Scars are signs that you survived something painful. The physical pain may be gone, but the mark left behind, will always remind you of what you faced. Sometimes the worst pain is that which can't be seen. So, even though a scar is the end of your physical pain, it doesn't mean that the emotional pain is gone.- H. M. L.(Me. I seriously came up with that off the top of my head!)
The lunch at Ichiraku's was, different. Sai was quiet the whole way through. Sasuke was glaring at Sai and not really listening to Naruko. Naruko was wondering what was wrong with Sasuke because he looked annoyed.
When they said goodbye to Sai, who disappeared in a Shunshin disguised as ink, she turned on him.
"Do you not like Sai?" she asked as they walked.
"Hn."
"Come on Ducky! Was it the nickname? You have to admit, you're a little emotionally constipated," Naruko told him.
"He isn't like Sakura. I respect that he has some useful skills and that he isn't useless. But he's a guy," the young Uchiha grumbled.
Naruko snorted, "So. Our original team had two girls. Having two guys on a team is the norm. We have to get used to it. Besides, I think he's even more constipated than you!"
Sasuke glared at her half heartedly. "Tch!"
"Come on Ducky! He's a lot better than Sakura. He isn't hanging all over you and calling you 'cute' names," Naruko noded to herself.
Sasuke didn't care about that. Because the pale douche was calling her cute names!
"Look Sasuke, do you prefer him to Sakura?"
He gave his crush a 'duh' look.
"Well, then make an effort to be nicer to him. He isn't a stalker. He seems to not understand how to express himself. Especially with the nicknames he gave us. I would've called Kakashi Lecher and you Ducky. Me…...I'd be….well, I don't know what I'd be, but it wouldn't be 'beautiful'. Anyway, maybe, if we work together, we can get him to open up. Plus, we work well together, so I know that we can do this!" Naruko said as she pumped a fist in the air.
Sasuke gave her a confused look, "You seem unusually optimistic today."
Naruko's eyes tilted upward, "I'm just glad that we have a real teammate."
"Fine. I'll be nicer. Especially since he seems so out of it," Sasuke sighed.
Naruko's hand connected with his back, "Atta boy!"
"Let's go train."
"How can we get your Sharingan to evolve?"
Sasuke shrugged, "I don't know. Itachi achieved one of the highest levels of the Sharingan, which was previously thought to be impossible. In order to acquire it, you need to kill your best friend, or something like that. But Itachi didn't kill Shisui, so, I don't know."
Naruko created a Kage Bunshin, "Okay. I can make these pretty durable, as long as it's a small number of them. A few hits won't get rid of it."
Sasuke gave her a 'what?' look.
Naruko pointed to the Bunshin, "Kill me!"
Sasuke back peddled. "No!"
Naruko scoffed, "Dude, it's a clone! Not the real me! Now kill it!"
"I can't!"
Sasuke glared at the ground and refused to look at her.
"Why not? It's only a clone Ducky. Besides, this'll help you when we actually have to do a mission and we have to kill. So kill it!"
"I can't kill my best friend!"
Naruko's eyes widened. "Aw! The Uchiha finally admitted his feelings!" She giggled.
Sasuke rolled his eyes. Especially since he didn't admit his real feelings.
"Hey! Come on Sasuke! It's only a clone. I'm not going to die for real. If you don't buck up, I'll create a ton of clones and have them kick your ass! Friend or not!"
Sasuke frowned and grabbed a kunai. He then attacked the clone with ferocity. She was pretty good at dodging. Missing the swipes of his kunai and landing hits of her own. He still landed hits as well. Sasuke managed to get a good slice to her neck and watched as actual blood poured out of the wound. A move like that should've deactivated the clone. But it didn't.
Oh no!
He watched as Naruko sunk to the ground. More blood coming from the wound. Did he attack the wrong one? He looked over to the other Naruko and paled when she exploded in a puff of smoke.
He had attacked the real one!
"NARUKO!"
The ripped material of her mask was drenched in blood. So much blood, and it was soaking her battle dress. Her hand was clutching her neck as she gasped for air.
He dropped to his knees beside her and yelled, "Why didn't you tell me you switched?!"
"So….you...would….fight…..for…..real."
Sasuke placed his hand over hers as he tried to stop the blood flow. "You idiot! Breath! NO! Don't close your eyes! Naruko!"
"I'll be fine Ducky," she mumbled as her blue eyes dulled in focus.
Sasuke could feel his heart pounding. Her eyes were closing and he could feel her pulse slowing. The blood kept coming, covering his pants as he pulled her closer and tried to stop it from coming out.
Why was there so much blood?!
He began to hyperventilate. Her eyes closed finally and her body went limp.
"Naruko! NARUKO!" NO! No, no, no, no, no, no, no, NO!
His hands began to shake as tears came to his eyes. She had no pulse.
No pulse.
No pulse.
No Pulse.
NO PULSE!
NO PULSE!
"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Sasuke's eyes burned and his head was aching! But he didn't care about that. He just accidentally killed the girl he was in love with! How could she do it?! Why would she go through such a thing just to help him?! WHY?!
The tears overflowed and he hated himself. He was so weak he didn't even notice when she used the Kawarimi with her own clone! She was dead because he was weak. Because he wasn't like Itachi! It was all his fault.
She was dead.
Dead.
He gripped his head as he panicked. He just killed his best friend! The person he loved most! Why was he so damn weak! WHY?!
"Sasuke."
Now he was hearing her voice!
"Sasuke!"
The guilt of his actions crept over him. He was a murderer! He should be locked away!
"SASUKE!"
"WHAT?!"
He looked up to see Naruko standing there, like nothing was wrong. He looked down at the Naruko in his lap ands gaped when it disappeared in a puff of smoke.
"How?"
