could go looking for him if you'd like." His oldest son, Itachi, offered from his seat next to his wife.
"No." Fugaku shot down his offer, giving a glare to the clan's heir. "He will have me to deal with if he doesn't show soon."
"Dear, Sasuke is an adult now. He can make his own decisions." Mikoto gave her husband a gentle pat on his shoulder.
"Those decisions have consequences. He is twenty-two years old, and he hasn't even considered the importance of marriage. He can't just go around, recklessly neglecting his duties as a member of the head family of our clan."
"He's still young, father. Don't you think that marriage talk is a bit too early? Besides, I'm the head heir. It's not like Sasuke is the one responsible for producing the heir after me."
"We spoke about this before, Itachi." Fugaku glanced to his son and daughter in law. "You and Rikka have been married for six years now, and you still haven't produced an heir."
"It's not from lack of trying..." Rikka quietly responded. The possibility of not being able to have children made her feel like a burden to her husband. Itachi firmly held her hand under the table, reassuring her that wasn't the case.
"You know the way it's been for decades. Every member of the head family must marry a member of a branch family to make sure that the Sharingan is passed down through every generation. That is why even adoption isn't an option for you two when it comes to bringing an heir to this clan."
Itachi frowned at his father's words. The truth was, he knew the whereabouts of his brother, and he knew why Sasuke would avoid his father for as long as it took Itachi to produce an heir. Itachi had been fortunate enough to fall in love with someone from a branch family, but Sasuke wasn't as lucky.
Very few people knew about his relationship with his teammate, and Itachi and Sasuke knew that if Fugaku found out, he would put an end to it immediately. Especially with Sasuke possibly being the only person left in the head family to produce the kind of heir their father wished for.
"Perhaps this conversation can wait for one more day? The food is getting cold." Mikoto gave her husband an apologetic smile.
"Mother is right." Itachi nodded. "It's obvious that Sasuke isn't coming home anytime soon."
"He can't avoid this forever," Fugaku grumbled and picked up his chopsticks. "I have someone arranged to become his wife."
Your father is going to be angry that you didn't show up for dinner."
"Hn." Sasuke nuzzled his face into the crook of his lover's neck, ignoring her statement. He knew that his father would be angry, but he didn't care. This was where he wanted to be, and not having some stupid family discussion on his responsibilities as an Uchiha.
"Will he send someone to look for you again?"
"I don't care." He smirked into her hair and breathed in her scent. He hated sweets, but the sugary scent that she gave off always intoxicated him.
"It's already dark outs-"
Sasuke suddenly pinned her down and captured her lips, preventing her from finishing her sentence.
"Annoying." He smirked down at her face, which had turned pink from his sudden actions. The young couple had spent most of the day in her bed due to being kept off of missions. They both knew the reason behind it, but they kept ignoring the subject.
"Sasuke, I don't want you to keep getting in trouble because of me." She reached up and stroked his cheek in a gentle manner.
"It will be fine." He reassured her. "Once Itachi has a kid, he'll turn his attention to them."
"He'll still be angry..." She looked away from his intense gaze. "I'm not a member of a branch family. I'm an outsider."
"Sakura, I don't care." He turned her chin to look at him again. "You're the one I want to be with. Not some girl that my father chooses. I want you."
Her green eyes glossed over with the tears that threatened to spill down her cheeks. Sasuke took her left hand into his and kissed her ring finger, never breaking his gaze from her face. This had become his way of telling her his intentions since they had gotten serious. A promise to make her his.
A sudden knock came from Sakura's window, taking their attention away from each other. They knew that it was going to either be Naruto or Itachi at this time of night, knowing where they would be found.
Sasuke got up from the bed and peeked through the fabric of the curtain. He scowled when his eyes met those of his older brother's.
He motioned for Sakura to get dressed, then let him in once she made herself decent.
"Good evening, Sakura." Itachi nodded to her as he came into the room. She gave him a shy wave in greeting.
"What do you want?" Sasuke asked, annoyed by Itachi's interruption.
"Father is really angry with you this time, Sasuke."
The younger brother rolled his eyes. "You think I didn't know that? You didn't have to come here and tell me, you know."
"He's serious this time, Sasuke." Itachi gave his brother a stern look. "He's chosen someone."
"What?" Sasuke's eyes widened. "There's no way that he's already set it up."
"He's becoming impatient with Rikka and me." Itachi looked down.
Sasuke glanced over to Sakura, who was quietly sitting on the bed in his shirt. She looked as if she wanted to say something, but hesitated when two sets of onyx eyes were looking her way.
"What is it?"
"Have you and Lady Rikka thought of using medical techniques to conceive?"
"Things like that exist?" Itachi looked at the girl with curious eyes.
