What I Wanted
Chapter 1: Courage
Summary: sasuxsaku She weaved her bloody fingers in his. "We won't tell, will we?" "No, we won't, Sakura." This is our story, Sasuke's and mine.
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We buried something here. I step onto the moist soil and feel around for the right spot. Here. Perfect. My figure is silhouetted in the moonlight, and suddenly, it feels like that unforgettable day of my childhood. Our childhood.
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"Brother, why did you kill them all?" Uchiha Sasuke panted as he gazed up at the emotionless figure above him. Why didn't you kill me too?
"To test my ability."
"That's all?"
Itachi felt his mask of indifference slip. He looked away from his little brother and slipped into the darkness.
Struggling to his knees, Sasuke's shaking hand reached for the kunai that had been ruthlessly stabbed into his father's back. Carefully extracting it, Sasuke held it close.
"I'm going to kill you."
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Sakura gasped as she slid open the paper door.
Blood, blood, blood.
Why was it everywhere? Why was it all over her parents? Who was it? Who was it?
Why didn't he kill me?
Sakura unsteadily withdrew the deadly knife from her mother's neck and gripped it until her own blood mixed with her mother's.
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A girl was twirling a kunai around her bloody finger on a rooftop. A boy seized her arm and was greeted by empty and hopeless emerald eyes. He gazed back with the same emotionless eyes and fingered his blood splattered kunai. Their eyes searched each other until he loosened his grip on her arm.
Pulling away, Sasuke turned his head away as the tears slipped in the moonlight.
"Don't cry, Sasuke. Shinobi's don't show emotions."
Sakura weaved her fingers into his and squeezed his bloody hand. He held onto her hand for the sake of sanity. "Sasuke, was it him?"
"Yes…" Sasuke pressed his fingers deeper into the back of her hand.
Sakura ran her finger up and down Sasuke's tensed knuckles. This wasn't right.
"We won't tell, will we?"
"No, we aren't, Sakura."
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I turn my head sadly as I gaze at the raven haired prodigy from across the training grounds. I lean on the tree for support.
There he is. I wonder if he forgot about me that night. We're ten now. He should have forgotten.
I know he wants to.
He knows I'm his weakness. He knows that he's mine.
He also knows he has to kill his brother.
Why does it hurt so much to mean so much but be a burden?
From that night, he always looks away from me when we pass each other in the winding roads of Konoha. I can't give away our secret, so I, too, coldly ignore him.
But it hurts. A lot.
To see all those fangirls swarm around him as if he were a new toy. It makes me sick. And everyday, my heart feels like its dying over and over and over again.
The kunai is always in my pouch. I take it out and twirl it mindlessly around my finger. How did I know that this is our kunai? Because engraved on its handle is a pair of the letter "s."
I notice Sasuke pause in the middle of his intense training and take out a kunai.
I don't know why, but I know that it is the other kunai from that night. Our other kunai. His kunai. Marked exactly like mine.
I don't know whether it's a good thing that he still has it or not. Surely, it will be his downfall, but just to know that I mean more than a passing shadow to him makes me spin my kunai just a little faster.
Suddenly, as I am absentmindedly playing with my kunai and tracing the bark of the tree with my fingertips, Sasuke spots me.
I drop the kunai with a clatter. I pick it up immediately, afraid to lose it.
I don't know whether to run or stay. I don't know if I'm going to hurt the Uchiha by just standing here. I don't know if I'm in the way.
Like a story unraveling in slow motion, he starts his slow and treacherous walk toward my tree. I grab onto a branch, a batch of leaves… anything that will stop me from running away.
Why does that day have to haunt us?
My mind feels like it is about to shatter like a delicate glass vase. But I don't want to let go of this tree. Nine-tenths of my brain tells me to let go, but I don't. Today, that one-tenth of my brain that is selfish can't let go of Sasuke.
He approaches and swiftly reaches the branch that I have become so accustomed to standing on. His weight on the branch feels unfamiliar as he takes slow, deliberate steps toward me.
Our eyes are always intensely piercing each other's, but at the same time, we aren't even seeing each other.
Then Uchiha Sasuke does the unthinkable. For a moment, he lets go of maintaining his absolute defensive wall. He gives into his weakness.
He wraps his arms around my waist.
If this isn't courage, I don't know what is.
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Notes: The storyline is different from the original, but I hope it's not too confusing XD Sakura doesn't chase after Sasuke like a kid, at least. First story : Flames are welcome! Hahahahahhahaha.