Two Loves, One Fate (Itachi & Sasuke Uchiha)

№.40 :: The Tragedy

REMINDER: PREQUEL CHAPTER #2

Chapter Forty

            ⱷSeven Years Ago…ⱷ

Where was I? That very question rang throughout my thoughts, my body slowly turning while my gaze absorbed the alien surroundings. I was in a foreign land, considering that I’ve never set foot beyond the Snow Country’s borders. Fear struck me hard, petrifying me to the point where my body felt nothing but numbness. I was standing alone on an abandoned street, my eyes widening as I took in the sight before me. I blinked, and kept my eyes closed for a moment longer, praying that what I was seeing was all an illusion.

My eyes fluttered open and my heart dropped as my gaze swept over the bloodshed before me; the rocky streets were stained with the crimson liquid — it looked like the Earth was weeping blood. Nausea overwhelmed me and I fell onto all fours, dry heaving while the smell of death filled my nostrils.

Who could have done this? I was choking on the rotten stench of decomposing flesh, the smell so strong that my eyes soon began to water. I already knew the blood was human just by staring at the puddles that lined and scattered the streets, but that didn’t stop my body from trembling. I was violently shaking, but I pulled myself together and stood up, disgusted that the smell of death was already sinking into my skin. No matter how hard I tried, the smell remained in my nostrils — I was unable to evade it. I forced my legs to move forward, knowing that I just couldn’t stand there any longer.

I held a hand up to my face, not only because I was trying to mask the smell, but I needed to muffle the small sobs that escaped my throat. I was dragging my feet along the street, my heart racing in anticipation. Minutes slipped by and I turned a random corner, flinching when the amount of bloodshed only intensified. My hand dropped away from my mouth and I stared at the blood which stained the sides of buildings. Kunais and shuriken were lodged into every possible surface area that surrounded me, and katanas laid abandoned on the ground. The sight before me left a lasting impression, especially because I knew people struggled to survive.

Whose blood was this? The answer to my question dawned on me when I walked past a building and noticed the familiar clan crest… the fan of the Uchiha. A lone kunai was lodged into the crest’s center and I swallowed the lump in the back of my throat. Whoever did this must have hated the Uchiha because this was just a complete slaughter.

I was mentally preparing myself for a fight, especially if the culprit behind this was still in the compound. I walked over to the bloodstained crest and aimed to take the kunai for myself — however, I wasn’t expecting my hand to go right through the solid weapon. Confusion quickly set and I tried several times to claim the kunai for myself, but every try was futile. I was just a ghost in this world.

“Am I dead?” I felt silly asking myself that, but it was necessary. I couldn’t think of any other reason why I couldn’t grasp mundane things, and panic struck my heart. Anxiety filled me and I didn’t quite understand my presence here in the Uchiha compound. Why was I here? What was I supposed to be seeing? Were Sasuke and Itachi even alive? For that moment, I stopped breathing as reality slammed into me. Itachi and Sasuke could be dead, and the possibility of that was high.

Without wasting another second with my hesitation, I bolted from my spot, my feet pounding into the ground as I raced through the bloody streets of the compound. Determination to find the Uchiha brothers alive and well became the backing behind my strength; nothing else was of much importance to me than finding Sasuke and Itachi.

I couldn’t understand the feeling of dread that twisted and grew within me, but I absolutely knew that it involved the fate of the Uchiha clan. At the speed that I was sprinting, my surroundings were a complete blur. Minutes painstakingly ticked by as I wildly searched for life, but I immediately became discouraged by how many bodies I was coming across. So many Uchiha clan members had lost their life, and the fact that I couldn’t stop and pay them some respect tormented me. I felt less than a human being, but if there was any chance that Sasuke and Itachi could have survived this attack, then I couldn’t waste any time.