Obsdian Theater Presents:

Dango

A Naruto Fanfiction

Author's Note: However much Hisota enjoys reading Naruto, she has no right to claim right to it, as it belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. Please enjoy, the first, and only, Naruto Fanfiction by Obsidian Theatre.

My arm shook underneath the sleeve of my cloak. No. I can't. How could I?

A hidden village, almost like a secret oasis, unexposed to the horror and turmoil of war around it. Quiet, calm and serene – despite it serves as a main passage into all the other countries. I strode down the road leading towards this village, seeking a safe and undetected entrance into the country of Sunagakure.

The residents within the sanctuary, like the place itself, are kind, gentle and naive – completely and blissfully ignorant. To be reborn into a village as this would be paradise; to be born in a village like this would be –

"Onii – sama!" a voice cried, I turned around. Before me stood a little girl. Straight, heavy fringe of black covering her forehead and lightly brushed her eyelids, her iris was green, light as the skin of a lime. She was garbed in a rich red yukata, a pallid yellow obi holding the piece together. "Onii – sama," she repeated, her voice playing with the innocence of a seraph. "Onii – sama, would you like to come in the teahouse and have some dango?" she asked, pointing at a small shop.
"Onii – sama?" she asked, leaning in and peering at me through my hat. Her eyes met my own – my own accursed red ones. Her eyes widened. Ah, so I see, she didn't see my eyes before. Yet, strangely, a smile graced her lips. "Whoa!" she murmured. "Onii – sama, you have such pretty eyes." The words stunned me, 'pretty eyes'?

I gawked at the girl. She batted her eyelashes. And to think I considered Sasuke to be naïve.

"Please Onii – sama?" she pleaded. My lips overturned, twisting into a small smile.

"Alright." I replied. She beamed at me, twisted around and led the way.

My body moved without my permission. My fingers latched onto to a kunai. No! I cannot! Not after what I have done to Sasuke, I cannot do this to another – another family. Her back was facing me, sitting upon a small bolder unaware of what is about to befall her.

"Onii – sama." She began once again. I opened my eyes. In her hands was a bouquet of wild flowers, she continued to scour the field. "You never told me you name." She bent down a plucked a blossom from the ground, adding it to her posy. "Even though I already told you mine."

I chuckled.

"Names are unimportant Yuzuki – san." I replied. Closing my eyes again. I heard a light huff, then wispy marching towards me.

"Ne! Onii – sama!" she said, dropping her bouquet in a show of displeasure. "You shouldn't be calling me by such an honorific, I am not that old! Only nine, much younger than you!" she sat down beside me and began weaving a crown out of the flowers she picked. "Onii – sama?"

"Hm?"

"How old are you?" My eyes shot opened. How old am I? Aren't I only a child? Shouldn't a child act their age?

"I'm fourteen years old." I replied. Looking down at her again. Yuzuki, the only child of a small nevertheless prosperous teahouse in the village, as her mother has told me, Yuzuki has a gift for making friends quickly – the reason why I'm sitting here. "You're not much younger than me, only by five years." She giggled.

Silence. My vision glazed over as the horizon blinded me. Yuzuki finished her flower crown and raised it to her head.

"Onii – sama?" She asked again. "Where is your family?" I snapped back to reality. And intently stared at her, she was hectically trying to fix the crown upon her head, as the stem has gotten caught in a tangle. Should I tell her? Should I taint an innocent mind with my life, my nightmares, my sins?

"My family....They'll no longer welcome me."

"Then, can Onii-sama be my real Onii-sama? I don't have a real Onii-sama. Otou-sama said he always wanted a boy!" she shouted. "He loves me too of course, but he said I can't help him with all the building."

I gaped at her, she wants me to be her brother? But, how could I? How could I enter her life in such a way when I had already destroyed Sasuke's? How could I tell her about the felony I committed. No I won't. I cannot.

Sasori – senpai, to kill an innocent, harmless, naive, pure child? For the purpose of a new puppet? One no less than a baby! For the purpose to prove my loyalty to Akatsuki? I raised my arm, the kunai shuttering in my hand. The light catching the metal, holding it hostage and played with the ground. Yuzuki spun around.

"Onii – sama!" Yuzuki yelled, I turned and felt the child cling to my leg. I bent down.

"Yuzuki." I acknowledged.

