𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐎𝐅𝐅𝐈𝐂𝐄: SasuSaku

𝟯. 𝗣𝗿𝗲𝘁𝘁𝘆 𝗕𝗼𝘆

Love...regardless of every associated adjective...is life.

To be loved is to be seen. To be heard. To be cared for. True love, with all of its glory, is always tied to heartbreak. Taxed by forgiveness, plagued by time. To be truly loved is to be forgiven. To work until the conceived incurable is healed.

The opposite of true love? Expectancy, indifference, malice.

"You wanna explain to me why you were out so late?"

"Fugaku I'm not doing this with you right now."

He slammed the dresser drawer loudly. "So when will you have time huh? When is the mother of our kids finally gonna show up to anything our sons do?!"

From the outside hallways , he heard them, watching as his mother's feet moved in silhouettes beneath the door. "YOU DIDN'T SHOW UP EITHER!!! When the hell was the last time you went to one of Itachi's baseball games? Or picked Sasuke up from daycare?! You're a fucking HYPOCRITE!"

His next words came out with pure hatred. "What will people say if I keep showing up alone? Do you know what the other parents already think of us? Having the fucking nanny pick up the boys over and over again." Mikoto felt the temperature in the room take a dive as Fugaku stalked over to her. "You are a disgrace to this family."

She slapped him across the face. "You're a piece of shit! You're a terrible father. A terrible husband. You're FUCKING MISERABLE! You're NOTHING without me!!"

"Sasuke?"

Itachi saw his five year old brother with his arms crossed over his legs, sitting on the floor next to the door of his parents bedroom. His small face was dripping with tears. "Sasuke come on, let's go to bed." He spoke softly.

The small boy pouted with more tears coming through, "B-but m-mommy promised t-to tuck me in." Slowly he grabbed Sasuke in his arms and carried him to his bedroom. "Don't worry Sasuke, I'll tuck you into bed."

The spaceship comforter tucked in him gently by the hands of his older brother. A night light in the shape of a cherry blossom was plugged in, the plastic lit up, illuminating the dark room. "Want me to read you that story you love?"

Sasuke looked at the ceiling, with little tears still escaping the ducks of his sable eyes. "It's okay Itachi..." his older brother kissed him on his forehead and hugged him. "I can bring my sleeping bag in here?" Sasuke looked back in his brother's eyes. "Please."

Before they said their goodnights, Itachi asked his baby brother if he was okay. All he said was,

"I just want them to go away." And on his own, ripped the cherry blossom night light from the wall. At five years old, a philosophy grew in his head.

There is never light in the dark.

By six, his parents would stop sharing a bedroom. Fugaku and Mikoto tried to hide it, but it was obvious. To the boys, the nannie's, house keepers, and other workers for their ridiculously large home.

"Today we are joined by Senator Fugaku and his infamous attorney wife, Mikoto Uchiha!" Sasuke watched the news before heading to school everyday, again, his parents didn't take him. But this time they were together, on television, looking happier than ever. They showed family photos, and used the word big happy family.

Sasuke took his little spoon and crushed a fruity pebble with it. Before it could even be soaked up by the milk. Such a lie. It was all a lie.

They did this until Sasuke was thirteen.

Everywhere the family was plastered with that fable. This elite, heavenly, beautiful happy family that every reporter and blog documented as the image of perfection. Little did they know that behind closed doors, this couple was more divided than opposing nations at war. Furniture broke, glass shattered, screams boomed throughout the halls of the precious Uchiha mansion. Sasuke locked himself in his room. Every. Single. Night. Itachi decided to dorm at college to get away from their obnoxious parents. He visited Sasuke every weekend. Picked him up to hang out at every available opportunity. But it was that separation that grew the inner turmoil for young Sasuke.