Well. It took me a while to figure out what to put in between places, and to find out what was missing.
When I first started this, it moved way too fast for my liking, so I decided to space it out and fill it out a bit. This is probably going to end up being a lot longer than I intended it to be (a drabble, a one-shot, a full-blown chapterfic, this thing has really run away with me).
It's probably not quite what you expected from the prologue, but I hope you like it so far anyway!
He was eighteen this year, and still living off his inheritance. Ever since the electrical fire that sent his family's private jet on a nosedive into the Atlantic the day before his sixteenth birthday, he'd been living alone in their Fourth Street flat that was left to him, going to school only out of necessity rather than want.
For the past two years or so, he'd been having strange dreams, always left with the unsettling feeling that he was forgetting something when he woke. Last night was no different, and he pondered the person whose face and name he couldn't remember over coffee and toast like he always did. He'd recently started to question why his parents never seemed to have any pictures of the entire family from before he turned fourteen, despite their story that there had been a fire and most of those photographs were lost in it.
For the life of him, Sasuke couldn't remember a thing about a fire, or much of what happened prior to when he turned fourteen, even. He had a feeling that the dreams he'd been having had something to do with it, but he really had no way to be sure. He remembered his parents telling him that he'd been traumatized after the fire, a sure explanation of why he couldn't remember it, but still, it felt... suspicious.
With a sigh, he pushed the thoughts aside in a similar manner to the way he pushed himself back from the table, toast barely nibbled on and a full cup of coffee getting cold as he slipped on his jacket, grabbed his bag, and stepped out to face the wind and the humidity left over from the storm that'd come and gone sometime in the night. A whispered 'be back later' was swept away on the breeze.
As he followed his usual route toward the subway, he couldn't help but feel as though someone was watching him. The hairs on the back of his neck were standing up, and he pulled the collar of his jacket up to block the chill wind.
As he took his seat on the train, a strange chill ran the length of his spine, and he caught a glimpse of long, dark hair and a feminine face in a neatly pressed suit staring straight at him, but as he looked over to glare at the person and possibly make a rude hand gesture, there was nobody that stood out at all in the sea of faces.
Weird... he thought to himself, slumping down in his seat as the train pulled away from the station. Still, he couldn't shake the feeling that he was missing something big, and when he closed his eyes, all he could think about was the same strong back and impeccably neat, long, black hair from his dreams. I just haven't been getting enough sleep, I'm probably seeing things, he told himself, already feeling exhausted before his day even started. He really wasn't looking forward to today's classes.
-------------------
Dark eyes focused on the dull, grey sky outside the classroom window, pencil idly tapping on the faux wood surface of his desk. Somewhere in the back of his mind, Sasuke registered that the teacher was talking, but he paid it no mind. These classes were pointlessly easy, and he wasn't even really sure as to why he didn't just test out of them in the first place. A tiny voice in the back of his head told him that it was because he needed the comfort of normality.
He caught a glimpse of long, dark hair in the courtyard below his second floor classroom, and for a moment his dream came back to him. Blinking, he shook the vision away, noting with distaste that it was just that Hyuuga jackass. They never had gotten along. He let out a breath he hadn't known he'd been holding.
When the bell rang, he rose from his seat, gathering his things and heading for the door. Lunch just hadn't come soon enough, despite the fact that he wasn't that hungry.
Lunch meant he could maybe catch a nap in the courtyard if he didn't feel like eating, and it also meant that he had his next period free, a benefit of senior year. Pulling his jacket tighter around his shoulders, he made his way outside, ignoring the whispers from a nearby group of girls.
Despite the chilly weather, he took his usual spot beneath one of the larger trees, reclining and letting his eyes slip closed. The cold meant that there wouldn't be too many others loitering about, at least, and he drifted off quickly to the sound of passing cars and the wind in the leaves.
He dreamed of a familiar, gentle caress, the tickle of hair against his face, a whisper in his ear.
I'll see you soon, Sasuke...
"HEY SASUKE!"
Dark eyes snapped open, the lingering feeling of a touch on his cheek fading quickly. Sasuke looked around, quickly spotting the source of his rude awakening in the form of an obnoxious, spiky headed blond that was currently sprinting across the courtyard toward him.
Rubbing one of his eyes, he pushed himself away from the tree, dusting off his clothes and straightening his hair just as Naruto slowed to a stop in front of him. He knew better than to think he would be getting back to sleep now that this idiot had found him.
"What, idiot?" he questioned, not bothering to hide how irritated he was at being woken up after sleeping terribly the night before. While the blond caught his breath, he overheard another group of girls whispering not so quietly to each other.
Did you see that guy? He was so HOT!
You really like the dark and mysterious ones, don't you?
Shut up! Admit it, you'd sleep with him!
But did you see the way he was leaning over-
"Hey, bastard, listen to me when I'm talking to you!" Naruto snapped, waving a hand in front of Sasuke's face. "I was trying to tell you that there's a party Friday night, you should come! I figured you seemed stressed or bummed or something lately, you could use the excuse to loosen up."
"Fine," Sasuke answered, adjusting the strap of his bag so it would stop digging into his shoulder. He agreed because he knew that the blond wouldn't stop bothering him until he did, and he just didn't have the energy to deal with a persistant Naruto.
"YES!" Said blond whooped, pumping a fist in the air in a dramatic gesture of his excitement. Sasuke resisted the urge to roll his eyes as he turned to walk back toward the building.
"HEY! Hey wait a second! Don't just wa-" The sound of the bell ringing echoed across campus, and Naruto let out a loud curse. "IT'S AT KIBA'S HOUSE, SEVEN THIRTY!" he shouted, already running toward the other side of campus to get to his next class.
Rubbing the bridge of his nose, Sasuke fought off his oncoming headache.
-------------------
At the end of the day, Sasuke took the same train home. There were no strange people watching him, nor were there any out of the ordinary sharply dressed businessmen. He didn't feel as though he was being watched, even up until he got home (he wondered why he felt almost... disappointed). What was out of the ordinary, was the envelope tucked into the crack of his door, his first named scrawled in overly elegant handwriting on its otherwise pristine front.
He grabbed it, pushing open the door and dropping his bag inside with a muttered 'I'm home' to the empty house. Kicking the door shut behind him, he tossed the envelope, along with the rest of his mail, on the coffee table, heading to the kitchen for a snack. After rifling through the fridge for a few minutes, he decided on making himself a couple of sandwiches, flopping down on the couch with the plate and shuffling through the stack of junk mail that'd scattered hapazardly across the table.
Not even bothering to open most of the envelopes, he dropped the entire pile in the trashcan, finishing his sandwiches and washing off the plate and putting it up.
Distractedly, he shed his jacket, throwing it over the arm of the couch as he started on the buttons of his shirt. Making his way to the bathroom, he sighed, turning on the shower and stripping of the rest of his clothes, which promptly found a home in the hamper across from the sink.
He watched as the mirror started to fog, noting the dark circles forming under his eyes before his image became too clouded to make out clearly.
I'm really not getting enough sleep... he thought with a frown, stepping into the shower and letting the scalding water wash away his troubled thoughts.
-------------------
Across town in a luxury hotel suite, nursing a glass of expensive scotch, sat a man five years Sasuke's senior, eyes smokier than the taste of the drink in his hand observing the luminescent ants that zipped along the roads far beneath him.
One small lamp sat lit on the ornate table to the right of the bed, dimmed as low as it would go. The only other light came from the window he left open, a heavy silence blanketing the room where the sounds of the busy city didn't reach. He swirled the liquid in his glass, a practiced calm registering on his deceptively delicate features.
"To you, Sasuke..." he murmured, voice like liquid silk flowing into the silence rather than cutting it. He let the tiniest of smiles quirk the corners of his lips, raising the glass to the city lights and tapping it against the window, downing the rest of the drink in one go.
I've waited so long... And finally, I've found you.
Well. Hopefully this'll get some more reviews. It might be a while before the next chapter, as I'm not entirely sure what to put in between the parts I've got written up. xx