The sting of half-healed flesh forcibly ripped away did little to affect Uchiha Sasuke. Of course, not many things affected the young man these days. He was a legend before his tenth birthday, the sole survivor of the Uchiha Massacre and the little brother of the infamous Uchiha Itachi.
It did not matter to Sasuke, all that mattered to him was getting stronger until he was finally able to exact the revenge of his clan upon his traitorous older brother.
Blood welled sluggishly from the edges of the gash cutting across his shoulder where it bled beneath the tattered edges of the scab Sasuke had picked off once more. The dried brown ring beneath his nails bespoke of him having done this not too long ago. He could not let this wound heal however, it had to remain open and raw, a testament and a living reminder of what he had to do.
If he forgot about this wound, forgot about just how he'd received it at the hands of his once beloved brother, then what would happen to his clan? Would they too fade into memory to be forgotten save for the occasional cautionary whisper?
Thus did he pick at the wound and rip it open time and time again and each time he let it sit for too long, fresh skin, still pink and stinging, would come away with it. If he kept ripping the scab off and it kept growing, did that mean he would one day manage to extend the scar across his entire body? Would he no longer be Uchiha Sasuke then and finally be something else? Someone who was not met with hushed whispers from both the adults he encountered but his own peers as well?
Who knew….all he knew was that his one true purpose in life now was to grow stronger and harden his heart to his brother. Eventually, Sasuke knew this wound on his shoulder, the last gift from his beloved brother, would heal and scar over.
Would the wound on his heart ever heal however?
What about the kunai buried deep within his soul? Would these too scar over in time and leave him protected from such things again like some personal body and spiritual armor? He could only hope so because then he would be protected from ever feeling such a thing when he faced his brother.
As Sasuke picked at the wound and ripped the last bit of clinging scab from the pink and angry slash, the dark-haired boy bowed his head and prayed to Gods he no longer believe in. He prayed for power but most of all he prayed for a matching scar to grow upon his heart and help him to protect it from people like his brother. He prayed for the chance to see his brother again and prayed for the strength of will to falter not on his self-chosen path of Avenger.
Sasuke prayed for scars and eventually new ones would come to mark and mar the pale skin of his flesh but none was quite as impressive as the one on his shoulder.
"What's that from?" Naruto was ever the innocent, ever the naïve one with his weak belief in the general goodness of humanity. It both disgusted and attracted Sasuke to him for he both detested and envied the boy his ability to still believe in the greater good and in his fellow man. As Naruto pointed towards the jagged and ropy scar cutting across Sasuke's shoulder, the Avenger looked down and smiled in a queer and unsettling manner as a pale hand rose to lay over it almost caressingly.
"A gift from my brother…"