Flashback
"Itachi."
The two Uchihas spun their heads to the side, casting their gazes in the direction where the voice came from. A man around the same age as the older Uchiha stood a few feet away, regarding Itachi with a somber look. The younger Uchiha looked a little alarmed upon seeing the unfriendly expression on the stranger's face. He hid himself partially behind his big brother, clutching his well-grown hand apprehensively.
The unfamiliar stranger never tore his eyes off of Itachi as he said, "We need to talk."
Itachi looked him deeply in the eye. He knew what the man wanted to discuss with him about, and that topic was terribly inappropriate for someone so young and innocent like his little brother to hear. So he brought his eyes down, staring at the younger Uchiha with a pair of soft onyx eyes. He patted his small head and said, "Sasuke, please give us a time alone."
"Nii-san," the younger Uchiha whose name was Sasuke spoke up, "will you be alright?"
Itachi stretched his mouth wider, forming a gentle smile, and replied, "Don't worry. He is just a friend of mine."
He paused as he sneaked a glance at something behind Sasuke. Then he darted his eyes back to his clueless brother and suggested, "Why don't you talk to that girl?"
Knowing who he was talking about, he whirled his head around and looked with wide eyes and blushes bathing his cheeks. His shimmering eyes landed on the tiny girl who was still in the same position – crouching down in the middle of the abandoned park, drawing something on the ground using a small stick and humming an unfamiliar song. She seemed unmindful of their presences.
Sasuke suddenly felt nervous, unsure if he could strike up a conversation with that unidentified girl. He looked up at Itachi and stuttered, "S-should I... talk to her?"
The elder brother nodded, "It's time for you to make friends."
The young ravenette was about to object when Itachi lightly pushed him forward, "Now go. I will call you when we are finished."
"But, nii-san...!"
His voice trailed away when he caught sight of Itachi and the unknown stranger walking away to a quiet spot. Sasuke frowned indignantly, grumbling under his breath, "Why is he always not letting me come with him when something like this happens?"
"Something like what?"
The little boy was extremely astounded he nearly stumbled while spinning around very quickly to face the source of the new voice. He luckily got his balance evenly and turned his full attention on the tiny figure in front of him.
Standing before him was the same girl who he deemed cute just a few minutes ago. He was surprised seeing her standing there when he had last seen her crouching in the middle of the park twenty seconds ago. He started surmising that she probably had heard them and walked towards them out of curiosity.
Sasuke, who rarely talked to kids the same age as him, stammered, "I-it's nothing..."
"Oh..." the young girl brought her gaze down, staring at the ground beneath her mindlessly. She did not make a move such as turning around and strolling off; instead, she stayed there, fidgeting slightly in front of the young ravenette.
Due to her status of being the youngest daughter of a famous, wealthy family, it was hard for her to make friends, especially with the kids around her age. She was always surrounded by a small army of bodyguards under the strict order of her parents, and kids were frightened to get close to her because of the scary-looking guards. Seeing her surrounded by them also gave the impression that she was an ignorant, snobby girl, when in fact, she was the complete opposite. She was kept inside her house most of the time, learning etiquette befitting of a princess and other skills. She never had any freedom ever since she was born.
Until she rebelled that very same day.
She and her army of bodyguards were strolling in the streets when there was a commotion in front of them. A shopkeeper apparently kicked a boy with a spiky yellow hair out of his shop and called him a monster. All of the bodyguards jumped to stand in front of Ayuda, protecting her from any possible threats. The girl glanced behind her and was aware that a big crowd gathered in to witness the rare commotion. She was utterly bemused by the fact that none of them stepped up and helped the blond boy, but she pushed that thought aside and crept away, using the huge crowd to her advantage in order to escape from her bodyguards. She ended up arriving at an abandoned park.
And there she was, standing before a boy who possessed a pair of onyx eyes. Now that she was a few feet away from him, she noted that he was indeed cute.
The reason why she did not walk away from him was because she held a silent desire to be his friend.
Believe it or not, the boy also held carried the same eagerness.
