Shadow Man
Koomahana
Chapter 2: nightmares are reminders
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He could feel the warmth of the sun on his skin, smell the gentle breeze of spring wind, hear the laughter of the other children around him. He was in the Fireoak Park, it was in and used by shinobi clans, the rotating guards were all of Uchiha and Hyuga families. He had been introduced to a few other heirs; Hinata Hyuga and her guard Kanai (Who was once Inari's teammate), Shikamaru Nara, Choji Akimichi, Ino Yamanaka, Shino Aburame, Hana Inuzuka and her brother Kiba along with a few others but they weren't very interesting. Shikamaru was content to fall asleep next to Choji. Kiba and his sister wandered off with their pups. Shino went bug exploring, Ino followed him to find rare flowers and Hinata remained behind, clueless and awkward. Knowing his cousin Inari well, he turned towards Hinata and asked if she knew how to play in the sand box. He tried very hard to ignore the glare he was receiving from Hinata's guard, but at least Hinata was willing to try something new. He was in the middle of teaching her how to compact the sand in their bucket, when he heard the startled shout of his cousin. He first looked up at Inari only to see the man's sharingan eyes wide in panic, even Hinata's guard was at his side, skirts raised in one hand and rushing forward in a blind panic. He felt the wind shift at his back and he turned with Hinata to look in the opposite direction. Before them stood a girl dressed in a simple sapphire summer dress, her long cheery locks surrounded her in beautiful brush strokes. The sun shunned down on her, making her hair glow like firelight and giving her this appearance of a guardian angel. All too soon that image of fierce defiance was shattered into crystalline tears as the girl fainted, her long pink locks following her descent into the earth like a comet tail
"Grab her!" A boy with sunshine yellow hair burst forward, tears brimming his eyes as he reached out and grabbed Hinata; forcing her to her feet. "Grab Sakura-Chan!" Sasuke stuttered into motion, his limbs jerking about without coordination. He stumbled to his feet and hurried forward, he stooped, ready to grab the girl but a shadow fell on them.
"Sasuke-sama!" He looked up, seeing only the bloody limb of the stranger reaching put to him... then his cousin was there with a curse and blazing eyes. "Cataclism!" Sasuke spurred into motion, his body reflexively moving to the emergency code. Sasuke snatched up the girl, one arm over his shoulders and tried to jump backwards but her added unconscious weight unbalanced him and they both went tumbling backwards. Sasuke jerked on the girl's arms, forcing her to land atop him while he took the full burnt of landing on rocks. In a flurry of white and gray, Hinata's guard was standing over them, blocking kunai and shuriken alike before diving forward to join the fight.
"Hurry up!" The blond boy bellowed, his arms tightening around a frightened Hinata. "Carry Sakura-Chan over here!" Sasuke coughed and struggled to sit up, bracing the girl's head against his shoulder he looked down at the girl's face. To his horror he found it bathed in blood, coating her pale complexion and staining her pretty blue dress. She looked like his mother's Iki-Ningyo doll, so much so that the blood staining her seemed to be the only thing human about her.
"Sasuke!" He looked up to see his cousin and brother rushing towards them with blinding speed. His relief was so strong that Sasuke couldn't stop the tears from spilling out of his eyes.
"Nii-tan!" Sasuke cried, his arms tightening around the girl in his lap. "She's hurt! Save her Nii-an!" The two friends disappeared and reappeared before Sasuke, Shisui wasted no time in snatching up the human doll before disappearing again. Itachi immediately wrapped his arms around his baby brother and hurried towards Hinata and the boy holding onto her tightly.
"You two! Stay close!" Itachi didn't waste time with formalities as he quickly ushered the two children towards the growing group of adults trying to take head count and be sane at the same time. From his place on his brother's chest Sasuke could see the intruder lunch at him a third time, bloody fingers reaching out at him like the bony fingers of death's cold clutch.
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"NO!" he sat up with a scream, his eyes pulsed, his head pounded, his body shook and sweat coated him in thick rivets that changed the color of his sheets. Two soft thumps was all he heard before his brother was slamming open the door, his crimson eyes scanning the room quickly for any threats before settling on Sasuke. Seeing his baby brother wrap one hand around his eyes, Itachi sighed and deactivated his sharingan gaze.
"Another nightmare ototo?" Itachi asked as he stepped in silently and approached Sasuke's bed calmly.
"...nii-san," Sasuke's voice was hoarse and dry, stained and sounding to be on the verge of panic even to his own ears. "Are you sure she wasn't hurt?"
"The girl fainted from chakra exhaustion, Sasuke." Itachi reassured as he sat on the edge of the bed and gently pulled his baby brother's head against his shoulder, letting him cry silently against him. "Okaa-San and Otou-San have both gone to see her and have returned saying that she is in complete recovery. The girl lives and without a mark to tell the tail." He smiled as Sasuke's body shook in memory and fear,the nightmare still ruling over him for a moment longer. "Its thanks to you that she lived at all," Itachi continued thoughtfully. "If you hadn't pulled her back then that man most certainly would have killed her. She should thank you for saving her life."
"But I didn't," Sasuke whimpered, curling against his brother's side as a sob racked through his body. "She... she saved ME, nii-san and I couldn't even do anything for her. I just sat there like an idiot, staring at her like a helpless toddler."
"Sasuke, you were five," Itachi murmured, his arm tightening fractionally around his brother's head. "Compared to the other clan kids there, you reacted appropriately and remarkably well."
"But all I did was stare," Sasuke reminded him. "I couldn't do anything."
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Remember: I am writing everything down on my cell phone. If there is a misspelling I need to know so I can fix it.
My phone's autocorrect really hates me, so any added bit of help is greatly appreciated.
hokage is homage
but is bit
ino is umo
hana is juan
kiba is kin
itachi is 'It him', 'itch' and 'ita cam' (don't ask why)
sasuke is soup and sauce
and naruto is nintendo for some reason...
