Why greetings beezies. x3

I love you guys. Enjoy my love in the form of the words that you are about to hear.

Promises Not Made are Promises Never Kept

Flashback Twenty-Five – Scream

Sasuke was hesitant as he gazed at the older woman. His instincts screamed that she was in cahoots with the blonde girl – he couldn't trust her, either of them – but his heart was so troubled and she was such a figure of neutrality.

Bloodthirsty, cruel neutrality.

He wondered how he knew that as he moved to silently sit a little ways from her on the bench – not right next to her, but not completely across from her either. He hadn't seen her battle, he hadn't really even spoken to her. But there was just something about her. Something about the way she walked and carried herself and-

Oh, and the battle axes she carted around didn't exactly help her case.

He realized that she reminded him a lot of Zabuza.

Hm. That explains a lot.

Her weapons weren't with her, though he could still see the sheaths that held the machetes at her waist. Just like his father figure, she was never without a weapon.

An absurd picture of the two marrying in a chapel with her in a bright white dress and Zabuza in a black suit with doves and flowers flying everywhere and him addressing her as 'Mommy' popped into his mind, and he shuddered. Tyra raised an eyebrow at her.

"Yes?" She asked expectantly. Sasuke pushed the ridiculous image from his mind and looked over at her, at her hands.

"What are you doing?" He asked. Tyra glanced down at her hands before raising them to show what she held – a small carving knife and a little block of wood that was slowly turning into the shape of-

"Making a voodoo doll," she replied before turning back to her careful work. Sasuke blinked.

"A voodoo doll of who?" He asked. Tyra shrugged.

"No one for now," she replied. "But when I find a person I do want to torture…" she raised her eyes and winked at him with a smirk. "I have one already premade."

Sasuke blinked in confusion.

"I'm not quite sure that's how that works-"

"And I highly doubt you wrote the book on how to craft effective voodoo dolls," she interrupted pointedly, making Sasuke look away in defeat as she waved her knife at him. Looking back down, she continued to carve. "Besides, I highly doubt that's what you wanted to sit back and chat about. It's late. What're you doing up?"

"I could ask you the same thing," Sasuke replied with a small sneer. Tyra lifted her head and raised a no-nonsense eyebrow at him.

"Don't you look at me in that tone of voice!" She scolded, making him blink in complete confusion before she dropped the expression and shrugged. "And I'm an adult. I can do what I want. Fine." Looking down, she resumed her voodoo doll shenanigans. "If you really don't want to talk about what's bothering you, we'll just sit here in silence."

No that's not what I-

"You know what happened with me in the mountains, don't you?"

There. It was out and the conversation had begun. She couldn't fucking bitch anymore-

Tyra stopped carving, raising her head to gaze at him as she leaned back to rest against the single tree.

"I do," she stated simply. "How could I not?"

"But Haku and Zabuza don't know?"

Tyra gazed at him for a long, searching moment before shaking her head.

"No." At his sigh of relief, she raised an eyebrow at him. "Are you afraid of them finding out?"

"Well, yeah," Sasuke admitted plainly. "Why wouldn't I be? Is that weird?"

Tyra pursed her lips for a moment, "I suppose not," she replied, turning her gaze upwards to the sky. "You're a kid. You're afraid of being judged."

"That's… part of it," the boy breathed, making her drop her eyes to look at him, but she didn't move her head from where she had lifted her chin. "But, also…" he shrugged. "I don't want them to be afraid of me. I don't want them to leave."

Tyra's response was accompanied by a nonchalant shrug, "but if they really love you, fear or not, they will continue to love you even if they know the truth. The truth is not something to be ashamed of. At least not this particular truth."

"But the truth is that I'm a monster," Sasuke breathed bitterly. "How could I not be ashamed of that?"

At this, Tyra shifted, setting both feet on the ground in front of her and leaning forward his direction, setting her elbows on her legs and interlacing her fingers as she gazed at him.

"You can't be ashamed of what nature made you to be," she told him firmly as he raised his eyes to look at her. "You can't be ashamed of what your past made you to be. Those things were beyond your control. You didn't choose to have those things happen to you." When Sasuke looked away in sorrow, she raised an eyebrow at him. "What happened anyway? To make you so…" she shrugged as she tried to think of the word. "…damaged?"

Sasuke wanted to pour his soul out to her, but she was still a stranger. And he couldn't let her know who he really was.

Who knew who she knew?

"When I was really young…" he began softly. "A… very good friend of mine did a horrible thing. We were practically brothers, and he would always visit and play games with me. But his dad was pretty mean, and he wanted nothing but the best. Perfection. And that meant a lot of pressure. My dad was practically the same way, so we understood each other. It was almost perfect. But then…" He kept his eyes to the ground as his eyelids seemed to become so heavy. "I came home one day from school, and…" His eyes began to burn, and he raised his hands and buried his face in them, leaving his mouth uncovered. "He had gone through every house on my street and killed everyone. My uncles, aunts, grandparents, cousins, everyone, but-" he sucked in a breath, trying to steady himself and his breathing. Tyra didn't say anything as he collected himself. "But… my parents were still alive. I ran through my house and found them…" he swallowed. "I found them tied up in their room on the floor, and he was standing over them. As if he had been waiting for me." He looked away, opposite from Tyra, and gazed at the ground. "And he…" "This is all for you, Sasuke…" "And he killed them right before my eyes. Just like that. Cut their heads off. And then he vanished into thin air." He shook his head. "I never… I never understood why he did it. I've had ideas, but I've never known for sure."

"Yeah, that's pretty horrible," Tyra replied finally, though Sasuke couldn't really hear any sort of sympathy in her voice. It was carefully, calmly neutral. It almost made him childishly, outrageously angry, but then he realized that it was a different, fresh emotion. It wasn't pity, which was what he was used to. It wasn't really anything. It was refreshing. And the fact that he thought that way confused him so completely. "Is that why you're so angry?"

"I guess," he replied with a shrug, finally lifting his head. "My mission became to destroy him. It's what I lived for. I had nothing else, and nothing else mattered. It was like…" he lifted a hand, resting it on his heart. "It was like there was a monster in my heart, eating me alive."

That's what it was. I think I get it now.

"And then what happened?"

Sasuke's shrug was tiny this time. "I found Haku and Zabuza. Well, more like they found me. They showed me something better than hatred. I don't want to die feeling angry. I don't want to be that person anymore."

"But you are that person," Tyra insisted, raising an eyebrow at him. "Ignoring it isn't going to make it magically disappear. This friend of yours… he obviously means more to you than you're pretending nowadays."

"I just keep thinking…" Sasuke breathed, looking at the rock wall in front of him. "What if he comes back? He already killed everything I ever loved once. I already failed to defend the people I care about once. What if I fail again? What if this never ends? What if this is what my life was meant for?"

Tyra, leaning back against the tree, gazed at him through one eye for a long moment before shrugging and tilting her chin up, resting her head against the tree and closing her eyes with her hand in her lap and foot pressed back up against her thigh.

"I suppose that's simple enough; next time, you don't fail." Dropping her chin a little, she looked at him through both eyes as she took the knife back to the wood again. "Or you could just die before they get killed so you don't have to see yourself fail. You obviously care more about saving those two than you do about killing him. So save them. Fuck that guy."

"But what if he just keeps coming-?"

"Oh, kill him, by all means." Sasuke raised his eyes to look at her as she spoke this, and she leaned forward towards him again, her eyes intense. Her voice became like thunder in his ears. "When the time comes and he tries that shit again, slaughter him. Rip all of his limbs off – make him scream your name as he dies. But don't do it for the dead." Her stare was level and completely enraptured Sasuke with those red-orange eyes. "Do it for the living."

Sasuke gazed at her for a long while before a small smile crept onto his face, and he nodded.

"Sounds like a plan," he agreed with a grin.

End Flashback Twenty-Five – Scream

Woo!

Yeah, Tyra's a badass.

Where is everyone? Is it summer yet? I don't think so... finals then?

Let me know you liked it? :3

Much love!

DDB