Author's Note: Wow, it's been a while, ne? Ehehe, well uh, I'm really sorry, guys. You see, I kind of had this done in August buuut me and my beta (Wicka) have been a little forgetful and kind of, well, forgot about this thing D: And everytime we did remember we couldn't access it. I'm really sorry! But on another note, I'm writing again :D And I've got half of the next chapter of this done and about 1/3 of OMBS's next chapter done, so I should be posting those up sometime soon as well.
Anyways, I'm extremely proud of how this chapter came out, you've got no idea :D So! Without further ado, I would like you to read for yourself and see if you're in love with it as much as I am XD
Oh, and one more thing. If you spot any spelling errors and whatnot, blame it on Wicka, (and Kate cause she read this thing before I posted it too XD) it's all their fault XD (Lolz, I loooooves you Kat and Kate ;D)
NOW ON WITH THE DAMN STORY ALREADY!!!
A Dreamscape
Darkness Before Dawn:
"Curiosity killed the cat, but what if the cat was framed by stupidity...?"
-Source Unknown
This was unbelievable.
Seriously.
The mission was simple. Just get in there, get the goods and GO! But unfortunately for Sasuke, things just didn't always go as planned. And to top that off, it was entirely the dobe's fault.
Of course it was! When was it not?
Sasuke sighed and rubbed his forehead with the heel of his palm. He had just gotten out of (a lovely afternoon session of) detention and was now walking home…slowly.
He had been dreading this all day- the going home part.
It wasn't as if he didn't like where he lived, because face it- he was flipping rich. And with the privilege of being wealthy, it automatically came with a good neighborhood; safe environment and a big house (Just ask the commercials! They'll tell you).
It was just that… it got so lonely there. (But if ever asked, Sasuke would respond with: Not that an Uchiha could be lonely, or anything like that. In fact, Uchihas' enjoyed their peace and quiet.) There really wasn't anybody around, unless you counted his personal maid, the cookhouse keeper, and the other household running individuals and such.
Usually he wouldn't mind walking the short distance from school to his house- mansion to be exact- he was in fact a trained athlete and one of the best soccer and archery players in his entire school so the trip to and from was no strenuous task. But that was when his brother had been around.
It had been about 6 months since Itachi had suddenly moved out with unknown reasons. The only thing he had left Sasuke with, was a poke in the forehead and a small, pained smile saying he was 'Sorry'.
And with no explanation of this sudden departure he had decided to ask his father (several times in fact) why his brother had suddenly up and left.
The only reason Fugaku could come up with, (the words 'come up with' were due to the fact that despite what he may have believed, Fugaku was not at all that convinced in his son's explanation to the startling event either) was that his eldest son had found a big time job opportunity that he couldn't possibly pass up and that's why he had to leave.
Sasuke highly doubted that that was what Itachi had left for. And really, what job could he have possibly have taken that would require him to leave like he did without telling Sasuke what this alleged job was before moving out? It wasn't as if he was being recruited to be a secret agent or something...
But somewhere, deep in his heart, Sasuke knew his brother was in trouble. Big trouble. But it wasn't as if he could do anything about it, even if he knew what this trouble happened to be. He was just a regular, average, 17 year-old male living in Konahagakure.
Well…if average could be classified as being stalked and hoarded with stupid teenage women everyday and everywhere he friggen' went. It wasn't as if he hated females, he was very much a heterosexual thank you very much! But day after day of being pounced on by them… it got to a guy after a while (not that it was easy to get to him. He was an Uchiha, remember?)
Besides, it wasn't like they liked him for anything but his good looks and money. They were just shallow beings that cared about nothing more than getting into his pants.
All they like us for, is our hot bod! Pfft! A voice inside his head stated sarcastically.
Sasuke sighed again as he walked up the front walkway and fished his keys out of his front pants pocket and opened the door quietly.
Upon entering the threshold, he threw -with acute accuracy, mind you- his keys into a china bowl sitting on one of the entry tables.
"Sasuke-sama," His personal maid, Haya, called to him just as he was about to ascend the stairs up to his room.
