Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ All-Girl's Sasuke ❯ Brotherly Love? ( Chapter 14 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: Pandapants182 
Itachi gives more info to Sasuke about the group known as Akatsuki. And yes, more Zabuza and Haku scenes, don't worry. XD
Anime/Manga: Naruto Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Drama / Comedy | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 07.05.2005 | Updated On: 07.05.2005 | Pages: 2 | Words: 3.6K | Visits: 419 | Status: Completed
Itachi gives more info to Sasuke about the group known as Akatsuki. And yes, more Zabuza and Haku scenes, don't worry. XD
Anime/Manga: Naruto Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Drama / Comedy | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 07.05.2005 | Updated On: 07.05.2005 | Pages: 2 | Words: 3.6K | Visits: 419 | Status: Completed
Info: OOOOHHH I’m sorry, if you’re reading this on Mediaminer. O.o; They don’t like the format I give them, so they squish everything together. You’re better off reading it on Fanfiction if you really want to see it easier... o.o;;; Yesh, sorries.
Awk, I hit over 100 reviews (on FF.net). xDD I just realized that. I’m so happy! Thank you all!! Oh, and I also was browsing through some of your profiles (because I lurve my reviewers so), and I noticed that Sabaku no Ai had this bloggeh and had recorded one of her bloggings (... is that a real word? o.o;) with the last update of All-Girl’s Sasuke. xDD That made me chuckle warmly... I feel so luffed!! –glompage on all ya’ll- X3 Okay, I know this chapter took some time coming out, so you all better enjoy it!!! Rawr. I’m very sorry again... xDD It’s not as long as it SHOULD be but oh vell. o.o; I’m a horrid updater.
1. I’d also just like to say this: HAPPY BIRTHDAY ITACHI-SAN! xD
Warnings: W00t. Let’s see... does OOC count as a warning? Because there’s gonna be a sea of OOC in this chapter. Then again, I’d like to find a chapter of AGS where they AREN’T out of character.... Ho hum! Enjoy it anyway. Oh yes, and maybe some more mentionings of Uchihacest? XDD
Disclaimer- I don’t own Naruto nor Itachi’s birthday. o.o; I did COSPLAY as Itachi about two weeks ago or so though. xD I like to think I was a fairly GOOD Itachi, too! Though maybe not... –snivel- u.u;
Chapter 14 – Brotherly Love?
What was going on? Why did Sasuke suddenly find himself unwilling to move? Inside he was screaming to kill Itachi, but at the same time, he didn’t feel the need to move from his spot on the floor. He could’ve if he wanted to, but...
“Sasuke,” said his brother, glaring down at him through red-rimmed eyes.
“Nn...?” Sasuke could only stare back at him dismally.
“Have you lost all will to live now?” Itachi asked, tapping Sasuke’s shoulder with his foot. “Because you’ve realized it was either your death or our parents’?”
“No.” Sasuke’s eyes narrowed, as he sat up in defiance of Itachi’s words. “Who is Akatsuki?” he asked as he stood, turning on Itachi before the older Uchiha could do anything more to him.
“Hn, none of your business,” was the immediate reply.
“Tell me!” Sasuke resisted the urge to grab Itachi by the collar, not wanting to be thrust back onto the ground like a few moments before. “Tell me, dammit!”
Itachi folded his arms in front of his chest, looking thoroughly annoyed of his younger sibling. Perhaps the only reason why he put up with Sasuke was because of their history together. That and the fact Sasuke made the most endearing pout sometimes, but that was beside the point.
“Fine,” Itachi stated, pretending to give in when he really just couldn’t take this pointless banter any longer. “You remember those nights I said I was away studying at a friend’s house?”
Sasuke nodded, numbly. Of course he remembered. He’d always thought of those ‘study nights’ as more ways for his older brother to blow him off and flick his head before walking away.
Those flicks always hurt... he absentmindedly mused, having to consciously stop his hand from going up to rub the place on his forehead where his brother always hit him.
“Well, I wasn’t studying,” Itachi continued, unaware of the flashflood of memories that had pooled around Sasuke. “I was being recruited into Akatsuki.” This snatched Sasuke out of his thoughts.
“What are they? Some kind of gang?” the younger Uchiha asked bitterly, his words gaining sharp edges.
“Hah!” Itachi smirked at his brother’s expense. “A gang? Foolish little brother, do you honestly think that I, Uchiha Itachi, would join something as petty and pointless as a gang?”
