Raptured ◈ Sasuke Uchiha

III

"Don't let everything out. Don't show every single one of your thoughts with your facial expression. It will do you wonders if you don't show the enemy and make him wonder what you're up to behind that mask. Your face becomes a mirror of who you wanted to be instead of what you're feeling inside." Father raised his fist on the stone wall while watching me gathering my chakra in attempt to redo the kekkei genkai that I had casted upon a poor fellow Uchiha. He had me place my chakra upon a parchment paper only to see that it didn't show any signs of my chakra nature. It remained to what it was to where I touched it. My father couldn't be more disappointed when he saw that I couldn't even wield the fire nature that our clan has. "Concentrate!" My eyes snapped at the scroll in front of me, occasionally wandering my thoughts from here to another.

"Command T: Expansion!" The ink that was used from the scroll bursted out causing a huge mess onto the table. Blotches of ink had also stained my shirt, causing me to sigh in frustration. Father had glanced at my work, with a stern look in his face. "Impressive, you could also have the ability to expand parts of an inanimate object within your command. It is truly a dangerous ability to be possessed by such a mere child."

Father had dismissed me earlier than any other days. I do hope that Mom was watching me learn of her kekkei genkai.

I let out a harsh cough as the winds blew against my bare body. My hands kept scrubbing my stained shirt, slowly removing as the water from the river had washed it away. "Hey! It's you!" A shout ran through as I saw the youngest son of Fugaku Uchiha. His spiky manes were a total opposite to Itachi's tameable locks. He slid down the high edges of the river. It shouldn't matter that I was bare in front of him since we're still kids, although some people had told me that I don't exactly act like my age.

"You forgot to tell us your name." His lips pouted in such a frowning manner. "Akane Uchiha" My hands felt weird as it continued to be submerged into the water. His eyes darted unto what I was doing. There was a pregnant pause as he settled down beside me.

I flickered my shirt against the wind, letting it try. "Why don't you just use a fire jutsu?" He asked, noticing my embarassing situation. I remained staring at my shirt, unable to look at him. "I don't waste my clan's signature jutsu just to dry my shirt." I said coolly yet he seemed to not buying my alibi. "Whatever. You just don't know how to do it, do you?" He raised his eyebrows once I gazed at him with a stern look.

"N-No! I don't! I- I mean, I know how to." His grin widened, watching me with a rather amused expression. "Don't worry. Itachi nii-san taught me to." He waved hand signs before releasing a rather small fireball jutsu just above my shirt. "I apologize. I'm just not good enough as my brother does." His onyx eyes went down, crossing his arms as his scowl was evident in his face and a tinge of envy. I wore the shirt once it had finished drying. "It's alright I guess." His head raised to look at me. My gaze went down at our reflection in the water. "I had placed a small amount of chakra on the parchment paper that father had asked me to do but nothing seemed to appear. Father was disappointed at me that I had no chakra nature not even our infamous fire jutsu."

"I'm a failure." My arms hugged my knees, and I felt myself pout at my sudden outburst. "I think you're awesome, Akane-chan." A blush spread across my cheeks as I stared at him, dumbfounded. "I- I mean..." He gave a sly smile as he continued. "You're father is always there to support you. Even though he says you're a disappointnent but he's still there for you." My eyes mirrored the waters below. "Shut up..." I quickly averted my gaze at the side, feeling my fast heart beat.

A small smile made its way to his face. "Even so.. We still do our best to make our parents happy right?" I glanced at him with a small smile on my face. "Yeah."

Small sound of footsteps came after as both looked at each other. "Hey guys!" The small silence was shut when his ponytailed raven hair came to view. "Itachi nii-san!" Sasuke waved at his brother who was carrying a couple of dango sticks he bought from a stall.

It came off with different colors as I merely eyed it. I wandered at Itachi who seemingly battled whether or not to remain his stoic face or to just enjoy what he had ate. Sasuke took a small bit, which I assumed that he doesn't like dangos or sweets at all. I took a bite as well, its definitely sweeter when it had melted on my mouth, the sauce went well with it. The three of us sat at the edge of the lake, wandering from our thoughts. There was yet a pregnant pause but all in all, it hadn't really bothered me. I caught myself staring at my reflection once more. My bangs had covered my eyebrows, making its tip of its strands tickle my skin. It was a peaceful afternoon indeed.

"Tomorrow is the first day of our class, right nii-san?" Sasuke sat in between us, tilting his head to his older brother. "Aren't you guys going to be classmates starting tomorrow?" Itachi had turned to ask me, which Sasuke had later replied. "Yes, I think it was Iruka that would be our sensei." I gave a short nod in agreement with Sasuke. "Let's do our best together, Akane-chan."