Heartbreak (27)

"Hey, Mom, do you know where I put my—" The words caught in my throat as I saw a fellow clan member standing at our doorway, speaking to my mother in a hushed tone. 

I was turning the corner from the kitchen, planning to head upstairs to look for a new ninjutsu scroll Reika-sensei had given me. I'd been meaning to practice it before our next mission, but I couldn't quite remember where I'd set it down. Now, that thought seemed so distant, so unimportant.

A strange, bad feeling settled in my chest as my mom turned and looked at me, her eyes glistening with unshed tears. My heart beat faster, my pulse filling my ears. 

"What... what happened?" I asked, stepping closer to her and the man at the door—a skinny, solemn man who seemed oddly familiar.

Then it hit me. 'Wait... that's Hiroshi. He's one of Dad's favorite people to play shogi with.' My heartbeat quickened even more, a gnawing sense of dread creeping into my head.

Hiroshi's gaze met mine, and in that moment, I saw a flicker of sadness—a sadness so deep that it looked like it had settled into his very soul. He turned back to my mother, his face shadowed with grief, and reached into his ninja bag, pulling out two scrolls.

A ringing filled my ears as my heart skipped a beat. 'Two scrolls… Two scrolls can only mean one thing.' My thoughts felt like they were drowning in static. 'But why would he bring a dead body and a pair of eyes to my mom?' My thoughts churned. 'Our family hasn't lost anyone. It's just me, my mom, and my dad.'

Hiroshi's voice, thick with emotion, broke through the chaos in my mind. "Kaito… was killed in action, protecting the four of us, and for that, we are eternally grateful to both him and his family."

I barely heard him over the rushing in my ears, the words coming through as if from underwater. 'Dad… killed in action?'

Beside me, my mother collapsed, her knees hitting the floor as sobs tore from her throat. She put her fists on the ground, her body bowing as if the weight of the news was too much to bear. "Please... please tell me you're lying," she cried out, the pain in her voice raw and piercing. "He said he wouldn't have taken this mission if he wasn't sure of coming back."

Hiroshi's expression remained solemn, his own emotions barely held back as he watched my mother crumble.

Hiroshi swallowed, struggling to keep his composure. "May… I wish I could say otherwise. But Kaito gave his life to save us all. He... he was our leader to the end." His voice broke, the regret heavy in each syllable. 

"I'm sorry, May… our squad is so sorry," Hiroshi whispered, his voice trembling as a few tears trailed down his face. "His last words were that he loved you… that he was proud of what Shiro was becoming. And he was… sorry to the both of you, for lying."

That was it—the final straw. My vision swam, and a fire ignited within me as my Sharingan flared to life. Beside me, my mother rose up from the ground and let out another sob, pulling me into a tight embrace.

'He couldn't have lied to us,' I thought, feeling my heartbeat thunder in my ears. 'He couldn't be killed.' The words Hiroshi spoke were just plain wrong, like they weren't ever meant to be spoken.

'This guy must be lying. It's all just a cruel prank he's taking way too far.'

pump pump pump pump

The blood rushing through me grew louder, faster. 'That's all this is, It's just a prank we'll all laugh about later. It's mean, sure, but he'll come home, and we'll laugh about how he got us, how well he fooled us.'

But then my mother pulled back from the hug, her tear-streaked, puffy face coming into focus. Through my crystal-clear vision, I could see how much she was hurting. 

'Why would Dad want to play such a harsh joke on us?' I thought bitterly. 'Didn't he see how upset I was when he turned to leave that night? Doesn't he know how much we are counting on him to return?

Suddenly anger began bubbling up from somewhere deep. A place I didn't know I had. 'He's selfish. So selfish. If he's really doing this, if he thinks this is funny, then he deserves to see just how much this joke hurt us. Just how much I hate this joke.'

My fist clenched tightly, my teeth grinding as the fury rose. The surge of emotions reached a breaking point, and before I could stop myself, my hand shot out.

BANG

My fist connected with the wall beside the door, splintering the wood with a loud crack, not feeling the sting shoot up my arm.

My mother flinched, her tears pausing momentarily as she stared at me with shock, her hand moving to her mouth. I looked back at her, before flickering out of the house and past Hiroshi who was still standing in the doorway.

------------------

May pulled back to look at her son, who hadn't moved or said a word since she'd first pulled him into her arms. Her heart, already broken by the revelation of Kaito's death, ached even deeper as she saw the vacant, shocked expression on Shiro's face.

She felt as though she'd been plunged into a void of despair, and every word that Hiroshi had spoken—Kaito's final messages of love, his apology for lying—only dragged her further down. 'This can't be happening; the village really did send him to his death.'

She could feel the restlessness bubbling beneath Shiro's silence; grief and rage were coming off of him in waves of chakra.

'This is going to change him,' May realized with a heavy heart, and there was nothing she could do to stop it. She wanted desperately to take away the pain, to tell him that it would be okay. But as a shinobi, she knew that wasn't always the truth.

Then, suddenly, she felt a great surge of chakra radiate from her son. Bigger than the pulses that had been coming off of him so far.

The Sharingan in his eyes slowly regained their awareness and the two tomoe in each eye spun faster and faster, blurring into what looked like a solid circle around his pupils. As the spinning slowed, May's breath caught in her throat—Shiro's eyes had evolved. Where there had once been two tomoe, now there were three. His Sharingan had matured, becoming the full three-tomoe Sharingan, a mark of the Uchiha's pride.