Sasuke stayed silent, feeling no need to speak his answer aloud. He suddenly found Itachi’s crimson glare even more tangible than before. And it was the first time in about ten years that Sasuke was aware of another one of his brother’s emotions: disappointment.
Does he really feel so strongly about Akatsuki...? Sasuke wondered, finding himself unable to return Itachi’s heated glare with his own.
“It was... supposed to be my escape,” Itachi finally said, softly. Sasuke looked back up. Itachi’s face now held a certain stoic look familiar to Sasuke. He’d used it many, many times to get out of showing his own emotions, especially to Haku. “And now it’s become my prison.”
Why, all of a sudden, did Sasuke find his brother to be so much like him?
His hands were as cold as Haku remembered them. Not the cold of death, never, but much rather the icy feeling one felt inside from lack of caring. That painful frostbite that laced one’s heart after so many years of emotionless living. When he was younger, Haku wanted so much to be the one that warmed his Zabuza-san’s heart. So much... he wanted to be the only one the man saw.
It was so odd how these feelings came to be. Haku had been so lonely when he was young, foster families caring nothing for him. And then, suddenly, he was recognized by a complete stranger. Maybe not as a person, maybe not as anything. Haku never was quite sure why Zabuza had noticed him, but he had. Zabuza had no reason to do so, but he had seen Haku and even spoke to him.
“What’s your name?”
The words had been spiked with frost, much unlike the dry, summer evening they’d first met. Haku had been afraid at first, wondering what this stranger wanted with him, why he wanted to talk to him. Since when had Yukio Haku been seen as someone one could have a talk with, especially at such a young age? But at the moment Haku replied, none of that mattered. All that did was the fact that when he answered Zabuza’s question, the man had smiled.
“... Haku...”
Now that Haku remembered it, it wasn’t really a smile at all. At least, not like the ones he’d seen Zabuza do later on. It was more of a twitch of the mouth, falsely made to appear friendly and kind to some unsuspecting creature. But as far as the then young Haku had been concerned, it was the most beautiful thing in the world. To have made someone remotely perked up enough to smile, even if it was all in falsehood, was the best feeling in the world.
And it warmed his chest from the inside out.
The fond memory quirked a small smile from the teen as he stood before Zabuza, the latter giving him a curious look.
“Hm?” The boy must’ve remembered something again. He was holding Haku by the shoulders, Haku looking to be staring into space rather than really paying attention.
Still a daydreamer, even after all this time.
“Haku...” Zabuza murmured, catching the cross-dresser’s attention. “Why did you continue to follow after me? Even after everything I did to push you away...?”
Haku’s eyes widened slightly in surprise. He hadn’t been expecting a question like this. Nevertheless, his expression softened considerably as he replied, “Because... you are the most beautiful thing I’ve ever encountered. And I wanted to protect you... just like that night you protected me.”
“I didn’t do anything,” Zabuza said, a faint memory tracing back to what Haku was talking about flashing in the back of his mind. “You came to me.”
“Yes, but you didn’t throw me away.”
Zabuza flipped through the fuzzy channels on the television. His small apartment, cracks quite visible on the faded, yellowing walls, was his current home. At least, for now. He went from town to town, city to city, never having found a place that suited him best. Perhaps it was better this way; he was a borderline criminal, after all.
The Akatsuki was pushing him to gain attention away from where they were, telling him to do something big so that they could get away in the sudden mess. He had been thinking of something along the lines of... oh, maybe a kidnapping? Release the poor kid back into the woods when he’d gotten far enough, and make his escape? Easy enough, and he wouldn’t have to deal with all the trouble other crimes gave. He’d already found the perfect twerp to go along with him, so Zabuza would have no extra troubles like kicking and screaming as he got away.
However, the Akatsuki were pressing more towards murder. Taking another’s life shouldn’t have been so big to Zabuza, and it wasn’t. He just really wasn’t in the mood for all that at the moment. There was also always the chance that he would get caught. Die for the Akatsuki? Zabuza didn’t think so. He hadn’t even joined out of choice; they merely gave him a reason for going against the law. At least, that was the Akatsuki’s only use in Zabuza’s cold, grey eyes.
He sighed, staring emptily at the blurry screen a few feet away. Such boredom. Why was he still here again? Oh yes, the kid.
