Shattered Dawn

Chapter Two

And fickle things became important

Kaori like many had never wanted the life thrust upon her. She was born to a rich family, one with no particular status, but one with money, one that was happy. She grew up a cheerful child until she was torn away from her family in a raid. The authorities had blamed a caravan of gypsies a few miles out of her hometown. Kaori had easily decided to take an old kitchen knife and leave for the caravan, to kill as many as she possibly could. The gypsies were too smart for her though. They easily stopped her, and took her as their prisoner.

She grew up with gypsies. Their behavior had soon become normal for Kaori and she grew drunk and restless on the feeling of freedom, a concept she had never truly been familiar with. Bored and irate, she fell into prostitution to fill the void she felt in her life and mind. She had been taken away, thrown in a prison of sorts. Within such, her sanity had been tested. She had miscarried in that cell, cooled by the winter breezes. She had slowly lost her sense of reality, and the line of rationality slowly became blurred. When she came out of the little prison, she wandered the streets of Italy, mostly unsure of where she was going until the nuns took her in.

That was where she met the young Sakura. While being nursed back to health in the little church, Kaori had bonded with the girl, growing a sick obsession until she couldn't live without her. They roamed the streets of Italy together when both were healthy, but Sakura never knew of Kaori's secret dealings. The young girl never quite knew of Kaori's dealings with devils and how on one occasion, she had sold her 'child' away. She couldn't quite remember where she had sold the little girl. Whether it had been into prostitution or to some wealthy family as a playmate for some rich child, Kaori hadn't cared. The money had been enough to last her a few months until the child was thrust back upon her.

But now she was caught in her own little trap. Now she just needed Sakura to commit this heinous crime, to commit murder. She needed the innocent girl to cleanse her hands in the blood of the Uchiha boy, whatever the cost. If Sakura could get through this, Kaori would gain her freedom. Sakura would die by Kaori's hand soon afterwards and then Tsunade would finally be happy.

In the end, she would finally please the woman who had wanted her head on a platter for ages. Perhaps she'd even aim for Tsunade's death. Kaori laughed lightly at herself, curled up in a corner.

All in due time.

She stared absentmindedly through her telescope. She wasn't even sure why she had bothered with snatching one, but an old companion had told her it might come in handy eventually. She supposed that it was a good enough occasion to feel as though she might need it.

From what she had observed, the Uchiha family was fairly normal in nature. They didn't seem to be all that special in Sakura's eyes. They were by far one of the richest families she had ever seen, but she couldn't quite find herself caring. A light yawn ripped through the girl's lips as she tucked her telescope away into a clasp on her hip. She liked to keep everything she needed on her hips. As a gypsy who used her gift of song and dance to swindle her way through life, her hips were quite important. She was constantly aware of them, of how they moved. She was sensitive when people brushed against them.

Allowing another sigh to escape her lips, Sakura slipped away from her post atop some nobleman's cottage. She wasn't sure what she was going to do about the Uchiha. She had never killed a man before. She wasn't quite sure how she'd muster up the strength, or completely ignore the morals Kaori Kaa-san had instilled in her since day one. Killing the Uchiha boy was definitely going to be a challenge. And whether Sakura liked it or not, it was one she would have to rise to.

"You need to get out of bed sometime, little brother."

His older brother's voice was easy going and masculine. It was cool and calm, two things the irritated teenager hiding beneath his blankets obviously was not. He was fully aware of the fact that he was being a complete child, but he didn't care. He was in no way happy about what his parents were doing to him, what they were forcing him into. But then again, he had to believe that such at thing wasn't surprising in the slightest.

"No I do not." came his curt reply.

Itachi only laughed lightly at his younger brother. Despite the fact that his younger brother was eighteen years of age, he acted like a child when it came to certain matters. An arranged marriage was one of these certain matters. Chuckles escaping from his lips, Itachi reached forward and nailed a fist in his younger brother's back, effectively knocking him out of bed. There was a frown on the young man's lips as he was tossed up in blankets on the floor.

"Yes you do. Because your big brother says so."

Sasuke Uchiha merely rolled his eyes as he untangled himself from the blankets. He stood up and blew his dark hair from his face, still unhappy with the fact that his brother was in his room. He didn't appreciate having anyone in his room. Itachi was just lucky it was late afternoon and Sasuke had stayed out late sparring with his friend Naruto the previous eve. Fencing really took a lot out of you, especially when your friend was a tireless blonde with an obsession for pasta related anything's. But Sasuke had energy as well, and could easily sleep off the bruises he had the previous night and get just as much energy back that morning.

Naruto would be sure to want a rematch tonight, of that Sasuke was positive. He had wiped the floor with his friend the previous eve, but Naruto had merely taken it in stride. In that way, Sasuke envied his blonde friend. The boy always seemed to see the glass half full, rather than half empty. Though his optimism did get irritating at times, occasionally to the point of a Jesus complex, Sasuke had to admit that most of the time; Naruto was a better person because of it. Sasuke's pessimistic nature hadn't gotten him many friends, and adding his cynical sarcasm atop it like a cherry on fresh cream, it hadn't been easy finding a bride to put up with his tendencies.