She had chocolate brown hair that was tied up in a tight bun on the back of her head, with teddy bear brown eyes to match. She wore the standard maid's outfit that all of the Uchiha's workers were required to dress, which were a bit annoying in his opinion. But then again, it was his mother who had ordered the damn things.
"Where would you like this?" She asked, holding up his dry-cleaning.
"I'll take it." He said shortly and held out his arms for her to place the item into.
He nodded to her in thanks and climbed the large staircase. As he strode down the long hallway towards his room, he passed a particular door that made him stop in his tracks.
It was his brother's room.
It hadn't been open in approximately six months.
(Six long and lonely months to be exact.)
The youngest Uchiha tilted his head, curiously. He hadn't been in his brother's room since the day he had left. Which didn't really matter since he didn't exactly spend a lot of time in there when Itachi had been around in the first place. Usually he would go in to search for a calculator or something as equally useless from time to time. But now that the prodigal college student was gone, he had made it a personal mission to stay clear of his eldest brother's room for fear of bringing up unwanted emotions from their deepest resuscitated crevices.
But maybe, he thought, there was some clue in there as to why his sibling had left in such a hurry.
He reached for the door, before freezing, suddenly remembering his dry-cleaning that was swinging in his arm. He shrugged mentally and proceeded down the hall to his bedroom, where he left said item and grabbing the skeleton key that he had 'stolen' from his father's office one day.
When he reached his brother's room and tried the knob, not surprised to find that it had been locked, he twisted the key into the lock and turned it. As soon as he opened the door, a dark, musty smell assaulted his sinuses. Sasuke wrinkled his nose in disgust but continued through the door frame nonetheless, closing it softly behind him. He pocketed the key as well.
He stood there for a moment, just inside the door, taking everything in. It was a large, plain room -nothing too extravagant, such things bothered Itachi as he was never quite the materialistic type that their father seemed to be- which had a queen-sized bed in the middle of the room that was pushed up against the far-side wall. Above the bed, was the Uchiha family crest, just like in Sasuke's own room.
The blinds were drawn, sunlight shining through the cracks in between each individual sliver of plastic, giving the place a shadowed appearance.
Sasuke walked farther into the space and towards the bed. Sitting down he looked around his brother's room again and a pained expression crossed his face and he hung his head. He could almost see Itachi sitting at the chair at his desk, with his (oh so obnoxiously) perfect posture, working on something that would be hidden away the moment Sasuke tried to see what it was.
He didn't understand. Why would his brother just leave like that? He had been asking himself this very same question for weeks now, and it wasn't exactly helping with his stress level. He, at first, had thought of it as his fault, but quickly deduced that as impossible. Itachi and Sasuke had gotten into petty fights before, but nothing so major and catastrophic that it would have caused the other to leave their home permanently.
Sasuke sighed and turned his head, spying the bedside table. It looked as if one of the drawers had been shoved closed in a hurry, which was odd, considering Itachi was so bloody organized about everything. He reached over and tried opening it, this time he was surprised that he found that it had been locked.
Whatever was in there was definitely important, enough-so that it needed to be locked and wouldn't be able to open without a personal key.
Sasuke reached into his pants pocket and brought out the skeleton key, kneeling lightly in front of the nightstand. He shoved it into the keyhole and gently turned it (silently thanking whatever god was out there for coming up with the beautiful invention such-as a Skeleton Key). After unlocking it, he gingerly pulled the key out and quietly placed it on top of the table. He looked quickly to the door, checking to see if it was still closed.
He turned back to the drawer and his eyes filled with a type of excitement that was not a common emotion for the Uchiha.
Sasuke opened it carefully, as if a bomb were to go off if he opened it to fast. When it was fully ajar he examined it.
The drawer contained only a few things: a leather bound notebook (which was very, very old, and upon further inspection it listed all of the old clans of Konaha- his being one of them. What caught Sasuke's attention though, was the design of the cover- it was very strange) a knife that had a number of intricate designs curving along its hilt, and an old map.
