Sasuke took a deep breath and clutched the note in his sweating hand.
"Hi Mother." he said cheerfully, but he was rather breathless.
"Hello Sasuke." she replied, eyeing him suspiciously. She patted down dirt around a plant in the garden.
"What do you want?"
"I was wondering if you'd teach me Gokakyuu no Jutsu." said Sasuke, fiddling with the note.
"I don't think you're old enough for that yet." Mother said.
"What about some shuriken techniques?" asked Sasuke, avoiding his point again.
"I'm out of practice. Itachi would be a much better person to ask." A few moments passed in silence. Sasuke watched Mother tend the garden, all the while wondering if he should tell her.
"Mother?"
"Yes, Sasuke?"
"You know Itachi's books you let me borrow?"
"Mm-hmm."
"One of them had...well, I mean...what's 'Akatsuki'?" Mother dropped her shovel.
"What?"
"Akatsuki." repeated Sasuke.
"Oh, I don't know...probably some ancient ninja group..." replied Mother airily. "Can I see where you found this?" Sasuke handed her a crumpled (and slightly damp) slip of paper.
"I'll take care of this for you." she said, pocketing the paper. Now Sasuke knew something was wrong. Nothing made Mother act like this.
"Does the ancient ninja group still exist?" inquired Sasuke.
"No, no, of course not. That's why it's ancient."
"Oh. I'm going to go play."
"Alright, be back in time for dinner."
Sasuke wandered aimlessly through Konoha's streets. He did not believe Mother, not for a second. He wanted to find out what Akatsuki was. He knew Mother and Father would not tell him. Itachi knew, but Sasuke would rather have his tongue cut out than ask him. In fact, Itachi probably would cut his tongue out. There was only one other person he could think of.
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Sasuke bowed as soon as he entered the room.
"Uchiha Sasuke, correct?"
"Yes, Hokage-sama." answered Sasuke. He straightened up.
"What can I do for you?" The Hokage smiled at him. Sasuke returned it genuinely. He liked their Hokage, he had a warm feeling about him.
"I have a question. What's 'Akatsuki'?" The Hokage's grin melted.
"What?" Deijavou.
"Akatsuki." He was getting tired of that word.
"Why do you want to know about them?"
"That's the word that was written on a piece of paper that fell out of one of my brother's books." Sasuke explained.
"Find Uchiha Itachi immediately!" the Third ordered the ninja nearest to him. They vanished instantaneously. Sasuke gazed at the Third curiously. This was getting more confusing by the minute.
"Sasuke." said the Hokage seriously. "Who else have you mentioned this to?"
"Just my mom. And Naruto and Sakura were with me when I found it."
"Uzumaki Naruto?" the Third said urgently.
"Yes sir. We were training." responded Sasuke.
"Listen to me, don't go asking anyone else about Akatsuki, understand?"
"What is it?" said Sasuke for what felt like the millionth time.
"They're a group of elite ninja. They have no morals. All they want is power, and they'll do anything to get it. Will that satisfy you?"
"Yeah, but what does my brother want with them?" On cue, the ninja returned with Itachi on hand. One had a deep cut on his face. Sasuke caught a glimpse of his brother. The Sharingan was active.
"What do you want?" said Itachi, in a considerably rude tone.
"Akatsuki." said the Third. Itachi's eyes widened in realization. Sasuke did not have time to move; before he knew what was happening, Itachi was on top of him. He covered his face with his arms in a small attempt to block Itachi's blows.
"You're going to get a whole lot worse than a cut on your finger this time you little bastard!" It required three ninja to pull Itachi off Sasuke.
"Are you all right Sasuke?" one of them asked. Sasuke opened his eyes. The light made his head hurt. He tried moving his mouth to respond, but nothing came out. He held his head to stop it from spinning.
"Serves the little snitch right." he heard Itachi grumble. Sasuke did not know what happened after that.
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"He's waking up." someone said. Sasuke blinked a few times and pushed himself up to a sitting position.
"What happened?" said another voice. Sasuke groggily turned his head toward the voice. Naruto was sitting Indian style at the bottom of his bed. Sasuke blinked a few more times, his vision was still blurry.
"'ere 'm I?" He was taken aback by the sound of his voice. Only a few sounds made it out in a garbled croak. He cleared his throat and tried again.
"Where am I?" This time he managed a hoarse whisper.
"Konoha hospital." Sakura answered.
"How long?" The back of his throat was hurting from forced speech and his head was thudding dully.
"A day. What happened to your head?" asked Naruto bluntly. Sasuke reached up to the top of his head. Instead of hair he felt cloth.
"I dunno. Could one of you get someone? My eyes are all messed up." he said, shaking his head to try and remove the fog in his eyes. Sakura jumped to comply.
"Really, what happened?" Naruto pressed.
"I honestly don't know." said Sasuke, massaging his temples. The dull thud in his head morphed into a pounding headache as he tried to recall.
