Whoo! Chapter 10 and still going strong!
"Ignorance is blissful, while knowledge is power."
She watched her great grandson walk across the floor of her living room as if he was looking for something. Sakura was at work, and her grandmother knew that if she left Toshiro with his grandpa there would be serious trouble. He was incredibly smart for a one year old. He could walk, open doors if he was tall enough to reach the knob, pretty much anything a five year old could do, he could do it. She thanked the gods that he didn't know how to talk yet, or maybe he did and he just chose not to say anything.
His eyes turned red and he started walking towards the door leading outside. He wanted to be out there because there were so many different things for him to kill. But he wasn't tall enough to reach the door knob, he pouted trying to think of an alternative way out. He was a very determined child. "Give up child there is no way out." His eyes turned back to it's original black color. It was a challenge that he would be happy to prove her wrong on.
He remembers that she always kept one of the windows upstairs open, that would be his way out. His eyes turned red again and he crawled up the stairs quietly so his great grandmother wouldn't notice him. When he got to the last step he looked to his right and to his left. There were so many doors and he couldn't pinpoint which one was the ticket to freedom. He got up and walked to the right reaching up with his tiny hand to open the door. By a miracle he got it open, but it the window wasn't open. He growled slightly in frustration. He moved on to the next room hoping that this one would be the correct one.
He smiled in victory. He was only a few steps and a leap away from proving her wrong. He took a step latter from out the corner and dragged it in front of the window, then he climbed up on the window sill and marveled at all the things nature has to offer. For him to kill anyway, he looked down it was a long way down. But if you want something bad enough, you'll do anything to get it, so he jumped down. He was very lucky to have landed right on his feet.
He was free and happy. His claws were small, but they still could prove to be very useful to him. A butterfly circled around him a few times and landed on his nose. He grabbed it quickly and tore off one of it's wings. It tried to fly but it ultimately ended up falling into the grass. That was fun, but what interested him more was a squirrel that was sitting in a tree. It ran to one end and back quickly as if it were marking it's territory. He wanted to kill it, but he wasn't all that sure that he would be fast enough to catch it.
It quickly ran away as a flock of birds invaded it's place. He watched, amused at the creature's speed, and he soon found himself running right beside it. It tried to run faster, but it was no match for the curious, young demon's speed. With his tiny hands he broke the squirrel's neck. He used one of his claws to open the poor squirrel's abdomen. It had little organs that he couldn't wait to tear apart piece by piece.
A figure blocked the sunlight he was using. Toshiro growled and stood up, ready to fight whoever it was that was in his way. The man didn't seem at all worried about the child which made Toshiro even angrier. He lunged at the man but stop short when he sensed the man had a demonic aura. It matched Toshiro's in a way, it was just more powerful. The man does a bunch of hand signals and Toshiro passes out.
The man took him back into the house and laid him on the couch. "Madara, it is nice for you to have come here."
"Tsunade, you haven't aged a bit." He complimented. The two sat down and watched Toshiro who was still unconscious. "He's just like his father." He said glancing out the window and then back at his great grandson.
"How is his father?" She asked, her voice laced thick with worry. Sakura, her father, and Toshiro were still blissfully unaware of Sasuke and his existence. She really wants to break the spell over them, for Toshiro and Sakura's sake.
Madara sighed. "I don't know. Soon his power will devour his soul, and I can't do much to stop it."
"I thought the power was supposed to be balanced."
"It is. But the demon has managed has gained it's own mind using the power that Sasuke doesn't use."
It created an unbalanced power scale. "So basically he more or less has two minds."
"Yeah essentially. And because he can't have two minds in one body, the demon's mind will cause his own mind to fade away." Every time he restricted the use of his power, it got stronger. That is what some people love to call irony.
"The shadow will get enough power and take over his body." But Sasuke won't cease to exist, he will just be a shadow to the beast he created. Toshiro was wide awake at this point. He just laid there, careful not to make any moves that would attract their attentions.
She wondered if there were anyone else in the family that was in his situation. "We always knew that he would be the one that would have the strongest demon." He said.
"What about your son?"
Madara chuckled. "His demon isn't all that strong in fact it's very weak. I guess it's due to his stubbornness."
