Sasuke Uchiha had just been born a few days ago. I remember sitting in our kitchen on July 27, shelling peas for dinner, when my mother came dashing in with a gleeful smile on her face, telling me that Mikoto had just gone into labour. She swept me up into her arms and we (really just her) hurried to the hospital. When we got there, we were told to wait outside until the delivery was complete, much to my mother's dismay. We sat on the benches outside the doors along with another boy who looked to be 3 or four years my senior. He had shoulder length black hair and two small stress lines on his inner eyes, and I quickly realized that this was Itachi Uchiha, soon to be older brother of tiny Sasuke. I shifted uncomfortably in my place, the hard plastic digging into my small thighs. Thankfully I sat on my mother's side that was opposite Itachi. I wanted to limit my exposure to the two Uchiha siblings as much as possible, and it didn't help that my parents were good friends with Mikoto and Fugaku. I felt that if I had as little as possible interaction with them that they won't recognize me down the road, because if I somehow manage to get away from Konoha before the massacre, I sure as hell won't let everything I worked for be ruined by one of them recognizing me as an Uchiha, and fucking all my shit up. I had planned on running away at first, in my first year of existence, but that was quickly snuffed out when I realized that if a clan kid, especially an Uchiha, just "disappeared" that there would be ninja after me in a heartbeat, and I knew that there was no way in hell that I would manage to evade them with the abysmal skill I have. I was good at hide and seek, but hide and seek with true ninja was suicide. I would be able to run away from my parents as neither of them are or were shinobi. Both are civilian Uchiha, choosing instead to partake in "mundane" practices instead of becoming ninja of Konoha. I knew I couldn't run away, and I still had yet to come up with another idea of escape, so for now I had decided to wait and see what happens. My train of thought was soon broken by my mother's voice.
"Are you excited to finally meet you baby brother for the first time Itachi-kun?" She asked happily, turning her head to the left to look at the young Uchiha. He shifted in his seat, his eyes downcast, fiddling with his fingers.
"I am looking forward to seeing my little brother, Sasuke."
Mikoto's labour had hit its 3rd hour, and I asked mum if we could go grab something to eat, as dinner time had passed an hour ago.
"What an excellent idea! I'll give you some money and Itachi can go with you, as someone should stay here if anything happens with Mikoto and Sasuke." I would have protested, but I kept my mouth shut, as I didn't have a proper excuse for her coming with me instead of Itachi. I actually wasn't that hungry, I just wanted to get off of those god forsaken plastic seats. But if I had known that she would have offered up Itachi to go with me instead of her, I would have endured. I carefully grasped the paper money in my small fists and slid down from my plastic prison. I walked to the main entrance with Itachi trailing behind me, and pushed the doors to the outside world open. Well, tried to. My small arms didn't hold enough strength to force the doors open. Upon seeing my struggle Itachi stepped forward and pushed the door open with ease. I blushed in embarrassment, bringing my weak arms up to hug my sides.
"S-sorry Itachi-san, thank you." He gave a minuscule smile
"It is of no trouble Naoko-chan. Now let us go and get some food, shall we?" he held the door open, ready to get moving.
"Yes, let's go." I mumbled, avoiding eye contact. I took the lead, allowing my nose to guide me to where we'd get our food. Everything smelled good, but I soon found a strong, delicious scent that I followed, and soon came to a stone wall with a circle with many lines inside it painted in black. I could tell that the smell was coming from over that wall, and I was deeply disappointed when there was no entrance in sight.
"These are the Akimichi Clan grounds." Itachi stated, staring at the weird symbol on the wall.
"Aki… michi…" I breathed. I twitched at the familiar name, remembering the memories that followed it. So this is Chōji's Clan… I thought to myself, absently reaching out and toughing the Clan's symbol so finely painted on the wall. I wonder if he's been born yet. Itachi gently rested his hand on my small shoulder.
"We should get going, Naoko, and purchase our food on the way back to the hospital." I stepped back, my eyes never leaving the wall.
"Right." I said, turning around to follow him back through the streets. We purchased some sticks of beef yakitori for us and my mother and made our way back to the hospital. I stayed behind Itachi as we neared the door, not wanting to repeat earlier. We entered the building and walked down the disinfectant reeking halls and found mother sitting right where we had left her. She turned to the sound of our approaching footsteps and gave a wide grin.
