Changes
Chapter Seven
It Was My Destiny
Mind you, it's been a couple years since we last left off. I would say add around six years to the ages of our favourite little characters that are no longer little characters; but only soon-to-be-teens and have grown to be quite the troublesome kids.
"Uchiha-san! Sasuke's been stealing flowers from my backyard again!"
"I'm so sorry Matsumoto-san! I'll make it up to you somehow!" Feeling his mother turning to him, Sasuke could do nothing but cower at the shadow of his now-feared family. "Sasuke! How dare you go and steal flowers from the Matsumoto family!"
"Aww, mother, I'm bored!" and then he realized that that wasn't the right thing to say at the moment.
"Bored? Bored! Sasuke, do you know what you're saying? How can you possibly be bored? I'd say that it's very unfortunate for you that they raised the age restriction to attend the academy nowadays, but if it were like back when your brother and sister were permitted, I would make sure that –"
"And blah, blah, blah! I don't care! As long as I have another six years of freedom, I'm going to make sure that I don't have to slave about with scrolls like Itachi did!"
"Sasuke! Why you little –"
"Oh, got to run mother, catch you later!" Sasuke grabbed his handbag off the kitchen table and headed for the door to hopefully get away from his mother.
"Where are you going?" she called after him.
"I'm going over to Shinji's place!" Sasuke called back as he pulled on his shoes and slung his handbag's strap around his neck.
"Be back by dinner!"
"Fine!" and he slams the door.
"Kids these days…" hearing the door open again, Uchiha-san heard Itachi and Tsumi coming in, talking about their most recent mission.
"Oy, mother!" Tsumi ran into the kitchen and hugged her mother.
"Hey, mom," Itachi said calmly as he slowly walked after Tsumi.
"Good afternoon, Itachi…" his mother sensed a bit of coldness in Itachi's voice, so she greeted him slowly. "So how was your mission?"
"It went great! For our first A-class mission, it went great!"
"What did you have to do on your mission?"
"We had to…uhh…what's that word?"
"Eliminate. Destroy. Kill. Assassinate. Shall I continue?" Itachi said coolly.
"Ok? We had to assassinate some high-ranked guy in the Hidden Stone," Tsumi informed their mother.
"Really? Did you guys pull it off?" their father asked as he walked into the kitchen.
"Obviously father!" Tsumi said with a wide smile. "Itachi did quite a lot of work!"
"It was nothing," he said so coolly that it sent shivers down everyone else's spines.
"Well, I promised that I'd meet Nara-san, Akimichi-san, Aburame-san, Hyuuga-san, Haruno-san and Yamanaka-san for dinner tonight. Sorry!" Uchiha-san said as he walked over and kissed his wife on the cheek before he turned to leave. "Sayonara!"
"Sayonara!" they said cheerfully – that's everybody else excluding Itachi, who just stood there and watched his father go.
"I'm going to my room," he cut in and walked off silently.
"What's gotten him?" his mother asked Tsumi.
"Don't know?"
Tsumi and Itachi have passed their academy exams, genin exams and chuunin exams by the age of twelve. Prodigies really are prodigies. Now they're part of the Leaf's ANBU team, going out on missions quite often, for children are a great cover for the rest of the team.
Later that night…
There was a knock on the door. "Come in." Tsumi entered the room.
"Sorry to bother you, but what's up lately? You've been acting all strange since you got appointed as the ANBU captain for our team."
"Nothing. It's none of your business, anyway." He paused.
"Are you sure nothing's up?"
"Yes. Leave me be." So she exited his room, closing the door behind her quietly.
"The time draws nearer…"
A week later…
"Here you go Sasuke! Your lunch. I will see you after your shuriken lesson," Uchiha-san said as she handed Sasuke his lunch.
"It's not a lesson. It's training," Sasuke replied as he grabbed his lunch from his mother. "I'm off!"
'At seven, Itachi graduated at the top of the Academy. At eight, he was able to use the Sharingan. At ten, he became a chuunin. Right now, I'm the same age when he graduated. We're not at all alike.' Sasuke was lost in his thoughts as he ran off. "But I got the same Uchiha blood running through me as he does. My brother will not defeat me!"
When nearing the evening…
"Itachi, where are you going?"
"There's something I must do, Tsumi."
"Oh, ok then. I'll be at Ichiraku's ramen bar; meet me there."
"Fine. Don't worry, I won't be long." And Itachi walked off.
