Originally I had Sasuke's intro and backstory thus far in the previous chapter, but I decided that it was best to have it dedicated right in here.
There is gonna be trigger moments, so bring tissues and something to calm you down afterwards.
Chapter Eleven
The Learning Curve
For the longest time, Sasuke Hyuuga's life was a mystery.
He never examined his life the way a psychologist would write out a textbook on the extense of a patient's mental status, the same with a medical doctor on benign to malignant conditions. He never looked back on anything for too long except on the things that mattered most to him. Like his family.
The Hyuugas weren't the ones who sired him, but he refused to want to know where and who he really came from, because he didn't want to change everything he'd had from the time his memory started to take in everything and everyone around him.
Hiashi was the only father he knew. He was a strict man, but he wanted the best for his children, including his nephew. But both his adopted son and Neji ended up taking different roads while Hinata ended up working for the curator and head researcher of the museum.
Hanabi, you ask? The story went in that Hiashi really loved both his daughters equally, but elder siblings were often paid more attention to than the younger. The girls' mother died when they were very young. Sasuke really cherished her like his own, because she loved her daughters, adopted son and nephew all equally - everything a mother should be. So when she was gone, he felt like a part of him had been brutally taken away. And as for Hiashi - when he lost his wife whom he loved so much, he became a little colder and distant, but he still made sure Sasuke, Neji and the girls were looked after.
The results were nothing much of what he would have wanted, beginning with Hanabi.
She had spent her time working to be acknowledged, in school with her grades, relentlessly competing with the sister she was once close with. Though Hinata was timid and bullied simply because of who she was, Hanabi owned it and chose to be the one to fight back. She had balls, Naruto said without demeaning her sister who was, at the time, silently in love with him before they entered high school.
But it all got to her eventually and took her before her time.
What happened was she ended up hanging out with the wrong crowd, and then she wound up drugged and date raped. Hinata had been with him and Naruto, and Neji had been doing his own business, all of which Hiashi didn't mind as long as they were all responsible...but when Hanabi didn't come home, that was when chaos broke out.
What happened afterwards was never the same between the family - especially between father and daughter, the latter who blamed herself when Hanabi screamed at her for being "Father's favorite", and nobody saw what came next: she took an overdose of some recreational drugs that her so-called friends smuggled for her, in her room during the late night. This had been three days after the horrible night.
Hanabi Hyuuga was not yet even fourteen years old.
Sasuke had been the one to find her like this. The time had been summer, after he, Naruto and the rest of their friends had graduated - and this was right after he told Sakura they were better being apart. To see her going too far like this...it tore him apart like it did to Hinata.
Hiashi didn't blame her; in fact, he blamed himself more than perhaps his only daughter had. Therefore the rift came naturally rather than purposefully. If you wanted to know how Sasuke and Neji dealt with it, emotional numbness haunted the former more than the latter even though Neji had means to cope, and that was to help Hinata the best he could. Because Hanabi's blame was on her instead of the boys. But for Sasuke, besides the mysterious dreams that plagued him his entire life, the death of one of his sisters he loved so much was the nail to the coffin that caused him to leave his family and friends - and the girl he loved, his first true ever - to fight overseas. He wanted something to deal with the pain even if he might die in the process. Knowing in the end what it would do to those who worried for him. I remember HER calling me a coward for leaving like this...
Emotional angst was what he could remember much of his life, on his part, and happiness was rare despite the people around him not abandoning him.
He was away in Kumo because they were having a civil war, and Konoha was assisting with the effort. The things he saw: the blood, the limbs and stench of gory corpses...it was rancid and wrenching to his psyche. When he looked everywhere, it took him back not only to Hanabi dead in his arms before she could be taken to the hospital, but also to the images he saw in his sleep, from somewhere in the feudal times he had no idea about.
He never had any serious injuries on his part, nor did he have brain damage or the immense desire to prove anything but only to get the job done, and he certainly never lost limbs like many of his comrades.
