Disclaimer: I do not own this "Naruto" series you speak of…
F.Y.I.: Sasuke and the gang are all fifteen.
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~A Life Apart From You~
-Chapter 1: An Accidental Rescue-
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"No! No! Let me go!" a young girl exclaimed to the tall man that had pushed her to the ground.
The girl, the man, and another stranger were in an alleyway.
"Shaddup, you damn kid!" the man yelled back.
Turning to the stranger, he asked, "Ok, do we have a deal or not? The longer we're here, the more likely we'd get caught!"
"*sigh* I'm afraid you realized this too late…" a third, younger voice answered.
The two bandits turned around to see Uchiha Sasuke, traitor of Konoha.
"Ah, well, that's the end of that," the stranger stated, "Goodbye."
With that, the stranger disappeared.
The other man exclaimed to him, "No! Wait! What about-"
But he was long gone.
The bandit turned to the traitor, half with anger and half with fear.
"You…! You…!!" he began to say.
However, Sasuke quickly activated Sharingan, making the man immediately zip it.
"I would ask what you were doing, but then again, I really don't care… *sigh* Though I'm in a hurry, I'll give you some advice; if I were you, who, thank God, I'm not, I'd follow that other coward and get the hell outta here. Of course, that's just my opinion…"
The stranger took a step forward, but immediately retreated.
He followed his buddy, just as the advice had suggested, and left the scene.
Sasuke closed his eyes and smirked.
"And that's the end of that!" he exclaimed aloud to himself.
He was about to turn around and leave, but some rustling behind him stopped the Uchiha.
Turning around, he watched the girl from before crawl out from behind a large crate.
She looked up, saw Sasuke, and, with a terrified look on her face, shrunk back into the shadow of the crate.
Sasuke quietly walked towards the box.
Once it came to be so that the traitor was standing right next to the crate, the Uchiha saw the girl sitting with her knees up against her body and her arms hugging them.
She hid her face behind her knees.
The Uchiha's eyes narrowed as he thought, 'She looks so… weak… so… helpless…'
He sighed and calmly sat down next to the girl.
There was no talking between them.
They stayed like that, silent, until the sun almost completely dissolved into night and darkness.
Finally, the stillness was broken.
"I should tell you…" the Uchiha started.
He carefully placed his hand on her shoulder.
'She's shaking!' he thought, 'She must be scared to death!'
He continued, "…it's really dangerous out here, especially for a kid like yourself…"
He paused.
""I… have a room in the Inn here in town… You can at least spend the night there, and in the morning, I'll take you where you want to go… alright? Will that work for you?"
When her shaking didn't crease, Sasuke moved his hand from her shoulder to her hand.
He exclaimed, "You don't need to be scared! I swear I won't hurt you! Really!"
He stood up and took her hand in his.
She was pulled up to her feet.
"Ok? You can stop crying now, because there's nothing to cry about!"
The Uchiha lifted her head and wiped away her tears.
"Ok?"
The girl looked up at the traitor and gave him a smile.
"T-Thank you…" she mumbled as she took his hand.
Sasuke couldn't help but smile back.
As the two walked out of the alley, Sasuke added, "It would be best if you stayed close; you never know who could be out there…"
The girl nodded.
She took his hand in both of hers and moved closer to him as they moved onto the main street of the town.
Sasuke even put the hood of his jacket up, making his face be covered with a dark shadow.
Finally, the two reached the hotel.
They entered to find the small restaurant inside completely empty, considering it was closing time.
One of the few waiters looked up from the table he was washing off to the entering guests.
"Oi! Uchiha!" he exclaimed, "Back so early?"
Sasuke grinned and responded, "Truthfully, I was feeling a bit tired. Plus, it looks like the weather's going to be bad…"
The waiter frowned.
"Oh man! Seriously? And tonight was my night off!"
Sasuke shrugged.
"Sorry. But hey, at least I warned you so you can try to switch your night off to some other time…"
The worker just sighed.
"Anyway," Sasuke continued, "Good night."
"G' night…"
Other workers also raised their heads and said good night.
Sasuke nodded to them and led the girl upstairs towards his room.
Opening the door, the girl discovered that the room had two beds, a couch with a coffee table in front of it, a bathroom, a larger table with three chairs pulled up to it, and a small kitchen area that contained a few appliances.
The girl took off her shoes and immediately sat down on the bed.
She was about to ask what bed she should sleep on, but-
"I don't care what bed you sleep on. What's important is that you get plenty of sleep. Good night…"
Sasuke, too, had taken his shoes off.
He unzipped his jacket and hung it up on the coat rack in the corner of the room.
The girl pulled the covers up a bit and slid in easy.
Almost immediately, she fell asleep.
"Pleasant dreams…" Sasuke mumbled as he sat down on the couch and the long night began.