Broken Links: Prologue
My new SasuNaru fanfic, which had been written a long time ago. The prologue is finally edited and already put on fanfanfiction.net. Link here: http://www.fanfiction.net/u/1443738/adriatic-air
Prologue
”Sasuke-sama,” came a quiet whisper from behind the closed door. “Kakashi-san is here to see you.”
After a great pause, there finally was a reply.
”I will see him later.”
I will see him later. There was almost no expression left in that voice, but every soul living in the Northern Empire knew the words were not to be defied. More directly, they were quite certain death would come swiftly to claim those who dared to defy them. The Prince’s temper nowadays was unpredictable and often explosive.
It was chilling, how sudden the Prince had undergone his transformation. There used to be a time when the Prince’s voice, though characteristically monotonous, had carried underlying traces of emotions. That had been a time when the people saw him regularly, too.
Of late, however, during the few times his voice issued from the crack between his door and the wall, it always sounded dead and hollow. Empty. Surely the fact that it had changed boded evil.
The servant turned away timidly from the ominous closed door. He didn’t know why they bothered getting him to transmit messages anymore, since Sasuke-sama had been answering in the negative for a very long time.
Every time he did, a small part of the servant wanted to scream.
The servant's sandaled feet made little noise as he scurried down the hallway, following the navy blue carpeting which decorated the otherwise cold marble floor. His heart thumped loudly within his chest. Conversations with Sasuke-sama, regardless how short, never failed to cause some panicky reaction within him. During the times he stood behind the closed door, he experienced adrenaline rushes, nausea, and sometimes even severe dizziness. Sasuke-sama seemed to wield some power over his emotions somehow.
It was very odd, although he knew he was not totally alone in his suffering. From what he’d heard, the other servants also experienced some form of heightened anxiety whenever they had contact with Sasuke-sama, or if they passed near by to him. Only the people close to Sasuke-sama, the incidentally powerful individuals, seemed to be immune.
The servant reached the end of the hallway, coming out under a lighted archway to where Kakashi, flanked by his two immense bodyguards, stood. In his own way, Kakashi was intimidating too. Perhaps it was how he stood and the posture he adapted, or how his face was constantly masked, or it could have been his sheer height. Yet Kakashi, despite his looks, was always unfailingly polite to the servants, and treated them all with respect.
The servant had no idea what to make of his behavior.
”Sasuke-sama will see you later,” he said to the tall man, keeping his head bowed. He didn’t dare look up to see Kakashi’s expression. The masked features were quite terrifying.
Kakashi wasn’t surprised. Sasuke liked to do things in his own time, delighted in having his own schedule, and hated it when people sprung surprise visits on him. However, this was the sixth consecutive day Kakashi had sent the same message to Sasuke via the same servant. It should have given Sasuke ample time to alter his schedule and squeeze in a meeting with Kakashi, as requested.
Kakashi decided he would not stand for being ignored any longer. He frowned slightly, and then was suddenly aware of the servant still bowed before him, trembling slightly.
He didn’t like the way the servants quivered in fear when they stood before him, but perhaps it was understandable now since this one had just visited Sasuke. The quivers grew stronger. Poor guy. It shouldn’t be right, scaring innocent humans to such a state. Kakashi needed to talk to Sasuke about various matters, one of which was masking his extremely obvious and menacing killing intent. The whole place reeked of it, and everyone within two feet of Sasuke became jumpy and nervous.
”You may go,” he said to the servant. Kakashi didn’t need to look down to know that he was already gone. Kakashi suddenly felt lonely. This was in spite of the fact that his two bodyguards, Tak and Leo, were just behind him and sniggering loudly.
Sadly enough, all the energy that was used to developing their muscles had somewhat compromised their brain growth.
”HAHAHA, man did you see that guy?” Tak guffawed loudly.
”He was shitting his pants!” Leo guffawed louder.
”I could smell it too!” Tak sniggered.
”I could hear it!” Leo snickered back.
And it went on. Kakashi groaned inwardly, then proceeded to block out the noise. It wasn’t like he needed the both of them around him, obviously. He would much rather have preferred to be alone. Their presence was some sort of ‘precautionary measure’ as Sasuke put it, or decorative purpose, and their main job was to test his food for poison. It was absurd.
