Sooooo. New chapter. I actually had to rewrite this chapter once I was finished, because of mayor crack (keyword peanut butter. I will upload that accident perhaps someday just for fun^^).

But before we start, I wanted to thank the reviewers:

You are awesome! I know partly from myself, that though you may like a story, you just don't bother to review all the time, so thanks that you did it anyway.

Disclaimer: The usual. Don't own any Naruto characters.

Warning: No warnings. Just happy Sasuke.

. . .

"The innocence that feels no risk and is taught no caution, is more vulnerable than guilt, and oftener assailed."

-Nathaniel Parker Willis

. . .

Wishful Thinking:

The two fingers aimed for his fore head. They poked the same spot like every time and the usual words followed.

"Sorry, otouto. Maybe next time." A really small smile graced Itachi's lips, as got up from his kneeling position in front of the young boy and straightened his Anbu clothes. As goodbye he ruffled his little brother's raven hair, before he went after his team and disappeared out of sight, leaving a pouting Sasuke behind.

"Stupid Anbu. Should send someone else away, not always aniki." The young Uchiha muttered to himself disappointed. He had asked Itachi, if he could train with him, but the Anbu-captain had an important mission and therefore no time for his younger sibling. And now here Sasuke was, at seven in the morning on a Saturday with nothing to do anymore. What a pity that Sasuke wasn't a long sleeper so it would have been pointless to go back to bed either. After a moment of debating what to do with his newly won free time and finding a satisfying solution in the process, Sasuke turned around and headed to his room, determination quickly took over the boy's features again. His bare feed made hushed patting noises on the cold wood of the veranda as he walked back. He slid the door to his bedroom open and slipped in, all the time trying to be as quite as possible to not wake up his parents. He went straight to a wooden dresser and took the weapon pouch that was lying on the top, before he opened it to check if enough kunais were in it. After deeming that the number was alright, he attached it on the belt of his white shorts and gave a small sigh. If his aniki wasn't going to train him, he will have to do it himself. He also took a small pack of salty crackers from the top drawer and a grey shirt from the one under it. The raven-haired Uchiha put the crackers into his weapon pouch and took his long sleeved black shirt of, exchanging it for the grey t-shirt. Then he left his room as quietly as he entered it and tiptoed to the kitchen. There, he took a small sheet of paper and an already chewed on pencil from the counter and scribbled the words I'm training, but I'll we back for lunch! on it. A rather sad attempt of a heart followed, before the piece of paper was put right in the middle of the table, unable to be overlooked. Sasuke knew that his mother probably won't appreciate it that he was training alone, but his father certainly won't mind. After he checked one last time if he forgot anything, Sasuke went to the front door (a/n: I don't know if Sasu's house has a front door in or not. If I'm wrong, please correct me ^^), where he put his sandals on and left.

It was a beautiful day outside and it seemed like he had it all to himself. No one except for him was on the streets; like the whole world was still asleep. Looking up, he saw no cloud on the sky. Only the sun, a few f birds and strangely the moon. It looked weird on a bright blue sky. Just… not like the moon. If Sasuke would have been a philosopher or a poet now he could have thought about the topic for hours, but being a child, he was totally satisfied with the fact that it didn't look normal and quickly forgot all thoughts about moons, as he walked to his usual training spot.

It didn't take him long to reach the small clearing in the rather big forest behind the Uchiha district and after making sure that every target was still there where he and Itachi left it the day before, one of the rare days were Itachi actually had time for him, Sasuke started to stretch a little bit, before he took a kunai out of his weapon pouch. Twirling it around his finger for a moment to get used to the weight, he threw it at the biggest target right on the front of the big tree without seriously trying. It hit the white and red disc, but just on the outmost ring. Not waiting long, the young boy immediately took out a second kunai and this time concentrated for a moment, before sending it f towards the same target again. This time he hit one of the inner rings, but still not the bull's eye.