"It's not an absolute 100% way to make sure that she conceives, but it does have a high success rate."
"Would you be able to help them?" Sasuke's face became hopeful.
"Possibly," Sakura answered. "There are tests that need to be done, of course, but it shouldn't be an issue."
"We have a year to have a child." Itachi looked down.
Sasuke looked at his brother in confusion. "Why a year?"
"Father said that you would marry as soon as possible, but I suggested that he gives you a year."
"And he allowed it?"
Itachi remained quiet for a moment as if he were thinking of a way to word what he was about to ask.
"Little brother... What would you think about becoming a part of ANBU?"
"The ANBU training and qualification exams take a little under a year, and only the elite ninja are able to take part. Since you've trained under me from the time you were a genin, there is obviously not going to be a problem in getting you right in."
Sasuke had approached his sensei with his brother's idea the day after he appeared in Sakura's bedroom. The copy ninja was surprised at Sasuke's notion at first since he never had interest in becoming an ANBU before then, but he understood when Sakura explained the situation further. He was one of the select few that were in on their relationship, which was to be expected since he was the leader of squad seven and saw it coming from the day he met the two shinobi. Kakashi had watched them grow into adults and witnessed their relationship blossom. He had a soft spot for the couple, to say the least.
"Oi, why didn't you suggest that I take the ANBU qualification exams, Sensei?" Naruto complained. "I trained under you and Pervy Sage! Doesn't that mean anything?"
"It's because I was going to wait to suggest it when you both became older. It's not some club. You are being trained to become an assassin and carry out many other secret missions." Kakashi warned.
Sasuke looked down again at the papers that his brother had given him that morning. Kakashi had already signed his seal of approval, and all they needed was Sasuke's signature to make it final that he would be participating in the ANBU training for the next year. It meant that he wouldn't be living in the Uchiha compound, and would most likely not see his friends or family until his special training was over.
"Are you having second thoughts?" Sakura had appeared next to him and placed a hand on his shoulder as she looked at the blank space on the paper where his gaze had been.
Sasuke shook his head and took out his pen. "This is something I have to do."
With a swift movement of his hand, he filled in his name.
There was a heavy feeling in his chest, knowing that he was going to have to become a trained assassin and take away the lives of people without question. However, he knew it was necessary if he was going to give Itachi and Rikka enough time to conceive so that he wouldn't have to enter a loveless marriage with a branch family member.
"Don't worry, okay?" Sakura gave him a reassuring smile. "I'll help them out while you're gone. You'll be an uncle before you know it."
Sasuke nodded and gave her a small smirk. He knew that he could trust her to do this.
Two weeks passed, and Sasuke found himself being led by his brother and sensei to the secret location of the ANBU training region. It took a day and a half to get there, and there were thousands of trees that surrounded them it seemed. He could barely tell the direction they were heading.
"Is there anything I should know about this place before we get there?"
"Always be on guard," Kakashi answered. "There are many different kinds of people you will come across and some of them are not so great."
"People will constantly be looking for your weaknesses," Itachi added. "So don't show much emotion if they start things with you."
They stopped in front of a tree that had a seal on its trunk. Kakashi and Itachi took their ANBU masks out and put them over their faces.
Sasuke looked down at his own mask in his hands. It was a complete circle without any sort of markings. Itachi explained that Sasuke and his other comrades that were about to embark on this journey had to discover themselves before they made their true mask. That was going to be his identity on the battlefield, therefore he had to look hard within himself to find his mask.
He put it on his face as Itachi released the seal on the tree that opened into a dark void it seemed. Some kind of genjutsu maybe?
The three men walked in and made their way through the void. Sasuke felt a rush of adrenaline when dark shadows passed in between them.
"It's fine," Itachi reassured him. "As long as you have your mask on when you pass through, the genjutsu won't immobilize you."
Sasuke nodded in understanding and kept walking forward.
"We'll be there soon," Kakashi warned, looking over his shoulder.
"Is there anything else I should know before we get there?"
Itachi swallowed hard. "Don't say anything about Sakura, alright?"
Sasuke furrowed his eyebrows in confusion at this.
"Remember what I said before: They will always be looking for a weakness. Even though we are part of the same village, don't expect them all to have good intentions. There's a reason we wear these masks, Sasuke."
Sasuke understood then what he meant. Should anyone know about his life outside of ANBU, it would put the ones he loved in danger.
They finally reached a wall with a similar symbol on it as the tree from before. Kakashi released the seal this time, opening up a doorway into a white room that looked like a commons area.
It almost felt like an insane asylum to Sasuke. Everyone wore similar attire, and the only colors he seemed to see were black, white, and gray. Nothing vibrant, always making sure everyone and everything blended in. It was now sinking in that this place that seemed to have no individuality- no life, really, was going to be his home for the next year.