Sorry for the lack of dialogue in the prologue, but I had quite a bit of explaining to do. I figured I would do the prologue as more of an artistic essay then a narrative. In this chapter, there will be more actual character interaction.
Just so you know. I have midterms coming up, so I may not be able to write a lot. However, I find writing to be a great way to relax, so I may write a lot … It could go either way. Anyway, if you have any suggestions or questions I would love to hear them. I plan to make this a very long story following Sasuke and Naruto over many years because personally, I get frustrated when a story ends just after they get together.
G O L D E N
"White is a holy color.
Worm to symbolize honesty.
It covers wounds and surrounds weakness.
We clothe ourselves in white to remind us to protect the innocent."
--Pledge of Purity, Royal Institution of Holy Affairs
"You want me to give up one of my most promising healers to the Royal Fighters Academy. We teach our students to respect life and do no harm. The fighters are killers and barbarians. To let a healer become a fighter goes against everything we represent," as the graying old man droned on, Kakashi knew his chances were thinning, or more accurately knew that the pudgy little man thought Kakashi's chances were thinning. "Having the last Uchiha in the Ranks of the Royal Institution of Holy Affairs would raise our reputation in court."
"Ah, and here we have the real reason for your refusal," Kakashi jumped on the opening. "You just want to display Sasuke to the court to earn more funding, but there's a flaw in your plan."
"I assure you, we only have the child's best interests in our minds."
…
"What was that, master Kakashi?"
"Merely planning my next words, esteemed director," Kakashi smiled pleasantly, or as pleasantly as one is able to with a cloth covered mouth and a huge eye patch. "As I see it, you have neither her nor your best interests in mind. Sasuke clearly wants to become a royal soldier and you clearly want to uphold your honor."
"But, if we let a healer join the Royal Soldiers, our reputation as upholders of peace will be ruined."
"But, if you don't let her join the Royal Soldiers, Sasuke will do everything in her power to ruin you and she has a lot of influence as you have so clearly insinuated." Kakashi rather enjoyed the red that swelled into the old man's cheeks at his words. "However, if you let her join and she becomes great, which she will, then you can boast about being the ones who trained her and then maybe the King, who clearly favors his Royal Soldiers, will decide that your institution is not completely worthless." Oh, there was a new shade of red.
"We are not worthless! The king values our magical abilities to be able to cure the wounded and the sick and our readiness to …"
"Yeah, we both know none of that is true," Kakashi said cheerfully. "Write a letter to the Commander of the Fighter Academy saying that you would like to transfer the last Uchiha to his school in order to expand her knowledge and prepare her for becoming the new head of the Uchiha family. He won't read much past last Uchiha, but we have to make it official and whatnot."
"You … you have no authority to tell me what to do," the old man was practically foaming at the mouth now.
"I have no authority, but I have plenty of blackmail," Kakashi whispered no longer playing nice. This had taken far too long. He had promised the Commander he would have Sasuke at the Academy by sundown.
"You … you …"
"I … I …" Kakashi mocked, "I have no more time to play with you and I have the skills and influence to bring you down."
Kakashi walked slowly up to the man's desk and pulled out the overly ornate chair, then walked slowly around the Director and back towards the desk, forcing the man to move towards the chair. As the man sat slowly, Kakashi picked up the fluffy quill pen, which all people obsessed with appearance seem to have, and traced the sharp tip over the man's wrist before handing it to him.
The man glared at Kakashi, but as a trained fighter, Kakashi saw it for what it was: a desperate attempt to mask fear. As the letter was being written, Kakashi reveled in the squirming of the man, who cared so much about pride.
"What took you so long?" Sasuke grumbled from the bench she was sitting on outside the director's office.
"There was a rat that ran into the office and began chasing after this cat, but the cat started eating a salad, so the rat decide to chase the dog instead because …"
"Alright, alright, I get it, I won't ask," Sasuke groaned as she stood and walked after her guardian, who had just continued walking down the hall during his rant.
"Cats like to play with their prey," Kakashi said way too cheerfully for Sasuke's liking.
They continued to walk in silence towards Sasuke's chambers. Sasuke took this last opportunity to look at the school she had studied in for the last decade of her life. The polished white marble walls used to fascinate her, but now she only felt the overbearing starkness of a place devoid of color.
This place was portrayed to the public as an environment in which to nurture the caring and gentleness required to be a student, and maybe for a while, Sasuke believed that. Now? Now, Sasuke could see the truth. The lack of any décor, aside from the faces of previous directors and banners listing the principle values of the healers, forced the students to become emotionally detached and ready to saw off a man's leg without a second thought.
"When do we leave?" Sasuke queried in a small voice, which she would only use with her guardian.
"As soon as we can get all of your things into the carriage already waiting for us outside," Kakashi assured.
"How did you get him to agree? How did you get the Commander of the Fighter Academy to agree?"
"Well, there was this cloud outside the window shaped like a giant squid and then there was this other cloud that looked like a jelly fish and they were fighting and the squid was surrounding the jellyfish and the jellyfish was stinging the squid and the squid backed away and then the jellyfish started dancing …"
"KAKASHI!!" Sasuke forgot that high marble ceilings tend to make things echo.
"You've got excellent lung capacity, great attribute for a fighter. Another great attribute is to always be smarter than your opponent, but not to let your opponent know it."
Sasuke sighed. Thankfully, they had reached the doors to her chambers and she could busy herself with packing. Kakashi giggled, yes, Sasuke knew that he was giggling like a little boy who had just put a lizard into a girl's dress, as she packed.
"Make yourself useful and start carrying boxes," she grumbled.
"Maa, I was pretty useful when I got this letter," he chuckled and began fanning Sasuke's face with the letter.
Sasuke snatched the letter from him and glared. Kakashi only chuckled harder as he threw a box on his shoulder and left the room.
Sasuke turned the letter slowly so the label was facing her. She stared at it for a few moments, before walking over to the small satchel on her bed and tucking it inside. Then, she searched for the picture she had under her pillows (pictures were not allowed in student's chambers). She stroked the face of her mom.
"I'm sorry mom. I will never forget what you have taught me, but I have to know," she whispered in a voice so low and so broken that when Kakashi walked in he didn't need to hear the exact words to know what she was saying.
He quietly walked back into the hallway, shutting the door behind him, just to slam the door open humming like a lunatic. Sasuke jumped and shoved the picture into her bag.
"What are you doing?" Sasuke sighed.
"Hmm … do you really want to know?"
Sasuke just continued packing. Satisfied with the silence, Kakashi continued carrying out boxes.
As they rode up to the Academy, Sasuke noticed the painted black woodwork of the buildings behind the fence. Instead of one large structure like the Institute, the Academy consisted of several cabin like buildings spread out between large arenas. Even though they were still a fair distance away, Sasuke could make out the forms of fighters scattered around the grounds like little black ants.
"Kakashi … ?"
"You'll be fine."
"But …"
"I wouldn't have gotten you transferred if I didn't think you could handle it."
"What if I can't?"
"Your mom would understand."
…
…
Silence can be the loudest form of comfort.
When the carriage finally stopped in front of the large wooden gates that secured the grounds, they were surprised to find the Commander and some other fighters standing there in full uniform, which consisted of black loose cotton trousers and long-sleeved shirt and lightweight ankle boots. The trimmings on the uniforms denoted their rank. The Commander wore a red vest with several medals and a heavy black fur cape over which hung his long shaggy white mane. His hand was ominously gripping a long sword tied loosely around his waist.
To his right stood a young man probably in his twenties examining a notebook in his hands. His presence was less imposing than the commanders wearing only a puffy great vest with lots of pockets. Though he had a nasty scar across his nose, the messy ponytail on his head made him look like a young boy.
To the commander's left, three boys stood smirking at the carriage. Each had a sword strapped across their back, but otherwise remained completely unadorned. The first had a mop of messy blond hair and seemed to be murmuring something funny to the other two. The second boy with spiky red hair seemed uninterested, but the third with wild brown hair was muffling his laughter.
They got a glare from the man holding the notebook as Kakashi opened the door to the carriage. When Sasuke stepped out of the carriage, she felt all their eyes on her. Suddenly feeling extremely out of place with her long flowing silk robe, she rolled the huge sleeves up to her elbows.
"Is something wrong, Commander?" Kakashi asked carefully, masking it with cheerfulness.
"You didn't really think I would let a healer in here without even knowing what she could do, did you? Uchiha or not." His voice held laughter, but even Sasuke could feel the challenge.
Sasuke handed her bag to Kakashi and paused only briefly to grab a small glass bottle from its depths before turning to face the Commander.
"I am prepared to prove myself," Sasuke said with all the pride her heritage had given her.
She waited apprehensively as the Commander slowly examined her. He turned to the man on his right and whispered something that the man jotted down on his notebook. Then, he snapped his fingers and the three boys to his left straightened into attention.
"I will be admitting you with only one year left before graduation," he paused and took a step forward, making him tower even taller over her, "if you are admitted." He motioned to the boys. "These are three of my top students that are in the same year you wish to be admitted to. You must be at least as proficient as them in fighting for me to consider you ready to enter this Academy."
"I understand," Sasuke said, cutting off the Commander before he could finish what he wanted to say. "I am prepared to fight anyone you wish."
"Eager little thing, this one, eh Kakashi?" Kakashi offered a peace sign, but remained poised behind Sasuke ready to step in at the first sign of a threat.
"This," the Commander said pointing to the boy with brown hair, "is Kiba. He has excellent instincts." The boy gave a toothy grin.
"This," he began again pointing to the middle boy, "is Gaara he is a very calculating fighter." Said boy did not so much as twitch.
"And I," the boy with blond hair said stepping up to Sasuke, "am Naruto, the best of both worlds and number one at this school." He smiled widely and put one hand behind his head. Sasuke caught a glint of mischief in his blue eyes.
Not intimidated, Sasuke responded, "Soon to be number two."
Naruto took another step to be just centimeters away from her. "Perhaps," he said then turned around and walked back towards the other boys, "if Kiba would train a little more or if Garra would loosen up a bit."
Sasuke glared.
"Oh, you didn't think you could do it, did you?" he smirked as Kiba outright laughed this time. Even Gaara's lips twitched into a slight smirk at that remark.
"Save it for the match, brat," the Commander reproached though with laughter in his own voice.
"Match?" Kakashi asked as he stepped out from behind Sasuke.
"Yes, match. The Commander has arranged for the entrance arena to be free this afternoon, so that these four can fight in a test match," the young man answered speaking for the first time.
"That's right," the Commander confirmed. "By the way, this is Iruka our head instructor at the Academy.
"It's fine, Kakashi," Sasuke whispered, then in a louder voice spoke to the Commander. "Then, let's go. I want to have time to unpack before bed."
They all grinned, but only Iruka seemed genuinely pleased. "Follow me," he interjected before the taunting could continue.
They were all led to a wide open patch of grass set apart from the rest of the land only be a circle of black wooden posts.
"Who's first?" Sasuke asked as she walked into the center of the circle.
"Patience, little Uchiha. Patience," the Commander replied. "You don't even know the rules or conditions." When she merely raised an eyebrow, he continued, "All three of them will be in the arena, but will only be allowed to attack one at a time. Once one of them is knocked out, the remaining two will be allowed to attack freely. A knock out means either getting your opponent out of bounds or rendering them unconscious or immobile. Do you understand?"
"Yes," Sasuke announced. As the three boys entered the ring, Sasuke pulled up the hem of her robe and tucked it into the sash around her waist to reveal tight pants and boots of the same color as her opponents: black.
"Black is a menacing color.
Worn to symbolize secrecy.
It conceals weapons and consumes the weak.
We clothe ourselves in black to remind us to punish the guilty."
--Pledge of Power, Royal Fighters Academy
A N G E L