The Yamanaka flower shop was quite far from the apartment complex where Itachi and Sasuke lived. It was located almost halfway across the town, and the brothers lacked access to any kind of personal automobile to drive there. The town's bus route didn't stop anywhere close enough to the store, either. Thus, Sasuke decided to simply walk all the way. There was no harm in getting a little morning exercise.

"Alright, if you that's what you're going to do, then hop to it! Remember to make sure to do exactly what the manager says, and if Ino keeps flirting with you, just put up with it!"

"I know that already! I'll see you later, okay?"

"Adios."

After a few minutes of walking to the end of the floor corridor and down the main stairwell, Sasuke reached the front door of the building. He stepped outside, pausing for a moment to take in his surroundings, the surroundings that he was so very familiar with. Thin, rectangular buildings were sandwiched together into perfect alignment with each other, forming a line that seemed to go on for miles into the distance. On many of the buildings, the colorful paint that covered their bodies was now worn and chipped with age, some of it blemished further by the markings of graffiti or torn posters. Small cracks and holes riddled the sidewalk, and some of the streets were still in the process of being repaired. Although it was a place that might appear frightening to some people, it was generally a lot more peaceful than it looked. Nonetheless, it was one of the poorer sections of town, the only place that Sasuke and Itachi could afford to live.

'Well...better get going,' Sasuke thought to himself.

He began to walk. As he walked, he watched as the scenery around him steadily changed into a more suburban-like setting, with separate houses and their own separate yards, more trees, and even more stores. It was the place where most of his acquaintances and friends lived. Sasuke glanced skyward. The sun was hidden behind a thick veil of gray clouds, yet there had been no forecast concerning rain on the weather channel that morning. Even more peculiar was that these clouds gathered over the town quite often. Not once did it ever rain when they did.

However, before he had the chance to ponder further, Sasuke was suddenly knocked over by a large, gray dog.

"Holy crap!" Sasuke toppled onto his back, and the dog stared down at him, its slobbery, pink tongue dangling inches from his face. It certainly wasn't the sleek and slender type of dog that Karin was. However, Sasuke still recognized this dog well. They had met many times in the past. His name was Kiba.

"Hey! Hey, Kiba, you can't just go running off – oh crap! Did you tackle someone AGAIN?"

A young man about Sasuke's age approached the two of them. Unusually, he had hair that was pure white, and his face seemed somewhat canine-like in appearance. At the moment, he was breathing heavily, clutching a dog leash in his left hand. There was a smudge or two of dirt on his t-shirt. Sasuke and the young man stared blankly at each other for a brief few seconds. It had been a long time since they had met.

"Uh, hey, Akamaru," Sasuke gave a small wave.

"H-Hey...you alright?"

'Yeah, I'm fine." Sasuke pushed himself up to a stand, brushing off any dirt that may have clung to his clothes. Kiba continued to stare up at him as if waiting for something. The way its large, coal-colored eyes seemed to bore into his soul was unnerving.

Akamaru grinned sheepishly. "Hey, I'm really sorry about that, Sasuke; I dunno what happened. One moment I had Kiba on the leash, and suddenly he broke free. He's been acting kind of weird lately, to be honest. You're not hurt, are you?" The look of concern in his eyes was real.

"Nah, I'm okay," Sasuke shrugged, replying, "I was...a bit caught off-guard, I guess,"

"Well, if you're sure-" Akamaru had little chance to say much else, as suddenly Kiba let out a deep bark and sprinted away again. The boy shouted out a hasty good-bye before disappearing around the corner of a house. Kiba's rampant barking echoed through the air even after they were long gone from sight. Sasuke sighed, shrugged to himself, and continued walking. This time, he took notice of the many different people he passed by on his way to work. And he knew just about all of them in one way or another.

There was old man Onoki, a tiny, back-broken package of grumpiness that had a bad tendency to throw rocks at anyone who stepped on his lawn. He was generally cared for by his son and granddaughter, although even they had trouble with him sometimes. Sasuke had only seen him once before and had fortunately been able to dodge the geezer's flying stones; the rest of the details had been filled in by Itachi.

In the house next to them lived the three 'Suna' siblings, as they were called. The oldest one was Temari, who worked as a freelance seamstress, and she had even hired Sasuke in the past to help deliver her finished products. She had a lot of talent in her work. Kankuro was apparently a master puppeteer, but Sasuke never met him. The third member of their family, a young man named Gaara, tended to keep to himself in his room. There were rumors that he had some sort of mental illness. Sasuke couldn't say for sure what the truth was, though.

