Naruto: A New Perspective

Chapter 36

Her world was painted red. It was a place she never wanted to be again.

She screamed for him to stop, but he wouldn't stop. It felt like she was trapped in Tsukiyomi again, but this time Itachi wasn't killing her... he was killing everyone else.

For what felt like the trillionth time, she watched Itachi toss Sasuke's broken body to the ground before her and her older brother stepped forward, a demonic smirk on his shadowed face.

"Do you hate me enough now, dear sister?"

Aiko wrenched herself from the nightmare, tears streaming down her face. Why couldn't she wake up before? It was morning, and the sun filtered through the windowpanes and into her room, giving it a bright happy feel to it.

She didn't feel happy, and it didn't feel like she would ever be happy again.

'Itachi... why are you doing this to me?'

Silent tears ran down her cheeks as the images of the dream streamed through her mind again and again, she couldn't escape the idea that the nightmare could become reality. What if Itachi decided that Tsukiyomi hadn't been a good enough motivator? What would her brother do next? Kill Sakura or Naruto? Would he even kill Sasuke to motivate her?

'I have to get stronger...' She thought desperately, 'Or I'll never be able to stop him if he decides I need more... motivation...' What had gone wrong with Itachi? She had loved her brother dearly, as much as Sasuke, once upon a time. The pain of Itachi killing her clan had dulled over the years, but seeing him again... the Tsukiyomi... it had just ripped the wound back open and made it deeper.

"Aiko?" Sasuke's concerned voice came from the doorway, and before she could think of hiding her tears, he already had already brushed her mussed hair away to look at her face before wrapping her in a tight hug, "God... I forgot. I should have never left."

Sasuke had suffered under the technique too. Aiko had never known that it had been so terrible, "Sasuke..." She whispered painfully, "Why didn't you tell me it was this bad?"

"...I didn't want you to know." Sasuke admitted softly, "I never wanted you to know. I'm so sorry, Aiko. I couldn't stop him. I wasn't strong enough."

"N-Neither was I." Aiko replied shamefully, "Did you... have nightmares too?"

Sasuke sat on the side of her bed, "They stopped after awhile." He said quietly, "I didn't want you to worry; you had enough to think about then. It wasn't important."

"It was important..." She whispered, "I would have cared, I could have tried to help you, if I knew."

Sasuke smiled sadly, "Aiko, we were seven. It was a long time ago... let's focus on making you better, alright?"

"I'll be fine." Aiko said, trying to be reassuring, but at the moment she wasn't sure if she'd ever be fine. Even though Sasuke's presence helped, she could still see him in Itachi's grasp. Dead... broken...

If only to assure herself that he was really there, she pulled her brother into another hug, and he returned it readily. His face didn't reflect it, but inwardly his thoughts were darkened with anger at his older brother.

'I'll help you, Aiko. I'll help you get through this... then I'll kill Itachi, whatever it takes.'

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A somber blond ninja in strangely, a bright orange colored hoody stood in the light mist of the morning, overlooking the grave of the Sandaime Hokage.

'Old man...'

Naruto sighed tiredly as he turned away from the grave, he had been here for an hour already. Any longer and he would be late meeting Tsunade at her office, the last thing he needed was to turn into Kakashi.