Eien no Shasai

(Edited Version)

Chapter 1;

Shinpitekinako

Mysterious Child

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Fate is but a mischievous child at times,

She likes to leave surprises.

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To an average person, he was amazing. His skill was praised by his sensei's, his looks worshiped by girls, he had achieved a respect of sorts. Other boys envied him, and why shouldn't they? He was considered perfect.

But past the shallowness of stranger's eyes, Uchiha Sasuke wasn't as perfect as others believed he was. While his aloof attitude seemed cool, he was closed off because of emotional damage. All because of that night. All because of one man.

His dark eyes snapped open and with a sharp flick of both wrists, shuriken came to life with movement and sound, released from his fingers milliseconds apart, cutting through the air with a soft whir. There were soft 'chings' as some knocked together to change direction and fly at different angles.

Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud.

Clang.

He looked up to see six shuriken embedded in the worn wooden targets, hitting an accurate bulls eye. Looking down he saw a shuriken lying three feet in front and ever so slightly to the left. The other shuriken had whizzed off to the right and out of sight. The boy's lips thinned as he withheld a disgusted snarl.

An overreaction perhaps? He hit the other targets perfectly, something many his age struggled with.

But for him it wasn't enough. He needed strength, power, perfection. This small mistake, in a serious battle, could cost him his life. And without his life, his goal would become useless and his life would have been meaningless.

Swallowing his anger and self-frustration he moved forward to the trees jumping on the branches and pulling his shuriken free. Once he'd collected the six, he jumped down picking up his unsuccessful shuriken. He flipped his pouch open and placed them inside. Looking to his right he debated whether to retrieve his missing weapon.

He didn't like the thought of wasting it; he'd rather have it and not need it then need it and not have it. If he was attacked that single shuriken could save him from defeat. He glanced at the sun quickly, determining its position in the sky. It was still quite low, the day young, but he had been out here since before it began to rise. Still, from his calculations he still had a reasonable amount of time before he had to meet with his team.

Ugh. His team.

Just the thought of them left a bitter taste in the back of his throat. His normal stoic expression twisted slightly as his mouth curved into a slight frown and his eyes narrowed in disgust. He had a useless, loud, overconfident idiot, a useless, stupid, love struck fan-girl and a lazy, perverted, uninterested sensei.

How in any way, shape or form, can they assist him?

They were due their first mission today after passing their 'survival training' test. Even the test was idiotic, but at least he knew Kakashi was indeed of Jounin level and should not be underestimated. The others though… One abandoned them because he was hungry after getting caught in trap after trap and the other just screamed and fainted.

Utterly useless.

Deciding all thoughts agreed to retrieving his shuriken, he set off in the direction it disappeared, pushing his hands into the pockets of his white shorts.

Why couldn't he have someone of decent skill on his team? Kakashi merely seemed like back up in case actual trouble emerged. He didn't even have anyone from his previous academy class which he deemed capable of a good spar. This generation of ninja indeed seemed rather pathetic. He guessed he was just doomed with bad luck.

Bad luck that seemed to have taken a turn for the worse.

He had found his missing shuriken embedded in the trunk of a thick tree. Beneath that tree, was an unconscious girl.

His eyes narrowed and his jaw tightened. Wasn't it a bit early to be following him around? Was he not permitted a moments peace? To hell with it, she can just be left there. If he woke her, she'd only follow him.

With that thought he went to remove his shuriken, only to realise he couldn't get to it with her in the way. Suppressing a growl of irritation he instead scowled darkly at her unconscious form.

As much as he hated stupid girls, he was not so much of an asshole that he would just kick her out the way while she was unconscious and defenceless. She most probably couldn't even touch him in battle and he didn't feel the need to bother with weaklings. But that didn't mean he was going to kindly lift her up and gently place her down a few feet away. He didn't want to touch her at all.

He grabbed hold of a thin branch and with a quick jerk, broke it free from the rest of the tree. Turning back to his source of irritation he gave her a sharp prod on the shoulder. His frustration grew when she didn't even if flinch. He prodded her in the side instead, not once thinking that the sharp end would probably hurt. He just wanted her to get up and get lost.

"Oi," he grunted stabbing her once again with the branch. When she once again showed no reaction he decided she really was unconscious. On the rare occasion he acknowledged a girl she would squeal and when he spoke she would stare at him dreamily.

Perhaps she was dead?

Crouching, he gave her a last hard poke in the ribs with the branch.

"Oi." He recalled his lessons in the academy and moved the branch into his left hand. With his right, he placed two fingers against the side of her neck. Feeling nothing, he moved his fingers. His brows furrowed slightly, realising she didn't have a pulse. He gripped her shoulder and turned her onto her back.

"K'so," he hissed, flinching away at the blank look in her open eyes. They were glazed, half lidded and her pupils were dilated. Her lips were slightly parted and tinted an unhealthy blue. Swallowing his apprehension he placed a hand over the left side of her ribs, searching for a heartbeat. What if it was a Genjutsu? The thought made him pause.

"Kai." But the scene didn't change. Starting to feel slightly nauseous and paranoid he placed his hand back over her heart. His own heart started to race as his eyes played tricks, turning her hair dark and dotting her skin with patches of red.

He blinked slowly when he realised the soft patter of a heartbeat against his hand, the haunting images immediately fading. But he could have sworn there was nothing but a second before…

"Tch." He couldn't just leave her to die, no matter how annoying she may turn out to be. He would be uneasy knowing he hadn't got her help. Death still bothered him, even after all this time.

He dropped the branch and clumsily picked her up, her body limp in his arms, her head lolling back. He stumbled slightly, unused to the foreign weight of another person apart from the girls that would latch onto him. He took off towards the training grounds, his shuriken left forgotten.

A/N:The edit is finally being posted, SHOCKHORROR. Mostly because my computers randomly freezing and dying and I want to make sure they're not lost. But yeah, i'm posting a few chapters to show I'm alive, if only barely, through the horrid torrents of college work. Personally, I think this edit needs editing, but I can't re-edit it forever. Welcome to the edited version, be comfortable, don't strain your eyes with long reading, don't get bored. Onward and upward my lovelies!

Basic Plotbunny: It pretty much stemmed from my irritation of people not attempting to look below the surface on some of the characters. I wanted to know what difference one character could make, and to see relationships and personalities through new eyes. Also to explore some morals (later on), to create a (hopefully) realistic fictional character that could possibly related to, and to give some neglected characters a bit of lovin'.

Dedications: To my previous readers and reviewers for your support and to imouto-chan and Kyoto-san. Thank you for everything :)

Much love, Ookami Tsubasawa.