Notes:
I hope this chapter is long enough, and I hope you like it! :)
Please review (I've been getting a lot of hits... But literally NO reviews)
If you know any Chinese/Japanese names I could use, please review them to me. I'm running out of names. *sheepish grin* :)
Arigatou! :) I have modified the end of this chapter, after Kokoro leaves for her trip. I thought that my previous ending of this chapter wasn't too good, and decided to change it. Names are still welcome! Thank you! :)
Kokoro sat up in her bed with a loud yell. She looked around. Where was she? Then she realized. She was back home, at the Uchiha compound!
A light went on in the hallway and the door opened.
Kokoro blinked.
"Mother? Father?" she asked tentatively, staring at her parents.
"You're…. you're alive?"
"Yes dear, why would you think otherwise?" Mikoto smiled at her daughter.
Kokoro stared for along moment before jumping to her feet and flinging her arms around her parents.
"Mother! Father! I had a terrible dream, but it's not true, it was just a dream!"
Mikoto hugged her daughter and Fugaku patted her head softly.
Suddenly, Kokoro was in the living room, and she was seeing her parents death all over again.
"It was not a dream, Kokoro." said Itachi, towering over their parents corpses. "It was real."
"NO!" Kokoro sobbed, "Mother! Father!"
All of a sudden, Sasuke burst into the room.
"Kokoro! Mother, Father!," he yelled.
It was as if Kokoro was watching everything in slow motion. Itachi turned around and lunged at Sasuke, while throwing a Kunai at him.
It caught Sasuke in his hand , and blood streamed from the wound.
Itachi drew a sword. He ran it through Sasuke, and Sasuke's eyes widened, and he spat blood. Itachi drew the sword out quickly, and blood poured from the wound as Sasuke collapsed.
Kokoro screamed, a loud painful sound, full of hurt and agony.
Then she sobbed softly. Not Sasuke. Not Sasuke.
Sasuke was awakened by Kokoro's scream and ran to her room, frightened of what he would find. He slid open the door and saw Kokoro tossing and turning in the bed, screaming. Then she stopped and started sobbing softly.
Sasuke ran to her bed and shook her urgently.
"Kokoro. Kokoro! Wake up! It's just a dream. It's just a dream."
Kokoro opened her eyes to look at Sasuke. Suddenly she threw her arms around him and sobbed softly into his shoulder.
"You're not dead. You're not dead." she whispered, tears running down her face.
"I'm not dead. I'm right here. I'll always be here for you. I promise." Sasuke said quietly, stroking her back with a very unusual show of empathy.
That night Sasuke slpet beisde his sister, just as he had long ago.
The next morning Kokoro came to the breakfast table with puffy, red eyes. She sat down and stared at her oatmeal, and poked at it glumly.
"I'm sorry, onii-chan. I woke you up." she said with an uncharacteristic quietness.
Sasuke glanced at her (worried at her uncharacteristically subdued behavior, but not showing it) and said (kindly, who knew?) , " Don't worry. I couldn't sleep, so sleeping with you helped. You didn't wake me up at all."
"Arigatou , onii-chan." Kokoro said, beginning to perk up again.
" Will you train with me after the Academy?"
Sasuke made his mask-face and sighed, "Alright."
Kokoro got up and went to the door.
"Thanks again, onii-chan! You're the best! Except at cooking. There was a fly in my oatmeal."
She ducked, narrowly avoiding being skewered by a pot.
Kokoro and Sasuke glared at each other, knifes drawn, shoulders tense. Kokoro ran at Sasuke, throwing multiple kunai and shuriken at him.
He dodged, jumping into the air and landing behind her. She jumped up into the trees and hid behind a bush. Sasuke appeared next to her and she made hand signs, shouting, "Fireball jutsu!"
She blew fire at Sasuke, and he jumped away, landing on a nearby tree branch. She threw shuriken at him, and to her surprise, they found their target.
Suddenly, Sasuke popped loudly.
Kokoro felt something icy cold press against her neck.
"Shadow Clone jutsu!" Kokoro said swearing.
" Cr*p. Oh alright Sasuke, you win. Now get that thing away from me."
Sasuke put the kunai knife back in his pack, jumping down to the ground, landing lightly. Kokoro jumped down behind him, and bounced up to him.
"Let's get something to eat, I'm starving!" Kokoro practically yelled in his ear.
"Hn." said Sasuke, unfazed. He was used to it.
"By 'Hn' you mean 'Yes Kokoro, you may have three bowls of ramen with egg, and I'll pay?' Oh thank you Sasuke, you're so kind!"
Kokoro made as if to leap up into the trees, but Sasuke was too fast for her. He grabbed the back of her shirt, and the result was a gasping Kokoro lying on the forest floor massaging her neck.
