CHAPTER EIGHT
~ (Y/n)'s Point of View ~
I can feel pain, so I know that I am now conscious. My neck is sore, my fists are throbbing, and my head is pounding. Yesterday now seemed like a distant dream, and I would have believed it was one if it wasn't for this pain. However, I did feel warm and comfortable.
When I finally decided to open my eyes, the sun was just breaking over the horizon. It was still rather dark in the room, but all I could see was black, and not the kind from passing out because I knew for a fact that I was awake.
Upon further inspection, which was basically me looking down further, it turns out that the raven black I was seeing was Sasuke's head right under my chin. I tensed as I looked under the blankets to see myself clean and in new clothes. He didn't have his body touching mine, but he was so close that his warmth radiated to me. For a half of a second I though about pulling him closer, but mentally scolded myself for thinking those things. He's already way too close.
I rolled to the left off of the mat and away from him, then very stiffly got to my feet. I quietly exited the room and searched for the bathroom, and upon finding it, I showered, then crept downstairs to see a young woman already in the kitchen, and an exhausted looking Naruto. I made my way to the table and got to the seat furthest from him. When I pulled the chair out, it scraped against the floor causing the two to jump and look at me in shock.
"You- you're not supposed to be awake for another whole day!" Naruto whisper yelled toward me. I ignored him and looked to the woman who was staring at me in awe, then out the window.
"Your point?" I reply monotonously as he stuttered for an answer, but the woman beat him to it.
"Wow. You are just as strong as Naruto explained then! Hello, I am Tazuna's daughter, Tsunami. Lovely to meet you." She says with a bright smile complimenting her feminine features.
"Who brought me here and cared for me?" I asked and completely ignored her. Her face fell slightly, and she was about to speak, but Naruto beat her to it this time.
"Sasuke carried you all the way here but that's all I know. Me and Tazuna had to carry Kakashi." Naruto says after drinking some milk. I nod to him and look back out of the window, plotting some ways to kill Sasuke, but Tsunami spoke.
"Yes, that lovely young boy, Sasuke, he took you to your room and cared for your wounds, but I changed you, if that's what you're worried about." She said and giggled. My face almost reddens but I shoved it back down inside of me.
"Kakashi sensei is gonna be out for at least another day, and you should have been, too." Naruto says. Another day huh? I sigh heavily and eat the food that Tsunami had placed on the table then get up and go back down the hall to get dressed so I could go train. I enter the room and grab my weapon pouch and sandals, put them both on and begin to exit the room, but Sasuke was awake now.
"(Y/n)? Why are you up? How are you up? Is Kakashi sensei up? Are we going to train?" Sasuke bombarded me with questions. I sighed and exited the room, completely ignoring him.
From what I could hear, since I didn't even look back at him, he was trying to get dressed and get his things together as quickly as possible to catch up to me. I continue to walk out of the house, disregarding everyone else's presence and make my way out into an open forest area a little ways away from the house.
I begin stretching, and right after I'd finished that, Sasuke had finally found me. He panted momentarily before plopping down at the base of a tree, watching me as I made a clone and started battling it.
After I'd beaten that one, I kept making them, and about an hour later, I'd gone through five. It wasn't until then that I realized that Sasuke was still there, watching me, and that I'd needed to train with my Daku, adding the right amount of chakra instead of wasting it, and I couldn't practice on something that wasn't alive. I decided that I was going to kill my pride and ask for help.
"Sasuke." I call to him as he was about to throw a shuriken at a tree. He pauses mid throw and turns his head to me, slightly shocked.
"Hm?" He hums at me. I try and put some words together in my head, but it isn't working so I just let my tongue loose.
"I need you to help me train with my Daku." I say. Sasuke's eyes widen as a flash of fear visibly crosses over his face.
"Wait, but that means that I'll be in my nightmares, I can't do- wait, wouldn't you just go unconscious again? No, I won't do it. If it's going to harm you, then I won't." He starts off scared, but finishes with genuine concern for my health. I scoff and roll my eyes, but on the inside, I felt something odd pulsate within me.
"If I don't train with it now, then I'm just gonna continue to use all of my chakra. If I don't practice now, I could die in the future." I state matter of factly. He looks to be thinking it over before reluctantly nodding his head once, then plopping back onto the ground.
"Well, alright then. Will you be able to hear me if I tell you to lighten up?" He asks as he looks up at me from his position on the ground.
"Yes." I say and then nod my head once in response. He exhales shakily before patting the patch of grass in front of him.
"Well, come over here. Let's get started." Sasuke tries to hide his nervousness with a small, cocky smirk, but it isn't working. I walk up and sit down on the grass where he had motioned to, facing him directly. He watches me intently as I close my eyes and figure out just how much chakra it takes to set my eyes off. After several grunts of frustration and experimenting for a solid ten minutes, I open my eyes, which shine brighter than a blue flame. Sasuke tenses and keeps his eyes glued to the ground, avoiding my gaze at all costs.
"Sasuke, you've got to look me in the eyes or I can't do anything." I sigh, irritation getting the best of me. Sasuke snaps his head up quickly and goes to speak, but just exhales heavily and lowers his gaze once again. He seems to be conflicted about something.
"Sasuke, if I wanted to hurt you, I could have done it when your back was turned. I've experimented with the levels of chakra and I've currently got it at the lowest level possible. If you don't trust me, then I'll have to ask Naruto to-" I begin. His cheeks flame a bright pink color as he snaps his head up with a disgusted look on his face.
"No! Anyone but that idiot! Okay, I trust you. Will you be able to see my fears?" He says, and then asks. I place my index fingers on my temples, trying to keep focus as I talk with him.