"Come!" she begged, seizing my arm and dragged me towards the clearing we usually go to. "I have a big surprise for you!"

She led the way, clutching my arm the entire route there. Once out, she let go dashed up to the large shady tree.

"Ta –dah!" she cried. "Happy Birthday!" presenting the small picnic she set up. Underneath the tree lay a large white sheet, protecting what she had brought from the elements below.

"Yuzuki," I began. "It isn't my birthday."

She pouted. "Onii-sama looked sad the last time you came, so I decided to celebrate your birthday – even if it isn't your birthday!" she declared. "Sit Onii – sama!" she pointed to the spot beside her. "I brought cake, and tea, and dango, and –" she continued listing off the cluster of sweets she had taken with her as I settled down. She crawled over to the weaved basket and removed the things she had, setting them down in front of me. Lastly she pulled out a mass of... paper cranes.

"Oka –sama once told me, that if I make one thousand cranes, then make a wish, the wish would come true." She scuttled back to me, carefully trying not to crush any of the cranes. "So I wanted to make a thousand cranes for you, and make you happy!" I held out my arms as she dropped the collection into them. "But... I sort of lost count of how many I made." she sheepishly continued. "But I'm sure that I have made a thousand of them!"

A smile grew upon my jaws, as I studied the cranes. Every single one was a different color, carefully made and carefully attached to a string, though now the string and the cranes were knotted together into a muddled disarray.

"Ne! Onii – sama, you haven't had anything yet." She scampered towards the teapot. "Here let me pour you –" her foot caught in the string of origami, Yuzuki plummeted to the soil, the teapot flying with her. I gasped as the hot liquid scalded my skin. "Oh no!" Yuzuki yelled. "Onii – sama!" she hastily crawled over to me, trying to remove the hot liquid with the sleeve of her yukata. "Onii – sama, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. You'll never stay with me now! I'm so clumsy, I couldn't make enough cranes and the string got all tangled." Yuzuki stopped, sniffling a cry. "Now you can't wish to go back home, let along stay with me!"

Tears now tainted her face, running down her cheeks and plunging down into her lap. "Onii – sama, please don't hate me! I want you to stay." She threw herself into my lap, now fully weeping. She made those cranes.... for me to wish to return home? For me to wish to reverse time? For me to wish that I was never born? No, she wanted me to stay with her. Why?

I awkwardly patted her head, attempting to reassure her.

"Onii – sama, you don't hate me right, you will stay with me, promise?" she asked. Pleading with her eyes. How could I promise her? Promise her something I cannot do?

"I'll come back." I replied.

"Onii – sama?" Yuzuki asked. "What are you doing back here so early? You said you would come again in another month." She questioned. Her face lightened. "You came to surprise me!" she concluded. Can she not see the knife I am holding in my hand? The position in which I held my body? The intent I had to kill?

She darted towards me, her arms wide. A hug? My legs lowered themselves as my arms mimicked her movement, though my fingers refused to let go of the sharp object of killing. Yuzuki crashed into me. Her small arms wrapping around me. "I missed you Onii – sama, every day." She stated.

No. No. No. No! I can't. I can't kill her. My arms enveloped her, though my right hand, my forsaken right hand stood ready.

"Ne, Onii – sama?"

"Hm?" I responded. I must answer her last question. Truthfully and honestly.

"Will it hurt?" She softly asked. My eyes widened. She lifted her chin to meet my eyes. A small cut has resided on her cheek. No, she knows? She knows of what is about to occur? She knows of her own death, and she refuses to run away? "Promise me one last thing." She continued, burying her face into my chest. "Promise – " a sob cut her off. "Promise me that .... you'll meet up with me after. Alright?" She is going to let me kill her? She is going to accept death? Yuzuki! What is wrong with you?

"Yuzuki, I –"

She smiled, tears till dripping down her face. "And when you come, we will drink tea, and eat cake, and your favourite too... Dango, and – "

I can't take it anymore.

My right arm lashed out, striking into her flesh. Yuzuki gasped, her back arched. I couldn't look into Yuzuki's face; I stared at the child's corpse that lay in my hand.

Fin

Author's Note: Hisota truly hopes that you enjoyed reading this fanfiction, and she wishes, and hopes that you will review her story, commenting on things such as plot, characterization, or anything else. Thank you!