An awkward silence surrounded the two kids. Both of them were too shy to look at each other in the eye which prompted them looking everywhere but one another. While Sasuke was racking his brain in search of a solution that would ease off the awkwardness, he suddenly recalled a small advice Itachi gave him. When you meet someone, the first thing you should say to them is...
The little Uchiha threw his eyes back to the girl and said, "Hi."
The purple-eyed girl stared at Sasuke, looking a little bit surprised at his innocent one word. But then her facial expression relaxed and she replied with a timid voice, "Hi."
Another breeze of uneasy silence befell, causing Sasuke to anime-sweatdrop and think, 'Why is it getting more awkward than before...? But after that, nii-san told me to...'
Sasuke questioned with a smile, "How are you?"
The dark-haired girl averted her gaze. Her downcast eyes caused Sasuke to completely drop his smile. He began thinking if the question was kind of inappropriate to ask her when she answered in a low voice, "I'm fine."
An additional silence took place and this time, the two kids started musing the same thing, 'I didn't know that speaking to another human can be so difficult and awkward...'
However, Sasuke refused to allow the wave of silence to overwhelm the atmosphere and began thinking hard on what question that would make the girl speak more. He blurted out without thinking twice, "What did you draw just now?"
The unidentified girl blinked her eyes a few times at Sasuke with that 'did-you-just-ask-me-that' look. The young boy was quick to detect that message in her eyes, making him think he asked a stupid question and he felt like he wanted to drown himself right then and there in pure embarrassment.
He was going to apologize to her when his voice halted in his throat upon seeing the girl turning around and responding, "I'm not good at drawing, but I just want to let it all out."
Sasuke tilted his head to the side with eyebrows furrowing in perplexity. He then quietly followed the girl, ambling towards the middle of the park where her drawing was located at. The two of them crouched down around the drawing and inspected it.
The drawing was very simple and easy to draw, but it took a good five seconds for the onyx-eyed observer to comprehend the sketch. It was a picture of a bow designed in a very stylish way. Due to the foreign style and the below-average drawing skill, it was slightly difficult for him to fully fathom the illustration, but fortunately, he managed to figure it out within a few seconds.
About the bow's elegant design, Sasuke took it as her dream bow. Seeing this drawing summoned a smile on the unknown girl's lips and she shed some light on the ravenette, "I'm very fond of archery ever since I saw someone using the weapon. I've researched about it as much as I can and I just found out that... many people believe that archery is the weakest weapon of all time... and that just makes me..."
Sasuke watched as the sweet smile on the girl's mouth turned upside down. She wore a crestfallen mien that caused the other boy feeling sorry for her. He wanted to tell her that there would be someone supporting her and her choice of weapon. He wanted to comfort her by saying that he would be one of those people to support her. He wanted to turn that frown upside down and summon that sweet smile again.
But he did not have enough courage to vocalize those words. He lacked the guts to say that out loud and console her. He was not like Naruto Uzumaki after all who could boldly say those words and other embarrassing, cliché words to everyone. Bear in mind that he still had not met Naruto yet.
Not knowing how to comfort her, he decided to change the subject, "Um... what is your name?"
The girl cast her purple orbs to the boy and responded, "My name is Ayuda. How about you?"
The young Uchiha smiled widely, "I'm Sasuke."
***
[The next day...]
Ayuda's P.O.V
"Wake up, Yuda-chan..."
The gentle, familiar voice roused me from a deep sleep. My eyes fluttered open, revealing purple orbs that slowly sparkled to life. The first thing I noticed was that some of my body parts were sore.
I drew myself upright and rubbed my right eye, scanning my surrounding.
I was in a hospital room – Sasuke's room, to be precise. I had fallen asleep with my head resting on the bed next to his right hip and with my two arms supporting my head; my rear end was planted on the chair. The unconscious ravenette was lying in bed, motionless, while another tall figure was standing next to me. It was undoubtedly Reina. She sent me a warm smile, "You must be tired. You should go back home and get a good sleep. This isn't a good place to fall asleep, you know."
