Crossroads (A Naruto Fanfiction)

Broken Routine

Rin forced me into a game of Shogi. The pieces on the board were scattered randomly on my side of the board, and the only reason I haven't lost yet was because Rin wanted to make me believe I wasn't failing completely, or so I think. I don't know who she was trying to fool here. "Check," Rin said. She moved a shogi piece that cornered my king. I blinked down at the board and with a halfhearted move, I moved my king to a random box that got me out of the check. "Come on Satsuki-Kun, try a little." She sighed, cornering my king again. How she expected an apparent four-year-old child to beat her in a board game that specialized in strategy was a mystery.

I had no will to play, but there was nothing else to do. Rin wouldn't let me be in peace as she lectured how it wasn't right for a child as young as me to not actively socialize. I wish I could tell her that I had already done my fair share of socializing already, somewhat, as a child before. There was no need for it again.

There was so much I had done as a child before during the period of time I foolishly tried to copy everything Athen used to do. Sports, cram schooling, and volunteering in multiple programs.

As geeky as it was, this was the reason why I had watched Naruto from beginning to end. True, Itachi was my favorite, but Naruto himself was why I even bothered to watch any of the show. No one paid him any attention, even if only because of fear rather than disappointment, he was able to take his situation as motivation. If I couldn't find to do it myself, I might as well watch another do it and get the satisfaction that it was possible for someone like me to achieve something, anything special. Whether it was real or not didn't matter to me.

By the end and to no ones surprise, I lost the game of Shogi. Mother came to visit me in the afternoon as always, cutting me fruits and opened a boxed meal for me to enjoy. Itachi made it so he would train in the morning and came in the evening since evening visitations allowed for them to stay longer, and Father would come along with him for a short while before heading back to the Uchiha Police Headquarters. It was the most awkward and, ironically, my favorite time of the day.

Father didn't know what else to do other than sit by the window and watch Itachi and I read a book together when he was there. He was always on some sort of edge, especially with Rin being present. Itachi would be the one reading as I listened. His voice was melodic in a way that didn't put me to sleep, but kept me awake and alert just to hear him continue the story. It reminded me of how I would listen to Mother read to us. After they left, the sun almost completely set and all that was left was to sleep and live through the next day. It was the routine I was getting used to after a week. One crucial fact I forgot to remember was that routines never lasted.

I didn't expect anything to happen. With the war going on, security was on its utmost attention. Patrols scoured the walls of the village twenty-four seven, all personnel going in and out of village were checked to the smallest details and so on. But there were always blind spots, one being the hospital. The hospital was in the center of the village, and with so many Shinobi passing by, it isn't as heavily guarded as other places. In this particular moment, I was caught in the thick of it being taken advantage of.

I was a light sleeper. With any noticeable change I would wake up. So when there was an unknown figure hovered above me with wide deformed colored eyes staring back, I was wide awake.

"Aren't you a nice thing," The voice left cold sweat all over me. The fear was paralyzing. I couldn't even find the courage to tremble.

"Aren't you going to scream?" It was the same voice, but the tone of the two were almost completely different, complementing its two differing sides of white and black. The only thing I could move were my eyes and found Rin, encased in something large which left only her head visible.

"So nice,"

Whoever it was, I made an active effort to keep my attention on Rin.

"He's afraid, how nice."

I felt something wrapping itself around me and my mouth parted to let out a soundless scream. A gasp escaped me as my mouth was gagged.

"Now that's not nice."

My mind couldn't comprehend what was happening. I couldn't remember the moments I was grabbed and taken away from the hospital to the ground, away from the village itself. Forced into unconsciousness, I couldn't do anything but to be helpless.