Hey everyone,
I didn't want to publish any chapter this morning, but I felt the need to express myself concerning the events on Paris last night. I'm really shocked by everything that happened, and relieved that all my friends were safe and sound.
I'm also relieved my school wasn't attacked : three attacks happened near.
I don't understand why people only talk with violence. The way things were settled... We could do nothing to stop them.
They wanted to clip our wings, they wanted to kill our voices, they wanted us to grovel in fear... But no weapon can harm Freedom. As long as there's one mouth speaking of our beating hearts, we will not go down.
I know my texts aren't much, but I won't stop writing.
Narsha
Chapter 1 : Three years
" Childhood should be carefree, playing in the sun; not living a nightmare in the darkness of the soul." Dave Pelzer, A Child called "It"
Days went by. They turned into weeks and into months. The terrified kids we had been were gone. Innocence had died from our souls. Sasuke-Chan had become that grumpy guy who was only motivated by revenge. I was just an empty shell that couldn't keep asking why. Summer. Fall. Winter. Spring. Summer again. There was nothing left of the compound ; it had been burned to the ground.
Over and over again. It's the same day that goes on, and on, and on. It never ends.
I wake up early. When it's summer it's the rising sun that calls to me. I like the golden night that irradiates from far away in the forest. When it's winter it's the hum of the bakery that gets me on my feet. I used to sleep a lot when I was younger. I felt so old in my body. I don't own a clock. I didn't put one in my room. The ticking noise annoys me. It reminds me of the time that passes, time that I can't count correctly.
Then like every day of the week, I put a T-shirt and jogging pants on. I added a scarf or a jacket if it gets colder. I always use the same colors : dark blue, burgundy or brown for the top, black for the bottom. I always wear my hair into a wavy bun. I can't do anything else with them. Too long and it gets dangerous, too short and I have a pack of seaweeds instead of curls.
I know Sasuke-Chan is never up before a while. I don't understand that child. I know he is mentally scarred, but he's not diligent enough. He seemed to think he didn't have to train much because he was already so good. Yes he was the top shinobi of his promotion, like I was majoring mine. But that didn't mean he had to stop there. I never stopped training. It was obvious that the village kept us within its walls. Had we been in a war, we would already been in the battlefield.
In fact, I was quite sure Sasuke-Chan still acted like the little prince he had been in the clan. Shisui-Nii had told me our clan leader had always favored his elder. In the end, it was Mikoto-Sama who took care of her son, and she was quite protective. On the other hand, my father died young and my brother clearly chose his quest over me. But whenever he had the time, he would be there for me, even though he was nine years older than me.
In the end, I had lived with other cousins. Because of who I was, I couldn't slack off. I had to show them I was worth the blood in my veins. When Sasuke-Chan was begging his brother to teach him shuriken tricks, I was shooting mine on my targets. My accuracy wasn't the best, but I worked on it. When Sasuke-Chan had been shown a Katon Jutsu by his father, I was busy anointing my second degree burns. He may be smarter than me, but I worked harder. I felt there was no point comparing our results when there weren't the same amount of work beforehand.
After dressing, I eat some leftovers, pack two bento and leave enough food for a breakfast. I had no time checking if the boy woke up or not. I had to get to work. From five to eight in the morning I was working out. I run laps for one hour before stretching. At six I was reviewing all the Jutsus I knew near the lake. I often went back with wild flowers to decorate the tombs of our clansmen. Around seven thirty I borrowed scrolls or books from the library. I was learning tons of stuff, though I was pretty sure I would remember most of it. I was looking for another skill to hone.
Around eight I would be back to take a shower and change. The scar on my chest had been deformed by my growing chest. The blistered red skin was now of a vivid pink. The medics had said it would dim, but I would always distinguish it.
Sasuke was generally up by then. I was quite sure he persuaded himself that we woke up around the same time. I drank green tea with no sugar with him, watching him eat. We weren't discussing much. He had lost his outgoing personality and I had always preferred the quiet. We never talk about the past. It was taboo.