"Yes. Are you uncomfortable with that?" I ask and remove my hands to place them back in my lap.
"No, it's just that you are, um- you know what, go ahead." Sasuke stumbles over his words. I nod my head, then inhale and exhale once more before gabbing his chin and jerking it upward to meet my face.
"Alright. Look at me." I say. His face goes even brighter as I stare deep into his eyes, momentarily losing focus, but shake my thoughts and push a bit more chakra into my eyes. His vision fades out and I am now partly in his mind. He stands in complete darkness, breathing frantically. He's afraid of the dark.
"(Y/n), is this-" Sasuke starts, but I cut him off quickly. The fear in his voice sent a pang of guilt through me and I didn't like it.
"Yes. I'm gonna add more chakra, they'll get worse but I'll stop it before anything too harsh happens." My voice echos through his mind. His physical body relaxes slightly at the explanation.
"I trust you." He calls, my heart swells, but my mind is absolutely livid at all of these emotions coursing through me. I add more chakra into the jutsu and the next fear comes. It's of him never unlocking his sharingan, and being made fun of for it.
"Shut up!" Sasuke screams as his conscious form clutches his head. His physical body trembles slightly, sweat building on his brow. I bite my lip and contemplate stopping, but I've got to get stronger, I've got to have absolute control.
"Sasuke, calm down." My cool voice rings through his head. His body stiffens as if he'd forgotten I was there. Upon hearing me, he relaxes slightly, but he is still physically shaking.
"O-okay. Keep going." Sasuke's mental voice stutters out. I push myself harder, my body becoming more exhausted by the second. His mind goes black, and then the sky turns blood red.
"Oh no, oh no, no no no." Sasuke whines out. I look around curiously. This is the Uchiha compound. The smell of blood fills Sasuke's nose, I know because I smell it too, and bodies start raining from the sky, falling all around him with a loud thud. Bodies that looked eerily familiar, all holding similar traits, pale skin, and dark, spiked hair.
"Foolish little brother." I hear a disgustingly familiar voice echo out on repeat. Sasuke cried out in agony as several copies of Itachi make themselves present and start talking all at once.
"You aren't strong enough." One chimes.
"Pathetic." The next one practically spits at Sasuke.
"Kill her." One growls, animalistic.
"You've got to kill her." The next one says.
"You need power." One seethes.
"Useless." Another one spits.
"The Mangekyou sharingan." The final one calls almost teasingly. What the hell are they talking about?
"I KNOW! I CAN'T AND I WON'T!" Sasuke screams as salty tears gather in his eyes. My heart wrenches and I feel the need to comfort the boy, and the need to now kill Itachi.
"Sasuke. Calm down." I say and try to make my voice as monotonous as possible. Sasuke doesn't reply, but I hear his jagged breathing from his physical body. I reach out and touch his cheek lightly with my fingers, and he relaxes, but doesn't realize what I've done.
"Alright, there's only one more, and it's the worst. Go ahead, I'm ready." Sasuke says, sounding as if he's trying to convince himself more than me. I nod, even though he can't see me, and add another heap of chakra into it. The scene goes black again before a thick fog starts covering the floors. Sasuke starts breathing heavily, he already knows what's coming.
"Sasuke!" A familiar voice calls out happily, almost sounding relieved. My eyes narrow to cut through the darkness to see a figure. It's me, but a bit older.
"(Y/n)?" Sasuke asks breathlessly as he spins around all at once, but he doesn't find 'me'.
"Sasuke!" This time, my voice was terrified. Sasuke runs around frantically, looking for me.
"(Y/n)!" He yells again. Sasuke runs blindly, then trips and falls. When he picks his head up, he finally sees me standing there, a small smile on my face. I looked to be sixteen or so. I hold my hand out to him and he takes it with a goofy smile on his face.
He pulls 'me' into a hug. The fake me looks up at him lovingly, with soft eyes and a smile to match. He looks shocked and a red tint crosses his face. Her eyes slipped closed and so does his, and they kiss, but she jerks back and shoves him to the ground violently with an evil grin on her face. She cackles darkly and starts walking backwards away from him, still facing him.
"NO! Don't leave me again! You can't, I'll be alone!" Sasuke reaches out to the alternate me, but his arms are chained, preventing him from moving. She laughs maniacally and moves farther away, drifting into the fog and darkness.
"You never had me! I've always been gone!" Her voice echoed again, and she's gone, disappeared into the fog. The look of hurt on his face was too much to handle.
"NO STOP!" He screams in anguish, pulling at the chains furiously. I quickly dispel my jutsu and deactivate my Daku, panting heavily, and trying to push the stinging in my eyes away.
Sasuke comes to and looks around frantically, panting like a dog. His eyes land on me and he sighs in relief, but I avoid looking at him at all costs. That fear of his is going to become a reality.
I lean against the tree closest to me and close my eyes, attempting to even my breathing, and re-open them. Sasuke looks at me intently, then looks to the ground, a depression obviously settling over him. I felt so guilty that it made me angry, sick almost.
"Sasuke." I call after a few moments of silence. His head snaps toward me, his face shocked, as if he though I was deep in thought, so he'd let himself think too.
"Huh?" Sasuke asked, almost breathlessly, probably shocked that I was speaking after that.
"Thank you, I apologize if I've caused any discomfort." I said monotonously, sounding more of like a doctor at the hospital than a teammate. Sasuke's face screws up slightly, but then drops to sadness.
"(Y/n)?" Sasuke calls after a few more seconds. I turn my head to him again, showing that I was listening to what he had to say.
"Hm?" I hum. He opens and closes his mouth repeatedly before exhaling, then turns to face me with a serious face, shocking me in the process.
"What am I to you?"