I'd like to apologize to all of my fans for my EXTREMELY extended absence. I've had so many weird things happen this past year--good, bad, and ugly--and all of these experiences have actually changed some of my outlooks on life. I am a new writer with new ideas and a bit of a new style, so, hopefully all of you will still enjoy my writing.
I thank my fans for sticking with me, especially orange sheep of the flock. *Huggle* it was so nice to get a review from a familiar person. I promise to keep writing quality work and to work on this story whenever I'm in front of a computer. I will attempt to make longer chapters, and continue to write in differing points of view.
However, I'm keeping this chapter short, just to illustrate why Sasuke's such a little bitch. ^w^
Fate will be much like What You Don't Realize, the same basic plotline but with some major and minor differences. There WILL be Sasu/Saku moments, but I'll try to sneak in more Naru/Saku plus some other pairings.
And for those who haven't read What You Don't Realize, thanks for stopping by on an unfamiliar story! I do recommend reading What You Don't Realize, if only to get a feel for what's happening next. However, if you don't like surprises or SPOILERS, DON'T READ IT!
Thanks to all of my faithful fans,
Lady Keruri.
Naruto and its characters do not belong to me.
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xXx Brother xXx
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"Brother! Come play with me!"
The seven-year-old raven bounced up and down, tugging on the back of his brother's shirt and whining.
Itachi Uchiha turned in the spinning desk chair and looked down at his little brother over his reading glasses, the computer screen glowing with a half-typed essay still open.
"Sasuke...I can't, I've got to finish my homework," Itachi sighed, sounding exasperated. Itachi didn't his brother at all. In fact, he hated his little brother. Sasuke always was praised, loved, and even received approving compliments from their father. It was a forced front to be the "model big brother" to Sasuke.
Sasuke's wide, black eyes shone with disappointment.
"Aww, but you're always working, big brother! Why can't you take a break or something?"
Itachi glanced up at his father, who met his gaze with a threatening look. There was never a break for Itachi, the one raised to be the best. It was tradition in the Uchiha family--it had been for generations--for the firstborn to be the symbol of honor and perfection of the family. Secondborns weren't. And this family was not going to break that tradition.
Itachi looked back at his brother and poked his forehead with two fingers. Sasuke scowled. "I'm sorry, little brother, but if I don't keep going, I'll never finish...I promise to play with you--when I have free time." Itachi knew, however, that it was an empty promise--Itachi would never get any free time.
Sasuke crossed his arms. "You always say that," he muttered. Sasuke then walked away, sulking. Itachi turned around again to do his homework, seething quietly.
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It was Friday afternoon. Little Sasuke watched the clock tick the seconds away until the school week was over. His second-grade teacher, Mrs. Howell, was currently teaching the capitals of the United States and the pneumonics to remember them.
"Montpelier, Vermont: 'The VARMINT made sheets of rock with its MOUNTAIN PEELER,'" she said, getting a few giggles from the young children. The school bell rang.
"Don't forget! Quiz on Monday on all of the capitals, so study hard!" she yelled over the sound of scuffing shoes, zipping backpacks and chatty kids. Sasuke was the first one out, ready to show his parents the 'A' he'd gotten on his spelling test he'd studied so hard for. He boarded the bus and could barely contain his excitement when it finally pulled up to his corner.
He ran all the way down the street, waving his test in the air like a flag.
"Mom! Dad! Itachi! I got an 'A'!" he yelled ahead. He burst through the door, not noticing that it was already slightly ajar instead of tightly locked as his father always insisted.
He first arrived into the doorway and through to the living room. Nobody was there. He looked around, his panting the only sound heard in the room.
"Hello?" He walked into the kitchen around the corner. His mother wasn't there, and there were no signs of dinner being made. Maybe it's spaghetti night, he thought, now frowning. He went back through the living room and to the upstairs hallway. When he turned he corner after the stairs and into the hall, his breath stopped.
A trail of scarlet, with three footsteps visible in it and tracking through the carpet and into his parents' bedroom.
He couldn't hear anything. He knew that his heart had started to beat more quickly, but there was a strange buzzing in his ears from the oppressive silence that kept him from hearing it.
He walked down the hall, which seemed to get longer and longer, and accidentally stepped in some of the red. He winced as if someone had brandished a searing rod in his face when the disgusting squishing noise reached his ears.
