[Naruto] The Fate of a Ninja

The Eye of Flames

I watch helplessly as the sword is raised above my seated mother and father. In one swift motion, it strikes through both of them. And I'm standing there. Paralyzed. I want to run. I want to scream. I want someone, anyone to save me from this nightmare.

I stare into my brother's red eyes and can't look away. He starts moving towards me and I feel the tears sliding down my cheeks. He inches closer and closer, his katana stained red. He stops just in front of me, muttering incomprehensible words before silver slices the night.

I shoot awake, breathing rapidly. Why, why, why, why, why? Why do I keep reliving that night? Itachi . . . how could he do that to mother and father?

The lump in the other bed begins to move. It starts sliding out from under the covers and there's Sasuke, wiping the sleep from his eyes. Without a word, he comes over and climbs into bed beside me. He lays me down.

"Just go back to bed, Hikaru," he whispers. I obey, laying back down. But after trying for forever, I give up.

"Sasuke?" I get his attention.

"It's only been a few minutes. Try harder."

"But . . . the dreams won't stop. Why won't the dreams stop?" Even though he doesn't seem like he wants to, he opens his eyes anyways.

"I don't know, kid. But I'm going to protect you. Now, try to go back to sleep." Sasuke falls asleep soon after he says that. He does it so easily, I don't get it. Here I am, wide awake and there he is, sleeping. But I can't sleep. I mean, what if I have that dream again? I don't want to have that dream again.

Suddenly, I yawn. Pulling Sasuke's arm around me, I decide to try again anyways. He said he'd protect me. He says he'll always protect me. So even if I have a bad dream, Sasuke's here for me. So I can sleep, right? I guess the answer's yes.

Eventually, I find sleep comforted by my awesome big brother.

~~~~~~~~~~

As usual, when I awake, Sasuke's already up. I go through my morning routine half asleep. But it's routine, you know? You really don't even need to think. It's kind of cool. It's like your body automatically knows what it's doing so your mind can do more interesting things. It's almost as if your mind and body are independent of each other!

A hand takes my shoulder and jerks me to the side. I barely avoid a wonderful red wall that apparently wanted to say hello.

"Pay better attention," Sasuke says. I look at him with a smile, rubbing the back of my head. I manage to make it to the Academy in one piece and unscathed . . . for the most part anyways. I only walked into one door, okay! My forehead is only a little red! Of course it happened to be the door to my classroom. Thankfully, Hanone and Shiromaru, her completely white doggy, are the only ones that saw it. The other kids were luckily too busy to notice. Of course Hanone burst out laughing, though.

"Not quite awake yet, Hikaru?" Shiromaru barks in agreement. I take my seat next to my best friend and plop my head down on the desk.

"Nope, now good night. Wake me when Yoshiro gets here."

"First off, it's early morning. Second, as I've said many times before, you should really be more respectful towards Yoshiro sensei." Something suddenly jumps on top of my head, I suppose Shiromaru, and seems to curl into a ball.

"Maybe, but Shiromaru agrees I should have a short nap first. Sleep is important to a growing boy's health."

"Not as important as keeping the woman in your life happy." I raise my head, displacing Shiromaru, just enough to stick my tongue out at Hanone. Her face twists into a look of disgust.