A man made his way through this energetic place, "Brilliant Shores" the center of the Wave Country. Carrying a poorly crafted basket with several layers of cloth protecting its contents, he weaved to and fro between countless pedestrians with grace and finesse. The main city was bustling with energy.
People were moving left and right, going here and there like a colony of ants. Some were on their way to the market to buy their daily groceries, some on their way to work for their wage and earnings. Everyone was so busy with their own lives that they probably had little time to think about anything else, or anyone else for that matter. He noted such as he passed a few beggars on the street who none could seemingly see, like they were completely invisible. He could only wish that it was because of the effect of some form of genjutsu, but he knew the sad reality. They were scattered and present in almost every corner. Some of them were simply laying about while others openly begged in silence for any form of charity. He spared each of them some change as well as very gentle smiles. His kindness earned him their own smiles in return not to mention quite a bit of attention from the amount of beggars who were gathered to him. Their smiles weren't much, but to him, all of it was more then enough.
One person stood out for the basket carrying male, however. A small blonde boy with shoulder length hair, no older than five wearing rags as tattered as the next beggar stood right in front of him with a quizzical look, as though he was questioning himself whether or not to approach and ask for alms.
Reaching into the basket, the man took the initiative and pulled out a brand new lollipop. With another smile, he offers it to the boy. With eyes wide open with surprise and disbelief, the boy takes the treat and bows in thanks, tears nearly slipping from his eyes. The man welcomes the surprising hug from the youth that followed and laughed almost silently when the boy skipped away with careless glee. Feeling very proud, he continued on his way, feeling strangely invigorated.
Thud! The solid sound of a body hitting the ground caused him to turn his head to the source, a hand manning his sunglasses so it wouldn't fall from the motion. The sight caused his previously smiling face to turn sour before it became completely void of emotion, eyes narrowing and remaining as the only expressive feature on his now stoic face.
"How dare you touch me!" another thud was heard, this time it was the sound of a foot hitting someone's ribs. That same foot reeled back. A second thud was heard, but the second kick never came.
Completely surprised, the person who was just then in the position of power now knew the feeling of the cold, hard concrete floor. He tried to get up, but the feeling of something tightly clutching his foot caused him to turn his head to what it could be. At first he could only see the silhouette of a tall man, but as he looked closer, he could make out the features. Definitely tall with a simple sleeveless black shirt, blue pants, and a basket at hand. However, most striking about this tall figure was his silver hair, the scar over the left side of his face and those cold eyes that felt so chilling even through those dark sunglasses he wore.
"Who are you and what the hell do you think you're doing!" Seemingly undaunted and angrier than before but still on the floor, the man tried to break the grip from his feet. But the more he tried to break free, the tighter that hold became and soon, the grip was strong enough to make him cry in pain.
The stranger then began to speak.
"The question is, who are you and what do you think you're doing." Two important words rang with heavy emphasis in an otherwise flat rhetoric statement. His voice so deep and so cold, if anyone had dared to go against him before, none would now. They all began to back away, unintentionally forming a small circle around the two men in the middle and the young child who was clutching his stomach in pain, writhing on the ground. "Apologize to that child." The stranger's words were calmer now, despite the tinge of cold in each and every word.
"What the hell are you talking about! You're a sick bastard just like the rest of them! This is assault! Someone, get the police! Arrest him! He's a mugger, just like that trash who grabbed my bag!" the man's words were harsh, and he said it all without blinking or hesitating.
"N-no! I- I just bumped into your bag by mistake, it's the truth! I'm sorry!" defended the small and broken voice that came from the blonde child on the ground, still clutching his stomach. Regardless of who they believed, no one among the crowd moved, frozen by some immense fear that none could explain.
Even on the floor, the man didn't know the meaning of the word fear. The stranger who towered over him wanted little else at that point but to instill true fear into this person. And he would do just that.
The silver haired stranger moved with mechanical precision. He roughly pulled on the man's foot to get him within arm's reach. He released the foot from his grip, allowing blood to circulate through it again, only to have his hand cut the circulation through his victim's neck this time around. Placing the basket on the floor with utter care, his now free hand slowly lifted the sunglasses from his face, completely revealing closed eyes and the scar that was cleaved all the way through the left side of his face.
"What is it like to be human? You will not understand it until you realize what it feels not to be treated human." The stranger's eyes slowly started to open as he continued. "Therefore, you will be treated the way you have treated that trash for forty-eight hours." By the time the last word left his lips, his eyes were completely open.
For the person being pinned against the ground, his last seconds were spent gazing into the single blood red eye with three distinguished marks that began to grow and connect to each other, forming a shuriken like pattern. Those marks began to spin, more and more rapidly until they drew a single circle. Then without realizing it, he was in a different world, the world of the Blood Red Moon. Suddenly, the stranger wasn't there anymore. He got up while wondering what happened. One moment he was being harassed by a person in the market, suddenly, that person wasn't there anymore. He didn't have time to understand reality however as several beggars started to approach him from all sides, one of them being the child who allegedly tried to steal his bag. He was about to scream at them to go away, but cold metal suddenly clasped around his arms and legs. A moment had not even passed and he was suddenly crucified.