Sasuke opened his parents' bedroom door and opened his mouth in a silent scream.
His mother and father were dead on the floor, their bodies mutilated--Sasuke saw limbs scattered across the room, saw that his father had no eyes--
"AAAAAUUUUUUUUGHHHHH!" A terrible scream emitted from his throat and he fell backwards onto the ground, cowering. He was shaking as if he had a seizure. His eyes kept rolling back in his head, but he didn't pass out.
Then his brother came out of the shadows. Sasuke didn't see the knife he was holding.
"Itachi! Itachi!" Sasuke sobbed, running to him and burying his face into his brother's blood-soaked shirt. Sasuke felt relieved that his brother was alive and at the same time horrified and scared, needing someone to comfort him.
"Little brother," Itachi breathed, and then shoved Sasuke down onto the ground, where Sasuke landed next to his father's body and eyeless face.
"Grreeeahhhh!" Sasuke scampered away on his hands and knees, now looking back at Itachi. Itachi wore a strange, blank look. Blood and gore spatters were evident all over Itachi's body, and Sasuke now saw the blood-stained chef's knife in his big brother's hand. Sasuke could not put two and two together. Surely....it was too terrible a thing to have happened, no, someone came and attacked his parents and Itachi was just protecting himself...
Right...? But then where was the attacker?
"That's right, Sasuke...I killed them. And now..." Itachi's eyes seemed to become dead. "I'm coming for you."
Police sirens blared suddenly, and flashing blue, white and red lights were the next thing that invaded Sasuke's vision. One second, Sasuke saw his brother's blood-covered face and the next, Itachi was gone. Then everything turned black...
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Sasuke woke up, screaming and covered in sweat. Then he looked around for a moment and saw that he was alone in his own little crappy apartment.
He turned on his flickering lamp on the night table beside his bed and wiped the sweat from his forehead. His raven locks were matted and soaked in his own sweat on the back of his head. How stupid. Here he was, almost eighteen and still having nightmares about his past. The alarm clock blared next to him, signifying that it was time to go to his new school.
Sasuke refused most of the government's protection, hating the fact that he had to run away from his brother. The hatred he felt for his brother ran deep and fierce and could outmatch any other person's hatred of another. The government insisted that he move to different places every so often, coming up with rumors of his expulsion every time. He also had a caretaker that called him every so often--Orochimaru.
Orochimaru was creepy and perverse on some deep mental level. Sasuke avoided him whenever he could, shivers going up his spine whenever Orochimaru sent a look his way. Orochimaru had this weird habit of licking his lips all of the time, and he had narrow, watery yellow eyes, giving him the appearance of a reptile. Like a snake or an alligator. Sasuke had never trusted him.
The raven threw the blankets off of him, standing to stretch and stripping his tank top as he did so. He walked to the shower, peeling off his clothing as he went and leaving a trail behind him. He turned the shower on ice-cold, like he liked it in the mornings. It helped him to focus.
He took the bus to school, the whole time staring out of the window and putting a hand on his backpack next to him in the seat, taking up any space that might have been another person who'd wanted to sit there. He put on his earphones and turned his iPod to his current favorite song, "Firstborn", and didn't turn it off until the bus had stopped, he'd gone to class, and sat down to listen to the lecture the teacher gave him.
He hated that all the girls wanted him. Really, he hated everything that didn't have to do with killing his brother. Yes...Sasuke's goal in life was to finally become brave and strong enough to confront his brother. It would kill his insides to let the government do it for him. Sasuke would never live peacefully.
The bell rang and he gathered his things for lunch. There, he met this girl with pink hair and green eyes...
For some reason, her face, devoid of all makeup and a bit shiny, but exuberant and alive, had attracted his attention. She even liked him. Any other guy in his shoes would have accepted her offer for a date. But not Sasuke.
"Uh...Sasuke...?" She'd asked shyly, but her eyes locked on his all the same.
"I w-was wondering...I don't know if you're busy, but...do you wanna go on a date sometime?" Her little hands were held in front of her, twisting themselves around each other.
He sent her off in tears, of course.
He could not afford to love someone. He couldn't afford to become weak.
Itachi Uchiha must die.