Sasuke stared at the map for a minute and then realized that it was a layout of his own house with some kind of line zigzagging through it. He assumed it was some kind of treasure map or something, seeing as how there was a big 'X' at the end of, what he believed, was the trail.
Sasuke closed the drawer, locked it, and stood up, all without taking his eyes off the map. He picked up the other things he had found and held them delicately in his hands.
Carefully and quietly, he slipped out of his brother's room, down the hall and back into his own. After checking if he had locked the door, he set the things down on his large bed and crawled up next to the treasures.
He brought out the map and examined it again. Maybe if he followed this, it would give him an idea as to-
"Sasuke!" His thoughts were interrupted by his father's loud yell and he knew he was in trouble.
His father had probably gotten a call from the principal this morning saying that he had gotten detention today for what he did and was to be given a stern talking to when he got home and blah, blah, blah. (God, the excitement was totally killing him.)
Sasuke sighed and put the map and other things he had found under his bed before calmly walking out of his bedroom and down into the foyer where he knew his parents were awaiting him.
"Sit." Fugaku ordered as soon as he had entered. His mother was sitting next to her husband throwing her son a pitied look.
Sasuke sat and placed his hands into his lap, reflecting a blank expression.
"I got a call from your principal today." The oldest Uchiha started, his voice held a tint of anger. He fixed Sasuke with a glare. "She said that you had gotten detention, this afternoon. Care to explain?"
Sasuke didn't answer his father's accusations, mostly because it was true- he had gotten detention today, but it wasn't entirely his fault. And the fact that he found if he kept silent, (most times) it usually did him good and all he would get was a slap on the wrist and be sent off to his room for the night.
Obviously this was not the case today.
"Sasuke…" Fugaku bit out warningly.
"Honey," his mother interjected, putting a small hand gently on her husband's arm, to calm him somewhat. "We're only trying to help. We need you to tell us what happened. This isn't like you to get into trouble like this."
How would you know? He wanted to say but held his tongue, knowing it would only cause him trouble in the long run, and opted for a shrug instead.
"What do you mean, 'you don't know'?" He could tell he was only angering Fugaku further but he couldn't care less at this point.
"Sasuke, please tell us what's the matter." His mother was pleading, he hated when she did that because he knew that he was breaking. He couldn't resist not opening up to her when she looked at him like that. It made him feel so guilty.
"Naruto and I, along with Shikamaru and Neji, took some chocolate cake and ramen," He muttered the last part under his breath. "From the cafeteria when the lunch-ladies weren't looking… and ate it."
His father sputtered, "Why would you do that?! You don't even like sweets!"
How else was I suppose to get your attention? You ignore me otherwise… He shrugged again with disinterest.
"Sasuke! Do you realize what you are doing to your reputation?! You are soiling our family name with these stunts you pull! What were you thinking?" He had always been a bit peeved with the fact that his father cared more about whether or not his youngest son was labeled with a negative comment than Sasuke himself.
"I wasn't." he said, his voice perfectly rehearsed with a hint of underlying boredness.
"Exactly!" Fugaku shouted and turned to his mother. "You see! Itachi never would have done this!" His father continued to rant while Sasuke just tuned him out. It was the same speech anyway. This wasn't any different from any other time he had gotten into trouble.
"Are you even listening to me?! Sasuke!" His father fixed him with another glare.
"Hn." He said as he got up and left the room, annoyed with practically everything.
"Stupid…" he muttered under his breath and climbed the stairs, taking two at a time. He walked briskly down the hall and slammed his door closed when he entered his bedroom.
Flopping down onto his bed he stared up at the ceiling. He didn't blame them (most of the time) for ignoring him. It wasn't their fault that he wasn't as good as his brother, or that he couldn't seem to do anything right. It was his fault. And it was his fault for acting out like a child because he wanted some attention.
But what the hell else was he supposed to do?
Guess he wouldn't be getting dinner tonight, but that was fine with him, he had a couple of those fruit bars stored up here somewhere…
A rasp of three sharp knocks interrupted his thoughts and he looked over to his door. Slowly getting up, he made his way over and opened it. There, standing in the door way, was his personal maid, Haya. She had a tray in her arms, full of all assortments of food.