"By 'Hn' I mean you're cooking." Sasuke said mercilessly, running off before she could get him.
"Hey!" Kokoro yelled, running in pursuit.
At their apartment, Kokoro began making dinner. Discreetly, she added extra chili powder to Sasuke's portion. Sasuke saw and smirked slyly. As she put the bowls on the table Sasuke asked for a glass of water.
As Kokoro went to get one, Sasuke quickly changed bowls, so the one with extra chili powder was on Kokoro's side. Kokoro put the water next to Sasuke's bowl and watched him eagerly, bringing a spoon of soup up to her own mouth as she did so. She swallowed, and immediately choked grabbing the glass of water and gulping it down.
Sasuke kept a straight face as he asked, "Kokoro, what's wrong?"
All he could make out as she shoveled ice down her mouth was, "hot" and "idiot Sasuke".
When she finally got the spicy taste out of her mouth, she sat down and stared at her soup woefully. Then she perked up and said, "Oh yeah, Tomorrow my class is going on a trip to a river, to see the tigers. We'll be gone overnight."
"The tigers?"
"Yeah. A mother tiger and her cubs were spotted near the river we're going to. Our teacher thought it would be a good exercise to get out of the village and learn a bit more about the geography around the village."
"Hn. You better pack."
"Yeah…"
Kokoro was quiet the next morning. It was the first time she was going to be away from Sasuke for a long amount of time. When they were about to leave for the Academy she handed something to Sasuke and rushed off yelling, "Bye, Sasuke!"
Sasuke looked at the thing she had given him. It was a small, round , jade green, locket, which, when opened, had Kokoro's picture in it. She was smiling cheerily, and holding her fingers up in a V fo victory. Behind her were the Hokage's face carved into the mountain side.
"Sheesh." he said, pocketing it. "It's not like I'll never see her again."
Only later did he realize how wrong he was.
Kokoro stood on the bridge and looked down at the rushing water. Next to her stood Mizuki sensei. He was lecturing them about something, but Kokoro and many of the other children were too busy looking for the tigers to hear him.
Kokoro scanned the river bank, looking for any sign of the life. As she watched, a small lizard scurried out from under a rock and ran to the bushes. A bird swooped down and grabbed the lizard taking it and flying off into the distance.
Kokoro sighed. The tigers were nowhere to be seen
Soon, Mizuki sensei ordered everyone back to the inn. As the children trudged back, Kokoro planned to come back later that night.
Kokoro sneaked out soon after everyone was asleep. She tiptoed out the inn door and went leaping towards the river, her heart bursting with excitement. The tigers had been spotted at night, she might be able to see them!
Needless, to say, Kokoro was a very avid animal lover. Many times she had saved a stray animal from starvation or a broken leg by taking it in, to Sasuke's chastisement, and taking care of it.
As Kokoro ran towards the river, leaping from tree to tree, she wondered at the freedom she felt. Sasuke would never let her out after dark, fro fear that something bad would happen ( and rightly so), so Kokoro had never experienced this feeling.
She could see the night sky stretched out above her, stars twinkling at her, and feel the cool breeze on her bare arms. She smelled the cool night air, and listened to the silence, broken only by the scurrying of wild animals.
Near the bridge, she slowed, and landed softly onto the ground. Looking around her, she searched for any sign of a tiger. Nothing.
Kokoro clenched her hand and walked to the other side of the bridge slowly, the boards creaking under her feet. On the other side, she saw something rustle in the bushes, and darted over to investigate. Tiger tracks! She carefully followed, hoping to catch a glimpse of the creature.
The tracks led away from the river, but suddenly turned, and were going parallel to it. Kokoro stealthily crept behind it, not seeing the tiger, but being able to hear it. As she went on, the trees thinned out and she could see a tiger cub. There was a cliff, and the tiger was standing at the edge of it. Beneath the cliff was the river, and if the club slipped it would fall in.
Kokoro saw the danger and ran towards the tiger. Suddenly she heard a swish, and turned, seeing a man standing in a tree, throwing a Kunai knife at the tiger. Kokoro grabbed the tiger before it could hit it, and stood, the cub in her arms, to glare at the man. He jumped down from the tree, walking towards Kokoro, smiling slyly.
"Hello, Kokoro. Quit the animal lover I see." he said, his face covered by the shadows.
"H-how do you know my name? And why were you throwing that at the cub?" Kokoro said, a little frightened. The tiger squirmed in her arms, but she was too scared too notice.
"You see, Kokoro, I know quit a lot about you and your brother. And frankly, you are coming in the way of my plans." the man stepped out of the shadows, revealing a pale face and long black hair. His tongue was unnaturally long, and rather freaky, and his eyes were snakelike. It was Orochimaru, even if Kokoro didn't know about.