"Mmm Yakitori, good choice you two." She said to the both of us. I handed her the extra change left over and then gave her two sticks, keeping one for myself. Itachi already had his, and I awkwardly crawled onto the high Plastic Seat of Pain. I settled down with a huff, and began munching on my food. Once I was done, I once again hopped down from my perch and dropped my skewer into a nearby garbage can. I toddled back and made the journey from floor to seat. Abandoning any thought of small talk, I adjusted myself to sit cross legged, and slowly settled my mind into a meditative trance to pass the time. It was almost like you were sleeping, but you knew you weren't, but everything around you just melted away and all you were left with was your mind. Now, you could allow yourself to think, and this was really good for daydreaming, or you could empty your mind, and let your conscience drift like waves in the ocean. I left my mind blank, sitting quietly in my spot, hands placed on my knobby knees that rested underneath my pant legs. I must've actually let myself drift off as my mother ended up gently shaking my shoulder, breaking me from my nap. I blinked blearily, rubbing my eyes to rid me the remnants of my sleep.
"What's time it is? What happened?" I moaned, slowly stretching my stiff legs out. Staying cross legged for extended periods of time is killer. My mother smiled fondly at my small form.
"It's 10:14 pm little blossom. Sasuke was just born a few minutes ago, and Itachi went in to see him. The two of us will have to wait a little while longer. The main family deserves some alone time together first." I nodded my head in agreement, and settled myself down again to wait. So Mikoto had about a 6 hour labour... not bad. It could have definitely been longer. I sat patiently, straight legged with my hands clasped in my lap. I lifted one of my hands to brush my spiky black hair out of my face. I quickly lowered my hand when one of the medical nurses came out to allow us entrance into the room. The smell of blood and disinfectant was thick in the air as we made our way to the hospital bed where Mikoto rested, with Fugaku and Itachi standing beside her. She gave us an exhausted smile and gave us a small wave. Fugaku looked at his wife with a look in his eyes I was almost surprised to see. They were so full of love and protectiveness, and adoration, which seemed so different from the man I saw in the anime. I smiled at the sight; glad for the difference he posed to the cold man from the story and turned my attention to Itachi who was looking at Sasuke all bundled up in his blankets, deep in thought. I looked up at my mother, who smiled at me and lead my closer to the bed, past the equipment in the room to her friends' sides. I edged closer to the bed, and peered at the wrinkly child held in Mikoto's arms. He gave a gurgle and slowly opened his eyes a crack. I smiled at the sight of little baby Sasuke, and slowly reached my hand to touch him. He reached out one of his tiny hands and grasped my index finger in his baby grip. I giggled and let him hold onto me, relishing in the closeness I was allowing myself with the small Uchiha. After a while he let my finger go to suck on his thumb, and I carefully retracted my hand, letting it rest at my side. After mother and Mikoto talked for a bit, we said our goodbyes, but not after I gave Sasuke a small stroke on his pruney cheek with my finger. We left the family in the hospital room and made our way to the main exit. The sky was dark in twilight as I stared up at the sky. The light pollution from the village blocked out some of the stars, but many were still visible. I tugged on the hem of mother's shirt, and made grabby hands at her. She gave a chuckle and crouched down for me to scramble on her back. I wiggled my butt up so I was sitting with my legs around her upper waist. Despite being civilian, she had quite a lot of strength, and lifted me up with ease. We made our way back to the clan's grounds, walking at a comfortable pace, taking in the village as it crawled by us. I shifted my head so my chin was resting on her right shoulder, blinking my eyes tiredly. My mother gave a soft chuckle.
"You must be a tired little blossom. It's 3 hours passed your bedtime." She laughed softly, tickling me under my chin. I giggled, moving my head out of her ticklish reach.
"yeah I –" I was cut off mid-sentence with a huge yawn that made me think my face was going to split in half. She gave another laugh as she adjusted my weight on her back. "mmn, mum?" I asked, my voice muffled by her shoulder.
"Yes child?" She asked, leaning her head against my own.
"Was I that wrinkly when I was born? He kinda looked like a prune." She nearly dropped me in her laughter, her body shaking with every breath.
"Absolutely my little blossom, if not more." She grinned, turning to look at me. I blushed, burying my face in her shoulder. We walked the rest of the way in a comfortable silence, basking in the nights warm air as we made our way home.
AN:
HAHA! I did it! Second Chapter ready to go. I cut out some time in the evening to write this up, and it is now 12:15 am and I want to go to bed
Laza out