NC Ace: Here's a dark little story about Sasuke. There may be a little OOCness, but it'll explain itself later on. I tried sticking as close to the anime as I could based on what I know.

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"Saaaaaaaaasuke-kuuuuun!"

"Hm...?"

"Sasuke-kun, wait up!"

He looked back, to see a young girl with short choppy black hair, panting to catch up.

"Lin..you'll never become a ninja at this rate..."

She caught up, and simply grinned. "But I have a nii-san like Sasuke-kun!"

"Stop calling me brother! I'm just helping you with training, and that's that." Sasuke snapped, before smiling himself. "But I really think you should be seeing Itachi instead...he's better than me.."

"That's true...but his eyes... He always looks so serious..." Lin replied. Sasuke just stared at her with his kind black eyes.

The blood... It was something that no child his age should've seen. The slaughter of his family and friends...by his own brother.

"Sasuke...kun..."

As much as he hadn't wanted to, he had gone outside. He would've had to sooner or later. He couldn't stay among the dead bodies. The damage was unspeakable. It was unbelievable that one person had done this. The one he was closest to. The one he trusted to most. The one he looked up to.

Itachi.

"Sas...uke...kun..." The weak cry finally caught his attention.

"Lin!"

He ran to the younger girl. She was buried under her two parents, both already dead.

"Lin, hang on, I'll get you out..."

"No..." Sasuke paused hearing her protest, "No Sasuke-kun... I'm fine...really...Just...make sure you teach me some jutsu's tomorrow...okay...?"

"No- Wait- Lin!" He shoved the bodies out of the way before pausing. Her chest wasn't rising or falling anymore, and her eyes had glazed over. Across her stomach was a fresh, deep gash, bleeding so that the ground around her was throughly soaked.

"Lin!" He jumped out of bed, cold sweat running down his forehead. Sasuke quickly regained his surroundings, finding himself in his room, and not on the field of a slaughter. "Lin..." He sighed, running a hand through his hair. The image of the dead girl still plagued his mind. He opened his eyes, now sharpened to an avenger's eyes, to see that it was 2 in the morning. With a hefty sigh, he collapsed back onto his pillow, but after the dream-no nightmare, he knew that he wouldn't be able to fall asleep.

After staring at the ceiling for what seemed like an hour, he got out of the blankets, and grabbed a towel for a shower.

She was only 7...

He thought, as the hot water ran down his face. What had happened to him ever since then? He had changed. A lot. His eyes were now cold, unfeeling, and he didn't have a goal like any of the other younger ninjas he knew. They pursued dreams to become Hokage, to prove themselves, to be the best. Sasuke scoffed. He barely remembered when he used to think like that. But now he had one single goal. It was to avenge the death of this clan by killing his older brother.

Pulling a shirt over his bare chest, he grabbed the pack that carried his shurikens and kunais. Kakashi had called for another training session early in the morning that he'd come late to as usual.

"Saaaaaasuke-kunnn!"

"Hey! SASUKE!"

Those familiar calls turned him around to blankly stare as a pink haired female ninja, and Konoha's most hyperactive ninja ran up to him.

"We're actually going to get there without arguing over who got there first!" Sakura smiled. Sasuke's frown deepened, for he was around Naruto, and when Naruto, it was as if he were suddenly always peeved.

"But Sasuke got out of his house latest! Ha, so I win!" Naruto called out.

"Naruto!" Sakura yelled, her fist coming in contact with Naruto's cheek.

...hey... At least... these two are around. Sasuke thought to himself.