She pondered that. Demons were only as strong as their host allow them to be. But it was amazing that one of them rendered theirs so weak. "He was full demon like you?"
"Yes. All the Uchiha's are naturally full blooded demons. Toshiro is the only half demon in the family."
She nodded. "Indeed. But he seems to be showing signs of being a full blooded one."
Madara nodded. "Don't worry, that's completely normal. He's just doing what his father did when he was young."
"He ran around torturing innocent animals?" She asked.
He chuckled. "Yes. He did. His father used to hate seeing Sasuke killing animals." Fugaku did everything in his power to make sure he didn't act upon his demonic urges. Sometimes, though extremely rare, he would fall victim to them. But it doesn't happen often. "He wanted to normal, like everyone else." He said rolling his eyes at the memory of all the countless arguments the two had on the subject of normality.
"How was Sasuke's relationship with his father?"
"Well it wasn't like a normal father-son relationship. It was like there was a heavy tension between the two, even when he was first born."
Mikoto was in labor with her second child. But it wasn't a normal one, it was an emergency one. The doctors said that the baby's heart wasn't beating and he might be having some breathing complications. The doctors asked if they successfully deliver the child, could they perform any type of procedure to save his life. Fugaku said no immediately. But Mikoto looked at her husband, shocked that he would even say such a thing. She told them to do whatever it takes to save his life.
They did deliver him without many complications. But he wasn't alive, a group of nurses rushed in to try and revive him. It didn't seem like they were having much luck. One of the doctors decided that they would go and deliver the bad news. Doctors see a lot of deaths, but the least common and the most tragic ones are the deaths of a newborn baby. He twiddled his fingers for a moment, trying to think of a way to break the news before entering the room. "Um...hello. I uh, I have some ba-"
A nurse rushed into the room. "He's alive!" She shouted happily. The other nurse came in cradling the baby. She handed him to his mother. Mikoto was crying tears of joy.
She tapped his nose lightly. "I'm going to name him Sasuke." She said. The nurses were crying as well, equally just as happy as Mikoto. The baby's eyes flashed black to red. Itachi was neutral in the fact that he has a new brother, but nonetheless he went over there to look at him.
"Shouldn't you be happy? You have another son!" Fugaku's father said.
"You know why I'm not happy." He replied bitterly. He didn't want another demon child. He wanted normal human children.
Madara sighed at his son's lack of excitement for the situation. "You can't hate him." He informed.
Fugaku looked up at his father. "Why not?"
"Because that's your son." He deadpanned.
He chuckled bitterly. "That little creature I don't want him."
He raised an eyebrow. How on earth could someone hate their own child, he could never figure that out. "And yet you kept Itachi."
"Itachi can be trained." Fugaku tried to justify.
"Uh-huh. And Sasuke can't because..." He trailed off so his son could answer.
"Because I can tell he can't be trained. They should have just let him die." He muttered.
"He would've lived anyway and you know it." Madara retorted. Fugaku refused to go hold Sasuke, but Madara was happy to do it. The baby didn't make not one noise. This was a sign that his demon could potentially grow out of control. He needed to think of someone who could help tame the demon until Sasuke himself could control it.
"Nothing really bothered Sasuke, the only thing that did was if he couldn't be free to wander around."
Sasuke was always curious about his surroundings. He hated it when his mother tried to confine him in his crib. There was so much for him to see. He would always break out.
His relationship with his brother was that of two associates who lived in the same house. They rarely acknowledged each others presence, mainly because Sasuke was busy trying to explore everything and Itachi was told numerous time by his father to stay away from Sasuke. Itachi didn't question why because his life was always great. Usually when a baby comes in the family then the oldest tend to get ignored. But not in this case. It didn't bother Sasuke, because the affection of his parents wasn't what he wanted.
It was his second birthday, Mikoto threw him a party and a lot of people came. But he didn't think it was all for him. He didn't care though, as long as he could be outside and wander around. He accidentally bumped into his brother while trying to escape from the adults who wanted to pinch his cheeks. It was something about Itachi that day that angered him to no end.