Sasuke sighed a little bit desperately. Itachi always hit right in the middle without even looking. The small Uchiha already prepared himself for a third throw, when suddenly something black crossed his field of vision The moment was too short for Sasuke to identify what it was, but he assumed it was just a low f bird. He looked around to make sure there was really nothing though, before he aimed again. He concentrated only on the small red point in the middle of the target, fading out every noise from the forest, only thinking of how the kunai pierces right through that taunting black circle, before he raised his arm, took a calm breath and… let something warm and fury that suddenly stroked against his leg cause him to throw the knife about two meters past the target. Shocked, Sasuke immediately looked down to his feet, only to realise that there was nothing! Jerking his head to the left, he only found trees and bushes. Jerking it to the right he got a similar picture.

A noise that sounded like someone was eating noisily behind him, suddenly startled Sasuke and he swirled around. His eyes widened a little bit, before he knitted his eyebrows in confusion. Why hadn't he noticed? There on a stone sat a cat, hair as black as Sasuke's own, and licked it's from the sunlight shimmering fur, apparently not paying attention to the human a few meters away from it. It was sitting there, all innocent, as if it didn't just ruin a perfect throw completely on purpose. At least that's what the Sasuke thought. Even when he took a step forward and another, the animal didn't react.

The young Uchiha continued to walk towards the cat until he was right in front of the flat stone, where he kneeled down and moved his hand in the direction of the still licking cat to touch it, as if he wanted to see if it was real and not a joke, played by his own mind. But before he could close the small distance, the black cat stood up, jumped gracefully down from the stone and strode towards the trees. Slowly, but far from lazy, it moved without any noise away from the raven-haired boy, Sasuke's eyes never leaving the black body.

The cat has already put a paw on the root of one of the trees, when it finally honoured him with a watchful gaze through green eyes, before disappearing. Sasuke couldn't help but follow. His curiosity just always managed to get the upper hand within a very short time and for the most ridiculous reasons. He peeked around the tree and found the cat balancing on a half rotten branch that was lying on the ground. Again it stared at him, before moving to the next group of trees. For Sasuke it looked like it wanted to guide him somewhere. And of course the young Uchiha jogged after the cat, because really, which kid wouldn't follow an animal that wants to show you something, and every time he caught up with the cat, the black fur ball would continue its path.

It led him deep inside the forest without Sasuke noticing it, since he was too busy displaying the most imaginative stories about the magical things he thought were going to happen in his infantile head. He also didn't notice the scratches he got on his legs and arms, while they wandered deeper into dense undergrowth, one especially nasty thorn even slicing deep into his shirt, cutting through the soft fabric and the even softer skin under it. The cat didn't seem to struggle manoeuvring through the green, but the small Uchiha slowly got out of breath and he was now more stumbling than walking, which still didn't stop him from following though.

Time passed and his surroundings got darker, less and less light reached the ground through the thick cover of leaves above him. Only a few sunrays still made it to the mossy floor, creating small dots here and there like confetti. Due to the increasing high of the trees around Sasuke, it also became impossible to see the faces of the Hokage that were carved into the mountain of Konoha by now. Not that Sasuke noticed that. His black eyes were still fixed on the cat and his body was working on autopilot as it climbed over a big fallen tree.

The raven-haired boy was currently right on top of said tree, ready to roll down on the other side, when he suddenly stopped his action. Reason for the sudden stop was the cat of course. Sasuke only saw it through a few bushed, since the cat was at least 5 meter ahead of him, but he could say with a probability bordering on certainty that the animal had finally reached its destination. He could tell that, because the cat had sat down, something it hasn't done the whole time, and had picked up its earlier task to lick its fur.

After Sasuke managed to bring his feet safely back on the ground again, he hurried past the bushes, a smile plastered on his pale face that just couldn't entirely express the anticipation he was feeling. But his excitement came to a sudden end when he halted next to the cat. The only thing that was new to the already known picture of trees and bushes was a stone. A stone similar to the one the cat sat on earlier, just in big. It was probably four or five times higher than the young Uchiha and as wide as the house he lived in.

Sasuke looked down at the animal to his feed. It was currently licking a fore-paw, before it would stroke with it over its face, but it interrupted the cleaning, when it felt the eyes that were directed at him, together with a silent accusation. Green eyes slowly wandered upwards, meeting slightly disappointed black ones.

