All right everybody, here we go, Day Four! This chapter was meant to be much grander, a timeline of ages 1-12 going through each of the Konoha 12 in chronological order, but I just sort of lost interest. I wasn't really feeling up for writing today, honestly, and I think this one is by far the worst one I've done so far. But, I do hope you can get at least some form of enjoyment out of it! And, if not, well, hopefully tomorrow will be better! Enjoy!
Day Four: Childhood Memories: Sasuke/Shino/Naruto/Neji:
In the darkened room, in his wooden crib, decorated with toys and shapes of all kinds, Sasuke gurgled to himself. It was rather early in the morning, around four am, but the young Uchiha was far too young to grasp time concepts, instead, he focused on grabbing his feet.
The sounds of footsteps echoing down the hall caught his attention somewhat, but the youngling was too busy trying to stuff his own foot in his mouth to truly contemplate it. The sound of voices, masculine in tone, were muffled by the door frame.
"Well done Itachi. Your skills continue to be a testament to the clan."
"Thank you, father."
"Go on and rest, you deserve it. Be ready for the meeting at six, though."
"Of course. Thank you."
The sound of two separate footsteps walking across floorboards soon disappeared into the early hours of the morning.
Sasuke's door creaked open, and a shadow slipped in.
Peering over the crib, was a pair of sharp obsidian eyes, and long black hair. Sasuke giggled.
"Hello little brother." Itachi greeted him, cocking his head to the side slightly. "Are you not asleep?"
A gurgle answered that.
"Hm, that is most unfortunate. You're heading out with mother to meet Lady Uzumaki, yes? Well, we shall have to get you to sleep then. Wait here."
For a moment, Itachi left his brother's vision, and Sasuke cocked his head to the side in confusion. But, he was back a moment later, and the young boy gurgled in happiness, chewing on his own foot.
Reaching into the crib, The Uchiha scooped up his little brother, cuddling him close to his chest. "I've got us something good to read." Itachi stated, showing the book to his little brother. "I read it when I was two years older than you. You'll love it."
He sat down in the nice rocking chair in the corner, Sasuke in the crook of his arm, and opened up the book.
With a small, genuine smile, Itachi began to read. "This is called 'The Art of War' by Sun Tsu, and..."
Yozura Aburame giggled slightly, as her son continued to try and walk by himself. The woman, with her long dark hair and vibrant green eyes, sat cross-legged on the floor. She held out her arms towards the boy, smiling at him.
"Come on Shino, you can do it!"
The Young Aburame, with brown eyes shining in amusement, took a few wobbly steps forward. "Mama." He said.
"Yes, come to mama, there we go, good bo-"
Shino then promptly fell on his face.
Yozura cringed, waiting for the masses of tears to come. They never did. Instead, Shino shakily got to his feet, wiped his nose, wiped the snot on his t-shirt, and walked over to his mother.
"Yay!" She cried, hugging her son as he giggled wildly, victory having been claimed.
It was at this point, with the click of the front door closing, that Yozura realized her husband was home.
Shibi stood in the doorframe with his usual grey trenchcoat and thick sunglasses. Behind them, however, his eyes were widened in utmost horror.
"What... is Shino wearing?"
Yozura frowned. "And what is that supposed to mean? He looks so cute!"
And Shino did indeed look cute, wearing a lime green t-shirt with the words 'World's Best Son' written in neon yellow on the front. And, not to mention those adorable brown shorts with fluffy white socks and blue slip on shoes.
"He looks like a lemon and a lime had a baby, and then put it in a blender with a bunny rabbit, and then sprayed whatever colour that was onto his clothes." Shibi deadpanned.
"How rude!" Yozura crossed her arms over her chest. "I picked this out you know!"
"You never did have any fashion sense, dear."
Shibi walked over to his soon, scooping him up into his arms. "I'll show you how he can look, what's the word, 'trendy'?"
Without waiting for a reply, Shibi took his son into his room.
After about three minutes of waiting, Shibi beamed proudly as Shino totted out of his room, dressed in a dark grey trench coat, and thick black sunglasses.
Yozura's eye twitched. "He's just wearing what you wear!"
Shibi smiled. "Why of course. After all, I am, trendy."
And, so, the two Aburame's struck a pose. A cool pose.
Yozura laughed herself to tears.
Her two Aburame men were so very odd.
The alley was dark, and really, really smelly.
The young blonde boy was rummaging through the rubbish, throwing out anything that didn't look remotely edible. That amounted to... pretty much nothing, then. He didn't really fancy old dog food, or wet cardboard, or syringes, or... huh, odd balloon things. Why was there white stuff in them? Didn't look tasty, though.
The boy's cerulean eyes practically gleamed with happiness as he spotted the best thing so far. A pot of instant cook ramen! Yes!
Grinning ear to ear, Naruto began wildly digging to get to his prize, throwing each and every piece of garbage over his head until he got the so called golden ticket.
"YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES!" He howled in excitement. "Ram-"
His face immediately fell.
The pot was empty.
Wiping at his eyes, the young boy threw the pot to the side, climbing down from the large bin he had been looking into. Turning around, he froze to the spot.
There, right in the middle of the alleyway, as a cup of instant ramen! And it was heated, he could smell it.
He leapt at the food, grabbing at the chopsticks that rested against it and began devouring the noodles like a man possessed.
On a rooftop, a figure stood, watching the youngling as he ate his way through his first meal in about three days.
The sliver of moonlight caught on the forms head, revealing a flash of grey. And, with a flip of a page, the man disappeared into the night.
The young boy sat in his room, animatedly drawing his latest creation. Long hair swept backwards, and wide white eyes focused, he scribbled at the piece of paper on the floor with a vigor unmatched. His father would adore this drawing, he was sure!
If he was allowed to admit it, which he was, this was by far his greatest creation yet! It was a fantastic flurry of colours and shapes, stick figures and a smiling sun and puffy clouds and everything! The boy sighed in happiness, before a grin overtook his face. He was really happy he was given the day off from training, and now he could go show his dad!
Leaping up, and grabbing the piece of paper, scattering crayons all over the floor and under the bed, the young boy raced off. The dodged and weaved past all manners of Branch Members, until he burst into his father's room.
"Dad!" Neji exclaimed, proudly showing off the drawing in the doorway.
Hizashi smiled softly, gesturing for his son to come on over. Lifting the boy onto his lap when he did so, he took a look at the picture up close.
It was of himself, his brother Hiashi, Hinata and Neji all stood in a line, holding hands, standing outside a square shaped Hyūga compound with a beaming sun and laughing flowers. Hizashi truly loved how childish Neji could be sometimes, considering the environment he lived in.
"That's very, very good." He praised, tapping the boy on the head. "Why don't you go and see if Hinata wishes to see it!?"
Neji grinned, leaping off his dad's leg and running to the door. "Wait!" Hizashi called. The youngling did so, turning and looking at his father with inquisitive eyes.
Hizashi smiled. "I love you, son."
Neji smiled softly. "Love you too dad!"
And then, he promptly ran off to find Hinata.
It would be the last time Neji would see his father alive.