Perhaps it was the fact that he had spent all his time with their dad, or maybe it's because he sensed that he was a demon. Either way he attacked his brother, tackling him to the ground, punching, scratching, biting him. The two were fighting the way that two dogs would fight. Fugaku was terrified of the scene. All he saw was a bloody mess. He thought that his neighbors might come out and witness the bloody battle.
He and Madara stepped in and pulled the boys apart. Sasuke was glaring heavily at Itachi. "That is it! You have to control him or else I will see to it that he will be buried in the junkyard." It was an ultimatum. One of which is easier said than done.
Madara couldn't train him because their powers clashed too much. The only thing to do for now was to put a seal on him. In the long run it would really only make him stronger, but all he needed was some time to figure out what exactly he could do with Sasuke.
"The change in Fugaku's attitude towards Sasuke was amazing. For that moment in time, he might have actually loved Sasuke."
The seal proved affective. Fugaku seemed to have loved the what the seal has done to his son. He felt as though now he can take Sasuke out in public without worrying about him going crazy. He started sending him to daycare while Itachi went to elementary school.
The kids were so strange to him. Some of them were still crying for their parents, some of them were picking on the kids crying for their parents. Most of them were just playing with random objects in the room. He hated the place because he couldn't be free. They were stuck in this room for who knows how long. He sat in the corner trying to center himself.
He was remembering everything his father had told him before dropping him off here. "Make sure that you be on your absolute best behavior." He frowned thinking he had always had good behavior. He's mute so he couldn't get in trouble for talking. "I'm proud of you." Sasuke knew that he was just saying that because was the closest thing to being almost human he could ever get in his entire life.
It wasn't his fault that he was like the way he was. He never hurt anyone outside of his brother, but even then normal brothers fight. He was observing two kids fighting. They weren't bloody, they were just pushing each other and tumbling over themselves. He grew tired of watching the pathetic fight. His vision drifted off to the right where he saw a little girl sitting by herself. She seemed bored and tired.
Catching his gaze, she took that as a signal to get up and sit next to him. She smiled slightly at him, he just nodded. "I'm Sakura." Her voice was soft. Her hair was pink like the clouds reflecting the sunlight during the sunrise. Her eyes were as green as the grass outside in his backyard. "What's your name?" She asked.
He bit his bottom lip. He wanted to answer her, but he couldn't talk. "Oh! I forgotted. You can't talk." He nodded. For once he didn't have the urge to break out he wanted to stay with this girl he found so interesting.
"She did tell me that she met a boy who couldn't talk that day."
During snack time they often managed to leave and sit on top of the roof looking at the sky. He would rest his head in her lap. He was a demon, and she was human. His father was yelling one night that humans and demons don't belong together. He didn't know why, they weren't that much different. But still those words kept ringing in his head.
After awhile the seal broke. They had to take him out of daycare. On his last day he wiped Sakura's memory of him.
"So this is the second time he left her."
"Even then he cared for her."
"It's as almost as if they were really meant for each other."
Madara didn't live too far away from where Sasuke was supposed to live. Even though he was only three years old, he could walk around town without worrying about anything. One day he wandered to the outskirts of town. There was a hill that overlooked the town. Several miles away from town he could see a building that was distant from everything else. He wondered about that, but his thoughts were interrupted when he heard several growls. They were a few miles away from where he was and they seemed to be coming closer and closer.
Finally he saw a pack of wolves circling around him. They all had red eyes and they each growled menacingly. He wasn't afraid, he was ready to fight. The leader of the pack howled, and they all followed suit before going after Sasuke. He ran and dodged several of the wolves. One of them hopped in front of him, and the rest cornered him. The one in front tackled him while he was distracted with the other wolves. It's claws sunk deep into his skin.
That was the first time he had ever used the demon's power. He defeated all of the wolves in a blink of an eye. He was all scratched up and bruised. He knew his parents wouldn't care, so he went to his grandfather's house. When got there he coughed up blood then passed out.
"I had to find someone who could control Sasuke. I didn't like my options, but I didn't have any other choice."
"Orochimaru..."
"Yeah."
Orochimaru was one of the most successful surgeons in Japan. But many people never knew about his darker side. Down in the hospital's basement he conducted several illegal and cruel experiments on some of his patients. The experiments left most of the people physically and mentally deformed. He would operate on people without the use of anesthetics.