Also living on that street was the young couple Yahiko and Konan. Although they both shared a bizarre passion in designing tattoos, body piercings and hipster clothing, they were probably some of the friendliest people Sasuke had ever met. They had married back in college, when Konan got pregnant, although apparently they had planned it all out in the beginning. Their tiny son Nagato was as interested in studying amphibians as his parents were with attaching metal ornaments to noses and lips. Sasuke sometimes kept the small boy company per request of the parents, and was paid well enough for it.

Sasuke thought about all of the others he could name; Anko, a middle-aged woman who was always griping over having been dumped by 'potential soul-mates'. There was also Sai, the artist behind one of the most popular comic series to hit the shelves. Ten-Ten, the easily-overlooked weapons specialist who ran her own little gun and blade store. There was Sakura, one of Sasuke's few female friends and overall slacker who dropped out of high school, and the Hyuga cousins, who lived together in an old-styled family setting despite their dislike for each other. Iruka the school teacher lived somewhere close by to.

Suddenly, Sasuke stopped. His eyes grew wide, and his hands curled into fists. Why...why was he getting so angry by thinking about them? It was the same kind of anger he felt whenever he thought back to his repeating dream. The images of so many happy, smiling faces flashed through his mind, spinning all around him in a whirlwind. They were laughing at him and his brother. The anger inside of Sasuke kept rising and rising. It made him want to hurt something. It made him want to kill something. It made him want to kill those people for laughing at his expense. Why did their families get to live? Why do they get to be happy while he is left being miserable?

'No...what am I doing, thinking these things! I can't...I can't stop!' Sasuke gripped his head in both hands. His head was pounding so hard it felt like it could crack his skull. He wanted to scream, but he knew if he did, it would attract unwanted attention. His heart quickened, his blood boiled, his legs were shaking. It was too much to take. For an instant, in the depths of his own mind, he thought he saw something like a pinwheel.

And then, in the instant that it all happened, it went away. Sasuke blinked. The pain was gone, and so was his rage.

Sasuke stared at his sweat-stained palms with a furrowed brow.

'What WAS that?'

It didn't take long for him to calm down, and unfortunately, he knew that there was no way he could get a reliable answer to what had just transpired. He wasn't even sure if he should mention it; it might cause people to question his sanity. It had frightened him, sure, but that was it. There was no real harm done. Sasuke sighed, and picked up his pace to the flower shop. He just wanted to get this job over and done with already.

'Maybe I'm just tired...'

There were no more complications throughout the rest of Sasuke's walk. At one point, a white-haired old beggar with a scarf covering his face asked for some change, but Sasuke was more than willing to spare at least a dollar to the hobo. For some reason, he reminded Sasuke of someone from a long time ago, but he wasn't sure who. That was the only other notable thing that happened.

As Sasuke approached the Yamanaka flower shop, he caught sight of two figures standing outside in wait for him: the owner and manager of the shop, Inoichi Yamanaka, and his ever-present daughter, Ino. A scrowl crossed Sasuke's lips; he just hoped Ino would leave him alone, but the girl was quite impulsive, and getting on the bad side of both her and her father was a bad idea.

"Yo, Sasuke! You finally made it! Sorry we couldn't send the truck over to pick you up; we need to save the gas for today's delivery! I'm glad you made it here without any trouble!" Inoichi let out a soft chuckle. Ino said nothing, her stare firmly focused on the young man. She was undressing him with her eyes.

"Hello, sir. Good morning. We're doing a delivery? So we're going to be bringing some flowers somewhere today?"

"Yeah, although they're less flowers than ornamental plants; aloe vera, to be exact. One hundred aloe vera saplings, both white and black hybrids. Pretty expensive stuff."

Sasuke arched an eyebrow. "That's, uh, quite a lot, isn't it?"

"That's right. Even more surprising, is that the place we have to take these things to is that freaky lab up on the hill. It was a request from Madara himself."

Sasuke's eyes widened. He knew that he should just ignore taking a chance, like everything else that's been happening in his life, but this was the first time that he knew he could actually do something. He couldn't figure out what his dreams meant, or why he had felt so angry earlier. Those were things that were intangible. But he was capable of sneaking into that building and find out what Madara was doing. It was probably heavily guarded, and Inoichi clearly wouldn't approve, but he couldn't push the idea out of his mind. Sasuke had a feeling that whatever Madara was doing was affecting the town in more ways than one. This may be his only chance.

"Alright, then we should get started right away, huh?"