"That's what you wanted to show me? A stone?" The little boy asked, disbelieve evident in his voice. He was sad that it wasn't a magical cave that led to another world or a hidden sea with beautiful mermaids in it. He sighed. Everything he came up with in time of their little cross-country run turned out to be mindless, childish dreaming. Wishful thinking.

The cat stared at him. Then it looked up that rock. Then back to Sasuke and again back to the rock. Sasuke. Rock. A few more times and the boy finally got the hint.

"Up there?" He too looked up the stone and wondered what there could be, before swallowing hard. Without realising that he was following the imagined orders of a straying cat, Sasuke took a deep breath and gathered all the strength he had left, before stepping forward, directly in front of the stone. He raised his arms and let his small hands glide over the rough surface while gazing up and down the stone wall, analysing it. There were gaps and ledges all over the rock, so it probably won't be that hard to climb up. After finding an easy way and mentally climbing it up and down for a few times, he grabbed with each hand a small ledge, one higher than the other, and squeezed his toes into a small gap. So far so good. He made sure that every hold was secure, before he disengaged his other feet from the ground and set it on a small ledge as well.

And the first meters indeed were easy. Over and over again, Sasuke would reach higher with a hand until he found something to hold onto and then would use a leg and the other hand to push himself a little bit upwards, before searching with the foot of the other leg for a higher possibility to stand on. It went well with this method, but after half of the way, the movement became rather painful and Sasuke was so exhausted that he needed to make a break. Small drops of sweat ran down his forehead and right into his eyes, making them itch and a cool breeze let his damp body shiver. His quaking chest was pressed flat against the cold stone, the coldness invading his whole form, and his fingers and knees were sore. Actually all Sasuke's body wanted was to let go of the damn stone and just fall down to the ground and rest, but his mind had an entirely different plan. It had already retrieved all ideas about the upcoming events and even added a new one. This anticipation for what was coming, mixed with Sasuke's natural ambition, let the mind win over the body and he forced himself to continue.

The last few meters were one bitch of a fight. One knee and a few fingers started to bleed and he slipped off on a few occasions, because of his weakened state. But in the end he succeeded. When both of his hands grabbed the edge of the rock and he hauled himself up with his last energy until he had his upper body on the flat platform, followed first by one and a breath later by the other leg, the young Uchiha felt truly and utterly happy, despite his horribly hurting limbs.

He laid on his back for a long while, one arm hanging over the edge, chest rising and falling in a fast pace. When his breath finally slowed down and the pain had lessened at least a little bit, Sasuke finally sat up and his head turned downward. There on the ground the cat was still cleaning, now its tail. He wondered if it would wait for him until he comes down.

Sasuke then raised his head and looked around on the plateau for the first time. It was wide and plain and totally empty, much to his dismay. The disappointment returned to him. He got up from his sitting position and walked slowly to the centre, looking around, scanning the new surroundings. The plateau was complete in the shadows of the high trees around him and it was silent, only the natural sounds of the forest were audible. Even from up here, the small Uchiha couldn't make out Konoha, again only seeing green everywhere as he made a pirouette. And another one. And another. The tuning created a nice tickling feeling in his stomach and he continued.

Soon Sasuke began to giggle and noticed with astonishment that when he let his arms hang loose, they rise and fall on their own, depending on how fast he spun around. He will have to ask Itachi when he returns, why it's like that. If he gets the chance to do so. Because the raven-haired Uchiha unfortunately didn't notice that he wasn't turning on the spot anymore. No, he was moving slowly but surely towards the edge of the rock.

The light-headed felling in his head became stronger now, the giggling got louder and the edge came closer without his knowledge.

A turn and he was only one step away from it.

A second turn and a half step was all that was left.

A third turn and his left foot glided over the edge...

Okay ^^. One last question, before you can go: Would it be okay if there will be no Uchiha massacre? It just doesn't fit in the plot. Or would it be too much of a change if I would cut it out? Please let me know ^^.

Until then, write some reviews please (my ego needs them!), be happy, brush your teeth, don't drink and drive and uhhh… do what you do ^^

Good bye, au revoir (I said salut last time, which was wrong by the way ^^ thx . for correcting me), ja ne, tschüss, adios, güle güle, Пока and adjö.