Crossroads (A Naruto Fanfiction)

October 10th

Itachi could tell something was off with me since the moment we woke up. My limbs were heavy with lack of sleep and I could barely finish a plate of food. Itachi made sure I wasn't sick before he went off to school and I watched him go as I restrained my urge to hold him back. It was after Mother laid me in bed that Kakashi came to visit me. From the way he was dressed, I imagined he was put on guard duty. "Are you sick?" He asked. He wiped the cold sweat off my forehead in the awkward way that was him and placed his warm palm onto it. "Hmm..." He must have had questions. Everyone always did, but I couldn't really tell them that I was freaking out about the Kyuubi going berserk.

After all the reassurances I had tried to give myself yesterday, it still wasn't enough to calm my fear. My mentality was too weak. It had always been weak since my first life.

"I came to tell you that I won't be able to train you today. Since you know how to meditate already, I was going to leave it as homework, but looking at you now," Kakashi sighed. "Just rest." And then he disappeared through the window.

Mother made sure to keep me company once in a while and I appreciated the comfort only a mother could give. She was the one person that was with me the most and I honestly felt a little guilty that I depended on others more than her. Mother was just too placid. That time, when Father took me to the training grounds of the village, I was sure she knew what he had planned and she still turned the other way. When Father had dragged me to the Hokage tower, she had let it slide without question. As for Father, he wasn't a person one could take comfort in, in general.

With Itachi absent, I stayed with Sasuke and stared at his sleeping face after I became tired of lying about. He was a large baby of three months of age, or better yet, a big ball of adorable. He had his own nursery room that was sparsely decorated but still pleasant to be in. When he was awake, he would cry and scream if Mother and Itachi weren't there to give him attention. With me being as I am, I felt a little sad that we didn't have such a close bond. However, I love him dearly and wished that as he grew older, Sasuke would come to love me the same as Itachi.

.

.

.

Before long, night fell. The air was chilled with the night breeze and I sat next to Itachi on the back porch as he carried a cooing Sasuke. I stared at the dark sky lighted by the full moon and twinkling stars. It was quiet. We sat there for a while as we always do. Then I felt Itachi shudder and he whipped his head up to the sky as I turn my gaze to him, eyes wide and in fear. Sasuke started to whine. "It's okay, it's okay." Itachi held our baby brother closer and wrapped his free arm around me. I leaned into him. Sasuke started to cry and I could understand why. It was gradually getting harder to breathe and the air felt like lead. The house shook.

"Let's go." Itachi slowly dragged us back into the house and to the front door. The rumbling outside was growing louder and when we stepped outside we finally realized the utter chaos that was currently ensuing. Civilians of the Uchiha clan ran for the gate and clouds of dust coated the air enough to make me sneeze as debris flew high above our heads. The worst of it were the roars of a beast.

The Kyuubi.

Itachi gripped my arm so tight it hurt but I grit my teeth as I let him drag me to what I knew were the shelters inside the Hokage Mountain. For a regular person, it took thirty minutes to get there from the Uchiha compound to the mountain, but I was afraid it would take longer with me in tow and the longer it took, the more danger there was. It was hard. It was very hard to breathe and I wheezed and fell to my knees. My body had suddenly felt numb. Sasuke had been grown quiet. No. No. Was he alright?

It wasn't until Itachi pulled me to the side, nearly ripping my joint out of its socket, to save me from an incoming roof that he crouched down in front of me. "Get on!" He had to yell above the rumbles and screams and the roars. I was in no place to protest and quickly let him carry me. Itachi ran as if Sasuke and I weighed nothing at all.

"Mom! Dad! Help me!"

I raised my head from where I buried it in Itachi's neck after Itachi stopped at the sobbing voice. My blurred vision was enough to tell me I was close to passing out. "Over here!" He called. I did nothing but watch as Itachi pulled the girl away just as the wall she was walking along was destroyed by a thrown lump of cement. My eyes teared up at the dust that encased the area and the sharp sting of splintered wood that cut into our skin. Itachi had dragged me and the girl just in time so he could take the brunt of the force.

The girl followed after us well enough on her own. Itachi stopped again as we ran into Father who stood firm with his arm crossed and ready to guard any that passed after having told the girl to go on ahead. "I knew you would be alright," Father said proudly. He ignored the minor cuts on our arms and legs, Sasuke's quietness, and my limp form. However, when Father patted my head and smiled reassuringly, I couldn't help but think everything was alright now. "Take your brothers to the shelter quickly."

And so Itachi did. We finally relaxed when we took our place in the queue of thousands of villagers slowly making their way into the shelter. When I glanced off to the side after hearing a now distant roar, I could see the shadow of the 50 story beast towering above all else even from so far away. It's nine tails swung as it's own weapon. Just how many Shinobi were being killed with just one of its moves? Just how many civilians?

I continued to stare, and stare, and stare because I was no longer seeing the Kyuubi's silhouette. There was a large form slowly growing larger and larger the longer I kept my eyes on it. It wasn't until it was just seconds away from us and the people around me that I realized...

You got to be fucking kidding me...

That was an entire house flying our way. Directly towards us.

We'regoingtodiewe'regoingtodiewe'regoingtodie... We're going to die...

NO!

I didn't know just how I ripped myself away from Itachi and ran forward to where the house would land. I didn't know what I was doing or where my strength had come from and yet my feet stomped onto the ground and it cracked the road beneath me. I raised my arms in one solid motion and a thick, wide, long stretch of the earth came up along with it. There was a heavy sound as the house slammed into the wall. It cracked and deep, jagged lines ran up and down its surface. My arms strained as I held it in place as best I could but I was weak.

A force pulled me back and I fell against a warm body. Through my fatigued and slowly fading gaze, I saw a mop of white. Through the darkness, I heard the crumbling of earth before nothing was left.