Naruko shrugged, "The one you were arguing with was a clone as well. I was over there the whole time." She pointed to the trees.
Sasuke looked at his bloodied hands and the blood on the ground. He was shaking horribly and his tears were coming even faster. He didn't kill her?!
Naruko sighed, "Look, I'm sorry that I had you believe that I was dead, but I wanted to test something-"
She was cut off when Sasuke wrapped his arms around her as tight as he could. "Never do that to me! Ever again! You don't know how horrible that was! I thought I had killed you Naruko! Something like that can mess with your mind! I was horrified. I thought I had killed my best friend!" My love, he added silently.
Naruko patted his back as he calmed down. "I'm sorry."
"Why did you do it?"
He pulled away slightly, watching her eyes.
"A good reason, I promise." She pulled something out of her pouch and opened it. Holding it out to the Uchiha.
Sasuke glanced at it. It was a mirror and staring back at him, was a pair of black eyes with three red intersecting ellipses, making an almost star like appearance. A small black dot was in the middle.
The Mangekyou Sharingan!
He collapsed, taking the blonde with him. "You did all that, just to see if I'd get the power?"
She nodded, "Sorry Sasuke. I didn't think it would effect you that much."
"Naruko, you are my best and only friend. I'm on pretty good terms with the other guys from our class, but they aren't my friends. To watch your only friend, die right before you and know that you're the cause of it, is horrible. It's the kind of trauma that can screw you up inside," he explained as his heart calmed down. "I was terrified and I felt the deepest of hatred for myself because of it. Please Naruko, never do that again, even if it's for a good reason?"
Naruko sighed, "Okay. I'm really sorry."
He sighed as they laid there. "Just give me a few moments to get over this, I'm still shaking."
They lay there for a few minutes as Sasuke finally relaxed. "I think I'm good."
"That's a relief. Can I get up now?"
Sasuke flushed, realizing that he'd been holding Naruko to his chest for the past several minutes. "Yeah." He moved his arms and she sat up.
"How about you go home and rest for the night. We have a mission tomorrow anyway."
Naruko offered him a hand and accepted. They both stood, "I'm going to back to Ichiraku's, so I'll see you tomorrow. I'm really sorry Sasuke."
He shook his head, "It's okay. Thank you for helping me get the Mangekyou. Just promise you won't do that again."
She raised a hand, "I promise. If I break it, I'll never eat ramen again."
He smirked. She'd definitely keep that promise if she brought ramen into it. "Okay. I'll see you tomorrow, Butch."
"Sure thing Ducky!"
He watched as she ran off.
That had to have been the worst day ever!
Itachi walked into the family garden. A nice place to go when he needed some time to himself.
Coming to the pond he noticed Sasuke was kneeling by the water, watching the water. He looked depressed.
Upon closer inspection, Itachi noticed that Sasuke was covered in blood. His shirt was stained a horrible brownish/red and his white shorts were reddish/brown.
"Sasuke, are you well?"
His little brother looked up, and he could see that pain and fear in those eyes. "Something happened today Itachi."
Itachi took a seat beside his little brother. "What was it?"
"Naruko."
Itachi looked at the boy, who in turn, was looking at his hands. At the blood that was dried on them. "Is she okay? Did you train too much today?"
The boy shook his head and sighed, "On our last mission, when I had to protect Sakura, I finally got the Sharingan."
Itachi quirked a brow. It had finally happened? That was good news, but it didn't explain why Sasuke was so depressed.
Sasuke sighed once more, "Naruko knew about making the Sharingan stronger and asked about how to do it. I told her about what was supposed to happen, but that you didn't do it, so I didn't know if it was true."
Itachi listened intently.
"She created a clone and told me to kill it."
Understanding overcame Itachi then. Sasuke couldn't bring himself to kill the girl he loved, even if it was a clone. His little brother was too sweet for his own good.
"She then threatened to make a bunch of those that would 'kick my ass' if I didn't fight the clone. So I did, but something went wrong."
Itachi jerked when Sasuke voice shook. He looked over Sasuke's appearance again. The blood, the fear in his eyes, the small, barely noticeable shaking. He didn't?!
"There was blood everywhere! I lost it and started screaming and crying while she's telling me she'd be fine. Then, her pulse was gone and there was this horrible pain and it burned."
Sasuke looked into Itachi's eyes then, and Itachi reeled back. Sasuke sported the Mangekyou Sharingan. Which meant he had actually killed the girl. Shit! How was this going to turn out? Especially with how Sasuke was acting.
"I lost it! And the tears came even harder than before. Just then, I heard her voice."
The kid was hallucinating too!
"Naruko pretended to let me kill her. She used a special version of her Bunshin that can withstand more hits than normal and did it to try and activate the Mangekyou. She was standing there. No blood and looking perfectly fine. Itachi, I was never so scared before. It was horrible! I thought I had killed her! And then, there she was!"
Sasuke was shaking even more as tears fell from his eyes, "I know she's alive, but the whole thing really scared me! I killed my best friend only to find out it wasn't real."
Itachi let out the breath he didn't know he was holding. She was alive. A horrible way to awaken the Mangekyou, but surprisingly effective. Sasuke was just suffering some severe PTSD.
He reached out and poked the boys forehead.
Sasuke froze and looked at him, "Did you just poke me?!"
"If she's alive, then you don't have to worry. Go inside, get some rest before dinner. Clean up. Tomorrow, I'll teach you how to use the Mangekyou."
As expected, Sasuke's mood brightened and he nodded before running to the house.
"So, he really likes the girl huh?"
"Shisui, he's in love with her. What she did had quite a negative effect on him, but I think he realized his true feelings now. The drama surrounding Sasuke's life is quite entertaining," Itachi stated.
Shisui nodded with a snicker.
"So, any new dirt?"
"But of course."