Balance of Power

By Aoluas Anminti

-

Authors' Note:

This will be a bit confusing at first. I don't like long explanations in the beginning of stories so I just jump right into things as they stand. Don't worry; things that aren't explained will be, as quickly as I think is appropriate, but only where it fits in, where it can very nearly seamlessly be put into the story. I don't want to confuse you, I want to engage you, and interest you. Also, please know that the first few chapters are going to be short. They are each like a prologue, because there are that many and more story lines in Balance. I ask that you be patient. Arigatou.

-

16/3/06 edit

-

-

IIINTRODUCTIONS II

The Uchiha Estate

He was there again; sitting on the ledge of one of the high dojo windows. She didn't know why he came here, especially at night when it was dark and quiet – when the only senses you had left were taste and touch and smell, in this room where the walls were crusty with dried blood. The air stank of it, and tasted like rot. Yet he still came into this magnificent, decrepit building night after night, counting off the names of dead relatives, staring out either at the barely moonlit artificial landscape within, or through the window to the wondrous, real expanse of forest, trees, and river without. The forest and river surrounded and cradled his home – not the dojo but his whole, wide estate. She worried about him, and wondered about his reasoning, because to visit the site of the slaughter of one's clan constantly could not be healthy. Surely he knew this. Didn't he want to surmount his grief?

"Uchiha-sama," she tried timidly, her voice echoing in the dojo. He didn't turn. "Uchiha-sama," she tried again, a little louder. Still there was no response. She gathered her courage, wary of punishment, and stuttered: "Sasuke-sama!"

Cold sharingan eyes turned to regard her. She shivered. "You know not to call me so casually, Haruno." Always, his voice was flat. He never called her Sakura. She hated the feeling that he was looking past her, or into her, rather than at her.

"I apologize, Uchiha-sama." She bowed. "You did not answer when I first called." Even to her own ears, her voice sounded tinny and meek. She hated it.

"You called." It wasn't a question. "It must be late." That, strangely enough, was one.

"It's past the sixth night hour1, Uchiha-sama." Sakura answered.

"I'm going to bed." He said, jumping down to the ground and seeming – to her, at least – to float. He was always going to bed, but never to sleep. And not once, yet, with her.

"Do you want me to…" she began hesitantly.

"No." He said. "When I want you, I'll tell you."

She flinched. "Yes. Yes, of course, Uchiha-sama." She bowed to his back in farewell. "Dream good things," she whispered.

The next morning when she went to wake him, he was not in his chambers. This was nothing out of the ordinary. She went about his futon, perfecting the already painfully neatly folded blanket. She dusted the shoji to his private garden, she fluffed his small pillow. When she felt that his room really couldn't look any better, she left to locate her master.

She found him in the dojo again, but this time he was not perched on one of the window ledges - he was training. She stood by the entrance for a while and watched him. At least, she watched him as best as she could. She couldn't really see more than a blur of pale tan and black. He was going through a dizzying set of taijutsu and ninjutsu combinations. Sakura knew that Lord Uchiha did not like to feel restricted while he trained in the morning, so she prepared herself not to react inappropriately if she saw more than what his usual kimono covered. He paused to stretch out a muscle that had gone taut, and she signaled for his attention as he did. One sharingan flicked to her briefly, then he stood and nodded in her general direction for her to speak as he walked to retrieve on of the towels on the wall.

"Breakfast is ready and your room is clean, Uchiha-sama." She bowed slightly.

He nodded. "I won't need lunch." He left the dojo and headed in the direction of the bath house area – to his private enclosed hot springs.

She followed him to the door, then hesitated. "Uchiha-sama." She called.

He paused, then waved his hand for her to come up next to him. She did, and he waited patiently while she put together her words.

"The… the p-prep… anou, the preparations for…"

"Presentation." He finished for her. She nodded. "They've been made." She nodded again. "Are you nervous?" His head turned toward her and he looked at her for the first time that day, his eyes a natural obsidian shade.

She gulped. Moments like these were rare – these times when he looked at her, not through, around, or into. She opened her mouth to stutter that no, she wasn't scared. She tried to tell him that she trusted him and his abilities, because she loved him. She wanted to say that his silent fierceness was invincible.

Nothing came out.

The corner of his lip twitched and then returned: the tiniest of smiles. Her inarticulate mouth closed and she looked down, ashamed of her inability to express herself properly. He doesn't need to laugh at me….

"Don't be." He murmured. "My father promised yours that no harm would come to you, and I intend to honor that." His voice slipped into a deep, apathetic drone. Protecting her, defending her – it was a duty and not a pleasure for him. She had known that, but every time she realized it anew, it stung.

"Thank you, Uchiha-sama." She said, bowing. "Uchiha Tojo-sama was a very good man."

He grunted in acknowledgement of her comment, and began walking away again. As he did, he called over his shoulder. "Pack clothes enough for two days, for both of us. Hyuga-sama has summoned us, and we leave tonight." She bowed and he paused, seeming to debate something. She tensed. Finally….

"What is it, Uchiha-sama? What's wrong?" She didn't want to be sold.Please, kami, let this meeting not be so that he can arrange to sell me….

"Hyuga-sama's message implied that it has something to do with Uzumaki the Younger."

That's no better for me, Sakura thought.

1 I use a different time system here, which is divided into twelve hours of night and twelve hours of daylight. The sixth night hour is midnight, the sixth day one, noon. The twelfth day hour is sunset, the twelfth night one, sunrise. You get it? Got it? Good.
Please please please read and REVIEW. The reading part you've pretty much obviously done if you're down here. It's thereviewing part that people seem to need help with. I don't need much – just two words, is all. More is appreciated.