She could see the anger building up within him, his chakra taking on a colder feel. May reached out, hoping to pull him into another hug, to ground him before his emotions overtook him. But before she could,

BANG

Startled, May pulled back from her son and she saw his hand embedded in the wall beside their front door, the wood splintering around his clenched fist. She tried to blink the rest of the tears away but as she did, May noticed he was already gone, the front door swinging slightly from his departure.

The emptiness he left behind hit her harder than she thought it could. Tears filled her eyes once more, spilling down her cheeks as lowered her head into her hands, the weight of everything crushing her.

'Why did this have to happen? Shiro shouldn't have to go through this as young as he is.' A gentle hand rested on her shoulder, patting her comfortingly. Hiroshi knelt beside her, trying to offer what little solace he could.

In that moment, Hiroshi understood all too well the turmoil inside both the mother and son. Everyone within the Uchiha clan knew the depth of their love, how fiercely it burned.

For Uchiha, love and loyalty ran deeper than anything, and when it was taken from them, it often left scars that never truly healed. The emotional intensity that fueled their greatest strength also made them vulnerable to the harshest forms of pain.

'This is the burden of our clan,' Hiroshi thought grimly as he listened to May's quiet sobs. 'Unless our world knows peace, this will always be the Uchiha's fate.'

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

"Why didn't he listen to me?" I yelled, my voice ripping through the silent forest as I sprinted forward, barely noticing the blur of trees around me.

"Why was he SO damn cocky?" My chest tightened painfully as I mimicked his voice. "'Yeah, Shiro, don't worry, I'll come home safely.' My ass!" I swung a fist out, punching a nearby tree, leaving a deep dent in its trunk. Still, the pain in my knuckles refused to be acknowledged.

"Did he not love his son enough to take me into consideration?" My voice cracked, but I didn't care. The tears spilled freely now, wiped from my cheeks by the wind. "STUPID! He was so stupid! Arrogant, a liar, a hypocrite… worthless."

The more I thought about it, the angrier I became. My mind was a whirlwind of resentment and grief. 'How could he have died to someone?' My father, who was strong, who was invincible… he was supposed to be alive. I didn't even realize I was screaming until I felt my throat ache, my voice fading into a hoarse whisper. 

"How could he have lost? Was he that weak?" I murmured to the emptiness around me. The forest remained silent, as if mocking my situation. 

My fists clenched tighter as fresh tears began to fall again. I took a deep, shuddering breath, but it only seemed to fuel the anger in me.

I screamed again, a raw, guttural sound filled with every ounce of sadness and rage I had. "How could I have lost him?"

'How could he have left me alone like this? Am I the weak one for not being able to stop him from leaving?' 

The questions tore through me, relentless, each one worse than the last. 'How else is he going to see me grow up? How's he going to see me reach heights he couldn't? How's he going to see his grandchildren if he's not here? Who will be there for Mom when I'm gone on missions?' Each thought brought a fresh wave of tears.

Finally, I found myself at Uchiha Lake, the place where Shisui and I meet on our days off. It was our quiet retreat, a sanctuary from the world. I walked to the dock, my footsteps heavy, and took a seat at its edge.

As I stared down at the water, I saw my tears fall, their descent slower than I remembered. I noticed the tiniest motes of dust and microscopic particles drifting through the air. When I lifted my hand and wiggled my fingers, I could see the fine, rhythmic shifts of my tendons and muscles beneath the skin, like the inner workings of a delicate machine.

It was as if a veil had been lifted from my eyes, revealing a world I had never truly seen. The texture of the wood beneath me, worn and weathered by time, seemed more vivid, every grain and crack telling a story. Even the distant trees swayed with a newfound sharpness, each leaf distinct. When I glanced at my reflection, I gasped—there, in the water, was the reason for this transformation.

Staring back at me were eyes I barely recognized. The fully evolved three-tomoe Sharingan stared back from the reflection, the red orbs swirling with a clarity and intensity that felt foreign. It was supposed to be a symbol of pride, a mark of our clan's strength. But to me, they felt like a curse.

I closed my eyes, trying to steady myself as I took a deep, trembling breath. I could feel it—the surge of my chakra reserves, the heightened awareness of my surroundings and the painful clarity that came with it.

When I opened my eyes again, my vision had sharpened, every detail more vivid, every movement more defined. Another tear slipped down, blurring my sight for a moment before it fell into the water below, sending ripples through my reflection.

A bitter smile twisted my lips as I looked up at the sky, the bright blue stretching endlessly above me. 'Of course,' I thought, my chest clenching. 'Of course, I'd acquire these stupid things now, when he's not here to see them.'

My fingers dug into the wood beneath me. 'These eyes… they'll never be a reminder of strength or pride. No, for me, they'd be a reminder of failure—of the weakness that held me back from stopping my dad from going. This is something I will carry forever,' 

'These eyes,' I thought bitterly, 'will always carry the memory of what I've lost.'

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

(A/N: Major maturation point for Shiro here, hopefully that was communicated well enough throughout the chapter. Between this and one other point, I have planned, you will see Shiro being a completely different person in a year or so [right after the timeskip I have planned] so perhaps if you think he's still a little too childish before now, that'll push him in the right direction.)

Powerstone Goals:

25 by Sunday = Extra Chapter

50 by Sunday = 2 Extra Chapters