Only Time Can Tell

OIL AND WATER

CHAPTER 42

OIL AND WATER

SARADA UCHIHA

I have no idea where I am. One moment, I was in so much pain. My eyes felt like they were exploding, searing into my skull. My breathing was rapid and labored, I couldn't see anymore, everything felt heavy. My hands were involuntarily shaking as I pressed my head to my father's chest, my hands shaking and fluttering like butterflies over him. But then the cold and heaviness of the darkness overtook me and I was in a completely different place.

It wasn't as dark, something I was grateful for. Light filtered through the shades and through the cracked doorway. The space was large, but definitely a home of some sort. A futon laid behind me, sheets draped over it's surface. The walls were thin and the sounds of people talking were just barely unintelligible, the sounds of men's voices. But it was what was beyond the propped open door that fascinated me.

"Itachi!" I heard the shrill sound of a child's voice. A boy with spiky black hair went running at the taller boy, a backpack strung over one shoulder. The little boy didn't slow his pursuit and continued running at the older boy. "Itachiii!!!" His fist pounded hard into his brother's side, but the older boy placed his hand on top of the little boy's head stopping his movement, a pained smile growing on his face.

"Oh come on, Sasuke. I know you're happy to see me."

"You idiot! You promised that you would train with me, and now you're going to be busy with dad for the rest of the night, I know that! You never-"

"Hush." Itachi smiled. "If you raise your voice too much mother will worry." He knelt so he was eye level with the boy. "I'm sorry Sasuke." Sasuke. Could that boy, with the growing frown on his face really be my dad? It seemed impossible to imagine him this age. He was younger than I am, his voice almost completely different from now.

"Tch." Sasuke scoffed turning away from Itachi. Itachi slowly stood a look of sadness in his eyes.

"Brother, I have the meeting with father, but after that..." Sasuke turned around slowly a sneaky smile taking his frown's place.

"Do you mean it this time?!"

"I can't make any promises. The meeting might run long...but." He smiled taking three kunai out of his pack. "Here," He said handing them to Sasuke. "If you can land all three of them over there." He said pointing to a tall tree just poking out from beyond the compound. At least 500 yards away. "From this spot. I can guarantee that I train with you tonight."

Sasuke took the kunai, a look of determination glinting in his eyes. "I'll get it. You'll see."

"I know you will." Itachi smiled looking back at him. He walked towards me, exiting the courtyard. "Oh and brother?" He said turning back for a moment. "Make sure you don't accidently hit one of the neighbor's houses again."

"If I do it won't be an accident!" Sasuke grinned. Brother? This boy. He called my father...brother. A flash of memory dotted my vision as Itachi made his way over to me. The sound of my mother's voice seemed to drift into my thoughts.

"Well...your father did have a brother. He was a lot like your father...very...complicated. But..." Mom looked over my a smile on her face tapping her two fingers on my forehead. "He was one of the greatest shinobi that Konoha has ever had and...he meant a lot to your father."

Now, looking up at him, I could definitely see the resemblance. His dark black eyes resembled very much my own. His eyes were different. It seemed that depending on the lighting they could appear to be warm or cold. His long black hair was tied back in a ponytail that fell down his back, a sword strapped across his torso. He looked right through me... in fact I watched in horror and astonishment as he took a step...and walked right through me.

This is a dream. This...is a dream...I looked over at my father, whose arm was raised over his head, his eyes squinting, clearly aiming at the tall sycamore in the distance. He wound up and swung, his kunai just narrowly missing the tree.

"Tch." He muttered a complaint. He got ready for another try. "Itachi..." He muttered under his breath. "I will beat you!" He threw his kunai with all of his strength and I watch in fascination as it actually made contact and sunk deep into the bark of the tree. "Ha." He laughed in satisfaction.

"The thing is Sarada-" My mom laughed lightly. "There so much about your father...I'm just not sure what I should tell you."

"How about you start with everything?" I said ignorantly pouting impatiently. We both sat cross legged on the floor, the pile of letter lying between us like a discarded memory.

"I don't know if I should though. There's some that I don't even know."

"How can you not know everything about him? Your his wife aren't you?!"

"Yes of course." My mother said sadly. "Your father...he just..." She sighed. "I'll tell you most of what I know. Is that good enough?"

"Most?" I groaned.

"When your father and I were in the same class...he was very much set apart from the rest of the class. He didn't seem to mix well with the other kids...kind of like oil and water. But he was always flying high above us. He had a dark past to begin with. A little while after he started the Academy there was a massacre. Someone had killed all of the Uchiha. Excluding only your father. He disappeared for a long time. And when he came back he wasn't the same. That didn't stop the girls though, they were always after him- including myself-"

Someone had killed all of these people. The sounds of the voices had dimmed, like they were walking away, but that didn't kill the sounds of life. I could smell tea in the air and just barely beyond that I could hear the sound of bustling streets. The Uchiha was a clan. There were so many of them. There used to be so many of them. What had happened? All of these people...my family...why? What...what happened to my grandparents...? My aunts and uncles? Anyone?

"Tch." Sasuke said his kunai missing again. Only one out of three remained in the trunk of the tree. He scoffed kicking up dirt as he ran to go and retrieve his kunai, pushing past a door into the outside world. Where...am I?

The stone Uchiha crest stood blazingly in front of me, as I stared it...I couldn't help but begin to imagine the blood of the Uchiha slowly dripping down the crest and soon I was blinking hard to stop seeing it. Who had killed them? Why? I wanted to stand, to look for answers, to stop whatever was about to happen. But I felt nailed down by an impossible weight.

I am the only Uchiha descendent. I am the start of our clan. I am the clan's future. Had all of these people lived. Maybe this weight on my shoulders would disappear. It wouldn't just be me. I would have friends in the clan, family. Itachi even. He seemed like a good guy, and something about his smile made my heart feel empty...like it was missing something. What am I missing? There something about this picture that's wrong. I stared back at the menacing Uchiha crest. I will know what happened here.

This...is a dream. I think again, as I watch my father return with his two kunai. The world seemed to shift around me, my presence not quite...fitting. They were all perfect, continuing on with their lives, and I...this...I'm oil to their water. What is it that has separated them from me? My family... Itachi's smile returns in my mind. The breeze goes right through me. This...is a dream. And it's not mine.