Title: Remembering My Love
Author: nikki (nikkichan0829@yahoo.com)
Chapter: 6/?
Chapter Title: Remembering What Mattered
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Romance/Drama
Warning: INCEST, YAOI. OOCness. If you're squicky about this, don't read. Oh yeah, and like my other fics, it's unbetaed.
Pairing/s: Itachi/Sasuke, Naruto/Gaara, one-sided Sakura + Sasuke, implied one-sided Naruto/Sasuke
Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto.
Author's notes: This chapter is a bit longer than all the previous chapters. I couldn't bring myself to cut it shorter so here it is.
Chapter Summary:
//blah// - thoughts
"blah" - speech
//"blah"// - speech from a past memory or speech that was not really part of the dream
~Chapter Six: Remembering What Mattered~
At the sound of Sasuke's scream, Kakashi, who was still perched on the tree outside the Uchiha's home, rushed in to see what had happened. Itachi couldn't possibly have done something now could he?
He found the raven-haired boy doubled over on the floor, one hand trying to make holes on the floor while the other was clutching the area on his neck where the cursed seal was. The boy was biting his lower lip to keep himself from screaming any more.
Kakashi's eyes widened. "Sasuke!"
~~~~~
Hacking that pathetic excuse of a ninja was a bit satisfying but he hadn't really presented that much of a challenge.
Another jounin might present an even better challenge but I'll save that for later.
The sight of blood makes me want to see the traitor's own life blood spilling onto the floor as he dies pathetically.
The metallic taste gives me a sense of satisfaction at least for the mean time.
~~~~~
Sakura sat beside the hospital bed, her hands not letting go of the patient's hand. She had decided that Sasuke definitely did not belong on a hospital bed. His pale skin blended in too well with the pristine white sheets, giving her a sense of dread that he might never wake up.
Kakashi had brought the young Uchiha in a few hours ago. The curse seal had reacted.
The cursed seal had not reacted for years. Sasuke had no need for it. But why? Why of all times did it have to start up again? Was Orochimaru really behind all this or was it Itachi?
Even though it was much to her disappointment, there was no way Itachi would be able to make the seal react to his presence especially since Anko's own cursed seal reacted as well. Now, she was in bed in a room just across Sasuke's.
So the only logical conclusion was that Orochimaru was here in Konoha. It made Sakura's blood freeze at the thought. One thing that would never change would be her undying hate for the Sennin and... her great fear of him.
Even Kakashi had a hard time moving under the piercing gaze of those snake eyes. Those were eyes that knew your fears and your inner demons, knew them so well that he was capable of utilizing them for his own selfish desires.
A commotion in the hallway snapped her out of her thoughts. She glanced at Sasuke, noting that he was breathing just fine. She touched his forehead and smiled. His fever had lessened somewhat. She raised his hand to her lips and said, "Please be alright, Sasuke-kun."
The commotion outside continued to disturb the silence needed by the patients to recuperate. Furrowing her eyes, Sakura stood up and walked to the door with every intention of giving those noisy people a piece of her mind.
When she opened the door, the people sped by. Whatever it was that she was going to say died on her lips. Her eyes focused on the stretchers, two of them. One was critically injured, a hand on his stomach tried to stop the blood flow. The other one... It had no semblance of being human anymore. It was hacked up. The only part of it that was still identifyable would be the severed head... She placed her hand on her mouth, chills going down her spine.
She sank to her knees. //Oh gods. Please don't let that happen to Sasuke-kun.//
~~~~~
//Damned snake! What the hell is he?// Itachi thought as he jumped from tree to tree, looking for a sign of Orochimaru's presence as well as being careful so as not to get caught.
As soon as he had left, he had heard Sasuke scream and had gone back. He saw Kakashi run out of the house with an unconscious Sasuke in his arms. Even from a distance, he could see the mark of the cursed seal.
Itachi was getting nervous. He could sense the man but he couldn't pin point exactly where. The snake had even eluded his Sharingan!
Orochimaru wasn't this good before. Correction: No one was ever that good. What did that Sennin do to improve this much?
//Sasuke. Hang in there. Aniki will make it all better.//
~~~~~
A dark figure watched Itachi pass by. There was a murderous look on the older Uchiha's face. He chuckled.
The young man had every right to be angry. After all, the cursed seal had resurfaced and now, Uchiha Sasuke was lying on a hospital bed with ANBU guards. Anko? She wasn't talented enough. He had no use for her.
It didn't really matter how many ANBU guards there were. He was destroying Sasuke's mind as everyone was bent on finding him. It was only a matter of time before Uchiha Sasuke was his.
~~~~~
Gaara trailed behind Naruto as the blond rushed to the hospital. They had just gone out at Naruto's insistence to get ramen when they ran into Shikamaru, who filled them in.
Sasuke was in the hospital.
Apparentely, the cursed seal started working again. Sasuke wasn't the only one in the hospital. Anko was there too.
But his Naruto was rushing to the hospital only for the young Uchiha. Gaara frowned. It had taken him quite some time to finally have this relationship with the blond. Of course, back then, his blue-eyed angel had been to engrossed with Sasuke to care about anything else.