The poor child... he’d first seen this pitiful thing on a swing set, rocking back and forth in loneliness. It had given him a cold twinge of nostalgia, Zabuza unsure as to where the memory had come from. He’d stared at the kid, waiting to catch the boy’s attention. When he finally had, Zabuza had received a wave of wariness from the child, though that soon disappeared.
Several days later, and the boy still came to that same spot at the same time.
‘What’s up with his parents?’ Zabuza would often wonder, but wouldn’t ask.
Every time they saw each other there, on that children’s playground, Haku, as the boy was called, would greet Zabuza with a bright smile. And when he did so, Zabuza always had this odd feeling that that would be the first time that entire day Haku would smile. But who was he to bother over thoughts like that?
He switched off the television, finally, the static sound getting on his nerves. After a few moments sitting on the couch in silence and staring at the cracked and peeling off-white ceiling in boredom, Zabuza could feel his eyelids grow heavy. He leaned back, and just as he was about to give into his weary state-of-mind, there were innumerable small knocks at the door.
Zabuza’s head raised immediately, the first image flashing in his mind being policemen, but as he turned to look at the door in bemusement, he realized that couldn’t be. Whoever was at the door seemed to still be attempting to knock its lights out; it had to have been someone else...
He stood and approached the door, slowly.
“Who is it?” he said, harshly. The knocking abruptly stopped, and Zabuza wondered if the person was considering whether or not they’d gotten the wrong door. “Well...?”
“Zabuza-san...!” came the voice from the other side, its normally soft-spoken nature sounding curiously dappled in angst.
“Hn?” The man quickly opened the door, recognizing Haku’s voice instantly. He looked down at the child, Haku staring back up at him with wide eyes. “Haku? Why are you—”
Sooner than he could finish, Zabuza found himself embraced quite tightly by the boy.
“... here?” he still uttered, before shutting the door once more in case anyone passed by. It would’ve done him no good if someone saw such a cute boy hugging a strange man in an apartment building’s corridor.
“Zabuza-san...” Haku murmured into Zabuza’s shirt, completely ignoring the elder man’s questions. “I found you....”
Zabuza looked off to the side, feeling slightly put off by the boy’s sudden-found... ‘graspiness’.
Nonetheless, he pulled the boy over to the couch and propped him up on the cushion, kneeling down to Haku’s eye level. Haku looked back with large, sopping eyes.
“Now what... exactly... are you doing here?” Zabuza asked slowly, in such a tone that clearly (hopefully) told Haku that he’d better answer now, or never.
“I hate them!” Haku replied quickly, Zabuza appearing a bit taken back with this odd statement.
“Who?” he asked the obvious question.
“Those... those people,” the boy said dolefully, his tone much quieter then. “I have no one who regards me...”
“The people you live with?” Zabuza questioned, quirking a brow. “Your parents?”
Haku shook his head quickly. “They’re not my parents!” he said, and Zabuza braced himself just in case Haku decided he wanted to fling himself at Zabuza again for another embrace.
“I’m an orphan... I used to have people who thought I was precious, but not anymore,” Haku stated quietly, and Zabuza wondered how such words could be coming from such a young boy.
“I see.” Zabuza found Haku avoiding any more eye contact, and decided it was better to not ask anymore. It wasn’t that he cared; Zabuza didn’t want more of a scene. And what if the boy broke down and started crying loudly? Despite how out of character that would be for Haku, when it came to emotions, children really couldn’t keep a hold on theirs.
“If you want to, I suppose you can stay here,” Zabuza said, his voice low, as he stood up straight once more. “But when you return home tomorrow, don’t tell ‘those people’ about this...”
“Alright...” Haku agreed.
As Zabuza moved back to the front door, aiming to return its lock in its proper place, he heard Haku shifting off the couch. He turned to see where the boy had gone, only to find him standing right behind him, like a little ghost of a shadow.
“Haku...?” Zabuza said. He looked down at the child, wondering what more he could possibly want with the man.
“How about you?” Haku suddenly asked, the question coming out of absolutely nowhere.
“What?”
“You know...,” Haku blinked, obviously having expected Zabuza to know full-well what it was he spoke of. “Do you have anyone to whom you are precious?”
Zabuza sighed, slight exasperated.
“I don’t suppose so...”
Just as suddenly as his question had popped out of nowhere, Haku smiled warmly.
“You’re precious to me. How about that?”