She saw him look over the food in confusion and decided to elaborate. "Figured you'd be hungry," She shrugged. "And since I didn't think it would be wise to have you up here starving while your parents were downstairs eating a nice meal, I brought this up for you." And held the tray out for him.
He took it and looked at her, amused. "I wouldn't have starved by skipping one meal."
She shrugged again. "Yes, but you are a growing young man who needs his nutrition." Then sighed. "Whether your pride will allow you to or not."
He smirked. "Thank you, Haya."
She bowed and smiled. "It's my job, sir." And walked away.
He shook his head and closed the door, turned on the TV and ate his dinner on one of the many arm chairs that furnished his room.
After, he decided to do a little studying and then went to bed. Forgetting all about the special items he had found in his brother's room that were stashed under his bed.
"So, did you get into trouble yesterday?" Sasuke looked up and into the blue, glossy eyes of his best friend.
He gave Naruto a look, "What do you think?"
"Eh, that bad…?"
He sighed and nodded. Naruto gave him a soft pat on the shoulder.
"'S'okay, teme. We won't get caught next time." Sasuke rolled his eyes and gave the blonde a light shove and a smirk.
"If there ever is a next time. Besides, we'll have to leave Hyuuga behind."
"Eh?" He gave Sasuke a confused pout. "How come?"
"'Cause he almost wet his pants yesterday."
"I did not, Uchiha." Interjected a voice that made the two look up to see Neji and Shikamaru stroll in and take their seats next to the pair. "So stop lying."
The raven haired boy rolled his eyes. "Whatever, Hyuuga."
Class started a while after when the teacher walked in, tardy as usual. "Alright, everyone." The silver haired man addressed his students. "Let's begin, shall we?"
"Psst."
Sasuke rolled his eyes and ignored the blonde haired girl who was trying to get his attention (as usual) and went back to silently solving the math problems that were placed up on the board.
It was so annoying. Every freakin' day she would do her same routine while asking him some stupid question, just so she could get him to talk to her. It was around these times that he really hated his fan-base.
"Psst! Sasuke-kun." If she kicked his chair one more time, he was going to fucking scream.
"Sasuke-kuuuun…!" Oh, god. Now she was whining...her shrill pathetic whining...
Go away, Ino!!!
"Sa-su-ke-kun!" She whispered and kicked his chair in sync with each syllable of his name.
He whipped around, ready to bit her head off. "What?" he gritted through his teeth.
"Can I borrow your notebook for a sec? I can't see the board." She asked with a sweet smile.
Well, maybe you should get some damn glasses!!
He sighed and gave her his notebook, because being polite to women was how he had been raised, and even though this one was god awful annoying, he had to 'respect' her.
He idly tapped his fingers on the top of his desk, watching as all of the students around him continued doing their class work. The teacher, Kakashi, was busy grading their test from last week (which he had no doubt had done fabulously on, because come on, there was a reason why he was called a genius).
"Thank you, Sasu-kun." She drawled out his name with a slight purr, where as only her type would find it mildly attractive. The blonde haired nuisance held up his notebook for him to take. He gladly accepted it back and was about to continue doing his work when he noticed a little note scrawled in the top corner of the margin.
It said: 'Sasuke-kun, we should get together this weekend and do' She actually had the audacity to underline that particular word. 'Something! ;) Today's Friday so we can go out to dinner or catch a movie, you know? I'll be at my locker after school, so I'll see you then! XoXo Ino.
God, could she be anymore forward? He had told her time and time again that he wasn't interested. It was bad enough that he had everyone else riding his ass, and he certainly didn't need to have a girl (let alone forty) hounding him for date(s) and whatnot.
She even put a winking-sign! A voice inside his head whined with disgust.
Sasuke's thoughts were interrupted, however, when the bell rang- signaling that class was over and it was now time for lunch.
"Alright, guys." Kakashi said, standing up. "Rip out your work from your notebooks and put them up here in a pile."
Sasuke looked down at his own work, mentally cringing when he saw that he had only finished about half of them.