Back then, Gaara would've gotten jealous. But now, he wouldn't. He trusted Naruto.
They ran down the hallway, ignoring the doctors and nurses along the way. Then they stopped in front of a room and Naruto knocked.
~~~~~
Naruto knocked on the door, his heart beating fast. There was a soft shuffle of feet and the door opened to a familiar face. Sakura.
She gave him a sad smile. "Naruto..." She acknowledged the boy behind him. "Gaara." Then she gestured to the unconscious boy on the bed.
Naruto swallowed hard. Sasuke looked very pale. Well, not that he wasn't pale to begin with but still he was too... white! The other boy was beginning to blend in with the room. It was creepy.
Naruto sat down on the chair beside the bed. "How long has he been like this."
"A few hours," Sakura said as she rearranged the flowers in the vase on the table opposite the bed. "His fever had just gone down."
And a few hours ago, he had just gotten some shut eye. What the hell had happened in such a short period of time? He took the pale boy's hand in his and started rubbing circles on it. Cold. Sasuke was too cold.
Naruto had liked Sasuke for a time. He had to admit that to himself. But it never would have worked out. Sasuke was always looking far away. It was as if the raven-haired boy was waiting and searching for someone. Nobody knew who. The young Uchiha had always talked about restoring the clan but he had never really shown any interest in getting started at all.
If Sasuke wanted to, he could have any girl he wanted. But why wait?
A hand lightly touched Naruto's shoulder and he looked up to see Gaara looking at him worriedly. The blond gave him a slight smile, grateful that the Sand nin was there.
He let go of Sasuke's hand and held Gaara's. Then he kissed it lightly. "I'm really glad you're here with me."
~~~~~
Sasuke found himself inside his house watching his younger self crying over the bodies of his parents.
"I was so weak."
Sasuke's eyes widened.
"In the end, I wasn't able to do anything." Then his younger self glared at him. "You were weak. All you did was watch."
Sasuke clutched at his head. He knew he was weak. His clan was dead and he wasn't able to kill Itachi when he had the chance.
"That's not true!" another voice denied.
Sasuke looked behind him and found another younger version of him. This one had a sad smile on his face as opposed to other's demonic smile.
"I loved aniki. I love him still. It's not a weakness. I want you to go away! I will never hurt aniki! Never!"
The darker one said, "Itachi killed them. He deserves to die. To do that, I need power even if it comes from the devil himself."
//"Sasuke."//
The other one argued, "Sasuke, don't believe him! Aniki loves us! He would never intentionally hurt us! Sasuke!"
//"Sasuke!"//
Sasuke didn't know what to do. His body was hot and he felt light-headed. It was all too confusing. Then a light shined down on him and a voice continued to echo.
//"SASUKE!"//
~~~~~
Sakura had wandered out of Sasuke's room to get some fresh air. Naruto had fallen asleep and was taken home by Gaara with a promise to visit again.
There was a small garden behind the hospital. It wasn't really much but being there was soothing. It calmed her nerves.
She sat beneath a tree and leaned on it. It was so peaceful and relaxing that she soon drifted into the land of dreams.
~~~~~
Itachi couldn't help himself so he found himself perched outside Sasuke's window. A sense of de ja vu wswept over him as he watched his little brother thrash on the bed. A nightmare again.
But unlike the previous one, the cursed seal was slowly spreading over Sasuke's lean body. Alarmed, Itachi opened the window and grabbed Sasuke by his shoulders and shook him.
"Sasuke."
The younger Uchiha continued to thrash beneath him, his eyes still closed.
Worried, Itachi shook him harder. "Sasuke!"
Still, Sasuke remained stuck in his dream, the cursed seal nearly covering most of his body.
"SASUKE!"
Sasuke's eyes opened and the cursed seal receded. The younger Uchiha's lip trembled, his eyes wide, confused and frightened as tears trickled down his cheeks as he stared at Itachi.
"Aniki?"
Itachi gave a relieved sigh. "Sasuke..." He wasn't able to finish was he was going to say as he found himself being hugged tightly by his younger brother, who sobbed against his shoulder.
//Aniki, help me! I'm scared.//
Unfortunately, Itachi could not hear the younger boy's thoughts. But he did his best to soothe the boy's fears, promising to kill Orochimaru for sure this time and make the man rue the day he was born.
~~~~~
~TBC~
Author's notes: I find it really, really odd that I could write longer when I write more of Sakura's view of things rather than anyone else's. Oh well. I like Sakura (especially when she's not whining).^^ This had taken me a bit longer than the previous two chapters to finish. I was trying to find a way not to make the progression of the story too rushed. Dunno if I got the characterization of Orochimaru and Kisame right. I only saw Kisame in the Naruto scanlations while Orochimaru in all three: the anime, the manga and the scanlations. Even if I wrote those other fics with him in it, I still think he's creepy.
Anyway, please review! Flamers can go to hell and kiss Zabuza's ass.
Started: October 19, 2003
Ended: October 20, 2003