AN: Hmm, I'm trying something different; way different. In fact, I'm experimenting with a different format, a different mood, hell, I'm even cruising into the risque territory of evolution. However, let's hope the formatting works on and we'll see how it turns out!
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
A Wisp of Summer - Prologue
Darkness. Then a blinding flash of light, followed closely by a blurry haze.
I lift my lead-filled hand to carefully brush the lazy strands of hair away from my face.
Wh-Where am I...?
I push myself off the white sheets that lay flattened beneath me—or at least, I tried to. A crackle of lightning accompanied by the deafening roar of thunder pierced through my unsuspecting brain and I groaned, falling back onto the thin pillow without the usual grace or stature I carried. Sighing, I resigned myself to the cruel fate of being immobile and I set out to do the next most intelligent thing:
Cautiously opening my eyes and getting adjusted to the mocking rays of sunlight, I tilt my heavy head slowly, and I mean slowly; my head moved a mere fraction at a time as I scrutinized every speck and dust in the room. Everything was white; white sheets, white walls, white window panes...hell, I would have thought that I had dropped into an insane asylum if the walls were lined with pads.
I winced painfully as yet another crack of lightning flashed between my eyes. It was a synchronized sort of thing, like the dull throbbing that echoes in my head at precise measured intervals in time. It was, to put it in more simple terms, a loud nail-on-chalkboard SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECH that threatened my sanity. I glanced with obvious irritation at the beeping machine next to me. If that blasted piece of metal does not stop its monotonous noises...
...Beeping machine?
I suddenly become very aware of the IV tube that is stuck in my arm and the dreadful white gown that embraces me. I gasp inaudibly and everything—well, almost everything—hit me at once:
I was in a hospital.
"Yo." A voice suddenly came as I unconsciously flinched at the noise, "glad to see you're finally up, Sasuke."
Oh right. That was my name. Things were yet again coming back to me. I am Uchiha Sasuke, the young and only survivor of the Uchiha clan. I am a part of the Konoha Academy, a small, yet prosperous university belonging to a group of elite professionals who taught the art of assassination. Yes, you heard me right; I am training to be an assassin—a modern ninja if you will. In fact, not to be an egoist, I am the top assassin at the academy, reaching above the level of most superiors. What? I said I was not an egoist—I work extremely hard to reach the ultimate rank of power in order to attain my goal.
"Sasuke? Can you hear me?" The man waved his hand in front of my face, his gray bushy hair swaying haphazardly during his action.
This man is Hatake Kakashi, my personal teacher of the school. Since I have already overcome the power level of most professors in the school, Kakashi was assigned to me to finish my training. The man is a true mystery; he wears a mask wherever he goes—not the type of mask one wears when one is on an Anbu Assassination Mission, mind you—just a trash-bag looking type of...gauze.
I slap Kakashi's mischievous hand from my face and I give him my death glare of doom; if only looks could kill. However, Kakashi merely chuckled, throwing a bucket of bricks into my head while doing so, and said,
"Glad to see you're feeling better."
"Feeling better is an understatement." I growl in a low voice, "how the hell did I end up here?"
"Maa, you don't remember?" Kakashi pondered with amusement; I could just imagine the slight smirk on his face. However, remember what? Last thing I remember was being on a mission...
Why, of course! I had been on a training mission with my 2 man group—correction, 2 person group. Unfortunately, Haruno Sakura was deemed a genius and put in Kakashi's personal care along with me. I swear that dratted pink-haired brat is more concerned with staring at me then learning how to kill people. Strangely, there was supposed to be one more person in our group, but he had...disappeared last minute and all the superiors are incredibly tight-lipped about it. I remember how emotional Iruka got when I cornered him about it:
"What? The last student? What of him?" He nervously stuttered.
"You and I both know very well that there was supposed to be one more person in our group! What happened to him?" I snapped, hell, I was not going to be left alone with that Sakura girl; she is too caught up with oggling me to depend on in a battle.
"He could not make it into the group, of course..." Iruka said, masking his anxiety with a fake chuckle.
"Then why is there not another student to take his place?" I demanded again.
"Because...Because Na—!" Iruka caught himself before saying anymore.
"Because what?" I persisted, determined to find out why no one was talking about the third member. A cringed in distaste as Iruka put his hand on my head, as if he was patting a child. However, being the observant assassin-to-be I was, I sensed the tenseness of his muscles and the trembling of his fingers as he did so—the man was faking a pet so I would not look at him.
"Sasuke, please do not bring this up anymore. The remaining member...is unable to show up, but perhaps he will someday..." Came the voice, soothing and calm—another false action.
I grabbed Iruka's hand and growled softly as I left, glancing quickly at the man's face before I left. I was right—the man's eyes were glistening with tears.
"Sasuke? Yooooo! Sa-su-keeeeee." Kakashi drawled as he waved his hands in front of my face again.
"Would you cut that out?" I snapped irritably. The man must have drank too much caffeine before he visited; normally he's almost as lazy as Shikamaru. Kakashi ignored my snapping and sat down on the white plastic chair with a gray pencil mark on the side. It squeaked in indignation as Kakashi leaned back.
