When in Rome
by Slightly Sane
When in Rome,
Do as the Romans do.
If they fight us,
We'll fight back.
"What happens?"
"When?"
"When they find us?"
"…I don't want to know."
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Chapter Two
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The night was calm. A young boy stood alone on a hill, gazing up into the sky. All around him, small glowing flies danced in the air, leaving a trail of light in their wake that only lasted moments before fading away. He reached out to grasp one of the small insects, but his arm was too short. A small whine rang out through the silence as the boy tried again, desperately wanting to see the light in his own hand. Again, he failed to grab it, this time stumbling forward a little towards the edge. His small, dark grey eyes clouded with tears as each futile attempt to grab the beautiful floating bugs failed. He gave in; letting his small body fall to the ground with another sharp whine. Sobs racked his small frame as he grabbed desperately at the grass. He couldn't grab the fireflies, he just couldn't reach…
If you grab me a firefly, Sasuke…
I'll come home…
…
Niisan…
Beep.
Beep.
Beep.
Beep.
BEEP!!!
Slam.
He awoke to a massive headache and a putrid smell. The sun pouring in from the poorly covered windows burned his eyes, making it almost impossible for him to see. He took in a deep, forced breath as he brought up his forearm to cover his eyes. An Uchiha hangover was not one of the most pleasant things to experience. It seemed as if someone had spiked the punch from the previous night, and without knowing (but well aware by the taste…) they drank a little too much. Sasuke groaned lightly as he tried to turn over onto his side, feeling the stiffness of his arm shift underneath his weight. The whole thing had passed in a blur. Meeting with the parents, meeting their relatives and friends… it had all seemed really pointless. It was one of the final weekends before the end of school, and he had to waste him time on such—
Sasuke's eyes shot open. Scrambling from out under the sheets, he half fell off the mattress as he tried to gain some sort of footing. Yesterday was Sunday. He scanned his room quickly, looking for the pile of clothes he had set out for the next day. Who knew he would have woken up in this state?!
In contrast to his family's highly expensive homes, Sasuke lived in a one bedroom apartment near the cities edge. He had lived alone for years now, separating himself from his parents at the age of fourteen. There was no way he could possibly stay there, not after what they had done—
Zzzzzp.
Zzzzzp.
Sasuke heard the vibrating before he could feel it. He had left his phone somewhere. Still searching for the pile of clean laundry, he reached into his dress pants pocket, (well, he didn't change after coming home, big surprise.) and whipped out the small black mobile. On the screen was a flashing 'DANGER' sign; under it, the words 'Naruto Calling.'
"Oi." Sasuke held the phone in between his ear and shoulder as he begun quickly slipping out of the last nights clothes.
"Where are you!?" The voice screamed through the receiver. He winced as he continued to strip down, finally seeing the pile of laundry behind the lamp on his desk.
"I'm obviously not there." Sasuke muttered. "Baka."
"Two words for you my friend! UNIT. TEST. Did you forget!? Kakashi-sensei said so on Friday."
He had dressed quicker than he had planned. Their school had a strict dress code: no logos or no jeans, and there was no problem. At this point, the terribly late Uchiha cared less about what he was wearing and focused his attention on the matter at hand. What did they have a unit test in today? He smacked himself lightly in the forehead, trying to remember. All he had was a vague idea. What did Kakashi teach…?
"Teme!!" The phone was shouting at him again.
"What does Kakashi teach?"
"Uh… ENGLISH! What are you, stupid—" The phone went dead. Sasuke shut his phone quickly and slid it back into his pocket. There was no point in bringing a backpack, and really no point in going. However, without that test mark… the younger Uchiha couldn't even bring himself to think about losing his top average. There was just no way. He stormed out of his bedroom and to the door, lost in the idea that Itachi could have ruined, yet again, something this close to him.
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"Itachi, help your brother put his shoes on."
"Hai." On the front step of a small, stone house; a young boy sat pouting on the wooden steps. His shoes were on the ground in front of him. They had bottoms that lit up whenever he walked, and when he saw them, the young boy always laughed.
"Sasuke, lift your feet up for me." Itachi grabbed Sasuke's small, light up sneakers from the ground and proceeded up the stairs to where Sasuke was. He pouted larger, crossing his stubby arms along his chest and giving a small huff. Itachi laughed, grasping the boys tiny leg and begun putting the shoe on his small foot.
"Hurts…" Sasuke whined as the back of the shoe rubbed against the skin on his ankle. "Hurts bad, niisan…"
"Alright." Itachi smiled again. He was much older than Sasuke. He knew everything about everything. He had the most amazing stories, and always knew how to make all the pain go away. Sasuke grinned brightly as Itachi pulled his socks up higher so that the material on the shoe would not rub against his skin.
"There, see? All better." He finished putting the shoe on. Then he pulled the Velcro straps over, and did the same with the other foot. All the while, Sasuke stared at his brothers head. The night before, Itachi had not come home. Now, their mother and father were acting cold. Mom would always put his shoes on, but now she didn't want to…
"Arigatou…" Sasuke's small voice was barely a whisper as he stood up, examining his feet proudly. They were so comfy.
