Disclaimer: You know I don't own it.
A/N: A side-story to In Retrospect, another one-shot I wrote. Read that
before reading this one, this fic would make a lot more sense then.
Pity.
A One-shot by legacyZero
They were staring at him with that look again.
Not to say that Sasuke wasn't familiar with it. Oh no, he knew all too
well what that look meant.
Pity.
And if there was one thing that he hated, its pity.
Seriously now.
Pity? An Uchiha?
Those two words did not go hand in hand. It was insulting really.
And Sasuke never heard a more insulting notion. Pity was for the
weak.
Needless to say, it angered him. He wasn't weak.
What did they know? They were never part of the Uchiha, nor were they
close to the clan which had protected them for generations, through war and
peace. They had just stood there, with their annoying looks of sympathy
directed towards him, whispering and murmuring among themselves like the
parasites they are. Did they think that he was deaf? What made them think that
they understood his loss? Nothing! Hypocrites, the whole lot of them.
"That poor, poor boy..."
"Heard that his brother killed off his whole clan..."
"Sad, isn't it..."
That had been years ago but he could still remember the chilling anger
and disgust he felt against those damn sheep. He tried to calm himself,
struggling to remember what his father had once said to him. An Uchiha never
loses his head, even less so when there were others watching. But that advice
didn't do much good for his father now did it? Considering when he's now lying
six feet under along with everyone else except for him.
Him. The sole heir to the Uchiha clan.
Except that he knew that it was all crap in the end. Until he could kill
Itachi.
His brother was stronger than him, always has been, and that fact had
never been more prominent than on that night where he changed everything. Sasuke
never felt so weak, so useless. And he hated every moment of it. And it was
then, Sasuke hated to be on the receiving end for pity, for it all but
surpassed the disgust in his brother's eyes as he laid on the stained
floorboards, his hands grasping futilely for life.
No, he could never be heir if Itachi still lived. His sense of pride
could never allow it. He would kill Itachi and revive his clan.
But nobody said that growing up as an orphaned prodigy was easy.
To make matter even worse, his peers were as disgustingly feeble-minded
as the adults he seen in his life; the boys holding what he thought was a mix
between contempt and awe for him as he aced one test after another. Some of
them even had the gall to ask him how he did it, in a tone that suggested that
it was a game that was fun. He had resisted the urge to use a Katon jutsu on
that miserable excuse for an Academy student, and that was only because it
would cause him to be prosecuted by the village, and he can’t have that can he?
He really hated the looks of awe that everyone gave him, as if he was their
aspiration, their idol.
They knew nothing and yet followed him blindly based on hearsay and
gossip. And that amounted to pity in either case, and Sasuke hates pity.
The girls, he noticed, were as dense as the boys, and were always going
on about how 'Sasuke-kun' needed someone to heal his broken heart. Sasuke
almost choked to death when he heard that one.
He snarled. He needed power, not some air headed girl who believed that
she 'loved' him. They liked his looks, his reputation and his money. And he
could always get a wife after he killed Itachi.
And then came the Genin Team assignments.
The pink-haired girl, Sakura, was useless. At first, he had given her
the benefit of doubt but soon, it seemed the girl was like his other fan-girls;
weak, pitiful and annoying. In short, a complete waste of space. Why Konoha
actually allowed them to become ninjas in the first place, he didn't know.
His other team-mate was Uzumaki Naruto, and he was very surprised to say
the least. In him, he saw something startling. Beneath the thin veneer of
jealousy and grudging respect, he saw understanding in those eyes. Not
jealousy. Not awe.
Not pity.
It was...refreshing for a change and he felt almost like they could
become friends, as ridiculous a thought that may be. He realised something that
Itachi had told him earlier, words that had still burned within his memory.
“If you wish to obtain power, you must kill your best friend...to
break that precious bond and cast it aside callously. Only then can you kill
me.”
In him, Sasuke saw the one who would help him achieve his goals. The one
who would be the key to unlocking the power to kill Itachi. The one who was to
become a friend.
And the one Sasuke was going to kill to obtain that power.
A small part of him that still remained a child was hesitant, pleading
for him to find another way to power, so as to spare this kindred soul from a
fate he did not deserve. Those doubts were squashed ruthlessly and efficiently,
something he learnt to do while growing up. An avenger did not need attachments
and emotions for extra burden, only strength was needed. And Sasuke did not do
things out of morality or conscience, but because of necessity. While he did
not question that Uzumaki Naruto would prove a valuable friend alive, there was
no price he wouldn't pay for power. Such was the cruelty of revenge.
But Sasuke didn't care because, first and foremost, he was an avenger.
And Avengers cared for only one thing; revenge.
He suspected that Kakashi had seen a glimpse of his true self, but he
didn't worry. He knew that the man felt an attachment to him, and Sasuke knew
that those who had attachments were often delusional, often blinding themselves
from the cold hard truth with fantasies and daydreams. Which was quite pitiful
really because he learnt that these types of attachments existed to be used. And
Sasuke was not above using people to get what he wants.
After all, the only allegiance he owed to anybody was to himself and
himself alone.
So until that time came, Sasuke would smile that rare smile and chuckle
the odd guffaw or two and play the part of the reclusive team-mate. But when
the time came, he would not hesitate to gain the power that was his birth
right. Pity was for the weak and defeated, and power was for victorious. And
Sasuke would ensure that it went that way, no matter the cost.
Because the one thing he hates the most is weakness.
Owari
A/N: Completed under record time. Started 19/11/05,
Ended 20/11/05 AM. Not beta-ed, may contain possible grammar mistakes and
whatnot. Lately, I have been feeling the need to write one-shots like this and
to be honest I feel that they are quite to my satisfaction in terms of grammar
and spelling. The sequence of ideas may not be a complete fit but I try. This,
as you may have read from the A/N at the start of the story, is a follow up to
'In Retrospect' which I written before, and explores the character of Sasuke which
portrays him in a negative light, eg. heartless cold bastard. Normally, I try
to bring out aspects of the characters in my other fics equally but due to the
re-watching of the anime series, my opinion of Sasuke has dropped considerably,
though not as low for me to be a Sasuke-basher. Since In Retrospect dealt with
the idea that Naruto and Sasuke were destined for great things, (Heard that
somewhere, have ya?) I thought why not make Sasuke the one to take the dark
path and give him a really 'evil' persona? Of course, this fic tries to flesh
out the desire and one-mindedness of Sasuke for revenge. IN this case, I pretty
much succeeded in showing how ruthless Sasuke was. And we all know that he took
to that path pretty well, despite what others have written. Either way, I had
fun with this. Screwed up characters are SO much easier to write. :P
Anyway, thanks for reading please drop a review (or a flame)
legacyZero