Disclaimer: I don´t own Naruto(or it wouldn't have turned into a you can't kill me because i'm immortal but then get killed anyway with some new technique someone pulled out of his ass slugfest). Neither do i make any profit with this story.
Before I start with the story i want to tell you that this is a oneshot and if there is enough interest and i have a good idea i might continue it. Furthermore English isn't my native language so if you find any mistake please inform me about them so i can correct them. I would appreciate some review about my first fanfiction so i can improve my writing.
Who we are
I wake up in the hospital, bandaged, head to toe and I am alone. For the first time in years I start to contemplate. Did I chose right? My mask, the happy fool, how others perceive me and then my bond with the one I considered my brother. He claimed I couldn´t understand him, that we are nothing alike.
What an irony. Everyone believes I am an idiot, while the perceived genius is much more foolish than I ever were. He tried to kill me, to destroy our bond. Why would he have to severe a bond that, according to him, doesn´t exist. And why didn´t he went along with it? Why am I still alive? He had to know that I would survive, even if only through the Kyuubi and baa-chan.
Doesn´t matter. In the end, he couldn´t do it. For all that we are apart, he as the genius, I as the baka dead last, we are the same. We are both orphans and both outcasts. Maybe not the same type of outcasts, but still outcasts. I am the Kyuubi, in the eyes of Konoha's citizen, and he is the tragic survivor of his brother's rampage. Everyone was cold to me, while pretending to love Sasuke. However, I saw the truth, saw how ninja and civilian alike became wary when they noticed him. In their eyes he was the second coming of Itachi. A ticking time bomb just like me.
We are two sides of the same coin.
My thoughts get interrupted when someone opens the door. I can see a nurse, just a few years older than me. The moment she recognizes me, she scowls. I try to smile, try to put on the mask again, but it eludes me. Instead it's a grimace. The nurse slams the door shut and I am alone again. It hurts. Far more than it has for years. Why can´t I ignore it anymore like I did for so many years?
I just lie there. My mind is blank and then I scratch an itch I can´t ignore any longer. Right over my heart. Directly at the new scar from Sasuke's Chidori. My thoughts turn darker, when I realize the truth. Some wounds go deeper than the flesh, deeper than the bone. Right into your very soul.
Only my brother could have done this. This is what happened to Sasuke. This is what he experienced after Itachi's betrayal. This is what drove him into the abyss. What is it going to do to me? Will I drown in the darkness like Sasuke did? Will I betray or kill everyone I hold dear?
A silent cough interrupts my train of thought and I can see Shikamaru, Kiba, Hinata, Sakura and Kakashi-sensei standing in my room. Was I so deep in thought I missed their entry? Apparently.
Concerned I ask them how the others are and how their fight's went. They all survived. That's great and then Shikamaru starts telling me about their fight's. Of course, he was the team leader. He read the reports of the entire team and they must have written theirs already. How long was I out? Doesn´t matter. I am back to my thoughts when I hear about Jirobo's second stage cursed seal. So Sasuke wasn´t the only one. And there is nothing we can do. Kakashi's containment technique failed with the first stage. It won't have a chance against the second.
I frown. There's no choice. Nothing I can do. Orochimaru has won. The only thing I can do for my brother is kill him. Prevent Orochimaru from taking over his body. My frown deepens. Can I do it? Can I kill my brother? But then again, he is already as good as dead, has been drowning in his own darkness for far too long. There's little left of him. His Chidori to my heart made that clear and soon he will be gone entirely. It's clear that one of us won't survive our next meeting.
Sakura interrupts Shikamaru's tale of the fights. She believes I'm depressed because I failed and tries to cheer me up. She boasts how she got accepted as Tsunade's apprentice and how they would bring Sasuke back, together and how that would fulfil my promise. It's hard, but I manage to force a smile on my face and exclaim how i would drag that teme back. Kicking and screaming if neccessary. I can see Shikamaru's and Kakashi's eyes narrow. They saw right through it but luckily they don't mention it. We make some small talk after that but the others soon realize I'm not interested in talking and leave. Kakashi tells me I can always talk to him before he closes the door and leaves as the last. I wince. Not because of his word, but rather from the glare another patient in the hall sends me from behind Kakashi's back.
I can't take that anymore. I'm far to hurt for this kind of crap and I have to prepare for my next encounter with Sasuke, if I want to survive it. I have to get out of the village, get away from all that so that I can prepare in peace.
Maybe I can go on a long term mission, or a long training trip with Kakashi-sensei, now that Sakura and Sasuke are out of the picture. However, I have to convince baa-chan first. That won't be easy. The other political leader will try to keep me here as their trump card in case anyone tries anything while we are still weakened from the invasion. I have to find a good explanation for them.
These thoughts come to a screeching stop when a cold gust of wind hits my face. The windows were closed the last time I checked. When I look over to them I can see him sitting there. Jiraya, my godfather. I want to ask him one of those questions a male can't answer correctly. Want to rage against him for breaking into my room, vent all my frustration but it is as if all energy left me so I just greet him. He returns my greeting. He's his usual idiotic pervert self but that doesn't matter. All that matters is that he wants to go on a three-year training trip with me. My rejection is just a formality. I want to go I just don't have any excuse to go on that trip until he tells me about Akatsuki.
Now if a group of S-class missing-nin isn't a reason to go on a training trip there will never be one. But that will have to wait for tomorrow.