New Years, New Starts

SakuSasu

The year that those three were grouped together was a strange year indeed. Opposites were matched completely and in some ways, they were like a never ending triangle of powers. A triangle such as rock, paper, scissors, or like the triangle between fire, lighting, and ice. Every great power comes in groups of threes so that it is balanced. That's what important in the end. The balance of powers.

However, in the beginning it didn't seem that way. At first, the group appeared wrong to be joined together. There was no reason for Sasuke to continually be surrounded by someone as low of Naruto. The people of Konoha probably saw Sasuke as the village's shining hope, the last survivor of the Uchiha Clan, he would be the ace up the sleeve to enemies.

As for Naruto, he was deemed a failure. A failure to his village, a failure to ever exist. To everyone else, that was no need for his existence. They had no idea back then. All they thought was how Naruto would probably bring their shining hope down to his level, and that was never to happen.

In the end, the were all wrong. About Sasuke, about Naruto. About basically everything they thought they knew, but that's how life is. The truth is never what you think it'd be. Things never turn out the way you thought they would. That's life.

No one foresaw the impact of the last figure on that misplaced group either. Though Sasuke and Naruto could easily be labeled opposites, Sakura was still somehow the opposite to both of them in a completely different way as well. In their group, she became the 'gooey sticky stuff in the middle that held them all together.' For a while at least.

Though she repelled and attracted both of her teammates in different ways, she still somehow kept them together at the same time. The balance can only stay stable for so long though. Before long, relations grew sour and separation was gone to occur.

However, during that year, before the horrible tragedy was ever even thought of, things went peacefully for the group after so much struggle. It was now that things seemed stabilized. It was now that people took chances, and cares for the smaller pains of the heart.

Childhood is only supposed to hurt so much, if the pain goes away that limit, it becomes too unbearable. No one should go through pain like that at such a young age, but yet it happens time and time again in this woeful world...

Yet people such as Sasuke and Naruto make it through such horrible times and come out stronger. Sasuke was right in thinking that pain makes you stronger, but only if you come out that pain and don't lose yourself in it. That was Sasuke's fatal mistake.

But before any of that happened, Sasuke was just a normal child, living with the daily pain of emptiness just like any other lonely kid out there. He dealt with it the best way he could, by using training or something of that matter to get his mind off things.

Sometimes though, you can escape from pain like that.

It was usually the holidays that Sasuke found his mind wondering to memories long past. Everyone around him was getting exciting about celebrating the coming new year. All the older ninja were going to celebrate by drinking plenty of sake and partying. The younger ninja were spending it with their families, or with friends.

Sasuke remembers his father and Itachi during those times.

"Father! Father! What are we gonna do for New Year's Eve? I heard some people say that there's going to be a big party tonight and fireworks and everything!" Young Sasuke's excitement was easily noticeable by everyone in the house. His mother looked at him with a cheerful smile, happy that he was excited, but everyone else in the household didn't feel the same way.

"We're not celebrating like the rest of the village. Today is not different from any other day. Don't try to stay up Sasuke." His father coldly brushed him aside before moving on. Sasuke felt a pang in his heart that felt along the lines of rejection.

He watched his father walk out the door, before he felt like moving again. As he turned around, he saw Itachi standing there in the doorway, looking down at him. Sasuke walked up to him, as Itachi bent down ready to say something.

"There's nothing really special about the new year. Staying up to watch the sunrise isn't worth it, I promise little brother. You better get plenty of sleep tonight." Itachi explained to his little brother before flicking him on the head, as he always did.

"Ouch! Nii-chan!" Sasuke complained and started rubbing where Itachi flicked him. Itachi let out a small chuckle before standing back up. Itachi didn't smile very often anymore, and the bags under began etching deeper and deeper into his skin. However, his little brother, little Sasuke, was able to make a brief smile form on his face sometimes.

However, within a few seconds that smile had already faded as Itachi also left following his father, leaving Sasuke all to himself again. Somehow, the emptiness started to seep in already. Emptiness that he would feel for a long time to come.