Nevertheless, he had agreed to the whole cumbersome arrangement of food testing to please Sasuke. It seemed that everything Kakashi did was to please Sasuke. However, when it came to the actual process of fighting and protecting, the two bodyguards knew very well to stay out of the way. Kakashi considered it a hideous insult to his abilities if anyone so much as moved to ‘save’ him from any attack, though the last one he had been caught up in occurred one year ago and consisted of a servant accidentally flicking a pair of chopsticks in his direction. Kakashi had caught them easily with two fingers and then thrown them into the front pocket of the servant’s apron, all without looking up from his meal, while Tak and Leo noticed nothing.
Piece of cake.
Kakashi’s life, once filled with death-defying excitement, had officially gone stale. He was without a doubt, well known for his supreme abilities, but these could only be unleashed on the battlefield. Their last battle at Wind Country had been over sixteen months ago, with the Northern Empire having emerged victorious. With Sasuke at the head, there was no one, no country and no land which could possibly stand in the way.
The Northern Empire had, over the years, amassed an immense fighting power, mainly through the invention of New Age artillery and machinery, such as tanks, airships and battleships of gigantic proportion. These, when combined with the elite ninja skills and newly developed ‘killing’ techniques, were practically unstoppable in every country.
Only one person had been capable of such an invasion, and he was none other than Kakashi’s old pupil and current Prince of the Northern Empire, Uchiha Sasuke.
Uchiha Sasuke had been a child prodigy if there ever was one. Kakashi had known it the first time he laid his eyes on the youth, the boy in question being only twelve years old at the time. He had been strangely attracted to him ever since. Now, twelve years later, Sasuke had still the same determined light in his eyes, which Kakashi never tired of seeing. Those eyes which saw what most others couldn’t see.
It was the way Sasuke saw things. The youth was capable of great deeds, which would go down in history in the years to come, and still he remained grounded and practical. By learning his limits, weaknesses and strengths well, it ensured his success wherever he went. Yet he remained constantly unsatisfied. Those were small successes.
Sasuke was known to look at the bigger picture.
And Sasuke’s ultimate goal, the bigger picture, was not complete. There was one obstacle left.
It was the final obstacle. The empire was infallible now, with every part of the map under its control, all except for one portion. It was like a thorn in the flesh, but sixteen long months had passed, and nothing had yet been done to remove it.
The Prince was, simply put, avoiding it.
After the last great country, Wind’s fall, Sasuke seemed to lose all interest in conquest, and had concentrated efforts in wiping out rebel colonies and anti-empire activists who were present in the old Earth and Lightning, now part of the Northern Empire. In these sixteen months, he had managed to track and bring down a few of the key leaders in the groups. After that, they didn’t bother him anymore, and he had just recently set his sights on looking over the construction of his new kingdom, as well as the order and the ruling of his people.
All while he did this, a nagging concern tugged at the back of his mind.
The Prince needed every tiny detail under his control. His vision for a city filled with machines and immaculate buildings, perfect order and peace was taking its first steps to being fulfilled.
Unfortunately one part of the world still did not belong to him, to the Northern Empire. War hadn’t been declared on the southern lands yet. And Kakashi could understand perfectly why it hadn’t. That place was special. It was different, which would explain why Sasuke refused to touch it. Of course that place had been very much affected by the ongoing wars between the surrounding countries, but as of now it still remained free of the clutches of the Northern Empire…
Kakashi was sure it would be only be a matter of time before it was defeated.
Indeed, it was a matter of time. But Kakashi wondered at the length. How long was Sasuke going to let it stay the way it was? It wasn’t like him to abandon a goal. And sixteen months were already too long… it was getting unhealthy.
Kakashi sighed. He would like to see Sasuke soon. He missed the young man; Sasuke hadn’t poked his head out of his room for at least a month, choosing to relay his orders through his personal guard. But even they hadn’t been anything of importance for some time now. In fact, they’d stopped coming. In Sasuke’s continued absence, the running of the empire had been entrusted to his next in command, Suigetsu for a yet undefined period of time. Suigetsu was a powerful, intelligent and loyal individual, but he was nothing like Sasuke.
There wasn’t anyone in the Northern Empire who could replace Sasuke.
Kakashi needed to see Sasuke in his rightful place.
