The Story Of Us

Chapter Fifteen

Bell Test

Sasuke's POV

I woke up in the middle of the night screaming. It was another nightmare of... him. The mysterious man who murdered my family... my friends... and my onīsan. Kaa-san, To-san and his were by far the hardest to accept. I still remember walking into the compound and seeing the mysterious male holding my dead brother's body.

"I'M HOME!" I called out, rushing into the compound.

"Sasuke, Sasuke, Sasuke... you should've just stayed at their house." uttered the deep and menacing voice of a stranger.

I froze.

"Who are you?" I asked, "And where's my brother?!"

"Who, Uchiha Itachi? You mean the body I'm holding right now?"

I gulped and gasped, and sure enough, was my brother. Beaten... bloodied... and... and... dead.

But, before I could so much as move an inch, the mysterious man stated, "Hate me Sasuke, find me and kill me! You are lacking hatred! You lack strength! You are too soft and weak!"

I cried that day, cradling my dead brother's body.

Sakura rushed into my room, looking at me with panicked eyes, "Sasuke?! Are you okay?!"

That was the moment I realized I was crying and shaking.

It was easier for some reason to think about the memories and the hostile things he had said while I was away from the compound... not being surrounded by all... all that.

"Y-yeah." I managed to choke out, my eyes still shimmering with tears and them falling down my face in an uneven rhythm.

Her eyes softened, they never looked like that towards me. Always towards Naruto. He was always her favorite, always the one she checked on when we battled, she was the one he 'fangirled' over. It makes me wonder... if in another world, another timeline... that she would like me as much as I like her?

"Bullshit, what's really wrong, Sasuke?"

I liked the way she said my name. Like it was both a curse and a blessing, playing off her small, soft lips. The way her tired eyes looked at me like I was the only thing that mattered in the room right now. The way her cheeks were flushed with the cold temperature in the room.

"I-I... I had a nightmare," I admitted finally.

When I told her that, instead of scolding me for waking her up like I thought she would... she just sighed and got in the bed with me. I could tell her head was screaming, 'WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?!' but she still lay down with me.

"What was the nightmare, Sasuke?" she asked softly as if worrying I would shatter like glass at the first wrong move. Like I was a precious teacup that belonged to your mother and she got for her 30th birthday from her parents before they passed.

"W-when it happened," I stated shakily. I didn't need to explain. She knew. I knew she knew. The way her eyes softened, the way her eyes were calculating and looked for a reason until she finally met someone to soften them.

That was Naruto.

"Oh, Sasuke..." she cooed, trying to calm me down.

My father had always said, 'Find a person to marry whom you really like. Not too shabby, not to weak... just right.' I didn't know what the hell he was talking about that at that time, but there was something about her... maybe it was her eyes, or her hair, or maybe even the way she ignored me as if I was an everyday item on the grocery shelf.