An odd twinge of something unfamiliar pulled at Zabuza’s chest.
“Then... I suppose that’s alright.”
“How could I?” Zabuza asked, glancing off to the side. Was he embarrassed? Haku wondered, finding himself smiling in spite of the man. “People would have seen.”
Weaving his hands behind Zabuza’s neck, Haku brought himself as close to him as he could have ever wanted to, the contact feeling like such a nostalgic dream to his skin.
“You are... still... so precious to me,” Haku said into Zabuza’s neck, the elder of the two finally bringing his hands to rest around Haku’s form.
“Even if this all may just be a lie, formulated to get you off your guard and ultimately kill you when you least expect it?” Zabuza asked, expecting some reaction opposite of what he ended up receiving.
“Yes,” Haku replied, not moving an inch away. He looked up into Zabuza’s eyes, the expression he held being one of such an odd state of bliss. Even Zabuza could see a slight confliction in the teen’s emotions, his obviously better half telling him to run away, whilst the rest of him begged to stay for just a while longer.
“If you are going to kill me,” Haku said, unblinkingly, “at least do it now, while I’m still the happiest fool on earth.”
Zabuza shut his eyes, in an attempt to erase that Haku’s smiling image from his mind, turning his head away.
“I’m not,” he said.
“I’m sure you’re aware of the name our parents always used to call me, hn?” Itachi said. Sasuke’s brows furrowed in thought. What? Name?
“I was a genius,” Itachi answered for him, Sasuke blinking at the term.
That’s right... They held his brother in such high regard, especially his father. More than once Sasuke was quite jealous of the way he spoke about Itachi, as if Sasuke, the younger brother, was obsolete in comparison. But... surely it hadn’t been to such a degree as that...? Surely Father hadn’t meant it like that.
“Now you’re remembering, huh...?” Itachi asked, the tone in his voice sounding like it should’ve been coming from a circling predator. “That envious flash that would appear in your eyes whenever Father praised me for another one of my successes had always been noticed by no one, save for me.”
Sasuke glared ahead at him.
“And let’s see, what were those words you’d always wanted to hear...?” Itachi continued, mockingly thoughtful. “Oh yes, the thing Father always loved to say to me, but never said to you no matter what you did...”
“He told me it once!” Sasuke argued heatedly.
Itachi smirked, appearing to suddenly remember the words. “Ah, ‘as expected from my child.’ If that’s so, then apparently you were only his child for a single moment. Too bad he died before you could prove yourself again.”
Surprisingly, Sasuke didn’t try to attack him from where he stood. He just stayed where he was, albeit his hands shaking in anger.
“Oh, what’s wrong, little brother?” Itachi said, inching closer to the boy.
“Tell me... what did Akatsuki give you?” Sasuke finally said, his eyes facing straight forward, as if he were looking right through Itachi to the wall behind him.
Itachi appeared in thought for a moment, before replying, “Well, I got this lovely ring from them.” He held up his right hand, showing off the silver object. Sasuke batted it away, turning to glare at him now.
“Answer me.”
Itachi folded his arms, tilting his head. “They gave me nothing but the excuse to be rid of the life I once had.”
“Why did you do it?!”
“Being what I was allowed people to both love me and... hate me,” Itachi said. “I knew I was eventually going to just be used to further everyone else’s lives, while I stayed where I was. I was and am... a tool for others.”
Sasuke’s look softened. “... how?”
“Before, I was being used to bring our family, Uchiha, prestige. People looked at Father in high regard because of me,” he stated. Sasuke faintly remembered his first school teacher doing something along those lines. “And now... well, now I kill whoever Akatsuki doesn’t seem to like and take whoever they want.”
“Take?” Sasuke looked at him questioningly. “What do you mean? Kidnapping?”
Itachi smirked. “No. You remember how Gaara just decided to ‘disappear’ from your life?” The smirk widened as realization dawned on Sasuke. “That was me.”
After notes: Well, this chapter took place over the course of several months, beginning at my last update of AGS. O.o; Ergh. Suffice to say, I got tired of waiting (and I’m sure you all did too), so I quickly smacked myself into finishing it after drawing a cute picture of Gaara. XD Don’t you wish I’d do that every time I have to finish a chapter? Oi, and I think this fic will end up running far long than I’d thought it would... o.o; It might even reach 20 chapters. GASP! Good for those people that like Haku in a skirt, bad for those people that don’t like waiting for the chapters to pop up (ARGH!). XDD That’s probably... all of you. I’ll try to update faster now!! I’m getting a laptop in two weeks for my birthday and it’s main purpose is to promote my writing. X3 Huzzah. And I’m sorry I can’t answer all your reviews!!! I’d just like to say thank you to the new and the old!! n.n I lurve you all!!! And you help me write faster!