"One day, Sasuke," Itachi slid his hands under his younger brother's arms, pulling him up off the stairs and onto his shoulder. "You're going to be big and strong. And then, maybe someday, you can take my place here. Wouldn't you like that, Sasuke?"
"Hai!" Sasuke beamed at the thought of being the new Itachi.
But…
What did he mean, 'take his place there?'
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"You came half an hour late and you still did better than me!"
"What do you expect? He knows the material backwards."
"Shut up, Nara! Nobody asked you!"
The cafeteria was bustling with activity. It was a large, rectangular room that held about thirty some-odd tables, all aligned horizontally in rows. Most of the kids moved them about, especially because most of them had been claimed. The tables near the cafeteria doors were for the juniors and near the back were the seniors. It wasn't made this way; this was the way the students decided it would be. The gangs hung out near the vending machines, the socially normal kids hung out at the back tables, and the rest were scattered amongst the remaining tables. It was still early, and lunch had just begun. Considering it was a nice day, most of the juniors went outside to eat their lunches. English class, which let out an extra five minutes early, was right beside the cafeteria. It was only natural that Naruto would get there first.
"Sasuke, do you remember what you got for 3b?" Leaning over their usual table near the back of the cafeteria was Shikamaru Nara, the holder of one of the highest IQs throughout the entire school. He had brown, slick hair that he tied up in a pony at the back. People thought he used gel to stick his hair up, but no. It was all natural. He also had a tendency to grow rather bored with things.
"A." Sasuke folded his arms across his chest and kicked back in his chair, looking ahead rather bored. The test had been nothing to rush to school for. Shikamaru laughed quietly, sitting back down in his chair and rubbing a hand to his head.
"Aah, I should have thought so." Currently, only Shikamaru, Naruto and Sasuke were at the table. It seemed as if everybody else took the extra time provided for the test.
"Well, I did alright!" Naruto pounded a chest to his fist and stood on top of his chair. "I finished before the rest of the class, and I didn't leave not any questions blank!"
"You just spoke incorrectly." Shikamaru sighed, rubbing his fingers against his temple. "You mean you didn't leave any questions blank… right? Way to bomb an English test…"
"Uh… yeah!"
"Ch, baka."
"Hn…"
The doors to the cafeteria opened, and people begun pouring in. Sasuke kept an eye on the door as a few more of their friends filed in: Kiba, Shino, Chouji and Sakura. The one thing about their whole clique was that everybody was different. Not even the girls were the same. Everybody had their own, unique personality. Nobody was really a mindless drone—
"Sasuke-kun!!!" Wrapping her arms around his neck, Ino snuggled her face into the nape of his neck. "Oh, Sasuke-kun, I was so worried when I heard you spent all night alone on the street, you have no idea how many people I had to call to see if you were okay—" Sasuke held his breath as she held him from the behind, swaying his body with her as she continued to ramble on and on about her struggle. The others arrived at the table with a collective snicker, something Sasuke couldn't stand in the least. "Ino, get off me." The Uchiha grumbled, pulling himself away roughly and keeping his back faced to her.
"Everyone, I have an announcement." Sakura held a pile of papers in her hand as she stood at the front of the table. Most of the others had arrived at this point—giving Sakura their undivided attention as they situated themselves around the table. She swallowed lightly and cleared her throat. "I've been talking with Kakashi-sensei, and he's agreed to chaperone our end of the year trip. I tried getting Asuma-sensei to come along with us, but he's quite busy with Math tutoring and what not…"
"Ooh, Sakura-chan!" Naruto raised his hand in the air, although he was already shouting. Sasuke scoffed, shaking his head once and raising a hand to smack the blond in the back of the head.
"S-Sakura-chan—where are we going?" Naruto whined, reaching back and holding his head where Sasuke had hit him. "D-Damnit, Sasuke… you hit too hard, you know…"
Sakura seemed to brighten up at this question as she pulled one of the pieces of paper out from her pile. She turned it to show the rest of the table, the smile still plastered across her face.
"….What is th—"
"Rome?" Sasuke inquired, raising a brow at the picture of the Roman Colosseum. "Why would you pick somewhere like Rome?"
"Italy is the land of love, Sasuke-kun~" Ino giggled, taking a seat beside him and folding her arms along her chest. "Although, I'd much rather we went to Paris…"
As the conversation about their destination continued, Sasuke detached himself from the conversation. Ah, it wasn't important. Wherever they went, he could pay for it just fine. He glanced off towards the window, his eyes narrowing as his thoughts drifted back to that of last night. Itachi… it seemed no matter where he went, he somehow always came back to haunt him…
"Eeh, Sasuke?" Naruto tipped his head to the side as he tapped the Uchiha's shoulder. "You been listening? We leave in three days! It's a payment plan, so we can all pay in easy amounts over the next little while. Pretty neat, huh?" Sasuke's gaze broke from the window and moved towards Naruto. Rome… what would Rome be like? Maybe he needed this. Maybe he needed to get away from here and just detach himself. Yes, this trip would definitely help lift his spirits—if even a little.
"…Hn."
Or so he thought.
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A/N: I didn't abandon my FF, thank god. ;; Thought I'd get this story rollin' again; it may seem confusing now, but oh... just you wait. ;D FEEDBACK !