But he remembered one comrade, Juugo, dying in front of him, having been shot in the shoulder which separated his arm from his body and splattered blood into Sasuke's face. It was extreme and caused something in him to trigger and black out on the battlefield only to wake up on the gurney in the infirmary and being forced to take therapy sessions, before being deemed fit to return home until the next time.
Sasuke was relieved whenever his tours were up and then he'd be home. Naruto and Hinata would be ecstatic to see him. Neji also was running the bar and coffee shop he worked at after school hours, though that criticism in the opalescent eyes was present and unspoken.
It was worse to be around Sakura. With her pink hair, bright green eyes and wonderful body as well as her brains, she was the girl he never thought he'd be lucky to have. The girl who pursued him - one of many - and first got him to her when she made him a dish consisting of tomatoes, in middle school years, and that was when he warmed up to her as a real friend. It wasn't long before it was something else that they enjoyed for four years without going all the way - until spring break of junior year, using protection, and it was the best of their lives ever. If you were going to be with the boy or girl you loved, Hiashi had said sternly, you had to be responsible. Sasuke learned all of this from his father instead of sex ed in school, because it was a deprive of the parents and children understanding each other in something so private and intimate.
Sakura had her say, too. She said she wanted to wait until the right moment, and it was towards the end of the second to last year of their young lives. Then they would enjoy it from then on in the senior year, and see where it would go after graduation. She'd thought that if it was what it was, so be it. So had he, at first. But life proved stronger than love, and he hated how it worked against him.
Past aside, he decided that when high school was over, due to the unknown visions and Hanabi's loss, it was best he didn't hurt her or their friends anymore by choosing a place out of town. A decision he was slowly regretting, with a couple more years to get by. When he was done, he had no idea what job he would have afterwards. He didn't want to spend the REST of his life being away, he knew that much.
There was a small part of himself that still loved Sakura, but would there ever be a chance to renew what he'd broken himself?
This time when he came back to Konoha, it was Hinata to come and pick him up. He no longer saw the glazed grief she'd had when her sister died; in fact, there was a brighter light, telling him Naruto, Neji and Sakura had helped heal her heart - just a little. Unlike in himself. He hated himself for hurting them, but mostly Sakura. So to see her in the park after changing his clothes, which Hinata had for him, he felt what was left of his blackened heart jump - until he saw she was in the arms of another guy.
Awkward first words with his ex-girlfriend, then the guy who called himself Itachi claimed that he came from outside Konoha, from the largest of the trio Dewa mountains, and said Sakura, Naruto, Neji and Hinata were the first he'd met when he arrived - but how could he have no idea what to do with himself? But from what I remember, life has to be hard up there in those mountains.
But then he said he'd been looking forward to meeting him, Sasuke, whom he heard about from his new friends. Although Sasuke couldn't help but feel wary, a trait he picked up in his time away.
Why did that guy seem so familiar?
And why does he resemble me, but doesn't?
He didn't have the strength to stay and ask more questions, so he had to leave as quickly as possible. Again like a scared little boy he hated to admit.
~o~
He'd laid along the couch that Saturday night when he replayed the day's events, still overwhelmed at seeing Sasuke but also a little heartbroken that this one didn't recognize him. However, it was getting milder and milder the more he swore his brother would remember him in time, and he would not use force.
He was the mummy Sakura spoke about, and since she knew every detail about him by now, that must mean she knew about the ring that was around his finger. Itachi lifted his right hand to his face, to gaze at the round, flat circle of pewter that bore the carving of the Uchiha fan. Every man in his clan was entitled to this as a symbol of pride and honor.
But he had no choice but to remove it if she hadn't noticed already. When it was done and he put it in the pocket of his sweatshirt, his hand felt utterly exposed. He spent the final eight years of his life with this, soon after his clan was finished by his sword and every weapon he could fling from his belt in the dead of night. He then reached to turn that lamp beside him off and fell asleep without having nightmares like he used to.
The weekend was...very pleasant if he said so himself. He and Sakura spent the rest of Saturday walking around town, and then when the day was over, they walked back to her apartment to rest up. He hadn't realized how tired he was until they arrived back home...