So REVIEW! And help me name mah new laptop!! xD Because I’m silly and I like to name inanimate objects.
Awk, I hit over 100 reviews (on FF.net). xDD I just realized that. I’m so happy! Thank you all!! Oh, and I also was browsing through some of your profiles (because I lurve my reviewers so), and I noticed that Sabaku no Ai had this bloggeh and had recorded one of her bloggings (... is that a real word? o.o;) with the last update of All-Girl’s Sasuke. xDD That made me chuckle warmly... I feel so luffed!! –glompage on all ya’ll- X3 Okay, I know this chapter took some time coming out, so you all better enjoy it!!! Rawr. I’m very sorry again... xDD It’s not as long as it SHOULD be but oh vell. o.o; I’m a horrid updater.
1. I’d also just like to say this: HAPPY BIRTHDAY ITACHI-SAN! xD
Warnings: W00t. Let’s see... does OOC count as a warning? Because there’s gonna be a sea of OOC in this chapter. Then again, I’d like to find a chapter of AGS where they AREN’T out of character.... Ho hum! Enjoy it anyway. Oh yes, and maybe some more mentionings of Uchihacest? XDD
Disclaimer- I don’t own Naruto nor Itachi’s birthday. o.o; I did COSPLAY as Itachi about two weeks ago or so though. xD I like to think I was a fairly GOOD Itachi, too! Though maybe not... –snivel- u.u;
Chapter 14 – Brotherly Love?
What was going on? Why did Sasuke suddenly find himself unwilling to move? Inside he was screaming to kill Itachi, but at the same time, he didn’t feel the need to move from his spot on the floor. He could’ve if he wanted to, but...
“Sasuke,” said his brother, glaring down at him through red-rimmed eyes.
“Nn...?” Sasuke could only stare back at him dismally.
“Have you lost all will to live now?” Itachi asked, tapping Sasuke’s shoulder with his foot. “Because you’ve realized it was either your death or our parents’?”
“No.” Sasuke’s eyes narrowed, as he sat up in defiance of Itachi’s words. “Who is Akatsuki?” he asked as he stood, turning on Itachi before the older Uchiha could do anything more to him.
“Hn, none of your business,” was the immediate reply.
“Tell me!” Sasuke resisted the urge to grab Itachi by the collar, not wanting to be thrust back onto the ground like a few moments before. “Tell me, dammit!”
Itachi folded his arms in front of his chest, looking thoroughly annoyed of his younger sibling. Perhaps the only reason why he put up with Sasuke was because of their history together. That and the fact Sasuke made the most endearing pout sometimes, but that was beside the point.
“Fine,” Itachi stated, pretending to give in when he really just couldn’t take this pointless banter any longer. “You remember those nights I said I was away studying at a friend’s house?”
Sasuke nodded, numbly. Of course he remembered. He’d always thought of those ‘study nights’ as more ways for his older brother to blow him off and flick his head before walking away.
Those flicks always hurt... he absentmindedly mused, having to consciously stop his hand from going up to rub the place on his forehead where his brother always hit him.
“Well, I wasn’t studying,” Itachi continued, unaware of the flashflood of memories that had pooled around Sasuke. “I was being recruited into Akatsuki.” This snatched Sasuke out of his thoughts.
“What are they? Some kind of gang?” the younger Uchiha asked bitterly, his words gaining sharp edges.
“Hah!” Itachi smirked at his brother’s expense. “A gang? Foolish little brother, do you honestly think that I, Uchiha Itachi, would join something as petty and pointless as a gang?”
Sasuke stayed silent, feeling no need to speak his answer aloud. He suddenly found Itachi’s crimson glare even more tangible than before. And it was the first time in about ten years that Sasuke was aware of another one of his brother’s emotions: disappointment.
Does he really feel so strongly about Akatsuki...? Sasuke wondered, finding himself unable to return Itachi’s heated glare with his own.