He wasn’t having any of that ‘Sasuke-sama will see you later’ crap. He was going to see Sasuke right this very moment.
-END-
Prologue
”Sasuke-sama,” came a quiet whisper from behind the closed door. “Kakashi-san is here to see you.”
After a great pause, there finally was a reply.
”I will see him later.”
I will see him later. There was almost no expression left in that voice, but every soul living in the Northern Empire knew the words were not to be defied. More directly, they were quite certain death would come swiftly to claim those who dared to defy them. The Prince’s temper nowadays was unpredictable and often explosive.
It was chilling, how sudden the Prince had undergone his transformation. There used to be a time when the Prince’s voice, though characteristically monotonous, had carried underlying traces of emotions. That had been a time when the people saw him regularly, too.
Of late, however, during the few times his voice issued from the crack between his door and the wall, it always sounded dead and hollow. Empty. Surely the fact that it had changed boded evil.
The servant turned away timidly from the ominous closed door. He didn’t know why they bothered getting him to transmit messages anymore, since Sasuke-sama had been answering in the negative for a very long time.
Every time he did, a small part of the servant wanted to scream.
The servant's sandaled feet made little noise as he scurried down the hallway, following the navy blue carpeting which decorated the otherwise cold marble floor. His heart thumped loudly within his chest. Conversations with Sasuke-sama, regardless how short, never failed to cause some panicky reaction within him. During the times he stood behind the closed door, he experienced adrenaline rushes, nausea, and sometimes even severe dizziness. Sasuke-sama seemed to wield some power over his emotions somehow.
It was very odd, although he knew he was not totally alone in his suffering. From what he’d heard, the other servants also experienced some form of heightened anxiety whenever they had contact with Sasuke-sama, or if they passed near by to him. Only the people close to Sasuke-sama, the incidentally powerful individuals, seemed to be immune.
The servant reached the end of the hallway, coming out under a lighted archway to where Kakashi, flanked by his two immense bodyguards, stood. In his own way, Kakashi was intimidating too. Perhaps it was how he stood and the posture he adapted, or how his face was constantly masked, or it could have been his sheer height. Yet Kakashi, despite his looks, was always unfailingly polite to the servants, and treated them all with respect.
The servant had no idea what to make of his behavior.
”Sasuke-sama will see you later,” he said to the tall man, keeping his head bowed. He didn’t dare look up to see Kakashi’s expression. The masked features were quite terrifying.
Kakashi wasn’t surprised. Sasuke liked to do things in his own time, delighted in having his own schedule, and hated it when people sprung surprise visits on him. However, this was the sixth consecutive day Kakashi had sent the same message to Sasuke via the same servant. It should have given Sasuke ample time to alter his schedule and squeeze in a meeting with Kakashi, as requested.
Kakashi decided he would not stand for being ignored any longer. He frowned slightly, and then was suddenly aware of the servant still bowed before him, trembling slightly.
He didn’t like the way the servants quivered in fear when they stood before him, but perhaps it was understandable now since this one had just visited Sasuke. The quivers grew stronger. Poor guy. It shouldn’t be right, scaring innocent humans to such a state. Kakashi needed to talk to Sasuke about various matters, one of which was masking his extremely obvious and menacing killing intent. The whole place reeked of it, and everyone within two feet of Sasuke became jumpy and nervous.
”You may go,” he said to the servant. Kakashi didn’t need to look down to know that he was already gone. Kakashi suddenly felt lonely. This was in spite of the fact that his two bodyguards, Tak and Leo, were just behind him and sniggering loudly.
Sadly enough, all the energy that was used to developing their muscles had somewhat compromised their brain growth.
”HAHAHA, man did you see that guy?” Tak guffawed loudly.
”He was shitting his pants!” Leo guffawed louder.
”I could smell it too!” Tak sniggered.
”I could hear it!” Leo snickered back.
And it went on. Kakashi groaned inwardly, then proceeded to block out the noise. It wasn’t like he needed the both of them around him, obviously. He would much rather have preferred to be alone. Their presence was some sort of ‘precautionary measure’ as Sasuke put it, or decorative purpose, and their main job was to test his food for poison. It was absurd.