"Someone help me!" he screamed. No one moved to help him. Everyone in the market scene continued to walk independently, each in their own ways. He was being ignored. No one would hear him. He was now panicking, the smartest thing he's done that day. A fist met his stomach and caused him to yell in pain, but still, no one moved to his aid. A second, third, fourth and fifth punch was thrown his way, each causing him to yelp in pain and terror, but still, no one paid him any heed. Punch after punch after punch landed on his body, each and every single one felt absolutely real. He didn't understand what was happening, but it didn't matter. He was being brutalized in the open, and no one cared. After what felt like forever, a voice suddenly spoke from behind the cross, a familiar voice, the voice of the stranger who disappeared.
"A second has passed, only forty-seven hours, fifty-nine minutes and fifty-nine seconds left until your ordeal comes to an end."
Complete terror came across the crucified.
"Please … please … I'm sorry … I won't anymore … it hurts … ", tears came running down his cheeks. The entire crowd was dumbfounded. Just a second ago, all that the silver haired man did was lift his sunglasses and stare into the eyes of the guy under him. Then suddenly, the previously aggressive man turned meek and started crying, even writhing as though he was in utter pain. He looked completely pathetic, but no one felt pity. They only felt fear and confusion.
The stranger closed his eyes and let the sunglasses fall back where they should be. Fingers rubbed his temples as though he suddenly felt a headache, but he quickly stood up as though nothing was wrong. He gave the man crying on the ground one last look before he turned around and walked towards the direction of the small boy who was still in pain.
Many of the villagers backed away even further the closer he came. The little boy in his direction also tried to move away in fear, but his soothing voice made all the difference.
"Don't be scared," he smiled once again and stretched out his hand, motioning him to take it. At first he hesitated, apparent form his tear ridden eyes. But he soon took his hand, which made his smile brighter and more affectionate. He gently pulls the boy up and closer to him and places his hand on top of the small head. With a poof of smoke, they both disappeared, leaving the crowd in awe and confusion as well as a man who cried himself to sleep in the middle of the street.
Somewhere, away from the busy and indifferent streets of the city, an apple gets sliced off its branch and falls into the hands of a small boy who readily dug in with great hunger and fervor.
The same silver haired man from the city sliced another apple from the tree he was hanging upside-down from but caught it instead of letting it fall. He detached his feet from the branch he clung to and dropped with silent grace to the ground below.
Aside from the sound of crunching apples, both the boy and the man shared a comfortable moment of silence until a nearly non-existent voice broke it.
"Why … why did you help me?" He stared at his half-eaten apple as though it would answer his question.
The man stopped and seemingly considered the answer to the question presented to him. He bit into the apple again and promptly swallowed before finally giving his reply.
"Because you resemble someone I value very much, or at least you resemble what I might see in the person in a few years or so." He stopped to throw his apple in the air and catch as it fell. "Seeing you get hurt, I saw this person get hurt too."
"Oh…" the boy said, seemingly dejected as he hung his head and just stared at the apple.
"But," the boy's head promptly raised itself as the man's voice came to his ears again, "you shouldn't be treated like that. I know how hard it can get, and you don't need people like them to make it any harder for you. I just taught him a lesson so he'll leave you alone from now on." He stopped and sat up, leaning towards the boy. "I didn't want to see you get hurt. You deserve someone to fight for you too." and he finished his sentence by poking at the youth's nose which earned him a giggle.
"W-what's your name, mister?" he stuttered slightly, feeling quite shy about asking the grown-up's name.
He smiles as he answers the question, "Kakashi."
"I'm Riyuko." The boy said in turn. For a moment, Kakashi was surprised.
"A-aren't you a boy?"
"Of course not, silly! I've always been a girl." The kid giggled again.
Simply put, Kakashi was dumbfounded for a good few seconds. When he finally regained enough of himself to realize his mistake, he joined the young girl in laughter.
Author's Notes:
I didn't have anyone's help in proof-reading or rewriting this chapter so I'll have to apologize for any crappy writing or typos on my part.
Also, I'm sorry that this one is almost a week late. I always intend to update on Sundays, but I didn't realize how busy I could get with my subjects this semester. From the looks of it, it'll be very tough making an update at least every week. Then again, I can just learn to maximize my time and I might get everything done on time. I'll try to update again this Sunday night.
To those who are thinking this fic is Kakashi-centric, it's not, but Kakashi is the only moving character right now, so expect to see a bit more of him for one more chapter or two. The prologue will probably have one or two more chapters, depending on how I distribute the events that will eventually lead into the main story. But Kakashi fans shouldn't fret as he will be a main character in the main story.
For those who wonder why he has the Tsukiyomi, I'll get to that as the fic goes along. But yes, he has Tsukiyomi, meaning he has the Mangekyou Sharingan.
Please feel free to leave reviews as any input will be appreciated.