Not that there weren't women lining up at Uchiha Manor at the simple thought to see Sasuke. The young man was quite the looker. His features were striking and his smoky gray eyes always looked uninterested. He was handsome, that fact, no one could deny. But every woman who had wanted to marry him soon grew tired of his irksome nature, and easily broke off the relationship.

Itachi on the other hand, had been well able to hold onto a relationship. His first wife had bore him a child, a baby girl called Yukiko whom Itachi loved dearly. His first wife had died in childbirth (she was greatly missed) but the darling Yukiko was the apple of everyone's eye. Despite being a year and a half, she had everyone wrapped around her chubby little fingers. Itachi had been offered another woman soon after his wife's death, but he hadn't accepted. He considered it a tribute to the woman's memory. He had produced an heir and that was enough for their parents.

"You'll have to face mother and father again eventually, Sasuke, whether you want to or not."

Sasuke merely twitched his nose, still standing across from his brother. He was well aware of the fact that he would need to face his parents soon. He would have to meet his future bride with the man and woman soon enough! Running a hand through his dark hair, Sasuke allowed a mere grunt of 'Hn' to escape his lips.

"You should get out more often. Your vocabulary needs some grooming."

His brother's tone was playful and there was a smile on his lips. Sasuke couldn't quite be sure what was wrong with his brother. Normally, he wasn't this happy. Was he drunk? Had he lit something illegal to his pipe? Had he found a woman in his bed the previous night? Or perhaps a man? Sasuke inwardly shrugged; he shouldn't care. What his brother did wasn't anything of his concern.

"Come on. Throw on a decent shirt and grab your cloak. We'll stroll through the city. Perhaps something will catch your eye. Mother's birthday is coming up."

The younger of the dark haired siblings wasn't all that keen on the idea of going out with his older brother. He normally just sent one of his maids out to buy something for his mother, preferably one of the older ones Sasuke knew he could trust. But he knew he didn't have much choice. Itachi was stubborn and Sasuke wasn't in the mood to argue.

Strolling the streets of Venice, passing vendors and their wares, Sasuke felt better for some odd reason. He could feel the city pulsing with the rhythm of life, one he could find himself growing easily accustomed to. He could already hear Itachi muttering something along the lines of 'I told you so' but Sasuke honestly couldn't have cared less. He felt good outside his villa's walls. He felt good breathing in fresh air, wandering the somewhat dirty streets with hardly a care in his mind. For the first time in too long a time, he felt truly and genuinely free. He was no longer bound by his family's hellish customs. He was only aware of himself and the soft tune of a pan flute, of gypsy music playing in the distance.

Gypsy music, he thought with a fond smile. Hidden in his mind somewhere was a memory of gypsy music. There was the memory of a young girl when Sasuke himself was a young boy. She had been singing and dancing with her mother. She had answered a question to him before Itachi had found him and taken him away. Sasuke shook his head; memories of being a child. He had never seen the gypsy girl again or at least had never remembered seeing her. He could recall a dream about the girl and himself, in which she had stolen gold from his family and Sasuke hadn't done a single thing about it. But perhaps, it wasn't a dream?

The more he thought about such things, the more a headache threatened to burst through the walls of Sasuke's mind and take over him. Putting a single hand to his head so that he could rub his temples, Sasuke sighed, hardly noticing the torrent of pink locks on the head of a girl rushing towards him. It was evident that she was hardly paying attention to her surroundings, that she was rushing and she had somewhere to be. It was also evident that she hadn't seen Sasuke coming, just as he hadn't seen her.

Nevertheless, the two bumped into each other, his shoulder meeting hers, and her hip slamming ungracefully into his. There was the sound of something falling and through the corner of his eye he could see a telescope roll away into the sea of people. The girl swore beneath her breath and Sasuke looked down at her. There was a mop of bright pink hair atop her head, the color of roses kissed by Aphrodite. Her eyes were an odd cross between pale jade and sea foam green and her cheeks were of the same rose persuasion as that of the Virgin Mary. By no means was she beautiful in his eyes, but by any means was she ethereal and glorious in those same orbs.

But there was something familiar about the girl, something that brought Sasuke back to his years as a child. There it hid in the back of his mind, a memory. Faded and glossy, he reached out to it, reaching out to grasp the girl's shoulder as he searched her face for any kind of inclination that she was thinking as well.

"Sakura?"

"Sasuke?"

let yourselves now be made cheerful my loves, for i have made good on one promise;;

that little collection of songfics? yeah, well it actually ended up being one HUGE nejiten fic called 'how taylor swift changed my life'. the first fic has been posted and it shall be finished as a side project for whenever i get bored and need some 'creative stimulation'. which is just rosa-speak for 'need to get back into the swing of writing, so isntead of actually updating one of my stories, i'll write a drabble to let everyone know i'm still alive.'

hope you enjoy(: