3. Christo and Sasuke, Some of Yuri's Past, and Jooeyeon
"Child of the devil!" another rock was thrown.
Christo was waiting patiently for the rock-throwing and name-calling to stop. He was used to this kind of treatment, especially since recently.
When Mother was still alive, he would run to her and bury his face in her lap and cry. And she would comfort him. But she wasn't here anymore.
The ring of children surrounding him was intimidating. And big. Very big, the biggest he'd seen. It was scary.
"We don't need you! We don't even want you!" a pasty-faced girl who looked roughly ten years old yelled. "A devil child is no use to us!"
Shouts of agreement erupted from the others. More rocks were thrown. Christo thought that this was taking forever to end. He regretted ever coming back to this village, this mean, hostile place.
"Hey! Break it up! Lizabeth, don't you have gate duty? And your mother wants you, Nathaniel!" another voice said.
Christo looked up weakly in relief. It was Amie, the daughter of the innkeeper. She was twelve years old and taken a liking to Christo ever since he was born. She had been nice to him, and babysat after him whenever his mother was busy. And she always stood up for him.
"C'mon. Let's go." someone else mumbled, and all the children dropped their rocks andleft for their home. They threw hateful glares toward Christo's direction, but Christo tried his best to ignore them.
"Thanks, Amie!" Christo squeaked.
Amie sighed. "It doesn't matter. It's almost time for dinner, they would've gone anyways. Here, you're dirty."
Amie bent down and wiped off a bloody patch on the grubby boy's cheek. Those bastards could be so cruel! Poor, poor Christo had done nothing wrong; in fact he had lost his entire family! But here people were, throwing rocks at the helpless boy and calling him devil child.
"Didja see the pretty shootin' star yesterday? Pretty!" Christo squealed. "Well, gots to go now, Amie. See ya later?"
Amie frowned. She'd noticed how thin he'd gotten lately. "When was the last time you ate?"
Christo screwed his face in concentration. "Um, yesterday dinner was some bread Old Widow Una gave me yesterday. She so nice! Give me bread sometimes! I drink water from the stream."
This made Amie even angrier. Besides her, only Old Widow Una showed any sign of kindness towards the small, grubby four-year-old.
"We are getting a decent meal inside of you. Come on." Amie grabbed Christo's scrawny wrist and started dragging him toward the direction of the inn.
"But people don't like me much." Christo whispered in a worried voice.
Amie sighed again. "It doesn't matter, I don't care. Besides, I always go in through the back entrance anyways."
Christo felt delighted. Food! He hadn't had much food in his four years. Amie would sneak him some stuff now and then, and Old Widow Una would give him some spare stuff, but other than that, he had to find or steal. Sometimes, he would creep into the cornfields and take some corn. That was his main intake besides the stuff Old Widow Una and Amie gave him. Once, he found a bunch of pastries in the garbage can near the bakery. They were really delicious!
In the inn, Amie scrubbed Christo and gave him new clothes. He was barely recognizable. His usual layer of dirt was gone, his hair was clean and brushed, and his clothes weren't rags and tatters.
"You look fresh." Amie said.
"I'm really full." Christo announced. He'd eaten some potatoes and noodles. They were the yummiest things he ever ate. Well, besides the tomatoes he and Yuri would sometimes steal from Daddy when-
Christo froze. Then he made a dash and hid behind Amie.
"What is, Christo?" Amie asked.
Christo took another peek. Then relaxed. "Oh, it's just I thought that this guy was Father. He looks a lot like him."
Amie looked at the direction Christo was gazing at. There was a table with four people, three men and one woman. The youngest one (who looked teenage age) looked startlingly like Christo's dad, she supposed. She'd never met Christo's father or ever hoped to, but seeing as Christo looked nothing like his mother, she always assumed he took after his father. And that guy and Christo had a startling resemblance.
"Yes, he does. Now Christo, don't wander off. Stay in the inn. I'm thinking I'll raise you myself, since nobody else wants to. I have some chores to do, so amuse yourself by doing something else." Amie patted Christo's head one last time and left.
Christo felt strangely drawn to the man who looked like his father. He had a familiar aura around him.
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When Naruto heard the blood-curdling shriek, he automatically thought someone was in danger.
He grabbed a kunai, still in his pajamas. (Please note this is after the timeskip, so he doesn't wear those doggy pajamas anymore. Just boxers and a shirt, like any other boy.) Then he ran to where the scream was, Yuri's room.
Yuri's room wasn't actually a room. It was a corner of the living room. She slept on the sofa, which she liked, with Nani-chan, like always. Naruto smiled whenever he saw Yuri sleeping, her blank, emotionless state reminded him a little of a certain missing-nin who used to be his friend. But the past was the past.
This time Yuri was fully awake. She was clutching Nani tightly. (Naruto thought that if Nani was alive, she would be strangled.) And her face was extremely pale and sweaty. Her chest moved up and down as she breathed heavily. Yuri was obviously scared.
"Mommy." she sobbed. "Mommy."
Naruto leaned down. "Yuri?"
"He was killing Mommy again!" another ear-splitting howl from Yuri erupted. "I had to see it again!"
"Yuri!" Naruto was shocked, to say the least. "Who killed your mother?"
"DADDY!" shrieked Yuri. "He killed her and made me watch. Mommy was always nice to me, even though everyone in the village made fun of her because nobody knew who Daddy was. Then he went and killed her!"
Yuri's crying deceased after about an hour. Exhausted, she fell asleep in Naruto's arm, but fidgeted often, murmuring things like, "Mommy."
Naruto knew she was having a nightmare.
"Happy birthday!"
"Yay, I'm four years old today!"
"Yes, you are. You're Mommy's little-"
A thumping noise and a creak interrupted her. "Now who could that be?"
A figure entered the room. It was Daddy!
"Hello, Itachi." Nani said in a slightly cracked voice. "You're actually here on your only child's birthday for the first time."
Itachi's right eyebrow rose ever so slightly. "She's not my only child, Nani."
Nani was thrown off guard. "What? Not your only child? But I thought you loved me!"
"Yuri is one of many. I needed offspring for an experiment of mine, and I was quite pleased when you produced one." Itachi replied in a slightly bored tone.
"HOW COULD YOU!" Nani screamed.
"Mommy? Daddy? What's wrong?" Yuri was very confused. Why were they so angry at each other? Why?
"Yuri, please get in the room." Nani said calmly.
The lone teddy bear and cake on the table lay untouched as Yuri snuck out the room into the hall. She peeked in, though.
"Itachi." Anger spiked Nani's voice. "Please, leave. You have been nothing but a burden upon our daughter."
"A burden? I am not a burden." Itachi sniffed.
"Yes, you are! Everyone wonders who that girl's father is and the children tease her! The adults snub her! She's been doing so excellently at ninja skills for a child her age that everyone's talking about it. Do you know who they say the father is? Some ninja from one of the five main villages who took a liking to me one day! They treat her like dirt. People from a small village like this hate the five main ones!" Nani ranted.
Itachi walked closer to Nani. In one quick motion, he knocked down the table. The cake fell. The teddy bear bounced across the floor.
"My teddy!" Yuri cried. She ran into the room toward the fallen bear.
"Yuri." Itachi said in a calm voice. "Daughter, look this way."
Slowly, Yuri turned to Itachi. Instantly, he made a single slash on her arms using a kunai.
"YAAAAAAA!" Yuri screeched. There was a fresh bloody gash on her right arm.
"Yuri!" Nani cried. She started running to her wounded daughter.
"Yuri, look at you mother." Itachi said. Yuri's tear-filled eyes connected with her mother running toward her. But Itachi gave one swipe of the kunai and she fell. Vibrant, caring Nani was dead.
Itachi came closer. Yuri's thought were in a disarray.
blood blood blood messy everywhere and daddy angry oh no he take kunai slash slash into arms mommy not moving and blood blood and more blood and scream bad bad arms bleeding hurts a lot why mommy not move bad blood bad bad blood blood
Yuri woke up, sweat-drenched, again. She suppressed a scream. Instead, she started breathing again, In, out, in, out.
"Had bad dream about it again." Yuri whispered to Naruto, who was beside her. She snuggled Nani-chan closer to her and fell asleep again, but didn't dream. She knew she was safe.
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Little Christo was trying to avoid everyone.
He had been with Amie for the past few days, and trailed her like a little shadow. Some people sent him a few death glares. But he hid behind his protector, who glared right back.
Right now, Amie was gone, doing the dishes. Christo had darted around a little, helping Amie out. He was now a little waiter at the inn. And right now, he was carrying a humongous tray to a table.
"Village hidden in the fricking flowers! What kind of name is that! No wonder this place doesn't prosper!" a man scoffed. He had sharp, pointy teeth and light hair. And a big gigantic sword that reminded him of Kisame-sama's.
"It doesn't matter." The man who looked like Christo's father said. "The most important thing is information."
"Yes, about Akatsuki-oh look, the boy's brought the food." The woman with glasses said.
All four of them turned around. Christo felt intimidated again.
"Sorry for staring!" he apologized. He dropped the tray on the table and it landed with a heavy thunk! noise.
The man-who-looked-like-Father's gaze was really disturbing. Christo scurried away. He hoped to never see them again.
But he did, later at night. He had to deliver another tray again.
This time, they were deep in conversation.
"So who else is in Akatsuki? How the hell should I know!" pointy-teeth grumbled.
"Itachi, Kisame, Deidara, Tobi, and who else?" the woman paused for a minute.
"Zetsu-sama and Hidan-sama and Kazuzu-sama. And Sasori-sama who died." Christo said in a matter-of-fact voice and put the tray on the table.
"That's right. But who's Zetsu?" the woman mused. All of them nodded in agreement.
Suddenly, their heads swiveled in Christo's direction. Christo, who was leaving, was frightened to hear, "Hey, come back!"
With dread pounding through his heart, Christo shuffled his feet towards the four again. "Y-Y-Yes?"
"How do you know so much about Akatsuki?' pointy-teeth demanded. "Tell us or we'll run you through!"
"Suigetsu!" another man snapped. "Don't be so mean!"
"Shaddup, Juugo." Suigetsu snapped right back.
"Ignore them." The woman smiled, but Christo didn't find it very comforting. "My name is Karin. What's yours?"
Christo was too terrified to look up. "Christo." he mumbled.
"How do you know so much about Akatsuki? Don't be shy now!" Karin probed with that horrifying smile of hers. Christo was getting even more freaked out.
"Um, my father is in Akatsuki, and I used to live there." Christo whispered. He still avoided eye contact.
"Ah. Well, would you know the way there?"
Christo nodded. "Uh-huh. I runned away from there."
"I say we knock him out, kidnap him, and take him with us!" Suigetsu declared.
"Christo." The dark-haired man spoke for the first time. "My name is Sasuke. I need you to help us. Can you do that?"
Christo nodded. Even the voice was eerily similar to Father's.
"Will your sister let you help us?" Sasuke asked.
Christo replied with a, "She's not my sister! I can do whatever I want whenever I want! Mother's dead and I want Father dead so nobody take care of me except for myself!"
Sasuke smiled. "You want your father dead? Whoever he is, I'll probably kill him. If you show us the way, that is."
Christo hesitated, and then nodded. "Okay!"
"Sasuke." Juugo interrupted. "The kid's only a…well…a kid. You can't possibly take him from his friends and-"
Christo made a decision. "Doesn't matter. The only people I like are Una and Amie. Besides, revenge is more important? Right?"
Sasuke inwardly smiled. "Right. I'm glad you see things my way, Christo. Let's leave now."
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Jooyeon was scared. Very, very, very scared.
She'd been constantly supervised by her father now, or at least Kisame. They'd been really mean to her, and they'd forced her to tell them all the plans she and the others made together.
Jooyeon wished she was a little stronger, then they wouldn't be here. She was the only one who was captured during their great escape, she thought bitterly. And Father held a grudge against her now.
"You're the weakest out of all of them," he said in a cold voice. "You were the failure, the one who didn't escape."
It was true. When they had kunai practice back in captivity, it was Jooyeon who always hit bulls-eye last. During chakra training, Jooyeon had the shakiest control. During the "maze games" it was Jooyeon who was usually last to get out.
She was sick of it, being last. And she hated, hated, hated the Akatsuki and Father for what he did. Jooeyeon Uchiha would escape.
She told the others, and it was Yuri, mostly Yuri, who thought up of the plan. Yuri was smart, really smart. All of them were, but Yuri was always the smartest and strongest.
During one of the "maze games" it was Yuki who exploded the maze. And it was Jongo who knocked out the guards. And it was Christo who found the path out. She, Jooyeon, hadn't really contributed.
They were running away, but shortly after, someone was on their trail. They split up and agreed to meet in Konoha, where their father was from. But during the chase, Jooyeon was caught.
It made her mad!
Why was it her who was the weak one! It wasn't fair! Why didn't the others come back for her? Didn't they care?
Jooeyeon felt like murdering all of them, Father, Yuri, Yuki, Christo, Jongo, and everyone in the Akatsuki.