Reflections in the Mirror

Dealing with Kakashi did not get any easier, unfortunately. This Kakashi seemed to be incapable of taking things seriously, and Sasuke had a hard time believing that Kakashi had been actually training them prior to the Chūnin exams. Kakashi led him on a merry chase around the whole village before finally heading towards the training ground. And when they had at last gotten there, instead of beginning Sasuke's training, he just disappeared, leaving Sasuke to set up camp. Sasuke was irritated at having the work dumped on him, but complied, realizing that perhaps working with Kakashi would have been more annoying.

Now though, he had finally managed to force Kakashi into agreeing to actually training him the next morning. Tch, and Kakashi had been the one who wanted to train him. With how reluctant he had been acting, you would have thought it was the other way around. Oh well, at least things were finally looking up.

"So I'm going to teach you my signature move, Chidōri, and increase your speed, and watch, this is how you do it." He made the hand seals and had barely finished when Sasuke spoke up, planning to have fun with this.

"Okay, I think I got it, let me try." And he performed it perfectly.

"Wait, how did you get it so fast when I haven't even explained it yet?"

"Sharingan."

"Life, why must you be so unfair?"

"Said Kakashi of the Sharingan. Hypocritical, much? At any rate, you would have taught it to me anyway."

"It's a pity how your newfound sense of humor can't seem to cure your face, Sasuke."

"Sasuke, just because you mastered Chidori doesn't mean you should try to kill me with it–"

"Just stand still and let me tear your damned heart out!"

"It's very uncute to try to kill your sensei, Sasuke–"

"Well it's 'uncute' to make horrible jokes about my tomatoes! And to make up stupid words like 'uncute!'"

"Why are you so sensitive?"

"If you don't stand still and let me hit you, I will burn your entire collection of Icha Icha, Kakashi."

"You won't be able to find them."

"Oh yeah? Then what are these?"

"...I take back everything nice I said about you. You are the most uncute being on this planet."

"Pst, Sasuke, I think you have a stalker again."

"You're the adult here. Be responsible for once and do something."

"Mother wants your blood, Uchiha Sasuke."

"Yeah, he seems much more interested in you. How about you handle him?"

"Gaara, you know, if you wait until the official match, you'll have the opportunity for more blood?"

"More blood?"

"That's right. If you become the winner, you'll get my blood and the other contestants'. Kill me now and you'll get deported for murder."

"Very well, then. But you better show up, Uchiha. Or else I will hunt you down."

"I will, but if I don't you can blame this old man over here."

"Hey! I'll have you know I'm in my twenties. But you know Sasuke, I never knew you spoke the language of psychopaths."

"I have experience from talking to you."

"...You're getting uncuter by the day, Sasuke."

"I'm shocked that you think I give a damn about that."

"Well, it's nice to know that despite numerous mishaps, death threats, and stalkers, we have almost managed to get through this in one piece, and have only a day or so left."

"Kakashi, I swear that if you make me miss my match due to your obsession with buying me new clothes, I will end you."

"So uncute, Sasuke. But fine, we'll go clothes shopping now, how about that."

"Why do you always call everything uncute?"

"Because it is uncute, Sasuke."

"...You know, if I ever become a missing-nin, it'll be all your fault because I am just so done with your shit."

"So uncu– Hey! I thought we agreed not to try to murder each other with Chidori! Why did I even think teaching you was a good idea?"

"Because you're an idiot, obviously."

Somehow, they still managed to be late despite Sasuke's threats. He shouldn't have expected any better.

"Uchiha Sasuke," Gaara spoke with an eerie smile, "I am very glad you came. So very, very, glad. Mother will feast on your blood."

"You'll have to win before you can do that," Sasuke replied dryly, though internally he was just as excited. Soon. Itachi came for Naruto soon after this. Soon, things will begin to change. I haven't been of much use, since the village was already preparing for the invasion, and it wasn't like I could do much else with my current chakra levels, considering the Mangekyou eats up chakra like nothing else, and I can't even use the Rinnegan since I don't have Indra's chakra right now, but soon, I'll see Itachi.

And I promise that this time, in this world, I won't let you die.

I will save you, Itachi.

"Begin!"