"The last thing I know I was in the Hokage's office. He called for Itachi and–" Oh. He remembered. Itachi beat the shit out of him. "–then I was here." finished Sasuke. He did not need to tell Naruto. Not right now anyway.
"Ah." Naruto looked disappointed, but accepted Sasuke's answer. Sasuke couldn't help but smile at the face his new friend was wearing.
"Why are you so disappointed?" Sasuke laughed
"I just thought, if you remembered who attacked you, we could go on a mission. Stand up for each other you know? Like a real team." He stopped laughing.
"Naruto..."
"Yes, Team Seven all the way baby!" Sakura cut in, making her way over to Sasuke. "A nurse is going to come look at your eyes Sasuke-kun."
"Thanks Sakura." His eyes were cloudier than before. He wiped them with his sleeve.
"Sasuke-kun?" said Sakura, concerned.
"It's nothing, I'm just glad we formed Team Seven." He smiled at them both. In his family, Sasuke always seemed to be left out. Father was constantly obsessing over Itachi, and Mother was busy with them. No one had ever cared about him like this before. He put his arms around Sakura and Naruto and pulled them both into a hug.
"We're going to be the best ninja team ever." said Sasuke, beaming.
"Got that right!" said Naruto, holding his hand out in the 'nice guy' pose. Sakura nodded in agreement, blushing brilliantly in Sasuke's hug.
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Half an hour later a nurse entered the room pushing a cart filled with all kinds of medical instruments.
"Go Fish!" Naruto yelled triumphantly.
"Quiet down Uzumaki-chan." ordered the nurse. "This is a hospital." She sounded like she was speaking to a repulsive thing that one would normally step on. Sasuke did not fail to notice the disheartened look on Naruto's face.
"He wasn't that loud." defended Sasuke. The nurse did not respond. She picked a small flashlight up from the cart and shined it in Sasuke's eye. After completing the routine of 'look right, down, up, blink...' she set the light back on the cart.
"Your vision will be blurry for the next day or so. I'll give you some medicine, but there's not much we can do. Sharingan attacks take time to heal." Naruto and Sakura turned their eyes onto Sasuke. He stared determinedly at the cards in his hand. He wished they would not look at him like that.
"Sharingan attack?" Sakura asked after the nurse left.
"So, Sakura, do you have a four?" averted Sasuke.
"You liar, you know who attacked you." said Naruto accusingly.
"Can we drop it?" pleaded Sasuke. He did not know why, but he did not want them to know it had been Itachi.
"Okay..." answered Sakura hesitantly. Naruto however, threw down his cards.
"No! You can't let people treat you like dirt! You know who put you here, and you can't hide it!" he shouted angrily.
"Drop it Naruto! I mean it!" snapped Sasuke.
"Naruto, maybe you should listen." said Sakura timidly.
"No, Sasuke's being dumb!" Naruto flicked the side of Sasuke's head. Sasuke slapped his hand away. His chest was burning with anger. Why wouldn't he listen?
"Naruto, if you don't drop this right now, I'll punch you!" he threatened, curling his fingers into a fist.
"Sasuke-kun, Naruto just wants to help..." Sakura put a hand on his shoulder. Sasuke shrugged it off.
"That's great Sasuke!" Naruto spat, "You're going to punch someone for caring about you?" The anger inside him disappeared. Sasuke unclenched his fist. He gazed down at the bed sheets again.
"No, I won't. I'm sorry Naruto. But you don't need to know who it was."
"Why not?" Sasuke did not respond. He got the feeling that Naruto could suddenly read his mind. He was revealing everything. Naruto knew.
"It was Itachi, wasn't it?" said Naruto quietly. Sakura let out a small gasp.
"Was it Sasuke?" she asked.
"Yeah." Naruto answered for him. "It was because of whatever was on the slip of paper we found." He slid off the bed. "I'll be back." Sakura started to follow Naruto out of the room.
"Hold on Sakura. Would you mind staying here?" Sasuke did not want to be left alone, not right now. Sakura turned back and sat on the end of the bed.
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Night had fallen. Sakura was curled up at the end of the bed. Naruto had not been back. Sasuke fiddled nervously with his thumbs. His stomach was churning. He had asked for anti-nausea medicine, but was denied. Quote: 'There's nothing wrong with you, you don't need it.' A foreboding feeling had long since settled in his chest. The hospital was much too quiet. Then, he heard it. The sound he had been dreading for the past six hours.
He heard several running down the hall shouting. The doors to his wing opened with a bang.
"Hold the flow steady!"
"He's losing way too much blood!" Sasuke jumped out of bed and ran to the door. A group of people streaked by with a stretcher. He felt the blood drain out of his face.
"Who was that?" he asked a lingering nurse. He was shaking, hoping he was wrong.
"That?" said the nurse, pointing down the hall. "Uzumaki Naruto."
Ooh...I wonder what's going to happen...I'm so excited. Except that, I'm going to be really, really tired at school tomorrow. It's like, three in the morning. Oh well. At least it's Friday. Good night everyone!