Now Kokoro wasn't a 'little' frightened. She was terrified. She stared at the man, backing up to the edge of the cliff.
"What do you mean? How do you know about me and Sasuke Onii-chan?"
"I want your brother. And you must be terminated so he can come to me." Orochimaru said, his voice deadly.
Suddenly, Kokoro felt a sudden sharp pain in her left arm and was surprised to see a Kunai knife there. The cliff crumbled beneath her, and Kokoro fell into the water, the tiger cub along with her.
Kokoro gasped as the cold water enveloped her body, as she was swept away by the current. She saw man standing there, a cruel smile on his face. She felt something struggling in her arms and finally remembered the tiger cub. She pulled it's head above the water, struggling to keep her own above as well. Suddenly, her head banged into a rock, and everything went dark.
Sasuke stared at Iruka sensei as he drawled on about the chakra in a ninja's body. He sighed and looked next to him where a boy ,whose hair was bound in a pony tail, was asleep. He looked on his other side where a timid girl with short hair sitting. Then Sasuke returned his gaze to the front of the room where there was some commotion. Iruka sensei was talking with a serious looking ninja. As Iruka sensei talked, he glanced at Sasuke more than once.
Sasuke, intrigued, sat up straighter.
Iruka sensei suddenly called, "Sasuke, the Hokage would like to see you."
A surprised murmur went around the room as Sasuke stood up and walked over to Iruka sensei. What would the Hokage want with him?
Then, the ninja and Sasuke went of towards the Hokage's office.
At the Hokage's office, Sasuke stood in front of the third Hokage, eyeing him apprehensively.
The Hokage looked back at Sasuke and then said in a gentle tone, but rather bluntly, "Sasuke, your sister is dead."
Sasuke stared at the Hokage, his brain not registering the words properly.
"W-what?" he said.
"Your sister sneaked out of bed at night, and went for a walk in the woods, to look for the tigers it seems. We do not know what happened, but it seemed that she fell of a cliff and into the river and drowned. We found this." The Hokage put a dripping piece of cloth on the table, that was unmistakably Kokoro's. It had her special button on it, the one she called her 'lucky button'. It was drenched through with what seemed like water and - blood?
"We think that your sister struck her head on a rock and was rendered unconscious. If she was unconcious then it is literally impossible for her to cloth is from her shirt. It is all we found of her. I'm sorry."
Sasuke stared without seeing at the cloth, his brain not working properly. He fell to the floor with a thump and stared at it.
The Hokage looked sorrowfully at the horrorstruck boy sitting there. He said softly, "You may leave. If we find anything we will contact you. You may skip class today."
Sasuke stood up quietly and left the room. He walked numbly back to the Academy, where he took his bag and left without saying a word to Iruka sensei.
The children stared curiously after him. 'What could make Sasuke act like that? And why didn't Iruka sensei do anything when he left right in front of him?'
A girl raised her hand and asked, "Iruka sensei, what is wrong with Sasuke?"
Iruka sensei murmured, "His heart has shattered." distractedly. His voice was too low to be heard clearly.
The girl looked puzzled but didn't say anything else.
At the apartment, Sasuke sat limply on his bed .
'Kokoro. His beloved sister was-was dead! No! No.'
That was all he could think at the moment. Then he drew his hand into his pocket and removed the locket Kokoro had given him.
"I will avenge our clan for you. I will grow strong and kill Itachi. No matter what it takes. No matter what it takes." he whispered, tears pouring down his face as he stared at his sister's smiling face.
It had been taken only a week before, and as Sasuke stared at her picture, he felt an overwhelming sense of loss and sadness. She had been the only one he had had after everyone was murdered. Her cheerfulness, and mischievousness had helped him through. He had scolded her , but he loved her. She knew that he loved her. And she had loved him too.
Sasuke wiped his tears away, vowing mentally to kill Itachi no matter what it took. For his family. For his sister.
Then he broke down, sobbing for the loss of the one whom he had loved the most, crouching in a ball, his shoulders shuddering with heartbroken sobs.
That was the last time he cried. He never cried again.
Far off, on a riverbank, there lay a young girl whose life could end at any moment. Sitting around her in a half circle sat five tigers.
"What do we do with her?" asked one tiger to another. "She saved my daughter's life."
The tiger sighed and said, "I don't know. The least we can do is save her life by using 'that' jutsu."
Another tiger gasped and said, "But then she'll become-"
"Half-tiger, yes. But we owe it to her."
As the tigers gathered around, one noticed the cat shaped birthmark on Kokoro's arm.
"How ironic," she murmured.
Chapter End Notes:
Arigatou means thanks
Wouldn't you cry, however emo you were, if your sibling had died?