Sasuke had been a little worried about Gaara's and Naruto's fight, since Naruto was even more of an idiot in this world, but as it turned out Naruto was perfectly fine. Sasuke didn't know why he even bothered to worry, but apparently Gaara and Naruto were now best friends, just like last time, which was good. Things were progressing just as they should be.

In the meantime, while he waited for Itachi to come, he prepared. He nagged Kakashi into teaching him the Shunshin, so he would have an excuse for where he learned it, and he practiced sensing chakra and reviewed tracking to make sure it was up to par. After all, how else was he going to track down Itachi?

In his spare time, he read his diary again, trying to figure out what was different about Itachi in this world. While he wasn't too worried, since the differences in people didn't seem to affect their overall character, it would be nice to know what to expect. However, he couldn't really find any differences in this world's Itachi, who seemed exactly the same as his, right down to the forehead poke. While that was reassuring in some ways, he couldn't help but wonder.

And since he finally had a little time to himself, Sasuke decided to do something he had been wanting to do since he activated the Mangekyou here.

Sasuke wasn't planning to fail. But just in case he did, just in case everything went wrong and someone like Danzo or Orochimaru got their hands on his eyes, he was going to put a seal on them. A self-destruction seal to be exact, one that would both destroy his eyes and the one that stole them. If he ended up switching his eyes with Itachi, then of course he would need to take it off, but just in case someone managed to kill him and steal them in the meantime, it would be a good idea.

After drawing out the array, he activated the Mangekyou Sharingan. He let out an exhale, and pushed as much chakra as he could into the array, causing it to spiral into his eyes. The process was excruciatingly slow, and he immediately deactivated the Mangekyou after it was complete, but he still fell to the floor from the effort.

The Mangekyou combined with the fuinjutsu really took a lot out of me, even though I didn't do any jutsu with it. These childhood chakra levels are ridiculous. As it is, I can keep going for ten to twelve minutes at most before facing chakra exhaustion, which is just not good enough.

He sighed, thinking, This sucks, and to think, I have to go through puberty again too. Could things get any worse?

"Hello, Sakura." Sasuke greeted her politely after meeting her on the street. He was still wary about what Kakashi had said about her wanting to kill him, but that was no reason to treat her unkindly.

Again, there was an flash of distaste in her eyes for a split second, before she turned into a complete fangirl. "Sasuke-kun! What are you doing here? Are you shopping like me too?"

"Just looking for a few supplies. How about you? Are you going to buy a new mirror?" Sasuke asked flatly, trying to be as courteous as possible while remaining in character.

Sakura's eyes widened, and she said, "Um, yeah! How did you know?"

Sasuke quirked an eyebrow. He pointedly looked to the stall they were standing in front of, which was selling various mirrors, and then glanced at the mirror in her hand.

"Oh," she said with a small flush. "You're so smart, Sasuke-kun! Just as I expected of you."

"Find anything interesting?" he asked, ignoring the sheer amount of sarcasm she spoke with.

"Hm, well. I like the outer design of this mirror, but the reflection isn't that good," Sakura explained, putting it back and picked up another one.

Sasuke tilted his head curiously. "Don't all mirrors show you the same thing?"

Sakura gave him a look which clearly conveyed that she thought he was an idiot, and then answered, "Well, there's a lot of different types of mirrors, y'know? Convex, concave, different metals, all kinds of shapes… each one shows you different things. Like, um, at civilian fairs, sometimes they have a mirror house. It'll show you all kinds of different reflections. It's fun, but also a little creepy. They all look the same on the surface, but looking deeper shows you completely different images. And most of them are lies. At any rate, you could say that I'm just trying to find one which shows me the reflection I like."

Sasuke blinked, staring at her. "That was surprisingly deep."

Sakura flushed again, confusion in her eyes, and stammered, "Uh, well, it wasn't really supposed to be. Anyway, nice seeing you Sasuke-kun. Bye!" And saying that she rushed off.

"Hey, wait!" Sasuke called after her. "Didn't you need to buy a mirror…?"

"What does Kakashi want now?" Sasuke grumbled, seeing the summoning. "I have a life aside from serving as his entertainment, you know. To go or not to go?"

Well, I do have to go grocery shopping anyway, he thought as he opened the fridge, which was rather sparse. But Kakashi is always late anyway, so I can go.