"With all that daydreaming you're doing, that fall must have really taken a chunk of your brain." He mused. I scoffed; Fall? What fall? Ooooh, that fall.
Going back to that training mission with Sakura. We were sent to retrieve a fat cat—it looked more like a banana slug than a tabby—and leaping across the branches I heard Sakura cry out...
I glanced back warily, could she have been attacked? (Not that any shinobi would fight us over that stupid mud pie of an animal...) Luckily, she was not under attack. However, she was screeching and pointing at the damn feline...which was running straight at her. Who knew such a chubby thing could leap on branches, must less climb it?
"Sakura! GRAB IT!" I shouted. To my dismay, she stood there with glazed eyes. She screeched again, piercing my ear drums.
"Sasuke-kun! I...I SAW YOUR BOXERS!" She squealed; eyes gleaming with tears.
...Of all the bloody times to be staring at me and my boxers...
"WATCH OUT!" I shouted as I pushed her out of the way, feeling the pure force of the furry striped whale crash into my stomach. I spiralled down the treetops, feeling the whips of wind as I saw myself meeting Mr. Ground. Why, good afternoon Mr. Ground! I'm doing fine too! Is that a speck of dust on your chin? Let me take a closer look...CRACK!
"Sakura..." I hissed angrily.
"Mm? Thought you didn't have a thing for her." Kakashi asked, his eyebrows furrowing in mock confusion.
"She was the one who put me in the hospital!" I snapped.
"She told us the cat was the one who beat you up," Kakashi said in amusement, his eyes crinkling up in laughter, "to have a mere cat beat you into a concussion..."
"It was Sakura's fault!" I yelled, grabbing my head as I felt a bomb go off in the Hiroshima inside my head.
"Yare yare, don't stress yourself." Kakashi smiled as he patted my arm reassuringly, "the doctors say you have a severe concussion, but you'll be able to leave in a few weeks."
"A few weeks? That's impossible!" I yelled again, trying hard to ignore the second bomb that went off in the other city within my head, "No concussion should take that long!"
"Well, the doctors want to make sure the last Uchiha lives." My mentor said, his eyes growing solemn, "you know the elders want to ensure that your bloodline lives on."
Ha. They don't care if I live or die; they only want my Sharingan, those selfish bastards. I closed my eyes and tried to sleep, much aware that Kakashi had taken out his Icha Icha Book to pass time. After about an hour or two of trying to rest, my sensitive ears heard Kakashi stand up, the creaks in the chair echoing in my eardrums.
"Don't push yourself; the hospital's not all that bad," I heard the man softly say to me, "who knows, it might not only heal the pain in your head, but also the encasement over your heart..."
Now what did that blasted teacher of mine mean by that? Sure, I was what people considered "anti-social". In fact, I hate talking. And conversing. And gossiping. I just see no need for conversation when I could spend my time training instead. The more I train, the closer I come to reaching my goal. What is my goal, you ask? All of the Uchiha have been killed off, ironically, by another Uchiha—my brother.
Uchiha Itachi, the assassin that showed the most potential and honor in the family, ended up breaking the heads of our parents right in front of my eyes. He told me to gain power and kill him, staring at me with his gleaming cold Sharingans. It held no warmth or light of the Itachi I used to know, the Itachi I used to look up to. With his eyes, he drowned me in his darkness, surrounding me and suffocating me with his being. I live to take the life of Itachi; other then that I have no reason for existing.
Actually, I had intended to revive my clan, but unfortunately I do not hold the necessary requirements to fulfill that goal. How can I fall in love, or even show affections for someone when I have none? They think I do not know, but I hear everything; people have said that I did not like girls, and in a way they are right. However, I do not like boys either. I hold affection for no one, merely hate. Hate is the emotion that fuels anger, which in turn fuels power. Hate is the only emotion I allow myself to feel; the last thing I have felt since Itachi's betrayal...
My eyes still closed, I failed to notice the bright flash of gold that zipped past my doorway. Instead, I felt the slight breeze that somehow managed to touch my sensitive skin, and my equally sensitive nose picked up a waft of...
Something light yet pleasant, soft and mellow...
It smelled of Summer skies...
AN: Yes, I know, short chapter compared to my famous 14+ paged ones. However, this short epilogue is needed to explain things. Many things. Hmm, I've never written things with elegance before, and I was trying in this one. Sorta. It ended up being part-humor part-sarcasm. Must be my mood –scritches head- Mm, to make things clear then, in case my writing is...confusing:
Sasuke is part of a team in Konoha Academy, a school for training assassins. Like the manga, he wants to kill Itachi because Itachi killed his parents, yet he is stuck in this hospital, unable to train for weeks because of an accident. He is a, so to speak, "cold-hearted bastard" and he refuses to open up to anyone; a grim and serious child, he locks himself away from others so he can focus on what he believes is his only goal in life. How the hospital can change him, you will have to read on...
Now the ages of the characters:
Pretty much all the students in the story are going to be 19.
Kakashi and Iruka are...mid 20's seem good?
QUESTIONAIRE:
1. Tragedy? Or happy ending? (there were originally more questions, but no one seems to answer them, so I'll ask the most important question for now).