"What's gotten him?" Tsumi shrugged it off and walked off to Ichiraku's, sat down, and ordered and beef ramen. Then, she felt the familiar sensation in her eyes as the melted into a vermillion-like colour.
Then, something hit her. From a distance, she heard the sounds of screaming and destruction ringing in her ears. Of course, it was only her mind that had created such an illusion, but she knew something was wrong. And then a premonition hit her.
Premonition
There were shadows on the wall. One of a small, slim figure standing over a man, a woman, and two kids. Leaning over, the small figure looked into their eyes and they started screaming, and then he thrust kunai and shuriken at them, killing them instantly. The sound of their blood squirting out of them was heard as their blood splattered everywhere.
"Useless. No challenge at all. Only a couple left. Maybe they shall serve as worthy opponents."
End
Tsumi's eyes faded back into their onyx colour. 'That voice…I recognize that voice…' then it hit her. "Itachi!" she gasped.
She looked up at the waiter that had taken her order. "Waiter, cancel my order. Sorry!" and she ran out of the noodle bar and back to her own house. She didn't know what she was doing. She was listening to her conscience and doing what it was telling her to do. Tsumi always trusted it; it not once wrong.
Meanwhile…
The full moon was out. 'I'm really late from training,' Sasuke thought as he quickly headed home. Then, he saw a silhouette of a figure at the top of the light post. In the blink of the eye, it vanished.
'What?' Sasuke was confused. 'Right now…what is this feeling…' and it hit him. He looked down to see dead corpses everywhere. "…wha…what is going on…" he wondered aloud. "This is…" and he knew what had happened. He started darting home as fast as possible, almost flying into the front door of his house in the process. "Father! Mother!" he yelled as he reached opened the door.
"Sasuke…don't come in…"
Poor little Sasuke was frightened. 'Move! Move! Move!' he mentally yelled at himself. Carefully, he pushed the door open to see his father and mother lying on the floor in a heap; the moonlight cast across their bloody bodies from the windows, and a still figure standing on the other side of the room.
"Father! Mother!" he yelled. Then he looked up to see Itachi; the Itachi that he had always idolized, staring back at him with the Sharingan eyes. "Brother! …Brother! Brother! Father and mother! How come! WHY! Why did you do this…" Sasuke trailed off as the door behind him shut. "Kuu…"
"That was foolish of you, little brother…"
"………?"
"Mange Sharingan!"
Sasuke was as scared as never before. He saw things he had never dreamed of seeing. He was scared, shocked, angered, and feeling pain like his head was being ripped to shreds. He fell to his knees and grabbed at his head, hoping to stop the pain. "Agaahh! Stop it brother! I'm not seeing this! Why! …brother nooooo! Gyahhhhhh! Uka! Uaa! Stop it! Brother! Father and mother! Agaaah! Aa…Aah!" Sasuke couldn't bear to see it. He spat out blood and fell over on the floor. "…Why…did you brother…?" he managed to get out.
"They were just a measuring stick to test myself."
"…A measuring stick…? That's why…"
"…"
"…That's why…you did it…You killed everyone for that…?"
"It was very important for me to do so."
"…What for… That is…just bullshit!"
Sasuke lunged at Itachi, who punched him in the stomach, knocking him over and back on the floor. Sasuke couldn't hold it in any longer. He started to cry when he saw the corpses of his dead parents. 'I'm scared…I'm scared!' He got back up on his feet and dodged as Itachi lunged at him. "Uwaah! Don't kill me!"
Itachi stopped dead in his tracks. "You're not even worth killing…foolish little brother…"
'Oh no…I'm already too late…' Tsumi busted through the door. "Itachi, what are you doing! What have you done to the rest of the clan!"
"It was my destiny. As I have said earlier to Sasuke, they were just a measuring stick to test myself. Not a very good measuring stick, for that matter," he added in.
"Don't kill Sasuke!" Tsumi said as she landed neatly in front of Sasuke to block Itachi's path.
"He's not worth killing, Tsumi." Itachi turned to Sasuke. "IF you want to kill me…live miserably! Hate me! Survive through the ugliness." He paused. "…run. Run…learn to survive." A sly smile spread across his pale face. Stepping forward, he grabbed Tsumi's wrist. "You're coming with me," he said icily and he pulled her out the door with him.
"Sasuke! Be strong!" Tsumi said through tears as she was dragged out of sight, leaving Sasuke to collapse on his knees and cry.
TBC