“It was... supposed to be my escape,” Itachi finally said, softly. Sasuke looked back up. Itachi’s face now held a certain stoic look familiar to Sasuke. He’d used it many, many times to get out of showing his own emotions, especially to Haku. “And now it’s become my prison.”
Why, all of a sudden, did Sasuke find his brother to be so much like him?
His hands were as cold as Haku remembered them. Not the cold of death, never, but much rather the icy feeling one felt inside from lack of caring. That painful frostbite that laced one’s heart after so many years of emotionless living. When he was younger, Haku wanted so much to be the one that warmed his Zabuza-san’s heart. So much... he wanted to be the only one the man saw.
It was so odd how these feelings came to be. Haku had been so lonely when he was young, foster families caring nothing for him. And then, suddenly, he was recognized by a complete stranger. Maybe not as a person, maybe not as anything. Haku never was quite sure why Zabuza had noticed him, but he had. Zabuza had no reason to do so, but he had seen Haku and even spoke to him.
“What’s your name?”
The words had been spiked with frost, much unlike the dry, summer evening they’d first met. Haku had been afraid at first, wondering what this stranger wanted with him, why he wanted to talk to him. Since when had Yukio Haku been seen as someone one could have a talk with, especially at such a young age? But at the moment Haku replied, none of that mattered. All that did was the fact that when he answered Zabuza’s question, the man had smiled.
“... Haku...”
Now that Haku remembered it, it wasn’t really a smile at all. At least, not like the ones he’d seen Zabuza do later on. It was more of a twitch of the mouth, falsely made to appear friendly and kind to some unsuspecting creature. But as far as the then young Haku had been concerned, it was the most beautiful thing in the world. To have made someone remotely perked up enough to smile, even if it was all in falsehood, was the best feeling in the world.
And it warmed his chest from the inside out.
The fond memory quirked a small smile from the teen as he stood before Zabuza, the latter giving him a curious look.
“Hm?” The boy must’ve remembered something again. He was holding Haku by the shoulders, Haku looking to be staring into space rather than really paying attention.
Still a daydreamer, even after all this time.
“Haku...” Zabuza murmured, catching the cross-dresser’s attention. “Why did you continue to follow after me? Even after everything I did to push you away...?”
Haku’s eyes widened slightly in surprise. He hadn’t been expecting a question like this. Nevertheless, his expression softened considerably as he replied, “Because... you are the most beautiful thing I’ve ever encountered. And I wanted to protect you... just like that night you protected me.”
“I didn’t do anything,” Zabuza said, a faint memory tracing back to what Haku was talking about flashing in the back of his mind. “You came to me.”
“Yes, but you didn’t throw me away.”
Zabuza flipped through the fuzzy channels on the television. His small apartment, cracks quite visible on the faded, yellowing walls, was his current home. At least, for now. He went from town to town, city to city, never having found a place that suited him best. Perhaps it was better this way; he was a borderline criminal, after all.
The Akatsuki was pushing him to gain attention away from where they were, telling him to do something big so that they could get away in the sudden mess. He had been thinking of something along the lines of... oh, maybe a kidnapping? Release the poor kid back into the woods when he’d gotten far enough, and make his escape? Easy enough, and he wouldn’t have to deal with all the trouble other crimes gave. He’d already found the perfect twerp to go along with him, so Zabuza would have no extra troubles like kicking and screaming as he got away.
However, the Akatsuki were pressing more towards murder. Taking another’s life shouldn’t have been so big to Zabuza, and it wasn’t. He just really wasn’t in the mood for all that at the moment. There was also always the chance that he would get caught. Die for the Akatsuki? Zabuza didn’t think so. He hadn’t even joined out of choice; they merely gave him a reason for going against the law. At least, that was the Akatsuki’s only use in Zabuza’s cold, grey eyes.
He sighed, staring emptily at the blurry screen a few feet away. Such boredom. Why was he still here again? Oh yes, the kid.
The poor child... he’d first seen this pitiful thing on a swing set, rocking back and forth in loneliness. It had given him a cold twinge of nostalgia, Zabuza unsure as to where the memory had come from. He’d stared at the kid, waiting to catch the boy’s attention. When he finally had, Zabuza had received a wave of wariness from the child, though that soon disappeared.
Several days later, and the boy still came to that same spot at the same time.
‘What’s up with his parents?’ Zabuza would often wonder, but wouldn’t ask.
