Disclaimer: You know I don't own it.
A/N: A side-story to In Retrospect, another one-shot I wrote. Read that before reading this one, this fic would make a lot more sense then.
Pity.
A One-shot by legacyZero
They were staring at him with that look again.
Not to say that Sasuke wasn't familiar with it. Oh no, he knew all too well what that look meant.
Pity.
And if there was one thing that he hated, its pity.
Seriously now.
Pity? An Uchiha?
Those two words did not go hand in hand. It was insulting really.
And Sasuke never heard a more insulting notion. Pity was for the weak.
Needless to say, it angered him. He wasn't weak.
What did they know? They were never part of the Uchiha, nor were they close to the clan which had protected them for generations, through war and peace. They had just stood there, with their annoying looks of sympathy directed towards him, whispering and murmuring among themselves like the parasites they are. Did they think that he was deaf? What made them think that they understood his loss? Nothing! Hypocrites, the whole lot of them.
"That poor, poor boy..."
"Heard that his brother killed off his whole clan..."
"Sad, isn't it..."
That had been years ago but he could still remember the chilling anger and disgust he felt against those damn sheep. He tried to calm himself, struggling to remember what his father had once said to him. An Uchiha never loses his head, even less so when there were others watching. But that advice didn't do much good for his father now did it? Considering when he's now lying six feet under along with everyone else except for him.
Him. The sole heir to the Uchiha clan.
Except that he knew that it was all crap in the end. Until he could kill Itachi.
His brother was stronger than him, always has been, and that fact had never been more prominent than on that night where he changed everything. Sasuke never felt so weak, so useless. And he hated every moment of it. And it was then, Sasuke hated to be on the receiving end for pity, for it all but surpassed the disgust in his brother's eyes as he laid on the stained floorboards, his hands grasping futilely for life.
No, he could never be heir if Itachi still lived. His sense of pride could never allow it. He would kill Itachi and revive his clan.
But nobody said that growing up as an orphaned prodigy was easy.
To make matter even worse, his peers were as disgustingly feeble-minded as the adults he seen in his life; the boys holding what he thought was a mix between contempt and awe for him as he aced one test after another. Some of them even had the gall to ask him how he did it, in a tone that suggested that it was a game that was fun. He had resisted the urge to use a Katon jutsu on that miserable excuse for an Academy student, and that was only because it would cause him to be prosecuted by the village, and he can't have that can he? He really hated the looks of awe that everyone gave him, as if he was their aspiration, their idol.
They knew nothing and yet followed him blindly based on hearsay and gossip. And that amounted to pity in either case, and Sasuke hates pity.
The girls, he noticed, were as dense as the boys, and were always going on about how 'Sasuke-kun' needed someone to heal his broken heart. Sasuke almost choked to death when he heard that one.
He snarled. He needed power, not some air headed girl who believed that she 'loved' him. They liked his looks, his reputation and his money. And he could always get a wife after he killed Itachi.
And then came the Genin Team assignments.
The pink-haired girl, Sakura, was useless. At first, he had given her the benefit of doubt but soon, it seemed the girl was like his other fan-girls; weak, pitiful and annoying. In short, a complete waste of space. Why Konoha actually allowed them to become ninjas in the first place, he didn't know.
His other team-mate was Uzumaki Naruto, and he was very surprised to say the least. In him, he saw something startling. Beneath the thin veneer of jealousy and grudging respect, he saw understanding in those eyes. Not jealousy. Not awe.
Not pity.
It was...refreshing for a change and he felt almost like they could become friends, as ridiculous a thought that may be. He realised something that Itachi had told him earlier, words that had still burned within his memory.
"If you wish to obtain power, you must kill your best friend...to break that precious bond and cast it aside callously. Only then can you kill me."
In him, Sasuke saw the one who would help him achieve his goals. The one who would be the key to unlocking the power to kill Itachi. The one who was to become a friend.
And the one Sasuke was going to kill to obtain that power.
A small part of him that still remained a child was hesitant, pleading for him to find another way to power, so as to spare this kindred soul from a fate he did not deserve. Those doubts were squashed ruthlessly and efficiently, something he learnt to do while growing up. An avenger did not need attachments and emotions for extra burden, only strength was needed. And Sasuke did not do things out of morality or conscience, but because of necessity. While he did not question that Uzumaki Naruto would prove a valuable friend alive, there was no price he wouldn't pay for power. Such was the cruelty of revenge.
But Sasuke didn't care because, first and foremost, he was an avenger.
And Avengers cared for only one thing; revenge.
He suspected that Kakashi had seen a glimpse of his true self, but he didn't worry. He knew that the man felt an attachment to him, and Sasuke knew that those who had attachments were often delusional, often blinding themselves from the cold hard truth with fantasies and daydreams. Which was quite pitiful really because he learnt that these types of attachments existed to be used. And Sasuke was not above using people to get what he wants.
After all, the only allegiance he owed to anybody was to himself and himself alone.
So until that time came, Sasuke would smile that rare smile and chuckle the odd guffaw or two and play the part of the reclusive team-mate. But when the time came, he would not hesitate to gain the power that was his birth right. Pity was for the weak and defeated, and power was for victorious. And Sasuke would ensure that it went that way, no matter the cost.
Because the one thing he hates the most is weakness.
Owari
A/N: Completed under record time. Started 19/11/05, Ended 20/11/05 AM. Not beta-ed, may contain possible grammar mistakes and whatnot. Lately, I have been feeling the need to write one-shots like this and to be honest I feel that they are quite to my satisfaction in terms of grammar and spelling. The sequence of ideas may not be a complete fit but I try. This, as you may have read from the A/N at the start of the story, is a follow up to 'In Retrospect' which I written before, and explores the character of Sasuke which portrays him in a negative light, eg. heartless cold bastard. Normally, I try to bring out aspects of the characters in my other fics equally but due to the re-watching of the anime series, my opinion of Sasuke has dropped considerably, though not as low for me to be a Sasuke-basher. Since In Retrospect dealt with the idea that Naruto and Sasuke were destined for great things, (Heard that somewhere, have ya?) I thought why not make Sasuke the one to take the dark path and give him a really 'evil' persona? Of course, this fic tries to flesh out the desire and one-mindedness of Sasuke for revenge. IN this case, I pretty much succeeded in showing how ruthless Sasuke was. And we all know that he took to that path pretty well, despite what others have written. Either way, I had fun with this. Screwed up characters are SO much easier to write. :P
Anyway, thanks for reading please drop a review (or a flame)
legacyZero