I groggily said, "I'm fine. Anyway, what are you doing here, Reina-oneesan?"
Reina frowned, "What's with that question? Of course, I'm here to see how Sasuke is doing. And I just returned from the lodging town and when I returned home, you're not there, so I figured you would be here."
"It's nothing... it's just a bit strange to see you're here, onee-san," I responded, turning my gaze to Sasuke's face, "I just had a feeling that you wouldn't come here to check on him because you deem him not worthy of your time. I'm sorry for thinking that, onee-san."
"Well, I did think of him like that before... but not now," she paused as she pulled a chair and sat next to Sasuke's bed (I was on the other side of his bed), smiling at me, "I respect him a lot right now."
I blinked my eyes several times in confusion, "Why...?"
She brought her brown eyes to the unconscious Uchiha's face, "Remember that time when I stopped you in helping Sasuke while he got pummeled by Itachi?"
***
Suddenly, I was embraced by a pair of slender arms that belonged to Reina. She wrapped her long limbs around my neck from behind and pushed me closer to her chest. She whispered next to my ear with a voice that revealed she was conflicted, "Please, Ayuda, just stay here... for me... and for Sasuke."
***
"Ah..." my eyes widened, "...yes! What did you mean by that?"
The smile on Reina's lips broadened even more upon seeing the raging curiosity in my eyes, "You were unconscious in this hospital that day... because of your reckless behavior during the invasion of Konoha... and Sasuke and I visited you at the same time. It was awkward at first, but we eventually talked."
She shifted her gentle gaze to the unconscious boy and continued, "He asked me why I'm so protective of you and I said that I love you so much and that you are my sister. Then I remembered something that had been bugging me so I asked him... why did he keep visiting you a lot? I mean, your squad dropped by like three times a day, but strangely he visited you like ten times in one day and that made me very curious. So when I asked him that, he blushed right away and dodged that question. I just let him go because I've met boys like him before. And I was about to leave when he called me."
She took in a deep breath and resumed, "He told me that... if the three of us are in a dangerous situation and he is incapable of protecting you, he wants me to drag you away from that place and take you to somewhere safe. And coincidentally, that dangerous situation occurred when we confronted Itachi and his partner. I remembered his words at that moment, so I decided to comply with his wish."
My eyebrows furrowed a little bit, displaying my dissatisfaction with this newfound information. I harbored mixed feelings upon hearing this. Sure, I am truly grateful to know that he cares about me this deeply, but he wants me to go somewhere safe and let Itachi beat the living daylights out of him? If Naruto and I intervened in their battle, Sasuke wouldn't be in this state right now...
Reina gave out a sigh, "I know you don't like that, Yuda-chan, but at least be thankful that he thinks of you like that. During our clash with Itachi and his partner, Sasuke might not show it, but I'm pretty sure he didn't want you to get hurt. Your safety is his top priority."
I butted in, "His second top priority."
My elder sister frowned, "Hm?"
I shot my eyes to the youngest Uchiha's face, "His number 1 top priority is killing Itachi."
"Yeah, you're right," Reina released a defeated sigh, but then a smile emerged on her face, "but when Sasuke told me about his wish to keep you safe, he has my respect right then and there. I remember feeling so small when he said that. It's like he turned into a wise old man and I became a naïve little girl. This boy... he really cares about you. Tell me, Yuda-chan, how do you find this type of guy? Hmm?"
My face flushed crimson at once. I shyly turned my head to the side, shut my eyes and replied, "I-I did nothing at all! We met each other several years ago... like how everyone else meets one another...!"
That's when I recalled something I'd wanted to ask Reina, so I inquired her, "Reina-oneesan, how do you feel now that you've met Itachi yesterday?"
My big sister looked deeply shocked upon listening to that question. The flabbergasted look on her face made me regret asking her that. Before I could have the chance to say sorry to her, she brought her eyes downward. A warm smile and a tiny frown arose on her features and she answered, "I am glad to see him looking all healthy and well, but I am also saddened to discover the fact that he has joined a barbaric organization and that he's chasing Naruto."
