NARUTO: A CHRISTMAS CAROL
PT: Thanks to Solarius Scorch, AshuriiItachisgirl01 and Subuku no Jess for their reviews!
Time: This is before the Chuunin exams and after the Land of Waves mission.
Disclaimer: You have Kishimoto Masashi and Charles Dickens to thank for opening up their wonderful worlds to you.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Christmas Eve-Konoha, 11:00 P.M.
Sasuke blinked and opened his eyes. He stared at the clock next to his bed. 11:00. Sasuke stared at it, just stared as his mind wandered elsewhere. What am I doing in bed?
Then, he remembered. He remembered what had happened and wished he hadn't. He recalled his mother, slightly transparent, telling him about the spirits. Tears swept down his face as he recalled seeing her again, and fading away just as he had sprung to his senses. Why did she have to die? Why did Itachi have to kill her? Why did Itachi kill any of his clan, his own family...
Sasuke's mind, heart and very soul filled with hatred as he remembered Itachi, the ninja, man, the brother he had sworn to kill. Sasuke's hand unwittingly formed into a fist, squeezing till the knuckles were white.
Clunk. This time, Sasuke was ready. He activated his Sharingan and jumped off his bed. Who was the spirit?
The raven-haired Uchiha looked around, his reflexes ready.
Nothing.
Still, Sasuke was cautious. He couldn't see one hint of chakra, though, no matter how hard he looked.
Do ghosts even have chakra?
"No, we don't," a voice behind Sasuke said. Sasuke's eyes widened as he spun around, pulling a kunai out of his weapons pouch as he did. He was angry. Very angry. So angry, he was ready to go mad. That voice...it sounded like...
"NARUTO! HOW DARE YOU SNEAK INTO MY HOUSE TO PULL A PRANK! I'M GONNA--"
Sasuke's threat was never completed. Instead, his breath caught in his throat and the genin stared at the owner of the voice. No way... This kid sounded so much like Naruto... Yet...
...It wasn't Naruto.
A boy of about Sasuke's age with spiky black hair was standing in front of him, goggles on. He was slightly transparent, like Mikoto. He had spoken. Did he read Sasuke's mind?
There was a long silence. It could have lasted four...five minutes. It could have even been an hour, but Sasuke would never find out. Finally, the spirit impatiently spoke up.
"Alright! I'm Obito and I'm the Spirit of Christmas Past! TEBAYO!"
Sasuke's eye twitched. "You sound just like that dobe Naruto," he growled.
Obito smiled proudly. "I take that as a compliment! It's cause Uzumaki Naruto's my sensei's--"
Sasuke impatiently snarled "I don't care about your sensei! Why are you here? Don't tell me that you're some distant relative of Naruto or something. I don't need two dobes harrassing me." What was wrong with him? Why wasn't he scared of this ghost?
Obito looked offended.
"I'm your relative, you baka," he growled. "I'm Uchiha Obito of the Uchiha clan! I died in battle! You can find my name on the memorial stone!"
He really has no shame or embarrassment, Sasuke thought, a sweat drop sliding down from the back of his head.
"I'm the Ghost of Christmas Past! I will haunt you with your past tonight!" Obito yelled.
Sasuke, usually dignified, glared at him. "You said Spirit of Christmas a few moments ago."
Obito glared back. "Spirit... Ghost... No difference. Sounds just like Kakashi..." he muttered.
Sasuke raised an eyebrow, but before he could ask how this so-called Uchiha knew his goofy sensei, Obito grabbed his hand and dragged him to the window. The windows were heavily frosted by the blizzard outside and you couldn't even see out of them. Sasuke was sure that it was impossible to open the window, but tonight, he was already visited by two spirits. He really didn't doubt opening a mere window.
Sure enough, Obito expertly snapped his fingers right in front of the window's frame. The window immediately opened, bringing in the force of the blizzard outside. Sasuke wasn't prepared for it. He thought he could take a bit of the blizzard. He was wrong.