Their screams were satisfying to him. One day a maintenance worker heard people screams and reported it to the police. Orochimaru was taken to a mental facility for the criminally insane, but even incarcerated he still continued experimenting on people. He made the already mentally ill much worse. The government had to evacuate the workers and they bombed the place in order to stop the patients from uprising.
The bomb did succeed in destroying the building, but the people inside were still alive. They all emerged unharmed and angry. They attacked the police and soldiers, all that remained were skeletons. If you were to look in a history book on Japan, or ask a person who was alive during the time, they would say that nothing like that happen.
Several years later the mental facility reopened. Many of the citizens questioned it, but soon forgot all about it and went with the flow.
"He manipulates the patients into doing his bidding."
"Makes sense. Ever since he was a kid he was always trying to get someone to do stuff for him."
"I regret ever trusting him with Sasuke's life." He said feeling bad for throwing his grandson in this situation. If only they would kept him in daycare or tried using a different seal. But the situation Sasuke is in was bound to happen sooner or later.
"We all make mistakes. It's apart of living. We're just lucky that your son is kind enough to fill in for Ibiki."
"You knew about that?"
"It was obvious." She chimed.
Toshiro wasn't listening to everything the adults said, all he heard was that his father, whose name he guessed was Sasuke had left his mother twice. He was confused. Why would father just abandoned him and his mother if he loved her, it didn't make sense to him. He wanted to meet his father, face to face, and figure out why he isn't there with them.
There was no way he could just leave while he was still with his great grandmother. He couldn't use any spells, one because he doesn't know any, and two they wouldn't work on her even if he did. He waited until he was in his mother's care. He wanted to make his father suffer for leaving them. Toshiro snuggled against Sakura's chest until she fell asleep.
He glanced at his mother, she was sound asleep. Blissfully ignorant of who her heart belongs to but that was going to change. He remembered Madara and Tsunade talking about a mental facility on the outskirts of town. He figured he would go there first. It didn't take him too long to get there. He closed his eyes and tried to sense where his father could be. Sixth floor is what came to him, so he went there.
The hallways were dark and there was a blood trail leading to a room. His curiosity always got the better of him. He opened the door expecting to see a dead or half dead body. But the room was actually clean. On the opposite side of the room was a boy who couldn't be no older than eighteen years old. He had a powerful demonic aura. Toshiro stared at the boy for quite some time. Then he realized that this boy was his father, that caused Toshiro's blood to boil.
Sasuke stared back at the little kid, wondering how he could of managed to find him. Toshiro couldn't stand there any longer, he rushed over to Sasuke with the intention to punch him dead in the face. But what Madara and Tsunade said was true, he is truly powerful. Sasuke not even using an ounce of strength slammed Toshiro into the wall behind him.
Sasuke's eyes were red, and they held an intent to kill him. Sasuke could tell that he and this kid were related in some way, he just didn't know what their relationship was. Toshiro narrowed his eyes at his father, wanting to hit him so badly, but he couldn't.
Neither one of them spoke. Toshiro being here runs the risk of the spell on Sakura breaking. Sasuke took three steps back and began doing hand signals. Toshiro recognizes them as the ones that Madara used to knock him out. But this one was different. Everything was moving slow, and he was seeing double of everything. His heart beat slowly and he saw things in red and blue.
Sasuke took him back home. The house seemed familiar to him, but he didn't care to figure out how he knew this place. Quietly he walked into what Sasuke assumed was Toshiro's mother's room. Careful that he didn't wake the woman, he placed the kid next to her. He watched the woman sleep peacefully for a minute or so after laying Toshiro down.
She seemed so close and yet so far. He stared at her with the blankest expression on his face. He couldn't remember her, and he didn't want to remember her. He thinks that if they did have some sort of relationship, it would be better to not acknowledge it now or ever. It's only to protect her from him or rather the thing he created. Deep down he longed to be with her, but he knows he can't. Demons and humans aren't meant to be together.
She was no longer apart of his world. It can't hurt her if it doesn't know she exists. He left feeling empty inside. But he knows, or thought, it's better this way.
It's almost a shame that Sasuke doesn't know he's wrong, oh well. If you review then you get cookies and the next chapter will come sooner. If you don't then the beast will come after you.