Obedience
-Chapter Eighteen-
Algos means "suffering."
Nostalgia is the suffering caused by
an unappeased yearning to return.
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~*~
There was a time in the Leaf where for a couple years, everything seemed to go as smooth as butter. Emiko, Naruto, Sasuke and the others...they were all so small, who knew they could possibly grow to become who they are now. The summers were warm and the winters were cold. The villagers acted as one big family.
"Nii-San!!" Young Sasuke huffed angrily at his brother Itachi. He still couldn't manage to hit that target and he needed help training. Itachi smiled at his younger sibling he bent forward to poked his forehead. "Hey!" he griped, swatting away at his hand. Something in the distance caught his eye and a loud sigh was exzagerated from the boy.
"Look!" he pointed ahead, "There she is again!" Itachi paused, looking ahead. His eyes found a small girl with golden locks hanging freely down her back. She looked to be training hard...but why? She was barely Sasuke's age. "Who is it?" Itachi wondered. He was unable to get a proper veiw of her feautures.
"I'm staring to think you're going blind" Sasuke smirked up to his brother, "It's Emiko, She's there every single day training." He narrowed his eyes, watching as she threw kunai at the very target he was unable to hit. Itachi chuckled, patting him on the back. "Well, why don't you go train with her? She's able to hit the target." The Uchiha really was trying to be supportive but in turn he earned a giant punch in the cheek. "You're the worst!" he ran off in the distance toward the girl.
Itachi watched as he came from behind the girl. Seconds later his eyes widened as she had him pinned to the floor in defense. Shaking his head he moved forward, darting after his sibling in order to make sure he was alright. Instead, the two of them began wrestling and before he could yell for his sibling to watch out, the two of them went rolling down the hill.
Screams were heard in the distance while he hiked back up to the house, his mother peeking out the door in order to see what the commotion was all about. "What on earth is going on out there?" Mikoto laughed. "Sasuke's with Emiko again" Itachi explained, entering the house. "Those two again? They're so competitive with eachother."
"And yet they're still friends." he rolled his eyes.
~*~
Emiko screeched, holding onto the Uchiha as he held onto her. The two of them rolled down the hill all the way until they hit the bottom knocking into what felt like a group of kids.
"Hey!" a voice called out. Sasuke stood up, pulling Emiko back to her feet as well. "What are you doing ruining our race?" the brunette neared dangerously close to her face as he picked on her."Sor-" she began but Sasuke interjected, "It's none of your business"
"Yeah!" Emiko backed him up." you two talk so big, I'm not buying it!" he then bent down to Emiko's level, "Especially you, shorty" Sasuke watched as his friend twitched in anger. He knew straight off the bat the bully was going to get it handed to him.
"What did you just call me?" she asked, her face shaded over. " I. called. you. shorty." he replied smug. "I bet you can't even beat me in a race" Emiko glanced over to Sasuke before she agreed,"It's on"
"Winner gets a bag of candy!"
Sasuke watched in awe as the boys lined up to race eachother. He didn't beleive she was actually falling through with this. They were all much older kids who were upperclassmen compared to them. He smirked, watching as the girl lunged forward. There was no way.
The whistle was blown on the count to three and then they were off. Sasuke watched as she seemed to be near the end for quite some time. He shook his head, almost feeling sorry for the girl if he hadn't had such a competitive relationship with her.
But then, he watched as she sped up. It had soon reached a point where it was unbeleivable how fast she was. She was passing the older kids left and right...all until she reached the same bully that challenged her. They were neck and neck for quite some time until finally, just near the end she had put her all into it. She darted forward passing the bully with ease all the way to the finish line.
"you were saying?" Emiko snatched her prize from the bullies palm. "Let's go" she walked ahead. Sasuke sweat dropped as his eyes landed on the large bag of candy. He cursed to him self and he couldn't even hit that damn target yet.
~*~
It was night time now. Sasuke had almost fallen asleep if it weren't for Emiko ringing him with her walkie talkie. "Sasuke" she called him, "Do you want to get fat? Over." the young Uchiha rolled his eyes and reached for the walkie talkie, pressing it to his mouth. "you're a loser, over." laughter was heard on the other end, causing the boy to jump and cover up the speaker. "I'll meet you outside" he replied once again.
Just as soon as Sasuke was able to make it out his window, he could have sworn he saw a shadowed figure, standing behind his curtain. His eyes widened as he cringed in fear. Immediately, he sprinted across his backyard and climbed all the way up his tree house, falling straight over. Scrambling to his feet, he faced Emiko. His chest heaved up in down as he bent foreward on his knees, clearly out of breath.
"What's going on?" Emiko asked, laughing at the state of him. "I..." he huffed for air, "I saw a black shadow-man. I think...I think he was following me." Emiko scanned the Uchiha, unsure if he was trying to play some form of prank on her. Regardless, went to pull the drop ladder.
"Well," she began, smiling ear-to-ear. "I brought the candy" But before she was able to reach for the bag, a loud bash was heard.
Both of the children's faces went pale. "You heard that, right?" Emiko asked, "Yes..." A long sinister scratching noise trailed along the side of the treehouse, causing the girl to jump. She would have screeched if it weren't for Sasuke covering her mouth. "Shh," he quieted her, as they each backed into the corner.
Then, three knocks were heard straight by the window. The both of them jumped another time and finaly... something dark peeked itself out the window. It looked like some scary man in a dark cloak. Both Sasuke and Emiko grabbed onto eachother, as he came jumping through the window. There eyes squeezed tight as he ran close to where there sitting. There was a long pause...then finally a booming laughter was heard.
Sasuke furrowed his brows, darting for the man. He knew just who that laughing belonged to. "Itachi, you...." he growled, ripping the cloak from his brother. "You should have seen your face, little brother" he ruffled Sasuke's hair, chuckling. "Why did you do that?" Sasuke grumbled. "Well" he stopped, looking at Emiko. "I wanted to teach you two a lesson"
"A lesson?" Emiko repeated. "Yes," he nodded, "You need to be nicer to each other, alright? Because as a Shinobi you never know when you might lose someone." he taught. "make every moment count. Got it?" he asked. "got it" Emiko replied.
"Couldn't you of just told us?" Sasuke crossed his arms. "Come on now, Sasuke. It was just a little prank I pulled on you two. Besides, you don't want mother and father knowing your up here right now" he scanned the two, deviously. "Do you?"
Sasuke's eyes widened. Him getting in trouble would ruin his night without a doubt. "Fine" he pouted, "What do you want from us...?"
"It all depends, really..."Itachi trailed, "Do i get some of your candy?"
"FINE!"