Great…Just another thing to add to my list of problems…
"Welcome home, Sasuke-sama." His butler greeted him as soon as he entered the house. He nodded to him and trudged upstairs, carting his heavy book-bag with him.
Upon opening his door, he flung his backpack by his desk and flopped down onto his bed, laying there for a few moments with his eyes closed. He was, to say the least, exhausted. Between schoolwork and getting chased by his fan girls- he could honestly say it had been a long day.
He exhaled a long sigh and rubbed his eyes. He guessed he should start doing his homework now, and then by the time dinner rolled around, he'd probably be done.
Sasuke sat up slowly, suddenly remembering the things he had found in his brother's drawer yesterday. He quickly got off of his bed and bent down, reaching under his bed, mentally smiling when his hand grasped his findings.
He put the three items on his bed and inspected them all, just to make sure that they weren't damaged in any way.
He picked the map up carefully and studied it. It looked like it led to the basement, which was weird because no one had been down there in years.
(His house had been passed down from each generation to the eldest male Uchiha in line and since Itachi was the eldest- when their parents died, he would get the house and all of its possessions, including the maids and workers.)
So that meant that this map must have been very old. Sasuke smirked to himself, good thing his parents weren't coming back until Monday, which meant that he could go down into the basement and see what was down there without being caught.
(Mikoto had always liked to tag along on his father's business trips, Sasuke had guessed that it was because of all the free shopping she could do whilest his husband was in an important conference meeting.)
Alright then, let's go. And picked up the map, book and dagger while slipping out his door (like a ninja in the night).
Getting past the maids and house-running staff hadn't been that hard. All he had to really do was hide in one of the many shadows that loitered in the hallway and wait for them to pass him by.
After taking the shortcut, he was now faced with the door that led down into the basement. He opened it gently, wincing when he heard it creak a little. He looked around to see if anybody had noticed and was coming to check, but was relieved when he didn't hear any footsteps approaching.
He closed the door and slipped noiselessly along the narrow stairwell that seemed to wrap around a large stone support beam. Luckily, he had brought a lantern with him, figuring there were no light bulbs to lead the way down into the cellar.
(It slightly reminded him of a corny medieval video game, the darkness, the lantern, the stone steps. It made him wonder why he'd bought all those stupid games when all he had to do was go downstairs.)
He ran the fingertips of his left hand, while holding the lantern and other items with his right, against the large stone pillar as he descended.
As soon as he landed at the bottom of the stairs, Sasuke brought the lantern in front of him while shifting the objects into his other hand. He brought out the map and scanned it momentarily while starting to head in the direction of the 'trail' that had been drawn.
The basement was huge.
It was like going through a labyrinth, no way to get out or to your destination...which was beginning to frustrate Sasuke.
He frowned into the darkness and brought the lantern up towards his face. The light illuminated, what looked to be a medium sized family room. It perked Sasuke's interests and he questioned himself as to why there was a family room down in the basement, while there was also one (that was quite large to begin with) upstairs.
He shook his head and continued on his journey. About eight minutes later, he stopped when he had noticed that he had passed the same cobweb twice. He gave a frustrated growl and brought out the map again.
He looked around himself for a moment and then down at the map as he observed that he was in some sort of wine room, not far from where the big 'X' had been marked on the piece of parchment.
Almost there. He thought as he could barely contain his excitement, which bubbled and manifested in his stomach, causing the pleasant feelings to spread all throughout his body, while giving him a sort of adrenaline rush.
Sasuke walked slowly and carefully as he followed the map. He stopped suddenly when he turned a corner and came upon a dark hallway. It's archway, was made out of coarse stone (the whole cellar was), but had a very intricate design that had been carved into the mineral. What struck Sasuke as odd was not the archway but the light breeze that softly blew his bangs and gently rustled against his face.
What the hell…? The teen unconsciously brought the parchment he clasped tightly in his fist close to his face.
This was it.
Down that hallway, whatever it was that was down there, was the 'treasure' that he knew would somehow change his life, forever.