Nevertheless, he had agreed to the whole cumbersome arrangement of food testing to please Sasuke. It seemed that everything Kakashi did was to please Sasuke. However, when it came to the actual process of fighting and protecting, the two bodyguards knew very well to stay out of the way. Kakashi considered it a hideous insult to his abilities if anyone so much as moved to ‘save’ him from any attack, though the last one he had been caught up in occurred one year ago and consisted of a servant accidentally flicking a pair of chopsticks in his direction. Kakashi had caught them easily with two fingers and then thrown them into the front pocket of the servant’s apron, all without looking up from his meal, while Tak and Leo noticed nothing.
Piece of cake.
Kakashi’s life, once filled with death-defying excitement, had officially gone stale. He was without a doubt, well known for his supreme abilities, but these could only be unleashed on the battlefield. Their last battle at Wind Country had been over sixteen months ago, with the Northern Empire having emerged victorious. With Sasuke at the head, there was no one, no country and no land which could possibly stand in the way.
The Northern Empire had, over the years, amassed an immense fighting power, mainly through the invention of New Age artillery and machinery, such as tanks, airships and battleships of gigantic proportion. These, when combined with the elite ninja skills and newly developed ‘killing’ techniques, were practically unstoppable in every country.
Only one person had been capable of such an invasion, and he was none other than Kakashi’s old pupil and current Prince of the Northern Empire, Uchiha Sasuke.
Uchiha Sasuke had been a child prodigy if there ever was one. Kakashi had known it the first time he laid his eyes on the youth, the boy in question being only twelve years old at the time. He had been strangely attracted to him ever since. Now, twelve years later, Sasuke had still the same determined light in his eyes, which Kakashi never tired of seeing. Those eyes which saw what most others couldn’t see.
It was the way Sasuke saw things. The youth was capable of great deeds, which would go down in history in the years to come, and still he remained grounded and practical. By learning his limits, weaknesses and strengths well, it ensured his success wherever he went. Yet he remained constantly unsatisfied. Those were small successes.
Sasuke was known to look at the bigger picture.
And Sasuke’s ultimate goal, the bigger picture, was not complete. There was one obstacle left.
It was the final obstacle. The empire was infallible now, with every part of the map under its control, all except for one portion. It was like a thorn in the flesh, but sixteen long months had passed, and nothing had yet been done to remove it.
The Prince was, simply put, avoiding it.
After the last great country, Wind’s fall, Sasuke seemed to lose all interest in conquest, and had concentrated efforts in wiping out rebel colonies and anti-empire activists who were present in the old Earth and Lightning, now part of the Northern Empire. In these sixteen months, he had managed to track and bring down a few of the key leaders in the groups. After that, they didn’t bother him anymore, and he had just recently set his sights on looking over the construction of his new kingdom, as well as the order and the ruling of his people.
All while he did this, a nagging concern tugged at the back of his mind.
The Prince needed every tiny detail under his control. His vision for a city filled with machines and immaculate buildings, perfect order and peace was taking its first steps to being fulfilled.
Unfortunately one part of the world still did not belong to him, to the Northern Empire. War hadn’t been declared on the southern lands yet. And Kakashi could understand perfectly why it hadn’t. That place was special. It was different, which would explain why Sasuke refused to touch it. Of course that place had been very much affected by the ongoing wars between the surrounding countries, but as of now it still remained free of the clutches of the Northern Empire…
Kakashi was sure it would be only be a matter of time before it was defeated.
Indeed, it was a matter of time. But Kakashi wondered at the length. How long was Sasuke going to let it stay the way it was? It wasn’t like him to abandon a goal. And sixteen months were already too long… it was getting unhealthy.
Kakashi sighed. He would like to see Sasuke soon. He missed the young man; Sasuke hadn’t poked his head out of his room for at least a month, choosing to relay his orders through his personal guard. But even they hadn’t been anything of importance for some time now. In fact, they’d stopped coming. In Sasuke’s continued absence, the running of the empire had been entrusted to his next in command, Suigetsu for a yet undefined period of time. Suigetsu was a powerful, intelligent and loyal individual, but he was nothing like Sasuke.
There wasn’t anyone in the Northern Empire who could replace Sasuke.
Kakashi needed to see Sasuke in his rightful place.
He wasn’t having any of that ‘Sasuke-sama will see you later’ crap. He was going to see Sasuke right this very moment.
-END-