Home.
Itachi had never called a place his home since forever. All he'd known in recent years, centuries ago, was being in the temple, laying still and chanting the Buddhist prayer while fasting on seeds, pines and urushi. Losing weight inside but somehow staying the same on the outside. Not seeing his beloved younger brother since he was a child; in fact, he had been forbidden from ever seeing Sasuke again if otouto's life depended on it. Everything he did was for the one he loved most, so he would live on better than he ever did.
He didn't know what happened to Sasuke back then, because the man who leaned over him in his final moments said his brother was living "well" - he heard that Sasuke was given a position in the house of an enemy feudal lord, but that was all. His pleas for more were in vain, and he was getting weaker and weaker every day. He should have moved, but the practice required stillness and being one with the earth.
Sakura even spent that evening being instructor when she showed him everything about how people lived, on this thing called a computer - a far more advanced means to gather information more than a mere archive or library, but it wasn't always reliable. This wasn't any different than his day, but it was still so much in comparison.
The two men's energy and knowledge must be the reason for his advanced understanding of modern technology.
He also learned that the currency involved use of these hand-held items called credit and debit cards. They were all used for the same thing: to pay for goods and services based on the holder's promise to the issuer for the amount in agreement. This would come from a place called the bank which revolved around having an account to grant the line of credit. And it wasn't handed freely to you, either. Why does that not surprise me?
If you were long-distance, you could contact someone faster than just writing letters or waiting for a response: this was through use of a cellphone, which transmitted frequency to establish connection, and it was private between you and the other person - but the companies could trace calls for intents of purpose if there was malice like stalking, harassment and so on. People had really gotten better with all of this, and that meant you couldn't get away with it even if you thought you could.
He was thoroughly impressed with all of this new stuff, even if he was ready to get a surprise.
He knew that he needed a position and a living to make, but that meant something befitting of any ronin in his day. They were the lowest of the middle class, not even peasantry, and frowned upon. But he had no idea what he would be good at in this time, since things were all too different, and the last thing he wanted to do was disappoint himself as well as anyone else.
"I'll talk to Tsunade tomorrow," she said happily, closing the computer, this one called a laptop, the name befitting since you could have it seated in your lap. Now he wanted one, but he soon learned it cost money, and if he wanted one, he had to save up. That he could live with, though there was also the urge to hurry and get it.
I wonder if this is called desire for something that's not truly important.
On Sunday, they were out again, this time in her car which was a maroon wagon. People used these things to get around, and he was thrilled to his core that it instilled such an exciting feeling in him! Sakura saw this and laughed, throwing her head back and letting her pastel hair ripple in the breeze; the hood was controlled to remove itself from above their heads and descend backwards until she needed it again.
You had to watch the road lights as well: green for go, yellow for slowing down, and finally red to stop altogether and let others pass by.
Seeing Sakura's pixie-like hair ripple made him remember that his hair was now tied back below his neck; she'd picked up a set of bands while they were shopping for a few garments for him to wear, and it had taken almost four hours to find him something that accommodated his waist and chest sizes. These people even had strange ways of measuring the body for clothes, and the sizes came in either numbers as well as small, medium, large, extra large and even greater to accommodate the obese. What was best: you could actually purchase them in the stores yourself or order them for delivery to your house.
Itachi couldn't help but grin and squeeze his eyes shut, after checking himself out in the mirror at one of his potential garments: a black shirt that had short sleeves and fitted to his torso nicely, while the very dark blue pants, called jeans and made of a rougher material of the name, held onto his hips without the need of the belt, which he could get if he wanted to. Because even today people rose up and down in size and weight.
He found himself looking back at Sakura, curious about her choice which was something the elders would have fainted from, but nobody complained when they looked at her. Her sleeveless red shirt outlined her small, supple curves while the black skirt reached her knees. He thought he could just watch her all day, just take her into his arms and run his fingers through her hair, to inhale her skin as well as kiss it all over including her lips...