Every time they saw each other there, on that children’s playground, Haku, as the boy was called, would greet Zabuza with a bright smile. And when he did so, Zabuza always had this odd feeling that that would be the first time that entire day Haku would smile. But who was he to bother over thoughts like that?
He switched off the television, finally, the static sound getting on his nerves. After a few moments sitting on the couch in silence and staring at the cracked and peeling off-white ceiling in boredom, Zabuza could feel his eyelids grow heavy. He leaned back, and just as he was about to give into his weary state-of-mind, there were innumerable small knocks at the door.
Zabuza’s head raised immediately, the first image flashing in his mind being policemen, but as he turned to look at the door in bemusement, he realized that couldn’t be. Whoever was at the door seemed to still be attempting to knock its lights out; it had to have been someone else...
He stood and approached the door, slowly.
“Who is it?” he said, harshly. The knocking abruptly stopped, and Zabuza wondered if the person was considering whether or not they’d gotten the wrong door. “Well...?”
“Zabuza-san...!” came the voice from the other side, its normally soft-spoken nature sounding curiously dappled in angst.
“Hn?” The man quickly opened the door, recognizing Haku’s voice instantly. He looked down at the child, Haku staring back up at him with wide eyes. “Haku? Why are you—”
Sooner than he could finish, Zabuza found himself embraced quite tightly by the boy.
“... here?” he still uttered, before shutting the door once more in case anyone passed by. It would’ve done him no good if someone saw such a cute boy hugging a strange man in an apartment building’s corridor.
“Zabuza-san...” Haku murmured into Zabuza’s shirt, completely ignoring the elder man’s questions. “I found you....”
Zabuza looked off to the side, feeling slightly put off by the boy’s sudden-found... ‘graspiness’.
Nonetheless, he pulled the boy over to the couch and propped him up on the cushion, kneeling down to Haku’s eye level. Haku looked back with large, sopping eyes.
“Now what... exactly... are you doing here?” Zabuza asked slowly, in such a tone that clearly (hopefully) told Haku that he’d better answer now, or never.
“I hate them!” Haku replied quickly, Zabuza appearing a bit taken back with this odd statement.
“Who?” he asked the obvious question.
“Those... those people,” the boy said dolefully, his tone much quieter then. “I have no one who regards me...”
“The people you live with?” Zabuza questioned, quirking a brow. “Your parents?”
Haku shook his head quickly. “They’re not my parents!” he said, and Zabuza braced himself just in case Haku decided he wanted to fling himself at Zabuza again for another embrace.
“I’m an orphan... I used to have people who thought I was precious, but not anymore,” Haku stated quietly, and Zabuza wondered how such words could be coming from such a young boy.
“I see.” Zabuza found Haku avoiding any more eye contact, and decided it was better to not ask anymore. It wasn’t that he cared; Zabuza didn’t want more of a scene. And what if the boy broke down and started crying loudly? Despite how out of character that would be for Haku, when it came to emotions, children really couldn’t keep a hold on theirs.
“If you want to, I suppose you can stay here,” Zabuza said, his voice low, as he stood up straight once more. “But when you return home tomorrow, don’t tell ‘those people’ about this...”
“Alright...” Haku agreed.
As Zabuza moved back to the front door, aiming to return its lock in its proper place, he heard Haku shifting off the couch. He turned to see where the boy had gone, only to find him standing right behind him, like a little ghost of a shadow.
“Haku...?” Zabuza said. He looked down at the child, wondering what more he could possibly want with the man.
“How about you?” Haku suddenly asked, the question coming out of absolutely nowhere.
“What?”
“You know...,” Haku blinked, obviously having expected Zabuza to know full-well what it was he spoke of. “Do you have anyone to whom you are precious?”
Zabuza sighed, slight exasperated.
“I don’t suppose so...”
Just as suddenly as his question had popped out of nowhere, Haku smiled warmly.
“You’re precious to me. How about that?”
An odd twinge of something unfamiliar pulled at Zabuza’s chest.
“Then... I suppose that’s alright.”
“How could I?” Zabuza asked, glancing off to the side. Was he embarrassed? Haku wondered, finding himself smiling in spite of the man. “People would have seen.”
Weaving his hands behind Zabuza’s neck, Haku brought himself as close to him as he could have ever wanted to, the contact feeling like such a nostalgic dream to his skin.
“You are... still... so precious to me,” Haku said into Zabuza’s neck, the elder of the two finally bringing his hands to rest around Haku’s form.
