[Open] Intro - Rudly Awakened

[beforethedarkness]

When he had woken up, it wasn't in his bed and it wasn't in the Uchiha Compound. The startled boy raced to his feet and nearly stumbled over the cliff-side -- that was there!? He froze then, having regained his balance as he started looking around. He would have woken up if he had been ambushed and kidnapped, he was sure. Unless it was Kakashi...

No, for an elaborate training mission it was too much work for him to do anything more than leave a note for him at home. And Naruto would have been too noisy... Where was he?

At the sound of footsteps approaching he tensed before quickly slipping up to a nearby tree and out of plain sight, watching carefully. He had to be careful, cautious now...

Comments

[stillpure]

This week had been pretty crazy, but after talking to Kisame he'd decided to have a think, and had scaled up the cliff to get away from the people below. He didn't doubt that sooner or later those he knew would come looking for him. That's what people over his age seemed to -do- if he did anything like say, oh, vanish for an hour without mentioning it.

Like he was currently doing. Still, he stayed alert, and was a little surprised to even notice chakra, to say nothing of the fact it was vaguely familiar. Thus, he stared puzzled in the appropriate direction and tried to figure out if he should approach.

[beforethedarkness]

He could hear his heart pounding in his ears from staring at the boy before him. It wasn't... It couldn't be. Earlier he had encountered his mother, something that he had never dreamed of being able to do, but somehow this seemed like even more of an impossibility. It took him a few seconds to finally jump down from the tree, eyeing the boy silently and critically.

It felt like him... Not as strong, but it was definitely him. But was it really him?

[stillpure]

He turned in place and blinked, staring up at the teen for a very very long moment before hesitantly putting forth his guess. Younger than Naruto, but if everyone died and he'd never met him before... Well, there weren't a lot of options left right?

"So... Sasuke?"

[beforethedarkness]

"... Mm," He answered simply after a beat, watching the other almost warily still.

[stillpure]

He hesitated for a moment, visibly wavering before waking right up to him and staring into his face. "I don't know most of what happened, but I asked some questions that let me guess. So, even if I don't know, I'm going to apologize anyway, okay? So... can I hug you?"

[beforethedarkness]

For a few seconds he couldn't breath, nodding without really thinking about it down at him. It really was Itachi... Before it had happened.

[stillpure]

That got a somewhat shy smile before he moved forward and hugged him, pressing his face in against his shirt.

[beforethedarkness]

He was stiff and uncomfortable, clearly hesitant to return the hug but doing so all the same. It would be so easy to just kill him then... But what good would that do? Itachi wasn't even close to the strength he was when he killed the clan, and... Killing him then would just be pointless murder, to him.

This wasn't the man who committed the genocide of the Uchiha Clan. He was Itachi Uchiha, a boy... And his older brother.

[stillpure]

"You're the first other Uchiha I've actually spotted here." He pulled back enough to look up at him, lightly gripping his shirt. "I know there are others around, I can feel them, but they haven't gone where I can spot them. Mostly it's been people like Neji-san and Naruto."

[beforethedarkness]

"Is that so," He met Itachi's eye with his own, his normal frown returning after the initial shock of his brother's appearance had passed, "... What did they tell you?"

[stillpure]

"Those two were set on happy fluffy bunnies and training." His tone was a bit resigned. "Neji-san will probably have a twitch fit when I tell him I talked to Kisame. He confirmed things they wouldn't say. He bought me Dango too!"

[beforethedarkness]

"Who's Kisame?" He definitely knew who Naruto was, and Neji was at the least a familiar name. Kisame, however, was entirely new and... He apparently confirmed some things for Itachi? What kinds of things, he had to wonder. But first, he had to figure out just who Kisame was.

[stillpure]

"A missing nin from Kiri. He's blue and he promised not to cause harm to anyone who didn't try to be an enemy first, so I tried to get all the Konoha nin here under that."

[beforethedarkness]

"... Is he trapped in this place like we are?" He asked, absently starting to pet down his back while he waited for him to answer again.

[stillpure]

He leaned against him at the soothing sensation, still thrown by the idea of this being his little loud otouto. "Yes. He's nice though, he told me I could visit him whenever I wanted. Maybe I can introduce you?"

[beforethedarkness]

He paused, but nodded after a moment as he glanced down at Itachi again, "Mm."

He had stopped being little and loud a long time ago, unfortunately.

[stillpure]

He smiled up at him and relaxed further, leaning against him. "Um, so, do you have a place to stay yet?"

[beforethedarkness]

"... No. I don't."

[stillpure]

"Maybe you can stay with me and Neji-san!" He smiled brightly up at him. "Yes?"

[beforethedarkness]

He met that smile with a frown, though it was more thoughtful than anything else. Eventually he nodded, resting a palm on his shoulder as he spoke, "All right."

Maybe Neji would have more answers for him regarding what was going on. But he mustn't have seen the younger version of his brother as a threat if they were staying together.

[stillpure]

He bounced on his heels and looked up at him inquisitively. "So are you'n Naruto teammates? He didn't say but he's around too!"

[beforethedarkness]

"Yeah. We got put on the same squad."

[stillpure]

"So you -are- friends." He relaxed at this and rubbed his cheek against him. "Okay. So you'll want to see him too right? He's teaching me some things."

[beforethedarkness]

He tensed and blinked down at him, unsure of anything Itachi said before he finally murmured, "I didn't say we were friends."

[stillpure]

"Of course you are." He had no doubt in his voice at all and closed his eyes, cuddling in. "Our moms were best friends so why wouldn't you guys be too? You had to've met before... stuff, right?"