My eyes widened in an instant. Now that she mention it...
I began, "Oneesan, what do they want with Nar-"
But I was interrupted by none other than her, "Please return home before the sun goes down. I will take my leave now."
I watched silently as she rose from her chair and headed for the door. It's obvious that she is avoiding the question.
Reina took hold of the door handle and pulled it, surprisingly and unknowingly revealing three familiar figures on the other side of the door. She and the three individuals were astounded seeing one another, but then they smiled and greeted each other politely. After a small conversation, Reina took her leave and Kaito, Kazuki, and Sakura walked in.
Kaito flashed a smile at me, "I knew you would be here, Ayuda. Guy-sensei informed us about Sasuke, so we decided to drop by."
Seeing the ravenette blacked out on his bed prompted Sakura to rush to the bedside and shrieked, "Sasuke?! Oh no, what happened to him?! How is he?!"
Kazuki sweatdropped, "Sakura, calm down. We are in the hospital."
I replied to her question while staring at Sasuke's relaxed features, "His broken arm and broken ribs have already been healed by expert medical ninjas, but... they are unable to bring him out of his comatose state. The Sharingan's psychological attack that was delivered by Itachi to him is impenetrable."
Kazuki furrowed his blond eyebrows upon hearing the unfamiliar name, "Itachi?"
I regarded him with an intent stare, "His older brother."
Kazuki gasped lowly, "So, is he the one who... slaughtered the entire Uchiha clan, except Sasuke?"
This time, Kaito responded, "Yeah, he's the one."
My blond teammate emitted a sigh and directed his eyes to the unconscious boy, "Man, Sasuke should have thought twice before he recklessly charged at his brother, now look at him."
Sakura suddenly stared angrily at me and bellowed, "And how about you? Did you even help him?!"
Her last words sent a sharp jolt all over my body. I did try to help him yesterday, but...
***
However, the both of us came to a screeching halt when Sasuke shot his eyes at us, shouting, "Naruto, Ayuda! I told you not to interfere!"
---
Suddenly, I was embraced by a pair of slender arms that belonged to Reina. She wrapped her long limbs around my neck from behind and pushed me closer to her chest. She whispered next to my ear with a voice that revealed she was conflicted, "Please, Ayuda, just stay here... for me... and for Sasuke."
---
Reina took in a deep breath and resumed, "He told me that... if the three of us are in a dangerous situation and he is incapable of protecting you, he wants me to drag you away from that place and take you to somewhere safe. And coincidentally, that dangerous situation occurred when we confronted Itachi and his partner. I remembered his words at that moment, so I decided to comply with his wish."
***
The pinkhead added furiously, "If I was there, I would have-"
I interjected her with a menacing growl, "You would have what?"
I glared back at her with ferocious intensity, showing that I was not in the mood to deal with her. Kaito quickly stepped in, "Girls, please calm down. Ayuda, please forgive her. She is just deeply worried about Sasuke. And Sakura, you should understand the situation. Even if Ayuda helped him, Sasuke would still end up in this state, and I bet Ayuda would get knocked out, too. I've also heard that Kakashi-sensei was attacked by Itachi as well. Think about it. Kakashi-sensei is a lot stronger than all of us combined, and Itachi still succeeded in putting him in the same condition as Sasuke right now. If we were all in Ayuda's shoes, none of us could help Sasuke, especi... including you too, Sakura."
The room fell into deep, awkward silence. Sakura and I had averted our glares off of one another. Kaito and Kazuki just gave each other a quiet glance before Kaito asked me, "Anyway, where is Naruto?"
I shifted my eyes to Sasuke and answered, "He and a Sannin are searching for Tsunade right now."
Kazuki stretched his eyes wide, "Tsunade? The Sannin who is a renowned medical specialist?"
I stated, "Yeah, that's her. She is our only hope in curing Sasuke and Kakashi-sensei. I hope they find her as soon as possible."