Itachi had to stop those thoughts at once before he lost control. He didn't come back to life just to stoop low like a vermin craving for more. She didn't deserve his touch - not when he had to be sure she had the same feelings for him. He planned to wait just a little longer.
~o~
If she wanted to relive any time to spend with Itachi as well as having him as a real live-in roommate, she gladly would. She didn't YET regret having him with her, and if he didn't want to talk anything else of his hard past, she wouldn't make him. But he'll have to sooner or later. That's what people do.
She was at work again, and that was when she and Itachi joined with Naruto and Hinata, both of whom were glad to see him, as they went to meet with Tsunade in her office. They'd heard no more notices of the faux corpse over the weekend, and what their superior had to say was relaxing: it wasn't their man at all, but it was still disappointing because they asked each other how much longer they would live without it.
They would get the word back as to who the imposter was in maybe a few more days, and she couldn't wait. Just for the sake of it. "Dad is still optimistic," Naruto said, "so I am, too." Hinata agreed with him, and relieved she wouldn't have to see the corpse again - anytime soon. "My girl passes out among dead bodies in front of her," he explained to Itachi, "just like the first time when her sister died."
"Naruto," Sakura warned, seeing the Hyuuga's face fall a little, "that's something she should say on her own."
Hinata nodded, but she said, "It's fine. Itachi, I lost my younger sister some years ago. She was too young, and sometimes I feel it's my fault no matter being told it wasn't..." Itachi gazed at her with sincere sympathy, but he held back whatever words he wanted to say - or so the pinkette thought.
"I know what it's like to have someone you love and then lost. Even if I never knew my brother in life."
Nobody said anything to that, not even Sakura. What was there to say? It looked like Naruto was becoming suspicious; it was just like him. Hinata's eyes were misted as she was stricken by someone who understood her so well.
Here they were now, in Tsunade's office, and Itachi was right behind them all, waiting for the woman to stop speaking so introductions would be made.
"I was told by the board that if we don't get him back, it means that we have to somehow find a replacement, or at least close it once and for all but keep the other artifacts that came with," Tsunade spat, eyes ablaze. Which then turned past them and saw Itachi. Instantly a smile broke out on her face, the mood swing giving a little lash that changed everything in a heartbeat. "Sakura, this is Itachi, is it?"
"I am," he answered, "and it's a pleasure to meet you, Tsunade."
"Well, I would love to have a better time to discuss with you, but from what Sakura has told me, you were born here but lived much of your life at Mt. Yudono. I don't know if I want to ask, because I've been there and therefore know what life is like there. I suppose I understand why you would escape and come all the way out here without much to carry."
Itachi nodded. "Because I learned my brother is here. I wanted to meet him, get to know him and reconnect. And then I made some new friends. But I confess I have no idea what my place would be here," he said with a slight tilt of the head forward.
Tsunade hummed, then looked down at the many papers in front of her. "I'd let you in as one of us, since we have training programs and interns, because you might have an interest in this field, but we'll have to see about that. As a start, take a look at this." She pulled out one of the many photographs of the Uchiha mummy, holding it out for him to take a look. "He was the find I had to trample over for, for a late colleague's sake, but recently he was stolen from under our noses. The police are still investigating. We call him simply the Uchiha Warrior. The very first of the extinct samurai clan who brought a change in our lives."
Itachi took the picture from her and held it in both hands...and that was when Sakura saw it. He couldn't stop looking at the entire head-to-toe shot of the dead man who looked like he died only the previous day, was more human than the skeletal-like monks recovered from the holy trio mountains.
That look on his face...it's of pain and distance.
Itachi's learning and understanding of the modern world was...I really don't know how to explain how he was able to get it so quickly. The energy of the two he consumed just goes without saying, I suppose. Science and the supernatural don't mix even in today's standards.
Information regarding credit and debit cars, even cellphones, all from Wiki.
There's gonna be more on Sasuke coming up next. It's been hard for me to write ALL of it at once. :'( Because of the feels.
Review. :)