“Even if this all may just be a lie, formulated to get you off your guard and ultimately kill you when you least expect it?” Zabuza asked, expecting some reaction opposite of what he ended up receiving.
“Yes,” Haku replied, not moving an inch away. He looked up into Zabuza’s eyes, the expression he held being one of such an odd state of bliss. Even Zabuza could see a slight confliction in the teen’s emotions, his obviously better half telling him to run away, whilst the rest of him begged to stay for just a while longer.
“If you are going to kill me,” Haku said, unblinkingly, “at least do it now, while I’m still the happiest fool on earth.”
Zabuza shut his eyes, in an attempt to erase that Haku’s smiling image from his mind, turning his head away.
“I’m not,” he said.
“I’m sure you’re aware of the name our parents always used to call me, hn?” Itachi said. Sasuke’s brows furrowed in thought. What? Name?
“I was a genius,” Itachi answered for him, Sasuke blinking at the term.
That’s right... They held his brother in such high regard, especially his father. More than once Sasuke was quite jealous of the way he spoke about Itachi, as if Sasuke, the younger brother, was obsolete in comparison. But... surely it hadn’t been to such a degree as that...? Surely Father hadn’t meant it like that.
“Now you’re remembering, huh...?” Itachi asked, the tone in his voice sounding like it should’ve been coming from a circling predator. “That envious flash that would appear in your eyes whenever Father praised me for another one of my successes had always been noticed by no one, save for me.”
Sasuke glared ahead at him.
“And let’s see, what were those words you’d always wanted to hear...?” Itachi continued, mockingly thoughtful. “Oh yes, the thing Father always loved to say to me, but never said to you no matter what you did...”
“He told me it once!” Sasuke argued heatedly.
Itachi smirked, appearing to suddenly remember the words. “Ah, ‘as expected from my child.’ If that’s so, then apparently you were only his child for a single moment. Too bad he died before you could prove yourself again.”
Surprisingly, Sasuke didn’t try to attack him from where he stood. He just stayed where he was, albeit his hands shaking in anger.
“Oh, what’s wrong, little brother?” Itachi said, inching closer to the boy.
“Tell me... what did Akatsuki give you?” Sasuke finally said, his eyes facing straight forward, as if he were looking right through Itachi to the wall behind him.
Itachi appeared in thought for a moment, before replying, “Well, I got this lovely ring from them.” He held up his right hand, showing off the silver object. Sasuke batted it away, turning to glare at him now.
“Answer me.”
Itachi folded his arms, tilting his head. “They gave me nothing but the excuse to be rid of the life I once had.”
“Why did you do it?!”
“Being what I was allowed people to both love me and... hate me,” Itachi said. “I knew I was eventually going to just be used to further everyone else’s lives, while I stayed where I was. I was and am... a tool for others.”
Sasuke’s look softened. “... how?”
“Before, I was being used to bring our family, Uchiha, prestige. People looked at Father in high regard because of me,” he stated. Sasuke faintly remembered his first school teacher doing something along those lines. “And now... well, now I kill whoever Akatsuki doesn’t seem to like and take whoever they want.”
“Take?” Sasuke looked at him questioningly. “What do you mean? Kidnapping?”
Itachi smirked. “No. You remember how Gaara just decided to ‘disappear’ from your life?” The smirk widened as realization dawned on Sasuke. “That was me.”
After notes: Well, this chapter took place over the course of several months, beginning at my last update of AGS. O.o; Ergh. Suffice to say, I got tired of waiting (and I’m sure you all did too), so I quickly smacked myself into finishing it after drawing a cute picture of Gaara. XD Don’t you wish I’d do that every time I have to finish a chapter? Oi, and I think this fic will end up running far long than I’d thought it would... o.o; It might even reach 20 chapters. GASP! Good for those people that like Haku in a skirt, bad for those people that don’t like waiting for the chapters to pop up (ARGH!). XDD That’s probably... all of you. I’ll try to update faster now!! I’m getting a laptop in two weeks for my birthday and it’s main purpose is to promote my writing. X3 Huzzah. And I’m sorry I can’t answer all your reviews!!! I’d just like to say thank you to the new and the old!! n.n I lurve you all!!! And you help me write faster!
So REVIEW! And help me name mah new laptop!! xD Because I’m silly and I like to name inanimate objects.