That night, Sasuke decided to stay up and watch the sunrise anyway though he was disobeying both his father's and his brother's orders. He decided, that it was worth it though. There was something so refreshing about seeing the first dawn of the new year. It felt as if, he could start all over and become an ever stronger person.

That was the last year he watched the sunrise of the new year. During that year, Itachi betrayed his family, murdering them all, except for him. Little Sasuke. After that, nothing as trivial as the first sunrise of the new year seemed important anymore.

Recently though, trivial things began to take part in his life again. Friendship, teamwork. Things he always felt he could live without are actually helping him now.

Several things happened that New Year's Eve that he would never have expected to happen. Most of all, he never expected he would have company that night.

"Sasuke!" A voice sounded in the distance. It was past midnight, and Sasuke was still up, thinking about many, many things. The voice startled him out of his string of conscienceness, and brought his focus to the familiar sounding voice.

He didn't respond back, but instead got out of bed, and went outside of the house and stood on the porch looking for who called his name. He immediately noticed that pink color in the dark, and realized that he shouldn't have been surprised at all at who it was.

"What are you doing, Sakura?" Sasuke asked with a sigh. But now he should already be asleep so he could wake up early for training tomorrow. Kakashi-sensei gave them the morning off, mostly because of the partying tonight would cause him to have a horrible hangover in the morning, but Sasuke felt like training anyway on his own.

"It's New Year's Eve Sasuke! Why aren't you celebrating?" Sakura asked the boy excitedly. It was obvious that she didn't realize that she was on his property, past midnight, and that there was probably a very good reason that he wasn't bothering to celebrate, so in turn her presence here was just annoying him yet again.

"There's no point." Sasuke told her bluntly, the best way for anything to be explained. People these days, always beating around the bush, that was pointless. Sakura seemed vastly surprised at his response. Apparently holidays had all the point in the world. Well, probably in her world they do. Just because she's been surrounded by people all her life that cared. Parents that cared.

"Of course there's a point! New Year's Eve is very important! To greet the new year with the person you lov-, I mean! Isn't it lonely to spend it without someone with you?" Sakura quickly corrected herself before saying something that would have been completely embarrassing. Sasuke did catch it, however, but he found out over the years that it's just easier to pretend that he didn't hear it.

"What's the difference? From any other night?" Sasuke asked her seriously, hoping that she would actually think about it and realize how foolish she was being. But instead he got a completely different response.

"Well, I guess you're just gonna have to stay up to find out huh?" Sakura said with a giggle. For once, it felt like she knew something that he didn't. As if he were the ignorant one. He felt appalled inside that she made him feel ignorant, something he hadn't felt in a long time.

However, he stayed up that night anyway.

Though at first annoyed with Sakura's presence, he soon became glad for it in a appreciative way because the longer he stayed up that night, the quicker the loneliness from his lack of family began to seep in.

And when they both saw the sunrise that morning, it really felt like something brand new in Sasuke's life. Sure, since he had been devoted to his training, he had woken up before the sun plenty of times, this time it felt like... he had a whole new chance that year.

He had a whole new chance to become stronger, better, and a greater chance of getting to see Itachi again. And as he looked over to Sakura as the sun shone on her face, a face that revealed very happy emotions inside of her, he had a whole new chance at... friendship.

Even when he betrayed his country, and lost himself in greed, that was a memory that he had in his mind, even though he chose to ignore it for the most. A few years later, on New Year's Eve, that's the memory that came to his mind.

"Sasuke-sama! Orochimaru has summoned for you." For once it was Kabuto instead one of Orochimaru's lesser puppets that came for him.

"Tell him, too bad." Sasuke was so sick of being treated as less than Orochimaru when he was so sure if he wanted to right now, he could destroy him. He was sick of it all. The never ending demands, the beyond unreasonably stupid people he was forced to deal with, the slight ache in his heart that never really healed up.

It was becoming too much. But somehow, remembering that New Year's Eve brought him a strange sense of comfort. The comfort of starting the next year renewed. And the first thing on his agenda, getting away from Orochimaru.

And with that, he left to find Orchimaru and finish this. To change the way his life way. To create something better than just this. To accomplish everything he ever wanted once and for all. After all it was a new year, a new year to start brand new.

Fin