As cheesy as it sounded, Sasuke's gut was telling him not to go down there. It was better to be unaware. He should just go back upstairs and forget about this whole thing.
(Ignorance was bliss, after all.)
But he knew he couldn't. His brother was at stake and no matter what reassurance was given to him, he knew that Itachi was in trouble and he had to help him.
No matter what.
Itachi would do the same for him, after all. They were brothers and they stuck together, through thick and thin and nothing was ever going to change that.
Straightening his shoulders and holding his head up high, he squished that tiny voice in the back of his head that said, 'This was a bad idea', and continued down the dark, dank corridor.
The breeze shifted a little, as if it had been expecting him (which Sasuke immediately deemed as impossible) and started to instead blow the opposite way- as if beckoning him to follow it.
He complied and ambled down the passageway. It was long and lengthy, seeming as though it were never ending. He wondered briefly the square footage of that place, it was clearly bigger then his his footsteps started echoing oddly, as if the sound was vibrating off of something and then coming back, he stopped. Brought forth his only light source, and looked around where he was.
He couldn't really see anything so he stepped more into the vast space and noticed there were two large holders that had thick candles stuffed in them on either side of the expansive room. He walked toward the candles, his eyes zeroing in on a pack of matches that had been carelessly strewn next to one of them.
Aniki must have left them here by accident. Sasuke thought as he picked it up and (after placing the lantern and items down) lit one of the candles and then walked over to the other side of the room and did the same to the other dusty wick.
Both waxen light-sources glowed dimly for a moment before they suddenly sparked to life- creating a bright orange glow. Sasuke looked to the front of the room and was surprised by what he found.
It was a large, immaculate alter.
Beautifully designed and constructed- it was entirely made of stone and had two large platforms, both a dark marble. The smallest one was sitting atop the larger one, making it look like a step. On the wall above the alter, was a picture of the Uchiha fan, carved into the monolith.
He gathered the things he had left by the candle holder and walked forward.
The minute he stepped up onto the platform, the cool breeze stilled. As if holding its breath and waiting for Sasuke to make the next move. He knelt down and carefully placed the objects he had acquired next to him.
On the floor of the main platform was what looked to be a circle, with squiggled marks branching off of it. Sasuke furrowed his eyebrows and closely examined the dark marble, looking at his hand and then back to the stone. He gently placed his hand in the middle of the circle and held it there.
Sasuke looked over to where the knife, book, map and lantern lay discarded. He narrowed his eyes and carefully reached over and picked up the knife, surveying it and then gazed down at his hand. Before he could think better of it, he brought the knife down on the palm of his right hand and made a long slice.
He gritted his teeth a little from the pain but otherwise ignored it. He took one look at the alter and made his decision, disregarding the voice in the back of his head screaming at him to stop what he was doing and just run.
In one split second of insanity (as he would later call it as such), Sasuke slammed the palm with the gash on it down onto the alter, right in the middle of the circle
(Sealing his fate, forever.)
A moment of silence reigned throughout the room and then all of a sudden Sasuke was flung back from the alter with great force by a visible energy that almost made him flee. He watched as blue waves of something bounced off of the walls and seemed to circle and manifest onto the place where he had slammed his bloodied palm.
After a moment, the energy died down and dispelled completely. Sasuke sat up slowly, his eye wide as he stared at the alter before him.
The intense blue energy had been replaced by a person with long pink hair who was on their knees, hands on thighs and head bowed so he couldn't see their face.
"Hello, Uchiha-sama." A voice, purely feminine, greeted him. "I am here to serve you."
Author's Note: And you have made it to the end!! Whoo! -claps- I hope you liked it as much as I liked actually writing it ;) So, I'm hoping all of you can tell who our new 'mystery' lady is in the last scene. Aaaaand for all of you good guessers out there, maybe you can tell why Itachi left?? :D
Anyway, REVIEW PLEASE! I have to go to the dentist today and get my teeth cleaned D: So maybe you can be so kind as to leave a review while I'm spitting out icky teeth-cleaner? XP
Thanks for reading!
ihearttoast09