We used to be quite close, even though we were even closer now. I was a year and a half older than he was. Our fathers were first degree cousin, which made us both heirs of Uchiha Madara. I found some traits of Naori Obaa-san in both of us. We both had pale skin, thin traits and jet black hair and eyes. I think Shisui-Nii, Sasuke-Chan and I shared the same build : we had always been bulkier than Itachi-Sama. I got the impossible fuzzy hair and the mole on the face, and Sasuke got the spiky silk hair that made the back of his head look like a duck butt.
Then I would wash up the dishes and we would go to the Academy together. Some people teased us about our closeness. Since the downfall of our clan, Sasuke-Chan had changed. He used to brag about all the gifts he received from girls of his class and tell me all about his annoying classmates. I would generally explain some of my current readings to him. I think I had some admirers in my promotion, but I had never paid attention to it. Plus I had read somewhere that boys don't react like girls, especially when it's about crushes.
The classes would go well. Even though I was more a bookworm than an outgoing person, I had established cordial relations with my classmates. There was some exceptions of course. I had a great relationship with this civilian girl named Tenten. She was an orphan from the Kyuubi incident, and she was really great at using weapons and such. There was also this boy I admired, not that I would tell him given his behavior, but I was really impressed by Rock Lee's motivation. If he succeeded in becoming a shinobi without using chakra, that would be a premiere. And there was this cold guy, Hyuuga Neji. He didn't like me, I didn't like him and we were always competing for the top scores.
It was a shame they didn't allow mixed battles in the Academy. Girls fought girls. Boys fought boys. I would only have a good Taijutsu spar later when I trained with Sasuke-Chan. His technique was slightly better than mine, but I had more strength. I often won our spars, mostly because I had more experience, and because I worked harder than him. I had no doubt he would overcome me if he had the motivation.
I couldn't say we were close though. We lived together, we were the last of our clan, but Sasuke-Chan refused completely to deepen our relationship. Rumor had it that I was legally his fiancée, and that we would become the new heads of the clan. I didn't care about it : all the fangirls who had challenged me had been put to their places rather fast. But it bothered Sasuke-Chan. I was practically sure he didn't want anyone near him. I was about sure it was something Itachi-Sama had told him. I was never told his exact words.
Training with Sasuke-Chan wasn't a regular occurrence. Fortunately Tenten was more than happy to help me, not mentioning the numerous fangirls who were still trying to break my "engagement vows with Sasuke-Kun". They had never succeeded in this, but I supposed it counted as a regular training.
He was training as well, but I knew he was at least lacking a partner. One could get better alone, but unmoving targets couldn't get you very far. I couldn't convince him to train with anyone. He didn't want to be approached by anyone. Even though I craved for solitude, I could tell it wasn't his case. He was rejected everyone.
Even if it was tough, life was pretty simple. I liked it that way. There was no surprises, and I could somehow be in control. It had been hard, especially at the beginning. I wasn't good at keeping a house, and Sasuke-Chan surely hadn't been taught that. But I did my best to make a home of our tiny apartment. Thankfully we still had access to the money of the clan, which made things pretty easy.
I learned how to cook healthy meals. I learned how to sew clothes (and even skin sometimes since Sasuke-Chan wanted to go nowhere near an hospital). I learned to bargain at the market. I learned a bit of accountancy (numbers were okay, but meeting the different persons that our clan still sponsored and traded with was way harder : no one takes a kid seriously).
I learned so many things, but I was nowhere near the truth. I wanted to know the truth, I wanted to understand. There were too many holes in this story. Things didn't fit, or maybe they fitted too well. I hated it when things didn't go the way they were supposed to. It annoyed me greatly. Even though I knew there was a hidden motive in Itachi-Sama's acts, even though I knew Fugaku-Sama had been planning something bad, I couldn't forgive what had been done to Sasuke-Chan.
Sasuke-Chan would kill his brother. I read that desire in his eyes every single day. I was a year ahead of him. If I wanted my answers, I'd better graduate fast and find Itachi-Sama. Next time these two will meet, one of them will surely die. I wouldn't stand that. Brother had died. Father had died. Tekka-San had died. The brothers were all that was left of my family. I won't let them destroy it.
How long until I get adult ?