On his way to the store, he ran into Kakashi, who was at a dango stand for some reason. Kurenai and Asuma had been there too when he first saw Kakashi, but they'd Shushined away by the time he got there. Curious.

"Should I start worrying that the sky is falling, or where your sanity is, considering you're actually early?" he asked innocently.

"Very funny, Sasuke, so funny that I can't stop laughing and you must drag me to the nearest hospital," Kakashi said dryly.

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Don't tempt me. So, what did you call me for anyway?"

Kakashi blinked. "Well, you see… It's, um."

"What?" Sasuke pressed, sensing silliness.

"I think I might've surprised myself so much by showing up early that I actually forgot what I called you here for."

Sasuke growled under his breath then said, "Are you serious?"

"Yup," Kakashi affirmed brightly.

He probably got called by ANBU or something, and is not allowed to tell me, Sasuke thought. He replied, "Whatever, then. I'm going grocery shopping."

"Okay, see you!" Kakashi chirped. "Try not to accidentally die before you get home!"

"Hn," Sasuke said, but there was something nagging him about this scene, something important… He frowned, then shrugged. He would remember it soon enough.

"GUESS WHAT, SASUKE!" Naruto yelled at him, jumping down from a roof.

Sasuke blinked, wondering if they had to do this now. He had actually managed to finish grocery shopping, but had no desire to see this Naruto… who was packed for a trip?

His mouth went dry and his eyes widened as he suddenly recalled why meeting Kakashi at that dango shop had been so important. "Naruto, are you going somewhere?" He asked, though his voice was a little unsteady.

"Yup. Ero-sennin is going to teach me a new jutsu, so you better watch out, 'cause when I return, I'm gonna kick your ass with it!" Naruto said with a wide grin.

It was time.

"Tch, don't be so sure. I'll beat you any day, dead last," Sasuke said with a smirk, seemingly composed. In his mind, though, there was a hailstorm of excitement to meet this world's Itachi, a potent mix of longing to see his brother's face, of fear of failing, of impatience to just be there already. His heart beat fast, his blood thrummed with the need to run, and his mind buzzed with a thousand thoughts.

"Oh yeah?! Just you wait, Sasuke, I'll definitely beat you!" Naruto declared indignantly, his eyes burning.

"We'll definitely need to have a match when you get back, then."

"Obviously I'm gonna win it anyway, but it's a promise," Naruto bragged.

"Hn," Sasuke said, and started walking back to his apartment.

"Where are you going, you bastard?!" Naruto yelled at Sasuke's back, but his mind was a mile away so he didn't respond. He was going to see Itachi. He was going to see Itachi. He suddenly stumbled and had to be a bit careful maneuvering to make sure the groceries didn't spill. He looked down at them with a frown.

He was going to see Itachi.

But first, he needed drop off these groceries.

Ruishi had been having a wonderful day. A wonderful, practically stress-free day. He was even going to be able to leave early! Then the representative from the world Uchiha Sasuke had went off to appeared out of nowhere and demanded he do something about the problem. He had tried to explain to her the situation, but alas, fate was cruel.

"Why the hell is this supposed to matter to me?" Mishi, he thought her name was, hissed. "There is a foreign soul contaminating my world. There is a foreign soul contaminating my world, and you want me to just leave it alone?!"

"When you put it like that, it sounds a lot worse than it is," Ruishi muttered, irritated. How had he ended up in charge of this case again?

"If we wait any longer, both Uchiha Sasukes' souls could entwine and they'll end up in the same afterlife, my world's afterlife. The only reason it hasn't happened yet is-"

"I've told you I've taken care of it," Ruishi interrupted. "Uchiha Sasuke will end up in the correct afterlives."

Mishi glared and threatened, "If he doesn't-"

Ruishi patience snapped. "Listen, this is my office, my afterlife, my souls to guide. If you can't respect that, then get out."

With a glower, Mishi slammed her fist into the desk, leaving a large crack. "No, you listen. It's not your afterlife that risks contamination, not your world being invaded. If, when your Uchiha Sasuke dies, he does not immediately head toward your afterlife, I will personally grind his soul into oblivion."

And with that, she left.

Ruishi sighed, and massaged his forehead. "Itachi is not going to be happy."

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