Into the Frying Pan

Uh oh…

My social life might only exist inside the Uchiha household, however even I knew that there was an unwritten law that Konoha's jinchūriki shall not be harmed. However, the sight of my fall from the swing might be misinterpreted as an aggression against an innocent civilian and might be used as a justification to attack the resident Tailed-Beast' vessel.

I better made Naruto go before he received a tongue-lashing – or worse, a physical attack – from the man.

"–so sorry. I don't mean it. Don't be mad 'kay? I–"

I tugged the blond boy's shirt and intoned, "Go."

"What? Go where? Do you want to go home? I can walk you–"

"Bad man is coming," I warned.

"What?!"

"Run!"

"But–"

"Go home!" I hissed.

I watched as his eyes turned blank for a moment before he turned his back on me and ran to the opposite direction.

I deactivated my sharingan and rubbed my forehead to alleviate my budding headache. What I did not know at the time was that my headache was only the start of everything that went wrong that day.

I only felt a light sensation against my shoulder before I was being shoved to the ground.

What the–

"You stupid boy, why did you play with that monster?!"

I groaned, feeling a bit disorientated after the impact, but I still glared at the rude man that towered over me. "He's not a monster."

The man's eyes went wild at my words.

I stilled when the man grabbed me by my hair and glared at me like I was the lowest scum on Earth.

"What'd you know, huh?! What'd you know?!" he growled. "It kills my wife! It kills my son!" His hands shook and his eyes became unfocused. "My little boy..." he whispered.

I understood that the man was grieving, but what the hell did that had anything to do with attacking me? The Uchiha would be pissed if they knew that one of their members was attacked by a Konoha citizen. I did not need anyone to fuel more fire between the clan and the village, thank you very much.

"Don't touch me, please," I asked nicely.

He did not listen, his big palms shifted into my cheeks instead, grounding my head to the ground.

"How many times have I told you not to play outside, huh?! Why'd you never listen! What should I do to make you listen?!"

Excuse me?

"If you hadn't gone outside, your mother wouldn't have followed you. She's missing, I don't know where. I've searched everywhere, but I never find her. I even waited under her favorite tree for days, so why doesn't she come?! Where is she?!" he rambled.

"I don't know," I answered calmly whilst assessing my situation to look for a way to escape from the delusional man.

I was very ill-equipped to deal with a patient right now, especially the one that looked like he was having a potentially-violent psychotic episode. Suffice to say I was understandably worried when I did not find any.

I watched as the man's expression quickly turned from angry into horrified in a second as he whispered rapidly, obviously frightened. "There's a terrible monster coming! You have to run! But don't return home, our house is destroyed! Run to the mountain, run from the monster, you'll be safe there. I will wait for your mother." His pupils dilated and he grinned. "I knew she's coming, she must be on her way here, she's–"

"She's dead," I stated calmly.

There was no point in feeding his hallucination. I had been gone for quite some time and Sasuke was bound to realize my disappearance at any second. I did not want to cause trouble for anyone, it was better if I quickly got out of this situation.

"No she's–"

"She is dead."

"No," he vehemently denied. "I've been waiting for her all of this time. Why would I wait for her if she's dead?!" he spat out.

"Because you're grieving," I answered, still maintaining my calm tone.

"Liar!" he screamed. "Liar, liar, liar! Why are you lying?!" His uncut nails painfully dug into my cheekbones, making crescent shaped marks on the pale skin.

I repressed a wince from the pain in my cheeks and gritted out. "It's the truth."

"No, no, no, no, no, no... I waited for days, days!" He shook his head. "I waited for both of you in the mountain, why didn't you come?!"

Goddamnit, we returned to square one.

I attentively grasped his wrists and pressed my fingers against them.

"Look at me," I asked gently, but firmly.

He did not.

"Look at me," I repeated in a stronger tone, he finally did. "I am not your son. Your son is dead and so is your wife. I'm sorry but that's the reality."

The man stared at me with an expression of disbelieve. His hands clenched and unclenched sporadically, as if he was having a seizure.

When the man continued to be quiet, I thought my words finally went through him. I was ready to bolt out at any moment if the man did not just suddenly wring his hands around my neck.

My sharingan activated instinctually at the danger, their color only proceeded to delve the man even further into his delusion.

"Who do you think you are, demon?!" he spat out. "I have no home because of you! I buried empty caskets because of you! I'm nothing because of you!" He took a shuddering breath. "Why do you get to live while my family does not?!" He giggled deliriously. "You must be laughing at us now! Stupid! Weak! Human!"

I futilely trashed around and clawed his hands with my blunt nails. Black spots were already dancing around my vision. I knew I would not last long if I did not free myself from his grip.

I lifted my pelvis and kicked him in the face. It did not do much damage.

The man gritted his teeth and slammed me against the ground before he punched my face.

Son of a bit–

He tightened his grip.

God, I can't breathe.

It was at this moment that I hoped that I had not awakened my sharingan, because what was the point of having a precognition and seeing everything in slow-motion if I could not even run and save my goddamn life?!

"Do you know how many people you have killed?! Do you know?! Of course you don't! You don't care! You just kill," squeezed, "and kill," squeezed, "and kill until there's nothing left!"

Depleted of oxygen, I weakly pushed him away.

"Why can't you just die, you bastard?! Die!"

My vision was starting to waver, I was starting to lose consciousness.

Intense feelings coursed through me. Anger, hopelessness, and fear filled every fiber of my being. However, the most prominent of them all was hatred, a burning and intoxicating hatred.

I was only trying to be a decent human being. What did I get in return?

I croaked out a bitter laugh. Sometimes I wonder why I even bother.

The cannon fodder shook me. "What the hell are you laughing at?!"

Honestly?

"Your…" I wheezed, "worthless ass…"

I grunted when he punched me again.

My eyes felt burning.

If I was free right now, I could just imagine hanging the man with a rope. Strangling him and making him suffer from the lack of air before breaking his neck.

All I ever wanted was to live. Was that really wrong of me?

I felt like I was being dragged into the abyss again. I felt sleepy and nauseous, but at the same time my head felt like it was about to explode.

I glared at the space above vermin's head, at his steadily ticking countdown, injecting as much venom as I could into the infuriating sight – why does he get to live while I'm not?! – and whispered for one last time.

"I hope..."

I hope with every fiber of my being, that

"You…"

You miserable piece of shit,

"Die…" I choked out.

Then everything was black.