With a cry of surprise, the wind and snow battering into his face, Sasuke fell backwards. He flung his arms out in front of his face. As he fell, the sleet pounded down on him. Only, Obito was dry and unmoving. The blizzard didn't affect him at all. It went right through him.
Lucky, Sasuke thought bitterly, envy brimming over. He gingerly stood up and tugged at his arm warmers. He suddenly remembered Obito was there and stopped. He consciously let go of his arm warmer and dropped his arms. He quickly gave Obito a glare. The ghostly Uchiha glared back, but his eyes were twinkling. He was amused.
Sasuke frowned and turned away from Obito.
"Well," Obito said as he closed the window, "We're going to do a little time-traveling into the past."
Sasuke spun around to glower at his deceased relative.
"Time travel?" he hissed. "Why do we need to go out to do that? Can't it be done indoors?"
Obito was visibly trying to look serious. Unfortunately, Obito was never really one to keep a stone face.
"It was a joke," he said, voice brimming with amusement. "It was just a prank on you. What, scared of the big, bad blizzard?"
Sasuke's eyes flashed. Great, just great. Sakura had caught him smiling and now a knuckleheaded ghost had fooled him into freezing himself? Now, he was being mocked.
Sasuke moodily shoved his hands into his pockets and deadpanned, "I'm not scared of anything."
Obito rolled his eyes. "Sure."
Sasuke bit his lip as he restrained himself from lashing out at this dead ninja. However, there wasn't any point, seeing as he won't be able to touch him. Wait, how did Obito touch his hand?
Obito grabbed his hand again.
"Keep your window shut and don't try to move," he warned Sasuke. "We're going back a few years."
How strange those words sounded.
With a quick hand sign on one hand, Obito murmured something and he and Sasuke disappeared in a small flash of blue light.
Silence fell upon Uchiha Sasuke's room and the only evidence that what had happened just happened were the damp spots on the bed and melting blizzard remnants on the floor.
77777777777777Konoha Academy, December 23, 11:00 P.M.777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777
The students of Konoha Academy frolicked about, playing tag, having snowshuriken (crude shurikens molded out of snow by means of chakra) fights and building snow figures. Everyone was having so much fun...well...that is...almost everyone.
Two ten year olds stood out from all the rest, having no part of the fun and joy. These two boys were similar in many ways, yet they were so different at the same time.
One could be described by many as an emo boy, yet no one called him that. He was a respected heir to the elite Uchiha clan, top in everything. A year ago, he would have gladly accepted an invitation to play with his fellow students for a little while, if he had the free time. Unfortunately, his heart was, by now, shrouded in cold, hate and misery. He had no idea what destiny had in store for him in the future. If he had known, he could have --could have-- turned his back on his fate and gone off with friends and forgotten, even if for a little while, about the night he turned out...well...emo, to say the least. Then, his life could have gone on differently. Either way, he had accepted to give his all in killing the darkness that had slaughtered all his beloveds. Even if he knew of his intended fate, decided by destiny, it was nearly impossible to turn his back on killing...Itachi... Everyone liked this boy, but the boy himself liked no one.
The other boy was different. The young blond child was treated like no better than carrion for all his life. He was an innocent child who had never harmed anyone, but his pain had changed him into a prankster. Even now, he would have gladly hung out with someone. He was an orphan, just like the other boy, but this child never knew his parents. Others knew, few others that he should have known but never knew as of yet. Things may have been different if his father hadn't sealed a monster within him, but there's no telling now. He wanted someone to be there for him, a friend and he deserved one. Yet, everyone seemed to want him dead. He could have simply died; there was no difference between death and his so-called life, yet the boy was determined.
Both boys were determined...
...Their names were Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto.
A teenage Sasuke now stared at his younger self as he stood by his dead kin's side.
"That was...me?" he murmured.
Obito looked at him sympathically. "Obviously, yes," he replied.
Sasuke couldn't believe it; he looked so pathetic! How could he have been so stupid and weak at the time?
"I look like a weasel!" Sasuke snarled. "So weak and pathetic!"
Obito shot him a sharp look. He had misunderstood Sasuke. He had thought Sasuke was talking about how he pushed everyone away and hurt them...and himself.
"I didn't mean being weak," Obito said frostily. "I mean how you're hurting everyone, including yourself. Look at that! You're so self-centered, sitting in your personal little emo corner."
"Hn..." Sasuke turned away to look at something, anything, other than himself. He could feel a warmth around his ears and suddenly felt hot. Very hot. So hot, even the cold day didn't touch him. It was a very cold day, crisp and clean.
Emo, bah...
"Sasuke-kun!"
Alarmed, Sasuke turned around at the sound of a young voice, clear and sweet. It was like music.
A young girl with jade green eyes and pale pink hair was waving at the younger Sasuke. Obito was looking over his shoulder at Sasuke, with a you-better-see-this look on his face.
"Don't worry, we're in the past but you might as well be a snowflake," Obito said seriously and grabbed Sasuke by the arm. "Take a look. No one can tell that you're here. If you bump into someone, they'd go right through you."
Sasuke didn't bother fighting Obito as he was dragged forward to observe what was going on. The pink-haired girl was running up to the younger Sasuke now, eyes sparkling.
Sakura...
"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura said as she reached him. "Are you okay today?"
The younger Sasuke gave her a cold look.
"Fine," he said stiffly. Sakura brightened.
"It would be even better if you went and took a hike..."
Little Sasuke turned around as Sakura gasped in pain. Her eyes were glittering, giving her an even cuter look. Although her tears weren't red, her eyes looked like bleeding jade crystals.
"...Sakura..."
At that age, Sasuke had hated to hurt anyone and his habit of acknowledging someone by their name was still there.
Sakura's eyes seemed to light up. She looked so happy that her tears flowed at an even more powerful rate. Yet this time, those weren't tears of pain. They were those of happiness. Happiness that the boy she loved had acknowledged her, said her name. At that moment, she forgot all about what he had told her about taking a hike and turned around.
"Sasuke-kun..."
Sakura started to run towards the entrance of the academy, where a blond girl was waiting.
"Ino-chan! He did it!" Sakura squealed happily as she got up to her friend. "He said my name!"
"That's great Sakura!" Ino beamed as she looked at Sakura's glowing face.
The teenage Sasuke stared at the young ninjas-to-be and turned away. So he used to be this soft?
Obito turned to look at the genin.
"You hurt Sakura today," he said simply.
Sasuke turned back to meet Obito's gaze.
"What's your point?" he asked. "She'll get over it. It's just a stupid crush."
He had said the wrong thing. Obito's eyes flashed and his nostrils flared.
"You thickhead," he hissed angrily. "This is real love!"
Sasuke glared at the challenge in Obito's eyes.
"It doesn't matter," he retorted. "It's not like this is going to do any more harm."
Obito glared fire and battle axes at him. "It will," he said, his voice surprisingly soft. "I'd know. The love of my life and I were both killed because of love and someone like you."
"Hn..."
"You don't understand," Obito muttered. "Your team is like a second generation of mine. You're the Kakashi. I'm the Naruto and Rin's the Sakura. It seems that your sensei is mine..."
Sasuke was confused. What was this guy going on about? Kakashi? Who was Rin?
He didn't have time to prod, however, when Obito recollected himself and grabbed his wrist. Sasuke didn't fight back.
With a few hand seals, Obito brought the teen back in a blue flash of light. The flash went, unnoticed by anyone. No, not yet. It will happen, but only years later will the light have to do with anything. Someday...
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PT: See? Subuku no Jess, you're right. I did plan for the Ghost of Christmas past to be Obito! Who will be the next ghost? Find out by reading the next chapter! Please review!