1: Field Trip

Fate is a sociopath. She leads those she's chosen to play with down blind alleys and through hellfire. She's unforgiving and cruel. Fate is a sociopath jacked up with far too much power and intelligence. Yes, Fate is insidious, but while she often ends things in tragedy, she is not without mercy. If she sees she's dealt an entirely too unfair hand, she will rectify her misstep, usually by following up that selfish tendency with a beautiful ending. The righteous who die tragic deaths typically had forgiving lives, but those who become a piece of a beautiful whole, were the just that survived all the Hell Fate threw at them and remained themselves. Kind, loving, and courageous, few though they are, they've seen the side of the world that is wrapped in hatred and maintained their humanity fully.

Though, if Fate chooses to swing the pendulum back on them, enveloping her gifts with hardship, the results will either lead to an unbreakable form of all that is pure in humanity or an insane egoist who kills to feel alive.

.x.X.x.

Sasuke had, in fact, not planned to be killed by a damned plane. If he was going to die, he wanted to go out fighting, but here there was absolutely nothing to fight against. He was strapped to the comfy, First Class seat he'd spent so much money on and all he wanted to do was rip his way out kicking and screaming like a small child in need of large amounts of candy. Once he was free he would curse fate itself as he descended to earth on obsidian wings which he was sure he could sprout if he tried hard enough... Okay, he'd definitely been reading way too much manga lately. Why the hell hadn't those mask things the flight attendant mentioned shown up yet?! He gripped the armrests and repeated in his head like a mantra, Uchiha's are fearless. Never show emotions. Emotions are weaknesses we do not have. Well, that was being proven false, big time. Well, dad, he thought, an almost-smile reaching his lips and turning into a smirk, I guess you can't be right about everything, now can you?

As the plane descended and people screamed, he accepted his fate, absolutely positive that proving his father wrong, even if only in his own head, was enough to satisfy his soon to be dead heart... Nope, not enough. He didn't want to die trapped like a dog with his hammering heartbeat playing out the role of the soundtrack to his demise. He hated feeling trapped, physically or mentally. That was one of the many reasons that he hated his father. The man trapped him in the role of the stupid youngest son outshone by his older prodigy of a brother. God, what the hell was he supposed to do? The fear crawled up his throat like acid and his whole body rejected what he knew was coming. He was going to die. Sasuke Uchiha was going to die. Fuck! Was a little plane crash really all it took to break him and turn him back into a scared little brat again? Tears came unbidden to his eyes. Yes, yes it was. He'd never been so terrified in his life. He hated even the notion of the feeling eating away at his mind. He didn't want to die!

.x.X.x.

Naruto Uzumaki watched as the plane descended almost in slow motion. It was strange, the details he noticed. The man sitting in front of him was elderly, and with his keen ears, the young man could hear the older one's heart struggle to keep beating. Shit, he was having a heart attack. How was Naruto supposed to save him?

The girl in the window seat to his left, a midnight-blue-haired teenager with a stuttering problem, if he remembered correctly, was screaming something about her sister, Hanabi. Damn it, why weren't the siblings sitting together? How could he calm her down? Was her sister safe?

A teenage boy across the aisle on his right held a small object in his hands in what looked something like a prayer. A rosary? No, it was too small to be a necklace. Maybe a pendant then. Horror appeared on Naruto's face as the boy opened his hands to show a rather odd ring. It was a sharp but small curved spike, which actually matched the pale, raven-headed kids punk-rock style quite perfectly, but somehow Naruto knew the idiots' plan.

"Wai-!" He reached out a second too late and could do nothing more than watch in absolute horror as the poor kid dragged the spike in deep lines up his own wrist in three quick movements. It cut into his flesh like a knife, leaving trails of liquid crimson from his wrist to the inside of his elbow.

Damnit! Damnit! Damnit! He wasn't going to be able to fix that. It's not like he knew medical ninjutsu. This was a small plane with only thirty or so passengers on board and two had already died or were at least as good as dead. What if things worked themselves out, huh? What if that dumb idiot wasn't meant to die here and he just ended his life for nothing?

Naruto couldn't help but think back to when this all started. He shouldn't have left things be when the money for this damned field trip landed on Kakashi-sensei's desk. The Uzumaki was never going to be able to pay to join his class in their adventures, and he'd been so damn pleased when whoever paid for him had done it. He'd planned on thanking them a million times over when he tracked them down somehow. It was the first favor an outsider had ever, ever done for him. God, how stupid could he get?! Nothing in his life came easy. He was a penniless, hated orphan. His entire existence was a struggle, but he'd be damned if he didn't fight to the bitter end. If not for him, then for everyone else. He had to save them. The wellbeing of everyone else was the only thought in his head. He was completely consumed in trying to save them all. If he died... If he died, and the rest of the passengers survived... Maybe it would be worth it.

The girl next to him had passed out. No one was paying attention. They were all too busy screaming and praying to gods they didn't believe in two minutes ago to save them. Gripping the armrests on the shitty blue seat he was strapped in until his knuckles turned white, he closed his eyes and looked deep within himself...

I tried to capture Sasuke's self-absorbed selfishness and Naruto's insane selflessness. These are their biggest flaws. Thus, this is what they will affect in each other. For better or for worse, well, even I don't quite know that yet.

~B